Sonic the Hedgehog always elicits fond memories of my childhood and it’s been unfortunate that Sega hasn’t capitalized on the little blue guy the way that Nintendo has with Mario and Zelda. I’m hoping that could change this year.
Sega sent over a new teaser trailer to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of Sonic and a release dated for this year. I’m holding my breath and wishing for an amazing new Sonic experience. Hit the jump to watch the video. READ MORE
Each player has an identical stack of 24 unique tiles, with each tile being divided up into quadrants. Each quadrant can be one of four colors (red, yellow, blue, or green), with no more than two quadrants of the same color being present on a given tile. Players also get seven “tourist” meeples (pawns) to be placed for scoring purposes.
Play begins with each player arranging three randomly-drawn starting tiles so that they are adjacent diagonally (thus making a V pattern). The next thirteen turns involve playing a tile and optionally placing or moving a tourist on to one of the tile’s quadrants. Players are restricted to a 4×4 array when placing tiles, although the boundaries of said array are not set until the placement of tiles dictate them. Once sixteen tiles have been laid (with eight remaining unseen) the players score their tourists and the highest score wins.
There are three levels of scoring. If a Level One game is being played, players score one point per quadrant in a continuous series of parks (green) and continuous series of attractions (yellow), but only if a tourist is located somewhere within those areas; multiple tourists in the same area are redundant and the area is only scored once. On Level Two, tourists placed on terraces (red) score one point per quadrant of a continuous series of water (blue) that they can “see”; Level One scoring is also in effect. Level Three scoring combines the two previous levels as well as awarding additional points for terraces adjacent to scored attractions and water adjacent to scored parks; the scoring for terraces is modified to include parks as well as water, with the tourists’ “view” being blocked by attractions or other terraces. My group has always used Level Three, and unless playing with inexperienced gamers (and/or young children) I would recommend doing the same.
What makes Cities interesting is the fact that all players are forced to use the same tiles within a given session. Much like Reiner Knizia’s FITS, only one player is really drawing tiles at random (including the initial three tiles); everyone else finds the tile that (s)he draws and places it as they desire. How each player places those same tiles will generate different cities and thus different scoring opportunities. Even more crucial, however, is the placement of tourists. Tourists can only be placed on a freshly-laid tile, although you can pick up an existing tourist to place it on the new tile. If you choose not to place a tourist, you can alternatively “walk” a tourist one quadrant in any direction, including diagonally but never onto a water quadrant. Even if two players manage to somehow create identical tile layouts, their tourist placement can still generate different scores.
Cities supports up to four players, although if you really wanted to, that could be extended to up to four players per copy of the game. In theory, an entire room full of people could be playing the same game, bingo hall-style, and the game would still be over in less than 30 minutes. The only tricky part about playing Cities is scoring, and that becomes simple enough after a few games. Cities is a nice medium-weight game that plays quickly; although the strategy is somewhat dependent on the luck of the draw, careful planning can yield big points if the tile you need is pulled before another tile utterly screws you. You can pick up Cities for around $30 or less, which is a fair price for the thick cardboard tiles and wooden meeples. It is also available for free online play at both boiteajeux.net (free registration required, up to four players per game) and the designer’s own site (solo play only); the online versions are good practice, but both lack some features of the actual game, like being able to relocate tourists on to newly-played tiles.
Vertigo is a game where you attempt to race a “Xorb”, essentially a customizable marble, though a wide selection of tracks suspended high in the sky. Ideally, your goal is to go through all of the checkpoints and reach the end as fast as possible, with medals and point rewards for reaching this goal under certain times. There are infinite retries, four different gameplay modes between Arcade, Career, Time Trial and “Xorb Bowling”, limited multiplayer and so on. It sounds like a nice title at first.
However, just because the tracks are high in the sky doesn’t mean this game is as heavenly as Icon Games has promoted it to be. More often than not the tracks you’re on have pencil-thin roads and railways for you to navigate. Sharp turns, sheer drops that do a disservice to the camera angles and few checkpoints create an environment where you’ll drive less like an F-Zero racer and more like a senior citizen: slowly and slamming the brakes every couple of seconds. At least, if you want to live that is. Otherwise you will end up dying repeatedly, having to sit through the literal five or so seconds it takes for your Xorb to tumble all the way down to the invisible “Out of Bounds” barrier at the bottom of each track; the same period of time that is added to your time as a penalty each time you die.
The Xorb by default handles decently enough, but the career mode adds in a tuning function to allow you to further enhance your Xorb’s statistics. While a nice touch in premise, the ease at which you can max out the Xorb’s stats makes going for the medals required to get the points used on stats superfluous. With the equivalent of one gold and two bronze medals I had the Xorb maxed out, and there’s 56 or so tracks to this game.
All in all, Vertigo is really only a game for two types of people: fans of marble games like Marble Blast Ultra and Switchball, and masochists who enjoy an unfair and harsh challenge. And while the portability of the PSP version can be better than the PC and Wii versions, the oddly-long loading times for a downloadable title may turn some people away.
Pros: Large amount of stages and game modes, many Xorb customization choices
Cons: Tedious and harsh gameplay, long load times, deaths take too long to sit through
Rush’n Attack: Ex-Patriot scratches the same itch that Bionic Commando Rearmed does. It’s a nostalgia trip with beautiful visuals and the same classic gameplay scheme you’re already used to. Set after the Cold War, you play as Morrow, a Harvest operative. You’re sent to Russia to discover the secrets of Ulyssium – a rare element that can be used to create high-yield nuclear weapons, rescue captured operatives, knife Russians in the back, and crawl through the most dilapidated prison known to man.
Morrow is, and I’m quoting the game’s opening scene here, a “sneaky ninja badass.” There are a number of things wrong with this statement. One: Morrow is not sneaky. He’s loud, and he got captured. You start the game in a jail cell. Sure, he relies on stealth to knife guys, but he is given that knife by the operative who breaks him out of the Russian prison. In true video game fashion, this mysterious friend then sneaks away and communicates only by radio leaving you to take up the reins, but without him Rush‘n Attack would be a lot less exciting – unless you like simulations of the boredom that comes with spending your time in an eight-by-eight room with nothing to do – then I guess you’re disappointed at nearly every turn. Two: Morrow is not a ninja. No smoke bombs, no sword, no fancy black pajamas. Just one angry dude hiding in a darkened room slitting Russians throats as they walk by. Three: They got this one right. Anybody who can take out a rocket-launcher-wielding enemy with a comically-oversized knife is most certainly badass.
Rush’n Attack gets compared to Shadow Complex a lot, and that’s because both use the Unreal engine and both feature a grid map. Do not be fooled. Rush’n Attack is not a Metroidvania game. There are no missile expansions to find, no sword that can only be found in the upside-down clock tower, and there is very little focus on exploration. You will have to find your way to your objective, but things are fairly linear. If you veer off of the beaten path, you may find a health kit or a dose of Ulyssium (which can make Morrow stronger), but the impetus is always placed on moving forward to the next objective. Combat also is handled differently. In other games, the protagonist is some kind of Superman able to take on wave after wave of enemy soldier. That isn’t the case here. You’re outnumbered, outgunned, and if you want to see the end of the level you’re going to hide a lot and follow guys around while crouched down. The point is to not be seen, to not trip the intruder alarms, and to not get stuck fighting multiple opponents.
Rush’n Attack controls well, but true to its NES-era roots, movements are very deliberate. You won’t be changing directions mid-jump or just hammering on the square key during a fight, because it won’t work. Despite the word “rush” in the title, Morrow moves a little slowly, which makes sense considering he’s constantly on guard and trying not to be spotted by search lights or patrolling guards. While walking upright, Morrow is loud, and you’ll be the first (though only barely) to know when you’re on a grate and too close to a guard. While crouched, Morrow is a bit slower but much quieter. You’ll be crouching a lot, if for no other reason than because it is very rewarding to sneak up on a guy and kill him with one button press. For a game with such a heavy emphasis on stealth, I can’t for the life of me find a quiet way to descend from a ledge. You’d think that crouching near a ledge would make Morrow grab said ledge, and then another button press would make him fall silently below. That doesn’t happen. Your only option is to walk off the side and alert the guard forcing you into a direct confrontation when a stealthy alternative is preferred.
Rush’n Attack is exactly what you want out of a revival game – it is true to the original in terms of gameplay mechanics but decidedly modern in terms of visual and sound design. Run-down Russian facilities have never looked better than they do in Rush’n Attack: Ex-Patriot.
Pros: Stealth and stealth combat are well-thought-out and well-implemented
Cons: …Except for when you want to silently drop from one platform to another
The original Chime was a huge success for developer Zoe Mode, successfully blending together a music and puzzle game not unlike Q? Entertainment’s Lumines series. Chime Super Deluxe is an updated version of the original that adds six new songs and a multiplayer component, making it the best version of Chime to date.
The basic concept of Chime is rather simple: to cover a large grid with 3-by-3 (or larger) quads created from different irregularly shaped blocks. A line passes over the grid which converts the created quads into coverage. As you add more blocks and create more quads, more music begins to play, allowing you to create your own “remix” of the particular song you choose.
It is somewhat similar to Lumines, yes, but what sets Chime apart from most puzzle games is how stress-free it is. You never really feel pressured to accomplish any major goal and you never have to worry about failing. Combine this with a remarkable selection of songs and you have a fairly varied and stress-free experience. It would have been nice to have more than ten songs available, but the selection included supply plenty of variety and offer the perfect balance of both addictive beats and ambience.
There is a time play mode which has you trying to fill in as much of the grid under a certain time limit, but even that feels relaxing compared to a lot of high-pressure puzzle games. The second main mode is free play, which allows you to take your time to fill the grid before it is replaced by a new one. This mode is all about trying to accumulate as high a score as possible.
The addition of multiplayer is a welcome one. It provides you with two new modes: co-op, which has you working with up to three other players to fill in the grid, and versus, which has you competing to gain the most coverage of the grid. It’s pretty basic stuff, and it’s local only, but it adds a lot of replayability to an already addictive game.
Chime Super Deluxe is the best and most up-to-date version of Chime available. It proves, above anything else, that this fairly basic formula is still just as fun as it was one year ago. Even if you already own another version of Chime, you’ll be missing out if you skip this.
Pros: Excellent music, addictive gameplay, multiplayer is a great addition
Cons: Would have liked to see a few more songs
