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PS3 Review: Starhawk

By
Kyle Baron
– May 18, 2012Posted in: PS3, Reviews

Creating your own bases and changing the combat landscape is a great idea

My experience with Starhawk began with an intoxicating jet-bike ride through the space cowboy desert wasteland of a fringe world and ended with me hanging out in an online lobby and sharing complaints with Don Parsons, our head of PR.

The brilliant Firefly-esque slide guitar melody of that bike ride hit the pleasure centres of my brain alongside the garbled whine of the engine. Moments later, I lept off the bike and sent a bunker crashing down from orbit to fend off mutated humans. The next level of Starhawk’s single player had me piloting the walking robot-mech form of a Hawk, the game’s fighter jet, before a press of a button had me transforming into jet fighter mode and blasting off into an aerial space dogfight. The entire single player campaign was just as well put together and was full of these moments where everything felt right, despite the tame and predictable brother vs. evil brother plot. Unfortunately, the rest of the game falls apart.

Starhawk is developer Lightbox’s next step in the land and air multiplayer third person shooter concept that began as Warhawk, a game developed by several Lightbox employees back when they were a part of developer Incognito.

The intuitive flight controls make the most complex dogfights exhilarating and approachable

Don’t worry if that obligatory history lesson doesn’t sound familiar to you, as the single player component of Starhawk brings you up to speed well before the end of its conclusion. You’ll be introduced to the shooting right before you’re thrown into several situations where you have to use in game currency, called rift energy, to call down buildings from space and watch as they construct real-time in a matter of seconds. This leads to countless situations where you have to defend a point from an increasingly varied mix of infantry, ground vehicles, and fighter aircraft. By the end of the game, you’ll be manning the parapets of turret toting walls to gun down infantry right before you salvage them in a button’s press to jump into the seat of anti air turrets after they burn through the atmosphere – it’s an experience more exhilarating than many I’ve had and it makes for a crushing tragedy that this formula collapses in the realities of online multiplayer.

In the over 14 hours of time that I spent playing Starhawk online, the game modes of team deathmatch, capture the flag, and zones (a variation of capture-and-hold gametypes) devolved into some of the most unenjoyable multiplayer I’ve played in years. This is because of players exploiting the build and battle system as well as the incredible power of tanks and hawks. At the beginning of these game types, several players usually stay behind in the home base gathering rift energy automatically while their teammates run out and skirmish with those of a similar mind on the other side of the conflict. Within minutes, the players that stay behind gain access to the structures that construct hawks and tanks. Because players spawning into the game immediately have enough money to create a tank at one of these buildings, this leads to one side having an incredibly large swell of powerful vehicles and quickly overpowering the opposing side. Well before the end of the match, one side inevitably ends up bombing, shelling, and obliterating the other force’s last remaining area.

Spawn camping never ends up being this fun for either side

It’s almost impossible to combat this behaviour, too, as the defensive structures necessary to do so have a prohibitively high cost and even the readily available rocket launchers do little against vehicles that can kill several infantry players with a single shot.

In all of my time with the above modes of Starhawk’s online play, I only partook in a match that wasn’t a landslide loss or victory once, when a stale mate ended in several well fought skirmishes and changed the course of the match. Sure, it was still due to the overwhelming force of tanks and turrets occupying the one contested and vital area only accessible by air, but it was something.

The most fun to be had with Starhawk is arguably with the online deathmatch mode, which puts all players in hawk jet fighters and throws them into a massive dogfight. Even when you spawn into one of these games after connecting, you can already see spiralling contrails of exhaust behind countless players as they swirl around each other in banks and swooping loops to avoid laser and gunfire. It’s not all that hard to learn, either, as missiles are easily avoidable by holding the X button and using the thumbstick to swoop away in a lilting barrel roll or loop-de-loop. Adding to the depth is the ability brought over from Warhawk to drift, similiar to a car in a street race, in mid-air.

The brilliant air combat and the conceptual appeal of calling down structures from orbit all seem like they’d go incredibly well together, and the talent behind Warhawk’s development has such promise. It makes it one of my biggest disappointments of recent years, then, to say that Starhawk isn’t recommendable on anything other than the merits of its online dogfighting and single player components.

“I hope they patch it,” was said by many of the players I met online, even the ones who were winning. The hope for a patch is mirrored by my own thoughts, but it’s hardly something to recommend a game on.

Anyone looking for a good land and air third person shooter should stick to the still thriving Warhawk game, while anyone looking for the build and battle concept done right should stick to Section 8: Prejudice (don’t look at me like that, really, it’s good).

Pros:

  • Fantastic soundtrack
  • Intoxicating space cowboy atmosphere
  • Solid framerate and good online connectivity
  • The best arcade flight gameplay in years makes online dogfights in Death Match mode fantastic arenas for fun and skill
  • Fantastic visuals, sound effects, and animations
  • Good single player campaign
  • “Build and battle” system is a lot of fun…

Cons:

  • …but it makes for some of the most exploitable, unbalanced, and unenjoyable online multiplayer I’ve played
  • Co-op has an unrealistically steep difficulty curve
  • Party system is confusing and rarely works
  • Online split-screen often results in disconnects
  • Many elements, such as loadouts, medals, and online character progression, are left unexplained

2/5

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PC Review: Risen 2: Dark Waters

By
Chris Scott
– May 15, 2012Posted in: PC, Reviews

Eastern Europe has long been known as a hotbed for high creativity mixed with awkward execution. While games like The Witcher 2 have proven that highly polished product can come out of the old communist bloc, most games are still amongst the wonkiest released to retail. So, going into Risen 2: Dark Waters, I knew exactly what to expect and it mostly hits those expectations, but it also has a surprising amount of natural charm that gives clemency to a lot of the nagging issues at play.

Risen 2: Dark Waters is a follow up to developer Piranha Bytes tepidly received roleplaying game, Risen. Having not played Risen, I cannot tell if the story of Dark Waters directly follows the events of the original or not. Regardless it seems that those events are mostly inconsequential as Dark Waters takes the series out of the stock fantasy realm the original was based in, instead taking pirates as the theme. As such, with so many games where players fight generic fantasy monsters, Risen 2 is a breath of fresh air.

Players will take on the role of the nameless hero as he sets out to infiltrate the world of the pirates on a mission to track down the whereabouts of a legendary weapon. Unlike many Western styled roleplaying games, the main quest in Risen 2 is actually well thought out and thoroughly engaging and there is surprisingly some very solid writing with excellent characters in the game.

It is the story, characters and the ability to live out the life of a pirate that define Risen 2 and make it worth playing. Unfortunately, the game takes its sweet time showing these things to players, instead choosing to put its worst foot forward with a sluggishly paced opening and a tutorial area that highlights the worst aspects of the gameplay and progression system.

It seems to be a calling card of games developed in Eastern Europe to make their players suffer before getting any enjoyment out of their products. Risen 2 follows suit and during an extra-long training session, masquerading as a prologue, Risen 2 forces players to do tiresome fetch quests, complete multi-tiered quest lines with no direction, navigate an atrociously designed map, and fight monsters that cannot be defended against. While some of these things are part and parcel with roleplaying games, they generally do not show themselves in the opening act when the game is trying to hook players with a reason to keep playing. And the biggest of these issues is something you will do throughout the game, combat.

Combat in Risen 2 is designed around three different disciplines, sword fighting, gunplay, and voodoo. The default system available is sword fighting and it has major design issues that hinder it from being an all-around effective choice for battle. The biggest issue is that unless combat is against human characters, the intricate defense/parry system is useless. This makes all fights against wildlife and monsters troublesome even on lower difficulty levels. It can be highly frustrating dying repeatedly at the hands of a fire-breathing chicken because it has un-blockable attacks. And it is even more frustrating when you realize that you were mistakenly on the wrong side of an island when it happens.

Navigation in Risen 2 is troublesome to say the least. In all my time with the game I was never able to get the quest marker system to work properly with the map and without a waypoint to aim for there is a lot of aimless wandering. I will fully admit that maybe I missed the instructions for how to utilize the map but even so, it is not intuitive.

Worst of all the awkward design decisions though might be the progression system. Leveling revolves around two things, glory points (experience points) and gold. Glory points, awarded for doing just about everything in the game world, can be used to buy levels in the game’s core proficiencies like sword fighting or gunplay but each proficiency has skills that can also be leveled up. However, all this sub leveling is done through meeting trainers in the game world and paying them large amounts of gold to train these skills. Being as gold is hard to come by for over half of the game, leveling can be somewhat of a chore.

As someone that generally gets turned off by a noticeable lack of polish, sticking with Risen, despite its issues, rewarded me with a very unique gaming experience and a charming story that captivated me and made me want to continue playing. The fact that it is noticeably different in setting from every other roleplaying game out there also helps it quite a bit. In the end though, these issues may not be enough for some players to overcome but that is alright, Risen 2 is after all a janky game and will not be for everyone. If you are however, in the mood for sailing the high seas with a bottle of rum, this game will scratch your itch quite well.

Pros

  • Engaging main quest
  • Solid writing
  • Charming story and characters

Cons

  • Combat is unbalanced
  • Navigation can be a chore
  • Progression is frustrating
  • Weird animation issues and clipping problems

3 / 5

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Xbox 360 Review: The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings

By
Tony Odett
– May 14, 2012Posted in: Reviews, Xbox 360

Mature gaming is often a strong misnomer. The word “mature” is often substituted for “graphic,” “visceral” or “violent.” Actually maturity is demonstrated through portrayal of events that are adult, substantive and consequential. Mortal Kombat, for example, is often considered a mature game, but really, its simplistic nature doesn’t convey maturity so much as horrific maiming and violence.  The fact is that there are relatively few games that portray actual maturity. They attempt to imply maturity and consequence through arbitrary morality systems, glossing over and gamifying maturity. It is the classic failure you see in lesser works in many genres: showing instead of telling. And let’s face it: human beings are complex. Rare indeed is the individual who is completely saintly or utterly evil. The vast majority of human beings exist somewhere within that spectrum, yet games tend to force us towards one extreme or the other.

It is into the want of actually mature storytelling that The Witcher 2: The Assassin of Kings  steps. Sure, Geralt of Rivia will hack off limbs, cover himself in the blood of his foes, and have wild sexual escapades. But he will also exist in a real sense, a character in a complex world making decisions that vary from self-serving, self-interested to protecting the very fabric of his world. It is refreshing to see a character participating in epic events only as they relate to his own personal struggles. Geralt is not motivated to save nations out of a sense of duty. He is simply endeavoring to survive in the world, to make his way and build a life of his own. Sadly, Geralt is swept away in events beyond his control, and finds himself used as a weapon in a conflict not of his choosing. Geralt has abilities, and everyone has need of what he has to offer. He wishes peace, but is destined to be a pawn of war.

Early game will see Geralt wandering about during the sacking of a town. This is the result.

Fantastic writing and voice acting weave a first rate adventure (though the use of the amnesia trope is unfortunate- the writing here in all other areas is so good, they could have done better). The tale strikes an excellent balance between linearity and player choice. Each chapter provides significant opportunity for open world exploration, which can easily be ignored in favor of pursuing the main story. That story provides plentiful opportunity for choice as well, and those choices will guide the narrative, make enemies and friends, and significantly affect what portions of the game you play. Decision will, as they often do in real life, close off some opportunities forever, while opening other doors.

The level of maturity extends to the combat. Each encounter is a deadly event, and, much like real life, precautions must be taken prior to the event. That classic RPG mechanic of quaffing heath potions repeatedly whenever you’re in trouble won’t work here, for a couple of reasons. First, you can only take potions when you’re outside of combat situations. Secondly, each potion is, to a degree, toxic—drink too many potions, and Geralt will meet an untimely demise. Preparation also includes the harvest of the proper ingredients to make potions, and the crafting of strong armor. Searching for potion recipes and blueprints for weapons, armor, traps and bombs are key to success on the battlefield.

You have a sword for monster and one for humans. Pull the right one.

The thoughtfulness you apply to preparation extends to the combat itself. Enemies will work to surround you, striking you from multiple directions at once. Strategy, proper use of magic, well timed blocking, traps and items will get you through your battles, but take note: combat is tough. Success is built upon identifying and exploiting your opponents’ weaknesses. Assessing your situation is just as important as your ability to hit the X button with lightning speed.  Battles may be won with the casting of the right spell or the toss of the right item. Popping up the spell wheel or the items list in combat will slow down time to a crawl. It’s not a Mass Effect-style pause, but merely a slow down, given you precious time to cast a defensive sign in the nick of time or plant a throwing dagger in your opponent’s forehead. It’s an interesting stylistic choice, giving that Matrix-effect to key moments, and allowing you to experience the supernatural speed for which a witcher is known.  Though the battles are difficult (and on higher difficultly settings, a real rite of passage for the strategic gamer), the tools Geralt possesses make matchups compelling and fun, provided you are willing to truly think them through.

The Witcher 2 offers a refreshing look at the RPG genre. In an era where story driven RPGs are being pushed aside in favor of open-world experience, this effort reaches between the two and fines a happy medium. With a multitude of high fantasy games on the market, this is a unique endeavor, and one which would be appreciated by any gamer looking for a truly mature effort.  There are few true thinking man’s games available on console, games with tough, strategic combat and complex, compelling and adult content. The Witcher 2 fills that void with skill and intellect, and is a must play effort for all true fans of the RPG genre.

Huge massive creature? He's mine.

Pros

  • Skillful, interesting combat
  • Excellent writing, dialogue, and voice acting
  • Interesting upgrade systems and crafting mechanics

Cons

  • Jarringly difficult tutorial could scare off newcomers
  • Not the game to play without all your wits about you

5 / 5

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Xbox 360 Review: Country Dance All Stars

By
Diana Scott
– May 14, 2012Posted in: Kinect, Reviews, Xbox 360

Let me preface this review with the fact that I am NOT a gamer. I have no idea how to use a controller with more than an A and B button, and I have almost no desire to learn. This is probably why I really enjoy the Kinect; I never have to touch a controller I can just move a around and the machine does what I want – most of the time. While I have played a variety of Kinect games with my kids I enjoy the dancing games the most. Mostly because they are easy enough for me to master and it is fun to dance around like fool with my family and friends. This brings me to the latest dance release: Country Dance All Stars.

This game was a lot of fun to play; with a variety of country hits from traditional to current popular songs there is something for everyone who enjoy country music in the slightest. Additionally, the game includes the lyrics at the bottom of the screen karaoke style, allowing for additional fun for those who enjoy sing-a-longs (The Honkytonk Badonkadonk had us in stitches). The dance moves also range from simple to complex allowing for a even the least talented dancers to have a moderate degree of success. While the game was entertaining and I had an excellent time dancing around the living room, the graphics and ease of use leave something to be desired.

When you begin playing the game it jumps right into the song menu and you can immediately begin playing, you have to access a separate menu to practice the moves included in each dance. While this seems like it might be fun it is actually a bit frustrating; having to go to a separate menu to get practice moves encourages you to skip that part so the first go round of every song is a disaster. Other dance titles have practice built into the game play and that set-up makes for much more fluid play.  There is traditional dance mode and a freeze dance mode which is interesting; the player dances along until the freeze icon appears then you need to be still or the game will deduct points from you score. We could not figure out how to master this mode but it did add an element of variety to the game.

In addition to the weird set up the controls and background graphics also present some problems. To operate the menu you have to grab an imaginary dot and move your arm up and down which as a little confusing for my children. Also once you begin operating the menu screen you cannot switch out players because it will not read the new players – imagine trying to walk a four-year old through the menu screen so she can play when she cannot read, it was frustrating to say the least.  Then there are the graphics, which are distracting, at best and downright irritating at worst. It is difficult to describe but the patterns on the clothes the dancers are wearing appear to be stationary with the outline of the dancers moving across them – it is very tough on the eyes. However, these complaints aside I would recommend this game to country music fans. If you are looking for a party game to share with friends for a fun night in, Country Dance All Stars will do the trick – if you can master the controls and get past the strange graphics.

Pros

  • Excellent song list
  • Family friendly fun
  • Karaoke sing-along

Cons

  • Cumbersome interface issues
  • Practice modes are tiresome to access
  • Awkward graphical choices

3 / 5

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Review: Mad Catz Ghost Recon Universal 7.1 Headset

By
Don Parsons
– May 11, 2012Posted in: Hardware, PC, PS3, Reviews, Xbox 360

 

Mad Catz has recently released a Ghost Recon: Future Soldier-branded headset for Playstation 3, X360, and PC. With so many options on the market, it’s best to shop around to find what fits your needs. This universal surround sound headset will fill the gaps for most gamers needing a new earpiece.

There is no doubt about it, the aethetics of this piece of hardware are fantastic. Being a Ghost Recon fan helps, but even the skull art could be considered “universal” and anyone could appreciate it. The cable to this wired headset is a matching blue and the lights in the ear cups light up the artwork for anyone to see – or if you set your headset on the bed and need to find them again.

In terms of sound, the quality is both exceptional and customizable, complete with Dolby Digital 7.1. While any surround sound set-up is exponentially better than listening through your TV, I felt completely engulfed in my games while wearing this headset. A small remote links into the cable and allows you to adjust both the game and mic volume on the fly. It also features a very-accessible mute switch. It’s all incredibly easy to adjust while in the game, too, as I generally had the game volume cranked up and had to turn it down once I hopped online with friends.

If you are upgrading from a TV/earpiece set-up and play a lot of online games, you are in for a surprising treat. While playing games like Battlefield 3 or even the Ghost Recon: Future Soldier beta, you hear things that you just can’t hear from a TV. Everything had a rich and crisp sound to it.

During extended-play sessions, comfort was never an issue. Once the headset was in place, I became oblivious to my surroundings and actually forgot I had them on. The mic can be completely removed, but it also bends so I generally just bent it out of the way when I didn’t need it. My only problem with this piece of hardware was that it made my ears sweat a little after a few hours of playing. It wasn’t a major issue though, and the benefit of enveloping myself with such immersive sound was fully worth it.

It is a common problem to talk louder while having headphones on, but with the optional Selective Voice Monitoring, you can hear yourself as your teammates do. The fear of waking everyone in the house while playing because you’re immersed is completely diminished.

Everything is included to hook up to your PS3 or X360 and it’s just as easy to hook into your PC. While switching rooms is a pain, if all of your systems are in the same room it is as simple as unhooking the optical cable and USB cable and switching it to the other system. There is also an additional cable to hook into the X360 controller. The quality through my computer was exceptional, too, and it just plugs in via the USB cable. The drivers self-installed and off I was, chatting on Skype with a much clearer tone than through the old mic/speakers set-up I was accustomed to (or worse, Skype over a smartphone).

This Tritton-built headset (it’s essentially a prettier AX720) offers the performance of a quality headset you would expect from Tritton, but with a much more eye-pleasing aesthetic to it. For someone that uses more than one system (consoles or PC), I couldn’t recommend this piece of hardware more; it’s one of the best upgrades you could treat yourself to.

Pros:

  • Beautiful art work, lighting and color coordination
  • Superior sound and comfort
  • Universal – so no need for multiple headsets

Cons:

  • Can leave your ears a little sweaty after long-periods of time

Score: 5/5

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Review: Silent Hill HD Collection

By
Chris Scott
– May 10, 2012Posted in: PS3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Horror comes in a variety of flavors and while Resident Evil ruled the game scene with its campy B-movie approach, there was always room for something more serious. That is where Silent Hill came along. Until the original Silent Hill, on the original Playstation, I had never been scared by a game before. Silent Hill rectified that through effective use of their unique sound and visual design paired with mature subject matter, generally not found in games. Needless to say, Silent Hill was a smash success for publisher Konami and the series continued in sequels on the Playstation 2.

Konami, seeing the success other games have had with HD re-releases, has brought fans of the series, and potential newcomers, Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 in one package called Silent Hill HD Collection. Notably missing from this HD collection is Silent Hill 4: The Room. While The Room was less well received by both critics and fans, its exclusion from this collection diminishes the value of the package somewhat. That said, there are plenty of other things that diminish this package, that the exclusion of a mediocre title is the least of its worries. Developed by Hijinx Studios in conjunction with Team Silent, the Silent Hill HD Collection is a mixed bag of excellence marred by technical flaws and poor design choices.

While many games do a great job of putting their best foot forward, hiding their inherent flaws until one is too invested in the goings on to turn back, this HD Collection slaps users in the face on the main menu screen. Actually that is being a bit harsh; it waits to slap users until after they choose whether they want to play Silent Hill 2 or Silent Hill 3. Accidentally choosing the wrong game will require players to exit the game fully and reboot from the dashboard as there is no menu option to return to the game’s root menu. Some might be willing to overlook this issue but when grouped with the rest of the game’s technical issues and wonky design decisions, the menu issue is just the first check mark on a shoddy production job.

My personal experience got even worse. Using a wired third party controller that I have used to play other games before and after playing the Silent Hill HD Collection, the game was near unplayable. Character movement was jerky and unresponsive in both Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3, to the point that I actually felt the collection was completely broken. On a whim, I decided to try a Dualshock 3 and magically a lot of the unresponsiveness disappeared, albeit not all. Characters still controlled somewhat wonky until I switched the in game control toggle from 3D to 2D, or standard tank controls.

While things became playable after the switch from 3D to 2D control, the games themselves suffer from incredible amounts of slowdown. The frame rate fluctuates constantly, often with no rhyme or reason to it. This slowdown creates atrocious drops in playability, especially if it happens during an action sequence. There is absolutely no excuse for these drops in performance.

There is also no excuse for how little improvement has been made to the visuals. This is supposed to be a high definition collection but the textures only look fractionally better than their last generation counterparts and much of the visuals in the two games look muddy. The muddy visuals could actually be overlooked, and might have been overlooked, if Hijinx had not upped the brightness level of the game. With the added light, the visuals, in some cases, actually look worse than when the games were originally released.

I do not want to sound completely negative after all Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 are two of the best horror games to come out and this HD Collection does pose the opportunity for players to experience them both, that is providing one can look past the bugs and outright poor design choices. Both games are fantastic in terms of writing, puzzles and scares. Silent Hill 2 in particular deals with some extremely mature subject matter that most games today would not even dream of touching.

Silent Hill 2 anchors itself on the theme of loss as protagonist James Sunderland sets about exploring the mysterious town in search of his dead wife. Instead of overloading the player with jump scares, cheap scare tactics and tons of enemies, Silent Hill 2 works a more psychological angle utilizing smartly designed levels and effective use of sound. Sure there are still enemies to defeat but figuring out the mysteries of the town and James relationship with his wife are the most interesting and terrifying aspects of the game.

Where Silent Hill 2 deals with loss, Silent Hill 3 deals with revelations. Heather, the protagonist of Silent Hill 3, is the adopted daughter of the original game’s hero, Harry Mason, and the game sets out to reveal the secrets behind the mysterious town. As a fan of the original game, Silent Hill 3 is a great piece of fan service that continues the fine tradition set forth by its predecessors. It may not be as deep in its messaging as Silent Hill 2 but it holds a unique charm. However, the appeal of the game may be less to people that have not played the original game, still it lays a smart, cohesive horror story out that few games have matched since.

Neither game would be nearly as effective as they are without the stellar sound design. Hijinx mostly gets this transfer correct. For whatever reason, new voice acting was recorded and it leaves a bit to be desired but nearly everything else is spot on, from the soundtrack to the ambient noises that accentuate the terrifying atmosphere. I say nearly everything else because gunshots in the games sound muffled and less crisp than I remember them being. That said, regardless of if my memory is correct or not, gunshots sound flat and lack power which is extremely noticeable compared to the rest of the sound design. Still the sound design in these two games is excellent and shines amongst everything else in the package.

HD Collections should be celebrations of classics, providing fans the experience they remember while presenting newcomers with the evidence to support the acclaim these games received. The Silent Hill HD Collection fails to do this and as such it fails to be something that can be recommended.

Pros

  • Excellent sound design
  • Fantastic writing
  • Smart puzzles
  • Genuine scares

Cons

  • Subpar HD conversion
  • Brighter environments accentuate muddy visuals
  • Buggy and unresponsive controls
  • Unwarranted slowdown causing performance issues

2 / 5

Note: This review was done using the Playstation 3 version of the game. It is also available on Xbox 360.

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Review: Xenoblade Chronicles

By
Joey Alesia
– May 8, 2012Posted in: Joey's Blog, Nintendo Wii, Reviews

There is an ongoing debate in the gaming community.  Many seem to think the Japanese-style role-playing  genre is dead.  They say the Western-style has taken over for better or worse.  To those non-believers I say this: JRPGs live on.  Nintendo and Monolithsoft have created a masterpiece in Xenoblade Chronicles for the fading Wii console.  Everything in this game shines.  The story, the cast of characters, the gameplay, everything comes together in a package that is well worth the price of admission.  Final Fantasy can learn a thing or two from this game.  Just make sure you have a lot of time to spare.  Once Xenoblade Chronicles hooks you, it takes you on a long ride that doesn’t slow down until the credits roll.

Being on the Wii may give some people pause.  The graphics aren’t high definition, but this is a perfect example of why graphics don’t make the game. The views are still stunning and the character models detailed enough.  The gameplay is fluid, only slowing down if there is a great deal of action during a battle.  Xenoblade allows you to use either the wiimote and nuchuku or the classic controller.  I tried both and preferred the classic controller myself.  I also found it amazing they were able to cram such a huge game onto one disc.

Not many games I’ve played recently have provided a reason for me to care a lot about the cast of characters.  Xenoblade’s cast definitely scratches that itch.  Yeah, there are some bad jokes, and the characters can be overly dramatic, but I was legitimately emotionally involved.  The voice acting was on point. There was genuine personality given to each of the characters.   One character sounded a lot like Ricky Gervais , which made his bad jokes even funnier.

Xenoblade Chronicles also has one of the better stories I’ve experienced in a while.  It begins with a battle between the Mechonis and the Bionis, two giant beings looking to destroy one another.  They injure each other to the point that they stop moving.  It is revealed that these giants are actually home to different beings.  The Mechonis is home to the Mechons, which are machine-like in nature.  The Bionis houses the Homs, or humans, the Noppon, and others.  There is a great war between the Mechons and Homs.  A year later, we meet the main character, Shulk.  After a great loss, Shulk and his best friend, Reyn start off on a quest for revenge that turns out to be something much bigger than they ever imagined.

Aside from the main story, there are literally hundreds of side-quests you can undertake.  These can range from simple fetch quests and monster hunting quests, to rebuilding an entire colony.  Xenoblade has the traditional gain experience and level up system with a twist.  Practically everything you do earns you experience, from completing quests to just finding landmarks, you’ll gain experience, ability points (AP), and skill points (SP).  These AP and SP can be used to enhance each character and allow for some customization depending on your play style.  There is also an Affinity system that tracks how much the relationships between characters grow, which in turn provides you with added skills and perks.  Characters can even collect and craft gems to enhance their gear.

There are no random encounters, which is a god-send.  Enemies roam the field of play.  Some may attack you if they see or hear you, others will only attack if provoked.  The battle system is fast-paced.  You have three characters fighting at a time.  You directly control one character, most times it’s Shulk.  The character uses regular attacks automatically.  You can choose to use different acquired skills, which will have to recharge after use.  These have different affects , such as causing status ailments, knocking an enemy over, etc.  The system is easy enough to grasp, but difficult to master.  One thing I did learn the hard way is that level-grinding can be necessary at times, especially toward the end of the game.

The only complaints I have about Xenoblade Chronicles are skin deep.  Sometimes the action can get really frantic where one wrong button press could cause a 20 minute boss battle to end in disaster.  There is a pop-up menu which allows access to the options, quests,etc.  If you don’t exit out of this menu , it stays up and can lead to you unintentionally going to a menu when you mean to talk to someone or battle an enemy.  Oh, and the name of the sword Shulk uses (which also plays a big part in the story), the Monado, is a stupid name for a weapon.  With awesome sword names like Masamune and Excalibur, Monado just seems weak.

I loved Xenoblade Chronicles.  It was a refreshing take on the JRPG.  I hope gaming companies see how well this game works and take notes.  I also hope that gamers don’t discount this game because it is on the Wii.  We need games like this to balance out the endless stream of shooters and sports titles.  With  great characters, well-designed gameplay, a thoughtfully touching story, Xenoblade Chronicles provides over 100 hours of awesomess that should not be missed.

Pros:

-Well thought-out story

-Touching cast of characters

-Fast-paced, tight, and balanced gameplay

-Tons to do.  The game can last over 100 hours and there is a New Game + available upon completion

 

Cons:

-Why didn’t this game come out sooner?  The Wii could have used more games like this

 

Score:  5/5

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Film Review: The Avengers

By
Chris Scott
– May 8, 2012Posted in: Movie Reviews, Reviews

There had to be a contingent of people at Marvel that felt spending years of time and nearly a billion dollars in money to facilitate bringing The Avengers to the screen was too big a gamble. After all, the idea of creating a film universe intertwined like the comic books they are based on, spanning over five different films from four different franchises, of varying success, and culminating in one super-sized blockbuster has to fall into the realm of craziest ever in film history. After having seen The Avengers, I have to fathom that those people, along with any other doubters are long gone from the employ of Marvel.

What Marvel have accomplished with bringing The Avengers to audiences is something special and should be commended. Oh and the film is pretty decent as well.

Building off of the events of Thor, The Avengers sees Loki (Tom Hiddleston) up to no good as he steals a dangerous artifact from the covert ops organization, S.H.I.E.L.D. This artifact holds the power to open a portal in space, which Loki plans on using to bring an army of aliens to conquer the mortals of earth. Of course an event of this magnitude requires more than just one super hero to get the job done and S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) has just the right “team” in mind. He sets about assembling Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) into a team, albeit under false pretenses.

The assembly of the team establishes the characters and their differing personalities, motives and relationships towards one another but it is also somewhat of a slog. After about the first half hour I started to get a bit restless, and so did the crowd I watched it with. Sadly, it takes about another half hour before things really get going. Fortunately once they do get going, the film took me on a phenomenal thrill ride that few films have in recent memory.

Similar to last year’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Avengers lay waste to an entire city during their climactic final battle. But unlike the bombast filled Bay film, The Avengers never feels tiring. Writer/Director Joss Whedon (Buffy, Firefly) has interspersed moments of levity into the incredible carnage. Every time I felt I was reaching the point of sensory overload, something absurd, yet fully fitting, would cut the tension and reset my attention span. Superhero movies should be fun and these moments of levity show how much Whedon got the material with which he was entrusted to work.

In addition to Whedon fully grasping the material, the entire cast is completely in touch with the material. Everybody from Downey Jr., whom steals scenes every chance he can, to Jeremy Renner (as Hawkeye) has bought into these characters. The shining star of the film though might very well have been Mark Ruffalo as Dr. Banner and his alter ego, The Hulk. Ruffalo, best known for romantic comedies, is charming as Banner and terrifying as the Hulk. It is a fantastic performance all around and one that is sure to get him a shot at his own Hulk film.

After last summer, where so many of the biggest blockbusters failed to fully satisfy (even those setting up this film), The Avengers kicks off the 2012 summer movie season in style. It is a roller coaster ride worth experiencing in theaters. Go see it, you won’t be disappointed.

4 / 5

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Film Review: The Raven

By
Chris Scott
– May 4, 2012Posted in: Movie Reviews, Reviews

The modern horror genre has much for which they can thank Edgar Allan Poe. His stories and poems of the mysterious and macabre have inspired more than a few creators of the horror we enjoy today. While his literary works have lived on, his life could be viewed as a tragedy. He was an alcoholic that died broke and delirious in Baltimore, Maryland and the mysterious nature of his death could very well have been written as one of his dark tales.

Starring John Cusack as the troubled author, The Raven latches onto the idea of Poe’s last days mirroring his writings. Unfortunately, it shoehorns the concept into a traditional murder mystery with gore soaked trappings. A serial killer in Baltimore has adopted the writings of Poe as his calling card and Edgar gets drawn into a macabre game of cat and mouse as he has to race against time to save a woman he loves. Effectively the film plays out like a 19th century version of Seven mixed with Saw, except it’s horribly tedious.

To its credit the film does start out rather strong. Poe belligerent and drunk gets tossed from a bar only to pass out in an alley, at the very same time a murder is being played out that draws its inspiration from Poe’s works. Because of the circumstances surrounding the murder, Poe is obviously a suspect and because he passed out he cannot prove his innocence. The film toys with this idea for a bit longer but ultimately, like the rest of the film, it is just wasted potential.

Speaking of wasted potential, director James McTeigue may very well be the definition of it as this point. The fact that McTeigue was the helmsman for this shipwreck of a film makes it all the worse.  The filmmaker had such a positive upside from his stellar debut, V for Vendetta, and his work with the Wachowski’s on The Matrix trilogy. But the Raven has none of the intellectual or stylistic flourishes that viewers saw in his past work. It is a massive shame to see what his talent has become.

Much like Poe’s life was a tragedy, The Raven is a tragedy of filmmaking. It wastes a fun performance by Cusack, the film’s lone bright spot, and somehow makes murder and mystery out to be components in the cure to insomnia. Poe deserves better but even more so, the viewer deserves better. Filmgoers’ time and money would be better spent reading some of Poe’s work instead of seeing this sorry excuse for a “historical” thriller.

1 / 5

1

PS3 Review: Skullgirls

By
Khristopher Reardon
– May 4, 2012Posted in: PS3, Reviews

I went in head first for Skullgirls. When I started playing it I decided to go as deep as I could, opting to buy a fighting pad, downloading a document with all the characters and movesets, training and writing down combos I discover as a kind of ‘cheat sheet’, I even went so far as to watch people play online to see if I could pick up a few things.

To be honest, I haven’t played a lot of fighting games as of late. But Skullgirls appealed to me, probably because the hyper comic stylized and sexy girls who’s styles straddled the line of gothic and horror lunacy reminded me a lot of the classic Darkstalkers Capcom video games of old. For those not in the know, Darkstalkers is where the iconic succubus Morrigan and cute little cat lady Felicia come from, two characters that have made a come back in the Marvel vs Capcom style fighting games.

To be honest, because of my unfamiliarity with a lot of the newer style fighting franchises, I was preparing myself to be punished mercilessly by this game and I wasn’t disappointed.

Skullgirls has to be one of the most beautiful, fluid and absolutely frustrating fighting games I’ve ever played. It’s visuals pop with an undeniable flourish on the screen and as gorgeous as it all looks, it’ll deliver you your ass, priority mail, Cash On Delivery.

The first thing people will probably notice when booting up the game the first time is the small roster, as compared to the legions of characters which seem to be on offer in other fighting games these days. Eight choose-able characters seems like a really small selection, for example Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 has a starting roster of 48 characters, last year’s Mortal Kombat had 27 characters and even the lesser known BlazBlue Continuum Shift Extended has about 24 characters. However, Reverge Labs says there will be downloadable characters coming about soon enough.

So at first glance the roster of Skullgirls is going to feel skimpy, however, it’s worth noting that every character has a very distinct style of play. Whereas in some other games characters can feel somewhat interchangeable, every Skullgirl feels like she was crafted for a very specific reason.

Cerebella with her huge biceped hat is a beat stick with more muscle than mobility, Peacock can spam the heck out of projectiles and keep an opponent at a distance. The game is working on an economy of characters that are built to the very rigid molds they were designed for, it means a lot more thought as to the kind of characters you will want to utilize and how.

The cool thing about this kind of specialization of characters is the game allows you to go for the tag moding of a lot of other games right now or to keep it to a single character. The developers balanced this out by making it so that at the three character cap you’ll be weaker and take more damage than usual but will have more tag attacking options. On the other end, if you choose a single character you’ll be very powerful and have a lot of endurance but have no tagging options, this allows players to spring for a singular specialty while learning the ins and outs of a character or to mix it up with two or three characters in any given match.

There’s a nice tutorial included in the game to allow players to become familiar with everything from hit confirmation, canceling to just learning to set up ground to air combos and push blocking. This was really helpful to me as a bit of a novice because it taught me the techniques I would have to learn in order to really play the game. There’s also a training mode, like the ones in other games except for it has a lot of advanced options for the skilled fighting game player like hit-box mode, which allows a player to see the hit boxes of himself and the opponent in play.

So after picking up my fighting pad, working all the way through the tutorials and spending time in the training room, I thought I was good to go. I boot up my first game on Normal and get beaten easily by the AI in my first match. I did this several times and failed to beat my first opponent, so I exited and started again this time on Easy, same result. Then again, this time in Sleepwalk (thank goodness five difficulty settings) and I finally got somewhere, I still struggled a bit but I was pulling myself up slowly.

This game is certainly not easy. It’s a steep climb for a newb like me and despite feeling like I’d learned a lot through the tutorial mode, finishing it was difficult. At first I was gripping the controller with the muscle tension I’d imagine a viking used to grip a battleaxe in the throes of war. This game is anti-button mash, it’s very much about the way you approach, your ability to block in a split second when needed and how to follow your hits with intricate combos. When I eventually loosened up and started picking up more combos and blocks, I started taking to the game a lot better. But the first few days were filled with game over screens that I can still see etched into the backs of my eyelids when I sleep.

The controller layout in Skullgirls has three strengths of kicks and punches with two buttons that you can assign multi-button presses to. It’s much more complex than UMvC3, which is streamlining fighting games with three attacking buttons, two tags and a ‘special’ button for launching.

With tag attack you can customize the kind of attack you want the tagged character to do when they get in. This allows you to perform a nearly limitless amount of tag attacks from special moves to simple forward + strong punches.

Also, to pause the game you have to hold down the Start button for a few seconds. This feature is meant for people who like to take their fighting skills on the tournament circuit because if you accidentally pause the game in a tournament you are automatically disqualified.

Games online feel lagless, largely due to the GGPO netcode. I let people pound the tar out of me for a couple of hours and only noticed any lag for about three seconds.

This is a game that has been designed for core fighting game enthusiasts. Everything about this game really feels like it requires you to dig down to it’s core to really understand what’s going on on screen beyond the flashy characters and bouncy visuals. I have fun playing this game until I start turning up the difficulty, at that point I feel like a kid left at the controls of a nuclear reactor, all these shiny buttons and levers but I am completely out of my depth and I know nothing good can come of this.

It’s a steep climb and I’m certainly up for the challenge but I don’t know how many other people would be in my shoes. If you can come to this game with a little bit of humility and meet it at the table on it’s terms, the depth of the gameplay and the precision design will keep you wrapped up in it for a very long time. But if you’re the kind of person who idles near the fighting games watching others play because you’re afraid of embarrassing yourself in front of them, this might be one to steer clear of.

Pros

  • Gorgeous artwork and character design
  • GGPO netcode makes online fights seem lagless
  • A lot of design choices were made to make this game tournament fighter friendly

Cons

  • Small roster may disappoint some
  • Difficulty and depth of gameplay will be overwhelming for new players
  • Doesn’t have the online community other fighting games have yet

4/5

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