Tag Archive: xbox 360


‘Bustin’ Makes Me Feel Good

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April 19, 2010

Originally Published: June 15, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com), Examiner.com, and Lundberg.me

The 80s was a hotbed for geek culture. With Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles permeating the popular culture, it’s hard not to see why my generation is having a renaissance of our childhood, as these franchises have celebrated or soon will be celebrating anniversaries.

The only geek-geared franchise that began in the movies though, and is now celebrating its 25th anniversary by releasing both a brand new video game and both movies on Blu-ray on June 16, was, of course, Ghostbusters.

With shock-value scares and classic humor from some of the greatest comedy minds of the era, Ghostbusters struck chords with fans young and old (although some of us younger fans couldn’t truly appreciate all the comedy until we hit our early teens).

From an entire universe being encapsulated in the fictional work of “Tobin’s Spirit Guide” to the gluttonous green ghoul called “Slimer” haunting the Sedgewick Hotel, Ghostbusters caught our imaginations from the opening scenes. Add in classic characters like the sarcastic Peter Venkman, and “the heart of the Ghostbusters,” Ray Stantz, and you had an instant classic.

Unfortunately, after two movies, a long running cartoon series, and a cartoon-inspired line of action-figures and video games, Ghostbusters faded away far quicker than those other classic 80’s franchises. Die-hards of the series though had always been clamoring for more; especially a third movie to complete what many have felt should have been a film trilogy.

While rumors continue to swirl about a third movie script being green lit by Columbia Pictures (which actually have some validity to them after I chatted with Harold Ramis, which you can check out by CLICKING HERE), many fans are saying this new video game is the closest thing we will get to a third movie.

The story opens up in 1991, two years after the end of the second Ghostbusters movie, with your character being hired as the newest Ghostbuster. Simply known as “the rookie,” you begin your Ghostbusting career ominously by short-circuiting the famed containment grid that holds all the ghosts, ghouls, and specters that the Ghostbusters had already caught. Only a couple of ghosts escape, including our old friend Slimer, before Egon can get the grid back online. However, since you let them go, you have to catch them. Thus begins the obligatory training level as you hunt the loose ghosts in the Ghostbusters firehouse’s basement. After catching the first ghost, Slimer floats out of the firehouse to find safety at his favorite old haunt, the Sedgewick Hotel.

After arriving at the hotel and disposing of Slimer in similar fashion to the first movie, Egon reveals the startling news that there is a lot more ghost activity going on in the hotel other than Slimer (anyone remember the twinkie?). Thus begins the stirring of a plot that started in the first two movies and will come to a fright-filled, comedic head in the game to give a fitting finish to this trilogy.

Visually, this game is stunning. From the ghosts and goblins to the Ghostbusters themselves, this game looks hauntingly good. The environments set the mood perfectly as you work your way through such unsuspecting settings as the New York Public Library to the murky New York City sewers as you uncover a cataclysmic plot over a century old. Add in the classic Ghostbusters soundtrack to help lighten or darken the mood as necessary and you’ve got a game that feels like you’re playing a new movie.

The gameplay is strong, but not perfect. No one actually dies in the game, but if you or the other Ghostbusters get knocked around too much, you’ll be planted on your backside like a turtle as you wait for someone to help you up (they’re carrying around 100 lbs. of equipment on their backs, not easy to lift while on the ground). This sets up an interesting conundrum while fighting harder ghosts. Do you keep saving your own bacon or risk it to pick up your teammates and get some extra proton streams on the ghoulish baddies? Sometimes the decision is made for you though as some ghosts, either by accident or on purpose, not quite sure, will hover directly above your fallen comrades and prevent you from reviving them. Unfortunately, if everyone in the party gets knocked out, you have to start the mission over from a checkpoint. To say this can be frustrating after being knocked out 15-20 times on hard mode is an understatement. Along with a few too many glitches for my liking, it does a lot to remove you from the overall experience that this game tries to create.

A big positive for the game is the replay value. An impressive multiplayer system that allows you to team up with up to three friends to bust ghosts in three different modes will have you coming back for more as you try to rack up the high score as you catch more and more ghouls online. Add in a varying amount of possessed collectibles per story mode level and the challenge of trying to scan every breed of ghost with your PKE meter into your own personal Tobin’s Spirit Guide and what is only a 10-15 hour story mode will easily give you many more hours of secondary gameplay.

Of course though, the best part is that there is no greater feeling than listening to all of the original Ghostbusters come back and do their own voices for this video game. Bill Murray sounds like he forced his performance a bit since it has been so long since he has been involved in a comedy anywhere near the quality of Ghostbusters, but age hasn’t affected any of the other Ghostbusters and Ernie Hudson surprisingly sounded the best of the bunch. Along with Alyssa Milano as Venkman’s newest love interest and this star studded cast delivers for the most part another classic comedic performance.

If you are a fan of Ghostbusters, this game is beyond a must-have. A story that has been waiting 20 years to be made, this game is the culmination of everything fans have come to love from the series and more. There is no greater satisfaction than forcing a ghost into a well-placed trap and listening to Venkman whine when a new ghost slimes him from behind. An instant classic! For the nostalgia alone, this game could be a game of the year contender.

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

Graphics: 9.5: The game is beautiful visually. From the way the proton stream wraps around ghosts as you try to wrestle them into traps to the character and ghost models themselves, this game will blow you away with graphics. Only that the models look a tad cartoony at times keeps this game from getting a perfect score (not counting the Wii version which purposely looks more cartoony).

Audio: 10.0: The entire original Ghostbusters soundtrack is included and it makes even the load screens entertaining. Add in tremendous voice acting from everyone involved and the SFX being spot on with how they should sound and this game is a treat for your ears.

Plot/Plot Development: 9.0: The plot ties together with the first two movies perfectly and develops at a natural pace like you were watching another 90-minute masterpiece. The game explained many common questions from the first two movies very well, but also brought up a few new questions with the Ghostbusters canon. For the most part though, everything was well explained in terms of new plot points, technologies, and spirit guide additions. Only drawback would be that if you haven’t seen the movies, you might miss many references. Of course, if you haven’t seen the movies, you most likely aren’t going to want the game either.

Gameplay: 7.5: Glitchy and frustrating at times, considering everything that is happening on screen it can be forgiven to a point. It was nice to see a game’s hard mode actually be hard and not just a walk in the park like the easy mode. If you’re looking for a challenge and can tolerate the, at times, weak teammate A.I., then you’ll definitely enjoy the game experience overall. Another nice feature would have been able to customize your rookie Ghostbuster on all systems, a feature only found on the Wii.

Replay Value: 8.5: Plenty of collectibles from haunted items to filling your personal Tobin’s Spirit Guide will be plenty to keep you coming back for a few more story play throughs. Add in though a very enjoyable multiplayer mode online where you compete with friends to catch ghosts and earn cash and any fan of the series, the game, or both will keep coming back for more.

Overall: 9.0 (not an average): The game provides everything you could have hoped to expect from it. A great plot that continues the classic Ghostbusters storyline along with awesome surprises will make any and every fan of this classic series jump for joy on more than one occasion as they play through the story mode. Along with a solid multiplayer mode and this game is a must have for anyone where ‘bustin’ makes them feel good.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game will be out for every system on June 16th.

-Ray Carsillo

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And the Winner is…

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Originally Published: June 5, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Examiner.com

After four days of press conferences, huge announcements, and new demos, E3 has drawn to a triumphant close. Only now can we look back and truly analyze the full goings-on of the conference and draw the undeniable conclusion that Xbox 360 was the clear winner amongst “The Big Three”.

Now, this isn’t to say that Nintendo or Sony did not put up gallant fights, because they did.

Nintendo came out with the big news of a new Metroid game and that Retro Studios, the developer of the Metroid: Prime trilogy, would not be working on this game, but that Team Ninja of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive fame would be mixing first- and third-person shooter elements in Metroid: Other M. An early trailer with Samus fighting against Ridley looked breathtaking, but I’m not sure if the strong anime style graphics will appeal to Nintendo’s hardcore audience. Fanboys everywhere though will rejoice from the many scenes of Samus outside of her famous gold and red spacesuit.

Along with this, Nintendo’s other surprise reveal was Super Mario Galaxy 2, Mario’s first true sequel since the SNES and the first in 3D. The early trailer showed that the Yoshi clan will return with many different powers and colors, much like in Super Mario World for SNES, to lend Mario a hand once again. These reveals, along with New Super Mario Bros. for Wii, another remake of the all-time classic, this time with 4-player co-op action and new powers like the propeller suit, were the only real eye-openers to Nintendo’s presentation.

Other news from the Nintendo front was the reveal of a Wii Vitality Sensor which monitors your heart rate as you play games. I appreciate Nintendo always trying to think outside of the box, but unless it is packaged with one of their Balance Board workout games like the newly revealed Wii Fit 2 (basically Wii Fit with more exercises; Heath Bell will be thrilled), this sensor looks like the biggest waste of money since the Virtual Boy. This lack of earth shattering reveals means that Nintendo is simply staying the course and that they are beginning to hit the same problems they had with the Gamecube: a lack of third party development, aside from a look at No More Heroes 2: Desperate Measures and Red Steel 2. Of course, in terms of economic times, it’s also safer just to push established titles (which you see from everyone now; we are living in the era of the sequel), hence another Metroid and two more Mario games.

Sony led with the worst-kept E3-secret since they were promoting the PS1: the PSP Go! The Go! is a smaller, sleeker, touch-screen-enabled PSP with 16 GB of flash memory and the ability to download games directly to the system. Along with the new system, Sony announced exclusive Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, Assassin’s Creed, Gran Turismo, and Little Big Planet games for their PSP line that will be able to provide exclusive content for their PS3 brethren when you link the PSP and PS3 games.

On the console front, Sony had a couple of blockbuster games up their sleeves to try to steal thunder back from Xbox’s press conference, which revealed a lot of Sony’s formerly exclusive titles would no longer be exclusive. However, Sony did unveil Final Fantasy XIV to be an exclusive. Unfortunately, a nice trailer does not mean the game is anywhere near finished, and considering we’re still months away from FF XIII, I don’t think we’ll see FF XIV for a long while. Along with this, Sony revealed Mod Nation Racers, a game that looks like Little Big Planet, but with go karts.

Much of Sony’s press conference revolved around two things though, God of War III, which was expected (and the live demo of Kratos ripping harpies apart looked fantastic!), and a new motion controller that looks like a remote with a light bulb on the end. This new 1:1 motion controller won’t be released until Spring 2010 and requires the purchase of the PS Eye with it. Its best feature, aside from the 1:1 movement, is the light bulb changes colors depending on the game and actions you take during the game.

Nintendo may not have been the winner, but it definitely wasn’t a loser. Sony on the other hand should just fold up shop at this point like SEGA did after the Dreamcast because the PS3 is going nowhere in terms of innovation. This new motion controller is clearly a rip-off of Nintendo’s Wiimote and adds nothing to the gaming experience besides a light bulb. I understand that bright lights and colors often grab people’s attention, but I’m pretty sure most gamers will want something with a little more substance in the long haul. Considering that Nintendo’s Wiimote will be 1:1 in a few weeks, the Sony motion controller doesn’t have any special features that Nintendo hasn’t thought of.

The PSP Go! is a direct response the DSi as the inclusion of a touch screen seemed necessary as the DS and its variants are outselling the PSP and its variants at about a 2.5:1 ratio at this point and will most likely continue to as long as the PSP and its variants are $100 more than the DS.

In addition, one of the games they spent the most time on, Mod Nation Racers, is nothing more than a Mario Kart rip off with a create-a-track mode, just shows that Sony has run out of good ideas and is the exact opposite of Nintendo in that they have to rely on their third-party developers to survive because their lack of originality is leaving them floundering in the game community. The fact that the games they announced that were the most interesting, Agent, a Rockstar developed game that deals with international espionage, and God of War III, had the least amount of time spent showcasing them just shows how backwards Sony is at this point in time.

This leaves Xbox 360 as the only one to come out with true blockbuster announcements and reveal an actual step forward in motion sensor technology with Project NATAL, which if when released is anywhere near as good as the demo at E3 was, will fly off shelves like the Wii did with its release over two years ago.

With a little help from Steven Spielberg (yes, that Steven Spielberg) and Peter Molyneux of Lionhead Studios (of the Fable franchise, who coincidentally, looks like a bad James Bond villain), Xbox 360 unveiled a motion sensor that would eliminate controllers altogether. With graphics reaching their fullest-potential with current technology, the next step in gaming is apparently going to be finding ways to give gamers a more immersive experience beyond the television set. The Nintendo Wii had capitalized on this with their pre-set waggle commands (which the Xbox 360 folks took a bit of a shot at) and this left Xbox 360 asking “what would be the next logical step in gaming technology?”. They would give us an answer.

Imagine a sensor that connects to your current Xbox 360 and could scan your face, your clothes, objects in your room, and then follow every motion you make perfectly. You would become the controller. No more rechargeable batteries. No more tripping over cords. No more limitations. As development kits are being shipped as you read this, Xbox 360 showed to everyone at E3 several of the endless possibilities this device could have.

They began by playing a Brickbreaker-type game, where you served as the paddle that would deflect projectiles at the bricks. The woman doing the demonstration danced around in a small circle as she hopped, punched, and kicked her way through the first three levels. It was a simple demonstration, but enough to start making eyes bug out of heads.

The next demonstration reminded me of Mario Paint for the Super Nintendo, a game that debuted almost two decades ago. It was a simple program where your arms served as the brush and your voice commands were recognized when you wanted to go to a more detailed or broader painting tool. An interesting concept, but how many gamers would really drop their hard-earned cash on it?

The demonstration that took my breath away though was done with a small film presented by Molyneux, one of the first to get their hands on the development kits. Peter proceeded to introduce us to “Milo,” an A.I. program that responded with original thought to the context of questions and answers it was given and reacted to objects that were scanned into the system, recognizing colors and shapes. This mind boggling revelation means that, in theory, for truly the first time ever, the game could intelligently interact back with you.

It is a bit of a scary thought when you think of all the sci-fi movies that always begin with a benevolent A.I. that runs amok, but also think of the gaming possibilities: Calling out commands to squad mates in Call of Duty, climbing up towers that nearly touch the sky in Assassin’s Creed, ducking for cover in Gears of War, all with never pressing anything more than the “on” button.

Of course, I’m sure there are a lot of additions and changes that need to be made before an optimistic release for the Fall of 2010 (and to get the image of SkyNet out of people’s minds when they see it ), but Project NATAL’s announcement was the left hook that Sony and Nintendo didn’t see coming. Nintendo is strong enough to withstand it, I’m not so sure about Sony.

Project NATAL aside though, Xbox 360 also dropped major game and system announcements that will have repercussions throughout the ongoing console wars. The announcement of exclusive relationships with Twitter and Facebook that can be accessed via your Xbox Live account and all Netflix movies coming in at 1080p HD brings Xbox Live to a new level in terms of providing quality entertainment and interactivity to home consoles and this comes at no extra charge to your Xbox Live subscriptions.

Add in the announcements of FF XIII and a new Metal Gear, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, will be coming to Xbox 360 as well as the PS3 is a huge blow to Sony’s dwindling exclusives list. This just shows how little of the market Sony is actually appealing to right now and that Xbox 360 is still going strong, even though the Wii is far and away the number-one seller as of this moment.

Aside from snuffing out some of Sony’s exclusivity for certain franchises, Xbox 360 also made strong showings from their own exclusive titles as well as a few new ones. The first one, which did not surprise many people, was Forza Motorsport 3. With the promise of over 400 available cars, new tracks, and better controls, this was an expected announcement that had racing fans nodding with approval.

Then the big guns came out. Halo 3: ODST was revealed as expected along with a new Firefight mode that resembles Gears of War 2’s Horde mode. As everyone knows by now, ODST is a side-story that follows a new character during the events of the third Halo, expanding on the already rich lore of Xbox’s premier franchise. What no one expected though was the announcement of Halo: Reach, another new game in the franchise due out in 2010 that takes you through the fall of humanity’s main colony. Although only a teaser was revealed along with the details that it will be a first-person shooter, this announcement shows that the Halo franchise is alive and well and should have Nintendo and Sony a little worried considering how well Halo always does.

Xbox also revealed an Xbox Live exclusive download called Shadow Complex. It reminded me of a Metroid game in that you start off with all your upgraded devices and weapons in the first level, only to lose them all and have to search through a giant complex that you can go forward and back in as much as you want as you find new weapons to open new doors. Considering it is an Xbox Live game, the promise of a 10+ hour campaign, it is made by the guys who brought us Gears of War over at Epic, and that it reminds me of a great classic franchise like Metroid, will have this at the top of my Xbox Live list when it comes out later this year.

The last exclusive that really knocked my socks off was Alan Wake. Set-up almost like a murder mystery TV show, this survival horror game redefines the idea of lighting effects, especially since it is your main weapon in the game. Alan is a novelist who has lost his inspiration and hasn’t written anything worthwhile in over two years. His wife suggests a nice relaxing vacation in a backwater town up in the state of Washington. Everything seems picture perfect until Alan’s wife disappears and his only clues are pages he keeps finding to a book he hasn’t begun to write yet. With a feel like Stephen King meets Silent Hill, this looks like it will be a worthy addition to Xbox’s exclusive library in the Spring of 2010.

Along with these exclusive titles and announcements, Xbox also revealed that along with PS3 it will have Tekken 6 and a new re-launch of the Castlevania series that is being developed by Hideo Kojima of the Metal Gear series that people are already comparing to God of War in terms of its style. On top of those announcements, looks at Bioshock 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Fight Night Round 4, Madden ’10, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, The Saboteur, Brutal Legend, and Alpha Protocol, which will all be out this year for multiple systems along with the console exclusivity Left 4 Dead 2 (now you can wield an axe!) and Xbox 360 looks very strong in the coming months in terms of their library and the direction they are headed in.

Therefore, as the only system to make an actual technological advancement and to have both strong first- and third-party projects coming out that after a long week of gaming greatness being on display, as the dust has now settled, Xbox 360 walks away the winner after quite possibly their best showing ever.

-Ray Carsillo

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Xbox 360 Project NATAL initial reactions

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Originally Published: June 1, 2009, on Examiner.com

Many people believed that Xbox 360 was going to have a quiet E3 this year. You knew that there would be the major franchises: Halo, Gears of War, Forza. But what Xbox 360 revealed was more than anyone could have expected.

As if the revelation that MGS 5: Rising (starring Raiden and not Solid Snake) was coming to the Xbox 360 as would Final Fantasy XIII from Square Enix (probably due to Sony’s awful sales) were not enough, Xbox 360 dropped the bomb of what could be the next step in gaming.

With a little help from Steven Spielberg and Peter Molyneux of Lionhead Studios (the Fable franchise), Xbox 360 unveiled a motion sensor that would eliminate controllers altogther. With graphics reaching their fullest potential with current technology, the next step in gaming was going to be finding ways to give gamers a more immersive experience beyond the TV set. The Nintendo Wii had captalized on this with their pre-set waggle commands (which the Xbox 360 folks took a bit of a shot at) and this left Xbox 360 asking “what would be the next logical step in gaming technology?”. They would give us an answer.

Imagine a sensor that connects to your current Xbox 360 and could scan your face, your clothes, objects in your room, and then follow every motion you make perfectly. You would become the controller. No more rechargable batteries. No more tripping over cords. No more limitations.

Xbox 360 has very likely created the next step towards virtual reality with what they have dubbed at this point “Project NATAL”. As development kits are being shipped as you read this, Xbox 360 showed to everyone at E3 several of the endless possibilities this addition could have.

They began by playing a Brickbreaker type game where you served as the paddle that would deflect projectiles at the bricks. The girl doing the demonstration danced around in a small circle as she hopped, punched, and kicked her way through the first three levels. A simple demonstration, but enough to start making eyes bug out of heads.

The next demonstration reminded me of Mario Paint for the Super Nintendo from almost two decades ago. A simple paint program where your arms served as the brush and your voice commands were recognized when you wanted to go to a more detailed or broader painting tool. An interesting concept, but how many gamers would really drop their hard earned cash on it?

The demonstration that took my breath away though was done with a small film presented by Peter Molyneux that was done at Lionhead Studios, one of the first to get their hands on the development kits. Peter proceeded to introduce us to “Milo”, an A.I. program that responded with original thought to the context of questions and answers it was given and reacted to objects that were scanned into the system, recognizing colors and shapes. This mind boggling revelation means that in theory, for truly the first time ever, the game could interact back with you.

It is a bit of a scary thought when you think of all the sci-fi movies that always begin with a benevolent A.I. that runs amok, but also think of the gaming possibilites. Calling out commands to squad mates in Call of Duty, climbing up towers that nearly touch the sky in Assassin’s Creed, ducking for cover in Gears of War, all with never pressing anything more than the “on” button. The possibilities are nearly endless and my mind is already racing with these very thoughts.

Of course, there could also be limitations. Not many people have the space in their living rooms to re-enact a futuristic war or sneak along shadowy corridors before assassinating their target. It will be interesting to see how Xbox 360 overcomes this question of space recognition, but the thought of this revolutionary immersal into video games is nearly beyond belief.

There was no date as to when we could expect to see the bugs worked out of NATAL or the complexity of games we could see to go along with it, but even without Sony of Nintendo’s press conferences taken place, Xbox 360 may have already stolen the entire show. So much for a quiet E3, eh?

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Well I’ll Be Damned

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Originally Published: May 31, 2009, on Examiner.com

If someone came up to you and said they were going to make a game that combines the plots of Wild Wild West and Terminator, what would you do? I know I would be pretty damn excited.

That was exactly what was attempted with Damnation, a new third person shooter for Xbox 360. Unfortunately, this Frankenstein-like hodgepodge of plots falls flat on its face before the disc can even get warm in your system.

In Damnation, along the timeline of American history, somewhere during the Civil War, things have taken a nightmarishly drastic turn. Steam powered weapons have been invented by a man named Prescott and sold to both sides of the war. This war profiteering has extended the conflict to the point where people cannot remember a time of peace. Using his now immense wealth, Prescott has emerged in an attempt to reunite the country under his own tyrannical fist with the help of a handy mind control drug he uses to poison unsuspecting towns’ water supplies and an army of robots. As Captain Hamilton Rourke of the resistance, you set off in search of your lost fiancée while undermining Prescott’s advancing robot/zombie army at every possible turn.

Aside from a plot with unrealized potential, this game is a total and utter waste of time. It resembles something from the previous generation of consoles instead of the current. There are more glitches in the first level than most game trilogies have in them.

On top of that, most third person shooters allow the character to duck behind cover, but this game conveniently forgot that so most of the game you’re stuck in the open during a fire fight hoping your trigger finger is faster than the A.I.’s. To make up for this shortcoming, the A.I. was made so abysmal that they won’t use cover either, leaving you and your enemy just out in the open shooting at each other. To say the game play leaves something to be desired is like saying the Palestinians and Israelis have a misunderstanding.

Add in that when you’re not fighting, you’re unnecessarily climbing up walls just because the game wanted to have some Assassin’s Creed elements to it or roaming around on a boxlike motorcycle just to get from desert outpost to desert outpost so they can say they had vehicle levels and the only thing left in the dust is the 10-15 hours of your life that you lost playing this piece of garbage that you’re never going to get back.

There are multiplayer vs. and co-op modes, but why you would ever want to put another person through this kind of torture is beyond me. The worst part is that, if you should play it, you need another person to get about 60% of the Gamerscore for this game and unless you’re in Guantanamo Bay, people are going to be a little hesitant when it comes to torture like this.

Along with horrible, last-gen graphics, insane load times even for Xbox 360, and the worst voice acting I’ve ever heard in a game, Damnation is just plain damned and not even worthy of serving as a coaster for my coffee mug, never mind ever seeing the lens of my Xbox 360 ever again. Avoid it at all costs.

-Ray Carsillo

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Like Staring into a Crystal Ball

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Originally Published: May 18, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Lundberg.me

One of the major selling points for any video game nowadays is its potential beyond the confines of the disc itself. Sequels are usually the first things that come to mind, but what has become increasingly popular have been the map and expansion packs that can keep you immersed in some of your favorite worlds. Whether it is ruined industrial wonders that you find in Gears of War 2, or once immaculate cities left in scarred shambles by nuclear war in Fallout 3, expansions packs have been key in keeping these great titles warm in our systems months after their release.

Continuing along these lines was another of 2008’s highly anticipated sequels and one of the best RPG’s out there, Fable II. With the success of one expansion pack already (Knothole Island), the developers knew that the world of Fable II was still ripe for new wonders to be discovered and explored. Thus, for the meager amount of 560 Microsoft points (roughly $7 American dollars) four new quests along with promises of great things to come for our heroes have been released in the new See the Future expansion pack.

Murgo, the traveling salesman of wonders both exotic and mysterious, and who unknowingly sets you on your fate in the beginning of the game when he sells you a mysterious music box that grants its bearer a wish that usually has unforeseen consequences a la the Monkey’s Paw, has returned to Albion with new magical wares. When the great hero approaches, Murgo realizes that he has found just the customer to help him push a few of his more difficult items. He reveals that he has several items that have been cursed and he needs someone to lift the curses to help his shop prosper.

Along with the cursed items, he also has several new goods to add to the game that you might find interesting including potions to turn your mutt into a pure-breed of a canine of your choosing (I chose the husky) and many new face paints and hairstyles to strike that extra bit of fear into your enemies (or friends).

The first item he sells to you, for the same paltry five gold pieces that he sold the cursed music box to you for, is a snow globe that contains a shrunken village that has been cursed (sounds like something from a Superman comic). Supposedly you can hear tiny screams emanating from the snow globe when you place it against your ear like a sea shell.

With a quick flick of your wrist, the curse is activated and you are instantly teleported to a world similar to your own, but lacking any color. Upon exploration of the black and white Albion look alike, you see blue demons sapping the color and strength of one of the snow globes’ denizens. It is then you realize that your weapons are glowing with the colors of your special abilities, blue is your melee weapon, yellow your skill weapon, and red for your will abilities.

After dispatching the blue demons with only your melee weapon, you realize that you must mix and match your styles as you begin to hunt down these color vampires in order to restore order and vibrancy to the miniature Albion.

Once this mission is complete, for another five gold pieces, Murgo gives you a skull, which when activated, teleports you to a graveyard separate from the rest of Albion. A fallen warrior pleads to you from beyond the grave that his soul has been wrongfully entrapped from an odd tomb that you encounter at the beginning of this mystical mound of death. You then acquire special costumes of some of your more bestial foes in order to mimic statues set about the graveyard opening up new doors and releasing the spirits that keep the fallen warrior entrapped.

Though, after freeing all the spirits, you realize you have been tricked: the fallen warrior is actually a ruthless necromancer who was imprisoned amongst those he conjured as an ironic punishment by benevolent spirits.

After defeating the necromancer and lifting the curse of the skull, Murgo sells you a dark item from your hero’s past; a model of Lucien’s tower. Upon activating the tower, you are teleported to where you had to defeat your greatest foe and are met by Theresa once more. She still keeps guard over the tower and reveals that she had sold the items to Murgo in order to test if you were ready for the visions of the future she was ready to impart to you.

After seeing your future, a final item is given to you. A model of what looks like a great Roman Coliseum where you can test your mettle (and earn fantastic prizes!) against wave after wave of foes. This can be repeated again and again for varying prizes and gold and is a sure fire way to build up you bank account (if you can keep surviving).

This expansion pack was a lot of fun because it encompassed everything that Fable has come to stand for, but if you’re a decent player who has leveled up their hero enough, you can blow through these extra quests in about two hours. So, the question then becomes, is two extra hours of gameplay worth seven dollars?

Considering the small price, I think it is well worth the buy and if you are a Fable-freak then you will definitely love the excuse to go exploring Albion again. The See the Future expansion pack is downloadable now via XBOX Live.

-Ray Carsillo

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Smooth as Velvet

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Originally Published: May 14, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Lundberg.me

I admit that I have never been a fan of World War II or other historically based games. I felt that it limited the imagination of the player and the developers because at the end of the day, no matter what happens in the game, we know the outcome of the war. Sure, these specific era based shooters are great and the gameplay and graphics usually try to make up for the lack of originality, but I usually can walk away from the game without finishing it and not really care because in my mind, I still know the ending.

That leads us into today’s review. In Velvet Assassin you play as a female British secret agent during World War II with the gameplay revolving around your lurking in the shadows and undermining the Nazi regime in 1943-1944 Western Europe. I had heard rumors about this game in the later part of 2008 and then saw a demo at NY ComicCon and my interest was immediately piqued: A semi-original storyline (it’s based off a real-life WWII British agent) that didn’t revolve around troop movements and taking out tanks with bazooka launchers. It dealt with the grittier, darker side of war; sneaking cyanide capsules to captured double agents, infiltrating enemy strongholds and single-handedly sabotaging their oil lines or railways, and assassinating high-ranking officials in the middle of the night.

The great thing about this game is that it emphasizes stealth more than anything and it is rare to a see a game do this nowadays. Yes, the Metal Gear series has stealth elements as a strong part of the game, but then again you could hide in a crappy cardboard box and had a wealth of weapons and devices at any moment to help dispatch your enemies. At no time during this game do you have more than three weapons, one of which is your ever-present knife, to remind you that the best kill is the one that doesn’t make a sound (aside from the satisfying noise of your defeated foe gurgling on his own blood). The gameplay was a nice changeup from the run-and-gun style of most of today’s games.

While the game makes you think and work to succeed in ways that most games don’t anymore, the story engrosses you in the character with what has always been a limited subject matter for originality. Firstly, the female lead, Violette Summer (almost sounds like violent summer, any irony there?), is an attention grabber just due to the lack of female leads in games. Add in that she is one of the main weapons for the British on the frontlines doing the unthinkable and you’ve already got me hooked. But that wasn’t enough for SouthPeak Games. To add on top of it, the entire game is her memories of the war while she is in a coma from injuries that are explained as you progress. This also ties into one of the more interesting aspects of the gameplay. You can collect morphine over the course of most levels that represent an increase of her real-life dosage to help slow things down for her and make her dreams less strenuous (and less difficult for you).

Along with the great gameplay and plot, the game is graphically beautiful. From lurking in the shadows of ancient European cathedrals to trudging through the sewers of French ghettos, the visuals are superb. And the shadows are so critical to the entire game as you cross in front of floodlights and watch your silhouette raise the attention of the dozing off guards, or knock the lights out to bathe a room in obsidian safety.

Include a haunting soundtrack and you can actually feel your blood begin to race from the tension, as if you were in the shoes of the heroine, as you know that the wrong move could alert the enemy to your position and almost assuredly forfeit your life. The atmosphere that was created with so little and the clandestine nature of the game leaves you breathless like when you stare directly into the vapid eyes of the gasmask of a flame-trooper while he patrols right by you.

Time-accurate weaponry and locales, stunning graphics, and powerful atmospheric elements that stay with you well after you turn your XBOX360 off, makes this game a great stealth experience. If you’re tired of the usual run-and-gun and looking for a little more strategy from your shooters, this is a must have. Velvet Assassin is out now for XBOX360 and the PC.

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

Graphics: 8.5: Although beautiful, the game is mostly spent in the dark so I can’t give it a perfect score. The lighting effects are top of the line though. Along with some very smooth NPCs (Non-playable characters), this game is not going to disappoint you visually.

Audio: 10.0: There purposely isn’t a lot of music to help immerse you in the experience of being this character and to stress the stealth aspects of the game. The music that is there is moving and sets the mood beautifully. Along with great voice acting by all involved (even if most of it is in a foreign language with subtitles, you could still feel the emotions of the characters) and Melinda Cohen who plays Violette (and doubles as the physical basis for Violette very nicely as well) does a brilliant job.

Plot/Plot Development: 7.0: It is another game based off of real-life events so you still know the historical outcome, but it is a story that hasn’t been told in a WWII game before and super-spies always play better to me than Saving Private Ryan rip-offs. This is more along the lines of Splinter Cell or No One Lives Forever, minus the fictional megalomaniac villains and replacing it with one of the original, real-life megalomaniac villains. This is one of the best stories for a game that you know the ending to that has come out in a long time.

Gameplay: 9.0: Difficult (at least on the hard difficulty I played on) but addictive, this game will keep you entertained for a solid 10-15 hours (I beat it in 11), and for this, that is the perfect length of time. The game is so engrossing that any longer and you would probably start speaking German and lurking in the shadows on your way to work in the morning.

Replay Value: 3.0: There are some interesting WWII inspired collectibles throughout the levels, but aside from that there just isn’t enough to bring you back for a second playthrough once you beat this. Great game, but definitely a one and done.

Overall: 8.0 (not an average): I thoroughly enjoyed Velvet Assassin as it was a nice alternative to all the run-and-gun shooters that usually permeate the market. Although it didn’t have enough to bring me back for more, and the last level was frustrating because it deviated from the stealth theme of the rest of the game, the game as a whole is engrossing and deserves a look from any shooter fan.

Also, I just want to include a special shout-out to Jino Song of Video Game World at 58 Broad St. in Bloomfield, NJ, 07003. Jino was kind enough, for a nominal fee, to fix my XBOX360 after I burned the lens out (it’s what I get for playing games for 10-12 hours a day) in just 24 hours. No hassle, no six week wait for Microsoft to replace my system, just a single day. Without Jino’s help, this review, and any game reviews coming in the next couple of months, would not be. If you have an XBOX360 that is giving you problems or are tired of the lack of personality you usually get from the big chain stores like Best Buy or GameStop, check out Jino’s shop and tell him that Ray Carsillo sent you.

-Ray Carsillo

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The Coldest Summer in Gears History

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April 18, 2010

Originally Published: April 27, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com)

We’re getting close to the summer push for video games when blockbuster after blockbuster will be dropping for the next two months. With the tough economy, not everyone is going to have the chance to drop all that money on the plethora of hits coming out in the next 60 days, though. So you’ll see people maybe get a game or two, but they’ll need more. Well, for those penny-pinchers out there I have been given a solution.

More maps from Gears of War 2!

Now, everyone knows I play a lot of games (I’ve beaten 70 over the past 8 months) over many different genres (fighting, first- or third-person shooters, RTS, RPG, adventure, racing, etc., etc.), but I keep coming back to Gears of War 2 because it is rare nowadays that a game will have the lasting power and deliver the multiplayer mayhem most of us crave like this game.

On top of this, the brilliant minds at Epic Games like to keep things fresh for all its die-hard and casual fans alike and at an affordable price. For only 800 Microsoft points (roughly eight to ten American dollars) you can purchase four brand new multiplayer maps that bring the pain like no others have so far.

Included with the download of the four new maps are nine brand new achievements you can unlock, worth 250 Gamerscore points, as well.

This map pack will have you washing off that Lancer Chainsaw Rifle with Locust blood in no time. I just don’t recommend you eat the red snow…

That reminds me of a critical detail. It’s called the Snowblind Map Pack. That’s right. Soon it may be warm enough to cook eggs on the city sidewalks outside, but inside it’ll be nice and frosty as the new map pack has a wintery theme to help keep you Gearheads cooled off.

The first map included in the new map pack is Fuel Depot. Gear veterans will know that Fuel Depot was an original map in Gears 1, but this time it is blanketed in freshly fallen snow to give the all-time classic a revamped look. Add in Gears 2‘s Guardian mode and heavy weapons and suddenly this familiar map gets an entirely new twist as you re-familiarize yourself with its open and unforgiving sections to the lovely sound of Gatling gun bullets whizzing by your frostbitten face.

The first brand new map we’ll look at is Courtyard. What once was a hustling and bustling metropolis’ civic center is now an arid kill zone with clear lines of sight for whatever team can maintain the elevated sniper’s nest. There is a boiler room though that you can take refuge in and regroup with some grenades/proximity mines should your team lose or fail to grab control of the nest in the onset of the battle. It’s a great map for every mode of play; I found Courtyard to be a particular favorite of mine for Annex or Submission matches.

The next new map is Grindyard. Once used to recycle scrap metal during the more industrial days of Sera’s history, Grindyard has a gutted main office that could act as a guard tower if your team can fortify it first. Some of my best Execution battles have been won and lost in the walkway leading to the top of the tower where there is usually a heavy weapon waiting for you to dole out punishment from high above. If you can’t get the tower, you can try to snipe off opposing team members from two corner offices that are well fortified from enemy fire, but watch your back! There are two ways in and out of the lower offices, unlike the tower office, making it much easier for a less organized team to be picked off from behind. This map is a spectacular arena for Guardian or Warzone game modes.

It’s hard to pick favorites, but this last map would probably be the one I choose out of the new map pack. Under Hill is a scene that many people who have to drive into New York City everyday would appreciate. Snowbound tunnels and tollbooths set the scene here as wrecked cars provide cover as you attempt to reach the top of the paved helix for some prime weaponry. Often higher ground gives you a tactical advantage, but that’s not always so here. The top of the helix is wide open and accessible from two lanes whereas you could always fortify yourself near the bottom inside a garage with an impenetrable steel door and wait to mow down enemies foolish enough to stumble through the narrow rear walkway. Also easily fortifiable are the two far corridors on either side of the garage that always have grenades/proximity mines ready to help you defend it from enemies. While wider than the garage and with much more cover, with the help of some well placed mines, the corridors could easily be a deathtrap for anyone brave enough to wander in by himself. Under Hill is a great map for King of the Hill and Annex matches.

This map pack is a must have download for any Gearhead. If you’re a more casual gamer and you’re looking for some fresh gameplay and are a little strapped for cash in the coming months, a new map pack might be just the thing you need to keep yourself satiated until that tax return check arrives. Gears of War 2’s Snowblind Map Pack is downloadable now on XBOX Live.

-Ray Carsillo

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Ha-dou-ken! 20 Years of Street Fighter

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Originally Published: March 25, 2009, for 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and ESPNVideogames.com

It started as an arcade unit in Japan in 1987. Then it was ported to home consoles in late 1988 and it finally hit American shores in early 1989. The Street Fighter phenomenon has been an integral part of video gaming culture ever since.

There were only two fighting franchises you ever spoke of in public during the beginnings of the video game revolution, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, and lines would be drawn in the sand for which one you preferred. I admit, I was a Kombat-freak, but I still enjoyed and appreciated the nuances of the Street Fighter franchise. Now, 20 years later, Capcom has pulled no punches for its American anniversary with the release of a new movie, video game, and national tournament. In this article, I will take a look at each part of this celebration that has been going on since early February and will wrap up in April with the crowning of a national Street Fighter IV champion.

The first aspect of the celebration was the release of the new video game, Street Fighter IV, on February 18, 2009.

In Street Fighter IV, M. Bison has fallen from power and Shadoloo is no more. All the combatants of Street Fighter have gone their separate ways when a mysterious organization known as S.I.N. has sponsored a new tournament. All the classic characters return with a few new faces to fill out a 25 fighter roster (12 to start including the four new ones, and 13 unlockables from previous Street Fighter incarnations) in what is to be the greatest of all Street Fighter tournaments as the fighters come together to figure out why exactly this new organization has put together a new tournament.

I’ll tell you why. The evil CEO of S.I.N., Seth, is a weapons manufacturer and he has turned himself into the ultimate weapon by injecting himself with a virus that allows him to absorb and mimic all the fighting techniques of those he comes into contact with. Only one person remains to absorb before he can become the most unstoppable force on Earth; he must absorb Ryu, the champion of the Street Fighter tournaments. Thus, the events of Street Fighter IV begin to unfold.

The story has never been the selling point for the Street Fighter franchise. It has always been about the fighting mechanics more than anything else. The story in this is similar to those that have come before; it’s like any anime you would see at 4 AM on Adult Swim so I will not spend any more time talking about the lack of a decent storyline.

What makes or breaks a fighting series is the combat and any additions made over the course of the series. Street Fighter IV, in my mind, disappoints on this front. This is the first entry into the series in nine years (all those Street Fighter III special additions like Alpha or 2nd Impact do not count) and all they added was an “Ultra Combo” that is easily avoided or lacks the power that you would expect with all the work that goes into building up that bar, and a “Focus Attack” that does add an interesting aspect to strategy, but after nine years you would think they could have come up with something with a little more “oomph” than one decent extra attack per character.

For everything else involving the fighting mechanics, it is all the same. Light, medium, and heavy punches and kicks, press both light attacks for a throw, retreat to block, and the special moves are all the same. So after nine years of waiting, all that has been added is four crappy new characters, one new regular move, and one extra combo bar that always misses? “Disappointed” is an understatement. The best aspect of the new game is the awesome opening movie. After that, you might as well break out your Super Nintendo and stick Street Fighter II Turbo in there. Even the cut scenes are disappointingly done in a cheap anime style, which pales in comparison to the amazing looking opening movie.

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

Graphics: 6.5: Considering how great the opening movie was, the rest of the game wasn’t up to par visually. When you have a 2D fighting game, I understand you can only make it look so much like a 3D game before you actually just make it a 3D game, but the lackluster anime cut scenes and the fact that it only looked marginally above the Street Fighter games of old gets this a barely passing grade.

Audio: 8.0: The voice acting reminded me of a badly dubbed kung-fu movie from the 70s. Since I’m not sure if that was the effect they were going for, I can’t dock it a lot, but I do doubt it. The music was catchy and original and the SFX were solid enough to strengthen the score some.

Plot/Plot Development: 5.5: I get that no fighting game ever has a great plot, but again it seems like a bad anime you find in a bargain bin at the grocery store. I miss the days when Bison was the bad guy and you had to fight through his Shadoloo henchmen. At least it was a system that worked.

Gameplay: 7.5: The game had the typical fighting game glitches so there was nothing to get all up in arms about, but considering all the time between titles, they could have added more to this to make it stand out from the rest of the series. I love nostalgia, but give me a break! I didn’t want Street Fighter 2.5, I wanted Street Fighter IV. I wanted something completely new to break the mold and reshape the franchise.

Replay Value: 8.0: Great online play and tons of unlockables make it so that if you enjoy playing the game the first few times through, you’ll probably keep coming back for more.

Overall (not an average): 6.5: The plot was poor, there was a minimum of new features and characters, and the graphics were not concurrent with this generation’s consoles. The voice acting was horrible and the control scheme was the same as it was 20 years ago. For a 20th anniversary installment, this falls on its face faster than Zangief while performing his power bomb. It’s just the same Street Fighter with a new number on the front and for me, that’s not enough.

The next aspect of the 20th anniversary was the national tournament that began on February 21st, 2009, and will continue on until the middle of April.

The national tournament was put together with help from Microsoft and GameStop to provide locations and systems for the tournament and the first round was to be held on the first Saturday after the release of the game, which was February 21st, 2009 at 2PM EST. 2,419 GameStops around the nation would host 64 participants in each location with the top two from each advancing. This totaled 154,816 people competing at the same time nationwide for only 4,838 2nd round spots at another 288 locations, again with the top two advancing leaving only 576 sports for the 3rd round. From these remaining 576 spots, the top 16 players would be taken to San Francisco to compete in the final tournament for a $15,000 Street Fighter IV arcade style unit. Also, all 16 finalists would be given automatic bids into the semi-finals of the Evolution 2009 fighting game tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada, in July.

The rules were simple. Do not interfere with your opponents during gameplay. First to 3 wins would advance. The loser is eliminated. One must be at least 18 years of age to compete or over 13 and accompanied by a parent.

We put together a nice little video here showcasing some of the footage of me competing. Due to legal issues, we could not show any footage from inside the GameStop, only of the game itself.

Street Fighter IV National Tournament – Round 1 w/ Ray Carsillo
Video by Jared Bodden

The stakes were high, but I would advance to the final four of the 1st round with E. Honda before I lost to one guy playing as Balrog. I was one win away from advancing to the next round. It was my best showing in a tournament since my early days in college when I was a Madden and Super Smash Bros. Melee freak.

I had a major gripe with the tournament, though. It seemed fixed. Several of the participants did not show. Not an uncommon situation in a tournament of this size. The problem was that the managers at the GameStop failed to re-bracket the people who did show up.

Now, in situations like this, a re-bracket is expected in order to try to prevent unfair advantages as much as possible. At this particular GameStop, no re-bracketing was issued, which allowed the person who ended up winning the tournament, and defeating me as Balrog in the Final Four, not one, but two rounds worth of byes. On top of this, the participant in question was not requested to leave the room and therefore was allowed to watch all other participants compete and watch their patterns. It gave him a clear, unfair advantage over the rest of the field.

When questioned on this, the manager on duty, whose name I will not reveal to protect him, responded that the participant in question was very good to begin with since he had won a Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament the previous year at that location, insinuating that the managers had stacked the odds in his favor because of his success in a previous tournament for a completely different game.

Since then, the 16 national finalists for the title have been chosen and are preparing for the final tournament to be held in less than two weeks from the posting of this article. It felt great to compete again for the first time in a long time. I just wish I didn’t feel that the tournament was tainted by outside sources and it makes me question the credibility of tournaments that are held by the GameStop Corporation. The reason why this article was not posted sooner was because I had to struggle with myself on whether to include this part or not. I finally came to the decision, as the Finals approach, that it is necessary to help serve as a warning for other competitive gamers in the future to know what standard tournament procedure is and to be not be fooled when told otherwise unless shown in writing by an official tournament representative.

The final aspect of the 20th anniversary was the movie Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li starring Kristen Kruek as Chun-Li, Michael Clarke Duncan as Balrog, and Neal McDonough as Bison.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is a prequel to the entire Street Fighter series, taking place months before the original tournament. It gives you an interesting take on the origins of some the staples of the franchise like Bison, Vega, Balrog, Gen, and, of course, Chun-Li.

I had a chance to catch up with Kristen Kruek back in December at the SpikeTV Video Game Awards and talk to her some about the movie. I think she was scared of me.

Ray Carsillo w/ Kristen Kruek
Video by Jared Bodden

Kristen was really sweet, but I was afraid I was going to break her hand when I shook it after the interview. The girl needs to have a cheeseburger.

The basic premise of the movie is that Chun-Li is a girl born in America and that moves to Asia at a young age when her father, a hugely successful businessman, is transferred. Here, he gets involved with an unsavory character (Bison) who steals Chun-Li’s father away one night for his own diabolical purposes. Chun-Li then begins training for revenge on Bison and to find out her father’s fate.

Anyway, I have to say, even if you are a die-hard fan of the franchise, you will hate this movie. This is the most abominable thing I have ever seen on screen (and I saw Elektra with Jennifer Garner). Clearly the people at Capcom know nothing about modern cinema. I think their entire special effects budget went into Chun-Li and Gen’s fireballs and everything else had to be scraped together at the last minute. From seeing the clear seam of Bison’s pregnant wife when they show her abdomen, to the cheesy and clearly fake explosions that were added in post-production, to the overly grainy text of the entire film, this movie was beyond low-budget.

Add in that they found Chris Klein probably drinking himself into a stupor in some alley somewhere and threw him on screen and I threw up in my mouth, just a little. He played Charlie Nash, the rough-around-the-edges-but-still-a-great-cop character that was chasing Bison around the world. He read his lines like William Shatner in those Priceline.com commercials. Chris Klein has no purpose being in any kind of film. Ever.

The only positives were that Kristen Kruek and Moon Bloodstone, who played Nash’s partner Det. Maya Sunee, looked amazingly hot in the movie. That’s it. Michael Clarke Duncan’s amazing skills were wasted on three lines and a crappy fight scene with Gen. Neal McDonough was solid, as was Kruek, but the script was just so awful that there was nothing they could do to save it. If you’re smart, you’ll continue to avoid it as it probably only has a week or two left in theatres.


Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li gets 0.5 out of 5.

So, the game was okay, the movie was awful, and the tournament was fixed. Maybe Capcom should have taken all that money they put into the movie and put it into making a better game and finding a better host for their tournament. I really hope that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Ghostbusters franchises work a little harder on their anniversary galas! (TMNT celebrates 25 years in April; Ghostbusters celebrates 25 years in June)

-Ray Carsillo

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In Space, No One Can Hear You Jump for Joy

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Originally Published: February 24, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Lundberg.me

They can hear it here on Earth, though, and if you are a fan of RTS (Real Time Strategy) games or the Halo franchise then that is exactly what you’ll be doing after playing Halo Wars. After acquiring a review copy of the game, I played the whole way through its 15 campaign levels and played some multiplayer against the computer and can see already this game has everything you could want from it.

Many skeptics out there worried that if you combined the long history of RTS failures on consoles with a prequel to one of the most successful franchises in gaming history you were going to get burned for playing with fire. Then when they heard it would be an XBOX360 exclusive with no PC port, they almost wrote this gem off before a demo had even been released. However, the folks at Ensemble Studios knew exactly what they were doing. Hailed for RTS staples like the Age of Empires series, Ensemble Studios proved they were the right ones to make what I am declaring to be the first successful RTS game for a console.

As an RTS, Halo Wars plays as if you were using your computer. Using the paintbrush tools and hot buttons to select troops and move from base to base make basic commands a breeze to the point that you forget you’re using an XBOX360 controller and not a mouse and keyboard. Supplies gathering and building upgrades are simple and have been streamlined to fit the console’s RTS scheme and make it so that you can build your supply depot and forget about it and know your supplies will continue to stream in (as long as you keep the supply depot from getting razed by enemy fire that is). The gameplay is crisp and there isn’t an ounce of lag throughout the game.

The only problems were the usual ones you find in most RTS games, such as trying to send a group of three or four large units, like tanks, through a narrow opening in the land and instead of them naturally deciding to go one at a time, they keep running into each other as all four try to fit through at once. This pathfinding bugginess is forgivable since that has been a problem with RTS games for years, not just on consoles. The battle engagements are challenging and most missions require more thinking than “I’ll just build more units than the enemy and unleash my entire army in a barbaric charge when the time comes”. With four levels of difficulty to play through and an online co-op mode, the Halo Wars story mode will keep RTS fans happy for a long time.

In terms of the head-to-head multiplayer, I will admit I wasn’t able to get a true feel for it due to there being only so many early copies out there for us media outlets, but I did play a few Deathmatches against the computer and it had everything you would expect from an RTS Deathmatch. Standard rules: wipe your opponent off the map. It gives you a huge amount of starting supplies and it’s a race to see how fast you can build the largest army to try and eradicate your opponent. The maps are all based off planets and locales you come across in the main game, but on a smaller scale to encourage constant engagements. Everything taken into consideration, the Halo Wars head-to-head multiplayer has a strong foundation for some great XBOX Live battles ahead for itself.

If you’re a follower of the Halo canon you can rest easy. The story is not only compelling, but it does justice to the series and highlights some obscure key events in the Halo timeline that many might not be familiar with that lead up to Master Chief’s escapades. Troops, vehicles, and buildings are all as accurate as can be for both the Marines and the Covenant and follow in line with what you’ve learned from previous Halo games. For example, you can’t make an army of Spartan soldiers; if you’re lucky you’ll get a couple at the beginning of the level to help you out and that’s it. Add in collectibles that concur with the Halo universe like a skull on each level and black boxes to reveal more of the Halo timeline feature and you’ve got plenty to keep this game warm in your machine for a long time. The only real drawback I felt was that the story seemed a bit short. The plot developed too quickly for my tastes and to have as much action as it did spread across only 15 levels felt like you had unfinished business. Then again, it does take place 20 years before Master Chief so that might have been on purpose.

If you want to learn a little bit more about the story and the characters, take a look at the interview I did with Lead Story Writer, Graeme Devine from Ensemble Studios.

Ray Carsillo with Graeme Devine, Lead Story Writer for Halo Wars
Video by Jared Bodden

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

Graphics: 8.5: Not a tremendous amount of detail is usually necessary for an RTS game. As long as the terrain is has some variations and is glitch-free, then you’re usually set. This being said, Halo Wars’ cut scenes are spectacular to view and bring up the overall visual quality of the game and are something to look forward to after each mission. A solid display to say the least.

Audio: 9.5: The voice acting was crisp and clean and the SFX were fairly solid. In-game explosions could have used a little work. I just didn’t feel it when I destroyed a Covenant base. The music was taken straight from the trilogy which was a smart move. Minor complaints, but really great overall.

Plot/Plot Development: 9.0: The plot seemed a little rushed at times and developed too quickly considering the grand scale of the Covenant’s master plan in this game. I understand that it was probably a lot of story to fit in over only 15 levels, but it left you feeling with unfinished business at the end. Then again, this is only one short series of events over a war that spans decades and is still 20 years away from Master Chief’s adventures.

Gameplay: 9.0: The game was mostly smooth and the A.I. was pretty impressive. The only problems were the usual ones you find in any great RTS game, such as trying to send a group of three or four large units through a narrow opening in the land. They decide that running into each other, as all four try to fit through at once, will be exactly the kind of reinforcements you need in any altercation. This has been a problem that has plagued RTS games for years and until someone figures out how to fix that, no RTS will ever earn a perfect score on gameplay.

Replay Value: 10.0: The telltale sign of an RTS game’s greatness is if you want to keep playing the missions over and over and this one succeeds. With hidden collectibles on each mission, co-op and versus options, and like any good RTS game, no mission can be completed the same way twice, this game will stay in your XBOX360 for a long time.

Overall (not an average): 10.0: Let me start off by saying that 10 out of 10 does not make a game perfect, there is no such thing as a “perfect” game. However, to not give this game the highest possible score would be a tragedy. What pushed this up from a 9 to a 10 is that this game is the first to break the stereotype of RTS games being abysmal on a console. Never before has an RTS been able to successfully transition from the PC to the home console or go straight to the console with such fluidity. This game could revolutionize the RTS genre and open up doors we had only begun to dream of. This alone would have garnered a great score, but combined with an awesome plot, stellar controls, and visually stunning cut scenes, I could not think of giving this game any less than a “perfect” score. Thank you to the people at Microsoft and Ensemble Studios for FINALLY getting it right. Halo Wars is available everywhere on March 3rd, 2009.

-Ray Carsillo

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The Gears Keep on Turning for Gearheads

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Originally Published: January 30, 2009, for 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com)

I had said last week that running over a platoon of Covenant troops with a squadron of Warthogs might threaten Gears of War 2‘s Lancer Chainsaw Rifle on the fun-level food chain. In response, the genii at Epic Games unleashed the new Combustible Map Pack for Gears of War 2. Three new maps to freshen up the multiplayer mayhem that Gears of War 2 brings to your XBOX360 to keep you up till 3 AM swearing at kids who can’t even spell the words you are using when you get forced into an Imulsion bath. Ummm…maybe that’s just me, but it still gives the multiplayer a nice new kick to the teeth to make sure the disc stays warm in your system.

First, we’ll look at the Gold Rush map. You are situated in an old, still running, Imulsion refinery with multiple tiers. Oh, and it just so happens to have a mortar launcher smack in the middle of it. A symmetrical level with plenty of nooks and crannies to hide in, if you can grab the mortar positioned in the most open part of the level and make it back to a nook; you can easily control the battle. You can imagine the problems that arise with it being in the middle of an open platform, though. Talk about risking your neck. Not my favorite level personally because of a lack of level hazards, the level’s symmetry, and that any well-coordinated team could easily dominate, it is still a solid multiplayer level.

The second map became near and dear to my heart quickly because it revolves around pyrotechnics. Fuel Station is located around an abandoned fossil fuel station and several well placed re-fueling trucks. The station itself is the center of the map and anyone who controls the station can control the tide of battle very easily. With little cover around the station that does not explode, getting to the station from across the street can be difficult at best if your opponent camps out on the roof and starts setting off all your cover in a blaze of glory with the Mulcher Mini-gun, conveniently located in the station. Maybe all these explosions give you an idea why they call it the “Combustible” Map Pack. Word of advice; do not get discouraged if you aren’t spawned at the station to start the level. A well organized unit could still work their way to the rear of the station and the fight for the stairwell to the roof is always memorable.

The last map is my personal favorite. Flood is the smallest of the three new maps as you are stranded on an island consisting of freeway rubble and debris surrounded by a golden sea of poisonous Imulsion. And if you think it’s a small level to start, wait till the Imulsion level starts rising. The battle that ensues for the raised piece of crumbling freeway is always exciting as there are several paths leading onto that little slice of salvation and a couple of decayed cars that like to go off like the Fuel Station tankers. With little to no cover left, a winner will be forced to emerge from this hazardous situation every time.

These three new maps bring multiplayer mayhem to a whole new level and will keep everyone grinding their gears as these levels successfully keep the game fresh. With the maps themselves providing just as much danger as the opposing teams and, for the most part, preventing anyone from camping out and being a pesky sniper (and no pesky snipers makes me a happy Gearhead), these levels are well worth the download to your XBOX360.

The Gears of War 2 Combustible Map Pack is available now for download on XBOX Live for 800 Microsoft Points (roughly eight American dollars) and there is still nothing more fun in games than sneaking up behind someone and slicing them to ribbons with the Lancer Chainsaw Rifle.

-Ray Carsillo

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