Originally Published: June 15th, 2010, on PlayerAffinity.com and Examiner.com
I give my rundown and unique perspective on the Xbox 360 and Ubisoft pressers, and the Activision concert showing off DJ Hero 2, Tony Hawk Shred, and Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Originally Published: June 14, 2010, on Examiner.com and PlayerAffinity.com
I had a chance to get a hands on demo with Project Natal, now officially called “Kinect”, and give my first impressions of the new Xbox 360 peripheral.
Originally Published: June 13, 2010, on PlayerAffinity.com
They are one of the most popular bands in the world and have been speaking to the youth of a generation for about 20 years now. Their music has even inspired a Broadway play. So it’s no wonder that the folks at Harmonix and MTV Games felt that Green Day deserved their own Rock Band video game. Unfortunately, all this latest edition into the Rock Band library shows is how soft Green Day has become over the years.
Starting off with the hit album Dookie that launched Green Day into the limelight, Green Day Rock Band features 47 songs that touches upon most of the group’s best hits as well as the near entireties of American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown. The problem is that by putting on so many newer, and in my opinion, inferior songs, they left out almost the entirety of Insomniac, all of Shenanigans, and nearly all of Warning and Nimrod, all of which were far superior to the red-headed bastard child that was 21st Century Breakdown.
And you can tell the difference in the gameplay. I have the entire set of instruments for Rock Band and made sure to try my hand at them all as I moved through my paltry three-venue career mode. I slammed down on drums and ripped away at guitar and bass and finally screamed till my lungs bled on the microphone. That is until I hit the 21st Century Breakdown section of the game and realized just how much Green Day had sold out when none of the singles were in the game off that album, (they needed to be bought separately on top of $60 you’re already dropping) and how slow and monotonous the music was that I was playing compared to the Dookie days.
I will say that the diehards of the band will enjoy the unlockable videos and rare still shots for three and five-starring songs and challenges as you get to see Billie Joe, Tre, and Mike back in their traveling bookmobile days as they moved from venue to venue. Aside from this though there really isn’t a lot to keep you coming back for more unless you are a Green Day addict. Include the fact that 47 songs is costing you $60, and most of the songs you probably want aren’t even on the disc, and that means this is a reach in terms of a purchase.
The audio is great, as you would expect since it is a music game, and the songs sound like they’re supposed to. Although I have to say that it is hard to keep a beat when all of the swears have been edited out to keep this a T-rated game and none of the character of the band can come through because of this censorship. If anyone has even seen Green Day live, they know that Billie Joe, Mike, and Tre aren’t exactly angels in terms of their language and on-stage antics. The game may look like Green Day and the game may even sort of sound like them, but this game is everything that Green Day used to sing about rebelling against.
Obviously, there is no plot to shred apart because it’s all about playing the music. There is a lackluster career mode that takes you through three venues and three distinctive looks of Green Day over the years as you try to unlock all 47 songs, but aside from this, the game is a glorified track pack. Even with the inclusion of some Tre Cool drum challenges this game is not worth a $60 purchase.
With that said, I would still recommend this as a rental if you are a Green Day fan and especially if you have friends who are fans so this way you can rock out together (at least on Dookie). Otherwise, this is just a reminder of how much these once anti-establishment icons have sold out.
Originally Published: June 11, 2010, on Examiner.com, ESPNNewYork.com, Lundberg.me, Original-Gamer.com, and PlayerAffinity.com
It is one of the most successful franchises in video game history. Tomb Raider has seen the gaming community’s beloved Lara Croft travel from mountain tops and dilapidated temples to the very Underworld itself. Now though, Lara will take on something completely unknown to her, having her game released completely via download.
That’s right. For those of you who are unaware, the next Tomb Raider game, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, is a completely downloadable title that will be available at the end of this summer on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.
I had a chance to sit down with Crystal Dynamics Brand Director Karl Stewart to talk about their latest entry in the Tomb Raider series and how difficult it was to balance making a viable downloadable game while still keeping true to the series’ roots.
Originally Published: June 9, 2010, on ESPNNewYork.com, Lundberg.me, and PlayerAffinity.com
Controller-less gaming is one of the main topics of discussion that is on the minds of gamers everywhere what with E3 less than a week away. Project Natal is right on the horizon for Xbox 360 and the PS Eye is being used in new and innovative ways to help immerse gamers even more into their gaming experience.
On that note, I had a chance a few weeks ago to chat with the CEO of Virtual Air Guitar, Teemu Maki-Patola, about their new game Kung-Fu Live, expected to be released just in time for the holiday season on the PlayStation Network and to be used in conjunction with the PS Eye.
Check out my interview with Teemu and our preview of Kung-Fu Live for PSN below.
Originally Published: June 7, 2010, on NationalLampoon.com, Lundberg.me, and SportsRev.TV
This week I review Joker’s Asylum II: The Riddler and Red Dead Redemption. My hot chick pick of the week this week is Brittany Fuchs.
Originally Published: June 4, 2010, on Examiner.com, Original-Gamer.com, PlayerAffinity.com, ESPNNewYork.com, and Lundberg.me
“What do we perceive as real?”
That is the key question that the folks from Eidos and Io Interactive asked themselves when they sat down to make Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days. With that integral concept in mind, they set out to create a third-person shooter that was not only responsive and entertaining, but also engrossing and ground breaking in the way it was “shot” and how it unfolded.
I had a chance to sit down a few weeks ago with Karsten Lund, Kane and Lynch 2’s Game Director, to talk to him about the plot of the game, the multiplayer, and what we could expect in general from Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days when we see it hit store shelves in August.
Originally Published: June 1, 2010, on Lundberg.me, Sportsrev.TV, and NationalLampoon.com
This week I reviewed Batman: Detective Comics #865 and UFC Undisputed 2010. My hot chick pick of the week this week is British model and reality TV star Sophie Reade.
Originally Published: June 1, 2010, on Examiner.com, PlayerAffinity.com, and ESPNNewYork.com
They are modern day gladiators as fans cheer for knockout blows and bone breaking submissions. It is the fastest growing sport in America and is wowing fans with both the technical precision and sheer brutality its athletes need in order to just be competitive, never mind to try to reach superstar status. Of course, I am talking about MMA and its premiere league, the UFC. As with every sport in modern America though, you haven’t really made the full impact your capable of on the popular culture until you have a successful video game franchise. With that, I present to you the second video game installment of the UFC: UFC Undisputed 2010 from THQ.
The first thing you notice as soon as you pop in UFC: Undisputed 2010 are the near-flawless graphics. Accurate facial designs and tattoos of every UFC fighter through every division makes you feel as if you are watching a live Pay-Per-View event at times. Cuts gushing open, blood splattering and staining the canvas, and bruised ribs shine as highlights of a great visual package. Add in live movies of the UFC ring girls (I love Arianny Celeste) introducing the Classic Matches mode and the game is as beautiful as all those girls.
The audio is spectacular as well. Great, fluid play-by-play and analysis by Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan that even takes your previous matches into account when commenting, something no other sports game really does. Include Bruce Buffer as the ring announcer and quality audio clips from every fighter for pre- and post-match interviews, including UFC President Dana White, and the audio is well played all around.
As with every other sports sim, the storyline is really determined by the results of your own play as you try to write your own story in career mode. If you keep winning, you’ll get title shots and be able to change weight classes and maybe even become a hall-of-famer. If you keep losing, you’ll wallow in the depths of the unknown and remain a nobody.
The biggest questions I had with UFC: Undisputed 2010 came with the decisions made about gameplay. I understand how difficult MMA is. It’s not something you can just pick up and play. You can’t just go outside, tape up your ankles, and start trying to choke out your brother whereas most other sports you just need a ball. Video games though should be something you can just pick up and play and you cannot do that at all with this game. The tutorial is something you’ll probably need to go through three or four times before you can even begin to understand how to perform basic techniques like throws and submission maneuvers and the amount of countering down by the computer can become frustrating even on easier game modes. If you don’t put your time in to learn the basic moves this will turn into a old school button masher for you very quickly.
This lack of pick up and play is a tremendous negative in terms of trying to draw in casual fans. The hardcore fans though will appreciate the work that has to go into making your created fighter the best he can be. The deep, detailed career mode that can follow you from being a scrub to a superstar, including what sponsors take an interest in you as you customize your own gear, is probably the greatest individual career mode I’ve ever seen in a sports game. Include sim modes where you can use an already existing fighter, ranging from Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir to Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, and BJ Penn, to go after their respective weight classes’ title, to a gauntlet like title defense mode where you have to whittle away twelve competitors in a row and there is enough depth to this game to keep the hardcore fan coming back. But there’s even more! The Classic Matches mode where you relive and, in some cases, rewrite classic UFC matches to earn customization rewards, gives you a rarely seen total amount of depth from a fighting game.
And you can’t forget about the online play. Not only can you take your favorite fighters, real or created, up against other people, you can even join or start your own MMA camp. You can invite your friends to train with you and hone your skills for online play as you try to let people know that you are not only the ultimate fighter, you’re the ultimate trainer as well.
After devoting much of my Memorial Day weekend to this game, I can say that if you are a fan of the UFC, you’re going to love this game. If not, the difficult control schemes could leave you frustrated enough that you might not want to pick it up again, even with the glowing positives that you’ll notice from the second you get to the title screen. If you are on the fence about this game, not being able to just pick up and play is a big enough negative that might make you want to rent this before you make it a full-blown purchase.
Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.
Graphics: 9.0: Near-flawless graphics in terms of rendering and arenas and the fighters are so detailed that you would think you’re watching an actual Pay-Per-View.
Audio: 10.0: Great music sets the theme for these modern day gladiators and when combined with tremendous voice over work from every person involved with the UFC makes this one of the better sounding games out there.
Plot/Plot Development: N/A: It’s a sports sim and therefore you make your own plot.
Gameplay: 6.5: The only real negative for this game is that you can’t just pick it up and start playing. Having to devote a lot of time to tutorials and building up your fighters and technique might turn off more casual fans.
Replay Value: 9.0: An in-depth career mode, title and title defense modes, and classic matches mode coupled with online play that includes building your own MMA camp will keep hardcore fans practicing their submission maneuvers long into the night.
Overall (not an average): 7.0: The lack of accessibility to casual fans and newcomers will turn this into something we don’t see much of nowadays, a button masher. Being unable to just pick up and play this takes it down a notch from a must buy to a must rent and is only recommended for the ultimate fan of the UFC.
UFC Undisputed 2010 is available now for PS3, PSP, and Xbox 360.
-Ray Carsillo
Originally Published: May 28, 2010, on Examiner.com, PlayerAffinity.com, and ESPNNewYork.com
I still reminisce every now and then about the glorious springs of my youth when baseball season would start and once our local organized little leagues were finished, my friends and I would head down to the park and play stick ball on abandoned tennis courts, wiffle ball on side streets, or home run derby on empty diamonds. Something that’s going to make me reminisce a little bit more about those days is the latest entry into the Backyard Sports series, Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers.
Before reading my full review of the game, be sure to check out my interview with the producer of Sandlot Sluggers, Roland Lesterlin.
The first thing you notice about Sandlot Sluggers is how great looking this game is, especially for the Xbox 360. The graphics are bright and colorful and the cut scenes for the story mode (more on that in a second) are done in stylized outlines and shadows that give it a unique and pleasing visual presence. There are a couple of glitches when you’re playing sometimes, but other than that the game is just plain pretty.
The audio is also very solid and rounds out the peripherals nicely. With cute commentary from the local old men who serve as the announcers for your games to the simple menu instrumentals, the game isn’t an audio revolution, but it works and is probably what you would expect from a game geared more towards teaching kids about sports and sportsmanship.
The biggest improvement to the series though comes with the brand new story mode (told you I’d get to it) that helps to deviate this game from your normal baseball sim. Playing the role of the new kid after fully customizing your look from the color of your glove to your head shape, it is up to you to unite the local kids into a team of superstars to take down Jimmy Knuckles and his squad of bullies who have pummeled all other teams into submission. Only by beating the teams of the eight other good kids can you recruit them onto your squad and gain access to Knuckles’ diamond behind the local school. Coupled with mini-games after every couple of victories to improve your squad’s equipment, the story mode is a great way to give life to the characters as well as to teach your little one the ins and outs of the game of baseball.
The gameplay is solid baseball action mixed in with the classic power-ups and special abilities you’ve come to expect from the Backyard Sports series. From booger balls that cover the screen and make it impossible to see the ball to icicle bats that freeze the first fielder to touch the ball, the new power-ups add a great element of randomness and a true sense of “it ain’t over till it’s over” to the game. And they might just help mom or dad keep them even with their little slugger.
Each field you play in also has its own unique qualities that add to the gameplay. From Pablo’s dog grabbing balls that go near his doghouse for ground rule doubles to balls bouncing into the playground’s sandbox for automatic triples, the field you play in adds to the unique strategies that can come into play.
There were a couple of negatives I saw to the gameplay as well though. The most obvious negative is the fact that a run doesn’t count if the final out is made on the base paths. The baseball rule is that if the run scores before the third out, the run counts. It was very irritating to get into rundowns trying to stretch a single into a double and then find out that the runner from third crossed home, but it never counted because I made the third out.
Speaking of running blunders, another glitch that drove me nuts was if I got caught stealing for the third out of an inning, the batter at the plate would be skipped over instead of leading off the next inning. This glitch baffled me and really made me think twice about when and whom I would run with. These glitches took away from the experience some and made me a little hesitant when it came to showing little kids this as a tool to teach them about baseball.
Another positive for the game though is the replay value. Along with the story mode, there are your typical season and playoff modes to continue taking on the local teams, and access to the mini-games including a baseball themed version of hot potato and a Simon-esque game of throwing the right pitch when it is called for. This should keep your little one popping this game back into their system for a while.
For what it is, Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers is probably the best game yet released by the folks behind the Backyard Sports franchise. It probably won’t hold the attention of an older and more hardcore baseball fan for very long, but is perfect as an introduction into baseball and baseball video games for younger kids and for parents to relate to their children. Include simpler one-button modes for even younger kids and this game will definitely appeal to every pre-pubescent little leaguer out there.
Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers is available now for Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo DS.
Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.
Graphics: 9.0: Bright colors, stylized graphics for cut scenes, and a minimal of glitches make this a beautiful looking game for kids.
Audio: 7.5: Nothing groundbreaking in the audio department, but nothing sub-par either. The announcers end up repeating themselves like in every other sport game ever, but aside from that the audio is solid.
Plot/Plot Development: 7.5: Predictable, but perfect for children as the story mode touts lessons of teamwork and understanding. Jimmy Knuckles never saw it coming.
Gameplay: 7.0: Good for the most part, but running glitches will really take away from the baseball experience for people who really know the game. The power-ups and unique stadiums though help to cover up some of those shortcomings with the unpredictability they inject into the game.
Replay Value: 8.0: Average replay value for a sports game gets bumped up due to the inclusion of a story mode. Coupled with mini-games and a season and playoffs mode and this game will keep your youngster entertained for a while.
Overall (not an average): 8.0: Due to some glitches and a lack of true mass appeal, I can’t give this game a perfect score, but for what it is and the audience it is targeted at, Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers is a sure fire home run. Your little ones will love the characters and swinging for the fences in this family friendly baseball sim.
-Ray Carsillo
RayCarsilloWrites.com 