March 2010

God of War III

March 22, 2010

PS3 / Reviews / by Andrew Passafiume Make a comment! / Tweet it!

The God of War series is one that has received a lot of praise over the years for its incredible presentation and visceral combat. God of War III, supposedly the last game in this trilogy, is meant to send off the series with a bang. Simply put, the game does not disappoint, and it shows off the power of the PS3 in a way that has yet to be seen, even in last year’s big hit, Uncharted 2.

The game picks up directly after the events of God of War II, in which Kratos has teamed up with the Titans to try and stop Zeus and bring down Mount Olympus for good. Kratos is in it for revenge, but you soon find out the Titans all have another reason to take down the king of the Gods himself. The story unfolds nicely, and is a lot less convoluted than the one found in God of War II. Best of all, the ending, while short-lived, is a nice end to Kratos’ journey. 

In terms of the presentation, God of War III is like no other. The opening moments where you find Kratos riding on top of Gaia, one of the Titans, as she climbs Mount Olympus, is pure eye candy. And shortly after, you are thrown right into the game, where many different things are all happening at once. Not only is Kratos fighting off enemies himself, Gaia is being attacked by one of the other Gods, Poseidon. You not only struggle to not fall off of the Titan, but you must protect her from the attack while trying to save yourself in the process. It’s one of those moments that will go down in gaming history as one of the best openings around.

The music is equally as enjoyable. As you make your way through the game, you are accompanied by an orchestral score that rivals that found in even the best of films. With songs that can be adrenaline pumping at times, and incredibly haunting at others, the music is as unforgettable as the rest of the experience is. 

Gameplay has remained relatively the same, but the combat has been almost perfected as you perform devastating moves and combos that really make you feel like you are Kratos. Each attack is satisfying, and it lends itself to the incredibly violent nature of the series well, with moments that may make even the least squeamish people cringe. 

The boss battles in particular are all incredible and truly memorable experiences. Some of these battles can last ten minutes, while others may last over 30, with many different parts to them, and many other enemies to fight in between these parts. Nothing is more satisfying than taking down some of these huge encounters as they continue to become more rewarding than the last.

You get a total of four weapons in the game, each with its own upgrades and magical attack. You can switch between the weapons on the fly, and even switch between them mid-combo for some deadly results. During the most intense fights later on in the game, the ability to switch between weapons so fluidly is essential to taking down the waves upon waves of enemies. 

As you upgrade each weapon, you gain new attacks as well as stronger versions of your magical abilities. These abilities can truly turn the tides of battle in your favor, as they become more and more of a priority during combat the further you get into this adventure. You also get other items along your way, including the Bow of Apollo that shoots flaming arrows and can take out enemies from afar, as well as the Head of Helios, which can reveal secrets in the game and blind enemies.

Also, in regards to upgrades, you can increase your health, magic, and item powers as you find different hidden objects around the game. For each three of a certain object you find, one of your three meters will increase, which can be crucial near the end of the game. You may not find it necessary to go for these hidden items, you will regret it if you miss too many of them.

There are some camera problems that may get in your way during some of the larger encounters and platforming sections, but this is a very small problem that should not interfere too much with your overall enjoyment of the game. And aside from the combat, which is the meat of the game, there are also puzzles. And while they are few and far between, the ones that are present are very well designed. They break up the action nicely, and add a few interesting twists to the gameplay, which might have become too repetitive without these small sections.  

God of War III has exceeded all of my expectations and has turned this series into one of the best in terms of action games. You will not find a more polished, well thought-out, and well executed game on the PS3, and that is saying a lot. 

Pros: Amazing presentation; incredibly satisfying combat; memorable boss battles; well designed puzzles; wraps up the story of the series nicely

Cons: Some camera issues

 

The Death of Local Multiplayer

March 21, 2010

Features / New Game+ / by Andrew Passafiume Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Remember when split-screen in video games used to be the thing to do? A ton of games back in the PS1/N64 era had split screen, and although the majority of them were shooters or racing games, the best ones were addictive and kept you (and your friends) coming back for more. But what happened? Online gaming happened. And although I do not hate online gaming, I hate what it has done to the industry: killed local multiplayer. 

Goldeneye 64…what a game that was. As one of the first exclusive console shooters, Goldeneye had it all: incredible missions, good controls (for the time at least), and best of all, four player split-screen multiplayer. This is what kept everyone coming back for more. And the fact that you were in the same room with three of your friends, the experience became all the better. PC gamers had to rely on online only for their multiplayer. Sure, there are LAN parties, but that seems like a lot of effort when you can just pop in good old Goldeneye for some good times.

Nothing is more fun than playing a good game with friends in the same room, and it’s been that way forever. Do you really want to play board games online? No, nobody really does, it’s no fun until you have a good group of friends in the same room with you. No matter what game it is you are playing, there is no denying that it just becomes that much more enjoyable with a group of friends.

So, what happened? PC games had online, but clearly console games could have it too! Online capabilities on consoles truly began with the Sega Dreamcast, which had a few stand out titles, including Phantasy Star Online. From there, Sony and the newcomer Microsoft stepped up and decided to continue the trend. Sure, during this era there were still plenty of split-screen games (Halo being a big one), but they were beginning to dwindle. 

Xbox Live came around soon after, and it became incredibly popular, especially with the release of Halo 2. Being able to finally play Halo online was dream come true for many gamers, but I guarantee if you ask any of them, they had the most fun back with the original and group of friends in the same room. Sure, the Halo series still has local multiplayer, but many games seem to no longer support it. Even a lot of racing titles seem to downright abandon it.

These days, online multiplayer (and now online co-op) reign supreme. It’s hard to find a game without either of these features, but it’s almost as difficult to find a game without the ability to play these features locally as well. It’s nice to see that local multiplayer still is not dead, as evident by the new racing title Blur and its strong focus on both local and online multiplayer. But it has never and will never be the same again.

Although local multiplayer may be dead to a lot of gamers, there are still those who hang on to this idea that playing games with friends in the same room is fun. It’s crazy, I know, but we do exist. Not much else we, as gamers, can do about it, except dust off that N64 and start playing some Goldeneye. It may not hold up to “today’s standards,” but a lot of us would never want it to. 

Mega Man 10

March 21, 2010

Reviews / Wii / by Chris Ingersoll Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Two years ago, fans of the “classic” Mega Man series were knocked off their sofas with the announcement of Mega Man 9, a retro-revival of the franchise that dominated the NES like no other third party offering could. We downloaded it from the Wii Shop Channel, fired it up, and loved every spike-riddled jumping minute of it. Heck, I personally named it my Game of the Year for 2008, and I didn’t even bother with any of the additional downloadable content like Proto Man and Endless Mode.

Now imagine my reaction late last year when I heard that Mega Man 10 was going to hit in early 2010. 

Mega Man 10 does very little to stray from the formula that has been tried and tested for over 20 years. Eight new robot masters wait for you at the end of thematic stages filled with tricky jumps, dangerous traps, and annoying enemies. Beating one of these renegade robots allows you to claim his weapon as one of your own, giving you more options as you progress through the game. Even after ten iterations (not to mention the X and Zero spinoff series) the Mega Man team still manages to come up with some insidious new tortures, like the see-saw platforms in Blade Man’s stage or the sandstorms that periodically sweep through portions of Commando Man’s lair (and threaten to sweep you into spikes and/or pits). Just about every one of the stages has something new, in fact; the initial segment of the final stage might just be the crowning achievement of the entire franchise.

While the platforming action is still as devious as ever, where MM10 loses a little steam is with your new toys. Like MM3 following MM2‘s broken Metal Blades and other solid weapons with clunkers like the Search Snake, Top Spin, Needle Cannon, and Spark Shock (that’s half of the weapons available for those counting along), the arsenal in MM10 isn’t nearly as fun as the offerings in MM9 (which were all fairly awesome — or at least useful). Several of the weapons are actually more effective when you miss with the initial projectile, and a few are just awkward to use in general (the Thunder Wool you get from Sheep Man sadly belongs to both of those categories). Other than experimenting to figure out which weapons cause the most damage to bosses, I spent a good deal of my time in MM10 mostly using the Arm Cannon, and I didn’t even have the excuse of a powerful charged shot like with the later (non-9) games. 

Of course, that’s me speaking as a series veteran whose formative years were spent perfecting runs through Quick Beams and disappearing blocks. The more recent gaming generation(s) didn’t have dormant muscle memory to help them out when MM9 flung them into beds of instant-death spikes, nor were they protected by the hard-wired paranoia of nasty enemies leaping out of pits and slamming into you mid-jump. To put it simply, MM9 handed them their faces and never apologized — until now. In addition to having Proto Man available from the start (although his runs will not count for certain online scorekeeping), MM10 offers an “Easy” mode specifically designed for newcomers. The enemies are weaker, your weapons are stronger, stages are littered with pickups that restore ALL of your energy (making a surprising return from the original MM title) and many of the trickier jumps feature additional platforms that will catch you where only sudden death awaits you on the normal difficulty. Don’t be fooled: there are still PLENTY of ways to die, even with the “kid gloves” on, but it is still a vastly easier experience compared to the norm — or, heavens forbid, the unlockable “hard” setting (which even I won’t touch). My run through normal officially finished after 3.5 hours, although in reality my multiple “learning” trips through the final stage probably brought my total to nearly 6; by contrast, my post-victory run through Easy (using Proto Man, who is a little weaker than Mega Man in several aspects) came in at just under an hour with no continues (and only a handful of lives lost). Granted, it helped that I already knew what to expect, but that’s still a striking difference.

Ultimately, MM10 is still the same rock-hard old-school platforming that fans of the Blue Bomber have come to love and expect, but somewhere along the way it lost a little of the nostalgic charm. That said, the easy mode makes MM10 a better option for new fans just getting into the series before they “graduate” to normal mode or MM9 (not to mention the classic games available on the Virtual Console), and series veterans will still love what MM10 has to offer (especially some of the achievements/challenges). It just isn’t quite the must-have that I felt MM9 was.

Plays like: Guess. Go on, guess. Here’s a hint — it’s the tenth game called “Mega Man”.

Pros: Easy mode is a great option for those who need/want it; platforming insanity is still there for those who love it

Cons: Most of the weapons are outright useless except to exploit boss weaknesses

 

The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

March 21, 2010

Reviews / Xbox 360 / by Justin Last Make a comment! / Tweet it!

There’s something wonderful about playing an anti-hero. There are no damsels to save, no false choices to make that result in your character saving the world just because it needs saving, and the character design is always better on the bad guy than the hero anyhow. Darth Vader, Scorpius, and Benjamin Linus agree – bad guy is where it’s at. P.B. Winterbottom understands these things – he’s a foul detestable man whose sole ambition is to steal pies. Why does he steal pies, you ask. Because they are delicious and he wants them. That’s all there is to it. So when his latest caper causes a tear in time that allows P.B. to create time loops and clones his natural inclination is to use these newfound powers to more effectively steal pies. 

The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom is equal parts Braid and the Clank segments from Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, and silent black and white movies. In his journey through the game’s five zones, P.B. can stack clones on top of one another to reach high platforms, smack clones to make them fly across the screen (or orchestrate a clone smacking you), use time loops to work numerous levers and switches, and stand on top or recorded clones as they journey across the screen.

As sections of the story are completed challenge rooms are unlocked. These challenge rooms play identically to the main game with one addition. The idea is not to complete the scenario quickly or with as few clones as possible. What was simple with 10 clones may border on the impossible with only five. It’s nice to see more games learning from the examples set by Bionic Commando: ReArmed and Shodow Complex – we love a challenge, and creating challenge rooms is a great way to lengthen the gameplay experience without needlessly padding the main story.

Added to the time-based puzzle gameplay is Winterbottom’s aesthetic. The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom takes on the look and sound of an old silent movie, and P.B. Winterbottom feels at home there. He’s mustache-twirlingly evil – not so bad that you actively despise him, but just out there enough that you find yourself rooting for him even though he’s an anti-hero. When replays are created film grain effects pop up and an old project sound plays. The Odd Gentlemen have lovingly placed these little details all throughout the game, and it’s better for it.

P.B. Winterbottom’s one fault is the same as those games that inspired it – tight timing. In both Braid and A Crack in Time I would figure out the solution to the current puzzle but be “this close” (imagine my fingers are really close together) to actually pulling it off. It’s frustrating to know what to do but struggle to actually make it happen. This is at least half my fault as the tools are adequate to get the job done, but if you frustrate easily then the latter levels of The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom may not be for you. For everybody else though, this little black and white gem is a steal at only 800 MS points.

Plays Like: Braid, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (Clank time puzzles)

Pros: Wonderful theme, light-hearted tone, copious challenge rooms

Cons: Timing gets fairly demanding toward the end

 

Glory of Heracles

March 21, 2010

DS / Reviews / by Chris Ingersoll Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Glory of Heracles is the latest game in a series centering around the legendary Greek hero, but the first to make it outside of Japan. From what I understand, usually Heracles is the primary character, and while that’s technically true this time around there are two other characters in the game who are claiming that name as their own as well (one of them is a party member, the other an NPC). This identity confusion is coupled with a group of amnesiac characters who are all immortals but none can remember why they are so blessed/cursed. Their journey of discovery is an interesting one, and there are several twists along the way to keep you guessing. 

The combat system used in the game is as much of a throwback as the source material, but it too has some interesting tweaks that . You give all of your characters their commands and targets for the round up front, and they are generally locked into those choices even if circumstances change during the turn. Sometimes this means that they are attacking already-incapacitated enemies, but the game actually has an “overkill” system that rewards this with replenished MP; if a character’s target is overkilled prior to his action then he will randomly select a new target if any are available. Complicating things a bit are front and back rows for each side, and different weapons have different reaches. There are also various skills (both active and passive) that can be employed for more impressive attacks than basic blows; some of these skills are learned via leveling up after praying at various temples, but a good deal of them are granted by whatever you have equipped. Managing the skills of your gear is a key part of the game’s strategy.

The real attraction to the combat, however, is the magic. The magic bestowed by Prometheus (who famously stole fire — aka magic — from the gods and gave it to man), uses five flavors of ether, indicated by meters at the top of the screen.  Usually ether is converted from fire/water/earth/air into “dark” or vice versa. If there is insufficient ether to power the spell when it comes time for you to cast it, you will suffer a backlash loss of hp that is usually pretty significant. You can also intensify your magic (and some skills) via QTE-like touch screen microgames, which keeps your attention on the action instead of just mindlessly mashing the A button. The effects themselves are over-the-top and crazy; you have the option of full, brief, or no animations, but even if you’ve selected to watch them you can always skip them, which is very welcome.

Overall, I enjoyed Glory of Heracles over most of the 32 hours I put into it; there are some camera issues in the 3D towns, but you just learn to deal with it. There’s also a New Game+ feature, but you don’t actually carry over any skills or equipment; you get to skip the tutorial and some other options are unlocked, but I didn’t really explore it that deeply. It’s a fun adventure and worth your time; nothing really ground-breaking and must-own, but Glory of Heracles is unique enough to stand out in the crowded DS RPG library.

 

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