Play For Today
PLAY FOR TODAY: VIDEO GAMES / AARON BURGESS
Column #16: Best of 2010 - Red Dead Redemption, Call Of Duty: Black Ops, and more.
By Aaron Burgess
Blurt Picks: The 10 Best Videogames of 2010
As your humble Blurt videogame columnist, I spent literally hundreds of hours blistering my fingers in the name of gaming this year, with each new title offering yet more reasons to ignore my real-world duties in a quest to make the next level. As 2010 draws to a close, however, only a handful of games are managing to keep my trigger finger going into the New Year. Ten seems like as good a number as any, so here, dear readers, are my picks for the year's 10 best reasons to own a game console. See you in 2011-and if anyone feels like clobbering me, my handle at pretty much every online gaming service is first2letters. Happy New Year!
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
The wild, wild west meets the great wide open in this brain-bendingly rich Old West saga whose mythic plot twists, nail-biting moral ambiguity and blood-drenched plains are equal parts Cormac McCarthy, Coen Brothers and Clint Eastwood. And that's just when you play the main story. Take a side road into a game of gunslingers' poker or stop to see a man about a horse, and there's no telling how irrevocably deep into hero John Marston's tense, twisted world you can go.
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Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PC
As it seems destined to do with each new installment, Call Of Duty title No. 7 raises the bar for all first-person shooters, military or otherwise. Cripes, even the commercials for Call Of Duty: Black Ops-set to the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" in a move that reflected both the game's Cold War/Vietnam-era storyline and the overall experience of playing it-were genius. I spent untold hours in Black Ops' solo campaign, but the most merciful COD multiplayer experience to date made online play just as rewarding
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Platform: PlayStation 3
In a year where a remade Clash Of The
Titans rocked the big screen, there was really only one Titanic clash worth
experiencing. With breathtaking visual design and cutscenes so powerful they
alone could justify a PlayStation 3 purchase, God Of War III delivered Zeus-sized gameplay to match its graphics.
Sure, the storyline hits harder if you've played previous God Of War titles, but even without that foothold, you'll delight
in playing as the merciless Kratos, making your enemies squirm and their gods bow
before you.
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Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PSP, PC
A new NBA Jam may have triggered players' nostalgia meters, but between the presence of Michael Jordan and the overall dedication to on-court realism, NBA2K11 proved there was only one NBA game worth honors this year. The graphics alone were so dialed in that I thought I was watching a TV broadcast; luckily I had the riveting gameplay to make me more than just a passive observer. As much as it does to let you build a dynasty, NBA2K11 is so beautifully realized that you'll be lucky to make it out of practice without scraping your jaw off the floor.
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Platform: Xbox 360
The gritty, dread-soaked prequel took players back to the dawn of the Halo legend, but in (ahem) reaching back
to Halo's salad days for its
storyline, Halo: Reach never asked
the same of players. Even more than its butt-kicking new features (space
combat, anyone?), this entry-level awareness was the game's strongest selling
point. As much as it proved the trickiest Halo game to master, Reach was also the
easiest of the series' games to enter-and from its customizable DNA to its
virtually endless multiplayer possibilities, it remains the hardest Halo game to leave.
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Platform: Wii
With its objectives set across multiple wacky 3D planets, this eye-popping
platformer comes off like the logical sequel to 2007's fun, frivolous adventure
starring everyone's favorite Italian plumber. (No offense, Luigi.) But it's the
Zen-like simplicity and childlike sense of wonder that drive Super Mario Galaxy 2 that make the game rule.
Even Nintendo 64-era memories influence the way you experience SMG2; and by the time you finish it,
you'll have carved a new space in your memory bank for this one.
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Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
More a dazzling detour than a true follow-up to 2009's Assassin's Creed 2, Brotherhood lives up to its title through an epic multiplayer addition and the ability to
recruit fellow assassins in your plight against the Templars. Beyond this basic
advancement, however, it's the wide-open feel of Brotherhood that'll hook you from the opening scene. Free to
explore an eye-popping rendition of Renaissance Rome, I truly felt like I was
reshaping history as I played it-even if I had some help from Leonardo along
the way.
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Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
We've heard the storyline behind Mass
Effect 2 a million times before: alien race, humanity in peril, one hero to
save us all. Where developer BioWare changes the game, however, is in making
morality a story element. In ME2, characters'
motives and motions are as flawed, emotionally driven and potentially epic as would
be ours if thrust into the same scenario. Though combat drives the action, it's
the little things that count, and this is one game where the choices you make (including
whatever baggage you bring from the first Mass
Effect) literally shape the benefits you reap.
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Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Mechanically speaking, keyboards and a few fake cymbals were the only things Rock Band's creators brought to the
stage for installment No. 3. These peripherals, however-to say nothing of the
new "pro" modes for guitar and drums-were mere jumping-off points for the Rock Band experience, which with Rock Band 3 proves the best rock &
roll fantasy available on any console. Not only do you get full compatibility
with all your older Rock Band downloads; you got the ability to rock them all with up to six of your closest
friends. Bohemian Rhapsody, indeed.
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Platform: Xbox 360
Mario wasn't the only Nintendo character who took us on a nostalgia trip this
year. Packing a slew of gorgeously designed (and impressively tough) levels in
his barrels, Donkey Kong also closed out the year with a 3D, Wii-exclusive
reboot of his own side-scrolling classic. And did I mention that Diddy Kong is
along for the ride? Probably not, because in one of many how-did-I-ever-live-without-that? updates to the classic franchise,
I was too busy making both characters go bananas at once.
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***
Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com / AIM: First2Letters
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PLAY FOR TODAY: VIDEO GAMES / AARON BURGESS
Column #15: Splatterhouse, Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, Pac-Man Party and uDraw Game Tablet. Incidentally, don't miss the debut of "Play For Today - The Print Version" in the Fall 2010 issue of BLURT, on newsstands now.
By Aaron Burgess
Rating: M
Target audience: Metal-mad adolescents (at heart) intimately familiar with both the Evil Dead franchise and four-letter words
Why they'll dig it: If the Splatterhouse name strikes a familiar chord, congratulations: You're old-or at least old enough to remember the cult-classic 1988 horror romp that merged side-scrolling, beat-‘em-up 2D action with a gore-soaked aesthetic straight out of Friday the 13th. Several iterations into its undead life, Splatterhouse has rebooted with this new, 3D edition, which fans will be glad to discover is simultaneously bloodier, louder and more over the top than all of its predecessors combined. Visually, it's also among the-don't laugh-most beautiful games of the past few months, even if the more squeamish players among us will be too busy averting their eyes to notice.
Flush with obscenities (aural and otherwise) and fittingly single-player (a family-friendly good time this ain't), Splatterhouse once again throws you into the shoes of the series' lead character, Rick Taylor. After a predictable, if entertaining, setup during which his gal pal Jennifer is snatched away, Rick dons the Mayan Terror Mask that turns him into a muscled mass of mayhem, and proceeds to spend the rest of the game turning his environment into a Cannibal Corpse album cover. (Incidentally, death-metal fans will love the game's soundtrack.) Everything from Rick's fists to the walls of the mansion he's searching becomes a weapon, and for those who find mere impalements, shootings and dismemberments to be lightweight, the game's Splatterkill finishing moves make the Evil Dead series' legendary bloodbaths look like spa treatments. Bloody good fun, indeed.
Get it from: Amazon
Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom
Rating: T
Target audience: Fantasy-gaming fans who wish The Neverending Story could be recast with the Rockbiter in the lead role
Why they'll dig it: To steal a line from Captain Beefheart, I love you, you big dummy-at least that's the way most kind-hearted players will feel after spending some time with Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom's primary character, the "Majin" (read: ancient big-monster race) Teotl. While you don't necessarily play as Teotl-your character, Tepeu, is actually a cunning thief who, through his ability to communicate with sentient creatures, guides the adorable oaf-you do get to know him intimately as the adventure progresses. The result, which should take you around half a day's worth of gameplay to explore thoroughly, is equal parts battle epic and buddy story, and well worth the price of admission to either.
The lumbering Teotl, as you might guess, is naturally well-equipped for combat-a trait that becomes quite handy as you move through Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom's wonderfully surreal boss battles. You can aid Teotl in battle by combining feats and lobbing the occasional object at your opponents, but he generally does the heavy lifting. The big Majin is also a surprisingly sharp learner, however, and along with the slew of environmental puzzles he (via you) is required to solve, Teotl picks up spells, abilities and other upgrades that both aid you in battle and allow you to reach new areas by revisiting formerly blocked pockets of the (forsaken) kingdom. Above all, though, it's his simple, childlike personality that will endear Teotl to you-and
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Rating: E10+
Target audience: Everyone capable of operating a Wii Remote
Why they'll dig it: Anyone needing proof of Pac-Man's continued playability (and we're talking the original yellow orb-gobbler, not the ensuing generations) need have merely looked to Google's homepage earlier this year. But even for those of us who don't remember a time when arcade games were not just gleefully simple, but also coin-operated, Pac-Man's sundry console offshoots have also produced some winners (most notably, the excellent Pac-Man Championship Edition DX).
Packing over 45 minigames into a vaguely Mario Party-like shell, Pac-Man Party rides the sweet spot between both of these extremes. Younger generations will appreciate the game's ambitious events-based competition, which finds developer/publisher Namco Bandai casting our concentric yellow hero and friends (up to four players can compete simultaneously) in events ranging from Wii Remote-based dance competitions to track and field. Older players, of course, will carry some affinity not only for the basic Pac-Man storyline-here, as ever, you chomp your way through the boards-but also for the inclusion of other coin-op titles. Dig Dug, anyone?
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Target audience: Artistically minded Wii gamers (kids in particular) you'd never trust with your Wacom tablet.
Why they'll dig it: New this month, the uDraw GameTablet marks THQ's ambitious first entry into a peripheral-happy holiday season dominated by Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's PlayStation Move. Unlike those physically fitful gadgets, however, uDraw aims to occupy your brain instead of your body.
Sturdy, chunky and intuitive to set up, the uDraw partners with your Wii Remote-which you pop into a slot in the tablet's left-hand side-to connect to your Wii console. The tablet draws power from your Wii Remote's battery, so the only wire is the one connecting the stylus to the tablet itself; and, along with its obvious drawing capabilities, the stylus affords you additional control through buttons that mimic your Wii Remote's C and Z options. Pair these with the uDraw's built-in tilt and motion sensors, and you have a creative extension of your standard Wii Remote that feels like a giant-sized version of your Nintendo DS' stylus screen.
The uDraw GameTablet ships with the Microsoft Paint-esque uDraw Studio software package, which offers a novice-friendly crash course in the tablet's artistic capabilities. uDraw Studio is a good way to acclimate yourself with the stylus' tools, palettes and media choices while getting used to the uDraw's plasticky 4"x6" surface-just don't expect to create a masterpiece with it. (That's what your Wacom is for.)
Just two other games-a rather excellent version of Pictionary (screenshot above; a logical fit for this type of controller) and the bone-simple platformer Dood's Big Adventure (in which you control the action, DS-style, using stylus and motion controls)-are available to purchase separately, but THQ is promising additional titles for 2011. Here's hoping some even more ambitious games are in the works, because there's much potential yet to be tapped here.
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***
Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com / AIM: First2Letters
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PLAY FOR TODAY: VIDEO GAMES / AARON BURGESS
Column #14: Monopoly Streets, and more Kinect entries than you can shake a bundle at, including The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout, Dance Central, Kinect Sports, EA Sports Active 2 Bundle, Sonic Free Riders and Kinectimals. Incidentally, don't miss the debut of "Play For Today - The Print Version" in the Fall 2010 issue of BLURT, on newsstands now.
By Aaron Burgess
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Developer/Publisher: Electronic Arts
ESRB Rating: E
Even before coming to current-generation consoles, the classic board game Monopoly already existed in dozens, if not hundreds, of different incarnations around the world. But slapping a new skin on a rosewood game board and transporting a board game to a new medium are two very different tasks, and with Monopoly Streets, EA has done Monopoly fans proud.
At the most basic level, the game plays just as you'd expect: You "roll" the dice with your controller and move from Start to Start again, strategically picking up properties along the way. As your opponents follow suit, they pay rent upon reaching your properties, and the last one to survive the loop without going bankrupt-jail, Chance, Community Chest and other diversions notwithstanding-is the winner.
Of course, how you achieve these goals in Monopoly Streets becomes quite a different experience when you get behind the controller. First, there's the board itself: You can move throughout a 3D version of the classic game board, literally experiencing everything from to Mediterranean Avenue to Boardwalk as a living environment. There's not much depth beyond the idea that, "Wow, so this is what Park Place looks like in 3D," however, so the game itself doesn't change in the process. The elements of Monopoly Streets that you can control, on the other hand, really add something to the experience.
Monopoly Streets technically legalizes all the annoying cheats your kid sibling used to get around the standard rules-but it does so within tight boundaries. You can create custom games that follow rule sets you lay down, or choose from multiple default game settings (including, as purists will be glad to hear, the standard version). Once you're in, you play by the new rules-and for those who've always found Monopoly to be a little too, er, monopolizing of your time, speed games like "Bull Market" (which limits the duration to 20 rounds) let the game adapt to your attention span.
Unlike the board game, Monopoly Streets also lets you play against the computer - a rather fair, if easily overtaken, AI - but you'll have the most fun playing with friends either locally or online. And even though you can tweak the settings to suit your ADD, Monopoly purists will be glad to know that Monopoly Streets, like its real-world sibling, can also go as long as your stamina can handle it.
Rating: 8/10
Kinect, Connect, Kin...
Microsoft's Kinect sensor launched earlier this month, essentially negating the need for a controller while adding a new piece of hardware to your Xbox 360 console. Games for the peripheral have already started to come our way faster than we can review them, so in the spirit of staying on top of our options (read: overwhelmed by choice, tired from playing), here's our look at some of the better Kinect games on tap for the holiday season.
The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout
Though it launched alongside a Wii-ready sibling (The Biggest Loser Challenge), this fitness game based on the hit TV series is in a class by itself for Kinect. Offering over 120 different exercises, The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout tackles every inch of your flabby, overweight frame, aiming to get you into shape via a progress-based regimen that tracks what you've done; maps out where you're going; and even fine-tunes (via 50 in-game recipes) what you put in your belly.
Where Dance Dance Revolution keeps you bound to the foot controllers, Dance Central forces you to match that fancy footwork with an equally full-bodied sense of rhythm. The first mat-free console dance game "reads" your body as you move in front of your Kinect, keeping the pressure on you by flashing on-screen prompts that coordinate into complete dance-routine challenges. The game offers a solo workout mode that tracks calories burned, but it's a lot more fun with a room full of friends and a lack of inhibition.
We know, you've been to the Wii Island and conquered those challenges, but there's a big difference between flailing around with a remote and using your entire body to fill a 3D space, and Kinect Sports bridges that gap. This means that track-and-field events-while limiting you to run in place-require you to keep all four limbs going, while both soccer and bowling require precise coordination across more than just the limbs where you move the ball.
For those who find Kinect Sports to be too lightweight, EA's first Kinect-powered sports entry brings a legitimate personal trainer into your living room. The circuit-training game tracks your progress via wireless leg- and arm-strap motion sensors and a hear-rate monitor, delivering real-time feedback on your goals as you play. You can work out either alone or with friends, basically eliminating the need for another gym membership after your holiday binge this year.
Every Sonic the Hedgehog game pounds you with enough light-speed action that you want to get off the couch and into the game-a state that Sonic Free Riders is all too happy to accommodate. The racing game throws you onto a hoverboard (look down and imagine it), which you zip, grind, sail and boost through a dozen-plus beautifully designed tracks while lobbing attacks that keep your opponents in the trailing position. Yeah, you've seen a similar Sonic ride on other consoles-but you've never felt it until now.
Hooray for those of us with pet allergies, because Kinectimals is the soft, saccharine-sweetest we'll ever come to interacting with real, live furry critters in our home. It's clearly aimed at the youngest Kinect users, but the game frees players of all ages to collect, train, nurture and (of course) play with a menagerie of wild kitties. Though playtime is fun enough, thanks largely to an array of minigames, the wide-open environments make it easy just to get lost in the wilderness with your Kinectimal.
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Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com / AIM: First2Letters
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PLAY FOR TODAY: VIDEO GAMES / AARON BURGESS
Column #13: Saw II: Flesh & Blood, Castlevania - Lords of Shadow, Power Gig: Rise of the Six String, Rock Band 3. Incidentally, don't miss the debut of "Play For Today - The Print Version" in the Fall 2010 issue of BLURT, on newsstands now.
By Aaron Burgess
Halloween Deathmatch!
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Developer: Zombie Studios / Publisher: Konami
ESRB Rating: M
Fun factor: There may be a "II" in its name, but this sequel to the 2009 survival-horror game actually takes place between the first and second Saw movies (themselves already up to number VII-er, 3D). Not that this changes the way things flow in Saw II: Flesh & Blood. Now as ever, Jigsaw wants to play a game, and you-as newspaper reporter Michael Tapp (son of the films' Detective Tapp)-are his pawn. You race to solve puzzles while wriggling your way through traps that are designed to kill you and other characters from the films-a feat that's less challenging than it could be thanks to repetitious level design and generally tedious puzzle logic.
Fear factor: Can you remember the last time a Saw movie actually made you jump? Good, because you'll have the same sense of ennui not long into Saw II: Flesh & Blood. The storyline is just as flimsy, the gore is just as gratuitous (albeit creatively so), and the characters aren't just disposable; they're repellent enough to make you regret saving them. While not genuinely scary, the game is incredibly stressful, thanks to quick-time-event combat schemes and puzzles that find you dodging, flailing and scramble to complete sequences or lure opponents into hazards. Then again, considering the sadomasochism that drives the Saw film series, maybe all of this is the point.
Rating: 6/10
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Developer: Mercury Steam / Publisher: Konami
ESRB Rating: M
Fun factor: Though technically a reboot of the 25-year-old Castlevania series, Lords of Shadow often feels like God of War III (a good thing) with vampires, goblins, werewolves and other traditional monsters taking the place of Greek underworld inhabitants. You play as the supernatural-slaying knight Gabriel Belmont (voiced, in one of many star casting decisions, by Trainspotting's Robert Carlyle), who, armed with the familiar Castlevania chain-whip, a light/dark magic system and an arsenal of epic combos, faces the evil Lords of Shadow in an attempt to restore harmony and revive the beloved wife these fiends took from you. (Got all that?) Yes, it sounds clunky, but the game's masterful design and graceful internal logic tie together these and other disparate elements into an experience that's larger-than-life-if barely the Castlevania we remember.
Fear factor: None, really-but suspense and thrills abound. The game's dark, sweeping and fantastically rendered environments go beyond the castle to build atmosphere that, figuratively speaking, takes you to hell and back. Combat is the focus here-and from God of War-style combos to Shadow of the Colossus-level boss fights, you'll have plenty. But the game also builds a rhythm through slower-paced exploration sections and gorgeous cutscenes (narrated by Patrick Stewart as Gabriel's compatriot Zobek) that keep the story moving while making you forget you're sitting through load times. Although you can't control the camera, this minor setback is as deeply as Lords of Shadow ties you to Castlevania's formerly 2D world. From its atmosphere to its playing time (easily 15 hours) to its surprising nooks and crannies, the game feels like an open-world adventure-one that only has upward to go from here.
Rating: 9/10
Battle of the Fake Bands!
Power Gig: Rise of the Six String
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Developer/Publisher: Seven45 Studios
ESRB Rating: T
Purported rockitude: When members of Rush can't play their own songs on videogame peripherals, you know there's a reality gap between playing music games and actually playing music. This, promisingly, is a gap that Power Gig: Rise of the Six String looked ready to close, what with its inclusion of a real (if plastic) working six-string guitar in place of the traditional colored-button-mashing device. And, indeed, when you open the box on this package, that's just what you get: a pint-sized axe that works wirelessly with your console in addition to rocking through your amp when you depress its beefy plastic pickup button.
Actual rock power: Power Gig: Rise of the Six String's diverse track listing covers guitar heroes both old school (Eric Clapton) and new (Mastodon). Unfortunately for those who just wanna rock, the game wedges these songs into a corny, over-the-top storyline that's equal parts Footloose and Aerosmith's Revolution X. Things aren't helped by the game's visuals, which look surprisingly low budget for such a high-profile title; and though it's nice that you also get compatibility with drum and microphone controllers, developer Seven45 might've made a tighter experience had it kept its focus on maxing out the guitar controller. As for whether you'll actually learn to play real music on the thing, the game itself doesn't let you try anything tougher than a power chord (otherwise it's the basic hit-colors-in-time). And while kids might enjoy having a "real" guitar to toy around with outside of the console, anyone who's picked up a real six-string will realize that plastic components plus high action equals an out-of-tune-disaster.
Rating: 5/10
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS
Developer: Harmonix / Publisher: MTV Games/Electronic Arts
ESRB Rating: T
Purported rockitude: Outside of adding vocal harmonies and scoring some amazing licensing coups (see: LEGO, Green Day, The Beatles), Rock Band hasn't changed too drastically over the past three years. With Rock Band 3, however, developer Harmonix gives us a new peripheral (keyboard) to go along with our fake guitars, microphones and drum kits, and a significant gameplay refresh that will no doubt find competitors racing to update their own titles accordingly. Some of the updates-the new Pro modes, for instance-come at a literal cost, as they require you to buy not only the new keyboard, but also cymbals and an enhanced version of the standard Rock Band guitar. But you don't need this hardware to enjoy Rock Band 3-and that, frankly, rocks.
Actual rock power: Want to experience being in a real rock band? Join a real rock band. Even with 100 buttons (the new Mustang PRO guitar), fake cymbals and a small, if impressively competent, set of keys among its options, the core Rock Band experience is still about hitting colored plastic in time to music. That being said, the game is as fun as ever to play with friends, and if you're more of a lone wolf, the Pro Modes-for which you'll need those extra controllers-provide dozens of hours' worth of advanced solo play. The game's 83-song set list also hits on all the right notes, with tracks that run the gamut from Dio to the Flaming Lips. And, thanks to a new career mode-and a mammoth supply of downloadable content-your challenges can adapt as the set list and available genres on your hard drive expand. Yeah, even this means that you'll need to spring for a little something extra if you want to get the most out of Rock Band 3-but this is one game where even the least available options feel huge.
Rating: 9/10
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Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com / AIM: First2Letters
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Column #12: Medal of Honor, Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. Plus a look at the ZigZag Tower for Xbox. Incidentally, don't miss the debut of "Play For Today - The Print Version" in the Fall 2010 issue of BLURT, on newsstands now.
By Aaron Burgess
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Developers: Danger Close/DICE / Publisher: EA
ESRB Rating: M
This year's Medal Of Honor arrives with some contentious, if publicity-boosting, baggage to go along with its dog tags and bullet holes. Set in present-day Afghanistan, the game is the first title in the 11-year series to drop you into the middle of an active conflict-where, controversially, you can play as either an Afghan insurgent or the game's real hero, a U.S. Tier 1 special operative.
Typically, much of the hoopla around Medal Of Honor 2010 comes from outside of gaming circles. Spend a few hours actually playing the first-person shooter, and you realize there's no attempt to radicalize at work here. Regardless of whether you enter Medal Of Honor as G.I. Joe or as Taliban Sam (though, thanks to a last-minute change, EA has stripped out the "T" word), the game is at heart a classic good guys/bad guys affair.
Medal Of Honor's taut, tense single-player campaign slips you into the boots of a U.S. soldier in the middle of Operation Enduring Freedom. Though it's a relatively quick play, the campaign keeps you engaged through rich level design and some of the most vivid-and disturbingly realistic-audio you'll ever hear in a military game. (Indeed, the game was developed with input from real U.S. combat forces.) Similar in feel to its closest competitor, Modern Warfare 2, the game winds from Afghanistan's craggy hills to the cockpit of an AH-64 Apache helicopter, where your tasks range from surgical assaults to hammer-crushing blows against an enemy whose biggest weapon is its unpredictability.
Tension and playability both increase in MOH's excellent online multiplayer mode, which supports up to 24 players across both Tier 1 and Taliban (or, as the name has been sanitized, "opposition") forces. As in real-life combat, teamwork is everything here-so while you can boost your own ranking and abilities by taking out enemy soldiers or performing medal-worthy feats of courage, none of this stuff will matter if you lead your friends into an ambush or sniper attack.
Medal Of Honor lands amid some tough FPS competition-the aforementioned Modern Warfare 2 on one end; the new Halo: Reach on the other. But for those who prefer their military action raw, rugged and unflinchingly realistic, this is one operation that truly endures.
Rating: 8/10
Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes Of Light
Platform: Nintendo DS
Developer/Publisher: Square Enix
ESRB Rating: E10+
Hard to believe that in roughly two dozen franchise games, spinoffs, sequels and prequels, Final Fantasy has never had an original Nintendo DS title until now. With Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes Of Light, series creator Square Enix compresses the FF world into storybook size, where designer Akihiko Yoshida's fantastic illustrative work makes the DS-exclusive role-playing game feel bigger, and dreamier, than life.
If the art style and platform have you thinking The 4 Heroes Of Light is Final Fantasy Jr., you may want to break the shrink wrap before handing the game to your little sibling. The game offers a world of depth beyond its visuals, with four divergent storylines and multiplayer capability for up to four players (hence the title). The deceptively simple-to-grasp Crown Job System further deepens play, thanks to over 24 unlockable, class-based crowns that let you assign attributes, and even aesthetics, that can boost your character's chances of making it through the game's battles and dungeons.
Combat itself is simple and turn-based, but unless you invest serious time in strategy, you'll be at a terminal disadvantage against most foes. Luckily, thanks to its long, engaging story and seemingly endless customization scheme, The 4 Heroes Of Light gives you plenty of time to plot your next move-provided you don't get lost in the details, of course.
Rating: 8/10
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Developer: Ninja Theory / Publisher: Namco Bandai
ESRB Rating: T
Although it's loosely based on the 16th-century Chinese literary classic Journey To The West-as diluted through 400 years of popular reinterpretation-Enslaved: Odyssey To The West takes place 150 years into our own future, in a post-apocalyptic U.S. that's literally a shell of its former self.
Bound together in a journey toward freedom-but really navigating a complicated romantic relationship based on self-interest and subjugation-heroes Monkey (your playable character) and Trip (your tech-smart female counterpart) traverse Enslaved's wasteland under constant threat of peril.
Peril, of course, translates in this single-player title to tactical gameplay with a ton of awesome, epic battles driven by Monkey's acrobatic (if simplistic) melee-style attack capability. Indeed, the fighting and level exploration alone would make Enslaved a perfectly great way to kill a weekend. The problem comes when the game gets too hung up on its own storyline.
Hindered by the medium, and the genre, in which it's working, screenwriter Alex "28 Days Later" Garland's script struggles to eclipse the complex, allegorical weight of its source material. Rich (if super-long) cutscenes and terrific voice acting-particularly from Lord Of The Rings' Andy "Gollum" Serkis as Monkey-wonderfully draw you into the story, sure. But the story here needs subtlety to shine-and that's an area where even the greatest game developers, with their understandable need to draw everything back to the action, can only be heavy-handed.
Rating: 7/10
File Under: Extras
Level Up Storage Towers
$49.99 and up
Sure, milk crates and plastic clamps will hold your gaming rig just fine, but if you're looking for a sleeker way to keep your gear together, Level Up's storage towers have form and function to match their flair. (See what we did there?) The ZigZag tower for Xbox 360 (pictured; also available in gray) holds four controllers in its molded dock and up to 13 games or DVDs in its tower. You stash your console below the game shelves, in a recessed and ventilated bay that helps to keep components cool, while the hooks on either side of the tower let you keep a pair of Rock Band axes at the ready. Similar models are also available for Wii and PlayStation 2/3 consoles-check out the whole line at Level Up.
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Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com / AIM: First2Letters
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PLAY FOR TODAY: VIDEO GAMES / AARON BURGESS
Column #11: Halo: Reach, Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. Incidentally, don't miss the debut of "Play For Today - The Print Version" in the Fall 2010 issue of BLURT, on newsstands now.
By Aaron Burgess
Developer: Bungie / Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Platform: Xbox 360
ESRB Rating: M
Since its 2001 debut, the Halo franchise has looked grimly ahead to a future where the remnants of humanity fight for survival against the horrific alien alliance Covenant. With Halo: Reach, the objective stays the same, but for the first time outside of licensed spinoffs, we experience Halo's origins direct from the series' acclaimed developer, Bungie. (Incidentally, Halo: Reach marks the end of Bungie's involvement with the series.)
The gritty, dread-soaked prequel starts at the dawn of the Halo legend - the year 2552, to be exact - so there's no sign of the series' iconic character Master Chief. Instead, the primary campaign slips you into the armor of a nameless Spartan warrior fighting in the nascent Noble Team brigade on planet Reach - which, despite its annihilation in later Halo installments, provides plenty of chances for solo, co-op and multiplayer triumph here.
Halo: Reach also offers a wealth of opportunities to move beyond typical ground campaigns, with outer-space combat and advanced armor (from jet packs to medic kits) giving your Spartan remarkable flexibility and capability in battle. Though a fog of portent hangs over the game - you do, after all, enter it aware of your world's eventual extinction - the story-driven campaign and expansive maps, combined with the game's stunning visuals, make Reach feel like a whole new world.
Where gameplay is concerned, Reach deftly balances familiar elements (Halo's intuitive control scheme, after all, defined the modern first-person shooter) with new content and features. The campaign challenges increase with each new player (you can add up to four in co-op mode), thanks to vicious enemy AI that will have you racing friends across the battlefield to score health packs. The new credit-based ranking system, which bridges the campaign and multiplayer worlds, lets you earn and spend your way to a fully customized Spartan - even in the game's cut scenes. And the Forge features turn over the keys not only to Reach's competitive maps, but also to multiplayer and Firefight games themselves-meaning you have a sandbox that extends all the way into the Reach rulebook.
Ironically, in (ahem) reaching back to Halo's salad days for its storyline, Halo: Reach never asks the same of players - and this, more so than the butt-kicking new features, may be the game's strongest selling point. It may be the trickiest Halo game to master (woe to you who start in Legendary mode), but Reach is also the easiest of the series' games to enter - and from its customizable DNA to its virtually endless multiplayer possibilities, it's the hardest Halo game to leave.
Rating: 9/10
The Lord Of The Rings: Aragorn's Quest
Developer: Headstrong Games / Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Platforms: Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, PS2, PSP
ESRB Rating: T
It's hard to deliver just one review of The Lord Of The Rings: Aragorn's Quest, given that the experience of the game varies wildly as you move from console (where the game shines) to handheld (where it's largely a basic button-masher). Assuming, then, that you're up for the best of all experiences, here's a taste of what to expect from the game's superior Wii and PS3 versions. (Full disclosure: The Wii version was played exclusively for this review.)
The third-person adventure starts after the close of the J.R.R. Tolkien-via-Peter Jackson trilogy, focusing (as you might've guessed from the title) on the continued adventures of Aragorn Strider. (In keeping more with the film version of the tale, our hero appears in his Viggo Mortensen visage.) The actual gameplay is a bit more meta, though: You enter Aragorn's Quest as a hobbit child, listening to tales of Aragorn's adventures from your pop, Samwise Gamgee, and then experiencing the quests through your imagination, as Aragorn. If that concept has your head spinning, don't sweat it: Essentially, Aragon's Quest is a kid-friendly experience that, thanks to its faithfulness to the Tolkien-Jackson epic, older players won't find to be too "kiddie."
In fact, Aragorn's Quest is actually a series of quests - some of which find you guarding companions; others in which you're seeking objects - covering an eight-level journey through a beautifully rendered version of Middle-Earth. Expectedly, each quest is disrupted by a healthy assortment of enemies, which you take on using your Wii Remote to control Aragorn's sword. The kid-friendly difficulty ensures that seasoned gamers will have no trouble cutting down orcs, trolls and other beasts, and, thanks to a reward system that boosts your capabilities as you progress through the game, the combat develops enough to keep you engaged even when the swordplay feels dull.
Fighting, of course, isn't the only adventure in Aragorn's Quest - neither, for that matter, is the linear adventure. The game offers enough side quests and hidden items to keep you wandering happily for hours, so detours generally prove worth the effort. And if you're not the type to enter a journey alone, the two-player co-op mode allows a friend (or parent) to step in as Gandalf - who, just as in the trilogy, has enough tricks up his sleeve to get Aragorn out of the biggest pickle. Wait-do they have pickles in Middle-Earth?
Rating: 7/10
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Developer: Beenox / Publisher: Activision
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS, PC
ESRB Rating: T
Good things come in pairs; awesome things come in quadruplets-at least that's how Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions seems to view the world. The game takes you on a thrill ride through a quartet of the web-slinger's incarnations - Amazing, Noir, Ultimate and 2099 - each of which inhabits its own universe with its own idiosyncratic enemy abilities, attack style and visual design. And that's before you get to the hidden gems beneath the surface. (Side note: The DS version, which isn't covered in this review, omits the Ultimate Spidey.)
Racing against Mysterio to reclaim a mystical "Tablet Of Order And Chaos" (long story...), the notorious Madame Web summons all four versions of Spider-Man to align the universes and restore order. This jumping-off point is about as deep as you'll actually get into the story, though and that's fine: Simple though it may be, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions' plot neatly ties together developer Beenox's conceptual vision and allows for hours of frenzied action across the four universes' dozens of levels and boss battles.
Yes, "boss" implies linear flow, and unlike its open-world counterparts, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions zips from A to Z across a range of indoor and outdoor environments - as well as between first- and third-person perspectives. Detours, however, abound: Each level also contains challenges that, along with Spidey's enemy defeats, help you rack up spendable "spider essence" that can be used to expand your capabilities, costumes, combos and more. The reward system quickly proves addictive--so much so that you may come back after completing the game just to see how much more Spider-mojo you can collect.
Rating: 8/10
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Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com / AIM: First2Letters
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PLAY FOR TODAY: VIDEO GAMES / AARON BURGESS
Column #10: Batman: The Brave and the Bold The Videogame, Disney Guilty Party, Ace Combat Joint Assault, Metroid: Other M. Incidentally, don't miss the debut of "Play For Today - The Print Version" in the Fall 2010 issue of BLURT, on newsstands now.
By Aaron Burgess
Batman: The Brave And The Bold The Videogame
Platforms: Wii, Nintendo DS
Developer: WayForward / Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
ESRB Rating: E10+
Over its three-season run, Batman: The Brave And The Bold answered the question "Why so serious?" with a mix of action and ironic humor that, at its most enjoyably self-aware, harked back to Batman's 1960s TV heyday. Batman: The Brave And The Bold The Videogame stays faithful to the Cartoon Network series' aesthetic, from the nudge-wink tone to the pacing that starts each episode with a burst of action before getting into the story. Though it's a simple 2D sidescroller, the game perfectly fits its source material: Fans of the show expect a 2D world, after all, so why add a third dimension to complicate things?
Batman, naturally, is the star of the game, but just as in the animated series, a roster of other heroes sits at the ready: from Robin and Green Lantern to, using Nintendo's clever inter-console interconnectivity, an unlockable Bat-Mite that you control over the Wii with your DS. The action winds through four environments in which you face off against a cadre of villains from the DC universe, and while there's plenty of content to unlock and explore, you'll spend most of your time brawling. Luckily, thanks to the game's tight controls and classic punch-'em-out style, the action stays fresh even after the 1,000th "Pow!"
Batman: The Brave And The Bold The Videogame can be played solo, but as the somewhat dim-witted single-player AI proves, it's really a game to be enjoyed co-op style with a buddy. You won't spend a lot of time getting from point A to point Z, but with so much action, and so many characters and collectables, to be found along the way, you'll have a blast going back again to see what you missed the first time.
Rating: 7/10
Platform: Wii
Developer: Wideload Games / Publisher: Disney Interactive Studios
ESRB Rating: E
Don't let the whimsical cover art and the Disney logo fool you into thinking Disney Guilty Party is mere kids' stuff. Well, okay: The game does make a beeline for kids' imaginations, but for us grizzled players, it also taps into our nostalgia for a good old-fashioned board game: namely, Clue.
Just as in the Hasbro classic, you experience Disney Guilty Party one suspenseful turn at a time, scouring themed locations for clues and suspects to help you solve a series of mysteries. Though the characters-the evil Mr. Valentine and the numerous suspects you, playing as a member of the elite Dickens Detective Agency, encounter-are new, the top-notch animation and original music strike a warmly familiar, Pixar-esque chord. (The game's humor, thankfully, also has the wry and wide-ranging smarts of a Pixar flick.)
While you can play alone, the fun ratchets up significantly in Disney Guilty Party's multiplayer challenges. You and up to three other players draw "Savvy Cards" (which give you special case-cracking abilities), spend tokens and race against the clock to crack the case first. You explore, interrogate and gather evidence in 50-plus brisk, silly minigames, each of which are meant to add heft to your case file. (Some, unfortunately, result more in your flailing the Wii Remote for scant payoff, but at the very least, they'll make you giggle.)
Once you've exhausted the game's Story Mode, you'll find extra mileage in Party Mode-whether it's through the shuffled variables that literally make every game a new experience or, if you're playing competitively, the ability to sabotage your fellow players through tricks and traps. There's no online multiplayer capability, however, so this is one party game where you'll need a real-life party to get the most out of it.
Rating: 8/10
Platform: PSP
Developer: Project Aces / Publisher: Namco Bandai
ESRB Rating: T
In a 15-year run that's taken it across virtually every major console, the Ace Combat series has earned its place at the top of the aerial-combat heap. Until now, though, the series has never come down to earth, figuratively speaking: Rather, it's kept the action on alternate worlds where melodrama and intercontinental (in some cases interplanetary) strife reign supreme. Ace Combat Joint Assault changes things a bit by bringing the fight to real-world settings such as London, Tokyo, San Francisco and Egypt, but from a player's perspective, it's still about finding supremacy in the air.
Set in the middle of a global conflict sparked by a fictional terrorist group, Ace Combat Joint Assault puts you in the cockpit of some 40 different licensed aircraft, which you can unlock and upgrade by completing various missions. The game features decent single-player capability, but as you might expect from a title that supports the PSP's ad-hoc and infrastructure modes, you'll find better action in the multiplayer battles, in which up to eight players can engage in both co-op and competitive play.
As for gameplay, no surprises: It's just what you'd expect from a flight sim that takes its control scheme seriously. Getting a (literal) handle on your aircraft in Simulation mode comes with a steep learning curve, but the realistic feel is worth the effort. If you're new to Ace Combat, you can also opt for Arcade mode, which scales back some of the complexity while still giving you impressive maneuverability in tight situations. Customizing your plane, meanwhile, is a time investment unto itself, but you'll feel the payoff when you take to the skies-even if you ultimately won't find anything new up there.
Rating: 7/10
Platform: Wii
Developer: Team Ninja/Nintendo / Publisher: Nintendo
ESRB Rating: T
Metroid: Other M is not your older sibling's Metroid-even though it opens at the close of 1994's Super Metroid and stars the series' familiar female bounty hunter, Samus Aran. The game, which combines retro and modern elements, jarring perspective shifts and an ambitious cinematic presentation, delivers something the Metroid series (or the Wii, for that matter) hasn't seen before: an experience that's as much about storytelling as it is about the action and controls that drive it.
Other M opens by simultaneously revisiting Super Metroid's explosive climax and reintroducing Samus through an action sequence that affirms just what a resourceful and well-armed hero she is-even if her resources are soon depleted. (More on that later.) After escaping the planet Zebes' self-immolation, Samus chases an SOS call to a space station, where she runs into soldiers from the Galactic Federation, including her old commanding officer, Adam Malkovich. In an absurd plot point that nevertheless sets up the proceeding action, Malkovich strips Samus of her arsenal and prompts other, deeper suspicions that lead our hero to explore the space station. This, of course, is where the real action, rife with new monsters and old adversaries, starts.
While most of Metroid: Other M takes place inside a single vessel, the sheer variety of environments-from the tropical Biosphere to the volcanic Pyrosphere-makes the ship feel like a world unto itself. Though it's a lonely place to explore-other characters accompany Samus only rarely after the initial sequence-the space station provides plenty of foes for our hero to take down. Samus utilizes a combat system that's as much about defensive strategy as it is about close-quarters combat and lethal finishing moves. Unfortunately, these powers need to be reconciled with the vulnerability Other M's story incorporates to deepen Samus' humanity. You head into Other M with everything you need, lose it all because of Malkovich's mandate, and then spend the game waiting for the C.O. to authorize the weapons and upgrades you desperately need. With no apparent logic guiding Malkovich's authorizations, it's a major point of frustration in an otherwise seamless game.
Thankfully, not all of Other M's quirks are so painful. Though primarily a third-person experience, the game shifts camera angles, alters playing modes and lets you change perspectives (sometimes even locking you into a first-person view when the scenario fits) to heighten the experience of the scene you're playing. These alternating perspectives themselves aren't storytelling devices, but they ultimately heighten the story in Metroid: Other M so that, even when cornball plot devices threaten to take things off the rails, you want to stay along for the ride.
Rating: 8/10
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Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com / AIM: First2Letters
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PLAY FOR TODAY: VIDEO GAMES / AARON BURGESS
Column #9: Mafia II, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, And Yet It Moves, Grease The Video Game, Ivy The Kiwi?, Madden NFL 11. Incidentally, don't miss the debut of "Play For Today - The Print Version" in the Fall 2010 issue of BLURT, due on newsstands in mid September.
By Aaron Burgess
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Developer: 2K Czech / Publisher: 2K Games
ESRB Rating: M
Becoming a wiseguy ain't all it's cracked up to be: For every step you take toward made-manhood, there's a bigger chance you'll be betrayed, ripped off or whacked by the up-and-coming gangsters beneath you. So when you step into the shoes of Mafia II's complex, conflicted lead character, Vito Scaletta, you do so with the accompanying psychological weight of being in "the family."
The sequel-in-name-only to 2002's 1930s-era hit Mafia, Mafia II starts in the winter of 1945, when Vito, home on leave from the service, is an immigrant son looking to get his family a piece of the American dream. And, with help from a few friends with ties to La Famiglia, that's just what he does over the ensuing years during which the game takes place, in just the crooked ways any Goodfellas fan would expect. (Unlike Henry Hill, however, Vito is a surprisingly sympathetic character.)
The game's fictional city, Empire Bay, comes to life with period detail that extends from the snippets of anti-Hitler propaganda heard on the radio to the gaudy '50s-era decor that gives Vito's pad a touch of, er, class. Though the basic story is typical Mafia fare - young gangster moves up in the business, evades whacking along the way-the realism with which it's conveyed pulls you into Vito's story. Add top-notch animation and voice acting, and you feel like you're in the sandbox with Scorsese. Until you get to the gameplay, at least.
Though it has all the trappings of a sandbox game, Mafia II is organized around missions, which means you can free-roam your way through Empire Bay only insofar as it gets you to the next job-or, depending on how good you are at evading the law, the next police stop. This causes frustration when you're itching to interact with your environment and end up hitting an invisible wall instead.
Divided by some incredible cutscenes, the action in Mafia II is standard third-person shooter fare, which means you'll spend your time shooting, punching, hiding and crouching (not to mention driving-a whole lot of driving) to complete missions. You'll do a lot of mundane stuff just to make it through the day, of course-and it's the inherent potential of these routine activities that, explored to its fullest, could help the next Mafia become more than just a great shooter.
Rating: 8
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Developer: IO Interactive / Publisher: Square Enix
ESRB Rating: M
The uneven (and, in some cases, controversial) critical response to 2007's Kane & Lynch: Dead Men made it seem as though the nascent franchise might ironically realize its title right out of the gate. So consider it surprising that Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is arriving so soon after its predecessor-particularly since the game doesn't fix the wonky fundamentals that hampered Dead Men's potential.
Aesthetically, Dog Days hits all the right buttons, amplifying the grimy world of Adam "Kane" Marcus and James Seth Lynch through intentionally amateurish camera work that makes it feel as though you've stumbled into a bootleg documentary on the two criminals. (Depending on the scenario, you may also feel like you're watching a torture video.) Set in Shanghai's underbelly, Dog Days magnifies the city's seedier aspects to a nauseating degree, and adds enough profanity, gore and wanton violence to make even a sociopath feel dirty behind the controls. Unpleasant stuff, to be sure-but it really works in making the game get under your skin.
You play the basic campaign as Lynch, re-teaming with estranged partner-in-crime Kane for the proverbial "one last job" that, of course, takes you both 180 degrees from what's expected. Despite an attempted emotional subplot, neither character has gotten any more likable since the Dead Men days-and the basic strategy of "shoot, kill, don't look back" doesn't instill much depth in either. Compounding things, your enemies pack frustratingly smart AI and a cover system that rivals your own, and with a few exceptions (hint: go for the shotgun), your weapons don't live up to their promise. You wind up on a playing field that feels unnecessarily level, especially since there's nowhere else to go beyond it.
Luckily, Dog Days' single-player repetition gets broken up with a handful of co-op, multiplayer and Arcade modes, the best of which (the returning Arcade mode "Fragile Alliance") finds you playing the subtleties of a tenuous multiplayer relationship that could turn traitorous at any moment. It's a fun way to get mileage out of the single-player campaign, so here's hoping the game's developers decide to add more of this type of substance to their style the next time around.
Rating: 6
Platform: Wii (WiiWare)
Developer: Broken Rules
ESRB Rating: E
Already available on PC, And Yet It Moves delivers a new experience-whose tactile feel arguably comes closer to the game's intent-in its newly released WiiWare form. The award-winning indie game, whose title lifts from the Galileo quote "Eppur si muove," plants you in a fantastical world that literally looks like remnants cobbled together from an artist's studio: Pencil-drawn figures, ripped-paper backgrounds, cardboard scraps and crumpled textures abound.
Physics, meanwhile, is the science that makes And Yet It Moves' art truly, well, moving. As you run and jump in standard left-right formation throughout the platformer, you can rotate your entire world up to 180 degrees to reach seemingly unattainable goals. What sounds easy in theory turns into quote the challenge in execution: Your momentum stays constant no matter which way your world turns (no easy braking system here, pal) and you can easily do yourself in by miscalculating the degree to which your world turns.
Rating: 8
Platforms: Wii, Nintendo DS
Developer: Prope / Publisher: XSEED Games
ESRB Rating: E
Do one thing very well: That's the concept Ivy the Kiwi? developer Pope seems to have taken with this unique little platformer, and it pays off in the game's Zen-like simplicity. You don't play so much "as" the game's titular character as with her-Ivy is a cute kiwi hatchling in search of her mum, and it's your job to guide her from point A though points B, C and beyond by "drawing" vines on the screen. (In the DS, you do this with your stylus, while the Wii version lets you use your Wii Remote to point and click.)
Hazards abound, of course, so Ivy's journey is beset with creatures and pitfalls of all shapes and sizes-but beyond merely drawing paths around these dangers, you can create obstacles and simple machines that send Ivy over and around them. The basic game is simple enough that even novices can pick it up and start playing, but you can add up to three friends in multiplayer mode to enjoy deeper challenges and team up for even more inventive obstacle-dodging fun.
Visually, the game is just as delightful, thanks to an artistic vision that grafts the warm, hand-spun feel of an A.A. Milne storybook onto the kooky platforming style of Kirby: Canvas Curse. However, despite any similarities to worlds we've seen before, Ivy the Kiwi? offers a new experience, complete with new challenges whose complexity (the later levels in particular will test your dexterity's limits) is couched in simple pleasure.
Rating: 8
Platforms: Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, PS2, PSP, PC, Nintendo DS, iOS
Developer: EA Tiburon / Publisher: EA Sports
ESRB Rating: E
The annual release of a new Madden title is as much an event as the Super Bowl that defines the game's money shot-more so, if you consider that Madden NFL 11 will keep you busy long after Feb. 6 has come and gone.
As in years past, developer EA Tiburon has packed enough obsessive detail and (artificial) intelligence into this year's Madden to rival the experience of running your own NFL franchise. Of all the nuances, play calling gets the most attention in Madden NFL 11, via the new "GameFlow" option that draws its logic from actual NFL game plans as well as from the real-life tendencies of each team. Though it's less a cheat sheet than a new layer of realism, GameFlow significantly cuts your time in the huddle, which means games that previously took an hour-plus can be wrapped in half an hour.
The ultra-realism also extends to the most basic player controls, thanks to tweaks that fine-tune everything from your sprinting speed to the capability of your blockers. This, of course, is just the view from your end of the controller-with a new Online Team Play experience (just one of Madden NFL 11's online features), up to three players can share responsibility for winning the game-or getting smack-talked out of it.
Rating: 9
Grease: The Official Video Game
Platforms: Wii, Nintendo DS
Developer: Zoë Mode/Big Head Games / Publisher: 505 Games
ESRB Rating: E10+
If a video-game version of Grease never existed, would we need to invent one? Probably not, but when you get past its oddball premise, Grease: The Official Video Game works well enough as a simple party game to be, er, the one that you want.
Combining karaoke-style play with simple mini-games and calorie-burning events, Grease casts an ambitious net across generations and playing styles. Sure, you'll appreciate the game more if you already have a social context for the world of Pink Ladies and T-Birds (Mom and Dad, we're looking at you), but the variety of challenges ensures that even Grease newbies can find an outlet at Rydell High.
Feel like channeling your inner John Travolta or Olivia Newton-John? Pick up your Wii-compatible USB mic and start belting. Got an urge to do the hand jive? The dance competition awaits you. Ready for a race? Hit Thunder Road and go, go, Greased Lightnin'. Replay value may not be stellar, but for those who tend to break out their consoles primarily for special occasions, Grease is the word.
Rating: 7
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Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com / AIM: First2Letters
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PLAY FOR TODAY: VIDEO GAMES / AARON BURGESS
Column #8: Singularity, Crackdown 2, The Cages: Pro-Style Batting Practice, APB: All Points Bulletin, Sniper: Ghost Warrior
By Aaron Burgess
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Developer: Raven Software / Publisher: Activision
ESRB Rating: M
The Cold War may be resigned to history, but in Singularity, developer Raven Software imagines a world where fallout from that era leads to grave consequences today. Set on the quarantined island of Katorga-12-a place where Soviet scientists inadvertently unleashed hell with the discovery of a new element, E99-the game throws time travel, zombie warfare and tongue-in-cheek dystopian drama into a blender and asks you to tear your way out of it.
Though the plot doesn't get much deeper than those few weird points, the action does-quite literally, as you (playing as modern-day soldier Nate Renko) descend into a BioShock-esque environment that covers time, space and other areas where mortals typically tread lightly. Armed with a gizmo, the TMD (Time Manipulation Device), retrieved from the Katorga-12 experiments, you can revert inanimate objects to previous states, solve puzzles strewn throughout the game, and generally jack up the course of history in your favor.
Weaponized, the TMD proves even handier: You can change enemies' physical properties to make them less of a threat, freeze or cause foes to move at a crawl, and catch and throw back objects à la the gravity gun in Half-Life 2. Along the way, you gain powers and weapons that prove even more effective in combat-and, as you near the game's conclusion (complete with three separate endings), you need all the heavy ammo you can get. Alternately, in Singularity's simple-but-fun multiplayer mode, characters from the game (the monster-sized tick being a personal favorite) also become weapons, so if the whole playing-on-the-side-of-good thing becomes too much, you can jump into the claws of a creature for some face-ripping fun.
Rating: 8/10
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: Ruffian Games / Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
ESRB Rating: M
Second verse, same as the first: At least that's the feeling fans of the 2007 smash Crackdown may have after spending a few hours in the zombie-ravaged, over-the-top world of Crackdown 2. The difference this time is that up to four of you can have the same reaction at once, as Crackdown 2 adds four-player co-op support to what's essentially the same experience of its predecessor. Beyond that, the game's updates-a few new weapons here, some different-colored Agent uniforms there-feel like nothing a little DLC couldn't have provided.
Despite a 10-year stretch (in game time, at least) since the original, Crackdown 2 takes place in a very familiar Pacific City where you, working as a heavily armored Agent of, well, the Agency, spend your time cleaning house: human enemies by day, vicious mutants by night. While combat is simplistic and level-ups again find you chasing orbs like Mario in a mech suit, the open-world game provides a fun, gritty sandbox, full of absurdly powerful weapons and dark corners to explore. Just make like the game's mutants and shut off your brain: With little in the way of story or enhancements to snare your imagination, it's your best chance for making it through this city.
Rating: 7/10
The Cages: Pro-Style Batting Practice
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Developer: Alpha Unit / Publisher: Konami
ESRB Rating: E
Score one for truth in advertising: Though it's not much to look at, The Cages: Pro-Style Batting Practice delivers exactly the pro-style training experience you'd expect from its name. Using the Wii Remote either with or without the Wii Motion Plus accessory, you step into a virtual batting cage and face off against a pitching machine that makes its real-world counterparts seem positively Stone Age.
You start with the basics, taking swings at fastballs and targeting selected areas of the field to build accuracy. From there, though, you get over 40 challenges' worth of slugger training designed to sharpen everything from your distance to your technique. (Thanks to a multiplayer mode, you can even invite friends over for a game of home run derby.) Switch on the Wii Motion Plus accessory, and things get even more realistic as the game transforms from a simple hitting exercise into a challenge where nuance, stance and timing truly matter. Batter up!
Rating: 8/10
Platforms: PC
Developer: Realtime Worlds / Publisher: Electronic Arts
ESRB Rating: M
Good guys, bad guys-you've seen this formula before. But in the open-world- MMO third-person-shooter APB, the theme's meaning changes depending on which side you choose. Set in the fictional world of San Paro, APB pits two sides of the city-Criminals and Enforcers-against each other, with up to 80 players per side having a seat at the table.
After tricking out your player through an insanely deep customization menu (you can even edit your own vehicles and incidental music), you choose a side and brace yourself as the objectives start to flow. Admittedly, APB gets you off to a rocky start, with lopsided player matching sometimes dumping you into clashes where you can barely get your head around the action, let alone compete against your more seasoned competitors. But as you fine-tune your character through challenges and upgrades, APB's dynamic matching system makes for a much more balanced, and tight, game.
While San Paro itself isn't much to look at, there's a lot of room for action in the city's relatively lean maps-provided, of course, both sides of the law are packing equal muscle. Objectives can end quickly even across the best-prepared teams, so adrenaline junkies will find more replay value than will those looking to get lost in the city. It seems like a minor detail, but when you consider that APB comes with just 50 hours of play (with more available for purchase), you'll want to note it before you plunk down for a copy. Then again, depending on how far APB can expand, it might be worth it just to buy in, hang out and wait.
Rating: 7/10
Platforms: Xbox 360, PC
Publisher: City Interactive
ESRB Rating: M
Playing as a sniper in first-person shooters can significantly up the tension and drama of your game (not to mention its ability to strengthen your trigger finger), so the idea of playing Sniper: Ghost Warrior exclusively in the sniper role sounds appealing. In practice, however, the game is a different experience, even though most of the headaches aren't on your end of the sight. Erratic AI, frustrating levels plagued by invisible walls, and a plot (something about cleaning up a banana republic) with more holes than your last kill are all problems-and unfortunately, your sniper rifle won't take care of any of them.
Difficulty varies based on your challenge and settings-sometimes you'll be tasked with taking out multiple enemies in way-too-rapid succession; other times you'll be focused on a single kill, literally trying to hold your breath to keep from going off-target. This ballistics realism, however, can be dialed back to match your skill level-and if you're up for the challenge, it makes the game's "Bullet Cam" money shots that much rewarding. Unfortunately, even a stellar killing experience can't make up for the AI that makes your enemies as erratic as your allies are useless. Best just to turn to the game's more forgiving (and fun) multiplayer mode, where you can at least share the frustration with real people.
Rating: 6/10
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Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com / AIM: First2Letters
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PLAY FOR TODAY: VIDEO GAMES / AARON BURGESS
Column #7: LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4, Ninety-Nine Nights II (N311) and Transformers War For Cybertron.
By Aaron Burgess
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP, PC
Developer: Traveller's Tales / Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
ESRB Rating: E10+
Grizzled gamers tend to quibble about LEGO videogames' adherence to formula, but when you're dropping $60 on entertainment for your home's ficklest audience (the kids), there's something to be said for knowing what to expect. Considering there's been nary a dud in the three franchises that've already gotten the LEGO treatment-Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Batman-you'd have good reason to expect similarly high standards from the first LEGO Harry Potter entry. And you'd be right-and then some.
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 lets you play as minifigure versions of Harry himself, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and over 160 unlockable characters from the book and film series. (Hello, Dobby!) As the name implies and LEGO tradition mandates, gameplay finds you exploring, collecting and battling through madcap plastic-brick versions of the first four Harry Potter installments: the Sorcerer's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, the Prisoner of Azkaban, and the Goblet of Fire. But if you think the action starts on Number Four Privet Drive and ends with a boss battle vs. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, you're barely touching on the game's potential.
Roaming plays a huge part in how you experience LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, primarily because the levels you roam are themselves so huge. Jam-packed with unlockable secrets, Hogwarts castle feels as massive and mysterious here as it must be for a first-year wizard to explore. Diagon Alley offers limitless spells, characters, objects and other diversions to purchase-your currency, of course, being the zillions of LEGO studs collected during gameplay. And the Forbidden Forest's creepy corners conceal far more than just old Aragog-though defeating the spider boss is another challenge altogether. Meanwhile, LEGO games' trademark tongue-in-cheek humor brings levity to the levels and mirth to the mystery, even (and especially) in spell-casting battles.
Where the central characters in previous LEGO games had tools to suit their personas (Indiana Jones' whip, for instance), LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 takes this idea further with its rich spell system. As in the books/movies, each spell has a particular outcome, so depending on what you want to move, whom you want to battle or where you want to go, you could pull out, say, Wingardium Leviosa to blast bricks or levitate objects, Riddikulus to take down what scares you, and so on. The AI is solid enough to make single-player mode a blast, but the spell-casting options reveal even deeper possibilities when you play alongside a friend.
Even though LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 brings just a few new options to the table, the changes will be as welcome for LEGO videogame diehards as they will be for fans of the Harry Potter series. Just like the doors and stairs in Hogwarts, the game is never the same thing twice-which means it should keep you and yours plenty busy until Years 5-7 arrives.
Rating: 8/10
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: feelplus / Publisher: Konami
ESRB Rating: M
The videogame equivalent of an old-school death-metal band, Ninety-Nine Nights II uses devices like plot and storyline as mere anchors for the hacking, slashing brutality that makes it memorable. Indeed, there's something almost beautiful about the conviction with which N3II (as it's also known) embraces its lowly "hack 'n' slash" status: With nothing else to prove, the game simply piles on the bloodshed, and the result is a surprisingly fun, if mindless, romp through some of the densest battles this side of Helms Deep.
Lord of the Rings references aren't just coincidental here, either. With humans (exemplified by lead character Galen) co-existing alongside ogres, goblins and elves, and a Sauron-like "Lord of the Night" and accompanying dark army encroaching on the game's fictional world, N3II applies a dark, Tolkien-esque shadow to its action. N3II, of course, compresses its Middle-Earth-esque universe to a series of increasingly bananas assaults bookended by a few minor plot points.
Repeatedly raising the ceiling on the horde-battle concept just to smash through it again, N3II finds you taking on literally hundreds of enemies at once and reducing foes to viscera in a slew of blindingly fast, graphically rich (in every sense of the term) weapon and magic attacks. With assassins, thieves, warriors, nobles and more at your disposal, you get all the powers and attendant weapons of each character class-even if the end result is still the same. And with support for co-op play via Xbox LIVE, you can bring a real-life friend to the slaughter.
Rating: 7/10
Transformers: War for Cybertron
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Developer: High Moon Studios / Publisher: Activision
ESRB Rating: T
If you've found your Transformers interest lagging thanks to either Michael Bay's heavy hand or any number of flaccid game or novelty spin-offs, Transformers: War for Cybertron might just be the lure that hooks you again. Set during Cybertronian wartime, eons before the original "G1" Transformers toy/cartoon family hit Earth, the third-person game simultaneously spackles some of the holes in Transformers' lineage while giving many favorite characters a new lease on life. Plus, it's really fun to play.
The game's two campaigns, Autobot or Decepticon, aren't just "good" and "bad" sides of the same experience-they're literally interwoven into the game's rich back-story, with the Decepticon tale serving as a prequel to the Autobot campaign. (The nobler among you, however, can choose to enter the game as Autobots.) Support for up to three players in drop-in/drop-out co-op play means that you can either tackle the game alone (a solid, but limited, experience) or get help from friends, each of you choosing a Transformer that suits the battlefield you're on-from earth to air. And, as you'll soon discover, the ability to transform to your environment plays a huge role in how you'll fare.
Though the control scheme stays constant across both modes, War for Cybertron takes on a completely different tenor when you move from campaign to competitive multiplayer. Tight action on well-designed maps, customizable and well-armed character classes, and multiple modes with support for up to 10 players make for an experience that borrows the strongest elements of top-tier titles like Halo and Gears of War while standing formidably on its own. Consider this one of the summer's biggest sleepers so far-even for those of you who can't tell Optimus Prime from prime rib.
Rating: 8/10
***
Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com / AIM: First2Letters
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PLAY FOR TODAY: VIDEO GAMES / AARON BURGESS
Column #6: Green Day: Rock Band, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Toy Story 3, The Sims 3: Ambitions; plus Nintendo 3DS.
By Aaron Burgess
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Developer: Harmonix / Publisher: MTV Games
ESRB Rating: T
Offer up the Beatles on one end and Green Day on the other, and odds are good that many current-generation rock fans would have a hard time picking favorites. (Don't snigger, pop purists.) So it's fitting that, for its second band-themed Rock Band game, Harmonix has followed up the Fab Four (last year's mega-popular The Beatles: Rock Band) with a game devoted entirely to the Dookie-spawning American Idiot savants. Though less cinematic-and surreal, for that matter-in scope than its Beatles counterpart, Green Day: Rock Band is everything a fan of the Bay Area trio could want and then some: 47 playable songs' worth of classics spanning Green Day's evolution from punk brats to stadium-packing, generation-crossing icons. Unfortunately, for those of us who remember the band before 1994's breakout Dookie, the set list for Green Day: Rock Band skips the Lookout! Records era where Green Day not only cut their teeth, but also wrote some of their catchiest three-minute tunes. (Read here for more.) Dookie, 2004's American Idiot and 2009's 21st Century Breakdown appear in their entirety, however, with a smattering of hits from 1995's Insomniac, 1997's Nimrod and 2000's Warning bookending the three albums.
Gameplay loosely mirrors the storyteller formula of The Beatles: Rock Band, following Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool from their salad days (via the fictional punk venue The Warehouse) to real-life locales both large (the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, England) and small (the Fox Theatre in Oakland, California). Likewise, in addition to standard guitar, bass and drums playability, the fun-but-tricky three-part harmonies and Career achievements also follow those of The Beatles: Rock Band, with troves of MTV archival footage (Green Day, after all, are nothing if not products of the MTV era) available for the unlocking. Ironically, the games' similarities tend to magnify the areas where Green Day: Rock Band doesn't quite meet The Beatles version: fewer venues, less song diversity, a reliance on realistic visuals where fantasy would tell a better story (Green Day did, after all, did ride two concept albums all the way to Broadway). But if you're looking for similar levels of pop smarts with a mega-dose of adrenaline to drive them home-well, you had to see this coming, but welcome to paradise.
Rating: 8/10
Platform: Wii
Developer / Publisher: Nintendo
ESRB Rating: E
Maybe it's because of the world in which it lands-a realm of co-op shooters, rock-band simulators and grave, hyper-realistic realms where faux physics supplant our own in all manner of settings-but Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the rare videogame that truly feels like a game. If that sounds a bit heady, know that there's nothing brain-bending about the game itself-with its objectives set across multiple wacky 3D planets, SMG2 feels like the logical sequel to 2007's fun, frivolous adventure starring everyone's favorite Italian plumber. (No offense, Luigi.) But it's the Zen-like simplicity and childlike sense of wonder with which Nintendo approaches this platformer that makes it such a standout-that, and the addition of Yoshi, of course.
Available as a power-up (one of many such boosts to Mario's mojo this time out), the lovable, long-tongued dinosaur makes for a delightful addition to Super Mario Galaxy 2-but really, he's as much a symbol of everything that's right with the game. Bowser, his captured Princess Peach and a map that takes you further toward them are the primary catalysts for action, while the incredibly designed levels that comprise the map are the reasons you'll lose yourself in the quest. Long, challenging and beautifully framed no matter which dimension (2D or 3D) you're experiencing it through, Super Mario Galaxy 2 tests your preconceptions about platformer games while holding you to the basic platformer premise. Even memory (with warm tinges, both visual and musical, of Mario games dating back to the Nintendo 64 days) plays a role in how you experience SMG2-and by the time you finish it, you'll have carved a new space in your memory bank for this one.
Rating: 9/10
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Platform: PSP
Developer: Kojima Productions / Publisher: Konami
ESRB Rating: T
It's ironic that you can only get Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker on Sony's smallest system. Infinitely playable, the handheld-only game from MGS series mastermind Hideo Kojima offers huge potential whether you're playing it in linear fashion or experiencing the countless side missions offered as detours. Picking up where Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops left off, the 1970s-era prequel puts a full-sized console adventure-gorgeous graphics and all-in the palm of your hand.
You're transported, via one of many comic-book-style cutscenes, into a storyline where Naked Snake, a.k.a. Big Boss, is leading the private mercenary unit Soldiers without Borders when fate intervenes to send him on an emotionally riveting mercenary mission of his own. Stealth and strategy remain key tactics for fighting your way through Peace Walker, but the integration of deep RPG elements expands the way you interact with everything from weapons (which you can develop and upgrade) to enemies. You can develop your own army by literally plucking soldiers from the field and sending them (this time via balloon harness) back to your Mother Base for training. Just make sure you also have some real friends (up to four in co-op mode) along for the ride. You'll need all the help you get to make it through Peace Walker's more daunting boss battles.
Rating: 9/10
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PSP, DS, PC
Developer: Avalanche Productions / Publisher: Disney Interactive Studios
ESRB Rating: E10+
You know what to expect from most licensed kids' videogame tie-ins before you even crack the shrinkwrap: predictable storylines, simple challenges and a handful of minigames to help justify the sticker price. However, just as Toy Story 3 is no mere kids' movie, the film's videogame twin isn't your run-of-the-mill 3D platformer with a simplified control scheme and seemingly endless string of collectable items. That's not to say you won't find both elements in Toy Story 3, just that once you clobber the game's eight relatively easy levels, you still have a whole other videogame to explore.
Playing as Woody, Jessie or Buzz Lightyear, you run, jump, chase and object-gather your way through a story mode whose colorful, action-packed settings play off scenes from the movie. Then, well, you're done-at which point it's time to crack the lid on the game's Toy Box mode, which itself is worth the price of admission. The open-world adventure lets you customize an entire Old West toy town to your liking, embarking in literally hundreds of side adventures along the way-and, perhaps more importantly, out of the way. Complete missions to earn gold. Herd cattle or corral townspeople into buildings of your own silly creation. Or, heck, simply roam through the sandbox, move stuff around and see how many boundaries you can push. Much like the experience of play itself, Toy Story 3's Toy Box is alive with possibilities.
Rating: 8/10
Platform: PC
Developer: The Sims Studio / Publisher: Electronic Arts
ESRB Rating: T
Anyone who's played a version of The Sims knows that, just as in the real world, work is part of your pint-sized avatars' daily lives. Until now, however, your Sims simply donned their work attire and headed off to do whatever it was they did all day-but with The Sims 3: Ambitions, you can experience a veritable "take your creator to work day" that
The expansion pack for 2009's The Sims 3 expands on your ability to choose a Sim's career by tacking an actual profession-and its attendant tasks, challenges, hobbies and war stories-onto it. It's a subtle difference, but it makes for huge possibilities and, particularly in the roles of ghost hunter, firefighter and private investigator, some curious dramatic twists. No matter what your lot in (fake) life, though-doctor, stylist and architectural designer are among the other options-you'll find hours' worth of adventures to expand your world. Here's hoping EA similarly expands the available careers, because the potential here is just, well, ambitious.
Rating: 8/10
Moving in Stereo: Nintendo 3DS
Goodbye, fourth wall. It's like we never knew you. At least that's expected to be the reaction next year when Nintendo succeeds its DS handheld with the 3DS, which will deliver 3D graphics without the need for glasses. The system will, thankfully, be backward-compatible with your existing DS and DSiWare titles, and there's talk that several major movie studios are working with Nintendo to bring 3D movies to the 3Ds' 3.53" stereoscopic top screen. (The bottom is a 3.02" touch panel.) Of course, that's just the basic visual experience-the 3DS also features beefed-up wireless capability (including hardware that "talks" with other 3Dses while your system is asleep) and three cameras for recording your own real-life action. Yeah, that's right: three. One for you, and two facing the outside world so you can capture it in stereo, too.
Check out the details, complete with some excellent teaser video, at Nintendo's 3DS site.
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Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com / AIM: First2Letters
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PLAY FOR TODAY: VIDEO GAMES / AARON BURGESS
Column #5: Skate 3, Lost Planet 2, Alan Wake
By Aaron Burgess
Game of the Minute: Skate 3
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Developer: Black Box / Publisher: Electronic Arts
ESRB Rating: T
Skate and destroy. Having long ago trounced Tony Hawk's franchise, EA/Black Box's Skate now occupies a proud, if lonely, spot at the top of the skateboarding-videogame heap. And while the upcoming Shaun White Skateboarding looks as though it may be a formidable challenger, Skate remains untouchable-and well worth getting your hands on-in its third installment.
As we saw with Skate 2, Skate 3 doesn't so much redefine its predecessor as it masterfully dials up the game's core elements-although this time out, the changes carry more weight. (Skate 2, for all its high points, felt more like an expansion pack.) Gameplay and game physics offer unparalleled fluidity and realism; the new fictional setting of Port Carverton offers thousands of new spots and hidden areas to rule; and the online element offers a brain-bending number of challenges, contests and spot battles to pursue with friends. Even the process of getting your head around the game has received more attention this time-whether in the addition of actor Jason Lee (himself an old pro skater) as the comical new character "Coach Frank," or in the new difficulty settings, which help to ease the learning curve for new players as much as they let veterans exploit Skate's penchant for realism.
Instead of tossing your skater into a typical career mode, Skate 3 puts you in charge of an entire skateboard company-which, in keeping with the game's focus on customization, you can tweak to be as realistic or off-the-wall as you like. (Having always taken more of a fantasy-football nerd approach to Skate, I based my team on the 1988-1989 Powell Peralta rosters. Don't ask...) Along the way, you'll have the chance to boost your company's brand-and board sales-by winning contests, nailing challenges and recruiting the best shredders (AI and otherwise) to rip alongside you. You can even poach skaters from your own Skate friends list and sign them to your team-provided your friend already has a skater customized, of course.
In addition to customizing your player and teammates, you can also build, save and share your own skateparks throughout Skate 3. The sheer number of tools and objects available in the new park creator can be intimidating, especially to those of us with fleeting attention spans, but as with real-life skateboarding, sometimes you only find the perfect line after you've remade your surroundings to match your imagination. What's more, you can share your park with the Skate online community and rack up royalties based on how many other players download your content. (The same applies to the videos and images you capture during the game, too.)
While it's true that skateboarding is a solitary activity, Skate 3 approaches co-op play with enough anarchistic spirit to keep it from falling into "team sport" territory. Nearly every single-player challenge in the game is available to tackle with teams, but if you've ever skated with friends in real life, you may soon find yourself bypassing the game's stock challenges to create your own. Move objects to help each other find the perfect line. Share trick tips in real time as your buddy aims to conquer that killer gap or ledge. Or, simply follow your friends around Skate 3's seemingly endless environment. With no security to stop you (another welcome change from previous games), Skate 3 is yours to conquer.
Rating: 9
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Developer / Publisher: Capcom
ESRB Rating: T
We can't fight alone against the monster. There's a story somewhere within the alternately fiery and icy worlds of Lost Planet 2, but it's likely the first thing you'll disregard once you dive into the game. The sequel to 2007's well-received Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, Lost Planet 2 turns elements like storytelling and characters (here a nameless, faceless crew of mech-suited monster hunters) into mere vehicles for its pulse-quickening action and breathtaking visuals. All of which is to say, it doesn't fix what the first game already got praised for breaking over its knee.
Set 10 years in the future from its predecessor, Lost Planet 2 finds you on the same "lost planet" of E.D.N. III where the original game unleashed hell-only this time, much of the snowy environment has melted away to reveal jungles, underwater bases and a host of other locales (including, yes, some snowy climes). Oh, and let's not forget the Akrid: In Lost Planet 2, the monstrous insect species that terrorized the first game has grown to positively epic proportions in the new, warmer climate-and that's not even taking into account the boss levels.
While it's possible to move through Lost Planet 2 in solo mode, the borderline brain-dead AI that comprises your team provides a sound argument for recruiting real teammates to help you fight. With up to three real friends by your side, you can better coordinate attacks against the Akrid-although, thanks to a somewhat counter-intuitive control system, you may all have a learning curve to overcome before you can start clobbering objectives. Some battles will find you and teammates needing to operate multiple weapons or pieces of gear in sequence to take down a monster; in others, you'll need the intuitive diversions only a sentient player can provide if you're going to buy enough time to rejuvenate yourself after an attack. No matter what, you're not going to get the support you need from a bot.
In addition to bringing back the man-hunting Fugitive Mode from the first Lost Planet, the competitive multiplayer modes in Lost Planet 2 do a solid job of covering the bases: You get a pair of elimination modes, as well as some monster-ridden variations on conquest and capture the flag, the majority of which incorporate a robust variety of maps and host-customization capabilities. And, thanks to some fun reward features, including a rich ranking system in which your weapons grow in direct proportion to your monster-hunting mojo, the multiplayer challenges offer plenty of bragging rights. Just be sure you've got some pals to play with-because no matter how you decide to enter it, Lost Planet 2 is only as rewarding as the number of friends you have to get, er, lost with.
Rating: 7
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: Remedy Entertainment / Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
ESRB Rating: T
Welcome to my nightmare. Alan Wake, the titular hero of Alan Wake, isn't a hero at all-unless you're the type of player who sees Stephen King on par with Master Chief. A popular crime novelist by trade, Wake is an unwitting protagonist who, jarred from his vacation by a series of unfortunate events, finds himself at the center of a story that's equal parts Twin Peaks and Max Payne. (Incidentally, Max Payne series developer Remedy Entertainment is the creepy, creative brain behind Alan Wake.)
Plagued by writer's block, Alan Wake journeys with his wife, Alice, to the Twin Peaks-reminiscent Pacific Northwest town of Bright Falls, where Wake hopes he'll be able to recapture some of his creative energy. After one night in the town, however, Wake's world turns on its ear, with his wife, his cabin and his entire sense of reality becoming captives of the town's shadowy atmosphere.
Gameplay and story are intertwined in Alan Wake, and even though the game's control scheme incorporates elements (onscreen prompts that correspond to specific character actions) that fans of Heavy Rain will find familiar, this is anything but a me-too version of that nail-biter. Classic gaming tropes-from object collection to boss battles-pop up throughout Alan Wake, providing just enough of a respite from the weirdness to keep you grounded. Meanwhile, though the game technically plays like a third-person shooter (at least in its more action-oriented sequences), much of the focus is on the "fourth person" of Wake's flashlight beam, which simultaneously provides you with a lifeline while intensifying the game's terror and ambiguity. What you can't see, after all, is always scarier than what's right there in front of you.
Without giving too much away, let's just say that light-whether your flashlight or the random sources of illumination available in your environment-is key to surviving the darkness that is Alan Wake. And while it sometimes relies a bit too much on gaming conventions, the story goes far enough off the rails that by the time you complete it, you'll find yourself not just wondering how things ended up this way, but also how long it'll be until the Alan Wake sequel arrives.
Rating: 8
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PLAY FOR TODAY: VIDEO GAMES / AARON BURGESS
Column #4: Monster Hunter Tri, Dead to Rights: Retribution, Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake, Nier
By Aaron Burgess
Game of the Minute:
Platform: Wii
Developer / Publisher: Capcom
ESRB Rating: T
Scary monsters, super creeps. In theory (which is to say, right up to the point where you open the box), Monster Hunter Tri offers a promise of simplicity that's attractive to casual gamers. Learn the basics of hunting nonhuman creatures; fight and trap your way up to the gnarliest of said beasts; and collect hero honors as the village sings your praises. In practice, however, things are quite different-because while learning the ropes of monster hunting may be easy, true mastery is a status available only to the hardcore.
If this sounds familiar, it's because the same formula has made Monster Hunter one of the most addictive, if challenging, role-playing franchises ever to hit Japan, where the game dominates on PSP. And while the exclusive move to Wii for Monster Hunter Tri finesses some of the online challenges and controller nuances that have kept the series from breaking bigger in the West, loyalists will be happy to know that neither change comes at the expense of the game's core challenges.
You enter Monster Hunter Tri as a newbie hunter on a mission to take down the Lagiacrus, a loathsome leviathan that's terrorizing your otherwise peaceful seaside village. Reaching that point, however, is a long, intensive process, and though boss battles abound, this is no linear journey. Beyond the monster hunting where the action abounds, you'll spend hours immersed in patience-testing object quests, sometimes even repeating actions to correct a misstep or realize an "a-ha" moment. In other words, there are no easy level-ups here: You're only as well equipped as you build yourself up to be, and to get there, you must scavenge and smash with purpose.
As you grow attuned to the unique strengths and weaknesses of your nonhuman foes, you also get savvy in areas such as what remedies to bring into battle for health; which traps work best on which monsters; and how each weapon type affects your ability to be nimble in battle. (Heavier weapons, for example, slow you down but offer obvious damage bonuses.) Though it's possible to slice, select and swim (underwater combat is a big addition to Tri) your way to victory using a Wii Remote and Nunchuk, you'll spare your thumbs some agony by choosing the Wii Classic Controller Pro pad. Luckily, for you, it comes bundled with one version of the game.
Learning curve notwithstanding, Monster Hunter Tri is an incredibly fun game that offers multiple inroads into its expansive, beautifully rendered world. A robust online element, complete with Wii Speak peripheral compatibility, adds strategic depth to the game when you're playing with friends. Likewise, a split-screen multiplayer mode lets you train for battle alongside a friend, while the game's solo mode finds an AI companion, the customizable (and surprisingly tolerable) Cha-Cha, providing cover when you need it. Online, though, is where the game really shines-not to mention where you'll find the biggest rewards for all that time you're investing.
Rating: 8/10
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Developer: Volatile Games / Publisher: Namco Bandai
ESRB Rating: M
Murder was the case. Touted as a complete reinvention of the successful Xbox, PC and PS2 franchise, Dead To Rights: Retribution finds you once again prowling the mean streets of Grant City as officer Jack Slate, with your snarling K-9 companion, Shadow, by your side. You may be wondering, then, where the "reinvention" comes in, as this is exactly where the original Dead To Rights found you. Well, in its shift to next-generation platforms, the third-person shooter has gotten a lot more bloodthirsty-an irony that'll weigh heavily on you if you approach Retribution with anything deeper than an urge to kill.
As before, Jack is using all the firepower at his disposal to stop Grant City's crime wave-but with no subtlety or conscience to his actions, the action ends up feeling a lot like cold-blooded murder. Whether fighting hand to hand or using a weapon (which you acquire through killing), you'll literally have villains begging for mercy before you take them out.
Where the game gets more interesting is in the introduction of Shadow as a playable character. Like his master, the K-9 unit is out for blood, but he also introduces some nuance to Retribution by giving Jack the upper hand in tough situations-whether it's retrieving a hard-to-grasp item, taking down a criminal or assuming the lead while Jack recovers from a fight.
Grant City is a terrible place to visit but a hell of an exciting place to clean up-provided you just want to unload for a few hours. If you're looking for something deeper, though, best take the car to another borough. Preferably one with a lot of replay value.
Rating: 6/10
Platform: PSP
Developer: Supervillain Studios / Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
ESRB Rating: T
Hey big woman, you made a bad boy out of me. In its porting to PSP, the PlayStation Network romp Fat Princess hasn't gotten much leaner-and that's a good thing. Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake lets you compete in a frenetic, comically violent game of capture the flag (read: Rescue the Princess) in which you make your prize harder to steal by shoveling cake down her gullet.
Teamwork is the crux of Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake, so while you can have a perfectly good time playing alone, solo mode is primarily a training exercise for the game's more robust multiplayer action. Two teams of up to four players each can join in, allowing for slightly tighter gameplay than in the 32-player-capable PS3 version. Thanks to a number of available character classes, which you assume by donning different hats, you can tweak your powers as needed, while the variety of maps and available items gives you a sizable bag of tricks for surprising and attacking foes.
As in the PS3 version, an intentionally stupid (if occasionally helpful) crew of bots pads out your team-but with the player cap being smaller here, they play a bigger role in the action. And though visuals aren't quite on par with the PS3 version (naturally), Fat Princess' cartoonish element remains-as does the bloody, wanton violence. (Goofiness aside, this ain't no kiddie game.) If there's one glaring drawback, it's the lack of headset compatibility, which prevents you from talking with friends online. Although if you're all in the room on separate PSPs, will you really care?
Rating: 7/10
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Developer: cavia / Publisher: Square Enix
ESRB Rating: M
Zelda waves from the backseat. Having already dominated the role-playing landscape with Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, Square Enix kicks off a new RPG franchise with Nier-although calling the game an RPG is a bit of a misnomer. Bridging Zelda-style quests and landscapes with an ultraviolent mix of 2D, top-down and free-roaming action, Nier walks a curious line between deep and dim.
After an introduction designed to help you get your head around Nier's combat system, back-story and M rating, you bizarrely leap over 1,000 years into the future, where, as the game's titular character, you quest to cure your daughter of a pandemic while fighting your way through a landscape that makes Cormac McCarthy's The Road seem like Disneyland. This is oversimplifying things, of course, because as you trek through Nier's wide-open world, side quests, non-playable characters and other distractions find the plot thickening, twisting and dead-ending to a head-scratching degree.
Juxtaposed with all this is the combat, which combines typical hack-and-slash swordplay with far more interesting magical attacks courtesy of Grimoire Weiss, a smart-aleck talking book that eventually becomes your sidekick. Hidden behind Weiss' comic relief, though, are cues that keep you on task (for instance, Weiss will rib you if you're dallying about too much with NPCs) while poking self-referential fun at the video-game tropes that comprise Nier's action.
Ultimately, Weiss' attitude toward Nier proves revealing. Even though the game plays off tradition (thanks again, Zelda) and offers a potentially riveting plotline, the built-in winks, nods and nudges (from the cheeky cheesecake of female characters to a blatant Resident Evil homage) trump any emotional connection to the story. You'll crack a lot of knowing grins, but you probably won't get much deeper.
Rating: 6/10
Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com / AIM: First2Letters.
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PLAY FOR TODAY: VIDEO GAMES / AARON BURGESS
Column #3: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction, Wario Ware DIY, Just Cause 2 and the Xbox 360 Splinter Cell Conviction Special Edition Bundle.
By Aaron Burgess
Game of the Minute:
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction
Platforms: Xbox 360, PC
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal / Publisher: Ubisoft
ESRB Rating: M
Show no mercy. Having a loved one taken from you will do strange things to an action hero (we're looking at you, Jack Bauer), and in Splinter Cell: Conviction, it's the jumping-off point for a completely new Sam Fisher. After learning that the death of his daughter in 2006's Splinter Cell: Double Agent wasn't the accident originally thought, the onetime NSA operative goes rogue in an attempt to track down her killer. Of course, plot twists run deep in the Splinter Cell universe, and so what starts as a solo revenge tale becomes a multi-character race against time as Fisher finds himself navigating a conspiracy involving his former agency, Third Echelon, and an impending terrorist attack on Washington, DC.
Just as Sam's vengeful, single-minded sense of purpose darkens the storyline in Splinter Cell: Conviction, it also informs the game's action. A rush of forward momentum propels you toward the game's climax, with mission goals and flashbacks literally projecting onto environments as a means to keep you moving while ensuring you stay conscious of the events that got you here. While stealth remains a critical tool in snaking your way through levels, you won't spend excessive time hiding in the shadows (where, incidentally, many of Conviction's clever new design elements thrive). Sure, you need to hide to survive-no Splinter Cell game was ever won by playing cowboy-but you'll more likely be sneaking up on your enemies to interrogate and execute them with ferocity never seen until now in a Splinter Cell game. The mark-and-execute feature in particular gives you the opportunity to mark up to four foes and take them all out simultaneously in ways that'll have your bloodlust roiling.
While the single-player campaign is riveting enough, Splinter Cell: Conviction takes on new depth when you team up for co-op action. A different story, complete with five new missions and two new primary characters, adds intrigue and intensity (particularly when you're teaming up for those mark-and-execute kills). Even though the multiplayer challenge modes are a bit simpler-relying mainly on versus-style, kill-or-be-killed directives-variations in map and opponent design keep the action interesting. Consider something like "Last Stand" mode, in which you battle rushing hordes of enemies, a quick fix when you tire of hiding in the shadows.
Ultimately, the multiplayer possibilities are what give Splinter Cell: Conviction legs, but with the darker new storyline and the intriguing new possibilities in the stealth mechanics, even Splinter Cell vets will get hours' worth of pulse-quickening play out of the game (at the highest difficulty level, of course). Just don't pass up your chance to grab a friend and exercise your Conviction online. Be careful about picking allies, though-Sam's been down that road before.
Rating: 9/10
Platforms: Nintendo DS/DSi/DSi XL
Developer/Publisher: Nintendo
ESRB Rating: E
My way. The anti-Mario is back, and so are his short-attention-span theatrics. In WarioWare D.I.Y., Wario (with some help from the returning Dr. Crygor) once again hatches a get-rich scheme, this time using a do-it-yourself video-game generator called the Super MakerMatic 21. Not surprisingly, Wario soon ends up over his head, so it's up to you to help him finish the dozens of short, silly microgames he's started while creating some of your own 5- to 10-second gems in the process.
Feeling very much like a new-school take on the Super NES hit Mario Paint, WarioWare D.I.Y. takes what should be a daunting task-game development-and literally makes child's play of it. Yeah, there's an interface to learn, and okay, you'll spend a chunk of your playing time progressing through the game's deep but user-friendly tutorial mode. (Think of it as "development for dummies.") By making the tutorial integral to the storyline, however, WarioWare D.I.Y. takes a "show, don't tell" approach to getting you up to speed-and it's a ridiculously fun journey.
WarioWare D.I.Y. also takes advantage of the DS' sharing capabilities-a trait that'll be embraced by anyone who ever wanted to go beyond Mario Paint's solo flights-of-fancy. Not only can you upload your own microgames for others to enjoy, but you can also romp through the dozens of community-generated games available for download. Quality varies, of course, but that's to be expected when the idea lab is this big. After all, every video-game genius has to start somewhere.
Rating: 9
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Developer: Avalanche Studios/Eidos / Publisher: Square Enix
ESRB Rating: M
Gimme danger. How far can you take the action in a wide-open world? All the way over the top, of course, and with Just Cause 2, that's just the experience you get. Playing once again as Rico Rodriguez, this time flung to the other end of the globe from the original Just Cause's locale, you infiltrate a multi-tiered criminal cabal in order to take down a dictator and bring your former boss (now a rogue operative) down with him.
All that said, you can also do whatever the @#$% you want throughout Just Cause 2. The game gives you the option to bypass the storyline altogether and just roam through its ultra-violent, bigger-than-life sandbox. Thanks to a grappling hook and a parachute (two of many tools that'll aid you in the game), Rico can ascend to or leap from just about anywhere in his environment; and with over 100 vehicles at his disposal, our hero also has the means to move horizontally.
There's no shortage of wanton violence in Just Cause 2, but the fact that the chaos is tied to an outcome (causing more mayhem actually takes you further toward your goal) helps to keep the game grounded. Then again, sometimes you just want to take down an Uzi-packing, sword-wielding ninja for the heck of it-in which case Just Cause 2 also has you covered.
Rating: 8
File Under "Extras"
Xbox 360 Splinter Cell Conviction Special Edition Bundle
Splinter Cell: Conviction may be this month's most butt-kicking game, but you'll need an Xbox 360 to experience it. So, in the event you've not yet sprung for one, this bundle gives you a copy of Conviction alongside the gold standard of Xbox 360 consoles: two wireless controllers, a 250GB hard drive, a wired headset, and all the cables you need to plug in and play. That Xbox LIVE membership will still cost you, of course (you'll need it to experience co-op mode, as well as to stream movies from Netflix), so don't leave the checkout counter without it.
Get it for $399 from Amazon.
Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com / AIM: First2Letters.
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Blurt’s Video Game Guide #2 / Aaron Burgess
Announcing the latest installment
in our "Play For Today" series of video game reviews. This time out we take on Final
Fantasy XIII, MLB 10: The Show and Endless
Ocean 2: Blue World. Watch
out for those screen shots and trailers.
By Aaron Burgess
Game of the Minute: Final Fantasy XIII
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Developer / Publisher: Square Enix
ESRB Rating: T
What's your Fantasy? Since its modest 1987 debut in Japan, the Final Fantasy series has grown into the biggest role-playing game on the planet. So, when news broke that Final Fantasy XIII would detour from the franchise's core element-the nonlinear, open-ended RPG-fans (including this one) understandably cocked an eyebrow. The good news is that, while Final Fantasy XIII strips down the gameplay to a linear, battle-driven style, the storytelling, sound and visual design that've been Final Fantasy hallmarks remain as captivating as ever. The bad news is-well, if you stopped at the word "detour," you already know.
Final Fantasy XIII opens in a universe divided into two equally dazzling, if diametrically opposed, worlds: the cloud city Cocoon, where harmony reigns supreme (at least on the surface), and the larger terrestrial region Pulse, where-well, let's just say it's not the sort of place you'd want to spend a lot of time. Unfortunately, due to some twisted machinations among Cocoon's leadership, that's just where the game ultimately takes you-although you don't arrive in Pulse on your own. Part of a six-character Cocoon-ite party that's been wrongly stigmatized as enemies of the people, you must fight your way through both worlds to prove your valor.
While it assigns a lead role to the stealthy, pink-haired Lightning, Final Fantasy XIII gradually puts you in control of all six characters, each of whom develops roles and capabilities as the story progresses. (And, truth be told, it takes several hours of play for the real action to start.) You enter battles in control of one character at a time, but your party members' roles prove invaluable to your success in moving through the game. You can assign your party up to six different combinations of three roles each (a.k.a. Paradigms) before entering battle, and because no two enemies' capabilities are the same, you need to shift Paradigms to get the advantage. It's a nice addition of strategy into an otherwise straightforward, turn-based battle system, and it'll have you thinking twice before approaching a new foe.
The scaled-back gameplay gives the impression that Final Fantasy XIII is a quick play-and for those used to the freedom of an open-ended, nonlinear world complete with challenging mini-games, it may well be, relatively speaking. After a lengthy warm-up period during which the story takes shape, you'll spend a good weekend mastering the battle and skill systems, as well as getting to know the heroes and villains. Luckily, Final Fantasy XIII's characters and story offer enough complexity that it's easy to get lost in their world, even with the borders the game's developers have put around it.
Rating: 8/10
MLB 10: The Show
Platform: PlayStation 3
Developer / Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
ESRB Rating: E
The greatest player of them all. Sports gamers can be real sticklers for detail, and as its long-running MLB: The Show franchise proves, Sony continues to stay hyper-focused on the challenge this presents for game developers to step things up. This year's installment is loaded with details (did that fan just clamor for a foul ball?) and camera work so true to life, casual viewers could easily be fooled into thinking they're watching a real MLB matchup.
Graphic realism, of course, isn't the only advancement MLB 10: The Show brings to the game. Gameplay and AI are remarkably nuanced, with neither being reinvented so much as they've been dialed closer to the real thing. If you're playing a season, Franchise mode lets you equip, handicap and even pay players according to their real-life counterparts in the big leagues. Want to call the game as the catcher? You can do it in the new Catcher mode. And of course there's the Road to the Show mode, back again in version 4.0 with a set of interactive training games that help you sharpen your player's fielding and pitching skills as you move him from the minors to the Show.
Sony has long touted MLB: The Show as "the most realistic baseball game ever," and there's no disputing that claim with this year's model. But MLB 10: The Show is also the most playable baseball game ever-and when you pair that with the game's realism, well, you've got another homerun.
Rating: 9/10
Platform: Wii
Developer: Arika / Publisher: Nintendo
ESRB Rating: E10+
I can hear the ocean's roar... Sometimes you just want a break from the typical challenge-based game-a need the first Endless Ocean was happy to fill. Unfortunately for those who crave more a little more zip with their zone-outs, the free-roaming title felt a bit too relaxed for its own good. Enter Endless Ocean 2: Blue World, which couples the stress-reducing experience of its predecessor with simple diversions and point-accumulating challenges.
After a brief setup to customize your character, you literally dive into Endless Ocean 2, swimming through tranquil, wide-open environments to find the source of a siren's call. Of course, you can also skip this story altogether, choosing instead to explore the sea floor while learning about and helping the ocean fauna. You'll find sunken treasures along the way, too, which you can sell to pay for trinkets, and if you have a broadband connection and a Wii Speak microphone, you can invite friends to dive with you. (Assuming, of course, they also have the same setup.)
Simple as it may be, Endless Ocean 2: Blue World offers significant replay value-even if the graphics are limited to the Wii's 480p-tops capability to eclipse reality. But for those times when you just need to get away from it all, it's a heck of a lot more affordable than taking a real dive.
Rating: 7/10
File Under "Extras"
Turtle Beach Ear Force PX21 Universal Gaming Headset
Compatible With: PlayStation 3, XBOX 360, PC
Turtle Beach's latest gaming headset won't replace your 5.1 surround system, but if you'd like to give the rest of the house some peace while you're gaming into the wee hours, the Ear Force PX21 is up to the task. The cushioned earpieces help to muffle external noise, while the stereo-expander feature and variable bass boost let you hear every footstep, reloading or pulled grenade pin in lifelike detail.
Independent volume controls let you balance in-game audio with the sounds of your online chat, and the microphone features a flexible boom that keeps ambient noise from leaking into your commands and curses. Plus, thanks to a 16-foot cable, you can get up to take a drink without accidentally waking up your roommates. Retail price is a hair under $80-gear up at Amazon.
Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com / AIM: First2Letters.
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Blurt’s Video Game Guide #1 / Aaron Burgess
Announcing the first installment in our "Play For Today" series of video game reviews. This time out we take on Heavy Rain, Aliens Vs. Predator, Major League Baseball 2K10 and Halo Legends. Watch out for those screen shots and trailers - some of ‘em will bite (or bean) ya.
By Aaron Burgess
Game of the Minute: Heavy Rain
Platform: PlayStation 3
Developer: Quantic Dream / Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
ESRB Rating: M
A hard rain's a-gonna fall. Every game has a storyline, but until Heavy Rain, no game did so much to be a storyline. While it's oversimplifying to call the PS3-exclusive title a digital Choose Your Own Adventure, the idea that you control the story's outcome is central to Heavy Rain's development. This idea, of course, prompted some fair questions leading up to the game's release: Would the serial-killer thriller simply be one big Quick Time Event (a sort of Dragon's Lair-meets-CSI in 1080p, if you will), or would developer Quantic Dream - also responsible for the similarly boundary-pushing 2005 title Indigo Prophecy - rise to the challenge? Well, rise they have, and if you have a PS3, this is one game you can't miss.
You experience Heavy Rain through the eyes of four characters, each on a mission to stop the Origami Killer - so named for his calling card of leaving folded paper shapes at his crime scenes. However, the game doesn't simply throw you into action: You'll need a few hours just to get used to Heavy Rain's control system, in which onscreen prompts force you to make quick, instinctive choices and familiar button schemes turn on their heads. At first, it'll seem as though literally nothing's happening, but as you soon learn, even the most mundane events in Heavy Rain (e.g., taking a drink, choosing whether to play with your kids, forgetting to take your asthma medication) have butterfly effects that influence the story's outcome - and your character's fate.
Visually, the game is just as stunning to experience. Though a depressive, rain-sodden pallor colors the scenery, the level of character detail takes you past the uncanny valley and gives you a true sense of immersion (down to pervy skin-on-skin level, if you so choose) in Heavy Rain's key players. Though there's no "game over," your choices for each character can have fatal, game-changing consequences - and as the days play out and the Origami Killer continues to evade capture, you'll find yourself wondering how things could've been different had you just, say, stopped that robbery in the convenience store. As the story picks up, so do such moments of action - and indeed, you'll experience enough tension, fear and uncertainty during Heavy Rain that you may need to hit pause just to keep your bearings. And that, of course, is the one way in which Heavy Rain will always differ from real life.
Rating: 9/10
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Developer: Rebellion / Publisher: Sega
ESRB Rating: M
How I could just kill a man. Despite the myriad shortcomings in the celluloid collisions of Aliens and Predator, the Aliens Vs. Predator game series gave us a chance to avenge both franchises in cold blood. With the latest AVP title, developer Rebellion reprises the three campaigns from its 1999 PC hit, letting us spill blood as an Alien, a Predator or a Colonial Marine. Each campaign draws on the key abilities of its titular (anti)hero, with the Marine challenge being easiest to grasp due to its basic survival-horror, first-person-shooter experience. Things get trickier as you have to adjust to the unique biology and hunting tactics of Aliens and Predators, but the payoff is delightful in some truly sick kills.
Seasoned gamers should have no problem tearing through single-player campaigns in less time than it takes to watch both Alien(s) Vs. Predator films back to back, but the high-tension multiplayer modes (oh, how those alien life forms love to multiply...) allow for extended playability and fierce co-op play. Unfortunately, the graphics and lighting aren't quite on par with the action, but kudos to Rebellion for its immersive sound design. Tearing your enemies limb from limb never sounded so good.
Rating: 6/10
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii, PSP, Nintendo DS, PC
Developer: Visual Concepts
Publisher: 2K Sports
ESRB Rating: E
Put me in, coach. Last year's MLB 2K entry found 2K's dedicated sports developer Visual Concepts taking a beating from armchair pitchers and hardcore sports gamers alike, but with Major League Baseball 2K10, things appear to be turning around. Not only have the pitching and batting mechanics (as well as the AI) been raised to similarly high levels, but the graphics have pushed the game miles beyond the jagged, buggy punch line that was 2009's entry.
These, of course, are just the most obvious upsides to MLB 2K10: It's when you get into the "My Player" career mode that you truly see the game's pluses. The new addition lets you create a player, choose a franchise and play your way from the minor leagues up to the Hall of Fame. Sports-gaming sticklers will dig the concept that you earn skill points that actually complement your player's position - meaning that you don't necessarily need to stress over your star pitcher's batting average. Although if you decide to start a new career by dubbing yourself "Orel Hershiser," you already know what you're getting into.
Rating: 7/10
File Under "Extras"
Halo Legends (Warner Home Video)
I can see your Halo. If your knowledge of the Halo franchise goes as far as "space games where I like to kill stuff," that's totally fine-but for those of us who aspire to be the Master Chief of our own worlds, Halo Legends is a seven-story, eight-episode treasure trove.
Admittedly, the package - available on both DVD and Blu-ray Disc - drags a little with the slower-paced, dialogue-heavy "Origins" episodes that open it. But from the Ralph Bakshi-reminiscent "The Duel" (a Covenant storyline that explodes with graceful brutality) to the Spartan-driven episodes that close the anthology, Halo Legends takes us on an expansive, beautifully animated journey beyond the game. Of course, for those of us who can't wait to get back in the game, you'll want to stick around for the extras, where a trailer for the upcoming Halo Reach awaits.
Rating: 8/10
Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com / AIM: First2Letters.
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