Media Cows Reviews/Previews

New Site Incoming

2011-05-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

As most of you can see this site is a little lackluster. However, a new site is in the future and will be a big improvement over this one. Please stay tuned for news regarding this and don't forget to check out our booming youtube channel at www.youtube.com/TheMediaCows . Thank you all for your patience.

~Dewey

Sherlock Holmes and The Mystery of Osborne House (DS) Review

2011-01-16T18:40:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: Ido not like puzzle type games and was not able to finish Sherlock Holmes andthe Mystery of Osborne House due to a tough puzzle I could not get past.

Story: It was rather boring, and I found no source of entertainment due to thelackluster story. I skipped through most of the script because it was so dulland wearisome that I wanted to get to a puzzle so that my mind would bestimulated with problem solving clues and evidence rather than withering awayinto a void of boredom. The game did nothave interesting plot twists or anything that would make me rethink the entireplotline, it was very straightforward and predictable.

Gameplay: Gameplayranged from easy and quick brain teasers to difficult and headache inducingchallenges. Only involving the Stylus DS pen, it would appear the challengeswould be easy, shifting blocks to adjust like pieces to a puzzle. However, Iwas stuck on so many levels that left me no clues on how to advance to the nextpuzzle. Each puzzle did offer hints foryou to use, but you had to forfeit the points earned at the end of thepuzzle. The two options for hints werepartial and full. For the more difficultpuzzles, I chose the full hints thinking that it would practically give me theanswer to the puzzle. Instead, itfurther explained the partial hint along the lines of “move the blocks in apattern to release the green block from the map”. I already knew that I had tomove the blocks; how does that help me when I already understand the point ofthe puzzle?

As far as I got in the game, the variety of puzzles wasdecent. Atthe beginning, the puzzles were simple and easy to solve only requiring the shifting of blocks and tapping on certain pieces to have them all connect togetherand create this piece of evidence to be used. But the further you advanced inthe game, the more difficult the puzzles became. There is a rating system that lets you knowhow hard they will be and I remembered having a few three star level puzzlesall in a row to complete. The three starred puzzles are far too difficult and caused me to get stuck in the game.

Graphics: SherlockHolmes’ graphics are screenshots with cutouts of the characters in thegame. Given that there was no animation, the game had good shading, color, and 3Dmodeling of the character cutouts. Itwas a job well done since you can see the intricate detail put into the woodpanels, clothing and other aspects of the game.

Audio: There isonly one word for the audio in this game: annoying. Anytime I had the music enabled, I heard onlyone song throughout my entire gameplay. I muted the DS so I never had to hearthe music again because of it being so repetitious. The sound effects were on the dot especially whenshifting puzzle pieces and going through dialogue.

Replayability: There is no replayability in this game sincethere are no multiplayer or online capabilities in Sherlock Holmes. When completing puzzles there are options to goback and replay them to receive a higher score in case you used the fullhint that takes more than half the points you could have been awarded withoutusing the hints.

Pros:

Great ranges of difficulty
Decent graphical coloring

Cons:

Audio is annoying
Puzzles can be too difficult
Straightforward story
No replayability

Editor: Alyssa Bogie

3/10 Poor
Value: $2

Tetris (PSN)

2011-01-15T17:58:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: I have played Tetris occasionally, dating back to the old NES game. I have never particularly enjoyed Tetris.

Story: As in all Tetris games, there is no story.

Gameplay: Tetris' solid gameplay does not change here. Dropping blocks instantly, as well as holding blocks for later use all work well and feel great. The real treat for Tetris players is the many different types of play there are in the game. All of Tetris’ many modes are great, whether it be Treadmill, Laser, or any other. Treadmill moves the entire set of blocks over to the right one square, making the player have to adjust to the randomness of the game. Meanwhile, Laser has the player racing against a laser (I think) that is slowly lowering down to the bottom forcing the player to act fast and think quickly. These and many other types of play are a very welcome addition for those looking for a new challenge in Tetris.

Graphics: The visuals in Tetris HD are as good as it gets when it comes to falling blocks. Colors are vibrant, making each individual block pop off the screen. The user interface is easy to read. The background images ebb and flow with the gameplay, and add a nice subtle nuance that almost goes unnoticed.

Audio: The music in Tetris HD is a mix of old and new. Taking the classic Tetris themes and adding a techno twist to them really helps set the tone for the game. It does a great job of sounding like how Tetris should sound , yet reminds the player that this is the 21st century and that Tetris has evolved with the times.

Replayability: This is a game for hardcore Tetris fans. With well over 20 modes and 15 levels in each mode there should be nothing that would make die-hard Tetris players want to put this game down. Online multiplayer is another great reason to keep playing; pitting yourself against the best in the world offers a completely new challenge. Moreover, online leaderboards are included with every level of every game type so you can see exactly how you match up with everyone and try to beat your friends’ scores.

Pros:

Lots of variety and challenge
Solid controls
Online multiplayer

Cons:

Won't appeal to new players

Senior Editor: Raymond Segal

7/10 Good
$10 (Full Price)

Ghost Mania (WiiWare) Review

2011-01-14T08:56:00.000-08:00

Story: The story is a cheap childish knock-off of Ghostbusters.It tries to be funny, but the jokes fall flat.

There are two characters, a boy and a girl, who are trying to round-up ghosts. The player chooses whom to play as, but there are no real differences, and there is no development to the characters at all. None of this would be a problem since a story is not important to a falling block puzzler; however, the story and characters are so obnoxious that no story would have been better.

Gameplay: It takes a while to wrap your head around the concept of Ghost Mania. There are no helpful instructions detailing the unintuitive rules. When blocks fall on like color blocks they combine but will only disappear when a shiny, ghost-containing block of the same color falls on it. These shiny blocks generate randomly, so each puzzle can become frustrating quickly if a certain color never appears. I lost numerous times because a shiny blue or red block would never appear. At first, this creates an exhilarating experience as you frantically try to finish a puzzle; however, on later levels, any motivation you have to continue will quickly evaporate. To select the blocks to fall the player holds the Wiimote sideways and can change the arrangement of the row of blocks on the top of the screen. This timed process controls well, never frustrating the player. The effort to distinguish it from Tetris and other falling block puzzlers sours the experience.

Graphics: There is a clash between the character models and the backgrounds of each puzzle. The characters have a slightly more realistic look to them that lacks personality. Whereas the backgrounds are cartoonish and have a light-hearted personality, the character models come across cheaply made and have no appeal to sentimentality. There is a decent amount of variation to look of the backgrounds. After each stage, the game switches to a completely different location via a dizzying warp zone, and this keeps the stages interesting to the eye because each location has a cute appearance.

Audio: The characters speak only via text. This is not a huge problem, but it would have been nice to have a little voice acting. Music in the game serves its purpose; it is not great, but it is thematic and blends well with the personalities of the backgrounds.

Replayability: Four modes are present in Ghost Mania: Arcade, Puzzle, Endless, and 2-player. Arcade mode struggles under the weight of the problems with this title, but puzzle mode offers a nice change of pace. You have to rid the screen of blocks given a set number of moves. Since the random block generator is not present in this mode, it is a great deal of fun. Endless mode is Arcade mode without an established goal, so the problems with the game are most pronounced here. 2-player mode does offer a reason to replay the game; there are different game types, and it is more fun competing against a friend than achieving arbitrary goals. Enough puzzles are present to keep people playing for a while; however, there is just not enough different about Ghost Mania, and what is different hurts the overall experience, to see anyone playing this game for very long.

Pros:

Varied backgrounds are cute
Music is appealing
2-player mode is executed well

Cons:

Obnoxious story and characters
Unintuitive gameplay
Many games come down to luck not skill

Editor: Zach Felling

3/10 Poor

Value: Don’t Buy no matter the Price

Sneezies (WiiWare) Review

2011-01-12T21:27:00.000-08:00

Story: No story is present in the game. This absence contributesin creating an experience that outstays its welcome.

Gameplay: Sneeziescontrols well, granted there is not any complexity. The player points at thescreen with the Wiimote and releases a pollen-like substance that causes achain reaction of sneezing fluff balls. Suffice to say, the game definitely feelsnatural on the Wii. The problem is once the chain reaction begins the playerjust sits idly watching. For far too much of the game, the player is doingnothing but watching. Unfortunately, the location the player chooses to beginthe reaction often comes down to just a quick glance and a guess as to wherewould be best.

Graphics: The simple cartoon-style graphics are notvery pleasant to look at. While the characters have a very cute design, thereis not enough detail and the game looks almost like a free flash game. Differentbackgrounds are present throughout, but once again, they are not detailed anddo not offer an interesting art style.

Audio: The music is enjoyable, and despite somerepetition, it never became tiresome. The sound of the sneezing is very cute andis the main reason to continue playing. Hearing strings of sneezes eruptingtogether at one joyful moment is very cool.

Replayability: There are four modes in Sneezies; however, there are really onlytwo distinct modes as three of them are simply changes in difficulty. Thechallenge mode was the most varied and entertaining because it really tests theability of the player to get high scores. All 45 levels in the regular mode arevery similar with the only difference being later levels are more difficult.There just is not enough variation to keep anyone coming back to this game overany length of time. Online leaderboards are present, but these will not beenough for anyone to try and better there score because the game is just toorepetitive and noninvolving.

Pros:

Cute character models
Controls are smooth and accurate
Music and sound are enjoyable

Cons:

Repetitive gameplay
Different modes do not offer enough variety
Graphics are not detailed enough

Editor: Zach Felling

6/10 Solid

Value: $2

Alt-Play: Jason Rohrer Anthology (DSiWare) Review

2011-01-05T23:33:00.000-08:00

Story: The anthology consists of three games developed by Jason Rohrer: Passage, Gravitation, and Between. These are not so much games as they are art. This is because the meaning of each game almost certainly depends on who is playing the game. In my case, Passage and Gravitation truly affected me. Passage deals with the nature of life and death as well as the fruitlessness of seeking treasure. Gravitation, which is my favorite of the three, illustrates the necessity of balance between career aspirations and familial obligations. I just did not understand Between; the theme of the game seems needlessly convoluted. For each game, there is a brief explanation from Jason Rohrer. These explanations are very interesting; however, the explanation for Between is nonexistent. I feel like the theme of Between is being purposefully hidden from the player. These games deserve special commendation, as the portrayal of the theme is successful despite the lack of dialogue. With such a simple stories, it is a grand feat that Jason Rohrer has been able to illicit real emotion from the player.

Gameplay: These games are simple to play because the real focus here is the story. I found the mazes frustrating in Passage all too often leading to a dead end. The platforming in Gravitation is a disappointment. When the character jumps and hits the bottom of a platform, he falls straight down with adjustment impossible. Between is far too complex; no explanation is given, and once understood the game is slow, boring, and seemingly has no ending. To reiterate, these are not really games rather they seem to be interactive art.

Graphics: The games do not look very good, but this is never a problem. The pixelated 8-bit style graphics add to the experience. It is precisely this lack of detail, which allows the player to connect with the characters. Jason Rohrer plays with the screen size in Passage and Gravitation to great effect. All the effort put towards the graphics from the accordion style path in Passage to the shrinking screen size in Gravitation serve to illuminate the central themes of the games.

Audio: Again, there is no dialogue in these games. The only sounds are the hauntingly beautiful scores. As with the lack of detail in the graphics, having no dialogue anonymises the characters allowing the player to identify with them.

Replayability: These games are extremely short, and the only reason to replay would be to reanalyze the stories (sort of like reanalyzing a painting). While I am sure central to its message, the necessity of playing Between with another person can be a bother.

You can get these games free online, so the decision to purchase these comes down to portability and supporting the game creator. My suggested alternative: play on the computer and donate $2 to Jason Rohrer on his website.

Pros:

Effective and emotional stories
Very good music
Interesting take on screen effects

Cons:

Bad gameplay
Between is too complex
Only reason to replay is to reanalyze

Editor: Zach Felling

Go to 0:40 in the Video

7/10 Good

Value: Full Price ($2)

Music on: Drums (DSiWare) Review

2011-01-05T15:43:00.000-08:00

Story: There is no story present in this game. As it is a music creation game, the lack of plot is not a bad thing.

Gameplay: Music on: Drums is a drum beat sequencer on the DS. The key to this game is that it has a relatively simple interface. Sure it still will take at least a half an hour to understand at the most rudimentary level, but there is a lot of control here. All options are clearly visible, and after a perusal of the help menu, basic beat creation is possible. The number of sounds available is remarkable; there should be a sound to match whatever you are trying to create. Just remember this game is about beats not strings, brass, or other instruments. The process of switching sounds can be cumbersome. There are just so many sounds, and it can be difficult to use them all because you have to go to another screen and scroll through the giant list of sounds and select the one desired. Recording the patterns created and sequencing them to make a song is for the most part simple; it would have been nice to see more customization options, but given that this all needs to fit on the DS screen, it is adequate. The big problem is the long, arduous process of “exporting” songs from the DS; this begs the question why not just find a drum beat sequencer on the computer.

Graphics: There is not much vibrancy to the user interface, but this is a good thing. It does not distract nor is it ugly to the eyes. Nevertheless, please, somebody change the look of the standard DSiWare help menu.

Audio: The audio quality of all the beat sounds is very good. Every sound is clear and distinct, and given that, this is the crux of Music on: Drums, the lack of any other audio does not hurt the overall experience.

Replayability: There is so much depth to this game. You could spend hours discovering what it has to offer. The sheer number of edits and sounds allow the player to create their perfect beat pattern; with that said, the lack of an easy export option will have people questioning how much time they should invest in a song that will not be transferred anywhere.

Pros:

Large number of sounds
Unobtrusive user interface
Sound quality is very good

Cons:

Limited number of edit options when sequencing patterns
Game only has beats no other instruments
Sound selection can be cumbersome

Editor: Zach Felling

Go to 8:18 in the Video

7/10 Good

Value: Full Price ($5)

Word Searcher 2 (DSiWare) Review

2011-01-05T04:32:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: I did not play Word Searcher 1.

Story: There is no plot contained within the game. There are 100 word find puzzles, but nothing ties them together. The game needs no story, as its goal is to bring the puzzles we are accustomed to solving on paper to the DS.

Gameplay: A game cannot get much simpler than Word Searcher II. The player uses the stylus to drag across words as he or she finds them. Because the DS screen is not very large, letters clutter the screen turning word selection into a chore. The puzzles do offer a wide variety of categories all available from the outset. The puzzles’ designs offer a range of difficulties depending on the category, but most require a good amount of searching to complete.

Graphics: The color scheme at first seems unobtrusive and clear; however, the backgrounds soon become boring and eventually eye straining. There should be more color! Every puzzle has the same bland off-white background. The game seeks to mimic the color of paper, but the problem is the brightness of the screen limits the length someone can play the game because it is an eyesore. This is the reason the game cannot compete with the paper versions of word search.

Audio: While there is an option to mute it, the music is obnoxious and repetitious. I turned the sound off within 10 minutes of starting the game because it was a distraction.

Replayability: The sheer number of puzzles will be enough to keep a player occupied for a long while. As expected though, there is no real reason to go back and replay a completed puzzle. There is just no reason to go back and find words that have already been found (this is no fault of the game, just a fact about word search puzzles) even though the game does switch up the locations of the words. Without any online functionality, the time recorded after the completion of each puzzle serves only as self-motivation. Having four separate profiles is a nice touch, so others can complete the puzzles you have already solved.

Pros:

Variety of categories is large
A lot of puzzles to complete
Four separate profiles

Cons:

Crowded screen
Music is obnoxious
The bright screen fails to replicate the comfort on the eyes of paper

Editor: Zach Felling

Go to 12:32 in the Video

4/10 Tolerable

Value: Don’t buy, no matter the price.

Little Red Riding Hood Zombie BBQ

2011-01-03T15:26:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: When I received this game, I was under the impression that this would be a third person, zombie killing adventure.

Storyline: I really enjoyed the storyline and incorporating childhood fairytales made this even more interesting to play. A few include Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Pinocchio tale, Three Little Pig, etc. There are two playable characters: A busty little red riding hood or a ninja named Momo Taru. Basically, the story consists of these two characters roaming through different fairytales, defeating zombies as they go and destroying the zombified bosses iconic to the characters from the fairytales. I enjoyed that the bosses were of the main characters from the fairytales like red riding hood’s grandma, the three little pigs, Pinocchio, and several more. It was fun to blast away at their zombie versions.

Gameplay: I thoroughly loved playing this game. I tend to enjoy a lot of zombie shooter games and this was entertaining minute by minute. The controls are simple, using the stylus pen to shoot down the zombies and to move across a single lined grid. You can also use the directional pad to move across the grid to dodge attacks and flaming cans. When reloading the guns, you take off the stylus pen of the screen and click back on. I found that a bit inconvenient because I wanted to just shoot and not have to reload. I understand that a sense of realism was trying to be established with the reloading, but with heavy waves of zombies swarming at me, it was tough to keep reloading only after a few shots.

The number of zombie waves in the game I felt was appropriate to an extent. As you progressed into the later levels, it became a bit too hard. I like a challenge, but sometimes it seemed impossible. Some levels required me to restart a couple of times in order to get through it, but I did not like having to restart the whole level again only to survive.

Additionally, I wished there were more checkpoint saves in the game. There are three spots within one fairytale as in one level with a boss, a second with a boss and the third level with the main fairytale boss. What I would have liked is that it would save right before the boss battle. That way I would not have to go back through the whole level just to face the boss again. It was frustrating as well because of how much more difficult the later levels became that I would end up with little health left to face the boss and would die a few moments later.

Audio: The audio is very well done in the game. The sound effects are good, replicating the sound of a machine gun, flame thrower, laser gun and other weaponry. Also, the voice over for the characters was done well as well as the zombie-esq sounds. The only critique I would give is that when the playable characters spoke, it was a bit hard to hear because the background music was loud. Furthermore, the music was very action packed sounding, tending to follow the genre of rock and metal. I really liked the music used for this game and helped maintain my attention to the game too.

Graphics: They are pretty good for being on the DS. There are a few minor pixilated edges, but it’s nothing to harsh for the eyes. The colors are great for the game as well as the detailing on the zombies. There was nothing bad I experienced about the graphics for the game.

Replayability: This game wreaks replayability. Who does not love killing zombies? This game allows different ways to kill zombies with different weaponry, moves and in-game exploding cans to destroy anything in your path. It also allows you to unload ammo on fairytale characters. I am not sure if I would go back to replay the entire game, but I would go back to replay certain fairytale levels since there were some I enjoyed playing.

Pros:

Enjoyable gameplay of killing zombies and fairytale characters
Easy battle structure
Becomes challanging, but in a good way
Lots of levels for hours of entertainment

Cons:

Not enough checkpoints
Zombie waves can be a bit intense
Not enough objects to obtain other weapons

Associate Editor: Alyssa Bogie

8/10 – Great

(Value: $8.00)

JamSpace: PocketStudio for the DS

2011-01-03T14:57:00.000-08:00

Storyline: There was no story to this game since it only had you create beats and musical structures on different instruments to create a song. The lack of a story does not hurt the game in any way since all you have to do create a song based off of four different instruments.

Gameplay: At first, I was very confused what the game wanted me to do since there was no tutorial or instructional guide. I had to go treasure hunting through the help guide to figure out what my goal in the game was. Basically, I create beats and music through four different instruments: Drums, guitar, bass and keyboard. However, I was only able to play drums and some keyboard since I could not figure out how to get the guitar or bass. This was very frustrating and seemed way to complex to create music because of the lack of instructions on how to. To edit the music was also complex and confusing because the game offered no help in how to use the editing tools or where to find them. How can I create music without proper instructions to what and where these tools are?

Audio: The audio was weak. Whenever I tried to bang the different percussion equipment or play the keyboard, it did not sound authentic. I tried turning up the volume to see if it helped, but it only made it worse. The sound effects created from Jam Space were very scratchy and distorted.

Graphics: There was not much for graphical structure in this game. The only graphics were the drums and keyboard. I could not locate how to access the guitar or bass. At one point I thought I did access them and appeared to be in a grid like pattern, but could not get them to work. The only other critique I have was that the text was to small for some areas of the game such as the menu screen and when selecting what minor or major scales to be in. Especially the text stating what major or minor key you were in, they were almost unreadable.

Replaybility: It had potential of being replayable, but with the lack of a tutorial, authentic sound and frustrating interface, I quickly moved on to a more exciting game and will not be revisiting this one in the near future. If I wanted to create music, I will go to a professional or find a downloadable program for my computer. This game failed in all of the aspects of a true musical composition game.

Pros:

Great idea to have a studio in the palm of your hand

Cons:

Frustrating to figure out what the goal in the game was
Confusing on how to switch to different instruments
Lack of a Help and Tutorial mode
Audio is not true to the instruments themselves
Unreadable text

Associate Editor: Alyssa Bogie

1/10 – Horrid

(Value: Skip it no matter the price)

Just Sing: Holiday Edition Vol. 2

2011-01-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

Storyline: There was no story in this game. Since this is a singing based game, I was not disappointed that a definitive story was not present. I felt it was not needed to help boost my experience of the game overall.

Gameplay: The game consists of singing to classic Christmas songs. I enjoy singing games, especially Christmas songs since the lyrics are very familiar and easy to follow. However, I was not happy that there were only two songs featured in this game. Basically, this was another repeated mistake Just Sing has made, not featuring enough Christmas songs. This second installment featured Deck the Halls and Merry Christmas. I was very disappointed that I was not offered a wider variety of holiday songs. Again, I was bored with these two songs within minutes and tossed it aside to begin playing another game.

Additionally, there is a brunette female dressed in Santa clothes, prancing around on this stage. I liked having a different character for this edition; however, I saw it unnecessary. It did not help my overall enjoyment of the game in anyway. Having animated pictures related to the song would have suited it better.

Audio: The audio is okay at best, sounding like an orchestrated keyboard. The sound of computerized violins playing is heavily predominating and tends to tune out the other musical elements of the songs. I found it increasingly annoying as I continued singing to the song and also found it hard to match my pitch, regardless of the meters there to help me become in tune with the song.

Graphics: The graphics for Just Sing 2 are okay. They are not something especially spectacular, but are just okay. They are exactly like its predecessor with a few pixilation problems for the general animation of the game. There is a brunette female dancing on stage this time in Santa clothes. The previous title had a blonde one, but I felt that no matter what they put up on that stage to dance around and amuse me, it was not entertaining and was an eyesore. The general animation of the character was pretty good, but when it came down to the graphical structure, the edges were pixilated and the dancer’s body was disproportionate to her other limbs and torso.

Replayability: The lack of a variety of holiday songs eliminated any chances this game had for replayability. Merry Christmas and Deck The Halls are great Christmas songs, but I do not see why I must download new edition of Just Sing just to play more holiday songs. I would have liked to see a solid Just Sing: Holiday Edition game with an entire collection of Christmas songs to sing rather than downloading a new version. I feel it’s a waste of time and taking up valuable space on the DS.

Pros:

New songs to sing along too

Cons:

Lack of variety of songs to sing too
Lackluster graphics
Brunette dancer is a distraction in a negative way
Audio has not improved

Associate Editor: Alyssa Bogie

2/10 – Tolerable

(Value: Skip no matter the price)

Just Sing: Holiday Edition

2011-01-03T14:20:00.000-08:00

Storyline: There is no storyline in Just Sing; since it is simply a singing game, it does not hurt the overall gameplay.

Gameplay: There is nothing complex about the gameplay. There are only two songs that are featured in the game, Silent Night and Jingle Bells. I thought that after passing those two songs additional Christmas songs would be unlocked, but that never happened. I was disappointed that it did not feature any other songs such as White Christmas, Noel, Drummer boy and other Christmas favorites. All it required was to sing into the DS handheld and the game would detect the correct pitch. As I sang along to Jingle Bells, I felt the pitch matched well with my tone of voice. However, when I began to sing Silent Night frustration set in as the song required my voice pitch to be as low as a male’s voice and that was way too hard. I tried to lower and raise the sensitivity of the microphone, but my attempts failed in making the gameplay less infuriating.

Audio: The in-game music was decent. I would have preferred an orchestra arrangement over a keyboard or an organ. It seemed quite annoying and lowered my overall enjoyment of listening and singing along to the two songs.

Graphics: There was not much for graphics in the game other than the female dressed Santa Claus dancing on stage. There was also a female dancer dressed as Santa Claus dancing in the background. It was distracting and unnecessary at times and would have preferred holiday oriented screenshots of the songs rather than some scantily clad dancer on stage, prancing around like a blonde stripper. I thought her dancing that flowed nicely. There were a few instances of pixilated edges such as distorted faces, small arms and disproportionate body structures.

Replayability: Potentially, if the game had a lot more Christmas songs to sing along to, I would be going back to sing some more, but since there are only two songs featured, it gets old fast. After a few attempts at Silent Night, I ended up putting down the game and had no intention of revisiting it.

Pros:

Fun to sing along to the Christmas songs

Cons:

Lack of variety for songs
Annoying audio for the tunes
Unnecessary dancer prancing around on the stage
Terrible graphics

Associate Editor: Alyssa Bogie

5/10 – Okay
(Value: Skip it no matter the price)

Raskulls Review (XBLA)

2010-12-27T20:15:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: I played Raskulls at Pax Prime. I never played a Halfbrick game before to my knowledge.

Story: Full of charm and personality, Raskulls' story is a treat. The Raskulls' kingdom is under attack from Pirats (Pirate + Rats) and it is your job to retrieve the Shiny Skulls that have been stolen. Throughout the main quest you'll switch from character to characters as it pertains to the story, each with their own humorous reasons for obtaining the Shiny Skull. While the story isn't too complicated, it's told in a very funny way giving a simple tale a unique and entertaining experience.

Gameplay: The main objective for each level is relatively simple, get from one end of the level to the other while following certain parameters. To do this you must break blocks that are in your way while being careful that no blocks fall on you. There are various different types of modes you encounter along the way which help with the pacing nicely. Racing AI, puzzle solving, and time challenges are included giving a nice, well rounded feeling to the game as a whole. Controlling each character feels fine, breaking blocks exactly where you want to is never difficult. Certain modes may feel a bit bit frustrating after attempting the same level multiple times, but the game often offers you ways around this with multiple paths, which is a helpful addition for when you're simply stuck on a level.

Graphics: Raskulls is a very colorful game. Its cartoonish look goes well with its lighthearted and humorous tone. Each character is distinguishable and has its own vibrant personality. The level menu is also full of great art that really lends itself well to establishing the settings. Levels themselves look fine, but considering most of the screen is taken up by rows of colored blocks, there isn’t the same level of variety as there is with everything else in the game.

Audio: Sound doesn't seem to be all that prevalent in Raskulls. Characters don't have voices, instead opting for text which is a shame because some of these characters have great personalities. The music is fine but isn't anything exceptional; it does however give the right tone for each level, which is the most important thing.

Replayability: There is plenty of content to be had in Raskulls. Not only is there a great single player mode, which offers side challenges and encourages multiple playthroughs to unlock bonus content, but there is multiplayer as well. In both single player and multiplayer you can unlock new costumes and new challenges, plus there are full leaderboards for each level for you to compete against friends. While taking the time to unlock characters for multiplayer may not be very compelling, it is a nice option to have if you're looking to extend the reach of your wallet. The side challenges are a great way to test your skills at the game, as well as compete with your friends, offering plenty of extra ways to earn cheats, unlocks and more. Four player split screen as well as online races are a blast, with different power-ups and multiple grand prix style races. There is plenty to do in Raskulls that should offer up hours of enjoyment.

Pros:

Great personality
Fun, varied gameplay
A lot of content

Cons:

Characters don't have voices
Multiplayer can become repetitive

Senior Editor: Raymond Segal

8/10 Great

$10 (Full Value)

X-Men the Arcade Game Review (X360, PS3)

2010-12-20T20:20:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: I had a few experiences with the original arcade cabinet in my youth, but nothing too extensive. I was excited when this was announced and I was looking forward to playing it.

Story: The arcade games of old never made story as important as in today's gaming world, a fact that X-Men Arcade delivers with aplomb. The basic premise is that Magneto is on the war path and it is up to six superheroes to stop him. Along the way you will encounter various villains, friends will be kidnapped, and you may or may not defeat the bad guy. That sums up the story in its entirety. Location changes seem cheap and are purely a device for different scenarios, offering no actual credence to the plot itself.

Gameplay: The gameplay has not aged well. Attacks, jumping, and your super power are all mapped individually to one button. This makes for repetitive button mashing and very little strategy, if any. The super moves for each character vary only slightly, each one killing almost everything on screen at once. The consequence for using your super power is the lowering of your health, but once you die you simply respawn with the ability to use your super powers almost to the point where you feel rewarded for dying. There is no block move, allowing enemies to hit you while you're stuck in the middle of an animation.

Graphics: The look of the game retains its classic arcade feel. Character models seem to be only slightly improved, allowing the game to be pixilated purposely. There are moments where this does make the game feel dated, but it mostly just gives the game the nostalgic feel it's going for. Backgrounds pop out nicely, and while the reason for the scenery may be a little out there regarding its haphazard story, it doesn't change the fact that having varied environments are welcome.

Audio: The sound is ripped straight from the arcade cabinet. Any improvements or changes are unnoticeable, characters still spout bad one-liners, and almost all characters sound exactly the same when dying or being hit. The music in the game retains it's 16 bit sound, and while it is neither good nor bad, it doesn't offer any real enhancement to the game.

Replayability: Considering the game can be beaten in under 20 minutes, it's surprising that there's no incentive to play again. There is an alternative Japanese arcade cabinet, but the only difference is the text during cutscenes. There are six different characters, so if you were looking to get the most bang for your buck you could play throughout the game using each, but only the most hardcore would venture forth to do so. The game does support four to six player local co-op (depending on which console you own) and up to six players online, but with so little content multiple playthroughs are not warranted.

Pros:

Six player co-op
Campy dialouge

Cons:

Repetitive gameplay
Bad story
Bland visuals

Senior Editor: Raymond Segal

5/10 Okay

($5) Half Price

Super Mario All-Stars: Limited Edition (Wii) Review

2010-12-14T02:29:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: I have played all of four of the included games in the past, and I am a fan of them.

The Games Themselves: Super Mario All-Stars includes Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, 3,and The Lost Levels. These games are classics, and almost every aged gamer has fond memories of at least one of these in the past. Playing these games again had me surprised at how little story is there. Obviously,the Mario storyline has always been simple, but there is no set-up to the platforming. In my youth I must have added a lot to the story myself. The gameplay of these Mario games is very well known as some of the best in existence. There are no real changes to the gameplay in this edition of Super Mario All-Stars. For the most part, the gameplay stands up to modern games, with the exception of the original Super Mario Bros. which feels slightly archaic. Jumps must be made perfectly from the outset as very little adjustments can be made to them. The graphics are updated from the original NES versions. I actually enjoyed the upgrade, but it would have been nice to see a greater overhaul done to the graphics, especially because this is a special edition of Super Mario All-Stars.. The music is as good as ever; many of these songs are instantly recognizable and are worth listening to on their own.

The Limited Edition: The limited edition includes a CD of some songs from past Mario games. The big problem with this CD is there are only ten songs, with the rest of the tracks just being sound effects. This is unacceptable for an anniversary limited edition; there are so many songs from all of the Mario games. As soon as the songs had finished, I wanted more and felt like there wasn't enough content on the CD. The limited edition also includes an anemic booklet showcasing thehistory of Mario games. There is very little content here; it is cool to have a booklet like this, but again for an anniversary edition, I can't help but want more. All these games are available on the Virtual Console already, so the necessity of this title is in question. Everyone should play these titles, but there are many other ways to play them and for a cheaper price.

Pros:

Great music throughout all four games.
Solid gameplay that still, for the most part, holds up.
A nice collection of classic Mario games.
Has a strong sense of nostalgia

Cons:

Limited Edition is extremely lacking.
Cheaper on Virtual Console.
Controls in Super Mario Bros. seems dated.

Editor: Zach Felling

6/10 Solid

Value: $23

Invizimals (PSP) Review

2010-12-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: I did not partake in the online battling or online trading.

Storyline: The story begins in Kenichi’s lab located in Tokyo, Japan. He introduces and explains what invizimals are as well as how to capture them and sends you to other countries to do battle with the invizimals you have or will have captured in your quest. Another character named Dawson also provides additional insights on how to battle and explains the invizimals special powers. I felt the storyline suited the game very well since it’s very adventurous. The variety of the game allowed me to have endless fun in the aspects of traveling from world to world and experiencing the different invizimals. Another factor was it brought on was realism since the storyline footage was not graphically rendered but filmed. That made my experience of the game a whole lot more exciting because I felt that I was inside the game. The story also captivated me with the senses of mystery and urgency as I progressed further in the game.

Additionally, the game said it covers 100+ of invizimals. I thought this was great at first, but came to realize that 100+ invizimals seems overwhelming. I haven’t been able to encounter all the 100+ invizimals and not sure whether I would like too. I have become attached to a select few in my party that capturing a newer one and going through the training process would be a bit much for me.

Game play: I thoroughly enjoyed that the game was very interactive in the ways of how to capture the Invizimals by using the marker provided for the game by involving the gamer to touch, shout or use the PSP camera to entrap it. For example, when I was catching a jungle type invizimal, I had to have my hand come into camera view and begin petting the invizimal to be captured. I was absolutely amazed that I was able to do that within a game, it really helped me re-think the gaming world and how far it has come. Battling was very simple and reminded me of the days of Pokemon. The way they are similar is that two invizimals will battle each other. If you win, you will obtain a reward and if you lose, just like in Pokemon, it restarts back to the battle arena with your invizimals fully healed. The only thing different is there are no badge battles. After awhile, I found the battles becoming old since there was nothing new to offer. The basic attacks, such as bite, slash and the invizimals special attack was all there was to it and nothing more. I would often try to avoid as much battling as I could because of how second nature it became.

Audio: Musically, the various styles used suites the game and its intended age. The battle music is upbeat and fast paced while the map screen is simple. Nothing is too exaggerated or complex. Simplicity is key in this game and the music does just that. I found that it did become annoying quickly since the battle theme doesn’t change from battle to battle. I wish there was a more distinct battle theme between regular invizimals and boss battles, almost in the way Pokemon had their battle music.

Furthermore, the sound effects I felt were superb. They were top notch and were precise to the different creatures. For example, if an invizimal was using a bite attack, the crunch noise was loud and clear. Even the roaring of the beasts were great. All in all, great sound effects help make a great game.

Graphics: The rendering of the game was actually very commendable. I was thinking that with it being so interactive that not much attention was going to be put into the invizimal design. I was wrong, they were pretty decent. I did feel that some of the colors were too vibrant, but after awhile of playing, I got used to it. Also, how the colors were placed on the different elemental invizimals, such as an ice type with a white or light blue coat, was very well done and interesting. The menu design was crisp and clear and had a grid design that I found refreshing. The only thing I would have to give negativity was the camera angles during battling. Since it’s not a fixated camera, moving the PSP to much can almost make you feel motion sick and can make the graphics a bit fuzzy and that left a sour note in my mind. It would have been nice to have set battle backgrounds so that wiggling the PSP to much would not interrupt the graphics and cause motion sickness.

I also found that during battles, attacks will cause invizimals to drop orbs that I can be collected and used to buy items at a store. I had to move the PSP camera over the orbs and far too many times I ran into the trouble of my invizimals disappearing and the PSP asking me to go back to the marker to continue battle. But the orbs would disperse so far a part; I could not help but move the camera to obtain them. They wanted me to collect the orbs, but I could not do that if it yelled at me to point the marker back to the battle. It was very inconvenient at times.

Replayability: There are so many invizimals to be caught and lots of training to be done, so I can see going back to this game a lot. Since the invizimals can evolve, it would be interesting to catch the other types and see what they evolve into. That is one aspect I always looked forward to when the invizimal evolved and into what they became. This game is geared for a younger generation and often I felt awkward playing it since I am past that generation. Yet, the game was still enjoyable and also left me reminiscing of my childhood days.

Pro’s:

Very interactive in regards to the marker and how to capture invizimals
Story is great, having it filmed instead of CG designed. Adds a nice sense of realism
Easy battle system

Con’s:

Music can get repetitive
Battling with the marker: hard to keep the psp steady and too much wiggling could cause motion sickness
Obtaing orbs just seemed impossible at times due to the constant need that every inch of the marker needs to be seen on camera

Editor: Alyssa Bogie

8/10 - Great

Value: Full Price (39.99)

LittleBigPlanet: Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves Review (PS3)

2010-12-13T01:07:00.000-08:00

Full disclosure: I have played and enjoyed the original Little Big Planet. It is one of my favorite PS3 games. I have high expectations for LBP2.

Story: Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves lacks a real sense of storytelling. Instead, it is more of an excuse to show off the new implementations for the Move controller. There are some moments of brief dialogue through text that cohere to the events surrounding the platforming, but none of it has any lasting effect on the player. It should be noted that while the lack of concrete storytelling is apparent, it does not have any ill effect on the overall experience, which is largely enjoyable. The story is mostly a convenient tool to move the player along as they progress through the levels, rather than having any actual effect on the players actions.

Gameplay: The biggest addition to gameplay in Prehistoric Moves is the new Move enabled gameplay. The ability to manipulate the games environment with the Move controller feels fluid and easy most of the time, but it is not without it's hiccups here and there. A nice touch is the ability to re-center the remotes position on screen at any point with just the click of a button.It should be noted that re-centering the wand was something that occurred frequently, often times feeling jarred out of position by the games camera. Sackboy plays exactly the same as he did in Little Big Planet. His jumps are floaty, he grabs with all the strength he can muster, and he has the innate desire to smack his companions in the face. The level designs are adequate but mainly center around the Move controller instead of the game's hero. The inability to play this game as a single player only option is a bit of a nuisance, but teaming up with a friend or two is very fun.

Graphics: With Little Big Planet 2 boasting newer, better looking graphics, it's hard to say if Prehistoric Moves can be benefitted by this same claim. That's not to say that the game looks bad, it simply isn't strikingly different from the first title. Colors pop, textures are smooth, and Sackboy's as cute as ever. The overall visual style of the game is very nice indeed. The one thing that sets this title apart from it's predecessor is it's prehistoric setting, although it wouldn't be too farfetched to believe that this could just have well been added as DLC to the original game.

Audio: The sound in this game is largely recycled from the original Little Big Planet. Music, sound effects, and everything in between all feel recycled and unchanged. While these things individually are not bad, the lack of anything original is a little disheartening. One thing that is specifically noticeable is the lack of voice overs for the few characters in the game. This may be a simple expansion to the original LBP, but seeing as most players will be using this as their first glimpse into LBP2, a little extra effort in this area would have been welcome.

Replayability: There are a lot of positives to this game when it comes to playing levels over and over with friends. Switching the move controller back forth, letting each other experience both sides of the coin, is a fun way to keep playing the same levels. Add two or three more players and many hours could be had collecting Special Bubbles and discovering hidden locations in each level. That being said, once you've played the game's six main levels that's all there really is. There is no online connectivity at all, one of the major draws of LBP, and the omission of user generated content seriously hinders this title.

Pros:
    •    Satisfying gameplay
    •    Fun local co-op
    •    Move controls work nicely
    •    Great level design

Cons:
    •    No online functionality
    •    No single player (must have 2 players)
    •    Lacks customization (stickers, user created levels)

Senior Editor: Raymond Segal

7/10 Good
Value $5

The Flying Hamster Review (PS3/PSP Minis)

2010-12-09T00:40:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: I’ve never played a Minis before. I have played shoot ‘em ups.

Story: The Flying Hamster starts off with the classic “girl gets stolen by bad guy, it’s your job to rescue her” motif. While, this has been done to death in the gaming world, The Flying Hamster attempts to put it’s own spin on it by placing you in the role of a hamster. This hamster must rescue his female companion and their sunflower seed from numerous villains. The story is cute, but it’s not what’s going to motivate you to continue playing this game.

Gameplay: Flying through levels, shooting and dodging enemies is about as standard as you can get. What separates this shooter from the rest is its charm and personality. The default weapon just so happens to be your own saliva, while the myriad other types of ammunition, all of which you spew from your mouth, consist of bees, sunflowers, beer, and many other things. Everything reeks of charm in this game. From whales and penguins building the pyramids, to launching baby chicks which explode upon impact. The level design is varied enough to keep you interested in what’s coming next and it’s always a delight to see just what your next weapon is going to do.

Graphics: The visuals in Flying Hamster are basic, but cute. The entirety of the game has an anime feel to it, while also retaining a somewhat retro feel. The size limitations of the Minis format may have something to do with its old-school feel, but the game owns this style whether that may be the case or not. The enemies all look great, from giant penguins to yarn throwing cats, each enemy feels fresh, never making you feel like you’re shooting the same enemy with a different skin. The backgrounds are also great in this title, often making laugh out loud. Nothing says humor like a whale clinging to the mast of a ship while it’s sinking, scared for its life. The art and visual tone is what makes this title stand out and not become just another side scrolling shooter.

Audio: The sound is less impressive than the game’s visuals. The music is nice for the first few minutes, but after hearing the same loops over and over again, annoyance starts to set in. Custom soundtracks would have been a great addition for this title, but sadly it is not a feature. The different sounds enemies and ammo types make are largely unmemorable.

Replayability: Playing Flying Hamster more than few times is not something I see most people doing. While the game does offer a Hard Mode after you beat the five standard stages, these are simply the original stages with a ramped up difficulty and slightly varied look. Pulling out your PSP and playing this for a few minutes might be something to look forward to, but don’t expect any long gaming sessions. You can easily beat this in roughly thirty minutes, and any playthroughs afterwards would be to simply improve your high score.

Pros:

· Great art style

· Solid controls

· Varied environments

· Challenging enemies

Cons:

· Repetitive music

· Spikes in difficulty

· Lack of variety in gameplay

Senior Editor: Raymond Segal

7/10 Good

Value ($5)

God of War: Ghost of Sparta (PSP) Review

2010-12-08T21:57:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: I did not play the Challenge mode, Challenge of the Gods, Challenges of Ares, Challenges of Athena, and The Temple of Zeus.

Story: The sixth installment to the God of War series, God of War: Ghost of Sparta debuts on the PSP console as another enticing adventure featuring the main protagonist Kratos, but this time he sets out to explore his origins and reunite with his long lost brother Deimos. While much of the story is similar to the other God of War titles, I find them as entertaining as the first one because of how the story is portrayed through the character Kratos. I got a sense of guilt for the main character, because of all the bad luck Kratos has had, and almost feel the exact vengeance he seeks out on the gods. With that fuel and drive to defeat any obstacles, I tend to get hooked to this series and can’t stop playing. The general story benefits the game greatly because it creates this connection between gamer and main character that makes you want to play for hours on end.

Gameplay: Similar to the other titles, I found the controls to be good here and there in regards to the PSP. One thing I did not enjoy was using the nub analog control to move Kratos around. I found it annoying and uncomfortable because of the angle position it’s placed and how heavily it’s used. Many times I wished that the directional pad was used instead. But with using the analog nub, everything flowed nicely in the overall game play.

One thing I have always enjoyed in the God of War series is the battling. Again, the battling is similar to the previous titles and is still entertaining. The blood and gore factor is well maintained as well as the weaponry. I especially looked forward to fighting the bosses and minions because it always presented a challenge. For example, there is a moment where you fight a wave of light minions and after defeating them, three large ogres spawn, unleashing havoc upon you. The randomization of enemies was nicely done and always kept me on my toes. Furthermore, I enjoyed coming home to tear apart minions after a long day of work, stress reliever anyone?

Another factor was the puzzles presented in the game. This also caught my attention and kept me interested because the puzzles were not easy. It involved a lot of critical thinking because there were several components to solving the puzzle and advancing to the next area. I was frustrated at times and stopped playing the game for a bit. But after having time to clear my mind, I went back and was able to overcome the challenge. At times I found the levels to be a challenge because it was in the format of a puzzle. I disliked it at times because they were so hard that I would become frustrated and stop playing. For example, one level involves pulling several levers to have different platforms adjust to certain heights. I had to go back a few times and test it out before finding the right combination that allowed me to move onto the next area.

Graphics: Considering this is on the PSP, the graphics for Ghost of Sparta were well rendered. Nothing like today’s consoles of the PS3 and Xbox 360, but was reminiscent of the PS2 graphics which was fantastic to me. I was very pleased that a small handheld game had such well rendered graphics. General coloring was well done, not too vivid but also not too dull. It suited perfectly for the atmosphere of the game.

Audio: Musically, God of War: Ghost of Sparta features a dark theme followed by exuberant opera vocals that are iconic to the God of War series. There isn’t a distinct battle theme; however the scores have a quicker tempo with staccato type notes. Tragic moments and plot twists gave that eerie sense of music that captured what Kratos may have been feeling in storyline, such has betrayal or vengeance. I loved every aspect of the audio; it really brought the game to life. From the opera to the incorporation of an orchestra absolutely made this game far more interesting. I never got sick of hearing any of the music and I also didn’t have to worry about muting my PSP, the music was just so fantastic.

Replayability: Replaying this game is a toss up for me. I enjoyed several parts of the game such as battling and the story, but I don’t know if I would go back and do it all over again. There were some pretty enjoyable battles with different bosses and minions and if there were an option to go back to play certain sections of the game, I would. This was very entertaining and one of the few enjoyable PSP titles I have come across.

Pro’s:

Compelling Story
Great music
Well-rendered Graphics for a PSP game

Con’s:

Similar to the other God of War titles
Very challenging puzzles
Replay ability is dependent on the gamer

~Alyssa Bogie

8/10 Great

Value: Full Price ($39.99)

Busy Scissors (Wii) Review

2010-12-08T21:42:00.000-08:00

Full disclosure: I went into this game thinking I would be a main character, working through the hardships that were going to consist of storyline to successfully owning a salon and everything turning out right in the end.

Storyline: Busy scissors did not contain a story. It’s an experience based game and I felt that without a story, it left me with a disconnected feeling. As in, there was no way for me to have a connection to the main character and attach to the game. If there was a story, then I would have been able to bare this game for a longer period.

Gameplay: Where do I begin? There is only one word that can summarize my entire experience of Busy Scissors, bad. You start out as a trainee hairstylist being guided by the salon manager in the hopes of owning your own salon. One thing I was annoyed with was that I wanted to have a little practice of the game before diving into the career mode. However, that option is blurred out. You have to play the career mode first before the practice mode becomes available. I have never seen a game do that before out of all the ones I have played in my life. As you begin the career mode, the salon manager offers tips and tricks to help you understand the basic gameplay structure. It was frustrating because of the difficulty to control the different styling tools. For example, when washing a client’s hair, the controls for the spray washer are overly sensitive and when it is over the hair, it is suppose to spray water to wash the soapy suds out. That isn’t always the case as at times I had the spray over the client’s hair and it did not spray. I was also being timed and far too often the time would run out and the shampoo would still be in the client’s hair all because the spray washer didn’t do its intended job. Essentially, the controls are sensitive in the aspects of not only hair washing, but in other elements of hairstyling.

Another annoyance was cutting the client’s hair. There is a meter for you to press to have this tiny little dot fit into this tiny zone. By doing so, you cut the hair perfectly and please the client, thus obtaining bonus money. I utterly despised the cutting process because the further you got in cutting, the smaller the zone became and the faster the dot would move from end to end. It just seemed impossible to get a good score towards the end of the client session and that made me angrier.

Additionally, I thought it was nice to add the clientele book for booking appointments or gaining walk-ins so that I could gain more money and have that hairstyle salon-esq feel. But, once I looked into the book, the only way to begin styling any of the appointment clients is that you had to buy the specific products it was featured on their profile. Also, the products were overpriced since you don’t get paid a whole lot during the styling mode. Why take appointment clients if you can’t even earn enough from them to provide what they want? It just didn’t make sense in any way. This is a salon and I am suppose to have an array of products and styling tools for who ever walks in. Yet I have to buy each individual product needed for that specific client each and every time. At this point, I felt the realistic factor was thrown out the window.

Graphics: Busy Scissors seemed it would have had pretty decent graphics based on the box art and coverage on the back, but to put it lightly, it was terrible. At the opening menu, everything is pixilated to the point it looks like 2D graphics. The only thing that is rendered decently is the cut-out of the salon manager and when doing the styling sessions with the clients up close. Otherwise, everything else just made me sick based on how bad the graphics were lacking. Even when presenting the Redken© products line, they were shown as if they were cheaply made. Redken©, who helped in the creation of this game and have a lot of their products featured, I would think they would take the time to ensure their products looked decent? The only thing I was able to make out from those products was the number on the cover and their name brand. I was sorely disappointed at the presentation of the game and felt misled by the games cover art.

Audio: I thought the music was going to be interesting since a lot of salons tend to play popular or edgier music, depending on what style they were going for. Busy Scissors audio contained so little audio I don’t even know how to begin to explain. There were sound effects for when scissors cut hair, water spraying and applying Redken© products. Those were all great, but when it came down to the music selection, I would rather put my TV at mute than hear the same tune played on repeat. There was also a sound effect for when the salon manager chimed in with a tip or a client popped in asking for a haircut. It certainly was not needed and made the game feel more child like.

Replayability: This game is designed to be played over and over, but with several key components this game lacks such as a definitive story, well-rendered graphics, repeating audio and over-sensitive controls, there is no way I am visiting this game again. If I had a choice between writing an essay or playing this game, I would rather write the essay because of so many aspects that just downgraded my experience each and every time I tried to give it a chance.

Cons:

Since this was on the wii, it should have had better graphics than 2D graphical structure presented
Annoying Audio structure.
Over-sensitive controls for cutting hair.
Lack of a Story.
No voice actors.
Little attention to detail such as products and graphic structures.
Game play didn't promote any level of fun, only frustration.

~Alyssa Bogie

1/10 – Horrid

Value: $0.00

Marvel Pinball (XBLA) Review

2010-12-08T15:28:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: My experience with the Marvel Universe is very limited. As for pinball games I used to play pinball at my local pizza joint and have played a few versions of Windows Pinball.

Audio Review:

Story: There was no overarching story line to Marvel Pinball, however each table had a mini story encouraging the player to further advance each table’s score. I found it very entertaining to receive a mission or to battle one of the classic enemies for each Marvel character.

Graphics: The tables were very stylized towards each Marvel character. I enjoyed the themes of all the tables, the incorporated the character of the heroes and villains in them. All of the graphics were well defined and cut clearly making it easy to track the ball(s) while playing. At times the table would change into a different atmosphere. For example, when Blade was hunting a monster the table would change to night time; this would make it more difficult to see the ball(s). These morphs were a welcome change from the flashy superhero backdrops.

Sound: The audio for the game had different iterations from the Marvel character’s world. These catch phrases and catchy lines brought a little excitement to a pretty dull game. Pinball in itself should be filled with overbearing sound effects and every bumper hit should warrant an onslaught of adrenaline pumping noises. Unfortunately, Marvel Pinball did not do that.

Gameplay: Most of Marvel Pinball played like a traditional pinball game. This controls were easy to understand and responsive to the players moves. The spots where Zen Studios implemented the Marvel Universe were very entertaining. Going on missions like Vortex Storm, in which you had to hit the balls up all the lanes to defeat the storm, added extra challenges that were enjoyable but difficult. I did enjoy that once I became used to the tables I was able to more accurately gauge were my shots should be going and hit those targets more often. There was a small learning curve to the game, however once that was passed I was able to start scoring more points without losing the pinballs.

Replayability: Pinball is the essence of replayability. A player should want to go back to the game over and over again to get the higher score or explore the table more. Marvel Pinball was fun, but lacked any one item urging me to come back and play. With the addition of a few of tables the game could have a lot of lasting appeal, even to players who do not know a lot about the Marvel Universe. The multiplayer was entertaining and very competitive. The ability to set the different goals for winning allowed for five minutes quick matches or two hour grudge matches.

Pros:

· Incorporated the Marvel Universe very well in the game.

· Beautifully designed tables.

· Solid game controls

Cons:

· The game was repetitive.

· Confusing for a person who is not familiar with the pinball world.

· Lasting value was not present.

Editor: William Dewey

6/10 DLC Solid

Value: Full Price ($10)

Unbound Saga (XBLA) Review

2010-12-08T14:56:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: I did not play Unbound Saga on the PSP.

Story: Unbound Saga's story is one of hilarity.
It is a parody of the many comic books that see a tough guy brawling his way through countless enemies. The story genuinely made me laugh throughout the game. Unbound Saga is completely self-aware that it is a beat-em up, and the story pokes fun at the waves after waves of enemies faced. I do wish that the story had more of a presence outside of the cutscenes, but then again, the comic books that the game parodies do not have much story once the fighting starts either. As I progressed through the game, I found myself invested in the character's journey to find his maker. And, the end does present a satisfying conclusion to that journey. Unbound Saga will make you question the morals of comic-book makers, and to see a beat-em up's story engaging the player beyond a superficial level is a very surprising and refreshing thing.

Gameplay: The controls are very simple to understand and often delve into button-mashing. With that said the two characters control completely different. New moves can be learned, and this, thankfully, changes up the gameplay to make the game a more entertaining experience. I found myself enjoying playing as the companion moreso than the main character because she moved much faster and had a wider variety of abilities. There are problems with the sluggish controls of the main character. When he picks up an object, it takes far too long to be able to start smashing enemies; it can also be difficult to change the direction of an attack because changing direction requires a focused effort by the player. These problems result in a slight disconnect between the player and the characters onscreen. I did enjoy that boss fights, if not required, encouraged the use of strategy. For the most part, the friendly A.I. is solid; I did see, though, a few enemies who just stood around as if they didn't even notice my character. There is a large variety of enemies and the levels have quite a bit of variation to them; this, more than anything, is what excused the repetitive controls.

Graphics: The comic-book style graphics are a joy to look at. Some of the cutscenes do lack detail, but for the most part the graphical style mirrors the parodistic nature of the story. The character models in the game, specifically the enemies, could use more work as they appear as vague representations of the creatures they are supposed to be.

Audio: The voice-acting in the game is over-the top but is well-suited to the game's nature. The voice-acting and dialogue amplifies the comedy of the story. The actual sound effects of the game are merely present; it isn't bad, but it doesn't stand out as anything special either.

Replayability: One of the biggest problems with the game, there is neither a need nor a desire to replay any of the levels once finished. The game does have online and local co-op, but while local co-op is very fun, I preferred the single-player to online co-op because I was able to switch between the characters at will. Both players get ranked separately; I was happy to see this hint of competitiveness in the co-op experience. When in local co-op, both players share the same screen, and at no time did I find this a hindrance; I was always able to move my character where I wanted him/her to go. Unbound Saga includes a survival mode that is far too easy, and gets boring quickly. The only enemies faced in survival mode are human, and I was able to easily get to 38th on the leaderboards. With each passing round, I was able to employ the same strategy continuously; I only died after I got tired of the mode and put the controller down.

Pros:

· Engaging and hilarious story

· Variety of enemies and levels

· Secondary character was very fun to control

· Many ways to level up characters move-set

Cons:

· Repetitive controls

· Survival mode is a bore

· Main character controls sluggishly

Editor: Zach Felling

7/10 Good

Value: $7

RUSH (PC) Review

2010-12-05T22:25:00.000-08:00

Story: There is no story in Rush. It is a pure puzzle game, and because of this, I felt that a story was not needed.

Gameplay: RUSH is a very difficult game, almost too difficult.
The player's goal is to navigate rolling blocks to their designated endpoints by placing tiles that direct the blocks in different ways. Sounds simple right? Wrong. When placing different tiles adjacently, the outcome can be a mystery. I often found myself studying my tile layouts for minutes trying to figure out what would exactly happen once the blocks began to roll. I still don't understand why some tiles behaved the way they did. Adding to the difficulty are frustrating camera angles. The player has full control of the camera, but is unable to zoom in and out. This is a problem because it can be difficult to fit a puzzle completely on the screen. Also, it can be difficult to see inside enclosed parts of a puzzle. There is a huge inconsistency in the speed of the moving blocks. This wouldn't be a problem, but once the solution to the puzzle is found, the player must sit and wait for the slow-moving blocks to reach their destination. There is no ability to fast-forward. The game does offer an extremely helpful hint system, and even after using hints, the later levels can still be a challenge. RUSH does a good job at preventing the player from becoming accustomed to any one type of puzzle by offering a large variety of puzzle types. The actual act of placing tiles is very easy and is as simple as a mouse click. It is appreciated that the controls don't add to the difficulty of the game.

Graphics: RUSH employs a sterile, almost gourmet, graphical style. Each puzzle seems like it takes place in block heaven. The surroundings consisted of ethereal backgrounds with colorful blocks floating around the puzzle. I enjoyed the clean look; however, each puzzle had the same look, the same background, and as a result I started to get tired of the look of the game by the end.

Audio: The music in the game is very well done. There were quite a few tracks that I would listen to just as stand-alone music. Music does start to repeat towards the end of the game, but it seems the developer, Two Tribes, tried to change up the music slightly by including different versions of the songs in the game.

Replayability: There are a lot of puzzles in this game. I do wish there were a few more that were of medium difficulty though. The developer has said that there will be additional puzzles to be released in the future, so the already lengthy puzzle set will be increased. All this assumes, you do not use hints to get through the game as these dramatically shorten the length of the game.

Pros:

Really good background music.
Most puzzles are fun.
Large amount of content to play.
Variety of puzzle types

Cons:

Timing based levels are not fun.
Can be difficult to see the full puzzle.
Blocks move very slowly.

Editor: Zach Felling

6/10 Solid

Value: Full Price ($5)

Nail'd (X360/PS3/PC) Review

2010-12-04T22:14:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: I’ve never loved racing games.

Audio Review:

Story: The style of play Nail’d follows does not require a story, there for it is absolutely fine it does not have one.

Gameplay: The gameplay is not elaborate what-so-ever. Although there are a many features to customize such as you can choose the gender of your racer and change his or her outfit and you can also change the colors of your vehicle and the parts. Depending on what part you add your vehicle becomes faster, better at accelerating or handling in both the air and on the ground but these options do not add a lot to the overall gameplay because the changes you do make aren’t typically noticeable and when they are they completely downgrade another part of your vehicle, but it’s still fun to change the colors of your vehicle. You cannot perform tricks aside from a wheelie which makes the game bland and become boring quickly. There are also three race modes including a no crash mode, an unlimited turbo mode and a tricks mode. None of which are spectacular, the worst being the no crash mode which shouldn’t even be considered a mode, it is simply making a slight adjustment to the normal race mode and it is for the worse, half the fun of the game is being able to destroy other racers and you can’t do this in this mode. The best mode being the turbo mode which becomes boring very soon, you end up winning every race even on hard because the AI will not use turbo the whole time like you can. Although most of the gameplay is simple and bland when driving an ATV or dirt bike you really feel like you’re the driver. At times I found myself getting a little vertigo from going off of huge jumps because of the way the motion sucked me in. While going fast the screen became blurry as if wind was blowing in my face and while going slow the screen was focused and I could see clear once again.

Graphics: The graphics are mediocre. None of the game is beautiful but the sceneries and the maps are completely diverse. The maps vary from forests filled with trees on your path to an industrial construction site or from a huge desert to a snow caped mountain. The characters and vehicles are also mediocre and contain little detail.

Audio: The audio is hands down the best part of the game. The soundtrack is perfect for the atmosphere of the game and makes you feel like you’re at a real dirt bike or ATV racing event. My one criticism is that it is much too short; you could hear the same song three times in a half an hour period. The audio effects are also put together very well, but that is to be expected because the game doesn’t require many sound effects.

Replayability: After racing on each map once or twice you become bored and want more because it is relatively fun, the lack of unlocking more maps makes the game that much more boring. Nail’d also includes multiplayer but it is not worth while and does not disserve much credit because it’s the same exact thing as tournament mode and doesn’t add to the overall experience.

Pros

-Perfectly put together soundtrack

- Audio effects sound realistic

-Many features to customize

-Unique and diverse maps

-The game is accessible to anyone

Cons

-Becomes boring quickly

-Only has one trick

-Mediocre graphics

Editor: Blake Everett

6/10 Solid

Value: $30.00

Dance Central (X360) Review

2010-12-02T14:45:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: Many of the launch titles for Kinect were disappointing; however Dance Central was not one of these games. With some gameplay demos and online footage I was very excited to hear I was the one who would get to review Dance Central.
Click the Link to see the full Audio and written review.

Audio Review:

Story: There was not a central story to this game. It was like traditional music games, with the ability to unlock new outfits for the dancers, new venues, and harder difficulties. However, unlike traditional music games there was no career mode making single player a little lackluster.

Graphics: Not much to be said for the graphics in the game. The art style they presented worked well for the game and animations from the character were easy to pick up.

Sound: The song choices in the game could have been a disaster, to many times have there been music games that have a mediocre soundtrack causing the fall of that particular game. This was not the case for Dance Central; the songs were very upbeat and entertaining. Songs like “Bust a Move” and “Just Dance” had me wanting to get up and dance to the song. In the Break it Down mode the instructor’s voice was calm and understanding. If the player messed up many time on one move he would break it down even farther, movement by movement.

Gameplay: Arguably the most important feature of Dance Central, the gameplay needed to perform near perfection for the game to work. Although not a perfect 1:1 the game was still able to detect the majority of the moves. I was very worried the Kinect would not be able to read some of the more complicated moves, but for the most part it was able to keep up and detect detailed movements. There are four different game modes for Dance Central. Perform it! had the player jumping into the entire song and performing the different moves throughout the game. Players who are not able to go straight into the songs without practice had the Break it Down mode available to them. This broke down each move and, if especially difficult, in slow motion. The challenge mode, available after obtaining four songs with four stars in the category, combines all of the songs of the given category and has the player perform them. The final mode pits two players against each other in a dance battle. The first player dances to half the song and with a freestyle intermission, the second player performs the same half. This is a very good option with multiple people because it gets everyone involved and gets the competition spirit up. I found myself playing under Perform it the majority of the time, unless multiple people were present, in which I would switch to Dance Battle. The difficulty of the game could range from very simple side steps to legs and arms flailing in all direction. This provided a level for everyone, challenging even the most advanced dancers.

Replayability: The amount of time a player wants to go back and play Dance Central is dictated completely by how much they want to learn the moves and how much they like the songs. There is little to no unlockable content and no career mode, so playing it alone lacked motivation. It is a great title to bring out for parties and social gatherings and will have non gamers getting up to grove to the moves.

Pros:

Good soundtrack for dancing.
Easy to understand characters.
Break it Down Mode to teach players the moves.
Promising future with DLC.

Cons:

Didn’t always catch all moves.
Lack of unlockable content.
No career mode.
Multiplayer mode was not fully present.
Not a fully lasting appeal.

Editor: William Dewey

7/10 Good

Value: Full Price ($50)

Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage Review

2010-12-02T02:12:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: I have had no experience with the original manga before playing this game. I played it with a fresh pair of eyes and a lighthearted approach. I cannot say I ended the game in the same way.

Click the link to see the full audio and text review.

Story: Fist of the North Star does not have a good story, that's all there is to it. Whether it's poor narration, repetitive dialogue, unintriguing cutscenes or repeated events, nothing about this game's story is compelling. Each level begins with a narrator explaining the situation while the text lazily drifts across your screen, leaving you bored and unintersted. You are then treated to the exact same introduction of the main character who spouts some bad one-liner, every single time. The manga may clear some things up, but having not read them, events seem disjointed or largely unimaginable. Playing the game left me wondering time and again just who the main villain is, seeing as the game has a new antagonist for almost every chapter. Other examples would be characters seemingly have the ability to rise from the dead with no explanation or afterthought, riddling the already addled story with incongruencies.

Gameplay: Ken's Rage feels like a sluggish God of War without ever using any weapons. Light and strong attacks are chained together to fight countless enemies all the while filling up meters which allow you to perform special signature moves. The game fails at delivering tight, fluid gameplay and feels slow and clunky. Many times I felt as though the character was working against me, turning around slowly, punching and kicking air while an enemy is standing two feet from him. The signature moves do, however, offer up some strategy pertaining to when and whether or not to use them, possibly saving them for stronger enemies later. The game does have a level up system, allowing you to customize your character's abilities and attributes, and this works fine, though being able to stop a mission midway to level up and restart the mission again seems to dampen this experience. Boss battles are largely the same, once you've figured out a pattern for one, you've figured out a pattern for all of them.

Graphics: The game's visuals are bland at best. While the main character models look nice, everything else is stagnant. The levels often repeat textures, and in some cases, entire levels are repeated. Buildings, fences, and other structures seem half done, all of which are repeated ad nauseam, often popping up mere feet from you. The only part of the game that offers any visuals that are pleasing to the eye is the opening cutscene.

Sound: The voice acting in Ken's Rage is bad. Whether through the fault of the game's poor writing, or through the actors lack of enthusiasm upon delivery, the voices in the game seem forced and doesn't improve the overall experience. In some cases it seems to simply be poor translations from Japanese to English, yet other times points of dialogue seem out of place no matter what. There are many points in the game where the same sentences are repeated and this happens fairly soon in the game. Punches and kicks, although augmented by some super force only anime can explain, sound realistic but doesn't really add anything to the game. The music consists mostly of the same generic rock song looped over and over. Nothing about the game's audio design stands out in a positive way.

Replayability: To be fair, there is a lot of game to be played here. Multiple characters each with their own point of view of the main storyline. They all play the same, however, the only differences being different signature moves and variation in animation. Leveling up each character to their full potential can take some time, requiring you to replay levels to unlock new moves, special powers, and abilities. Challenge mode allows you to fight strings of battles judging your skill as a player. Dream mode allows you to to play co-op but this is largely unenjoyable as it there are no real cooperative elements in the game. Many hours can be spent playing with these things, but none of them have any appeal to make you do so.

Pros:

Deep leveling system
Opening cinematic has nice visuals
Many hours of gameplay

Cons:

Poor Story
Bad writing, repetitive dialogue
Twitchy camera controls
Sluggish gameplay
Repetitive cutscenes
Bad platforming segments

Editor: Raymond Segal

3/10 Poor

Value: ($10)

Fable III [3] (X360/PC) Review

2010-11-22T21:13:00.000-08:00

Full Discolsure: From the very beginning I have been very excited about the Fable games. I remember staying up very late at a friend’s cabin to play the first one and many sleepless nights working my way through the second one. I cannot say I was as hyped about the third Fable as I was the second, but after some research it garnered some attention. I’ve really enjoyed the past Fables for their good/evil choices and the freedom to do what you want.

Audio Review:

Story: Fable 3 begins with the child of the last king and hero of Albion rising out of bed. It then proceeds through the story of how this child must bring the kingdom together in order to overthrow the current ruler and ultimately a greater evil. Due to the current king’s unfavorable reign the child’s, your character, quest is made much easier. The player is tasked with different quests to gain followers. These followers needed to obtain the allegiance of the different regions of Albion. Although not a strong point of the game, the story is able to keep the player wanting to figure out what is going to happen next.

The ending of the game was something I did not enjoy. An ill prepared player could find themselves in a world of nothing. No shop keepers, no family, no people. Although it is wise to save money, the game did not stress the enormous amount of money that was needed at the end, especially if the player was making “good” choices.

Graphics: The landscapes and details put into Fable 3 were truly outstanding. However, when the game would cut to a close shot of a character, there would be many glitches and bugs, especially with the faces. Digging into the dog or not being able to jump over a three inch hill was still present, but those problems are to be expected in an open world game like Fable 3.

Gameplay: Lionhead did change many things about Fable 3 to make it a more fluid experience. The menu system received a complete overhaul. Instead of the tradition start menus, the player is now able to immerse themselves into an area called the sanctuary. Left by the character father, it allows them to change their clothes, set spells, see a personal treasury, and much more in a complete hands on experience. I felt this would slow down the game and make for many more loading screen. To my surprise, it flowed well with the game and I actually prefer this system over the traditional menu screen. Another addition added the game was “The Road to Rule”. This was where the player chose what spells they wanted, activities you could perform in the game, and other tradition attributes such as: melee, ranged, and magic. Although this new attribute system also transitioned nicely when the player first arrives, it becomes very time consuming to go back and unlock new abilities. Lionhead set out to get rid of the onscreen interface completely and they did a good job of it. Unfortunately, this was not a good thing. I never knew how close my character was to death so I was constantly using health potions and food were I most likely did not need to.

Sound: The voice acting within Fable 3 had me very impressed. When I found out that stars like John Cleese, Ben Kingsley, Stephen Fry, Simon Pegg where filling the various roles within the game, I understood why I liked the commentary so much. Many of the sounds that have been carried throughout the fable series have made their way back into the third installment. This created a nostalgic vibe for me, something that Fable fans will enjoy.

Replayability: The Fable series have always been about being able to go back and replay the story. This did not change with Fable 3. Aside from the good or evil choices, there are tons of hidden objects and side quests that allow for endless hours of play time. Also the improvement of the cooperative systems has made all the Fable fun available for two players instead of just one. The screen is still shared, which I do not enjoy, but you are able to do many other things with your online or local friends, including get married and have children with them.

Pros:

Great cast of actors.
New menu system flowed well.
Improved cooperative gameplay.
Included many positive elements from previous Fables.
Large amount of replayability.
Good/Evil choices.
Very good balance of comedic and formal dialogue.
Large amount of customization for the character.

Cons:

Glitchy textures and character faces.
Bad ending to the game.

Editor: William Dewey

9/10 Amazing

Value: Full Price (60$)

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Review

2010-11-17T18:35:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: I have always enjoyed the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Even though the first one put off a lot of gamers with it’s repetitious structure, I was not among them. I’ve enjoyed the story as a whole, and the gameplay was enough to warrant several playthroughs of both AC and AC2.

Story: The story in Brotherhood is mediocre. It continues the story of Ezio from Assassin’s Creed 2 and does so with almost no need. It largely centers around three main themes, avenging the loss of a loved one, a possible traitor amongst the assassins, and restoring the League of Assassins so that you can retrieve the Apple which again has fallen into enemy hands. The ending has the most issues. It’s largely unentertaining and hampers mysticism of a certain character introduced late in AC2.

Gameplay: The gameplay in the series has largely been the main draw. This does not change for Brotherhood. Ezio still feels the same way when traversing across rooftops and bolting through crowded city streets. There are still minor occurrences where you may jump where you weren’t intending to, or not grabbing the next ledge when you ought to be able to, but it much less frequent. Horse riding through the city is a nice addition given the size of Rome, but in the countryside the horse feels slow and seems to be handicapped to better suit the player whilst in the city streets. The combat is mostly the same, adding in a new kick move to help take down more protected enemies. When all else fails, you can rely on other assassins that you recruit and train by sending them on missions to level them up.

Graphics: The visuals in Brotherhood are largely the same as the second installment. Everything looks great. From the character models, to the buildings in the distance, it all looks good. Female characters look especially better in Brotherhood than in previous iterations. There is some small pop-up with grass and a few buildings but it is largely unnoticeable.

Sound: The audio in Brotherhood great. From quality voice acting, metal against metal fights in the street, and running and climbing on buildings, everything sounds as you’d hope. The score is largely pulled from Assassin’s Creed 2, but there are a few new additions that tie in nicely with it.

Replayability: The big new thing for Brotherhood is the addition of multiplayer. The main draw to this is its uniqueness. Playing as an Abstergo employee training against other employees to learn the skills of the Assassins, Ubisoft has given the multiplayer a story and a purpose. It’s great trying to sneak up on your target getting those precious extra points while simultaneously watching your back for the people after you. There are plenty of perks and character customization, as one would expect from a modern game. The multitude of maps and variation within all have their own unique style and offer great hiding places and rooftops. The single player has so many sidequests it’s a bit daunting. From Assassinations, Templars, Flags, Feathers, Borgia Towers, and more, Brotherhood seems to never stop giving the player something to do.

Pros:

· Great setting

· Overall story is good

· Massive open world

· Gameplay has great improvements

· Training and using your Assassins is fun

· Combat is faster and more satisfying

Cons:

· The last hour is boring and annoying

· Horses don’t go to you when you call them if you’re running.

Editor: Raymond Segal

8/10 Great

Value: Full Price ($60)

Call of Duty: Black Ops (X360/PS3) Review

2010-11-14T01:19:00.000-08:00

Full Disclosure: I have played every Call of Duty game since Call of Duty 2. I was really anticipating Call of Duty: Black Ops. I've really enjoyed the campaign and multiplayer in past Call of Duty games; however, I never really got into Zombie mode before.

Story: The story in Call of Duty: Black Ops may be one of the best of the series.
It had me interested and wanting to see what would happen next. With that said, I was able to predict one of the major plot twists very early into the game. The character development in the game is very well done; characters in the game are meaningful and have their own personalities. When a character is in harms way, there is a sense of genuine worry. With that said, many nameless soldiers will die and I did not take a second to pause and contemplate that loss. There is extensive use of flashbacks, and this is used marvelously. These flashbacks keep the action going and serve as a legitimate excuse for the many different environments. They also add to the mystery of the plot as the player is discovering the story like a patient with temporary amnesia. The game takes place during the Cold War; however, many levels feel as if they are from another era, either modern or World War II.

Graphics: Graphics, in general, are great. The environments are well detailed. The skies had me pausing the action and just staring in awe. The character models and animations could have been better though. Most are solid; however, one specific example stands out, Viktor Reznov's face, specifically his beard, looks like something out of the previous generation of gaming. Explosions, smoke, and fire all look very good.

Sound: For a game like Black Ops, sound is essential. And, as to be expected, Treyarch really nails the audio in the game. Explosions and voices all sound great, and immerse the player in the experience. To top it off, the music in the game may be some of the best in any game this year.

Gameplay: Black Ops controls, like previous Call of Duty's, very well. There aren't really any changes from Modern Warfare 2, and so each weapon feels distinctive and controls exactly how the player wishes. One of my problems with Modern Warfare 2 was it was too easy, and Black Ops reverses that entirely. It may be one of the hardest Call of Duty games I've played since Call of Duty 2. This difficulty is not a problem with the gameplay though; similarly to Super Meat Boy, the controls are tight in Black Ops, so when I died, I knew it was my fault not the games. The missions with helicopters are another story though. The Hinds do not control well; it is very difficult to gain elevation when battling other helicopters, thus making these levels an exercise in frustration. Unfortunately, A.I. is not one of Black Ops' strong suits. Far too many times, I would see my teammates just standing by enemies. For the most part, enemies flank, take cover, and use grenades effectively.

Replayability: Many of those who purchase Black Ops consider the campaign secondary with the bulk of their time spent on multiplayer. Black Ops has one of the best multiplayer experiences in not just the Call of Duty franchise, but in any game period. The features that were changed, such as adding contracts, COD points, and Wager matches are remarkable. The new features are addictive, and make customizing and leveling up feel like an achievement worthy of celebration. There are a wealth of game types, maps, and customization options in the game. Without question there is enough in multiplayer to keep everyone playing for months on end. Zombie mode is fun, for a time, if you have another person to play with. It is just too bad that there are only two maps; the Pentagon map is a riot though. The easter eggs, Zork and Dead Ops, are quite entertaining, albeit Zork will be boring for the traditional COD player. Also, Zork can be very slow and confusing for the uninitiated, and the onscreen keyboard doesn't do the speed of the game any favors. Dead Ops Arcade is a fun twin-stick shooter. There are many different weapons in the game that offer different strategies, which is essential for the game not to become an exercise in tedium when you die over and over. There is a potential problem with lag in multiplayer. At launch, this lag nearly destroyed multiplayer; however, it doesn't seem to be present anymore.

Pros:

A genuinely interesting story.
Addictive and content-packed multiplayer mode.
Tight controls.
Impressive visuals, most notably environments.
Immersive audio, and some of the best music this year.
Solid games within the game (Zork and Dead Ops Arcade).
Difficulty has been ratcheted up a few notches from Modern Warfare 2.

Cons:

Inconsistent character models.
Only two maps for Zombie mode.
Some levels don't meld with the Cold War era.
Lag (at launch) in multiplayer.
Friendly A.I. can be stupid at times.

Editor: Zach Felling

9/10 Amazing

Value: Full Price ($60)

Super Meat Boy (XBLA) Review

2010-11-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

Audio Review

Pros

Charming visuals. It's art style is unique and fantastic, everything pops off the screen
Characters are unique and lovable.
Simple story, cutscenes are done very well, having no dialogue gives some off the game's darker tones a more lighthearted feeling.
Sound design is perfect, from Meat Boy's feet running across the ground to the impact of saw blades colliding with Meat Boy's body.
Music is great, setting the tone for each moment of the game.
Levels provide a large amount of challenge while still being fun and enjoyable.
Bosses are original, humorous, and very well executed.

Cons

Very difficult, may put off some gamers.

10/10 Brilliant

Editor: Ray Segal

Castle Crashers (PS3) Review

2010-10-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

Tom Fulp, the co-owner of The Behemoth and creator/administrator of Newgrounds, along with Dan Paladin, creative artist for The Behemoth, have created an exquisite RPG action game titled Castle Crashers. The game is set in the medieval era, it includes kings, princesses, and of course knights. At the start of the game, you have the option of picking one of the five available knights, each with their own unique power. The five knights are Red Knight (Lightning), Orange Knight (Fire), Green Knight (Poison), Blue Knight (Ice), and further down the road, you gain an un-lockable character who resembles the basic knights that you see in the first level of the game.

Unlike traditional RPGs, Castle Crashers is not turned-based and has side-scrolling camera angles, something I enjoyed while playing. The story follows a knight who travels to save the abducted princesses from the hands of evil. The world map allows your knight to travel from point to point, with other levels unlocked based on how advanced your knight has become. Along your travels, many shops are available for you to spend your coins you’ve obtained through battling to replenish your supply of potions, weaponry and later on in the game, beefy sandwiches that help you move, otherwise unmovable, obstacles in your quest.

Additionally, as you reach the half-way point in the game, unlockable animal orbs can be used to help you defeat large waves of enemies or bosses. Each animal orb offers unique characteristics. For instance, Bitey Bat chomps enemy heads off; Rammy knocks down enemies at random. You can also select out the different animal orbs by visiting the blacksmith on the world map.

Combat controls were beautifully mapped on the PS3 controller. Pressing certain key buttons commanded your knight to unleash melee attacks or a triad of combo attacks to defeat waves of enemies within each level. Upon defeating enemies, your knight gains experience points that can be allocated to four attributes: strength, magic, agility and defense. When at the world map screen, at any time you can re-allocate your experience points. With that, leveling up can also unlock weapons to help defeat enemies since each weapon in the game can be allocated to the four attributes. For example, there is a weapon in the shape of a tree branch. This allows your knight to have increased agility, but decreased power. Another weapon is a club, which drastically increased your strength, but decreased agility severely. Leveling up the magic attribute creates different magic abilities that help on later levels.

I was also excited to see a multiplayer component in the game as well as it being online compatible. This multiplayer allows up to four players to play in the story mode, but has a twist at the end of each boss battle. After defeating the bosses and freeing the princesses, each individual knight must now fight each other to win the kiss from the princess. I thought this was an excellent way to establish itself apart from a single player story mode.

After conquering the game, it unlocks a harder level known as insane mode for you to go back and replay, but this time the enemies are twice as hard and the bosses are no joke. It is rather nice to have this type of replayability so that you can challenge yourself in the game again and again.

Musically, everything melded. Especially during the world map, the flute and percussion were top notch and fit the theme of the middle ages. Each level had its own tune which was very refreshing. There was no set battle music, only for a few boss fights, but the scores for those were also superb.

Something that stood out to me was the similarity to some games on Newgrounds. One level in particular had me fighting through a forest. Occasionally, the ground would shake due to a large monster hitting the ground. The forest animals on screen would then proceed to spray feces everywhere, due to them being spooked. This is similar to a number of Newgrounds games and something that cause me to laugh on numerous occasions.

In addition to the campaign mode, Castle Crashers offered two other mini-games. One was the Battle Arena where you take on foes from the game in waves of increasing difficulty, much like Gladiator. You can also play with or against fellow gamers, but it is not online compatible. Another was beach volleyball. It’s based off the typical rules and regulations of beach volleyball, but with a medieval twist. You can select up to 8 playable characters total, either being AI or fellow gamers. You can also select which levels to play with each resembling the different levels traveled in the story mode. Put simply, it is classic beach volleyball with a medieval twist. Unfortunately, this is incompatible with online play.

Overall, the game was a huge success and I enjoyed every minute of it. If you are sitting around on a rainy day, this will definitely help pass the time. For all you gamers out there, there are some castles waiting to be crashed so download this game already! It's worth it!

-Alyssa Bogie

8/10 Great

Phineas and Ferb Ride Again (DS) Review

2010-10-25T18:20:00.000-07:00

Alton and Disney Interactive have brought a new, refreshing sequel to the Phineas and Ferb franchise. Phineas and Ferb are back for more puzzling mazes, eventful action sequences and interactive gadget inventions all in the palm of your hands.

Phineas and Ferb: Ride Again follows two young stepbrothers whose love for building inventions leads them onto several adventures. The game features four levels, all which are unique and contain several components used to construct and upgrade various types of gadgetry within the worlds. Their sidekick, Perry the Platypus, also tags along in their adventures and acts as a save point throughout the worlds. However, you’ll soon discover that Perry has other motives other than acting as a checkpoint. After the defeat of each world, Perry will sneak away to his secret agent hideout, where he is known as Agent P, and seeks to foil the evil plans of Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz.

Candace, Phineas and Ferb's sister, also makes her cameo in the game and will do whatever it takes to “bust” the boys to their mother. But, like the television show, their plans always get covered up before Candace can reveal to their mother what their true motives are. She also acts as a health meter in the game.

With the beginning of each new level, the boys will encounter friends from the television show that are in need of their expertise, thus unlocking the levels to seek out special parts needed to repair whatever it is they need to. The dialogue is short between characters from the show, offering hints and tips to the boys to help them advance in the game.

The gameplay of Phineas and Ferb was decent and part of this was due to the camera angles, which were side scrolling, making the gameplay easier. The controls were smooth, except at times when there was a sort of delay when switching between Phineas or Ferb for certain tasks. Playing as Ferb was annoying, since he would fall almost all the time when trying to jump over to other platforms, causing Candace to become restless and the health meter to decrease.

I enjoyed each level because they were interactive with the player, involving them with the DS pad. For example, to obtain health items, you had to blow on the screen for Phineas or Ferb to blow down the item. The obstacles in each level ensured that there was always something more to do in that you either had to solve a puzzle to get between platforms or get through a tedious maze to reach the next tool box. The mini-games used to upgrade gadgets or fix broken ones were very entertaining. For example, one of the mini-games was hammering nails into their spots, if you hit to hard, the nail would become bent and you would have to restart. It almost seemed a bit sensitive at times, but made it feel realistic nonetheless.

Unfortunately, there were a few glitches within the game. In the second world, there was a moment where I had to press a switch to open a force field and open a toolbox that contained a part needed for repair. Upon walking up to the force field there was an option to open the tool box. I didn't have to press the button to shut the force field off. In the third world, a few times I encountered a pile of components to gather, but I couldn't get the button to work for the pile to become lose. Aside from these glitches, the overall graphics of the game were done quite well for being on the DS. Granted it's not compared to the most realistic type graphics, but how it's styled as a cartoon, I thought each frame flowed smoothly, movements weren't jumpy, and the colors were nice and vibrant.

The audio of the game isn't anything but okay. It's no Beethoven piece, but it was decent enough for the audience the game is geared towards. However, the music is on constant repeat, forcing me to mute it at times. The sound effects for the individual characteristics of the game I thought were done well. The drill gadget sounded like a drill, breaking rocks sounded exactly what the name states, and everything else seemed to be on key.

Within each of the four levels, there are opportunities to locate a bonus level. This bonus level would feature techniques that were used on the level it was unlocked. The one I played involved hot air balloons and blowing on the screen to keep you afloat. But, I had to ensure that my character didn't fly the balloon into spikes, which proved difficult many times. At the end, you gained special components to use for building or regained health that you may have lost.

After obtaining the necessary parts at the end of each level to either help rebuild or customize gadgets the boys have in mind, another mini-game comes into play. A few were: skateboarding against fellow characters of the television show, riding carts through the mines, spaceship travel and another involving surfboards. Placing first in the mini-games allows the game to be unlocked and re-playabled in the D-gamer option on the menu. In the multiplayer, players can compete and play with their friends and share up to four cool rides via the DS download play and through the Ad hoc multiplayer.

The game was enjoyable, but only to a degree. I see this game being loved by younger generations and fans of the show. It presented several dynamic interactive technologies to make it a more hands on experience and eventually it became second nature. A few elements shined, while some lacked. Definitely deserves a second look.

~Alyssa Bogie

6/10

Solid

The Ball (PC) Review

2010-10-25T16:47:00.000-07:00

When I first saw The Ball gameplay’s, I was not exactly sure what to think. The concept seemed interesting enough, but game looked a little dated. When I finally was able to play the game, my initial reaction was good, but did that good feeling last? Well you will have to read the rest of the review to find out.

The Ball is an action-puzzle game, so I expected the puzzles to be fairly difficult. I was not disappointed. Although not impossible, it did take a few minutes of wandering around to try and figure out the puzzles, unless you used the game’s hint system. This hint system was more of a “tell you exactly what to do in order to solve the map” system. I found myself constantly going to this because it was so much easier. It would have been better to provide a hint on what action needed to occur or direction I needed to go. Even though this made the puzzles easier, it did allow for the game to go a little faster.

Another huge part of the gameplay was the ball itself. This mystical ball of power allowed humans to gain all of the technology and skills they have now. It was also the only way you could kill the monsters in the game. At times, I would not have the ball with me, and I would run into a monster. I would have to solve the puzzle to get the ball back while running around trying not to get killed by the creatures. I was also granted a special arm piece, which could attract the ball to me or push the ball away from me. This weapon could also push enemies away and, if I was lucky, into lava. Having to lug around this giant ball of doom everywhere I went did get old. If I was pushing the ball in front of me, the ball would turn semitransparent; however, it still was difficult to see anything in front of me, so many times I ended up dragging it behind me. This would pose a problem when I ran into an enemy because I would be wide open for attack. Luckily, this was not the case too often because I was able to run away or react quickly enough.

The overall graphic presentation in the game was pretty dull. Although very detailed and vast, the world had a constant clay tone to it. This was due to the heavy Aztec influence found throughout the game. However, there were many smaller things that did shine quite brilliantly within the game. The numerous panoramic cutscenes of the different levels you entered had a very majestic feel to them, and the animations for the water, fire, and oil really felt realistic.

Many times you could just roll the ball over the enemies to kill them. However, you had to get more creative in order to kill the bigger creatures. I would have to send the ball into a chamber to become super heated and then roll the ball at the enemies to deal damage. Although tricky at times, I really enjoyed being able to kill them this way.

The audio scores within the game were okay, but did not jump out as anything amazing. There seemed to be a very dreary, serious tone to the music. Other than a few monster growls, the sound within the game was nonexistent. Many times a “leader” creature would come on to the screen only to walk off again. I expected more for this, maybe some kind of warning or sound.

The premise of the game is the main character has fallen down a hole during excavation. His team says the crane that would raise him back up is broken, and they will not have it fixed for a while. This allowed me to explore this underground passage my character had found. As I explored farther down this passage the small cave begins to open up into a large world. I was tasked with solving puzzles and eluding traps to make it out the other side. This made up the majority of the story, along with learning more about the Ball and the civilization it inhabits. The lack of a central storyline took away from the motivation to complete each level. On top of that, there was no character development within the game, not allowing me to become attached to anything or anyone.

The Ball offers many reasons to come back and play. There is a survival mode, which makes you solve a puzzle while being bombarded with creatures, and secrets hidden throughout the game. The survival mode did nothing more for the game other than adding a few new levels and puzzles. No multiplayer is currently implemented within the game, so you are doing all of this on your own. The campaign is also worth another go around which will help allow you to get some of the achievements.

If you enjoy first person puzzle games, this game will not disappoint you. Although the atmosphere seemed to be rather dark at times, the puzzles were entertaining and there was always a sense of achievement after solving one. Tripwire Interactive and Teotl Studios did a good job of taking a mod for the unreal engine and turning it into a full-fledged game.

~William Dewey

6/10

Solid

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock (X360/PS3) Review

2010-10-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

Ever since I played Guitar Hero 2 (which I loved) the music genre has grown stale because almost all music games are the same game with updated graphics and new songs. It is safe to say Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock broke the chain slightly by changing up the story.

In previous music-based games you try to make your way up from being an unknown musician and eventually become a legend or there just is no story whatsoever. In Warriors of Rock the Demi-God of Rock battles an ancient, evil beast, ”The Beast” and loses. It is up to multiple rockers, who each have their own special power, to save the Demi-God and Rock n’ Roll by transforming themselves into Warriors of Rock. Although the story isn’t amazing, it was more creative than previous music titles.

In addition to an updated story Warriors of Rock has a plethora of songs and includes a few new online games types. The game has 90 songs and an additional 300 downloadable songs at the release and if that isn’t enough you can import select songs from a few previous guitar hero games. There are also five new online game types that can also be played locally, a party play mode (a constant quick play in which anyone can join in or drop out) and as always a quick play and story mode. The first of the new game types is Pro-Faceoff. In this games mode the goal is simple, you battle up to 8 other players for the highest score on any given song. The next is Rockfest, this is very similar to Pro-Faceoff but each song you play has a specific rule. For example one rule may be momentum, in which the song gets harder and faster as you play more correct notes and gets slower and easier as you play fewer correct notes. Another rule you may play is perfectionist, a game rule where you receive more points for making fewer mistakes. The last three, Team Pro-Faceoff, Rockfest and Band vs. Band, are very similar. Team Pro-Faceoff is Pro-Faceoff with any combination of 2 or more instruments. Team Rockfest is Rockfest against another band. Band vs. Band is where two complete bands compete for the high score. None of the new game types are great, I would rather just play the story, but it puts a new spin on things. Along with the new game modes, you can look at a friend’s accomplishments and failures. For me, it wasn’t something that had any value of interest. Warriors of Rock may have put in some new features, but what’s the point of new features when they aren’t enjoyable?

Along with the story being repetitive in music games, so are the graphics. Unfortunately Warriors of Rock continued with the same old graphics. Although the graphics are nothing new it’s definitely quite some fun to see how creepy or awesome you can make your custom player look. I also have to say even with average graphics the cut scenes where you transform into a warrior of rock look sweet.

The music in the game is definitely not rock music at its best, as the game states it is. Granted there are some great songs there are many more songs I wouldn’t even care to listen to let alone play in a game. The main key for being successful with music in a music title is including songs people love and to me it seems like they are running out of options for great songs, so they are throwing in any rock song out there that they can get their hands on. In addition to the music is the narration of Gene Simmons. Although many people love Kiss (including myself), I don’t think Gene Simmons is a great choice because he doesn’t have a very enjoyable speaking voice.

Along with the Warriors of Rock’s false claim about being rock music at its best, it also falsely states there are literally hundreds of hours of replayablilty. The truth is you play a song a couple times and are never going to want to play it again unless it is one of your favorite songs. The story is also kind of a once and done kind of thing. After you beat the story you just put the game away until you have desire to play a little quick play with your friends, but really once you beat it you won’t be playing it nearly as much as other games.

Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock puts its own spin on music games, but it’s not enough to revolutionize music titles. It also lacks a change in graphics or replayablilty. Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is nothing amazing, but you can definitely have some fun with it if you’re a person who loves music games.

-Blake Everett

6/10 Solid

Value: $30

Darksiders (X360/PS3/PC) Review

2010-10-25T12:56:00.001-07:00

Raging hell on earth, high tech angels soaring in the sky, civilians running through the midst of the chaos, and you, you are War one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse just trying to figure out what the hell happened.

You have been framed for starting the apocalypse by breaking the 7^th seal, which is the only reason hell hasn’t already destroyed earth. Being stripped of your powers and weapons, you must redeem yourself and reveal who framed you. Followed by a mysterious shadow demon, you must be cautious of what you do at all times. Early in the story you meet a demon who is willing to provide you with information at the cost of five hearts from various creatures, the bosses of the game. The story may sound fine, but isn’t it a bit familiar. It made me feel like I was playing Assassins’ Creed again. Assassins’ Creed may be a great game but who wants to buy another one that’s simply not as good. Darksiders should have its own story, not just a good one.

When playing a game with any level of combat it always irritates me when you can simply take out enemies by button mashing, a key part of combat in this game. As you progress through the game you gain new weapons, which for the most part you will never use. You always find your way back to the button mashing of the sword. I wish that the other weapons of the game could have been incorporated as much as the sword, so that you would rather use them in certain situations. The combat in most aspects may be basic and boring, but after severely weakening a powerful enemy it’s very entertaining to watch War do various finishers, including him ripping off their heads and chucking their bodies or stealing their weapon and bashing their skull into the ground with it. You may not use new weapons very much, but along your path to finding who framed you, you collect a few new powers that are the most fun you’ll have with combat. You get a few powers to help you with solving puzzles such as being able to glide for a short period of time and then you also get kick-ass powers, like becoming a giant, fiery beast who can crush just about anything in his path. Along with the story being familiar so are the levels. The puzzle solving throughout the levels feels a little bit too much like the Zelda series. However, the enemies are in abundance and diverse, ranging anywhere from gigantic man eating worms to sinister demons. In addition to the enemies looking completely different, their attacks are unique as well.

When it comes to graphics Darksiders excels. The scenery and the environment are diverse and completely beautiful in each level. Whether it’s the streets filled with abandoned cars or the beating sun on the humongous desert environments look gorgeous. It is loads of fun to ride through the broken world on your trusty steed, Ruin, and just enjoy the view. Although the graphics are beautiful I think that Vigil Games took the wrong approach. This is the apocalypse of Earth; they should have shown people running through the streets in fear of their lives throughout the game not just the first level. Although you still see buildings you end up feeling you’re in more of a hellish land. The bosses and other enemies are also unique, each one looking completely different from the last.

As for audio there isn’t much to say. The game didn’t include much music aside from the cultish whisperings played in the background, which is disappointing. When I play a game I prefer great music, but because Darksiders is about the apocalypse, I think it was fine. As for the character voices, they were perfect. War sounded determined and tenacious while the demons sinisterly whispered.

The replayability in Darksiders is merely average. As you progress through the game you are continuously immersed. When you beat the game you don’t get the same effect. The game provides no alternate endings or other ways to play through, other than separate difficulty levels. I think Vigil Games could have put a lot more time into getting people to keep coming back to Darksiders.

Darksiders is a good game but is it its own game? I think not, I felt as though I was playing Zelda with an Assassins Creed twist on the story. Darksiders tries too hard to be other great games but can’t compare. Darksiders struggles with finding its own voice and for that it can’t be considered great.

-Blake Everett

7/10 Good

Value: $45

Sonic Adventure (XBLA) Review

2010-10-25T04:38:00.000-07:00

When it comes to Sonic versus Mario, I’ve always been a Mario fan. I most certainly do not hate Sonic, and Sonic Adventure continues the fairly neutral trend I have when it comes to Sonic. I found myself getting angered throughout the game with the story being the reason I wanted to keep playing, and once I beat it I was satisfied with my choice.

Throughout the Sonic series, Dr. Robotnik, also known as Dr. Eggman, is stirring up evil by getting his hands on the chaos emeralds, and Sonic must put his plans to an end. In Sonic Adventure, this basic storyline continues; Dr. Robotnik is feeding the chaos emeralds to a monster, Chaos. As Chaos eats more emeralds, he gets stronger. When he eats all seven of the emeralds, he will be invincible, and obviously, no one would want Dr. Robotnik to have an invincible beast on his side. So, Sonic is on a race to get the emeralds before Robotnik. In addition to the main story being about Sonic, each of the five other side-characters, Tails, Knuckles, Big, Amy and E-102 “Y”, have a story of their own. It was really cool how each story tied in with the main story, but still gave each character separate levels. Although, occasionally the E-102 and Knuckles stories deviate from the main story causing a little confusion. Deviations aside, each side-story was still well worth it to see how each character got involved with the story.

Sonic Adventure may have worthwhile story, but it is a miserable journey to see the story unfold. For starters, no matter what character you choose to play as you will be faced with horrible camera angles. There are also a lot of glitches that drop you through the ground and walls, and if that’s not enough there are invisible walls as well! It can be frustrating at times to deal with these problems, but nothing can compare to the horrid physics engine, constant glitches and disgusting camera angles on Big’s story. I got about half way through Big’s story when I had enough and needed to quit. If I hadn’t quit, I would not still have a functioning Xbox 360, and my TV would have a controller-sized hole through it. None of the other characters’ stories were nearly as bad as the painstaking adventure of Big. The combat is also poor. For a majority of the story you have just one attack which seems to be able to kill anything. The combat could have definitely been spiced up a little. Sonic Adventure definitely fails in gameplay, which takes a lot away from the overall experience.

Because Sonic Adventure is an HD-port of a Dreamcast game, the graphics should be much improved. The graphics may have a higher resolution, but I feel as if there should have been more of an improvement. Even though the graphics haven't seen a huge update, they still look fine. The game looks nearly exactly like the present-day Sonic games. However, the enemies in certain levels are of bad enough quality to actually see the pixels. The levels, in contrast to the enemies that inhabit them, are above and beyond the originals. Some levels could have been improved, but a majority of the levels are unique and have awesome scenery.

The music in Sonic Adventure is not of the greatest quality. Each level has its own soundtrack, but it is hard to notice and nothing really sticks in your brain. If it takes you a while to complete a level the sound track also gets repetitive. As well as each level having their own soundtrack, so do the characters. This can be extremely annoying to listen to over and over again, especially when it comes to Ami’s sound track, which sounds as if a few ladies had just ran a mile and had begun panting. Try listening to that for an hour! The music may be annoying and repetitive but it’s not nearly as bad as the characters saying the same things continuously. For instance, in the final battle against Eggman, it seems all he can say is “Get a load of this Sonic!” Along with the speaking being repetitive, there are audio/video sync problems when characters are talking. There is definitely a lot more work that could have gone into updating the audio of Sonic Adventure.

If you’re looking for a cheap game with hours of gameplay this should be fine for you. For an XBLA game this has an enormous amount of levels and replayability. Sonic Adventure keeps you coming back with its unique levels, like as an awesome snowboarding level that I played at least five times before I moved on. Along with the normal levels, that you can replay anytime you want once you've finished the story, there are also sub-games that include races and other mini games. Once you beat a character's story, you won’t want to replay it, but having six separate stories makes up for this.

Sonic Adventure isn’t good enough to sway my opinions about Sonic games, but it doesn’t lower my opinion of Sonic games either. The upsetting camera angles and constant glitches were hard to deal with, but it was worth playing the stories to see it all tie together. Sonic Adventure is a good game to get if you want a full-sized game for a cheap cost as long as you can deal with the glitches and other gameplay issues.

-Blake Everett

5/10 Okay

Value: $20

Dead Rising 2 (X360/PS3/PC) Review

2010-10-13T00:34:00.000-07:00

There have been many games in which you are able to kill zombies, but very few games provide the sheer number of ways to kill the undead as Dead Rising 2. Filled with hours of intense rescuing and crazy psychopaths, Dead Rising 2 has some noticeable improvements over its first iteration. Unfortunately, it also failed to improve on some of the problems. What changed for the better? Well you’ll just have to click the link to find out more.

The game started me off racing through a crowd of zombies on a chainsaw equipped bike. With this, the game starts to show off some of its new features. One of these new features is the ability to compete online in Dead Rising 2’s TV show; Terror is Reality (TIR). This allowed me to play mini games such as Ramsterball, where I rolled around in a giant Hamsterball ramming into columns for points, and Sliceycles, which is similar to the first mission in the game. My experience with the games was mostly enjoyable. Although confusing at first, I was eventually able to get a hang of the events and start to score a good amount of points.

Another multiplayer option is co-op. Although players are not able to do local co-op, I was able to join other player’s worlds online to help smash zombies. Warning! This can be very dangerous if either of the players do not know what they are doing. Too many times I was either shot in the back or smacked in the head by my own teammate.

The reason for this is largely due to the loose combat controls in Dead Rising 2. Most weapons have two attacks a light attack that does less damage, but tends to hit more foes, or a heavy attack which can sometimes result in an instant kill. However, it is mostly button mashing, which may cause you to hit the attack button one too many times adding an extra swing to the end of your attack. This can result in vulnerability or a dead teammate/survivor.

As I killed more zombies and completed more missions I got PP points, the experience system in Dead Rising 2. When I leveled up I could receive a couple of powerups. These upgrades included; extra life, extra weapon slots, faster movement, farther throwing distance, and combo cards. Combo cards are new to Dead Rising. They give you recipes for creating new weapons. Items like the nailed bat, knife gloves, and boomstick are just a few examples. Many items also return for Dead Rising 2. Items such as a sniper rifle, hanger, and katana can all be found throughout Fortune City. There are many different options for beating down zombies, although not everything is easily accessible. Cars, SMGs, and, my personal favorite, the moose head can be hard to come by.

One thing that did kill the game for me was the loading screens. Even for an open world, I felt as though the loading screens were excessive. In one instance, I went down a water slide and there was a loading screen upon entering and again after exiting. The reward, 10,000 PP, was nice, but I’m not sure if it was worth it.

The boss fights in the game were frustrating at times due to the lackluster combat system. I constantly found myself getting wailed on by psychopaths running around the levels. Once you are able to master the “hit twice, then roll away” method, the bosses became at least manageable. Something that was a major pain during the game was escorting survivors. Every time I looked back to check up on them they were either shooting themselves or each other. If you were able to keep them alive long enough you could give them a gun and they actually became useful. There’s nothing like having a pack of five or six armed people behind you. (Unless they are shooting me)

A big thing that drew me into the game was the great audio performance. The music selection for boss fights was entertaining. Each character seemed to have a very developed personality and was always voiced correctly. The craziness of the psychopaths conflicted beautifully with the seriousness of Chuck. One scene at the end of the game was particularly touching for me. I felt as though the characters had truly been hurt and really did feel the anger they were showing. Too many side quests and the twitching urge to kill more zombies distracted me from the central story in the beginning. However, as the game went on less side quests were available and I had already killed a couple thousand zombies. (Just kidding, that never gets old)

Although the audio was great, the graphics failed to perform. Many times I passed by a zombie trapped in wall or trying to come through a shut door. Also, I was constantly running into zombies a couple of feet away from me. This was harmful because many times I had a survivor in my hands and when the zombie hit me I dropped them only to be swarmed by even more zombies. Exacerbating this problem, I repeatedly ran into invisible curbs while pushing a lawnmower or trash cart. This would take away from the gameplay experience because I did not have much time to be caught by ninja zombies or trip over invisible curbs.

The second installment of the Dead Rising will not disappoint fans of the series. Although the loading screens and graphics were nothing to brag about, the endless zombie killing and well cast voice actors made up for it.

~William Dewey

7/10
Good

My Aquarium 2 (WiiWare) Review

2010-09-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a WiiWare game this virtual aquarium is not for you, but on the other hand, if you’re looking for an aquarium filled with expensive rare fish and an abundance of food without the high cost, My Aquarium 2 is absolutely perfect for you.

My Aquarium 2 almost can’t be considered a game because there is very little interaction. You are just a spectator watching 8 different fish tanks, filling them with different varieties of fish that you unlock. Being able to unlock more fish offered a small reason to continue playing, but the only differences between the fish are appearance and diet. There is also no story or characterization to speak of in this game.

It is nice you are able to customize the tanks with a variety of backgrounds, lightings, floorings and glass decorations. The few controls that you do use are very simple and thus provide no challenge whatsoever. There is no difficulty, so if you can play a Dora game this should be fine for you. It is only single player, but then again if you have a guest over, I don’t think you really would be finding yourself playing this virtual aquarium. Although it doesn’t have co-op, you can share your aquarium with your friends if your Wii is hooked up to the internet but even connections over the internet cannot make up for the games lack of depth.

The game does have beautiful graphics. Most of the fish look identical to the real thing, in particular the Japanese Sea Nettle, the Moon Jelly and the Flashlight Fish. Although some fish take on a cartoony look such as the Ribbon Barracudina, it most certainly does not look bad. All the rock formations and plants also look just like they do in nature, some of them even look better. Almost everything looks as real as possible, but I did say almost. Although the fish, the rocks, backgrounds and plants are flawless, 2 out of the 4 floorings are blurry and pixels are visible. Aside from this minor setback this game definitely mastered graphics.

Hudson also did a great job on the music and sound of My Aquarium 2. Even though it only has 4 different songs they are all well produced and are very soothing while you swim around with your fish. I just would have liked to have had a bigger selection of music because after 3 or 4 times through the cycle they all became very boring and I just muted my TV and listened to nothing. Although there isn’t a wide variety of music this isn’t a game where you play for 3 hours at a time, so it isn’t a huge deal the music gets old quickly but it doesn’t mean it’s okay that there is such a small selection.

Because there is no story, you would expect a lot of replayability in My Aquarium 2; however, you would be wrong. You are given 8 different fish tanks to customize and to add different fish, but you really don’t need that many tanks because of the lack of variety in the fish. Unlocking fish is either too easy or confusing and gets boring quickly. These new fish do nothing to improve your tank nor do they have differing behavior; they simply are there to provide a new face at which to look.

Overall, some aspects of the game are done well, and Hudson has a great concept albeit not fully developed. My Aquarium 2 needs many improvements most notably replayability. If you really enjoy watching fish and don’t mind spending a small amount of money you may want to check it out, but if you want a game with a story that you’ll want to play again, keep looking because this isn’t for you.

-Blake Everett

6/10 Decent

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game (PSN/XBLA) Review

2010-09-25T00:42:00.000-07:00

Scott Pilgrim is on a journey to win the love of Ramona Flowers, but in order to do this he must defeat her seven evil exes. In the comics and the movie, this is his only task; in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World the Game, he must also defeat her seven evil exes’ many minions. From street thugs to robot ninjas, this game offers variety in everything from enemy types to environments giving you, the player, something new and fresh to look at while you take a beating.

Taking a beating is one thing you will be doing often in this title as it sticks to its 8-bit roots of being increasingly more and more difficult. This is my one complaint with Scott Pilgrim. At times, it feels unnecessarily difficult; there are no checkpoints meaning you will have to start an entire level over even if you were one hit point away from defeating a boss. I understand that this is one way that the game attempts to remain true the arcade classics of yesteryear, but it simply frustrates instead of providing that sense of nostalgia. The gameplay is by no means bad; there are varied enemy types leaving room for strategy and a little creativity. However, there are parts of the game that I sincerely believe would be impossible without the help of a co-op partner.

While the co-op is great once you get going, getting there can be a pain. There is no online play; the game completely relies on local play only. For a game going for a retro style this is understandable, but with today’s fully online gaming functionality it is unacceptable. There is no reason as to why this game should not have online support as it would be great to get a team of four friends on Xbox Live or PSN and fight through the games seven levels. There is no drop in/drop out functionality either; you must have all players ready to play from the start screen. This is another omission that is obvious from the moment the game begins, and someone wants to play alongside you. One annoyance with the co-op is that when one player loses all of their lives they have the option to steal a life from another player while in a “Ghost Mode”. This is fine, but if a player then dies while their partner is in this mode you must sit and wait for them to fade out before continuing. This is a small gripe, but I feel that it’s worth noting.

These negatives aside, there is still a lot to enjoy about Scott Pilgrim. The visuals are a mixture of 8 and 16 Bit graphics with a modernized look and feel to them. The character models are highly recognizable and do the comic books a great deal of justice. The villains all have their own unique style, and their levels convey their personality well. Whether it’s Evil Ex Number 3 shooting fruits and vegetables at you or Numbers 6 and 7’s giant robot, all the bosses are memorable in one way or another. There are other little moments like these throughout the game, such as the game’s level menu, which is right out of Super Mario, and little images such as the Pac Man magnets on a refrigerator. The entire game is filled with quirky moments and little nods toward classic games.

There is a leveling up system, which grants you new moves, stronger abilities, and greater defense, giving the game an added sense of depth. There’s nothing more satisfying than leveling up and gaining a new move that helps you defeat a boss that was giving you trouble just a moment earlier. There are many stores located throughout the levels that offer food and items some of which will give you experience and raise certain stats. Replaying levels is necessary to level up or revisit some shops when having a tough time with some stages. There is a small sense of level grinding in that respect, but as you become more powerful, the enemies of the earlier stages become much easier making it fun to just bash your way through them again.

The audio and storytelling is fantastic. Anamanaguchi provides a stellar 8-Bit soundtrack that blasts its way into your ears and doesn’t stop. It is inventive and original while simultaneously classic and old school. The story isn’t a big focus in the game relying heavily on player’s previous knowledge of specific events, but what it does include is quirky and charming. Most of the storytelling is done with small cut scenes either before or after each level. For the most part, they are simply there to provide some sort of context for the situation or to set up or conclude a level. There are small hints during levels that point to characters or plots from the comic, but unless you are previously aware of these, they will most likely pass right by you.

Ultimately, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a game made for people who love classic arcade beat em ups and Scott Pilgrim. Other than the aforementioned problems and a few freezing problems this game is great. I highly recommend it as a must buy if you like either of these things. Give this game a chance, or at the very least, try the demo and see for yourself. I myself, see a lot of playtime with this game in the future.

-Raymond Segal

8/10 Great

Family Slot Car Racing (WiiWare) Review

2010-08-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

Reading the title of this game for the first time, I was brought back to my childhood when I spent hours on end with my slot cars. I obsessed over perfecting my race times. Unfortunately, I spent more time playing with my slot cars in one day than I did playing and beating this game. Normally, I would forgive the limited feature set and bad graphics because, well, it is a WiiWare game; however, it took 45 minutes to complete this game in its entirety. A majority of the game can be beaten by simply holding or tapping the A button.

The word family in the title is a misnomer. The maximum number of players is 2. 2! The game could actually be fun with four people all competing against each other. As it is, there are only three modes in the game: single player, two-player, and challenge mode. Single player is fairly easy, especially the early levels in which you just have to hold down the A button and never let go. As you progress, you gain additional slot cars, and there are actually a decent number of options here. But, once you get the Rapier (the best car in the game) it is nearly impossible to lose. There are three tracks for each difficulty and then a bonus level that consists of stopping your car on a track flanked with numbers; your goal being to land on large numbers. With three difficulties, this means that there are a total of 9 tracks + 1 final track. In order to add some value to the game, Arc System Works gives the option, to race the those tracks in reverse. The problem is by this time you will have the most powerful car, and there will be no challenge. Two-player, as you may have guessed, is twice as fun. Where in single player, the game becomes highly repetitive, with two people, playing the game can become quite frantic, especially as one player intentionally flies off the edge to get turbo. Challenge mode is garbage to put it bluntly. There is no online and no way to distinguish between whose high scores are whose, so what is the point of it; I would guess just to list another feature on a press release.

In addition to the slim feature-set is the complete lack of a story. I know, I know a story is not really necessary for a game like this, but it would add to the lasting value of the game. Currently, there is zero reason to play the game a second time. There are four characters two kids, a mom, and a dad, but there is nothing that distinguishes them from one another except for the yelps when their cars go off the edge. The voices of the characters are awful (just turn them off), but I actually did enjoy the music in the game. It was indeed typical Japanese corny music; however, it is catchy and is actually my favorite part of the game.

The one category FSCR stand out in is controls. What is there is near perfect; too bad the controls consist of pressing and releasing a single button. When I push A, the car moves; when I release, the car slows to a stop. Yay, success! With that said, I do wish there was a little more depth in this department but whatever. When a game with N64 graphics, no story, and a very limited feature set comes along, I find myself looking for positives, and I found one.

Another problem with the game is the track variety. I’ve created a far larger variety of tracks than are in this game. It is a true shame, because this is what matters most in my opinion, and the game completely fails in this regard. Perhaps this could have been rectified if longer tracks were implemented in the game, but most tracks take no longer than a minute to do 5 laps.

Conclusion

There seems to be no audience for this game. For slot car racing fans, like I, you mine as well set up some old sets and experience the nostalgic fun. If you are not a fan, well, that would be like someone who doesn’t like football going out and buying a copy of Madden ’97. I really wish this game was better, and despite the occasional fun/tense moments, I cannot recommend Family Slot Car Racing to anyone not even fans. Sigh.

-Zach Felling

25/100

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (PC/PS3/X360) Review

2010-08-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

Play with a friend or not at all.

Welcome to the blood stained streets of Shanghai. You hear the bustle of busy streets, the scent of restaurants and the stench of back alley garbage. Will you enter the seedy underground ruled by mobsters and thugs? Do you have what it takes to make it out alive? Your name is Lynch. You have a knack of murder and a love of blood. Welcome to Dog Days.

The story is trite and underdeveloped. It is simply a revenge fantasy, nothing more. If, perhaps, the characters grew or developed throughout the mere four-hour story mode, I would feel something for their predicament. The narrative tries to tug on heartstrings with lost loves and estranged relationships but misses its mark. Instead, Kane and Lynch are the same murderers at the end of the tale as they were at the beginning. Many moments where a plot twist or character development would fit naturally are instead filled with violence. Lynch’s response to gentlemanly conversation comes from the barrel of a gun.

Combat is a straightforward third person shooter that relies heavily on the cover system. If you’re away from cover in combat, Lynch will become a corpse almost instantly. The enemy AI is endowed with the innate ability to pistol snipe you from superhuman distances while, seemingly, knowing your exact location at all times. There were occasions where I flanked a group of enemy units. These units immediately began attacking my AI partner. The second I turned the corner to engage the targets, every single one immediately turned towards my positions before I could fire a single shot.

However, AI Kane seems to have caught a severe case of stupid. A solo player going through the story will be forced to kill ninety percent of the enemies. Your AI partner, at best, is a temporary distraction for enemy fire. There are also times where he will not even enter a firefight, conceivably re-lacing his digital shoes in another room, leaving you to be flanked by swarms of armored, assault rifle toting soldiers. You cannot issue orders to make fights simpler. The only advantage to his existence is that he cannot be killed by enemy fire.

Aiming has been greatly improved. The actual shooting aspects are quite stellar. The controls are tight and responsive. I found that as long as I was within the affective range of whatever gun I had on hand, there were very few misses that were not my error. Weapons are a standard affair: pistols, submachine guns, rifles, shotguns, and light machine guns, and are rather unmemorable. One gun has no perceivable difference besides ammo capacity and recoil than any other weapon in its category. A shotgun by any other name fires buckshot as sweetly. Bullet physics are also quite enjoyable; giving the player the ability to affectively destroy portions of the environment gives a realistic feel. Ammunition can penetrate and destroy some cover, such as wooden fences, cubical walls, and couches.

For all the realism and detail that was put into the environment – all the settings were littered with common items making the rooms quite immersive – the textures were supremely sub par. Walls and floors are lazily colored and textured in large blotches of colors. It simply does not stand up to other high profile titles and the quality we have come to expect with this current generation of gaming. Character models are spot on; however, clothing, hair, and skin texture are just off. At times, you looked more like a shiny doll than an actual member of the human race. Lip-syncing also never quite matched up.

Where the graphics and textures seemed feeble, the sound shined. Levels full of the ambient noise of vehicles screeching through the streets and people moving and talking drew me into the environments more. Battles took place in market places and stores, each with a unique ambiance now punctuated by the sound of gunfire and explosions. Tense theme music is added to fight sequences, giving the player an uneasy calm in between firefights. At times, the gunfire seemed to detract from the soundtrack, as it boomed above all the ambient noises and theme music.

The voice acting, on the other hand, was hit or miss. The main characters have very good performances by their actors, but minor characters are just cliché. The writing is less than ideal, calling for the actors to curse every four words. Yes, I know these are bad men. They kill people. You don’t need to point it out every time they open their mouths.

Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days supports split screen and online coop and also sports three online multiplayer modes (Fragile Alliance, Cops and Robbers, and Undercover Cop). The coop is far more enjoyable then simply playing the title alone, avoiding the frustration of poor AI. The multiplayer modes are a fun addition and add a bit of time to this short story, but the multiplayer also seems to be repetitious, often ending in roughly the same way.

At the end of the day, Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days is not a perfect title. The graphics are poor, and the settings are unoriginal. But the game play mechanics are crisp and fun, the sound is lovely, and the details are enjoyable to explore. If you can look past the derivative story and have a Coop partner, this might be a title for you. Overall, it is a very fun title with fairly good replay value if the multiplayer is your cup of tea, but not as polished or critically brilliant as it could have been. If you are a fan of the first, looking for a good third person shooter, or are looking for solid coop gameplay, then you should take a good look at this title.

- Ben

Story: 12/25

Gameplay: 15/30

Graphics: 11/20

Audio: 12/15

Replayability: 7/10

Total: 57/100 Meh

Disney Sing It: Family Hits (Wii/PS3) Review

2010-08-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

Do you like “Tale as Old as Time” in Beauty and the Beast? How about “I’ll Make a man out of you” in Mulan? Or maybe “Part of Your World” in The Little Mermaid? Well, these songs and many other great hits did not make it into the final cut for Zoe Mode’s, Disney Sing It: Family Hits. However, there are many other enjoyable and not so enjoyable, songs within the game.

   When it comes to Karaoke games, Disney Sing it does many things correctly. When singing a song, the game will match your pitch with the song’s notes. Even on the hardest difficulty, there is a small margin of error to matching the two, not necessarily negative given the target audience. Children will not only enjoy singing-along to Cars and Monsters, Inc., but older generations can enjoy songs from Aladdin and Lion King. While playing the game we felt the warming sensation of the same Disney magic that touched us as kids. After singing your song you have the option to listen to your own recording. While listening to your performance you are offered with some limited options to edit your voice. These options are few and don’t do anything more than give you a few fleeting laughs while using them. The enjoyment you get out of this option is correlated to the enthusiasm the player gives to the song. With the exception of a few songs, the game is very easily mastered. We were able to jump right into the game, on the hardest difficulty, and receive high scores.

Some of the songs were not songs at all. They were simply reading text from the feeder. In particular, the “Work Song” from Cinderella movie was fifty percent talking, not singing. Songs like the “Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride” were difficult to get the correct words but still very entertaining to sing. At the end of the song you are rated on a 5-star scale; however, while singing there is no way to tell how close you are to the next grade without having a full understanding of how points translate to stars. In each song there are small sections that allocate extra points for success. This adds a little pressure to those spots, which generally fall during a chorus or well-known part of the song. This adds a positive aspect to the gameplay.

    Even though many of the songs have a full sequence of corresponding clips, they were edited incorrectly. Simply taking the sequence from the movies and putting into the game would have done much more for the song than the sequences they threw together. However, the video quality makes up for the lackluster movie clips. These clips continue to stalk you even when you try to escape to a serene menu. The pitch bars obstruct the screen so much that onlookers are unable to watch the video clips.

    The default audio settings for the game can be a little annoying. The game is set to have some voice playback while you are singing, making it difficult for the players to hear the actual song. Once this issue was resolved the audio quality becomes clear and a pleasure to listen to minus (potentially) the singer’s voice. The microphone bundled with the game results in occasional crackling and spotty coverage. There is no story in sight. No career mode, no characters, and no advancement beyond leader boards. Only quick play is present in this game.

    Ultimately, the biggest flaw of Disney Sing It: Family Hits is the limited song selection. Beyond personal preferences, the inclusion of songs without human-like voices detracts from the experience, especially given the totality of Disney’s vault of songs. This could be forgiven if an online store was incorporated within the game for additional a-la-carte purchases, but alas there is not. The party play modes are what will keep most players coming back, and for the most part these modes are successful. Specifically duet mode with two microphones allows each player to play the role as one of the characters in the song. Solo play is limited because of the lack of online leader boards. While it may take a few tries, you will continue trying to become a SUPERSTAR! at your favorite songs.

     Disney Sing It: Family Hits is a brilliant concept: take classic Disney songs and put them in a karaoke game. However, a few failings in execution and the lack of downloadable songs hurt the overall experience enough to stop this game from receiving a full recommendation. We encourage you to look at the song list. If by chance your top thirty Disney songs are on there, you will most likely have a ton of fun with the game.

   -Dew and JB

6/10 Solid

Kinect: an Addendum to an Impression

2010-08-02T01:34:00.001-07:00

As time has passed, additional demos have arrived at the Kinect display at the Mall of America; as such, the clouds of mystery around the device have rolled back to reveal a more complete picture. Therefore, it is my honor to share with you my expanded impression.

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved

If you’ve read the initial impression of Kinect, you’ll recall my looking forward to fitness-based gameplay. This is the vanguard of, what will likely be, a torrent of just such titles. The demo of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved contained yoga, tai chi, virtual fitness trainers, and aerobic exercises. The title “scans” the players body, measuring height, shoulder broadness, arm length, etc, and creates a sort of mold of the player. It is not really an avatar, per se, in that it is an orange fluid object shaped generally like you. Over all, the demo registered movements very well, down to finger position. What I believe will make these titles succeed over similar fitness titles for Nintendo’s Wii Fit or Sony’s PlayStation Move is that you know when you are doing the movement properly due to the body mapping.

Kinectimals

This is a title that will undeniably put a Kinect on the top of most Christmas lists and beneath most Yuletide trees. It is a cute, kid friendly title that brings ridiculous quantities of glee to any child that played it. At the start, you choose your pet (the demo allowed for you to choose between a lion and a cheetah though there will likely be more) and give him a name. From then on, you train your pet in particular movements: jumping, rolling, and chasing his tail. At the end of the demo, you take your pet on the obstacle course that includes hurdles, a tunnel, and a balance beam. The game incorporates both voice and motion controls. You verbally name your pet and are able to pair the tricks to a voice command. The demo, over all, reminded me of a stationary Nintendogs, which is in no way a criticism. This game will likely be very popular among young audiences; after all, it’s an exotic pet without the mess.

Joy Ride

This title isn’t for the realistic racer fans out there, but it will give a wholly enjoyable comical karting experience. The demo had a trick mode, consisting of a half-pipe where one performs tricks and collects tokens for points, and a classic racing mode, where players face off against AI in a head to head dash to the finish line. This is a very basic racer as far as these eyes can discern; however, the controls are very unique and refreshing. The vehicle handles surprisingly well with the motion controls; I was able to make very fine course corrections without sliding out of control. Beyond just turning, the player is able to boost by pulling their arms into their body then rapidly pushing out, drift by leaning into turn, and perform spins or spins with arm movements or leaning backwards or forwards respectively. The finished title also promises online play so you can battle with family and friends from the comfort of your own home.

Dance Central

I have to admit, since E3 we at Media Cows have been greatly anticipating getting our hands on this title. We have always been fans of rhythm titles like Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, and even Donkey Kong Jungle Beat but have just recently become a tad jaded by the many spin-offs and knockoffs. It was our hope that a game that would, to some extent, teach you actual dance steps will reinvigorate our passion. The demo allows a player (with up to two back up dancers) to bust a move to their selected track from a variety of different genres. The demo had Poker Face, Funky Town, Galang '05, Hella Good, Poison, and Body Movin' (Fatboy Slim Remix), though the complete game will of course be much more endowed. The screen displays your running score, a queue of upcoming dance moves, and a lead dancer with two back up dancers for you to mimic. That’s right, the dancers do not follow your movements at all. Instead, they simply show you how you should look. We did find it odd that only the lead dancer was scored, even though the Kinect tracks the motions of one’s backup dancers. We hope there will be some form of team scoring when the game is released. We were also quite thrilled that songs had distinct movements, based on their particular genre. Every song had a distinct feel to the dance style. So, we stepped up before the crowds at the Mall of America with so many curious onlookers and gave it our best go. This title is amazingly fun.

-Ben

Kinect: a Hands on Impression

2010-08-02T01:33:00.001-07:00

The Twin Cities and their surrounding suburbs have been afforded quite the treat, a glimpse into the not so distant future of gaming for those brave enough to peer into the crystal ball. Microsoft constructed a pavilion at the Mall of America, giving hands on (pun intended) demonstrations. Honestly, I must applaud the marketing strategy. Kinect is an experience like no other I’ve experienced in all my years of gaming; giving that experience – selling the dream of gaming free from the tether of a controller to be more precise – to families, children, and consumers at large will, without a doubt, positively influence sales.

And from where I’m standing, the Kinect will be selling like wildfire this holiday season. The Kinect is fun. This is an undeniable fact. We would have been hard pressed to find an individual who wasn’t having a good time while playing. Parents encouraged their children, friends struggled against one another for high scores, and onlookers and passersby could not help but crack a smile at the flailing children or the glee plastered on the participant’s faces. As far as The Media Cows is concerned, we were all quite thrilled by its performance but found a few noticeable problems with the demos, particularly that our motions were not always represented in real time.

And now, for the nuts and bolts:

Kinect Sports:

This title will be familiar to most people, since it is quite similar to Wii Sports. This is not exactly a new title, but this is not detrimental to it in the least. Bowling and Hurdles were on display. Bowling was surprisingly difficult in this reviews opinion. It was not at intuitive as Wii Bowling, but you seem to have much more control over the balls movement. I had quite a load of difficulty in directing the ball, but my editor-in-chief showed much more skill. The general consensus about bowling is that it will reward those who put time into mastering the mechanics.

Track and Field showed us hurdles (Javelin and Long Jump will be included). The demo is solid and allowed for up to two players to race one another. Running in place designates the speed at which your avatar moves, and hurdling is all about timing. The game is not revolutionary in and of itself, but it hints at something quite wonderful. Motion controls are a total body experience, meaning one can have a quality exercise experience. My Executive Editor was sweating after the demos, and I am still sore. Since the body is completely monitored, yoga and dance based games will require you to do all of the physical activity, meaning a full body workout. It’s a sign of good things to come.

Kinect Adventure:

Three games from Kinect Adventures were available to demo as well, River Rush, Rally Ball, and an obstacle course. These games could best be described as addicting. They are all quite simple and intuitive at their core, but were very enjoyable to play. River Rush puts one (or two) player(s) in a raft rushing down a raging river. The goal is to make it through gates and collect tokens to score points. Playing with a second player requires that both people’s actions are sync, making it quite a bit more difficult. There are also alternative paths through the course, allowing for one to figure out the best possible course to take. The game play was solid, the controls crisp, and replay value will be high.

Rally Ball seems to be an updated version of Breakout, a 1976 game from Atari with countless remakes. The player is put at one end of a hall and is required to destroy blocks at the other end. The ball bounces back towards the player who then attempts to smash the ball back towards the blocks. I was surprised at the level intricate movement. The difference between a hand being at the on o’clock and the two o’clock position is distinct. Points are scored by the speed in which one completes the level and the amount of balls one keeps in play. Over all, it is a very fun title, even though there seems to be a slight (but noticeable) lag between one’s movements and the movement’s of one’s avatar. If this lag can be at all remedied, the game will be spot on brilliant.

Over all, the obstacle course was our favorite demo. Up to two people face off by attempt to dodge obstacles by jumping, sidestepping, and ducking while reaching the end in the fastest time possible time possible. Timing is key, and prudence in pace is greatly rewarded. Go too fast and you cannot avoid any of the obstacles. Every action followed your own movements in real time. Over all, it has the most various actions of any of the demos.

In conclusion, we at Media Cows found the Kinect greatly satisfactory. Even though these were geared towards family play, the games were utterly enjoyable to all audiences. The controls were crisp and fun to use. Minute details in movements were tracked. However, these games require the player to get into the actions, not just sit back. Sure, you may look a little silly swatting at invisible balls or jumping up and down, but the experience is worth it. The only concern I have is that there was some lag issues, but I have no doubt that this can be remedied before the complete game is released. I cannot wait to sink my teeth into Fable 3 or other more mature titles. We look forward to giving you a complete review of the Kinect when it is released in November.

- Ben

P.S. Take a look at our Youtube Channel for game play footage.

Singularity (PC/X360/PS3) Review

2010-08-02T01:32:00.001-07:00

Something I have found interesting since I have joined Media Cows is the opportunity to play games I would have never played otherwise. Singularity is one of these games. From frightening pop out moments, to the time controlled game play, Singularity surprises me in many different ways.

Hit the jump to read the rest!

Right away you notice the scenery of the game and the detail the developer, Raven Software, put into the game. The details of the waves crashing onto the shores to the EMP blast that crashes your helicopter are remarkable. There are times where you feel like you are back in the midst of the cold war. You find audio clippings of survivors, giving a back-story to the destruction of the island and old movie reels that teach the inhabitance of the island the reason for them being there.

Much like other games the beginning is meant to give a feel for the game and learn the controls. There are a few different types of abilities in the game. An aging system that allows one to turn very old objects into brand new medical or ammo boxes or turn an enemy solider into a zombie like creature, allows for a creative and fun game play. There are two different groups of enemies in Singularity, traditional “bad” Russian human solider to the creepy mutated creatures. The Russian soldiers have the basic layout for a enemy troop, the light, medium, and heavy trooper. The creatures can vary from basic zombie like creature that will come at you even without legs to the teleporting gorilla ones that don’t want to die. The enemy variation can is great with the monsters however, the soldiers lack the variation of the creatures and there were many times where you feel like you were fighting the same enemy in a different location.

In order to combat these enemies, Singularity gives you a few different weapons. Pistols, Shotguns, and a rifle are the standard weapons. As you progress through the game you unlock more weapons including, a sniper rifle and a grenade launcher. In addition to the aging ability, you have the ability to have time control, create your own shock blast, and alter gravity. Similar to RPGs you are allowed to upgrade your weapons and abilities. Scattered throughout the game were “use until you run out of ammo” weapons. For example, one of the weapons allowed you to control your bullet in slow motion until it ran into something. This allowed you to not only kill enemies from very far away but also to scout very far in the map without endangering your character.

Probably the most impressive part of this game was the audio and visual combination. The beginning of this was a very frightening experience for me. I started playing this game late at night, all alone, with all the lights out. And I was scared. The creature’s sounds and the game’s soundtrack just added to the freakiness of the game. I joy I felt when I finally met up with my AI bud, is hard to explain. However, as the game progressed I became more accustomed to the sound and began to expect where scary sequences to occur.

One of the reasons for the game getting less scary later in the game was due to the main character being overpowered. It seemed that your character was always one step ahead of the enemies. I constantly found myself battling enemies that I should have faced two levels earlier. Although creepy, the AI was fairly easy to beat and a simple “run around in circles” strategy would work most of the time. Also coming into the game I had expected a little more interaction with the environment. The interactions that are available are very entertaining and fun, but the game could do with some more.

Along with the scary aspects of game the developers did a very good job to add some comical efforts in the game. Some of the things they did in the game would scare the crap out of me, but at the same time I was able to realize how awesome it was. For example, as I was exploring a room for more ammo and health I came to a old camera. I fixed it up with my aging ability and took the picture. A blinding white light took over the screen for a few seconds and then the pictures came out of the camera. Upon looking closer to the picture you notice a monster many rounds from the shotgun.

Overall the game deserves to be looked at and is a good game. If you are looking for a horror game with some very fun game aspect I can confidently recommend this game for you.

82/100

Team Fortress 2 (X360/PS3/PC/MAC) Review

2010-08-02T01:25:00.000-07:00

The publisher Valve has created a plethora of great games over the years. Some of these games include the Half Life Sagas, The Puzzle Shooter Portal, and zombie thriller Left 4 Dead. However, the game we bring to you today Team Fortress 2. Made in the image of Team Fortress and Team Fortress Classic, Team Fortress 2 takes the styles of both games and recreates a simply remarkable experience. Hit the jump to read the full review!

This game is hailed as the FPS that all can enjoy. From unique class based combat to comical death animations, you will find hours of entertainment waiting for you. Something that makes Team Fortress 2 unique is the different classes. Many other games only emphasize weapon upgrades from a standard character slate. Team Fortress 2 has those weapon upgrades, but instead of just one, you have 9 very different character slates from which you can choose and upgrade. Thus, giving each class their own unique spirit. From the quick and nimble scout to the slow, hard hitting heavy; anyone can find something that matches their own personal play style.

Out of the 9 different classes you can find in the game the first one we will talk about today is the Scout. The scout uses the advantages of agility, speed, and the unique double jump trait to kill its enemies while dodging damage. You will need every bit of advantage you have to dodge damage for the Scout only has 125 health, the lowest in the game. Scout’s weapons are most effective at close range. Armed with a scattergun, which is an upgraded shotgun, the Scout maneuvers close to an enemy, blasts him with a couple rounds, and then runs away. The secondary weapon for the Scout is a basic pistol. Good for running away while firing to try to damage the enemy. The melee weapon for the scout is a metal bat, crushing his enemies with fast swings of glory. With the Scout’s speed and agility a player is capable of doing a great deal of damage to the enemy.

The second of the nine classes is the Solider. Using a rocket launcher, the solider is able to deal a great amount of damage with one hit. However, the solider is the second slowest class in the game. He makes up for this by using the rocket jump ability. This is accomplished by shooting a rocket at his feet, which then propels him in the desired direction. You might ask, “Doesn’t shooting a rocket at your feet kill you?” Well it does deal damage, however the Solider has 200 health, enough to spare. The secondary weapon for the solider is a basic shotgun and he also carries a trench style shovel for melee combat. Overall, the solider makes for a strong, offensive, and aggressive class.

The third class in Team Fortress 2 is the Heavy. This big boned man carries a machine gun, spitting thousands of bullets at his enemies every second. Already being the slowest character in the game, the heavy becomes even slower when he is firing his machine gun. With this disadvantage one might expect the heavy to have a lot of health and one would be right. The heavy has the most health in the game sitting at 300. Because of the fast rate of fire the heavy often uses up all of the machine guns ammo. When this occurs he switches to his secondary weapon, the shotgun. On the rare occasion an enemy gets with in melee range, the heavy drops his gun and pulls out his trusty fists. Used correctly, the Heavy can be an effective defensive and offensive character.

The fourth class is the Demoman. This one eyed explosive expert uses a grenade launcher combined with a sticky bomb launcher to reduce his enemies to bit and pieces. At 175 health, the Demoman is tied for the third most health in the game. His speed does not suffer due to the extra health. However, he needs this health in order for him to be one of the faster travelers in the game. This is accomplished by sticky jumping. Similar to rocket jumping, the Demoman plants a sticky bomb on the ground in front of him, then he detonates it while walking over the bomb. This propels him in the direction he wants. Different from rocket jumping because the Demoman can go a lot further than a solider could. The Demoman carries his trusty bottle of alcohol to smash his enemy’s skulls should they get too close. This class is great at laying down traps, making him an impressive defensive player. However, due to his high damage output he can also make a strong offensive class.

When it comes to defense there are none better than out fifth class, the Engineer. A unique trait to the engineer is he can build items to benefit his team. One of these items is a sentry gun. The sentry gun has three different stages. On the first stage the sentry gun is relatively weak, only shooting out bullets that deal a small amount of damage. Upon improvement it to level 2; the sentry gun is upgraded with two machine guns. The two machine guns shoot more rapidly and deal more damage than the level 1. At level 3 the sentry gun is upgraded with a rocket launcher. Another item an engineer can build is a dispenser. The dispenser supplies health and ammo to nearby allies. The higher the building level the more ammo and health it will give out. The third and final building is a teleporter. Each time an ally takes the teleporter there is a small cool down time before it can be used again. As the teleporter is upgraded to higher levels the cool down time is decreased. With average health, and only a basic shotgun and pistol as the engineer’s weapons, he has to rely on his buildings to defend him in battle. The engineer uses a wrench to build and upgrade his buildings and also to give enemies a good whack on the head, should they get too close. Without a doubt, defense is what the engineer was built for.

Another support class is the Sniper, our sixth character. Using the traditional ways of a marksman, the sniper uses a rifle to deal great amounts of damage from far away. With the sniper rifle the when it is zoomed in it starts a charge. The longer it is zoomed the great the charge gets and the more damage that shot will do. A fully charged headshot will kill any class in the game, even a fully over-healed heavy. The sniper also carries a SMG. The SMG’s bullets do not deal a great amount of damage, so be prepared to shoot a lot of bullets. The sniper’s melee weapon is a Kukri, basically a fancy machete. It is a great weapon when enemies get a little close for comfort. The sniper is used in both offensive and defensive situations and is great support class.

Our next class is probably the most important in the game. It can be a game winner if you have one and not having one can cause your team’s downfall. Yes, the Medic is a very important class. Being the primary healer, the medic is often very busy. The Medic’s secondary weapon, the Medigun, is the most important weapon for him. This gun shoots streams of health at his allies, slowly healing them over time. As the Medic heals his allies he slowly builds his Ubercharge. Once it reaches 100% the medic can unleash the charge, which causes the Medic and his ally to become invincible for 8 seconds. Another special ability for the medic is his regenerative health. While outside of combat the medic naturally heals every second. The longer he is out of combat the more health he gets per second. Sometimes, the Medic can find himself alone and has to kill the enemies on his own. For this the Medic is equipped with a Syringe Gun and for close combat, a bone saw to tear his enemies in half. If a team wants to be successful, the Medic is a MUST.

Our second to last class, and one of the hardest classes to play, is the Spy. Only having 125 health makes it very hard to maneuver around the enemy team. He makes up for his low health by doing two things. Being able to disguise as an enemy and being able to turn invisible. Using these two abilities the spy sneaks up on enemies and stabs them in the back with his butterfly knife. If he misses the back and hits the front of the enemy the knife will deal very little damage. However, if the spy hits the back it is an instant kill. Caution, upon attacking, the spy will lose his disguise. The spy is also equipped with an Electro-Sapper, which when places on building renders them useless and slowly drains the health from them. Using one of these devices does not reveal your disguise. An Electro-Sapper can be removed by an engineer with his wrench, so you want to make sure to kill the engineer before he can do that. The spy can be a very fun class to play, but is a very difficult class to master.

The last class to talk about is the Pyro. First glances tell the player the Pyro is a very easy class to play. However, as you delve deeper into him, it becomes more apparent the Pyro is a very complicated class. The Pyro’s main weapon is a flamethrower. Spitting flames at close range targets and setting them alight. Once caught on fire, the enemy burns for 5-6 seconds. A very important role for the Pyro is to spy check. This is performed by burning just about everything. If a Pyro is burning an ally and they light on fire that most likely means they are a disguised enemy spy. Sometimes an enemy is too far for the flamethrower to reach, which is when the Pyro takes out his shotgun to finish off the enemies. Having tied for the 3rd most health at 175, allows the Pyro to be a very offensive character. However, this is where the Pyro is often overlooked. Because of his compression blast, a secondary attack on the flamethrower that allows the Pyro to air blast an enemy or enemy projectile backwards, and the ability to spy check, the Pyro can be an vital part of a team’s defense. Another defensive ability for the Pyro is to put out burning allies. If a Pyro see’s a burning ally he simply needs to compression blast the ally to put him out. The list seems to go on and on for the Pyro’s abilities which does make the Pyro a very fun and complicated class.

As a multiplayer, Team Fortress 2 is one of the best of its kind. With Valve adding new content including; new weapons, new maps, and new hats, the player is promised an exciting game every time they play.

95/100