Andrew Passafiume

TNT Racers

March 1, 2011

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

TNT Racers is your typical top-down racing game with weapons and power-ups, something we don’t see a lot of these days. It comes complete with some of the same modes, challenges, and options you’d expect from a Micro Machines game. It’s not Micro Machines, no, but it does offer a close enough experience for fans of that series. 

Controls are great, with each vehicle handling slightly differently, allowing you to have a few favorites. There is a nice variety of power-ups to use, with each one offering something unique depending on the mode. And while the visuals are lackluster, the music is enjoyable (and rather classy) offering something pleasant to balance out the bland look of the game. 

The single player is nothing special; it offers a decent variety of challenges and difficulties, but it’s pretty forgettable. You are basically completing challenges against A.I. opponents to try and unlock new courses and cars. It’s a great way to introduce you to the different courses, weapons, and modes, but it doesn’t offer much past that. It won’t be long before you’re sick of the annoying A.I. and the repetitive nature of the challenges.  

During single player, if your A.I. opponents aren’t randomly falling off of the course, they will often double (or triple) team you even if you are in last. I found myself failing a lot of the challenges just due to being outnumbered by the three other racers who decide to target me specifically over each other. This is the biggest problem with playing this game solo, as it can make the experience less than ideal. 

The meat of the game is the multiplayer, which is a lot of fun, offering you the same modes, options, tracks, and weapons found in the single player. You can play both local and online multiplayer and customize your races as much as you like, and it is a great time if you have three people to play with. The online is lag free and races run smoothly, but you’ll be lucky if you can find anyone else to play with.

If you’re dying to try a new Micro Machines game, or at least a game similar to it, you can’t really go wrong with TNT Racers. It’s got some major problems, but get three friends together and it will provide you with at least a few hours of entertainment. 

Pros: Classy music; great controls; multiplayer is a blast

Cons: Lackluster visuals; annoying A.I.; shallow single player experience

 

Marvel vs. Capcom 3

February 21, 2011

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

It only took eleven years, but Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is finally out. The core mechanics have remained as solid as ever, despite some major changes. Here you’ll find some of the craziest combo-heavy three on three fights you’ll ever see, featuring some of the best characters both Capcom and Marvel have to offer.  

If you’re at all familiar with the Wii-exclusive fighter Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, you’ll feel right at home here. MvC3 is a more refined version of TvC, with a lot of tweaks and improvements that put it a step above most versus fighters. Even new players will be able to jump into MvC3 pretty quickly, making this the most user-friendly versus game to date.

Visually, MvC3 is quite the looker. All of the character models look just right. While some of the characters feel a bit out of place, it really never deters from the slick presentation. The animations are brilliant, and even when the screen is filled with absolute chaos there isn’t a hint of slowdown. 

The controls are pretty simple to pick up. You have three attack buttons (light, medium, and heavy), which can create a basic combo and lead into the multitude of other combo-heavy attacks. And then there are your partner buttons, allowing you to call them out to attack or switch characters on the fly. Finally, you have one button that is dedicated to your launch attack, allowing you start pulling off an air combo, something most MvC fans should be familiar with. MvC3 has simplified it a bit, but it still requires some precise timing. 

And that’s what MvC3 is all about: timing. Being able to pull off the right combos at the right time can lead to success, as well as being able to defend or counter just when your opponent is trying to do the same. MvC3 has several modes that allow you to brush up on your skills, including your basic training mode. There is also a “mission mode” which allows you to practice and perform certain attacks for every character. This mode can be tricky to get the hang of, but it allows you to learn the basics or practice some more advanced techniques.

And then there’s the online, which is both the strongest and weakest part of the game. You have ranked and player matches, plus lobbies, all of which work splendidly without the least bit of lag. You can set it up easily to battle your friends, or fight random opponents based on many different factors, including your rank/skill level. There are plenty of ways to tweak the online to suit your needs.

The major problem I encountered was not being able to search for matches and actually connect. Out of ten matches I searched for, I was lucky if I was able to play in one. If you play Arcade mode, you can enable online so you’ll be challenged by random opponents, which never has any problems. But actually finding a match seemed practically impossible for me. 

Another big problem is the lack of a spectator mode. If you’re in a full lobby of eight players, you can’t actually view the current match going on, meaning you’ll have to stare at the lobby screen until it’s your turn to fight. These are major problems that hold MvC3 back and will hopefully be fixed in the future. 

Multiplayer issues aside, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is one of Capcom’s best fighters to date, offering something for both fans and newcomers alike. It may look intimidating at first, but give it some time and soon enough you’ll be pulling off air combos with the best of them. 

Pros: Intense and incredibly fast-paced fighting; easy to learn controls; diverse cast of fighters; great visual style and animations

Cons: Multiplayer lacking some key features, such as a spectator mode for online lobbies, and also having problems connecting to games

 

Michael Jackson: The Experience

January 18, 2011

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

I’m not much of a dancer, and yet dancing games can be a lot of fun. I have very little experience with Ubisoft’s immensely popular Just Dance series, but even what I have played doesn’t help show the appeal. Michael Jackson: The Experience is basically Just Dance: Michael Jackson Edition and it shows. From the interface to the control scheme, it’s hard to deny that this is a cheap cash-in through and through. 

Let’s get the good points out of the way: the game has a nice selection of both older and newer Michael Jackson songs to choose from, and the dance choreography is pretty much spot-on with the actual moves performed by Michael in music videos and concerts. The Michael Jackson stand-ins are great as well, and you really get the sense that, in terms of presentation, they wanted to be as authentic as possible.

The gameplay works just as the Just Dance games have before them. You hold the Wii Remote in your right hand and you follow the on-screen indicators to perform the dance moves. And just like with Just Dance, this interface never really works. You never get the sense you are dancing at all. Sure, you can go along with the dancer as much as you want, but the game is only detecting the motions of your right hand and nothing more, which means it can be very easy to cheat the game and score big without even trying.

I will admit, if you are able to look past all of that, it can be fun messing around with this game with friends. You will look ridiculous, but if you actually dance along with the game, it can be enjoyable at times. That does not excuse the poor implementation of the control scheme and the fact that it is less about actual dancing and more about waggle. 

You would think a game I actually had some fun with could at least be decent, right? This is a Just Dance game that has no improvements and does nothing spectacular with the license. Maybe the Xbox 360/Kinect version of this game will work properly, emulating Dance Central, but as it stands, this fails as a dancing game in almost every respect. 

It can be fun, sure, but it’s hard to look past the one large and glaring flaw that practically ruins the entire experience. You’re better off dancing to Michael Jackson videos by yourself than wasting money on this game. 

Pros: Nice selection of classic Michael Jackson tracks; can be fun with friends

Cons: The entire structure of the game is based on the movement of your right hand, which is less dancing and more waggle

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare

January 7, 2011

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

Red Dead Redemption is one of the very few Western video games to get it right, and people loved it. DLC was the obvious next step, but I don’t think anyone could have seen this one coming. While Undead Nightmare is similar to the main game in many respects, it’s almost an entirely different experience altogether.  

The story follows John Marston once again after he returns home to his family, but this time he finds himself in the middle of a zombie apocalypse of sorts. The meat of the story has less to do with what causes the outbreak and more to do with John’s interactions with the many interesting characters from the main game, both dead and alive. It’s a lot of fun to see these great characters again, and it’s one of the best parts of the entire experience.

On top of the dead coming back to life, you also have lots of other supernatural happenings: sasquatches, unicorns, chubacabras, and even the four horses of the apocalypse that you can tame and ride yourself. While the world you are exploring might be similar, the idea that there are plenty of new things to be found adds a lot to experience.

The mission structure is the same as the main game, with a few slight changes. As you meet up with older characters, you do missions for them that progress the story and help to find out how to stop the zombie outbreak. A lot of the missions are a blast, but some of them tend to be really tedious, feeling more like small chores than anything else. You will find yourself picking flowers and doing fetch quests more often than you would like.

Another problem is the wait time between certain missions. At two points during the story, the game will tell you that you have to wait a few days before you can begin the next mission. This gives you time to explore and do survivor missions (which are like stranger missions) and also help find lost souls (similar to hunting down people from wanted posters). 

The downside is no matter how many in-game days pass, you will never know when exactly the next mission will appear. This is a way of the game practically forcing you to do side quests that should be optional, but aren’t. I found myself unable to move on with the story until I cleared most of the “optional” missions in the game. Not to say these optional things are not worth doing, but they really drag down the experience for those who want to just go through the story.

Despite all of this, shooting zombies in the head never really gets old. Undead Nightmare is a fun time, provided you are able to look past the game’s questionable mission structure. It’s a worthy expansion to Red Dead and one that provides you 6-8 hours of content for a very low price. 

Pros: Shooting zombies in the head is something that never gets old; its fun seeing characters from the main game again; the endgame reward is excellent

Cons: Some missions can be tedious; some long wait times between missions drag down the experience

 

SB Staff Picks ’10: Andrew Passafiume

December 22, 2010

News / by Andrew Passafiume Make a comment! / Tweet it!

One of Snackbar Games’ traditions is to have staffers pick their top ten games of the year. We’re so all over the map in our tastes that our lists are never similar. Today, writer Andrew Passafiume picks exactly the games we thought he would.

10. Super Mario Galaxy 2. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is everything you’d expect and so much more. While the first Galaxy wasn’t exactly easy, Galaxy 2 ramps the difficult up quite a bit. This was a welcome change for those clamoring for more of a challenge, while still able to appease to newer fans. Galaxy 2 is the closest to perfect Mario has gotten in 3D and it’ll take quite a lot to top it.

9. Sin & Punishment: Star Successor. I can’t think of many other games that brought me as much joy as Sin & Punishment 2 did just from a pure gameplay perspective. The game isn’t perfect, but I couldn’t help but enjoy every second of it. The levels are full of many enemies, each ending with one (or more) insane boss fight, each of which is unique. The difficulty is perfect, finding the right balance between ease and challenge, and never feeling too frustrating. Complete with smooth controls, it’s everything the first game should have been and so much more.  

8. Limbo. Limbo is as atmospheric as they come, and one of the most engrossing downloadable releases of the year. It’s a very simple premise, but it becomes something so much more. You never know what to expect next, and every puzzle is a welcome treat. It’s challenging at times, but not unforgiving. Very few games have done what Limbo does so well, and it’ll be a while before we see another match it. READ MORE

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