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GB Review: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (DS)

Solomon Lee — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:42:14 -0500

Echoes of Time is a fun hack n slash multiplayer game. The game improves upon its Ring of Fates predecessor with a greater emphasis on multiplayer combat and teamwork. Though the Wii version leaves much to be desired, the game is still a solid title on the DS to be enjoyed with friends. Square Enixs efforts to allow both DS and Wii players to connect and play together are admirable, but one that definitely needs to be tweaked concerning the Wiis control scheme. Echoes of Time should keep fans happy for some time until the arrival of the upcoming Wii title, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Ring of Fates was Square Enixs follow-up to their Gamecube title: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. After receiving fairly positive reviews, Square has returned to tweak the multiplayer features with a greater emphasis on combat in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time. Though the gameplay is similar, the ability to play with your friends over a Wi-Fi connection on both the DS and Wii versions is a welcome addition to the series. Echoes of Time combines the best of Ring of Fates and its Crystal Chronicles Gamecube brethren into a fun, light-hearted RPG for both casual and experienced players.

The story tells the tale of a young hero who reaches his or her sixteenth birthday. According to village customs, every young villager participates in a special ceremony by defeating hordes of monsters in the dark forest that surrounds the village. The victorious are crowned with a glowing crystal found in a forest clearing guarded by Sherlotta, a fellow villager. However, a village girl falls gravely ill on the brink of the villages celebration that sends the hero on a mission to acquire the items needed for a cure.

Combat in Echoes of Time is similar to the earlier Ring of Fates DS title. You can attack, pick up and drop and jump in the open field in battle. There are four tribes are available: Clavats, Yukes, Selkies and the Lilties. You can engage the enemy with standard attacks, charge attacks (powerful attack that leaves you temporarily vulnerable) or magic attacks by acquiring various spells. This time around, you can either grab your friends or partner up with the A.I. to form a party. At the start, you can customize your party with as many warriors, mages or tribe kinsmen and kinswomen as you like. Towns and villages hold save crystals with most locations situated around a trotted path on the world map. A diary is kept by the main character that contains the chronology of events and adventures throughout the game.

You can assign different tactics for your A.I. party members in battle that includes Protect Yourself, Do Your Best, Just Follow Me and Go Nuts With Magic. You can add and drop party members at the Adventurers Guild in town prior to your quest. For multiplayer coop, you can team up with your friends via Nintendos Wi-Fi connection. You can easily communicate with your party members with a communication panel that features phrases like Attack Together, Ill take this one and Hit it. Phrases are customizable with a total of twelve phrases available for you to create your own unique message.

Echoes of Time allows you, just like its predecessors, to pick up and drop items, barrels and enemies at will. This is necessary on various quests to solve puzzles and unlock doors. Fighting enemies helps not only to gain experience but also helps you to acquire materials to place custom orders in town. By doing this, you save lots of money that would otherwise be spent on scrolls and materials at Custom Fabrications.

Visually, the game has polished character designs and detailed environments. After a short run, the Wii version is essentially a ported DS game. The graphics are only slightly improved with a rather mediocre control scheme using the Wii remote. Between the Wii and DS version, the latter is preferable as Echoes of Time was originally designed with Nintendos handheld in mind. The soundtrack is soothing and accompanies the game quite well with its light hearted and relaxed musical tunes.

Regrettably, the A.I. party members are more trouble than they are worth as they will often miss platform jumps, fall into lava pits and stand around idly while your enemies are attacking you. Echoes of Time shines in the multiplayer aspect as the single player adventure mode is very short-lived. Regarding the portability and the convenience to play with your friends, both Wii and DS owners can connect online with one another for quests. However, I personally recommend the DS version as the Wii online interface to join other quests is not very user-friendly at all.

GB Review: Star Ocean: The Last Hope (360)

Solomon Lee — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 09:26:14 -0500

Star Ocean is an enjoyable RPG with engaging battles and an addictive item creation mode. Despite the bland dialogue and vague mission objectives, role playing fans will love the open worlds and intense combat with their party members. Ultimately, Star Ocean is a vastly superior game to Infinite Undiscovery and The Last Remnant titles. With multiple endings, battle trophies and various achievements, the Last Hope appeals to both casual and hardcore players. Though the game is plagued by bad dialogue and long cutscenes, The Last Hope is definitely an RPG that is worth the investment.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Star Ocean has been an RPG series that has only received modest attention. Overshadowed by other Square Enix series like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, the Star Ocean series has only begun to receive attention thanks to its recent PSP ports and the earlier Till the End of Time PS2 instalment. To the surprise of many RPG fans, the next title was announced exclusively for Xbox 360 with possible development for the PlayStation 3 left as unconfirmed. Despite the mediocre cutscenes and dialogue, Star Ocean: The Last Hope is a deeply complex but satisfying game.

Star Ocean tells the tale of World War III that erupted between the World Republic Federation and the opposing world nations. Most of the earth was left in devastated ruins with a cease-fire negotiated two weeks after (wait for it) weapons of mass destruction were unleashed on a global scale. Survivors of the war wandered underground cities with little hope of deliverance. The remaining nations formed the Greater United Nations and eventually launched a space campaign to explore inhabitable planets. Edge Maverick, a young soldier and Reimi, a childhood friend and expert archer, are sent on the SRF (Space Reconnaissance Force) maiden voyage. Along the journey, Edge meets other such characters like Faize, a young Eldearian, Lymle, a spoiled Lemurisian village child and Meracle, a spunky feline humanoid.

The Last Hope utilizes a real time battle system. You can issue commands to use items, switch characters, cast symbols and unleash skills, all on-the-fly. One of the highlights of these is the jump ability, allowing you to dodge enemy attacks or surprise them with blindside attacks, (where a ! symbol appears that makes enemies vulnerable to getting attacked when you escape from their line of sight). While most battles can feel like a chore in other RPGs, the ability to quickly maneuver around enemies keeps the battles intense and engaging.

As you take damage, your rush gauge slowly fills up enabling you to initiate rush attacks upon your enemies once the gauge is full. When initiated, they temporarily give you more speed and higher defense stats against various enemy attacks. There are no random battles as monsters prowl in open sight on the battlefield. In the event you are attacked while moving or standing still in battle, your party member may, depending on your stats, block the attack entirely. You can also execute special attacks with the trigger buttons and link combos together to inflict heavy damage on your foes. A battle simulator is accessible for those that wish to hone their skills prior to fighting real battles in the game.

As you build your repertoire of skills, you will be able to harvest and mine for materials on the open field with your character. Many of these points are both visible and well hidden in different locales and terrains on differing planets. Disintegration rings allow you to interact with the environment to remove barriers by utilizing different elements. For example, a large ice block can be removed with a fire disintegration ring. All of the rings have limited uses and can only be recharged by Lymle with her charge command ability or by ring experts in villages. Battle skills can also be upgraded frequently to unleash devastating attacks on enemies that increase your Bonus board, a tiled gauge that grants you extra bonuses for stylish and hard-fought battles.

The Calnus is your spaceship hub used to travel between planets. As you progress in the game, you can assign rooms to different party members. Depending on how you treat them, opposite party members can be assigned the same room for opportunities to trigger Private Events in the game. Private events are made of up of personal dialogue and interaction between two characters with a unique sidestory. Save points are also located in various rooms to allow you to rest and recover after difficult missions. Though the use of save points is convenient on the Calnus, the lack of sufficient save points during missions can be quite frustrating.

Item creation is one of the most satisfying features in this game. New items can be created by using old items with the help of your party members. This is done by designating your teammates into groups to invent recipes. The catch is that the recipes must be created in a timed session with the results hinging on the IC (Item Creation) abilities of your comrades. Once they are out of ideas, the message No Plan will appear and the session will end. You can also end the session manually if you are satisfied with the recipes before the timer is up. Much time can easily be spent on item creation to boost your partys offensive attacks in battle.

Visually, the game sports beautiful environments and polished character designs. The special effects are stunning in battle with a lot of symbology and chain combo attacks. Regarding the characters, the anime-style designs are decent but the vacant stares and awkward facial expressions in various cutscenes are rather disappointing. As for the soundtrack, the music is exceptional and is composed by Motoi Sakuraba, the acclaimed Star Ocean and Valkryie Profile maestro. The voice actors, however, dont fare nearly as well as the soundtrack.

One of the issues in this game is the mission objectives. You will find yourself either talking to your comrades often or wandering around aimlessly just to finish your objectives. They are not always clearly defined resulting in a bit of exploring and backtracking. In battles, the camera tends to swing or position itself poorly when fighting numerous enemies. With respect to the story and character development, the cutscenes are too long and would be more effective if they were shortened to emphasize key plot points.

GB Review: Chrono Trigger (DS)

Solomon Lee — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 23:07:45 -0600

Chrono Trigger is still an exhilarating RPG to play - this is no small feat considering the game was released thirteen years ago. The compelling characters, intriguing storyline, solid battle system and unforgettable musical score makes Chrono Trigger DS a worthy addition to any RPG fans gaming library. The Wireless Play mode and extra dungeons are a nice addition but nothing special. The game warrants the buying price alone for the simple reason that its Chrono Trigger and that it retains the title as one of the greatest RPGs in gaming history.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Chrono Trigger has long been revered as one of Squaresofts (now Square Enix) most epic RPGs that graced the SNES system. The game was produced by the Dream Team with credits given to Hironobu Sakaguchi, Masato Kato, Akira Toriyama and Yasunori Mitsuda. Shortly after a mediocre PSX port, Final Fantasy Chronicles, fell short of its mark with its dreadful loading and slowdown issues, no announcements were made for any potential re-releases. After a long seven year waiting period, Square Enix has revisited one of their most critically acclaimed RPGs that features touch screen controls, a brand new dungeon, an extra ending and a brand new Wireless Play mode.

Chrono Trigger tells the tale of Crono, the unspoken hero who meets Marle, the spunky, tomboy-ish princess at the Millennium Fair. After browsing through various attractions, he travels through time to rescue Marle after a scientific experiment goes awry. As one might expect, he is soon thrust on an epic quest to save the world and rewrite history along the way. Crono teams up with many allies: Lucca, a childhood inventor friend, Frog, a silent but noble swordsman, Ayla, a brash tribal leader, Magus, an optional ally who is an enigmatic figure, and Robo, a machine from the distant future. Each character is equipped with unique abilities and tech skills used effectively to destroy wave of enemies and large bosses.

The game utilizes the Active Time Battle system. From the start, you can select either an Active system (enemies are free to roam and attack during your turn) or the Wait system (enemies are frozen giving you ample time to choose your attacks). Most enemies are visible on screen (with exception to those hiding or waiting for an ambush) with no random battles. A new dual screen mode is featured in Chrono Trigger DS that clears the screen of menu clutter from the original game. Attacks and tech abilities can be selected by using either the stylus with touch functionality or the standard DS controls. Rather than holding down A or B, Crono runs by default instead of walking. In the DS mode, enemies are segregated by text boxes on the lower screen that are roughly divided to show their name and relative positions. Though the DS stylus control scheme is appreciated, most will end up sticking to the tried and true control scheme.

New features in Chrono Trigger DS include an extra ending, a monster training arena, and the inclusion of two brand new areas: Lost Sanctum and the Dimensional Vortex. The Lost Sanctum, found in two separate time periods, is a rather mediocre addition that fails to add anything valuable to the overall storyline of Cronos journey through time With respect to the Vortex, it offers a satisfying dungeon romp filled with monsters, new items and new spoilers that fills the gap for a few mysteries from the original SNES game. Accessible at the End of Time warp gate is the Arena of the Ages, known otherwise as the monster training area. You can send your monster to battle against NPC foes in a Prize match or online with a friend via a Wi-Fi connection in an Inter-dimensional battle. Prizes are awarded for victories that vary depending on the entrance fee paid before battles in the pit begin. Conversely, you can train your monster by giving it an item and sending it to a specific era on its own. Once that is done, you can return to it at a later time to check its boosted stats.

On the visual front, the game sports familiar environments, sprites and special effects from the SNES original with cut scenes ported from the PSX version. Chrono Trigger DS doesnt push the DS to its graphical limits but is still acceptable nonetheless. The dialog has been revised for the more modern gamer; thus replacing parts of the original script. More than a decade after its release, famed composer Yasunori Mitsuda was re-enlisted by Square to manage and oversee the games soundtrack prior to its release. With credits attributed to Nobuo Uematsu as well, the music still sounds as epic and inspiring as it did from its original heyday.

The biggest disappointment comes from the lack of multiplayer co-op. Training your monsters in the Arena of the Ages and Wi-fi battles with your friends is largely a forgettable ordeal. The Dimensional Vortex and new areas to explore are a nice addition but theyre nothing special compared to existing worlds found within the game. However, Chrono Trigger is still an RPG masterpiece that should be enjoyed by hardcore and casual role-playing fans worldwide.

GB Review: Prince of Persia (360)

Aaron Dunlap — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:20:24 -0600

Prince of Persia is a reboot, re-imagining, re-everything of the longstanding platform jumping/climbing/sliding franchise. As far as reboots go, it's no Batman Begins or Casino Royale. It might qualify as a The Incredible Hulk. It's full of the basics (acrobatic maneuvering) but with none of the frills. It's fun to play, but it could have benefited from some gameplay experimentation and some play-testing to remove some control issues and bugs. It's a short game, maybe between 10-15 hours, so it's definitely worth a rental.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Prince of Persia, like Assassin's Creed before it, is a pseudo-historical acrobatic adventure game that could have benefited from a few months of play-testing and polishing. Unlike Assassins Creed, this more-or-less "reboot" of the Persia series doesn't suffer from an impenetrable story or some of the unbelievably frustrating elements that plagued last year's romp in the Holy land.

Comparing this Prince of Persia with the previous games, retroactively referred to as the Sands of Time series, is a bit difficult as they feel almost like they come from different genres. Sands of Time and its two sequels could be referred to as puzzle games mixed with action games. The puzzle element was built into the construct of the game itself. Often, simply figuring out how to progress through a level was a challenge, as wall-sprints had to be masterfully combined with wall-jumps and swings and rolls. Between the challenges of overcoming terrain and architecture were several battles against multiple foes. The battles themselves were almost like puzzles; simple sword swipes would never be enough, you had to combine acrobatic attacks and various superpowers.

This Prince of Persia is a different beast altogether. Here the puzzles are almost entirely removed. While almost the entire game is spent performing acrobatic feats such as running across walls and jumping from poles to ledges to walls to (somehow) ceilings in order to traverse otherwise-impassible areas, there is little challenge to figuring out how. What you're supposed to do is always made obvious by scrapes on the wall (apparently plenty of acrobats have been through here before you), or the sheer lack of alternative. If you're clinging to a pole and the only objects possibly within reach are another pole and the pole you just came from, it's not hard to figure out where to go. Even if you are hopelessly stuck, which I would surmise to be impossible, with a simple press of the Y button your AI teammate, Elika, can summon a floating blue orb that will mark the path to your next destination step-by-step.

Yes, Elika. This feisty princess acts as your guide, companion, and exposition dispenser throughout the entire game. My initial concern was that this would turn the whole game into one protracted escort mission (shudder), but I was rather impressed how well the AI character was able to keep up, stay out of the way, and fend for herself. If she's ever in your way, the two characters will simply hop over each other or scoot around each other, occasionally throwing in some cute banter. You never have to worry about protecting her or taking a path that she wont be able to follow. For a game like this, having a computer-controlled tagalong that never becomes annoying is quite an accomplishment.

Elika has a few vital functions, aside from providing the bulk of the plot. Y'see, Elika has some unexpected (to her) powers that let her fly in short bursts. The only gameplay implication of this is that it allows you to double to distance of a jump the Prince makes by having her catch you mid-air and give you a boost forward. This is novel, sure, but not very interesting. Elika's other function, the thing that could motivate philosophical discussions about this game is that she makes it impossible for your character to die.

If you fall off a ledge, miss a landing, or fall so far that the landing would kill you, Elika swoops in with her blue sparkle-magic and catches you, bringing you back to the last sturdy platform you were on. This sort of emulates the effect of the time-reversing ability in previous games, where if you made a mistake and plummeted to your doom you could just rewind time to before you screwed up, but that ability had a meter on it and was optional. If you were out of sand, or simply didn't care to muck around with causality at the moment, you'd die like normal, and have to restart from a save.

In this game, however, it is completely, 100% impossible to die. She will always save you.

Some say this makes the game too easy. I disagree, I think the lack of challenge makes it too easy. What it does do is raise an interesting question about one's stake in a game where death isn't an option. There are other games, sure, where you can't exactly die, but none where you cannot even fail. If in Prince of Persia if falling to your doom meant a quick "you died" message and you were instantly teleported back to where you were, would the game be different? What if dying meant having to reload a save and wait a few seconds? Playing a game where you can't die might make you feel powerful, but playing a game where you can't even fail just feels meaningless. In a way, the only way to fail at this game is to not complete it. The only way not to win is not to play.

It probably seems like a favor to the player, a way of simply automating the process of dying and reloading and saving them the frustration, but I think the way it's executed is damaging to the experience.

A penalty in a home video game will always be arbitrary, but time has shown it to be essential to the process. We're like rats in a maze. If we never get zapped and told we're doing it wrong, we'll never get it right. Removing the possibility of death, or even the fleeting sense of failure, could create an environment where the stakes of the game wont matter, and the sense of immersion desired by the game designers will be destroyed.

The only perceived penalty of screwing up in this game is having to try again, which I suppose can be punishment enough without the need to drag in the concepts of life and death.

I haven't mentioned the fighting system, or even anything about the story, I realize. This is because they left no lasting impression. After completing this somewhat-short game, the only thing I really remember about it is the running on walls and climbing up vines. The story is basically a good-god vs evil-god tale based in a small part on Zoroastrianism, an ancient Persian religion. The fights are unbearable little segments where the game demonstrates how little it cares about your sanity for the sake of insinuating some excitement into the title.

Yes, this game boils down to wall-running and little else. I had fun while playing it, and when I wasn't playing it I actually wanted to pick it back up and continue (which is a rare thing for a game reviewer after a few years). I think if the game had tried to add something new, or tried to turn the tables partway into the story, it would be a better game.

The problem I'm having, and one that could very well cause me to re-write this whole thing, is that I rather enjoyed this game but the only things I can think to write about are the negatives. This is a well-made game, for certain. It's a major release from Ubisoft, how couldn't it be? It's a nice, well-made, short game that passed the time well enough for me and made me consider the nature of reality. Worth a rental, I'd say.

Prince of Persia could have been much, much better if they had tried something new instead of falling back on the old hat of acrobatic climbing and swordplay. But perhaps it's best that they didn't try anything new. Last time they tried something innovative, we got Assassin's Creed, a game of which the very existence I consider an insult. I wished that game had dropped all the complicated nonsense and just stuck to the acrobatic stuff. Prince of Persia is a game that just sticks to the acrobatic stuff. It's kind of like a Campbell's chicken noodle soup game -- kind of bland, nothing creative or zesty thrown in, but you can't say you don't enjoy it at the time.

GB Review: Midnight Club LA Remix (PSP)

Ryan Fulton — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:48:26 -0600

Midnight Club LA Remix is a competent racer with few niggling issues and annoyances. The portable version holds up well to its fully featured console cousins and for an arcade style racing game on the go you're unlikely to come across a better example of the genre at the moment, but it's far from a must have title if you're not really in the market for a portable racing game. It's worth a buy if you're interested in a racer that's not tethered to a television.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Every once in a great while, in every field, in any genre, there is a title that exemplifies, redefines, and generally leaves everyone else involved in the business both gob-smacked and flabbergasted. Midnight Club LA Remix for the PlayStation Portable is not such a title, but it is a competent arcade racer spread across the cities of Los Angeles and Tokyo where you can pop parking brakes and bust nitrous boosts to your heart's desire. While it exhibits a few issues it ultimately proves itself to be a fun title.

Launch Gallery: Midnight Club LA Remix

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As with any arcade style racer, realism takes a backseat to outlandish physics, over-the-top crashes, and general mayhem. The gameplay is flawed at times, but ultimately enjoyable. The game engages you by using the city as a glorified menu system allowing you to chose races and upgrade your car at your will once you unlock the features. While this is enjoyable to an extent, it feels like a chore after a while -- considering how you're forced to endure at least two healthy loading screens merely to accomplish any task. Once you arrive at your destination you can look forward to a one to five minute race followed by some more loading screens. Repetition of races is also a minor gripe that should be considered.

The racing itself is a blast, the sense of speed is very real, and the turning on most cars feels just right once you get a hang of how to handle each of your cars. The AI controlled races vary from laughably pathetic to fiendishly difficult. While this is not a bad thing it's difficult to find races where there is a definite sense of being in just the right spot for an exciting finish which is somewhat of a let down. On a related note, which explains the lack of exciting finishes to a degree, the AI does not resort of "rubber banding" their way back up to you when you're in the lead or vice-versa. The car modification system is exceptionally robust and the number of modifications available for each individual car is nothing short of astounding.

The game's sound is difficult to quantify. The racers and main character all feature voice acting that's subpar across to board, and the dialogue is beyond poorly written unless you consider 2 Fast 2 Furious to be the apex of screenwriting prowess. That being said, there is a certain campy value that the dialogue and voice acting adds that makes the game endearing or at least mildly amusing the first few times you hear the insults that are thrown about by the other racers. The music is a standard faire of rap, electronic, hip hop, and rock songs. Featuring nearly 100 musical tracks the selection is anything but constrained, and the long list of artists should almost guarantee that there is at least once act that you're interested in listening to. Unfortunately most of the races are shorter than the songs included in the game so the music is often cut short by the lack of a continuation feature.

The graphics are generally sharp with minimal pop up when moving. Upon closer inspection the textures are rather drab and lack much in the way of definition, but this is hardly a deal breaker since this is really only noticeable when you're stopped and looking directly at an object (which really isn't the point of a racing game, is it?) The cars themselves look as if they were recreated with care and the cities seem as if a great deal of forethought was put into their design. Each city has defined districts that differ in appearance from the rest of the city, and the streets seem to flow comfortably in such a manner that doesn't punish the player too badly for making a wrong turn. All things considered it's an attractive visual package for a portable racer.

Midnight Club LA Remix is a passable effort at an arcade racer that while falling short on a few points manages to create an enjoyable casual experience for a portable racing title. The loading screens sort of detract from the pickup-and-playability of the title, but if you've got an extra moment or two it may just be worth your while to put rubber to the streets of LA and Tokyo during your free time. Far from redefining the genre the game offers an experience that is generally pleasing and engaging.

GB Review: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (360)

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:42:24 -0600

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is Treyarch's first Spider-Man game not based on a movie. The gameplay, especially in combat, is a step up from previous Spidey titles but the story is short and unsatisfying. Too much emphasis is placed on a half-baked "choose your fate" branching storyline that quickly devolves into a non-stop series of boss fights. The ability to switch between red and blue Spider-Man and black-suited symbiote Spider-Man is novel, but wasted. People like me who pine for a game with Spider-Man 2's quality of web slinging with a decent game attached might be satisfied, but not impressed. This game is worth a rental for Spidey fans or any curious gamer, but at the end you wont be itching for more.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Spider-Man is probably the perfect character for video games. He can jump higher than anyone; he can walk, run, and sit on walls; he can beat up multiple attackers with blinding speed and feline agility; and he can swing around town on webs he shoots from his wrists. If ever there was an entity better suited for virtual representation, I'd like to hear it.

He's had a spotted past in games. I have no qualms saying that Spider-Man 2 on the Xbox is one of my favorite games to play. Altogether, the game is a wreck, but it's the web swinging I love. I could sit in front of that game for hours doing nothing but swing around its digital Manhattan. It just felt right in that game. You could feel the weight of Spidey as he grabs a fresh webline, feel the G-forces as he reaches the apex of a swing, feel the wind sheer off his body as he pulls his legs in and kicks out at just the right moment to maximize airtime and distance. That game is the perfect Spider-Man webslinging simulator. Every game since then has tried to be a better game, cramming in more story or more combo attacks and celebrity voices, abandoning the web mechanics altogether. Spider-Man 3 was a complete waste. How couldn't it be? It was rushed to come out with the movie, which itself was a waste.

Launch Gallery: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

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Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is different. It's not based on a movie or a particular series of comics (like Ultimate Spider-Man). If I had to describe Web of Shadows as intrinsically as possible, I'd say that it is Treyarch and Shaba Games' attempt to create a Spider-Man game that perfectly captures not only the feeling of swinging like Spidey, but the feeling of being Spidey. Not being bound or hurried by the release date of some summer movie, this game actually stands a chance of accomplishing that.

The web swinging is simplified and made more efficient, for sure, but the the focus this time around seems to be on the combat. Previous Spider-Man games have always been heavy on combo-attacks, but never very much fun. You never got the feeling during combat that you could do everything Spider-Man could, only that you were playing a watered-down beat-em-up tacked onto a web-swinging game. This time around, it feels much better. Combat makes heavy use of Spider-Man's abilities, and allows (at last) to make use of Spidey's best advantages in combat: his speed and ability to stay airborn.

How silly is it for Spider-Man, a man who can walk on walls and lift himself or anything else into the air with ease, to be seen standing with two feet on the ground, throwing punches against enemies? In Web of Shadows, there's no need to stay on the ground for the sake of grounded baddies. Better to knock them up into the air, where you're free to mangle their helpless bodies. The most welcome addition is the ability to "web strike," or zip yourself up to an enemy from far away, get in a quick attack, and then bounce out before he knows what hit him. You can string together web strikes and clobber dozens of enemies, one at a time, bouncing from head to head, staying in constant motion the entire time.

Treyarch's previous Spider-Man games have all been so-called "sandbox games" like Grand Theft Auto where an entire city is under your control, and you can attempt story-based missions at your leisure. This time around, the game is much more linear, but built around a sandbox architecture. You can still go anywhere in the city, and you still start missions by approaching specific characters and starting them, but there are no real alternatives. There are no real side-missions, and the random crimes you'll encounter just by wandering around aren't very engaging.

No, the game sees itself as linear and story-based, and shouldn't be ashamed for it.

The story itself involves the return of Venom and the black symbiote, and its eventual attempt to spread its inky tentacles across the whole city. Early in the game, Spider-Man gets re-introduced to the symbiote and through much of the game is free to switch between normal (red and blue suit) Spider-Man and symbiote (black suit) Spider-Man. Herein lies the biggest bullet point in the game's sell-sheet.

The game insinuates that your actions as either red/blue Spidey or black Spidey affect how the story branches. This is partially true. There are several points during the story where you're given the option to follow either a "good" path (marked by a red/blue Spidey icon on screen) or a "bad" path (marked by black Spidey). Whether you chose to be red/blue or black Spider-Man within the game itself makes no difference, and is altogether pretty arbitrary. Each suit has its strengths and weaknesses as far as combat and agility go, but it really just comes down to your choice of outfit. The branching storyline is controlled by your selection of the good/bad path, and when you're playing a super hero does it make that much sense to ask the player if he wants to do something good, like save somebody, or something bad, like let them die? Sure, after playing through the game once as a goodie two-shoes you might go through again to see what lies on the dark side, but the so-called conflict between good ol' Spider-Man and his evil suit doesn't come across very well when you're basically given the options of "be good" or "be bad."

It would be better if the branching paths in the story were based on your actions and not simply your selection of them. If the black suit had a more noticeable advantage in-game, maybe I'd be more tempted to use it. Maybe the game could keep track of how often you use the black suit or how much damage you cause with it, and from that make it harder and harder to go without it. Then, based on which suit you've spent the most time with, the story can branch however it likes. This is what I thought was going to happen. This is how the marketing material makes it sound.

Altogether, the story mode is somewhat satisfying but brief. The intention is probably to let people try the various branches, but I can't imagine it being too enticing.

Once you've beaten the game, you can't re-load your saved game and freely roam the town with all of your upgraded and unlocked abilities, nor can you start a new game with your earned abilities. This is a huge, huge problem for me. You spend the whole game unlocking and upgrading attacks and combos, and then after a boss fight wherein you can't even use them, they're completely wasted. I feel like I wasted all that time.

As I said, I can spend hours inside Spider-Man 2 ignoring the missions and just swinging around, looking for collectible items, earning points, unlocking new combos. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows doesn't really allow for this. It's a shame, really, because the swinging sure is fun.

I'm left at an impasse. I can't recommend this game for fans of Spider-Man video games. For people who don't really care, the more refined package and far fewer bugs compared to previous Treyarch Spidey games, as well as it being the first one truly designed for next-gen (although from the graphics you might not know it), it might be worth a rental.

They've finally made a game that feels like being Spider-Man, now they just need to make one with a satisfying game on top of it.

GB Review: Samba de Amigo (Wii)

Zach Lott — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:20:43 -0600

While it was a great idea to bring Samba de Amigo, an old Dreamcast game in which you play Latin songs with two maraca peripherals, to the Wii, the final product suffers greatly from absurdly imprecise controls. It's difficult to have fun playing various tracks when you're frustrated to the point of violence at how hard it is to line up the Wii remote and nunchuck's cursors with the symbols on screen. Stay away unless you are really itching for yet another rhythm game to play.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Let me be honest: I never played the original Samba de Amigo. I don't know how fun it was, nor do I know whether or not this Wii port does a good job of replicating the original's gameplay. What I do know is that this version of the game isn't good.

My complaint has nothing to do with the colorful, friendly presentation or the cheesy Latin music or the dancing animals or the core gameplay element itself, even if it is a little antiquated in this new era of rhythm games. Nay, all my problems with this game boil down to one thing: controls. This game controls horrendously, and it makes what could be a great experience into a nightmare.

The way the gameplay is set up is that you have six circles on the screen arranged in a hexagon, with each colored pair representing a target area. The nunchuck controls the circles on the left side while the remote controls the circles on the right side. Each has a cursor that shifts to different circles based on where in the air you hold them (high, middle, and low). Notes appear in the center of the hexagon and shoot out to the various target areas, and once they enter the center of a circle you can shake your controller in order to play them. There are also poses and dances that you must perform throughout certain songs with the controllers.

However, the problem with this is that the controls are insanely imprecise. The game refuses to properly recognize what target area your controllers are pointed at, and it's because of this that the game becomes so frustrating. It's not so bad when you play on the easy and normal modes, as the rhythmic patterns are simple enough that you can easily earn the "C" rank needed to pass your playthrough of a track, but once you start playing on the higher difficulty levels you must quickly change through the high, middle, and low positions while playing more difficult rhythms. It is when this occurs that the game becomes unplayable.

There's a few extra features, such as downloadable tracks and some mini-games as well as some useless unlocks, but these can't do anything to fix the fundamental control problem that ruins this game. While you may enjoy the game with a friend if you play on moderate difficultly levels, I can't recommend that you buy this title. There are games out there that are far more deserving of your money.

GB Review: Gears of War 2 (360)

Solomon Lee — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:43:07 -0600

Gears of War 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to Gears; the title that gathered quite a following with its impressive visuals, intuitive run-and-cover gameplay, and engaging characters. The game doesn't mess with its own formula of success but rather, it focuses on what it does best -- delivering an intense, visceral, adrenaline-pumping experience. The sinister violence and gore is a trademark of this game that has been well received by fans and one that Epic doesn't shy away from. Although it fails to revolutionize the genre, Gears 2 delivers on all fronts and surpasses the original with more weapons, deadlier monsters, larger campaigns, more multiplayer maps and an incredibly addictive Horde mode. Gears of War 2 is this year's game to own on the Xbox 360.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Gears of War was quite the blockbuster when it first arrived on Xbox 360. The game offered solid controls, great visuals, intuitive third person camera and chainsaws. Though the plot wasn't the main focus, Gears effectively brought us the memorable, wisecracking Delta squad members: Marcus, Dom, Cole and Baird. Fast forward to Gears 2 -- the game takes everything that made the original Gears a solid shooter and takes it a step further on the epic scale. To quote Epic Lead Designer, Cliff Bleszinski, Gears of War 2 is definitely "bigger, better and more badass."

Gears 2 continue right after the original shooter; following General RAAM's defeat and the light mass bombing. Marcus and Dom fight with fellow COG soldiers fatally wounded defending the city after subsequent Locust attacks. It is there on the hospital grounds we meet the rook, Benjamin, brother to his sibling Carmine who died from an infamous sniper shot and Tai, a militaristic but calm leader. They quickly learn that the Locusts have quietly regrouped underground and have launched attacks in endless numbers. Entire cities have been sunk underground as the Horde employs powerful forces and tactical equipment and that's not all; they've brought grotesque and far deadlier creatures this time around. Epic has placed a strong emphasis on the story behind the war that sheds light on Marcus Fenix's history and Dom's continued search for his missing wife, Maria.

As expected, the returning weapons are the Lancer, Sniper Rifle, Shotgun, Torque Bow, Pistol and the Hammer of Dawn. New weapons added to your arsenal include the Hammerburst Rifle (enemy weapon), Gorgon Pistol, Ink Grenade (emits poison), Mortar (distance artillery weapon), Mulcher (turret gun) and the fan-favorite, the Scorcher Flamethrower. Grenades can be stuck to walls and used as proximity mines to destroy enemies lurking around. If you are pinned in battle, you can crawl while bleeding to try to reach your teammates to be revived. The new weapons are available in the latter half of the game and can be found by looting Locust corpses. Each weapon is distinct and allows you to perform unique executions on fallen enemies crawling away. You can also grab a dying Locust for use as a meat shield to flank your enemies. Be warned that using the corpse for cover lasts for a very short time -- limiting you to the use of a pistol. The shield will either explode into bits under heavy gunfire or be disposed of after breaking the Locust's neck.

The original Gears saw players destroying their opponents with a chainsaw attack; granting them temporary invulnerability to gunfire or melee attacks. Pulling the attack off was often based on luck between two players with the one who revved up his chainsaw just a split second earlier winning the fight; which was infuriating. Epic has addressed the Chainsaw attack complaints with a new Chainsaw duel feature. Two players that rush one another with the Lancer will be thrown into a mini-game; quickly mashing the B button ensures victory. If a third player approaches two people engaged in a Chainsaw duel, the poor guy or gal on the receiving end will instantly be overpowered.

Both single player and coop campaigns allow you to finish the game by yourself or with a friend. The option to play at your own pace is simplified as campaigns can be played with two separate difficulty settings. An extra difficulty setting Normal can be selected with the Insane difficulty unlocked after the game has been completed. You can invite your friends with the "What's Up" feature that lets you see the status and progress of your Gears' friends online. Personally, I found the friendly menu list to be useful in keeping tabs with other online players.

The all new Horde mode is one of the highlights of Gears 2. In Horde mode, you join a team of five players collaborating to destroy Locusts waves on various maps. Eventually, your enemies grow stronger with more health, better weapons and increased numbers. A total of 50 waves are featured in Horde mode for which the difficulty level rises considerably after the tenth wave. Fighting together in groups, reviving teammates, giving cover fire and using key vantage points is crucial for your survival. Linked achievements play a big role in the Horde and multiplayer modes. Gears fans will be happy to hear that specific achievements (completed from the original) unlock new playable characters such as Anthony Carmine, Minh Young Kim (former Delta squad leader) and General RAAM. Your progress ultimately dictates your rank; which is used for matchmaking purposes. Horde mode is tough as nails but is easily the most satisfying and rewarding to play with everyone.

A War Journal is a handy tool that tracks your listed achievements, unlocked characters, and collectables. Rather than using COG tags, Epic has placed hidden files, newspapers, memos and personal letters throughout the game. They comprise a total of 41 collectables that provides a side story to the events surrounding the war. A magnifying glass signifies the item is found and is easily picked up by pressing the X button. You don't need to guess how close you are to an achievement as the journal displays your progress towards obtaining it. This is a welcome change for fans wishing to complete the game in its entirety.

Multiplayer modes feature seven maps: Warzone, Execution, Annex, King of the Hill, Guardian, Submission and Wingman. Epic's gift to its fans is a code for the Flashback Map Pack for those with preorders and for those buying Gears 2 at launch. This map pack includes five maps: Subway, Canals, Tyro Station, Gridlock and Mansion. While it doesn't sound like much, each map is considerably different from the original Gears. The Subway is less dreary, Canals have been hit by a frozen icy spell, Tyro Station is more industrialized, Gridlock is filled with foliage and the Mansion has better lighting. A new Training Ground mode gives casual, novice and veteran players a brief tutorial on the basics of multiplayer controls and combat.

Gears 2 is a graphically intense game. Buildings, air-borne dust, the underground caverns and the city landscapes are very polished. Special effects ranging from hailing fire on your enemies with the Mortar to poisoning the enemy with Ink grenades are visually gratifying. The frame rate takes a severe hit at numerous checkpoint locations that could have used some tweaking. There is also a tendency for Locust corpses and weapon spoils to fall and to defy natural physics in its environment. Otherwise, Gears 2 is a game detailed to the core that manages to exceed the best visuals of the original Gears. With respect to audio, the soundtrack is top-notch and a great accompaniment.

Many of the flaws from the original Gears have sadly crept into Gears 2. The A.I. teammates tend to block your shots, run straight into enemy territory without cover, and get hopelessly pinned in a far corner amongst a group of Locusts. Regrettably, the vehicle stages are the most irritating part of many campaigns; especially on the higher difficulty settings. Despite its shortcomings, Gears 2 is an exciting game full of blood, action and suspense for anyone that enjoys a solid third person shooter.

Official PS3 Headset: A Non-technical, Non-lengthy Review.

Ryan Fulton — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:40:57 -0500

The Official PS3 Wireless Headset that recently shipped with SOCOM and will see a future solo release on this upcoming Tuesday it is quite a nifty piece of tech. Through testing with a friend and by simply playing SOCOM it's rather apparent that this is a top quality headset.

The speaker is crisp and clear, and the dual microphone setup does an amazing job of picking up what you're saying with minimal distortion. Though untested and personally unconfirmed, the headset also works as a general microphone when docked if you should so chose to use it in such a manner. The inclusion of a mute button is also a welcome addition, especially when you consider the fact that games like Call of Duty 4 use an "open mic" system. The headset is considered comfortable by general consensus and personally I find it easy to forget that I'm even wearing it.

All in all, it's a top quality headset that if you own a PS3 and you happen to not have a headset, or if you're just sick of the horrible one that you have now, it's definitely worth looking into picking this headset up.

GB Preview: Snag some Little Big Love in Little Big Planet

Shiva Stella — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:49:41 -0500

If you haven't heard of Media Molecule's Little Big Planet by now, I want to be you. I've spent the last 72 hours holed up in my imaginary cubicle with nothing but the PlayStation 3's holiday savior, completing creatively designed levels with dragon bosses, Silent Hill pyramid heads (think SH 2; you know what I'm talking about), rockets, ghosts, dinosaurs, Mario (sorry Luigi), Indiana Jones (I kid you not!), Nathan Drake, and--of course--the deliciously adorable sackboy. Or sackgirl. As Media Molecule would probably interrupt right now, it's all up to you.

I don't want to be too cruel to those of you unfortunate enough to not receive a highly coveted invitation to join the beta, (okay, maybe a little cruel), but really, you're not missing too much--only one of the most interesting, thought-provoking, heartwarming, sweetest masterpieces we've seen from this console generation the likes of which may actually put Fable II in its place, and yes, Mr. Molyneux, I did just say that. Possibly I'm over-exaggerating, but after spending significant time delightfully chained to the sackboys and sackgirls in the beta (community hug!), Little Big Planet may just convince you that your PlayStation 3 purchase was worth it after all.

At the heart of LBP lies its undeniable, addicting charm. A tiny, plain sackboy might not look like much--just a little creature your grandmother could have knitted for you eons ago, you know, when you still played with dolls--but herein you'll find that its stark simplicity is what is most endearing: a trite, but almost loving creature operates as your mirror self, full of limitless potential and impossible to measure possibilities, complete with a witty British narrator who would have made your childhood so much easier when he wasn't drowning you in tea.

And if painting your own canvas is your thing, you're in luck--you'll have ample opportunity to turn your sack-self into something truly dashing, like an Elizabethan housewife, a bunny-eared cowpoke, a pirate with a savvy polkadotted dress, or even Kratos if you're all smash and no class. Name a customization option and it's here; change eyes, material color, throw in some teeth, maybe a disgusting mustache or a miscellaneous animal part to let everyone know you walk on the wild side, and viola--instant sack-asso. Your mum would be proud.

After you've completed your "look", you'll want to stroll through the enchanting levels designed by MM in the game's story mode. LBP's stages contain the whole package; you'll listen to infectious music and great sound effects, swing from giant sponges, watch a little tutorial tv, hop a ride on a bird, and, most importantly, sticker the place up with collectible items. And here we find the magic of LBP: at its core half of the game is about getting your grubby sack-paws on every single item, object, sticker, material, or decoration you can spot. The other half is about using those items to create a living world.

This dynamic universe is the epitome of videogame self-expression. If you ever wanted to design a level in which Solid Snake fought off Metal Gear Rex with snazzy cardboard boxes, you can do it. If you've dreamed of Mega Man racing your friends in the latest WipeOut, you can do it. And if you've fantasized about recreating every single level from the original Mario Brothers, you can do that, too--with some obvious caveats, the point being that if you're creative enough, the game gives you the tools with which to realize your fun delusions.

And everything is easy to master. The level design tools offer tutorials for every aspect, from placing an object or using a template to covering the world with bright purple flowers or coating the walls with blood (hey, this makes for a great aesthetic effect). Your only real limit is a bar that lets you know much room is left in your stage to fill with objects, and if you're not using a template that's a lot of space to test your imagination in.

Once you're creation is set to rock the sack-world, it becomes available for you and all your sack friends to play through together, including newbie strangers who operate as fantastic q/a testers and leave great comments like "SNAAAAAAKE!" and "needs more Mario". Anyone who plays through your level can rate it with a tag, from "awesome" and "fun" to "short" and "stupid", and those who love what you've done with the place can mark the stage with a heart so they always have immediate access to the thrill-zone that is your creative genius. At this point there is some lag when you're playing online with your fellow sack-peoples, but how much of this is relegated to the final product is impossible to tell yet, so cross your delicately stitched fingers and remember that a little lag is worth the chance to show off your sack-casa to your buddy list.

If you're as enthusiastic about Little Big Planet as the rest of the world, you can join the pre-order gig by clicking on one of my handy links below, where I've noted what pre-order goody goes with which retailer to save you some googling. Meanwhile you'll find me in LBP, robbing banks and rescuing sack-peoples from ferocious red-ringed Xbox 360s. Here's hoping I see you there on October 21.

Best Buy: Nariko (Heavenly Sword)
EBGames/Gamestop: Kratos, Medusa, Minotaur (God of War pack)
Amazon: Downloadable level design guide, sometimes a free $10 gift card as well
GameCrazy: Adorable knitted zipper pouch
Circuit City: Free $10 gift card
ALL: Space Suit Sackboy Costume (free from MM/PSN)

GB Review: Infinite Undiscovery (360)

Solomon Lee — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:48:45 -0500

Infinite Undiscovery is an action RPG from tri-Ace, the folks behind Valkryie Profile and the Star Ocean series. The game employs an interactive real-time combat system. Teamwork is a vital part of the game as the game has its fair share of puzzles that can only be solved with the aid of a party member. While the visuals and sound design are decent, the game fails to achieve its potential. It's overcomplicated and unresponsive, and altogether feels like an incomplete package. Fans of tri-Ace and RPGs in general might get a kick out of the 30-or-so hour game, but it's nothing for casual gamers to get excited about.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Infinite Undiscovery is the latest title developed by tri-Ace, the development powerhouse behind the Valkryie Profile and the Star Ocean series. At its core, it's an action RPG that blends situational battles with open exploration. These battles are influenced by conditions and choices made by players resulting in, as the name implies, new discoveries that affect the world around you. The first of three highly anticipated Square Enix RPGs (The Last Remnant, Star Ocean: The Last Hope), Infinite Undiscovery marks tri-Ace's return to the RPG limelight.

Infinite Undiscovery puts you in the role of Capell, a young lad who is imprisoned and mistaken for the leader of a Liberation force. The Liberation force is a band of resistance warriors rebelling against the Dreadknight and the Order of Chains -- an evil force that has bound the moon with chains and brought chaos to the surrounding lands. After a period of three days, he is rescued by Aya, a brave girl who is shocked to learn Capell is, in fact, a cowardly flutist. Against his own wishes, he reluctantly joins Aya to regroup with the Liberation force in their efforts to stop the Order's sinister plans. On his journey, Capell meets the real Liberation leader, Sigmund, to whom he bears a striking resemblance. Further in the game, he teams up with various allies like Edmund, a loyal swordsman; Balbagan, a brash warrior and the conniving twins, Rico and Rucha.

The game employs an interactive real-time combat system. Both standard and power attacks are used to perform combos and special attacks. Though Capell lacks the ability to cast magic, his flute is used in place of it to cast special status effects on his party members. In the thick of battle, the A.I. is quite receptive to the tactics you assign to them that range from "Spread out" to "Focus on single target". You are also able to sneak up from afar or behind your enemy directly for a higher chance to acquire rare items -- thus giving you the "Player's Advantage." After a chain of successful attacks and combos, the AP sword gauge will gradually rise; boosting the power of your special attacks that can be used to devastate your enemies. In addition, you can issue healing requests from your party members to reduce the extra time spent scrolling the menu for healing items.

Teamwork is a vital part of the game as the game has its fair share of puzzles that can only be solved with the aid of a party member. This is done by "connecting" with a team member that allows you to use their battle skills that are mapped to two buttons. The ability to use a team member's skills only works some of the time as they tend to be slow in responding; which is frustrating. Outside of combat, the team member acts on your behalf by opening treasure boxes, inspecting items and talking with others. Consequently, Capell can only connect with one party member at a time. Notable skills include Sigmund's Observant skill that allows you to view enemy stats and Rico's Beastmaster skill to speak directly with animals.

Party members will automatically split up upon entry to towns and villages. You can connect with them to discuss the party's current affairs or to chat with the locals. Specific team members are handy as they can draw out different responses from the townspeople and help with mini-quests. However, the towns differ so greatly in size from one another that simply searching around for your comrade is tiring enough. Granted, the ability to connect and to collaborate with your team members is a promising feature that should have been better implemented in this game. What's more, Capell will recruit up to 17 allies over the course of the game that is quite a hassle to manage. Assigning weapons, armor and accessories to all of your respective team members is a very cumbersome task.

Certain missions throughout the game require you to divide the party members into separate groups. Your choice of team members ultimately dictates the items, Fol (currency) and the experience gained. All items and spoils found by the other party will be added to the inventory list. With respect to Item Creation skills, Aya and Rucha are bestowed with cooking abilities, Rico is a composer, and Capell has the enchantment skills as a flute player. During the missions, food that is acquired is useful for curing negative status effects and healing party members. Each character has their own food preferences as the item's effects are more effective when they eat their choice foods.

Infinite Undiscovery's visuals are decent. The character designs are average and the surrounding environments respectable. One particular note: the game's graphics are not bad by any means. It's just that the game does not sport the imagery or gorgeous visuals of other Square Enix titles like the Final Fantasy series. The voice acting is standard -- but it's odd how many cut-scenes have no voiceovers at all. Fortunately, the voice behind Aya and a few other characters was performed well and was very believable. As for the soundtrack, composed by Motoi Sakuraba, the music fits the game accordingly and provides acceptable accompaniment.

Overall, the game fails to achieve its potential. It's hindered by the number of party members falling under its management system. It could have been enjoyable with half as many characters; demonstrating in this case that less is more. On top of this, the connecting feature in battle feels sluggish as the A.I. reaction times are slow at best. While the game is short and can be completed by most players in less than thirty hours, Infinite Undiscovery is still worth checking out for tri-Ace fans and RPG enthusiasts.

GB Review: Battlefield: Bad Company (PS3)

Brian Mohr — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:07:13 -0500

Battlefield: Bad Company may not completely revamp the war game experience, but it does modify it enough to keep you interested throughout both on and offline. The biggest new feature clearly is the ability to blow buildings apart -- and visuals are spectacular, but the game features more than just that. For once, it features an entertaining single-player experience with a meaningful storyline. Of course, it brings a quality online experience as well to keep you playing for some time.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

War games are so common today that in order to stand out from the crowd, the game really has to do something different. Battlefield: Bad Company may not revolutionize the genre by any means, but it does add some nice improvements to the next-generation experience to make it fun and interesting.

Easily the biggest new improvement to the series is the impressive visuals. Worth noting is that it is in first-person. Running through the levels, your player shakes and vibrates. The visuals of guns and various weapons on screen are very realistic.

Those are all well and good, but what really catches your eye the most is the incredible detail of the environments with fires, special effects and more. Even more notable than that are the destructible environments, explosions look incredibly real with chunks of rubble exploding around you. Hiding in a building is far from safe anymore, and can be a bit nerve-racking, as a tank can blow the roof off, literally.

The game features more than just visuals though. The sound is very good with impressive war sounds, the guns are very realistic and explosions are incredible too. The musical score works with the various environments and moods and the single-player experience actually has some good dialogue with character.

Did I do that?

Speaking of the single-player experience, it puts you in the role of the new player in Bad Company. A group of problem soldiers who take on the worst of assignments in order to score money in the form of gold bars. Although youre not able to command your teammates, the action is exciting and the missions are interesting. The game features a number of weapons to play with as well as explosives and health injectors to gain life. There are side goals as well as numerous vehicles including helicopters, boats, trucks and more in the seven-level offline campaign.

As for the control scheme, its very user friendly with the use of the triggers and sticks. If youve played a first-person shooter before it will take little time to adjust. The only difficulty was flying helicopters, which takes some getting used to.

Not to be forgotten from any Battlefield experience is the online component which is once again solid. It features up to 24 players per map, all vehicles in the single-player mode including tanks, jeeps, boats, helicopters and hummers, a variety of weapons including turrets, cannons and rockets on the field as well as five arm sets to choose from, each group features unlockable bonuses too. While the conquest mode that Battlefield is known for isnt featured yet, the online option is solid nonetheless.

GB Review: Siren: Blood Curse (PS3)

Ryan Kincaid — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:38:14 -0500

"Siren" is a somewhat lesser known series of survival horror games, developed internally by SCE Japan. The franchise is most well known for its Silent Hill-esque game play, supernatural scares taken from the mythology of rural Japan, and for "sight jacking", which allows the player to look directly through the eyes of the enemy. Unfortunately, this newest addition to the Siren mythology does little to improve or reinvent the genre, despite providing a number of truly frightening scenarios and game play concepts that would be more than welcome if they were only developed a little further.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

The latest entry to the modestly received Siren series, Blood Curse (known as New Translation in Japan) is an interesting title. While there are a number of legitimate scares in the game, most of them are derived from the Silent Hill book on creepiness, in that you're more often than not scared of what could happen rather than what actually does. Not to suggest that this is a weakness to the game, but S:BC doesn't dare to tread much new ground, even when its own series is concerned.

In S:BC, an American television crew has traveled to the land of the Rising Sun to investigate the so-called "legend of Hanuda", which states that a village where human sacrifices had once taken place had supposedly disappeared into thin air. The team, needless to say, manages to stumble across the village and naturally, horrors ensue. Although I can't speak for the Blu-ray release in Japan, Sony's choice to distribute the game episodically via PSN makes the experience play out somewhat like a survival-horror soap opera, with occasional interludes to either catch you up to the story so far, or give you a sneak peek at the next episode. The episodic nature of the game seems to work in its favor, with the only obvious gripe being the roughly 10 gigabytes of hard drive storage that a simultaneous install of every episode requires.

The game play is your typical survival horror fare, with various blunt objects, pistols, and the occasional rifle provided as you either stumble across them or they are provided via narrative. Although somewhat arbitrary based on the given situation, the option to occasionally hide in shelves, closets, or pull makeshift weapons from wrecks and piles of garbage or tool sheds does add an open-ended element to an otherwise linear progression.

The familiar "sight jacking" feature is back, which allows the player to look through the eyes of the various possessed villagers to assist in avoiding them, only this time with the much welcomed switch to a split-screen view rather one that takes up the entire display. The feature, although extremely useful in more confined environments, tends to fall apart once you get into more wide open areas, with enemies detecting you at what seems almost random at times.

At the risk of comparing S:BC to Silent Hill too much, when it comes down to the overall look of the game, the obligatory static filter doesn't do a very good job of hiding very PS2-era character models. The environments, while more detailed than the people who occupy them, ironically tend to shine mostly when they're veiled in darkness. Siren has always been very good at suggestion in scares, story, and aesthetics, and even though that might be the point of it all, when held up to even the most rudimentary examination, the presentation just doesn't hold up.

Despite its numerous flaws, however, the Siren series has always been more about the sum of its parts rather than its individual elements. With a number of truly scary moments and competent level and scenario design, the creators are definitely on to something and if they could just step outside of their own safety zone, the Siren series could rise to become something that not just derives from Silent Hill, but easily rivals it.

GB Review: Soul Calibur IV (PS3)

Shiva Stella — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:26:28 -0500

For those of you unfamiliar with Namco's Soul Calibur series, it's the one with the slew of weird characters vying for two powerful swords--soul calibur and soul edge--to rule, destroy, or save the world, and most of the time they look exceptionally good while doing it. Soul Calibur IV continues that trend with 33 characters seeking to use the swords to accomplish their own (often selfish) desires, including two bonus "guest" characters from the Star Wars universe: the legendary Darth Vader and the mysterious "apprentice" from the upcoming Force Unleashed. Though the game clearly fails to revolutionize the genre, it accomplishes everything it sets out to do quite well, and the addition of online play and a very robust character creation system keep the game addictive.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

As with any fighting game, Soul Calibur IV pits you against an onslaught of characters that you must take down by lowering their health bar with flashy moves and powerful combos. Namco also included a soul gauge feature that changes color depending on your performance; block too often or receive too many strong attacks and the gauge will start flashing red, entering a "soul crush" state, at which point you're vulnerable to a one-hit KO attack called a critical finish. To keep things fresh (and because it's mildly entertaining to witness characters fighting in customizable undergarments), equipment destruction is a vital component of any fight; equipment condition is displayed in a three slot vertical bar designating head, upper body, and lower body gear, and enough attacks to the same area will break the equipment.

The soul gauge modifications manage to prevent players from over-blocking, but this is mostly because they're afraid of having their equipment destroyed--not because they fear any elite finishing moves; the critical finish attacks have to be performed a half-second or so after the opponent's gauge flashes red, and because there's a lot of action on-screen it's difficult to pay attention to both the guy that's beating your brains out as well as his gauge.

Soul Calibur IV offers up a sufficient variety of the standard modes included in nearly all of its competitors, highlighted by a disjointed, loosely named five stage story mode, a training session convenient for those new to the series, an eight stage arcade mode, and the tower of lost souls, which is a survival mode that rewards you with new equipment for completing secret objectives as you clear floors; this is a significantly less boring and time-consuming procedure than the "adventure" mode of previous games in the series, however you cannot adjust the tower's difficulty level. A versus mode is included for local multiplayer and features either a standard or special setting to determine whether skills and weapon effects are active, but sadly is limited to two players, as is online play via the PlayStation Network. What's upsetting is that you're often stuck in a room watching matches before you're able to take the winner, though the fights are usually quick and you always have the option of creating your own room and inviting a friend to eliminate the wait.

The character creation feature is extremely impressive, enabling you to modify any character's template and save up to 48 different versions of each character. You're also given the option to design your own character from scratch, modifying everything from equipment color and model physique to voice, skill set, eye color, and fighting style. When you're satisfied with your unique creation you can take it through the story mode, where it'll perform in cutscenes, or hop online to show off your creativity to the community. Though the character creation system is highly robust, unfortunately your gear options determine your character's stats and your ability to set decent skills. This gets especially frustrating when you're trying to churn out a ferocious Solid Snake or Harry Potter because characters designed with the "best" equipment will therefore have the best stats and a great battle advantage, however you can play with weaker characters in standard versus or online mode, where skills and weapon effects are inactive.

Soul Calibur IV's presentation is nothing short of stunning, with gorgeous, highly detailed environments featuring some interactivity in the form of breakable stuff; the visuals are absolutely breath-taking, with most stages featuring moving objects (space ships, animals, etc) in the background and appropriate ambient noises that change depending on the stage. The striking characters move fluidly and are detailed down to the fine texture of their clothing and every strand of hair that blows in the wind--Soul Calibur IV easily ranks as one of the most visually impressive games in its genre.

Given the game's convenient 2.6GB install option that significantly shortens loading times and unbelievable amount of unlockables it's a shame to see Namco limiting customization in other aspects of the game. For example, you can set your own stage music as an audio alternative, but only if your music consists of Soul Calibur themes purchased from the PlayStation Store, which is infuriating. You're also currently stuck with the two bonus Star Wars characters given (Vader and his apprentice), but expect to download the 360 version's bonus characters in a "fresh" and overly priced variety pack--the opportunity for Namco to make money on this feature is simply too good for them to pass up. Don't be surprised if Namco also releases downloadable equipment, stages, or other characters and bonus content.

Soul Calibur IV's only real flaw is that its modes are a tad shallow due its lack of 4-player play both online and locally, but its character creation system and even standard online play more than make up for it. The game should rank very highly on the list of anyone who enjoys a good, heavily customizable fighter--even casual players.

GB Review: Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D (iPhone)

Aaron Dunlap — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:03:10 -0500

Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D is one of the handful of major studio games now available for the iPhone (or iPod Touch) through the newly released App Store. It's a decent time waster, sure, which is what you'd expect from a cell phone game, but given the power of the iPhone and the hefty $9.99 price tag, this game is a waste of time and opportunity. I would wait a bit longer for more impressive, and better controlling games to come around.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

A pocket review for a pocket game:

Nitro Kart 3D is a rather quick port of "Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart" for the Xbox, PS2, GameCube, and N-Gage. Like the other kart game on the iPhone (Cro-Mag Rally), controlls are stripped down to the bare essentials. Acceleration is automatic, or rather, perpetual, and all the player must do is steer by tilting the phone side to side.

The control can be frustrating and take quite a while to get used to. Not being in control of acceleration feels a bit strange as well, like being the passenger in a car and leaning over to take over the wheel. I don't think developers have gotten a handle on the iPhone's accelerometer yet, and so using it will feel a bit flimsy until the programmers have it hammered down.

Controlling the karts always felt sloppy to me, but it can be managed by adjusting the sensitivity. Game modes available include standard "Cup" mode, a pretty simple Story mode, and Time Trials. There is no multiplayer.

This is one of the very first 3D games for the iPhone, so it's hard to gauge the graphics, but from what I've seen of other games they're already a tad sub-par. Textures in the distance appear to manifest before your eyes, and there is a very annoying attempt at a lens flare effect that has watered down to nothing but an indistinct series of blobs that do nothing but block your view.

Again, for the money, you should expect more. This may be one of the best 3D iPhone games, but that's not saying much. Treat this game like a launch title and keep your distance until the real games show up.

GB Review: Persona 3 FES

Eric Jonathan Smith — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:44:26 -0500

Thank you, Atlus.

It's not often that a game is worth buying twice, but Atlus has made a second bite easier to swallow with Persona 3: FES. A special edition of last year's hybrid RPG, Persona 3, FES contains a dearth of new content and the entire original game with new elements and all for an easy $30. While some of the new content doesn't quite live up to the impact of the original release, FES represents a great value and is a must-play for RPG fans who looked it over the first time.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

The bulk of the content on the disc is the original 80+ hour Persona 3 game, dubbed "The Journey" in FES. You play as a transfer student who quickly discovers that his school is the epicenter of a phenomenon known as the Dark Hour, a "25th hour" during the day where time stops for the unaware and a huge tower named Tartarus erupts from the school, the source of an evil plague of beings known as Shadows. Only once you realize you harness the ability to wield the titular entities called personas do you join a crew of your fellow persona-wielding classmates to climb Tartarus and cleanse it of the Shadows over the course of a school year.

It's Japanese, but you get the idea.

P3's combat may at first glance look like a typical turn-based RPG, but it has a few key differences that make it unique. First, you only directly control your character in the four-person battle party. You can give them general commands to focus on healing or attacking a specific enemy and while it works most of the time there will be instances where they don't quite do what you wanted. Also given that you and your members are made up of high school students that still have studying on their minds, tiredness can set in, which puts the character at a significant disadvantage. This is bad news because many of the fights in P3 boss or otherwise are rather brutal and require both adept strategies and focused, healthy party members to win.

The most significantly unique trait of Persona 3 is of course in its titular persona system. Personas come in the form of characters from myth and legend and when equipped on your character give him specific weaknesses, strengths, and special moves. Your character is the only one who can choose from well over one hundred personas and choosing the right one for specific situations is a key part of the battle strategy due to the system of strengths and weaknesses. Hitting an enemy's weakness gives you an extra turn and knocks the enemy to the floor knock them all down and your party can perform a devastating and satisfying "all-out-attack" that cannot be blocked. Of course, if you get hit by your own persona's weakness you too will fall down and waste a turn, leaving you wide open for attack - the pendulum can swing the other way at any moment in P3, which keeps battles tense.

Don't mind if I do.

Your personas are tended to in an ethereal place known as the Velvet Room and if you want to succeed you'll be spending a lot of time within its indigo walls. The most important aspect of the Velvet Room is that you can fuse two or more personas together to make a new one. Fusion is a key holdover from Persona 3's parent series Shin Megami Tensei and the depth and options from which you can pool your personas is addictive and entertaining in and of itself. Though you lose the ones fused away, the resulting persona will almost always be of a higher level than the parents, in addition to carrying over some of their skills. Shortly into the game you are also given access to a persona compendium where you can buy back personas you've fused, so experimentation with personas is encouraged. Personas carry their own levels, blocking some of their skills from being available due to level caps, but that's where the game's system of S. Links comes in.

P3 does not forget that you are cast in the role of a high school student and the social aspect of which is simulated in its Social Links system. Akin to a dating simulator, the Social Links or S. Links allow you to hang out with your fellow classmates and other dubious characters in amusing cutscene sequences. How you react to their problems is key to how you grow in these relationships and as the S. Links level up, so does the arcana or class of persona they represent, which will give your corresponding personas an experience boost when you fuse them in the Velvet Room. Seeing your friends to the end is encouraged as not only will personas of their same arcana know all of their abilities right off the bat, you'll also have access to fuse a special high level persona that you wouldn't be able to otherwise. When you don't feel like hanging out, you can always study, sing karaoke, or watch a movie all designed to increase your personal attributes which will allow you access to more S. Links. Everything you do outside of Tartarus has an effect inside of Tartarus, so there is plenty of incentive to keep yourself occupied.

While the bulk of the content in The Journey is the same as the original release including the superb-to-adequate voice acting and strangely infectious soundtrack, this FES edition contains a new S. Link in the form of a particular character from the original, makes certain other S. Links easier to complete, adds a number of new personas, and other things like new cutscenes and costumes. Additionally, you can carry over your save data from the original game and import your personal statistics/persona compendium for a new round in FES, which is a wonderful bonus for those of you who spent hours mastering the fusion system and collecting your favorite personas.

Look after him - he's your baby.

The biggest amount of new content in FES is the new episode dubbed "The Answer." Taking place directly after the ending of The Journey, The Answer tries to address questions left open by the original's ending. However, much of the story falls flat and doesn't quite create the same impact as the original. The Answer retains the random dungeon gameplay, which still works well, and is set at a difficulty more intense than the original, and at some parts is a real challenge. It can be made even more of a challenge due to the lack of a persona compendium in this chapter, which makes fusion less enjoyable because you have to be conservative with what you give up. However, the continuation of where the story left off from the original is the real draw of The Answer, and fans die-hard enough to want to know what happens are the only ones who would get anything out of it anyway.

Despite some setbacks in its new content, FES is still a worthwhile experience for those who have already played Persona 3 to death. Its $30 price point is chump change to experience a 80+ hour main game with a dearth of new content and a flawed but playable 30+ hour extra chapter. Persona 3 is easily one of the best RPGs to come out of Japan in years and FES is without a doubt its definitive form.

GB Preview: Deca Sports (Wii)

Zach Lott — Fri, 02 May 2008 00:10:21 -0500

I wonder if you can use your Mii...

The Wii may be all the rage these days as titles like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy keep gamers happy while more casual players are enticed with the unit's bountiful shovelware, but many have forgotten about the game that led Nintendo's initiative to expand the market by bringing casual and non-gamers into the mix: Wii Sports. Serving as an introduction to the system and the Wii Remote, it was a fun minigame collection that earned accolades from a plethora of mainstream media outlets and fueled the hype machine that helped propel the Wii to the top of the sales charts.

Most of us moved on to other games soon after purchasing the system, but publisher Hudson Soft apparently hasn't been so quick to forget the game that spearheaded Nintendo's assault on your grandmother's living room. Deca Sports, one of their upcoming titles, is an obvious foray into the new market that Nintendo has forged.

This isnt a straight Wii Sports clone, however, as youll find that the game has more than just your basic sports. While there are events such as basketball, soccer, and beach volleyball, Deca Sports tries to differentiate itself by including less traditional sports such as curling, archery, and figure skating. There are also snowboarding, badminton, supercross, and kart racing events.

Supercross is as straightforward as you'd expect it to be; you hold the remote sideways, pressing the 2 button to gas and the 1 button to brake as you make turning motions to steer. Wide motions during turns cause you to lose control, which means that this event is aggravating unless you severely limit your motions, hampering the overall experience.

The badminton event plays very much like Wii Tennis, but the difference is in how the birdie reacts to your hits. The ball in Wii Tennis wasnt very reactive to location, while here your swings really do determine the angle and trajectory of the hit. Its a definite improvement, and the shortness of the rounds makes it good for bursts of play.

The beach volleyball event, where you and a friend (or an AI partner if youre by your lonesome) can play against another team in a standard game of volleyball, is especially fun. The controls feel really fresh and immersive. It feels great to flail madly and work with your partner to keep the ball alive and then smash it over the net into the sand

What really stands out for its uniqueness is the figure skating event. You utilize the Nunchuk to guide your skater across a path of yellow dots while you use the remote to perform tricks as you skate across large, colored icons that occasionally appear on the path. However, the poor controls make it difficult to keep your skater on track, and it takes a lot of trial and error to figure out how and when to execute tricks. On the whole, though, Deca Sports warrants checking out if Hudson Soft successfully blends the game's fun elements with its more unique events.

GB Review: Sega Bass Fishing (Wii)

Eric Jonathan Smith — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:53:49 -0500

Ahh - looks, feels, and smells like 1999. Now that's bad fish.

Sega Bass Fishing for the Nintendo Wii is a port of the arcade and Dreamcast title of the same name, only with the obvious addition of Wii Remote controls. The game wears its arcade heritage on its sleeve with the relative simplicity of the gameplay and its non-simulation style. But more obvious than its roots are the flaws made apparent by plucking this fish out of its 1999 waters and dumping it upstream onto a current game console in 2008.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Sega Bass Fishing services Wii anglers with a standard variety of modes. Arcade mode naturally features arcade style stage by stage play catch a bass of a minimum size within a certain period of time or you're out of luck. Tournament mode plays somewhat differently, requiring prolonged competition with other anglers. Nature trip mode loses the restraints of other modes and allows you to fish at your own pace. Actually catching a fish is surprisingly simple and within a minute or two in any mode you'll be able to reel in a bass, even though it might not be the big one.

The fish you're dying not to catch.

Unfortunately you'll quickly discover that catching fish is not the deepest of activities; you just cast, wait, and reel in, ad nauseam. While the audio cues of the announcer can add some unintended humor and immediate urgency to the action of reeling in a bass, the game's dated presentation with its smarmy textures and simple environments reeks of a shoddy Dreamcast port that Sega didn't feel the need to update for this Wii release. While some parts of the presentation are period turn-of-the-century Sega including the aforementioned overly joyous announcer and some rather out of place female vocals in the options music, any points gained by this quaintness are easily negated by its sloppy visuals.

Controlling the game with the Wii Remote may seem like an intuitive setup at first. The Wii Remote acts as the fishing rod, which you can flick back and forth to cast the line and tug it left or right while in the water; conversely, the Nunchuk reels in the line. The truth of the matter is that these motion controls were essentially ported over wholesale from the game's previous analog scheme, so waggling the Wii Remote or Nunchuk in any direction will have the same effect as pressing a button. That being said, the game does not control poorly, but seems gimmicky.

Some good can be said of Sega Bass Fishing, primarily its lower price-point, which may actually be $10 more than it warrants in light of its pre-twenty-first century origins. If the Wii Remote controls were incorporated more appropriately it would deserve a better recommendation, but its nostalgic Sega presentation can't hide its relative mediocrity.

GB Review: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)

Eric Jonathan Smith — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:07:23 -0500

A multitude of variables including dozens of Nintendo-themed stages, endless supplies of rule-changing items, and the best character roster in the series yet adds great depth and longevity to Super Smash Bros. Brawl's gameplay. The online component works well despite some omissions, and with fun inclusions like the story mode, sticker and trophy collecting, and custom stage-building, there is nearly a bottomless well of activities in Brawl. It's needless to say that the game will be played feverously up until the next title in the series and anyone who was even remotely touched by Nintendo in their lifetime would find something to enjoy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series presents an interesting juxtaposition. As a casual fighter featuring some of Nintendo's biggest and best-selling franchises, it's ironic that Smash Bros's popularity can overshadow even the characters represented in it. Though the situation may seem strange, its appeal to the Nintendo faithful is anything but. The roughly six years since Super Smash Bros. Melee have done nothing but keep anticipation and expectations high for the next installment and the result--Super Smash Bros. Brawl--will not disappoint.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl can be compressed to a single rule: to knock your opponents off the sides of the screen. You accomplish this by beating your opponents to a pulp to raise their damage percentage. The higher their percentage, the farther they fly, best done with the namesake smash attack. It's really that simple. But just because the concept is simple doesn't mean it's simple in practice.

Something is wrong with this picture.

Like its two forebears, Brawl's biggest draw is its four-player multiplayer. While on the surface Brawl may not look too different, a closer look reveals a huge expansion of options. A record 35 characters are selectable, spanning Nintendo greats like Mario and Kirby to lesser-knowns like Mother 3's Lucas. However, the more notable addition to the roster is that of Metal Gear's Solid Snake and Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog, who fit surprisingly well within the rest of the all-Nintendo cast.

To match number of characters, there are a few dozen stages to select from, the vast majority of which include interactive elements that make each stage resemble a playground more than a standard fighting environment. For example, the recreation of the 75M stage from the original Donkey Kong features numerous elevators, ladders, and a giant, pixelated Donkey Kong who throws springs, which not surprisingly, are very dangerous when hit. Add in a huge list of variable-changing items like ray guns, explosives, and the all-important Smash Balls which enable character-specific finishing moves and you'll never encounter the same match twice.

The Luigi boogie.

When the standard environments aren't enough, Brawl also offers the option to create custom stages. While the options are limited to three stage sizes, three backgrounds, and only a small number of blocks and other architectural variables, it's still a great option that will spark the minds of the creative. Created stages can also be sent to friends online, but unfortunately cannot be used in online multiplayer.

The biggest addition to multiplayer is without a doubt the online component. Though you have to enter Brawl-specific friend codes, doing so grants you access to the best online experience Brawl offers, allowing you to play with as many characters, stages, and options as you have unlocked in the offline game. However, Brawl doesn't include the standard features of most online games: leaderboards and voice chat You can play with random opponents, but this option limits you to two-minute matches. The matches aren't always lag-free but for the most part the game runs smoothly - an impressive feat considering the intense four-player action occurring online. Overall, online battling is a great addition to the game's value, even if it may be a little bare bones.

Traitor.

However, multiplayer is only part of Brawl's deluge of content. Brawl retains the standard single-player modes of the series' past, such as classic mode, which best mirrors the single-player stage progression of classic fighting games. The biggest addition to single-player content is the Subspace Emissary, a massive and optional co-operative story mode that builds on the adventure mode from Super Smash Bros. Melee and runs with it. Featuring a ridiculous story that barely manages to tie all these Nintendo characters together, the Subspace Emissary most resembles a 2D side-scroller of the past, only with the Smash Bros. rule-set. It is lengthy at about eight to ten hours, but at some points it can be repetitive and difficult, though frustration won't last long in light of a fair continue system.

Brawl maintains the franchise's simple control premise. All character moves are tied to one button each for special moves and normal attacks. Pressing either up, forward, or down in conjunction with one of these will result in character specific specials with the special move button and the smash attacks with the normal attack button. Smash Bros. does not wear the complexities of other move-based fighters like Street Fighter or Tekken but comparing it to those straight fighters is not entirely fair in respect to its less serious atmosphere of random items and non-static stages, which are essential to the experience.

I hope this is as painful as it looks, Little Lucas.

Brawl also features four different controller options. You can use the Wii Remote, the Wii Remote plus the nunchuk, the Classic Controller, or a GameCube controller. The latter is definitely the best choice as not only will it be a natural fit for series regulars who have spent the last 6 years playing Melee but most of the other control types have issues, especially the Wii Remote due to its lack of having a sufficient button count to be a well-rounded choice. Nonetheless, it is possible to play with all of them, which is a testament to how fundamentally simple the game is.

While the graphics are only marginally better than Melee's, Brawl still sports some great visuals. Star Fox's Lylat Cruise stage, set on a space cruiser speeding through a detailed vista of asteroids and ships straight out of Star Wars, is especially impressive even more so considering that it and the rest of the stages feature no slowdown. As heavy as the action can get, the game runs at a silky 60 frames per second. However, sometimes the graphics can be a distraction. It is all too easy in a particularly hectic fight to lose sight of your character. This can be exacerbated in stages like Earthbound's New Pork City, a massive environment with an almost nauseating purple color scheme that makes it hard to discern the fighters when the camera is fully zoomed out. Add that to the standard flashes and zooms of character specials and items and it's guaranteed to cause an errant death or two.

This'll only take a moment.

Super Smash Bros. has never sounded better than it does in Brawl. Sure, the sound effects are fine if not recycled from the previous games and feature appropriate nods to low-fi Nintendo cues past and present, but the true treasure is in its gaggle of music. Arranged by notable industry composers like Kingdom Hearts' Yoko Shimomura, No More Heroes' Masafumi Takada, and with a main theme composed by Final Fantasy maestro Nobuo Uematsu, Brawl's soundtrack features over 200 tracks from a sizeable chunk of Nintendo's back catalog. A feature called My Music also allows you to customize the frequency of what tracks you want to hear. Sadly, tracks are tied to specific stages, so you will not be able to use Solid Snake's theme on a Mario universe stage, for example. Though it's hardly a deal-breaker, this lack of customization is disappointing in a game overflowing with personalization options.

Brawl's biggest snag is that getting maximum enjoyment from it will require prerequisite knowledge and experience with Nintendo's characters and history. If the understanding of the absurd gravity of Link fighting Fox McCloud amidst the sewers of the original Mario Bros. game is lost, then these characters might as well be anyone else. Brawl has no shame in flaunting its appeal as a Nintendo self-promoter.

GB Review: Wipeout Pulse (PSP)

Shiva Stella — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:37:59 -0500

Though it's perhaps not the definitive Wipeout experience, Wipeout Pulse is definitely an improvement on its PSP predecessor in almost every way, offering online multiplayer, customizable music options, seven race types, and even the ability to design your own ship, limited though it may be. It starts slow, and you might be perturbed by the campaign mode now and then as well as a few graphical and acoustic slips, but on the whole it retains the franchise's almost zen-like quality during high-speed, weapons-intense races along with the same futuristic style that fans love.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Wipeout Pulse maintains the feel of the Wipeout universe complete with a futuristic presentation, plenty of techno beats, and fun high-speed races that completely defy a storyline or setting. The essential gameplay aspects of Pulse are strikingly similar to those of its predecessors; the player's objective still being to survive an onslaught of vicious attacks while en route to the finish line for a medal. No significant tweaking has been given to the standard single-race - if you spent more than five minutes with the PlayStation's Wipeout XL then you'll feel right at home, which is a boon for franchise veterans looking for the same thrills they encountered in previous Wipeout games. The dark side of Wipeout racing has also been left intact, with players still blasting each other with three-pronged missile attacks, bomb trails, and the infamous earthquake while nudging opponents into walls or soaring across chasms.

While Pulses basic gameplay aspects might have been overlooked, Sony still managed to differentiate Pulse from its Wipeout brethren by updating the franchises mode offerings. The traditional campaign mode for single-player features the usual seven base race teams vying for supremacy of 12 distinct tracks, with each anti-gravity vehicle sporting its own stats (speed, handling, thrust, etc) and now a loyalty bar that players fill each time they ride with a certain team; obtain enough loyalty points and the game rewards you with a bonus, though other than this free skin gift the bar serves no purpose. The campaign mode is much less linear than in past Wipeout games, though this admittedly comes with some caveats. The mode is split into sixteen sectors, each with four grids, while each grid contains anywhere from eight-sixteen blocks or "racing events" that are unlocked by completing an initial one or two events for that grid. A racing event may contain the usual single-race, zone (in which you fly through a track until you explode, attempting to hit a certain zone count), tournament (short series of single-races), or time trial or it could feature a head-to-head round, speed lap (in which you beat the single best lap time), or eliminator match.

The eliminator race type is a great addition to the series and has players racing to a kill-count instead of the finish line, and while the usual campaign eliminator round has a kill-count of 10, it is possible to up that to 25 for a gold in the game's racebox mode, which enables players to create their own instant matches or additional campaigns (other than that, though, it's practically useless). While the campaign mode is slightly different from what fans are used to, and therefore a bit refreshing, it does get annoying when you're forced to play through events you dislike just to open up the next single-race, zone, or eliminator match, as that amounts to a waste of time for those of us who'd rather race as opposed to perfecting our time trial records. Add to this the fact that the game starts off very slowly for the first four hours and you can accurately estimate the level of frustration you're in for.

The control scheme is carried over from Wipeout Pure and is still as simplistically designed and easy to grasp for newcomers, with D-pad/analog controls managing turning, L/R the left/right airbrakes, X acceleration, and square weapon usage. The absorb ability that allows you to replenish your vehicle's shield (life) is yet another carry-over, followed by the weapon/item (turbo) speed pads that should be recognized instantly by fans as they sport the same X-weapon and arrow-speed design elements, while track design contains the standard loops, tight corners, gaps, and tunnels that you'd expect from almost any racing game.

Sony's biggest sell-point for Pulse is that it features a multiplayer mode that meets Pure's ad-hoc offering and then bests it with online (infrastructure) play, but that's not by very much. The primary hitch is that there are few race customization options here, especially when compared to the almost pointless racebox mode. The only race types for infrastructure include single-race and tournament, which is a shame considering what fun it would be to slaughter opponents online during 25 laps of eliminator. The lack here is a huge missed opportunity and is highlighted by the other "customization options" for infrastructure, which include the ability to select from a handful of tracks and to turn weapons on/off. The attention that racebox received over infrastructure is mind-boggling. Another key issue is that there are very few people playing online, which is sad for a game that's been out for less than a month. Pulse's replay value, which could have been raised significantly by a decent infrastructure, takes another hit from the limited track offerings; the game boasts 12 unique tracks, and while it also utilizes a "black" and a "white" version of each for a touch of variety, that doesn't necessarily up the count to 24 as most of the variations come in race direction and the inclusion of "hidden" areas.

Though most of Pulse's presentation is on par with the rest of the series, showcasing a smooth framerate, mediocre visuals and race tracks heavy on the gray palette, there are some graphical and audio catches during explosions or when a lot of action is occurring on-screen at once, which appears to be more than the game can handle. Additionally there are some clipping issues when the player gets caught in an earthquake attack or lands on his vehicle's nose and has to wait patiently for the game to set him right-side up, after which hes probably lost the race. There's also not a lot of graphical flash except for weapons fire and the destruction of enemy ships, but while that's bearable it's a little more difficult to come to terms with the lag that rears its ugly head precisely as the player approaches a barrage of ships blasting each other into bits. Fortunately the lag is minimal during online play, and in fact its more common in offline races, but this might be because I've yet to play through an eight-person match.

Wipeout Pulse does contain one saving grace: its soundtrack customization. Pulse moves light-years beyond Pure in this area, as it enables gamers to include up to 30 of their own mp3s (depending on card size, of course) in the track list. This absolutely saves the game for those with low tolerance levels for electronica, as track offerings are less than inspiring and pale in comparison to song lists from previous installments. The ambient noises - the hovering of your anti-gravity craft, the thump and skid sounds as you dance near the edge of the track - are intact and functional for most of the gameplay, with the highlight being weapons fire, but there are a few audio catches during intense ship battles as noted above, as well as times when your ship will silently explode to poor background music.

Sony included two other incentives, a free skin editor available on wipeout-game.com and a photo mode, both equally unimpressive. The photo mode is an unnecessary trinket only accessible from the pause menu while the skin editor is plain and cumbersome; its much easier to just download skins from the site than to bother with the online editor. There are also several expansion packs available (or soon to be) for those craving new vehicles, skins, and tracks, but while they add some variety and replay value to Pulse, an expanded infrastructure mode would have made them a greater asset.

Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Studio Liverpool
Release: Feb 12, 2008
MSRP: $29.99
E10+

GB Review: Patapon (PSP)

Shiva Stella — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:34:35 -0600

Get ready to drum to the beat.

Patapon is a great musically-geared PSP game from several of the creative minds behind the popular LocoRoco and sports the same simple flair, highlighted by a colorful world, straightforward mechanics, intricate visual details, and a fantastically catchy beat that'll make this an addictive treat for Sony and music-genre fans. But even if LocoRoco let you down, Patapon comes with some improvements: it relies on an actual storyline that gives the game purpose, the "characters" have a touch more depth, and the amount of army tweaking, hunting areas, bosses, and mini-game diversions should offer enough motivation for you to finish it. For $20, you simply cannot go wrong.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

As is often the case with deities, you - the 'All-mighty' god of the adorable patapons - have been too preoccupied with the business of the universe to cast them an endearing glance. Completely neglected by their patron deity, the patapons - tiny, bloodthirsty, giant-eyed creatures with a serious knack for rhythm - have been forced to deal with an incursion of the malignant zigotons, ugly suckers that, in the ignorance of the divine, have walled their way between Patapolis, the patapon capital, and the object of the patapons' desire a great, mysterious gift that you conveniently placed at the end of the world. In your absence the patapons have suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of the foul zigotons and in a final act of desperation the sole survivor of the patapons' once magnificent army raises the war banner and cries out for your aid.

Should you answer the call, all of Patapolis will rejoice as you enter the world of Patapon, Sony's mix of real-time strategy and rhythm for the PSP from almost the same folks who brought you LocoRoco, the cute musical puzzle game that had you tapping your toes while sliding colorful blobs throughout the trappings of a rainbow paradise. Though LocoRoco was definitely a delight and a great boon for Sony's handheld, it lacked a certain quality and the player felt like he was maneuvering gelatinous globs for the sole purpose of hearing the next song. Patapon, refreshingly, does more than feature adorable music; it actively incorporates it into the gameplay via a very simplistic control mechanism. The player taps out a command in line with the music and the pulsating edges of the screen, a great help for beginners, and the patapon army behaves accordingly, either advancing (pata-pon), attacking (pon), defending (chaka), or performing the occasional miracle (it's good to see you living up to your reputation).

On the surface, it almost seems too simple; there are no thousand command combo variations that'll trigger some fancy cutscene, no "special" power-ups that'll teach your patapons how to fly, and no healing magic to get your troops back on track. There aren't even items - just four basic commands, yet the music and pounding drums makes them incredibly addictive. The proverbial icing is that each command operates as a strategy, such that "attack" has patapons throwing spears from a wider distance while "defend" orders the patapons to bunch up on the flag carrier, attacking only what approaches the army and therefore narrowing the archer's arch; this is a great maneuver for when bosses are attacking the area immediately in front of them and not the army's flank, where the tightly packed patapons are huddling safely out of reach. Nevertheless, a backup maneuver is sorely missing. When a patapon that isn't the flag carrier dies it leaves a "cap" (its head) behind for the army to collect so the player can resurrect the unit, but patapons at the rear (mostly archers) can get left behind due to the army's inability to retrace a few steps. The lack seems almost silly.

Pon, pon, pata, pon!

While the basic gameplay consists of leading your patapon army throughout the 30+ main missions, Sony threw in some boss battles and lighter hunting areas, enabling the player to collect source materials (rocks, sticks, etc), money (ka-chi), and "legendary" weapons. Admittedly the enemy design is redundant: the first boss the player encounters is a giant turquoise-spotted, fire-breathing dragon while the second is a giant red-spotted, fire-breathing dragon (and yes, both dragons require the same strategy to defeat). The patapons' prey receive the same treatment, boasting black birds, pink birds, gold birds, and the like. However, there is just enough variation and the bosses are just difficult enough to keep the gameplay interesting. For additional diversity there are some nasty environmental aspects including excruciatingly painful lightning strikes and annoying wind changes to watch out for as well as animals that actually fight back, but again, the sole purpose of Patapon is to lead those adorable bug-eyed killers into battle with your significant drumming abilities. As a final touch, the highly important fever mode, which you activate by staying true to the beat for ten commands, is the key to success, sending the patapons into a blood-frenzy that crushes everything in its path; one troop type in particular, the kibapon (cavalry), relies entirely on fever mode and is less than useless without it, though with it the kibapon become war deities that rival the All-mighty Himself. The only downside to the fever mode is that most levels appear designed to encourage the gamer to reach fever by walking forward; this amounts to a lot of empty space and needless repetition, as you can reach fever by standing in-place and defending, if need be. Another annoyance is that the music changes as you initiate fever, so you can easily miss a beat and lose fever if you're distracted by patapon singing and the acoustic switch.

Singing, dancing, and drumming your one-eyed soldiers to success - while the highlight of the gameplay - is only half the story in Patapon, as any great army unleashed by any great civilization requires plenty of bureaucratic management. To this end Patapolis awaits the All-mighty's use, boasting many convenient features, the foremost of which is the life-tree for patapon creation and/or reincarnation (nobody's perfect). At the life-tree you can bring forth many a new patapon by mixing ingredients, usually minerals, meats, and tree branches, for specific race and troop types. If you're looking to create an archer (yumipon), for example, you throw in a rock and a stick and viola - instant bow-and-arrow buddy. To "adjust" the yumipon you simply increase the quality of the ingredients, this time mixing a tytanium ore with hinoki wood to create a tikulee (blue) yumipon, read: an archer with improved stats (HP, damage, speed, crit, etc). There are four basic troop types: yumipon (archers), yaripon (spearmen), kibapon (cavalry), and tatepon (infantry), and each unit within each type my be either a regular (white) patapon or, with a little genetic tweaking, achieve that extra special rank: pyokola (red), gekolos (green), mofeel (purple), or tikulee (blue).

Though the life-tree is the heart of Patapolis, Sony added some elements of the mini-game variety for fun and musical relaxation. As the player completes missions he'll collect "unique" items that can be utilized by the life-tree to create "hero" patapons - the great patapons of lore who kept the troops fed and the altar flooded with resources. The mini-games have you repeat tunes in a 'Simon-says' manner for four lines and, depending on your timing, reward you with prize goods for patapon creation. The rest of Patapolis - the "gateway" to the world map, the base camp (led by the priestess patapon, Meden) - serve as nice perches from you can view plot progression, but otherwise they exist to make the city feel less vacant.

Patapon's presentation is on par with LocoRoco's and is about what you'd expect if you played its pseudo-predecessor: the environs are colorful, the patapons and zigotons are detailed from their helmets down to their very tiny feet, and all character and object design features a simplistic structure and color palette. What differentiates it the most from LocoRoco, besides its "puzzles" (most of which include the obtaining and usage of the proper miracle needed to proceed) and gameplay mechanics, is the inclusion of an actual storyline and characterization, shallow though both may be. The player feels as though there is a real goal to obtain for helping the struggling patapons succeed and not just another level filled with cute little musical "events" that may eventually bore him. This drive to finish the game nicely compliments its replayability and keeps the gamer coming back for more of this unique musical experience, often hunting for kicks or creating patapons to form the "ultimate" army. Perfectionists beware: with more than 100 weapons/armor and plenty of source materials to tweak your darling soldiers, you can spend a few hours doing nothing but gaining goodies and improving stats. Unfortunately all 100+ of those weapons/armor must be obtained by completing missions: you can't take the source materials you already have and turn them into weaponry, which is a missed opportunity that could have added countless hours and much depth to the gameplay. On the whole, however, Patapon is yet another fantastic title on the PSP, perfect for short or lengthy mobile gaming sessions and full of endless acoustic delight. You'll be pleasantly surprised by this one.

Publisher: Sony Computer Ent.
Developer: Sony Computer Ent./Japan Studio/Pyramid
Release: Feb 26, 2008
MSRP: $19.99
Everyone

Wii Review Bonanza, or: Your Wii is Sick - Must be Something you Played

Eric Jonathan Smith — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:25:13 -0600

Kneel. Place hands on either side of the ceramic-like object. Wait. A sudden urge takes you, spewing the remains of a previous ingestion. You glance at what was just created; between the remains of what were once good ideas you see those extra things you tacked on that seemed like a quick fix at the time but ultimately caused their own regurgitation. You lament at the pain you caused yourself, but deep down you can feel that the pain is still there.

So what have you been eating? Or in this case, what have various developers been feeding the ceramic bowl in question, the Wii? Their own regurgitation, that's what - and a little bit of Nintendo's own leftovers for good measure. The Wii is the one that's sick, suffering from delirious spells of minigame collections, shoddy ports, forced motion control schemes, and God knows what else.

A little examination is in order. Five case studies have been prepared, each a different opinion of how Wii software appears. Some of it isn't too pretty but fear not, we might even discover a cure. So lean back, relax, and try not to throw that Wii remote into the tv.

CASE STUDY #1: AUTO MINIGAME SUFFICIENCY SYNDROME

Subject: Namco Museum Remix

PROGNOSIS: Sudden ingestion of too many minigame collections causes repetition, boredom, and possible suicide in large doses.

A certain kind of bug that especially has a tendency to bite the older and wiser is nostalgia. It can be a pretty nasty little sucker, causing previously sane and logical men and women to do foolish things like pine for dated graphics and simpler gameplay styles. As the years have gone by, once bustling arcades have forever shut their doors and the game consoles of yesteryear require a type of mouth-to-cartridge action bordering on fellatio to get the games working.

Namco's Museum series of arcade home conversions are some of the first treatments that should come to mind when considering ubiquitous, readily available classical cures. After all, every system under the sun absolutely needs multiple versions of Pac-Man on it, right? Namco has now made sure that the Wii is no exception and has released Namco Museum Remix, the Museum containing the nostalgic classics and you guessed it the Remix consisting of Wii-specific minigames.

However, it's not a good sign when a classic compilation makes you wax nostalgia for older compilations. That's not to say that Namco Museum Remix has any large, glaring faults: it is by all means a competent product, even if you have to roll around Pac-Man in lieu of a standard menu interface, which can be slightly annoying. But no, as with any other compilation, its success or failure hinges on its selection of games, and Namco Museum Remix drops the ball a bit. Sure, it has standard classics in Xevious, Mappy, Dig Dug, and Pac-Mania (you know, that are available on most of the other collections) but trades in Galaga for its inferior predecessor Galaxian (dear God, why?) In the games that no one ever wanted to play section, there's Cutie-Q (a poor Breakout clone) and Super Pac-Man and Pac & Pal, two rather poor sequels to the original. At least it offers Gaplus (Galagas sequel) as a sort of cruel consolation prize.

If this somewhat mediocre selection of its past was all Namco offered in Museum Remix, this collection would be DOA. Luckily, they put a slight bit of effort in its resuscitation: the titular Wii-specific "remixes" of other classic titles. Unfortunately, they aren't enough to keep this one alive for too long. However, they did get the nostalgic feel down pat! Feel like playing the rollercoaster minigame from Final Fantasy VII? Play Galaga Remix! How about Whack-A-Mole? Then Gator Panic Remix is for you. Granted, Rally X Remix is a rather fair version, as are Pac Motos (a Pac-infused version of the original bumping off the edge game Motos) and Pac 'n Roll. But the problem is that these suffer the same shallow fate as other Wii minigame collections, and in the few minutes that you'll be done with them you're then left with merely the arcade collection.

Diagnosis? The entire weight of Namco Museum Remix will rest on how much you like the classic arcade games included. Considering the selection isn't all that great to begin with, the weight will likely fatigue the classics in a relatively short amount of time.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

She'll eat the monkey.

CASE STUDY #2: PORTROENTERITIS

Subject: The Sims 2: Castaway

PROGNOSIS: Patients suffering from contact to shoddy, careless ports from other systems suffer from: shattered belief in console's viability, fatigue, and indigestion.

One of the oldest epidemics in videogamedom is that of the port. Whether it was arcade to console, PC to console, or vice versa, the word port has connotations of mediocrity and for good reason: many ports are sloppy, rushed, stripped down versions of the original. Even in more modern times, ports retain that sloppy, rushed feel when they stray from the hardware they were built on. Unfortunately, this has been a lazy way for developers to cash on the Wii's success.

One such wave that has plagued nearly every piece of gaming hardware to ever exist, past, present, and future is The Sims. Popular with 15-year-old girls of all ages, The Sims is an omnipresent choice with casual gamers, and logic would successfully conclude that it should end up on the Wii.

The premise is simple: after constructing your Sim on a yacht, something bad happens and he or she washes ashore on a mysterious, deserted island with nary a volleyball around to keep as company. Obviously a tropical island is a terrible place to be lost, so it's up to you to guide your Sim to his/her ultimate goal of getting off the island alive. And to be perfectly honest, the interface in which you'll be accomplishing this works fairly well; with the Wii Remote acting superbly as a pointer in lieu of a mouse, navigating menus isn't all that hard.

Too bad the menus themselves looked like they were ported from a higher resolution without the proper tweaking. The entire game really looks very simple and to be frank, boring. You could choose to stay on the island for as long as you wanted, but when it looks that dull, why would you? Jagged edges are more reminiscent of the graphical hell that was the 32/64-bit era more than a tropical Eden.

But, this is a simulation at heart, and that gameplay still works. The Sim will have to collect resources to survive with the help of monkeys (of course) and eventually should have a decent little living space set up. There are also various goals that you can find scattered across the island that will give you some objectives amidst the rather open-ended (if not mundane) tasks.

Diagnosis? Not as bad as it could have been. Wii Pointer functionality works well amidst the poor resolution and the gameplay experience isn't a complete throwaway. More hardcore gamers, stay away (if the name wouldn't make them do so already).

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

My, Soulcalibur. You look as beautiful as you play.

CASE STUDY #3: MOTION SICKNESS

Subject: Soulcalibur Legends

PROGNOSIS: Prolonged exposure to poorly implemented Wii waggle controls can lead to: madness, frustration, and nausea.

Having new ways to control games means that there will be new ways for developers to screw up their implementation. Even after decades with a pretty standard diagonal pad and any number of supporting buttons, some still couldn't get it right. Poor control is absolutely killer to a game's success and probably the worst blight it could have.

Enter Soulcalibur Legends. A spin-off of Namco's eternal (also, a mere shadow of its former self) fighter, Legends tells the story of Teutonic Knight Siegfried Schtauffen and his dealings with Soul Edge, the evil blade. Yeah, it's a fighting game story. What the hell do you want from me?

Though it may have been built ground-up for Wii, it plays nothing like it. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it was built ground-up to be a cheap cash-in. Siegfried and the other Soulcalibur heroes you command all control by swinging the Wii Remote as you would their weapons. It's a good enough idea in concept. In execution, it's abysmal. Controlling attacks in this manner is ungodly unresponsive and makes you question whether simple button presses would have been better. Considering this is a central gameplay mechanic, this is inexcusable. There is no way that Legends could be an adequate action title due to this flaw alone.

The game is also cringe-worthy in the visual department. In some aspects, especially the environments, it looks like a launch title for the PlayStation 2. That might be forgivable, but the level designs are as monotonous as the enemies you fight. Character models fair a bit better, because they are based around the designs from Soulcalibur II, if not taken wholesale from it. Legends also suffers from the tired design choice of "defeat every monster in the room before you can move on". Please.

I found myself looking more at the menus and the art in the story sequences because, well, they are actually rather decent, and not just in comparison to the game itself. I'd be tempted to say that the menus are the best part of the game. When all is said and done then, the most hardcore of Soulcalibur fanatics will be able to eke something out of this game though I wouldn't go so far as to call it enjoyment. The controls are just too poorly implemented for anyone with more than a merely casual interest in the franchise.

Diagnosis? Highly contagious, and not in the good way. Contagious in that it will creep up on your brain and soul and make you regret every penny and second spent on it. Unless, of course, you're just a hardcore and gullible fighting game fan - those people are crazy.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Okay, so it's not the sexiest thing on earth. Maybe you can dig it.

CASE STUDY #4: THE MYSTERY BUG

Subject: Smarty Pants

PROGNOSIS: ???

Sometimes even the best doctors can get baffled. True to that, every once in a while a game will come up that makes you question why it was necessary to be in videogame form. Was it really easier to play Monopoly on a TV than on a board (Hint: no)? Much of the experience of such a famous and standard board game rests on handling those gaudy bills and tapping your piece of choice past go. In other words, the actual game could sometimes be boring, but having it physically in front of you kept you from falling asleep.

EA's Smarty Pants dares to go into this territory. It is a trivia game, not unlike the old board game pursuits of old. Each of its cavalcades of questions ranging from pop-culture to history has a multiple choice selection. There are a few different modes, including ones for both single remote and multiple remote setups, suitably nudging itself into party game territory.

So. That's it. That's Smarty Pants in a nutshell. Sure, there's some sort of dancing thing you have to do with the Wii Remote, but we'll not mention that any more for its own sake.

Is there a benefit to having a trivia game on a home videogame console? From my own experience, I'd have to say yes. Smarty Pants is actually fairly well presented, with voiceovers and decent sound effects that make it seem more like a game show than just a trivia game. The group mode, which requires multiple Wii Remotes, each acting like a buzzer, manifests this presentation style. As with anything trivial, in a group setting you'll likely find yourself shouting out the answers, as much as you may regret this in your memory later on. The fact that Smarty Pants is capable of this is something positive in and of itself.

Diagnosis? Smarty Pants is hardly a wonderful title, but it's not necessarily a throwaway. If you really want to play a trivia game on the Wii, it's a decent enough choice. But, uh, you know, you could buy a copy of Trivial Pursuit for less.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

I can't even tell what's bleeding.

CASE STUDY #5: NO MORE TEARS

Subject: No More Heroes

PROGNOSIS: Exposure to games designed for Wii from the ground up may cause: enjoyment, fun, laughter, and world peace.

"Will you do it with me?"

If any of the above games had asked you such a question, I hope by now youd have learned to at the very least understand the risk factors involved; simple precautions will keep your Wii from being subjugated to possible infection.

However, another game asks this favor, a game so dirty yet so clean, some would say downright filthy in content yet nearly spotless in design. "Will you do it with me?" If you're privy enough to hear those words uttered by Travis Touchdown, by all means, accept. Travis is the star of No More Heroes, a game with the distinction of being the near opposite of the Wii flu - it is a coherent, focused, original title using the Wii Remote in a startlingly effective manner.

The premise is straightforward but with spry delivery that never takes itself too seriously. Travis is essentially both a dork and a loser and while drowning his sorrows at a bar he runs into a mysterious woman named Sylvia who promises him he can be the world's top assassin all he has to do is off the rest of the world's top-ranked assassins. Naïve Travis of course accepts the offer, with his prime motivation being to sleep with Sylvia. Your prime motivation to play the game will likely be to see what outrageous and foul-mouthed things will come out of the mouths of Travis and his co-stars.

The game's structure is built around going after each of the 10 assassins. To get to each, Travis must pay Sylvia a fee, which he can earn by doing sidejobs like lawn mowing (seriously) and minor assassination gigs all within the façade of an open-ended environment and setting for the game, Santa Destroy. This environment is one of the game's faults because jobs and assassination gigs must be selected at specific locations before they can start, thus the free-roaming world really serves no other purpose than to add the filler of travel. Still, it is ultimately a minor issue.

How the story and gameplay unfold within each of the 10 main assassination missions is, in a way, underwhelming yet satisfying. Combat may appear simple at first, as pressing A controls Travis's attack, but Wii-specific moves come in the forms of finishers and grabs. If an enemy is near death, an arrow will appear on-screen, prompting you to move the Wii Remote in its direction for a super-violent finisher. Travis cuts his enemies into pieces, with blood and guts as exaggerated as his own persona. Later it is not uncommon to dismember entire groups of enemies at once, causing the entire game to slow down, ludicrous in its fulfillment. Travis also has a number of wrestling moves that are controlled by moving both the Remote and Nunchuk and do add a bit of variety. After every successful finisher, Travis also has a small slot wheel that can serve to make him even more powerful than he already is, providing temporary invincibility and the like.

No More Heroes is by no means a cure for the Wii's blues the game is not perfect. The aforementioned faux open-ended structure along with somewhat repetitive combat (the finishers never get old, however) and the fact that the assassin bosses take from dozens of hits to hundreds to defeat can sometimes sometimes leave a foul taste. But it lasts for but an instant in the presence of the rest of the game as a whole. Its language and bloody style may put some off, but if you're into that sort of thing, your Wii could really deserve the pleasure of doing it with Travis.

Diagnosis? While not a panacea, No More Heroes is certainly the type of original, short term treatment that the Wii needs in larger doses. A must-buy for anyone who needs a good action title for any system.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

GB Review: NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii)

Solomon Lee — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:58:38 -0600

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is a promising title that suffers regrettably from bland platforming levels and poor control scheme. Despite having high hopes for this game, I can only recommend NiGHTS as a rental for both hardcore fans and newcomers. The game sports beautiful visuals and a nostalgic soundtrack but the game as a whole feels much too fragmented. Online multiplayer modes are a nice addition but they don't offer much in terms of replay value and appeal. As it stands, NiGHTS is only enjoyable at select moments with the rest of the game falling victim to mediocrity.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

NiGHTS: Into Dreams, released over a decade ago, was Sega's flagship title for the Saturn that challenged Nintendo's magnum opus, Super Mario 64. Though the game was highly praised for its creative gameplay mechanics involving flight and the use of a special controller, Nights was eclipsed by the red plumber in Mario 64 that achieved enormous success. After many years of fan requests and petitions, Sega has enlisted Sonic Team to bring back one of their most cherished titles on the Nintendo Wii. The long awaited Nights sequel has arrived with the enigmatic NiGHTS soaring once again in NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams.

The story involves the tale of two children, William Taylor and Helen Cartwright, who have nightmares regularly due to failing relationships with their parents. Consequently, they are overcome by feelings of despair and loneliness as they both struggle alone. NiGHTS, the carefree purple Nightmaren, reaches out to them upon their arrival in the mysterious dream world known as Nightopia. It is in this world that Will and Helen summon the courage to help NiGHTS rescue Nightopia against the evil Wizeman and the sinister Reala. Together, they must restore peace to Nightopia by collecting the positive traits of five colored orbs: courage, hope, intelligence, growth and purity.

At the start, you can choose either Will or Helen and your choice will dictate the story that unfolds in the game. Both of them have unique experiences in Nightopia as they encounter NiGHTS, Reala and the evil Wizeman in different circumstances. The game begins in a centralized area known as the Dream Gate where you are able to visit seven different worlds through separate doorways. Each world consists of five levels with mission objectives to be completed in a short period of time. The first few levels are reminiscent of the flight levels seen in the original release with NiGHTS soaring through yellow rings, snagging blue chips and destroying flying enemies. Taking control of the purple jester-like Nightmaren requires you to fuse together and "dualize" with NiGHTS. In other words, both Will and Helen must temporarily assume the form of NiGHTS to begin and complete the chase levels.

NiGHTS can be controlled with the Wiimote, Wiimote and nunchuk, classic controller and the Gamecube controller. NiGHTS fly horizontally and vertically leaving behind a sparkling rail of lights that can be used to execute aerial combat maneuvers. The Wiimote option is utilized by pointing the screen cursor in the direction that NiGHTS should be flying. Whereas the nunchuk and classic controller offers intuitive controls, the Wiimote by itself lacks the necessary precision needed to guide NiGHTS from Point A to Point B. In the various stages, you can perform two special moves: the Drill Dash and the Paraloop. The Drill Dash allows you to spin and accelerate at a faster speed to collect rings, smash items and destroy enemies. Conversely, the Paraloop is executed by flying in a circular motion around flying creatures and foes. Thus, an aerial vacuum is created that captures both Nightopians and Nightmarens in mid-air and sends them to a different world entirely.

Boss encounters are initiated at the end of the first level of each world. The different challenges vary from easy to moderately difficult when facing a hideous foe. Frustration easily mounts in boss fights as you often struggle to figure out how to finish the necessary mission objective. In addition, dying in a boss fight means that you have to start the entire mission over again. Sadly, there are no save points or items that allow you to restart the boss encounter after a slow but painful death. Once the boss is defeated, you must fight a stronger form of the same boss once more in the final level.

Persona masks are highly coveted items to be found in the separate worlds throughout, and when found and used accordingly, they transform NiGHTS into three different creatures: dolphin, dragon and rocket. The dolphin persona mask allows you to swim freely underwater and enables access to secret secluded areas while the dragon mask provides NiGHTS with superior wind resistance. Finally, just like the name suggests, the rocket persona mask turns you into a rocket blasting you through yellow rings and breakable objects at a phenomenal speed.

The biggest disappointment in this game is the platforming levels. With either Will or Helen, you must finish numerous mission levels ranging from regrouping with NiGHTS to collecting as many orbs as possible. However, these levels are dull and uninspired compared to the more intriguing free-roaming flight levels with NiGHTS. What's more, it's not always clear where you're supposed to go when trying to complete the mission objective in a timely manner. To top it off, the camera is dreadful and quite a nuisance around tight corners and walls. These levels comprise a majority of the mission levels in the Nightopia worlds that really doesn't add anything valuable to the overall gameplay.

After the first Nightopia world is cleared, a special doorway is unlocked to another world. This secluded world, known as My Dream, is home to your private collection of creatures from the Nightopia worlds. In reference to the Paraloop technique, Nightopians and enemy creatures, Nightmarens, are brought to this world after they are captured in regular mission levels. There are two kinds of every creature and the type and quantity of the creatures will influence the environment of the My Dream world. Special gifts and invitations can be exchanged and extended to online friends that wish to visit your paradise through an exclusive friend roster list.

Multiplayer matches feature two different modes: Race and Battle. Under the Race mode, you can compete against a friend locally or online to be the first to reach the goal. The three online modes are as follows: With a Nearby Friend, With a Faraway Friend and With a Random Player. With a Nearby Friend mode pits two players against one another in a Nightopia game. The Faraway Friend mode allows you to challenge a friend online from your friend roster list whereas the Random Player mode matches you up against almost anyone online. Regarding the Battle mode, you are free to set the rules and parameters of a competitive game against a friend offline.

The visuals in this game are simply a delight. Vibrant colors and polished designs are evident in the trees, waterfalls, rocky terrains, buildings, aquatic creatures and the surrounding landscape. The roller coaster mission with fireworks, flying enemies and the soaring NiGHTS is wonderful eye-candy filled with charm and excitement. As for the soundtrack, the music blends perfectly with the game in promoting the artistic and whimsical world of Nightopia. Most of the voice work is well done with strong performances behind Will, Helen and the cheerful NiGHTS.

Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega
Release Date: 12/18/07
ESRB: E

GB Review: Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends (DS)

Shiva Stella — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 01:06:44 -0600

Mama's Posse: Prepare to get served.

Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends offers up most of the same simplistic, addictive gameplay that fans of the series love with a few twists, namely multiplayer action and new recipes. It's a great title for short gaming sessions, definitely tops the cutesy chart, and boasts those same adorable visuals and step-by-step cooking minigames that fans are familiar with. However, Mama's latest expedition feels more like an extension of the original rather than a true sequel and certainly isn't for the traditional hardcore gamer (it's also incredibly easy), but if you're into food and light gameplay (and especially if you haven't played the original) then it's a go; otherwise it's a rent, if that.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Cooking Mama 2 is yet another easy, pick-up-and-play title from Majesco and is centered around cooking for your Mama; to up the ante the company added new recipes for a total of 80 delicious dishes for the player to experiment with beginning in "Cook with Mama" mode. This mode provides the traditional Cooking Mama experience, featuring every possible step you can imagine in the creation of each of the 80 dishes. Players progress step-by-step via completing recipe minigames, ranging from cracking eggs, stirring ingredients, grilling meats, pouring various liquids, and peeling apples to folding crepes, setting the oven (yes, setting the oven is a minigame), and blowing into the DS mic to cool off food.

You do everything from scratch in Mama's kitchen, but unfortunately you've done it all before.

If you're feeling especially creative you'll occasionally have the opportunity to decorate your dish for presentation to Mama, but most of the minigames are straight-forward and relatively quick: stir this, cut that, sprinkle this, fold that, stick it in the oven and viola - dish #whatever is served. If you screw up a step there's no need to worry as Mama, ever your protector, will step in and "correct" the recipe (an expensive feat in the real world), although her flaming devil eyes seem to suggest otherwise. If Mama approves of your dish she'll reward you with either a bronze, silver, or gold medal and the option of saving your record for the dish in a diary that you can decorate with a "seal" (an icon) and keep forever in digital memory. If the overall gameplay sounds too simple and easy, it is, and this is a definite fault when you're really re-playing the original.

If you tire of cooking for Mama you can switch to the "Let's Cook!" mode and start prepping dishes for your childhood friends with very discriminating tastes (I'm not accustomed to children actually knowing what rice rolls and crepes are; in fact I'm not accustomed to children demanding any food but cookies and candy, but apparently Mama's little friends boast a bit more class). Spilling ingredients, burning the food, forgetting to blow on your dish's contents as you're preparing your stew/sauce, or failing to correctly prepare the lobster/shrimp/etc within the time-limit will result in a ruined dish as Mama declines to cover for you when you're showing her up in her own kitchen, so any major mistake means a do-over. If you're successful in whipping up delightful treats for Mama and pals, however, you'll unlock new recipes and accessories for decorating your very own Mama. If you've ever looked at your mother and wanted nothing more than to give her a make-over but couldn't without getting slapped, Mama is a perfect substitute. You can also renovate the kitchen (change the clock, cabinet, counter, or window sill color) if you're in the mood

The third and final mode, "Cooking Contest," is Office Create's newest addition to the series and features multiplayer, ad-hoc gameplay (that is, you can play with up to two other friends assuming you all possess a DS unit and a copy of the game). I'm at a loss as to why a game this graphically simplistic couldn't include infrastructure/online cooking matches that would have justified the purchase of Cooking Mama 2 for those who already own the original, but alas, the option was left out. The "Cooking Contest" mode also features solo challenges for those who prefer to compete against their past records.

While there are very few faults to be found in Mama's latest culinary adventure (other than it's essentially the same game as the original), its controls are sometimes a smidgen too sensitive or delay the action (I always have a hell of a time pouring liquids, and once you stop prematurely you might as well give up, as you won't be able to stop pouring fast enough after you start again to prevent the contents from overflowing). There are also some recipes that have way too many steps; some of these steps are so incredibly simple that it's actually easier and makes much more sense to combine them as their separation actually distracts from the gameplay.

Cooking Mama 2 is a charming game with adorable visuals and cute, looped music that pairs nicely with its simple style and quick gameplay sessions, but its baffling lack of online multiplayer along with few gameplay options and the fact that Cooking Mama 2 is essentially Cooking Mama 1 all cost it some major points. If you're curious it's worth a look, though.

Publisher: Majesco
Developer: Office Create
Release: Nov 13, 2007
MSRP: $29.99
Everyone | Ad-hoc play

GB Review: Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP)

Shiva Stella — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 16:27:20 -0600

War of the Lions: The PlayStation classic in a whole new light.

It's the same fantastic game you played in 1998 with some positive adjustments, including more mature dialogue and some lovely animated cutscenes. While a few other elements - character names, job ability names, etc - were changed for unknown reasons, the whole package comes together just as nicely as the original, though a few might have qualms with the cutscene voiceacting or missing infrastructure battles. All in all, the same Square masterpiece you've played before, only on the PlayStation Portable with a storyline that'll make more sense to newcomers than the original's.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

I might as well admit to a bias on Square Enix's updated Final Fantasy Tactics, as the original game is quite possibly my most favorite title, topping the likes of Super Mario Brothers 3, Mario Kart, Sunset Riders, Knights of the Old Republic I/II, the Elder Scrolls series, The Lion King (SNES - don't hate) and even Final Fantasy VII and VIII. Final Fantasy Tactics remains the king of all strategy RPGs, the title to which they all inevitably compare themselves as they struggle to balance pure strategy based gameplay with leveling up, magical spells, pretty graphics, and an enchanting plot - a feat that most in its genre fail to accomplish.

The same crew you know and love.

As you can imagine, when I first heard that Square was re-releasing FFT for its 20th Anniversary celebration I was both thrilled at the prospect and concerned that Square would butcher it by adjusting the gameplay mechanics, thereby making it "easier" for those accustomed to a simpleton's handheld games. This has always been a point of contention for me and hot handheld titles that tend to amount to nothing more than a whimsical collection of mini-games - such things are nice if they interest you and/or you're fresh out of entertainment options on-the-go, but for "real games" I've always preferred a console or a PC. Interestingly this is one of FFT: War of the Lions's primary criticisms: that it boasts a high learning curve and is more involving than the average handheld gamer would like. I say "interestingly" because critics appear to be lamenting the fact that War of the Lions is a real game as opposed to a 15 minute mini-game.

Those of us who enjoyed the original (or prefer to spend more than 15 minutes on a game here or there), however, will be pleased with most of what Square has done for War of the Lions, beginning with some much-needed dialogue adjustments. Gone are the childish, sometimes nonsensical comments poorly translated from the Japanese script; the dialogue is now much more mature and befitting of the game's setting. Compare three samples I took at random from both the original and PSP version:

"Take care of Ramza. He may be your half brother but he is my own flesh."
"Though he be not the issue of the womb that bore you, my sons, still my blood courses his veins. Watch after him."

"He will be killed if we don't act fast! I don't know what I would do if..."
"We must act quickly if he is to remain so. Should he be killed, I will lose everything..."

"Highness. Please let me have 100 soldiers!"
"I beg of you, Lord Beoulve! Lend me a hundred men that I might hunt the whoresons down!"

Some might complain that the dialogue loses its directness and childlike charm in the update, but Square scores points from me for taking the time to modify the script line by line, making the game's plot significantly easier to follow. This polishing was also applied to the game's tutorial/chronicle, which now sounds less like thrown-together biographies and a brief note on the zodiac role and more like elements meant to help the player follow the narrative and understand the strategic aspects of the gameplay. Gamers unfamiliar with the battle system's charge time (CT) gauge, how the zodiac compatibility feature operates, the party roster's organization, or how characters acquire abilities for use in battle will find the cleaner tutorial much simpler to understand in comparison to the original's. The game does, however, still operate on the notion that nothing quite teaches like experience, and so introduces gameplay elements by tossing the player into the fray with his party and letting him take charge of his unit step by step, but this is one of the game's perks unless you'd rather read through instructions before you're allowed to play.

A black mage can save the world.

These subtle presentation enhancements were also applied to the game's spell/ability naming scheme as well as character names and titles. The infamous Algus has been upgraded to Argath; Rad, that coward NPC from the very first battle, has been switched to Ladd (though he's just as useless); the Death Corps has been renamed the Corpse Brigade; and Ramza's home at Igros is now Eagrose. The spell naming system, which had healing spells listed as cure, cure 2, cure 3, etc., has been modified to fit into the familiar Final Fantasy realm of cures, curas, curagas, and so on. The auto-attack option is now aptly displayed as "AI" while priests have become white mages and wizards, black mages.

Fans of the original will find that most of the content in the PSP version is the same, a plus considering its predecessor's high quality. The music, one of the game's greatest features, contains the same powerful songs looped during battles and menu navigation and supported by cute ambient sounds (the drawing of swords, the cries of the dying, the blowing of wind, and so on) during cutscenes and gameplay; most of the cutscenes are still presented with in-game graphics, though "important" scenes have been updated with more visually appealing animations that combine the title's sprite character graphics with its new maturity. The cutscene voiceacting could use a bit of work - I'm still of the mind that voicework should have been eliminated altogether here as subtitles would have carried the animation along just as well, if not better - and the UMD will freeze for half a second during cutscene play (usually once or twice a scene), but it is a treat to see Square breathe fresh life into Ramza and Delita after a decade since the original.

To commemorate the title's re-release Square also added two new gameplay features for fans, these being ad-hoc battles and jobs (now labeled as "errands") available in every tavern. If you'd rather fight against a human opponent or enlist job aid from a person with a more experienced squad, you can finally do so, and Square has even modified some of the gameplay rules for these ad-hoc options. Now if your favorite black mage dies in a battle against a friend and also crystallizes after his counter reaches zero (which would normally mean that this black mage is gone forever), you can get him back after the battle. Any equipment you lose is also returned after ad-hoc carnage, while bonus gil and equipment rewards are kept. The ad-hoc feature is of tremendous value to gamers with access to multiple PSPs and at least two copies of the game, but it means zilch to the rest of us. An infrastructure (online) mode that pitted players from across the globe against each other would have made War of the Lions the RPG for the PSP (and would have kept me too busy to write another review, ever), but sadly the feature is sorely lacking.

Always the perfectionist.

The Lions War does port very well over to the PSP, though the color palette is toned down somewhat, giving the game a more realistic look, and the handheld isn't capable of producing the same quality of sound that your HDTV paired with its surround sound routinely emits, however the title still looks, sounds, and plays almost exactly the same as its predecessor. The only other quirk I noticed in the PSP version is that some spells (like protect, shell, etc) have slightly slower animations than the PlayStation original's, though this is hardly noticeable unless you (like me) have both your PSP and PlayStation 3 simultaneously running the same game.

While some fans are going to be annoyed at the new cutscenes and the lack of online (infrastructure) play, most - as well as those who missed out on a true gaming experience in the late 90's - will find that Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is not to be skipped.

Also available on: PlayStation (if you can find it)
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
Release: Oct 9, 2007
MSRP: $39.99
Teen | Ad-hoc play | News
Won runner up for GameBump's Best Portable Game of 2007

GB Review: Sonic Rivals 2 (PSP)

Brian Mohr — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:42:45 -0600

Sonic Rivals 2 is mixed bag. On one hand it can be quite a frustrating experience due to the heavy focus on battle throughout the races, but on the other hand elements of it are enjoyable. Its a real pity, as the game would actually be rather good if you were just judging by visuals and racing mechanics.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

You can almost set it like clockwork: another Sonic game at least every year. This fall Sonic returns to racing in Sonic Rivals 2 for the PlayStation Portable. Is the Hedgehog racer worth a run?

First off, let me break it down as to what this game features: a story mode and racing mode. In race mode, all you do is pick one of eight characters and battle it out through a bunch of different levels. This is essentially what the game is all about - you racing against opponents. Its a fun and engaging experience.

The same can not be said for the story mode which is poor to say the least. Sonic games arent about the story at all, they're about speed and moving as fast as you can through a level.

In the story mode, you pick one of four teams to race with, with each team featuring two racers. There are several issues with this, the first being the game's combat. There is too much of a focus on combat and not nearly as much on the actual racing.

In regards to combat, once you get close to an opponent you can press the circle button to pass or jump over them. You also can acquire items throughout the level to utilize in order to attack your opponent. In addition, characters are given unique abilities if they collect enough rings in a board. This is unfair to say the least as some characters are given a significant advantage over others like Tails's ability to fly compared to Silvers power.

The focus of combat in the races continues when youll have to face off against the other characters in a one-on-one battle. To put it mildly, its not the most exhilarating experience because whoever gets hit twice loses.

That is followed up by another race and then you come to a boss battle. The ending battle features the same kind of gameplay that was popular in the original Sonic series in the 90s. The difference here is that youre also battling your rival in the boss fight to be the first one to hit the boss. The focus on battling your rival and a boss at the same time is utterly irritating to say the least.

Thats not to say that Sonic Rivals 2 doesnt have its fun parts. The race mode isnt bad as stated above because its not focused on the rival aspect.

Also, the graphics in Sonic 2 are phenomenal particularly for a handheld game. The game moves incredibly fast. In fact you do get the sense of speed youre supposed to. In addition, the characters and environments explode off the screen.

While that is nice, the story and sound are quite poor. The game features typical bland Sonic music and horrible voice acting.

Overall Sonic Rivals 2 isnt a terrible game, the problem is that it focuses too much on battle. In fact, the racing is pretty fun and you do really get a feel for the speed and pace of the game and its worth a run through.

Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega
Release: Nov 13, 2007
MSRP: $39.99
Everyone

GB Review: Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am (PS2)

Brian Mohr — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:16:38 -0600

Horrible, terrible and simple are just a few words to describe Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am. This game doesnt do anything right - the golf, racing and fighting are all bad. All I can say is that youve been warned.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Its difficult to tell if Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am is trying to be a terrible game or just is one. I guess it doesnt really matter because you should likely avoid this title at all costs.

Just like the television series and movie that subsequently followed, Zombie Ninja Pro-Am meanders around without much of a purpose. In fact, the designers goal isnt focused at all on the game clearly; instead its more about screwing with the player's head. I guess that's to be expected with Aqua Teen.

In the game, players take on the role of Frylock who is invited to the Jersey Pines golf course. What follows is your experience at the golf course which is far from the Pines expected; instead its a toxic spill.

From here, youre put into one of three games. There is a golf portion which is fully simplistic: all you do is turn and push X to time the power and accuracy of the swing. This is entirely completed with the X button.

Following your hit, youll enter the second portion of the game where youre forced to slowly run down the course. This part is essentially a beat em' up as youll meet numerous characters from the show and other such things you have to kill before being able to hit the ball again. You carry a variety of items to kill enemies with including your club, a sword, guitar, spray and more. On the way, you can also pick up various power-ups that can be utilized in the golfing and racing portions of the game.

Once in awhile, youll enter the third aspect of the game which is three races with golf carts against the alien frat boys. This like every other aspect of the game: it's extremely simple as there are missiles and turbo available throughout.

The combination of all this is a terrible game through and through. The graphics are horrifying with ghastly frame rates and repetitive enemies they throw at you. The controls as mentioned are very simplistic and the gameplay is short. There are just 12 levels in the game and it shouldnt take you more than a handful of hours to complete the experience if you are really willing to put yourself through it.

About the only thing worthy in this game is the voice acting which is spot on; the characters from the show are in here including the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past. He is joined by the Commentator Guy, ESPNs Scott Van Pelt. Overall Ive got to say that the dialogue can be humorous at times.

The only other benefit in the game particularly for fans of the series is the 12 minutes of cameo clips of characters and the four full episodes, including one that has never been aired.

In the end, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am appears to be more an attempt by the designers to play a prank on those foolish enough to buy the game by giving them a lesson in tedium. Pure and simple, this game has absolutely no benefit unless you enjoy torturing yourself.

Publisher: Midway
Developer: Midway
Release: Nov 5, 2007
MSRP: $29.99
Mature

GB Preview: Final Fantasy IV (DS)

Eric Jonathan Smith — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 22:08:38 -0600

With new consoles come the promise of new experiences - or at least, that's the assumption one can make with the coming of the latest and greatest technology. More power - or a disruptive peripheral - can be exploited to make a familiar experience better and the old (seemingly) irrelevant. One of the first generations where this was truly evident was the advent of the Super NES. Games like Pilotwings and F-Zero exploited the newfound strength of the Super NES (notably its Mode 7 scaling effect) to truly show us that hey, technology (in this case, the ubiquity of the NES) does wither in obsolescence.

But while those games dazzled and impressed with their graphical effects, where was the truly epic game that was able to build on the previous generation's cornerstone without relying on technology's unfortunate excesses? Final Fantasy IV's crew of Cecil, Kain and co. had something to say about that. Square released Final Fantasy IV in 1991 and to this date it remains a dividing line between the simplistic console RPGs of the Dragon Quest vein and the more modern (some would say mired in an eternal rut), flashy approach taken by most Japanese RPGs since Final Fantasy VII.

For its time, Final Fantasy IV was truly epic. The battles were fast and featured huge monsters, forerunning the Active Time Battle system that served Final Fantasy titles throughout the 90's. You could have up to five characters in your party, a feat still unmatched by any other Final Fantasy title. The music was fuller than ever (in stereo!) and better than ever - Final Fantasy IV is one of famed composer Nobuo Uematsu's greatest works. The character-driven plot, while spoonily translated at times, was nonetheless helped by the greater capacity for text and addition of better animated and more expressive sprites. The quest even reached as far as traversing the moon!

Age has been fairly kind to the title as an effect of the mass of players it affected viewing it through that old rose-tint. New players will get a chance to play it soon, not in the form of the most cutting edge technology it once represented but on one that nonetheless represents an unforeseen broadening of the gaming market: the Nintendo DS. The logical follow-up to 2006's 3D remake of Final Fantasy III, this remake of Final Fantasy IV is likely to be easier to swallow than the obtuseness of its immediate predecessor, if its source material is adhered to with any skill.

The plot of course remains centered on the Dark Knight Cecil and his questioning of authority and the whirlwind of events that follow. Square Enix has promised however that all new scenes will be added to the story that were written out for its original release but were either technically or logistically unfeasible at the time. Early screens have shown that the game looks to improve over FFIII's exploitation of the DS hardware, as more characters can be displayed on the 3D battlefields. The original version's battles, as mentioned previously, loaded quickly and were over quickly - FFIII DS suffered slight load times that were made all the worse due to the high encounter rate. Whether FFIV will suffer the same remains to be seen. Another addition is that characters are now able to use skills inherited from other characters, the details on which are still scarce.

This of course isn't the first time FFIV will see release on another console. Subsequent re-releases on the PS1, Wonderswan (a Japanese-only handheld), and Game Boy Advance have seen minor additions to the game. But never before has the game been completely remade, so the hope for new content built from the ground up is there. The original game is short but some standards - an experienced player can breeze through the quest in about 10 hours. Let me repeat - experienced, on the original US version's toned down difficulty. Someone playing the game for the first time should see more than 20 hours from the game, which is a solid length for its now portable status.

Final Fantasy IV sees its DS release on December 20 in Japan. There is still no word on a release to the West; however, that gamble is about as safe as betting that Cecil will have to come to terms with himself and save the world from a villain that pops up for the first time in the story's latter act. In other words, yeah, it'll happen.

GB Review: Jackass The Game (PS2)

Brian Mohr — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:01:55 -0600

Hey, see if you can kick this guy in the...

At first glance, Jackass The Game sounds like a terrible idea, but Red Mile did an okay job with it. If you want something stupid and funny, it provides a brief laugh and a short experience of the hilarious antics of the show. As a game, however, it doesn't measure up, and nor does it offer much in the way of longevity.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

I guess it was only a matter of time before a publisher decided to put together a game in regards to the hilarious antics of Jackass. Red Mile Entertainment attempted to do just that with Jackass The Game. What is created is essentially a compilation of minigames that give you a feel for all things Jackass.

In the game players take on the role of a director because the original one was injured during shooting. You direct seven episodes and each one is broken up by five different stunts youll perform which add up to 35 total.

Each stunt is very simple, utilizing just two to three buttons at most. The minigames in themselves arent difficult by any means, but provide a slight challenge as your goal is to complete various objectives, blowing things up, collecting items and such in order to gain more money and move on to the next episode.

As a concept Jackass works fine, but this is also the problem. You do have 35 total stunts to perform and each is fun the first go round, but its highly unlikely that any of the minigames will make you come back for more. They just dont provide much in the way of replay value. Youll also find yourself plowing through the game in a hurry.

Minigames in Jackass include jumping into poop, running things over with a golf kart, rolling down a ski slope as a snowball, juggling and falling down a hill to name a few. Overall the stunts in and of themselves are humorous, but as mentioned earlier arent the most enjoyable to actually play.

Not surprising, the graphics and voiceover work arent exactly top notch. Graphics are bare and the voicework is repetitive, but Red Mile did manage to land everyone on the show except for Bam Margera.

While it wont wow you, Jackass did a couple things right. The biggest was giving you a Jackass feeling in a game; it really does capture the experience of the show. In addition there are a fair amount of unlockables including all of the characters and a number of videos and more, but dont be fooled: this is a bare bones product and certainly not worth the $30 asking price as of this writing. If you can find it cheap, though, its good for a laugh.

Also available on: PSP | DS
Publisher: Red Mile Entertainment
Developer: Red Mile Entertainment
Release: Sept 24, 2007
MSRP: $29.99
Mature

GB Review: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (360)

Aaron Dunlap — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:22:38 -0600

The same feeling I had playing the game.

I do not dislike this game. Dislike is a passive sentiment. I actively hate this game. This game drove me completely bonkers, entirely independent of any scandals or controversies floating around lately. Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is a very poorly designed product, with a story that tries way too hard to be gritty and comes off as adolescent; a completely useless aiming and control scheme; lazily designed levels, and a downright infuriating save and checkpoint system. When a game pisses me off, I stop playing it; but when I'm reviewing it, I have to soldier on and take the continual emotional beatings it provides. After playing Kane & Lynch, I hate my life, myself, and my Xbox 360.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is a game that wants to be a lot of things and fails at them all. Surely foremost in their attempts is to be a "bad guy game." Either Eidos or IO Interactive probably took the popularity of their Hitman franchise as a sign that people like games where you play as a "bad guy" and decided to take that to an extreme. What they overlooked is that why we love Agent 47 so much isn't that he's technically bad, but that he's a sympathetic character and a master at what he does. He's cold and collected: all he knows is assassination and he does it better than anybody on the planet. He's not after money, glory, or fame. Usually, he's after the truth or vengeance. Kane & Lynch, on the other hand, contains two of the most contemptible characters of all time who do absolutely nothing to redeem themselves.

As soon as the game begins, Kane (our "hero") and Lynch (our perpetual AI teammate) are busted from a prison transport on the day they're set to be executed (why the HELL would they be transporting prisoners in death row on the very day of their execution, or at all?) and within 60 seconds of control being handed over you're blasting cops. Dozens of cops, in fact. This game is a practical cop-killing extravaganza. That's not fun for me. Maybe a few 14-year-olds with social issues might enjoy the thought of killing hundreds of cops in a game, perhaps due to some resentment they hold because a cop took their weed once. The ridiculous amount of cop shooting might be understandable if we could grow to like our main characters and wish for their survival, but all we're ever told about these guys is that they're cold-blooded killers.

Whenever there is a chance for a character to be developed so as to be slightly likable, the game plows right over it. Lynch is apparently completely insane and has occasional bouts of extreme violence as we witness him killing all of the hostages in a pathetic bank robbery mission early in the game, and later we discover that he killed his own wife. There's some pills that are supposed to help but, well, they're running out. Kane attempts to find nobility in character by really wanting his daughter to like him, but those glimmers of humanity are wrought pointless a few seconds later when Kane comes up with another deftly moronic plan to solve the next problem. In an attempt to "gritty" up the experience, the writers decided to pepper nearly every line with obscenities. The script begins to sound like it was scribbled into the back of a Mead notebook during after-school detention. Lines like, "Shut the f___ up, what are you f___ing talking about?" occur on a minute-by-minute basis, and just come off as lazy or pathetic. As the game continues, instead of learning more about the characters and coming to like them, we come to despise them.

Look, cops! Better shoot them!

Michael Mann movies, which this game very desperately wants to be associated with, often feature nasty villains as main characters but always, always contrasted with a good main character. Heat has Robert DiNiro's character doing awful things, but Pacino is there to serve as a moral mirror. Same with Collateral's Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx characters. These movies aren't good because they're about bad guys killing innocents, they're good because they show the highs and lows of moral character. Kane & Lynch is all lows, and very low lows they are.

This game also wants to be a next-gen shooter, of course, but it surely doesn't try very hard. It has a similar control to Hitman games; games where the use of guns is practically discouraged except in rare cases, but in this game shooting is often your only option. Aiming in Kane & Lynch feels sluggish and sloppy, and accuracy is a complete joke. For what we eventually learn to be as a paid mercenary, Kane is absolutely worthless with guns. That would be fine and even interesting if it were supposed to be a plot point, but the game is almost entirely nothing but shooting. No problem-solving, no stealth, no outrunning, just shooting. Eventually the game slips into the war genre as you find yourself in the middle of a Cuban civil war for absolutely no reason.

There is a "cover system," a popular trend in next-gen games where you can stick yourself to corners and surfaces and shoot around them. Here it feels tired and slapped-on. You don't hit a button or anything to stick to cover, you just sort of have to wander up to a surface and push the analog stick in every direction until perhaps the Gods of Play Mechanics decide to get off their asses.

Anything that would make this game feel "next-gen" is alarmingly absent. The graphics are very bland and there is practically no dynamic lighting. Every surface seems to have this unnatural universal lighting with no account for light sources, making it feel like a cartoon.

Level design is quite poor. There's a level that takes place in a Tokyo nightclub where you're supposed to kidnap the owner from her office. So you get to her office and Lynch carries her while you shoot your way out. Who is shooting at you? Night club guards, all 5,000 of them, all with guns. Of course they shoot at Lynch too, who is carrying their boss, which is why they're attacking you in the first place. Anyway, while you're in her office a guard on the roof shoots at you through a skylight, and then you leave the office the way you came in, fighting off the dozens of guards with pistols who can all zero in on you in a pitch-black nightclub amid hundreds of stampeding clubgoers . Then you get to the roof, and the lady escapes and runs back to her office. Do you follow her? No, you cross the roof and then drop down through that very same skylight into her office and grab her again, then fight your way through the night club again, only this time all the guards have submachine guns. Lazy, lazy level design.

There is often little sense to what you're supposed to be doing or where you're supposed to go, and usually the only thing to do is go by the objective marker placed on your crappy radar/compass feature. Problem is, that radar thing disappears after about 10 seconds, and to make it come back you have to click the left analog stick (and it'll just disappear again). This becomes interesting when you're running to avoid getting shot and you can't click the stick while moving, so you have to stop dead in your tracks just to get the radar to come back so you can see where you're going, and by the time you've oriented yourself the thing has already vanished.

"Grab The Cocaine" -- My life-long motto.

From a next-gen game I expect some kind of variation in gameplay. There are even a few times when the game pretends to be giving you some variation, but then forgets to carry it out.

Take the beginning of the second level, for instance. Kane needs to get something from his safe-deposit box from a bank, so obviously he decides to rob the place. Your first objective is to put some knockout gas in the air system, and Kane actually says he'll "bypass the guards," so I'm thinking that means elude them. So you walk into the rear parking lot and a guard will see you and approach you. Kane says he's just looking for his car, but the guard doesn't buy that, so he starts to shoot you, then another guard raises the alarm. Mission failed.

I restarted this level at least 10 times before I figured out that I'm supposed to kill the guard, then quickly kill the second guard before he can raise the alarm. Fine, but why did the game tell me I was doing something different? Then in a later level, which takes place in Tokyo (believe it or not, a completely separate trip to Tokyo from the nightclub level. Actually, this game transports you from LA, to Tokyo, back to LA, then to Tokyo again, then to Cuba, and so on without any sense, logic, or direction). You and a crew of four other guys have just had a big shootout on an upper level of an office building wearing window washer outfits (for no reason), then you take an elevator down to the lobby. While in the elevator, your crew changes into suits so as to elude the police or guards. Awesome, a sneaking mission! Wrong. You exit the elevator, and then for no reason the Tokyo police are shooting at you. There's no "whoop, our cover is blown" and there's nothing done to raise suspicion. The whole thing with changing outfits was completely pointless other than to segue into a Tokyo streets shootout, followed by a Tokyo bus station shootout, followed by a completely jarring transition to Havana.

And the biggest failure of next-gen technology: the save system. This game uses a checkpoint system, where each level has about six checkpoints and if you stop playing for any reason (such as when the game freezes your Xbox 360, which it did to mine twice) you have to restart the boring, poorly designed level all over from the beginning. This is an absolutely infuriating element, and would have been the reason I'd have stopped playing if I didn't have to review the damn thing.

Thapa, I order you to get yourself killed... Nice work.

Kane & Lynch also wants to be a squad commanding game. In early levels, you just have Lynch to boss round but eventually you add on a crew of four guys. They're all useless. If you tell them to follow you, they won't. If you tell them to go someplace and secure it, they'll go there and die. If you tell them to kill someone, they'll run right up to him and shoot him from two feet away instead of from cover.

In fact, the game's only real unique feature is destroyed by the squad system. If you take too many hits, instead of just flat-out dying Kane will sort of keel over until either Lynch or another teammate comes over and hits you with a shot of adrenaline and brings you back or you eventually die if nobody can reach you. If you do this too often, however, you'll overdose on the adrenaline and die outright. When you go down, any one of your AI teammates can bring you back with the adrenaline, but if any of your AI teammates goes down, only you can hit him with adrenaline. If one of your teammates dies, mission failed. Even though there will be teammates closer to your fallen comrade, you have to stop what you're doing, cross an open battlefield, and dose him, keeping in mind that if he went down someplace it's because that's a very dangerous place to be, and you're kind of a sitting duck when you're reviving someone.

Kane & Lynch only has one online mode on the Xbox 360, a clever little thing called "Fragile Alliance" where everybody in the game starts out as allied crooks trying to rob a store or bank protected by AI guards or police. Whatever you steal gets split with everybody, so if you don't want to share you can grab the loot and then try to kill all your co-crooks and keep it all for yourself. When you get killed, you respawn as a guard or cop and your job is now to take down the remaining thieves. It's a good idea in theory, but is broken by the following elements: if you die and respawn as a cop and die again, you're done. No more repawns. Also, the game doesn't really let you know when someone has turned traitor, which is a major turning point in gameplay. You have to figure it out for yourself, which can get pretty confusing. Every time I played, some loser would start killing teammates from the very start of the level; nobody would get any cash, and the game would be over in two minutes. Also, about 60% of the times when I tried to play, I would get an error that would kick me to the very first game menu.

There is a co-op mode, where your split-screened buddy can play as Lynch, but there's no online co-op so the whole thing is rather worthless.

This is a bad game. It had promise, but it was clearly pushed out the door way too soon. It's no big surprise, really, this is Eidos's only holiday release for this year and they wanted it to be good so bad. Instead of giving IO Interactive the time and resources they needed, however, they spent all their money on advertising and hoped that would cover up for a poorly designed product. I really wish they would have just made another Hitman game instead, and considering there's a freaking Hitman movie in theaters, wouldn't this be the perfect time for a new Hitman game? I would have taken one or two levels of the quality of Hitman: Blood Money to this rushed, convoluted, lazily designed, buggy, aggravating, unpleasant disaster.

And if I must say any more: there is a boss battle against a tractor. Yes, a tractor.

Publisher: Eidos Interative
Developer: IO Interactive
Release: Nov 13, 2007 Interactive
MSRP: $59.99 Interactive
Also on: PC, PS3 Interactive

GB Review: Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3)

Shiva Stella — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:17:44 -0600

Ratchet & Clank: meet Gorgeous on your new PS3.

Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is yet another beautiful, action-packed, humorous adventure for PlayStation fans, boasting numerous gadgets, guns, and lots of alien things to shoot at. Its minigames have been adjusted to feature sixaxis support and Insomniac has even tossed in dancing pirates, but despite how gorgeous the game looks or how well the gameplay mechanics function, we've been down this road before - five times, six if you happened to splurge on the PSP version.

While I've always had a soft spot for our furry hero and his robotic pal, I'm afraid that Tools of Destruction has done it for me. This is the same experience, the same gameplay, lackluster plot, annoying save system, and patch-work minigames that I've been through since the franchise's inception. In summation, I am all Ratchet'ed out. If you were looking for a new, refreshing direction for the series' PlayStation 3 debut, this isn't it.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Tools of Destruction offers yet another instance in which I'm forced to scratch my head and wonder if I've been immersed in the industry so long that I'm now out of the touch with the average gamer. It's one of Sony's (and Insomniac's) flagship titles, and people seem to love it. In a sense I understand their infatuation: it's classic R&C humor, the same simplistic gameplay mechanics at work (collect this statue, turn that bolt, slaughter these boxes, etc), those same breathtaking visuals now transplanted to the PlayStation 3, and so on. I doubt that anyone could effectively argue that the title isn't playable, enjoyable, or a success ("success" being defined here as a complete single-player experience that doesn't feel pushed out the door), it's just that it's the same game.

At this point I've collected a trillion bolts, played a hundred rounds of "beat this minigame to open a door", and explored who-knows how many planets while popping virtual caps into aliens/robots/alien robots. I've made the bad guys dance; I've turned them into various creatures and whacked them to death with a wrench. I've grind-booted my way across giant chasms, been swept up in weapons-upgrade options, and watched my last plot item presented as a fake commercial. I have done it all, and then I completed Tools of Destruction and did it again, this time in HD glory. The real question isn't whether the game is worth your time but whether you'd like to pay $59.99 for the privilege of doing the same stuff in 720p - though Ratchet does look fly.

But enough negativity; Tools of Destruction, similar to every R&C game on the market, shares the franchise's ups as well as downs. The visuals are amazing and showcase just what the PlayStation 3 can do when a developer is willing to spend the time and tap the system's resources. Even with fifty pirates dancing a groovitron jig while Ratchet pummels them with his grenade-gun and other torturous devices, the framerate keeps up with the action, down to the detailing in Ratchet's fur as he sets his enemies ablaze. The game's unique presentation, another hallmark of the series, is just as fun and spoofy as ever, making grand use of holovids (think "upgraded" infobots) for plot progression; cutscenes are quick and entertaining, with the same high-quality voice performances from a cast you know and love.

I hate you, little metal ball.

The simplistic gameplay is almost enough to make you feel nostalgic. The title is easy to play through and very direct, a bonus for kiddies who hate sitting through an hour's worth of cinematics to find out what's going on. There are the same mechanics that series veterans will instantly recognize: five version upgrades for weaponry, fun devices that turn enemies into cutesy penguins (nothing makes you appreciate the benefits of being a superior species than whacking a penguin into space), weapon upgrades via vendors, armor shopping (those lombaxes always did have a sense of style), and minigames that now utilize the sixaxis controller's tilt feature. While rolling a ball around to connect circuits, gliding through hoops, shaking that pirate booty, and steering tornadoes toward foes all spruce up the gameplay, they also severely distract from it, reminding the player that she's not saving the galaxy but trying to maneuver a stupid ball so she can save the galaxy. I applaud Insomniac for actually trying to capitalize on the motion sensor technology, but the bulk of this attempt was frustrating and annoying.

While we're on the topic, apparently some people have it in their heads that frustrating and challenging equate to the same thing. If you've been reading up on Tools then you've probably concluded that it's a breeze "until the end" - when Insomniac introduces a million enhanced robots that no longer die in one or two shots. It's at this point when gamers begin to "appreciate" the outdated save-anywhere system, which, if you've been through a Ratchet game before, you already know is a lie. I complained five years ago in a review of the original R&C that enabling me to save-anywhere is bloody pointless if I have to load up from the start of a planet; giving me a taxi or a teleport to certain sections of a level doesn't cut it. This is the next-generation of PlayStation hardware and Insomniac still won't let me save-anywhere and load-up from where I saved - why the hell not?

The checkpoint system isn't much better. Ideally as you progress from one area to the next you trigger a checkpoint such that, if you die, you don't have to re-complete the same segments over and over. The checkpoint system here doesn't operate this way; when Ratchet clears an area and, say, approaches a boss or some other physical feat that you're going to die at, it's back two-three segments for you so you can re-work your way to a specific area just to do it all over again. About the time you reach your breaking point is when you realize that you can't save and call it for the day because you'll be loading up at the start of the level. I think this is where I lost another piece of my soul.

The real disappointment in Tools of Destruction is that it's the same content we've been through before, and while it's still good it's hardly great. Because you've done all this stuff several games ago there's simply little to no motivation for you to go through it again; there's no pull here, and you don't even remember there's a storyline until the last two-three planets. What the franchise needs is not a million bolts, boxes, aliens, or weapon upgrades but a new direction, a fresh take for our old and tired comedic duo, preferably one that doesn't detract from the experience with trivial minigames and sixaxis-controlled tornadoes that drive me crazy.

Okay, Insomniac: you've proven what you can do with the power of the PlayStation 3 - now let's see if you can take that engine and those beautiful visuals and make a great game out of it.

Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Insomniac Games
Release: Oct 23, 2007
MSRP: $59.99
Everyone 10+

GB Review: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Multiplayer (360)

John Godfrey — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 22:14:30 -0600

COD4: The best online gameplay the 360 has to offer?

By now you already know that Call of Duty 4 is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Or the greatest thing since Halo 3, at least. It ushered in the first modern warfare title of the series, and the online component is just as great as the single player campaign. With a bevy of reasons to keep playing, namely leveling up to unlock new abilities, weapons, and weapon attachments (and getting cool-sounding military rank names), and game mechanics that work just right, COD4 is a game you're going to want to pick up right now and not put down for a long time. Excuse me while I rank up.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Right now, not everyone is completely enthralled by the
"jump while shooting a sniper rifle then throw a grenade while melee attacking someone on the way down and land" gameplay that is Halo 3 multiplayer. And While Team Fortress, one aspect of the trifecta of awesome which is the Orange Box, is definitely a fresh fun addition to the 360's online FPS roster, it's a very specific gameplay type that may not appeal to all. Enter Call of Duty 4, the first modern warfare installment of the series - and mayhaps the best first-person shooter on the 360 to date.

COD4's gameplay is based much more on reality than the fantasy and stretches of the imagination other online titles are offering - you don't need to unload an entire clip into an enemy to kill them, as a few choice shots will do. You also don't have leaping abilities that defy the laws of gravity - all combat takes place on the ground here. In fact, you can probably recognize the gamers who had a little more than their alloted dose of Halo 3 when they run at you jumping while firing a sniper rifle - they learn to adapt quickly.

Some people may not like the sound of the "couple shots and your dead" gameplay, but let me assure you that it's implemented in a way that works. Like COD4's offline component, you have a rebounding health bar, which means if you ran around a corner and took a few bullets from an unknown source, you can always run back for cover and assess the situation as your health bar replenishes. This means that every kill you make that you encounter damage on, you can recover from and move on to the next guy. This keeps the gameplay fast and fluid, meaning that if you're really good, your main problem is going to be finding more ammo, not hoping no one sees you hobbling around looking for a med kit with 1% health left.

Now that we know how the general gameplay mechanics work with COD4, what more does it offer? The answer to that would be a lot - a lot of reasons to keep coming back time after time to unlock more and more extras in a ranking process that can become more addictive than crack. You start off with some basic weaponry, an assault rifle that fires only in burst mode, simple iron sights and a side arm - as you continue to play, get kills, win matches, be on the winning team of matches, and complete objectives (more on that later) you will gain XP. The more XP you gain, the higher the ranking ladder you go. Once you hit a certain number of XP points you get granted a new military rank that you keep until you hit the next designated number of points - what ranks do is unlock all-new weapons, perks, challenges, and attachments for your weapons.

New weapons are pretty self explanatory - you start from a semi-auto assault rifle and move onto a fully automatic one, and then from there unlock more powerful ones, etc. This applies to all weapon classes - assault rifles, sub machine guns, light machine guns, sniper rifles, shotguns and pistols. Attachments range from underslung grenade launchers to front grips for shotguns, and a variety of scopes to kit your gun out with, one for every occasion, and all much better than simple iron sights. Perks are a fun addition that allows you to attain certain attributes for your player of weapon, allowing you to do things like sprint for longer periods of time, steady your aim whilst looking though the scope of a sniper rifle, or even do things like pull out a pistol while dying on the ground to take out as many enemies as you can before you expire. Perks also allow you physical items to take into battle, like claymore mines and C4, and special abilities like being able to eavesdrop on the other team's voice communications.

Challenges are much like achievements you would find for a typical 360 title, except you don't earn Xbox Live achievements for them (achievements are only gained in the SP mode of COD4), instead you earn a huge XP boost for them, arguably a much more desired reward. Challenges range from getting a certain amount of head shots with a certain weapon to winning a certain amount of a specific match type to shooting down a helicopter.

What's that? Helicopter? That's right, but this isn't another rehash of Battlefield. Like I said, all gameplay remains on the ground - but to reward players' killing streaks, the ability to call in a helicopter for air support, among other things, are granted. At 3 kills, the player can call in UAV support, basically seeing enemy positioning as dots on a map; at 5 kills, the player has the ability to call in an air strike, which they can target anywhere on the map; and at 7 kills, the player can call in a helicopter, which will fly around the map, gunning down as many enemies as it can before it gets shot down or bored and decides to go home again. This is an excellent addition to the game as it encourages gamers to be more careful and promote the use of cover and strategy over running and gunning, where your chances are pretty much 50/50 of getting killed. Running around aimlessly in the open is not a tactic to be employed in COD4.

Playing a team match like Deathmatch of Search & Destroy allows you to employ some teamwork when employing these streak bonuses. For instance, a player that has an air strike bonus ready can combine efforts with some with a UAV support bonus ready, in order to pin down an accurate location on the map that will dole out the most damage to the opposite team. And in a game like Sabotage, if you're in the process of defending a bomb site before it detonates while repelling enemy forces, it would be the perfect time for a teammate to whip out the helicopter support and make life much easier. Of course, these sorts of strategies work best when you're playing with a clan or a party of friends, as you're more concerned with helping your team than a rag-tag bag of hooligans.

Graphically and in terms of audio, the online component of COD4 is all aces, only some special graphical effects of the single player campaign are lost in the multiplayer jump, but you'll barely notice that. Audio plays a key role, with different distinct sounds for every weapon type and subtle sounds like a grenade clinking on the floor or the "click" before a claymore goes off, that can improve your game if you listen for them. Soft footsteps of approaching enemies gives you enough of a cue to swing around and melee with the knife to save yourself from being ventilated.

In all, COD4 is such a well-rounded online game that any pitfalls it may have usually arise from the players and not the game itself. You get your typical trash-talkers and campers, and there may be people who use the perks in a way you don't like, such as the Juggernaut perk which allows the enemy to take more bullets before dying; or the claymores planted in sneaky areas that get you every time. But you're probably using perks that other people don't like too, and things like sneaky claymores are just the realities of war - just like the Juggernaut perk will be in the human vs machine war which will undoubtedly be covered in COD10. So go get this game, but be prepared to experience what all those Everquest kids do, spending every spare hour you can leveling up, and unlocking new weapons and perks.

Also available on: PS3| PC
Review: Single Player
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Infinity Ward
Release: Nov 5, 2007
MSRP: $59.99
Live | Mature
Winner of GameBump's Best Shooter of 2007

GB Review: Sega Rally Revo (PS3)

Brian Mohr — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 13:32:07 -0600

Drives like a subaru.

Sega has brought back the Sega Rally series in a new edition this year entitled Sega Rally Revo for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The last time a Sega Rally title released stateside it was for the Dreamcast and while the graphics are amazing, little else has changed and that creates a problem particularly in respect to longevity. There's nothing new to see here, really, so I wouldn't recommend the game unless you're a racing addict or a big fan of the series.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Putting it simply, Sega Rally Revo is a straight arcade racer. There is no complex driving here, the whole goal is just to go fast. Revo requires just a bit of expertise as you have to perfect the powerslide. Its as simple as that; there arent a lot of options. This game is all about the driving and once you do that, you can dominate it in a variety of locales including jungles, mountains, ice and more.

The appeal of the racing in this game is undeniable. The controls are easy to pick up and play and simplistic because you just have to pivot the stick around curves while shifting off the gas. If youre unfamiliar with this style, you may find yourself sliding all over the road right away, but all it takes is a handful of runs and youll get used to it and be a pro. Once you do that and learn the courses, it really makes you feel like youve accomplished something.

In addition to that the tracks, while small in number - just 15 - they are beautiful. While ripping through courses in real time, youll tear up dirt, mud and snow which creates stunning tracks in the road. These can be especially useful as driving lines for you to follow on return runs through the course. Also, the car models are gorgeous with or without mud on them.

But for all these advantages, Revo has some serious issues too, particularly in regards to repetitiveness which strikes early and often in regards to tracks, cars and gameplay.

Fifteen tracks is too small for a title that is selling for $50 or $60. Clearly Sega took the concept of arcade game to heart. On top of that, the game includes approximately 30 cars - minimal at best. The multiplayer mode is also bare-bones, leaving the gamer with a two-player split screen option or just six-player online races; while both run well, there simply isn't a lot to write home about regarding the game's online offerings.

Meanwhile, the computer AI is a bit temperamental too. The artificial intelligence makes few mistakes and seems to have a distinct advantage over you even when youre not making that many mistakes. They can knock you into walls that slow you down and unfairly speed up to pass. Theres a clear discrepancy in the game.

Finally, as mentioned before, the arcade style of racing is fun, no question about it. But this game is all powerslides and doesnt offer the features youll see in some of the latest games out in the genre.

Sega Rally Revo is not revolutionary and in fact is a bit of a look back into the past. Its a fun game to pick up and play, but wont provide players the depth or diversity they are accustomed to. Aside from graphics, little has changed in the style of play in Sega Rally Revo and that hurts it in the end.

Also available on: 360 | PSP | PC
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega Racing Std.
Release: Oct 9, 2007
MSRP: $59.99
Everyone | Online

GB Review: Assassin's Creed (360)

Shiva Stella — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:52:04 -0600

Assassin's Creed: a veritable leap of faith?

Ubisoft Montreal's Assassin's Creed is one of the most ambitious, interactive, seamless, and intriguing titles in the next-generation lineup to date, boasting absolutely stunning visuals, superb voice acting, amazing historical thrills with a firm basis in an accurate presentation of this alternative past, and a curious storyline that will pull you in if you know what you're looking for. The game is beautiful and enjoyable, an experience you won't forget, and a gem for anyone with an appreciation of this era of history or gameplay style.

However, ambitious and astounding as it is, there are elements that feel forced, gameplay that becomes redundant, and bits of the plot that fail to make sense to the average player. The combat does become a chore (especially toward the end), a save-anywhere option is missing, and some variety is sorely needed (how come a third of all the civilians I save say exactly the same thing, be it in a different accent?), but while the gameplay does have its faults it's still impressive and well-done as far as mechanics go, plus you play an assassin - that's an automatic bonus in cool points. If Ubisoft Montreal had made some adjustments - switched up the missions, tossed in some variety in investigation objectives, upped the enemy AI some, and freshened the combat - this would have been a stellar title for the general public.

As it stands, its amazing qualities are somewhat overshadowed by gameplay design that failed to implement everything Assassin's Creed exceeds at as well as it should have, and while a five star game isn't perfect this failure knocks it down a notch. For those who appreciate its finer details, however, the game is worth its weight in gold and will be something you return to over the years and look back on and say, "I played that game and loved every minute of it" with pride.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

There are two things that game critics hate when it comes to writing actual reviews, these being RPGs (devastating time-suckers) and really amazing games (trust me when I say that reviewing a piece of crap is always easier than something so good it inspires you and tugs at your heart). There is also a secret third item that critics hate to pin-down to a definite numerical figure, and this is the open-ended, highly ambitious interactive experience. Anything that doesn't amount to a functioning targeting system, an online mode, or saving the world from invading aliens/nuclear bombs is a lot more subtle and difficult to translate into a mathematical recommendation. I'm going to be blunt: Creed is not like the vast majority of games on the market, no matter the genre, and I think that explains at least some of the outlier scores (both negative and positive).

But I am not here to lecture on the reviewer's standard rating system or explain every intricacy and every moment of Creed that reminded me of why I'm a gamer or what I'm looking for (or not) in a game. I am here to address what I enjoyed and what I didn't quite so much, what the game excels at and what Ubisoft should have spent more time on, delays or not.

A sword and you. Classic.

And I'm going to start with the title's amazingly beautiful visual experience. Creed's presentation is superb and its graphics will boggle your mind; every fine aspect, from the movement of Altair's robe in the wind as he rests atop the highest steeple to the whole of a city that is viewable from a distance as the player trots up on horseback, Creed astounds. The lighting is amazing and you can clearly see the patchwork of light filtering through a lattice structure casting shadows upon a wall. Horses are perfectly mimicked and feel more realistic than any animal I've encountered in any of my virtual wanderings. Buildings are rendered incredibly sharp with every decorative item - from window bars and other convenient climbing protrusions to gorgeous mosaics and the golden sheen of the Dome of the Rock - catching the eye and inviting the player to explore.

Character models are next-generation quality, with every texture and style of pattern viewable in each person's clothing in impressive detail. Character movements are, dare I say it, natural, and this amounts to a seamless quality that almost convinces the player that he's walking the streets of a real world. Characters step aside for Altair as he gently pushes them away, drop objects they're carrying if he walks by carelessly, reacquaint Altair with the ground if he runs through too many civilians, or take no notice of him at all as he slyly slips through a large crowd, terminates a target, and inconspicuously melts into another batch of civilians before the body even hits the ground. This is the sheer genius of Creed, this smooth interaction that pulls the player into an assassin's life rather than having her assume a character's mere role.

The acoustic elements add to this inviting ambiance just as impressively, marked by your horse's hoof beats as you gallop across the countryside, the clatter of soldiers in their mess of gear, the bustling of the local marketplace, and so on. Creed's voice acting is what you'd expect from a big-budget title, with some very entertaining and intriguing performances from the primary cast, all nicely accented and featuring correct, realistic pronunciation. The linguistics might not seem like much, but they're vital for convincing the player that Altair's world is a living, breathing, and distinctly different thing, for which I give Ubisoft credit. It would have been even more persuading if civilians didn't quip the same lines all the time.

My friend, I think it's time you step away.

The immersion continues as the player explores the environs of Damascus, Acre, Masayaf, Jerusalem, and their surrounding grasslands, cliff-sides, small ruins and villages. While walking amongst the people is always a "socially acceptable" option, it's much faster and much more fun to take to the rooftops, where you can climb said amazingly detailed buildings, leap across giant chasms, dispatch foes away from the throng beneath your feet, and speedily maneuver from ledge to ledge, ladder to pole, synagogue to haystack at your leisure. The actual height of these obstacles is magnificent and damn near awe-inspiring as you activate view points and the camera spins around your perch. This life-like and free maneuvering off the ground is another aspect of the game's genius that invites the player to spend hours investigating every inch of Altair's world.

As much fun as exploring and rooftop-leaping are, the bulk of the gameplay is centered around performing successful assassinations, but these target assassinations can't be triggered without completing investigations first. Investigations are comprised of eavesdropping, pick-pocketing, killing the targets of fellow (lazy) assassins, interrogating propagandists, and collecting flags (the locked content is only reachable via collecting the flags of various cities/sects and killing knights templar). This is where part of that redundancy seeps through and breaks some of the game's immersion, as the investigation objectives become more like a chore to unlock the whole picture than a fun and varied assignment that progresses the plot. Ubisoft should have spent some time on increasing the mission variety and implementing that seamless interaction that makes Altair's universe so appealing; it's as if the team abandoned the natural feeling of the gameplay by having you routinely collect flags and pick-pocket letters. The only objectives that get interesting are the target assassinations, which - while entertaining and great fun - can't mask the redundancy of the typical mission. The "bonus" objectives - save the civilian and get to the view point - are nice inclusions - nice being that they're entirely optional - but don't add to the gameplay experience at all. They're just as redundant and will be skipped by players rushing through, making the core missions more difficult and frustrating.

Combat is another double-edged blade for Creed. The system is functional and beautiful in its bloody, seamless presentation if you perform the correct maneuvers at the right time, again convincing you that you've stepped into Altair's world and are fending off bad guys harassing harmless old men and damsels, but it gets repetitive when civilians scurrying from the scene attract the attention of additional guards who join the fray. Counter-killing foes, grabbing and pushing them into their allies, or exchanging swipes and blocking maneuvers is a treat, but it can be slow and tiresome when you're surrounded by ten guards with five more on the way and all you want to do is scale a building and hide in a bush. Or rather, a haystack/shady retreat/bench/group of scholars, as these are your only hiding or blending options. Again, the repetitiveness breaks the immersion level; Ubisoft Montreal definitely needed to increase hiding spots as well as variety between them.

The enemy AI, though appropriate and again, functional for the basic gameplay mechanics, also could have used some improvement. It's a tad unrealistic and less challenging when Altair can dispatch a civilian and stand there in blend mode while guard after guard approaches the body and speculates before meeting his doom. Again and again. At some point there should be a guard who determines that he is definitely not approaching the giant heap of bodies without significant backup. Maybe he's perpetually off-duty?

As an aside, elements of the gameplay that tend to frustrate players (those redundancy issues again) become more upsetting due to the lack of a save-anywhere system. You're entirely at the mercy of checkpoints and the good doctors who pull you from the animus (usually right when all you'd rather do is play). A save-anywhere system is sorely needed as well as an option to skip the dialogue you've heard before (as when you fail an informer's mission and have to hear the full assassin song and dance before you're told what you already know, again). Some gamers are also questioning why Altair and anyone else can't swim (there you go, Michael Smith).

I could write countless paragraphs on Creed's historical accuracy, twisting storyline, or all the amazing little subtle details that made me unable to put it down from beginning to end, or warn against rushing through it - this is a game in which your level of enjoyment directly correlates to time you're willing to spend doing things other than the primary missions. I could also go on and on about Ubisoft's failure to fully incorporate everything the game does well (and what it does well it does astoundingly so) into the actual gameplay mechanics, or remind you that there are portions that needed some additional work. Instead I'll end with a simple summation. Assassin's Creed is a rewarding, thought-provoking, amazing experience, fun in aspects utilized to their full potential, but the redundancy, the lack of variety in some of the smallest aspects, and forced segments may push some gamers away. If you're on the fence, spend some time with Altair and he'll "persuade" you that Creed is one of the most unique games you'll play all year, even with some caveats. Here's hoping Ubisoft hears the criticism and corrects the issues for the next one.

Also available on: PS3 | 360 | DS
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Release: Nov 14, 2007
MSRP: $59.99
Mature
Winner of GameBump's Best Action Game of 2007

Edit: if you've played through and are just as confused by the ending as the rest of us were, here's a detailed explanation.

GB Review: Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

Eric Jonathan Smith — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 02:24:50 -0600

Blast off into space in Mario's latest and greatest adventure.

Super Mario Galaxy is the game that Wii owners have been waiting for: it delivers on all fronts and has been worth the wait. This is quite simply one of the best games Mario has been in - 2D or 3D - and given his impressive resume, this is no light statement. This is a game anyone can pick up and play and if you've been on the fence about Nintendo's waggle machine, it's as good of a reason to pick up a Wii as you are going to get in the near future.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

The purity of something is most often measured in physical and quantitative terms. Say, for example, the number of carats in a diamond and the percentage of fat in milk. These are real, concrete objects that are easily compared to other similar objects of varying purity. But how then does one measure the purity of the abstract and metaphysical? Only by comparing the feelings and memories of emotions can we assign values to concepts like love and hate. Pure love may be reserved for that special someone; pure hate, that school administrator who seemed bent on making your life a living hell. These opposites can be measured against one another to form some kind of personal, pseudo-numeric value.

Fun is another one of those vague, almost existentialist concepts. Logically, fun can be examined against its opposite, boredom. The purest of fun experiences then, is one devoid of boredom. Normally, a fun experience is restrained to the layered abyss of memory in your brain, there to reside until it is called upon in a melancholy time of need. Your least bored memory could therefore be the one of purest fun.

Er, well, that's how it used to be anyway. The purity of fun has a new benchmark - and its name is Super Mario Galaxy. Super Mario Galaxy sees Mario return to top form in the three-dimensional realm. As can be immediately concluded from the title, this game has Mario soaring in the cosmos attempting to - what else - save Princess Peach from the clutches of Bowser. Along the way he'll defy gravity with the help of a seemingly Peach replacement space "princess" named Rosalina. Rosalina and her gaggle of star people called Lumas inhabit the hub world that Mario will use to explore the galaxies that make up the gameplay of Super Mario Galaxy.

The core gameplay within Galaxy has not changed since Mario 64. If you have any previous experience with the Nintendo 64 title or its sequel, Super Mario Sunshine you will be able to pick up the Wii Remote and Nunchuck and jump, triple jump, and wall jump like it was old hat. Stomping on Goombas and Koopa Troopas is as visceral as ever thanks the to tight, responsive controls.

The genius of the game, however, is in how effortlessly it challenges your expectations of the familiar. This comes in the form of the game's main "gimmick": the planetoid structure. Most galaxies are made up of a myriad of planetoids. Some of these spherical (or not-so-spherical) wonders are so small you can jump clear around them; others so large they constitute an area parallel to the size of the worlds present in Super Mario 64. With a waggle of the Wii Remote, Mario can launch himself from planetoid to planetoid in the race for stars. For some individual stars, you can realistically tread on nearly a dozen planetoids, each with their own bite-sized objectives to complete before moving onto the next. And to make something perfectly clear: just seeing Mario flying through space from one planetoid to the other is satisfying and fun in and of itself. Not only does it showcase the scale and scope of the levels, it also often centers on one of the subtle ways in which Nintendo has utilized the Wii Remote in the game by using the Remote as a pointer to collect Star Bits, little candy-like items that serve as both currency and ammunition. Whether flying through space or even on a planetoid, subtle touches like the collecting of Star Bits gives Galaxy that extra bit of polish that separates it from its ilk.

But that's not to say the entire game is composed exclusively of planet-hopping; the game displays a staggering variety of ways to collect stars. Familiar underwater stages are present along with new ones such as the beehive-themed galaxy. Speaking of bees, variety abounds in Mario's multitude of powers such as the new Bee Suit or the classic Fire Flower. You will never collect a star in exactly the same way as the other. That is, with the exception of the awful Purple Coin stars, where you have to hunt down 100 purple coins in order to collect your celestial prize. These kinds of item collecting quests are by and large absent in Galaxy and for good reason - their slow pacing and repetitive nature are, well, boring. Thankfully, you can avoid the Purple Coin quests if you just want to beat the game normally.

Mario Galaxy has enough guts to visually impress, despite being on the "underpowered" Wii. As Mario flies from one planetoid to the other he dives under spewing lava or by giant toy robots. Despite the aesthetic variety, this game is so stylistically coherent that you won't notice it doesn't have the pure polygons of an Xbox 360 or PS3 title. Some subtle light bloom completes the game's soft, rounded look. The game also runs at a constant 60 fps with no slowdown. Audio is no slouch either; some of the game's music is orchestrated, but all of it sounds either majestic if not uncharacteriscally epic for a Mario game. Some classic themes can also be heard as well. Touches of fanservice abound in Galaxy - musical cues are just one example.
Super Mario Galaxy is quite frankly the best 3D Mario platformer yet - and by extension, one of the best ever crafted. It is so easily accessible and so varied that the fun you get out of it will have as varied a definition as the planetoids you'll traverse along the way. Mario himself has a history of establishing genre standards, paving the way for imitators but the utter uniqueness of Super Mario Galaxy's structure is one reason why this is one polished diamond that's sure not to lose its purity any time soon.

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Release: Nov 12, 2007
MSRP: $49.99
Everyone
Winner of GameBump's Best Adventure Game of 2007

GB Review: Contra 4 (DS)

Eric Jonathan Smith — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 21:22:01 -0600

The same macho brutality and challenging gameplay you love.

Contra 4 delivers the classic tough-as-nails gaming experience that children of the 80's look back on fondly but will probably be too unforgiving for those weaned on more contemporary titles. Relentlessly challenging but immensely satisfying, Contra 4 will reward those willing to undertake its masochistic demands.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

One look at the box art for Contra 4 sums up the entire experience: explosions, two guys (presumably) causing this mayhem, menacing alien eyes staring at the bare-chested duo, and above all of it, a banner declaring the series' 20th anniversary. Contra 4 is all of those things - one or two-player 2D side-scrolling, alien-blasting action that hearkens back to its two-decade old roots. Contra 4 is certainly a balls-to-the-walls experience and Konami would lead you to believe from reading the box that its appeal is largely due to the Contra series' moniker as the video game equivalent of S&M: testosterone manifested as a DS game card.

But a closer look reveals a different story. From the explosively cheesy cover art, to the back of the box bulleting the famous Contra "spread shot" as one of the game's features, to the intentionally pun-tastic throwback to old Konami instruction manuals from the 80's, one thing becomes clear: Contra 4's appeal comes not from its manhood-grabbing nature but because it pulls at those emotional strings that reside within the recesses of your nostalgia.

That said, this game was made for a very specific audience by members of that same group - players who grew up with Contra during its heyday in the late 80's/early 90's. From its explosions, spread shot, manly men, and ugly aliens, Contra 4 delivers that sadistic double punch to the gut that will cause some to reminisce and others to give up in frustration.

The premise of Contra is simple: shoot everything that moves and get out of the way of anything that doesn't; if you don't, one hit will kill you. This is the way it has been since the beginning and Contra 4 does little to mess with this basic formula. Contra 4 feels like a Contra game from the moment you pick it up. This may be a sigh of relief to some, as when it was announced that American developers WayForward were picking up the historically Japanese-developed franchise, longtime fans drew a cause for concern. It was all for naught. The game controls great (with the exception of the DS being perhaps a bit too confining during the game's intense combat for the more "grown-up" hands of its intended audience, though this hardware kink is no fault of WayForward's), looks great with its colorful 2D graphics and huge setpiece bosses, and even sounds great with throwbacks to days of old with familiar sound effects and musical cues. There is no doubt: WayForward has imbued the soul of Contra in Contra 4.

Not everything is the same. For one, the game is on DS, so that means two screens. The action happens on both the top and bottom screens of the DS, which is a lot of real estate to get used to. A grappling hook feature has been added that allows quick and easy transportation to the upper screen when necessary. However, when the initially unnatural screen layout is combined with the gap between the DS's two screens (the distance between of which the game actually compensates for) it can add to some cheap deaths.

And lives don't come cheap - the game varies them between 3 selectable difficulty levels: Easy with 10 extra, Normal with 5, and Hard with 3. Playing on Easy is tantamount to practice, since in that difficulty you are only able to access 7 of the game's 9 levels. Practice and memorization of enemy patterns will see the most dedicated players to the end of the Normal and Hard modes. No, the game is not forgiving and doesn't pretend to be. When you run out of lives you have a limited number of continues to try again. When you run out of those - you guessed it, you have to start again from the first stage. Players not versed in the mechanics of the age of Contra and its peers will likely not find this type of punishment the least bit rewarding. Those twenty-or-older-somethings that do recall this system are likely to smile at the same time they curse the enemy that just expired their last life.

Being the series' twentieth anniversary, Contra 4 packs in some sizeable bonus content. An unlockable Challenge mode will allow you to earn the NES versions of the original Contra and its sequel Super C, additional player characters, and more. A Contra Museum feature detailing the series' history is available from the outset.

The game's greatest asset is its unwillingness to change. It will never hold the player's hand with tutorials or allow 10 minutes to explain some overly melodramatic narrative. You will likely have to continue in the first stage; but with every death you will remember the alien scumbag that did it and blast him into oblivion your next attempt. That is how we used to do it in the old days and those who can relate will interpret this punishment as a lost pleasure.

Won runner up for GameBump's Best Portable Game of 2007

GB Review: Gears of War (PC)

Solomon Lee — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:27:22 -0600

Can you handle this masterpiece?

Overall, this game improves and fares just as well as the 360 version released a year ago. Despite its flaws, the characters, striking environments, special weapons and the inclusion of a game editor, longer single player campaign, additional achievements and new multiplayer maps makes Gears of War an exciting game that should not be missed. For those eager to experience an interactive and engaging PC shooter, look no further than Gears of War this holiday season.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Gears of War, originally released on the Xbox 360, was an extraordinary game. It featured gorgeous visuals, interactive gameplay (contributed largely to its run and cover system), and an engaging third person perspective on the narrative side. The game spurred the sale of many systems and persuaded prospective gamers who sat on the fence to join the Xbox 360 camp. After the story mode was finished, fans happily spent hours on multiplayer matches killing and chain-sawing their friends online. PC gamers now have the chance to experience Gears of War in addition to all the downloadable content from Xbox Live in one neat package.

The story begins with your role as Marcus Fenix, a soldier charged with war crimes and treason who is left to die alone in the prison barracks. A deadly mutant race known as the Locusts has invaded and destroyed major cities across the globe relentlessly. As the death toll escalates to untold figures, the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) grants a pardon to all their war criminals, Marcus being amongst them, and enlists them in a fight to defend the earth against the Locust Horde. He is joined by his fellow Delta squad comrades and others from Alpha squad, including Dominic Santiago, Damon Baird and the comical Augustus Cole, known as "Cole Train". The storyline in Gears is quite linear in length with occasional decision points that allow you to choose different paths to reach your intended destination. The path you choose will dictate the weapons and ammo spoils found as certain items are only available on your treaded pathway.

Gameplay mechanics remain the same as the 360 version with the traditional "duck and cover" tactics in battle. Buildings, boxes, wooden furniture, cars, stone pillars, road barriers and more can be effectively used to shield Marcus from heavy enemy gunfire. The game continually pressures you to hone your skills by not only interacting with your environment, but also to keep a sharp eye on your active reload meter when your gun is empty. When timed perfectly, your reload time drops and you temporarily gain a boost to the damage dealt to the Locust enemy. Weapons and grenades can be swapped with ease by selecting numerical keys 1 through 4 at any given time. If you miss the mark on the meter, Marcus will curse as he spends more time reloading his weapon than needed. The roadie run maneuver, which allows you to stay low and speed through the area, is executed by holding the spacebar. Though it is useful in the game, holding the spacebar key to run feels awkward and takes a bit of time to get accustomed to.

The arsenal of weapons available includes the Snub Pistol, Gnasher Shotgun, Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Grenades and the Hammer of Dawn. The Assault Rifle is a favored weapon as you can gun down your enemies or brutally sever them with a bloody chainsaw attack. Regarding the shotgun and sniper rifle, they are vital for close combat and for eliminating the Locust threat from a safe distance. One big issue I have with using grenades is the time required to toss a single grenade. Thats right. Rather than simply throwing it, you must direct a blue trajectory line indicating where and how high to throw it. There is a tendency for the camera to direct the view upwards making it hard to throw one accurately. Compared to games like Call of Duty, its a chore to toss a grenade at the enemy as you make yourself vulnerable for far too long in an open gunfight. The Hammer of Dawn is a powerful weapon that burns and devours the enemy but can only be used outside when a satellite connection is established.

Regarding the AI aspect of the game, the presence of your squad mates draws out mixed reactions. My comrades have saved me on many counts from Locusts that would have killed me. However, the duck and cover tactics easily throw them off as a Locust could be standing behind a road barrier with his shoulder and head clearly visible. Dominic, Baird and Cole dont seem to notice this and continually shoot the center of the stone barrier already protecting the enemys torso, missing their target entirely in open sight. Consequently, the Locusts were able to pin down half my squad leaving me to revive two teammates used as bait to lure me out from cover. The most frustrating scenario was watching them run right by a Locust standing a few feet away without even turning around! Thus, issuing squad-based commands to regroup, cease fire, or attack is a "hit or miss" affair as more often than not, you must rely on your wits and skills to survive. There are two difficulty settings at the start: Casual and Hardcore with the Insane difficulty unlocked once the campaign mode has been completed.

Rather than giving gamers only a straight port, Epic has provided extra content that includes five new game chapters, three new multiplayer maps, game editor, 50 additional achievements and a new multiplayer game mode. Youll find the five extra game chapters in the latter half of the game that shed light on the events involving an enemy boss encounter and the details of the teams escape. The multiplayer modes featured are Warzone, Execution, Assassination, Annex and the all new mode, King of the Hill. Warzone pits the COG soldiers against the Locusts in a deathmatch while the Execution mode, though similar, requires you to kill your opponents at close range, either by chainsaw attack or stomping their corpse. Assassination assigns the COG soldiers and Locusts to kill the opposition leader and to hold leadership for that team whereas Annex mode is a race to complete objectives and achieve a targeted score first before the other team. Finally, the new King of the Hill is a territorial challenge in which you must control and defend fixed territory against the opposing team for a specified period of time. This mode shares the same objective as the Execution mode in that you must kill your enemies with special close range attacks. For those who engage in online matches and stats, take note that a Gold subscription may be needed in the Games For Windows Live membership. As for the game editor, you can create customized level designs but it remains unsupported by Epic and Microsoft.

Gears is a stunning game that exceeds the boasted graphics of its 360 predecessor. I was privileged to be able to play the game on an HP Blackbird setup and I was blown away. Breathtaking visuals, solid framerate, smooth animation and polished character designs all contributed to making the game a visceral experience. Not surprisingly, my computer was gasping for dear life trying to run the game on the lowest settings. Make no mistake, Gears is graphically intensive and is meant to be played on a powerful rig at maximum resolution. On the audio side, the sound effects, voice acting and soundtrack fit well within the games context in building its dark and sinister atmosphere.

Also available on: 360
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: Epic
Release: Nov 6, 2007
MSRP: $49.99
Mature | Online

GB Review: Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (PS3)

Brian Mohr — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:59:11 -0600

Don't look down.

Fans of the series should have no problem finding enjoyment in the game as Tony Hawk's Proving Ground is alright, but it doesn't exactly do much new or exciting. Instead, it changes the formula around a bit and is essentially the same tricks, combos and more you're used to. If you've played a Tony Hawk game in the past, you're not going to find much new here.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Every year a new Tony Hawk title comes to consoles and this fall is no different with the release of Tony Hawk's Proving Ground on the PlayStation 3 amongst other next-generation systems. With so many Tony Hawk titles already out, does Proving Ground break any new ground?

So, what is new?

The big thing this time around is that Proving Ground allows you to follow three distinct paths in your career. One is the career path which allows you to earn contracts, shoot videos and more. Another is hardcore, which teaches you the skater lifestyle, knocking people over and such. Finally, the last is rigger, in which you can move items in the environment around to skate off of and create trick lines. The rigger mode features a world editor, and while it's not terrible, it's not exactly ideal either. It's sloppy and can be difficult figuring out where to stick cameras, etc.

The game goes even further than that though as you can actually learn stuff from specific skaters including Bob Burnquist, Bam Margera and Lance Mountain. Burnquist teaches you competition skating and an interesting nail the grab mode which allows you to pull off slow-motion manuals and grabs. It's utilized a bit more than in previous games as you can do more with your board.

As for Margera, he teaches you about climbing and Mountain on bowl carving and slash grinding. While these are nice additions to the game and add a little more depth, they require a fair amount of completion before you can even unlock them. This means you can't pull off a lot of these more interesting moves until much later in the game. If you accomplish all those goals, you'll form your own skate team and then be given an even larger set of tasks.

In summation, the big change is the branching story. It's a nice change and enables you to play through a variety of different goals without ever getting stuck at one spot.

And don't fall.

In addition, all the environments you visit feature marked challenges in-world that can be accomplished on the fly including grinding, wall-rides, leaps and manuals. These goals can be beaten in one of three difficulties from amateur, pro and sick just like in previous Hawk titles.

Just like in previous Hawk games, there's no denying that Proving Ground continues the excellent franchise's control scheme. Controls are quick and reactive allowing you to pull off some amazing combos with just a few taps from your fingers.

One other feature added to this game is the skate lounge. Just like in many other collection titles, you can unlock new items, parts, and more to put in the warehouse. It's a nice feature, but does little to add to the game experience.

While some of this is interesting and even good, there are some problems. One big one is the fact that there is no way to jump from the various cities, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Baltimore. You have to skate between them and this can be a bit irritating.

Also, the graphics are good, but there are some definite technical issues in the game. The characters you meet are relatively poorly done and don't exactly exude a PlayStation 3 like quality you'd expect.

Also available on: PS2 | 360 | DS | Wii
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Neversoft
Release: Oct 15, 2007
MSRP: $59.99
Teen | Online

GB Preview: Mass Effect (360)

Eric Jonathan Smith — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 22:40:01 -0600

It's hard enough to stand out amongst the flood of new releases that deluges the end of every year, but something even harder to do is meet expectations when your game just happens to be made by BioWare. The game in question is Mass Effect, BioWare's galaxy-spanning action RPG. Hype is no stranger to Mass Effect, but with the BioWare pedigree from titles like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Neverwinter Nights, most would agree the attention is justified.

In Mass Effect you play as Commander Shepard, a character you can fully customize in terms of gender, appearance, and abilities. In true RPG form, Abilities come from your chosen class, from standards like the gun-toting Soldier to the Biotic-dabbling Adept. Mastery of classes will naturally open up more complex options. General combat revolves around a squad-based mechanic where you only have complete control of Shepard. The complete customization of Shepard from the aforementioned abilities to even his/her morality may prove to be quite a timesinker.

What is Biotics? Biotics is, simply put, the game's magic and refers to the game's title. "Mass effect" within the game universe is tied to a discovery of an invisible matter along the lines of the real-life scientific hypothesis of "dark energy" which is said to be, among other things, accelerating the expansion of the universe. Certain beings can manipulate this dark energy and voila - you have Biotics. Combat is only one side of Mass Effect's attraction. Interaction with NPCs through complex dialogue choices is a BioWare staple thanks to Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire and Mass Effect has promised to up the ante in this area. In lieu of choosing from a list of responses, you choose your general attitude from a wheel and your character will respond thusly. You can also interrupt NPCs while they are speaking and they will emote appropriately. Players looking for replay value need look no further from the gaggle of options from these interactions alone.

In short, Mass Effect's appeal to the hardcore gamer may be as wide a span as the adventure it contains. BioWare has also confirmed that it is the first of a series, though EA's recent acquisition of BioWare has raised questions as to whether the series will remain an Xbox 360 exclusive as it is now. Regardless, Mass Effect ships to the Xbox 360 in North America on November 20 and in Europe on November 23.

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: BioWare
Release: Nov 20, 2007
MSRP: $59.99
Live | Limited Edition | Mature

GB Preview: Kane and Lynch - Non-Swag Edition (360)

Eric Jonathan Smith — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 15:40:00 -0600

Kane and Lynch: Dead Men is the newest offering from developer Io Interactive, best known for their Hitman series. But unlike Hitman's focus on its iconic lone wolf, Agent 47, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men instead plays on the dichotomy between its two titular characters, Kane and Lynch; a division represented in the title's gameplay and story.

Kane and Lynch seems to carry over the Hitman series' mission-based structure but Io seems intent on furthering the game from its spiritual forerunner by introducing a squad-based structure to the gameplay. While you only ever play as Kane (Lynch is playable in co-op by a second player), he can order around an ever-increasingly useful gaggle of goons as the game progresses. Lynch's role, when not controlled by a second player, seems to be one of adding a rather random (if not unwanted) element to the gameplay which is backed up by the game's story.

Both characters have an extensive back story that is appropriately covered in grit and grime. Kane and Lynch have ended up on death row, where they meet. Former mercenary Kane is there for getting caught up in the dealings of a mysterious group called "The Seven" and Lynch for being a pill-dependent schizophrenic (hence his random nature) who apparently killed his wife. However, The Seven intervenes and set Kane and Lynch free on the deal that Kane makes right his past while Lynch keeps a close eye on Kane's actions.

The strength of how the game executes the opposing natures of these two dead men is undoubtedly the key to its success; at worst, Kane and Lynch could be nothing but a Hitman clone, which to some wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. We'll see soon enough as Eidos publishes Kane and Lynch: Dead Men for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 in North America on November 14 and in Europe November 23.

Also available on: PS3 | PC
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Developer: Io Interactive
Release: Nov 13, 2007
MSRP: $49.99 - $59.99
Online | Mature

GB Review: Folklore (PS3)

Shiva Stella — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 15:54:51 -0600

Journey into the land of the folks.

Folklore is quite the charming game, boasting some astounding visuals, lovely music, a mystical atmosphere that pulls the gamer into the story, and unique creatures to collect and utilize against each other in exquisitely detailed worlds, however even the most gorgeous CGI and intriguing voice acting performances can't mask Folklore's obvious flaws. Poor pacing becomes a primary issue, followed by annoyingly long boss battles, the occasionally frustrating soul-sucking mechanism, repetitive gameplay, lots of backtracking (I thought we were done with that in the 90's), a boring plot, and lots of other little features that collectively keep Game Republic's latest project from reaching the quality gamers expect from a PS3-exclusive. Still, if you own the system it's a definite rental - just only a worthwhile buy if you're into RPGs, anime, Japanese-style (as opposed to western) games, or all of the above. And liking Pokemon totally helps, too.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

When reviewing a title like Folklore it's always best to start at the beginning, and the game opens with beautiful cinematics introducing the two playable characters: Ellen, a girl with a "mysterious" past, and Keats, a writer for an occult magazine. The two venture to a small village called Dooulin, where a murder mystery that began nearly two decades ago resurfaces before their eyes. At this point the story should sound familiar - Ellen, with the help of a scarecrow, embarks on a quest to rediscover her tragic past while Keats, aided by... the Invisible Man... (I'm sure there's a metaphor here that I'm not getting) seeks to learn the history of the village and how Ellen fits into the picture. Along the way some other people die, and to complicate matters there's a war going on in the realm of the dead (the netherworld) between two powerful factions, and of course each faction picks a pawn to utilize against the other. As plots go this one isn't too bad, but it does get irritating, cliche, and overly dramatic, quick.

If you played the demo and couldn't stand the comic-book style cutscenes then you might as well stop reading now, because they're here and can't be skipped (but you can fast-forward through them - how convenient). What's worse about the comic-book style and regular cutscenes is that they often severely break up the flow of gameplay; one of Folklore's most frustrating faults is this pacing issue and it is both vivid and reinforced at multiple points. Most of your progression involves running around and talking to people, and while some of that is perfectly reasonable it eventually exists only to detract from the gameplay. You can visit so and so, talk, make your way to visit someone else, get interrupted with another talk, finally reach your destination for yet a third talk, then head to the local pub for a "quest" check (that's another talk) before going back to rest to wait for night and heading out to enter the netherworld. En route be prepared for one-two more speeches, then a lovely cutscene of your character entering the netherworld, another talk at the entrance, and then maybe 45 minutes to an hour's worth of actual gameplay. This is the thing about Folklore: it looks swell, it sounds wonderful, it intrigues you from the start and all you'll really want to do is get down to the gameplay and actually play the game without interruption after interruption, but you can't, and a game that won't let you enjoy it the way you want to isn't worth your time.

One of those annoying boss battles. Can you guess the fatal flaw?!

While we're on the subject of pacing I should mention a few other things that eventually overwhelmed and confounded me. The first concerns a matter of loading screens - I am of the opinion that next-generation titles shouldn't have them, but I don't count off points because they do. I do, however, count off points when they are so frequent. Every time you enter/leave an area, that's a load, and the vast majority of these areas are small, traversed in less than 10 seconds if need be. Folks (the game's monsters/creatures that used to be humans... and then dead humans... ) can actually hit your character and move him back into the previous area (that's a load), so it's a load back inside to fight the same bad guys again (more on this in a minute). The frequent loading screens aren't too bad in and of themselves, but paired with the game's already poor pacing they slow the gameplay to a crawl.

Boss battles, which Game Republic is known for implementing in the traditional "find the fatal flaw (which I'll tell you before you start the fight)" manner, are presented in much the same way here. Unfortunately they can get to be incredibly long and tiresome, with whether your survive or not determined by a monster knocking you back or standing there and letting you hit it at a vital moment. In Folklore boss fights are more frustrating than challenging, which is a pity considering that these are what players are aiming for when they explore a realm.

One of Folklore's most irritating features is that it's extremely repetitive. After you complete an area with Ellen you're given the opportunity to complete the same area with Keats, and while the game switches up the folks some it's still the same area. Quests picked up from the pub then send you back to portions of this same area, and if you're the collecting sort you've already spent some time acquiring all the folks for both Ellen and Keats. If you only stick with one character, though, then the game is shortened significantly unless you're willing to play through almost the exact same areas and situations again with the other. Is the notion driving you crazy yet?

Ellen frequently walks around with her eyes closed.

While I like the concept of collecting folks, what I don't like is the process of sucking up their souls (ie, "ids" - here's a nod to Freud). The id is presented on-screen and dances about as you use the sixaxis controller to wrestle it free from the folk. What's damned infuriating is that while I'm trying to suck up a soul some pathetic monster strolls up and slaps me in the face, breaking the soul-sucking procedure. When you can suck up ids immediately after they surface (without the wrestling, as it were) the system is great. When there are multiple baddies, however, and they're a bit tougher than you're used to, expect to get interrupted a lot.

As an aside, I'm also not a fan of the flower portals, devices that enable you to save your progress, switch cloaks (well, I am a fashionista), and teleport to other areas within a realm. They're pretty but not very convenient; a save-anywhere feature would have been a lot more player-friendly, and that's a key issue. It's as if the game goes out of its way to slow you down, distract you, and make things more difficult than they need to be. Developers do note: frustrating gameplay is not the same as gameplay that challenges you, no matter how good it looks.

It's also a shame that the title's storyline and premise are both as weak as they are; Folklore had tremendous potential and is in fact fun in small doses at certain parts, but the pacing issue and overall repetitiveness overshadow any strength (including its gorgeous visuals) the game might have had. If I want to find out who killed whom 17 years ago I'll watch a Law and Order spin-off. If I want to immerse myself in a really fantastic game, I'll play something else. No matter how much I want to adore Folklore and label it a four-star title, I can't review the game based on what it could (and indeed, should) have been. I can only say that it's unique and charming enough to warrant a shot.

GB Review: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Single Player (360)

Aaron Dunlap — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 15:20:00 -0600

Terrorists are bad. Shoot bullets at them.

The best first-person-shooter of the year. Better than Halo 3. If you need me to say more: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is nearly perfect on all accounts. Instead of picking a few gimmicks and rubbing our noses in them, weakening the rest of the game, this game just gets everything right. Unless you were expecting a tactical shooter like Rainbow Six and will cry if that's not what you get, this game should thoroughly entertain and enthrall any curious FPS fan.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

The WW2 market was already well-established when we came in, and we stomped all over those guys. We're going to do the same with this."

That's what an Infinity Ward developer told me at this year's mini-E3 as I watched him play Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. He's right, on both accounts. Before Call of Duty was released on the PC, games like Medal of Honor and countless strategy games had already swept up the World War II gaming field. With much trepidation I loaded up the demo for that game, but 30 minutes later I was blown away.

What made the original Call of Duty and its sequel, Call of Duty 2, so great was that it didn't rely on gameplay gimmicks or trends to stand out. These games stand out because they are good -- in every possible way. There's a visceral sense of immersion in Infinity Ward's Call of Duty games, Modern Warfare included.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is an excellent game, even though it lacks many of the elements we've grown used to in our shooters. Lately, for a game to stand out it has to have its own special element. Some games tout their super-duper-advanced enemy AI, Call of Duty 4's enemy AI isn't remarkable but it's good enough. Other games smack you in the face with their tactical elements like using smoke grenades and flash-bangs to clear rooms; these are present here but only as options, not as the only way to play. When a game has one of these features it becomes a one-trick-pony, cramming the developers' bright idea down your throat as if there would be no way to get along without it. Cover systems, blind firing, squad commands, crazy goggle effects, and spy gear like snake cams and motion detectors are all things we've come to expect from any game not taking place in 1944 Normandy. None of those are present in COD4, and none of them are missed. What is in many ways a straightforward shooter somehow manages to get it right.

Ghillie suit? More like Silly suit!

The story is not important, or altogether very interesting. What needs to be known is that you play as both a British SAS operative and an US Force Recon Marine, two organizations that collectively represent some of the most bad-ass humans on earth. Your enemies are terrorists with no affiliation to any actual capital-t Terrorist outfits. The game is polite about not shoving the story down your throat, but players interested in participating in it can find plenty of depth by paying attention to dialog.

Unlike previous Call of Duty games, which have all had players taking over a variety of different soldiers from different countries, the stories and paths of the two main characters you play as influence and intersect each other as the game progresses.

Be you SAS or Force Recon, gameplay is entirely the same. Follow your squad mates, shoot the bad guys, don't get shot yourself. The variety comes in how the missions unfold in front of you. Sure, you're not allowed to roam around freely (a common and confusing complaint against Call of Duty games; what were they expecting, Grand Theft Auto: European Theater?) but it rarely ever feels forced. There are safeguards in place to keep you from wandering off-path, but this is War; if you strayed away from your squad-mates you'd just die anyway. The loadout of weapons is pretty realistic, with the Special Ops protagonists being equipped with the types of guns they would be and the terrorists all carrying inexpensive and ubiquitous AK-47s. There were a few times where I picked up expensive, Special Forces-style weapons like the G36 and P90 from dead enemies, leaving me pretty confused.

I wasn't entirely impressed with the "feel" of the weapons as I have been with other games like Black. Unlike the MP40s and Thompsons from Calls of Duty past, these are beefy, extremely powerful weapons that only very well trained people can use effectively, but I just wasn't getting that feeling from the game. The assault shotguns especially felt weak and ineffective. Models, sounds, and animations for the weapons are all superb, however.

One thing I've seen a lot of games try and fail to pull off is material penetration. In this game, a person hiding behind a plaster wall or a wooden box is not safe from your bullets. There's an unnatural satisfaction that comes from seeing an enemy duck behind a corner, shooting a few rounds into that wall, and seeing his legs slump out from behind the corner. This system is effective but, again, doesn't shove itself down your throat. You aren't constantly put in situations where you have to shoot someone through a wall so the game can say, "See? See what we did?" and removing all the fun of it. Instead, it just feels natural.

Instead of trying to assault us with its genius gameplay features, this game assaults us with cinematic beauty. If Call of Duty had any trademarks, it would be those cinematic moments that put you into an incredible moment instead of just showing you. Some things like storming the field of Stalingrad with hundreds of comrades and no weapons or shooting down bombers with a flack cannon just can't be forgotten. There are elements of Call of Duty 4 too where the visual beauty and scope of my actions just overpowered me. Running through a war-torn city at night, in the dark, with night vision goggles on and IR sights and beacons dancing from my squad-mates while smoke trails from enemy RPGs cascade overhead like party streamers with explosions and gunfire in the distance while I try to keep sight of the red flares being shot by a stranded tank I'm supposed to find and protect, it is a defining element of the game not because of any story relevance but for how well this game can suck you into its gunpowder-laced atmosphere. It may sound silly, but instead of feeling like I've done these things in a game it feels like I've done them for real.

I feel like I've really carried a javelin missile launcher on my shoulder and fired damn near half a million dollars worth of anti-armor warheads at enemy tanks that I couldn't see but were not out of targeting range for the launcher. I feel like I've really stared down the scope of a .50 caliber sniper rifle and watched the wind sweep a flag so I could compensate my aim as I waited for a green light to take out a high profile target from an impossible distance. I feel like I've manned the cannons of a AC-130 gunship and, well, I don't want to spoil it.

The incredible graphics, controls, music, and 6.1-optimized digital surround sound all come together to make this game more of an experience than an activity.

Get to the choppah!

Looking back at the game, I start to notice a few things that other games have tried to do cinematicaly and failed. I've seen other games slip into slow-motion to emphasize an important action you're supposed to perform, but never have I seen it done (before this game) without being annoying. Other games have tried having attack dogs, but none have seen so vicious as in this game; for some reason I have this moral qualm about killing dogs, to the point where if I were escaping prison and they sent dogs after me I probably wouldn't be able to kill them to protect my position, but I was unusually eager to blast the little buggers in this game. Other games have had small moments where you can make a small decision about whether or not to kill someone with some immediate effect, but never so subtly as here.

There's even an element that reminds me of a rather ham-fisted late moment in Splinter Cell: Double Agent but works much better here in the climax of Call of Duty 4.

It's important to remember, though, that this is not a tactical shooter. As I've said, there's no squad commands and you don't have to flash-bang every damn closed door you reach as in Rainbow 6: Vegas (my favorite Xbox 360 shooter up until now). Some people may be disappointed by that, but I came to enjoy it. Your characters aren't leaders, anyway, they're taking the commands, not giving them. This makes everything feel much more participatory and less invulnerable. Towards the end, however, things did seem to stray into Tom Clancy territory as far as one elite squad needing to save the world, but I guess when you're writing your own stories instead of cribbing them from history books it doesn't hurt to crank up the stakes.

Another problem I'd been having is the uneven difficulty at times. A little bit of a challenge is a good thing, but the ends of some levels just seemed ridiculously hard to me until I figured out that the game really wanted me to play it one certain way. My biggest problem with difficulty was that the enemies all seem to have near-mythical accuracy with their grenade throws. They never miss, they never over-throw or under-throw. Even if you can't see an enemy, his magic grenades will find you. I sometimes wondered if this was done intentionally just so you'd discover the ability to pick up and return thrown grenades, but it seems a little over-the-top to me.

The single player campaign mode is short but dense. I was able to power through the game on Normal difficulty in around five hours, but I had a deadline to meet. Beating the game unlocks three things: a final bonus level that is a recreation of a common special ops exercise, a terrorist siege on an airplane with a VIP hostage (I think this may only be available if you don't skip the closing credits), Arcade mode, and cheats mode. Arcade mode is the campaign mode with the addition of points, a nice fun way to replay the game without feeling like you're just replaying a game. Cheats mode is kind of what it sounds like: the ability to enable cheats while playing. Cheats are unlocked by collecting enemy intel items scattered throughout the game.

I could go on (and on and on) about the good things in this game point by point, but I'd just be wasting both of our time. All that needs to be said is that this is the best single player shooter of the year. Is it better than Halo 3? I think a drunken stumble through a knife store would be better than Halo 3's single player campaign (relative to its hype, anyway). Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare beats it and anything else this year by a longshot, Half-Life 2: Episode Two included. You cannot be let down by this game.

Another thing that Infinity Ward developer told me at E3 was, "We're going after Halo 3 with our multiplayer mode." The multiplayer in Call of Duty 4 is arguably bigger than the single player, and the multiplayer beta really caused a stir a month ago. Does it have what it takes to compete with Halo 3's massive online experience? Find out in our review of Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat's multiplayer mode coming shortly.

Be sure to check out our multiplayer review of this title, located here.

Won GameBump's Best Shooter of 2007

GB Review: Beautiful Katamari (360)

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:44:26 -0600

Rolling stuff into a ball: one of this game's many new features.

This is a $40 game that can be beaten in a day and offers next to nothing over its $20 predecessor. Personally, I find the gameplay more irritating than enjoyable, but even the people who have chugged the Katamari Kool-Aid won't find their money's worth here. Series fans looking for more should maybe rent this game and get it out of their systems, and people who want their first taste should get Katamari Damacy on the PS2 for half the price.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

This iteration (that word was chosen carefully) of the Katamari series is my first. I somehow managed to avoid "Katamari Fever" as most of the gaming hipsters I knew were logging hours into the bargain-bin-priced PlayStation 2 game, then its sequel, then the PSP port. I always thought it seemed a bit simple, but I didn't avoid it by design or spite, I just never got around to it.

I thought Beautiful Katamari on the Xbox 360 would be a good place to start. With between two and two million times the processing power of the PS2, the 360 should allow for so much more compelling, dynamic, and... well, beautiful gameplay. That's what I thought, anyway.

The core gameplay element of Katamari games (roll stuff up into a ball) has breached our social zeitgeist and therefore is no surprise to me. What did surprise me is how indifferent I was to it. I've heard people unravel all kinds of charming prose about the Zen nature of the games, the calming, subtly addictive qualities of rolling crap up into a ball, so I was trying really hard to see what they saw.

To me, it's just a repetitive game with tedious controls where you push a ball around that picks up items smaller than the ball until the ball grows larger and larger objects may be collected. Lost on me was any kind of charm or endearing elements. After an hour or so of staring at the pale, bland, near-nauseating graphics on my HDTV I felt like I was missing something. I felt like the sort of people who saw the finale of The Sopranos and said, "So, wait, what happened?" or the people who can't figure out the point of Candy's dog in Of Mice and Men. I wondered if there was a hidden camera somewhere or perhaps some kind of two-way mirror where scientists were studying and annotating my frustration.

Is the charming little ball-rolling game a giant, black monolith and am I a Neanderthal-monkey-man mindlessly waving my arms at it?

Or maybe this game just isn't that great. Maybe having to click through page after page of unintelligible gibberish from the King of Whatever character before I can play a damn level isn't that cute. Maybe having words appear all over my screen, blocking my view as I'm trying to play isn't so Zen. Maybe the primitive save/load system and tedious menu system isn't the greatest thing since sliced garbage balls. Maybe spending the first 6 or 7 levels in the same bland, complicated environments isn't a quirky design element. Maybe this is just a game that I don't like.

Drop some acid and this game might start making sense.

When I played through Halo 3 without having played any previous Halo games, sure I was (very) lost with the single-player campaign -- that's just poor story design -- but I was at least able to play the game without knowing the full backstory. In Beautiful Katamari, the backstory is meaningless but the gameplay is what I don't understand.

Even if I really dug the gameplay, I couldn't pretend that this felt like a full game. It feels like a minigame, the sort of thing a better game might display during a loading screen while a real game is loading. There's very little variance in modes; it's either "you've got this much time to roll up this much stuff" or "lets see how long it takes you to roll up this much stuff." The mere insinuation that I'm supposed to be choosy about the specific items I collect when the control scheme and camera seem to be actually working against me is laughable.

I'm told that Beautiful Katamari offers very few additions from previous games. New here is an added element where you're also scored based on what types of items you collect with your magic ball o' junk and not just size, and an online multiplayer mode that is the definition of tacked-on. At $40, this game may be discounted but it's twice the price the original PS2 game and offers next to nothing in exchange for the extra twenty bucks.

If you love Katamari games, you may absolutely love this game as well. However, I'm supposed to review games based on how they stand on their own. For failing to bring anything new to the table for established fans and for failing to provide any value for the price, I cannot recommend this game.

GB Review: The Darkness (PS3)

Shiva Stella — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 19:01:22 -0600

It's rated M for a reason.

The Darkness is a mixed bag; it definitely contains some intriguing content and follows a somewhat unique storyline, however the mafia elements are extremely cliche. Its presentation is superb at times, aptly dark and tragic, supported with some of the system's best and most horrific visuals to date, but the gameplay is plagued with some annoying and consistent flaws. The worst part is that the gamer spends most of his time shooting out lightbulbs via a very buggy targeting system, which gets old fast. Enemy AI could benefit from a severe boost in intellect, although the AI might have been weakened intentionally to make up for the ease with which Jackie dies in comparison to foes he shoots in the head (foes who get back up, re-aim and shoot through the pain - wish I had those skills). All in all, worth at least a rental.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Even after reviewing console and PC titles for a decade, I still have those moments when I feel that other reviewers must be playing a different game than the one I've got in my hands. The Darkness is one such title; it has a movie-like quality displayed in gorgeous (and graphic, and by graphic I mean twisted and gory) detail, elements of a tragic love-story, the traditional tale of revenge, functional online play, and adorable little demons that run throughout each level doing the master's deadly bidding. It's also got "The Darkness," a monstrous serpent creature older than time, and this evil, repulsive thing is (ironically) the game's saving grace - it keeps the plot fresh, wards off boredom via its numerous darkness abilities, and adds that extra pizazz that keeps The Darkness from being just another shooter, mafia emphasis or not.

But pretty visuals, rivets of blood, and even a trip to "hell" (no spoilers, promise) fail to cure the title's amusing faults. The very plot that eventually becomes the only worthwhile reason for playing is especially generic as far as the mafia goes: an east-coast based Italian family splits into two camps, one headed by our hero, Jackie, destined to present the kindler, gentler face of the mob (unless he's just been hired to kill you, in which case you're screwed) and the other by Jackie's dear ole' Uncle Paulie, a rebellious, crazy mobster who enjoys the modern drug trade against the family's wishes.

The two camps collide on Jackie's 21st birthday, and seizing the opportunity to benefit the most from this bloody feud is the darkness, which feeds on Jackie's fallen prey.

Probably to distract Jackie and keep him from acknowledging that there's a demon inside of him, the darkness goes out of its way to make itself useful. It provides Jackie with demonic arms that toss large objects out of the way and, well, stab people as well as put out lights, and given that the light burns the darkness (reducing your darkness energy) you'll be shooting out or whacking light bulbs from the second area on; hope you don't get bored. The darkness also boasts some magical guns to finish off the undead (and these are Nazi undead, like an evil two-for-one special), a black hole that'll suck up everything in sight (fun for making piles of dead bodies), and a stealth mode.

The stealth option enables the player to slither around as the darkness, biting people's ankles and ripping out hearts in reckless abandon because even if enemies are standing around and observing the massacre in broad daylight less than one foot away, they see nothing. The AI for the darklings, those gruesome fashionistas, isn't much better, with most getting stuck in walls or taking the scenic route to a destination as opposed to walking a straight line from A to B (and when they take the scenic route you can kiss their participation goodbye; 95% of the time, they won't be back).

Hey, there's a demon inside you.

When you're not attacking darkness-style you're left to traditional human weaponry. There are lots of guns, some bigger and more effective than others, and Jackie uses them to shoot stuff dead. The usual culprits are here: pistols, rifles, shotguns, and so on. Most of the time you'll catch yourself cycling through guns just to keep Jackie packin' something with ammo, as enemies take awhile to go down. What's really irritating is that there are portions in which Jackie is swarmed by heavily armed bad guys and stealth kills aren't a feasible option; Jackie is going to die a few times in these scenarios from one or two freak hits while repeated shots to an enemy's head leave the bad guy dazed before he runs and hides behind a box.

The matter is worsened the most by an unreliable targeting system. Bringing down bad guys is possible without carefully aiming for a sweet spot; shooting out lights, however, becomes a steadily frustrating process. You can aim and shoot at a light and miss five times, switch to the demon arm and miss five more, and finally switch back to the gun for another round of shots before finally hitting it. The scenario is repeated God only knows how many times by the game's end, at which point you've died just as often due to losing darkness energy while being shot at because you're running around putting out lights. Fun.

All of these annoyances eventually left me running through levels and main "quests" (the active storyline) just to see how the game ended. I lost interest in shooting the same generic baddies, in ordering darklings around only to have them get immediately stuck or killed. The "extra content" - the little gimmies and bonuses, like comic strips and darkling gear - offer little motivation to play and actually annoyed the hell out of me because in order to access this new material you've got to 1. complete a pointless task and 2. call a long-distance number. If you collect six of these numbers from the previous area then that means you have to dial each of them, one by one, and listen to part of some idiot's dialogue before hanging up. Why not give me the goodies after I find each piece of paper? What's the point of this nonsense?

The Darkness isn't a bad game; it's simply yet another next-generation title that looks better than it plays. If you're a fan of the horror genre and/or enjoy a decent FPS, Jackie fits the bill. You two might even grow on each other, much like the snake sticking out of Jackie's back. Just don't expect an awe-inspiring experience until 2K Games and Starbreeze work out the kinks for the next one.

GB Review: NBA 08 (PS3)

Brian Mohr — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 11:10:54 -0600

Sony released NBA 07 last year right around the time the PlayStation 3 was released and the title was another in a lackluster series for the developer. Sony went back to the drawing board and put nearly a year's worth of development into NBA 08 for the PS3. Was it any better?

The simple answer is no. This game does not come close to what has already been offered for years from 2K Sports or EA.

Let's start with the good and I'll be nice here and say the graphics are decent. The game runs at an impressive framerate and the arenas and crowds look quite nice. There is some nice attention to detail with shadowing and lighting. In addition, the players all look well. I'm not going to say it's great, because at times players move awkwardly which is a clear graphic misstep. But otherwise I can say the graphics are decent.

Also, there are a couple of nice attributes to the gameplay. The first is the shot meter presented in the game which is also seen in the PSP and PlayStation 2 versions. It goes from red to yellow to green to tell you the likelihood a shot will go in. It's quite effective as is the rebounding icons on the floor telling you where the ball will go. Those work great and are terrific aspects to the game; the problem is everything else.

On the flip side of the gameplay are some major deficiencies. An obvious one as soon as you play a game is the fact that there are no fastbreaks, something that is seen on every level of basketball and a crucial aspect to the title's momentum and pace. The reason for this is that when you try to push the ball up court, one of two things will happen. If the pass goes any further than a fourth of the court it will get picked off by a defender, even if you're trying to throw it over them. If your player gets the ball, they always stop when catching it and then have to start running again to go. This allows the defenders to catch you every time and cuts out fast breaks all together.

That is one significant problem with the gameplay, but there is more. Offensive players rarely get open even though you can call plays for them. Also, I found no way to call a pick in an attempt to get my own man open. On defense, the trigger button does allow you to stick to a player, but it's not reliable and offensive players can get by you with ease because there is no good way to man up. To make matters worse, defensive play calls provide minimal help, so if there's a mismatch the computer will take advantage.

The sixaxis feature is once again implemented in the series, but its use is essentially pointless. You can do it for spin moves by tipping the controller left or right or on defense for hands, but there is no reason to when you can just use the right analog stick.

If the gameplay isn't enough to dissuade you, the lack of options is also problematic. There is no franchise mode to speak of in NBA 08 and players are given a very limited single season option. This means no drafting, team management, etc., which is something every other game on the market has had for years.

Other options aside from single game and single season are online single game and mini-games. The mini-games are the same three you've seen in the Sony series for years now: own the court, three point challenge and skills challenge. Aside from a single online game, the only other addition that is worth noting is the NBA replay option which is available online. These are challenges in which you try to relive some of the best plays of last year. To say the least, this mode doesn't provide much more depth to the game except the ability to earn credits which can be turned into improving a created player and/or unlocking meaningless items.

Last, but not least is the commentary. Unlike last year's version, which had none except for an announcer, NBA 08 features Kevin Calabro and Mark Jackson. They do an average job, but are often repetitive and add little to the experience.

GB Preview: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)

Solomon Lee — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:41:59 -0500

Nintendo had kept eager fans waiting for years of news regarding their next Smash Bros. game. After a long and silent period, the company had recently garnered the attention of their fans worldwide with its Smash Bros. Dojo webpage. Their latest entry, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, boasts new characters, new gameplay modes, new strategies and extra controls with the Wii and classic controller.

The veteran fighters marking their return include Mario, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Link, Donkey Kong, Samus and Zelda. Battles take place in castles, islands and locales that casual and hardcore fans will easily recognize. The biggest news is the addition of new characters joining the coveted fighting ranks. They include Pit from Kid Icarus, Wario, Zero Suit Samus of Metroid, Meta Knight, Ike from Fire Emblem, Solid Snake of Metal Gear Solid fame and Segas blue mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog.
Smash Bros. Brawl is similar to its predecessor in style and gameplay. As expected, all of the characters have their own strengths, maneuvers and unique abilities. You can pummel your foes in various stages and multiplayer brawls with standard, strong or smash attacks. Regular items such as crates, barrels, banana peels, gooey bombs and the golden hammer are accessible and put an interesting spin on hard-fought battles. The newest feature is the Final Smash move that allows you to unleash powerful attacks to obliterate your opponents. This special maneuver can only be performed by obtaining the Smash Ball item that randomly appears in different stages. An example is Kirbys Final Smash move where he pulls out a giant cooking pot, tosses his enemies inside and rids of them once his dish is ready.

Other game modes available are Special Brawl, Tourney and Home Run Contest. In Special Brawl, rules and character stats such as stamina, size, speed and gravity levels are customizable prior to multiplayer brawls. Tourney mode allows you to create a tournament and to pit fighters against one another for the championship title. The Home Run Contest is a timed challenge to pound and send a sandbag flying to the furthest distance inside a stadium.

The new adventure mode, the Subspace Emissary, is a side scrolling game where you can explore the history behind the characters. The game can be played either in single player or multiplayer coop mode with key events revealed in cinematic movies.

Visually, the game looks significantly better than its GameCube brethren. Character designs are extremely polished and the animation smooth with no visible slowdown. The background stages and bright colors make the game vivid and refreshingly interactive. The audio features the creative talents of famous composers that have contributed to the games overall soundtrack. Koji Kondo, Masato Kouda, Yasunori Mitsuda, Jun Fukuda and Tomoko Sasaki are enlisted, to name only a few.

Smash Bros. Brawl is shaping up to be the best fighting game involving Nintendos beloved cast of characters that fans have come to expect and more. The inclusion of new characters offers more competition, fun and excitement that will satisfy hardcore and casual fans alike. The game has been a long time in coming but will be well worth the wait.

GH Review: PaRappa The Rapper (PSP)

The Gaming Horizon Archive — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 20:52:00 -0500

This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Eric Dayday.

About ten years ago, a two-dimensional happy-go-lucky rapping dog came out of nowhere and gave the fledging music rhythm genre a jump start into the mainstream fast lane. While the genre itself hasn't looked back with such giants as Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero, PaRappa the Rapper, its one time poster boy, hasn't aged well as made evident by this port of the original PlayStation game to the PSP.

For those of you unfamiliar with one of the grandfathers of the music game genre, PaRappa the Rapper tells the tale of a young pup's journey to win the heart of Sunny Funny, his sunflower best friend. To do so, he'll have to learn how to fight, drive, peddle wares, bake a cake, and even fight his way to the head of a bathroom line by rapping. If it sounds too outrageous, it's because it is. However, it's delivered with such great humor and charm, you can't help but smile. From PaRappa's irritable bowel to Joe Chin's obliviousness to his own narcissism, there's something for everyone to laugh at.

Surprisingly, the graphics have held up decently too. They were simplistic even by the standards in 1997, but the vibrant colorful palette translates well onto the handheld's screen. What also helps is that a lot of the rough edges were smoothed out, giving both the characters and backgrounds a much cleaner look.

The sticking point of any sort of music rhythm game is the title's soundtrack. It can easily make or break a game. Of course, PaRappa's catchy and original tunes are easily its strongest points and they still hold up well after all this time. The fact that people can say a mere two words – "Kick, punch" – and have someone else finish the line with "it's all in the mind" speaks volumes of how great PaRappa's was and is. Going back through the PSP version brought back a massive wave of nostalgia especially when I realized that I still remembered all of the lyrics and their cadences. That said, you would think that would make the game easier since I have that head start, but that's another story.

Sadly, the gameplay doesn't hold up nearly as well as the rest of the game. It consists of simply pressing the right button at the right time to keep PaRappa's rhymes flowing with the music. Timing is kept track of by a small icon of our titular hero moving across a meter at the top of the screen. When the icon passes over a button icon, that's when you should press the corresponding button. At least, that's how it's supposed to work in theory. In reality, the timing is a bit off and you'll need to press the button just as the PaRappa icon gets to the button. The unforgiving timing is what may be somewhat frustrating. As I said earlier, I remember all of the tracks and what not, so seeing myself fail a line I know I hit perfectly was a common sight that I just could not shake. It's a lot easier to just remember the button sequence, totally ignore the meter, and press the buttons to the beats. In other words, playing the game with an audio focus versus a visual focus may actually serve some of you better.

The game itself is also horribly short. Six stages, six tracks and then you're done. Of course, you could always replay the levels and attempt to maintain a "Cool" rating in order to freestyle a stage. Even then, there really isn't any reward to do so other than full completion, and freestyling isn't all that fun. A sequence you may find interesting and fitting to the music may get graded badly while a mindless repeat of one word will keep you going. No one ever said the AI judges were all that smart.

An addition to the PSP port is a number of downloadable tracks. Unfortunately, they are nothing more than variations of the original six and pale in comparison to the originals. They're bland and uninspired. They felt more like an afterthought to add material to the game so that it wasn't just a straight port. It was also odd seeing six different remixes for the first stage and then one or two for each of the other stages.

Lastly, the $30 price tag seems a little steep for what essentially is port of a ten-year-old PS1 title. While I won't dock points off the game's overall score for that, it is something to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to purchase it.

If you played Parappa ten years ago, seeing it in a handheld format is initially mind-blowing. After that, you'll feel some nostalgia, and then after tearing through it in 45 minutes, you'll realize that once is enough. If you never had a chance to play it, then this is a good opportunity to check out a classic. Just beware when shelling out the cash for it as the mileage you'll get out of it will vary.

Unforgiving timing can make what seems like an easy line frustratingly difficult.

Hold up well after a decade. The clean-up of the jaggies helps a lot.

One of the best game soundtracks even if only 6 tracks long. Downloadable remixes disappoint.

Fun for as long (or short) as it lasts, and once you get pass the stubborn timing.

Only six stages long, not much incentive to replay stages. Additional songs are an afterthought

GH Preview: Jeanne D'Arc (PSP)

Brian Mohr — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:20:34 -0500

This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

In Jeanne DArc, players take on the role of the French heroine during the 100 year war between the French and English. The role-playing game by Level-5 brings an interesting and unique look to the historic story when it arrives next month on the PlayStation Portable handheld.

Sony recently sent along a preview copy for us to check out before the anticipated August 21 release date. As stated above, players take on the role of Jeanne DArc or more commonly known stateside as Joan of Arc along with two of her partners Liane and Roger.

In the game, Jeanne heads home to Domremy where she finds the town burnt to the ground. In the battle that follows, Jeanne turns into a warrior who has even more power to take down enemies and take on damage.

Following the devastation by English forces, Jeannes motive is clear to return freedom to France. During her journey, Jeanne meets plenty of other companions including Colet, Bertrand and La Hire. In the actual game, players will make decisions on which warriors will battle in each stage.

Clearly the game, Jeanne DArc is focused on conflicts between the French and English during this time, but equally wants to expand on the story with mythical creatures, magic and more. The combination seems to work well.

In addition, the gameplay is solid taken straight from the likes of Final Fantasy Tactics. The turn-based RPG has you battle it out in a chess style grid. Experience and leveling are gained both during and after battles. In addition, players are able to utilize weapons, spells and other such items in battle as well. The game is broken down into stages and each one has a goal which must be accomplished in a certain number of turns, along with conditions for failure.

Two interesting additions to the battle sequence are the burning aura and unified guard. Aura is on offense and allows characters to unleash a powerful attack if a glowing circle appears on-screen and you attack from that location.

Meanwhile, guard is revealed when two characters are close to each other on the grid. Often times it will result in a miss or at least lessen the attack on you. Its obvious from these inclusions that the game is focused on teamwork more than individual play.

One other notable inclusion is the armlet that Jeanne utilizes. One time per battle and possibly more, the armlet gives Jeanne the chance to go twice or use special attacks.

Meanwhile, players will gain spirit affinities in one of three areas. This can help and hurt you depending on the affinity of your enemy. Various skill stones build power in specific affinities which in turn can determine the path your character takes. Purple stones are skills, while red are for more powerful abilities. These stones are only accessible for swordsmen. Meanwhile, two more stones are available to anyone in the green and blue. Green gives you magic, while blue boosts your statistics.

Sticking with the stones, players are able to accumulate stones in-game either by buying, finding or acquiring them from defeated opponents. Its an interesting inclusion that adds some depth to the experience.

As for the graphics, they are stunning with cel-shading in-game and terrific cutscenes between battles.

Based on what weve seen so far, Jeanne DArc definitely will keep RPG fans on the PlayStation Portable happy. With what is rumored to be a 40-hour adventure, clearly stunning graphics both in-game and cut-scenes and solid gameplay, Jeanne DArc is worth a gander when it hits shelves in August.

GH Review: SimCity DS (DS)

The Gaming Horizon Archive — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:14:00 -0500

This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Brian Mohr.

Plenty of other classic titles have made their way over to the Nintendo DS after being largely successful on the original consoles. So its no surprise that the classic city builder SimCity has made its way to the Nintendo handheld too. Although it features the same addictive gameplay all the previous versions do, the experience isnt quite the same with SimCity DS.

First and foremost, Electronic Arts didnt mess with the formula that makes the game successful, allowing players to take on the role of mayor and giving you the opportunity to build a city as you see fit. Just like in every other version, players are responsible for building residential, commercial and industrial properties and keeping everything in perfect harmony. Of course its much more detailed than that as you must build roads, power lines, water towers, hospitals, schools, police, fire stations and much more. Accomplishing that feat and keeping the city vibrant while still balancing the budget and making your citizens happy is what makes the game addictive and thankfully EA didnt mess with that formula.

In addition, the game features an extensive tutorial in case you arent familiar with the city building experience. SimCity DS features 15 lessons that break down everything you need to know before getting to work. It was a solid inclusion as the game can overwhelm some players if jumped into too quickly.

Finally, there are some unique minigames thrown in to make things a little more interesting. These include blowing into the microphone to put fires out, using the stylus to do fireworks and more. One final item of note is the mail system, which enables you to communicate with other mayors. Its a nice touch, although not utilized much.

Although SimCity does bring the city building experience to your handheld, there are a lot of issues that werent quite dealt with. The biggest is the controls which utilize the touch screen for a majority of the game. Players can move with the d-pad, but selecting items and building the city requires the point and click interface. It seems like itd work well, but the grid is so small that you often find yourself building in the wrong area. It is a nuisance and very frustrating. Thankfully EA at least put in an undo button to fix any mistakes you may make although if you demolish something it is gone; there is no do over.

The controls arent the only issue though as the graphics for SimCity are poor. The character design of your citizens and advisor are simplistic and then the actual city looks like a dump. There are some details in buildings, but more often the textures and color scheme make most of the environment uninteresting. This is particularly frustrating when you consider the impressive graphics in other games on the handheld.

Meanwhile, the sound isnt much better, but at least thats understandable. There are some sound effects that are ok and the music isnt irritating, but its hardly interesting either.

Finally, its hard to see who this game is actually geared towards. Its too complex for younger children, but it is on the Nintendo DS and still is SimCity. Not exactly the game most children are lighting up to play.

Although theres a lot of potential here, Electronic Arts didnt quite hit the mark with SimCity DS. The game brings the popular city builder experience to the Nintendo handheld, but it comes at a cost. The controls are much less desirable as are the graphics and sound. Simply put, SimCity doesnt seem to work well on the DS and makes you realize that a good idea can be implemented unsuccessfully.

The gameplay is solid although frequently the stylus is more trouble than a benefit.

The characters and city are unappealing.

The sound effects are mediocre and the music is generic.

The problems hurt the experience, but otherwise it is just as addictive as any other

The one thing is that SimCity DS will keep you busy for a long time.

GH Preview: God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)

Aaron Dunlap — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 16:10:53 -0500

This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

Its like God of War, but on the PSP. No, seriously, its the same game.

God of War 2 garnered a lot of critical praise, but personally, I loathed it. God of War was an amazing game that revived and reshaped the brawler genre and brought a second wind to the then-dwindling PlayStation 2 with surprising graphics, cinematics, and overall production quality. The gameplay was addictive, the controls intuitive, the combat sickeningly satisfying.

God of War 2, released just a few months ago, was quite literally the same game. Sure, it was a sequel in the traditional sense: it takes place after the first game, it has a new story, and theres a 2 after the title. Besides that, though, there was nothing new. It was like deja vu, a tired re-tread. Same controls, same style of puzzles, same enemies, same cobat, same interface, same everything.

From my experience with God of War: Chains of Olympus, I feel the same way. Its an all new story and its ported beautifully onto the PSP with practically identical controls to its PS2 counterparts; but its still the same game.

The big problem with bringing a 3D game to the PSP is the infamously absent second analog nub. Some games put camera controls on the two shoulder buttons, others put control onto the D-pad. God of War: Chains of Olympus does neither. There are no camera controls, in fact. The game has a smart camera that locks the perspective where it need to be and follows you around as you move throughout the environment; similar, if not identical, to the PS2 games.

As soon as I picked the game up I was performing the combos now-ingrained in my mind. Identical to the PS2 games.

In short, if you want to play God of War on your PSP, this is your game. If there was something about God of War that you didnt like or wish was added, no dice here. I would hate to see God of War become another one of those series that churns out inevitable sequels year after year with little to no innovation.