I love giving stuff away. Sure, I love to play through all of these games myself, but I don’t always have time for that so I might as well do something useful with those extra games and get them in YOUR hands. Up for grabs this time? Metroid Prime Trilogy.
The rules are simple. Be 18 and live in the US or Canada. To enter, make a post in this thread and tell me if you agree with Vy’s assessment of MPT. We’ll pick a winner next week. Ready, Set, GO!!!!
Batman’s association with video games has been mediocre at best. Aside from the classic game on the NES, and perhaps even the kid-friendly LEGO Batman, the Dark Knight hasn’t had much success in the realm of video games. Batman: Arkham Asylum , shapes up to be not only a great Batman game, but an all around great superhero game. And it not only meets any lofty expectations, it exceeds them.
Arkham Asylum follows the story of the Caped Crusader as he returns The Joker to Gotham’s own prison for the criminally insane, Arkham Asylum. Little does Batman know that The Joker plans to get kidnapped to unleash another one of his master plans. The Joker quickly escapes captivity, takes over the entire island, and as always it’s up to Batman to put an end to The Joker’s sinister plans. Batman and The Joker are voiced by Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill respectively, and they give absolutely fantastic performances.
The game as a whole looks stunning. It’s a lot darker, more brooding, and definitely a lot more detailed than any Batman game before it. Arkham is a huge place to explore, and there are many little nooks and crannies to look in. There are several different buildings you will find yourself exploring, each with a very unique look to it. The character models are also well done, and as the game progresses, you’ll notice Batman’s costume getting more torn and beaten up as he continues. The little touches like those may not be noticed by everyone, but they are nice to have.
The story, while it starts out basic, plays out like an interactive episode of the original Batman Animated Series. Even if you’re not a huge Batman fan, or know much about the comics/series the game is tied to, you can still appreciate the story. And although The Joker is the main villain, you’ve got plenty of supporting villains, some of which actually manage to steal the show for quite a bit. The story actually took quite a few interesting twists, and there are some truly amazing moments to be found.
The controls are perfect, and are very easy to learn. It can be considered a pick up and play title, with a basic tutorial in the beginning of the game showing you some of the ropes. You’ll find yourself running and gliding around Arkham in no time, and the intuitive controls only adds to the fact that you truly feel like Batman playing this game. No other game before this has given you that feeling before, and it’s done thanks to the combination of the controls and the many different gadgets you get as you progress, such as the Batclaw.
The gameplay blends together three main elements, and does so excellently. The first element is the combat, which is sinplistic, but intuitive and uncomplicated. You press the X button for all of your base attacks, but you combine those attacks with movements of the analog stick, the timing of your button presses, and other things like your gadgets and moves you can learn or upgrade along the way. The Y button serves as your counter button, which is used when you can tell an enemy is about to attack (I guess you can call it “Bat Sense”). When stringing together all of these basic elements, you can get some pretty amazing combos going. And later, more difficult enemies are introduced that require different tactics to take down.
The second major element is the stealth, and while it isn’t as prominent as the combat, it can be just as intense and challenging. There are several situations in which you are faced with a group of armed guards, and it is at that point you realize that taking them head on is suicide. You will grapple along a bunch of gargoyles that are placed around the room, and use your many tools and moves to take down the various guards. Also, thanks to Batman’s “detective vision,” it’ll pinpoint all of the guards around the room easily. Later on in the game, you get larger groups of henchmen to deal with, a lot of which stick together in groups. But thanks to things like inverted takedowns, silent takedowns, and a “sonic batarang” you can unlock later on, you’ll find yourself clearing these rooms fairly quickly.
Speaking of Batman’s detective vision, it leads into the third element of gameplay, the detective work. It’s not a large part of the game, and it basically boils down to you finding a clue, analyzing it, and then following the trail to your next major location in the game. But what this detective vision is especially good for is finding hidden areas, such as walls you can destroy with your explosive gel, or even things you can collect.
This leads to another part of the game, The Riddler challenges. Early on in the game, The Riddler contacts you and tells you he has hidden several Riddler trophies all around the asylum, and also given you plenty of riddles to solve based on what part of the environment you are in. The detective mode is especially good for helping you solve these riddles or collect the trophies, which give you extra bonuses such as character trophies and new challenge maps. And even once you finish the main story, you can wander around Arkham to find the rest of the hidden Riddler goodies that you missed during your main playthrough of the game.
You also earn points for doing certain things in the game. These can be as basic as defeating enemies or merely progressing in the story, or a bit more complicated such as finding specific hidden items (such as The Riddler trophies mentioned above). You use these points to upgrade Batman by increasing his health, and unlocking new gadgets and attacks for him as well. While you may not use a good part of any of these unlockables, they are nice to have and add a bit of variety to the later parts of the game.
Aside from the main story, you also have challenge maps, which are specific parts of the game that you can play to earn high scores, which are uploaded onto Xbox Live scoreboards. There are two main types: the combat challenge maps, and the predator challenge maps. And they are nice additions to the game that might keep you coming back to it, if you’re one for earning high scores and such. They also unlock even more things for you, so they are must plays for the completionists out there.
There is one weakness in the game, and that is that some of the boss battles are very disappointing (and some can’t even be considered “battles” at all). The final boss is especially disappointing, considering it mainly consists of you fighting regular enemies for the majority of it. Some of these boss battles are truly amazing, but a lot of them are downright disappointing.
Overall, the gameplay blends together many different elements and does so in a truly amazing way. You have never played a Batman game quite like Arkham Asylum, as it brings Batman to video games like never before. This is as close to a perfect superhero game as we have gotten so far, and it really shows the folks over at Rocksteady know exactly how to treat this franchise with the respect it deserves. Even if you aren’t a fan of Batman, this is a quality game that is well worth the asking price.
ESRB: T for Teen; rated for blood, violence, suggestive themes and mild language
Pros: Has a truly gripping story; fantastic presentation and voice cast; free flow combat is uncomplicated, smooth and satisfying; stealth sections are challenging and tense; truly amazing level design; plenty of extras to collect, riddles to solve, and things to unlock
Cons: Some disappointing boss battles, especially the final boss
In theory, this should be a very simple review. What rating to give a single $50 Collector’s Edition disc that contains Metroid Prime (SBG Rating: Purchase), Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (SBG Rating: Purchase), and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (my own SBG Rating: Purchase)? Um… how about “Purchase?”
Sure, all three games are already playable on the Wii thanks to its inherent backwards-compatibility with the GameCube, but Prime and Echoes aren’t just lazy emulation ports; the guys at Retro went in and added Corruption’s awesome Wii controls to the two earlier chapters, as well as widescreen support and some graphical touches (mostly to Prime, which already looked amazing the first time). The biggest question is how the GameCube titles would handle the copious beam-switching that was absent in Corruption, but those games don’t have “Hyper Mode” so that button simply calls up the beam change HUD, which works just like Corruption’s visor change HUD. These controls also include the Spring Ball feature (jumping while in Morph Ball mode simply by flicking the Remote up), which will certainly make a few puzzles easier than the first time around. Corruption’s Achievement-like token system is also retro-fitted (no pun intended) to the older games and is how you can unlock the Fusion Suit in Prime, among other goodies like art galleries and sound tests; yes, this also includes the online “Friend Voucher” trading. (Sadly, you cannot unlock the original Metroid like you could the first time around with a Prime/Fusion link-up; that’s since been relegated to the Virtual Console.)
As if that were not enough, the packaging itself has been made extra-special; a metallic casing gives the case some serious heft (as does the triple-sized instruction manual). There’s also a fold-out recollection of the entire Metroid Prime Trilogy storyline with more concept art. This can be a little hard to read under certain lighting conditions (white text on silver… not a good choice) but is still a neat little addition. The best part? These bells and whistles cost you nothing; the entire three-game, one-disc metallic package won’t cost you any more than any other new Wii title (that isn’t bundled with some sort of controller). That’s some seriously awesome customer service on Nintendo’s part.
Of course, not everything is perfect with Metroid Prime Trilogy. Perhaps most annoyingly, there is no way to import old save files — including those from Corruption, which theoretically didn’t even need any adjustment. You’re just going to have to play through these excellent games again from the beginning of each one (oh, no… the horror!). Then there’s the related problem of the fact that you probably already own all three of these titles (and it’s too late to get good trade-in value now that this is on shelves), which admittedly is a serious obstacle to some. Finally, while the Friend Vouchers are traded online across all three games, the multiplayer aspect of Echoes is still split-screen only; regrettable, but hardly essential to enjoyment.
But in the end, whether or not you decide to buy MPT probably comes down to one question: did you like the Wii controls of Corruption so much that you were wishing they’d somehow been available in the first two games? Much like the other “new play control” re-releases like Pikmin and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, that’s really all this is: “New Play Control” Metroid Prime + Echoes with Corruption thrown in for free. That being said, this is still an incredible deal for any Metroid fan — and an especially great present for anyone who has (somehow) never experienced the series but would like more of a challenge than most typical Wii fare.
ESRB: Teen for Animated Blood and Violence. The box somehow doesn’t mention the terror caused by having a shrieking metroid latch on to your face in a first-person perspective.
Plays like: Metroid Prime and MP2: Echoes with MP3: Corruption’s Wii control scheme.
Pros: Three incredible games with superior controls in a special edition case, one amazing price.
Cons: Three incredible games that you probably already own; no save file import
Video games have generally never been high on humor or comedy, and I feel that this is a bit disappointing. The early days of gaming, it was hard to find a funny game outside of a point-and-click adventure title or, even farther back, a text-based adventure title. You just don’t see that many games with comedic moments in them anymore, and most games that attempt this generally fall flat on their face. Here’s a little dedication to humor in games, discussions some of my favorite funny games and why the industry needs to just lighten up a little.
The new Prince of Persia is arguably a great game. While some hate its difficulty (or rather lack thereof,) they praise the artistic design of the game. A few complaints go towards the Prince himself, who is definitely less of a “Prince” and more of some street punk in this addition. But I enjoyed his lighter tone, his more upbeat personality, and his occasional funny quip. It was a nice refresh from the Prince in the Sands of Time trilogy (especially the later two games) and his brooding and almost self-loathing attitude. A game doesn’t need to be consistently funny, just a few lines of dialog that make us smile or maybe giggle at the sometimes stupid but generally worthy comedy.
I said earlier that most funny games were point-and-click adventure titles, a lot of which were being developed over at LucasArts by people the likes of Tim Schafer, Ron Gilbert, and Steve Purcell. But there were a few exceptions to this, one of which being a quirky little RPG on the Super Nintendo called Earthbound.
It may not be the generally “stupid” humor most Americans are accustomed too, but it’s definitely there, and it suits video games more than slapstick gags, which work better in films. It’s usually intelligent and quick witted humor, especially found in Tim Schafer’s games. From his early work on the original Monkey Island titles, to his more recent games that depart from his point-and-click roots like Psychonauts and the soon to be released Brutal Legend, he’s a comedic genius, and he has a fantastic team of developers. The humor in games work best in point-and-click adventure games, because it gives the players more of a reason to continue playing, to see the characters reactions or lines of dialog. It makes them laugh, and it gives them a drive to finish the game. It’s one of those rare cases that even the most simple games can have their gameplay greatly improved with a little humor.
Grim Fandango is my favorite example of this. It’s a lengthy adventure, and almost every line of dialog is brilliantly delivered by the excellent cast, and they are all also excellently written. Of course, this isn’t to say humor can’t work outside of this genre, but these kinds of games work best with even just a sprinkle of humor. The more recent releases, such as the Sam & Max episodes, are good examples of how to both do episodic content right and perfectly mix an old genre with fresh humor. It’s something I truly believe this industry needs more of.
I’m all for the latest “serious” game, but sometimes it’s a bit upsetting to see games that don’t even have the slightest bit of humor outside of our own fun (and funny) times we can have with a game. Even an epic (of sorts) RPG such as Lost Odyssey has the “comic relief” character, whose voice work and dialog make him one of the best characters in the cast and one of the better RPG characters to come around in a long time. People tend to forget that comedy is a great thing, and while I’m not expecting the next Gears of War to turn into a comedic adventure for the whole family, I think we’ve all forgotten how much fun games can be if we’re laughing or even just smiling the entire time even when we’re not playing the game.
Let’s stop all of this serious business for a little while, and let’s lighten the mood. I want to laugh when I play a game, and not every game, but just some games. Maybe one out of every five games, that will be enough. It’s nice to see developers are still trying and (generally) succeeded at humor, even if it’s just a small part of the game, but we need more Tim Shafers in the world. Portal, what a fantastic game that was. And it will continue to be remembered by many gamers…why? Not because of the puzzles or the portal gun itself, but because of the humor. Take notes, I guarantee you’ll find yourself remembering something about a game more so if it made you laugh than anything else. Humor is an interesting thing, isn’t it?
The Beatles have always been a tough group to license. A spat with Apple kept them away from the iTunes Store for years, and their songs certainly haven’t appeared in a rhythm game before. Harmonix put a considerable amount of effort into courting the various parties necessary to create this game, so there has been a lot of anticipation for this release. So how is it?
Pretty impressive, actually. The presentation is just gorgeous. The band members are well-animated in their various incarnations, the scenery and instruments are detailed, and the menus all have this slick psychedelic look. The controls are as tight as you’d expect from Harmonix, and the underlying Rock Band structure means most of the kinks have been worked out.
The main new feature of this set is the addition of multiple vocal tracks. You’ll need to find more microphones, but these are totally worth it. Rock Band’s vocalist problem — that is, that people tend to be shy and avoid singing — isn’t tripled with the new tracks. In fact, the problem is solved, as multiple singers mean people can join in with no problem.
Of course, the main attraction of this disc is the collection of Beatles songs. The collection of almost 50 songs spans the group’s short career, and includes about half from their concert days and half from the Abbey Road period’s studio pieces. The two are presented differently, with concert songs set in real-life venues like The Ed Sullivan Show and Shea Stadium, and Abbey Road songs given a psychedelic “dreamscape” treatment, with surreal fantasy sequences.
The Story Mode takes you chronologically through their career, and meeting 3-star and 5-star milestones on songs unlocks pictures and interesting information about the band. Amazingly animated sequences begin each chapter, and audio from before and after songs is preserved (such as Ed Sullivan’s introduction or post-recording chatter). After a while, players unlock rare gems like a recording of the band’s first “Christmas Record” with a bit of chatter sent to members of the fan club.
Here’s the main problem with The Beatles: Rock Band: as great as the group is, a lot of the fun in Rock Band comes from the variety, and the closed platform means that you can only play the Beatles songs on the disc or the available Beatles downloadable tracks. Still, it’s a great addition to a band game fan’s library. Just keep the Rock Band 2 disc around to switch in after a few songs.
ESRB: T– Seriously, pay attention to the lyrics.
Pros: Amazing presentation, great bits of Beatles history in Story mode
Cons: Just Beatles? They had to, but it makes it a bit tough.
