PS3

The Fight: Lights Out

January 4, 2011

PS3 / Reviews / by Graham Russell Make a comment! / Tweet it!

The Fight: Lights Out makes us want to punch people in the face. Not in the way the developers intended, though.  

A primer: The Fight, clearly the standout at the announcement of the Move peripheral, has you put into a fistfight with various rough-looking guys that look like they need a good pummeling. It has a dark, gritty nature that few motion games have tried, and the full suite of two Moves and the Eye for head tracking means it has a lot of technology at its disposal to make the game fun. (Using just one Move and a standard controller or Navigation Controller is supported, but strongly recommended against.) 

For a little while, it is. Basic punches and blocks work by simply punching in the air, and the game takes your direction and force into account when dealing damage. The game’s a workout, to be sure, as you’ll be putting in full effort to land a particularly nasty uppercut. 

The campaign features Danny Trejo as a coach of sorts, which is a great fit for this game. Unfortunately, the writing isn’t up to the kind of thing he usually does, but it’s acceptable since “punching dudes” isn’t the easiest base to write from. The game has dozens and dozens of fights to play through, and online play with the option to watch and bet (virtually) on others’ brawls. But the focus here is on the fighting itself.

The problems come in two forms: the technical glitches and the implementation of special moves. The unlockable moves all require more than just moving your arms, using triggers to, well, trigger these gesture-based attacks. Just like Wii games that try gestural moves, these aren’t smooth and don’t register consistently. Unfortunately, the game is balanced so that their extra tactical uses and damage are needed to get very far. It’s a good thing you aren’t being simultaneously put in a mindset where you think violence will solve your problems. Oh, wait.

The other technical hiccups come when the system starts misreading the Moves’ positions and not detecting them. This is an issue with the system as a whole, but in games like Sports Champions (with largely turn-based controls) it’s not so big a deal to adjust before the next throw or serve. In The Fight, you will be punched repeatedly in the face as you look on helplessly and scramble to recalibrate. It’s a different thing. 

So The Fight makes us mad. But it doesn’t make us mad because it’s totally without merit. Really it’s this: a concept with so much promise really should have turned out better than this. When you play, there are flashes of what the game could have been. Then it fades back into frustrating mediocrity.

Spelunker HD

January 3, 2011

PS3 / Reviews / by Gerry Pagan Make a comment! / Tweet it!

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.

 

Kung-Fu Live

December 17, 2010

PS3 / Reviews / by Graham Russell Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Anything you can do, I can do better, huh? It seems like that’s Sony’s mantra lately. The company is taking on its competitors’ advances head-on, with the Move mirroring the Wii Remote’s functionality. Well they hadn’t addressed Microsoft’s controller-free Kinect, and it’s obvious that Kung-Fu Live is an attempt to give PlayStation gamers a taste of that experience.

You know, without the requisite technology. 

But let’s start with the positives. Kung-Fu Live is a very stylish game, with a pulp-comic feel that’s entertaining (if at times a bit too stereotypical). In it, you stand in front of a PlayStation Eye and do martial arts moves to hit enemies. It isn’t a standard gesture-based system, as it just reads your arm and leg movements and deals damage when you hit. (There are, however, special moves you can do by sticking both arms out at once or crouching.) Want to jump to avoid a kick? Jump. The concept is solid. Between levels, the game takes shots of you in various poses and integrates them into a motion comic that tells the game’s story. It clearly isn’t a feat of clever writing, but it’s all about having fun. As a bonus, you can export the comics as images and share them.

But let’s get back to the gaping hole in this game’s planning. And sometimes that gaping hole is quite literal. See, the game uses a standard camera for motion detection, and sometimes it detects shadows as movement, doesn’t read a punch or kick at all or for some reason thinks you have a big hole in your chest or head. There was a considerable effort to counter this. Not only does the game warn you to wear clothing that contrasts with the background, it has many settings for detection and even an advanced mode to get granular about it. Well I don’t know who plays games in front of a blank wall, and I don’t know how I could change my skin to better stand out from the background. The settings helped a bit, but there are times when you’re jumping and kicking away and your on-screen counterpart isn’t registering anything.

The experience of trying to play Kung-Fu Live is a fun one. After all, you’re kicking and punching and jumping, and that’s fun to do any time ever. It’s in a fun world, and I’d really want to play it. On Kinect. But as we all know that’s not happening, it just doesn’t have the functionality on Sony’s platform.

 

Auditorium HD

December 5, 2010

PS3 / Reviews / by Gerry Pagan Make a comment! / Tweet it!

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.

Create

November 24, 2010

PS3 / Reviews / by Graham Russell Make a comment! / Tweet it!

EA Bright Light’s new title, Create, is not what it is billed as being: a sandbox world of endless customization and creativity. What it is, though, is a physics-based puzzler with a Scribblenauts feel. That sounds pretty good to us, though, so they could have just advertised it that way.

In Create, players take on challenges of random nature, though they typically involve getting an object from one point to another. The way to do this is to place items, such as ramps, balloons and toasters (yes, toasters) in a sequence to that the chain reactions accomplish what you intend. Depending on the challenge, it could be a puzzle-style use-the-fewest-items thing or a be-as-ridiculous-as-possible one with scores for crazy combos. You can create vehicles out of wheels, girders and blocks, launch washers through teleporters and hit an object by making a phone call.

It’s all fairly whimsical, and results in a great family game that’s fun to watch others play. Unfortunately, most of the simple challenges are made a little more obvious by the restriction of items used to the two or three needed for the challenge. With more items, more solutions could have been made and it’s a puzzle game, so I understand the restriction, but a few red herring items added into each would make things more interesting.

Thankfully, you’ll probably be able to find levels that work for you, since the game features a robust sharing function. Players can upload their own puzzles, download others and remix them if they’d like. The result is an interesting little diversion that could be amazing if it gets embraced wholeheartedly by the community.

While the game is available for all consoles and PC/Mac, the team did what it could to support platform-specific features. On the PS3 version we reviewed, the game featured support for the PlayStation Move motion controller. This implementation was probably fairly easy, since the interface would be similar to the Wii’s, and it works for the most part. (We wish developers would stop trying to use the Move as a pointer, though. It’s made best for detecting wrist movements, and its pointing capability just doesn’t stack up to the Wii or, better yet, a mouse.) 

The game doesn’t push the system graphically, but everything seems polished enough that it won’t be bothersome. The music can be a bit repetitive, but the sound effects are pleasant.

Create isn’t the game it was supposed to be, but the game it ended up being is still a blast to play. Created levels increase the replay value if people keep making them, and hopefully the community will work a little harder to make solutions less obvious. Don’t come in expecting the world, and it will make a world of difference.

Pros: Limited options mean creative solutions (sometimes), great to sit around with a group

Cons: Some “creation” unnecessary, Move pointing can be a chore

 

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