Category: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly)


EGM Review: HISTORY: Legends of War: Patton

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November 21, 2012

All Blood, No Guts

George S. Patton was one of the United States’ greatest generals of all-time. Although a bit eccentric, his strategic mind and ability to inspire his troops by weaving colorful tapestries of profanity, akin to Rembrandt painting a landscape, was the stuff of legend. His leadership and larger-than-life persona in the North Africa campaign of World War II would position him to play a key role in Operation Fortitude, the critical deception of German military forces that led to the Invasion of Normandy. After Normandy, Patton would remain at the helm of the US Third Army and lead them across France and strike suffocating blows against the Germans, maintaining a ratio of killing 13 German troops to every one American lost through the rest of the war.

Because of this storied military career, there was no better choice to inspire a turn-based strategy game. HISTORY: Legends of War: Patton follows Patton’s Third Army in their march across Western Europe. Divided up into 21 missions, you’ll move your troops expertly through mid-20th century France and Germany as you do your part to disassemble Hitler’s war machine while commanding various Allied tanks, planes, and soldiers.

Right off the bat, Legends of War does a fine job of maintaining the historical accuracy of many of the battles that the Third Army fought, with only some minor dramatization done for the sake of providing an assortment of missions for you to partake in. The variety of missions you will be tasked with range from searching for and destroying key German installations, protecting or eliminating several high-value targets, or the more standard annihilation of all your enemies on the map. This array of different missions is supposed to help keep the game play fresh and fun. Despite a wide range of objectives, however, Legends of War quickly finds more ways to lose your attention that grasp it.

One of the primary flaws of the game comes with the lack of fluctuation in the action. Every battle and conflict plays out relatively the same even with the aforementioned mission variance. Whether it is a Bradley tank or a sniper, each unit you control (a maximum of eight per battle) only has one or two attacks. This removes much of the strategy from each conflict, especially with your troops able to one-hit kill many enemies, while surprisingly they can take a barrage of bullets before succumbing to their own demise. This reeks of poor balance and pulls you away from the realism of the mission scenarios.

Another problem that crops up is the control scheme. Not surprising really considering this is a strategy game, a genre that plays better 9 times out of 10 on a PC. But with several other games in the genre having overcome this dilemma over the past few years, its always disappointing now when a game comes along that falls into the same old, stereotypical traps of camera issues and unit placement. Along with this, the game’s textures are sub-par at best for any modern system, console or PC. How a game is allowed to ship looking and controlling like this is beyond me.

There are a couple of minor bright spots to the game play at least. The game’s economy and upgrade systems are as clear-cut as they come and make it easy for the users to prepare before each new mission. And as you complete missions and unlock more unit types, Patton can also level up in a plethora of different categories that can bolster everything from the offensive or defensive capabilities of your troops to the amount of money and prestige Patton receives with each ensuing victory. I have to say though that even the unit purchasing stinks from a lack of attention to detail at times as each new unit has a back story and name, but after just a couple of purchases, they start to repeat. I had three Donald Aldrich and two Charles Kelly in an eight-man group at one point!

When it comes down to it, HISTORY: Legends of War: Patton does not live up to the great general’s legacy. There is a solid core here for strategy enthusiasts, but there are far too many flaws that were easily avoidable to make this worth most anyone’s time or money. If Patton were here right now, someone would be getting slapped for making this game.

SUMMARY:  The historical accuracy and details of the game are a testament to arguably the greatest general the US has ever had. HISTORY: Legends of War: Patton, however, falls flat in many aspects of the basest execution we would expect from a current console game and this keeps it from fulfilling its true potential.

  • THE GOOD: World War II buffs will appreciate the attention to historical accuracy and detail
  • THE BAD: Makes classic console strategy game mistakes
  • THE UGLY: Not enough soldiers getting slapped by their generals anymore

SCORE: 4.0

HISTORY: Legends of War: Patton is available on PS Vita, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox 360. 

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EGM Game Over Podcast 015: Nintendentious

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November 20, 2012

EGM Game Over Podcast 015: Nintendentious

The EGM crew brings you the Game Over Podcast, our end-of-the-week conversation where we discuss some of the biggest recent events in gaming.

[Hosts] Brandon Justice, Andrew Fitch, Ray Carsillo, Josh Harmon, and Eric L. Patterson
[Date] November 16th, 2012

[News] The Wii U’s about to launch, THQ is in trouble, Silicon Knights’ games sentence to death, Call of Duty: Black Ops II hits $500 million on its first day, and Xbox Live turns 10.

[EGM Reviews] Halo 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Wonderbook

Want to send feedback to the show? Drop us a line on Twitter: @EGMLogin

[Subscribe via iTunes] http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/egm-radio/id538629924
[Subscribe via Feedburner] http://feeds.feedburner.com/EGMRadio

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The Sleeper Hold – Episode 15

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All the fallout from Survivor Series, including both CM Punk and Big Show retaining their respective titles and Team Foley going down in a blaze of glory, came to the forefront on Monday Night RAW as it went on the air from Dayton, Ohio.

Main Plot Overview: The biggest result of Sunday’s Survivor Series PPV, traditionally one of the most controversy laden events of the year, saw CM Punk miraculously retain the WWE Championship after three NXTers interfered and put Ryback through the announce table during the triple threat match. This led to one of the most over-the-top celebrations in WWE history as CM Punk’s title reign officially reached one year, only the eighth time in history that has happened.

Ryback, none too happy about being screwed over again however, decided to crash the party. But just when Ryback looked to feed his hunger, the three NXT upstarts appeared again and performed a Survivor Series encore, again putting Ryback through a table.

It also seems that John Cena is starting a feud with Dolph Ziggler and therefore being slowly worked out of the main plot for the first time in a while. More on that though later!

Match of the Night: I have to say that aside from the stupid AJ/Cena drama and Punk’s weekly gloating, last night’s RAW saw the best all around wrestling card in quite a while, making this a difficult decision. With push coming to shove though, I had to pick a PPV main event caliber match that was almost buried in the very middle of the show.

Continuing the rivalry of Randy Orton and Alberto Del Rio in a fight to see who is truly the WWE’s “Apex Predator”, Del Rio and Orton were placed in a Best 2 out of 3 Falls Match. In a surprising call, and to probably hasten the pace of what can be a marathon match inducing stipulation, Del Rio quickly disqualified himself when he refused to stop using the ring post to smash Randy Orton’s arm.

Of course, this was in the hopes of weakening it to more easily lock in his patented armbar submission, which is exactly what Del Rio did to score the second point of that match, his first. Tied up at 1 fall apiece, Orton was in trouble with his arm devastated. But you only need one arm to land an RKO.

After Del Rio missed his Enziguri finisher and Orton countered a second armbar attempt into a pinning situation, Del Rio’s frustration was clear. So much so that he attempted to use Orton’s own RKO against him, but Randy countered it into an Irish Whip followed up by his vintage middle rope suspended DDT. After this, Orton hit the RKO himself and won in what was a spectacular show from both men and has me interested in a non-title rivalry for the first time in quite a while.

Promo of the Night: After AJ and Vickie had their typical spot where Vickie was trying to prove that AJ and John Cena were an item, finally the dam broke and AJ and John locked lips right there in the ring. But it wasn’t this moment that made this situation the Promo of the Week.

As AJ and John made out, Dolph Ziggler made his way to the ring and ambushed John. When the tides turned, Ziggler made his way up the ramp to escape and John attempted to follow, but on the way out the ring, it looks like Cena twisted his ankle. At first, I thought he might have been legitimately hurt as replays show John did indeed twist his ankle and you can’t really fake that.

Officials later claimed it was more of a knee injury, but here is why I do not think it was serious. If it had been, John’s night would’ve been over and he’d likely have gone to this hospital. Instead, AJ busted into the Men’s Locker Room and confronted Dolph. This is when it got good.

Dolph then proceeded to belittle poor AJ, even calling her a piece of trash. AJ then freaked and started smacking Dolph. Cena then busted in to break it up, but Dolph then kicked the “injured” knee of John Cena as the two proceeded to have one of the best backroom brawls we’ve seen on RAW in a while, even smashing each other through a bathroom stall. This conflict combined with Dolph’s amazing heel speech is what made this series of events the Promo of the Night.

Shocker of the Night: We have a Great Khali sighting! I suppose the WWE’s ratings in India have dipped as the only reason why you see the Punjabi Playboy is to boost international appeal, as he is the worst wrestler on the roster by far. So this was an easy Shocker of the Week for me because I can’t remember the last time I saw Khali “wrestle”.

Of course, he still didn’t really wrestle as all he did was hit Primo and Epico, his handicap match opponents, with his big fist once or twice and the match was over. At the very least the match gave us an excuse to see the amazing Rosa Mendes come to ringside again though.

Cheap Pop of the Night: With Mick Foley not around that much anymore, it’s hard to call what was the Cheap Pop of the Night as I do not recall anyone blatantly pointing out the WWE’s presence in Dayton, Ohio. Because of this, the Cheap Pop of the Night actually goes to CM Punk for his new “I’m a Paul Heyman Guy” t-shirt (available now on WWEShop.com of course!) that cheaply plugs his legendary manager. This isn’t to say it’s not an awesome shirt as I think I know exactly what I’ll be buying on Cyber Monday next week now, but it just goes to shop a pop doesn’t always have to be for the hometown crowd.

A close second was when Paul Heyman called out the WWE Universe for chanting “ECW” in prior weeks, but not really understanding what that meant as the current WWE audience could never handle the glory days of ECW brand wrestling, or him spinning tales of how he used to hang out with the legendary Bruno Sammartino when he was a boy.

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EGM Review: The Walking Dead: Episode 5 – No Time Left

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For Clementine

Back in April, gamers had a chance to start an epic journey—one that involved being thrust into the midst of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead universe via the start of a five-episode game series by Telltale Games. On this journey, the unlikely relationship between an 8-year-old little girl and a man turned convict after a crime of passion would consume everyone who played this landmark game; protecting this child quickly became the center of your apocalyptic world. Now, seven months later, Telltale’s episodic roller-coaster ride looks to come a halt, as Lee and Clementine’s adventures in the zombie apocalypse are all but done for the time being.

Admittedly, it’s hard to talk about a game such as this for several reasons—chief among them being that gameplay centers squarely on the story. Many gamers will have different situations going into this final episode of Season One due to the branching paths caused by the countless decisions made over the course of the previous four episodes. And because of this, the last thing I want to do is spoil any of the insane surprises in store for you in this episode. I can assure you, though, that if you thought the heart-wrenching moments and plot twists were going to slow down with this final chapter, you thought wrong.  There’s some resolution, but all I can say is that every decision has a consequence—and Lee’s sins will come back to haunt him in powerful, terrifying ways if you weren’t careful over the course of your playthrough.

I’ll also say that even though this episode may be the most emotionally charged, it’s also noticeably the shortest of the series. That’s not to say it’s not worth your money, since everything you’ve worked toward comes to a head here—but, clearly, not everything can burn at the high this particular episode does for as long as the previous episodes ran.

Aside from the emotionally charged story, this episode also features some new and tweaked gameplay elements that count on players knowing the controls. Fewer prompts and more frantic instances tested my reflexes more than any previous episode—while also heightening the tension of the events transpiring around me while I looked for Clementine.

At the end of the day, enough cannot be said about Telltale’s The Walking Dead, whether you’ve been with it from the beginning like myself and downloading the final episode today or purchasing the fully compiled season on disc on December 4th. It isn’t the most involved of videogames in terms of gameplay, but it’s truly an accomplishment in game storytelling—and this episode only continues what Telltale started while leaving plenty of questions swirling around to ensure the already confirmed second season will kick off with a bang. If you’re a fan of The Walking Dead, point-and-click adventure games, or just intricate storytelling, this series is a must-have and should be in everyone’s game-of-the-year discussions. You’d be doing yourself a disservice not playing this game.

SUMMARY:  Right from the start, this episode cranks up the tension to 11. Unfortunately, this may also be why it burns itself out as the shortest episode of the series. However, it’s also one of the most satisfying, as everything you’ve built up to finally comes to a head—and in the end, you’ll do whatever you can to protect Clementine in this accomplishment in videogame storytelling.

  • THE GOOD: Leaves itself open enough for a second season.
  • THE BAD: Shortest episode of the series.
  • THE UGLY: Human nature.

SCORE: 9.0

The Walking Dead: Episode 5—No Time Left is available on Xbox 360 (XBLA), PS3 (PSN), and PC. Primary version reviewed was for XBLA. 

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EGM Review: Batman: Arkham City: Armored Edition

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Holy rusted armor, Batman!

For me, Batman: Arkham City was one of the crowning achievements of this console generation—never mind just 2011. So, when I heard it was being ported to the Wii U for the system’s launch (13 months after its initial release, mind you), I certainly understood why. But when I went hands-on with the new Armored Edition at this year’s E3, I was disappointed with the Wii U “innovations”—it seemed Nintendo loyalists wouldn’t get nearly the same smooth experience I had when I first played the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. I understood that a 15-minute demo wouldn’t be nearly enough time to pass final judgment on this one, though—especially as it was my first experience with the Wii U, period.

Flash-forward five months later, and I’ve been playing the Wii U incessantly along with my fellow EGM cohorts. And though some of my fears have been assuaged—and some of the new features have even impressed me—several new problems that have arisen that make Batman: Arkham City—Armored Edition the clearly inferior version of this phenomenal game.

The first flaw that you’ll notice rather quickly is glitches that were never present before—audio suddenly cutting in and out and weird shadows in cutscenes that make many characters look unnatural. In fact, the very look of the game as a whole has almost a waxy quality to it now, where you wonder if it actually takes full advantage of the Wii U’s HD. Maybe some of this odd look is just Batman’s new cheap suit of armor, which leads us to another major problem in all the gimmicks that have been tacked on in order to try to sell this version of the game: the B.A.T. system.

With the B.A.T. system, Batman can absorb the kinetic energy thrown around in battle and then channel it into enhanced strength. The problem is that this redesign makes the game far too easy. Fights where you had to strategize who you’d take out first—as thugs came at you with knives, shields, stun batons, and all other manner of weaponry—are now nullified, as the B.A.T. system makes it so that every enemy can now be taken down in only a couple of hits.

The next problem comes via the Wii U’s GamePad controller and the touchscreen features that have been added. The hopes were that by adding your inventory screen and minimap to the controller, it would create a more fluid experience. Instead, it does the exact opposite. The controller’s minimap is less detailed and harder to read than if you were pausing the game and looking at it on a normal-sized TV screen. It also fails to streamline the experience in any way, as you’re still interrupting the game to look down at the screen and set waypoints, level Batman up, or change gadgets—and now you’re doing it with Batman in the open, vulnerable to the dangers of the living, breathing environment of Arkham City. This again deters the strategy offered in the original version.

One way to escape this problem is by playing the entire game on the Wii U GamePad tablet, should you wish to use your TV for something else. I do applaud the fact that there’s no lag or choppiness, but playing the game on the controller’s tiny screen—which is of a worse quality than what you’d get with an iPad, iPhone, or even the PS Vita—only makes the visuals look even more muddy and unappealing.

The final shortcoming with Armored Edition also involves the Wii U controller. Having to hold it up and move it around to scan areas in Detective mode or to pilot my remote-controlled Batarang had me grinding my teeth at times while also grinding the poorly placed controller joysticks. Also, the cheesy effect of having Alfred talk through the controller became tiresome quickly, as the audio quality is so poor on the small speakers. It all felt like unnecessary proof-of-concept mechanics that again were much smoother and simpler on other systems.

Now, I’ve really honed in on the negative aspects I found with this port, but this isn’t to say the game is broken and completely unplayable. Gamers who don’t have the muscle memory of playing the game on Xbox 360 or PS3 will likely more readily adapt to the controller, and the core elements that made Batman: Arkham City so great are still present. The enthralling story, the classic DC characters, and even all the DLC is bundled onto the disc so that once you beat the main story, you can go back and play Harley Quinn’s Revenge or use Nightwing, Robin, or Catwoman on their challenge maps. The combat system that allowed Batman to showcase his bevy of martial-arts maneuvers is also still available, should you choose to ignore the B.A.T. feature.

But, like many of the ports that are coming to the Wii U long after their initial release, there’s really no positive reason for you to look into this port if you’ve played it before on other consoles; this is simply a dumbed-down version for the Nintendo hardcore. I legitimately feel bad that they get this bastardized version of Batman: Arkham City—they’ll never know how great this game was in its perfectly polished original form.

SUMMARY: Although the core of Batman: Arkham City remains intact, new glitches and tacked-on gimmicks take away from the overall experience enough to make this a clearly inferior version of one of the great games of this generation.

  • THE GOOD: Same great story with all DLC packs already on the disc.
  • THE BAD: New glitches and unnecessary gimmicks make this a worse version than its predecessors.
  • THE UGLY: How the game looks if you play exclusively on the Wii U controller.

SCORE: 7.0

Batman: Arkham City: Armored Edition is a Wii U-exclusive version of Batman: Arkham City. 

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The Pullbox – Issue #14.2

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It’s been a long time coming folks, but I’ve finally gotten ahead of my backlog of comics and so I’m thrilled to finally present to you another Pullbox! The Marvel NOW! Initiative is under way (a clear reaction to the New 52, but at least the continuity has remained the same), and with it comes a flurry of new directions, writers, artists, and team-ups for our favorite heroes. DC meanwhile has a pair of smaller events under way with “Death of the Family” in Batman and “Rise of the Third Army” with Green Lantern. But most excitedly may be the start of a new limited run of origin stories from IDW based on the Borderlands video games! With that, here is this week’s Pullbox!

IDW – Borderlands: Origins #1: “Roland” – Everyone knows how much of a bad ass Roland from the first Borderlands game is, but little is known about his time as a Crimson Lance soldier with The Atlas Corporation. This story takes a look at just how he fell out of Atlas’s grace and what happened that turned this supreme soldier into a Vault Hunter.

Written by Gearbox Software Creative Guru Mikey Neumann, this first of four origin stories does a great job of expanding the Borderlands universe even further and holds a special place in my heart because I played my first playthrough of the original Borderlands as Roland. The only thing this comic lacked was how Roland acquires his patented turret. Otherwise, fans of the series will not be disappointed by both the tremendous art stylings of Augustin Padilla and how Mikey begins to further flesh out the characters that started it all for this fan-favorite shooter franchise. Great story, great action, great art makes this an easy addition to anyone’s Pullbox this week!

Marvel – X-Men Legacy #1 – Legion, one of the most powerful mutants on the planet and Professor Xavier’s prodigal son finally shows his face again. While the Avengers and X-Men fought over the Phoenix Force, Legion continued to fight his own personal demons in the Himalayas. With the aid of an old friend of his dad’s, Legion constructs a psychic prison that keeps his most malevolent personalities at bay. But when Legion is overwhelmed by the psychic outburst that occurs when his dad is killed by Cyclops, there is a prison break.

Legion has become one of the most interesting characters in the Marvel Universe over the past few years as the shades of gray become even more vague with him as he slips further and further into himself. To continue to see the ramifications, however, of Professor Xavier’s death and tie it directly into him makes this a storyline to watch. I can’t wait to see where Legion goes from here and I’m thrilled that he is being brought back after sitting out the Avengers vs. X-Men event. A strong start to this relaunched title, no doubt.

Marvel – All-New X-Men #1 – New mutants are popping up all over the world and Cyclops is trying to outrace Wolverine’s Jean Grey School in terms of recruiting them. Meanwhile, Beast is facing a terminal illness on his own as he refuses to share the burden with his friends and so before he leaves this plane of existence, he needs to make things right with Cyclops. Not necessarily the one of the current time, however.

This issue got off to such a strong start with Beast’s illness and Cyclops recruiting new mutants left and right. Then Brian Michael Bendis decided to send Beast back in time. Just because. There is nothing I hate more than time travel as a mechanic to kick off a new book because you are just trying to set a tone for why people should read this and time travel always ends up confusing people. Time travel and parallel universes are the two things that need to be held off of more often because they can end up with so many ramifications and therefore should be saved for major events. It even led to a confusing first-issue cover with the original five X-Men that almost made me want to pass up this book. Issue #1 and Bendis is already jumping the shark. Damn him and his time travel.

DC – Batman #14 – Alfred has been abducted and Commissioner Gordon is next on the Joker’s list as he wishes to remove all distractions from Batman’s life in order to harden him into the person he once was. To do this, Joker has finally deduced who the people are under the masks and is re-enacting all his first crimes with Batman, but out of order to keep the Dark Knight on his toes.

This is the best story in comics right now. After lying dormant for a year, the Joker has returned with the ultimate scheme. And for once it has purpose that even we can understand. Not only to hurt the people of Gotham randomly, but to drive a stake through Batman’s heart in the process by eliminating all those around him. You can’t stop turning the page to see what the Joker does next and how he will inventively eliminate his targets. Not only is he forcing Batman back to the way he once was, he’s also changing himself by ostracizing Harley and riding this scheme out solo. I look forward to every one of these chapters each week and get giddy just thinking about what I may read in each one. A must read for sure.

DC – Green Lantern Corps #14 – Guy Gardner and his troops fail to overcome the Third Army soldiers with only Gardner escaping the unfortunate fate of assimilation. The Guardians quickly change their plan, however, and turn this minor setback still into a victory by then revoking Gardner’s ring and sending him back to Earth. With only two original Earth Lanterns of Sector 2814 left, The Third Army may be poised to carry out the Guardians’ mission of complete and total emotional annihilation.

This story is moving along at a snail’s pace right now as each issue is the slow, methodical elimination of the main Lantern threats for the Guardians. It is setting itself up so that once the action does start, it’ll be hot and heavy, but as it is all this table setting is starting to bore me. Stay with this a few more issues folks to see if it starts to get good, but if The Third Army ends up leaving a sour taste in my mouth like the Blackest Night and Brightest Day events, this could be the end of my following the Green Lantern books. Step on the gas with this one DC!

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EGM Review: New Super Mario Bros. U

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Trouble with Koopalings

There’s been a lot of talk lately in the game industry about sequels and what we expect from them. How much they need to change or raise the bar to keep people coming back for more. How they need to break the mold so it doesn’t seem like each game is just cut from the same cloth over and over again. One franchise, however, never felt it needed to do that. It just kept churning out sequel after sequel and rarely changed a thing. A few new powers here, a couple new worlds there, but since the very beginning, everyone’s favorite plumber, Mario, has really never changed. And somehow, he’s still as fun as ever.

To put it simply, as Mario approaches his third decade of relevance, his games continue to define platforming perfection, and New Super Mario Bros. U is the new pinnacle of his long and storied run.

Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach for the 143,658,903,279th time, and it is up to Mario to once again stomp on the seven Koopalings, Bowser Jr., Kamek, and Bowser himself across eight themed worlds in order to get her back and save the day. Moreso than any previous Mario game, New Super Mario Bros. U is the perfect love letter to the era I consider the franchise’s heyday—Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World.

Wily old Mario veterans will immediately recognize the overworld map, which has shades of Super Mario World written all over it. Then there’s the item system, where you have a stockpile that you can reach into and arm Mario with before each stage, was a Super Mario Bros. 3 invention. It’s a departure from the more recent outings, where you could only have one item in storage but were able to use it mid-stage—presumably because that approach made the past few games a little too easy. Mario wants you to hone those jumping skills again!

And it’s not just the item system that will make you want to brush up on your platforming skills, as every Mario baddie worth his salt returns to get in our mustachioed plumber’s way and make things even more perilous. The level designs are also a bit more abstract this time around, so if you think you’re going to just stockpile dozens upon dozens of lives like in the past few games, you might want to think again.

One returning element that helps counteract all these changes, however, is the our good friend Yoshi. You’re still unable to bring him with you from one stage to the next, but he’s a huge help on the levels you can use him, as they seem specifically designed for Yoshi’s unique attributes, including his new power where if eats enough fruit, he will actually…uhhhh…produce power-ups.

We also see the return of Baby Yoshis in blue, magenta, and yellow varieties, each of which provides a special ability for Mario as he carries them through a level. Yellow lights up dark caverns, Blue shoots bubbles that trap enemies and turn them into coins, and  Magenta can inflate like a balloon and carry Mario for short distances. Although they never grow into full-sized Yoshis, these babies can also eat anything that gets in your way, making it worthwhile to lug them through as many stages as possible.

Aside from a lot of features from the past returning, there are also a few new additions that might make you “oooh” and “aaah.” The most obvious is the much ballyhooed (and somewhat belated) transition to full HD graphics. Simply put, no Mario game has ever looked this good. Some of the world backgrounds are so vibrant that they look as though they’ve been painted onto your TV. They’re so gorgeous, you almost want to take a pictures and put them all in some sort of incredibly dorky museum.

We also get a new power-up in the form of the Flying Squirrel Acorn, which joins old favorites like the Fire and Ice Flowers, Invincibility Stars, and the Super and Mini Mushrooms. It certainly isn’t my favorite power-up of all-time, since you can’t really fly with it like you could the Tanooki Suit or Raccoon Leaf. Instead, you just glide gently across the stage, which isn’t nearly as useful. Still, the Acorn did help inspire a new enemy to add to Bowser’s hordes, and there’s also a much more useful P-Acorn variant (like the P-Wing from Mario 3), where Mario can infinitely glide if you perform a spin jump at the right time. I  also would’ve loved to have seen the Penguin and Frog Suits return, but with a limited item storage system, I can see why the lineup has been cut back some.

There aren’t just changes to the single player game, though, as New Super Mario Bros. U also features three multiplayer modes. Yes, you and four friends (one person can now use the Wii-U remote’s touch screen to place helpful Boost Blocks to help their friends cross especially hard gaps) can still move your way through the single player stages together and cause craziness as you “accidentally” push each other into bottomless pits.

Specific to multiplayer though is a revamped Coin Battle mode, where you and your friends compete to gather the most coins as you work your way through a level. There’s also a coin editor system, so you can design your own stages for the mode. Another multiplayer mode is Challenge Mode that offers unique obstacles for you and your friends to overcome, like seeing who can earn the most lives or get the fastest time in one run. Rounding out the multiplayer is Boost Rush, where you try to traverse scrolling stages that scroll faster and faster as you progress.

All things considered, even though Mario hasn’t really changed that much after all these years, he finds a way to keep himself just fresh enough while still maintaining the high gameplay standard that keeps us all coming back for more again and again. New Super Mario Bros. U doesn’t disappoint and is a must have launch title for anyone picking up the Wii U.

SUMMARY: A love-letter to the days of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, New Super Mario Bros. U’s multiplayer modes, insane platforming, and beautiful HD graphics offer more than enough to provide hours of fun for gamers of all stripes.

  • THE GOOD: Same classic formula with a fresh coat of paint and puzzles.
  • THE BAD: Tanooki Suit > Raccoon Leaf > Flying Squirrel Acorn.
  • THE UGLY: The unbearable pain Yoshi must feel when he craps Fire Flowers.

SCORE: 9.0

New Super Mario Bros. U is a Wii U exclusive. 

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The Sleeper Hold – Episode 14

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Mick Foley has to make some changes to his Survivor Series team, CM Punk finds himself between a rock and a hard place, and the King returns in this week’s Sleeper Hold!

Main Plot Overview:

Long time no talk recap folks. Sorry for the delay, but it’s been a crazy time here at EGM with the insane rush of games coming in for the holidays. Things are settling down a bit now though and so I was able to relax and watch a little Monday Night RAW.

And boy, did a lot happen on RAW last night. Ryback got his revenge on the rogue referee that cost him the title at Hell in a Cell and decimated the poor fool. AJ Lee confronted Vickie Guerrero once again about her supposed affair with John Cena. And leading up the triple-threat Survivor Series main event where John Cena, CM Punk, and Ryback will face off for the WWE Championship, last night’s main event put Cena and Punk against each other in a singles non-title match that saw both men give it their all. At least until Punk tried to run away and then met Ryback, who was still very hungry after his short match with the rogue ref, halfway up the ramp. As Punk began to backtrack away from Ryback, he attempted to escape into the crowd, However, Cena caught him and brought Punk back into the ring to get the win before Cena and Punk then both grabbed the WWE title in a moment dripping with tension and obvious symbolism.

I don’t know who is going to win the WWE Title on Sunday, but I’d love for it to be Punk one more time to cap off his full year as the champ and move into sole possession of the 8th longest title reign in history. I’d also like to see what Ryback would do as champ and maybe even set him up to take on some other unstoppable monsters like The Big Show or Kane down the line. Basically, as long as it’s not John Cena because he’s actually been developing well over the past few months into someone I can at least stand and I think giving him the title now would unravel this all again.

Match of the Night:

There has been a heavy focus in recent months on the tag team division. And to help show off this resurgence, the first 8-man tag match I can remember seeing in quite some time took place as the teams of Rey Mysterio/Sin Cara and Justin Gabriel/Tyson Kidd took on the Primetime Players and Primo/Epico, showing off all four teams’ interesting styles of offense in the match.

The match started off at a normal pace with the heels in control, but once a couple of hot tags were made by the faces, business picked up. With as many high fliers as there were in the ring, it was no surprise to see guys like Sin Cara leap off the top turnbuckle to the outside or for Tyson Kidd to hit a hurricanrana when they got their chance, but the moves all seemed to happen one right after another and so the match had the fastest pacing I’ve seen in some time, especially from Rey Mysterio who many thought might have lost a step, once everyone got into a rhythm. The big highlight of the match, however, was back-to-back finishers with Mysterio’s 619 and Gabriel’s 450 splash on Darren Young to end the bout. All things considered, the quick pace, tight maneuvers, and over-the-top finish made this an easy choice for Match of the Night.

Promo of the Night:

In an outpouring of emotion from everyone in ring and from the WWE Universe, it was great when Jerry “The King” Lawler came down the ramp in hour two to take his headset back from Good Ol’ JR (Although it was great hearing JR again for these past nine weeks. I really wish Michael Cole would go away).

To hear Jerry talk about how his experience was like It’s a Wonderful Life and how much he appreciated the outpouring of love from everyone in the locker room and the WWE Universe was a special moment and I for one am thrilled King pulled through. Of course, the whole moment would go sour when CM Punk would crash the party and Paul Heyman would fake his own heart attack right in the middle of the ring.

But this special promo wasn’t done for then Mick Foley came shambling down to the ring to belittle Punk about how special it was that Jerry was okay. How it was a damn miracle he was there and that for a short period of time he was dead. It was the most emotional I had ever seen Mick Foley and I think even Punk was a little stunned, but he kept his cool and turned it back on Mick as he always does. As a whole though, this was easily the best moment of the night on RAW.

Shocker of the Night:

With the main event at Survivor Series changed to a triple threat match between Punk, Cena, and Ryback, Mick Foley had a gap in his Survivor Series team that needed to be filled. Leaving it up the WWE Universe, Santino Marella, Zack Ryder, and late ballot entry The Miz, who defected from Team Ziggler, the Universe decided shockingly for The Miz by a landslide. Miz admitted that he didn’t like Mick and Mick admitted he didn’t like Miz, but they both hated Ziggler more.

It also led to an interesting storyline developing with the Miz being forced to partner with Kane later that night in a tag match against Rhodes Scholars and Daniel Bryan becoming jealous. Where that may lead, I don’t know, but the whole scheme stinks of turning the Miz into a face with him teaming up with other faces for Survivor Series.

Cheap Pop of the Night:

The emotional rant of Mick Foley about how it was a miracle Jerry Lawler was there in Columbus was not a moment that I felt was cheap in any way. But it needs to be said that it would be a Foley moment if he didn’t shout out the location of RAW at least once an evening and before Mick started preaching to Punk, he couldn’t help but mention last night’s venue in Columbus, Ohio. Mick is nothing if not consistent and we love him for it, but he also gets the Cheap Pop of the Night.

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EGM Review: Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation

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The Bayou’s Lady Liberty

Up until this point, every game in the Assassin’s Creed franchise has followed the bloodline of Desmond Miles, with him acting as the supposed chosen one to save the world. Desmond has prepped for this monumental task by reliving the memories of his ancestors, who also fought in the never-ending Assassin-Templar War, by inserting himself into a device called The Animus. The Assassins aren’t the only ones with an Animus though, and so Liberation takes the unique approach of having you act as an unnamed trainee from Abstergo—the multinational company that serves as a front for the Templars—who’s placed into a Templar Animus in order to show the shades of gray of this ageless conflict.

It’s here that players are then introduced to the life of Aveline de Grandpre, the daughter of a wealthy French businessman and an African slave woman. Aveline grows up in the lap of luxury and so she may look the part of a noble when in her frilly dress or twirling her parasol while wandering around 18th-century New Orleans, but underneath her exterior lies the heart of a warrior, trained by an escaped slave and Assassin leader named Agate, who also happened to be a friend to Aveline’s mother. Aveline then uses this training to forward the movement to free the slaves while also protecting New Orleans from the ever-encroaching Templar influence.

Now, this sounds very much like a worthy Assassin’s Creed story. Unfortunately, due to the constraints of the Vita, Liberation feels like a game that gets cut off before it can really hit its stride in terms of the plot. Much like many of the other games in the franchise, there are twists and turns, but they are far more predictable in Liberation, because in order to make sure they all fit into this cramped little space, you get beaten over the head with the clues. At least the console versions attempted to be subtle.

This truncated story also lends itself to horrible character development. Aveline’s unique back-story gives her such a strong base as a protagonist that it’s a dirty shame when it unravels in just the span of a few short sequences. Worse still, many of the later plotlines (which I won’t get into here to avoid spoilers) are left entirely unresolved.

Speaking of resolving issues, Aveline at the very least can handle her problems as only an Assassin can, as the Assassin’s Creed combat and free running is one franchise staple that wasn’t completely lost in the transition to the Vita. Although the controls can feel a bit stiff at times, you chain together kills, counter attacks, and climb up buildings and trees just as if you were playing on the console. The Vita does offer a special chain attack that you can perform with the touch screen, but it is not necessary to make your way through battle.

And this is probably the best thing about Liberation as a Vita game: It rarely shoves the system’s touch screen capabilities down your throat. Almost everything is optional. There were only a few instances, like one gyroscope oriented mini game or pickpocketing, and as in most every other game franchise that starts on consoles and tries to expand and breakthrough on the Vita, these gimmicky mechanics failed miserably. The rarity of these instances, however, does make them a bit more forgivable than most other Vita titles.

Something not to be forgotten, though, is the one major new feature that Liberation introduces. Aveline has the ability to blend into a variety of situations by changing her garb to match the occasion. If she needs to eavesdrop during a ball, she wears her lady attire. If she needs to sneak onto a plantation, she can wear her slave costume. If you plan on facing a lot of resistance, Aveline can wear her Assassin gear. Each has unique strengths and weaknesses—the Assassin gear, for instance, allows for more weapons, but always has at least a level one notoriety. The lady costume, on the other hand, removes the ability to freerun, but allows you to charm or bribe soldiers to get out of your way.

Mind you, the freerunning aspect isn’t as important for Aveline as the other assassins in the franchise, because her world, much like the story, is much smaller than what we are used to. Although the fiction brings you across three different settings (New Orleans proper, the Bayou, and parts of Mexico), each one is a breeze to run across and perform whatever objectives are required for you to progress. I also found myself less willing to free-run in many instances, because the Vita’s small screen made it feel as if the camera was in too tight on Aveline and that my vision was more obscured compared to other Assassin’s Creed titles.

When all is said and done, though, Liberation is definitely one of the better titles out there for the Vita. Compared to what we have come to expect from something in the Assassin’s Creed family, however, it feels a little under par, especially in terms of the story. Still, if you can’t get enough of the Assassin-Templar war and plan on being on the go a lot, you could do a lot worse on than Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation.

SUMMARY: The strong core of the Assassin’s Creed franchise remains mostly intact here, but the truncated story makes Aveline’s character development feel rushed and the twists much more predictable here. Liberation is solid game if you’re on the go a lot, but it can’t hold a candle to Desmond and his ancestors.

  • THE GOOD: Combat and free-running that rivals that of the console versions,
  • THE BAD: Aveline’s development as a character feels rushed.
  • THE UGLY: Them crocs grow big down in the bayou!

SCORE: 7.5

Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation is a PS Vita exclusive. 

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EGM Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

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Treyarch’s latest answers the Call again

Like the inevitable changing of the seasons, Call of Duty’s yearly release has become an event to which the gaming community can set their watches. In recent years, many gamers have criticized the cookie-cutter formula—the series has almost felt like a yearly “roster update” in the sports-gaming sense. After my time with Black Ops II, though, I can promise you this is one title that finally deviates from that formula.

Right from the get-go, the plot hits with an innovative one-two punch, as the story splits between two time periods. We get to play as both the original Black Ops protagonist, Alex Mason, in the ’80s as well as his son, David, in the near future of 2025. The key thread that connects them? The villain, Raul Menendez—but this isn’t your standard-issue Call of Duty baddie. The considerable talents of writer David Goyer—co-writer of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight—bring Menendez to life, as he exudes a sinister demeanor and delusions of grandeur that remind you of a cross between the Joker and a classic Bond villain. But Menendez also reveals a human side that elicits empathy at times, making him easily the most interesting, entertaining antagonist the series has ever seen.

After years of creative stagnation, Black Ops II’s campaign is a revelation. Once you get past the first couple of missions, the game introduces branching paths that can change the ending depending on how you react to the situations presented before you. This injects a healthy dose of replayability you usually don’t get from a Call of Duty campaign, making a seven-to-eight-hour experience worth going through multiple times.

The main campaign is joined by the new Strike Force missions, which add some real-time strategy elements to the proceedings. You serve as a handler for a squad who must carry out diverse objectives depending on the mission, issuing orders from above or taking over as any single unit and fight the battle in the trenches yourself.

Whether it’s assassinating targets or protecting computer terminals holding valuable information, the Strike Force objectives are supposed to help determine how you play. Unfortunately, once you dig into these side missions, you’ll realize how incompetent the ally AI is; it often ignores your commands, and soon the RTS view becomes null and void. In the end, it’s better to try to supersoldier it and control one character at a time in order to win the day. Strike Force is a great idea that finally brings some new gameplay elements into the mix, but it’s poorly executed, making some of the missions a bit of a chore depending on the parameters.

Aside from this one glaring flaw, however, the campaign is the best since the first Modern Warfare. The story enthralls from the start, and the gameplay is still definitively Call of Duty—especially with some sweet future tech like the Millimeter Scanner that allows you to see foes through walls.

It wouldn’t be Call of Duty if I didn’t mention the multiplayer, though—and in Black Ops II, this element’s better than ever. The new “Pick 10” system works like a dream in terms of customizing your classes, and the user interface simplifies things so that most anyone can use it to maximize their killing potential in any match. Plus, with new modes like Hardpoint (Call of Duty‘s take on King of the Hill), League Play for official competition, and CODcasting for those would-be pro-gaming broadcasters out there, this is the biggest, best multiplayer suite ever seen in Call of Duty.

But if multiplayer helps define Call of Duty, Zombies mode—which now offers three play options—defines Treyarch as a developer. In fact, this mode’s now been expanded to the point where it could almost be its own standalone game. TranZit offers a deeper experience as you explore a variety of locations, ferried from place to place on a robot-driven bus that has clearly seen better days. Meanwhile, Survival is more of your traditional Zombies experience with self-contained levels taken from sections of TranZit mode. Finally, there’s Grief mode, which puts two teams of humans against each other to see who can survive the zombies the longest.

Let’s face it: Call of Duty is a phenomenon beyond our control at this point; the game will sell millions of copies no matter what a reviwer says. But with branching story paths, the most impressive multiplayer yet, and a Zombies mode that’s to die for, I can say that—for the first time in a long time—I’ll be proud when I answer the call with everyone else when Black Ops II releases.

SUMMARY: The first Black Ops put Treyarch on par with Infinity Ward; with Black Ops II, they surpass them. This is the most impressed I’ve been with Call of Duty since the first Modern Warfare; aside from some problems with the Strike Force missions, this is a shining moment for the franchise.

  • THE GOOD: Best story since the first Modern Warfare.
  • THE BAD: Strike Force missions are a great-but-poorly executed idea.
  • THE UGLY: The stunning renderings of Manuel “Pineapple Face” Noriega.

SCORE: 9.0

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is available on Xbox 360, PS3, PC, and Nintendo Wii U. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox 360.   

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