Tag Archive: review


Not a WET Blanket

Filed under: Written — Leave a comment
April 24, 2010

Originally Published: October 1, 2009, on Examiner.com, 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com), and Lundberg.me

Coming into 2009, there were three highly anticipated titles that were up in the air because their original developers dropped them suddenly and their fates were left to the winds. Luckily for us, those three games were too hot to be left there for long. The first was Ghostbusters, which came out in June and was dropped originally by Sierra before being picked up by Atari. The last one is Brutal Legend, coming out October 13th, and was originally a Vivendi Games title before being rescued by Electronic Arts. And then there is this little title called WET that just came out on September 15th, originally an Activision Blizzard game that was saved from the scrap heap by Bethesda Softworks.

WET follows around the most brutal Fixer to have ever stepped into cowboy boots, Rubi Malone. A Fixer is a nice description of what Rubi does in between whiskey shots and heavy weapons training. Rubi cleans up some of life’s most screwed up situations, usually in the crime underworld, with a trail of death, destruction, and misery in her wake. “Wet” is also a nice way to describe the blood on her hands.

We open up finding Rubi tasked with procuring a heart on the black market for an emergency transplant of a drug crime lord, but some small time hood has beaten her to her quarry. We are immediately immersed in Rubi’s world as she dives, slides, and runs up walls, all the while firing her patented dual pistols in the always awesome bullet time. The bullet time is critical because it allows us to aim Rubi’s pistols independently of each other, one automatically locking onto her nearest threat’s gut, the other free to wander around to other threats, or possibly the primary threat’s cranium for a quicker kill. Not to mention it’s just damn cool.

Some situations don’t always call for pistols though, especially in cramped quarters. With a quick tap of the X button, Rubi can hop out of bullet time and turn into a close-quarter she-devil as she slices limbs off with unbridled prejudice with her katana. This fighting flexibility is the staple of the gameplay and only by mastering it and recognizing what weapons work best where can Rubi progress through the game’s 12 stages.

As the game progresses, Rubi also unlocks a shotgun, SMG, and crossbow with explosive bolts, adding to the controlled mayhem that Rubi finds herself in throughout the game.

The action is there and is addictive and diverse enough with Rubi randomly being thrown into a rage when she gets splashed with blood like she was Carrie, or having to mow down hordes of enemies in an arena setting, to keep you glued to the game. That isn’t to say this game is without fault. In terms of gameplay, there are a lot of glitches. Walking through walls or falling through floors at certain points are old-school glitches that you just shouldn’t see anymore. Not to mention the game freezing during load-screens, making you restart the game, and probably the most anti-climatic final boss battle in all of gaming with a push-button prompt sequence (X flashes on screen, you press X; Y flashes on screen, you press Y, etc.) against the final two foes.

This said the plot is also a little thin. Although left open for a sequel in that cheesy, 1960s drive-thru, B-movie way (complete with commercials to remind you to buy food from the lobby; hysterical) that seemed to be the theme of the game, there was no real establishment of the characters, especially Rubi and her crew, and the plot itself just seemed to progress too quickly for my taste. There may have been 12 levels, but some of them were completely done in the rail-shooter style, which is a nice changeup from the regular gameplay, but that meant there were only nine levels of Rubi’s patented “monkey business” (a running gag for the game is Rubi’s acrobatics have her compared to a chimp on many occasions by some of the more unsavory characters and it also leads to toy monkey collectibles on each level).

In terms of graphics, the game is probably slightly above average. The blood effects weren’t the best and the grainy film effect added to the game to help cover this up was nice, but I would have rather of had a perfectly crisp, clean experience instead of gimmicks to cover it up.

The audio is something this game really shines in. Easily the best original soundtrack I’ve heard in a long time with original music from some up and coming bands on MySpace and some great voice acting from Eliza Dushku as Rubi, Malcolm McDowell as Rupert Pelham, and Alan Cumming as Sorrell and “Ze Kollector”.

At the end of the day, this is a really solid game. I’m on the fence about saying if it is a straight up buy due to the glitchy gameplay and thin plot, but when you add in collectibles throughout the levels, a high score mode, instant kill mode, and challenges galore unlocked after you beat the game for the first time, and I would say this is probably a solid investment if you play it to its max considering one play through will take you 10-15 hours by itself.

Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.

Graphics: 8.0: The grainy film effect was nice, but a clear attempt to cover up the generic looking backgrounds and average blood effects. Rubi looked very nice though.

Audio: 10.0: An awesome, blood pumping, original soundtrack that fit the game perfectly mixed with awesome sound effects and great voice acting from big stars like Eliza Dushku, Malcolm McDowell, and Alan Cumming and this is a wonderful listening experience.

Plot/Plot Development: 6.0: The plot felt a little thin and a little rushed, but the basics were there. I would’ve liked a little more character development though, especially with our heroine.

Gameplay: 7.0: The bullet time was flawless and it needed to be considering 80% of the game takes place in slow-mo as you try to pour bullets into various lowlifes. There were still a few very basic glitches with the environment though and freezing during load screens later in the game was beyond frustrating.

Replay Value: 9.0: I don’t know how they could have worked a multiplayer into this game, but there isn’t one. Aside from that, there is a lot to bring you back to the story mode including several new modes of play after the first play through and the toy monkey collectibles.

Overall (not an average): 7.5: The glitchy gameplay takes away from the great action concept that is WET. A lot to bring you back to this title, awesome bullet time effects, funny dialogue, and awesome music makes this a solid, but not spectacular gaming experience. Probably worth a buy though.

WET is available now.

Tags: , , , ,
Comment

Heroes in a Half-Shell

Filed under: Written — Leave a comment

Originally Published: September 25, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com), and Lundberg.me

With this being the 25th anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mirage Studios and Ubisoft, who hold the video game licenses to the franchise, have been going all out with the shell-ebration. This includes a reissuing of some of the old 1980s action figures (which they were very kind to send me a Master Splinter figure; sweet!), a remake of Turtles in Time for the current generation of consoles, and the highly anticipated TMNT: Smash Up for the Nintendo Wii.

Now that TMNT: Smash Up is officially available; I want to take this time to analyze the first original TMNT game for this current generation of consoles. The basic plot of the game is that Master Splinter wants to hold a special ninjitsu tournament to see how far the turtles have progressed in their training. The prize would be any of the items of Splinter’s trophy room. Of course, there is a catch. Splinter, Casey Jones, and April O’ Neill are all going to be participating as well.

As the tournament progresses and a winner is about to crowned, the Turtles receive an emergency call from their old friend the Fugitoid saying he has been captured by Shredder. This is where you take over and progress through various fights before facing down Shredder and some Foot Soldiers.

The plot is simple, as it should be for a fighting game. No one besides Shredder should be the final boss and the fighting mechanics are great. Ubisoft took the same fighting engine that was used in the Super Smash Bros. series so you can have four-player grudge matches and the game flows very smoothly. The game looks beautiful with some awesome settings and great interactivity in the levels.

There are still a few things nagging at me though being a die-hard TMNT fan. First, the generic background music irritates me to no end. Can we PLEASE bring back the 80s theme? There wasn’t even the new cartoon theme. I’ll even take the “Go Ninja Go” rap from Vanilla Ice at this point.

That isn’t my biggest gripe though. My biggest gripe is that after being promised tons of characters, the list was suddenly shortened just before the release and instead of having hidden TMNT characters Ubisoft thought it would be a good idea to have three Raving Rabbids based on TMNT as hidden playable characters. WHAT?!

No Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang (although they might try to pull off the Utrominator as an upgraded Krang without calling him that), Leatherhead, Baxter Stockman, Rat King, General Kragg, Wingnut, Ace Duck, Usagi Yojimbo, Tokka, Rahzar, Slash, OR ANY OTHER BIG CHARACTERS WE CARE ABOUT! Instead, we got the Turtles, Shredder, Splinter, Karai, April, Casey and…that’s pretty much it. There were more stages than there were playable characters.

The most important thing about a fighting game after the fighting system itself is the roster of characters and TMNT: Smash Up sorely disappoints on this front. The majority of TMNT fans are still those of us who grew up on it and not catering to us is always a bad idea. I was really surprised with this considering the great job Ubisoft did when revamping Turtles in Time, but this really depressed me as a hardcore fan. Instead of trying to use this game to promote another franchise, Ubisoft should have concentrated on making this as good a game as possible.

Ratings are based on a score of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.

Graphics: 8.5: For the most part the game did look beautiful. Some of the settings were a little darker than I liked and when some of the large maps zoomed out to show all the characters on screen, it was hard to tell where everyone was, but for the graphics were mostly crisp.

Audio: 5.0: The generic background music irritated me and made me long for the good old days with the 80s theme song. The SFX were average and the voice acting was solid using the newest cartoon’s voice actors, but they didn’t record a lot of lines so they repeat themselves frequently.

Plot/Plot Development: 7.0: The plot is not usually the strongest point for a fighting game. All you need is a reason to bring a lot of people together to duke it out and this game does that.

Gameplay: 8.0: The fighting mechanics are very good and all the characters have unique combos and special moves to fit their styles. Add in special Ninpo items like daggers, smoke bombs, and some mystical items that randomly appear on screen and you’ll have a solid fighting game experience.

Replay Value: 5.0: An arcade mode, survival mode, and mission mode all make the game worthy of playing, including a nice amount of unlockables, but with none of those unlockables being characters from the TMNT universe, I have to dock this score a lot.

Overall (not an average): 4.0: This game reminds me of the original Smash Bros. for N64 and if this was two generations ago, this would be a great game. Unfortunately, it’s not, so this game is not nearly as good as what we’ve come to expect from fighting games. A lackluster roster takes a lot away from the game and severely hurts the game’s replay value because there are only a few characters to go through the game with. The engine is great and that is the number one aspect for a fighting game, but everything after that falls flat on its face and any TMNT fan will be disappointed at the very least, if not furious, over this game. A more casual fan might want to rent this just to take a look, but probably not.

TMNT: Smash-Up is available now for the Nintendo Wii.

-Ray Carsillo

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

Separation Anxiety

Filed under: Written — Leave a comment

Originally Published: September 22, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com), Lundberg.me, and Examiner.com

With hundreds of possible stories and battlefronts out there, it wasn’t hard for Bungie to continue to expand the already infamous Halo canon. With that, I give you Halo 3: ODST.

With the exploits of Master Chief well documented in the intergalactic struggle against the Covenant, many people forget that this war is fought on many different fronts and has been ongoing for decades.

One of the newest battlefronts is Earth, the last great human stronghold, and recently discovered by the Covenant. So while Master Chief is on the other side of the universe, the war is still going on and has finally hit home.

This is where the ODSTs come in. Labeled for their preferred form of being dropped into battle from their space cruisers, the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers are the best of the best (aside from Master Chief, of course).

Taking place during the time between Halo 2 and Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST (labeled such due to the game using the Halo 3 engine and the inclusion of the Halo 3 multiplayer as well) follows the story of a squad of ODSTs as they race against the Covenant for an artifact in the city of New Mombasa in the East African province (Kenya in real world terms, I believe).

Your main character is simply know as “The Rookie” as you are introduced to the rest of your squad in the opening cinema before you drop into battle. When you arrive the Covenant assault is well under way. After launching from your cruiser to counterattack, a Covenant drop ship warps in and the ensuing shockwave scatters your squad throughout the region. After waking up about 6 hours after crash landing in New Mombasa, how you view Halo is forever changed.

There is still your typical run and gun first-person shooter mayhem and plenty of opportunities for it, but there is also a tremendous new detective and suspense element added to the game. As the Rookie, you befriend an A.I. program called “The Superintendent”. Simpler than Cortana for you Halo vets, the Superintendent still is critical in your mission as he helps tell you the story of how New Mombasa fell and point you in the right direction as he uses street signs, car alarms, ATMs, and other civic devices it can control to steer your path.

After befriending the Superintendent, you put your detective skills (and some sweet night vision goggles) to use as you search New Mombasa for clues to the whereabouts of your squad mates. As you find more items belonging to your mates, from your Captain’s helmet to your sniper’s rifle, you begin to piece together what happened when you got knocked out, all the while exploring Bungie’s largest sandbox environment to date.

The most exciting new aspect of this game comes when you find each item because you actually get to see through the eyes of your other squad mates to see how the items came to be in the condition they’re in and to see the battle unfold. This ensures that you will play as every member of your squad at some point to experience how it feels to be a sniper, a demolitions expert, a heavy gunner, etc. and to see how the full story of the New Mombasa post-invasion unfolds.

With that said, there is also plenty of your old favorite activities returning like hijacking Covenant Banshee or Ghost ships or hopping onto the turret of a UNSC Warthog. There are also randomly generated fights against the whole spectrum of Covenant foes as well as all your favorite weapons being available again from sticky grenades to swiping a downed foe’s Needler.

I will admit to not being obsessed about the Halo series as much as many other people, but I could not put this game down. It only took me about 10 hours to beat the campaign mode, but the time flew by and I was left wanting more.

The graphics are beyond beautiful and the music helps set up an almost film noir, classic detective story kind of feel that you just don’t see nowadays, especially in a futuristic game like Halo.

There isn’t a lot to bring you back to the campaign aside from the Superintendent audio logs, but the new Firefight mode, similar to the Gears of War Horde mode, with endless waves of enemies as you try to improve your score and the included Halo 3 multiplayer will keep most Halo fans happy for a long time to come.

In the end, my only complaint about this game was that it ended too soon for me. Although 10 hours of gameplay is about the norm for most games nowadays, I just didn’t want it to end. I wish I had 20 ODSTs in my squad and that I was still searching for more of their items. This is a must have for any Halo or first-person shooter fan.

Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.

Graphics: 10.0: I don’t know how they could make this game look more gorgeous. The graphics really helped stress the mystery the game was trying to go for and were spectacular.

Audio: 10.0: The music might set the mood even better than the look of post-invasion New Mombasa. When music can help draw emotion from the player, it has succeeded and this soundtrack does that. Add in the typically strong SFX and great voice acting from all those involved and I can’t dock any points for this.

Plot/Plot Development: 10.0: The plot fits in perfectly with the Halo canon and the way the game leads you along through the different areas of New Mombasa as you search for your squad mates and try to unravel the sub-plots of the New Mombasa invasion makes this one of the more engrossing games I’ve played in a while.

Gameplay: 9.0: The game is glitchless. The controls are relatively natural, but I had some difficulty driving several of the vehicles you get to control at separate points throughout the levels and they felt a lot less natural than when you are on foot.

Replay Value: 7.5: Not wanting to take away from the Halo 3 community, ODST doesn’t support its own original multiplayer and the Firefight mode is really just Horde mode from Gears with a Halo twist. Add in a minimum of collectibles for campaign mode and you have to figure that Halo fans will still be thrilled about this, but more casual fans will probably see this as a one and done.

Overall (not an average): 9.5: Minor complaints aside, this is one of the best games I’ve played in recent memory. I’m starting to form my game of the year predictions and this has to be in the conversation. The story was brilliantly done and the peripherals are perfect. I wanted a little more in terms of replay value, but overall this game is top of the line.

Halo 3: ODST is available now for Xbox 360.

-Ray Carsillo

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comment

Revolutionary Ravens

Filed under: Written — Leave a comment

Originally Published: September 13, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com), Examiner.com, and Lundberg.me

I always love to see a game company take a risk and try new things, especially in a recession when you see most developers avoid risks and just develop more proven franchises in the hopes of maximizing profits.

Of course, they are called risks for a reason. Sometimes people may not be receptive to the idea or the execution isn’t as tight as it needs to be and sometimes the idea sounds great until you actually see it implemented. I think Raven Squad for the Xbox 360 and PC falls into that latter category.

The setting is the jungles of Brazil a couple of years from now and you play as a group of six mercenaries who are broken into two groups of three for assault and infiltrating purposes.

You are on what is advertised as a standard mission to take down some local drug runners. It is only later you find out you have been dropped into the middle of a Brazilian Civil War. Now, you have to try and navigate the lush Amazon Rainforest as you dodge bullets and maybe restore a little peace along the way, as you and your squad mates try to find an escape route that doesn’t involve your heads on stakes.

The plot may not be the most original, but when executed properly, everyone loves mercenary first-person shooters. The twist with Raven Squad is that it is also a real-time strategy game.

What? A FPS and RTS all in one game? I know, I did a double take myself when I heard that since I can’t remember it being tried on this scale before.

The good news is that the transition between these modes is flawless and makes for interesting strategy development as you control one of your three man squads from the bird’s eye view of a RTS and move your other squad along the ground from the eyes of Paladin, the squad’s leader.

The problem with the RTS mode is that you can see the entire layout of the land and therefore make your FPS strategy according to that. Since you see where all the enemies are, there is almost no point to the FPS mode since it is so much easier to take out your enemies from RTS view while the enemy A.I. stays in a FPS state the entire time. This additional mode also consumes so much disk space that the graphics in FPS mode are poor at best and the music and voice acting is abysmal.

The defense for this is that the developers say they were aiming to play off the cheesiness of the 1980s movies this was based off, but I have a hard time buying that because cheesy would be a compliment to the poor acting performances given in this game.

Another poor aspect of the game is that there is a nice co-op mode with each person being able handle one of the three man groups, but there is no versus mode where this game needed a 12 player total team vs. team versus mode to really make it worth more than a once playthrough.

So an unoriginal plot mixed with bad peripherals, no versus mode, and an interesting concept usually isn’t enough to garner a buy for a game, but if you were as curious as I was when I heard they were mixing RTS and FPS elements, Raven Squad would probably be a very solid rental for you.

Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.

Graphics: 6.0: The graphics are sub-par for a FPS, but pretty solid for an RTS. Since this combines many of both, but the cut scenes look very poor, I can only give a below average score.

Audio: 4.0: The worst voice acting I have ever heard, hands down. The music is alright and the SFX work, but the voice acting is a constant reminder of nails on a chalkboard.

Plot/Plot Development: 7.5: It is hard sometimes to look at the plot objectively since the dialogue drives most of it and the dialogue isn’t bad, just the people delivering it. So when I finally look at the actual plot, I don’t feel bad about giving it an average score. Nothing original about it, but it makes sense and flows well.

Gameplay: 7.0: A few obvious glitches are annoying, but not enough to take away from the overall experience. The smooth transition from RTS to FPS mode and back are nice, but the execution, especially in FPS mode, is average at best.

Replay Value: 4.0: Aside from a co-op multiplayer mode, there really isn’t a lot to bring you back for this game. A versus mode would have been fantastic and no collectibles to speak of really means this game doesn’t offer a lot to bring you back for.

Overall (not an average): 6.0: Like I said at the beginning of the article, I love it when game developers take risks on games with different ideas. Unfortunately not all of them pan out the way they were originally imagined. The concept of a RTS/FPS game is great, but once executed, you see that the game is just too simple as you can use it to basically cheat as the A.I. operates in a FPS mode the entire way through. When you can see the enemy and they can’t see you, it is very easy to win.

Raven Squad is available now for Xbox 360 and PC.

-Ray Carsillo

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

Game On!

Filed under: Written — Leave a comment
April 20, 2010

Originally Published: September 8, 2009, on Lundberg.me and 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com)

Many people spend their Labor Day weekends at barbeques or down the shore. My devotion knows no bounds, though as I spent it at the movie theatre. Poor numbers from the box office also confirm that the near-empty theatres I sat in were not aberrations.

One of the movies that I tried to help gain revenue was Gerard Butler’s new sci-fi action flick, Gamer. Set in the near future, nanotechnology has evolved to the point where it allows video games to become the ultimate form of escapism and entertainment as players no longer control digital avatars, but instead actual people.

Gerard Butler plays “Kable”, a convict on death row for murder who is the star avatar in the most popular future first-person shooter game, “Slayers”. The purpose of the game is if the player and his avatar can survive 30 matches in a row, the convict earns his freedom and the player basically is hailed like an A-list celebrity.

As “Kable” approaches his legendary 30th match, the mind behind the game, Ken Castle, realizes he can’t let “Kable” win without having his darkest secrets revealed to the public and begins stacking the odds against “Kable” and his controller in a battle of digital wits.

Billed as more action than 300 and more originality than Death Race, this movie failed on both those fronts.

There were too few action sequences for this to be a full-fledged action movie and the few there were in the movie were much too short for my liking considering that these video games are supposed to be worldwide sensations and the biggest Pay-Per-View events in the history of television.

This movie was advertised as a 95-minute check your brain at the door blood fest and instead had a deep-rooted message about the dangers of technology and a sensationalistic existence. The relationship between “Kable” and his controller was barely explored at all and instead focused on “Kable” longing to be with his family and what he was fighting for.

This easily could have been a great buddy action flick with the difference being that the partners are really living one existence in the game and how they had to work together to take down the man. That concept could have been so much more entertaining than what Gamer ended up being.

The visuals were great, especially when describing the other sensationalistic video game, “Society”, that was like a live-action Sims game, but with more gratuitous nudity. Aside from that there really wasn’t enough to make this worthwhile to see in the theatre.

I look at Gamer and I think of wasted potential. The acting was good and the visuals were good, but when a movie is advertised as a hardcore action movie and comes across more as a preachy drama, I think you lost your mission statement at some point and therefore will lose your audience.

Because of the lack of originality and the lack of action, I can’t in good conscience give this a good score. At best, this is a worthy rental on a slow weeknight, but not worth the price of admission at a theatre.

Gamer gets a 2 out of 5.

-Ray Carsillo

Tags: , , , ,
Comment

No Escape, No Asylum

Filed under: Written — Leave a comment

Originally Published: September 4, 2009, on Lundberg.me, 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com), Examiner.com, and Comicvine.com

After many delays, Batman: Arkham Asylum has finally arrived. Written by long-time Batman comic and cartoon writer, Paul Dini, this original Dark Knight tale might not only go down as the greatest comic book video game to date, but it is my current choice for the 2009 Game of the Year.

The basic premise of the game is that our hero has caught the Joker once again after he broke free to wreak havoc on Gotham. As Batman helps the Arkham guards escort the Joker to his comfy corner cell, the Joker, in a unique haphazard way all his own, breaks free from their grasp and reveals that his true plot was to lure the Dark Knight into his grandest trap yet, an asylum run by the inmates.

Now the Dark Knight must fight his way through some of his most fearsome foes on their home turf along with a few hundred of Joker’s cronies from Blackgate Prison (that just so happened to be transferred to Arkham in time for Joker’s “surprise party”) as he tries to restore order in the most chaotic situation he has ever been immersed in.

Any Batman fan immediately knows the implications when any story arc will weave its way through Arkham Asylum, never mind an entire video game plot. This is where Batman drops off his degenerate villains after he disrupts their “master plans” to destroy, torment, or conquer Gotham, no matter what they might be. So for the Dark Knight to be surrounded by hundreds of these thugs, lowlifes, and insane super-criminals for an extended period of time, does not bode well for the Caped Crusader as his mind will be tortured just as much as his body.

The look for this game is anything but torture for the player though. The first and most striking aspect of this game is how beautiful it looks. From the gothic architecture of the Old World style buildings of Arkham to the movement of Batman’s cape, the graphics for this game are unreal. You could, for a minute, forget you are playing a game and fool yourself into thinking you’re watching one of the movies.

After you examine the looks for a game, the next thing most people notice is how a game sounds. With an orchestral theme worthy of the movies and superb voice acting from many of the same people who voiced the characters from Batman: The Animated Series including Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, Harley Quinn, and, of course, Batman and the Joker and you have the most pleasant audio experience you could hope for from any video game.

So the peripherals for the game are superb. But what about the gameplay? I can say with full confidence that this was the most engrossing and intense game I have played in a long time. From the FLAWLESS fighting mechanic where you can just string together amazing, free-flowing, bone-crunching combos on thugs to truly stepping into the Dark Knight’s boots as you prey on unsuspecting, gun-toting criminals from the shadows and stringing up goons from gargoyles as a sign for others that you are coming for them and no amount of Joker face paint will save them from your righteous vengeance, there is not a more pleasurable gaming experience to be had from any game I’ve played in the recent past.

Not to mention that the more foes you pummel, the more gadgets and combo moves you can purchase with experience points to give yourself an arsenal truly worthy of Gotham’s Guardian. It is a great feeling to take a thug out of a fight permanently by breaking his ankle or dislocating his shoulder with some upgraded counter moves or bringing an armed henchman to his knees from the shadows with a special sonic emitting batarang without him even knowing you were ever there.

The only weak point the game might have is in replay value. Although it is wonderful to explore every nook and cranny of the massive Arkham Island, once through is really enough to get the full story. There are special collectibles that the Riddler leaves in order to try to test your detective skills, but any decent Batman fan should be able to crack the references rather easily on the first time through.

There is an extra challenge mode where you can step into the boots of the Dark Knight (and the purple wingtips of the Joker if you pick up the PS3 version) as you try to either pummel as many thugs as you can while building up a high score or sneaking around and taking out as many thugs as stealthily as you can as you race the clock, but they grow stale quickly so the only drawback would be that this game just doesn’t give you enough to keep bringing you back for much more.

In the end, the game probably offers a solid 15 hours of gameplay even if you solve all of the Riddler’s riddles and the live up to the challenges of the Challenge Mode. The game is a beautifully crafted masterpiece that plays out like an awe-inspiring comic arc. I would’ve liked more villains to fight aside from Croc, Ivy, Bane, Harley, Zsasz, Scarecrow, and Joker considering their referencing almost 40 villains as you progress through the asylum with special emphasis on Mr. Freeze and Clayface’s cells, but I guess that just means we’ll have to have a sequel to this spectacular gaming experience.

Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.

Graphics: 10.0: From little details like battle damage to your batsuit as the game progresses to the way your cape flows as you run across Arkham Island makes Batman: Arkham Asylum the most beautiful game I can remember seeing in a long time.

Audio: 10.0: Bringing back a lot of the original voice talent from Batman: The Animated Series brought back some great memories from my childhood as Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy are the definition of the Joker and Batman. Along with a musical score worthy of a motion picture and the audio couldn’t help but bring a smile to my face.

Plot/Plot Development: 9.0: Although the plot was superb and the development of things kept you guessing at every turn, I dock a point because I’ve seen the “Batman trapped in Arkham” line before, just to a lesser degree. It has never been flushed out like this, but I had flashbacks at certain points of the game to the Knightfall storyline and a few episodes of the cartoon. It was still spectacular to see it portrayed like this though.

Gameplay: 9.5: Only a couple of minor glitches that I can remember if I accidentally swung around a corner too tightly or was forced into a corner by a crowd of thugs. These can be forgiven though considering how smooth the fighting engine is and there is no greater feeling than swooping down from a gargoyle and stringing up a thug as he screams for help.

Replay Value: 5.0: The Riddler collectibles are easy to find, especially as you go back after unlocking certain devices for your utility belt and the Challenge Mode isn’t very challenging so this is the only aspect I thought the game lacked in. Batman: Arkham Asylum is very much a one and done kind of game.

Overall (not an average): 9.5: Aside from the replay value, this game is spectacular in every aspect. It is my choice for the 2009 Game of the Year as of right now and I can’t stress enough that any video game fan, not just Batman fan, will probably fall in love with the awesomeness of this game. I would’ve liked more villains for a longer game also, but I’m just being picky.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is out now for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.

-Ray Carsillo

Tags: , , , , ,
Comment

The Call for a Hero

Filed under: Video — Leave a comment

Originally Published: September 1, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Comicvine.com

Five years ago, Cryptic Studios released a game, which many of you might remember, called City of Heroes that intended to give the player the ultimate personal experience of becoming one’s own super hero. Once released though, Cryptic realized that no amount of patches would allow them to create the ULTIMATE online superhero experience in that format.

So they returned to the drawing board. Technology advanced, graphics improved, online games became faster, and superheroes evolved. Now, influenced heavily by the popular pencil and paper RPG Champions, Cryptic has released their MMORPG masterpiece.

Champions Online gives you the opportunity to immerse yourself in a superhero world on a scale unheard of in MMORPGs. Not only is the game itself massive, but the options are nearly endless when creating your superhero.

This might actually be the best part of the game, especially as you unlock more costume pieces. I spent close to two hours creating the look of my superhero and my hero is far and away one of the more simple characters you’ll see in the fictional world of Champions Online. Mixing color schemes, utility belts, capes, cowls, boots, gloves, hundreds of emblems, and every other possible combination you could think of to make your hero. Not to mention several species choices, as well.

Before choosing your hero’s look, the most important aspect of the game is choosing your power set. From martial arts to archery to elements like fire and ice, you can customize your heroes’ powers like never before, including mixing and matching! You could have an archer that breathes fire or a martial artist that also carries a shotgun for good measure. The possibilities are near endless!

After creating your hero and his back story (optional), you’re then immersed in a series of basic tutorial missions that will probably take you close to an hour alone to completely blow through before you start traveling to different locales across the globe as you try to quell a larger, worldwide threat.

Now, I admit that I’m only up to about a Level 13, and I have only gotten through the first two locales, but I realize I have only just to begun to scratch the surface of this game’s story. In order to help get a more in-depth analysis of the parts that I probably won’t be able to reach before my 90-day press kit runs out, I spoke with Executive Producer for Champions Online and MMORPG legend for his work on World of Warcraft and the Diablo series, Bill Roper.

Champions Online Preview w/ Ray Carsillo
Video by Jared Bodden

Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.

Graphics: 7.5: For a MMORPG, considering how many players are involved at once and since it does have a comic book theme, the cel-shading was a perfect choice for the graphics, but it is still a drain on your PC unless you have a top of the line gaming PC.

Audio: 8.0: The music can get a little repetitive after a while, especially considering how easily you can become addicted to MMORPGs, this included, is really the only draw back.

Plot/Plot Development: 10.0: A complex plot that encompasses several different locales in a massive sandbox world will keep you engrossed as you attempt to find every secret, perk, and bonus mission as you try to save the world and become the ultimate hero.

Gameplay: 7.0: Simple gameplay that is easy to just pick up and play gives this a solid score. A good amount of lag on servers that aren’t being stressed by the true masses yet though knocks this score down considerably.

Replay Value: 10.0: The true value of an MMORPG is how much it offers you to keep coming back. The reason why I let a lot of my subscriptions run out on MMORPGs is because most of the time I get so addicted that my already abysmal social life is put even further on hold. This game does the same. My entire weekend flew by in the blink of eye as I devoted great portions of my Saturday and Sunday to the computer screen. Add-in an arena system that you gain access to at level 10 to battle other heroes and test your mettle and this game will easily occupy your time for a long while.

Overall (not an average): 8.5: This game is easily the most pure super hero fix you can find out there and will make you forget everything in the real world as you will get pulled in with believable characters, awesome powers, and an original, compelling storyline. If you are a fan of superheroes or MMORPGs, then this game is a must have on September 1st via ChampionsOnline.com.

Also, a very special thanks to my editor Joseph Layton for letting me use his gaming computer, otherwise this review would not be possible.

Review computer specs (incase you’re curious):
OS: Windows XP SP3
CPU: Intel Pentium D 3.2 Ghz
Memory: 2GB RAM
Graphics: NVidia GeForce 9800GT
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Extreme

-Ray Carsillo

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Return to Glory

Filed under: Written — Leave a comment

Originally Published: August 25, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Examiner.com

It’s that time of year again. Stacks of fantasy football magazines litter the floor of your living room, emptied Red Bull cans overflowing your trash can, and your thumb is locking up from practicing smashing the truck stick on your game controller.

Football season is practically here and with it comes the annual release of one of the most popular (and profitable) franchises of all-time, MADDEN.

After a down year in 09, EA Sports went back to the drawing board with their even-year team (two teams at EA are constantly working on the Madden franchises, one on even years and the other on odd) and have come out with possibly the best Madden ever.

It’s hard to decide where to even begin in our discussion of improvements so we’ll start with the first thing you see when you pop it in your console. The graphics are back to a standard worthy of the current generation of consoles and for the Madden franchise. The players and playbooks do not look condensed on the field and having full, individual models in the stands again makes the game look gorgeous.

The gameplay is smooth, although it slows down a bit on kickoffs on the Xbox 360. Aside from this minor lag, the game is smooth in every other aspect. This is a surprising point considering the inclusion of this year’s main selling point, the all new PRO-TAK.

PRO-TAK is Madden’s new gang-tackling system to provide the most realistic tackling system to date. Now, your speed running back can be pushed forward for that extra yard by having his offensive linemen come up from behind and help push him through that pesky cornerback or a power running back that would normally run over that lanky safety (Brandon Jacobs) can be slowed down enough for linebackers and defensive ends to catch up and assist with the tackle to prevent the back from getting that critical first down.

The PRO-TAK animations are seamless and it is as close as you’ve ever gotten in a video game to watching real football.

Along with the inclusion of PRO-TAK, there is also an updated playbook that includes the Wildcat formation for certain teams. The four setting difficulty system also returns and has been made the primary difficulty system again over last year’s dreadful Madden IQ. Although Madden IQ can still be used as an option, the game automatically sets itself up with the Pro difficulty and you can adjust up or down from there.

There are only two real downers in this newest Madden experience. The first is that it takes a lot of time to speed through all the replays and get through the game. I understand that the game has a lot to load (especially for Xbox 360) to make it look as smooth as it does, but it almost feels just like real football because it takes so long to get to your next play selection.

This is especially evident when you get to halftime and they try to force you to watch an NFL Network-like halftime show hosted by Fran Charles and Alex Flanagan. Fran actually hosts the show and Alex voice-overs stats around the league, which makes no sense, and not just that the guy is named Fran and the girl is named Alex, but because that they didn’t show the hot chick and showed the dude instead. Incase you didn’t get the memo; most people who play Madden are guys. Tangent aside, trying to fast-forward through the halftime show is like trying to drive a Corvette ZR-1 through five feet of mud.

The other downside is the return of Cris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond as the color commentary and play-by-play announcers. Collinsworth isn’t really that bad with his color although he tries a little too hard to have his own oxymoronic sayings in pitiful attempts to sound like John Madden used to (“When the offense runs a play and it isn’t a negative, it’s a positive”). The real downer, once again, is Tom Hammond who is just dry and dull to the point where you want to stick your head in the sand while you play.

These minor complaints aside, this might be the best Madden in half a decade and is the first one truly worthy of the current console generation. PRO-TAK is a brilliant addition and the gameplay is back to the high level we were used to from years past. The only other major complaint is that I’m deeply saddened by the absence of John Madden in his game. Aside from an opening credit montage that he voices and his image occasionally popping up in different menus, John Madden has almost completely removed himself from his own game. It will be interesting to see where the franchise goes now with its founder looking to step back from the helm.

Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.

Graphics: 10.0: The visuals are flawless. I couldn’t find a single glitch. It is a visual gem.

Audio: 6.0: A great selection of music on the menus as always from EA Sports. They know just what tunes would get you pumped up for football season. The audio gets a low number, though, due to how bad Tom Hammond does the play-by-play and how Cris Collinsworth’s impersonation of John Madden is shameful. They still can’t get Al Michaels to come back?

Plot/Plot Development: N/A: It’s a sports sim…

Gameplay: 9.0: Long load times are the only real downside to the gameplay for Madden 10. PRO-TAK is the football gaming revolution we have been waiting for and hopefully it will last a lot longer than QB Vision did.

Replay Value: 9.0: After a while the typical gameplay glitches will start to arise if you are an elite Madden gamer, but if not you’ll have fun pushing the A.I. to its limits. Add in online capabilities and Madden 10 is more than enough of a fix for any addicted football fan.

Overall (not an average): 9.0: After last year’s version was barely average, the even-year team came out with a winner to pull the Madden franchise out of its short rut. The new PRO-TAK system brings the game to an entirely new level and the looks of the game have been brought back up to snuff. Everything else we love about Madden is still there combined with these improvements and positive additions makes this the best Madden in probably half a decade and the first to be worthy of the Madden franchise in at least three years.

-Ray Carsillo

Tags: , , , , ,
Comment

Lurking in the Shadows

Filed under: Written — Leave a comment

Originally Published: August 18, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Examiner.com

I want to continue our exploration of games being featured on Xbox Live’s Summer of Arcade and in doing so we look at an exclusive downloadable game.

Shadow Complex is a product from Chair Entertainment and Epic Games (the same team that produced Gears of War) and the best way to describe the gameplay is a mix between Bionic Commando and Metroid.

A 2.5D side-scrolling shooter, Shadow Complex is the story of how a couple of hikers in the woods stumble upon an anarchist plot to overthrow the U.S. government, starting with San Francisco. The hero of our story, Jason, must rescue his girlfriend from the clutches of this unknown organization after she is captured during their hike and, in the process, defend truth, justice, and the American way by taking down the entirety of the underground complex.

The story progresses extremely quickly, but this is understandable considering downloadable games are typically far shorter than disc-based games for the sake of hard drive space and download times. Unfortunately, it seems to only skim the top of a much larger plot and keeps you in the dark even after the game ends (maybe that’s why they call it Shadow Complex?). Of course, the end credits do reveal that the game is a compliment to an actual novel and that the game is set in the universe of Orson Scott Card’s Empire series. Nice to see Epic Games encouraging us to read more by making us go out and get a book to figure out the larger plot to their game. A maximum of 10 hours worth of gameplay if you go through the training mode and set it to the highest difficulty, if you just blow through the story mode and gather a decent amount of collectibles, you can get complete it all in 4-5 hours.

The gameplay is smooth for the most part, but the 2.5D aspect with enemies coming out of corridors that you yourself cannot enter makes it difficult to know who or what you’re aiming at most of the time. A variety of special weapons and upgrades, including a prototype suit of armor with a grappling hook and speed boost, make dispatching the enemies in new and creative ways a constant thrill, though. There are also several methods to solve each problem. If you can’t find the jump boost, you can make a bridge out of the foam shot. If you lack the grappling hook, you might be able to run up a curved wall with the speed boost. This non-linear play is a nice change considering how linear side-scollers traditionally are and this harks back to Bionic Commando and Metroid.

It is a pretty game for a side-scroller and the cut scenes are just as good as if it was a regular disc-loading game. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound nearly as good as it looks. A lack of overall music is a disappointment and the few times it comes in it actually shocks you out of the illusion of the game because it is so rare. Add in cheesy, over-the-top voice acting and you might as well just wear earmuffs while playing.

A few minor details bothered me in Shadow Complex, most notably the aiming dynamics, but in terms of story, action, and item collection it deserves to be in the same class as Bionic Commando and Metroid, two of the all-time great side-scrollers. If you’re looking for a cheap game to kill a few hours with some quality old-school gameplay, Shadow Complex is a great pick up as Xbox wraps up it’s summer arcade push.

Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.

Graphics: 8.0: Considering it is a downloadable game, the graphics are really good. During the game itself, the graphics are flawless and very pretty. I only take a couple of points off because the cut scenes, which Epic usually makes so beautiful, weren’t as smooth as I suspected in a few instances.

Audio: 4.0: The little bit of music the game offers jolts you out of the experience instead of enhancing it and the cheesy voice acting makes the listening experience a very poor one. Good use of SFX for the guns and explosions keeps this score out of the basement.

Plot/Plot Development: 7.0: Certain parts of the plot were a little too convenient and others were sloppy and left you guessing at plot points. The fact that you might need to read a novel to understand all the loose strands of plot keeps this from being a classic story. I would prefer a stand-alone tale over a compliment to another story.

Gameplay: 9.0: Solid action, combined with flawless, glitchless play that allows you several methods to solve problems in the game makes this a truly enjoyable experience. Four levels of difficulty and a pretty thorough training mode could provide up to 10 hours of gameplay, which is great for a downloadable game. The only downside to the game was trying to aim at enemies in the background where your character could not go.

Replay Value: 8.0: With four difficulty levels and hundreds of collectibles, there is plenty to bring you back to Shadow Complex as you try to find every nuance to the massive underground bunker.

Overall (not an average): 8.0: A good game made great considering it is downloadable software. I would love to see a fleshed out, more polished version of Shadow Complex with even more levels and collectibles and a less vague story. Until then, this is not an elite level game (its close), just a great value for your buck.

Shadow Complex is available for download exclusively on Xbox Live on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009, for 1200 Microsoft points ($15 American dollars).

-Ray Carsillo

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

Blast from the Past

Filed under: Written — Leave a comment

Originally Published: August 14, 2009, on Examiner.com and 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com)

Some of my fondest memories from my childhood are my dad and me or with a few friends heading down to the local arcade. Some of my earliest video game memories were formed here and we even had my 6th birthday at the Electric Circuit (that was the name of the arcade). I would feed endless quarters into classic games like X-Men, Spider-Man, The Simpsons, Tekken, and House of the Dead. As we got older though, places like Electric Circuit started to disappear as games evolved and became oriented more towards the home living room, making places like arcades unnecessary. Once my friends and I got our driver’s licenses, we would have to drive farther and farther to try to find decent arcade hangouts until it got to the point that it just wasn’t worth searching anymore. So, in many places, like the local video store being forced out by services like On Demand and Netflix, the arcade is almost extinct and only lives on in many of our memories.

With similar dreams of childhoods lost, Microsoft saw the perfect opportunity to conjure up some nostalgia when they created the Xbox Live Arcade, where you can download, for a small fee, an endless array of games that have been digitally converted. Every console has a system like this in place, but I focus on Xbox’s Arcade because, in what is becoming an annual summer push for old-school games, two of my old arcade favorites have been re-released.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 were actually sequels to already smash-hit arcade games, but brought brand new wonders to their respective franchises. Turtles in Time incorporated new characters from the, at that time, recently released film TMNT 2: Secret of the Ooze. MvC2 nearly doubled the roster of fighters from the first game and added a third member to their revolutionary roulette system that allowed you to switch between active and benched fighters in the middle of combat effortlessly.

After downloading both these games for small fees (Turtles in Time cost 800 Microsoft points, roughly $10 dollars, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was 1200 Microsoft points, roughly $15 dollars) Amazingly, not only do the games maintain their original greatness, but the tweaks and additions given by Microsoft make these classics well worth the download.

In honor of the Turtles’ 25th anniversary, Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled Edition has completely revamped and upgraded graphics and the gameplay now includes a full 360 degree attack arc. The difficulty has been amped up a little as well with four different levels and the classic survival mode has been included from when the game was originally ported to the SNES almost 20 years ago. The game also includes up to four player co-op like the original and you can find extra players over Xbox Live if you don’t have enough controllers (or friends willing to play an 18-year old game with you in the middle of the night). Add in that the voice actors from the current TMNT cartoon have voiced-over what was originally text during the few cinemas from the game and Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled Edition will make you feel like a kid again while still appreciating just how far gaming technology has come.

The only downside to the experience was that the game is only a port of the original arcade game and the extra level that was in the SNES version that allowed the inclusion of Bebop and Rocksteady was not included in this version. Also, none of the classic Turtles music was included and this saddened me a little as a hardcore fan. Still, for only $10, this download was well worth it.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 doesn’t have any major upgrades in the visual department and the gameplay is largely the same as the arcade version. The only real upgrades were the addition of a training mode to really refine your 100-hit combos and the ability to play opponents over Xbox Live with your stats tracked on Marvel vs. Capcom 2′s official website. Unfortunately, there are a lot of glitches with the game at this time, but I’m sure Capcom’s tech-heads are hard at work trying to smooth these out to ensure everyone gets their classic arcade button-mashing fix in.

Hopefully, these two arcade classics making their way to home consoles will open the floodgates for more classic games like The Avengers, Virtua Cop, Time Crisis, or Fatal Fury to make their ways back into our hearts and minds. At the very least, these games give us a chance to reminisce and appreciate just how far gaming has come over the past couple of decades and remind us that true classics can stand the test of time (even if sometimes they need a little extra work for that to happen).

Both Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled Edition and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 are available now on Xbox Live.

-Ray Carsillo

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment