Tag Archive: review


EGM Review: Burnout Crash!

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September 22, 2011

Originally Published: Sept. 20, 2011, on EGMNOW.COM

Sunday drivers not allowed

It’s always a risky proposition to turn a minigame into its own standalone title—Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D springs to mind. These are intended to be side courses to the main menus of the games themselves. But what if you took that side course and really pumped it up so that next time we saw it, the game really could stand on its own? Well, with Burnout Crash!, that’s exactly what the folks at Criterion and EA have been able to accomplish.

The premise of the game has always been a simple one: You drive a car into oncoming traffic or a busy intersection and attempt to wreck as many other vehicles as you can with one well-placed T-bone or head-on collision. As other cars fail to swerve away from your magnificent display of twisted metal, glass, and plastic, your score increases—and, hopefully, you build up a traffic jam reminiscent of the end chase scene of The Blues Brothers. If too many cars continue on their way without crashing, though, you lose.

But so much more’s been added to this fleshed-out incarnation: Special features and score multipliers make this feel almost like an insane version of pinball, where you actually control the ball and the bumpers are crashing into you. By using your Crashbreaker power, which causes an explosion to emanate from your car after causing enough destruction, you can also break up a pile or carefully use other cars near you as projectiles to keep cars from escaping—and keep your score, represented by how much damage you’ve cost in terms of dollars, flying into the millions. Also, as your score increases and more and more cars become disabled, you can unlock special powers depending on the stage. Whether it’s a chaotic meteor shower that can wreak havoc or a flash blizzard that can really pump up your skid bonuses, the carnage-causing possibilities are certainly plentiful.

The big question, then, comes with whether Criterion keeps the game from getting repetitive. The fun factor’s evident from the second you grab the simple controls—the A button uses Crashbreaker, while left joystick moves the car, and that’s it. Burnout Crash! might not have all the answers, but Criterion certainly made a solid attempt, and plenty of players will probably find enough reason to come back for lots more. Six themed locations with three intersections each offer a lot of mayhem, but the game also includes three modes to keep the experience fresh: Road Trip, Rush Hour, and Pile-Up. Road Trip’s your standard game where you try to wreck a certain number of cars before five are able to escape your fiery, gasoline-fueled path of destruction. Rush Hour gives you a 90-second time limit to cause as much chaos as possible before one fantastic explosion at the end. Pile-Up sees you trying to build the biggest pile-up possible to maintain a massive multiplier that comes into effect when no other cars are coming. Then, your objective is to make as much of the world continuously burn as possible. The game also offers a feature called Autolog, where you can directly see the scores of friends who’ve played the game—and issue challenges to them to try to beat your high scores. This classic arcade feature may be just enough to get the adrenaline pumping for you competition junkies out there, and it could be the saving grace that makes this a downloadable title you keep coming back to.

Despite all this, I personally did find that the game got repetitive after some time, and it isn’t something I see myself playing for long stretches of time, even though it felt great to blow up so much stuff in short spurts. Also, the Kinect controls are completely unnecessary. For a game that relies on two buttons on a standard controller, jumping up and down to activate my Crashbreaker was irritating, and the five seconds of steering I needed in the beginning before my first crash didn’t give me the control I felt with a gamepad. Still, Burnout Crash! is a slick, easy-to-pick-up-and-play (with a controller), adrenaline-fueled funfest that, when combined with bright colors, a cheesy game-show-style announcer, and some kickin’ tunes, has enough to definitely be worth your 800 Microsoft points or $9.99 on PSN.

Summary: That rare, properly fleshed-out experience spawned from a minigame—and one that’s well worth your money.

  • The Good: Autolog adds a competitive factor not seen in many games like this.
  • The Bad: Finds a way to make unbridled mayhem repetitive at times.
  • The Ugly: Kinect controls on the XBLA version. So unnecessary.

SCORE: 8.5

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The Pullbox Issue #5 – 9/14/11

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DC’s re-launch continues while Marvel’s event based barrage tries to win over the hearts and minds of comic purchasers everywhere. Meanwhile, the Indies are putting a strong fight themselves with a barrage of both new titles starting this week and old stand-bys continuing on. So with all these new comics coming out, what should you pick up? Scroll down to find out!

1) Marvel – New Avengers #16 (Fear Itself Tie-In) – It seems like nowadays almost anyone can be an Avenger as a revolving door of characters have been coming through the Mansion over the past couple of years. So when you see Daredevil on the cover, you can just imagine that this is the moment when The Man Without Fear gets his chance at Avengers membership as Marvel continues his recent re-imagining. But what was interesting was how Brian Michael Bendis bookends this issue with more well-established Avengers talking about what it means to be an Avenger and basically sets up a chance for Daredevil to show off his moves so that even if you’re not as familiar with the character or just haven’t paid attention to him in a long time, you realize just what makes this guy so special and why he keeps coming back any chance Marvel gets. As Fear Itself begins to wind down, this is a great pick-up as we can almost start looking ahead to the Marvel universe after this major event.

2) Marvel – Fear Itself #6 (of 7) – I normally don’t like doing a pair of issues from the same event like this, but Marvel had a weak week in my opinion, even though I picked up several comics from them. Fear Itself though finally seems to really be hitting its stride in terms of impact on the Marvel universe. Unfortunately, it almost feels like its going to be rushed now and that things are going to come to a head much too quickly in next month’s final issue as some crossover arcs are starting to come to a close. Still, this was a pretty awesome comic as we saw Thor get his second wind, Captain America reach his breaking point, and Iron Man prepare for the ultimate leap of faith. Meanwhile, the Serpent is nearly back to one-hundred percent in terms of strength and if he reaches his full potential, it all might be too little, too late. This issue is the set up for what should be a very epic final issue in yet another Marvel event and it I can’t wait to see how this shakes up Asgard in the future.

3) DC – Batman and Robin #1 – Continuing with DC’s universal re-launch we go back to Gotham as another Batman series looks to introduce another new villain, one who isn’t very fond of Batman, Inc. and wants to send a very brutal message to Gotham’s Guardian. What’s great about this book though is that is solidifies Bruce Wayne’s return to the cowl as he now tries to not only be a crime-fighter, but a father to young Damian, his illegitimate son with Talia al Guhl, who has now almost by birthright inherited the mantle of Robin. It gives the dynamic between Batman and Robin a unique twist as Damian doesn’t have just the rebellious nature of Jason Todd or the athletics or Dick Grayson or the intelligence of Tim Drake, he has a bit of all of them and his rebelliousness is specifically tailored to being in his late adolescence and looking to rebel against a father who was never there for him, even arguing that when Dick wore the cowl he got more respect with Bruce responding that he still hasn’t earned it from him yet. Brilliant writing by Peter Tomasi makes the decision easy to keep this as a pick up for me every month.

4) DC – Green Lantern #1 – There were a lot of very good comics out there from DC this week so I decided to go with an old standby in Green Lantern. I was curious to see where they would go with Hal Jordan now being powerless and with Sinestro being a Green Lantern again. Although it was somewhat comical how Hal got around without his ring, almost as if it was more influenced by the movie version of Hal than the comic version we’ve seen for decades, but it actually worked and I liked that they moved away from it quickly as, even though it could be a deal with the devil, Sinestro came to Earth to offer Hal a chance at getting his ring back. The long term plans for Green Lantern have me curious, especially since we haven’t seen much of the rest of the honor guard in Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner, but at least it looks Hal won’t be powerless for long, which pleases me tremendously because I still think he is the first Green Lantern people think of when you think of ring slinging and it would only hurt the character in the long room to keep him de-powered. Also, the comic continued to portray the Guardians in a pretty unsavory light and it should be interesting if and when that aspect of their budding personalities comes to a head.

5) Image – PIGS #1 – As a bit of a history buff, I was curious when I heard about PIGS. It is the story about a fictional sleeper cell of Russians who were left in Cuba after The Bay of Pigs in the early 1960s. Now in the modern day, the family of that sleeper cell has been awakened and kidnapped the president of the United States. Now, the FBI and CIA must get to the root of all this. All I can is that for as much exposition as there was to set everything up, this was a brilliantly written first issue for this new series and I’m excited to see how further issues will develop this very realistic based story. The first thing I thought after reading this was that people who fans of Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Warriors from Marvel or the story behind Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops will more than likely enjoy taking a look at this comic from Nate Cosby and Ben McCool.

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EGM Review: The Gunstringer

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Originally Published: Sept 13, 2011, on EGMNOW.COM

Your revenge on Wacky Inflatable Arm Tube Man awaits!

Marking Twisted Pixel’s first foray into the retail realm, The Gunstringer also serves as the company’s first Kinect title, as they find a way to incorporate their off-the-wall humor with Microsoft’s motion-control device in a way that’s both fun and engaging. The Gunstringer sees players leap into the shoes of the titular Gunstringer, an undead outlaw who’s risen from his grave to exact revenge on his former gang—the ones who put him six feet under to begin with. The kink in the plot, though—in vintage Twisted Pixel fashion—is that our hero’s actually just a marionette. The player’s the puppeteer in front of a “real” audience that applauds your successes and groans at your failures—all while you’re putting on a stage show, with stagehands running in and out of the screen and a “live” narrator. That last element’s similar to Bastion, as The Gunstringer’s disembodied voice reacts dynamically to everything you do—for example, explaining that the Gunstringer doesn’t know where these “mysterious forces” may come from, as long as they don’t get in the way of his main goal: vengeance!

The Gunstringer’s controls are simple and also mark the only Kinect game to date where you can actually play the entire game while seated—a landmark in and of itself. Your left hand controls the marionette strings that move the Gunstringer in its third-person shooter view, swinging him left to right across the screen (the entire adventure’s on rails, so you never have to worry about moving forward) and having him “leap” over obstacles by yanking your hand skyward. Your right hand controls the aiming reticule, where you automatically lock on to up six targets at once. Pulling your arm back like you’re firing a gun causes the Gunstringer to do the same, sending lead hurtling toward whatever his targets may be. And after a quick tutorial that ends with you taking revenge upon the first member of your former gang—the dastardly Wacky Inflatable Arm Tube Man—you should be a master of the controls.

The remarkable thing about these controls is that even though they’re beyond simple, they leave you feeling very satisfied and rewarded. The lock-on feature allows you to concentrate on the occasional platforming and dodging elements thrown in to give the action variety, and you’ll find that even as you blow through the game on normal in just a few hours, a smile won’t leave your face for most of the game. This is mostly a credit, of course, to the real driving force of the game: the humor-laden writing by the Twisted Pixel guys that propels you to keep going through the game’s levels just to see what absurdity they’ll throw at you next. Whether it’s power-ups that’ll make you flash back to old-school shooters like ­Contra or the corrupt sheriffs, ninjas, or buxom temptresses that will try to get in your way, The Gunstringer’s an adventure game that needs to be seen to be believed.

Still, the game does have a couple of shortcomings. It does feature local co-op where a second player can jump in and pick up a six-shooter, but aside from leaderboards, there’s very little competitive reason to come back to the game. And the action can become somewhat repetitive rather quickly, so once you’ve seen the story and all the cutscenes, you may not be that compelled to jump into the harder difficultly levels to replay the game.

The Gunstringer’s definitely head-and-shoulders above any other Kinect release, though. It’s hilarious, it’s easy to pick up and play, and with a $40 price tag that includes a code for day-one DLC that gives the origins of Wacky Inflatable Arm Tube Man and a token to download Fruit Ninja Kinect, this is probably the best bang for your buck on the device.

Summary: The simple-yet-satisfying controls combined with classic Twisted Pixel humor makes this easily the best Kinect game yet.

  • The Good: Classic Twisted Pixel humor mixed with simple-yet-satisfying controls
  • The Bad: Repetitive—and not as challenging—as other Twisted Pixel games
  • The Ugly: Undead zombie marionettes

 

SCORE: 8.5

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Pullbox – Issue #4

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Summer may be almost over, but things are still hot in the comics world as DC’s New 52 is really coming out in full swing starting this week and so we’ll see a lot of “Number One’s” from them for the foreseeable future. Not to be outdone though, Marvel has some big issues of their own that came out and even the Indies are not standing idly by as there were a handful of really solid issues from Image, Dynamite, and IDW to be released as well, so there were some hard decisions that went into this week’s Top 5, which you can see below!

1) Marvel – New Avengers Annual #1: Some time ago, after the conclusion of the Civil War, former Avengers powerhouse Simon Williams, a.k.a. Wonder Man, warned the current Avengers roster that they needed to stop banding together as their actions were just as threatening to the universe as the threats they quelled. Feeling Simon was simply having an episode of sorts, they went about their business as usual as Simon fled to parts unknown to see if his warning would be heeded. It was not. Now in a story arc across annuals that is kicking off here, Simon has formed his own team of super-heroes and reformed villains and looks to bring it to the Avengers like never before. Honestly, the first thing that really gripped me about this comic was the art, especially the five double-spreads that start everything off since you just don’t see that in comics anymore. Very powerful stuff. And then when you hear Simon’s arguments, he sounds mad and delusion, much like a super-villain would, but at the same time makes awesome points, like the rational, prominent Marvel universe hero that he once was. Throw in amazing action sequences and this story arc is going to be something to look forward to in the coming weeks.

2) Marvel – Wolverine #15: We begin to see the aftermath of the Red Right Hand story arc that just concluded as Wolverine, unbeknownst to him, has just slaughtered several bastard children he never knew he sired after they were sent to kill him in the delicious irony that all of Wolverine’s children are out to kill him and he had to kill them instead. And he never even knew until it was too late so it was all in cold blood. Now, Wolverine is punishing himself by constantly climbing up a mountain, throwing himself off of it, healing, and repeating. A tremendous comic as you see Wolverine’s psyche truly break down at several moments and leaves us on this awesome cliffhanger that we just don’t know what Wolverine will do next or if he’ll be able to recover from this anytime soon as this series has amazingly continued to mentally dissect one of Marvel’s most popular heroes for the first time really all the way since issue one. A must pick up for all Wolverine fans.

3) DC – Swamp Thing #1: So far the DC New 52 has surprised me because a lot of comics I was expecting to disappoint me, wowed me, and others I thought that would impress me have been bleh at best. Swamp Thing #1 falls into the former as cameos by some of DC’s biggest superheroes highlight the internal struggle between the newly reborn Dr. Alec Holland and how he must try to cope with the actions he did while he was in the form of the Swamp Thing, all the while trying to avoid becoming a creature of the green once more. Much like the sprouting of a seed, the comic is defined by a lot of brown, bland tones in its first few pages, but as the comic progresses and more plantlife begins to be prominently featured, brilliants shades of green, purple, blue, and other bright colors pepper the pages telling a story as much through the subtly of the art as the word bubbles in each panel. With some interesting super-natural threats looming on the horizon, it should be interesting to see how nature’s greatest defender will evolve in future issues.

4) DC – Batman: Detective Comics #1: A comic book powerhouse for over 70 years, seeing Detective Comics reset to number one may have been the hardest for me to take as it typically featured many of my favorite Batman stories. Needing to pick it up, I was not surprised to see Bruce Wayne don the cowl once more as it was alluded to in the closing issues of what will likely be known as the first volume of Batman related comics. Batman is back to his old tricks of skipping dates, having Commissioner Gordon as his only friend in the police force, and chasing down the Joker, Detective Comics #1 does a great job of both giving you everything that makes a Batman comic great, which in and of itself is almost like paying homage to what came before it, and setting up a new villain to work with Joker (at least in this particular arc), continuing a theme started in the last run of expanding Batman’s Rogues Gallery. Dark, twisted, and seemingly going back to its roots, Detective Comics #1 is a solid way for Batman to kick-off the new 52.

5) Dynamite – Kato #12: If you’ve been following the new string of Green Hornet comics then you know that basically this is a new generation of Green Hornet with the original Kato’s daughter taking over and helping out the original Green Hornet’s son live up to the mantle of their crime fighting dads. This title though centers more around Kato and the enemies that she and the Green Hornet have quickly acquired. Although this is the middle issue of an arc, I chose it as my Indie pick of the week because a lot of the comic has Kato fighting for her life in a video game. Meant to tax her brain to the point where she becomes brain dead in the classic, the villain taunts way too much kind of way, Kato is able to overcome the machine’s programming and break out of the spell. Kato even admits to being an avid gamer and when you throw that in with the very provocative cover (those are buttons by the way) and well, what can I say? Hot Asian girl that likes to play video games. Me likey. And you’ll probably be surprised by how solidly written this comic is, too, so it’s definitely worth a look if you’ve got a few extra bucks.

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EGM Review: SkyDrift

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Just driftin’ away

The vehicle combat genre has hit a bit of a dry spell lately so what are fans of racing to the finish line while throwing rockets, bullets, and mines at their friends to do?. Luckily, there seems to be a game coming out that might be able to give them a temporary fix and for a lot less price than a retail game.

SkyDrift is a downloadable plane combat title that pits you against seven other planes as you soar through steep canyons, around frozen glaciers, and over pristine lagoons all over the world. As you win more races, some being your standard get through the finish line first after a couple of laps while others are more objective motivated, like surviving a series of timed cuts that eliminate the farthest behind player, you progress through seven progressively harder series. Along the way you can unlock up to eight different aircraft and four skins for each one to help give you some diversity in your aircraft and play style as the sharp controls help you bob and weave around enemy projectiles or environment hazards.

Unlike some more developed vehicle combat games though, there is really no story behind SkyDrift. It is simply an exercise in you getting behind some crosshairs and trying to blow some friends to kingdom come. So if you’re just looking for a release for your road rage, this might be a solid choice, but if you’re looking for something more in-depth and plot driven with some larger than life characters, then you should really look elsewhere. Also, even with the great weapon variety and solid controls, they can’t make up for the fact that sometimes the flight paths are muddled against generic textures and without a mini-map or compass you’re really kind of hung out to dry once in a while and may crash yourself more than your friends will shoot you down. This can lead to a lot of frustration in those really tight races if you’re still familiarizing yourself with certain courses.

Overall, if you’re looking for a really deep vehicle combat experience, this probably isn’t your best choice, but if you’re just looking to target a bunch of friends casually in your crosshairs before hitting them with a full arsenal of weaponry, then SkyDrift might be worth looking at with its $15 price tag. Especially considering it has nearly three-dozen courses and countless single-player and online versus modes including a Survival mode that clearly focuses more on the combat aspect than the racing one. SkyDrift is a solid, decently polished game that should be enough to stave off some vehicle combat cravings at least for a little while.

SUMMARY: SkyDrift is a fun game that could serve as a decent holdover for vehicle combat fans until something more involved comes along.

  • THE GOOD: Weapon variety and solid controls
  • THE BAD: Lack of a story and motivation through single-player campaign
  • THE UGLY: Unclear flight paths at times leading to bloody stains on canyon walls

SCORE: 6.5

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EGM Review: Crimson Alliance

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Hack ‘n’ Slash at its most mediocre

If you bought all five games in the Xbox Summer of Arcade this year, then you may already have an idea what Crimson Alliance is all about as this game was the promised bonus for purchasing all those downloadable titles. And after playing through this game, I see why it needed to be thrown in as a bonus.

The game follows the story of a mercenary, an assassin, and a wizard who upon happenstance see their paths cross. And once they do cross, well, their lives are never quite the same. So original, I know. The wizard, who is amnesiac, pleads to the mercenary and assassin to help him on a quest to return to his homeland. Both sensing some easy gold, agree. But once they reach what was supposed to be the glorious harbor city of Byzan, they see that it is smoldering in ruin and has seen the water recede permanently back into the ocean. The mercenary and assassin realize they’ve bitten off more than they can chew, but reluctantly agree to help the wizard get to the root of the problem and maybe jog his memory back up.

The magical powers and fighting in Crimson Alliance are reminiscent of the N64’s Gauntlet Legends, with it’s arcade hack ‘n’ slash feel and the wizard acting as your magic type, the merc as your tank, and the assassin as your long-range/speedster. All while various monsters, mercenaries, and the undead look to take you down across the game’s 11 levels. Each level also has a small horde of collectibles that can power-up your heroes or help reveal more of the game’s back-story. The controls and game play for the most part feel satisfying, even in their repetitive simplicity, and should please any veteran of the arcade who played these ceiling down RPGs in the past. Beyond this though, the game starts to fall flat.

The game tries to tempt you with further replays of the game and particular levels by incorporating a scoring system and awarding you medals and bonus gold depending on how well you do. There are also several challenge arenas where you’ll face off against waves of enemies in the hopes of bonus gold and rare weapons, armor, or shields. Unfortunately, with the generic story, repetitive game play, and the fact it should only take you one play through to find all the items, collectibles, and rack up a decent enough high score, unless you are set on getting platinum, once through should be enough for you.

A possible saving aspect to this abundance of mediocrity would be the game’s options to play with friends either locally or online in co-op, as well as the hint of competition in terms of the scoring system. But again the ball was dropped here as with four slots available and only three classes, it just seems weird to force players into mirror images if you can get a full band of players together and it just comes off as lazy to not have incorporated a fourth character in a type of game that always seems to have plentiful options for people. Another limiting factor here is the fact you have to pay extra to unlock all three characters as playable. If you only buy the game, once you choose your character class, you are locked into it unless you pay extra for the other two. This lack of options is probably the biggest knock against the replay-ability of the game since the experience really would only differ if you changed classes, and forcing players to pay for this option just seems very low end.

When all is said and done, Crimson Alliance is well-polished enough in terms of controls and game play, but is as generic an action/adventure RPG as they come as repetition, multiplayer restrictions, and poor story telling keep this game from being something special. If you got the game as the Summer of Arcade bonus, it was worth it, but I don’t see this as being worth its $15 price tag for all three characters, or $10 for one, and would suggest you look for another downloadable title until this maybe goes on sale.


SUMMARY: Crimson Alliance is well-polished enough in terms of controls and game play, but is as generic an action/adventure RPG as they come in almost every other aspect.

  • THE GOOD: Arcade hack ‘n’ slash action reminiscent of Gauntlet Legends
  • THE BAD:Nothing special to make it stand out above other games of the same genre
  • THE UGLY:Undead zombie priestesses out to consume your soul

SCORE: 6.0

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EGM Review: Rise of Nightmares

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September 13, 2011

Originally Published: September 6, 2011, on EGMMAG.com

The Good: The first real “hardcore” game on the Kinect
The Bad: The lack of ever feeling in real danger, fatigue from playing too long
The Ugly: The macabre clockwork zombies you’ll face by the dozens

Rise of Nightmares is being touted as the first “hardcore” game for the Kinect as it focuses more on a single player narrative experience instead of the party or fitness games we’ve seen to date. You play as Josh, an American tourist on vacation in Romania, trying to put his marriage back together with his wife. While taking a train through the countryside, you and your wife get into another argument and she storms off towards the dining car. After some time, you pursue her, but when you finally catch up, the unimaginable is waiting for him. A Frankenstein like-monster has your wife in his arms and as you begin to give chase, the train derails and is flung into a river. When you come to, you and the other survivors come across a mansion in the woods and your instincts say that whatever that thing was, it took your wife here.

Rise of Nightmares may break ground as the first “hardcore” Kinect game, but I feel it is more limited by the technology than empowered by it. If you really want to set the mood and try to give yourself a scare by turning off the lights while playing, you can’t because then the Kinect can’t see you and you can’t progress so whether you like it or not, all the lights in the room have to stay on.

Then comes the combat. There are no guns in the game so you have to get up close and personal with nearly every foe you face. And while it does feel satisfying to punch a zombie out with brass knuckles, bash what’s left of their brains in with a lead pipe, or dismember them with a bloody chainsaw, because of all the movement that is involved with setting yourself up for the kill, the game’s A.I. is beyond simple to prevent frustration with the Kinect controls. In turn, this nullifies the fear factor because you never feel like your character is in any real danger most of the time when the zombies shuffle onto the screen. Many zombies will simply shamble right into the path of whatever weapon you are wielding and the larger challenge comes in keeping your real-life stamina up than in mowing down the constant stream of proverbial cannon fodder.

And this leads us to the fatigue factor. Although the movement and combat controls are simplified and picked up rather well for the most part once you get used to them, like shifting your shoulders to turn around, sticking one leg out to walk, and various quick time inspired events like ducking or climbing, you may become too tired to devote a long amount of time to the game per play session. I played for three hours the first time I put the disc in and didn’t realize till afterward that since movement is only controlled by one leg, that what became my pivot leg’s knee had locked up from putting my weight on it constantly for much of the game as I explored the castle grounds.

Despite what are really just minor annoyances though, the game is actually a solid experience overall. You could write off the “shambling” of the zombies to their uniquely written macabre clockwork origins, even if they aren’t that threatening, and the plot is engaging enough, with just enough cheesy B-horror movie voice acting, to make you want to push on with the story and find out the mysteries lurking in the castle. There are also some very satisfying moments sprinkled in like digging through a fresh cadaver or fishing through a blood filled toilet for items, or luring zombies into some of the mansion’s traps like giant rotating blades or electrified water. It’s just at the end of the day, although different from any other gaming experience I’ve ever had because of the Kinect controls, I can’t help but feel that I would have preferred having a traditional controller in my hand during a lot of it. Still, if you’re looking to get some more use out of your Kinect, this is a fine example of the potential for this device if developers turn themselves away from the cheesy party and exercise games and really focus on giving you a gaming experience.

Score: 7.0

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EGM Review: Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon

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September 6, 2011

Originally Published: August 30, 2011, on EGMNOW.COM

Publisher: 345 Games
Developer: Backbone Entertainment
Platforms: XBLA, PSN

Release: 08.30.11

Players: Single Player, 2-4-player local and online co-op

ESRB Rating: M – Mature

The Good: Fans of the show will be laughing from the opening cut scene to the end credits
The Bad: Camera angle makes aiming difficult, game play can be repetitive
The Ugly: Huge steaming piles of manbird droppings

Based on Comedy Central’s hit TV show, Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon is an original adventure featuring all your favorite characters from the cartoon. You choose to play as series protagonist Mark Lilly, his girlfriend Callie Maggotbone, bumbling wizard Leonard Powers, or the D.O.I.’s top cop, Frank Grimes. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses, but the game features an RPG leveling-up system that can help balance them all out or really stress those advantages depending on your play style. After making your character decision, you’ll grab yourself a BSU 2000 (Blow Sh*t Up 2000, Frank’s newest toy that allows you to stick whatever isn’t bolted down into the chamber and fire it as a projectile) and start getting down to the bottom of all the trouble in New York City.

The first thing you’ll immediately notice is the game went with a less traditional side-scrolling view instead of the ceiling down view seen in most other dual joystick arcade style shooters. This was meant to try to give the gamer more of a sense as if they were watching an episode of the TV show, but it is a little difficult to get used to at first, especially in terms of aiming your BSU 2000 at the various manbirds, zombies, and demons you’ll come across. Some items have a spray effect where the aiming difficulty doesn’t seem as obvious, but with a lot of other projectiles, like the boomeranging hammer or arcing crystal ball, misjudging the aim can get tedious fast.

The game does do a lot of things right though, especially in the presentation. If you’re a fan of the show, you’ll love the fact that all the voice actors reprise their roles in the game and there is more than 20 minutes of original animation and dialogue in cut scenes, meaning that the game is just dripping with the humor that makes the show itself great and has enough animation for a stand alone episode by itself. The best part probably comes from being able to play the game with friends locally or online though as it helps to break up the redundancy that is typical of most arcade shooters.

All in all, the question you have to ask yourself is ‘are a fan of the show or not’. If so, the writing and animation will outshine the minor game play annoyances and is definitely worth your $10. If not, you may want to avoid this as knowing the show seems critical to your overall enjoyment of the game.

Score: 7.5

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EGM – No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise Review

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
August 23, 2011

Originally Published: August 16, 2011, on EGMNOW.COM

Publisher: Konami
Developer: AQ Interactive
Platforms: PS3

The Good: Extra assassin missions in stunning 1080p HD graphics
The Bad: Still riding around Santa Destroy on your motorcycle
The Ugly: The PS Move controls are just as clunky as the Wii version’s

One of the most original and fun games I’ve played on the current generation of consoles came from one of the most delightfully twisted developer minds around in Suda 51. The first No More Heroes had flaws, but many could be overlooked by the brilliant humor and over the top situations. Include some epic and unforgettable boss battles and the original game was definitely a winner.

Unfortunately, this gaming gem fell through the cracks for many because it was a Wii-exclusive. Until now. No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise is not only a port of that original game to the PS3, but it includes nearly twice as many foes for Travis Touchdown, our sex with an anime girl and pro-wrestling obsessed beam katana wielding (imagine cheap lightsaber) protagonist, to assassinate as he works on becoming the number one assassin in the world.

But with this port also come many of the same problems found in the original game as well as some new ones. Set in the fictional sandbox world of Santa Destroy, Travis still spends too much time on his motorcycle, needlessly driving from objective to objective. And although the new side missions to build up cash are cute, they are really nothing more than unnecessary distractions from the main game of hacking up your foes into tiny little pieces. And if you use the PS Move, the controls to hack up your enemies with your beam katana are just as finicky as the original game for the Wii. There are moments where everything is picked up perfectly and then there are others where you have to repeat the same motion a dozen times. You can also stock up to three “Dark Side” charges now, which allow Travis to go into a blood lust rage and hack his foes apart with much greater ease and take no damage, but I felt the original mechanic of having them activate immediately when earned worked fine and this new method makes the game’s natural difficulty much simpler to overcome.

Despite these control and game flow problems, the script and boss battles are still tremendous and if you haven’t had a chance to play the original No More Heroes then to experience it for the first time in 1080p on the PS3 would be the way to go. But if you’ve already risen to the top of the assassin ranks with the Wii version, the extra bosses aren’t really enough to warrant picking up this port.

Score: 7.5

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EGM Fruit Ninja Kinect Review

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
August 15, 2011

Originally Published: August 9, 2011, on EGMNOW.COM

Publisher: Halfbrick Studios
Developer: Halfbrick Studios
Platforms: XBLA

Release: 08.10.11

Players: Singe Player, 2-player local vs and co-op multiplayer, online leaderboards

ESRB Rating: E – Everyone

The Good: Just as much fun as the iPhone app…
The Bad: …for the same amount of time and ten times the price
The Ugly: Me after sweating from ferociously chopping in my living room for a couple of hours

Even though it may come across as a simple game, the release of Fruit Ninja Kinect carries a lot of weight with it. Being part of the Xbox Summer of Arcade garners that the game needs to be a certain level of quality. It’s the first downloadable Kinect game made and many Kinect owners are hoping this will begin a push to see more software finally start to support the device again. And it could deal with the ire of fans of the original game for smart phones if it doesn’t translate well to motion controls. So how would a game originally designed for a touch screen feel when not touching anything at all? Pretty damn good.

Anyone who has played the original Fruit Ninja will instantly be able to jump right into this game. After only a couple of sessions in the perfectly ported Arcade, Classic, or Zen mode you’ll be swinging your arms as proficiently as you swiped your fingers across a touch screen. The only problem players may find with the controls comes when you are swinging upward because when you bring your arms back to your sides, the game will sometimes pick that up as a downward slice and cut into something you never intended to. After a couple rounds prematurely shortened due to this though and you’ll learn to compensate as the original game overall translates very well to the Kinect. The game may actually translate a little too well.

After only an hour of play, I had matched or broken the high scores I had in the smart phone app and found myself bored with the game. Would I play it again at some point? Maybe, especially if I had a friend coming over for the local versus or co-op modes, which is the only real difference between this and some smart phone versions out there. But, swinging your arms instead of swiping your fingers just isn’t enough to sell me on this game at this price if I’m playing by myself. I could just pick up my phone or iPad, and do the same exact thing as on the TV screen with a lot less effort and for one-tenth the price. Bright, colorful, easy to pick up, and initially fun to play, Fruit Ninja Kinect is a solidly built game. But with such fast dissipating appeal and minimal replay-ability I don’t see why you’d pick this up when you can get virtually the same experience for a lot cheaper on your smart phones.

Score: 6.5

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