Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story – Quick Review

In a world where most gamers will never get to experience the pure joy that was Super Mario RPG, we must all suffice for this spiritual successor. Will it be full of the great JRPG action, fantastic support characters, and amazing story we’ve come to expect from the original title? Well, not really. I find the dialogue to be a bit childish. No, sorry, it’s really childish. Is this a big problem? Not really. I just find it a bit off and really just shows the new kind of Nintendo we’re dealing with. Or maybe I’ve just matured over it all, don’t know. Well what does it do right?

Gameplay.

Like the previous Mario & Luigi titles, this DS title uses what it’s given in spades. The X, Y, A, B interface control different elements and all focus on whichever character they have been assigned to. The brothers are controlled using the lower two buttons, A + B, while the now playable character Bowser uses the top two buttons, Y + X. This allows for more input from the player when both attacking and defending. Each enemy and boss has it’s pattern of attacks and it’s up to the player to find each tell and plan around them. Maybe the enemy lifts his leg toward a certain character, expect that attack and jump, punch, or maybe don’t do anything respectively. It’s a great addition to the tired old turn base system that I love so dearly. (The Pokemon series could learn a thing or two from it.) New specials for your characters are found by the traditional Mario styled platforming outside of the game. Since, throughout most of the game, you’ll be inside of Bowser, the plumber duo will have to accomplish certain tasks to help their villain turned home through his obstacles. These small mini-games throw in a little change that is needed after so many battles. Leveling up allows for the player to choose a certain quality and add a few more points through a slot machine style number generator. With a keen eye and some good timing, the player can often land the highest points each time (also helps to check each one to see which has the highest gain.)

As I had already said, the story is a bit childish (as well as the main villain) but with the familiar cast of characters and the amazing gameplay quality, there is no reason you shouldn’t own this title for your NDS.

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Must Play!

As close as you’ll get to Super Mario RPG in handheld form.

Halo 3 ODST – Game Review

The Xbox Live servers are going to be on fire this weekend. Halo 3 ODST finally dropped down into stores this week, with a new campaign, new characters and enemies, new guns (and the addition of an old favorite), as well as a new match type that changes the way you play Halo.

Campaign

The campaign starts off with an introduction to your main character, The Rookie. A silent new recruit who everyone believes if very wet under the ears. You are also introduced to the four other ODST members. Buck, a main contributer to the main story line of this title, takes on the role of leader, even if other members find reasons to dislike him. Romeo is always carrying his trusty sniper on him and arguing with Buck as mentioned, Mickey is the explosives expert of the group, and Dutch is the all out assault trooper. Each one has a different way of playing (well as much as you can get out of the Halo gameplay), and you experience them through your travels as the rookie. The ODST group is dropped down in their HEVs (Human Entry Vehicles) on a mission to assault Regret’s ship (Halo 3 villain.) Just as they were going to land, Dare (a UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence agent and person of interest to Buck) changes their trajectory and forces the squad to drop into New Mombasa. The Rookie is unlucky enough to crash into another HEV on his way down and stays unconcious for six hours. From this point on you take control of The Rookie (who plays like a weak Master Chief.) You’ll notice right away that you have the same SMG from the past two titles but it has been silenced (adding to the feeling of being a human and not a Spartan) as well as the return of the Halo 1 pistol (though it much more balanced.) You won’t be capping everything in three shots or less, but if you play it right, the pistol can be the most deadly and sought after gun in the game. Other balanced guns include the Shotgun and Plasma Pistol. The Shotgun has been amazingly weakened and may take every shell on one load to kill a single brute, while the Plasma Pistol has returned to it’s supreme grace of homing and removing all shields that cover the victim (a welcomed friend to the pistol.) The Plasma Rifile, Carbine,  and Assault Rifile make a return to the game, while the deadly Battle Rifle of Halo 3 has been removed (again probably for balance.) The ODST members cannot dual wield their guns as Master Chief does, but they do get to carry one extra grenade each. Also, the energy shield of the past games have been replaced with a stamina meter and health bar. The stamina bar acts like the energy shield if you only had quarter of it at all times. The stamina makes the ODST more realistic, as you begin to hear them breathe harder during tough fights as they try to recover. Now, before you say that the ODST are a bunch of weaklings, they do have one tool that can help out in the dark new stages of the title. VISR mode allows the player to see through the darkness and even highlight key targets or items around them. Enemies will have a solid border around them as well as key items glowing with a distinct shine. The troopers also use their VISR to show their next checkpoint or whichever position you need to go.

New Mombasa plays out like a large sandbox, in which, The Rookie plays hide-and-seek with his fellow members beacons. It can be quite frustrating having to walk these long distances with a shotty radar and nothing really to do. You’ll encounter a Covenant group at times, but it never becomes a really heated battle. You can also search for the audio tapes located at random glowing terminals throughout New Mombasa (sorta like Bioshock’s tapes) that tells a side story of what happened to New Mombasa. Once you reach the beacon you must search for some clue as to what happened to each of your ODST companions. (For some reason picking up the said item and acting like a complete child with it is how The Rookie finds clues.) Once found, you take control of that trooper and play through his role during the six hours The Rookie was out. Each segment has it’s own enjoyable moments, but really makes the game feel like just an expansion of Halo 3. The truly great moments in the game are found toward the end of the title when you really take control of The Rookie and get to show off what you can do. I don’t want to really mention all the details but you do discover a new alien creature (later called The Engineer) and it’s questionable if the creature is on your side or on the Covenants. It’s also nice to know that the AI in the game still has no clue how to control a vehicle (often the biggest moments in the game as well as the hardest.) If the AI is driving you, be prepared to be flipped over or stuck on the oddest things, only to likely be killed by the Wraith that you should have been avoiding that entire time. Also if you’re driving, it’ll most likely make that particular level three times longer then it should be. The AI does not, NOT, know how to control the gatling gun in the warthogs. I’m sorry but you don’t have to pace your fire..you just hold the god damn trigger!

All around a more enjoyable campaign than Halo 2 as well as Halo 3, though those two were much longer. The true shine of Halo 3:ODST is covered in the next section.

Firefight

The true reason to buy Halo 3 ODST is the new gametype, Firefight. You choose your trooper of choice (starting with the Rookie) and face off against an unbelievable amount of Covenant soldiers. Think Left 4 Dead survivor mode with a Halo twist to it. The troopers are given seven lives to start and must share them amongst the players. The maps vary from wide open spaces to tight quarter sections, all based on game maps. Windward (one of the later stages in the campaign involving Romeo’s story) is my favorite of all the maps. It’s the perfect mixture of indoor and outdoor segments to allow an even map all around, plus you start off with a sniper. Gameplay is measured through sets of three stages, separated by six reinforcement drops. The last of the reinforcements drop is always the hardest, normally involving two hammer brutes (maybe four depending on your difficulty) and a collection of jetpack flying Brutes. After the last drop, the troopers are given two additional lives as well as a chance at a few more if they achieve a certain amount of points during the 60 second bonus round. During these bonus rounds, all skulls are turned on and only grunts are spawning.

You might be saying, “Oh that doesn’t sound too difficult..” Well try racking up the points with the skulls on. Lucky Throw for instance makes any passing grunt a potential death, as grenade after grenade explodes around you. Maybe you were unlucky and Black Eye was activated. With Black Eye, you must melee just to recover your stamina, an almost impossible act when playing on Legendary.

The only tips I can give for those brave enough to join the firefight is:

1. Conserve your pistol ammo. You can get away with using the submachine gun and using Covenant dropped weapons. Especially when sharing the ammo between other players over co-op.

2. Plasma Pistol is your best friend. Believe me, if you want to clear out a group of Brutes, nothing is better than the Plasma Pistol and Pistol. It’ll even earn you the achievement.

3. Learn how to get around the brutes for assassinations. Very important for those troubling Brute Captains and Hammer Brutes.

4. Avoid view of vehicles on Legendary. They are killers!

Join the firefight today!

Theater ODST

Two words: No Rewind.

The f$#k Bungie? Alright maybe..maybe I can understand not putting it in. I did read about the trouble the devs had putting it in the first time. But really…why couldn’t you just copy it from Halo 3 Mythic? You eventually got it right the first time guys. :/ It’s really hard going through a 3 hour firefight match only to notice you skipped the part you wanted to record by accident…

Halo 3 Mythic

ODST comes with two discs. The first involves everything listed above, and the second disc covers the best feature of the original Halo 3, the multiplayer. The original 21 maps on a single disc as well as the new addition of Citadel, Heretic, and Longshore.

Finally! A remake of Midship from Halo 2. One of the more enjoyable maps (really anything from Halo 2 was enjoyable..except for the campaign mode) from the previous title and is every bit as the original. From jumping to the top of the map, to the placement of every single weapon, as well as design. A perfect remake unlike that terrible remake of Lockout.

A very tiny map compared to most. Citadel has most of the best weapons just out in front of the players spawn, ready for the opposing teams to fight over. Rockets for example are smack dab in the middle of the map, similar to the Halo 1 map Prisoner.

The largest map of the three. Longshore is like playing on a harbor. It even has a few boats on the underside that you can knock into the water.

I can’t say much about these maps since I never actually get to play them (thanks Bungie), but I can at least say that Heretic is a welcome addition to the otherwise boring maps that have been released. Something about the Halo 3 Multiplayer just makes me dislike it more and more over time.

Amazing trailer with Live Action characters of the series. Why hasn’t this series become a Live Action movie yet? Jesus Hollywood sucks.

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Rating: Must Play!

It’s a bit on the short side, but the introduction of Firefight is just something that no Halo fan can pass up. Plus that addition of the Halo 3 Mystic disc, makes it cheaper than buying up all the map packs separately. You have no reason to buy this title and enjoy it. Unless you hate Spartans. O_o!

Colin McRae: Dirt 2 – Game Review

Haven’t played the original Dirt yet? You haven’t experienced the raw joy of winning the Le Mans in Grid? THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! You have another chance now so don’t screw it up! Dirt 2 brings the excitement of rally fun with the great gameplay of Grid and makes one hell of a racer.

What’s back from the original? Pretty much just the style of the game. A few weak points from the original was it’s lack of enthusiasm in the actual rallying. It got you into the race, did the track notes and the course maps great, but if you weren’t racing, you weren’t doing anything. Really, don’t get me wrong I loved Dirt, but this new title just does everything right.

What’s new in Dirt 2?

The addition of a cast of real Rally drivers from the likes of Ken Block (as you can see blasted on the cover poster), Dave Mirra, Travis Pastrana, and many others that you can befriend throughout the game and partner up with.

Profiles can be filled in with your name (if you’re lucky and have a simple name) so that the rally stars can call you by your name during the menu selections and races. It’s a cool addition compared to Grid when they only used nicknames (which you can still do if your name isn’t listed..)

Menu selection has become surprisingly realistic. Again like Grid, the menus move to certain areas depending on what you choose. For Dirt 2 you move between the outside section, littered with your fans, your car, and the Rally set up and inside of your trailer, where you can choose to play the dirt tour, multiplayer or check the options. Dirt Tour is shown off a world map and lets you choose which region you’ll be racing in as well of which course type you want to play.

Great music plays during the menu selection screens as well as after you win your races, getting you nice and pumped for the next race. Music like “Little Sister” by Queens of the Stone Age, “To Lose My Life” by White Lies, and others.

There are a few different game types including rally, rally cross, trailblazer, land rush, last man standing, gate crasher and throwdowns, and raid.

Rally: This game type follows the generic time trial with the track notes for when turns are coming up and what speed you should be going to make it. You can choose who you want to read the notes (between some chick and some guy) and how detailed they are about them. I actually love how they react when I suddenly decide to do a barrel roll in the car and hear them continue to read the notes.

Rally Cross:  The main attraction of the Dirt series,  lets you race against the many legends in the game and share some paint with them.

Trailblazer (my favorite of them all): A mix between a time trial and a normal race. Each racer starts at a certain interval after the racer before them and is timed throughout. The racer with the fastest lap time wins and it’s just amazing for those speed junkies who like knowing that their doing good when they overtake another racer who started a few seconds ahead of them.

Land Rush: A little bit like King of the Hill. The racers follow two laps on a course that’s been breaken up into five sections. Depending on the time each racer passes a sector they are given a place. First place offers 10 points, second place offers 8 points, etc. During the second lap, racers can either hold on to their respected position on that sector or dominate a section and win first place. Racer with the most points wins.

Last Man Standing: As the name says, you need to be the last racer still on the course. Staying out of last place is the goal as every 20 seconds a new racer is eliminated. Stay infront and stay victorious.

Gate Crasher: This fun, mini-game of sorts, is great for learning the turns of each course as well as just being enjoyable to play. The gates are placed throughout the twists and turns and you must drive your car through them to break it. Each break adds +2 seconds to your time and the racer with the most time wins.

Throwdowns: Seems like someone’s been winning their races and the pros have noticed. In certain regions, the pros of the rally world will challenge you to a one-on-one in their specific specialties. Winning means earning some respect and a new life long friend.

Raid: It’s like the Rally Cross of the truck world. Everyone gets their own gigantic truck (or tank if you’re using the Hummers) and races with the full force of the beasts. Pretty entertaining to see the pick-up trucks going sideways.

Each new race is unlocked on your map and lets the player travel to such hotspots as London (Battersea Power Station), Morocco, China, Japan (Shibuya), United States (Los Angeles, Baja, and Utah) and Malaysia. Each offering up a unique experience to get your car dirty.

Now lets talk about the beautiful cars the player gets to choose from.

- Subaru Impreza WRX STi n14 (Best for Rally/Rally Cross.)
- Subaru Impreza WRX STi n12
- Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX
- Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X (Great for Gate Crasher.)
- Mitsubishi Eclipse GT (Love this car for Trailblazer.)
- BMW M4 Coupe Motorsport
- Pontiac Solstice GXP
- Nissan 350z
- Colin McRae R4
- Hummer HX
- Toyota FJ Cruiser
- Mitsubishi Racing Lancer
- Chevrolet Silverado CK-1500
- Honda Ridgeline Trophy Truck
- Dodge Ram Trophy Truck

As well as a few more cars, trucks, and unlockables. Each car will have to be bought (besides your initial Impreza, driven by Colin McRae. RIP.) and will needed to be upgraded depending on what race it will be used in. Each new rank (Rookie, Pro, All-Star) will also add on upgrades to make your car fast enough to hang with the big boys. You’ll even get to outfit your cars with windshield and dashboard toys. My personal favorite is the 360 Avatar that hangs by it’s leg and dangles around as you make your turns. Finally a good use for them!

All those races won’t just count for your paychecks, as a new level up system has been added to the game. Each new level unlocks a new race and large milestones may unlock a new country to visit or one of the bigger events like the X-Games or World Tours. Depending on what difficulty you put it on, ranging from easy to hardcore, you’ll earn some extra green and may have more of a challenge. The difficulty also determines how many instant replay saves you get.

Multiplayer also gets some love with the level up system as you race in pro mode or just fool around in the unranked races. (Sort of like Call of Duty or Halo..which is a nice add on for people who want to achieve something.) The multiplayer is well rounded and fair, but I’ve seen some weird things happening while racing. Cars would start floating as they race down the track and sometimes disappear. Hopefully a patch can fix it, even though it never effected the races badly. Along with the multiplayer races are the tournaments in which a certain task must be accomplished. This week for example is a time trial on Battlesea Power Station. Everyone is ranked by the leaderboard and thrown into ranks such as 1st, 2nd, top 10%, top 100%, and earn points to up their multiplayer rank.

Any problems with Dirt 2?

Just a few that seem like they could have been added on quickly.

My first problem is the lack of cars. It was a similar problem in Grid but both games have such great gameplay that it feels like a minor trade off. Also I really can’t think of another car that would qualify under the Rally flag besides just the older Evo generations and maybe the Dodge SRT.

My second problem involves that wonderful instant replay that Codemasters has created. We can see the new trend of being able to record and even edit (thanks Uncharted 2 <3 you sex ps3 exclusive I’ll end up having to waste money on) in game clips for such purposes at Machinima movies and just showing off. But, those great gods that have given us lowly mortals such a fantastic racer…didn’t even give us the option to record our crazy stunts! Instead I get to rewatch my own performance..and share it with no one! That great barrel roll I landed a mile away from the finish line will never be seen because of this! Unbelievable Codemasters! I expect more from you!

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Rating: Must Play!

You get a great experience out of this game that I never really see in racing games before them (I’m talking about you Need for Speed!) I’d like to see how this game is going to compare to NFS: Shift even though they’re two different racing styles. Maybe EA has actually remembered that racing isn’t about pimping your car. :3

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Quick Review

Ever felt like yelling “Objection!” or “Hold it!” at your Nintendo DS? Ever wondered how the court system (loosely) works? Ever just want to play a game where you barely have to do anything? Well here you are! The Ace Attorney series is here with the first installment featuring Phoenix Wright.

Phoenix Wright is a new spiky haired attorney fresh out of law school. He’s still wet behind the ears, but his boss Mia Fey is teaching him the ropes as he defends his friend Larry Butz, Mia’s little sister Maya Fey, and even a famous actor William Powers, all of whom have been unrightfully accused of murder. As Phoenix you find out alibis, collect evidence, and most importantly, find out whose lying about what. You’ll face off against the prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, whose every action leads him closer to victory…no matter what. As Phoenix you’ll need to challenge every new twist that Edgeworth throws at you.

I really fell in love with this game after the first stage. Collecting evidence, asking suspects questions that lead into details that were hidden and challenging cross-examinations. Not only is the gameplay dead simple yet challenging, but the humor in this game is outrageous. Every character has some little quirk that makes them unique. Detective Gumshoe for instance is involved in almost every case and it a bit of a dimwit, yet has moments where his true character is revealed, but again he’s mostly just there for laughs. Each section is broken up into trials or when key information for the trial is collected and these moments can become pretty intense. You’ll start playing the “Who did it?” game throughout each trial. The music is great for making those true moments shine as long with each time someone speaks. A slam to the table, a yell, or even a funny gesture all make the dialogue box shake in some manner. A great visual effect if you ask me. Altogether, this series seems like they took an anime director and told him to recreate Law and Order. o_o

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Rating: Must play!

Notes for the bloggers

Alright, let me throw done some guidelines for the bloggers of Respawn Point.

First off. If you’re posting on this blog and you’re not using Microsoft Live Writer…go download it. It’s probably the best tool for blogging and it makes adding images a breeze.

Pictures for your post must be at least 400px in width. Height should have a base (200, 300, 400, etc.) and any movie posters or game posters of the sort should be 600px at least (with the exceptions of like..DS games which is 400px by 400px).

If you feel that all you need is text wrapping around your image then that’s fine as well, but I would make the image at least 200px.

Moving on. Seeing as how most of us have been rating our respective subjects with high ratings ranging form 5/5, 10/10 and others, I feel that we need to just simplify our ratings to a yay or nah.
For example: The Transformers post that was just posted minutes ago by Sidd could have been given a “Must See!”

Any problems leave a comment and if you just don’t feel like doing any of this then I’ll just continue editing them as I have. x_x Just please don’t be afraid to blog…I really appreciate your inputs. Thanks and happy blogging.

Prototype – Game Review

Have you ever played a game and felt like, “Wow this game would make a perfect fucking movie!” or “The story is just what I want in my games!”, and then had to get subjected to a faulty reality? Well that’s how I felt when I played Prototype.

So here’s the low down. You the player get to control Alex Mercer, our protagonist (or anti-hero as you’ll quickly learn), who has been stricken by the story tellers ultimate resource, amnesia. Alex awakens to the sight of two doctors ready to open his presumably dead corpse in a morgue located in the basement of the genetic engineering company GENTEK.  After a clumsy escape by the reawakened Mercer, he quickly finds that his body isn’t truly his own. A virus that was released in Penn Station had infected his body, giving Mercer the ability to leap tall buildings, run faster then cars, strength that rivals the strongest tanks and the ability to shapeshift into any human he consumes. This virus, later called Blacklight, is now infecting all of New York City, and it’s up to Mercer to both find his origins and to stop anyone who gets in his way.

Alex Mercer is the true bad ass of all anti-heroes. Think if Spawn was remade today and Mercer would still kick his ass! Standing between the military forces trying to control the infected and the infection that’s trying to spread, Mercer fights for whatever force will give him more answers. There are levels in which you’ll disguise as a soldier and control tanks, helicopters, or just carry a gun and will need to kill the infected targets, while other situations will call for Mercer to sneak into a military base, destroy a certain weapon, or just kill a group of military forces alongside some infected. It helps that Mercer has all of New York City as his playground. Abilities like his air dash and glide make traveling over buildings a breeze, and his previously mentioned speed and jumping abilities help to get Mercer out of any situation. There is just something special about being able to run up the side of a building only to leap miles into the air and fly off into a new direction. It’s probably one of the most enjoyable parts of the game. But of course that’s not all! For whatever reason, the infection has given Mercer the ability to parkour like a master! What is parkour? Parkour is a discipline with the aim of moving from one point to another as smoothly, efficiently and quickly as possible using principally the abilities of the human body. (Thanks wikipedia o_o) So you have a few taxis in your way? Well Mercer will just smoothly skip over those like they’re nothing! It really makes getting around much easier as well as making enemy encounters a lot more maneuverable.

So what goes on in the actual gameplay? Well like any sandbox game, you get choices. Do you want to go straight through the main story and beat the game right away? Or do you want to play one of the many mini-games scattered throughout NYC and earn Evolution Points to beef up your character? EP is gained through mostly anything that you could think of. Killing a soldier, consuming a civilian, blowing up a building, completing a mission, blah blah blah. All these points begin to add up and can be used in the upgrade tab to give Mercer new abilities. Been looking at the hook shot arm? Well just need a few more EP! Want that new dive bomb technique to take down anyone in your way? Almost enough! You’ll quickly see that you really need to earn that EP, as the cost of most moves begin to skyrocket in the later parts of the game. The mini-games often revolve around kill so many enemies in such such amount of time, or reach all these checkpoints in this amount of time and are rated by bronze, silver, and gold. Gold of course giving the most EP out. What about the main story though? Well…I want to get into a little bit of why I sorta don’t like it…

Alright, so Mercer doesn’t know who he is, but he can find people that do…right? Yep! That’s just about the general point of the game. You see scattered throughout the game are civilians that are part of the Web of Intrigue. These people are highlighted when spotted by a red head symbol, and when they are consumed a short (highly detailed) cut scene is shown revealing some part of how these people are involved with Alex Mercer or the infection. This is great and all, and I love how it mixes gameplay with real life photos, but it also takes away from the main story telling. I really like when developers take a chance on things like this, but not when it takes away from the main storyline. Every time I went for a new mission I felt like it was just some minor character like Dana A. Mercer (Alex’s younger sister) or Dr. Bradley Raglan telling me what new task I have to complete and then off I go to kill hundreds of people just to do it again when I have to start the next mission. The only real change was the few boss battles that occurred throughout the game (I believe it was three), and those often just involved finding a pattern in which you could defeat the boss without getting completely frustrated. Seriously though, what’s up with the character’s AI? They just find ways to completely piss off the characters. It’s either they won’t stop cheaply hitting you (I’m talking to you four legged infected hunter things!) or that they react in the oddest ways and point you out in a crowd. I found times where tanks would blast me with their cannons even through I was still disgused and wasn’t spotted at all. Also on the combat note, why is it that I can’t defend myself at all? Mercer gets two upgrades throughout the game, a defensive shield that only comes up when he’s running, and a full body armor that makes him literally unable to navigate around anything but halves the damage of most attacks. Why can’t Mercer just throw up his arms and defend himself? At most you get the ability to duck to the side. Yeah that doesn’t work very well when the guy attacking you affects the entire area around you. Also what’s with the weak ass special powers? Sure the claws are great, the hammer arms are bulky and slow but powerful, and the hookshot is great for long distance…but the muscle arms are completely worthless and the blade that is showcased everywhere (look at the game’s cover!) isn’t given to the player until the end. Weren’t we suppose to be given hundreds of powers or something?

What I would have liked to have seen is an option that reveals Mercer’s entire ability and gives the player control of at least 50 abilities that could be mixed and matched so that each Alex Mercer didn’t just feel like a clone to everyone. If I want two long blades on each arm, BAM! That’s what I get (with a limit of course as to how much can be added.) What about if I wanted to launch out multiple tentacles in a wide range? Great! But it’ll cost you energy or something. I’d just like to see this kind of option in the next Prototype…and with EA you know that’s going to come sooner or later. I don’t want to end on a bad note, I just wanted to exclaim my distaste for certain decisions in thie game. Battle can be hectic but tamed with some experience. You get the story you want even if it’s not completely how I would have liked it. Your powers are enough to show your a badass, but never makes Mercer feel like he’s yours. Is Prototype a great game? Definitely.

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Rating: 4/5

Pros: Amazing detail to NYC. Parkour is stylish. Alex Mercer is such a fun character. Great story hiding in the brains of every civilian.

Cons: Often too hectic battles. Main campaign never feels like it’s really telling the story. Enemy AI is frustrating. Cutscenes are amazingly detailed…but in game graphics not so much.

Plants vs. Zombies – Game Review

We all know a bout Pop Cap, the little indie game company that gave the world such cell phone games as bejeweled, and the widely popular Peggle. Well the masters of bored housewives games have now struck gold with their newest game, Plants vs. Zombies, a tower defense game that takes the new hottest villians on the block, zombies, and faces them against cuddly looking plant life. (Seriously, zombies have been coming up a lot recently. Not complaining :3) Tower defense games mostly populate the internet browser world of flash games, and consist of the user building an army of different types to defeat another army of different types, and to otherwise keep that secondary army from passing your defenses. Simple enough concept that Pop Cap has taken to a completely different level.

You thought it was going to just be a simple day. The sun is shining, your grass is cleanly cut, oh and a horde of zombies are calmly waiting to eat your brains across the street. Guess it’s time to do some gardening! Plants vs. Zombies makes you think quick on your feet as you choose between 48 different zombie fighting plants to face off against the crafty 26 types of zombies. Each new level in Adventure mode brings a new plant to your arsenal and a different variation of zombies to kill. With 50 levels in the adventure mode and multiple mini-games, puzzle modes, and survivor stages, you’ll never stop planting.

Something about this game just pulls you toward it’s creativity. First off I just love the zombies (and if you know me then you know I just love zombies.) Their are so many different shapes and forms that they come invading on your lawn in. From the normal zombies, to the traffic cone zombie, to the pogo zombie, and others like the bungee zombie. It just adds so many different levels of challenges to this game, but with those challenges come the different types of plants like the sunflower, the peashooter, and the repeater. It’s just a downright fun game that’ll have you enjoying every new add-on you get. Endless puzzle mode, survivor mode and the great Zen garden all help give this game longevity even after you’ve unlocked everything else.

I haven’t even mentioned one of the funniest parts of the game. Your good buddy throughout this entire ordeal, Crazy Dave. Dave will who up right from the start stating the obvious zombie invasion and just starts off with the craziest lines you could think of. When it finally comes down to defending your lawn, the best tip I could give you is to keep your sunflowers protected. Earning sun is the only way you can win against the undead intruders. Each plant has some amount of sun before they can be planted. The sunflower costs 50, the basic peashooter costs 100, the frozen peashooter costs 175, the walnut costs 50, the tallnut (n_n best character) costs 125, and it goes on and on. When you unlock the night mode and pool mode in adventure you get two plants that cost no sun, since during these events sunlight doesn’t naturally fall.

Alright, now to move on the few flaws. It’s a Pop Cap game so you know that it will have a repetitive nature to it (if you stick by it’s sense of humor and cute characters or not…) If you can stick by this game until the end you’ll find that the difficulty really doesn’t rise up at all. Sure the last boss can be a bit difficult the first time around, but he’ll be easy once you know all of his moves. Certain mini-games can be a bit challenging as well, but nothing that can’t be handled. You can also play the adventure mode over again with a harder difficulty, but if you’ve unlocked all the plants and have learned the basics of the game you still won’t find it to be difficult. I’m not going to knock it though, this game is unbelievably fun and with just those two flaws I really don’t see why you wouldn’t pay ten bucks on Steam to own it.

Plants vs Zombies Music Video that follows the credits of the game. It’s similar to last years hit title Portal’s ending song and is just as enjoyable. n_n

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Rating: 4/5

Pros: Great Humor. Best Tower Defense Game I’ve ever played. Lovable Characters. Thriller Zombies. :3

Cons: Can be repetitive if that bothers you. On the easy side.

Fast Food Panic! – Quick Review

If you’ve ever played Cooking Mama and have said to yourself…”What the f%#@ is the point of this game?!”…Then Fast Food Panic is for you. Fast Food Panic is a game for both the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo Dual Screen (which is the version I played) and as obviously stated, it’s a cooking game. But, unlike Cooking Mama, you’re not just cooking for the pure enjoyment of letting it go to waste! No no! You’re cooking for your own little restaurant, with your own paying customers, and your waitress that runs the front of the house. You as the chef have a dream of having the greatest restaurant there is! This gives the game a goal to reach toward, unlike the stated competitor.

Alright, no more bashing Cooking Mama. Fast Food Panic starts off by giving the player a great manga like style fresh from Japan. It makes beating each level more enjoyable only because you know that afterward you’ll be enjoying a funny little short with your two main characters. Getting through each level to get to those shorts involve pleasing your paying customers. During the first stage the inspiring chef is introduced to sushi, which is easy enough to make. Two swoops with the stylus from a rice container (this game sometimes demands perfection when doing some tasks…for example if you don’t place the tip of the stylus just right you may not scoop up anything), a bit of pushing together to form a nice rice patty, and then a little memorization game for the two toppings and there you are! A nice sushi dish for your parturient. How well you preformed creating the dish will effect how much joy your customer gets from it. Each step in creating the dish is rated from bad, good, great, and perfect. It’s not hard to achieve a perfect, but accidents do happen and as the player will learn, this game can become very hectic very quickly. Different types of customers ranging from your average people, to critics, to the fatter customers who will order up 5 meals at a time, all help give this game a different challenge. Even the front of the house chips in with it’s own problems. It seems the customers have finished eating so you’ll have to tell the waitress to clean it up. Oh a mouse is running a muck? Call the waitress! Some guests have arrived! Don’t forget to greet them! Sometimes she’ll even scream for help that will trigger a brief mini-game that can include, ringing up the total bill, cleaning off a table, putting away the dishes, or even delivering food. All these of these events add to the joy meter that must be filled before the time runs out to beat each stage.

This would be the perfect little title for the Nintendo DS if it wasn’t for a few big flaws…

The first being the actual length of the game. This game only gives you fifteen stages. Fifteen! That’s nothing for a game like this! Most player will be able to breeze through this game in just a day and it’s really a sad fact! Sure you can play a harder difficulty if you haven’t already, but it just doesn’t seem as enjoyable without the expectation of a new challenge.

The next problem with this game is the lack of multiplayer! How am I suppose to play against my girlfriend if their isn’t even an option for it! We both loved this game but it just seems to spit in our face!

Last but not least…the mini games. They’re so passable that it just seems like they threw them in. I understand that the NDS was meant to be played with the stylus but when all you’re doing is furiously rubbing at the screen with no real reward at the end…why do it? The game is just making an excuse to scratch up the screen. Not all of the mini games are bad of course just a few really spoil the bunch.

Fast Food Panic…you could have been so great! Why, why did your developers gimp you so badly? It’s an enjoyable game, but don’t pay full price for it!

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Rating: 3/5

Pros: Strong gameplay elements. Enjoyable art style.
Cons: Way too short! Lackluster mini games! No multiplayer!

Pixar’s UP – Movie Review

A few words for the audience.

I just wanted to start this review off by stating a few key things about the average movie theater viewer. You’re all a bunch of dickholes. Excuse me for being one of those few people who actually enjoy watching a movie they just spent good money for. Why? Why is it so hard for people to just put away their god damn cell phones for a close to two hour movie? You phony fucks growing up nowadays. Do you see those messages that us regular movie viewers must deal with because of assholes like you? Can’t you just put that piece of shit phone away, shut your fucking mouth, and for GOD SAKES just sit down and enjoy the film? Better yet..wait until the movie is on DVD and just sit at home and do your little fucking texting, that way your parents can actually see what worthless offspring they’ve given birth to.  What’s with these bitches nowadays who have to yell out their emotions during a film?

Bitch 1: Oh my god..that’s going to make me cry!
Bitch 2: That is SOOO funny!!
jb: *bashes their fucking skulls open*
jb: NO! You don’t say an emotion..you do it! Stop failing at life!

Oh..and if I ever see anyone taking pictures in front of me..let alone two sets of bitches letting off two flashes at the same time while the trailers are playing I will take the cameras and smash them against the walls. O___o Fucking kids these days are just ridiculous.

Now on to the movie!

In Pixar’s nature UP begins with a short called Partly Cloudy.

This cute little story takes the idea of the baby delivering stork and explains where these birds actually retrieve the precious newborns. Up in the skies the friendly clouds sculpt these babies (be it human or animal) out of the fluffy clouds and brings them to life with a bit of lightning. Gus, the main character and a bit of a loner compared to the other clouds, is a master at crafting only the most dangerous babies. Crocodiles, porcupines, rams, and other newborns all cause trouble for Gus’s ever so loyal stork Peck. But, when the babies become a bit too much to handle (hilarious outcomes with each one), poor Peck leaves Gus to find a new cloud friend. Gus’s emotions become eratic as he causes a thunderstorm followed by a brief rainstorm. Peck soon returns to Gus with a gift of football equipment to make him more suited for Gus’s dangerous newborns…that is until the eel comes. It’s a great little short that really gets you into the mood to watch UP.

I hope that five minute short really did lighten your mood, because after the first fifteen minutes of UP, you may just be crying in your seats and clinging to any love ones you may have near you. A very emotional twist leaves our main protagonist, Carl Fredricksen, a grumpy old man with sad thoughts of promises he could not keep to the love of his life. When life becomes too hard to stand, Fredricksen decides to finally keep one important promise he had made to his wife Ellie, to fly their home to Paradise Falls in South America. Carl met Ellie when they were both young after watching their idol Charles Muntz, a great explorer who traveled to far off lands with his canine companions. Using countless helium balloons, Fredricksen lifts up his house from it’s foundations and sets off on his adventure, urbanites to him that he had a stowaway. Russell, a Wilderness Explorer who happened to visit Carl the day before trying to earn his “assisting the elderly” badge, had returned the day of Fredrickson’s lift off because he had supposedly found the “snipe” that Carl had sent him out to find the day before. After the duo find trouble passing through large storm, they eventually end up in South America, on the wrong side of Paradise Falls. This is when the truly hilarious parts of the movie begin. You also meet (in my opinion) the most lovable characters Pixar has ever created.

 

Even as you just meet Dug the dog you just fall in love with him…sorta like how he falls in love with Carl when they first meet.

Dug: My name is Dug. I have just met you, and I love you.
[he jumps up on Carl]
Carl Fredricksen: Wha...
Dug: My master made me this collar. He is a good and smart master and he made me this collar so that I may speak. Squirrel!
[looks to distance for a few seconds]

Dug is thought of as an outcast of the pack. He’s tricked by the group leader Alpha into going out for a special mission (which is supposedly going to be a short on the DVD release). Like the rest of the pack, Dug is searching for the bird creature that was the cause of his master’s, Charles Muntz, lose of reputation and fame. On his search he meets and befriends Fredrickson and Russell and discovers that they have also found and befriended the bird who Russell quickly names Kevin. Dug requests Kevin become his prisoner in the cutest fashions. The group is eventually found by Muntz and taken aboard his airship as welcomed guests only to leave as his sworn enemy when it’s discovered that they’re protecting the bird. This leads to later actions scenes and that usual life changing event for the main character.

This is an all around great movie for any age. The humor is just spot on, the emotions are true to life, Dug and Kevin are beyond lovable. (I want the Disney store plush of him. o_o) You’ll want this film in your collection as soon as it comes out on DVD so you can watch it’s lovable goodness over and over again! Words just can’t do this movie justice, it’s something that shouldn’t be spoiled in a review but should be shared with good friends.

Rating: 5/5

Paper Airplane Chase vs. Birds & Beans – Game Review

If you’ve given into the slave of buying the newest technology out there and you’re also a rabid fan of Nintendo, then you’ve most likely picked up the newest Nintendo Dual Screen model, the DSi. What is the DSi? Well it’s a remake of the DS Lite with a thinner body, larger screens, dual cameras both inside of the machine and on the outside shell, a smudge free shell, and a Wii style menu to choose which of your downloads you will be playing. Yes, the DSi also adds a store to the mix, which will hopefully have Super Mario Bros. 3 in it in the near future…wink wink…but back to the store. Buying the DSi gives the customer 1,000 free points to throw around at the few selections given at launch. A few of the better choices include Dr. Mario Express and Warioware: Snapped! which actually brings great use to that camera that’s always point at you from inside your DSi. But for this review I’ll be focusing on two mindless games that are respectively said in the title. Both only cost 200 points, so if you really only have that much to spend, maybe my review will help.

Paper Airplane Chase

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to play as one of those paper airplanes you’ve fondly made in your third period English class? Able to completely control it as the aerodynamic paper flies through a castle full of transparent walls that, with a single touch, can make the poor plane explode into tiny little pieces? Well now you can with this mini-game taken right from Warioware. Simply put, this game just involves the player controlling their paper airplane’s decent down a spiral castle, trying to avoid those stated transparent walls. Sometimes they move, sometimes their big, sometimes their tiny, and sometimes they make narrow paths, all together forming as many possibilities as you can get by.

The Player can choose between three options:

1. Endless Mode. Fly your plane for as long as you can last while the game records how many floors you’ve descended and the speed at which you’ve cleared them.

2. Time Attack. Fly as fast as you can through eight stages. Likely you won’t score higher then 20 and after which there is nothing to do unless you really want to get under the 10 second barrier for bragging rights. Just so you know, no one will care. :/

3. Race. Well this is fairly simple. One player flies the white plane using the left and right diagonal pad, while the second player flies the red flag using the Y and A buttons. First to the goal wins. I would have liked to see a “race the computer” option.

All around it’s a good timewaster, which any game costing 200 points will likely be. I’ve heard that a few hi scores for endless mode have been around the 160 range, while my own sad score stands at 64 so far. :D But I’ll keep going at it.

Birds & Beans

Maybe you want something a little more difficult, something you feel like you’ll be playing for days on end just to get a higher score. Something..Something that reminds you of Yoshi! Birds & Beans as well as Birds & Beans 2 (unlocked in game after playing the first game 10 times or beating the high score of 10,000) is a crafty little game in which you play as this small bird with a Yoshi sized tongue, whose trying to get his grub on. The thing is, that he’s on  this easily breakable floor, and if any of the beans fall all the way to the floor it breaks away. This leaves the player awaiting a white bean that is able to fix a piece of the ground or a flashing white bean that not only fixes a lot of the broken pieces (believe me..by then you’ll be on a small island) and also destroys all beans in play. The longer you go without getting bonked on the head, the more points you can make. Also the higher the bean is the more points you can get for each grab. Altogether a very challenging game that I could see myself trying to beat until three in the morning.

Verdict

Both games can equally a waste of time (which is the purpose of their existence.) Paper Airplanes has a multiplayer mode, while Birds & Beans is really two similar games in one. If you can afford both games then I would say waste the 400 points. They’ll be enjoyable between those times when you’re sick of seeing your pokemon or playing hatsworth. If you can only afford one, then I would go with Birds & Beans. The mascot is cute and the game is quite a challenge.

Winner: Birds & Beans

Rest in peace little friend u_u

Today the world lost the hardest little rocking guinea pig. You were always there to play some rock band with or just to squeak. We hope the best for our little friend Spazz and hope that he passed gently. Please leave fond comments if you can.

Rest in peace Spazz. u_u <3

A few photos:

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Complete randomness…

Back when I played TF2 I made a few friends, either by playing well against them or by just having complete fun with them. Nub here was one of them. The rest of this story is explained by these messages I received this morning (if 1:05 AM counts as the morning..)

Nub: Medz
Nub: I have something to show you
medz: o_o
medz: if it's a penus then go away
Nub: ees not
Nub: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA7Qnm679Qg
medz: o:
medz: wtf
Nub: I KNOW RIGHT
Nub: same thing went through my head
medz: and you didn't make this right?
medz: o.o
medz: someone just had this up?
medz: D:
Nub: I did
Nub: make this
Nub: check out my other vids if ya want
medz: o__o oh ok
Nub: Took like 40 mins
medz: it's awesome
medz: D:
Nub: it didnt take long
medz: I heart you
Nub: Yeah
Nub: <3
Nub: but
Nub: It really wasnt hard and I was bored
Nub: and you always hate me
Nub: so I made this

Youtube video here:
It is awesome D:

NY International Auto Show

Well today was the last day for the NY International Auto Show, a week long event were automakers showcase a lot of their new vehicles as well as give out swag. n_n Thanks Porsche for the sexy new posters. My girlfriend Ivelisse and I went on the third day to enjoy the sights of the lovely cars. We had a great time and got to see some great cars like the IQ from Scion (Ivelisse’s favorite), the Nissan Nismo Z (370z), the Porsche GT3, the Jeep Rallye Compass, the Subaru Impreza WRX (sedan and hatchback), the Honda Mugen, and lots of others.

Scion IQ

Nissan Nismo Z or 370z

Subaru Impreza WRX

Jeep Rallye Compass

Porsche 911 GT3

Ford Shelby Mustang

BMW Z4 Roadster

Lots of great cars n_n. Check out the album for more!

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Wanted: Weapons of Fate – Game Review

Can’t wait for your next Wanted fix? Well the hit summer blockbuster has a tie-in game that expands a bit on Wesley’s story and his past. It’s takes the classic 3rd person shooter and adds the greatest edition to guns ever, curving.

Let me tell you right away…if your a PC player…that you must, MUST, play this game with a gamepad. The menus alone seem to fear the idea of a mouse. With a gamepad you can see the different options appear fluidly from side to side, yet with a mouse they don’t even stick out. I had a hassle just trying to figure out how to change the resolution with a mouse until pulling out the ol’ xbox 360 gamepad. Gameplay is also awkward when trying to use the mouse and keyboard. Wesley and all the other playable characters have a very stiff movement to them when using the wasd format, but is a bit more forgiving on a joystick. Also the aiming sensitivity is just ridiculous. I have never had to raise the aim sensitivity bar so high in a game, and yet still not even get it to adjust well. Really for anyone playing on a PC this is just my experience…take it as you will.

Well now that those technical problems are out of the way let’s get on to the actual game. Wanted: WoF follows hot off the trails of the hit movie, and even shines a light on events that occurred before the movie, including how Cross was betrayed and the origins of Wesley’s birth and his mother. The player switches between Wesley and Cross for the first few chapters before the game becomes Wesley centric as he takes on the traits of his father.

To key back into their stiff movements, it seems that the entire level design focuses on taking the character from behind cover to cover at every moment of the game (Gears of War style.) Is it a smooth transaction from point to point? Yes, very well actually. Movement from behind cover is right up there with the very best of games, but it does sacrifice the ability to just walk around and shoot. Of course there is no point to standing above cover since most enemies can completely rock your face once in view (Dark Sector style.) I really feel like I’m playing Dark Sector at times when I see this game. Slightly good graphics but with flaws like a blane level design, choppy characters and others. Even the way the enemies seem to just POP out of cover waiting for a bullet or two is familiar to Dark Sector. Both games introduce a unique type of attack, Wanted with it’s curved bullets and Dark Sector with the glaive. Both of which is used to take out enemies that are behind cover and refuse to pop out (though as one of Dark Sector’s best and only points…the glaive does a terrific job of dismembering enemies while the curve shot only really shows a brief slow-mo effect that only happens sometimes.) But between those two the clear winner is Wanted: WoF, hands down.

Not only does the actual movements of the game follow a point to point cover system but the level design does as well. Your character mostly blasts a few enemies (8 max…) per area and then you get to see a sometimes graphical cutsene (sometimes…keyword) only to do the same thing until the end of the chapter. If you’re lucky during certain stages, your character will go through a bullet time event, where you the player have no control of the characters movements, but instead get to wait until an enemy appears so that you can slow down time to shoot their bullet and them. Oh forgot to mention…you’re timed during these sections (but god do you get a lot of time.) It really feels like this mini-game of sorts was ripped right out of the Wii playbook of game design, but I guess other players will see this as a playable cutscene.

By the end of it all you get a good story with most of the actual actors lending their voices (except for the guy who played Wesley…douche), some decent enough gameplay, and unlockable concept art, but nothing to really keep you play afterward. You can play as some of the unlocked characters, but it’s really just a skin for Wesley and doesn’t effect the story in anyway.

(During gameplay I just had the oddest event happen…I jumped over my cover to get Wesley behind a different wall during the office stage…only to have Wesley suddenly fall to his doom in the oddest glitch ever. The screen was covered in blood but there was no signs of a Game Over screen…just blood on the screen and the sound of a heartbeat…which is usually a sign that the player is ABOUT to die. I had to exit the game via start –> main menu. Weird…)

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Rating: 3/5

Pros: Curving bullets mechanic, good story for a movie tie-in, decent graphics, great cover movement, use of actual actor’s voices.

Cons: Short game, stiff movements when out of cover, retarded AI, simple level designs, easy boss battles (if not creative).

Great: If you just watched the movie.

Altogether I had fun playing this game for the short time it took to beat it. I really hope they make another one after the next movie that adds-on to that bullet curving mechanic. Something about nailing a guy in the face while he thinks he’s safe…and seeing his body just smack to the ground is so enjoyable. =]

Boing! Docomodake DS – Quick Review

So my girlfriend Ivelisse finally got her DSi (enjoyable new tidbits but otherwise just an overpowered DS lite…for now at least. DSi Store FTW o-o) and one this new title interested her enough to get her to purchase it. So I spent a little time playing it. Here are my thoughts:

Boing! Docomodake DS is one of those games that just completely fits the Nintendo DS style. It’s a great puzzle game mixed with some simple platforming. The player takes control of Papa Docomodake, whose in search of the rest of the Docomodake family. Every level consist of different puzzle types that force the Papa Docomodake to split into mini Docomos to pass challenges such as getting through a small passage, pressing down a switch while being in a different spot, using levels, or collecting all your Docomos to bring Papa Docomodake back into his normal size to push large boulders. Graphics are very simplistic anh really don’t need to shine for this style of gameplay. It takes just a few minutes to get the learning curve down, and once you have that it becomes an addictive little adventure. I found myself for example, trying to get a better grade rank with each next level and the level designs themselves give just enough of a challenge to make you rush to the very next one. Since I don’t have a NDS (yet), we weren’t able to try out the multiplayer, but if it’s anything like the normal gameplay, then it should be great.

The only problems I see is that longevity of this game. What’s going to make me play the game after all 40 or so levels are beat? This is where I think the DSi could really be a dominant handheld system. Think if the developers added a map building section. Allowing players to create their own puzzles and share them like the PS3 hit game Little Big Planet. With the DSi’s stronger cpu, ram, os, and expandable storage, doing tasks like sharing user created files should be simple and could really add a lot more play time to DS games like Docomodake (roughly a 4-5 hour game.) I just feel that if the developers and gamers could connect in this fashion that new ideas can be formed. That’s really what we’re all in for right? Gaming.

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Rating: 4/5

Pros: Based off a cell phone mascot…like seriously…not off some game idea, just a mascot…awesome, $20 price tag, interesting puzzles, cute charm.

Cons: Sadly, being a short game really hits hard.

I do recommend this game even if it is short. I got me hook for the small amount of time I played, and really, I feel that puzzle games and platformers and the strong points of the NDS. Boing Boing! :3

Watchmen The End is Nigh – Quick Review

I’ve got to say..I’ve never heard of the Watchmen series before new of the upcoming movie came out. Not to say I didn’t enjoy the movie, and you can read Sidd’s review if you haven’t watched the movie or read the comic book series to learn a few things about it, the series just seemed to come out of left field for me. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of Watchmen The End is Nigh..seeing as how most movie to videogame tie-ins have been god awful (I’m talking about you The Incredible Hulk!..That game was fucking terrible!) Thankfully this game isn’t a full release, it’s just another edition to the DLC set of games that are released of XBLA, PSN, and Steam for $20. Is it worth the money? Well I played it to find out.

Video:

As you can see from my video the player gets to choose between my favorite Watchmen, Rorschach, and that Batman reject Nite Owl. Most of the game’s cutscenes change between an old school comic style (with no moving lips) and using the game’s wonderfully detailed graphics. That’s probably one of the best thing in this game, it has that gritty feel of the comics and movie, and just lovely graphics. When it rains you can see the wet shine off of Rorschach’s leather jacket. The game focuses on pure beat-em-up action, I mean really…that’s all you’re doing. It’s not a bad thing it’s just makes me feel happy that they didn’t make a complete game out of this title. There are some puzzles..if you can call them that..where both players must both pull the same lever. Oh yes, there is co-op of course, since you do have two heroes to choose from. Really you need two players, this game throws you so many generic villains that it becomes ridiculous. Simple combos, the ability to throw enemies, use weapons, and doing finishing moves are the full set of tools for the Watchmen. The story is pretty much the past of the Watchmen before everyone retired, showing that preview of when Rorschach and Nite Owl actually worked together. Altogether it’s a fun brawler for someone who has seen the movie and wants to know a little more info about the series, but for all those regular gamers..you may want to stay away from this game. (But..a regular gamer and a fan of Watchmen might just be the same person..so enjoy?)

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Rating 3/5

Pros: Added story elements, beat-em-up action, Rorschach playability, great visuals, great voice work.

Cons: Simple linear gameplay, buggy fighting at times, short.

If you liked the movie you will like this simple game. :3

Battlefield Heroes Beta

I signed up for the Battlefield Heroes beta back when they were accepting emails, and to be truthful…I had forgotten I did, until a week ago when I finally received my beta key n_n. If I can be a bit more honest…I’ve never really enjoyed the Battlefield series. I was always the Call of Duty gamer ever since I played Call of Duty 2 on PC, but the introduction of this new cartoony, Team Fortress 2 style, has really peaked my interest…oh also it’s free.

EA Games: Oh sure~! You guys can play for free!
Gamers: REALLY?! NO WAI!
EA Games: *chuckles* Of course! You know papa EA loves you at heart!
Gamers: We always knew you had a warm spot in your heart..even after all that DLC crap on the 360..<3
EA Games: Yeah, those were good times. But this game is completely free, except for you know..the guns.
Gamers: What?..-_-
EA Games: Oh you know the guns?..The actual gameplay? Costumes? Level ups? We’re just going to charge you for that n_n. It’s a small fee.
Gamers: …
EA Games: What?…
Gamers: Fuck you.

Putting that aside…I’ll try to give as much detail about it and see if EA really is trying to screw over the cheap gamer. Maybe even get some gameplay footage.

Notes:

So far, I’ve used my beta key to sign into the locked website. This caused the download page to start and it’s been installing ever since. So while the installing goes on with it’s business I thought I would create my hero. Through the beta I’m allowed 4 characters, all with features that barely make them distinct (saving that for the paying customers.) Like any good war game (or obvious one) there must be two factions fighting, the good guys are in blue and yellow in the Royal Army, and the bad guys in red and black for the National Army. Both factions contain three types of soldiers. The basic Soldier who looks like the starter for an average fps gamer, the Gunner who seems to take heavier damage while using bigger guns (most likely for taking out vehicles) and finally the stealthy Commando who will most likely play out like the spy from TF2.

The two factions in this war is the Royal Army and the National Army. If it’s not obvious who the good or bad guys are…you’re an idiot.

The three classes for the game include, the Soldier, the Gunner, and the Commando. The soldier follows the middle road between the Gunner and Commando. Using a machine gun and a shotgun, the Soldier can play the midrange perfectly while staying as speedy as a Commando. They only really lack the ability to take out tanks. This is where the Gunner comes in. Gunner’s carry larger machine guns then the Soldier and can use a Rocket Launcher which makes them completely destructive forces. The Commandoes are left for those players who are just sneaky bastards. They have control over snipers and knives, making them the strongest when it comes to long distance or close combat. Commandoes also have the ability to cloak which helps their chances of sneaking up on their enemies.

Once the installer is finally finished you can start your game. Oddly enough the game opens up in the browser in a window only to full screen the game when you actually connect. Graphics are subpar for this stage in beta. They don’t look bad, but don’t follow the polish of TF2, but I’m sure EA was looking for completely playable vs. stylish. You control your soldier from a 3rd person, which seems odd coming from the Battlefield series, but you still have the same vehicles and that terrifically difficult plane/helicopter controls. I mean really EA, realism for those controls are just way too hard! How many people flipped over their helicopter in Battlefield 2 just trying to get it to lift off? x_x I know I did. I also just happened to do the same to the plane in this game. Though I have to say…the people who really have command of the planes have some real style. You’ll often seem them doing a flyby shooting at flag areas, and circling around in style. Even see a few dogfights. After the tutorial I’m allowed to buy some items from the store, EA thankfully gave beta players some start up cash to to explore the options. This is of course were the real customization comes in.

My guy looks like a nazi. n_n

Gameplay Footage:

Beta News:

Well it seems that the game is getting closer to it’s last stage. A new rolled out update closed the website for a day or two and reopened it with a few changes. All levels and character designs have been rolled back to stage 1, BUT, these new characters are the final designs. So when the game is finally out of beta, these will be the soldiers you use against the world. Sadly, all the free Battlefunds that EA was offering are gone, and in place a new “credit card friendly” store. This is what I was talking about people! EA has finally taken microtransactions to the next level! Ok…so other online games have been doing this for years…but they were never this addictive! Battlefunds come in three packages, 700 ($5 + tax), 1400 ($10 + tax), or the “beefy” 2800 BF ($20 + tax). Now that would be fine and dandy if the value for the items bought matched this price range…but they don’t!

That’s a fucking expensive bird. o_o

Let’s start with the clothing, a pirate hat that costs 420 BF. 420?! That’s already three fucking dollars! An eye patch that costs 420 as well?! Jackets costing around 280-340 BF?! Let’s not forget the promotional pets! Yes, for all those beta players out there, you have a chance to buy the Patton Parrot or Monty McMonkey pet item thing! These worthless items sit on your shoulder and likely crap on your hard earned virtual clothes for just 665 BF! Yes sir! For a cool five, you can have your own virtual pet that no one else will have besides every other beta player stupid enough to waste that much money! I mean really EA? At most the only items I see worth the money is the XP and Valor up, but even those cost an arm or a leg.

Now thankfully you can avoid all these payments, like most smart players will, and just opt with the default model for your team and since weapons and half of the emotes use Valor Points, you won’t be missing out on much. Oh, almost forgot to mention, the pretty upgraded weapons now only last a month. It evens up the gameplay for newcomers, but might also be annoying to switch between the average and the superior guns.

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Rating: 5/5 (for gameplay! I can’t stress that enough.)

Pros: The core gameplay is very simplistic and yet so completely enjoyable. Free to play. Call specific abilities. Great visuals.

Cons: Everything outside of actually playing the game. EA’s greed! Vehicles can sometimes be annoying. Plane controls take getting use to.