Monday, September 14, 2009
Dead Rising
I played Dead Rising for the first time in a very long time today, and I just have to say: this game may have been great when it first came out in 2006, but it hasn't aged very well.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Review: Shadow Complex (Xbox 360)
"Metroidvania"
Shadow Complex is a download-only game available for Xbox 360 users via the Xbox Live Arcade. The game is a 2D action/platforming game that somewhat resembles old school classics like the Metroid and Castlevania series (hence the nickname some people are using "Metroidvania"). Available for only $15 (1200 Microsoft Points), the game offers good play time and a lot to do over the course of the game. The left analog stick moves your character while the right one aims where you are shooting/looking, so unlike older platformers of the genre you can actually move and shoot in two different directions.
The game is fairly fun, the gameplay works well and you unlock better weapons and upgrades as the game goes on which helped to keep me interested while I was playing (more on that a little later). The whole game takes place in a large, secret underground complex, and as you get more powerful and get new gadgets you unlock new areas you can explore. The platforming part is fun, and there are secrets all over the map (much like Batman: AA) that you can take the time to try to find, which adds some extra challenge and playability to the game. While you are playing the game (not the cut-scenes), the graphics are good and the sound is alright.
This game has its fair share of problems too. The story is garbage. The intro level is a waste, it has only a very minor connection to the actual game. The way the main plot starts is lame. The ending scene and the plot twist are terrible and stupid (yes, not just one or the other, but both terrible and stupid). While the level design as far as platforming and secrets go is good, the levels/areas get very repetitive and everywhere just starts to look the same. Navigating the complex can be hard and frustrating, even with the help of the map. They make you retrace your steps a lot near the end of the game to find things you couldn't get to before, and that part is even more frustrating and boring.
There are some other gripes too, besides the awful story and level/world presentation. The cut-scene graphics didn't look very good to me. Something was just off about the people and the way they spoke. There are several boss fights in the game, and only one or two of them stand out as being challenging or interesting at all. Most boss fights just have you lobbing grenades at the boss until his health meter is gone. Even the final boss fight was incredibly easy (although the idea was interesting). Sometimes I'd kill all the enemies in a room, and come back to it two minutes later (usually back-tracking to try to figure out where the freak to go) and all the enemies would be respawned in their exact original locations, like nothing had happened. That really helps to take the realism out of a game. The enemy AI was also lacking; among other things enemies would often just keep shooting at you from the same place even if you were in cover and they obviously couldn't hit you, not thinking to move or try anything else.
This game got a lot of hype at E3 and other places, and while it's not a bad game, it definitely didn't live up to it for me.
In Summary:
Pros: gameplay, good value (only $15), decent platforming/action, cool items, lots of secrets to collect.
Cons: bad story/characters/cut-scenes, weak boss fights, bad enemy AI/respawn, repetitive/frustrating level design (at times).
FINAL SCORE: 3 out of 5.
Note: All reviews on this site are solely the subjective opinion of the author. While I try to look at media objectively, this is pretty much impossible (everyone has bias whether they admit it or not), so if you disagree with my review please feel free to post in a polite manner and state your opinion. I welcome respectful discussion on my blog and would love to get feedback on my review and also read yours. Thanks!
Shadow Complex is a download-only game available for Xbox 360 users via the Xbox Live Arcade. The game is a 2D action/platforming game that somewhat resembles old school classics like the Metroid and Castlevania series (hence the nickname some people are using "Metroidvania"). Available for only $15 (1200 Microsoft Points), the game offers good play time and a lot to do over the course of the game. The left analog stick moves your character while the right one aims where you are shooting/looking, so unlike older platformers of the genre you can actually move and shoot in two different directions.
The game is fairly fun, the gameplay works well and you unlock better weapons and upgrades as the game goes on which helped to keep me interested while I was playing (more on that a little later). The whole game takes place in a large, secret underground complex, and as you get more powerful and get new gadgets you unlock new areas you can explore. The platforming part is fun, and there are secrets all over the map (much like Batman: AA) that you can take the time to try to find, which adds some extra challenge and playability to the game. While you are playing the game (not the cut-scenes), the graphics are good and the sound is alright.
This game has its fair share of problems too. The story is garbage. The intro level is a waste, it has only a very minor connection to the actual game. The way the main plot starts is lame. The ending scene and the plot twist are terrible and stupid (yes, not just one or the other, but both terrible and stupid). While the level design as far as platforming and secrets go is good, the levels/areas get very repetitive and everywhere just starts to look the same. Navigating the complex can be hard and frustrating, even with the help of the map. They make you retrace your steps a lot near the end of the game to find things you couldn't get to before, and that part is even more frustrating and boring.
There are some other gripes too, besides the awful story and level/world presentation. The cut-scene graphics didn't look very good to me. Something was just off about the people and the way they spoke. There are several boss fights in the game, and only one or two of them stand out as being challenging or interesting at all. Most boss fights just have you lobbing grenades at the boss until his health meter is gone. Even the final boss fight was incredibly easy (although the idea was interesting). Sometimes I'd kill all the enemies in a room, and come back to it two minutes later (usually back-tracking to try to figure out where the freak to go) and all the enemies would be respawned in their exact original locations, like nothing had happened. That really helps to take the realism out of a game. The enemy AI was also lacking; among other things enemies would often just keep shooting at you from the same place even if you were in cover and they obviously couldn't hit you, not thinking to move or try anything else.
This game got a lot of hype at E3 and other places, and while it's not a bad game, it definitely didn't live up to it for me.
In Summary:
Pros: gameplay, good value (only $15), decent platforming/action, cool items, lots of secrets to collect.
Cons: bad story/characters/cut-scenes, weak boss fights, bad enemy AI/respawn, repetitive/frustrating level design (at times).
FINAL SCORE: 3 out of 5.
Note: All reviews on this site are solely the subjective opinion of the author. While I try to look at media objectively, this is pretty much impossible (everyone has bias whether they admit it or not), so if you disagree with my review please feel free to post in a polite manner and state your opinion. I welcome respectful discussion on my blog and would love to get feedback on my review and also read yours. Thanks!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Review: Batman: Arkham Asylum (Xbox 360)
Be the Bat
"Wow." That was all I had to say as I played through this game. Everything about this game meshed together perfectly: the action, the graphics, the characters, the voice acting, the environment, the gameplay, cut scenes... everything. It's no secret, I loved this game. I was skeptical at first, but after seeing the great scores on Metacritic I decided to go ahead and buy it, and I am not sorry. This is easily the best game of 2009 to this point. To drive home this point, I'll quote Todd Howard, the executive producer at Bethesda (of games such as Oblivion and Fallout 3) who, when referring to the game on the official Bethesda Blog said "Batman: AA. Best game ever?" The man knows good games, so yes, it's that good.
Enough gushing though. The game is very good, and like I said before doesn't have any big weaknesses. And what makes this game so great is not that just all the individual parts (like graphics, story, environment, etc.) of it are so good, but that they all are placed together perfectly. What the game aims to do it does perfectly, and it doesn't try to do too much where it would strecth itself thin. The game isn't incredibly long, but that is a good thing, as I would rather have a medium length game that is an amazing experience than have a game that starts to drag on too long and gets boring near the end just so the developers could say their game is 20+ hours long. There are things to do after you beat story mode too- there are lots of challenges you can do to test and perfect your skills, and all over the map there are collectables that unlock things you may have missed during story mode. I almost never go back through a game just to collect everything, but this is one of the rare cases where I did. Even that part was thoroughly enjoyable.
The only slight weakness of this game that comes to mind is the melee combat system. The "Freeflow" combat system allows you four different options to do during any combat: attack, stun, counter, and dodge (the X, B, Y, and A buttons on a 360 controller respectively). The more hits you get on different enemies in a row the higher your combo counter goes (x2, x3, x4, etc.) and once you reach a certain number you can unleash some of Batman's special attacks. This in theory sounds great, but there were lots of times where I would reach a high enough multiplier, only to press the buttons for a special attack and have nothing happen. This was really the only part of the game that frustrated me, and it is a minor gripe.
As stated before, the graphics and sound were amazing. The graphics are honestly some of the best I've ever seen on a 360 (or of any HD game). Even my wife, who watches me play video games a lot and doesn't usually stop and notice anything about what I'm doing said at one point "Wow, those graphics are amazing." The sound was top notch too, especcially the voice acting. Most of the voice actors were the same ones from the old Batman Animated Series (which I used to watch a lot as a kid), so it immedietly felt natural hearing them do the characters. Heath Ledger might be the best actor to ever play Joker, but Mark Hamill will (at least for me) always be the voice of any cartoon/CG Joker.
In Summary:
Pros: graphics, sound, story, gameplay... pretty much everything.
Cons: melee combat system can be annoying at times, sometimes the camera can get in the way a little bit.
FINAL SCORE: 5 out of 5.
Note: All reviews on this site are solely the subjective opinion of the author. While I try to look at media objectively, this is pretty much impossible (everyone has bias whether they admit it or not), so if you disagree with my review please feel free to post in a polite manner and state your opinion. I welcome respectful discussion on my blog and would love to get feedback on my review and also read yours. Thanks!
"Wow." That was all I had to say as I played through this game. Everything about this game meshed together perfectly: the action, the graphics, the characters, the voice acting, the environment, the gameplay, cut scenes... everything. It's no secret, I loved this game. I was skeptical at first, but after seeing the great scores on Metacritic I decided to go ahead and buy it, and I am not sorry. This is easily the best game of 2009 to this point. To drive home this point, I'll quote Todd Howard, the executive producer at Bethesda (of games such as Oblivion and Fallout 3) who, when referring to the game on the official Bethesda Blog said "Batman: AA. Best game ever?" The man knows good games, so yes, it's that good.
Enough gushing though. The game is very good, and like I said before doesn't have any big weaknesses. And what makes this game so great is not that just all the individual parts (like graphics, story, environment, etc.) of it are so good, but that they all are placed together perfectly. What the game aims to do it does perfectly, and it doesn't try to do too much where it would strecth itself thin. The game isn't incredibly long, but that is a good thing, as I would rather have a medium length game that is an amazing experience than have a game that starts to drag on too long and gets boring near the end just so the developers could say their game is 20+ hours long. There are things to do after you beat story mode too- there are lots of challenges you can do to test and perfect your skills, and all over the map there are collectables that unlock things you may have missed during story mode. I almost never go back through a game just to collect everything, but this is one of the rare cases where I did. Even that part was thoroughly enjoyable.
The only slight weakness of this game that comes to mind is the melee combat system. The "Freeflow" combat system allows you four different options to do during any combat: attack, stun, counter, and dodge (the X, B, Y, and A buttons on a 360 controller respectively). The more hits you get on different enemies in a row the higher your combo counter goes (x2, x3, x4, etc.) and once you reach a certain number you can unleash some of Batman's special attacks. This in theory sounds great, but there were lots of times where I would reach a high enough multiplier, only to press the buttons for a special attack and have nothing happen. This was really the only part of the game that frustrated me, and it is a minor gripe.
As stated before, the graphics and sound were amazing. The graphics are honestly some of the best I've ever seen on a 360 (or of any HD game). Even my wife, who watches me play video games a lot and doesn't usually stop and notice anything about what I'm doing said at one point "Wow, those graphics are amazing." The sound was top notch too, especcially the voice acting. Most of the voice actors were the same ones from the old Batman Animated Series (which I used to watch a lot as a kid), so it immedietly felt natural hearing them do the characters. Heath Ledger might be the best actor to ever play Joker, but Mark Hamill will (at least for me) always be the voice of any cartoon/CG Joker.
In Summary:
Pros: graphics, sound, story, gameplay... pretty much everything.
Cons: melee combat system can be annoying at times, sometimes the camera can get in the way a little bit.
FINAL SCORE: 5 out of 5.
Note: All reviews on this site are solely the subjective opinion of the author. While I try to look at media objectively, this is pretty much impossible (everyone has bias whether they admit it or not), so if you disagree with my review please feel free to post in a polite manner and state your opinion. I welcome respectful discussion on my blog and would love to get feedback on my review and also read yours. Thanks!
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