Review – Gears of War: Judgment (Xbox 360) << Gaming Irresponsibly

Review – Gears of War: Judgment (Xbox 360)

Mar 252013

Gears of War has become the poster child for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 ever since the original’s release way back in November of 2006. With this generation of consoles quickly winding down, it’s only fitting that Epic and Microsoft release one last Gears of War before focus shifts to whatever the next Xbox will be named. But still, even with that “fitting” nature, many people still wondered if Gears of War Judgment was necessary. But more importantly, with it now being a direct spin off from the previous games, would it acquire the same passion and care that the last three installments so eloquently flaunted?

The Locust invasion story has never been a particularly fascinating one in the Gears universe. It’s been the constant string tying all four installments together but the storytelling mostly relied on your care for the main four COG members: Marcus, Dom, Baird, and Cole. With the ending of Gears of War 3, it was abundantly clear that Marcus and Dom’s stories were over, meaning placing them in a subsequent sequel would feel forced and unnecessary. To avoid that, Epic and People Can Fly decided to delve into the previously untold backstory of Cole and Baird. It’s been alluded to that they were on trial before meeting up with Marcus and Dom but the actual ins and outs of that trial have never been elaborated upon. In Gears of War Judgment, all your questions regarding that trial are answered, although the answers may be much less interesting that you had once thought.

Judgment introduces two new characters that join Cole and Baird on their journey, Padduk and Sophia. These characters are given slight backstories but never anything that propels them up to what you already know about Cole and Baird. Despite some of People Can Fly’s efforts, Cole and Baird are the two characters you ultimately care about. I’ve always had a slight admiration for Baird, though I understand that isn’t the popular opinion regarding him. That being said, him and Cole are especially reserved this go around, never really exerting their standard “hoorah” bravado. The actual story is told almost exclusively in flashbacks from the four characters, with you taking control of that character each time they give their “testimony.” Sadly, the trial itself is incredibly uninteresting and never becomes anything more than a platform to propel the next gameplay section forward.

The Unreal Engine has been a staple of the Gears series for years, and it’s beginning to show. The same grimy nature of the enemies and busted buildings still exist. On top of all that, the color palate remains rather bleak, apart from some surprising use of the always allusive blue color near the end of the game. That doesn’t mean that there’s a complete lack of variety however as some of the more open areas flaunt some really nice scenic views. These shots are few and far in between but when they come up, it makes you want to stop moving and just examine this ravaged world.

One of the biggest question marks heading into Judgment was how in the world the developers could make this single player campaign engaging yet again. Epic managed to hold our attention for three straight games but at the end of Gears of War 3, I felt more than done with Gears of War’s single player. With development now shifting to the Polish studio, People Can Fly, odds were stacked against them in their hopes of making their first Gears campaign an interesting one.

But they’ve managed to overcome those odds mainly due to the addition of a “declassified” objective that is available before the start of every section. These declassified objectives can vary from forcing you to use certain weapons all the way to giving you a time limit that forces you to hurry through the current section. The time limit contrivance can be a bit annoying but every declassified objective manages to add an interesting layer that otherwise would not exist. Also thrown into the campaign are horde mode sections that force you to fend off two or three attacking waves of Locust. The additions People Can Fly installs into the single player work brilliantly in revitalizing what seemed to be a lifeless experience prior to release.

There are a few fundamental changes that Judgment inserts which were not in previous installments. For example, instead of using the d-pad for weapon changes, you now tap Y to alternate between your two weapons. It’s a tad frustrating at first due to the removal of one of your weapon slots, but you quickly learn to get used to the new Call of Duty esque weapon swapping. With this change, you now use LB to throw grenades, which led to me using grenades much more often than I previously did. Now instead of being forced to swap out of your weapon mid firefight, you can simply tap LB and let whatever modified grenade you have in your inventory fly. It’s a smart but subtle change that goes a long way in making the Gears experience more accessible and easy to handle.

The lifeblood of the Gears franchise has forever been its expansive multiplayer. I remember many of nights spent playing Gears 1 and 2’s online multiplayer until I could see sunlight creeping back through my window after long hours filled with Coca Cola and Cheese Puffs. That magic had worn off slightly when Gears 3 released but that didn’t mean the multiplayer was any less impressive. By far the most bewildering part of Judgment’s multiplayer is the lack of any kind of Horde mode. If you remember correctly, Horde was the wave based survival mode focused on upgrading turrets and barriers. It was a widely loved feature that somehow did not make it into Judgment.

Instead, we have received a mode simply called “Survival.” Survival is also wave based but instead of having fifty waves, it only has ten. Also instead of being able to upgrade barriers and such, you can simply repair them after the Horde does their damage. You begin Survival by choosing between four classes: Medic, Engineer, Soldier, and Scout. Each class has its own special ability such as the engineer can repair barriers whereas the soldier can throw out a grenade that refills your teammate’s ammo. Survival is an acceptable mode that provides a few thrills, but never anything on the level of Horde. Due to that, you’re left feeling immensely unsatisfied after each round comes to a conclusion.

Not all the new modes are unsatisfying however as People Can Fly combined both the Beast mode from Gears 3 and the aforementioned Survival mode to form Overrun. Overrun involves two teams taking turns at attacking emergence holes that have been covered up by COG soldiers. As the horde, you’re choosing between multiple classes and pushing forward in hopes of breaking down enemy barriers and ultimately opening up room for an all-out rush on the E-Hole. Once you do destroy the cover on the E-Hole, the COG falls back to another area and the process begins anew. Once you destroy the covering yet again, the COG falls back to their generator which is the last line of defense. If you destroy that generator, that round is over and you transition to the COG side as you try to fight off the invading Horde. It may sound a bit tedious, and it does become a little tiresome after multiple hours of playtime, but it’s still a very fun mode to dive yourself into.

The head to head multiplayer feels mostly unchanged in the grand scheme of things. The biggest change is due to the new way you switch weapons, it forces you to only have one main weapon. Thankfully, you do get to choose what weapon you want before the match begins and there are still larger weapons strewn across the maps. But it seems as if everyone selects the Gnasher Shotgun as their one weapon, leading to a mostly shotgun dominated multiplayer experience. Possibly my biggest complaint regarding Judgment’s multiplayer is in regards to the lack of maps. There seems to be around four maps that are played on religiously, which gives me the bad feeling that if you want more variety, you better get ready to pay for some DLC.

I’ve never been a fan of Halo nor the Call of Duty franchises, but for some reason I’ve always had a love for Gears of War. That being said, I did not expect Judgment to be the tight little bow I had hoped would wrap up this beloved franchise. I, like many others, felt like Judgment was simply one last cash grab from Microsoft before the Xbox 360 ultimately rode off into the sunset. Thankfully, I was wrong. While Baird and Cole’s story isn’t the most interesting, the gameplay mechanics surrounding it make up for the dull storytelling and the multiplayer remains interesting, if not a little dumbed down from previous installments. Gears of War Judgment overachieves, which is something many did not expect, but it’s become clear that the series deserves to be put to rest.

Bulletstorm 2, anyone?

Graphics 80		Audio 85		Gameplay 80
Creativity 85		Execution 85		Offset 80

8.3

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Review – The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct (Xbox 360)

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Mar 212013

As I’m sure many know, The Walking Dead has become quite the hit series these past few years. It all begin with the graphic novel that was beloved by many, and it then transitioned into an equally well received television show. A video game was obviously the next stepping stone in this sequence of events and Tell Tale took care of that last year as they released a point and click strategy game of the same name. This strategy game was one of the highlights of last year and even won my personal Game of the Year award. This all begs the question, why did Activision and AMC decide to release another Walking Dead game?

Even after playing through Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, I cannot answer that question. Its existence remains bewildering due to the lack of any kind of marketing push by Activision, which signifies even they do not show a great deal of confidence in this silent product. Thankfully, I can report that not all is terrible with Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, which is about as positive a statement as I can make. If you didn’t know, and I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t, you play as Daryl, the likable asshole from the show. The game was pitched as being a Merle and Daryl focused experience but Merle appears for hardly an hour before disappearing for nearly the rest of the game.

The choice of playing as Daryl seemed to be a good one to begin with but it became clear as the game trudged along that Daryl isn’t the most likable nor is he the most charismatic character. Sure, his character on the show is good, but it also relies heavily on influences from others around him. You spend most of Survival Instinct by your lonesome, which leads to Daryl whispering a whole lot of slightly offensive obscenities. It also doesn’t help that the voice work performed by Norman Reedus, a fine actor, is subpar at best. The cast around him is far below subpar however.as some border on unlistenable at times.

The story itself does nothing to rectify its middling characters as you march forward through environments, doing exactly what you expect in a stereotypical zombie game: Look for others, look for guns, look for vaccine, look for evacuation ideas, etc. My interest behind the story before playing the game relied solely on seeing the development behind the Merle and Daryl relationship, which as I previously stated, is nonexistence apart from one or two lines that reference how they lived before the outbreak. It’s a forced, convoluted story that never builds up any kind of momentum for its underwhelming ending.

Development on The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct has been quite the head scratcher ever since it was announced. Like I previously mentioned, there’s always been the “Why?” question floating around it but another questions leading up to its release is just how much time was given to develop The Walking Dead? A few months back, a “fan made” trailer for Survival Instinct was released and to put it kindly, the game looked like trash. The visuals are definitely better than what the trailer showed off but not by much. You could put these visuals against some Xbox 360 launch titles and hardly find any kind of difference between the two. The most frustrating aspect of the visuals is by far the constantly repeating environments. There seems to be around four different environments to search through, apart from the main story missions, and five or so set patterns for each room you enter. Lazy art design at its finest, there’s no excuse for the lack of visual variety in Survival Instinct. That all goes without mentioning the consistently bad frame rate and uninteresting art that does appear.

If you know anything about the Walking Dead universe, you know that making a full guns blazing action/adventure game was not an option for developer Terminal Reality. Instead, they had to turn enemy interactions into mostly stealth based experiences, sneaking around corners, executing walkers, and doing your best to never fire off a weapon around a large herd. This is when one of the more hilarious issues comes up as you unveil the horror that is the melee combat. In games similar to The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, like Dead Island, you have a weapon and can control what part of the body to attack, which means you must develop a strategy for nearly each enemy. Walking Dead throws that idea out the window and decides your best course of action is to simply bang on the walker’s face until he caves over backwards into a limp death animation that is sure to garner a few giggles. The banging on the face consists of taking whatever melee weapon you have equipped (hammer, bat, knife, etc.) and tapping RT until the previously mentioned death animation rears its ugly head.

That isn’t to say the combat is all bad however as once you begin to stockpile some ammo, you realize using the firearms is much more enjoyable than using the standard knife. Blasting through a ton of walkers with pistol, all while trying to navigate your way to some more fuel for your vehicle, is a lot more enjoyable than simply sneaking around until you get caught and are then forced to partake in the melee combat. My biggest complaint with the firearms, though I’m not sure it is considered a “firearm,” would be the lack of Daryl’s crossbow. Sure, you get it eventually but for over half the game you remain crossbowless. Which only becomes more frustrating once you realize the crossbow is probably the most enjoyable weapon in the game.

Arguably the most interesting feature Survival Instinct possesses is the group mechanic idea, an idea that never feels fully fleshed out. The concept is simple, you rescue people while you’re scouring around desolate towns and then add them to your group. Before going out a mission, you choose if you want these survivors to go out and find more food, gas, ammo, or simply stay at the vehicle. In Survival Instinct, supplies are everything and that becomes apparent by how hard the game pushes you to constantly search around your environment. While searching, you find everything from fuel (obviously very useful for traveling, which is done by a simulated sequence usually used to propel the narrative) to ammo or newer melee weapons if you become so lucky. The search for newer and better items is a lustful one but it is also one that has been done much more successfully in Dead Island and Zombie U.

I know this will surprise very few but The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is not a good game. It obviously had a very low production budget and was green lit simply to rake in some easy cash for Activision. That likely assumption is a bummer for developer Terminal Reality as I truly believe with more time and money, they could have made a fine Walking Dead experience. Instead, Terminal did their best with what they had, they produced a poor man’s Dead Island. A poor man’s Dead Island is a hard product to recommend but if you need your zombie fix and can’t wait until Dead Island: Riptide, I have a mediocre product for you.

Graphics 40		Audio 50		Gameplay 55
Creativity 35		Execution 50		Offset 50

4.7

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Indies Gone Wild: A Squirrel, a Ball, and a Voxel

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Mar 132013

Words cannot explain my current state of shock. I have found two, yes two, games that are worth your hard earned dollars this week. Right now is a pretty hectic time for releases as Tomb Raider and God of War Ascension spin around in peoples consoles, with Bioshock Infinite looming just around the corner. But in what little downtime you can manage, I’ve found a digestible chunk of pixels (and voxels) that could be enough to suit your fancy.

Procrastinating Squirrel
Developer: Daivuk
Price: 80 Microsoft Points

Ah, the idea of a procrastinating squirrel. It’s that simple imaginative thought that made me purchase Procrastinating Squirrel and looking back, I regret nothing. In this overlong adventure, you play as a squirrel who is readying up for the forthcoming winter. Before winter comes along he must gather 300,000 nuts which he does by digging in all directions, picking up cashews, frozen cashews, strawberry nuts, acorns, and other assorted nuts. The idea of Procrastinating Squirrel is obviously very simple and widely used, but due to the price tag and likability of your poorly animated squirrel, I couldn’t help but enjoy my hour or so with the game.

The carrot on the stick that pushes you forward are the enticing upgrades you gain by spending your accumulated nuts. Those upgrades include a better shovel, a bridge, and larger storage space. After a while (and by while I mean around twenty minutes), however, digging up and down the map looking for nuts becomes a boring task to continue. Apart from the eventually tedious gameplay, Procrastinating Squirrel features some very distinct music. Sadly, distinct doesn’t always mean good. At first, the harmless chimes and hums are quite pleasing to the ear, but the more you play on, the more these repeating tracks begin to feel like nails grinding on your ear drums. Procrastinating Squirrel is the most fun I’ve ever had with a squirrel, take that for what it’s worth.

Voxel Runner
Developer: Dizzy Pixels Ltd.
Price: 80 Microsoft Points

Voxel Runner is a pretty well-known game around this crazy thing we call the internet. Thankfully, developer Dizzy Pixels decided it would be smart to place their product on the Indies marketplace, a move that made my job a bit more enjoyable. In Voxel Runner, you are a simple man running from left to right, making jumps and slides to eventually reach the next checkpoint and unlock whatever ability the game has under its increasingly larger sleeve.

Similar to Procrastinating Squirrel, Voxel has some very unique music that integrates into the gameplay very well. Similar to the recent release of Runner2, the jumps you are forced to make in Voxel are all set to the pulsing beat being pushed out of your television. Unlike Procrastinating Squirrel, though, Voxel Runner’s music only adds to the energetic adventure that you are forcefully pushed through. Voxel Runner isn’t something you can spend too much time with, you know, seizures and all, but it’s definitely something that provides a good deal of fun in condensed play sessions.

Ball Guy
Developer: Kinekid
Price: 80 Microsoft Points

Look, I know at this point to never expect much heading into any indie game. But I’ll admit it, coming off these past two indie games, I had some excitement bubbling up that I may be able to write an article where I enjoyed all three games I purchased. Ball Guy was not having an inch of that positivity. In Ball Guy, your beloved protagonist is of the rounder shape and must venture into the forest to… Pick up scrolls or something? There’s a story, it has poorly written dialogue and even worse looking art. I’m sorry to disappoint, folks.

Ball Guy’s idea of a puzzle is simply battling the poor d-pad controls to navigate your way around the screen and collect scrolls. Navigation is performed by flying around on your jetpack, which relies on the aforementioned d-pad. The scrolls, obviously, contain interesting facts that we all desire. For example, the smallest and dirtiest man hasn’t bathed in 58 years. Oddly enough, these scrolls are the only interesting thing to be found within Ball Guy. I’ll admit that at times, I even worked a bit harder to see what the next irrelevant fact contained within the next scroll would be. I think that’s a positive?

Pick ‘em up: Procrastinating Squirrel (80 Points) and Voxel Runner (80 Microsoft Points)

Coming Soon: Console Games to Expect in March

Posted by Jay Malone 1 Response »

Mar 012013

Tomb Raider
Developer: Crystal Dynamics Inc.
Release Date: March 5^th

After the four hundredth Tomb Raider release, Crystal Dynamics has finally decided to reboot the series and start anew. I’ve always had a love for Tomb Raider in my heart, like most people I’m sure, but the recent games never hit the spot for me. Sure, that the Guardian of Light was quite good, but it just didn’t seem to fit in the Tomb Raider universe. The reboot of Tomb Raider seems similar in that it isn’t a direct copy of the PS1 installments that we all fell in love with.

This go around, Crystal Dynamics seems to have went in the more traditional third person style, similar to Uncharted. Which is still rather close to the original Tomb Raider as many called Uncharted “Tomb Raider with a male protagonist.” One of the more intriguing aspects regarding Tomb Raider is that this is the first in the series to receive an M rating by the ESRB. One of the scenes described has Lara healing herself by popping her bones back in to place, Far Cry 3 style. Hopefully with the new rating comes a more mature, fully developed experience.

God of War: Ascension
Developer: Sony Santa Monica
Release Date: March 12^th

Hey guys, there’s another God of War game. I know, I know, I’m as shocked as you, I just didn’t think they’d do it again. But here we are, and here it is, but this time is going to be a bit different. Whether that difference is for the better or not has yet to be determined. For starts, this go around you will be playing as a not so angry Kratos. That is because you will be playing a prequel to the previous God of War’s, where you find the root of Kratos’ pulsing anger that he just cannot seem to shake.

Next up, there’s a multiplayer. I know. In this newfangled multiplayer, you’ll be doing normal online duties like killing friends, being killed by friends, and gaining/losing points while doing so. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ve never been a God of War fan, but even I know adding multiplayer to this franchise is going to be a terrible idea. But I suppose I won’t judge it until I play it, which will be never.

Gears of War Judgment
Developer: Epic/People Can Fly
Release Date: March 19^th

Speaking of yet another game in a dying franchise, Gears of War Judgment is sneaking its head out the door come mid-March. Unlike God of War, I’ve always enjoyed the Gears of War franchise and I don’t necessarily expect that to change with the new installment. That doesn’t change the fact that this series is getting old and because of that, my 360 is a bit tired of running Gears of War games.

New to the series is the fact that Marcus is no longer the main protagonist. In Judgment, you’re taking control of Baird (I call him “The Asshole”) just one month after the original E-Day. Similar to God of War, you get to hear Baird and Cole’s backstories leading up to their eventual meet with Marcus and Dom. A backstory that includes being charged with desertion, cowardice, theft of experimental COG technology, and treason.

The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct
Developer: Terminal Reality
Release Date: March 19^th

If you read my top ten list from last year, you know I have a strong admiration for The Walking Dead adventure game. That being said, I was not expecting that quality from the impending Survival Instinct that was announced by Activision. Here lately, I’ve managed to somehow garner a bit of excitement, but I’m not so sure that excitement will pay off. On one hand, Terminal made Def Jam Rapstar, and I love me some Def Jam Rapstar. But on the other hand, they made Kinect Star Wars. Need I say more?

Another source of my excitement is the focus on TV characters Meryl and Daryl, the two stars of the game. Obviously, Survival Instinct is set in the TV show’s world as opposed to the graphic novels. You’ll be playing as Daryl as you traverse the wild lands of Georgia in your pursuit of reaching Atlanta, which is said to be safe. Gameplay will feature stealth mechanics and encourage players to scrounge for the scarce ammo spread across the mostly open-ended environment. Man, I just want this game to be good.

Bioshock Infinite
Developer: Irrational Games
Release Date: March 26^th

Bioshock Infinite has been my most anticipated game of 2013 ever since it was pushed back last year. My love and admiration for the Bioshock series knows no bounds and has been waiting to be fed ever since I completed Bioshock 2’s campaign. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Bioshock Infinite will be different from previous Bioshock’s in that the game will not take place underwater. Instead, the setting will be in a cloud based city named Columbia. Columbia was built by the Americans as a sign of their growing power and technological ingenuity.

There are a few worries that I’ve had on my mind, however, such as the constant AI character that follows you around throughout the game. Irrational has promised over and over that the character, named Elizabeth, would not be a hindrance of any kind. Time will tell on that aspect but one thing that seems to be shaping up nicely is the plot and integration of the new setting. The mystery surrounding the previous game’s location, Rapture, was arguably one of the most compelling things to be found within Bioshock. That mystery isn’t all there this go around due to us knowing the origin of the city, but I’m sure there will be multiple tidbits of information appearing throughout the game that will suggest that there is a little more than meets the eye to be found within Columbia.

Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel
Developer: Visceral/EA Montreal
Release Date: March 26^th

I may be one of the only people in the country that feels this way, but I legitimately enjoyed the first two Army of Two games. Sure, the “broness” of the first game was corny as hell but the combat and customization both made up for that flaw. With the second one, the broness was relished by the writers as it turned from corny to just plain funny at spots. Main characters Salem and Rios even got into a heated discussion on who the best Wu-Tang member was… All while a combat sequence was happening. You just can’t beat that.

My excitement for this installment has been admittedly very limited due to the fact that not only has the developer changed, now made by Visceral, but so has the main characters. In The Devil’s Cartel, Visceral decided it would be best to kick Salem and Rios to the curb in favor of two new guys named Alpha and Bravo. I’ll withhold judgment until I see them in game but if they don’t fist bump or discuss 90’s rap, I’m out. As I’m sure many know, EA/Visceral Montreal was immediately shut down once the game was green lit for release. Hopefully this product will show off their hard work and lead them into bigger and better products in the future.

Also Releasing:

MLB The Show 2013
MLB 2K13
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3
The Amazing Spider-Man: Ultimate Edition (Wii U)
Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk
Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 (I remain unconvinced that this game will ever release)
LEGO City Undercover
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2014
Naughty Bear: Double Trouble! (Pretty sure this isn’t coming out either)

Review – Dead Space 3 (Xbox 360) Is Unfortunately Dead Weight

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Feb 112013

The path leading up to Dead Space 3’s release has been a rocky one for Visceral Games and EA, both of which have received a tremendous amount of hate for diverging away from the original horror aspects that made Dead Space so famous. I, for one, was never pulled to one side or the other, I honestly thought the direction of the series was changing but I also believed Visceral Games was too good of a developer to let their pet project produce a mediocre installment. That combined with the already high quality of the Dead Space franchise led me to believe that no matter how hard EA pushes the co-op, Dead Space 3 was going to be just fine. I really wish I would have been correct.

You begin Dead Space 3, yet again, as Isaac Clark but this time around we see a much different picture of Clark. The picture is a grim depiction of Isaac, a drunkard now living alone in an apartment. If you’ll recall correctly, Dead Space 2 ended with Isaac and Ellie together, that obviously has changed since the credits rolled as Ellie left Isaac to further pursue destroying all the markers and the hell they bring forth. From there, Isaac is taken away from his apartment by two men who let it be known that Isaac is the only man with enough knowledge to fully destroy the markers.

The progressing narrative throughout Dead Space has always been one of the best things the series has possessed but that come to a screeching halt in the third installment. It all begins with the one-dimensional characters that are forced upon you within the first four hours of gameplay. No matter if it is your co-op partner or Ellie’s new lover, each character introduced does nothing but add a dull new talking head that pounds useless information into your brain. The only interesting dialogue to be found is between the already established Ellie/Isaac relationship, a relationship that develops quite nicely though their conclusion is a bit underwhelming.

The overarching fiction gets a bit more complicated as the religion aspect becomes a rather important segment of the story. Your continued quest to destroy the markers is obviously at the forefront of the storytelling but the religion mention does add another intriguing factor to the already peculiar story that the Dead Space franchise has so elegantly created. The new pieces introduced are sadly brought down by the aforementioned porous characters and also an incredibly lackluster ending, something that shocked me due to the previous two game’s success at creating a tension filled final scene. We usually go into a third installment looking for some kind of closure, which is something we did not get in Dead Space 3.

One thing that has been very noticeable through trailers and developer diaries is the unsurprisingly beautiful visuals. The environments are by far the most gorgeous aspects of the whole game. There haven’t been many games this generation that have produced a more beautiful experience than simply floating around in space, staring down at a mostly unknown planet as ship fragments float around aimlessly. That all goes without even mentioning the snowy environments introduced halfway throughout the game, which look equally beautiful.

Even though the story is rather disappointing, it is far from the worst thing about Dead Space 3. The worst parts are the simple game design flaws that ultimately lead to the Dead Space 3 experience becoming a frustrating mess. Take for example: Designing a rather elaborate, poorly explained puzzle that requires you to run around a room using your Kinesis powers. The idea is decent enough, but add in twenty charging necromorphs and you have one unbearable experience that diminishes the quality of the game. These design flaws are much unexpected, especially from a fine studio like Visceral. Honestly, by the end of the game it becomes hard to even fathom the fact that Visceral created Dead Space 3.

That frustration only heightens due to the fact that Dead Space 3 really drags on as you go deeper into the game. Drags on is putting it nicely, there are multiple times when enemies are thrown your way just to extend play time. I understand having enemies at almost every corner, that’s what Dead Space does, but having thirty when you should have ten is just insanely annoying and only gets you angrier as time trudges forward. Another factor in the present frustration is the predictability that begins to arise. After two sequels, you know when enemies are going to pop out of vents and you know that eventually you’ll be split up from your group and have to make your way back. Boring is one word I never thought I’d use to describe a Dead Space game, but it fits the final five hours of Dead Space 3 perfectly.

Arguably the thing most people were excited for headed into Dead Space 3 was the brand new weapon crafting system that Visceral has been so highly touting. The general idea is you can create any weapon you want as long as you have the parts. The parts typically consist of an item that judges whether it’s a one-handed or two-handed weapon and obviously what attachments are placed upon the stock. The finer details of the crafting are never really explained, leading the player to bang their head against the pretty menu design until they realize exactly how every part works. That being said, once you figure out how it works, the crafting becomes pretty damn fun. I had a lot of frustrating experiences throughout Dead Space 3 but none of that mattered as I sat down and created a rocket launcher that has a shotgun attached to the bottom. It was a brilliant addition by Visceral that improved the combat tremendously.

That is up until the game becomes a third person shooter and you begin to wonder “why?” There are multiple sections where Dead Space 3 turns into a carbon copy of your standard third person shooter, poor cover mechanics and all. Throughout all of the egregious additions to the newest installment, this was the most depressing for me. I’ve always had a deep admiration for the Dead Space combat, noting it as some of the best of this generation. But when you take a combat system focused on dismembering limbs and turn it into a cover based shooter, you get a forced and incredibly uncomfortable experience.

The much-lauded co-op is, as expected, just fine. It is far from the best co-op around but it gets the job done with the biggest slight against it being that the co-op character, Carver, is an unlikable asshole that enjoys making terrible decisions. Some of the oddest things regarding the co-op appear in the single player experience, such as Isaac referring to himself as “we” when he is by his lonesome. The game was clearly designed with co-op in mind as suit kiosks and hacking minigames appear side by side, though that doesn’t affect the overall experience. Despite the oddities, playing single player is more than acceptable in Dead Space 3.

It isn’t fun to start the year out with a downer like this but Dead Space 3 is definitely going to be in contention for Most Disappointing Game come December. Maybe it was my over confidence in Visceral, or maybe Visceral just made a bad Dead Space game, either way, Dead Space 3 is a heart breaker and not in any of the ways that fuel an enjoyable experience. It’s becoming more and more clear that the further Dead Space diverged away from the horror genre, the worse the series became. Maybe Visceral and EA will step back and reassess the franchise before popping out Dead Space 4; because it may be time to let this series rest.

Graphics 80		Audio 70		Gameplay 60
Creativity 65		Execution 55		Offset 60

6.5

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Get Ready: New Witcher Announced, Releasing on “High-End Platforms”

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Feb 052013

CD Projekt RED is at it again, now announcing the third and final installment in their beloved Witcher franchise. The franchise has been running since October 26^th, 2007 and according to Projekt, will be ending in 2014 when the newest installment, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, launches on “all high-end platforms.” Adam Bedowski, head of CD Projekt Red had a lot to say in the press release announcing the new game: “People may ask if this is really going to be the last Witcher game. Yes, it is. Why? Because we believe that we should end the series on a high note.”

“Imagine playing a dark fantasy game with the same great nonlinear story as in the previous Witcher titles, but now told in a world you can explore freely with no artificial boundaries. The war-ravaged world is so huge that to reach further places you will need to ride a horse or sail a boat to get there. A world where your choices have truly epic consequences. From the development side, this goal is extremely demanding. Our team had to make significant design changes and our tech had to be rebuilt. But we believe that this will lead to a completely new level of nonlinearity and a whole new, richer gaming experience. As a gamer, I would love to play this kind of RPG and I think this is what many players are waiting for. This is our dream come true at CD Projekt RED, and we hope it will be the same for you!” Bedowski continued.

After deciphering through the salesman talk, it’s still clear that Bedowski and Projekt RED are very excited about the upcoming release, and who could blame them? They’ve put out some of the best Action RPG’s of the past decade with their creations of The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. One thing is for sure, if you want to dip your toes into the Gerald of Rivia story, you better hop on now because time is running out.

Coming Soon: Console Games to Expect in February

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Feb 012013

It’s beginning to be that time of the year again, the time where games begin to roll out and don’t slow down until May or June. January was unsurprisingly boring and provided a whole lot of depressing news to go alongside two decent video game releases in The Cave and Devil May Cry, only one of which may be on our mind come late December and awards begin creeping up on us. Hopefully February will be better; I’m willing to bet it will be just that.

Dead Space 3
Release Date: February 5^th
Developer: Visceral Games

Starting the month off with a showstopper… Or are we? Many would say we are not due to Visceral and EA’s increased focus on co-op instead of the horror for which the series is so clearly well known. I, for one, am still very much on the fence as I went through this issue with the last Dead Space. Leading up to Dead Space 2’s release, I was worried they were putting way too much focus on multiplayer and not the single player. I was obviously proven to be wrong as Dead Space 2 was one of the best games released in 2011.

I’m beginning to get the feeling that this go around will be no different. It comes down to this: No matter how hard EA pushes other features, Visceral is too good of a developer to watch their series decrease in quality. That being said, there’s a strong chance that this Dead Space will either be the last or be the one that helps EA and Visceral realize that it’s time to put the series down. But then again, how great would a new Dead Space be on new, drastically improved hardware?

Omerta: City of Gangsters
Release Date: February 12^th
Developer: Kalypso

I don’t know why this exists, but damn am I glad it does. I’m unsure of its final quality but I really don’t care, the idea of the Tropico geniuses putting out a gangster themed strategy game is just too good to pass up. If you don’t know, Tropico is a Sim/Strategy game focused on running your own island as the El Presidente. You can be a corrupt president, you can lead your island into financial heaven, you can find the Chupacabra, and obviously achieve many other extravagant insanities.

Now onto the game that is actually releasing, Omerta puts you in the position of an up and coming gangster fighting through the ranks to ultimately control a crime mob. You then recruit henchmen and deal with law enforcement on your way to building an empire and controlling a whole region. The game obviously won’t end there though as you’ll continue to grow your empire by sending your henchmen out to take part in warehouse raids and gang turf wars. I get this good feeling just thinking about Omerta and its potential; I just hope it lives up to my expectations.

Crysis 3
Release Date: February 19^th
Developer: Crytek

Silently but most assuredly, Crysis 3 is slowly sneaking out mid ways through this month. There hasn’t been a lot of buzz regarding Crysis and there’s probably a reason for that. Crysis is going through what I previously said Dead Space may go through, the release of the third installment that shows the franchise is struggling and on its last leg. Like I previously said, time will tell but that seems to be the growing feeling within myself and many others. That being stated, don’t expect Crysis to be some piece of trash, I’m sure it’s going to be just fine. But do expect the sales numbers to spiral downwards, due partly to the competition it is releasing against…

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance
Release Date: February 19^th
Developer: PlatinumGames

Oh Metal Gear Rising, your existence is so mind boggling in my mind. You were announced years ago at a Microsoft E3 press conference, then went silent until a new trailer appeared, highlighting Raiden’s amazing ability to slice watermelons. Since then the lack of information on what Revengeance will be has turned many people off of the product, assuming that Konami’s lack of push is somehow related to the game’s quality, which is an understandable worry. But really though, with PlatinumGames at the helm, it’s a safe bet that at least the insanity factor will be in full effect.

Rising was originally supposed to be developed by the standard Metal Gear Solid team but after having issues with combining the standard stealth of MGS and Raiden’s sword abilities, the project was cancelled. It was then later revealed that instead of leaving it to die, they put it in the aforementioned PlatinumGames’ hands and said do what you will. Revengeance is arguably going to be the most interesting release of February as everyone is curious as to how this project will finish out. I have some high expectations, but I’ll be the first to admit those expectations may come back to bite me in the ass.

Rayman Legends
Release Date: February 26^th
Developer: Ubisoft

Although I probably shouldn’t be, I’m shocked at Nintendo’s inability to keep Wii U products rolling out up to this point. To put it nicely, they’ve done a terrible job and that’s one of the main reasons why I haven’t put a Wii U game into my console in near a month and a half. If it wasn’t for reviewing Wipeout, I wouldn’t have put one in since three days after the console’s launch. To only add to that sadness, I hopped into the Wii shop today and found it to be unnecessarily difficult to navigate. The fact that there was near nothing on the store to purchase is also kind of a bad thing, especially if Nintendo enjoys money.

Now onto Rayman itself, as many remember, Ubisoft released Rayman Origins in 2011 to critics and the populous’ delight. They then immediately begin work on what was originally supposed to be a Wii U launch title, Rayman Legends. I’ll admit, I’ve never been a Rayman lover but I’m willing to dive in on this installment as not only does it give me an excuse to play my Wii U, it also gives the Wii U a shot at flexing those highly touted HD graphics. Now if only Nintendo could figure out how to put more than one game out every few months that collects people’s attention, then they’d be doing something right.

Also Releasing:

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
Special Forces: Team X
Aliens: Colonial Marine
Painkiller Hell & Damnation
Serious Sam Double D XXL
Naughty Bear: Double Trouble!

Dead Space 3 Preview – The Hate, The Love, and The Co-op

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Jan 092013

When you think of horror games, the one franchise that pops into everyone’s mind is the Dead Space series that began so surprisingly back on October 13^th, 2008. Dead Space gained tons of attention pre-release for its copious amounts of blood and gore which, though very creepy, was created from photos of car crash victims that the art team studied. Then once the game finally released and we all got our greasy hands on it, it was quite clear that the game was more than a gore heavy third person shooter. It was instead a stressful and nerve wrenching horror experience that we had not known existed up to that point.

With that critical acclaim, it’s no shocker that a sequel was green-lighted and expected to be churned out within just two short years. One of the biggest worries that began to surface at the top of everyone’s mind was can Visceral do it again? Can they recreate the horrific experience in a new but still thrilling way? Not only could they recreate the experience, they could build on it and improve on tiny issues we hardly noticed in the first game. It won multiple Game of the Year awards and only furthered the franchise as one of the biggest media darlings of the past ten years.

And now, here we go again. Visceral Games revealed the third installment nearly one year ago and the vibe surrounding it has only worsened as time as time has continued to pass on. Story wise, Dead Space 3 is beginning to seem very similar to the previous installments. There’s a girl (Ellie), she’s lost, go find her, and don’t forget to go through ten hours of necromorphs. Thankfully, there will be some new necromorphs to strategically dismember such as the “giant insect-esque Nexus.” I don’t know what the hell that means but it sounds like I need to stay away from it.

One of the first major changes that had Dead Space lovers up in arms was the reveal that Isaac and newcomer Sgt. John Carver will be able to dodge around and take cover. This obviously contradicts one of the best things about Dead Space which was the heavy plodding movement that Isaac always performed so gracefully when exploring around an environment. Visceral Games has described the cover system as “organic” in nature; for example, the player does not need to “walk up to certain tagged things and press the cover button; Isaac or Carver just does the action that is appropriate for the given situation.”Simply put, that does not sound like the Dead Space I know and love.

Next up on the piss Dead Space fans off agenda was the fact that Visceral (or more likely, EA) decided to focus entirely on the new drop in/drop out co-op at the public E3 demo. They then slowly began to reconcile some of that negativity by reviling such nifty features as each character experiencing their own story elements due to the dementia both Parker and Isaac are suffering from. Similar to other co-op games, the story with your partner beside you will be a tad different than the story you’re experiencing by your lonesome. Visceral has said that if you do play alone, you will run into Carver at certain points within the story but for the most part, he will not be there.

Of course, those are far from the only new features being added to Dead Space 3. In particular, there’s a brand new weapon bench that will allow you to not only get your hands on previously nonexistent weapons, but also combine weapons to make an even more dangerous and disturbing murder stick. Also, instead of just purchasing the weapons with currency found throughout the game, you now have to build them with items scattered across the in game world. Visceral has also thrown in some human enemies and new, absolutely gorgeous visuals; if you need a good dose of eye candy, watch this developer diary EA released showcasing the co-op and single player aspects of the story.

I’ve always been a Dead Space fan, due partly to my uncontrollable love for the horror genre across all forms of media but mostly my love is all a credit to the back breaking work Visceral puts into their projects and there’s no doubt it shows. But you can’t help but wonder whether or not this new Dead Space will be what we want, which is just more horror in my mind. Visceral Games has stated over and over again that their focus on co-op will not affect the single player in any way, but who really knows? In all honesty, it’s hard to imagine EA and Visceral releasing a Dead Space product that they did not think met the high marks set by previous games in the series. Despite the questions surrounding it, no one can stop me from waiting on the edge of my seat for the new Dead Space to arrive at my house.

My excitement will culminate on February 5^th when the game finally hits store shelves/lands inside a well packaged, bubble wrapped Amazon shipping box.

Review: LittleBigPlanet Karting (PS3) – Not Banging On All Cylinders

Posted by Joey Woznicki No Responses »

Nov 202012

LittleBigPlanet was one of the best new IPs this generation. I can’t even begin to fathom how much time I’ve spent with it. The sequel – which at first, like many, I was unsure was needed – was even more impressive. ModNation Racers was also a game I picked up, largely in part to its incorporation of the genius ‘play, create, share’ ideology. While it wasn’t as astounding as the LittleBigPlanet franchise, it did establish itself as a solid kart racer with some rather robust creation tools. Naturally, when news came out that Media Molecule and United Front had teamed up to created LittleBigPlanet Karting, I thought we’d get the best of both worlds. Sadly, the game just doesn’t live up to its potential.

The Good

Infusing the world of LittleBigPlanet into a kart racer is a great idea. Sackboy and his world are iconic. All the elements that make LittleBigPlanet such a success are here. Users will instantly feel at home navigating their Pod, Pop-it, and the traditional menu system. All of this is vastly superior, and a much needed improvement, to the navigation hub and wheel in ModNation. Stephen Fry reprises his role as the witty narrator, which will leave you chuckling on multiple occasions. Cutscenes play out just as they would in LittleBigPlanet, with gibberish and absurdity. The background music is still phenomenal, combining some old favorites with new, equally catchy songs. Mechanics from LittleBigPlanet, like bounce pads, the grappling hook, and the ability to slap are also nice inclusions.

The track creator is probably the best representation of mixing the good from both franchises. Tracks are still created by simply driving the paint roller, while the terrain can be sculpted into any shape with a bit of work. To top that off, a large portion of the powerful creation mechanics from LittleBigPlanet also appear, like emitters, logic gates, and much more. Textures can also be painted on the terrain, giving even the most mundane environments that classic, whimsical LittleBigPlanet feel. All these tools and goodies breathe extra life into the tracks, easily one upping ModNation.

Crafting a simple track can be done in minutes, while creating elaborate tracks may take hours. Because there are so many toys to play with, controlling and manipulating everything is a bit complex, but that’s a testament to just how much there is to tweak. I haven’t spent a huge amount of time with the creation tools, but there’s no doubt, like all of the ‘play, create, share’ installments, that the community will create some great tracks.

[Edit: I've now spent quite a bit of time with the creation tools. My first level, Volcano Island 2.0 - a recreation of my concept from ModNation - is the result of hours upon hours of playing with all the tools. I'm having a lot of fun creating, but sadly its excellence is only part of the whole. A user on Gamefaqs was making youtube videos with his impressions, so I jumped on the offer. While he had a fair share of complaints, I think the concept and level design show how much work I put in, and what the game is capable of. Give it a look: Volcano Island 2.0.]

Also worth noting, for those of you familiar with ModNation, the loading times are exponentially improved. While this was one of my biggest concerns pre-launch, after spending some time with the game, I’d gladly take back the insanely slow loading times if it meant I’d enjoy the overall experience more.

The Bad

Despite the increase in beauty and charm provided by the influx of LittleBigPlanet ingredients, somehow the world felt hollow. I don’t know if it’s just the transition to 3D, but I was never as impressed with the visuals or ancillary characters. The flat cardboard cutouts, and simplistic creatures put together with a couple wobble bolts, were boring compared to the likes of quirky characters like Larry Da Vinci, Avalon Centrifuge, Clive, and Dr. Higginbotham. It also didn’t help that in an effort to promote online play, races were filled with a group of identical looking Hoard adversaries, then topped off with a group of generic Sackbots.

As for that Hoard story, it also just wasn’t as impressive as the Collector or the Negativatron. (Plus, while grammatically acceptable, the Hoard was referred to as a plural unit…or I should say the Hoard were referred to as a plural unit. I’ve always opted for the singular form, so this ‘were’ a minor annoyance.)

Character and kart customization, while holding true to the LittleBigPlanet universe, ironically don’t allow for as much creativity. I spend a good chunk of time creating characters and karts in ModNation. While the customization options are proficient, and there are some really nice unlockables, I can’t help thinking what could have been had I been able to further customize my Sackboy, kart, or create something entirely from scratch.

The Ugly

Track design seemed either rushed or lazy. Where ModNation had expansive tracks, with all kinds of switches and shortcuts, these tracks were often straight-forward and extremely short. Three lap races were usually completed in under three minutes. Battle mode played out the same, with three minutes of frantic chaos – and I mean that as a pejorative. Never in my wildest imagination would I have predicted that I’d have actually liked the world of ModNation better. That’s not to say the level design is all bad. Some of the optional tracks and challenges change the formula for the better. There are a few lengthy checkpoint races and a boss battle that are extremely enjoyable. Plus the RC tracks, with their aerial camera and simplified mechanics, prove that things don’t have to be complex to be fun. But for every concept or track that is great, there are countless others I could do without.

The kart racing itself also felt like a step backwards. Karts seemed lethargic and weapons have devolved. Gone is the choice to save a weapon to upgrade its power. That could have been acceptable had there been two weapon slots, but that’s not the case. This annoyance is only compounded by the fact that the independent shield from ModNation, which was linked to a boost meter instead of weapon slot, has also been abandoned. After losing multiple races due to my lack of defensive measures – which could instantly take you from a qualifying position to dead last – I decided to just hoard my weapons to protect my rear. Even then, I often found myself successfully blocking a projectile only to be hit by a second one seconds later before even being able to resupply.

All of these gripes compounded to form an experience that seemed to favor luck rather than skill. All the strategy that made ModNation great was ditched for a casual, simplified experience. Towards the end of the story, I found myself replaying levels in a desperate effort just to get third. When I finally did, I didn’t feel accomplished; I felt lucky.

I hate to be a Negativatron, but the game seemed much more like a chore than a joyous experience. What could have been a brilliant collaboration of two ideas, turned out to be inferior to ModNation Racers, and a blemish on the otherwise perfect LittleBigPlanet name. That’s not to say that there weren’t brief moments of glory; they were just few and far between. People who never played ModNation may find blissful ignorance. Others, who favor couch co-op and online multiplayer, may avoid a few of my complaints. However, repeat customers are doomed only to see the game’s regression. Had United Front simply taken the strengths from ModNation, like the solid mechanics and level design, and merged them with the charming LittleBigPlanet universe, they’d have had a sleek, shiny muscle car. Instead, they tweaked way too much under the hood, and ended up spinning the tires on their 92 Geo Metro.

Graphics 75		Audio 90		Gameplay 70
Creativity 65		Execution 50		Offset 70

How do these ratings work? Click here for descriptions!

Pros:

The charm of LittleBigPlanet is still present, even if it’s a bit inconsistent.
Loading times are minimal.
‘Play, create, share’ mean endless content.

Cons:

Almost all of the great mechanics and creation tools from ModNation Racers are absent.
Tracks are short and uninspired.
Single player suffers to encourage multiplayer.

Review – Assassin’s Creed III (Xbox 360)

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Nov 062012

The Assassin’s Creed franchise has been one we’ve watched grow larger and larger ever since the first installment was released all the way back in 2007.I know I’m in the minority in saying that I really enjoyed the first Assassin’s Creed upon its release. I recognized the issue but not even they could diminish the smooth combat and fantastic storytelling. 2 years later is when the series really took off though, with the release of Assassin’s Creed II, arguably one of the best games on this generation of consoles. Ubiosft then annualized the series and released two more games, Brotherhood (right there beside ACII as one of the best) and Revelations. Brotherhood being one of the most technically sound games in the series and Revelations existing only to provide extra backstory to Desmond, Ezio, and Altair.

With this year’s release comes a whole new experience, one that diverges away completely from Altair and Ezio and instead inserts you back into the animus in place of a man named Connor. Connor is a Native American who is going through the struggles of living on his land but having it slowly taken over by the Europeans. A nasty run in while he was young vaults the story forward and leads on an emotional tear through the colonies to find the people you are so desperately searching for.

Assassin’s Creed III takes a very interesting risk in its presentation to the story, beginning the game with you not in Connor’s shoes, but instead a man who is heading over from England to carry out some soon to be revealed business. This little mini story has its own twists and turns and ultimately fits perfectly into the overarching Connor story and helps wrap it all up in a tight little bow. Diving into the Revolutionary era was an incredibly risky move on Ubisoft’s part, one that could have tarnished the whole experience if it didn’t work out correctly. Thankfully, the folks at Ubisoft Montreal continue to prove they can turn any risky story into an immaculate one.

Like I previously mentioned, the combat is one of the best things about the entire series. The flow and gracefulness that your character achieves in between sliding back and forth from enemy to enemy, ramming blades into whatever part of their body he can reach, is something no game can even come close to matching. If you’ve played an Assassin’s Creed games before, you know what I mean when I say most of your time in combat is spent holding down RT and waiting for your enemy attack. Ubisoft has took it upon themselves to alter that this go around, removing that for a more Batman-esque combat system where you press a counter button once your enemy attacks. From there the game goes into a slow motion effect and allows you to either attack, throw, or disarm an enemy. All of which are effective in their own way.

With this change, the combat loses no luster and only gains some as it makes it less complicating and much more accessible. Also added were double counters for when two enemies are coming at you at the same time. The animations for these events are, well, simply described as “badass.” Badass is one moniker that you could use to describe every combat sequence in Assassin’s Creed. Another feature that Ubisoft tampered with was the traversal controls. Now instead of holding A+RT to get around everywhere, you simply have to hold RT, and only A when you need to jump. This also feels much more accessible than the previous version’s climbing did but it’s far from a drastic change. If you hated traversing the world in ACII, you’ll hate it in ACIII.

One thing that made Brotherhood such a fantastic game was the introduction of the brotherhood mechanic that allowed you to have a team of Assassins and the ability to use them in separate ways. Assassin’s Creed III takes that concept and both dumbs it down while expanding on it. On one hand, they add classes to each Assassin, allowing them to perform different tasks (marksmen, lure soldiers away, straight up assassin, etc.) but they also lower the impact of calling them in as instead of getting a group of soldiers, you get one man who can take down one, maybe two redcoats opposing you. You still have the ability to send recruits out on their own missions, which will simultaneously level up your recruit while earning you some spending cash on the side.

Speaking of spending cash, Assassin’s Creed III really attempts to tout its economic features, with minimal success. Eventually, a feature is rolled out where you can control stockpiled items, send out items on a convoy to sell to merchants, and even craft your own unique items. This is an unarguably fantastic idea, but the execution falls short which becomes one of the biggest disappointments in a game that is lacking almost any other misstep. For example, you must have certain artisans to craft items, but how you get those artisans is (to my knowledge) never explained. I picked up one from a local homestead mission where I simply did what he asked and then recruited him. I eventually recruited a few more people but never an artisan, which is the heart and soul of the entire operation. It’s a frustrating aspect that I attempted to bang my head against for hours hoping and praying I would find what I was missing. I never succeeded.

In last year’s Revelations, tower defense was added into the Assassin’s Creed world. The execution of that idea was about as poor as the idea itself. It led to a barrage of tedious and unnecessary sections that only further frustrated me and made me wonder “what the hell am I doing?” That being said, my immediate gut reaction to hearing that there would be naval combat missions in the newest Assassin’s Creed was not a positive one. But oh how I was shocked to find that these sections are arguably the best parts of Assassin’s Creed III. The challenge of having to manage between full sail and half sail to maneuver your ship into a certain spot is something I’ve never experienced before and really helps make you feel like you’re controlling a two ton ship

It isn’t just the controls though as watching the opposing ship get torn apart is just as enjoyable as well. The visuals in Assassin’s Creed have been something that’s only been improving between every release and that continues on in the newest installment. It remains clear that the game is far from perfect as it does have more than a few frame rate drops but the future, computerized style still works five years later and makes for some interesting little images on screen.

Some of the technical issues that plagued the previous Assassin’s games return as well such as the awful horseback riding, particularly in tight places. I even had one section (involving Mr. Paul Revere) completely break on me because I got on the horse at the wrong time. It’s something that most people won’t run into but damn was it frustrating. But when the game finds it necessary to break out a chase scene on foot, all bets are off as to whether it will be fast and frantic or just plain frustrating. I ran into a couple that really showcased the acrobatic abilities you have at your disposal but there were also more than a few that were just a frustrating mess thanks to Connor occasionally feeling like he should climb up something you clearly did not push him towards. This wouldn’t be such a heart breaking issue if it didn’t completely diminish one final chase scene that was supposed to be a climactic emotional moment. Instead of that, it quickly became a test of will and how many times you want to bang your head against it to figure out the correct pattern.

Also introduced in Brotherhood was the very surprising multiplayer that took ideas from games like The Ship and installed into an Abstergo training program. The changes to the multiplayer this time around are not drastic in any way, only altering it slightly. The gameplay itself remains mostly the same, and by the same I mean just as nerve wracking and intense as it was when you last left it. There’s still a strong triumphant feeling that comes from stalking an opposing player, seeing him make one slight move that shows he’s not an AI, and swooping in for the perfect kill.

The biggest change to the multiplayer is a new four player mode called “Wolf Pack.” In Wolf Pack, you and three friends must execute specific targets assigned at random and while doing that you’ll keep a timer going that extends your play time. The more you kill, the higher level you achieve and more time you get, similar to Horde mode. It’s not as surprising or as fun as the standard multiplayer but it’s worth a few thrills here and there, especially if you’re playing with friends and not with random folk.

Not only does Assassin’s Creed III tickle my inner history buff fancy, it’s an incredible game on top of that. The intelligent people over at Ubisoft Montreal continue to churn out a fresh new experience that will easily consume thirty hours of your life within a week. It genuinely amazes me how deep and at times lovably insane the world surrounding the whole Templar/Assassin’s story is yet they continue to make me hang onto every word said by their leaders. Sadly, it is becoming clear that the series is falling a bit slim on new ideas. For now though, Ubisoft has created another piece of video game gold that is worthy of everyone’s sixty bucks.

Graphics 90		Audio 95		Gameplay 95
Creativity 90		Execution 90		Offset 90

9.2

How do these ratings work? Click here for descriptions!

We’re making a podcast.. and giving away Legend of Grimrock!

Posted by Sean Judge No Responses »

Nov 032012

Today we are going to record our first Gaming Irresponsibly podcast for your listening pleasure. Whilst we slave away over microphones and try to think of a snappy name, we want to get the finished product out to as many gamers as possible. As such, we’re going to do a little giveaway, for the fantastic Legend of Grimrock!

See what our UK Editor, Sean Judge, thought about Legend of Grimrock in our review here

Once we hit 1000 Facebook likes, one lucky winner can take on this guy and his friends!

To be in with a chance, you need to visit our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/GamingIrresponsibly and hit like.

Share the page and get your friends to do the same. Comment on the top post on the page (the one about the giveaway, duh!) and get your friends to do the same. Once we burst through 1000 likes, then we’ll pick one of the commenters at random and the lucky winner will receive a copy of the game that can be redeemed on GOG.com

Multiplayer goes Multi-Platform with BigHead BASH.

Posted by Sean Judge No Responses »

Oct 172012

Shanghai-based developer, SpicyHorse, has announced that their latest title, BigHead BASH is out of Beta and available to play. Why should you care? BigHead BASH is a fully realtime multiplayer deathmatch with a difference. Players can take up arms and head into battle from a variety of web platforms such as Facebook, Kongregate, Armour Games and the developer’s own ‘Spicy World’ (Not to be confused with the dire Spice Girls movie..)

The best part? No matter where you launch the game from, players will be entering games hosted on shared servers. That’s right, Kongregate users can take on Facebook players and more.

The game features a number of player characters as well as the introduction of some loved (and not so loved) popular characters. Currently there are US Politicians (Bionic Barack!) and there are incoming packs featuring Hellboy and the members of pop-rockers Linkin Park. I’ll be the drummer, ‘whatshisface.’

If you’re interested in checking out BigHead BASH you can find them on the sites mentioned, or by checking out www.bigheadbash.com

Review – Borderlands 2 (Xbox 360)

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Oct 082012

-Error reading from ESRB datastream-
Please visit ESRB.org for rating information.

The original Borderlands will forever be known as a hallmark in video game history. Sure, it was far from perfect but it brought about one of the best loot systems and combined it with exciting combat. The result was something no other game could provide. Nothing has topped it since then in those categories so with the release of Borderlands 2 came a lot of expectations that Gearbox, developers behind the Borderlands franchise, must meet in order to please their ever expanding fanbase. Meeting those expectations is one thing, exceeding them is what you hope for, though. Gearbox managed to only meet those expectations, but is that really a bad thing?

Borderlands 2 picks up five years after the events in the original with you selecting between four new vault hunters. All the characters are new but it’s clear that their classes all take some cues from the first game. As a Commando you can lay down a turret, Gunzerker can wield two heavy weapons, Siren can lift people up and freeze them for a few seconds, and the Assassin can make himself disappear while laying out a holographic decoy. I ended up playing through the game with the Siren class and found it to be perfectly acceptable; no class seems to have a distinct advantage over another. But the issue is that no class really pops out, either. The ideas behind them are great but the repetitiveness of using the same special move for 30+ hours really dulls down some of the impact it has on the combat.

This is obviously where the skill tree should come in and liven things up. And while the menu itself looks quite good, no skill within the menu packs the oomph you’re really looking for out of a XP based game. There’s no doubt that more than a few of the unlockable skills have their own uses but that doesn’t mean they add a pound of excitement on the side to the already fantastic combat sequences. It’s far from a game killing issue but it’s definitely disappointing that the skills were not a tad more varied across the board.

One thing the original Borderlands was known for was the exciting, at times insane combat that squeaked itself into every 20 minutes of the game. That combat returns this time around and only improves upon its original success. While the skills are not drastically exciting, they get the job done and with even more loot to gobble up this time around, you’ll quickly become addicted to offing every enemy that attacks you just so you can see what glowing item pops out of them. Then after you’ve put them in their place, the urge to search every inch of their camp for a weapon is just too great to ignore. Everything in Borderlands 2 just feels flashier and more exciting, partly due its beautiful world and partly due to the ridiculous weapons (and weapon combinations) you use throughout the game. No matter what you’re always on the hunt for your next main weapon and once you find that weapon, you never want to let it go.

Borderlands cartoony art style is another reason why taking the disk out of your console was a difficult task. It seems as if Gearbox recognized their issues (or lack thereof) with the visuals and did their best to tweak them in all the right ways. It mostly works out as the world around you and all the enemies look incredible. But the downside is that frame rate drops remain prevalent throughout the whole game, especially when you’re playing co-op your friends. It seems as if Borderlands chokes any time something big begins happening on screen.

The story in Borderlands 2 all revolves around one villainous character, Handsome Jack. Throughout the main story line, he will chime in at random intervals to let out his own little asshole remarks. Your characters goal throughout the game is to stop Jack and his attempt use the vault key and unleash all kinds of madness upon Pandora. In all honesty, story is clearly not the main reason you come to Borderlands and that is apparent throughout the game’s 20+ hour story line which ultimately concludes in one of the most lackluster endings I’ve seen this year. If you want to avoid the story you can always indulge in the plethora of sidequests that are always available. The amount of sidequests spread throughout Borderlands 2 seem endless and completing every one of them is a task that I won’t believe possible until I see it for myself. The quests themselves can range between a multitude of tasks, some being funny, some providing more insight into Handsome Jack, and some being just damn interesting.

A staple of the first Borderlands was the dry, at times hit or miss comedy. That hit or miss aspect returns as phrases like “teabagging” and “cool story, bro” are tossed around and are about as unfunny as you would expect. Claptrap attempts to bring about some laughs but he wears out his welcome rather quickly. He isn’t the only character that wears out their welcome as so does almost every other character that is pushed into Borderlands for comedy reasons. Most of the comedy in Borderlands 2 is a bit hidden, mostly through side quests or hidden collectibles. Like the first Borderlands, laughs are not something it shoots out repeatedly but when it does, it’s always a clever laugh. Except for the character that is Scooter’s sister. That’s one fine woman.

Something that came as a bit of a surprise in Borderlands 2 was the frustrating and inconsistent difficulty. Boss battles within the first Borderlands were stupidly easy and Gearbox knew that, but it seems as if their fix to that issue was to make things just plain unfair in spots. Be it making a boss much more powerful than its level entails or just throwing a humongous boss into a rather small area, frustration is something I came by quite a few times in my journey throughout Pandora. These issues are avoided by doing one of two things, however. You can either play co-op or do a ton of side missions before story missions. These are two things that I’m sure Gearbox expects of their players but it’s still disappointing to see them do their best to force you into one of two play styles,

Truth be told, Borderlands 2 is exactly what I and many others wanted before its release, that being more Borderlands and more loot for us to sink our teeth in for at least 30 hours. Gearbox delivered upon that and provided even more on top of it to keep things fresh and fun throughout. The combat and loot system remain some of the best on consoles today and are only enhanced in this sequel. While Borderlands 2 is just more of a game you played three years ago, it’s still a great game that can easily give you 50+ hours of entertainment.

Graphics 85		Audio 90		Gameplay 80
Creativity 85		Execution 80		Offset 80

8.3

How do these ratings work? Click here for descriptions!

Ubisoft Announces Season Pass and DLC Pack for Assassin’s Creed III

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Oct 032012

Ubisoft has announced a few new tidbits regarding their upcoming blockbuster release, Assassin’s Creed III. First off, Ubisoft announced a season pass that will total up to 30 bucks, a 25% saving off of buying the packs individually. Assassin’s Creed III’s DLC packs have not all been detailed but Ubisoft promised new single player experiences but also “downloadable content (that) will feature new maps and characters for an even more expansive multiplayer experience.”

“History is our playground – and AC teams have always loved playing with historical facts and their consequences as a way to better understand a time period,” said Sebastien Puel, Executive Producer at Ubisoft. “While Assassin’s Creed III concentrates on history as it happens, we wanted to take some liberties with this DLC and tell you how things ‘could have happened.”

Who?

That brings up the next announcement Ubisoft made, a downloadable content pack that will feature the rule of “King George.” But not one of the King George’s you and I know of, but instead the King George that we know as President Washington. As Executive Producer Puel said, “History is out playground,” and they’re proving that by tweaking George Washington’s reign by turning him into a power hungry tyrant.

I don’t know about you but I find the idea of Ubisoft taking segments of history and tweaking them into a “What if?” situation a possible endless pit of interesting stories. Let’s just see where this goes, though I’ve got faith in Ubisoft to not disappoint.

Coming Soon: Console Games to Expect in October

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Oct 012012

October is finally upon us. And with October comes a nonstop barrage of games, games, and more game. Though last month kick started video game fever, this month sets it into 6^th gear as one week right after another a popular title is releasing. It’s already begun to reduce the money in my bank and the month has just begun. Enjoy it while it lasts because once December gets here, we’ll all be missing this rush we’re enjoying/hating.

Resident Evil 6
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: October 2^nd

It’s been over three years since Resident Evil 5 and since then things have begun to change for the Resident Evil franchise and its followers. Most notably is the fact that most of the followers have begun to realize that their desire for more Resident Evil has started to disintegrate. Then when the announcement of an all new Resident Evil game came about, no one was surprised, but everyone was disappointed.

Since then the game has been headed downhill with no end in sight. I finally got my hands on it once the demo released and with my drastically low expectations, I found some enjoyment out of it. But even though I enjoyed chunks of it, the problems with the game were very clear and could become huge annoyances when stretched out into a 10 hour experience. We shall see, I suppose, but don’t bet money on critical success for Resident Evil 6.

Dishonored
Developer: Arkane Studios
Release Date: October 9^th

Damn, Dishonored, how you get so fly? I ask myself this question every time Dishonored pops into my little brain. At this point, I feel as if I’ve written a million things involving Dishonored, detailing its story, abilities, morality system, etc. But even though I’ve attempted to cover it exhaustively, my excitement for the final product is still through the roof.

My expectations are at about the same height, as well. If you don’t know, the story revolves around Corvo, a highly regarded bodyguard to a now deceased Empress. Some very unkind folk then blame Corvo for her death and as you would expect, Corvo wants to murder all the unkind folk. Who doesn’t? Arkane’s Dishonored has garnered some very high expectations, now it’s in their corner to deliver on those expectations. Blow us away, Arkane.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Developer: Firaxis Games
Release Date: October 9^th

Also releasing on the 9^th is XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Firaxis Games’ newest attempt at turning hours into minutes. XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a reboot of the XCOM franchise and Enemy Unknown focuses mainly on turn-based tactics. The story remains mostly the same as it’s all based around an alien invasion that forces a group of soldiers to spring into action. The story is far from the intriguing part of XCOM however as it’s everything else about the game that peaks my interest. From the Geoscape to the different bonuses each continent possesses, XCOM is sure to have some deep mechanics that are just dying to be tinkered with.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter
Developer: Danger Close
Release Date: October 23^rd

No offense to Danger Close games but it amazes me that this continues to be a video game series that gets supported. The last Medal of Honor (the supposed reboot) did its best to go against Call of Duty and failed miserably while also being quite the turd of a game in the process. The story in which EA bragged about so often ended up a non-factor and the poor combat and scripting issues didn’t help matters. Since Danger Close is a new developer, let’s hope it was just growing pains and the newest Medal of Honor will be much improved.

The story in Warfighter will continue behind the previous games’ Tier 1 Operatives while you head into places like the Philippines and Somalia. Multiplayer seems to be one of the biggest focuses this time around as Danger Close has introduced a new system in which you are always grouped with one other teammate. His location is always visible through a silhouette and once you die, you can respond on his location and vice versa. Also, if you get a revenge kill on the enemy that just killed your partner, your partner will respawn immediately. While I’m definitely not going to write it off just yet, Warfighter isn’t looking like the next big game to slap into your console. But it does have a sick Linkin Park song, so buy it.

Assassin’s Creed III
Developer: Ubisoft
Release Date: October 30^th

I will fight anyone that says they are a bigger Assassin’s Creed fan than I am. Assassin’s Creed III is the sole reason why I have not stated that Dishonored is my most anticipated game in October and that’s because Assassin’s Creed takes that honor by a mile. I’m so insane; I enjoyed the first one and played through it three times. Beat that, world.

That being said, I purchased Assassin’s Creed Revelations and was immediately disappointed. The lack of any kind of innovation broke the experience for me and I was unable to even finish the game. But with a new character and hopefully more Desmond/Templar nonsense in the new Assassin’s Creed, I’m right back in. I’ve always loved everything about the franchise, even the controls which some people like to have their grievances with. My love and admiration for the Assassin’s Creed universe knows no bounds and I have no doubt in saying that my love and admiration will only grow come October 30^th.
Also releasing:

NBA 2K13 (October 2^nd)
Of Orcs and Men (October 11^th)
Dragon Ball Z for Kinect (October 16^th)
007 Legends (October 16^th)
Dance Central 3 (October 16^th)
Skylanders Giants (October 21^st)
WWE ’13 (October 30^th)
LEGO The Lord of the Rings (October 30^th)

Review – Torchlight 2 (PC)

Posted by Josh Knowles No Responses »

Sep 252012

Earlier this year, we kicked Diablo’s ass and enjoyed the hell out of doing it. Unfortunately, a few months later, many of us had lost interest in the game, it was good but just not as good as it’s predecessor. We turned our eyes towards the distant gaming horizon, Torchlight 2 was already in beta and it would be coming soon. Then we were sent some codes to get our hands on the game to review it. The big question that we kept asking ourselves though was “Can the game offer us something we haven’t already been playing for the last few years?“. Easy answer, that text below tells you.

Now, I loved Torchlight, it was the first ARPG that I felt really “got it” since playing Diablo 2. There was tons of loot and smashing of many thing but even though it was an awesome game, it still felt a little linear. Ultimately, the game felt like a mad dash to the bottom of the mines, and while the game wasn’t the biggest ever, I just wanted more. Runic Games, fortunately, employ some sort of dark magicks or mind reading gypsies though because that is the first thing you will really notice about Torchlight 2, a large map just waiting to be explored. You know what was on that map? Tons and tons of loot. You know who got it? This guy, right here!

Character creation in Torchlight 2 is limited, thankfully in this case, to simple cosmetic changes to your character. Do you want them to be male or female? What class do you want? Which hairstyle do you want? Head? Pet? (You’d better pick that papillon, every other answer is wrong!) After going through this process, you name your character and pet and then get thrusted right into the story. No adjusting the depth of your chin or the saturation of your hair color, just the basics and then off you go!

Once Torchlight 2 gets started, it hits the ground running and never looks back. It feels like loot is much more frequent than the previous title, and with the open world approach, you will always have something different to do. Now, I started the game with my first character on the normal difficulty but after tearing through the first 2 major dungeons and fighting a pair of major bosses, I decided I needed to play the game on a harder difficulty. I wanted to feel that I was actually in some sort of peril when I was fighting, although I may have been simply really effective with my character. After getting into progressively more difficult modes, I felt that the demand and focus on gear was even higher, which is completely cool since this is what these games are all about.

The game’s story is rather simplistic, yet told in such a way that it doesn’t overburden any of the gameplay as well. More or less, the heroes from the original Torchlight have had a few inconveniences arise and evil has returned to the world, so new heroes need to step up and kick some ass in their stead. Like I said earlier, this isn’t just a one dungeon campaign either, Torchlight 2 is a global affair that will take you all over the world and feature many different sights than before. Did I also mention that the campaign is significantly longer? Well, it is and it is awesome!

Combat isn’t overly complex, although after leveling extensively, I was very glad to be using a gaming mouse since I could map abilities to the extra buttons. Clicking on your targets and burning them down with skills and auto attacks is the name of the game here and while it may sound boring, the numerous types of weapons really keep you coming back for more. I had a ton of fun with the Outlander, as some of the guns that could be used were simply amazing. The feeling of fighting a cluster of enemies and then blowing them clear away from me with a cannon or shotgun brought a smile to my face. That isn’t to say that every other class doesn’t have it’s perks. In the multiplayer mode, this is even more entertaining, since positioning and combining attacks can have some interesting outcomes.

… Some harder to kill than others.

With that being said, let’s take a minute to talk about multiplayer. This was something that the original Torchlight lacked, and while it wasn’t absolutely necessary, it could have made the original even better. Well, no more bellyaching about not being able to play with friends now, because Torchlight 2 features an entire smorgasbord of online co-op awesomeness. Feel like playing with a couple of friends? Create an online game and up to 5 buddies can join you. As a fair warning, the more people in the game, the more hectic things can get. A few times, in smaller environments, it felt a bit cramped but even this wasn’t so bad since loot is dropped separately, so even if I am trying to figure out what the hell just happened, I can still get my precious loot. Torchlight 2 also features the ability to play via LAN, so no more logging into an external server if you want to quickly set up a game with a few friends in a more personal environment.

So what makes Torchlight 2 different from Diablo 3? Torchlight 2 is absolutely a better sequel! Everyone at Runic Games paid attention to what the players liked and disliked and painstakingly made the rare “better than the original” sequel that most games fail at. While Diablo 3 was indeed a good game, it pales in comparison of it’s predecessor. Torchlight 2 says “Remember all that bad ass stuff you loved about the first game? Well, we brought all that stuff to this party and we brought buckets of new stuff too!”. Yes, buckets. Also, a certain wheeled robot that is quite annoying.

Graphics 80		Audio 100		Gameplay 100
Creativity 95		Execution 90		Offset 100

9.4

How do these ratings work? Click here for descriptions!

Pros:

Flexible multiplayer
A great improvement upon the original game
Graphics that can run on almost any PC, yet look great
Beautiful soundtrack

Cons:

You may need to look for a challenge to get things started, yet will probably regret that decision later.

New Darksiders II DLC Coming September 25th

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Sep 192012

Though Darksiders 2 only released around a month ago, it’s already time for some DLC. Today Vigil announced their plans for their first little piece of DLC, entitled The Argul’s Tomb. It’s interesting to see where Death goes from the end of the second game because, without spoiling anything, he didn’t seem like he was in the best spot to continue along a journey.

In Argul’s Tomb, you will experience the following:

· Two icy new dungeons

· New legendary loot

· Challenging new boss battles

None of which are West Nile Virus symptoms, by the way. To simplify things down a bit, if you enjoyed you some Darksiders II, keep your eyes peeled for Argul’s Tomb. If not, keep calm and play more Borderlands 2. To be fair, that’s currently the solution to every problem I experience in my life.

Argul’s Tomb will release on September 25^th and cost a solid 560 MS Points, or seven bucks in human terms.

New Dragon Age Revealed, Bioware Developing New Engine

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Sep 172012

Today, Bioware’s Mark Darrah confirmed the existence of a Dragon Age III and while not much was revealed, we did get enough to wet our whistles for a little while. First and foremost, the new title is called Dragon Age III: Inquisition. In a blog post written by Darrah on the Dragon Age website, he stated that Bioware didn’t “want to hide from them,” with them being the recent rumors of a Dragon Age III.

He went on to state that Dragon Age III is being developed by a lot of the same team that worked on Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II. But he did state that there are some new faces developing Dragon Age III along with the old veterans. Apart from that, the biggest reveal, apart from the game itself, is the new engine Bioware is creating. It is said to “deliver a more expansive world, better visuals, more reactivity to player choices, and more customization.” Their foundation for this engine is based off of DICE’s Frostbite 2 engine, which is not a bad place to start.

Dragon Age II was hit with some pretty mixed reviews upon its release, with opinions on it growing more and more negative as time went on. I, for one, enjoyed it quite a bit but not even I thought another Dragon Age was necessary. What about you? You ready to assemble a party and do some more fighting?

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance Trailer and Release Date Appear from Gamescom

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Aug 152012

The question of whether or not Metal Gear Solid Rising would come out has been something that was up in the air for multiple years now. Hideo Kojima revealed Metal Gear Solid Rising at E3 ’09 and a new subtitle later, we finally know that Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is coming out and it’s hitting store shelves on February 19^th, 2013.

Konami describes Rising as having “elements of pure action and epic storytelling, all within the expansive METAL GEAR universe. METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE introduces Raiden as the central character; a child soldier transformed into a cyborg ninja, equipped with a high-frequency katana blade and a soul fueled by revenge.”

As you know if you’ve followed Rising/Revengeance throughout its development cycle, it’s based solely on the swordplay of Raiden. This brings about the obvious issue of Rising possibly not featuring any kind of stealth, a staple of the Metal Gear franchise. Though on the other hand, some could argue that Metal Gear Solid 4 featured little stealth as well. But knowing that Platinum Games, the folk behind Bayonetta and the ridiculous third person experience that was Vanquish, gives us all a bit of confidence in the game, even if it may not reach the narrative standards set so high by previous Metal Gear Solid games.

Either way, we know it’s coming out! Are you excited? Below is a trailer for Revengeance released at Gamescom.

Review – Sleeping Dogs (Xbox 360)

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Aug 142012

-Error reading from ESRB datastream-
Please visit ESRB.org for rating information.

Life for the United Front (developers of Sleeping Dogs) folks and life for Sleeping Dogs’ main character, Wei Shen, have something in common, both have been hell. United Front has been working on Sleeping Dogs for about five years now and multiple name changes and a publisher swap later, we’re finally able to get our hands on the product they’ve been slaving away at. Usually, when a game goes through a situation like Sleeping Dogs has, it either never releases or gets lucky and gets released by a publisher that doesn’t really believe in it and is only after some quick profit and the ownership of the name. Most of us assumed that was what would be happening with Sleeping Dogs. Thankfully, United Front has stepped up and declared us all wrong.

Like I previously mentioned, in Sleeping Dogs you are an undercover cop named Wei Shen. You’ve lived in America since you were ten but have now been relocated to Hong Kong to work within the Triad, attempting to take one group down from the inside out. The issue is that Wei has personal ties within his Triad, making him a bit more involved than the police had originally hoped. This opens up the narrative of Sleeping Dogs as it evolves further from there, leading Wei to do things that both the cops and his gang would not approve of. While it isn’t the most unique story, Sleeping Dogs delivers a strong experience that keeps you hooked mainly because of the well thought out characters. The personalities exuded by every character are truly a treat to watch and eventually set up some twists and turns you may not expect.

Because it is Hong Kong and because you are working within the Triad, people are going to die. Sleeping Dogs does not shy away from that, killing off main story characters one after one, all with good reason behind them. It starts off with a few deaths, nothing too significant to Wei, but eventually escalates into personal vendettas that simultaneously rip your heart and Wei’s heart out. While it may all just be typical gangster fair, Sleeping Dogs has some story beats that are shockingly effective in whatever emotion they want to arise, whether it’s happiness or anger. Thanks largely to its characters and some nice writing; Sleeping Dogs brings out a good fiction, something most open world games cannot achieve.

Something else open world games struggle at getting right is the driving. This is another problem Sleeping Dogs avoids as the controls for navigating around the city are tight and make you feel very in control. Your car never feels too out of your control and it’s always possible to turn around on a dime. On top of that, smart design choices like slowing down time when you want to shoot while driving only heighten the experience. The driving isn’t necessarily the most realistic experience to ever be put on a console but it undoubtedly rivals GTA and Saints Row as some of the best.

The only issue that arises from the driving is that the framerate likes to take a few dips along the way. It isn’t just the framerate either as screen tearing also hampers the experience. These problems seem to be persistent throughout Sleeping Dogs which is a disappointment as the art style is rather nice and extremely effective in setting up a great atmosphere that makes you feel like you’re right in the heart of Hong Kong. Bright lights shine intensely in the Hong Kong market as people rumble around looking at goods and merchants yell at you for your attention. Walking through all of this is a unique experience to say the least.

Unlike most everyone’s favorite open world game, Grand Theft Auto , Sleeping Dogs prefers hand to hand combat as opposed to using guns. It features a Batman like fighting system, encouraging counters (shown by highlighting enemies that are attacking with a red aura) and using simple X and Y combos. That isn’t all though as Sleeping Dogs also encourages you to perform environmental kills such as throwing people in dumpsters, beating them in the head with a payphone, or the crowd favorite, ramming your enemy’s head into a spinning table saw. These brutal executions are a quick way to take out thugs and although this may not be something I should say, they’re pretty fun to take part in. The game does still feature some gunplay and it’s handled well but it’s also clear that United Front focused mainly on hand to hand combat. Depth is added to the combat by way of an upgrade system that slowly feeds you more and more powerful combos.

There are multiple upgrade systems in Sleeping Dogs, though as you also gain experience for working with the Triad and with the police. You gain Triad experience by doing environmental takedowns, using weapons, counters, etc. While you earn police experience by not harming innocents, not tearing up the city of Hong Kong, and by helping eliminate drug dealers throughout the city by hacking camera in certain locations and then using the camera to spot a drug deal. From there you highlight the dealer and cops swarm after him in a heartbeat. There are other ways but those seem to be the main courses of action to attain experience. These systems lead to some nice upgrades such as the ability to grab a gun from the back of cop car or to simply make it easier to disarm an enemy.

It’s telling of the quality of a game when the biggest complaint about it is the graphics. While a good portion of the game has no problem, there are nagging issues with the frame rate and wonky animation that holds it back from being a technical marvel. But in all honesty, you don’t have to be a technical marvel to be a great game and Sleeping Dogs proves that. It won’t set the world afire but the fact that we almost never got to play it is a terrible thought. Thankfully, Sleeping Dogs has arrived and thankfully, it’s pretty damn good.

Graphics 80		Audio 85		Gameplay 95
Creativity 90		Execution 90		Offset 90

8.8

How do these ratings work? Click here for descriptions!

Review – Dust: An Elysian Tail (Xbox 360)

Posted by Jay Malone 2 Responses »

Aug 132012

In the past four years, the games that have closed out the Summer of Arcade go as follows: Castle Crashers (2008), Shadow Complex (2009), Lara Craft and the Guardian of Light (2010), and Toy Soldiers: Cold War (2011). So to say expectations for Humble Hearts’ (comprised of one sole heart, Dean Dodrill) first creation, Dust: An Elysian Tail, were high would be one of the biggest understatements of the year. Dodrill’s Dust, which is also a tie-in to Dodrill’s animated series he’s currently at work on, seemed none too afraid of those expectations by entering its way onto everyone’s radar by showing off bright, vibrant visuals and an insane Devil May Cry style combat system that encourages combos and pushes hit counts up higher than you could imagine.

Unsurprisingly, those are two of Dust’s best qualities. One thing that may be a bit unexpected is the interesting tale that Dust tells throughout its 10-12 hours lifespan. Featuring a broad world absolutely filled with lovable characters, Dust’s story and world are among some of the best I’ve seen in an Arcade game. The ongoing uncertainty with the identity of the main character, Dust, is one of the driving forces that control your emotions from beginning to end. While that is going on, an overarching story is taking place that involves a villain named General Gaius that is attempting to take out a whole race called the Moonbloods. Though he’s unsure who he really is, Dust is having none of that and does his best to stop Gaius in his plight. Apart from the main storylines, Dust has around ten or fifteen side quests spread across its beautiful world. Some of which are simple “receive X number of items” and some that go deeper than that and tell a story of their own.

Writing is at times a bit back and forth however. Most of the time, the writing is just fine, sometimes containing a bit of wit, but there are a few times where the Japanese influence is clear and characters become a bit annoying. Whether it be nagging or just being unfunny, the main offender is your partner Fidget. Fidget is similar to a fairy, flying around with you the whole time, though she’s actually very useful. She is queen to blame for my issues but overall, her character is supposed to act like a sort of little sister to Dust so maybe the annoyingness is expected. In the end, you learn to love Fidget, frustrating qualities and all.

While the story is undoubtedly fantastic, the visuals are where it’s at. The art and attention to detail put on every aspect of Dust is absolutely astonishing. The character designs are spot on and reflect their respective personality perfectly. The level design is no slouch either, showing off bright fire and drab graveyard environments that never cease to please your precious eyeballs. It’s clear there was no environment left unpolished in Dust’s development cycle as everything has that nice coat of paint that makes you stop the game and just stare. Dust is without a doubt one of the best looking games released in years.

My admiration for both the story arch and the visuals aside, the heart of Dust is the combat. Dust is your typical side scrolling brawler, enhanced by beautiful combos. These combos are easily accessible as achieving them is as simple as pressing B, X, then Y. From there, you will have your enemy in the air and be wailing on his flying body. Usually, the issue with simplistic combat is that it quickly becomes a bit of a bore to slog through. Thankfully, that issue is avoided in Dust. Maybe it’s how incredible everything looks, or maybe it’s just the fact that the combat is fun as hell to take part in but Dodrill achieves something most brawlers cannot in keeping his combat style fresh and full of jaw dropping moments.

That is, up until the final few hours of Dust, that’s when the excitement and admiration begins to slowly morph into anger. The final hour of Dust is one of the most shockingly disappointing hours of gaming I’ve played. As you enter your last chapter, the combat becomes relentless, throwing incredibly strong and armored enemies at you that are much more powerful that Dust. This wouldn’t be a problem if there were only a few to deal with, but instead you have to take on about fifteen at a time and it seems that immediately upon defeating that fifteen, twenty more show up behind them. Acquiring health is not an easy task either, as you must buy fairly expensive food for health. Again, this would be fine if money wasn’t a hard thing to come by but it is. It seemed like almost every bit of money I picked up along the way went right into food. Though it felt like three hours due to the amount I died, once you get past the thirty minute combat sequence, you’re greeted by an awful boss battle. The boss battle consists of performing the same aforementioned B, X, and Y combo repeatedly until his life bar is depleted but the game isn’t over yet, as they then combine the previously frustrating combat sequence and the boss battle into one, forcing you to contain the twenty enemies around you while simultaneously dealing with the boss that kills you in about two swipes of his sword. As you can guess, some controller tossing emerged from this situation.

My thoughts on Dust: An Elysian Tail are very hard to put into words, near everything about it was immaculate up until the final hour where everything became tarnished with an awful stench. The fact of the matter is, no game should be judged by one hour and instead should be judged by the whole experience. That being said, if you don’t mind a frustrating final hour, Dust is a truly special product to pick up. It’s beautiful, it’s fun, it’s interesting, and it’s frustrating as hell. It’s Dust: An Elysian Tail and it deserves your purchase.

Graphics 100		Audio 90		Gameplay 90
Creativity 95		Execution 90		Offset 90

9.3

How do these ratings work? Click here for descriptions!

Review – Deadlight (Xbox 360)

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Aug 012012

-Error reading from ESRB datastream-
Please visit ESRB.org for rating information.

2D action adventure games have not had the largest market in the past few years. Plenty of them are made but only a select few actually stand out and the Summer of Arcade has produced arguably the five best 2D games of this generation in titles such as Splosion Man, Shadow Complex, Limbo, Castle Crashers, and Braid. Deadlight developer, Tequila Works, saw the success of those, mainly Limbo and Shadow Complex, and like any other person with half a brain, hopped at the idea. They knew as well as anybody that if they could produce a good 2D action game and get it into the Summer of Arcade, it would explode in popularity. They’ve already achieved one of those things, what about the other?

You begin Deadlight in a ravaged world, your name being Randall (His friends call him Randy/Wayne), and your goal is clear from the beginning, find your damn daughter and wife! Randall is slowly being torn apart from the inside in pure depression that he cannot hold his family close and the fact that zombies have taken over isn’t helping his issues. While the story starts with you in a small pact, that pact gets torn apart in the opening cutscene as Randall must let the others go on without him, though he promises to meet back up with them eventually.

Most of Deadlight is spent being played all by your lonesome. In Part 2 and Part 3 of the story, major characters are introduced and worked into the gameplay in some fashion but that ultimately becomes more a nuisance than any kind of positive. In Part 2, you spend around one fourth the entire part performing “trials” in a man called The Rat’s underground sewers. This kills any kind of momentum the first part had worked up, forcing you to perform monotonous tasks one right after another, while seemingly never progressing the interesting overarching story.

These trials may have been much more tolerable, however, if the controls weren’t cumbersome to handle. It seems like near every jump you make doesn’t land where you suspect it to, leaving you not knowing where to predict your landing, which obviously can become very frustrating in times where it forces you to land in a certain spot. For example, you have to jump on a floating block in the water, but look out because if you miss, its instant death as Randall can’t swim. You may think you’re going to hit the spot but no, Randall slid a bit, and then fell right into the fiery pit of doom that is deep water. Precision is definitely not Deadlight’s forte.

The platforming isn’t the only feature that experiences some poor controls as so does the combat. While it’s nowhere near as frustrating as the platforming, the combat just feels clunky in every way. Gunplay is simply done aiming with the right stick and firing with the trigger, while you use your melee weapon with B. It sounds simple enough but once zombies get in close, it feels like the melee just doesn’t want to work correctly, hitching up when you press the button and sometimes having the weapon fade through the enemies all together, not even hurting them.

This does bring about one of the more unique and fun things to do in Deadlight which is strategizing how you can avoid the zombies. You can taunt them by using Y and if you use that intelligently, you can manage to get them all wrapped up in one pile and avoid them completely. This adds to an already tense atmosphere that Deadlight establishes early on and doesn’t relinquish until the credits roll.

The atmosphere and overall creepy vibe you feel throughout Deadlight is by far the best thing to be found within this fifteen dollar package. Even when the controls are bugging out a bit or you’re just getting impatient with enemies, you still have a slight bit of fear looming in the back of your head. The anchor of the atmosphere is the moody and dark look Deadlight features. Shadows and dark colors are prevalent in everything you see and whether it’s from flickering lights or not fully revealed enemies, Deadlight will have you squirming back and forth in your seat.

Deadlight features one of the more odd stories I’ve seen in the past few years. There’s nothing obscenely weird about it, it’s the execution and lead up to a mostly dry and disappointing ending that perplexes me. Part 1 establishes a very interesting, ravaged 1980’s world. Zombies have all but taken over everything and there’s nothing you can do about it except for move forward and hope for some positive to emerge. But like I previously mentioned, Act 2 halts that momentum and instead introduces characters that are meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Half of Part 2 feels like a sidequest that should have been in a more fully realized Deadlight. Part 3 attempts to regain that excitement but mostly fails all the way up until the cringe worthy ending that will leave you more disappointed than satisfied.

While every game has some unrealized potential in it somewhere, Deadlight had so much that it really saddens me to see it turn out like it has. It never falls off the deep end and becomes terrible by any means, but it never realizes its full potential. While the atmosphere is there, nothing else is quite up to the lofty standards that are placed upon Summer of Arcade releases. Deadlight tried so hard, but failed even harder.

Graphics 75		Audio 65		Gameplay 50
Creativity 65		Execution 50		Offset 60

6.1

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Ravaged Closed Beta Codes Giveaway

Posted by iMaccaPro 4 Responses »

Jul 292012

Do you like to try games before they come out? Do you like betas? and close ones at that. Well Gaming Irresponsibly has just the thing for you. We have a handful of Ravaged closed beta codes for you guys!!

To get your hands on the codes all you have to do is follow the directions at the bottom!! Once you have the code head over to 2dawn.com and redeem the code, from there you will then get your Steam key for the Ravaged Beta.

For those who haven’t heard of Ravaged it is an adrenaline pumping fps multiplayer with vehicles, from AAA and indie game developers at 2Dawn Games, who have worked on the likes of the BattleField series, Desert Combat and DCON. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where the war between the “Resistance” and “Scavengers” never stops. It is and will only be for PC. “Ravaged is Shaping Up to be the Multiplayer RAGE Never Had” with multipule objective based modes, classes and as mentioned above vehicles like, cars, trikes, bikes, buggies, gyrocopters and soon to be added buses/trucks.
This is a beta everyone is dying to join because not only is it an awesome game already but you can also play the developers at their own game and give them feed back on TeamSpeak on scheduled playtests. They have listened to everyone that has either reported bugs and or suggested other features. The game has been shaped mainly from suggestions from the Ravaged community.

So guys and girls keep your eyes on your Twitter feed for the codes, until then setup your account at 2dawn.com so your are ready. Come and let us know if you win and what you think of the game.

The game can be pre-ordered HERE for $24.99 for full game on release day some time late this summer. You can also gain access to the beta this way if you are unlucky enough to not get one of our codes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Minecraft 1.3 Prerelease Out Now and Mojang 1.3 Commercial Competition

Posted by iMaccaPro No Responses »

Jul 262012

Well guys start new worlds, reconfigure servers and get yourselves ready for Minecraft 1.3 with the offical update prerelease. Released today the prerelease will hopefully be the final update before the big 1.3 set to hit our Minecraft launchers on Wednesday August 1st!

The last few Snapshots have seen some major bug fixes ie, TNT and other explosions no longer lag the chat on multiplayer which will be handy for server owners to warn players if a huge amount of TNT is set off.

Creepers have also been given a new feature and that is knock back. Now when a player is confronted with a malicious Creeper explosion not only will you take damage from that but you will also be projected into the air and take fall damage when landing. Creepers are now weaker or stronger depending on your difficulty. Easy they will do 50% less damage and on Hard they will deal 33% more damage. So Minecraft’s most hated mob will be hated even more. One other cool new feature is you can now place logs side wards!!

There are a crazy amount of new features coming to Minecraft 1.3 some of them are little additions and others are huge new features that the game has been lacking for some time.

The links are below for 1.3 Prerelease.

Mojang Commercial Competition

Once you have downloaded it why do you enter Mojang’s Minecraft 1.3 Commercial Competition. Mojang wants you, the Minecraft community to create a Minecraft commercial using todays 1.3 Prerelease. Entries need to be in for the 31st of July. Then 3 lucky winners will get their videos featured on the official Mojang Youtube channel. For more details and to enter click here.

Minecraft 1.3 Prerelease

Client: http://assets.minecraft.net/1_3/minecraft.jar
Server: http://assets.minecraft.net/1_3/minecraft_server.jar

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Update 1.7.3 Available NOW!!!

Posted by iMaccaPro 1 Response »

Jul 132012

Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition Update

Minecraft for Xbox 360 has been very popular on Xbox Live Arcade and today has had a huge revamp. Update 1.7.3 is the second update sine the game was release in May this year and has quite a few new additions that bring it even closer to the PC version. That said there is still a lot to be added before then.
One huge feature now is the ability to change your charachers skins, you can choose between the 8 default skins one Minecraft Xbox 360 like Steve, Tennis Steve and so on. But the best thing is you can now download Skin Packs from Xbox Live. There is only one pack out at the moment but it holds a massive 40+ skins, from Halo’s Master Chief to the Trials Evolusion Guy and even Banjo from Banjo Kazooie. Each Skin Pack will Contain the 40+ skins for only 160 Microsoft Points…..BARGAIN

Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition Skin Pack 1

These are the other new features added to 1.7.3:

Added pistons & sticky pistons
Added stackable fences.
Added shears – required to get wool from sheep, and to collect leaf blocks.
TNT needs flint and steel or redstone to detonate.
Redstone wire will now connect to a repeater.
New textures for cobblestone and brick.
Added lighting improvements (brought forward from 1.8.2 update) and snow & rain improvements.
Added a save file cache to improve the speed of displaying the saves list.
Added ban list functionality to allow players to self-ban from levels they feel contain offensive content.
Added a ban list section to the How To Play menus.
Added an option for the host to limit online games to only players in their friends list (no friends of friends).
Added a seed display to the level load screen (requires existing levels to be saved out again to add the display).
Changed the tooltip display setting to in-game tooltip display, so that tooltips always display in menus.
Added the crosshair to the list of things affected by the opacity slider.
On using the quickselect bar, the opacity of the quickselect, tooltips, splitscreen gamertag display, and crosshair will be set to 80, and will fade back down to the user opacity setting after 6 seconds of no quickselect bar use.
Added some more Tips & Trivia to the loading/saving screen display.
Added optional tutorial for pistons and redstone.
Added a self-building bridge to the castle using pistons.
Added some sugar cane, cactii and clay to the world.
Added a few other things for players to discover.

There has also been a few bug fixes but the duplication bug still lies in there somewhere

To download the new update just power up your console and play Minecraft and it’ll do all the hard work for you.

If you don’t own Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition you can purchase it from Xbox Live on your console by searching for Minecraft or you can go here

Review – NCAA Football 13 (Xbox 360)

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Jul 112012

-Error reading from ESRB datastream-
Please visit ESRB.org for rating information.

The yearly franchise has returned once again in NCAA Football 13 and coming into this release, it was clear that this year’s installment was not going to be the best in the series. There was no real big feature, apart from the Heisman Challenge, and even that seemed to pretty much be Road to Glory mode but making you play as Barry Sanders or another Heisman favorite. Up to this point, NCAA Football has squeaked by with installments like this, with tiny differences from the previous game in the series, and ultimately made up for it with a hard-hitting, game-changing sequel coming after that. The squeaking by that EA Tiburon has become so skilled at achieving has finally stopped.

There were a few slight adjustments to the actual in-game experience this year, one of those being the ability to lead receivers with your throws. This does add a bit of realism and makes you feel much more in control than previous games did when you were at the QB position. The big problem is that you won’t be using it often, as most of the time it’ll go unnoticed and the time it is noticed is when you accidentally led your receiver into coverage and got a pass picked off because of that. While it’s a slight change, your defense now reads and reacts a bit better to the quarterback. This doesn’t lead to any huge changes, only smoother animations when a ball is picked off.

EA Sports also found it necessary to add an ESPN ticker that runs at the bottom of your screen as you play. During Dynasty mode, this can be helpful at times if you’re wondering how your rival school is doing, or if you just like to keep up with the goings on in the league. But they also added in a studio update that, like real life, sends you away from the game and to a box score of another game for a commentator to tell you how that other game is going. This can become a bit of annoyance, especially if you’re playing at a time when only one game is going on, which then leads to them constantly cutting back to that box score after every touchdown they score. No, I don’t care that Notre Dame is beating Michigan State by 37 points, Rece Davis!

Speaking of Dynasty mode, possibly the best change of the game is to be found there. No it’s not the studio updates nor the fact that EA has given the Purdue Boilermakers a new run-out animation, it’s the changes to recruiting. I’m a recruiting junkie both in real life and in video games so I may be a bit bias in that assessment. Either way, changes to recruiting have been something NCAA fans have been clamoring for years for and while these new additions aren’t all we wanted, they’re a good start. First off, most of the recruiting interface has changed. While it isn’t much nicer by any accounts, it’s a bit easier to navigate and in a game where menu navigation is always awful, any positive is welcome. Second, you can now recruit any player, at any time. While it sounds simple and like it should have been there since the beginning (it should have), this hasn’t happened up until now. This doesn’t mean you start out as the Mean Green North Texans and immediately recruit a five star, but you can at least gain his consideration if you try hard enough. Lastly, you can now fully scout players before offering them a scholarship. In previous games you could always see letter grades in player’s specific stats but not until now could you use an allotted amount of time to scout them and actually see what their overall rating would be going into the season. This also opens up chances to recruit a 3 or 2 star player, scout them, and find out they’re a hidden gem. It adds some real excitement to an otherwise dull recruiting process for some.

Let’s get down to the big thing, the Heisman Challenge mode. This has been the big feature EA Sports has been touting since NCAA Football 13’s announcement. In it, you take control of a former Heisman winner and go through a season, attempting to match their season totals and eventually win the Heisman trophy just like they did. Along the way you can see videos from the player as they give insight to key aspects of their college career. The fact of the matter is that this mode is just not as special as EA Sports wants it to be. Unless you’re a fan of the team one of the athletes played for, your interest in playing through multiple Heisman winners’ seasons is probably rather slim. Even if you are a fan of one of the teams, you’ll only have about one season to play through and even then, why not just create yourself and play Road to the Show? It’s a much more in-depth experience than the Heisman Challenge.

The obvious counter to that would be the fact that you can change any player’s team that he played on in his Heisman run before starting the season. But again, the fact of the matter is, that’s not that interesting. I’m really not that interested in seeing Doug Flutie in a Tennessee Vols uniform, because it probably looks the same as when he is in a USC uniform. EA Tiburon tries to make Heisman Challenge have some variety by adding this in, but instead they fall on their face, just like they did with the mode itself. It’s never an offensive piece of trash, it’s just not fun, and ultimately makes you wonder why it even exists.

Something that was implemented mainly for the Heisman Challenge but also made its way to the Road to Glory mode was “Reaction Time.” If you’re unfamiliar with Road to Glory, it’s where you create your own character, play through some High School ball, get some scholarships, and ultimately land yourself at a college of your choice. From there you practice, practice, practice until ultimately you take over the starting job. This mode has remained mostly unchanged for a few years now and Reaction Time seems to be the biggest change since Road to Glory’s integration. That’s not really a positive, however, as all Reaction Time does is slow down time during the game to allow you to get a better site of the field in front of you. It’s occasionally useful but most of the time it’s the last thing on your mind as you’re attempting to bust through a hole on the offensive line or get that pass down the middle of the field to your receiver that’s probably only going to be open for a few more seconds.

There were a few changes to NCAA Football 13 this year, yes, but how many of them were significant to the overall experience is the question everyone will be asking and that answer is very clear: not many. I, personally, love the recruiting changes, but apart from that, there’s nothing to write home about in this year’s installment. This is the time when EA Tiburon has to step back and realize they need to do something drastically different next year or this franchise is going to fall apart.

Graphics 70		Audio 65		Gameplay 70
Creativity 60		Execution 60		Offset 65

6.5

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Review – Spec Ops: The Line (Xbox 360)

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Jul 102012

-Error reading from ESRB datastream-
Please visit ESRB.org for rating information.

The life of Spec Ops: The Line, up to this point, has been a rather sad story. Many don’t know that Spec Ops was actually a series of games released in the 90’s, then another installment in that franchise was planned to be released in the early 2000’s by Rockstar but eventually Take-Two confirmed the game had been cancelled. The Line was unveiled at the Spike VGA’s a few years back (that’s pretty sad in and of itself), and since then it had garnered quite a bit of hype before getting a private multiplayer beta and quickly becoming MIA after the beta concluded. Many wondered if the game was cancelled, thankfully, it was not.

The overall idea since Spec Ops was re-announced in 2009 was to deliver you a hard-hitting third person action experience but with an intriguing storytelling twist. Achieving one of the two isn’t all that bad. The storytelling twist ultimately boils down to simple moral choices, minus the moral part. There never seems to be a right or wrong choice no matter what the situation. It always boils down to how bad do you want mess things up in the crumbling city of Dubai? The actual goal for Spec Ops: The Line seems to be to make you feel like complete shit by the time the credits roll. It succeeds.

Spec Ops forcefully inserts you into this terrifying world by introducing you through a rather lackluster controlled helicopter/turret sequence, from there the main character through this journey, Walker (voiced by the always excellent Nolan North), and his two squad mates set out on a journey into the heart of Dubai just to find out what is going on there. The 33^rd, a group of American soldiers, has been silent for a while now and it’s your job to find out the details behind it all. From there, Spec Ops breaks the early boredom from the turret sequence by beginning a rather intriguing story, filled with questions as to who is actually doing right here, who’s wrong, who’s alive, and really, what the hell is happening?

One of the things you quickly pick up on is the fact that Spec Ops looks rather bland. Nothing pops apart from the huge amount of sand, and sand isn’t necessarily the most beautiful piece of art on the planet. Every texture looks like it needed a bit more work and the animations for sprinting and getting in and out of cover are just way too slow. It deadens the attempt at some excitement during the combat. The slight bright spot is the attention to detail on the characters. Throughout the game, some pretty rough things happen to you and your squad, which is clearly reflected by the look on one another’s faces and your actual appearance. Your suit gets torn up, your face bleeds and the blood dries, and most importantly, as your sanity decreases, you can tell just by facial expressions.

The previously mentioned combat is similar to the looks of the game; it leaves quite a bit to be desired. While the actual mechanics aren’t too bad (apart from the aforementioned animation issues), the sound of the weapons and the lack of kick you experience when using them really dampens the whole experience. There is also some lazily introduced squad mechanics such as marking a target for your squad mates to take out. Apart from that, the squad mechanics are non-existent. While this is definitely not the case, it seems as if the guys at Yager (developers of Spec-Ops) forgot the squad mechanics were even implemented and never attempted fleshed them out further. The combat is not awful, nor is it bad. It’s mostly there with the sole purpose of continuing an expanding story.

Spec Ops, like it or not, has multiplayer in it. The mediocrity of the combat and overall ugly design (for some reason, the game looks even worse in multiplayer) makes for one mess of a multiplayer experience. The level design is disjointed and confusing, the modes are generic, and you have about as high of chances of finding someone online to play with as you do actually having fun when you do find a few people. It’s clear that multiplayer was far from Yager’s mind as they went through the development process. Plain and simple, multiplayer should have been cut from Spec-Ops all together.

The “not great but not bad” mantra is something that applies to almost (with the exception of the multiplayer) every inch of Spec Ops.. It’s the storytelling and the unique story itself that made me actually enjoy my time with Spec Ops. It makes you constantly feel a sense of regret and sadness that no other game, let a long a shooter, can make you feel. While you won’t be technically impressed with Spec Ops, it deserves to be played just to experience the emotional rollercoaster that is the campaign. In a world filled with boring, mindless shooters that simply rely on getting to the next combat encounter, Spec Ops is just what the doctor ordered to garner some more interest in the genre.

Graphics 70		Audio 65		Gameplay 70
Creativity 80		Execution 80		Offset 75

7.3

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Review – Spelunky (Xbox 360)

Posted by Jay Malone 1 Response »

Jul 092012

-Error reading from ESRB datastream-
Please visit ESRB.org for rating information.

In the ESRB rating description for Spelunky, they describe it as featuring “crude humor.” No other statement known to man describes this frustrating but immensely satisfying experience better than those two words. The creators of this fiery hell, Mossmouth, have provided us as gamers another experience similar to the likes of Super Meat Boy, an incredibly difficult experience that, no matter how hard you try, you just cannot stop playing.

Spelunky begins by inserting you into your first devious arena, filled with spikes, spiders, and hidden traps. The object of the game is simple, achieve the next level by avoiding all obstacles in your way while also dealing with the limited health you have. Along the way you can pick up gold and other jewels to attain money which you can use to buy upgrades from shopkeepers (who quickly become rather unhappy if you use a weapon in their store), grab a damsel (woman, man, dog, whichever you choose) and take him/her to the exit to gain one heart back, or attempt to pick up an idol which can grant you quite a bit of extra pocket change, the catch being that when you pick it up some sort of dangerous hazard is unleashed on the player.

The difficulty curve quickly slaps you in the face so damn hard that your reaction can only be to step back and say “wait, what?” From there, the addiction begins as you die numerous times just attempting to achieve the next level, where you’ll ultimately die and have to restart all over again. The level design is set up in Mario fashion, with a 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4 design, and from there it goes to 2-1, etc. In between going from 1-4 to 2-1, you meet the Tunnel Man, who will build you shortcuts to each new set of levels as long as you give him whatever he desires (bombs, ropes, shotgun, etc.).

The issue is that you don’t know what he wants until you arrive there, which can lead to your arrival being met with sheer disappointment as you don’t currently have the shotgun Mr. Tunnel Man desires. This leading to you having to fight back through the previous four levels and make sure you get that shotgun (which is incredibly hard to get) just to get a shortcut to the next four levels, which are near impossible to get through in and of themselves.

No matter what, though, you will die in this game. And you will die a lot. It seems like at every corner you turn there is another obstacle just waiting to take your life. Even if it is a ridiculous chain reaction of multiple events, or just a leaping frog that just so happened to leap right where you were standing, death is abound no matter who you are. I’m currently at around 300 deaths, having only gotten through the first three of the four worlds. I have yet to get a shortcut to the fourth world because it forces you to find a key found somewhere within the third world, the location is undisclosed and the chances of finding it seem rather unlikely. Either way, I have experienced some of the fourth world which is an achievement that anyone who plays the game would appreciate.

The difficulty in Spelunky cannot be described perfectly in words, it can only be experienced. The way Mossmouth steadily straddles the line between difficult and fun is truly admirable. It’s something that many companies just plain cannot do, and Mossmouth does it seemingly without effort. The controls are by far the main reason Spelunky doesn’t force you to throw your controller down and give up, as they are perfect in giving you just enough control over your characters momentum and weapons. Every weapon you pick up is easily available to use and never becomes cumbersome in any way.

While the biggest bullet point in Spelunky is the difficulty, there are a few other shining stars hidden within the game. Something that is arguably as good as the controls is the soundtrack. Spelunky’s soundtrack seems to be a blend of old SNES music with some new age originality thrown in. It becomes more and more jaunty and upbeat as you continue through the game, forcing you to tap your foot as you grind your teeth in anger.

Another one is the fact that every level you go through is randomly generated. The biggest plus to that being that every level is fun in its own little way. It’s clear that some levels are much easier than others, as some levels don’t have near as difficult of enemies but that is usually welcome as the difficult levels feel, at times, impossibly difficult.

Spelunky, surprisingly, also features a multiplayer and co-op mode. The co-op mode is by no means the best way to play the game but that doesn’t stop it from being maddeningly fun. Adding another player somehow makes things easier, while also adding more potential annoyances such as other players griefing you by hitting you themselves and pushing you into spikes or other enemies. The multiplayer portion is solely deathmatch but that is truly all you need to have some dumb fun with this game. You begin on a set level, with crates filled with weapons placed strategically, and when the game says go, you kill each other. It’s simple but effective in producing more fun than you would expect a multiplayer experience in this game to be.

Spelunky is a special peace of work. It may not be the most innovative game ever and probably won’t be on too many Game of the Year lists, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t made an imprint on the gaming medium. It’s united all gamers together similarly to how old SNES games united everyone, where we’re all just trying to get to that next damn level. With the thought of actually completing the game in the back of our mind, because that goal is just crazy. Spelunky will make you yell expletives at every turn, but it’ll also make you caress its existence any time you complete a level.

Graphics 85		Audio 90		Gameplay 80
Creativity 80		Execution 90		Offset 85

8.5

How do these ratings work? Click here for descriptions!

Hardware Review: Hauppauge Gaming Edition HD PVR

Posted by Josh Knowles No Responses »

Jul 032012

In this world of PVR devices, there are quite a few different flavors to be had. There are the entry level models like the Roxio brand, mid ranged models like the feature locked Avermedia and then there are higher end models like the Hauppauge Gaming Edition PVR.

Just to kick things off, the Gaming Edition HD device is a PVR that doesn’t necessarily lock any recording capabilities. For example, the Avermedia lacks a reasonable ability to stream live whereas the Hauppauge actually seems to be the preferred weapon on choice for many console streamers. It may take some extra software but the system functions nearly automatically.

A constant bane for anyone that is interested in capturing game video is the face that almost every PVR adds a delay of some sort to what you input on your controller compared to what you are seeing via live recording (not all of us have multiple monitors). The Gaming Edition PVR limits this delay to a fraction of a second. When I recorded Disgaea 4 gameplay, I used another model that made it VERY difficult to record from my monitor. When I used the Hauppauge, there were many times that it didn’t even seem like an issue at all.

The most pleasing feature I encountered while using the Hauppauge device was the fact that video looked extremely good when captured. When I initially went through the process of capturing video with other devices, I found myself almost constantly fine tuning the picture to reflect the HD video I was recording. No more whitewashed images or out of contrast video, no more screen tearing or jumping during taxing affairs on screen, the Hauppauge functioned exactly is it should have to provide an optimal PVR experience.

The design of the PVR makes it a bit bulkier than many of the other options out there. Due to the size of the device, it is a bit harder to just tuck it out of the way and be done with it. Fortunately, the PVR is also designed with a sense of style, with the top of the PVR device actually glowing green when it is active. With this aesthetic feature in place, it doesn’t look too bad wedged in between other electronic devices in your entertainment center.

The software that the Hauppauge Gaming Edition PVR uses happens to be the very flexible Arcsoft Showbiz software. If you have used other PVR devices, you may actually be familiar with the software since it is used with a few other devices. What makes it so nice, though, is the ability to be used by anyone that can simply use a computer. The ability to record at the touch of a button or set specific recording time lengths is all part of the software. You will still be initially limited to the type of format you can record to but if you are looking to quickly do something with the file, there are many free programs available that can assist you in converting files.

All in all, the Hauppauge Gaming Edition PVR is a top notch PVR device that allows for simplistic hookup using the component connections, while not entirely necessary; it would have been nice to have HDMI support. However, with all the features packed tightly within this box, there really isn’t anything else to really be critical of. If you are looking to start recording video and considering live streams and/or start creating videos for Youtube, I cannot recommend this device to you anymore that I am currently.

To make things even better, Hauppauge has some AMAZING news coming your way if live streams are your type of thing. Seriously, check out the Streameez!

Here is a clip of raw video from the HD PVR:
<iframe width=”480″ height=”360″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/wMo_Tpg-YFQ” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

We give the Hauppauge Gaming Edition HD PVR a 5/5 stars. While not the absolutely most technical device, the PVR will do EVERYTHING you demand of it.

Review – The Walking Dead: Episode 2 (Xbox 360)

Posted by Jay Malone No Responses »

Jun 272012

-Error reading from ESRB datastream-
Please visit ESRB.org for rating information.

As everyone probably knows at this point, episode one of The Walking Dead video game was released a little over a month ago and was highly revered by many for its storytelling and narrative. At the same time there were multiple issues such as a studdery framerate and overall buggy execution transitioning from cutscene to cutscene. Mainly due to the fact there is a small turnaround time between episodes, those issues were expected to go unresolved. We expected correctly, folks.

Episode 2, entitled Starved for Help, kicks off three months later and immediately you realize you’ve added a new member to your survival squad. The new guys name is Mark and it seems he was added due to the fact he promised the group he could give them more food, but they realized that food won’t last too long. From there, the story picks back up where it left off with a “cut or don’t cut” scene. Quickly followed by more dialogue to further the progression you’ve already established with characters such as Kenny, Clem, and Larry.

This dialogue and story may only last for around two and a half hours but it is something that is worth much more than the five dollar price tag placed upon the game. It’s a storytelling experience you won’t find in any other piece of entertainment and as the tension continues to mount, never does your attention stray away from your screen. The writing for each character and most of all the overall way Tell-Tale and their writers progress the group dynamic is stunningly well done and something every other game studio should immediately take note of.

The adventure game mechanics from the first episode return and are unchanged. They continue to bring a level of approachability that other adventure games fail to have. If there was any change that needed to be made it would be to make the cursor move a bit faster. Even that is such a minor detail, a detail that could probably be fixed simply by adjusting a slider.

The biggest problem found within Starved for Help, and the Walking Dead series in general so far, is the aforementioned buggy transitioning from cutscene to cutscene. What exactly happens is typically upon having to either transition from cutscene to dialogue or vice versa, the game locks up for a solid few seconds which can obviously kill the entire mood the game has set up. This issue was prevalent in the first episode but seems to have gotten worse in the newest installment, maybe due to having less time to work on this episode though that seems unlikely. Whatever the issue is, it must be resolved in the future as the impressive storytelling I raved about is getting strongly diminished by this disappointing but unrelenting problem.

The Walking Dead Episode 1’s unique art style garnered significant praise but also a bit of distaste from critics and gamers alike. Some found the cell shaded, imperfect drawings of each character to be a welcome new style while others found the imperfectness distracting. The newer characters introduced maintain the same direction while the characters we know and love remain unchanged as well, with the only changes being different clothes for a few characters.

The Walking Dead Episode 1 was a fantastic piece of content; it delivered on its promises but, like every game, had its own little problem or two. These problems are still prevalent in the newest episode while the successful promises are built upon and made even more enjoyable. If you liked the first episode there’s no doubt you’ll love this one as the story begins to ramp up even more and leads you into a very promising episode 3.

Graphics 85		Audio 80		Gameplay 95
Creativity 85		Execution 95		Offset 90

8.8

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