Tag Archive: xbox 360


XBox 360 Tops Bing 2011 Technology Searches

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December 14, 2011

THE BUZZ: Bing has released a series of Top 10 lists today compiling its most searched subjects in a series of categories ranging from celebrities and musicians to technology.

Video games had a very strong showing as topping the list of top searched tech was the Xbox 360. Playstation 3 was ranked third and the Nintendo Wii was ranked sixth.

Other interesting notes to be taken was that the iPhone 5, which doesn’t even exist, but I guess enough people were wishing and hoping it did, came in at fourth. Apple products dominated the list overall in terms of spots taken as they also had the fifth spot with the iPad, seventh with the iPad 2, and tenth with the only laptop on the list with the MacBook Pro. The only other Microsoft product on the list was the Windows Phone 7, which took ninth. Rounding out the list was a couple of eReaders with the Nook taking the eighth spot and the Kindle taking number two.

No Google products made the list.

EGM’s TAKE: Everyone loves a good list, especially at the end of the year and especially us here at EGM (and we’ve got a few of our own special ones in the works as well, mwa ha ha ha ha), but considering that Bing is only the third top search engine with 14.8% of the search market behind Yahoo’s 15.2% and Google’s dominating 65.6%, you have to take this list with a grain of salt. And I don’t think anyone was surprised that a Microsoft product miraculously topped a list composed by another Microsoft product.

What do you folks think? As skeptical as us here at EGM? What search engine do you prefer to use? Do you search more about the Wii, Xbox 360, or PS3? Let us know with comments below!

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EGM Review: Saints Row: The Third

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November 29, 2011

Giant strippers, manapults, and luchadores…

You’d be hard-pressed to find a game that matches the debauchery and excess of Saints Row: The Third. Pushing its own boundaries and depravity to the limit, this sandbox action-adventure goes to great lengths to parody anything and everything in gaming and pop culture—even itself—all in the name of entertainment. Whether you’re driving around with a tiger in the passenger seat to prove your bravery, participating in Professor Genki’s Super Ethical Reality Climax Japanese-style game show to earn big bucks, or then using said Professor’s manapult to suck up unsuspecting NPCs into a giant cannon and using their carcasses as projectiles, this game doesn’t exactly get the meaning of “overkill.” But all that wouldn’t mean a thing if the game weren’t fun—and, thankfully, it’s an absolute blast.

Saints Row: The Third picks up shortly after the end of the second game. The Saints, the street gang from the first two entries, aren’t persecuted or hunted like you might think—far from it. Instead, they’re treated like celebrities—or even superheroes. So when they go to rob a bank in their hometown of Stilwater, it’s more like a day at the office. But things quickly go awry when more police than the Saints have ever seen drop in on them, and they realize this bank robbery isn’t quite what they had in mind when it came to putting in some overtime. It seems a new crime organization called the Syndicate’s moved into town and after some action sequences that would put Nathan Drake to shame, the Saints find themselves having to rebuild in the sleepy harbor town of Steelport where they’ll reclaim their criminal empire before taking revenge on those who have wronged them.

Unlike in the previous Saints Row games, The Third’s designed to be more of an open-ended experience, with multiple paths that affect the ending. You’ve still got three rival gangs to deal with, but now they’re all working together to form the Syndicate: the Luchadores, a Mexican-wrestling-themed gang led by a masked man named Killbane, the cyberterrorist Deckers, and the gun-running and human-trafficking Eurogang known as Morningstar. But instead of picking these gangs off one by one like in previous installments, you’ll often have to deal with them on certain missions at the same time as you pursue the larger goal of conquering Steelport. And your gang wars will erupt to the point that later on, a fourth threat will make itself known—a special military unit, STAG, designed specifically to put you down.

As great as the campaign is, it’s still got its share of problems. Considering the scale of the world, you can forgive some glitches that crop up from time to time in the game, but some definitely irritate—and there’s nothing more frustrating than having to start a mission over because your cover mechanics glitch or your car suddenly hits an invisible pothole.

Competitive multiplayer, a staple of the first two entries, has been removed in favor of an emphasis on co-op. The campaign co-op does play very smoothly and isn’t really affected by friends dropping in and out of your “gang” over the course of the game, but honestly, I’d still just rather play by myself, since most of my friends and I aren’t on the same gaming level.

To make up for the lack of the multiplayer, The Third offers another co-op option aptly dubbed “Whored Mode.” And, just like that certain-sounding mode from that other game that revolves around wave after wave of enemies, Whored Mode’s best played with friends, where you can enjoy the absurdity together as you take down giant strippers, midgets in hot-dog costumes, or zombies—just because everyone loves killing zombies. If I had to choose, though, I’d still pick the competitive multiplayer aspect over Whored Mode, no matter how funny it may be—it just doesn’t provide the challenge of taking on a human opponent.

Despite my gripes with the multiplayer options, the 10-to-12-hour campaign’s still very much worth the price of admission, and it needs to be seen to be believed—trust me, this game’s done more than enough to earn its “M” rating from the ESRB.

SUMMARY: Not perfect by any means—but still a fun, off-the-wall sandbox that’s more than worth the price of admission.

  • THE GOOD: As over-the-top a game as you’ll ever play
  • THE BAD: Glitches sometimes get in the way of gameplay
  • THE UGLY: The zany enemies you’ll find in the new Whored Mode

SCORE: 8.0

Saints Row: The Third is available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Primary version reviewed was on the Xbox 360.

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RUMOR: The Simpsons Arcade Game Coming to XBLA

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THE BUZZ: XBLAFans.com, known for breaking the first news about Gotham City Impostors and Alan Wake: Night Springs is back for a downloadable trifecta as they have come across evidence that early 90s arcade classic beat ‘em up The Simpsons may be ported sooner rather than later to XBLA. This information comes after they found out that the Australian Ratings Board recently reviewed the game and are citing Backbone Entertainment as the developer.

The original arcade game, released in 1991, revolved around you playing as one of four Simpsons in a race to save Maggie who has been kidnapped by Mr. Burns and Smithers. The first video game ever revolving around the now pop culture icons had action very similar to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 arcade game, which was also a Konami product.

EGM’S TAKE: Konami just had a poll on their Facebook page where they asked fans which of their arcade classics they would like to see put on consoles and The Simpsons won by a staggering amount. Also, if Backbone has indeed been brought on as a developer to tweak the game possibly, they have a long history of producing quality downloadable titles and would be a perfect match to re-fit the arcade game for XBLA or even touch it up in the vein that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time was a couple of years ago with new graphics and dubbed Re-Shelled. On top of this, an iOS version of The Simpsons was made in 2009 and sold very well and Konami has been in the market of making XBLA ports of their classic arcade games recently including the X-Men arcade game and the aforementioned remake of TMNT: Turtles in Time, so it seems all evidence is pointing to this being a very strong possibility although nothing truly concrete has surfaced yet. I for one though would buy this day one if it is true and hope we can get something more solid in the coming days from Konami or Backbone to confirm this development.

What do you folks think? Would you drop $10 on a port of this classic arcade game? How do you feel about Konami bringing back these classic arcade games as downloads on consoles? Did you ever play the original The Simpsons arcade game? Let us know with comments below!

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EGM Review: Winter Stars

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November 9, 2011

A hazy shade of winter

We’ve certainly seen a slew of motion-control sports games of late—with some definitely more worthwhile experiences than others. The latest publisher to hop on the trend? Deep Silver, the folks who turned the zombie-blasting genre on its head a couple months ago with Dead Island. But can they bring that same innovation to another genre that seems to have hit a brick wall in terms of ingenuity via little-known German developer 49Games?

With Winter Stars, we do indeed see a couple of interesting differences from other motion-based sports offerings, such as a branching story path that changes depending on your performance in various cups revolving around the main winter-themed sports. And most of these events are new to the genre, as you’ll see bobsled, figure skating, and biathlon events complement downhill skiing, which seems to be in every motion-control game franchise at this point. The story follows a team of newcomers to the world of winter sports—and their hard-luck coach, who was once one of the best in the world when it came to downhill skiing before an unfortunate accident. Now, he’s trying to turn these kids into winners and return to glory the only way he knows how; the whole thing’s got some Cool Runnings–style charm.

Unfortunately, that’s about the only enjoyment you’ll find in Winter Stars. The character models look atrocious—and that awfulness is only trumped by the abysmal voice acting in the cutscenes that push the story forward between cup events. Add this to the absolutely hideous gameplay mechanics, and you’ve got a brutal combination on your hands.

The event controls are relatively simple, but they’re either far too unresponsive or extremely sensitive. This means that if you play other motion-based sports games, it’ll take some time to get used to the minimal amount of movement required to turn your bobsled or weave down the slopes. It’s a shame that the controls are so poorly implemented, because Winter Stars really shows the potential to make sports like figure skating—which I normally wouldn’t be caught dead watching—actually seem enjoyable. Well, if the controls had actually worked, that is.

Another disappointing aspect? The pacing. Even though the cups are comprised of the four sports, you’re still sent back to the main menu screen after each event, where you have to choose to continue. While some might appreciate this if they need a bathroom break or something, only those with severe bladder-control issues need this many breaks in the action. This even happens after tutorials or multiplayer matches, so it really prevents players from getting into any sort of rhythm.

Winter Sports is a valiant effort by an obscure developer, but it feels unnecessarily rushed to compete against the other motion-based sports games of the season like MotionSports: Adrenaline and Kinect Sports: Season Two. This one definitely could’ve used some more time for some polish—or, at the very least, to make sure the controls actually work. It’s frustrating, because you can definitely see the potential here—but as it is, Winter Sports is barely worthy of the bargain bin.

SUMMARY: Tries to differentiate itself via its story mode, but in the end, it’s just another generic motion-control sports entry.

  • THE GOOD: A story mode woven into the sporting events
  • THE BAD: The controls, the look, the feel—and everything else
  • THE UGLY: Yet another generic sports game trying to get in on the casual motion-control market—and failing

SCORE: 3.0

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EGM Review: The Cursed Crusade

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The Crusade isn’t the only thing that got cursed

The Cursed Crusade revolves around the idea that those who commit heinous crimes against their fellow men—whether in the name of God or not—see their bloodline marked for generations, and that their descent to hell is guaranteed. So when Templar Jean de Bayle fights in the Third Crusade, his bloodline’s tainted, and death stalks him for the rest of his days. Years later, his son, young Denz de Bayle, struggles with his family’s curse and learns that by possibly collecting artifacts of Christ like the Crown of Thorns or a piece of the Crucifix, he might be able to remove the taint from his family.

But in order to find an excuse to get to Jerusalem, he—like his father before him—decides to sign up for the Fourth Crusade. As young Denz, you befriend a Spanish mercenary also tainted by the curse, and the two of you begin your secret mission to save your souls while also uncovering the sinister plot of the men behind the Fourth Crusade—and learn that Jerusalem may be farther off than originally thought.

The best part about The Cursed Crusade is the same thing that makes the Assassin’s Creed series so riveting—it finds a way to bend true history to its own tale. The game’s primarily set against key moments in the Fourth Crusade, like the conquering of Zara in Croatia in 1202 as a favor to the Venetians to fund the Crusaders’ warships and the subsequent conquering of Constantinople later in 1204, permanently dividing the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. All the while, de Bayle and his Spanish friend attempt to stave off hell’s attempts on their souls while looking for the artifacts that could save them from eternal damnation.

Unfortunately, once you look past the story, you see a very unpolished game. Whether it’s characters blinking in and out of existence during cutscenes or getting caught against invisible barriers in the middle of open roads, calling the game “unpolished” may actually be going easy on it. On top of this, the combat’s very hit or miss, as the enemy AI—even on the “Nightmare” difficulty—is simple enough that all you need to do is constantly parry their attacks with a click of the right trigger before going in for your button-mashing combo. The only difference on the harder difficulties is that the game tries to overwhelm your character with more and more enemies that can absorb more hits—but they don’t actually get any smarter. And, like in most hack-n-slashers, even though the game offers the chance to unlock various combos that mix the myriad shields and weapons you’ll collect on your journey, you can just mash light and heavy attack and get the desired results.

The overall aesthetics disappoint as well—the character design, death and blood animations, and scenery all have last-generation graphics written all over them. Couple this with OK music and horrible voice acting, and this game’s tough to listen to and even tougher to look at. Like my sister after Christmas dinner when she’s had a couple of glasses of wine. Ugh. Nasty. What a mess.

Sure, the game offers a little replay value with a bevy of collectibles in each level, but why would you want to replay something that you shouldn’t even want to play once? The Cursed Crusade lives up to its name, because this budget title is cursed to end up in its own personal hell: the bargain bin.

SUMMARY: An interesting twist on a historical setting—but far too many technical shortcomings to make it worth your time.

  • THE GOOD: Story fits into its historical setting
  • THE BAD: Glitch-riddled, repetitive action
  • THE UGLY: The majority of the game’s animations

SCORE: 4.0

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EGM Review: Kinect Sports: Season Two

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The defending champ looks for a repeat

When Kinect launched last year, several titles showed off the possibility of the peripheral, but few had the lasting appeal of Kinect Sports. Fun when played individually—but truly appreciated with a group of friends—the game made a clear, lasting impression on the casual market. Now, Microsoft looks to see if they can reel in soccer moms again with Kinect Sports: Season Two. American football, baseball, golf, darts, tennis, and skiing are all featured in this newest iteration—and if you thought you broke a sweat before, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

I tried out football first—and it was easily the most grueling, as I had to run in place for receptions and kick returns. On top of this, I had to get down under center; standing signaled my virtual center to hike the ball. Though I had a lot of fun playing offense, I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if I could’ve also played defense instead of just watching the box score to see how my AI opponent did during its possession. But when it comes to picking-up, throwing, and kicking motions, the game’s almost more exciting than a real-life pick-six.

Moving to baseball, I tried my hand at a home-run-derby-style minigame before stepping into the batter’s box for a couple of quick two-inning games. Again, a lot of running was involved, as I beat out ground balls for infield singles whenever I couldn’t drive the ball into the gap or over the fence. But there was just one problem: The game seemed to have issue with my swing—because of my power-hitting demeanor, I have a big leg kick. Anyone who’s hit the diamond in real life knows that the leg kick comes first, but I guess I have a few too many moving parts in my stroke, and I’d sometimes trigger the swing a couple of seconds too early. Once I reined in my herky-jerky motion, though, the game worked a lot better.

Darts was a lot less involved physically—but also much more frustrating, because I just couldn’t seem to get my shots lined up correctly. It was also the only game where I couldn’t even beat the Rookie CPU, because I’d always just miss my mark. Skiing was also relatively simple, as I leaned left and right to make it through the series of slalom gates, but I had a lot more fun with the obstacle course, since that was a lot more involved—I jumped, ducked, and swerved on a much more regular basis.

Tennis wasn’t very involving, either, since the game controls all of your lateral movements. You’ve just got to focus on your swing, whether it’s a forehand or a backhand. In fact, the best part of tennis might’ve actually been the hot chick doing the tutorial tennis video!

Finally, it was time to hit the links, and this was the first golf game I’ve ever played where the putting mechanic worked so well that I actually ended up with a score under par. Between my practice swings, my caddy offering advice, and the Kinect sensor picking up my movements precisely, I started to realize why some people actually enjoy playing a sport that’s so horribly boring to watch on TV.

All in all, each game’s quite polished, and the sensor bar does its job throughout—which, to me, is the most critical element of a Kinect game. My only concern is that Season Two could lose its luster in single-player, so you’ll need to rely on the Xbox Live challenge mode, where you and your pals try to one-up your best scores, or get really obsessed with the new calorie counter. Also, hearing a British dude talk about American football felt weird, but I can forgive that because of the awesome licensed music. All in all, Kinect Sports: Season Two is a worthy successor to the first—and easily the premiere casual Kinect experience.

SUMMARY: A worthy successor to the first—and easily the premiere casual Kinect experience.

  • THE GOOD: Six new sports in the vein of the original Kinect Sports
  • THE BAD: Some motions—especially in American football and baseball
  • THE UGLY: Several of the sport-tutorial video models (not tennis girl, though—she’s hot!)

SCORE: 7.0

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EGM Review: MotionSports Adrenaline

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Won’t get your adrenaline pumping

The MotionSports series is Ubisoft’s attempt to give gamers a more realistic alternative to the Kinect Sports offerings while also providing a variety of different sports. Since Kinect Sports took a cue from several of the original MotionSports games and added football and skiing to their gamut of minigames this year, MotionSports decided to go a step further with Adrenaline and focus on extreme sports: mountain-climbing, kite-surfing, wingsuit-gliding, mountain-biking, kayaking, and the return of skiing. Most of the sports revolve around racing to a certain point—or, in a style more in line with Kinect Adventures, collecting various coins as you tumble down a given path.

Unfortunately, much like the original MotionSports, Adrenaline has its share of problems—and most of them lie in the fact that the sensory response just isn’t very accurate. And even more unfortunate is that instead of fixing the motion responses from the first game, Ubisoft toned down the player’s involvement to a series of cheap, basic leaning movements—and they still couldn’t get it right.

I also just have to shake my head at the game’s shameless Degree deodorant sponsorship and their “Adrenaline” line of products. Product placement in games doesn’t bother me when it’s subtle—the Verizon phones or Energizer batteries throughout Alan Wake being a prime example. After all, it’s not like you had Alan saying every five seconds, “When I need to dispose of nasty shadow creatures, I reach for Energizer to power my flashlights.” But when Adrenaline comes off as more of a subliminal commercial than a worthwhile game, that crosses a clear line for me.

One of the game’s few saving graces comes with some of the character customization. Since you can’t use your traditional Xbox 360 Avatar, you choose a base model for a character and then dress him or her up as you see fit. You can also unlock gear that boosts certain abilities as you progress by collecting “Adrenaline points” after each successful minigame run.

But that positive’s a lone buoy in the dark sea of negativity that is Motion Sports: Adrenaline. Since the events are so simplified, you lose out on a lot of potential fun—most just feel like rip-offs of other, superior, Kinect games. To not even come up with a sixth new sport and just port over the skiing experience from the first game just shows the lack of effort that seems to have gone into this title. Wingsuit-gliding and kayaking require a minimal amount of movement on your part, and you feel more like you’re just falling whenever you play—one through the air, the other through cheesy splash effects. Mountain-biking, skiing, and kite-sailing are solid enough, but since they’re on-rails and only require occasional leaning to turn, they, too, make you feel like much of the control’s been removed from the player. The only event that I remotely enjoyed in terms of controls was mountain-climbing, which requires you to actually reach in different directions and pull yourself upward. But even that felt oversimplified, with only a couple of paths laid out for you to choose from.

If it isn’t clear by now, let me say it directly: MotionSports: Adrenaline feels rushed, unfinished, and unpolished. Sure, Kinect might offer a few worthwhile casual-gaming experiences—but this isn’t one of them.

SUMMARY: Kinect offers a few worthwhile casual-gaming experiences—but this isn’t one of them.

  • THE GOOD: Several sports we haven’t seen in any form on any console before
  • THE BAD: Poor motion sensory in many instances
  • THE UGLY: Seemingly sold its soul to Degree deodorant

SCORE: 3.0

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Assassin’s Creed Encyclopedia Coming Same Day as Revelations

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Like having access to Altair’s library

For many people, what makes Assassin’s Creed so great is how it molds the story it wants to tell around actual real world events from history. In this way, Assassin’s Creed has written its own special history that parallels our own. But it can get a little confusing after a while as well just trying to keep things like who all the Borgias are straight and what the differences are between a Turkish Flanged Mace and a Florentine Mace. Well, with their fourth game in the series in Assassin’s Creed: Revelations about to come out, there is a lot more history to Assassin’s Creed than even a lot of us diehards may realize and so Ubisoft is getting ready to release the Assassin’s Creed Encyclopedia.

Set to drop the same day as Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, the Encyclopedia is the must have for every diehard Assassin’s Creed fan as you can have the entire history of the franchise up to this point at your fingertips. Along with all this information, you’ll also get never before seen art to go along with many of the entries as well as a running list in various categories like weapons, Templars, and Assassins. And it’s all opened up with a foreword by Gears of War’s Cliff Bleszinski talking about how important franchises like Assassin’s Creed is for gaming as a modern medium.

Be warned though, as tempting as it might be to just start reading the Encyclopedia from front to back, there are spoilers for both the animated short Embers, also being released on the same day as the game, November 15th, as well as for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations itself. So if you want to learn just what happens to Ezio and experience it like it is meant to, by playing the game, then I recommend you play Revelations first, then watch Embers, THEN read the Assassin’s Creed: Encyclopedia in order to keep all the surprises best in tact.

The best way in order to get the Assassin’s Creed: Encyclopedia would be to go through Ubisoft themselves by going to http://shop.ubi.com and picking it up on November 15th along with your Signature Edition copy of the game that comes with the Embers animated short.

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EGM Review: Batman: Arkham City

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October 14, 2011

“Wait’ll they get a load of me…”

Comic book fans are easily some of the most rabid fans out there. Maybe it’s because of the history, maybe it’s the appeal of the characters, maybe it’s because of a lack of social skills developed in their mom’s basement, but whatever the reason, whenever something features comic book characters, the fans tear it apart. Well, good luck finding fault with this one. And trust me, being a fan myself, I tried.

Batman: Arkham City is easily the greatest fan service a comic book game could ever possibly be. Fans who had concerns over how the story line tied together or whether too many villains might be featured, need not concern themselves anymore. The way the story flows and introduces you to Hugo Strange, the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze, Deadshot, Zsasz, and all the other villains in Arkham City, could only be described as water it flows so smooth. The game has such a natural plot progression that your biggest problem may be just finding the time to finish it because if you do even a portion of the side quests like where you team up with Bane or simply wish to hunt for a few Riddler trophies then you’re going to be looking at a 40-50 hour experience. That’s almost unheard of for an action/adventure game, but somehow Batman: Arkham City finds a way to keep surprising you to the point where you might just start sitting on the floor so that when you keep dropping your controller it won’t fall as far. The guys at Rocksteady should be applauded for this new Batman universe they have created while also making it still feel like Batman.

Really though the biggest reason why the game is so great comes down to the variety and execution in the game play. There are a plethora of problems for Batman to solve using all of his different gadgets and abilities and unlike in Arkham Asylum where some gadgets were favored more than others, every gadget will get a workout here. Whether expertly trying to pilot your remote-controlled batarang through air ducts too small for Batman to fit through to hit a switch on the other side of a locked gate, to using your grappling hook to pull together platforms to solve tricky Penguin puzzles, every gadget will be pushed to the limit, and not to spoil anything, but there are a lot more gadgets this time around.

The gadgets are also a huge part of combat now, which is another feature that has seen a facelift. Now, via some hot key combos, Batman can whip out his grappling hook, batarangs, and other goodies on the fly and throw them in the face of unsuspecting foes to pull off some really stunning combos like using the grappling hook to pull distant thugs in for a devastating clothesline. Also, aside from the standard punches and counters and these new gadget moves, Batman has new special moves that can take foes out of the fight instantly when his combo gets high enough, catch items thrown at him and throw them back with a well-timed counter, capitalize on the tremendous environment physics to put walls and railings more to his advantage, and even unlock special crowd control moves that can even up the odds on those 30 on 1 fights that you’ll occasionally run into. Basically, if we’ve seen Batman do it in a movie or comic book before, he can do it in the game and few things feel as good as quick grappling an enemy over a banister and hearing him scream for his mommy before being knocked out.

Another aspect of the first game that has been tweaked is the leveling up, RPG elements. You start the game off with a good amount of gadgets and moves, but like in the first game, the further you progress and more stuff you do, the more gadgets and combos you unlock as it goes with the story and then upgrade as you see fit. In the end, most people should have many, if not all of the upgrades, but it does give you some options in just how you would play as Batman in order to help craft a more personal experience.

Now, for many people, the only real negatives from the first game were the linearity and Detective Mode being used as a crutch. I’m happy to say that both problems have been solved. In order to counter people wanting to stay in Detective Mode, things away from where your focus should be have become more blurred, forcing players to only use it when examining a crime scene, following a blood trail, or when scoping out a room full of thugs. The bright neon lights of Gotham also wreak havoc with Detective Mode really making sure that when you’re outdoors, you take in Gotham in all it’s downtrodden glory. The linearity has also been fixed with the bevy of previously mentioned side missions and having several objectives open at once so that you can solve cases at your own leisure, go explore for Riddler trophies, or just do what I did for the first half-hour I played the game, glide around on my cape and just take in Gotham staples like the Monarch Theater, Ace Chemicals, and Park Row.

Now, one knock might be that there is no co-op multiplayer since if you squint really tightly you might see potential for it, but the character really isn’t built for that, especially in this story. You can already play as other characters to mix things up, which the Catwoman levels are just as fun as the main game and give you a whole new look to Arkham City for the short sections you play as her by the way. But, honestly, Batman is at his best when he is the center of attention and Robin, Nightwing, Oracle, and the rest of the Bat-family are just on the sides providing occasional support from the wings. And Batman and his rogues are the biggest reason why anyone plays this game. Would anyone really play a Nightwing game with him taking on Professor Pyg? The challenge maps return, of course, and trying to work your way up the leaderboards and build the best combo is still fun and choosing different characters there works, but Batman is a loner and so the main vein of this game, which is the campaign, is in all its glory with you just focusing in and playing as Batman.

When all is said and done, throw in the amazing voice acting from Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy, Maurice LaMarche, Tara Strong, and the rest of the cast, and without giving away the brilliantly written plot (thank you Paul Dini), all I can say is that this is the single greatest comic book game I’ve ever played. It plays so well that I can easily recommend this to anyone without even thinking about it.

SUMMARY: Batman: Arkham City is easily the greatest fan service a comic book game could ever possibly be.

  • THE GOOD: The most comprehensive comic book game I’ve ever played
  • THE BAD: So many “Oh my God!” moments you keep dropping your controller
  • THE UGLY: The seedy underbelly of Gotham all in one spot

SCORE: 10

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EGM Review: X-Men: Destiny

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A new child of the atom

I think it’s every geek’s dream to develop superpowers in some way. And so like moths to flame we are drawn to games where we can not only play as our favorite heroes but can craft our own personal character in the universes we have come to enjoy through various forms of media. So as a diehard X-Men fan, I was particularly stoked about the release of ­­X-Men Destiny.

Based in the X-Men universe, this is an original story line inspired by, but having no direct tie-in to, the ongoing monthly comics from Marvel. You play as one of three new mutants attending a peace rally in San Francisco as the relationship between human and mutant grows more strained by the day. After an apparent attack on the crowd by Magneto causes panic to spread amongst the crowd, your powers manifest as you attempt to defend yourself. As you learn about your newfound abilities, you’ll uncover a conspiracy that will shake the mutant world to its very core, all the while you make and break alliances with both the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

The anticipation I had for this game’s release was soon replaced by disappointment. The best way I could describe how X-Men Destiny was that it felt incomplete. The game is riddled with glitches, has an inconsistent checkpoint save system that sometimes places saves right on top of one another or places them at opposite ends of levels and makes you replay the whole thing over if you die, and the plot, quite simply, is just too damn short for a proper X-Men game, no matter how well written it may be. I beat the entire thing, on the hardest difficulty, in less than eight hours.

I was also displeased with the three character stories and power choices we were forced into. Instead of letting the player truly craft a character they could relate to, you are forced into one of three outlandish protagonists and follow their story as it unfolds. Since many action/adventure games actually do this, it’s not the concept that bothers me, its the fact that the game tries to sell itself as an RPG that gives you a lot of choice and this is simply not the case. And to make matters worse, the few choices you are given are so spread out throughout the game that you never reach your full potential until the very final level of the game. And again, this goes back to the length of the game. Just when you seem to start hitting your stride with whatever powers you were pigeonholed into, it ends.

Mind you, there are some positives to X-Men Destiny. The plot, written by X-Men: Legacy writer Mike Carey, is worthy of the X-Men universe and features cameos or the chance to fight alongside many of your favorite characters while taking on classic X-Men threats. Whether you choose to be good and trade quips with Iceman against the Purifiers or be bad and burn stuff to the ground with Pyro in a U-Men bunker, when the game has you working with your favorite characters on the missions, you actually feel, albeit briefly most of the time, like an X-Man.

The audio was also very good as the music helped set a mood worthy of an action game and the voice acting was superb. Nolan North, better known as Deadpool in most other X-Media, came on to do Cyclops and surprised me as the stoic and steadfast leader of the X-Men. Include other voice over royalty like Phil LaMarr as Gambit and Forge, Yuri Lowenthal as Nightcrawler, Jason Marsden as Iceman, Fred Tatasciore as Juggernaut, and Steve Blum returning to reprise Wolverine and the voice over work in this game is as good as any other cast of X-characters represented in animation or other games.

Still, as good as it felt to fight alongside some of my favorite comic book heroes in this game, there are just too many shortcomings to make X-Men Destiny as special as many of the characters it features. My recommendation is that the game is worth a rental, but is only worthy of purchase by the most diehard of X-Men fans who will play through it several times, despite the glitches, and try to collect the several dozen collectibles featured in the game.

SUMMARY: Short, glitch-riddled, and lacking the choices of a true RPG, X-Men Destiny falls short of the high expectations of most X-Men fans and should only be checked out by the most forgiving of souls.

  • THE GOOD: Fighting alongside many of your favorite heroes from the comics
  • THE BAD: A surprising lack of choice given to the player for an RPG
  • THE UGLY: A lack of polish shows up often considering how short the game is

SCORE: 6.0

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