Bionic Commando Rearmed was well-received by critics and fans everywhere for remaining true to the source material while still updating it enough to feel like a new game. While it sold better than the flop that was Bionic Commando (2009), it was still quite a surprise when Capcom announced a sequel to what was basically a remake of an NES title. With an updated look and new abilities, Rearmed 2 ties in the gap between Rearmed and the 2009 3D game and does so with flying colors.
The game’s major feature includes the ability to jump, something that a lot of purists found blasphemous. Regardless of this, the level design has been done with jumping in mind, and while it does aid in maneuvering through some stages, the game still allows you the freedom of swinging with your arm and not relying on jumping, which actually makes the game that much more challenging. Situations that could easily be solved by hopping onto a ledge require some precise arm swinging, akin to the tougher, more intense segments from the first game. (The game rewards players who insist on doing it the hard way.) Jumping is only one of Spencer’s new abilities though, as he can now slowly slide down walls as well as jump off them, and borrows some moves from the 2009 title like the “Death from Above” where he slams onto the ground after falling from a certain height.
While the stage design itself is top-notch, the soundtrack isn’t quite as memorable as Rearmed’s. Passable, but they really could have done a much better job with remixing most of the original game’s tracks, though there are a few original ones that shine. Rearmed 2 has more than twice the stages of the original, and while it’s nice for the game to be much longer, a lot of the levels feel a lot like filler content without any real purpose other than adding more places to place hidden collectibles.
Ultimately, Rearmed 2 appeals the most to fans of platformer titles and people who were let down on Bionic Commando (2009). The game’s level design is top-notch, and it has oodles of collectibles and challenges that add to the game’s replayability. Free of the constraints of previous games, the team at Fatshark had a lot more freedom when it came to how to craft the game, and it really shows.
When it was first revealed that a sequel to LittleBigPlanet was in the works, we were more than a little skeptical. While somewhat flawed, the original title was an excellent party game with a very deep level creation system, something that we thought couldn’t be greatly improved upon. Having experienced everything LittleBigPlanet 2 has to offer, we can confidently say that we were proven wrong.
LittleBigPlanet 2 builds upon its predecessor in ways we couldn’t have seen coming. Media Molecule reworked the entire engine to make everything from the lighting to the particle effects look even better, in addition to modifying and adding new tools and features to their level creator. One of these key features is the addition of “Sackbots,” AI characters that can be programmed to do anything you want. These radically change the way the game plays, as it adds an extra level of complexity to the stage design for most of the levels, both user-created and in the game’s campaign.
Although the game is technically a 2D platformer, the game is not limited to one genre. While the original level creation engine was pushed to the limits to work with different genres, this is basically a feature of LittleBigPlanet 2’s level creator: the game’s story mode alone has levels that feature shoot-’em-up levels (Gradius, R-Type), bumper cars, air hockey, vehicle levels, and puzzle stages. Even the platforming levels themselves are incredibly varied, with no two levels playing alike. You’ll swing through stages with grappling hooks, lead a group of sackbots through a complicated pipe system, run away from a giant turkey and (our personal favorite) use a head-mounted cake gun.
There’s already a ton of impressive, expertly-made user-made stages in the game, and they’re likely to never stop coming. With such a healthy community supporting the game’s level creator, this is the game for people who love user-generated content, want something to play for a long time, or just want to have a good time with a couple of friends.
An HD port of 1992’s arcade version, X-Men was released with upscaled sprites, re-recorded audio and online/local drop-in play, along with adjustable multiple difficulties, matchmaking and the ability to select either the American or Japanese version of the game.
As your typical beat-’em-up, you select one of six X-Men and “beat up” all of the enemies that show up on-screen, until you reach a boss fight: Wolverine, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus and Dazzler. Each character has a Mutant Power that makes them unique, though activating it results in losing HP. The major feature that separated X-Men from other arcade titles was the capacity for 6 players to participate simultaneously, and the game supports it online (and locally on the PS3).
X-Men Arcade wasn’t really created for unlimited play, and it shows. It’ll take you less than an hour to burn through the game’s 8 stages. While the American version of the game gives you a bonus Mutant Power (which is stored like an item) after every boss fight, the Japanese version has both health and Mutant Power items that you pick up through each stage. However, because the game gives you an infinite amount of credits, there’s nothing stopping you from just using mutant powers over and over and respawning to refill your life.
X-Men is worth your money if you either unabashedly love old school fighters, the X-Men series, or have friends to play the game with over and over, whether it’s via online play or locally. Aside from a few easy achievements, there’s not much replay value to it other than to hear the game’s infamous dialogue over and over.
Spelunker, originally released for the Atari in 1983, is widely known as an extremely difficult game with what might as well be the weakest main character ever created. While the game was first created in the U.S., it was in Japan where the game’s popularity grew to the point of having a line of toys, comic books, and clothing. It wasn’t until 2007 that Spelunker was again released in the U.S. on the Wii’s Virtual Console. Spelunker HD was first released in 2009 in Japan, with an even harder “Black” version released earlier this year. Now, American gamers can delve into and see just what Japan has found so endearing about a character that can die just from having bat guano land on his head.
Basically a high-definition remake of the original title, Spelunker HD is a brutal, no-nonsense title that can easily drive the impatient among us into a frenzy. Fall more than two feet, you die. Touch a flare that you lit to repel some enemies, you die. Land on water… you get the picture. You burn through lives at a much quicker pace than you regain them, making memorization of stage layout just as crucial as quick reaction to new or undiscovered traps. These get increasingly more challenging as the levels go by, and with 100 stages to go through, the game will break any preconceptions you had about overly-tough platformer titles.
That said, Spelunker HD isn’t just a pretty makeover for the original game. It supports 4-player offline and up to 6-player online play, with the stage layout for all 100 stages changing depending on how many people are playing at the same time. In addition, you can choose to play either in with the HD visuals, or in “retro” mode with the graphics from the original title which can be selected even when playing online. Both modes play the same, but it’s nice to be given the option for those who’d rather prefer the game’s original look.
Spelunker is not for everyone. This isn’t the type of game that will appeal to the more casual gamer looking for a game to easily progress through. If you can overcome all the traps that await you down in the caves below, however, the feeling of accomplishment you’re rewarded with is more than worth 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, we have staff writer Gerry Pagan. He picked a PSP game as his favorite of the year. This makes him special.
This was an interesting year for games, with a huge variety of genres getting some good representation. There’s many more games released this year that I wish I could have played, whether for monetary or hardware reasons. Some of the games I did play, however, were good enough to place in my list of favorite games of all time. Here are my choices for best games of 2010.
10. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3/360): There’s not much to be said about this game that hasn’t been said already, whether it’s praising the game’s gorgeous visuals and atmosphere or criticizing its lack of towns and hallway-like dungeon design. However, the game gets major props from me for being able to completely turn around my opinion of nearly the entire cast, from disdain and hatred to making most of them my favorite new characters of 2010. Plus I had fun with it, and that’s what really counts in the end, right?
9. BlazBlue Continuum Shift (PS3/360). Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely loved BlazBlue Calamity Trigger, the precursor to this game. So it’s not much of a surprise to see the sequel rank as one of my favorite games of the year. It probably would have ranked much higher if Arcsys had decided to ditch studio GONZO, which just about ruined the story cutscenes in the game with abysmal art. Here’s to hoping the next game does everything better.
8. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3). Andrew would probably argue that this game has no merit being on any top ten, but I disagree! 3D Dot was one of the games I looked forward to the most, and its retro-styled dungeon design, feel and gameplay topped with well-done references to games from past generations won me over. READ MORE
