Review – Orcs Must Die! 2 (PC) << Gaming Irresponsibly

Review – Orcs Must Die! 2 (PC)

Aug 062012

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

Last year, Robot Entertainment’s tower defense strategy game, Orcs Must Die!, was easily one of my favorite downloadable games of the year. We got our hands on this year’s Orcs Must Die! 2, which was announced at 2012′s PAX East. So what can we expect? Well, the said that there was more story than the last, which happened to be one of the few cons about the last game. Also, there happened to be this little crazy thing called cooperative multiplayer gameplay… nothing too major, right?

The first thing that you’ll notice right out of the game is that there are 2 different characters that you can choose between. The Battlemage makes his triumphant and snarky return after saving the world in last game from the masses of orcs intent on invading and destroying everything. In the processes of stopping the Sorceress from leading her minions into his world, he sealed off all sources of magic and inadvertently weakened humankind. The second character you can choose is in fact the one time villain, The Sorceress. In what appears to be her final moments before falling victim to her former pawns, a magical rift opens up that allows her to escape the world of the orcs and brings her face to face with her former adversary. Both characters play off of each other amazingly, insulting each other and pointing out threats that may ordinarily go unnoticed. Each character has their own initial strengths and weaknesses with a myriad of different selection of gear available to them. You can play as either character, since dialogue happens the same either way. I do absolutely recommend playing as both, since it both characters will provide an entertaining experience.

Orcs Must Die! 2 came off feeling shorter than it’s predecessor but also delivers a much more satisfying story. While The Warmage and the Sorceress bounce tidbits of info into what is going on off each other, there are some developments in the game that really put things into a much higher gear. I felt that the levels did seem more difficult this time around but it made successes that much more awesome. There may not be much more in video games as a whole that feel as satisfying as clearing a late round in a later level without any orcs making it through a rift.

While there are certainly some new items and traps to be used in your slaying of orcs, the biggest improvement in the game has to be the multiplayer support. I played through the game once in single player and again on multiplayer, When playing co-op, the ability to work with your partner to set up traps and position orcs and traps more efficiently is amazing. There are a few achievements that can be unlocked during team play as well that promote co-op etiquette as well. There is no form of matchmaking lobby though, so if you have plans to play co-op, make sure you know someone that has the game already or plan on buying it.

I’ll put it out here right now, I REALLY like Orcs Must Die! 2. However, there was something that nagged me a bit while playing, Now, the game gives you access to a new character, new traps and new weapons but the bulk of everything is still right out of the first game. I feel the graphics may have improved as well but the improvement is slight. Ultimately, the game feels like it is a $15 DLC if you didn’t know what you were looking at. It’s so much more but it will take time to really set in. I credit this to things like the game’s soundtrack, which I loved (and still do) but it seems to be heavily rehashed in this sequel, it really isn’t. The music is so familiar to the original game that the songs are quite interchangeable but not carbon copies of each other. I blame it on the awesome harpsichord. I’d go as far as to say that Robot Entertainment took everything we loved about the first game, polished it up nicely, added some more stuff in and got Orcs Must Die! 2 out of it.

Upon beating the game, you are given access to Nightmare difficulty (which is absolutely accurate) and a few other spoils of war. I was still able to return to the game and play Endless Mode on my favorite levels as well as also being able to play through some of the classic levels from the first Orcs Must Die! in the appropriately named Classic Mode. This, right here, is what makes this game a great one. It isn’t a one-hit wonder, as it offers much more than just the standard story levels. There are plenty of unlockables and also new ways to challenge yourself on each map, while also experimenting with the aggressiveness of the Warmage’s abilities and weapons or the generally more manipulative style of the Sorceress. All in all, there is plenty enough to do in the game and it is well worth it’s $15 price tag.

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

How do these ratings work? Click here for descriptions!

Pros:

It’s even better than the first game
Co-op mode
New enemies, weapons and spells

Cons:

The game feels slightly rehashed

E3 2012 – Bellator: MMA Onslaught Looks to be a Face Punchingly Good Time

Posted by Josh Knowles No Responses »

Jun 272012

Last year, we took a look at Kung Fu Factory’s MMA Supremacy title and needless to say, we were pretty critical. When 345 contacted me to take a look at their new game Bellator: MMA Onslaught, I was a bit concerned since the last MMA game I played wasn’t one of my favorite. 345 has some pretty cool people that work for them though and I decided to humor another attempt at a MMA title with the backing of a different studio.

Belator surprised me right out of the gate, while it is a downloadable game, it is actually a polar opposite of the Supremacy series (which 345 were VERY clear to explain to me before I even saw the game). I was immediately introduced to their collection of fighters which included strikers, grapplers and all around fighters. I am not a huge follower of any form of mixed martial arts, so it may sound silly to say but it seemed really cool that each fighter had specific tactics that needed to be used on order to make them effective.

The game felt much more arcade-like and controls were simplistic enough that I was able to fight against other players right after picking the controller up. The fighting itself seems to be one half of what makes this game worth checking out. It’s the type of game that you can get a few friends together and have a winner takes all tourney in no time at all. Characters have the typical “health bar” but also have a stamina bar as well and almost everything you do will cause your stamina to drop. You will not win any fights spamming attacks like Eddie Gordo in Tekken, once your stamina has reached a critical level you are open for what they call a “flash KO”. This knockout occurs when you take a solid hit when you are low on stamina and while 3 other writers as well as myself played, this was one of the most common ways a fight ended. Due to this, many of our fights had us on the edge of our seats, since a good blow or a slam could end the fight as quickly as it started. Submissions weren’t half bad either, in fact when you initiated a submission move on your opponent, you both had to immediately spam buttons in order to apply more pressure or to escape.

While Bellator: MMA Onslaught didn’t appear to be breaking any new ground in levels of graphical excellence, there were still some things that were cool to look at. After some grappling and a few hard hits, you could see swelling, bruising and even bleeding on the fighters. There appeared to be a small collection of different rings to fight in but they all looked pretty cookie cutter. The fighters themselves looked a little like mannequins, with a few looking way more detailed than others. which was a little odd but with the speed of combat they still were decent enough to not be a distraction.

That guy in the lower right corner must be thinking “SOON”

The other big thing the game does is give you the ability to go well beyond the 8 existing characters that are available when you start the game. There is an actual character creating mode that is featured in the game that allows you to design your own character from their fighting style to their particular look. During the presentation, we made some Asian/gorilla looking guy that was a kickboxing specialist that had all his fighting points in grappling. Needless to say, the guy got his face blasted in by the existing characters. It seems that you have the ability to make a few characters and the team discussed the probability of adding additional styles of character customization to the game if the fans really want them, which I can’t imagine they wouldn’t since it is actually fun to create a character and send him out into the world to become a MMA great.

So, even though Bellator: MMA Onslaught wasn’t the flashiest game at E3, it certainly had enough of what makes a multiplayer game fun to warrant checking out. It comes out July 4th on XBLA and will be on PSN a little later, which is perfect because if you are in the US, I am sure you are going to be with friends and family (probably even some alcohol too), which makes the perfect environment for getting a people around the TV and seeing who can create the most unique character before throwing them into the ring to battle for superiority. For all you forever-aloners, there is a single player mode too, they didn’t leave you out!

Review – Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3)

Posted by Josh Knowles 4 Responses »

Feb 032012

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

Ah, a Final Fantasy sequel, something that is truly a rarity in the history of the series. Now, there have been sequels in the past (i.e. X-2, Wings of Discovery) and honestly, they were kind of stinkers. There is something different about Final Fantasy XIII-2 though, something that the other direct sequels lacked. Most importantly, Square Enix actually listened to the feedback from fans and critics of XIII and did their best of finding a way to appease the masses. Does it claim back what has been lost from the franchise? Is it a better game that it’s predecessor? Read on and find out, because there is a good amount to be said on this game.

The best place to start is by reexplaining that Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a direct sequel to XIII, that is to say the game picks up 3 years after the events of the last game. Lightning has oddly gone missing just moments after the ending events of Final Fantasy XIII. The game hits the ground running and starts moving as soon as you hit the start button. Yes, it helps to have played and preferable beaten the last game but there is a simple prologue that can be accessed at the title screen anyways. While this is a nice feature, it doesn’t really capture the emotion and despair of the ending to XIII so I really would advise you pick the game up first if you plan on playing XIII-2. Now, as an interesting side note, there is a “The Story So Far” that plays when you resume a game. You are treated to a small movie showing you the recent developments from the game, giving you a quick reminder of what your goal is currently.

I enjoyed XIII as a game and not necessarily as a member of the Final Fantasy family, so going into XIII-2 I have kept an open mind. One of the most noticeable features that has been added into XIII-2 is the Historia Crux, which is the ability to time travel and manipulate time while navigating a map. The Historia Crux is a simplistic menu that allows you to travel to different moments in time, often running into Paradoxes that need to be corrected. The doors in time can be opened and closed, allowing you to relive events and make different decisions, that way you are allowed to make different decisions than you have in the past. Jumping through time in a Square Enix game may remind some players of another game that existed in the companies catalog. Jumping through time isn’t the only parallel that XIII-2 shares with Chrono Trigger, another happens to be the inclusion of multiple endings. This is exciting since XIII was so painfully linear, the ability for in game decisions to shape the outcome is something that many fans have requested for quite some time.

One feature I was relatively surprised to encounter was the ability to recruit monsters to fight alongside you in battle. While this may remind many people of a certain Nintendo blockbuster, the new feature is much more involving. Normally, you are only going to have Noel and Serah in your party, so if you want to make use of a full paradigm you are going to need to add a monster to the group to fill it out. You do this by adding a monster to the Paradigm Pack, a 3 slot “holding area” for monsters you will use in battle. You will need to make use of all 3 since a monster can only use 1 paradigm category. My medic monsters usually got the most face-time but when it came to trying to stagger an enemy, I often found myself switching to the ravager class and then to the commando class for heavy DPS. Because of the way this feature works, battle in XIII-2 is much more cerebral than it was in the past. Monsters also do not level in a traditional sense from the Crystarium, instead of points they use items that you receive in battle and also purchase from shops, once again giving you the ability to level monsters as you see fit. There is a collection of rare monsters as well, each with special abilities and benefits for the party, so hunting them down and “capturing” them is highly advised. Monsters also use a limit break-like system, so if you manage your monsters right, you can drop a massive amount of damage relatively quickly.

When Square Enix set out to create this game, they absolutely had to have used the feedback they were given, like I said before. It is quite amazing to compare XIII and XIII-2 since the latter has many features the former just simply lacked. There are actual towns within the game, with characters that you can interact with and also receive side quests from. For those that played XIII, this blows Gran Pulse right out of the water. Many times, when you engage in conversation, you are also given the ability to alter the course of the conversation or give input on the situation at hand. These choices can yield items, uncover parts of the story and even potentially lead to a paradox ending. So it is wise to choose carefully and save often if you don’t want to play around with the Historia Crux doors in time.

While the game is awesome in it’s own right, there are a few things that really just did not work well for me either. The largest issue I had was with the music, many songs (like in XIII) are very electro-pop or rock sounding but really end up overbearing on the game itself. Personally, if I am playing a game where characters talk, I don’t want music in the background that actually has vocals as well. It just does not mesh well and gets old way too quickly. I was not a big fan of the lack of party members as well, this could have ruined the game if it wasn’t for the fact that the in-party monsters were executed so efficiently. The game’s plot is also quite odd, although everything is relatively explained thoughout the course of the game, many elements are very cliche and the entire story itself feels very retconned.

Ultimately, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is exactly what SquareEnix needed to release to show the world they can still produce a Final Fantasy game. It isn’t exactly the best Final Fantasy game of all time but it is absolutely the best Final Fantasy sequel and one of the better post-Final Fantasy 7 games out there. With the execution of this game, I can once again feel safe in eagerly looking forward to the subsequent releases of future Final Fantasy games. That is a major deal, SquareEnix… Now, about Final Fantasy XIII Versus…

I give Final Fantasy XIII-2 an 8 as my personal score. It’s a much more pleasing experience and non-linear approach to the series I grew up with. It still has a few flaws though that have to be dealt with.

Graphics 90		Audio 65		Gameplay 85
Creativity 85		Execution 80		Offset 80

8.1

How do these ratings work? Click here for descriptions!

Pros:

Monster collecting
Exploration
Random enemy encounters!
Engaging gameplay
Time travel allows for replay of events

Cons:

Soundtrack
Not the strongest story
Lack of controllable characters
The Paradigm System is still in place (I’m just not a fan)

My Wife, the Casual Gamer, Reacts to: Left 4 Dead 2

Posted by Josh Knowles No Responses »

Aug 122011

I could alternately call this: How I Learned to Get Shot in the Face.

After playing Catherine for our last game, I had my wife pick out a title that our readers had recommended that I own. One suggestion that she saw was Left 4 Dead, the comment noted that it was fun to play with multiple people since one can protect another. Against my better judgement on this one, I agreed to give it a shot and we then had to choose which Left 4 Dead we were going to play. We decided on Left 4 Dead 2 (because I wanted to play as Ellis) and after an explanation that the game can be quite startling, we started it up.

This couldn't go wrong at all...

We started on “Dead Center” and sure enough, the questions immediately started flying. “Why are all these zombies here?” or “How did the survivors get together?”, questions that any Left 4 Dead veteran knows really don’t have answers. I had a little difficulty answering her question since I was providing quite a bit of cover fire for her as we ran from room to room. She was quite jumpy as we encountered the infected, many times shooting me and the 2 computer controlled characters as we came to assist her as well. After she went into a random room and ran right into a Boomer she immediately panicked, “Oh my gosh, there is a fat zombie after me!” she yelled as she tried to run back to me. Unfortunately, she ran in the wrong direction and while I ran up to try to melee the Boomer I warned her to not shoot it. Well, I started to at least. Sure enough, she shot the Boomer and was covered in bile, her panic became full-on video game hysteria as the infected horde descended upon her. As she began to fire wildly around and exclaim words like “Shitfuck” and “Help meeeeeee” she also began to fire her shotgun around trying to disperse the horde. Unfortunately, she wasn’t so much shooting the horde as she was emptying her ammo into back, when I turned to get out of the way it became my face, incapacitating me. As the rest of our team came back to help, she was incapacitated as well. “Noooooo, noooooo I’m dead!” was her reaction to that, I tried to explain she wasn’t and then in a second I would get her up and we could continue. I’m pretty sure that she was still firing into poor Ellis as I got her up, since I had once again taken some considerable damage. We got to the end of the hallway and started to make our way along the outside of the building when she knocked off by something (I think a normal zombie), I am not sure how but she fell to her death rather quickly and then tossed my controller onto the couch. “I am absolutely not playing this game anymore!”

She watched me play a little bit longer, jumping almost every time I encountered a special infected. She wasn’t a fan of any of them, most of all the Witches since their sobbing made her thing that there were little kids around. I assured her that there wasn’t and showed her the sobbing zombie. She asked me to make her stop crying as Rochelle ran up and fired at a zombie running by. As soon as the Witch had torn stupid Rochelle apart she immediately came after me. My wife kept telling me to stop her as I backpedaled and tried to shoot her. Didn’t work and I died quickly. My wife laughed and said “You must really suck at this game.”

Yup, my wife, the casual troll.

After a bit of playing I asked her what she thought, “The game seems ok, I guess. I mean it is really fucking scary and I won’t play it again.”. I guess that is good?