Indie games, at least in my mind, have a pretty bad reputation for being weird just for the sake of being weird. In the pas year or so, however, there has been a large influx of Indie games that have been really, really good. Which category does Audiosurf fall in to? Read more to find out.
Audiosurf is a very unique music/rhythm game, that some have described as F-Zero meets Guitar Hero. You choose from one of 14 ships that all play radically different, choose a song, and then speed down a track, collecting colored blocks. Whenever you get 3 or more blocks of the same color touching, you get points.
The 14 ships each represent a different game mode, and they are all extremely unique. Every ship has one or two special abilities, which are used by clicking the left or right mouse buttons. Some ships can jump over unwanted blocks, while others can push blocks into different columns, making it easier to sort out your colors for maximum points. One mode even has two ships, one of which you control with the mouse, and the other you control with the keyboard.
One of the best things about Audiosurf is the songs. You can play any song you have on your PC, provided that it's the right filetype. This is where I ran into a few problems. You see, I prefer not to get sued by the RIAA, so I buy all my music from iTunes. For some reason, only some of the songs I had bought are compatible with the game, while some are not. I don't know why, as they all came from the same place, and I assume they all have the same DRM. However, I haven't had any problems running songs I had ripped from CDs or anything like that.
Once you find a song that's compatible, that's when the fun starts. As I mentioned, you speed down a track that has been specifically designed for the song you're playing. A slow song will have a pretty straight, uphill track, whereas a fast, energetic song will have lots of curves and will mostly be a fast downhill track. The graphics are pretty simple, but the atmosphere is great. It usually nails the feel of the song perfectly.
Audiosurf surprised me in that it's actually a really unique game, and one that doesn't get as old as I thought it would. Since you can use any song ever created and every song that will ever be created, just like a game like LittleBIGPlanet, you can play forever and theoretically never run out of things to do. 4 out of 5.
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Review: NOBY NOBY BOY (PSN)
I've seen things you wouldn't believe.
The latest game from Keita Takahashi, creator of the Katamari Damacy games, comes NOBY NOBY BOY, and it's like nothing I've ever seen. You play as BOY, a strange character, to say the least. By default, he's a small, pink, four-legged... something or other. You control the front end with the Left Stick, and the rear end with the Right Stick. By moving the ends away from each other, BOY will get longer and more centipede-like. That's just about all there is to the game. You are told at the beginning of the game that there are no objectives, no enemies, just BOY and GIRL (more on her in a minute). Much like a few of the other games on PSN, NOBY is an experiment. The thing that separates NOBY from all of the other experimental games is that it works. Just like Katamari, NOBY is very quirky, strange, and brilliant.
When you start a game, You are sent to a randomly generated map, a fairly small chunk of floating land. Since the levels are randomly generated, you will run into some really weird things, like maybe a map full of giant frogs and floating sharks, a planet with nothing but goths, or a map with a mummy driving a monster truck (I swear, those all happened to me). Also in the maps are objects which you can interact with, like arches that you can wrap yourself around, or windmills, which really make for some good fun (imagine sticking a piece of string into a fan), and even the clouds are donut-shaped.
Along with just walking around on the ground, BOY has a few "abilities", and I use that word very loosely. BOY can fly in a floaty, very Kirby-like way, allowing you to get to things up in the sky, like the neat-looking clouds. Next, BOY can swallow people, animals, and objects, again, much like Kirby. If BOY is in his default tiny form, when he eats something, he automatically... disposes of it. Through his ass. If he is long, however, he can swallow several things at a time, and they will appear as lumps in his body. Picture a snake that just swallowed a rabbit. It looks exactly like that.
One of the things that makes NOBY so entertaining is the AI. People and animals will move throughout the maps, maybe by walking, driving, flying, or whatever. If you don't move BOY for a minute or two, AI will take over, and even he will begin walking through the level, knocking over people on bikes, and scaring chickens, and other weird things. If, when you're controlling BOY, you move him next to a person or animal, they will sometimes jump on his back and start riding, and sometimes, an AI controlled person will randomly jump on the back of an animal.
Another of the things that makes NOBY so great is that the game keeps up with your stats, like how long you are, how long you have been, and how long you have been altogether, with all your lengths added together. If you want to be a team player and help out the NOBY community, you can report your length to GIRL, who grows accordingly to the length you reported. The cool part is that everyone who reports to GIRL gets their length added, so everyone is constantly making GIRL longer. When GIRL gets long enough to reach the Moon, then everyone in the world actually gets new maps set on the moon, complete with new objects and AI controlled beings. This is a really cool way to get everyone in the world to work together to get new content for the game. As of this writing, nearly 7,000 people have contributed over 81.2 million meters to GIRL.
The last of my favorite features is the connectivity with YouTube. Users can record in-game footage with the built-in recorder, and the upload directly to YouTube to show all your friends how you can tie yourself into knots. You can also take in-game screenshots, which is a pretty neat feature.
As awesome as the gameplay is, I have a few minor gripes, mainly about the rather confusing controls. Making BOY move is easy enough, but you have to tap L2 or R2 to jump, hold L2 in about halfway to open your mouth to eat, hold L2 or R2 to anchor yourself, and repeatedly tap L2 and R2 to fly. That's just BOY. The camera is also pretty hard to control. You have to hold L1 and tilt the controller forward and backwards using the PS3's Sixaxis to zoom the camera, and hold L1 and R1 and tilt the controller to have full control of the camera. As confusing as all this sounds, the controls can be learned in just a little while, it just takes a while to get the hang of it.
NOBY NOBY BOY is a great game. It's one of the very few experimental games that really works. I wish developers would take a good look at NOBY, and start trying new and outlandish things. The videogame industry needs more ambitious titles like NOBY. Meanwhile, NOBY is only $5 in the PlayStation Store, so if you like fun, weird, quirky games, then definitely check this out. Or if you just like playing games that look like you're on Acid. Either way, check it out. 5 out of 5.
The latest game from Keita Takahashi, creator of the Katamari Damacy games, comes NOBY NOBY BOY, and it's like nothing I've ever seen. You play as BOY, a strange character, to say the least. By default, he's a small, pink, four-legged... something or other. You control the front end with the Left Stick, and the rear end with the Right Stick. By moving the ends away from each other, BOY will get longer and more centipede-like. That's just about all there is to the game. You are told at the beginning of the game that there are no objectives, no enemies, just BOY and GIRL (more on her in a minute). Much like a few of the other games on PSN, NOBY is an experiment. The thing that separates NOBY from all of the other experimental games is that it works. Just like Katamari, NOBY is very quirky, strange, and brilliant.
When you start a game, You are sent to a randomly generated map, a fairly small chunk of floating land. Since the levels are randomly generated, you will run into some really weird things, like maybe a map full of giant frogs and floating sharks, a planet with nothing but goths, or a map with a mummy driving a monster truck (I swear, those all happened to me). Also in the maps are objects which you can interact with, like arches that you can wrap yourself around, or windmills, which really make for some good fun (imagine sticking a piece of string into a fan), and even the clouds are donut-shaped.
Along with just walking around on the ground, BOY has a few "abilities", and I use that word very loosely. BOY can fly in a floaty, very Kirby-like way, allowing you to get to things up in the sky, like the neat-looking clouds. Next, BOY can swallow people, animals, and objects, again, much like Kirby. If BOY is in his default tiny form, when he eats something, he automatically... disposes of it. Through his ass. If he is long, however, he can swallow several things at a time, and they will appear as lumps in his body. Picture a snake that just swallowed a rabbit. It looks exactly like that.
One of the things that makes NOBY so entertaining is the AI. People and animals will move throughout the maps, maybe by walking, driving, flying, or whatever. If you don't move BOY for a minute or two, AI will take over, and even he will begin walking through the level, knocking over people on bikes, and scaring chickens, and other weird things. If, when you're controlling BOY, you move him next to a person or animal, they will sometimes jump on his back and start riding, and sometimes, an AI controlled person will randomly jump on the back of an animal.
Another of the things that makes NOBY so great is that the game keeps up with your stats, like how long you are, how long you have been, and how long you have been altogether, with all your lengths added together. If you want to be a team player and help out the NOBY community, you can report your length to GIRL, who grows accordingly to the length you reported. The cool part is that everyone who reports to GIRL gets their length added, so everyone is constantly making GIRL longer. When GIRL gets long enough to reach the Moon, then everyone in the world actually gets new maps set on the moon, complete with new objects and AI controlled beings. This is a really cool way to get everyone in the world to work together to get new content for the game. As of this writing, nearly 7,000 people have contributed over 81.2 million meters to GIRL.
The last of my favorite features is the connectivity with YouTube. Users can record in-game footage with the built-in recorder, and the upload directly to YouTube to show all your friends how you can tie yourself into knots. You can also take in-game screenshots, which is a pretty neat feature.
As awesome as the gameplay is, I have a few minor gripes, mainly about the rather confusing controls. Making BOY move is easy enough, but you have to tap L2 or R2 to jump, hold L2 in about halfway to open your mouth to eat, hold L2 or R2 to anchor yourself, and repeatedly tap L2 and R2 to fly. That's just BOY. The camera is also pretty hard to control. You have to hold L1 and tilt the controller forward and backwards using the PS3's Sixaxis to zoom the camera, and hold L1 and R1 and tilt the controller to have full control of the camera. As confusing as all this sounds, the controls can be learned in just a little while, it just takes a while to get the hang of it.
NOBY NOBY BOY is a great game. It's one of the very few experimental games that really works. I wish developers would take a good look at NOBY, and start trying new and outlandish things. The videogame industry needs more ambitious titles like NOBY. Meanwhile, NOBY is only $5 in the PlayStation Store, so if you like fun, weird, quirky games, then definitely check this out. Or if you just like playing games that look like you're on Acid. Either way, check it out. 5 out of 5.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Review: Mass Effect (PC)
Unlike just about anyone who ever owned an Xbox, I never played Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic much. I had also never played any game from developer BioWare, and I've never much been into RPGs. The last RPG that I can remember really, really being into was Fable. Well, that was until I played Mass Effect.
It is the year 2148. You are Commander Shepard of the Normandy, one of the largest, fastest, and most powerful ships in the Alliance fleet. You are sent to Eden Prime to investigate a mysterious Beacon, and the story takes off from there, I just don't want to spoil it. It really is a fantastic story. One of the coolest parts is that you can set your character's backstory in the extensive character creator. You can choose from things like being a War Hero, to a Sole Survivor of an epic battle. It doesn't really change anything except for maybe a few conversations scattered throughout the game, but it adds an extra layer to your character, which is nice.
Along with choosing your backstory in the character creator, you can also, duh, create a character. It can be either a male or female, and you can choose from several different classes, although you can't choose to play as another race, you have to be human. Honestly, though, with all of the other choices, it doesn't really make that much of a difference.
Through your travels, you will happen upon some NPCs, who, for different reasons, will join your crew. These are characters who you can take out with you, up to two at a time, on missions to help you, so you will be spending a lot of time with them. I became very, very attached to these characters, and it hurt when I had to decide the fate of some or more of them. There are very few games that actually make me have feelings for and sympathize with characters, but Mass Effect did it perfectly.
Like I said, I owned KotOR, but never really played it much. I just couldn't get into it very much, and the combat was one of the biggest reasons as to why. I never liked how it wasn't real-time, and your just sat and watched most of the time. Luckily for me, Mass Effect is nothing like that. The combat in ME is all played out in real-time, and it's not just your stats that decide if you will come out victorious. Since it's a shooter, it actually requires some bit of skill on the player's part, which I really liked. Don't get me wrong, you don't have to be the best Call of Duty 4 player to be able to play ME, but it's not passive like KotOR was.
Along with your regular guns, you also have Biotic powers to manipulate your enemies, such as Throw, Lift, and Warp. While fighting, you can hold the spacebar to bring up a menu of sorts to pause the game, and from here, you can pick your target, choose a Biotic power, and when you release the spacebar, your character and/or squad will carry out the action. You can also control your squadmates to an extent, not unlike Rainbow Six, but I can't remember one time where I really used this funtion.
I've talked so much about the shooter aspects, but I can't forget the RPG/exploration side. Just like any other RPG, you kill enemies, gain EXP, level up, invest Skill Points in your class-based skills, basically just typical RPG stuff. The exploration, though, is something else entirely. Using the Normandy, you can explore the galaxy, moving from solar system to solar system, finding resources, doing sidequests, and, well, exploring. Some planets will even let your land with the Mako, your land rover, so you can explore the galaxy, as well as some of the planets. One of my favorite sidequests is one that takes place on Luna, Earth's moon, just because it's so awesome.
The sound in Mass Effect is fantastic. There are so many talking characters, several different alien races, and I can't remember any of them sounding alike. There are so many recorded lines in this game, it's unbelievable, and on top of that, many of them were rerecorded for if you chose to play as a female. All of the lines feel very real and natural, which is very good for a story-driven game like this. The electronic music sounds just like something out of an old 70's/80's Sci-Fi movie, and always seems to set the appropriate mood.
Even while I think this game is fantastic, there are a few problems, even though they're fairly minor. First, is that while the graphics look great 99% of the time, in the close-up shots, some of the textures look very blurry. Second, there's no Anti-Aliasing. This just doesn't seem right for a PC game nowadays. Third, and this is a very rare glitch that I only experienced 3 times in my 30+ hours of play, is that sometimes when I hit the Quicksave button, it would crash the game. Again, it only happened 3 times, but it was frustrating nonetheless. Lastly, some of the sidequests feel a little repetitive. Most of them are of the "go down to a planet, find the base, kill everyone in said base, exit" variety. All of those can be overlooked very easily, even if they are semi-annoying.
Actually, I do have one more problem (and this is probably the biggest problem). The game just feels too short. Sure, it took me 25+ hours on my first playthough, but it was so awesome that it felt like 3. Thankfully, the game offers extreme replayability, because you can go back through with another class, make different choices, try to go to every planet, etc. The added achievements are nice, too.
Mass Effect is an amazing game, and one that every RPG fan/Sci-Fi Lover/Self-respecting individual should play. The story is brilliantly written, all of the voice acting is prefectly executed (although hearing Seth Green was a little weird, but only because I wasn't expecting it.), and both the RPG and shooter elements work fantastically. 5 out of 5.
It is the year 2148. You are Commander Shepard of the Normandy, one of the largest, fastest, and most powerful ships in the Alliance fleet. You are sent to Eden Prime to investigate a mysterious Beacon, and the story takes off from there, I just don't want to spoil it. It really is a fantastic story. One of the coolest parts is that you can set your character's backstory in the extensive character creator. You can choose from things like being a War Hero, to a Sole Survivor of an epic battle. It doesn't really change anything except for maybe a few conversations scattered throughout the game, but it adds an extra layer to your character, which is nice.
Along with choosing your backstory in the character creator, you can also, duh, create a character. It can be either a male or female, and you can choose from several different classes, although you can't choose to play as another race, you have to be human. Honestly, though, with all of the other choices, it doesn't really make that much of a difference.
Through your travels, you will happen upon some NPCs, who, for different reasons, will join your crew. These are characters who you can take out with you, up to two at a time, on missions to help you, so you will be spending a lot of time with them. I became very, very attached to these characters, and it hurt when I had to decide the fate of some or more of them. There are very few games that actually make me have feelings for and sympathize with characters, but Mass Effect did it perfectly.
Like I said, I owned KotOR, but never really played it much. I just couldn't get into it very much, and the combat was one of the biggest reasons as to why. I never liked how it wasn't real-time, and your just sat and watched most of the time. Luckily for me, Mass Effect is nothing like that. The combat in ME is all played out in real-time, and it's not just your stats that decide if you will come out victorious. Since it's a shooter, it actually requires some bit of skill on the player's part, which I really liked. Don't get me wrong, you don't have to be the best Call of Duty 4 player to be able to play ME, but it's not passive like KotOR was.
Along with your regular guns, you also have Biotic powers to manipulate your enemies, such as Throw, Lift, and Warp. While fighting, you can hold the spacebar to bring up a menu of sorts to pause the game, and from here, you can pick your target, choose a Biotic power, and when you release the spacebar, your character and/or squad will carry out the action. You can also control your squadmates to an extent, not unlike Rainbow Six, but I can't remember one time where I really used this funtion.
I've talked so much about the shooter aspects, but I can't forget the RPG/exploration side. Just like any other RPG, you kill enemies, gain EXP, level up, invest Skill Points in your class-based skills, basically just typical RPG stuff. The exploration, though, is something else entirely. Using the Normandy, you can explore the galaxy, moving from solar system to solar system, finding resources, doing sidequests, and, well, exploring. Some planets will even let your land with the Mako, your land rover, so you can explore the galaxy, as well as some of the planets. One of my favorite sidequests is one that takes place on Luna, Earth's moon, just because it's so awesome.
The sound in Mass Effect is fantastic. There are so many talking characters, several different alien races, and I can't remember any of them sounding alike. There are so many recorded lines in this game, it's unbelievable, and on top of that, many of them were rerecorded for if you chose to play as a female. All of the lines feel very real and natural, which is very good for a story-driven game like this. The electronic music sounds just like something out of an old 70's/80's Sci-Fi movie, and always seems to set the appropriate mood.
Even while I think this game is fantastic, there are a few problems, even though they're fairly minor. First, is that while the graphics look great 99% of the time, in the close-up shots, some of the textures look very blurry. Second, there's no Anti-Aliasing. This just doesn't seem right for a PC game nowadays. Third, and this is a very rare glitch that I only experienced 3 times in my 30+ hours of play, is that sometimes when I hit the Quicksave button, it would crash the game. Again, it only happened 3 times, but it was frustrating nonetheless. Lastly, some of the sidequests feel a little repetitive. Most of them are of the "go down to a planet, find the base, kill everyone in said base, exit" variety. All of those can be overlooked very easily, even if they are semi-annoying.
Actually, I do have one more problem (and this is probably the biggest problem). The game just feels too short. Sure, it took me 25+ hours on my first playthough, but it was so awesome that it felt like 3. Thankfully, the game offers extreme replayability, because you can go back through with another class, make different choices, try to go to every planet, etc. The added achievements are nice, too.
Mass Effect is an amazing game, and one that every RPG fan/Sci-Fi Lover/Self-respecting individual should play. The story is brilliantly written, all of the voice acting is prefectly executed (although hearing Seth Green was a little weird, but only because I wasn't expecting it.), and both the RPG and shooter elements work fantastically. 5 out of 5.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Review: LittleBIGPlanet (PS3)
LittleBIGPlanet may be the first official entry from Media Molecule, creators of Rag Doll Kung Fu, into the videogame world, but don't let Rag Doll Kung Fu's "meh-ness" fool you. LittleBIGPlanet is worth your time and money in every way possible. Also: Sackboy is freaking awesome.
The PS3 may not have a ton of standout games, but LittleBIGPlanet is one of the few games that is universally loved. This adorable platformer is probably the most charming game I've ever played. Beyond that, it's boasts the most robust and easy-to-use level designer I've ever seen.
With 8 different worlds with several levels in each world, the story mode is also very diverse, but the cool part is that every level in the story mode was made with the aforementioned level editor, so anything you see in the story mode can be created in the level editor.
Like I said, the level editor is extremely easy to use. It has a ton of tools to use, and a tutorial video for every tool. There are tutorials on how to create most basic things, like enemies, vehicles, and basic levels, and after that, you pretty much know enough that you can create anything you want. You can use any of the 8 environments unlocked in the story as a backdrop for your level, and there are stickers, items, clothes, materials, and more to unlock in the story levels. You can change the lighting, camera angles, text, music, and just about everything else in your level to set the perfect mood for whatever the situation.
Even though the story mode only clocks in at round 10 hours, there's also the user-created levels. I'm not sure if I have ever seen a community as creative as the one for LBP. I've seen levels for Metal Gear Solid, Pac Man, Super Mario Bros., Grand Theft Auto, Donkey Kong, and just about any other classic franchise, all created by the LBP community with the level editor. It's not just levels based on things, either. I've seen a working basketball court, a construction zone where you can control several vehicles (bulldozer, wrecking ball, etc.), a level based on the TV show Ninja Warrior, and several other fantastically creative scenarios.
The game is also freaking GORGEOUS. The graphics would make even Pixar jealous, and the art direction is absolutely superb, adding the perfect feel to the game. The soundtrack is good, although sometimes it seems like you keep hearing the same songs over and over.
LittleBIGPlanet is a fantastic game, and one that deserves to be in any PS3 owner's library, because even though the story is pretty short, with the level editor and other user-created levels, you could theoretically play forever and never play the same level twice. 5 out of 5.
The PS3 may not have a ton of standout games, but LittleBIGPlanet is one of the few games that is universally loved. This adorable platformer is probably the most charming game I've ever played. Beyond that, it's boasts the most robust and easy-to-use level designer I've ever seen.
With 8 different worlds with several levels in each world, the story mode is also very diverse, but the cool part is that every level in the story mode was made with the aforementioned level editor, so anything you see in the story mode can be created in the level editor.
Like I said, the level editor is extremely easy to use. It has a ton of tools to use, and a tutorial video for every tool. There are tutorials on how to create most basic things, like enemies, vehicles, and basic levels, and after that, you pretty much know enough that you can create anything you want. You can use any of the 8 environments unlocked in the story as a backdrop for your level, and there are stickers, items, clothes, materials, and more to unlock in the story levels. You can change the lighting, camera angles, text, music, and just about everything else in your level to set the perfect mood for whatever the situation.
Even though the story mode only clocks in at round 10 hours, there's also the user-created levels. I'm not sure if I have ever seen a community as creative as the one for LBP. I've seen levels for Metal Gear Solid, Pac Man, Super Mario Bros., Grand Theft Auto, Donkey Kong, and just about any other classic franchise, all created by the LBP community with the level editor. It's not just levels based on things, either. I've seen a working basketball court, a construction zone where you can control several vehicles (bulldozer, wrecking ball, etc.), a level based on the TV show Ninja Warrior, and several other fantastically creative scenarios.
The game is also freaking GORGEOUS. The graphics would make even Pixar jealous, and the art direction is absolutely superb, adding the perfect feel to the game. The soundtrack is good, although sometimes it seems like you keep hearing the same songs over and over.
LittleBIGPlanet is a fantastic game, and one that deserves to be in any PS3 owner's library, because even though the story is pretty short, with the level editor and other user-created levels, you could theoretically play forever and never play the same level twice. 5 out of 5.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Review: Galaga Legions (XBLA)
As you may know by now (whether by talking to me or by reading my review of it), I'm a pretty big Galaga fan. When I first saw Galaga Legions being demonstrated at E3 '08, I was a bit skeptical. It instantly reminded me of Pac-Man Championship Edition, which, while it was an okay game, I didn't like it all that much (although I've never been a huge fan of Pac-Man, anyway. I like it, but it's nowhere near my favorite game). Since I'm such a big Galaga fan, all I was doing was praying that they didn't screw Legions up. Somehow, they changed a lot of the gameplay mechanics, but still made a pretty cool game, even by Galaga's standards.
Like I said, they changed a few things for Legions. The first is that you can move all around the screen, and not just left and right. Second, you have two turrets which can be placed anywhere on the screen, or you can just leave them attached to your ship for extra firepower. Third, the enemies and the way they act are way different. They can now come at you from any direction, and there are often very, very many of them. Since there are so many coming from all directions, the developers added a cool system that draws out the path of the enemies and shows you where they're coming from about a second before they do come. It's simple, helpful, and it looks really cool.
Speaking of looking cool, the graphics are a really neat-looking futuristic kind of thing. As I said before, the graphics really remind me of Pac-Man Championship Edition, so if you've seen it, just imagine a white spaceship and about a million green aliens, and you have Galaga. Another neat feature is you have three graphics style options to choose from, Original, Vintage, and Ancient. It's a little confusing, because they could all mean the same thing, but Original is the new, updated Legions graphics, and Vintage and Ancient are the 1981 sprites, but placed on the cool backgrounds and explosion effects.
The controls are much better than Galaga. You have two shooting modes to choose from, Manual and Automatic. You're only going to want to choose Manual if you're looking for a challenge, because you can have as many bullets as you want out at one time, as opposed to only being able to have two in Galaga. But, even if you do choose Manual, you can shoot with the Right Trigger, which feels a lot more natural than mashing the A button. You also use the Right Stick to place and position your turrets. I like the turrets because even though the eliminate the (need for a) double ship, they add a whole new dimension of strategy to the gameplay.
The sound has (obviously) been revamped, with techno/electronic music that, thankfully, stays in the background enough that your ears won't bleed. It also has a techno/electronic version of the little riff that I guess you consider the Galaga theme. The shooting also sounds really good, and the explosions sound pretty good.
There are a few flaws with Legions though, however small they may be. First is that there are only five areas. There are five levels in the five areas, but it's still not very many. Thankfully, the levels aren't that short, so it's not really a game that you can beat in twenty minutes. Second, sometimes there are too many enemies on the screen, and some of them may be shooting, so if you get caught up shooting aliens, you can forget to dodge bullets, resulting in some (seemingly) unfair deaths.
Overall, I really like Galaga Legions, and I think it's a worthy sequel/"enhanced remake" (it actually feels more like a sequel than an "enhanced remake", as the Wikipedia page insists) to the original Galaga, and it's way more than just pretty graphics, it's an entirely new game. 4 out of 5.
Like I said, they changed a few things for Legions. The first is that you can move all around the screen, and not just left and right. Second, you have two turrets which can be placed anywhere on the screen, or you can just leave them attached to your ship for extra firepower. Third, the enemies and the way they act are way different. They can now come at you from any direction, and there are often very, very many of them. Since there are so many coming from all directions, the developers added a cool system that draws out the path of the enemies and shows you where they're coming from about a second before they do come. It's simple, helpful, and it looks really cool.
Speaking of looking cool, the graphics are a really neat-looking futuristic kind of thing. As I said before, the graphics really remind me of Pac-Man Championship Edition, so if you've seen it, just imagine a white spaceship and about a million green aliens, and you have Galaga. Another neat feature is you have three graphics style options to choose from, Original, Vintage, and Ancient. It's a little confusing, because they could all mean the same thing, but Original is the new, updated Legions graphics, and Vintage and Ancient are the 1981 sprites, but placed on the cool backgrounds and explosion effects.
The controls are much better than Galaga. You have two shooting modes to choose from, Manual and Automatic. You're only going to want to choose Manual if you're looking for a challenge, because you can have as many bullets as you want out at one time, as opposed to only being able to have two in Galaga. But, even if you do choose Manual, you can shoot with the Right Trigger, which feels a lot more natural than mashing the A button. You also use the Right Stick to place and position your turrets. I like the turrets because even though the eliminate the (need for a) double ship, they add a whole new dimension of strategy to the gameplay.
The sound has (obviously) been revamped, with techno/electronic music that, thankfully, stays in the background enough that your ears won't bleed. It also has a techno/electronic version of the little riff that I guess you consider the Galaga theme. The shooting also sounds really good, and the explosions sound pretty good.
There are a few flaws with Legions though, however small they may be. First is that there are only five areas. There are five levels in the five areas, but it's still not very many. Thankfully, the levels aren't that short, so it's not really a game that you can beat in twenty minutes. Second, sometimes there are too many enemies on the screen, and some of them may be shooting, so if you get caught up shooting aliens, you can forget to dodge bullets, resulting in some (seemingly) unfair deaths.
Overall, I really like Galaga Legions, and I think it's a worthy sequel/"enhanced remake" (it actually feels more like a sequel than an "enhanced remake", as the Wikipedia page insists) to the original Galaga, and it's way more than just pretty graphics, it's an entirely new game. 4 out of 5.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Review: Galaga (XBLA)
I was never a big fan of arcade machines. Hell, by the time I was old enough to really enjoy them, most of them were gone. Plus, I lived in a small town, so the only one I really ever played was this one in Pizza Hut, and it was a game I'd never even heard of (and unimportant enough that I don't remember the name). There were a few exceptions, though, and Galaga was one of the biggest, and remains one of my favorite games to this day. I first got interested in this type of game while watching my dad play this, and I thought it was so cool. Little did I know, the real thing was so much better, and the XBLA port/remake of the 1981 original is nearly as good.
The gameplay is the exact same as it was in the arcade. You fly around, moving your ship left and right, shooting aliens as they fly around and shoot back at you while they try and divebomb you kamikaze style. It's a basic idea, and it's done really well.
There were a few changes for the 360, however, like changing how many lives you start out with (up to 4), and changing how many points you have to get before being granted another life. The other major change is how you "Continue", if you can even call it that. Instead of having the choice to continue when you die, you're taken back to the menu, but you have the option to start from whatever stage you got to, but you start with no points. This is useful for getting some of the Achievements, but that almost makes the game feel a little too easy. Almost. One change that would have been more than welcome was a Co-op. I think that would have been pretty cool.
As I said before, the main game remains virtually unchanged, so it's got the same graphics and sounds. The controls, however, are a little different. The left thumbstick works well enough to move the ship, but mashing the "A" button to shoot is a little different. It works, but it might take some getting used to Thankfully, they added a Rapid Fire button, so you always have that option.
Galaga is a game that has stood the test of time. It was a great game over twenty-five years ago, and it still is today. It's been through several ports, and while I haven't played them all, I consider the XBLA version to be the best, and even though the graphics and sound are way outdated, it doesn't retract from the overall experience at all. 4 out of 5.
The gameplay is the exact same as it was in the arcade. You fly around, moving your ship left and right, shooting aliens as they fly around and shoot back at you while they try and divebomb you kamikaze style. It's a basic idea, and it's done really well.
There were a few changes for the 360, however, like changing how many lives you start out with (up to 4), and changing how many points you have to get before being granted another life. The other major change is how you "Continue", if you can even call it that. Instead of having the choice to continue when you die, you're taken back to the menu, but you have the option to start from whatever stage you got to, but you start with no points. This is useful for getting some of the Achievements, but that almost makes the game feel a little too easy. Almost. One change that would have been more than welcome was a Co-op. I think that would have been pretty cool.
As I said before, the main game remains virtually unchanged, so it's got the same graphics and sounds. The controls, however, are a little different. The left thumbstick works well enough to move the ship, but mashing the "A" button to shoot is a little different. It works, but it might take some getting used to Thankfully, they added a Rapid Fire button, so you always have that option.
Galaga is a game that has stood the test of time. It was a great game over twenty-five years ago, and it still is today. It's been through several ports, and while I haven't played them all, I consider the XBLA version to be the best, and even though the graphics and sound are way outdated, it doesn't retract from the overall experience at all. 4 out of 5.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Review: Ricochet (PC)
As a reviewer, I feel I should be somewhat balanced in my scores, to not seem so biased. Last night I got to thinking, "Most of the games I reviewed have all gotten fairly high scores. Maybe I should try to find a bad game to review." I was thinking about all that again today, and then I remembered I had gotten Ricochet as part of the Counter-Strike 1 Anthology from Steam (which also included Deathmatch Classic, Day of Defeat, Counter-Strike, and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero), and thought "That game is PERFECT for a bad review!"
Ricochet. The Half-Life mod that nobody knows about (or has tried to erase from their memory). It makes me sad to think that this game has disgraced the likes of Half-Life for eight years now. I was sitting here, thinking about what I was going to say in this review, when I realized that this game is so bad, I'm not sure I can put it into legible words, but I'll give it a try.
Now, I've never seen the movie Tron, but I'm pretty sure that Ricochet was inspired by it. The neon graphics look similar, and I think that there were some throwing discs in the movie.
I'll admit, I haven't played very much of Ricochet, but there isn't really much to do. It's kind of a one-trick-pony. You go into a game (if you can find one. The most servers I've ever seen open at one time was 11, and at 10:30 P.M. CST, there was only 10 servers, and only one of them had any players, and even THEN, there were only two players and they were both assholes.), and you go from platform to platform throwing discs, trying to knock people off the platforms and down into the abyss, where they die and you get a point. There are a few problems with this. First, you can't jump. You just have to run onto little arrows on the platforms which flings you across to another platform. Second, your discs are your only weapon, and you can't aim them up or down. That's right, you can only throw your discs parallel to the ground (more on that in a minute). Third, you can only have 3 discs at a time, and even though they replenish, they don't do so nearly fast enough. When you have 3 discs saved, you can right-click to throw out a Decapitator disc, which is just what it sounds like, but even that is boring.
Now, back to the aiming. There are several levels of platforms which you can get to by going to the right jumps. Separating those platforms are bars that you cannot shoot through. They just bounce off (hence, the title of the game). Since you can't aim up or down, you can only shoot someone when you're on the same platform as them, or when you're in the air. The problem with that is, when you get shot by a normal disc, it doesn't kill you, it just pushes you a little, meaning if you get shot in the air, you'll probably end up missing your jump completely, and then fall to your death. Another problem is that this is one of those games where you can't walk through other players, so if two people are jumping at one another, they bump into each other and fall, killing both. It's also hard to hit people unless they're right in front of you, because your discs move extremely slow.
There are a few power-ups, although they're all things you've seen in plenty of other games, like Multi-Shot, Power Shot, and one that just freezes you, leaving you defenseless.
The graphics are really, really bad, even for the year 2000. They're boring, lifeless, and I think that Half-Life looked better, despite being two years older. Actually, I took a screenshot (click to enlarge (that's what she said)).
When I decided I wanted to review a bad game, I think I did good in choosing Ricochet. This is a game that should never have seen the light of day, much less the $5 that Steam wants you to pay. There is not an ounce of fun in this game, and I really tried hard to like it, but I just couldn't. As a reviewer, and as a person who doesn't generally wish the worst on people, this is a form of torture that I couldn't wish upon my worst enemy, much less recommend it to anyone I care about. If you already have this game, you have my condolences. 1 out of 5.
EDIT: I forgot I took this video earlier today, when there were about 10 people on.
Ricochet. The Half-Life mod that nobody knows about (or has tried to erase from their memory). It makes me sad to think that this game has disgraced the likes of Half-Life for eight years now. I was sitting here, thinking about what I was going to say in this review, when I realized that this game is so bad, I'm not sure I can put it into legible words, but I'll give it a try.
Now, I've never seen the movie Tron, but I'm pretty sure that Ricochet was inspired by it. The neon graphics look similar, and I think that there were some throwing discs in the movie.
I'll admit, I haven't played very much of Ricochet, but there isn't really much to do. It's kind of a one-trick-pony. You go into a game (if you can find one. The most servers I've ever seen open at one time was 11, and at 10:30 P.M. CST, there was only 10 servers, and only one of them had any players, and even THEN, there were only two players and they were both assholes.), and you go from platform to platform throwing discs, trying to knock people off the platforms and down into the abyss, where they die and you get a point. There are a few problems with this. First, you can't jump. You just have to run onto little arrows on the platforms which flings you across to another platform. Second, your discs are your only weapon, and you can't aim them up or down. That's right, you can only throw your discs parallel to the ground (more on that in a minute). Third, you can only have 3 discs at a time, and even though they replenish, they don't do so nearly fast enough. When you have 3 discs saved, you can right-click to throw out a Decapitator disc, which is just what it sounds like, but even that is boring.
Now, back to the aiming. There are several levels of platforms which you can get to by going to the right jumps. Separating those platforms are bars that you cannot shoot through. They just bounce off (hence, the title of the game). Since you can't aim up or down, you can only shoot someone when you're on the same platform as them, or when you're in the air. The problem with that is, when you get shot by a normal disc, it doesn't kill you, it just pushes you a little, meaning if you get shot in the air, you'll probably end up missing your jump completely, and then fall to your death. Another problem is that this is one of those games where you can't walk through other players, so if two people are jumping at one another, they bump into each other and fall, killing both. It's also hard to hit people unless they're right in front of you, because your discs move extremely slow.
There are a few power-ups, although they're all things you've seen in plenty of other games, like Multi-Shot, Power Shot, and one that just freezes you, leaving you defenseless.
The graphics are really, really bad, even for the year 2000. They're boring, lifeless, and I think that Half-Life looked better, despite being two years older. Actually, I took a screenshot (click to enlarge (that's what she said)).When I decided I wanted to review a bad game, I think I did good in choosing Ricochet. This is a game that should never have seen the light of day, much less the $5 that Steam wants you to pay. There is not an ounce of fun in this game, and I really tried hard to like it, but I just couldn't. As a reviewer, and as a person who doesn't generally wish the worst on people, this is a form of torture that I couldn't wish upon my worst enemy, much less recommend it to anyone I care about. If you already have this game, you have my condolences. 1 out of 5.
EDIT: I forgot I took this video earlier today, when there were about 10 people on.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Review: MotoChaser (iPhone/iPod Touch)
There are a ton of racing games on the iPhone. It just seems like the perfect platform for them, and some of them work rather well. MotoChaser seems to fall right in the middle.
There are 3 characters and 10 tracks. Aside from looking different, there is no difference in the characters that I can tell. The maps, however, are totally varied. Like I said, there are 10 maps, (almost) all in completely different locales, ranging from the desert to an icy place that I'm guessing is Russia, because I saw a hammer and sickle sign somewhere.
To call this a racing game would be a stretch. There is no real racing involved. There is a time limit, but I still don't consider that a race. There is no real story, just a couple of pictures in between races. I think that's supposed to explain the story, but it's just a bunch of pictures of guys with masks on holding a cat with a bandana.
The controls can be quite...not really awkward, they're just touchy and unresponsive a small percentage of the time. Sometimes while I'm driving, for some reason, the game will think I let go of the gas button, and if that goes on long enough without you noticing, your iPhone can actually go into sleep mode when you're in the middle of a race. Oftentimes while you're "racing", you will drive up by the guys with masks every once in a while (it happens far more frequently on the later tracks), and you have to hit a button to punch them. This turns out to be more of a hindrance than a fun gameplay mechanic.
One of the biggest complaints I hear about this game is that the steering is too touchy, and it really is. Most games have an options menu where you can change the sensitivity of the accelerometer, but you wont find that in the current version of MotoChaser. Having a far too touchy accelerometer not only makes the game more frustrating, it also makes is nearly impossible to play in places like a car. On the bright side, there is a difficulty slider in the options menu, but that doesn't change the sensitivity, it just adds more time on the clock, which can certainly be helpful, although I would have preferred a sensitivity slider.
Some of the graphics look pretty good. The character models are all look really nice, but the environments ...not so much. The character models remind me of something like Valkyria Chronicles or maybe even No More Heroes, while the environments look like a close-up of Mario Kart 64.
The sound isn't very good, simply put. The only voice acting in the game is some girl who says "Ready...Go!" at the beginning of each "race". Other than that, it's all just generic rock songs that get really old after a while. They're not as bad as some generic rock tracks I've heard, but they're pretty bad.
Don't get me wrong, I like Motochaser, at least in short bursts. This is not a game I'd want to play for hours at a time. However, it is a fun game (and only $1), if you can get past the sensitivity and the awful sound. 3 out of 5.
Version 1.2 of MotoChaser was reviewed.
There are 3 characters and 10 tracks. Aside from looking different, there is no difference in the characters that I can tell. The maps, however, are totally varied. Like I said, there are 10 maps, (almost) all in completely different locales, ranging from the desert to an icy place that I'm guessing is Russia, because I saw a hammer and sickle sign somewhere.
To call this a racing game would be a stretch. There is no real racing involved. There is a time limit, but I still don't consider that a race. There is no real story, just a couple of pictures in between races. I think that's supposed to explain the story, but it's just a bunch of pictures of guys with masks on holding a cat with a bandana.
The controls can be quite...not really awkward, they're just touchy and unresponsive a small percentage of the time. Sometimes while I'm driving, for some reason, the game will think I let go of the gas button, and if that goes on long enough without you noticing, your iPhone can actually go into sleep mode when you're in the middle of a race. Oftentimes while you're "racing", you will drive up by the guys with masks every once in a while (it happens far more frequently on the later tracks), and you have to hit a button to punch them. This turns out to be more of a hindrance than a fun gameplay mechanic.
One of the biggest complaints I hear about this game is that the steering is too touchy, and it really is. Most games have an options menu where you can change the sensitivity of the accelerometer, but you wont find that in the current version of MotoChaser. Having a far too touchy accelerometer not only makes the game more frustrating, it also makes is nearly impossible to play in places like a car. On the bright side, there is a difficulty slider in the options menu, but that doesn't change the sensitivity, it just adds more time on the clock, which can certainly be helpful, although I would have preferred a sensitivity slider.
Some of the graphics look pretty good. The character models are all look really nice, but the environments ...not so much. The character models remind me of something like Valkyria Chronicles or maybe even No More Heroes, while the environments look like a close-up of Mario Kart 64.The sound isn't very good, simply put. The only voice acting in the game is some girl who says "Ready...Go!" at the beginning of each "race". Other than that, it's all just generic rock songs that get really old after a while. They're not as bad as some generic rock tracks I've heard, but they're pretty bad.
Don't get me wrong, I like Motochaser, at least in short bursts. This is not a game I'd want to play for hours at a time. However, it is a fun game (and only $1), if you can get past the sensitivity and the awful sound. 3 out of 5.
Version 1.2 of MotoChaser was reviewed.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Review: Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS)
The Guitar Hero games on consoles have always been hit, both critically and commercially. Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS was a little different. Some reviewers loved it, some didn't like it very much, but nevertheless it sold over 300,000 units in the first week. In my opinion, it's a decent start for the franchise in it's transition to handhelds.
First, let's talk about the hardware. Guitar Hero: On Tour comes with the Guitar Hero Guitar Grip peripheral which plugs into the DS' GBA slot. It also comes with a cool guitar pick-shaped stylus which fits into a convenient slot on the Grip. I don't know if they still come with this, but when I got my copy of the game (I got it within the first week it was released), it came with a really cool Guitar Hero Collectible Harmonica. Seriously.
I hear a lot of people get cramps in their hands from the Grip, but I never had that problem. My problem was that my wrist started to get stiff after a while, but that's to be expected I guess. Another problem that a lot of people (including me) have is that, especially in the faster songs, everything can get too hectic and the Grip can slide out of the GBA slot, thus ending the game and forcing you to reboot your DS. It doesn't happen too often, but it happens more than it should. The last major control problem is on the faster songs when you have to strum a ton of notes really fast, the touch screen can be quite unresponsive.
The first thing you'll notice about the Grip is that it only has 4 buttons, as opposed to the regular 5 buttons on the console versions. This may sound like a bad thing, but take it from me, 4 buttons is plenty. If there were 5 buttons, not only would you be straining your had to reach all of them (either that or the buttons would have to be smaller, and they're already hard enough to hit as it is), but it would just be chaotic.
Now, for the software. This definitely feels like a Guitar Hero game. It may not always feel responsive and the Grip may be a little different than what most people are used to, but the gameplay is totally Guitar Hero, and it is a mobile version worthy of the Guitar Hero name.
The Set List in On Tour isn't quite as strong as it could be, though. There are only 26 songs total (only one of those is an unlockable song), and several of the songs are a little unorthodox by typical Guitar Hero standards (This Love by Maroon 5 and Stray Cat Strut by Stray Cats stand out a little), but there are some decent songs in there. All songs, however are brought down a notch by bad audio quality. Maybe the developers ran out of room on the DS card and had to compress everything, I don't know. I just know that the audio quality could have been a lot better.
As you know if you've played any other Guitar Hero games, to initiate Star Power, you either hit Select on the Guitar, or just tilt the neck up. Since neither the DS nor the Grip has an accelerometer and it would be near impossible to hit Select in the middle of a song, the developers decided to remedy this by forcing you to blow (or you can do what it says to do in the tutorial and yell "ROCK OUT!") into the microphone. This is both awkward and occasionally ineffective.
On Tour also has a few characters returning from previous GH games, and a couple of new characters, too. The game also features Local Mulitplayer, but seeing as I never go anywhere and know no-one, I have yet to test this.
So, Guitar Hero: On Tour is not a perfect game. Far from it. It's not a terrible game, but it definitely could have been better. It is no Guitar Hero III replacement, but it's not a bad mobile version, as long as it's not played for too long at a time (for both your wrist and/or hands, and your sanity), and it get a little repetitive. 3 out of 5.
First, let's talk about the hardware. Guitar Hero: On Tour comes with the Guitar Hero Guitar Grip peripheral which plugs into the DS' GBA slot. It also comes with a cool guitar pick-shaped stylus which fits into a convenient slot on the Grip. I don't know if they still come with this, but when I got my copy of the game (I got it within the first week it was released), it came with a really cool Guitar Hero Collectible Harmonica. Seriously.
I hear a lot of people get cramps in their hands from the Grip, but I never had that problem. My problem was that my wrist started to get stiff after a while, but that's to be expected I guess. Another problem that a lot of people (including me) have is that, especially in the faster songs, everything can get too hectic and the Grip can slide out of the GBA slot, thus ending the game and forcing you to reboot your DS. It doesn't happen too often, but it happens more than it should. The last major control problem is on the faster songs when you have to strum a ton of notes really fast, the touch screen can be quite unresponsive.
The first thing you'll notice about the Grip is that it only has 4 buttons, as opposed to the regular 5 buttons on the console versions. This may sound like a bad thing, but take it from me, 4 buttons is plenty. If there were 5 buttons, not only would you be straining your had to reach all of them (either that or the buttons would have to be smaller, and they're already hard enough to hit as it is), but it would just be chaotic.
Now, for the software. This definitely feels like a Guitar Hero game. It may not always feel responsive and the Grip may be a little different than what most people are used to, but the gameplay is totally Guitar Hero, and it is a mobile version worthy of the Guitar Hero name.
The Set List in On Tour isn't quite as strong as it could be, though. There are only 26 songs total (only one of those is an unlockable song), and several of the songs are a little unorthodox by typical Guitar Hero standards (This Love by Maroon 5 and Stray Cat Strut by Stray Cats stand out a little), but there are some decent songs in there. All songs, however are brought down a notch by bad audio quality. Maybe the developers ran out of room on the DS card and had to compress everything, I don't know. I just know that the audio quality could have been a lot better.
As you know if you've played any other Guitar Hero games, to initiate Star Power, you either hit Select on the Guitar, or just tilt the neck up. Since neither the DS nor the Grip has an accelerometer and it would be near impossible to hit Select in the middle of a song, the developers decided to remedy this by forcing you to blow (or you can do what it says to do in the tutorial and yell "ROCK OUT!") into the microphone. This is both awkward and occasionally ineffective.
On Tour also has a few characters returning from previous GH games, and a couple of new characters, too. The game also features Local Mulitplayer, but seeing as I never go anywhere and know no-one, I have yet to test this.
So, Guitar Hero: On Tour is not a perfect game. Far from it. It's not a terrible game, but it definitely could have been better. It is no Guitar Hero III replacement, but it's not a bad mobile version, as long as it's not played for too long at a time (for both your wrist and/or hands, and your sanity), and it get a little repetitive. 3 out of 5.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Review: Portal: Still Alive (X360)
Back at E3 '08, VALVe surprised and excited many gamers by announcing Portal: Still Alive, and expansion for the award-winning Portal, which was one of the five fantastic games in The Orange Box. The day has finally come, and Portal: Still Alive is finally released.
First: Portal by itself was an absolutely fantastic game. It was fun, challenging and humorous all at the same time. The Portal Gun was something that hadn't been seen in games before. You played as Chell, a female Test Subject for Aperture Science. Throughout the game, you were guided by the often witty and sarcastic GLADoS, a talking supercomputer who would taunt, threaten and applaud you, sometimes all at once.
Portal: Still Alive is not a full-out sequel. It's an expansion of sorts. It adds 14 new Challenge Maps in the game, all of which amazingly creative and super fun to play. The maps are based off a fan-made map pack which was based on Portal: The Flash Version, so if you play through P:TFV, you not only get the general gist of Portal itself, but you also get a sneak-peek of sorts at P:SA.
Since it's based on the Flash version, which had several hazards that weren't in the original Portal, a few of those hazards are in P:SA. In turn, P:SA "feels" a lot different than Portal. P:SA requires an entirely different way of solving the puzzles, so you'll have to learn to "Think With Portals" all over again. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing. The thing that I always liked about Portal was that it never seemed to get so frustrating that I would want to quit, and the same goes for P:SA. Even though it can get frustrating, it's never too much.
Now for the bad. For one, it's an Xbox Live exclusive, at least for a while. It's also the biggest XBLA game right now (it's about 630Mb). This isn't necessarily bad, but it can take up quite a bit of space if you don't have a very big Hard Drive. Next, since it's basically just a Map Pack, GLADoS isn't in any of the 14 new Challenge Maps. A lot of people will say that since it doesn't have GLADoS, then it's no good. That is not true. It's still amazingly fun, just not as humorous. The last thing is a problem that everyone had with the first: it's ridiculously short. Most people can beat Portal in about 3 hours. I beat P:SA in a little over two.
Portal: Still Alive is a fantastic game, and an even more fantastic deal. 1,200 Microsoft Points ($15) may seem a little steep, but it's well worth it. If you haven't played Portal then this is a definite buy, and if you have played it, then you should still buy this, as even though it contributes nothing to the storyline, it's still a fantastic game, and on top of that, the original Portal in it's entirety is also in there. 5 out of 5.
First: Portal by itself was an absolutely fantastic game. It was fun, challenging and humorous all at the same time. The Portal Gun was something that hadn't been seen in games before. You played as Chell, a female Test Subject for Aperture Science. Throughout the game, you were guided by the often witty and sarcastic GLADoS, a talking supercomputer who would taunt, threaten and applaud you, sometimes all at once.
Portal: Still Alive is not a full-out sequel. It's an expansion of sorts. It adds 14 new Challenge Maps in the game, all of which amazingly creative and super fun to play. The maps are based off a fan-made map pack which was based on Portal: The Flash Version, so if you play through P:TFV, you not only get the general gist of Portal itself, but you also get a sneak-peek of sorts at P:SA.
Since it's based on the Flash version, which had several hazards that weren't in the original Portal, a few of those hazards are in P:SA. In turn, P:SA "feels" a lot different than Portal. P:SA requires an entirely different way of solving the puzzles, so you'll have to learn to "Think With Portals" all over again. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing. The thing that I always liked about Portal was that it never seemed to get so frustrating that I would want to quit, and the same goes for P:SA. Even though it can get frustrating, it's never too much.
Now for the bad. For one, it's an Xbox Live exclusive, at least for a while. It's also the biggest XBLA game right now (it's about 630Mb). This isn't necessarily bad, but it can take up quite a bit of space if you don't have a very big Hard Drive. Next, since it's basically just a Map Pack, GLADoS isn't in any of the 14 new Challenge Maps. A lot of people will say that since it doesn't have GLADoS, then it's no good. That is not true. It's still amazingly fun, just not as humorous. The last thing is a problem that everyone had with the first: it's ridiculously short. Most people can beat Portal in about 3 hours. I beat P:SA in a little over two.
Portal: Still Alive is a fantastic game, and an even more fantastic deal. 1,200 Microsoft Points ($15) may seem a little steep, but it's well worth it. If you haven't played Portal then this is a definite buy, and if you have played it, then you should still buy this, as even though it contributes nothing to the storyline, it's still a fantastic game, and on top of that, the original Portal in it's entirety is also in there. 5 out of 5.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Review: World of Goo (PC)
First off, you just need to know that I love physics-based games. The Incredible Machine, Garry's Mod, Fantastic Contraption, I love them all. Therefore, I went into World of Goo (PC version, I haven't played the WiiWare version, but I expect them to be the same) expecting a great game. Somehow, this game met every one of my expectations. This is a damn good game. Sure, it's frustrating at times, but even then you don't want to give up, you want to go back and try again.
If you're looking for a game with a deep storyline or fast-paced action, look elsewhere. While World of Goo has a story of sorts, it's not very deep. There are a handful of cutscenes, but nothing epic or groundbreaking. Throughout the levels of the game, you'll find signs which narrate the game. They are all signed with some variation of "The Signpainter", and they can be pretty funny at times.
The graphics are simple, but they're stylized and look very good. It's completely 2D, but don't let that put you off. This game may not have the best graphics ever, but it doesn't need them. These simple graphics get the job done quite nicely.
The sound is very good, like the funny little Goo Ball shrieks. One of the biggest things that shocked me, was that the music didn't make me want to rip my ears off. It's actually good, and fits the situation pretty well.
One of my favorite things, however, is the World of Goo Corporation feature. Whenever you finish a level with any extra Goo Balls, any extras get sent to the World of Goo Corporation, where you can try and build the tallest tower you can. The cool part is that if you're connected to the internet, you can see how tall other players' towers are in the form clouds.
Now for the bad. There is no options menu. That's not a very good thing for people like me who have widescreen monitors, much less a 1440x900 screen resolution. I'm guessing that the game runs at 1024x768 (that's a guess. I don't know the real resolution, but it's definitely not 1440x900). Another thing I would've liked to see is an option to run the game in a Windowed mode. Neither of these make the game unplayable, but it wouldn't hurt, at the very least.
This is a fantastic game. Yeah, it can be a little frustrating, there are no options to change the screen resolution, and it's pretty short (I beat it in about 6 hours, but if you go back through and try to perfect everything, I'm sure the game would be considerably longer), but it's just so great. The graphics, sound, and especially gameplay are all very stylized, and I love it.
4 out of 5 (5 out of 5 if they add an option to change screen resolution)
EDIT: After lurking on the forums for a while, I happened upon a thread about the screen resolution, and this is what an Admin had to say about it:
I tried it, and everything works perfectly except for the "Continue" button that pops up after you complete a level. If they can fix that and put it in a patch, it's a 5 out of 5.
If you're looking for a game with a deep storyline or fast-paced action, look elsewhere. While World of Goo has a story of sorts, it's not very deep. There are a handful of cutscenes, but nothing epic or groundbreaking. Throughout the levels of the game, you'll find signs which narrate the game. They are all signed with some variation of "The Signpainter", and they can be pretty funny at times.
The graphics are simple, but they're stylized and look very good. It's completely 2D, but don't let that put you off. This game may not have the best graphics ever, but it doesn't need them. These simple graphics get the job done quite nicely.
The sound is very good, like the funny little Goo Ball shrieks. One of the biggest things that shocked me, was that the music didn't make me want to rip my ears off. It's actually good, and fits the situation pretty well.
One of my favorite things, however, is the World of Goo Corporation feature. Whenever you finish a level with any extra Goo Balls, any extras get sent to the World of Goo Corporation, where you can try and build the tallest tower you can. The cool part is that if you're connected to the internet, you can see how tall other players' towers are in the form clouds.
Now for the bad. There is no options menu. That's not a very good thing for people like me who have widescreen monitors, much less a 1440x900 screen resolution. I'm guessing that the game runs at 1024x768 (that's a guess. I don't know the real resolution, but it's definitely not 1440x900). Another thing I would've liked to see is an option to run the game in a Windowed mode. Neither of these make the game unplayable, but it wouldn't hurt, at the very least.
This is a fantastic game. Yeah, it can be a little frustrating, there are no options to change the screen resolution, and it's pretty short (I beat it in about 6 hours, but if you go back through and try to perfect everything, I'm sure the game would be considerably longer), but it's just so great. The graphics, sound, and especially gameplay are all very stylized, and I love it.
4 out of 5 (5 out of 5 if they add an option to change screen resolution)
EDIT: After lurking on the forums for a while, I happened upon a thread about the screen resolution, and this is what an Admin had to say about it:
hey guys, if you go to the directory where the game is installed, inside a directory called properties is a file called config.txt. you can edit that file to specify the resolution you want the game to run in. it doesn't work for all resolutions because we didn't have time to fully test this feature, so use at your own risk, and if it doesn't work right, return the values to 800x600. we'll probably fix this feature in a future patch.
I tried it, and everything works perfectly except for the "Continue" button that pops up after you complete a level. If they can fix that and put it in a patch, it's a 5 out of 5.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Review: Mouse About (iPhone/iPod Touch)
With the iTunes App Store being such a mess with so many things that aren't worth your time or money, it's always great to find one from the other end of the spectrum. One of these games is Mouse About, and it's probably the best $3 you'll spend for a while.
You control Marv, a mouse, as he scoots through mazes trying to eat all the food on the screen. Marv can move in straight lines and he doesn't stop until he either hits something, be it food or nuts and bolts, or moves off the screen to Sacha the cat, waiting to kill him and eat him. The goal is to eat all the food on the screen, so you have to plan out your moves to go from one piece of food to another without moving off the screen. You have to be fast, however, because there is a timer at the top of the screen, and when the timer runs out, Sacha will eat him anyway.
Of course, there's never any violence. This is a bright and colorful kid-friendly game. All of the graphics in Mouse About are great looking, with nicely drawn sprites and great backdrops. There are even several different environments Marv runs through, including a kitchen, underwater and space.
The sound effects are also good and everything is very nice to hear. I don't, however, like the music very much, because it sounds almost exactly like music from a really bad game I used to play (Casper: Friends Around the World for PS1), but that's just a personal problem I have, and it's one that I'm sure not many other people will have. If I weren't biased that way, I'm sure I'd like the music.
If you look at Mouse About for what it is, a casual puzzler on a mobile platform, you'll be very pleased with what you get. It's a game that looks great, sounds great, it's a helluva lot of fun, and since it has a practically nonexistent learning curve, it's very easy to pick up and play. Probably the best $3 you'll spend in the App Store. 4 out of 5.
Version 1.1 of Mouse About was reviewed.
You control Marv, a mouse, as he scoots through mazes trying to eat all the food on the screen. Marv can move in straight lines and he doesn't stop until he either hits something, be it food or nuts and bolts, or moves off the screen to Sacha the cat, waiting to kill him and eat him. The goal is to eat all the food on the screen, so you have to plan out your moves to go from one piece of food to another without moving off the screen. You have to be fast, however, because there is a timer at the top of the screen, and when the timer runs out, Sacha will eat him anyway.
Of course, there's never any violence. This is a bright and colorful kid-friendly game. All of the graphics in Mouse About are great looking, with nicely drawn sprites and great backdrops. There are even several different environments Marv runs through, including a kitchen, underwater and space.
The sound effects are also good and everything is very nice to hear. I don't, however, like the music very much, because it sounds almost exactly like music from a really bad game I used to play (Casper: Friends Around the World for PS1), but that's just a personal problem I have, and it's one that I'm sure not many other people will have. If I weren't biased that way, I'm sure I'd like the music.
If you look at Mouse About for what it is, a casual puzzler on a mobile platform, you'll be very pleased with what you get. It's a game that looks great, sounds great, it's a helluva lot of fun, and since it has a practically nonexistent learning curve, it's very easy to pick up and play. Probably the best $3 you'll spend in the App Store. 4 out of 5.
Version 1.1 of Mouse About was reviewed.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Review: Sneak King (Xbox/X360)
Way back in November 2006, Burger King started selling actual videogames based on the Burger King (the creepy guy in the commercials) for the Xbox and the Xbox 360 for an extra $3.99 with any value meal. Sneak King was one of the three titles they sold (alongside Big Bumpin' and Pocketbike Racer), and it's my favorite out of the three. It borrows heavily from games like Metal Gear Solid, and does it fairly well, at least to some extent.
The basic premise is that you play as the King, and you run around the four levels, hiding in places like bushes, garbage cans, and piles of leaves, waiting for someone to walk by so you can jump out and give them a hamburger. Sounds fun, right? It is, for a while at least. As you can imagine, sneaking around handing out food gets a little repetitive after a while.
As I mentioned, there are only four levels (ranging from locales like a lumberyard to a Burger King parking lot), but there are twenty challenges per level, so there are 80 challenges in all, and each one only takes a few minutes to complete. You start out the levels in a sandbox-style, and from there, you run around the level looking for floating newspapers that represent the challenges in the level. After you finish a challenge, you are graded with a letter. The challenges are all pretty simple, just typical stuff like having to deliver so many hamburgers in so many minutes, that kind of stuff.
Now, you can't just run up to someone and give them a hamburger, you have to find hungry people (you can tell who they are because they have hamburger icons over their heads) and get food to them before they faint. The people all walk on a set path and have a Metal Gear Solid-style vision cone, and if you step in that cone, you're caught and they lose their appetite. If you do get the food to them in time, a meter pops up, and if you hit the "A" button at the right time, you get a Flourish score (depending on your button timing, and depending on your Flourish score, the King will do a little dance to celebrate, which is funny at first, but it gets a little annoying after a while), which multiplies your score for that particular delivery. If you deliver more than one burger without getting caught, you start building a chain, which also multiplies your score.
The graphics in the game are surprisingly decent. Don't get me wrong, it's no GTAIV, but they're decent. That being said, this is one of the creepiest looking games I think I've ever played. Think about it, you play as a giant-headed King (who already looks pretty creepy alone) jumping out of places giving people food. There are a few graphical glitches here and there, mainly with shadows, but nothing major. The sound is just...there. Nothing special, but nothing that will make you want to mute your TV right away.
All in all, this is a decent game...for about 3 hours, if that long. After that, it's pretty bland. This isn't exactly the deepest title out there, you know. You'll probably just play it for a weekend and then be done with it forever. This game is more for just sitting on your shelf and looking cool (which it does) than for playing. You do have to remember, though, that this was a budget-title, and basically just a big Burger King commercial, and on top of that, it was only $4. What can you get for $4, a hamburger?
I give this game a 3 out of 5.
The basic premise is that you play as the King, and you run around the four levels, hiding in places like bushes, garbage cans, and piles of leaves, waiting for someone to walk by so you can jump out and give them a hamburger. Sounds fun, right? It is, for a while at least. As you can imagine, sneaking around handing out food gets a little repetitive after a while.
As I mentioned, there are only four levels (ranging from locales like a lumberyard to a Burger King parking lot), but there are twenty challenges per level, so there are 80 challenges in all, and each one only takes a few minutes to complete. You start out the levels in a sandbox-style, and from there, you run around the level looking for floating newspapers that represent the challenges in the level. After you finish a challenge, you are graded with a letter. The challenges are all pretty simple, just typical stuff like having to deliver so many hamburgers in so many minutes, that kind of stuff.
Now, you can't just run up to someone and give them a hamburger, you have to find hungry people (you can tell who they are because they have hamburger icons over their heads) and get food to them before they faint. The people all walk on a set path and have a Metal Gear Solid-style vision cone, and if you step in that cone, you're caught and they lose their appetite. If you do get the food to them in time, a meter pops up, and if you hit the "A" button at the right time, you get a Flourish score (depending on your button timing, and depending on your Flourish score, the King will do a little dance to celebrate, which is funny at first, but it gets a little annoying after a while), which multiplies your score for that particular delivery. If you deliver more than one burger without getting caught, you start building a chain, which also multiplies your score.
The graphics in the game are surprisingly decent. Don't get me wrong, it's no GTAIV, but they're decent. That being said, this is one of the creepiest looking games I think I've ever played. Think about it, you play as a giant-headed King (who already looks pretty creepy alone) jumping out of places giving people food. There are a few graphical glitches here and there, mainly with shadows, but nothing major. The sound is just...there. Nothing special, but nothing that will make you want to mute your TV right away.
All in all, this is a decent game...for about 3 hours, if that long. After that, it's pretty bland. This isn't exactly the deepest title out there, you know. You'll probably just play it for a weekend and then be done with it forever. This game is more for just sitting on your shelf and looking cool (which it does) than for playing. You do have to remember, though, that this was a budget-title, and basically just a big Burger King commercial, and on top of that, it was only $4. What can you get for $4, a hamburger?
I give this game a 3 out of 5.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Review: Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (X360)
Okay. I've never actually written a formal review of anything before, so you shouldn't expect a whole lot more than my regular dose of literary genius. Hopefully, if I think this review turns out okay (and if I get good feedback (wait, I need readers for that, right? Shit.)), then I might review other games (maybe Metal Gear Solid 4). Here goes:
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Review
Every once in a while, a game comes along that looks awesome in the previews, and deep down you really want it to be awesome, but when you actually play the game, you find out it's crap. Okay, so enough about Super Smash Bros. Brawl (yeah, I hated it), let's talk about Mercenaries 2.
There are three Mercenaries to choose from, but most everybody will probably pick Mattias Nillson - the Swedish dude on the cover of the game - because he regenerates health a little faster (one of the other characters can carry more ammo, and the other one can run a little faster), but no matter who you choose, the story is basically the same.
The story, albeit short and rather unimportant, is where you're in Venezuela to do a job for a dude named Ramon Solano, then instead of paying you, shoots you in the ass. In turn, you blow up half of his house, forcing him to GTFO. Now, you can't just let a half-good mansion go to waste can you? No, you take it and use it as your base. Actually, it's a base for the whole PMC (Private Millitary Company) which consists of:
The controls work very well. I especially liked the way helicopters controlled - much better than GTAIV, although maybe not as realistic. Speaking of helicopters, that's just one of the many, many vehicles you can hijack and/or have dropped to you by Ewan. Every time you try to hijack an attack vehicle (i.e. enemy tanks, helicopters, etc.), you go through a short hit-the-right-button-at-the-right-time minigame, similar to Time Gal or the arcade version of Dragon's Lair. Some people think that those add too many breaks in the action, but I think it's good to pause for a few seconds every once in a while. Plus, if you take long enough doing it, then you can possibly regain a few health points.
The gameplay is also quite excellent, although at times the AI can be a bit of a drag. There were times when some enemies would just stand around and not move, not shooting or anything. As bad as the enemy AI is, the allied AI is even worse. There was a mission where I had to fly into an enemy base, save two captured pilots, call an allied helicopter for extraction, and then continue with the mission. So, I flew in, released the pilots, called a chopper in, but nothing happened. The guys just stood there. The AI was too stupid to even realize that the extraction chopper had landed. Long story short, I died several times just because the AI was so stupid.
The graphics are also not quite up-to-par (although the explosions look pretty freaking awesome). They're decent and they get the job done, but I've run in to several graphical glitches (albeit nothing as bad as I saw in Alone in the Dark. Ugh.), but it wasn't anything major. There's also some bit of texture and object pop-in. When you're flying a helicopter, you can see land and water for several miles out, but at times it almost looks like crap because the textures don't get high-quality until you're pretty close (I would guess about 100 feet. It doesn't sound like much, but it's pretty noticable in a helicopter), and the same goes for objects, such as trees and buildings.
There is one huge thing that makes this game stand out from a lot of others, and that is all of the environments are completely destructible, and anything you destroy stays until you restart your system. Destroying things is probably 85% of the fun in the game, and you have plenty of options in how to destroy everything, the simplest being grenades, C4, and missiles from tanks and helicopters. My favorite, however are the airstrikes, and there are several to choose from.
My final complaint, although rather minor, is that the dialogue can get very, very repetitive. There's one line that Fiona repeats every time you leave the PMC when you're not in a mission that I've probably hear 200 times in my 25+ hours of gameplay, and I'm not exaggerating. There's also a few other lines that get old, but none like the one Fiona repeats over. And over. And over.
While this game has some ups and downs (and the way I see it, there are more downs than ups, although the ups are greater than the downs), there's definitely something to be said for a game as buggy and repetitive as this, and yet I still 100% recommend it to almost anyone. It's that good. 4 out of 5.
Note: I haven't even tried co-op yet, but from what I hear, it's even better.
EDIT: During my exploits on the internet, I've found an Official Mercenaries 2 Flash Game, the full version of the song from the commercial and a Making-Of video for the commercial.
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Review
Every once in a while, a game comes along that looks awesome in the previews, and deep down you really want it to be awesome, but when you actually play the game, you find out it's crap. Okay, so enough about Super Smash Bros. Brawl (yeah, I hated it), let's talk about Mercenaries 2.
There are three Mercenaries to choose from, but most everybody will probably pick Mattias Nillson - the Swedish dude on the cover of the game - because he regenerates health a little faster (one of the other characters can carry more ammo, and the other one can run a little faster), but no matter who you choose, the story is basically the same.
The story, albeit short and rather unimportant, is where you're in Venezuela to do a job for a dude named Ramon Solano, then instead of paying you, shoots you in the ass. In turn, you blow up half of his house, forcing him to GTFO. Now, you can't just let a half-good mansion go to waste can you? No, you take it and use it as your base. Actually, it's a base for the whole PMC (Private Millitary Company) which consists of:
- You (whatever mercenary you chose to play as)
- Fiona, your "boss"
- Ewan, your Scottish helicopter pilot, used to pick up oil and bring you supply drops
- Eva, your mechanic. If you find enough of the 100 Spare Parts scattered across Venezuela, then she can build you custom vehicles, like monster trucks with the ability to jump
- Then finally, Misha, the perpetually drunken Russian airplane pilot. You need him for airstrikes
The controls work very well. I especially liked the way helicopters controlled - much better than GTAIV, although maybe not as realistic. Speaking of helicopters, that's just one of the many, many vehicles you can hijack and/or have dropped to you by Ewan. Every time you try to hijack an attack vehicle (i.e. enemy tanks, helicopters, etc.), you go through a short hit-the-right-button-at-the-right-time minigame, similar to Time Gal or the arcade version of Dragon's Lair. Some people think that those add too many breaks in the action, but I think it's good to pause for a few seconds every once in a while. Plus, if you take long enough doing it, then you can possibly regain a few health points.
The gameplay is also quite excellent, although at times the AI can be a bit of a drag. There were times when some enemies would just stand around and not move, not shooting or anything. As bad as the enemy AI is, the allied AI is even worse. There was a mission where I had to fly into an enemy base, save two captured pilots, call an allied helicopter for extraction, and then continue with the mission. So, I flew in, released the pilots, called a chopper in, but nothing happened. The guys just stood there. The AI was too stupid to even realize that the extraction chopper had landed. Long story short, I died several times just because the AI was so stupid.
The graphics are also not quite up-to-par (although the explosions look pretty freaking awesome). They're decent and they get the job done, but I've run in to several graphical glitches (albeit nothing as bad as I saw in Alone in the Dark. Ugh.), but it wasn't anything major. There's also some bit of texture and object pop-in. When you're flying a helicopter, you can see land and water for several miles out, but at times it almost looks like crap because the textures don't get high-quality until you're pretty close (I would guess about 100 feet. It doesn't sound like much, but it's pretty noticable in a helicopter), and the same goes for objects, such as trees and buildings.
There is one huge thing that makes this game stand out from a lot of others, and that is all of the environments are completely destructible, and anything you destroy stays until you restart your system. Destroying things is probably 85% of the fun in the game, and you have plenty of options in how to destroy everything, the simplest being grenades, C4, and missiles from tanks and helicopters. My favorite, however are the airstrikes, and there are several to choose from.
My final complaint, although rather minor, is that the dialogue can get very, very repetitive. There's one line that Fiona repeats every time you leave the PMC when you're not in a mission that I've probably hear 200 times in my 25+ hours of gameplay, and I'm not exaggerating. There's also a few other lines that get old, but none like the one Fiona repeats over. And over. And over.
While this game has some ups and downs (and the way I see it, there are more downs than ups, although the ups are greater than the downs), there's definitely something to be said for a game as buggy and repetitive as this, and yet I still 100% recommend it to almost anyone. It's that good. 4 out of 5.
Note: I haven't even tried co-op yet, but from what I hear, it's even better.
EDIT: During my exploits on the internet, I've found an Official Mercenaries 2 Flash Game, the full version of the song from the commercial and a Making-Of video for the commercial.
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