Publisher:
Activision
Developer:
Neversoft Entertainment
Release date:
Jun 28 2008
Reviewed on:
XBOX360

I bought this game by mistake, literally. Who could have realized one innocent click of the mouse would cause me so much grief. I am normally a big fan of the Guitar Hero/Rock Band franchises ,but I had no desire to play this one. Earlier this year, Activision and Neversoft brought us Guitar Hero Aerosmith. It is not necessarily a bad game, because it doesn’t really do anything wrong, it just doesn’t do enough.

Game play is the same as in the other entries in the series: Hold the corresponding buttons as they scroll down the screen and strum the guitar. The career track list is a paltry thirty-one songs, plus one battle written by Joe Perry. This is supplemented by only ten unlockable tracks and no downloadable content. While this meager offering amounts to only one song less than Guitar Hero 3′s set list, it still doesn’t feel like enough. Of these songs, a little over half are by Aerosmith which is no surprise and not a bad thing for fans of the band. The unfortunate thing is that two of these songs we have already played in other games such as “Dream On” which is downloadable in Guitar Hero 3, and “Train Kept a Rollin” from Rock Band.

This may seem like bashing, but what I’m trying to point out is that there is very little at all to this game and it still retails as a full priced title. On a positive note, as you progress through the career within the game you get a brief distraction through interviews with the band which are pretty entertaining. The career mode plays out as a kind of Biography special about the band with short videos at the beginning of each set list, which then can be purchased and viewed later. I was glad to see the guitar battles return for this game and playing them online is pretty fun, but once again nothing new here and the real fun comes from playing with someone there with you.

Within one sitting you can get through this game and then it will just sit on a shelf collecting dust. Guitar Hero Aerosmith would have done a lot better with a cheaper price tag, or merely as downloadable content for one of the franchise’s many other games. With Guitar Hero Metallica now on the horizon, let’s hope Neversoft can bring us something worth spending our hard earned money on.

Grade: D

Publisher:
Valve
Developer:
Turtle Rock Studios
Release date:
Nov 17 2008
Reviewed on:
PC

Finally we can stop running for a moment. The brief moments where we can simply catch our breath are now like taking a tropic vacation. Hell, the zombies have probably made it to that region as well. One thing is for sure, this virus created by Turtle Rock and Valve sure has spread at an unbelievable pace. It seems that everyone I know has been Left 4 Dead.

The only thing that has made facing this horde possible, and in a perverse way fun, is that I am accompanied by three friends. The need to work together is not only something that is encouraged, but is an absolute necessity as some of the mutations of this virus have produced zombies that are simply too strong or cunning to stand against alone. Helping each other up and repairing one another’s wounds is key to keeping us all living to the next safe room.

One of the more remarkable qualities about this outbreak is that our travels have a pacing that I swear almost mimic that of a good horror film. Like movies have taught us, if it is quiet it will be crazy soon, and the supplies you need will end up just where you need them. Speaking of supplies, everywhere we go we keep finding the same damned guns. While all of them fire great and have a nice feel about them, I sometimes wish to be firing anything different if only to give more variety to dispatching all of the infected that we must. Speaking of variety, I find it odd that all of us are equally matched in abilities and skills. Be you a biker or a white collar worker it seems that fighting the infected is all the same.

While we have seen numerous places in our travels, they all have the same flow and outcome. We are always looking for the next safe haven and the journey there means a lot of running. There also seems to be a guarantee that there will be several spots where we hunker down as a door or lift will signal a tide of nasties rushing right at us.

The chase that we are living through is made ever more interesting when the infected seem as though they are controlled by human intelligence. I can imagine it, picking where to strike from, watching us survivors from the shadows. It would come down to picking us off one by one, almost heckling someone that is just desperately running. It seems that out of the four locations we visit though only two have infected that have that human intelligence, and in a weird way that is really disappointing. Gotta stop having thoughts about being infected, no matter how fun…

Friends are really what making it through everything is all about, as our travels to safety take just over four hours. I could make this journey over and over with friends by my side, but as a solo venture once is definitely enough. Overall, this experience is something that I will be going through for months to come, but as it is, it seems to be missing a few things key to what I would have considered perfect. Maybe little things are sticking out only because the core is so irresistible.

Grade: A

Publisher:
EA
Developer:
Pandemic Studios
Release date:
Aug 30 2008
Reviewed on:
XBOX360

The true reason for developing sequels is not to fix broken gameplay mechanics or devise new ways to punish players who thought the same tricks would work the second time around. It is to improve the name of the previous game in those cases that a poor one was chosen.

Take Mercenaries 2: World in Flames for example. Developed by Pandemic Studios, the sequel to Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction has made the leap to next gen systems. A different publisher was used, as well. With Lucasarts passing on the title, this let newcomer EA broaden its small stable of titles.

Everyone knows EA isn’t a newcomer to game publishing. That’s just silly… Almost as silly as the title Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. When reviewing a game, it is important to look at the aspects that sequels should strive for. Any game jumping from Xbox to Xbox 360 should display much improved graphics, more immersive sound, and all-around better presentation. The absolute slammer with this title is just HOW much they improved the bite of the actual name of the game. They passed on Mercenaries 2: Demolition Dollhouse. They could have settled with Mercenaries 2: Ruckusing Rampagin’. EA could have even taken the easy way out and publish it as Mercenaries 2: Playing in the Sandbox a Second Time.

World in Flames isn’t really an apt title. This title focuses the action towards Venezuela instead of North Korea as in Playground of Destruction. There is no lack of burning in the game, as the plot regularly features backstabbing and betrayal. All of it is delivered with, at the very best, average dialogue. But as far as the world being in flames… during my time with Mercs 2 the only burning was the one I was dishing out.

Heat effects at times are far too glaring; knocking out an ammo bunker would practically sear my plasma TV in an ocean of red. Spilling from the bright light would be volumes of frame-y smoke causing the game engine to chug and gripe. No, Mr. Mercenary! Don’t use your big boom weapons because it gives me a headache!

It is a good thing that Pandemic has allowed the player to overcome shaky smoke clouds and overly angelic fire halos by giving them the ability to damn near destroy everything. If it looks like it is made of polygons the player can most likely destroy those polygons. Sound effects are spot on and in larger urban areas there is almost a rhythm or dare I say symphony of destruction accompanying the gunfire from both you and opposing Venezuelan forces. Music is much better than the original and is probably the largest leap as far as development skills by Pandemic. It is much more epic and even touching when it needs to be.

Mercenaries 2 also slyly slips some ruffies to a few other action game legends and nabs away with a few of their ideas. God of War minigames pop up when hijacking tanks. Checkpoints are either non-existent or frustratingly far apart, ala Grand Theft Auto. A new developer to the sandbox arena would have an excuse for such blatant rip offs. Stealing the good is great; really it is. The God of War “minigame to accomplish actions that make little sense with buttons or motions” has been used successfully from Wii to PC. Relax the checkpoints though. Games can still be made difficult without the need for the player to hear their hot field op chick on the walkie tell you the 5th time: “Don’t let them shoot the car in front of you!” Civilians are great to kill in GTA. Except for the random mission that seems to deny you the fun taking out a line of pedestrians is a God-given right in such sandbox titles. Pandemic charges you 5000 dollars a POP.

A new focus on multiplayer was made with Mercenaries 2. I applaud Pandemic for focusing their vision with this game; co-op is the only multiplayer available. The silliness of 24 or more mercenaries all blowing themselves up is too much to bear. It is heart-warming to see that Pandemic poured most of its resources into making the gameplay and presentation up to par with other games on the console.

That being said… no local co-op?! Obviously a decision based more on game engine capabilities than a design choice, it is still sad to see such a great idea passed by. In what boils down to a game that is State of Emergency, but fun for more than 2 minutes, local co-op is a missed opportunity. Perhaps we will see more in Mercenaries 3?

Overall, Mercenaries 2 manages to hang out with big boys GTA IV, Saint Rows 2, GoW 2, etc… It is a fun game made by a developer that understands things going boom is a great way to spend a Saturday. Thankfully, Pandemic imbues the game with enough depth to keep it from falling into a State of Emergency.

Grade: B

Publisher:
EA
Developer:
EA Mythic
Release date:
Sep 17 2008
Reviewed on:
PC

A bright red fireball flies past you from behind. To your right an automated gun fires at approaching enemies. You look to your left and then right, warriors stand beside you, ready for battle. The horns of battle sound and you begin to charge the enemy lines. Savage Orcs pick apart a lone human. Blood splatters your face as you and your friends tear into a goblin. He goes down, and suddenly the scenario is over. Your side has won this time, but perhaps next time you won’t be as lucky. This is WAR.

Whenever we talk about a massive multiplayer game, we have to look at the competition. The competition in this case is the ever present World of Warcraft. Many MMOs strive to set themselves apart from the beast that is WoW, and in doing so, usually shoot themselves in the foot. Warhammer, better known as WAR, seems to have done the opposite. The environment feels very much like Warhammer, there is no mistaking it; however there is a slight bit of familiarity with the game. In the back of your mind you are always thinking that Warhammer is quite unique, but oddly similar to World of Warcraft. This isn’t a problem, more of a welcome for many gamers. Most would choose play something familiar to them with unique elements, rather than a game that touts how it is as far from what is now known as the standard.
In a game full of player versus player combat, the key to success is balance. The designers at Mythic seemed to have dosed off a few times during this class in school, and it certainly shows. Ideally, you want all classes to feel very powerful in some regards, and weak in others. This doesn’t seem to be the case with Warhammer. Some classes are all around weak, where as others are over powered. This is seen quickly in the PVP scenarios, where one healer can prevent a mass of players from taking down an enemy, or where one class of player is firing away at enemies, only to see minimal damage. Mythic has promised an overhaul of the classes, known as careers, to fix the problem of balance. Time will tell with this one. As the game gets patched and fixed, some careers will become too powerful, as others are under powered.

A gamer rarely enjoys a game that crashes on their system, and this will hold true for Warhammer. The amount of bugs and ways to crash the game client are atrocious. While anyone can agree that there are going to be problems with a game of this magnitude, especially when it comes to a new release, the time it is taking for Mythic to fix these issues is equally disappointing. Simply put, if your game is messed up in a way that subscribers cannot play for an extended time without crashing, you either need to fix it, or your subscribers will leave. Mythic is slowly seeing the light with these, but for some, it is too little, too late.

The claim that Warhammer Online is all about PVP is quite true. While there are plenty of quests that one can accomplish, most of the time played will be in scenarios. Scenarios differ depending on what level bracket a player is at, but most have about the same objectives. Capture an item, hold on to it, or hold certain key areas. As the player levels, and eventually moves from bracket to bracket, they will change scenarios. This is a welcome pace, as the player is always introduced to new and exciting areas to do battle; it also prevents players from playing in areas once they have surpassed the level restriction. Scenarios are exciting, not only because they are different, but because they offer the player a chance to level their character, without the tedious work of questing.

Any MMO player can tell you that questing is the backbone of most massive multiplayer games, and Warhammer Online is no exception. Player versus player scenarios are always available, however for those interested, questing has its rewards. Public quests, which involve all players in an area, are a great way to meet new people, as well as gain valuable rewards. Soloable quests are littered throughout each town, as well as quests to complete in PVP scenarios. The choice is giving to the player on how he or she wants to level their character.
Warhammer Online is a welcome addition to the massive multiplayer scene. The unique blend of PVP oriented game play, as well as familiar user interface settings, options, and areas allow for anyone to pick the game up and be ready to play. Plagued with numerous bugs and crashes, as well as a lack of career balance may turn off those eager to play. As stated before, only time will tell with this title. Can it be something to compete with the major MMOs, or will it fall by the wayside like other games on the Massive Multiplayer battlefield.

Grade: B

Publisher:
Ubisoft
Developer:
Ubisoft Montreal
Release date:
Sep 09 2009
Reviewed on:
XBOX360

My time with Far cry 2 began with a jeep ride across the African Savannah as my guide explains to me the local politics. It seems as though a weapons dealer known as The Jackal has been supplying guns to both sides of the current war between the APR and the UFLL and my job is to find and eliminate him. The situation quickly turns from bad to worse as I contract malaria, get caught in a firefight, and have to quickly escape town. From here, things open up and I have a bit more freedom. I do some work for rebels to complete the tutorial stages and then I’m on my own. To anyone familiar with open world games this is nothing new, a clear objective but a long way to get there and it’s up to you to decide how to go about it.
Far cry 2 gives us 50 square kilometers of wilderness to explore, every inch of which is like stepping into a work of art. Everything reacts naturally, from wind effects to the rippling of water as boats go by. Fire spreads with the wind forcing you to carefully consider where and when you toss that Molotov cocktail. Even the AI can be counted on to react well in most cases, hiding in the bush and trying to flank you.

I was impressed by the size of the game and the length of the single player campaign, with missions for both warring factions as well as for friends, gun dealers, and others. But what holds the game back is also one of it’s biggest selling points. With such a large amount of terrain to cover there is a whole lot of nothing. I spent a lot of time driving around with little to break the monotony, and some missions will have you driving from one end of the map to the other. The only thing there to break it up are military check points you must fight through, but after a while these just become tedious. With that said, there is not much else to complain about. All the weapons you use work well, and are realistic. Older guns show abuse and may jam or even explode if the chamber is not manually cleared.

The malaria twist is a fantastic way of keeping you in check and helps to add a sense of realism and tension to the game play. When the effects of the disease start to show heavily you can take a pill to hold them off, but run out of pills and you will have to find more. This will require side missions being done that will show you more of what is going on in the world and who is being effected by the war.
Watching my character take care of his wounds was a trip, he will pull bullets from his body using pliers, pat out flames when on fire, and even use matches to cauterize wounds. More moderate wounds are taken care of using medicine found liberally throughout the game in the form of syringes.

Multiplayer lacks variety, offering only four match types: Deathmatch, Team DM, Capture the Diamond(flag), and Uprising where players fight to secure multiple checkpoints then take down the opposing team’s leader. Weapons are upgradeable, and six classes are available in online play. What really brings you back to multiplayer though is the custom maps. FC2 allows you to build custom maps for multiplayer play with a very detailed map editor. Many terrain features are available as well as buildings, bridges, and many vehicles even hang-gliders. As an example of the detail, I recently played a match on a very well done reproduction of Halo 3′s Valhalla map. It took a little getting used to but after a short while I was creating maps like a pro.

With all the titles coming out this holiday season this could very well be one that falls to the wayside. Don’t let it. With an engrossing story that will keep you coming back for more, gorgeous graphics, spot on game play, and a map editor and multiplayer that will keep things lively long after the single player campaign is over with, this is one game you should not miss.

Grade: A

Publisher:
Ignition Entertainment
Developer:
Artoon
Release date:
Sep 01 2008
Reviewed on:
PS3

I have been dealing with vampires for a long time, from Castlevania to the Legend of Kain series. They have always provided an interesting jumping point for evil in all veins of entertainment. To the core, their life blood is that of darkness and sexual energy. Now evil has morphed into a new design, that of boredom, and the vampire is there as well to greet us.

Vampire Rain probably could have made for an acceptable game on the Nintendo 64. Not a great game, but people would have more willingly accepted the blocky level design. Perhaps they would have been fine with the ultra linear, one option through any given situation gameplay. Maybe the dull lifeless city would have seemed far more interesting to someone playing on such a limited system. However, as I sit in front of a Playstation 3 running Vampire Rain, I find the idea of Pong refreshing.

The most painful thing about this game, seriously it hurt worse than Haze to play, is that it is absolutely boring. Bad games, like bad movies have things that are unintentionally funny or are worth getting frustrated with, but Vampire Rain is without any of those almost redeeming qualities. I found myself coming up with chores to do, opting to wash dishes over having to play this title for review. I will let you know that my playtime totals about 3 hours, so if you feel that I am making an uninformed opinion you can stop reading now.

How you fail by combining Splinter Cell with vampires is beyond me. Even when hit with many terrible reviews of the Xbox 360 release from last year, I kept thinking that there must be a redeeming quality. Do not expect that cheesy B movie quality other mashups in the past have delivered. This is no Jesse James meets Frankenstein’s Daughter. The story involves vampires secret lives. Just imagine the standard vampire story with a government agency that hunts them. Now imagine that it is a Sci-Fi made for TV original.

Traditionally, even the worst of games is made slightly better by its multiplayer. A group of people can always find a way to entertain themselves. Apparently that is not the case with Vampire Rain, as the servers are vacant and basically non-existent. Only after creating a server and waiting over ten minutes did I find another trapped in this purgatory and we proceeded to launch into a one on one deathmatch. The deathmatch follows the same outdated feel as the rest of the game. It consisted of a boring map with weapons strewn about haphazardly. After several minutes we finally saw one another and fired. After some time of killing one another I had a meter build up that allowed me to become a vampire and completely wreck the face of the other player, for a few seconds. This momentary transformation was the only glimmer I ever experienced in what is a total failure at entertainment. After about one and half maps the other player left the game, and so did I. Maybe you could have more fun in another mode of online play, but good luck finding someone to try it with you.

Vampire Rain consists a plot and idea that should create something amazing, but fail in every way imaginable. If vampirism is a curse for a terrible sin, playing Vampire Rain is punishment for something far worse.

Grade: F

Publisher:
Ubisoft
Developer:
Ubisoft Montreal
Release date:
Mar 17 2008
Reviewed on:
XBOX360

When it comes to the tactical shooter, the Rainbow Six series is certainly known as being at the head of the pack. With the recent release of Rainbow Six: Las Vegas 2, we can see that this claim still holds up. Las Vegas 2 brings more of the beautiful graphics we saw in the first game, an engaging story, a fun filled multiplayer experience, and some extra features that we certainly missed in the first one.

Graphically, Rainbow Six is top notch. The character models are beautiful, and show a great deal of detail. The weapons models are also quite appealing, and have a good size and feel to them. Simply put, they feel right looking in the hands of your character. The customization options available to your armor and gear also give a nice personal feeling, brining you closer to your character. With all of the appeal of the latest graphics being put out by the Unreal 3 engine powered game, it’s a shame to go into a multiplayer game or a terrorist hunt and see that your weapon is missing textures. While they will eventually load up, the fact that you are able to run about while they haven’t loaded is nothing but disappointment.

The single player side of Rainbow follows the story of Bishop, and how he intertwined into the first game. The player gets to play out events that happened right before the first Vegas, and then of course get to finish the job, playing after the cliffhanger of the first. The story is decent, although there is nothing original here. It is simply there to push you on, to take out more bad guys. The voice acting was a nice touch, although there are many times when it feels like your character, and your team mates, are being forced to speak their lines. During the beginning of the game, your character, says something to the effect of “Hey we are a team, and we take care of each other” at a point where it seems very out of place. This is something you experience frequently, during the course of the game.

Multiplayer is the reason why many of the Rainbow fans love these games. The first one had a strong following on the XBOX 360, and the second certainly delivers. Joining a multiplayer game is, for the most part, painless. There are times when the player will get thrown into a game that has a bad connection, however for the most part, games are easy to get into, and fun to play. Along with that, the time it takes to list the multiplayer games, especially the actual gauge on latency is horrendously shameful. Co Op is where this game shines. Joining in a game where players are actually working together is always rewarding, and produces a great deal of fun. While the issue of lag can still be present, it appears to operate more smoothly, playing a Co Op game. While playing the Co Op game, there is no easy way for a player to join in with another friend to play a match. The party system introduced in a few other games, where you are able to group up before joining a game is a great idea, and the ball was dropped with Rainbow in this regard.

The ACES system introduced in this game is, at the very least, interesting. This new feature allows a player to skill up in three areas of combat, those being assault, close quarters combat, and marksmanship. Specific actions gain points in one of these three areas, and each category has levels associated with it. Once you gain a level in a certain combat category, you will gain a reward. Even levels usually reward Bishop with a new weapon, while odd levels will give out experience. Experience is how Bishop gets promoted in Rainbow, which in turn allows access to extra gear and custom camouflage for your character. This option to wear custom camo is appealing in that what you wear in the single player game is also the same gear you are wearing when you play a multiplayer game. Moving from single to multiplayer also carries over the experience that you receive; therefore you can play through the single-player game and unlock extra weapons and gear, then join a match online and use that same unlocked gear to fight the enemy. All of the experience you gain during that multiplayer match is then carried over. If you get promoted in a online terrorist hunt match, jumping back into singleplayer will show that new rank on your shoulders.

The new features added to the sequel are, for the most part, welcome additions. The ability to sprint between cover is welcome, as sitting in the open is the quickest way to get taken out. Having the ability to tell your team when and where to throw a smoke grenade, or where to toss that frag grenade is certainly needed, however there are times when your team will get hung up, and aren’t able to throw that grenade. This usually happens when you are trying to get a grenade tossed up or down a set of stairs, or terrain that isn’t flat. The placement of enemies during the single-player mission has also been changed. While you still have the one or two goons that sit behind a door chatting about what’s going on, many of the enemies have been placed in obscure areas that you aren’t used to looking for. Many times there are enemies placed in areas that you can’t get to, but can still fire at, and at other times, you will see that there is a sniper sitting on top of a high-rise building trying to hit you. Varied enemy placement, combined with the greater control of your team, allows for a greater tactical feeling during the game.

The Rainbow Six series has certainly improved with the release of both of the Las Vegas titles, and the second in the series is a blast. Graphically, the game won’t disappoint, even though a few un-textured weapons are unsightly. The story is as generic as they come, and the voice acting is a bit forced, though it gets the job done by moving you from area to area. Multiplayer brings a lot of fun to this game. Players will certainly enjoy the Co Op Story mode and Terrorist Hunt Co Op, however the difficulty of getting in a game with a friend is aggravating. The customization options for your character are fun and rewarding, giving you that unique feel, and the ACES combat system does a good job of showing the player which areas he or she plays well in, and what areas they need work on. The features provided, such as the ability to tell your teammates to throw a grenade or the ability to sprint for short distances, is useful, and certainly are nice additions to a great game. Despite some minor flaws, Rainbow Six Las Vegas 2 certainly is a solid game, and an enjoyable experience.

Grade: B

Publisher:
Microsoft
Developer:
Silicon Knights
Release date:
Aug 18 2008
Reviewed on:
XBOX360

When it comes to the action RPG genre, there is a simple formula for success. That formula involves many different classes with unique abilities, different types of enemies with the same, a few boss fights thrown in for good measure, and a good story to keep the player occupied. Most action RPGs follow this formula very well and as a result are usually successful. It seems, however, the Too Human team didn’t feel the need to follow this formula. As a result, we end where this is a sloppy second rate game.

All RPGs revolve around their class system. The developers need to give the player many different options. Some players want that melee in your face fighters, whereas other players are going to want to stay at a distance and destroy their enemies with magical abilities. Too Human fails miserably when it comes to the class system. Instead of having several different options to choose from, you’re presented with five character classes possessing very few unique abilities. It’s true. The Berserker does slightly more melee damage and the commando is slightly better at range, but the key problem is that they are only slightly better in their specialties. What’s most aggravating than coming across an enemy that is completely invulnerable to a certain type of damage? If you’re the king when it comes to getting in someone’s face with your swords and you find that there’s an enemy that can only be killed with ranged attacks, this presents a problem. It no longer becomes fun slashing through your enemies. Instead, it becomes a task of figuring out which ones you can kill.

Varied enemies are really what make the game memorable. When you’re with your friends and you ask them about an enemy in game, the fun is in the fact that everyone knows what you’re talking about. This is going to be a problem with Too Human. The enemies you encounter in the beginning of the game are the same enemies you fight at the end of the game. There are a few unique mobs, but for the most part you’ll fight the same three or four different types of enemies. Some of them do have status changing effects such as the ability to poison you, set you on fire, slow you, or freeze you in place. Even so, the problem is there are so many of them that it still feels like you’re fighting the same enemy.
The boss fight is a staple of any game. The problem with the boss fights in this game stems from the fact that certain enemies are invulnerable to certain types of damage. Yes, that’s right. You have a boss that is actually invulnerable to your primary method of damaging them. Spending 20 or 30 minutes firing your ranged weapons at something until it dies; even though you are an expert in melee fighting doesn’t seem very fun.

Multiplayer is the last chance this game had to shine. Even with its flaws, having a good time slaying monsters with a few of your friends could more than make up for it. Something as simple as getting a group together to explore a dungeon is impossible. Instead, you are left with having to choose one person to play with, as co-op is the only option available. Playing cooperatively with a friend is loads of fun, but it seems that the match-making service enjoys dropping you into a group with someone not even close to your level. When the difficulty of the game is based on the level of the players inside, this becomes a huge problem.
Too human had a lot of potential. It really did. Is it a bad game? No, but it’s certainly not what it could have been. It seems that in an effort to make a unique title, the developers lost sight of what’s fun in a game. Instead, we’re left with a mediocre game covered in flaws. Had the developers followed in the footsteps of other more successful action RPGs, Too Human could have been a better title.

Grade: D

Publisher:
Tomy
Developer:
Eighting
Release date:
Oct 22 2007
Reviewed on:
Wii

There is a lot of pressure on Nintendo’s little white unit to produce some stellar games to go along with the new wave of casual titles that seem to have swept up the majority of buyers into the market. This year has already seen the release of both Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxy. Once you take into account the release of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess last year you can see that Nintendo has brought it’s big guns to bear and might be running low on steam. But as far as cracked out, balls to the wall, multiplayer action goes there is one title that is brought out time and time again as a reason to own a Wii, and that’s Super Smash Bros Brawl. Now one could argue that Mario Kart Wii could be just as big, but we’ve had most likely the best edition of that series on the DS for years now and I find that not many people have gotten tired of that cart yet. Smash has been dormant since Melee on the Gamecube and as long as you discount distant rip offs like the incredible Jump Ultimate Stars for the DS you are left with hole in Nintendo’s Wii lineup. Sure you have Mortal Kombat Armageddon, even Bleach: Shattered Blade to provide you with two-player ass kicking action but where is my four player smash fest? Your best bet until the allusive release date of Brawl is to be found in Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution.

Like the anime it is based on and like it’s name, the Naruto fighter series is convoluted to no end. The majority of the series was released as Gamecube exclusives to Japan only up until the anime itself began to air on western television. Your standard update methodology was applied to the Naruto fighting games: slightly pump up the roster each year to coincide with new characters in the show and tweak game play modes as needed based on customer feedback. The second entry in the series saw a great update in allowing up to four players to compete in a single match however, and since then the series as kept this feature to distinguish itself as the “other” four player fighting game available on Nintendo’s consoles.

During development of the first Wii Naruto fighter, developer Eighting and publisher Tomy made the decision to split up development for both sides of the Pacific. I applaud this decision because of the time gap between the anime in North America and Japan. Instead of only get a localized version of the Naruto fighting game from two years ago, Eighting has went ahead and developed a version tailored to go along with the current North American episodes. What this gives us is a series that isn’t dependant on waiting for the TV show to catch up to Japan in order to avoid “spoiling” anything by including characters that haven’t yet appeared in the show.

As with any fighting series that has had several editions and years of development time, you will find the game play in Naruto to be tight and refined, if a bit simplistic. The path that Eighting has taken in controller methods is great, basically the same that Nintendo is taking with Smash Brawl in that it offers a stunning amount of play methods across all of Nintendo’s support controllers. The game supports both the classic and Gamecube controllers, as well as a stand-alone wii remote setup and two different remote + nunchuck methods. Having played around with all the methods, I find myself actually coming back to the default remote + controller method for ease of use and because of a nice touch by the developer. When you connect with any of the special attacks, called jutsu in keeping with whole ninja them of course, you are allowed to enter in quick wii remote movements in order to pull off a few extras hits within the jutsu animation. It is a nice touch that gives the remote options a little more sex appeal.

Naruto is geared towards an easy to pick up difficult to master approach. Within moments of playing this game I could see how an experienced player could easily run circles around a novice. There is a certain level the game allows you to get to by button mashing, defeating the first 7 or 8 CPU opponents in single player mode is easy enough to do but those last couple take patience and skill. Your standard attacks are split up between weak and strong with a different effect when you press a direction in conjunction with the attack button. It is the same premise behind Smash Bros and Jump Ultimate Stars and it works very well in Naruto. Jumping is done by pressing up and a double jump (an extremely speedy one I might add for most of the fighters) is available. The game’s stages are 3D affairs involving obstacles to take refuge behind and launch surprise attacks as well as being able to knock your opponent off of ledges and score some sucker punches. Very ninja like. The key to the hidden complexity of the game, what draws the first player away from the gruff old timer is the sidestep system and to a lesser extend, the throw system. Like many fighting games, your fighter builds up an energy bar during battle that is used to execute the jutsu specials I spoke about earlier. What makes Naruto unique to me is that this bar builds extremely fast. A well placed decent length combo of 7 to 8 hits will built up this chakra bar to full. In addition to jutsu attacks, the chakra bar can be called open to do a substitution sidestep. Naruto uses two sidestep buttons, one to move you into the foreground and one to move you out of the foreground. When pressed while you are being attack, your chakra bar will deplete by about half and you will teleport behind the opponent. This will set up an immediate counter attack especially if your opponent is in the middle of a long string of attacks they cannot cancel of. It is important to remember that while you are counterattacking if the opponent has enough chakra they can substitute as well. This leads to a lot of quick short brawls punctuated by gaining better ground, hiding behind rocks, setting up specials, etc. While characters have their own distinct strengths and weaknesses, Guy for example is a close quarters jujutsu brawler, all characters have the ability to deal damage at various distances on the arena. Jutsu specials are accomplished by a simple button pressed followed by wii remote motions to strengthen the attack.

Throws are mapped to a single button for all characters and are very useful in setting up juggles outside of the character’s other launchers. They have a long cool down time even for faster characters, so you have to be careful and not grab unless you are very close to your opponent.

What you will find in Naruto Revolution is a slightly bumped up Gamecube port. Still lacking true 16:9 resolution and progressive scan, I am upset to see Eighting put the effort into developing an exclusive North American Wii release and not give it the level of shine that the console can put out. Comparing this game to one of the older Gamecube Clash of the Ninja games will yield a difference as animations are overall smoother and some effects are more predominate. Perhaps the two biggest transgressors are the incredibly pixilated shadows under ever fighter and the large frame rate loss in four player. While the game is still very much playable with four participants the dip is noticeable.

What does pass the grade is the attention to detail on each fighter. Seemingly picked up off the page itself, each character looks exactly how you would picture them from the manga or anime. Kakashi sports the same pouches in the same places as he does on TV. The cel shaded look works well with anime games and in the heat of an intense battle you really can see yourself as watching an episode. I especially enjoy Neji’s various defensive techniques and Temari’s wind gusts as examples of good-looking attacks.

Levels mimic those from the show and contain enough obstacles to mix things up without becoming too Smash Bros chaotic. Rocks and boxes are littered around each stage to hide behind and launch surprise attacks as well as very cool looking cut scenes that occur when knocking an opponent to the next level of the stage. Favorites here are the Nine Tails Cage stage and Hidden Sand Village stage.

Having watching the Japanese version of Naruto for several years, Naruto Revolution was actually the first time I have ever heard the English voices for the show. And man do they run the gambit. Some nail it, such as Orochimaru’s raspy snake infused threats. It is a shame the same cannot be said for the main character Naruto whose voice borders on ear numbingly painful. Luckily the majority of characters are at worse bland.

I have also been a sucker for flute heavy feudal Japanese sounds and the music summons what you would consider a ninja anime to sound like. Typical anime rifts accompanied by light wind instruments dominated the game’s soundtrack. I did notice the music was tied to stages not characters as you would find in Guilty Gear but with the abundance of stages I rarely hear the same tune over and over again. The music is suitably upbeat and accompanies the action well.

The most glaring omission to this package and the one that brings the score down terribly is the lack of online multiplayer. It is apparent Eighting is riding their Naruto releases as close to the “just update it as much as we have to in order to sell it” line. To be forgiving, I am considering this Wii edition of Naruto to be a brand new game and not harping on it for essentially just being a roster update. I never owned the Gamecube versions and consider Naruto Revolution to be a very new creation even if I did own the older Clash of the Ninjas. However, if I look at this as a Wii game and not a slightly uplifted Gamecube port then not having Internet play is a terrible blow to the game’s longevity. I hope to see Eighting step up and create an online fighting system around Naruto or I am afraid it will get lost in the dust once Smash Bros Brawl comes out.

Once you pull yourself away from the kiddy license if it doesn’t interest you and gather a few friends together in the same house, you will find Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution to be a competent and exciting fast paced fighter. It achieves a balancing act that most fighters such as Guilty Gear or Tekken fail at: giving the new players a chance to feel good playing and allowing them to compete with long time players with some practice. For this Christmas season there is no fighter better on the Wii than Naruto in my opinion now that we have seen Smash Bros pushed back again.

Grade: A

Publisher:
Sega
Developer:
Totally Games
Release date:
Jul 23 2007
Reviewed on:
Wii

I never played the Alien Syndrome on the Sega Genesis. That probably had something to do with never having a Sega Genesis or maybe it was because at that time the only top down shooter I would play was Smash TV. If I can say one thing about Alien Syndrome for the Wii… it’s why in the hell don’t they make a new Smash TV?

While rating this game, I wanted to keep a good prospective of what other games are available for the Wii and how Alien Syndrome fits into the overall library of the Wii. Having heard a few horrible things concerning the PSP version of this game, I would like to focus on how developer Totally Games has decided to institute the wii remote into the game play of this third person dungeon crawler.

I find the game play to be a very nice mix of typical dungeon crawler mechanics combined with some pretty wii remote actions. Totally Games has utilized the wii remote to the limit on this title. The nun chuck provides Aileen Harding, the game’s protagonist, with her basic movement functions. She controls deftly using the analog stick, while the C button turns on a sometimes useful shield that drains away at your energy meter giving you protection from only a shot or two before you either must turn it off or being consuming large amounts of energy packs. The Z button becomes almost second nature, as it is mapped to pick up items and activated the myriad of switches, doors, knobs, computer terminals, and bonus games.

Meanwhile you will find the remote itself to conduct actual combat and deal with your menu systems. Alien Syndrome does a fairly good job of encouraging both melee and gunplay by making both fun with their own individual advantages. Sticking far away from battle with your two swappable firearms gives you the ability to pick and choose your battles. However, Totally Games has included a fairly robust melee system that allows you to really dole out the damage. Included within the melee attacks is a particular favorite of mine. Many times when an enemy is defeated, you’ll notice it will become dizzy before it terminates. If you are standing above the foe with your melee weapon drawn, you can thrust both the nun chuck and remote down to finish off the enemy and at the same time, gaining a little bit of health back. This leads to a Diablo-esque dungeon crawl in which going toe to toe is actually possible. You aren’t stuck to slamming down those health packs in an attempt to stay viable within combat. It’s like instituting a vampiric weapon right off the get go.

Other nice touches to the controls are the ability to swing the camera around via rotating the nun chuck. As long as all players (which is supported up to 4 via local only play) acknowledge one player as cameraman and REMEMBER to not just roll the nun chuck around all will be well.I would have liked to see a system in place to disable nun chuck camera control on all but one player’s controller. Misclicks due to the small menus are common. Items swapping between players could have been more streamlined, but overall I enjoy the smoothness of the control setup. You nearly have the speed of a mouse and keyboard going through all the various menus and combat styles.

I find a completely overblown hard to swallow plot more offending than what you would consider a generic plot, so Alien Syndrome falls in a comfortable spot for me. What you have here is your basic Aliens/Metroid plot. A young but experienced officer named Aileen Harding is dispatched to investigate the loss of communication with a remote frontier planet assigned for terraforming. What she encounters there is something the humans of the very very distant future elegantly call “Alien Syndrome”. Yeah, I don’t think it’s a scientific name. This syndrome basically corrupts everything it touches causing men, creatures, and even machines to turn into methodical killing machines. At least that is the impression Aileen gets as she is dealing with her own personal demons via the Captain of this mission, Captain Trevor James.

While the story is present in your standard chunks, basically before and after every mission with maybe a mission order barked out every few minutes, I found some parts of the game to be above average. For instance, a long chunk of the early game is spent on a space station attempting to find survivors. Once found, you would imagine they would be very grateful for your rescue but this is not the case. The civilians are so crazed from the horrors they have been seeing that they turn their weapons on you without hesitation, forcing Aileen to deal with them the only a soldier would know how: with the business end of a shotgun.

It is a very strong opinion of mine that instead of constructing this game as a PSP/Wii hybrid, the presentation of the game would have been much better suited as a Wii only effort. It is evident by the many interviews with the developer Totally Games that the Wii version was where all the creative work went. Basically you will be looking and listening to a PSP game on your TV. It is important for me to point out that the game does not look bad in anyway. It is a crisp with very few glitches or badly designed stages. The game abounds with broken gas mains, geysers of sand, and very expansive starship areas. What gives the game a bad rep is the low poly count. It is obvious the graphical abilities of this game were built with the PSP in mind. The art design is odd at times, as some of the enemies represent a lazy attitude such as puffballs with spikes that blow up when you get too close. The majority of the Alien Syndrome is well constructed and interesting to look at it, which is good because you will be looking at a lot of them. Totally Games pulls some old school bullshit by swapping color palettes for harder enemies but in some ways it feels like a throwback to the red slime in Dragon Warrior being slightly harder than the blue slime.

The music is something completely different. What at first starts off as a nearly elevator music soundtrack soon grows into something much more interesting. As you get near the end of your first real mission of the game which is discovering the remaining civilians of the infested space station the music becomes more epic but still retaining a very powerful feeling of solitude and despair. Both myself and my fellow lan-gaming staffer James have commented on wanted to get the soundtrack to Alien Syndrome on a cd to listen to outside of the game. I also find the plethora of sound effects enjoyable as certain weapons just have such a distinct sound to them such as the Sonic Wave gun.

Alien Syndrome is quite meaty of a game, easily heads above most of the offerings on the Wii. While it may feel repetitive in long play sessions, the combined motion controls along with the ability to jump in and out with an character locally created on the Wii during any mission makes that game very pick up and play friendly. A more streamlined menu system and the ability to either play via wi-fi or at least transfer your character between one Wii and another would have been a godsend. It can be said that Totally Games wished to simply get their game on the market before the Halo 3s and Metroid 3s hit their respective consoles and sucked what little time Alien Syndrome gets from the masses. Focusing on what makes the game fun, run and gun combined with robust melee combat has given Totally Games a well earned if not completely mind blowing game experience. Come on Aileen, I’ve waited for this moment. It means everything!

Grade: A