July 2010

Puzzle Quest 2

July 16, 2010

Reviews / Xbox 360 / by Shawn Vermette Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Usually when a developer releases a sequel to a critically acclaimed game, such as Puzzle Quest, they either play it too safe, ending up with a game that feels more like an expansion than an all new game, or they make changes for the sake of making changes, losing the magic that made the original so enjoyable in the process. Luckily, Infinite Interactive did neither of those when crafting Puzzle Quest 2, giving us a game that feels and plays differently than Puzzle Quest, but retains the addictive and enjoyable gameplay throughout.

One difference between Puzzle Quest and Puzzle Quest 2 is evident the minute you begin the game. The overworld is gone, replaced with an isometric close up view of the world. This helps give a more fantasy/RPG feel to the game, though it would have been nice to find some way of including both the overworld and this new view. The second difference you’ll find is that rather than just using puzzles for combat, you’ll use them for just about every action you would expect to take in an RPG. Finding treasure, disabling traps, opening locked doors, even putting out fires are all accomplished by various puzzle minigames. This gives you a nice change of pace from the standard combat puzzles. Next, there are no more spells to unlock, beasts to capture, or castles to build. Instead, . There are dozens of weapons and armor for you to choose from and upgrade, each with their own benefits. This adds a nice new layer of strategy to the game that makes up for the removal of the other features. Finally, Puzzle Quest 2 has 5 colors of mana this time and there are no gold coins or experience gems for you to collect during battles. Instead, you collect gauntlets, which allow you to use the various pieces of equipment you can now find and equip.

A game like Puzzle Quest 2 lives or dies on its gameplay, and I’m pleased to say that it is just as addictive, fun, and challenging as the first game was. The difficulty is a little uneven in this one, with new spells and abilities sometimes making things much easier suddenly than they used to be, but that doesn’t dilute the enjoyment you’ll get out of it at all.

In the end, Puzzle Quest 2 is a refinement over an already great game, so if you wanted some more Puzzle Quest goodness, you’ll enjoy Puzzle Quest 2. Otherwise, you’re better off looking elsewhere. 

Pros: Combat is still as addictive and enjoyable as ever; New isometric point of view works well; Equipment adds a nice layer of strategy to the combat

Cons: Difficulty curve is a bit uneven; Text can be difficult to read

 

Transformers: War for Cybertron

July 16, 2010

Reviews / Xbox 360 / by Andrew Passafiume Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Transformers: War for Cybertron has been hyped up as one of the best, if not the best Transformers game. While this may be true, there is nothing in War for Cybertron that really puts it above what you may expect from a typical licensed game. It’s not bad, but it’s hard to deny just how generic it can be.

The first thing that struck me about War for Cybertron was the presentation. It has a very slick look to it, and at times I could swear it was even slightly cel-shaded. All of the Transformers look amazing, and the animations seem very fluid as well. Combine this with top notch voice acting and you have a game with a truly impressive presentation, despite the lack of visual variety in the level design. Sadly, when you actually start playing the game, you will realize that it is not more than meets the eye. 

The campaign follows both the Decepticons and the Autobots on Cybertron, their home world, before any of the events of the original cartoon take place on Earth. The game throws you right into the action, and unless you’re already familiar with the series, it will be hard to find yourself caring about anything that is happening. None of that matters when it’s all about giant robots blowing each other up, right? Well, there’s a bit of a problem with that too.

The campaign will allow you start as either the Decepticons or the Autobots, and from there you pick between three different Transformers depending on the mission. Each character represents one of four different classes in the game: leader, scientist, scout, and soldier. No matter which character you chose on either side, how they play will depend solely on their class. This works fine for multiplayer, but it’s a shame that there is a true lack of variety in how each character plays. 

The controls are excellent, for the most part, and they lend themselves well to the constant barrage of action going on during each mission. Aiming works well, there is a decent variety of weapons to pick up, and the vehicles feel solid despite the usually closed environment you find yourself in. You transform by clicking in the left stick on the 360 controller, which seems okay at first, but during very hectic combat sequences it can be a bit difficult to do it as smoothly as you might like. 

The vehicles themselves are never truly used that often during gameplay, unless you are playing as a character that can turn into a jet. The problem with flying is it’s not exactly flying, it’s more like hovering. I’m not entirely sure if this is due to how claustrophobic the environments are, but air battles are never as intense as you might expect. You find yourself and your opponents hovering around fairly slowly, trying to shoot each other; this turns what could be an excellent part of the game into something rather dull. 

The A.I. for both your teammates and the enemies are very dull, and it does not help the repetitive action of the game at all. Co-op definitely helps, as you can bring in two of your friends to play the campaign alongside you, but that seems the make the game incredibly easy, even on the highest difficulty settings. 

The best part of co-op, however, is Escalation mode, which pits you and your friends against waves upon waves of enemies to survive for as long as possible (similar to Horde Mode in Gears of War 2). Although playing that mode only helped me realize just how dull the campaign was in comparison.

The main problem with War for Cybertron’s single player campaign is, no matter what side you are playing, you end up facing off against waves and waves of generic drones. The more you play, the less it feels like a Transformers game and more like a bland third person shooter. You would hope for something more to split the two sides of the story apart, gameplay wise, but there is practically nothing aside from the occasional boss fight during the Autobot campaign, all of which are incredibly tedious.

Multiplayer is the real reason to play War for Cybertron, as it truly takes the class based system established in the single player and puts it to good use. Soldiers are the tank characters that can take and deal a lot of damage, Scientists can snipe and repair allies, Scouts rely on speed and stealth, and Leaders help out allies by giving out upgrades. All four classes, if played correctly, can add a lot of strategy to the game. 

As with the single player, the multiplayer plays a bit like any other third person shooter with some slight changes that try to make it stand out, but never really work. There is a real lack of variety in the maps, and despite a sizeable amount of game modes available, none of them feel specifically Transformers-based. However, the multiplayer is still a blast to play and really makes this game worth trying out, despite how boring the campaign can be. 

Aside from a fun, albeit standard multiplayer, and some interesting ideas, Transformers: War for Cybertron is nothing more than a slightly above average third person shooter. It will not earn the series any new fans, and only die hard Transformers lovers will appreciate the story presented here.  

Pros: Impressive presentation; solid controls; multiplayer is pretty fun and lends itself well to class based gameplay

Cons: Bland single player that lacks any variety; terrible A.I.; vehicle battles are less exciting that they should be

 

Alpha Protocol

July 14, 2010

Reviews / Xbox 360 / by Shawn Vermette Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Obsidian made many bold claims about Alpha Protocol before its release. They claimed it would be the first espionage-based action RPG, that choice would matter to the way the story unfolded, that you could choose multiple ways to beat each mission, even that you could beat the game without ever killing anyone other than the required bosses. Unfortunately, Alpha Protocol just doesn’t live up to the expectations placed on it.

True to its RPG base, Alpha Protocol has 9 skills that can be leveled up throughout the game as you level up. These range from improved skill, and added abilities, for using weapons like pistols, shotguns, or assault rifles, to improved hacking or gadget use. You can even improve your ‘toughness,’ an important skill that increases your hitpoints-something that will become increasingly important the farther into the game you go. 

These skills and the accompanying abilities you gain are chosen and used in a method very reminiscent of Mass Effect. You are given an ability wheel that pauses the action while you select which abilities, tech gadets (such as first aid kits, grenades, or even EMP disruptors), or ammo you wish to use. Each ability and tech gadget has a cooldown time during which it cannot be used again. This prevents ability spamming, something that could drastically lower the difficulty of Alpha Protocol, given some of the abilities you can gain access to. One ability allows you to see the locations of all enemies and cameras within a certain distance from you, along with their alert status. Another allows you to pause the game for a few seconds while deciding where to place anywhere from 2-6 pistol rounds in the tableau in front of you, then unpause it and let loose all of those shots at exactly the same time. This can be used to great effect when you need to clear a room of guards quickly and quietly. Among the best abilities you can learn though, is one that will automatically revive you should you ever die. It gives you a brief period of invulnerability, some of your health back, and is able to be used once every 15 minutes. As long as you can find an abandoned corridor or room to barricade yourself in, this ability effectively makes you impossible to kill.

In Alpha Protocol, you are Michael Thorton, secret agent extraordinaire. You are a new recruit to Alpha Protocol, a secret black ops organization that allows the US government to perform covert attacks on their enemies, yet still deny they have anything to do with it. If that sounds suspiciously like Third Echelon, there’s a reason for it. Alpha Protocol seemed to be a more fleshed out version of Third Echelon, complete with baritone-voiced, no nonsense commanders. Michael Thorton begins the game a captive in a secret medical lab, and you are tasked by a mysterious woman to escape before something bad happens to you. This serves as the tutorial level, after which you discover that it was essentially an entrance exam to Alpha Protocol that you would have either passed or died from. Upon joining the ranks of Alpha Protocol, you choose a background for yourself that will give you skills in stealth, assault, or technology. Alternately, you can choose to start out as a green recruit with no skills whatsoever to start out with.

From this point, nearly every decision you make alters the rest of the game in some way, subtly or overtly. Every decision you make in communication changes how people view you, opening or closing later dialog options and sometimes even opening or closing parts of the story. Every decision you are faced with during missions impacts the story, and even how later missions will play out. As an example, early on you will be faced with the choice of arresting or executing an arms dealer. Arresting him will give you a bonus to weapons and intel in later missions in that area, while executing him hurts your intel for later missions but reduces the strength of the enemy in those missions. How you proceed in these decisions is entirely up to you, and changes how the story plays out. This leads to a good amount of replayability as you seek to experience every possible aspect of the story.

There are four types of guns you can employ: pistols, shotguns, SMGs, and assault rifles. Additionally, each weapon has 4 upgrade slots so that you can mix and match customizations as you see fit. Maybe you want to increase the amount of firepower your pistol can put out. Perhaps you want to improve the accuracy and reduce the recoil for your assault rifle. There’s dozens of choices for you to make for your load out in each mission.

Unfortunately, the actual gameplay and combat are where Alpha Protocol loses its luster. Alpha Protocol makes about as good a shooter as the original Splinter Cell did, which is to say, not much of one. How well you aim doesn’t seem to have as much effect on whether an enemy is hit as it should, nor does where they get hit by the bullet seem to have much of an effect on how much damage they take. Additionally the AI is very erratic. The enemy will usually rush into the room you are in to kill you, rather than trying to draw you out. On the other hand, they seem to have almost a sixth sense about your presence, making it almost impossible to engage in stealthy infiltrations.

There is also at least one bug that ruins the stealth path through the levels. Even when you are out of sight of any and all cameras in a level, one of them will see you anyway and send an alarm out to the enemy. Certainly, it’s likely that it is possible to beat the game using stealth throughout the game, without ever killing an unnecessary enemy; however, it is so difficult to do as to make it entirely worthless as a goal unless you are a masochist.

Graphically, Alpha Protocol is not impressive in the least. The characters are somewhat bland and the environments aren’t detailed. On the other hand, the voice acting is fairly good, while the sound effects are also fairly accurate.

In the end, Alpha Protocol is something of a mixed bag. The story is worth playing through multiple times, and many of the boasts made regarding choice are certainly true (heck, the slogan for Alpha Protocol is “your weapon is choice”). Unfortunately, it is marred by inconsistent AI, awkward gunplay, and bugs that really make it impossible to play through the game in any manner you choose. 

Pros: Choices entirely change the game; Story is intriguing; 

Cons: Erratic AI; Lackluster combat; Plays worse than the sum of its parts

Plays Like: Splinter Cell meets Mass Effect, only not as good as that sounds

 

Snackbar Speculator: Remake Raiders 3DS

July 11, 2010

Features / Speculator / by Shawn Vermette Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Even after E3 ended, rumors are still being confirmed, as we’ve got yet another confirmation this week.

Current score

Andrew Passafiume: +270

Graham Russell: +174

Eric Schabel: +70

Shawn Vermette: +245

 

Results

Hulu to join Xbox 360’s multimedia offerings

Shortly after E3, Hulu announced that their Hulu Plus service would be available on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the former sometime this year and the latter in 2011.

Andrew 90% = +40

Eric 50% = 0

Graham 80% = +30

Shawn 90% = +40

 

NBA Jam remake coming to Xbox 360 and PS3

The German software ratings board let the cat out of the bag late last year when Phoenix Wright was being scheduled for release on the Wii. Now, the German ratings board might have done so again, this time for what is thought to be a Wii-exclusive game. A rating appeared on their website for NBA Jam, which was recently announced at Nintendo’s press conference as a Wii-exclusive game. Has EA changed their mind and decided to make it multiplatform? Or is this merely another game rating that will never actually be used?

Andrew: It seems likely that this NBA Jam remake would make its way to the other consoles in some form or another, whether it is as a full retail game or as a XBLA/PSN release sometime in the future. I think it’s certainly possible, but I would have to guess that the probability of that happening is relative to how well it sells on the Wii. 50%

Graham: Ever? I think so, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a while after the Wii release. For one thing, they’re making full retail money on Wii, and they would probably do an XBLA/PSN release on other consoles. Here’s what makes me hesitant, though: whenever EA talks about it, they mention that NBA Elite is being released on the other two, and Jam started life as “NBA Bounce,” a Wii alternative game. They’re getting pressure for it now, though, and I could see that being the project the team takes on once the Wii version goes gold. Shawn, I certainly don’t think it’ll be a port of the original. Adding new rosters to that game (as they don’t have rights to the old ones) would be as tough as putting the new one on those systems.   60%

Eric: I’m pretty sure this one will be coming true; it just makes too much sense. The word “exclusive” is used pretty liberally at E3 press conferences these days, and I don’t see why EA wouldn’t try to get as much money as they can from this title. Sure, the Wii is a great platform for a new NBA Jam, but so are the other two consoles. 80%

Shawn: I’m not sure if this is going to be the same game, or if this is the original NBA Jam being ported to XBLA/PSN. However, I think I’m leaning toward this showing the new NBA Jam will be on multiple systems. EA has soured on Wii exclusive games lately, so I think making it multiplatform only makes sense. 80%

Next Tomb Raider game coming in 2011

During Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade, a new Tomb Raider game will be released sans the Tomb Raider moniker. However, rumor has it that it will not be gone forever. Crystal Dynamics is said to already be hard at work on the next full-sized entry in the Tomb Raider series, and that it will be released in 2011.

Andrew: The new Lara Croft downloadable game being released in August could definitely help start a new direction for the Tomb Raider series, even if it is just story based. I definitely could see a return of the series in a big way for all of the current gen consoles, and with some much needed improvements. 70%

Graham: If you notice, they haven’t once called Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light a Tomb Raider game. It’s a spinoff (and a cool one from the time I spent with it), but there’s no way there isn’t a main series game in development. My hesitation: it may not be out until 2012. 80%

Eric: I haven’t really kept up with the Tomb Raider franchise, but the last game was well-received, and I don’t see why they couldn’t pump out another one before next year is through. They’ve already got the engine in place, after all. 80%


Shawn: It makes sense for Square Enix to push for a new entry in the series in 2011, to showcase the direction they want to take the series. As for whether it would actually come out in 2011, I can’t say for sure. 75%

 

3DS release date and price to be announced by TGS

Nintendo made a huge splash at E3 with their 3DS, but they left everyone clueless about the release date or pricing of the handheld. Release date rumors range from September of this year all the way through June of next year, while pricing rumors are equally uncertain. However, it is now thought that Nintendo plans to unveil their pricing and launch plans at the Tokyo Game Show in September. Will they actually do so? More important though is our desire to get our hands on it yet again during the TGS.

Andrew: We might not find out about a U.S. release date or price at TGS, but we’ll definitely hear something about the Japanese release. The problem is, Nintendo never attends TGS, so it is very doubtful they will actually use TGS as a way to announce the date. But they could announce it at the same time during an event of their own. I’m going to say no to it being at TGS, but I think we will see it announced around the same time. 10%

Graham:  The key here is “by TGS.” I don’t think they’ll announce at the Tokyo Game Show, but I do think they’ll clarify the release date by September. After all, they’ll have to if they’re releasing it this year. If we don’t hear by then, we know it’s far off…so they might as well confirm that too. I don’t know if we’ll know all the specifics we want by then, though. 85% 

Eric: I’m not sure about this one. We all know too well that Nintendo does things at its own pace. TGS would seem like a great place to announce release date and price information for the new handheld, but I would not be surprised if Nintendo saved that news for a press conference of its own at a different time. It’s certainly possible that we will learn new things at TGS, but I don’t necessarily feel that it is likely. 55%

Shawn: I think if there is any chance of the 3DS coming out in 2010, this rumor would have to be true. If not, I think we can safely say that the 3DS will be coming out in 2011 instead. 90% 

Puzzle Quest 2

July 11, 2010

DS / Reviews / by Graham Russell Make a comment! / Tweet it!

First sequels are formidable tasks for developers, and Puzzle Quest is no exception. The original benefited from the charm and novelty of its premise: an RPG with puzzle-driven combat. With the followup, Infinite Interactive had to keep the gameplay familiar while still freshening things up enough to warrant a second purchase. It seems the team was a bit hesitant to take on this task, as they’ve spent the last few years making spinoff titles for various publishers.

Considering that, things didn’t turn out too badly.

The core gameplay of Puzzle Quest 2 is still the same: players match gems Bejeweled-style to gather mana and cast spells against various fantasy opponents. Spells don’t just do damage, either. You can try to drain opponents’ mana, augment your own abilities or manipulate the board. The balance of things has changed a bit, with the removal of the experience and gold gems. This puts the focus on the task at hand, rather than just stockpiling resources for later. Put in its place is Action Gems, which allow players to use equipped items. Collecting enough allows you to swing your sword, block with your shield or drink mana potions, depending on what you’re using at the time.

In the original, the AI seemed like it knew off-board gems, essentially cheating. This led to many fits of rage from players. While they’re still prone to fits of extreme luck, this seems to no longer be the case. Don’t get me wrong, though: they’re still tough to defeat. (Especially on higher difficulties.) It just seems like a fairer fight.

The overworld has been completely scrapped for a new system. Rather than a big map of cities to capture and protect, it now uses a zoomed-in, isometric view of a room or small area. Navigating is done through arrows, and you talk to NPCs and walk up to shopkeepers and such. While some of the aspects of the original (like monster catching and such) have been taken away, the game ends up feeling more like an RPG with the fantasy scenery and (intentionally?) bland and cheesy dialogue. It comes off as a bit clunky at times, but after a few hours you get over it.

This wasn’t simply a process of stripping down elements, though. The aforementioned equipment brings a new dimension to the game, with trying to find better versions of staves and bows becoming a continuing quest. There are new minigames for standard RPG tasks, like unlocking doors, searching for hidden items and acquiring loot. Unlocking requires you to match certain gems at the bottom of the screen in a limited number of turns. Treasure quests involve matching gems to create rare item gems, then matching those…all while rows keep disappearing one by one. 

The sound design is better than the original, though that’s not saying much. Those who played it know that a few voice clips came up a little too often. Now, at least in the DS version, it’s replaced with an ambient and less grating soundtrack, and that’s certainly an improvement. This is a game you’ll play for dozens of hours, and while it’s still not at the level of the classic Tetris themes, it’s closer in terms of getting you absorbed in gameplay.

If you’re looking for a new dimension to gameplay, Puzzle Quest 2 isn’t it. It’s a refinement of the original, and those who loved that one will find lots here. 

Pros: Streamlined gameplay, improved graphics

Cons: Frustrating map system, removed city elements.

 

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