PS3

Fat Princess

August 7, 2009

PS3 / Reviews / by Andrew Passafiume Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Despite the game’s name, Fat Princess is more about class-based action gameplay  than anything else.

Fat Princess has a nice cel-shaded, cartoony look to it. It definitely fits the game’s nonchalant tone. The game is full of little touches that add to the overall charm of the game, and the very “cute” presentation of the characters doesn’t hurt either. 

You have two teams of 16 players on each team, as players work together to complete different objectives based on the game mode. However, there is no local multiplayer of any kind, or any way to play with friends on the same system online, which is a bit of a disappointment. 

There are several modes of play, including Rescue the Princess (in which you have to rescue your own princess from the enemy castle), Snatch ‘N Grab (capture the flag but with a princess), a basic team-deathmatch mode, and Invasion (control the most territories on the map). All four of these main modes are incredibly fun to play, and they all require plenty of different strategies to win. 

There are five classes you can pick once you spawn, and each class can be upgraded as the match progresses. You have the mage (the magic user), the priest (the healer), the warrior (the close range attacker), the ranger (the long range attacker), and the worker (who is used to upgrade your home castle and your classes by gathering materials). Each class plays a very important role in the game, and while everyone wants to play as an attacker class, it’s good to have people play as priests or workers to help your team win. As long as you have the right team, you should stand a chance in the multiplayer. 

There is a single player mode called “The Legend of Fat Princess,” which is basically the game’s main story mode. It acts as a tutorial to get you get you ready for the game’s multiplayer. And while it seems fun at first, you’ll soon realize that it’s nothing more than a bunch of matches with bots. And near the end, it can become infuriating due to the fact that your A.I. teammates don’t do much to actually help you complete the objectives. The enemy team seems to focus solely on setting up a defense, which makes matches last way longer than they should.

When it’s not frustrating, the single player is downright boring, and it won’t show anyone just how fun the game can really be when playing multiplayer. And while the online player has been a bit spotty during the first two days of its launch, it seems to be running just fine now, leading to many hours of enjoyment. Get a group of your friends together and you can have plenty of fun wasting time in the multiplayer modes. 

Overall, your purchase of Fat Princess all depends on if you plan on playing the game online. If you plan on playing just for the single player experience, you will be sorely disappointed, as it’s a rather lackluster effort. But that is just a warm up for the multiplayer, which is addictive and definitely makes the game well worth the cash. 

ESRB: T for Teen; Has a lot of violence, blood, and gore, but it’s all presented in a childish, cartoony manner. 

Pros: A strong multiplayer component; plenty of different maps and game types to keep you busy; You can play with up to 32 people in a single match, which can lead to some fun times

Cons: A very lackluster single player experience; some hiccups in the online component; lack of split-screen or same system multiplayer is disappointing

Burn Zombie Burn

April 16, 2009

PS3 / Reviews / by Justin Last Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Geometry Wars + Left 4 Dead = Burn Zombie Burn! Really. You are a 50s era greaser armed with a pistol. Depending on the game mode it is your mission to last as long as possible against the zombie hoard, last until time runs out against the zombie hoard, or protect your girlfriend Daisy from the zombie hoard while she sits terrified in a convertible with the top down (I know it’s not smart, but I didn’t pick her). The fun comes from striking a balance between settings zombies on fire and ending their unlives with your trusty pistol or whatever random weapon you picked up from the grass.

You start any game type with two weapons – a pistol and a torch. Other weapons like shotguns, uzis, chainsaws, and lawnmowers can be picked up and used until they are out of ammo or fuel, but the torch is a constant and you can always go back to the pistol (this is handy if you picked up a lawnmower right before a load of explosive zombies spawned).

Burn Zombie Burn! is played from a top-down perspective like Geometry Wars, is score driven like Geometry Wars, and allows the player to increase the score multiplier like Geometry Wars. In order to get a high score you’ll need a high multiplier. In order to get a high multiplier you’ll need to set zombies on fire. So far this seems easy. The catch is that non-flaming zombies shamble around and only attack if you’re in range like you’d expect of the undead. Flaming zombies are faster, inflict more damage, and are pissed enough at you to follow you around the map. BZB differs from Geometry Wars in one other key way – it is not a dual stick shooter. The left stick moves your character, but you either aim in the direction you’re moving or lock on to the nearest enemy.

At first Burn Zombie Burn! seems exceedingly difficult. You’ll set too many zombies on fire and lose all your lives or you’ll survive as long as possible without setting any on fire and fall short of attaining even a bronze medal for the level. Give the game another chance, though, and you’ll start to see the balance that must exist between setting zombies on fire and shooting them in the head. You’ll end up lighting up the entire hoard just to throw some TNT at them, wipe them out, and do it all over again. And once you get the hang of it, Burn Zombie Burn! reveals itself as a wonderfully designed arcade game that recaptures the arcade mantra of “just one more round” better than any other in recent memory.

Pros: you get to light zombies on fire, rewarding skill-based gameplay 

Cons: is maddeningly difficult until you get it 

Plays like: Geometry Wars 

ESRB: M for blood and gore, violence

 

Need For Speed Undercover

December 30, 2008

PS3 / Reviews / by Paul Bishop Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Need for Speed: Undercover sorely wants to be considered as a hardcore racing simulator with its inclusion of open-world environments and car customization, but can the inclusion of these elements elevate it beyond a standard arcade racer?

Originally touted for its inclusion of cinematic storytelling, EA drastically overstated the mediocre story of an undercover wheelman agent and his FBI lead. And while I didn’t have a hard time staring at the hot Maggie Q while she blathered on about how some race would lead to the bad guys, the plot was just plain stupid and the cutscenes outright cheesy. But hopefully you didn’t come to see the bad acting; you came for the racing.

This title hearkens back to Need for Speed: Most Wanted, with the addition of police chases to the standard sets of races. You are given a pretty impressive open world to roam around in, although you there is little incentive for you to drive around as you don’t actually go to any of the races, you simply select them from the map or press down on the d-pad to choose the closest competition available. This almost seemed like a “why-bother” approach as there was absolutely no reward for roaming, no secrets, no sweet-finds, just more city.

Similarly the level up system seemed counter-intuitive; you gain money by winning races that could be applied to upgrades. By going above and beyond and dominating the matches you could gain driver skills. Here the system fell apart as the majority of the driver skills applied to cars and there was no point investing your money into upgrading a car when you could get a nicer car in a couple of races. The car customization options were nice, but ultimately had zero impact on how the car handled. It is the inconsistencies like this that drag the game down, and will have die-hard car racers cringing.

What makes this game so successful is how fun it is to play. The races are widely divergent and paced nicely enough that the replay will be significant; from the standard circuits and point A to B races you also have access to car chases that go for wow factor speed and maneuvering. The police presence is strong, and with destructible environments it never got old leading as many cop cars as I could into a falling bridge. Unfortunately for all of the races the difficulty was minimal, weak cars could easily surpass strong cars the first attempt. If the AI doesn’t do a good enough job for you, you can take the racing online with multiplayer modes including some races and the popular cops and robbers scenario, which is like a capture the flag with cars. 

Need for Speed: Undercover does some things right, but it almost always has an equal amount of dropped balls and plain annoying characteristics. A hardcore racer should avoid this title at all costs. The casual gamer may find this right up his alley.

ESRB: Teen for drug references, car theft and speeding, lots and lots of speeding
Plays Like: Arcade format street racer that acts like a hardcore racer
Pros: Casual gameplay, easy to pick up with perfectly paced events
Cons: Too easy at times, underutilized customization and world

Legendary

December 15, 2008

PS3 / Reviews / by Michael Walbridge Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Can Legendary, a game with a halfway decent plot, atmosphere and pace carry a game with bad mechanics?

When a mysterious relic is brought up from the sea floor, you are hired by an antiquarian to steal the famed artifact. What seems like a simple task turns deadly when you realize you were unwittingly set up to open Pandora’s Box and let loose all the monsters of mythology into the modern world. Emblazoned with the signet and a power to stop the demons, you are hunted by werewolves and your ex-employers mercenaries as you desperately try to seal in the horrors you unleashed.

What starts out as a cool premise is quickly shattered by the actual mechanics of this game, despite the cool atmosphere. Right from the beginning you get a sense that something just isn’t right here; the gun positioning on screen is off, and the controls feel way too loose, despite being adjustable through the options menu. More to the point, the one trick pony of this show is a hobbled one; the powers bestowed by Pandora’s Box are ironically more of a curse to the player than a benefit.

Using the signet, you have the ability to suck up animus, a sort of energy left by the monsters, to refill your health as well as store as energy to use against enemies. Problem is the game is so unforgiving, even on the lowest difficulty setting, that you will constantly be low on both health and stored energy to do anything with it. Practically useless against the monsters, this energy is better used tending your health, although trying to do that while being attacked is impossible and all the more frustrating. Luckily the standard FPS mechanics and plenty of ammunition save this title from being completely unplayable.

Designed from a run and gun perspective, it is all about the pace. You are not meant to stop and stare at the lacking environments. You are supposed to jump a little as a werewolf comes screaming through a door or a griffon plucks an unwitting victim from right in front of you as you navigate the linear path. Spark nailed the atmosphere, giving you a strong impulse to just keep going for survival’s sake. Creature graphics were favored over area details and while the overall graphics are nothing to write home about, they get the job done.

In short, the game seems half finished, like the multiplayer, hoping a good premise can save a flawed game. If you are looking for a good FPS, there are a bunch of titles that are better than this. If you are looking to see how they interpret the Japanese Blood Spider myth (don’t ask), the game may seem playable, if barely.
 

ESRB: Mature for Blood, mild gore and plenty of bullets
Plays Like: Mythology themed First Person Shooter
Pros: Fast paced action with more than a few wow moments
Cons: Broken; mechanics and gameplay seriously flawed

Tom Clancy’s EndWar

December 12, 2008

PS3 / Reviews / by Paul Bishop Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Traditionally the PC has been the main vehicle for real-time strategy games due to the sheer amount of command options due to controll limitations, but with the addition of voice commands, Tom Clancy’s Endwar attempts to show that the console can be home to similarly complex and engrossing strategy experiences; surprisingly, it succeeds, and while it may not surpass the PC’s greatest, it holds its own.

As with all Clancy games, Endwar takes places in the near future. The United States, a unified Europe, and Russia vie for world supremacy until the launch of a U.S. space station attempts to tip the balance, but the destruction of the station by a group of terrorists instigates the beginning of World War III. Merely a façade for the game, the story is bypassed almost completely to focus on the gameplay, so don’t expect any thrilling turn of events or interesting personas to be present here.  But dropping the ball on the story does not carry over to the gameplay which is as solid as they come for real-time strategy games.

You take control of up to twelve individual units as you attempt to clear the map of your enemies. Using a basic rock-paper-scissor decision process you can order units to attack, and backup others or call in reinforcements. While this may not seem like much, when dealing with so many units on a large map it gets extremely complex very fast. Troop balancing is the name of the game as you are constantly challenged to focus on several different areas all at once, while the enemy AI does not let up on you. Here is where the voice command either makes or breaks your experience. 

Using a headset, the voice recognition of Endwar does an extremely good job registering commands and simplifying gameplay to manageable levels. It is possible to play without the headset but the controls can’t keep up with the constantly changing situations and you will find yourself behind the power curve. This is especially the case should you take your game online to multiplayer mode, where anyone with a headset and half a brain will completely cream a controller-only foe.

The single player campaign is really a tutorial for going online; multiplayer is where all the action and challenge is. You can face off single player versus single player or more interesting are the 24 hour battles that you can drop in and out of. Either way if you aren’t playing with the voice commands, you are going to lose. Period.

Endwar is a great real-time strategy game that doesn’t pull any punches with its gameplay, even though it appears on a console. Graphics and especially sound help give a sense of urgency to a very complex title that should excite console fanatics who have been waiting for a decent RTS to call their own. 

Review Score: 4/5
Plays Like: Complex real-time strategy based in the near-future
PROS: Highly complex, superbly executed and visually stunning
CONS: Complex for the common player and it is a significantly different play style without voice command capability

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