Gerry Pagan

Sonic Colors

December 6, 2010

The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise hasn’t exactly had a great track record since the jump to 3D. While the Sonic Adventure series was decent, every other follow-up has been a complete wreck, culminating with the Werehog fiasco of Sonic Unleashed. So it comes as a surprise when it’s not Sonic 4, the hyped-up title that was supposed to bring the franchise back to its roots, but Sonic Colors that sets the franchise running in the right direction.

Sonic Colors pretty much does away with most of the complaints that have plagued the series for the past 8 years. You only play as Sonic, there is actual platforming as opposed to watching Sonic run forward automatically, stages don’t drag on for more than 15 minutes and there are no Werehog-like gimmicks to be found. But, most importantly, the game is actually fun.

Sonic controls similarly to how he’s done in the past. While he’s lost the traditional ability to spin dash, he can now perform a double jump, as well as a multitude of power-ups gained by combining with the game’s Wisps. These range from a drill that lets you burrow under the stage to a crazed alien that destroys everything in its path. Each of the game’s stages has multiple ways of reaching the end goal; all varying on whether you just run through a stage or use the Wisp powers to your advantage. It’s a design that reminds me of the stage layout for the original Sonic games, as opposed to the completely linear paths in most of the 3D titles. While there are still some issues with field of vision, these are minor when compared to the horrific stage-design problems of titles like Sonic Heroes or Sonic ’06.

The game itself looks great. While the animation during the cutscenes can be a bit silly at times, the in-game visuals are vibrant, fluid, and colorful. Each of the game’s areas are based on themes, such as one made out of cake and candy. The audio is typical Sonic fare, though I did appreciate that, outside of the traditional ring-collecting and Sonic-jumping sound effects, the themes aren’t recycled.

The game’s writing, while it’s nothing special, feels like an episode taken from the original “Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog” cartoon. I’d much rather have Sonic and Tails cracking jokes over “Baldy Nose-hair” than exploring the complexities of life, love and death. In addition, the change in voice actors works this time. Any voice actor that can actually make me like Tails is perfectly fine.

To say that Sonic Colors is a step in the right direction for the franchise is an understatement. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come from Sonic Team.

Auditorium HD

December 5, 2010

PS3 / Reviews / by Gerry Pagan /

Most puzzle games gravitate toward solving a specific situation with a pre-determined solution. Enter Auditorium, a musical experience where every puzzle has no definite answer. With the PC version being a smashing success, developer Cipher Prime has created a high-definition version for the PlayStation Network, Auditorium HD, with a completely new tracklist and 3D support.

The premise is simple enough: direct particles of light towards empty color-coded containers using the tools given to you, which can range from simple direction-changing devices to more complex tools like reflectors, barriers and accelerators. However, there is usually a specific stage gimmick blocking you from simply pointing the particles of light to the containers. You must use the tools given in a specific stage to go around the obstacles or use them to your advantage, which is where the devious side of Auditorium comes into play.

Each segment of the tracklist eases you into its particular gimmick with some easy puzzles before cranking up the difficulty. It’s possible to have the answer staring at you one second, and then have a single tweak with your tools messing it up entirely. There is no one way to solve a puzzle, so while one person may discover one solution, it’s possible for someone else to also solve it by using the tools in completely different locations. It’s an excellent mind-tease which tests your ability to adapt to new situations.

Visually, the game is impressive. The game shines in full HD and is an immersive 3D experience to those with the equipment, but even in standard definition, the combinations of colors and effects are a sight to behold. Orchestrated tracks slowly start playing as you fill in the colored containers, getting louder and more intense as you fill more of them. It’s almost a shame that a soundtrack for the game isn’t readily available, as the music is that good.

If you’re looking for an excellent musical puzzle experience on the PlayStation Network, you can’t go wrong with Auditorium HD. It’s a stunning visual and musical experience that you really shouldn’t pass up.

Donkey Kong Country Returns

December 1, 2010

Reviews / Wii / by Gerry Pagan /

With the series missing in action since 1996, the reveal of a follow-up to Rare’s acclaimed Donkey Kong Country games was met with much excitement, as well as skepticism. Could Retro Studios, responsible for the successful revival of the Metroid franchise, also work their magic on Donkey Kong? The results are in, and the answer is a resounding yes.

That said; if you’re looking for an experience that’s identical to the old Rare games, you might want to look elsewhere. Donkey Kong Country Returns does its best to recreate the feelings one felt when first playing Donkey Kong Country, but unlike New Super Mario Bros. before it, it constantly experiments with new tricks and changes to the old formula. Whether or not you like the changes done can greatly vary depending on how much you liked the original titles.

Unlike Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, DKCR returns to traditional platforming. Donkey Kong has his traditional roll attack, as well as the ground slam. In addition, DK can now blow on things to either exploit enemy weaknesses or reveal items and collectibles hidden in the background. Diddy Kong works differently this time around, as he hops on DK’s back and uses a jetpack to slow DK’s descent for a second or two rather than serve as a second character you could tag-in at any time.

While the stage design is tough, the game does have accommodations for the more casual players. The infamous Super Guide makes a return in the form a white DK, which will show you the basic method of beating a stage without actually showing you any of the hidden collectible locations. You can also buy lives, heart boosts and even invulnerability potions from Cranky Kong’s shop, though they’re all entirely optional for the player looking to challenge himself.

The gameplay is smooth, but not without its faults. The blowing and ground-pound mechanics severely break the flow and speed of the game, needing to completely stop to be able to perform them, which is necessary in most of the game’s stages. Rolling, blowing and the ground pound are all mapped to shaking the Wii Remote. While it’s easy to get used to, an unresponsive shake is enough to send someone leaping to their death, which happens a lot more than one would expect. It’d be simple enough to map these functions to button presses, or let people choose between the two.

Some of the later stages are downright awful when playing them in co-op. While DK and Diddy can play independently of each other, Diddy can hop onto DK’s back like in single-player. This is just about the only way two can finish some of the later stages, as they’re clearly designed for one player to go through.

The game’s aesthetics are nicely done. While the classic Kremlings are nowhere to be seen, the Tiki and the animals they control fit well with the game’s look and feel, as do the worlds selected. New enemies are constantly being introduced, all vibrant and colorful. I really liked how Retro makes up for the Wii’s visual shortcomings by making everything as vibrant, colorful, and alive as they possibly could. Ruins come crashing down and enemies react to DK as he explores vivid landscapes on his quest to recover his banana hoard. The music has a few original tracks, but the redone tunes from the original Donkey Kong Country are the real show-stealers, always matching the mood of whatever stage they’re played in.

DKCR boasts a nice bit of replay value as well, as there are plenty of puzzle pieces to collect in every stage. These unlock artwork, concept art, music and other items. In addition, every stage has a time attack feature that challenges you to beat the stage as fast as possible, as well as a secret mode for those who thought the base game wasn’t challenging enough.

While DKC purists might be put off by the change in the formula of the traditional games, Donkey Kong Country Returns is an excellent comeback to what is considered one of the best game series of the SNES era, as well as a nice entry point for people who never played the original games. It combines just enough difficulty to make it satisfying, without making it completely frustrating, and it reminds us what the originals were all about. If Nintendo will let Retro Studios work on to the franchise for a while longer, it could turn into something great.

Grotesque Tactics

November 17, 2010

PC / Reviews / by Gerry Pagan /

Video game parodies are not uncommon nowadays. Many people like to reference or pay tribute to the games they love, which is perfectly reasonable. Selling itself as a game that “combines the features and clichés of Western and Asian console RPGs,” Grotesque Tactics is a reminder of why most parodies are mostly found in the form of Flash animations and not full-fledged games: You still need substance to keep your game entertaining.

You can only tell a joke so many times before it gets stale. The main problem with Grotesque Tactics is that it not only tells the joke too many times, it runs it to the ground to the point it’s no longer funny. Every character in Grotesque Tactics is a walking video game cliché, from the sunglasses-wearing Paladin named “Holy Avatar” (a complete ego-maniac who describes himself as a semi-divine being) to the three maidens who join your army solely because they’re attracted to him. The antics between these four characters take up a huge chunk of most of the game, by which point it just becomes annoying every time it’s brought up. The few references and personalities that are interesting are instead downplayed and ignored after one use in favor of forgettable, uninteresting dialogue and scenarios that drag the whole plot of the game down.

There are so many dubious design choices for the gameplay of what’s supposed to be a tactical game, such as the inability to select party placement, characters often blocking others from being able to move forward and a lack of variety between the playable characters. However, the worst of these choices are the character “obsessions”, which are the game’s sole unique trait. These are activated when a red meter that grows as your character attacks or is attacked, at which point the character will play out said obsession. While the game describes these as good, yet all they do is cripple your party, as obsessions are just as likely to hit the enemy as they are to your own party. For example, all of the female archers in the game share the same obsession: they get jealous over whoever is standing next to Holy Avatar and will proceed to shoot an arrow at the target. Yet more often than not, an enemy would walk up to Holy Avatar and strike him, and then the archer would attack not the enemy, but an ally that was standing next to him. These obsessions only get worse, which begs the question: Why implement them at all? They serve no purpose outside of frustrating the player with a feature that you just ignore until it rears its ugly head and breaks any plan you might have had ready.

I wasn’t expecting much when it came to the game’s presentation, but I was still unimpressed. The character models are poor, but the character portraits are downright atrocious. The soundtrack is completely uninspiring and forgettable, and the environments are the only redeeming visual component.

I honestly have a hard time coming up with anything good about Grotesque Tactics. The few instances in which the gameplay actually worked well, I could see the game the developers intended. However, it’s only a matter of time until either the horrible design choices or one of the game’s many glitches kick in, reminding me of the mess of a game that Grotesque Tactics is.

The Ball

October 27, 2010

PC / Reviews / by Gerry Pagan /

Back in the day, before zombies ran wild over today’s media, the mummy used to be the king of the undead creature scene. To be honest, I had almost forgotten that they existed until I saw an early preview for Teotl Studios’ The Ball, which highlighted different ways one could kill a mummy. You take on the role of archeologist who is trapped in a dormant volcano somewhere in 1940 Mexico, who quickly discovers an ancient artifact: a handheld device that controls a giant ball.

Describing itself as a “first-person action and puzzle game”, The Ball certainly makes good use of its puzzle element. Traveling through this massive underground city full of devious traps and mechanisms created to keep the Ball locked away, the puzzles in the game usually involve tandem movement by the player and said Ball, whether it’s by placing it in one location to activate a switch while you move to another revealed location, or by using the ball as a stepping stone to reach a higher location. The difficulty for these is very well-balanced. As the game progresses, they expand to more complex mechanisms, often requiring you to solve several in the row before you can move on.

The combat, unfortunately, could have used a little more polish. While enemies are uncommon during the game’s early stages, the later ones are full of them. The way to defeat said enemies usually revolves around crushing them the Ball you control, which will entertaining at first, wears a little thin after a while. By far the least entertaining segments in the game are when they separate you from the Ball and force you to go through a horde of enemies who can quickly tear you apart while you can only gently push one of them back at a time. There are boss fights and special enemies here and there to mix it up, but these end up being just another puzzle, since they’re usually beaten by interacting with stage hazards and mechanisms rather than attacking them with the Ball itself.

Luckily, the controls are tight and well-responsive. There is always an indicator on-screen showing how far away the Ball is from you, as well as a very generous (and very optional) hint system that outright tells you how to solve every puzzle in the game with the press of a button, which is a nice solution to people who might become frustrated at some of the game’s puzzles.

The game does make good use of its setting as well. The puzzles are decorated with a tribal feel, and enemies are usually adorned with tattered rags of a civilization long since forgotten. The dungeons and cities, while grim and desolate, are always full of color. This also works as a gameplay mechanic, since certain colors are usually attributed to the game’s different switches and doorways, the latter being a helpful sign of where you need to go next.

Ultimately, The Ball is a nice mix of puzzle-solving with the occasional mummy-crushing that, while satisfying to those looking for a game that’ll test their puzzle solving skills, could have used a little more work.

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