MoreLikeAndy | Geekscape

What did Geekscape’s videogame correspondent Jake108 witness and play at Comic-Con 2010?

by MoreLikeAndyJuly 29, 2010

Here is a novel idea. Let’s make a game called Naughty Bear about a psychopathic stuffed Teddy Bear that is socially inept and pissed off because he did not get invited to the birthday party (among other events throughout the story) and thus with the help of a poorly British accented narrator, attempts to kills everyone. Can we even say that this was another idea that was great on paper but the implementation fell short? Because that idea is pretty bad on paper too.

Like everyone else, I was hyped about Naughty Bear since it seemed like it was a light-hearted version of the perverse, yet disturbingly fun for most, Manhunt game. Instead of the gore, you get cartoon violence, which is fine by me. Since I like to install all my games to the Xbox 360 hard drive, I was shocked at how much space this game took up. Most games take up four to eight gigabytes of space. Naughty Bear takes 756MB….WHAT?! For a game that ships on a disc that is insane. How was this not just DLC!?!

I thought to myself, “maybe the game will still be fun and I shouldn’t dwell on the size of the game.” Besides, I’ve used that rationale with women for years. Wow, was I terribly wrong. Besides the voice actor for the narrator, you will notice how nausea-inducing the camera is. There were plenty of times where I had to step away from Naughty Bear due to how sick I was becoming. Past the dizzy spells from the camera, the game doesn’t look that bad. The cartoonish colors and the art style really pop out and I was satisfied with how the characters looked. You will notice that some animations suffer from frame skipping. For example, every time Naughty Bear went through the door to his home area, it would show him opening the door then in an instant he is already on the other side closing it behind him.

Each level consists of you completing objectives. These objectives can be a point cap, destroying items, killing everyone or variations to that effect. Yeah, not much variety which makes the game repetitive really fast. Killing in this game can be done by either using weapons, traps, or scaring the crap out of the other bears to the point of suicide. Sounds fun right? Try doing those same things repeatedly over hours of gameplay and tell me if it’s fun then. Another aspect of the gameplay is in order to unlock more levels in the seven worlds the game presents you, you must gain enough points in the current level to gain a trophy. Depending on what score you reach, it can be a bronze, silver or gold trophy. In the later levels (if you make it that far) that becomes a sticking point for repetitive play. Doing a level over 4 times to get a gold trophy to unlock more levels is just wrong.

There is multiplayer in Naughty Bear but good luck connecting to a game to play. I got into ONE game in an hour of trying to connect which only resulted in having the host quit and drop me back to the menu. Any game that comes out in this day and age should absolutely include host migration. Without it, the multiplayer experience is soiled due to someone rage quitting. The game is about an angry killer teddy bear! There will be rage quitting, people! That being said, certain games just don’t need multiplayer and Naughty Bear might be a prime example. When will developers understand that?

If 505 Games released Naughty Bear as a XBLA game, most people would forgive how clunky the game is all around. Selling the game at a retail price is something that will send this game to an early grave, or an early bargain bin. In the end, it seems as though the developers were the naughty ones, not the bear, after all. Grrr.

Geekscape Games Reviews: Crackdown 2

by MoreLikeAndyJuly 6, 2010

Agent! We have a new threat to Pacific City: Mutated humans, or “Freaks” as we at the Agency like to call them, have taken over. Our efforts to contain the Freaks are being thwarted by Cell, a terrorist group bent on destroying the city. So Agent, it is your job to rid the city of trash and bring peace to the citizens once again. Are you up to the job at hand?

Crackdown 2 is just what you would expect to get in a sequel. Everything you liked about the first Crackdown is essentially back for seconds. Between the big explosions, orb chasing, and crazy antics that you can pull off, it’s like you never left Pacific City. The premise this time around is that there are now two threats instead of one. Not that the premise in Crackdown was all that deep but even with the additional threat the sequel seems a little too empty. Activating beacons just seems less satisfying than taking out strongholds and the Gang Bosses from the previous game. Instead of strongholds, Crackdown 2 has Tactical locations that when you take them over, you can request new weapons and vehicles from the Agency. With these minor cosmetic changes, it still feels the same to me and that can be either good or bad depending on how you liked the first game.

For a game that took 3 years to arrive, it still looks like an XBox 360 launch title. Besides the face lift on the city and a day/night cycle, everything looks a bit outdated. There is no detail in anything to make it look like some work actually went into the art design. Things should not look like a 4 year old did finger painting for the graphics. Crackdown 2 also carries over the issues gamers had from the first game when it comes to climbing. It is still inconsistent on what you can and cannot grab a hold of in order to climb up a building. I even had times where I could grab the ledge, jump up, miss the ledge above me and as I come down to the ledge I was just on, totally fall right past it like it wasn’t there. These things should have been corrected before Crackdown 2 went gold. That’s what these companies pay testers for, isn’t it?

And while combat is still fun, some of the things that I wish Ruffian Games would have changed is the lock-on mechanics. It makes for frustrating times when you are surrounded by enemies and you try to lock-on to an attacker only to engage a deadly explosive barrel (because we all know that an inanimate object is a more immediate threat than a rocket launcher touting maniac). It would be simple to add a cycling mechanic so you can switch targets using the lock-on system and it baffles me why Ruffian Games did not include that in the finished game. That being said, I do enjoy the weapon selection in Crackdown 2. Aside from the normal death dealing weaponry, the Agency provides some advance equipment to deal with the Freaks. Since UV light is dangerous to the mutated Freaks, UV shotguns and UV grenades are so satisfying to use against massive oncoming waves.

The leveling up system is still in place from the original Crackdown. Guns, Explosives, Driving, Agility and Strength are all there for you to pump up to the next level. Crackdown 2 does make it to where you have to get your Agility level to at least 4 in order to progress further in the game. This kind of feels like a way to extend the game longer since getting your skills to the higher levels takes a lot of time and patience to get there.

Additionally, If the firepower that the Agency so graciously lets you use is not enough to take on the venom that is poisoning the city, Crackdown 2 has added 4 player co-op as opposed to just the 2 player co-op from the first game. Friendly fire aside, playing co-op is the best thing in Crackdown 2 for me. Four super enhanced agents jumping around on rooftops decimating everything that stands up to you and your friends… what’s not to love about that?

The announcer character is also back and seems more vocal this time around. Besides the usual verbal abuse he spews forth, he now has some funny quips when you unlock some achievements. I don’t think I could ever get tired of the announcer talking about some of the latest achievements I acquired. There is some repeat dialogue that you will notice from time to time which makes me wish there were more lines given but he’s still a welcome return to the franchise.

One thing that I am sure that Crackdown 2 did not need in any way is Multiplayer. Playing the same tired Team Deathmatch, Free-For-All style matches don’t add to the enjoyment of this series. Rocket tag is a nice variation in game modes these days but that still doesn’t change the fact that Multiplayer is only engaging enough for a quick romp through the city streets before one gets bored.

Loved the first Crackdown? Then this game will satisfy that need to play in that world again. Did you buy the first Crackdown just for the Halo 3 beta? Then this might not be the game to purchase this time around since there is no Halo beta bundled with the game. Ultimately for everyone else, go out and buy the first Crackdown for cheap. It is a better experience to be had than shelling out $60 for nothing more than a cut and paste job with a few tweaks.

Games Review: Transformers: War for Cybertron (Single Player)

by MoreLikeAndyJune 29, 2010

When Game Informer magazine had a feature article on Transformers: War for Cybertron, my interest was instantly peeked. With the return to the Transformers roots, reading the article made me even more happy for a good Transformers game. Now that I have had a chance to play, I have to say that I am heartbroken. Let me explain.

Transformers: War for Cybertron tells the story of the Autobots and Decepticons before they came to Earth and met Shia Labeouf. This story has been somewhat of a mystery to all but the most hardcore fans. Most venues tell the tale very vaguely if at all or start from when the Transformers arrive on our planet. I found the story that High Moon Studios created (with the blessing from Hasbro) satisfying. Transformers: War for Cybertron splits the story between a Decepticon campaign and an Autobot campaign. You can choose which campaign to start with first although to get the full effect of the story, playing the Decepticon campaign might be wise considering it takes place before the Autobot one. I did feel, however, that the game pushes through the story way too fast, making some parts a blur in my memory banks.

Sadly, most of Transformers: War for Cybertron feels like any other game using the Unreal Engine mechanics wise. The speed in which the game moves along is both frantic and frustrating to me. There was so much action on the screen at times that it was hard for me to fully digest what was going on. Combat seemed to be a little unrefined due to enemies being able to soak up enormous amounts of bullets. That brings into question the weapons you can acquire in the game. I know that sometimes you have to make things a certain way to balance out a game but the lack of “futuristic” weaponry as well as having to find ammo robbed me of the full experience of playing as a Transformer. Constantly running out of ammo should never be an issue in a game such as this. Aren’t the Transformers just shooting energy at each other anyways?!?

Still, not all was bad with Transformers: War for Cybertron. The voice acting was exceptional with only Starscream sounding very off and annoying. Getting Peter Cullen for Optimus was perfect since anyone else would have been a mockery. Fan favorite Soundwave is also done well enough to make my young heart dance in excitement. Seeing the different Transformers in the game made me wish I still had my toys from my childhood. Most of the major characters are playable in their respective campaigns and offer you different play styles although I never felt like using anyone but the powerhouse players of Megatron and Optimus Prime. In the handful of missions in which you cannot pick them, you’ll be navigating in vehicle form anyways. Flying in those missions felt too slow for a game mostly comprised of fast paced action. You never really feel like you are flying around like a jet since you’re really just hovering most of the time. There is a boost move though that you can use but sadly it doesn’t make it seem like you are moving around fast enough.

Being that the previous Transformers games were movie tie-ins and succumbed to the mediocre status that nearly all movie based games are known to, Transformers: War for Cybertron is a good start in the right direction on how to treat a franchise. Let’s just hope that the next Transformers game can roll out with something a little more fulfilling.

Geekscape Games Review: Alpha Protocol

by MoreLikeAndyJune 25, 2010

My name is Michael Thorton. I used to be a Spy. Until… (phone rings) “We got a burn notice on you. You’re blacklisted.”

Alpha Protocol tries to tell an interweaving story about the world of espionage and the choices you make. Does it succeed in its mission or is it a double-o-dud?

The main thing Obsidian wanted the player to get out of this game is that the player’s choices have consequences, no matter how small the choice. I was skeptical of this assumption by Obsidian until I played for a couple of hours and was then blown away at how the story changes based on anything you do whether it be in conversations or actions you take do during missions. Kudos to Obsidian for making it really seem like everything I did had a consequence on the (overall good) story.

The dialogue choices in Alpha Protocol are great because instead giving you stinted, robotic dialogue to pick from, you get to pick the emotion or “stance” you want to take in any given conversation. It also puts a timer on the choices so you have to pick fast or the game will auto pick a choice for you, almost an “instinct” choice. Not sure how some people will react to this implementation of conversation choice, but I found that makes you think on your feet and adds some realism. I mean, how often do you get to toggle between sentences before saying something to someone (IRL)?

Voice acting was surprisingly good and caught me off guard. There are times where Mike Thorton sounds a little mundane, of course, but those times are few and far between. Nothing sounded like it was cut and pasted together poorly like most games. Between the story and the voice acting I was hooked on Alpha Protocol. It was a delight… if only that held true through the rest of the game.

First thing you will notice is how unpolished and unrefined the game’s overall look is. Even Obsidian said this game shouldn’t have been released. Three years of development behind the sloppy look of this game equals VERY bad PR for Obsidian. There are tons of graphical glitches, unfinished character models, bad texture pop-in mixed in with broken A.I., and that’s just the beginning. Somewhere, there’s a designer hanging next to his favorite coats. There were times where the enemies were shooting each other instead of me or rushing me down, dodging my shots to punch me once in the face… before they would come back up to shoot me? Isn’t it shoot first then melee for the kill? Oh, wait this isn’t Halo… but still!

The gameplay is where most people will get turned off right away. Alpha Protocol is an RPG first and a 3^rd person shooter WAY second. Everything you can do is based off of your skill tree. Things from stealth, tech, explosives, weapons, and health are all based on a skill tree. By earning experience doing missions and completing objectives, you can spend your EXP on certain skills. Somehow, this doesn’t apply to pistols. I tried leveling up my pistol skill all the way up and still couldn’t hit anything at all. Perhaps that’s more of this realism they’re trying to inject into the game, but definitely realism that fails as far as the actual gaming experience goes.

Yes, this game has dice roll shooting mechanics. If you don’t level up stats in certain weapon classes (think Mass Effect), you will miss most of the times even while dead center on a headshot. If you can focus a weapon long enough, while you are in a certain range, you can do a critical shot and one shot kill most enemies.

If I wanted to be this bad at shooting, I’d start fighting crime in real life

I was torn between the biggest issues I had with the gameplay. It was kind of a tie between the dice roll shooting and the cracked out movements by some of the bosses which made it nearly impossible to hit anything. You can always resort to melee attacks if you level that skill up enough, as you can actually pull off some pretty amazing martial arts. Unfortunately there’s no block button, so while you are doing your best Karate Kid impressions on the enemies’ faces, they can block anything you’ve got coming and turn around to whoop you like a punching bag (or shoot you). Also, it feels like none of the skills you can level up are worth doing except Stealth, Health and Martial Arts. Going that route will give you invisibility abilities so you can stab people in the neck while others watch in horror wondering how it happened. Some will say it breaks the game entirely but I would like to think of it as adding some comedic value to the game… which was appreciated after how frustrating the shooting was.

You can often forgive a video game it if it has a bad story, just as long as it’s actually fun to play. How many of you are willing to flip the script and play for the story and not the gameplay?

Game Reviews: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

by MoreLikeAndyJune 12, 2010

Since Disney decided that we needed another movie based on a video game, Ubisoft also decided to release a game to coincide with the movie’s release. Oddly enough, it has nothing to do with the movie but instead is the missing years in between Sands of Time and Warrior Within. Wait….what the hell? They needed to make a game about that!?!

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands has a very predictable story that quite frankly, bores me. I couldn’t care less that he has to save his brother. Still, the voice acting was actually good though. It better well be since they got the original voice actor that played the Prince,Yuri Lowenthal. The music is also well done and it does the job giving the player the perfect vibe for the places you go and new areas discovered.

Puzzles platforming is what the Prince of Persia franchise is well known for, yet I still have mixed feelings on the puzzles in The Forgotten Sands. For 3/4ths of the game, the puzzles are way too easy. I could just be really good at platform puzzle games but I know I am not. It came as a shock how fast I was moving through the game. It’s not until the last part of the game where the puzzles start to get challenging by mixing up powers like freezing water and making parts of the ruins reappear. Unfortunately, there are some issues I had with the way the controls were somewhat unresponsive thus causing me to fail numerous times. Also, it has that “auto-go-where-I-need-to” mechanic that I was not a fan of in the Assassin’s Creed series.

To make things worse, the camera angles you get screws with your timing of jumps and execution. At one point in the game I was moving to the edge of the platform to jump across to another platform and the camera decides to move making the game think that I was pointing at an angle and not straight ahead. Yes I know you have the power to rewind time in The Forgotten Sands but it is still annoying to have to use one of your energy orbs to fix a mistake that the game caused you to do.

Combat is also very basic and, with the unresponsive controls, frustrating as well. The Prince gets, along with the powers mention earlier, 4 different powers that you can upgrade in a skill tree by collecting enough XP from enemies. I appreciate the skill tree but found that none of the other powers were really needed. Powers such as a fire trail behind you burning anything that touches it, ice powers that shoot out across the ground, an area of effect (AOE) wind power that knocks enemies down, and earth powers that act as armor to protect you for a limited time were never needed during my play through.

At points, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands almost captures that same feeling you got accomplishing a strenuous puzzle in The Sands of Time. Sadly, Forgotten Sands is marred by a lackluster story, unresponsive controls, and terrible camera angles. If you want to see what could have been a great successor to The Sands of Time, if given enough time to be polished a bit more, go out and rent The Forgotten Sands. And I definitely mean “RENT”.

Geekscape Games Reviews: 3D Dot Game Heroes

by MoreLikeAndyJune 6, 2010

Games today seem too easy by the standards of the 8-bit era of gaming. Yes there are difficulty levels but they provide more frustration than actual challenges. Failing because of inadequate design in the games difficulty instead of the gamer not quite figuring out a certain way to get past a section is frustrating to the ego. Finally, Atlus and From Software comes through with a near perfect ode to 8-bit gaming with 3D Dot Game Heroes.

The story is pretty simple. Dotnia is in trouble and it is up to you, the descendent of the hero that defeated The Dark King to do it all over again. 3D Dot Game Heroes is so close to a Legend of Zelda clone it’s scary. From the music, dungeons, right down to the enemies. Turning on the game for the first time, they warmed my childhood heart with the 8-bit style loading screen. Everything about this game screams 8-bit. Don’t let that fool you into think it looks terrible, the art is wonderfully rendered with everything designed from gorgeous 3-D blocks. Objects as well as enemies explode in a way that would make all the Lego games proud.

3D Dot Game Heroes has a very robust character creator so you can make your own personalized hero. Of course if you don’t want to spend 8 hours making the perfect Link, you can use the many pre-made designs the game has to offer. You can also download creations from people all over the world by going to the Hall of Heroes online and choose from hundreds of entries. You can even submit your own creations to share with the world. It might be a pain for some to download a new character to a USB thumb drive and transfer it to the PS3 but I see it as not troublesome at all.

Combat is simplistic enough. You have your sword and your shield….what more do you need? Oh, I forgot that this is a Zelda clone. Ok, you also get a boomerang, bow and arrows, bombs, and a hook shot to round out your equipment. Spells can also be acquired by recovering the each of the 6 Orbs of Light in the game. After recovering the Orb from beating the guardian protecting it, returning it to the Sage responsible for the Orb will grant you powers from it. Reflect, Freeze and Fire are some of the spells you will receive by retrieving the Orbs. Swords can be upgraded by going to a Blacksmith and paying for such upgrades as strength, width, length, spin, pierce and the ability to shoot a projectile. Different swords can have different upgrade paths as well as Max Potential, or how far you can upgrade the sword before no further upgrades can be done. It prevents the player from maxing all categories for one sword thus rendering the whole upgrade system broken.

You may be wondering why some of the upgrades are length and width. Well, we all know bigger and longer is always better, right ladies? In 3D Dot Game Heroes, when at Max Health, your sword is at its full potential and fills ¼^th of the screen. The more you upgrade, the further it covers the screen. You could actually sit in the middle of the screen and spin around as you attack to kill everything fully upgraded. Unfortunately, when not at full health, you are stuck with an average sized sword. This makes staying at Max Health a good way to challenge yourself since having a sword that covers the whole screen makes boss fights easier

Speaking of easy, 3D Dot Game Heroes will fool you into thinking the game is easy. The first 3 Temples are a cakewalk. Everything past that is when the challenges start. The Temples get more complicated with more floors to explore as well as challenging puzzles to solve. Trying to shoot an arrow at a switch while getting shot at by 4 pillars is a test in dexterity. Besides the Temples, there are plenty of side quests to do in the game as well as finding all the treasure chests, secret caves, and filling your Bestiary. The Bestiary is a book you can acquire that you can enter enemies into to as you come across them. Entering the enemies is actually a pain to do. You need to equip the Bestiary and continuously smack the enemy you want in the book. Not my idea of fun but for some it might be.

From Software delivered on a near perfect 8-bit experience for all the old gamers out there but for the newcomers to this style of gameplay might have a hard time getting into 3D Dot Game Heroes. A great game for a decent price makes this game something to have in your collection right next to your NES games.

Geekscape Games Reviews: Lost Planet 2

by MoreLikeAndyMay 21, 2010

With all the nagging issues people had with the original Lost Planet, it was still an enjoyable game for most. Think Capcom listened to the cries of gamers worldwide and fixed the issues that they had with Lost Planet in Lost Planet 2? Not even close…

How's the view down there, boys?

Lost Planet 2 takes place 10 years after the events in Lost Planet. Could have fooled me. Nothing about this game feels like it should be a sequel to Lost Planet. Nothing is really mentioned or remotely tied in to the 1^st game except it’s on the same Planet and there are Snow Pirates. Even the story is so disjointed that you have no idea what the hell you are doing from chapter to chapter.

Umm....what?

Capcom seemed to take a page out of Unreal Tournament’s book in making the campaign mode a multiplayer style map with players running around locking down points and completing some objective. Even worse, this game is NOT to be played single player at all. It’s evident that Capcom wanted you to experience Lost Planet 2 with all of your friends since you have to make a lobby in order to even experience the campaign. You do, however, have the luxury ability of setting up to 3 A.I. players to help you along your single player experience. The A.I. also gets fake Gamertags above their heads to fool you into thinking you are playing with friends. That’s kind of depressing.

Who needs friends when you have A.I.?

Unfortunately the A.I. are complete morons. They are worse than the 12 year old’s spouting racial slurs in Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox Live. Not once did the A.I. do anything at all to help me get through the levels. Most of the time, they were way behind me in the level and I was stuck fending off hordes of baddies while they had tea and crumpets. I was better off going at this campaign by my lonesome.

To make matters worse, none of the issues gamers cried out about were addressed in this so called sequel. Knock back and knock down recovery times are still atrocious. Try throwing a grenade at an enemy while he is shooting you and you end up stuck in an endless animation loop of trying to throw the grenade but never quite getting it. Also, the movement speed is slow enough to make it near impossible to avoid anything in the game. Oh, wait… I have a grappling hook? Maybe I can use that to move around faster and to avoid death. Nope. The thing is completely useless. Just Cause 2 got the whole grapple hook mechanic down, so why couldn’t Capcom just copy that?

This is why Cool Guys don't look at explosions

Multiplayer suffers from the same issues that plagued the single player campaign. It is fun to play for about 5 minutes, before the frustrations start to settle in. Not even using powered robotic suits makes playing through this online sludge fun.

The one redeeming quality of this game is how gorgeous things look. The MT Framework 2.0 works wonders on the game’s environment and details of the game’s massive bosses. If you and 3 other buddies are looking for a game to run around and engage in enormous boss battles, this game might be fun… just not at full price. For anyone else, Lost Planet 2 should stay lost on the store shelves forever.

Geekscape Games Reviews Dead to Rights: Retribution

by MoreLikeAndyMay 15, 2010

A cop that kills first, asks questions later teamed with a dog that loves to snack on grown men’s testicles. Hmm… Sounds a bit like a Steven Seagal movie. But instead it’s actually the latest from Namco Bandai.

Dead to Rights: Retribution is a reboot of the series in which Jack Slate (somehow I think of Last Action Hero when I hear that name) is a tough as nails cop in the worst city around, Grant City, where Jack thinks he can clean it up and make the streets safe again for the citizens. Jack’s father, Frank, is the police chief in Grant City and has a trusty dog by the name Shadow that is loyal only to Frank. Investigating a lead in a major crime ring, things go wrong and everything is left up to Jack, with the help of Shadow, to find out the conspiracy that is going on in the police force Jack faithfully serves.

Someone watched "Out for Justice" one too many times.

As you can see, the story is still very empty of any one thing to make it really hard to care too much about it. The game’s presentation looks a little rough and feels like it should be a late PS2 title more than a current gen release. The character models look a little too big in certain features as well as the textures looking a little flat and generic. A perfect example of character models is your dog Shadow. The dog appears on screen to look like a freaking bear more than a Husky. There is also a weird glow around Shadow that makes it seem like the dog was photo-shopped into the game last minute or happens to be The Last Dragon.

What the hell have you been feeding this dog?

Luckily, the controls are simple when it comes to interacting with the game. It’s a simple 3^rd person view with your standard shooting mechanic that accompanies such styles. You can also mix it up with melee attacks by using light attacks, heavy attacks, blocks and combos depending on the right order of button presses. I found that the camera was very annoying since it was zoomed a little too much on Jack to the point that it made it hard to see anything sneaking up on you. It is demoralizing to pound on 2 guys in front of you only to be taken out by a guy out of your point of view. Also, the gun play is TERRIBLE. Very limited ammo mixed in with poor aiming controls leads to me just rushing guys and disarming them with a button press followed by one-hit kills with their own weapon to the head. Yes, headshots are instant death for the baddies and the game does slo-mo to let you know you just scored one.

There are also takedown actions you can perform when going fist-to-cuffs against the enemies. These involve beating the enemy to the point where a prompt pops up on the screen prompting you to hit a certain button (‘A’ on the Xbox 360). Once pressed, the game will take over and go through one of the few animated scenes it has for these moves. Although not many, the scenes are down right brutal. Nothing feels better then punting the dirtbag’s head like you are trying to hit the game winning field goal at the Super Bowl.

One of the best parts of the game, sadly, is your dog Shadow. When controlling Jack, you can send Shadow to attack enemies, scout ahead or pick up weapons while you can hide like a coward from the enemies. Dead to Rights: Retribution also had to include missions where you play as Shadow. That’s right. You actually get to play as a freaking dog (Wii fans got this chance years ago with Twilight Princess and PS2 owners with Okami but still…). Most of these missions are meant to be stealth missions since 3 hits will kill the poor canine. Still, you have the ability to see people through walls so you can sneak up on enemies and do a stealth kill. I had so much fun playing as Shadow that I didn’t want the levels to end. Chasing down a guy running away from Shadow while shooting is the BEST thing visually in this game. They need to make a DSi game all about Shadow chasing down enemies and chomping on their nards. Not even the Wolfman would be safe.

Shouldn't they be running right about now?

Ultimately, asking full price for an incomplete feeling of a game is hard to swallow. I am not sure that rebooting the Dead to Right series was a wise choice for Namco Bandai or anything that anyone was really asking for. A little more time with the game and it could have been a solid game to rent and have a fun weekend with. Instead you should probably spend that money on a game for your Mac now that Steam is released.

Geekscape Games Reviews Angry Birds For The iPhone

by MoreLikeAndyMay 13, 2010

Who knew that such a simple concept for a game could be so damn good!?! Angry Birds is, simply put, a physics based 2D game (think Worms) in which the objective is to take out as many of the Pigs that have stolen your eggs as possible by launching the titular Angry Birds into them kamikaze-style using a giant slingshot. Yeah. It sounds crazy but it is also SOOOOO addicting. It might sound like a pretty thin game… and we don’t really care. There is at least the premise that these damn pigs stole the bird’s eggs (possibly to make omelets) so you at least get some motivation for the birds to be so… ANGRY!

But don’t be deceived. There is some depth to Angry Birds. You first start of with the red cardinal-like birds which are your basic soldiers. As you get further in the game, you acquire new birds with various abilities such as the yellow bird that can speed up and spin after launch, a knot of blue birds that split into 3, black birds that explode violently and white birds that drop serious egg bombs (they’re white… get it? Like the crap they leave on your car). Like in other puzzlers such as Bejeweled or Tetris, you don’t get to choose the order in which the birds can be launched which is good since if you could, it would make the puzzles way too easy at times.

All the silly nonsense aside (and it does get pretty silly), Angry Birds is instantly addicting and will have you trying to get the top score on every level. Leaderboards help with that because you can redo levels over and over in order to improve your score. I can’t tell you how many times I replayed a level just to try and beat it while using the least amount of birds. iPhone users be warned. I have killed my iPhone battery many of times with Angry Birds. And for only $.99 cents, this game is a MUST for anyone that owns an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Editor’s Note: If Angry Birds is your thing… then let me direct you to a trailer for a little movie called “Birdemic: Shock and Terror”! This is a MUST WATCH instant Gauntlet classic: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3198224153/

Geekscape’s Splinter Cell: Conviction Review

by MoreLikeAndyApril 26, 2010

It’s no secret that I’ve never liked the Splinter Cell series mostly due to the way they handle stealth. That being said, I got caught up in the hype for Splinter Cell Conviction and to my surprise, actually liked it. The story this time around for Sam Fisher is that he finds himself looking for his daughter’s killer in hopes to exact revenge from the bastard. He get’s a lead from an old friend that tells Sam that someone has info on the killer’s whereabouts and Sam should go “meet” him. After finding the man and Sam convincing him to talk by smashing his head into various objects (cause we all know a swift blow to the head makes you remember REAL fast), Sam gets tricked back into his old life by people that will not give him info about his daughter until he does a little work for them.

Simplistic in nature, yes, but it works for how well the game is paced. I know some people that are used to the old Splinter Cell games and how it was slower paced, I think the direction Ubisoft went with this time around is better for the people, like me, that always wanted to play as Sam Fisher — but in a more action based role versus sneaking in the shadows throughout the entire game. You can still do the stealth approach if that’s what you are into — hence the beauty of this game. Whether you like to bust out that AK-47 and mow baddies down or sneak around like Batman and snap a couple necks, this game lets you do both. I feel this game is enjoyable for long time fans of the series as well as newcomers that have always wanted to play a Splinter Cell game but were thrown off by the steep learning curve of the stealth mechanics.

The game mechanics are good enough to enjoy either stealth or fast paced action. As with every Splinter Cell game, Sam Fisher gets really cool toys to use to take down enemies. Things like EMP grenades, Remote Mines (my fav), and some old staples to the series Sticky Cams and Flashbangs help you in your way through the game. 2 new features in Splinter Cell: Conviction are Mark & Execute and Last Known Position. Mark & Execute is your insta-kill move in which by taking down an enemy using a hand-to-hand takedown move you receive the option to mark up to 4 enemies (depending on what weapon you have equipped). Once marked, you can at any time, as long as the enemies are all in range, hit the execute button and Sam will go into a really cool quick kill animation dropping all the marked enemies with a shot to the head. I understand that this seems like a “Win” button but you can only store 1 use of this move. After that, you have to earn the right to use it again by doing a hand-to-hand takedown. I never really used this more than 5 times during the game. I had more fun dropping from the ceiling with my knee in the enemies face than Mark & Execute.

The other new feature is Last Know Position. Really basic in what it is, it can help you circle around enemies by fooling them into going to the last place they saw you. This kinda makes the A.I. in the game stupid but I guess they have to in order for this feature to work. I again never saw a use for it since I was so good at the game (yeah who believes I am any good at games?). Other things that Ubisoft was showing off in early previews was how they project your objective onto the environment which also doubles as a waypoint since it is projected in the direction you need to go. This made the game feel more cinematic and was a cool way to show you where the next place to Jason Bourne some bastards.

Overall feel of the controls are adequate enough to get the most out of the game although I have to question why Ubisoft thought to make the controls non-changeable as well as having the reload button be pushing the left analog stick in. It takes some getting use to but I still found the location of the reload button awkward. I also had an issue with the movement in Splinter Cell: Conviction. Not sure if it’s just me but the movement in this game felt a little “loose” in the sense that it was precise enough. I would tap over to the right and it would seem Sam would move more than I told him to do. It wasn’t a game breaker but it did make me climb up from a railing a couple of times right into the path of a security camera.

You do get upgrades in this game that carries over to Co-op/Multiplayer. In Splinter Cell: Conviction, you get an assortment of weapons at your disposal and some that unlock as you get further in the game. I found that although I had machine pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, sub-machine guns, I never needed anything but my trusty pistol with a silencer. I did upgrade all my weapons just to do it. The usual upgrades like silencers, laser scopes, bigger clips, stronger ammo, etc are there for you to upgrade your arsenal with. Even when you are in a firefight, all you really need is your gadgets and pistol since Splinter Cell Conviction has the cover system from the Rainbow Six series. Still, it’s nice to have options.

Getting points to spend on upgrades is where the fun was at for me. You have to complete in-game challenges called P.E.C. (Persistent Elite Creation). Challenges range from kill 5 enemies without being detected to make it through a whole level without being detected or firing shot. There are varying levels to each challenge so you can do the same one over and over until you mastered it and cannot gain any more points from it. This is once of the things that has kept me playing this game over and over. I love doing these challenges and I assume that’s what Ubisoft wanted to accomplish with these said challenges. Well done sirs.

The other thing in this game that makes Splinter Cell: Conviction a must buy is Co-op/Multiplayer. I played with a buddy, which is crucial to enjoy co-op to it’s fullest, and had a blast. There are 3 modes (4 if you sign up for U-Play) to co-op that you can enjoy. Campaign, Hunter, Last Stand are your options in what mode you want to play. The Campaign mode has a story that is a prelude to the main story of the game so if you paid attention during the main story, you will like this prelude since it sets up the main story well enough. This mode also has a wonderful ending that will surprise a few of you. Hunter mode is where you go through checkpoints on a map and kill the required amount of enemies at each checkpoint. Alerting the enemies increases the amount you have to eliminate so there is a challenge to be had here. Last Stand is what could be the equivalent of Horde mode in Gears of War 2 which most people are copying now into their games. I feel that most of you will have a lot of fun playing co-op and that it will keep this game in your rotation for games to play with your buddies on a Friday night for weeks to come.

If you have always been a fan of the Splinter Cell series, Conviction might be a step back for you but there is still enjoyment to be had. If you are a new to the series and would like an easy stealth mechanic mixed in with some great action set pieces, this is well worth your time to play.

Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Episode 1 Review

by MoreLikeAndyApril 22, 2010

You’re a demonic little imp, aren’t you Max?

Steve Purcell is a genius. That’s all that really has to be said. Sam & Max is the greatest dog & rabbit comedy detective duo ever! Long ago, these two were featured in, probably, the greatest adventure game ever, Sam & Max Hit the Road. A wacky tale of cross country intrigue starring Sam, a sarcastic talking dog and his partner Max, a hyperactive, psychotic rabbity…thing. What set this game apart from the rest was that the humor was irreverent. Random. Adult Swim style random. A leap from the somewhat serious adventure games from Sierra (like King’s Quest) where the humor was mostly in the number of ways you could die. Well Sam & Max are back folks and I’m here to tell you…its good!

Sam & Max Season 3 Episode 1: The Penal Zone true to classic Sam & Max form, is big on irreverence…and laughs! Things actually start from the end as our intrepid duo are trapped aboard a giant space ship that is currently rampaging around the city lead by General Skunkape (a giant purple alien space Ape hell bent on WORLD DESTRUCTION…yeah). You play this opening sequence with the goal of sending Skunkape back into the Penal Zone (apparently some kind of galactic prison colony…yeah, like the Phantom Zone in Superman II). This sequence actually acts as a tutorial as you’re introduced to the game mechanics.

Actually, it plays like every adventure game that you’ve played in the last 20 years; for the unfamiliar its basically walking around from one location to another, clicking on the static scenery for humorous descriptions, picking up anything that’s not nailed down and then using it to solve various situations or puzzles. The twist this time around is that Max has psychic powers (no really!) than he can use to change himself into different objects, transport himself (and anything that touches him) to a different location provided you have the telephone number (…don’t ask) and seeing the future! After you’ve sent Skunkape back to the Penal Zone then the game REALLY begins…at the beginning!

That’s right, the entire opening sequence is actually the end of the game, which actually was a shared vision of the future by our heroes. So the real meat of the game is figuring out how Sam & Max end up on a spaceship, with a giant talking space gorilla, an alien brain in a jar and a half dead Moleman in a terrarium.

yeah, this game is weird! But that’s just standard fare for Sam & Max, freelance police. If you’ve ever played a Sam & Max game before then this will be quite familiar to you. Coming directly from Sam & Max Hit the Road I have to say that i’m a bit late to the party with the reboot of this series from TellTale Games as I haven’t played Seasons 1 or 2, so I’m only familiar with the titular pair and the Moleman Harry. No matter, if you’re a newbie like me, you don’t really need prior knowledge of the series in order to get the full enjoyment of it. There’s plenty of exposition as to the events of what happened in Season 1 & 2 in the opening act, like how Max somehow ended up as President of the United States (damn Recall Election!).

But Sam & Max games are all about wacky humor. And irreverence. And mischief. And this game has all of that…in spades! The script is great but be prepared for a LOT of pop culture references (everything from The Chronicles of Narnia to Millia Jovovich) some of which might be pretty obscure for younger viewers (the entire episode itself mocks the 1960s Television show The Twilight Zone). The voice acting is spot on, Sam & Max sound great with William Kasten (Max) in particular delivering his psychotic observations with gusto. This is where the game shines, as it should since adventure games are only as good as their scripts (don’t worry, the script is good too!).

The puzzles aren’t too complicated and the gimmick of Max’s “future vision” (which is activated by an old 80’s style Viewfinder) is pretty cool and implemented quite well. As with most games of this ilk (Monkey Island..etc) much of the humor comes from simply exploring your surroundings and hearing the characters comment on various objects and people and this game does not disappoint.

If there’s only one drawback is that this game is pretty short, as with most episodic fair. Expect to beat it in a few hours, though TellTale Games is pretty good with their release schedule and Episode 2 is right around the corner.

TellTale Games is one of the few companies to get Episodic gaming right as they have a clear end in mind (so you don’t have to worry about glaring continuity problems) and only release a new series AFTER its already completed so releases are timely (one a month from April until August). Pricing is great too, a one time payment of 34.95 and you get all 5 episodes, one a month from April until August. IF that’s not enough, after the season is over, you can opt to get a hard copy on DVD for the cost of shipping (this only applies for the PC version however).

Overall this is a great start to the season, its classic Sam & Max wackiness at its…well, wackiness! Highly recommended for fans of both adventure games and …wackiness!

Definite buy!

Lunar: Silver Star Harmony – Reviewed!

by MoreLikeAndyMarch 30, 2010

Have you ever sat down and wanted to play a SNES era RPG, and found yourself looking at a pile of games you have beat a dozen times over, just to not play anything because nothing was appealing, and find yourself bored? I know that I do it all the time, as there are only so many times that I can replay Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy 6. And as if someone heard my one very strange issue, so comes a remake of Lunar: The Silver Star for the PSP called Lunar: Silver Star Harmony. Being a SNES child, I missed out on a lot of the great Genesis games, and I think that a lot of people missed out on this game as well, because it was released for the Sega CD, which is a real travesty.

This game just oozes nostalgia. You play a young boy who idolizes Dragonmaster Dyne, one of four heroes who had recently saved the world. Your goal is to one day become a Dragonmaster as well and defend the planet of Lunar. Lo and behold, lady luck is on your side and the caves of one of the legendary dragons is accessible, and you and your friends set out to find it, and get a dragon diamond to sell so you can become rich. Through a series of events, you find out that one of the four heroes is actually the evil “Magic Emperor”, who wants to take the power of the Dragonmaster for his own to control the world, as well kidnapping your love Luna. Sound familiar? That’s because we have heard this story before, but the style and the story telling is a timeless classic that makes you more nostalgic, than have you roll your eyes. It is just one of those timeless stories that keeps the fantasy genre in business and makes you feel like a kid again.

The combat is your traditional RPG battle system with a twist. Your characters are placed on a map against the enemies and to attack them with anything other than special moves, your character has to get into range, which they will do automatically. You have your standard range of magic spells, and special sword slashes that will do damage to a single character, do AOE around the character you choose to attack, or damage all the enemies, compounded with the standard healing spells and status ailments. Again, nothing major, but flawlessly executed. One major feature that I really enjoyed was the ability to just let the computer do all the work for you. You could do this by setting up 1 of 3 prearranged tactics for your characters to do on a turn, or just have the computer take over full AI. This made for getting past most of the regular boring battles quick and painless, but at the same time, everything outside of boss battles turned into a “press A for victory” battle.

The graphics look very nice. All the sprites are hand drawn and beautifully rendered. All of the game has these wonderful bright beautiful colors, making the game just all the more fun to play, it just looks pretty. The anime cut scenes on the other hand I am not so much a fan of. They fall into a weird ’90s style that I just never really liked. They look well enough, and this is more of just a personal complaint.

Overall, this game is a fun skip down nostalgia lane. It is memorable, the dialogue is funny and witty, there are plenty of jokes to be found, the characters are likable, the game is at least 30 hours long and it is simply a lot of fun. Definitely worth a pickup to fill that nostalgic gaming gap.

Shoot 1UP Review

by MoreLikeAndyMarch 12, 2010

Shoot 1UP – The next great Indie Game hit?

I’ll be honest, I’ve never really bothered to check out the Indie Games section on Xbox Live. Oh sure, I downloaded a few trials when they were first added to XBLA, but most of what I played was sheer garbage; the majority of which still is today. Then a little game called ‘I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!1’ was released, and became the shining beacon of hope for this stagnating part of Xbox Live. Its sheer addictive (and fun) gameplay all set to the price point of a $1 made it an instant hit. Is ‘Shoot 1UP’ just as good, if not better? I think so.

Shoot 1UP is a SHMUP (Shoot Em Up) from developers Mommy’s Best Games, known for the mildly popular Indie title ‘Weapon of Choice.’ The first question you are probably asking yourself is: What sets this one apart to dedicate a review for? Well, in the majority of SHMUP’s, you get one ship and a few extra lives throughout the game. However, Shoot 1UP allows you to use ALL of your lives at the same time. So, everytime you pick up an extra life, it’s not added to some arbitrary counter. No, it is added on screen as extra firepower for you to help destroy everything on screen with.

That’s fine, but what can I do with these extra ships? Well, you can expand and contract the formation of your squad using the left and right triggers. Expanding your formation increases the power of your weapons and, if allowed to, charges up your Plasma Cannon which pretty much decimates anything that isn’t a boss. Be careful though, as leaving your formation too large can make it harder to dodge incoming enemy ships and fire. So you have to constantly balance between power and agility to make it through the stages.

There are also some secondary abilities you can take advantage of. First, if you do happen to lose a ship, it will explode and take out any enemy ships and bullets nearby. Second, if you stop firing, you will activate a shield around all of your ships that, when detonated, will also destroy nearby ships and bullets as well. You can use these two extra abilities to add some strategy when needed.

There are seven stages in total, most with branching paths that either: turn the game from vertical to horizontal, changes the movement ot a free form setting(which can be a bit confusing and disorienting), or a backwards vertical where you are at the top of the screen going downwards. Add on to that are 17 achievement-like awards you can earn for doing anything from maxing out your squad at 30 ships on screen, to beating a level without losing a single ship, or fire the Plasma Cannon at maximum power using only two ships.

The game has 3 difficulty settings AND a speed slider. What’s that? You suck at SHMUPs? then drop the speed down to 25% and slowly work your way up. Or, if you live on Bullet Hell games, then crank it all the way up to 200% and have at it. There is also an unlockable Score Trek mode, where it plays more like a standard SHMUP. One ship on screen that you can progressively power up, and the difficulty slowly increases as you clear stages.

This was the first Indie game I have purchased, and have not regretted it one bit. If you like SHMUP’s, good games in general, or just want to try something that doesn’t suck, then check out Shoot 1UP. Trust me, I think you will get your money’s worth with this one. Oh, I almost forgot the best part: IT’S ONLY $1!

Review: The Saboteur

by MoreLikeAndyJanuary 21, 2010

originally posted at Handheldheroes.net

Alright! We’re gonna be doin’ one thang and one thang only….and that’s killin’ Nazis. The Saboteur is mainly a ‘go here and do this mission next’ game in the vain of all the other GTA clones. This is one of the better ones out there but could have been better if it had more polish done to it.

The story is simplistic enough. Race car driver gets robbed of his victory, driver and friend go to exact revenge by stealing cheaters car, both get caught up in a Nazi scheme, friend dies, you go on a tirade to kill your friends murderer. A little too paint by numbers in terms of revenge stories but not too much you can do different with that style. The flow of the story felt good enough to keep me at least semi interested in it to find out what happened next. Of course there are some plot twists with one not done well enough so when it happens you are shocked not because its good, but because it made no sense.

The music was amazing and fit the ambiance of the era the game was set in perfect. I love the way the music in the car goes from sounding like a crappy am radio when standing near the car to sounding like a live performance with you in the front row. I could almost smell the stale cigarette smoke in the air as some lovely dame sang a nice jazzy number next to a piano. Although some songs seem to repeat more than others, it wasn’t a bother to me. The voice acting was moderately passable. At times, it seemed the voice actors lost the accent they were going for in one sentence then in another, magically have it back in full force. Also, the stereotypes were played up heavily in this game. For me it was annoying at first but it grew on me as the game progressed and actually made some parts funny.

The direction they took with the art style was beautiful. For places that were under Nazi occupation, everything was colored in a Sin City style of all black and white with splashes of color in certain areas (eyes of the characters or a piece of clothing, etc). When you would free certain areas of Nazi control, the color would come back to that area to signal that you freed the area. I didn’t like the color all too much when compared to the black and white style. I think it took away how the black and white coloring made you feel while gunning down Nazi’s. It helped with the gritty setting the game was going for right from the beginning of the game.

Speaking of the beginning of the game, the opening sequence is pretty good (not because of the ladies) and feels like a movie intro more than a video game intro. If you buy the game new, there is a free DLC called “The Midnight Show” that unlocks brothels that you can hide in as well as the pasties that the ladies wear are removed. Honestly, I saw no relevance in having this DLC other than to get the teenage boys worked up late night in their room.

Unfortunately, the game mechanics was the main thing needing a good polish in The Saboteur. Tons of pop in textures (cars appearing out of thin air and bouncing as they hit the ground driving towards me), glitches (getting stuck in walls or enemies thrown off buildings float in mid air) were frustrating but not a deal breaker. What really killed the mood of stomping a mudhole in some Nazi arse was the ‘stealth’ mechanic in the game. How can wearing a enemy disguise be worse than walking around as yourself? Well when you have it so that there is a circle around you on your mini-map and when you do anything but walk the circle gets bigger, thus alerting the guards from 20 feet away that you are the enemy. Not so when you are out of disguise. I can run around to my hearts content and no one says anything (although climbing, sneaking, or holding your weapon out in plain view alerts them). What’s the point of using a disguise if you can sneak around better without one? The only time I see it benefiting you to use a disguise is when you need to get into a restricted area. Even then you still have to take out the guards without alerting them which is almost impossible.

What also took me out of the game was how it glitched after I completed a mission and was unable to do the next main one since it wasn’t unlocked on the map. Going through the forums for The Saboteur, you can see that other people had issues like this as well. The solution was a simple one…just restart the last mission and it should fix it. Problem for people who only use the Auto Save feature and it gets copied over after you beat the mission that you need to go back to. I was 2 missions away from the end of the game. I will never know what happens now since I refuse to start the game over cause of that glitch.

The controls work the same way Mercenaries 2 does and actually works for this game. With all the weapons you can choose from, I never had the need to use anything but a rifle and a machine gun. I am sure other people used most of the weapons but using that combo worked 95% of the time for any mission you went on. The game has a cover system that actually works in the way I expect it to work for most games. Anything higher up than you shooting will hit you behind cover so you have to be smart about were you take cover.

I had some fun playing this game despite the glitches. It’s not a bad game, just unfinished. If Pandemic had more time to polish up some rough spots, it would be a fantastic game. The Saboteur is worth a play through if just to have fun blowing crap up in the black and white visual style.

Review: Call Of Juarez – Bound In Blood

by MoreLikeAndyJuly 5, 2009

I like me a good modern western movie. Tombstone, The Quick and the Dead, 3:10 to Yuma are all fantastic movies. Call Of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a prequel to the original game and feels like it could have been a good western flick. The story starts off with the main characters Thomas and Ray McCall in the civil war fighting for the south. Certain events happen and they end up deserting their regimen to save their home. After that, they set out find wealth and riches to rebuild their home from the war. Of course the commanding officer doesn’t like the fact they abandoned their posts declares that he will hunt them down for however long it takes. After a few year of causing chaos in the wild west, the McCall brothers end up running into a leader of some Mexican bandits named Juan with his lovely woman Marisa by his side that talks of the treasure of Cortez. The McCall’s get caught up in this legend of the great treasure and the lovely Marisa and of course craziness ensues.

Every level has both McCall’s playing side by side but you get to pick which brother you want to play as except for a few levels where you are forced to play as one or the other. Thomas is good with ranged weapons, can use a lasso to climb up to certain places and can use a bow whereas Ray can wield 2 pistols at the same time, kick down certain doors and use dynamite. I played through the whole game as Thomas cause I love using the rifle. I can’t see playing the game through again just to play as the other brother since there is little difference in the levels playing as either brother. The weapons sound and feel like it should for western era firearms. Each brother also has a special power up called “Concentration Mode” or what translates in modern days as Bullet Time. They handle it a little different in this game with each McCall having a slightly different control mechanic for Concentration Mode. As Thomas, your reticule auto targets the enemies in range and you have to flick the right analog stick to shoot (like in westerns when the cowboy uses his palm of his hand to slam down on the hammer of the gun). Ray, on the other hand, has you aiming the reticule to mark the targets and then it auto shoots for you when the timer runs out. In order to get this mode activated, you have a meter in the top right corner and you fill it by killing enough enemies in a row. Once filled, you have 60 seconds to activate it. It’s the developers way of limiting how often you use it since it is an overpowering move.

For the boss fights, the game has you do a showdown in the middle of the area. The view has the camera behind your character focusing on your right arm and your holster with the enemy on the other side of your view. You have to move left or right to keep your enemy in view while using the right analog stick to keep your hand close to your gun. When you hear a bell go off, you must do some magical motion to grab your pistol and shot the guy before he shoots you. I say magical since I could never get it to work right so the times I beat it was from some sort of Voodoo magic or luck. Probably the worst part of the game which is a shame cause it should be the best part. At least the controls feel good through the rest of the game for anyone who plays FPS games and are easy to fall right into and feel at home.

Graphics are good at some points but getting up close to things you then see how bland they are. Since the game is mostly fast paced, you won’t spend too much time looking at the all that closely. The character models are pretty good and don’t seem that stiff in motion although there is a lack of face expressions. Explosions are well done with all the dust and particles flying around hindering your vision for a brief period. There are some screen tearing issues that annoyed me but I tried to look past that since the game was fun after all.

The level designs were done well in that it made me feel like I was in a western movie. You have the deserted towns, open fields, mountain tops, etc. It never once felt like I was staring at the same level over and over again. I was a little disappointed in that the lasso is really a gimmick and you barely use it. They could have done a lot more with that had they chose to. Also what the hell is up with the load times for checkpoints? There are at least 5 in each level and its a pain in the butt for you when you are playing and the game pauses the action to save the checkpoint. Takes away from the flow of the game and is a very bad flaw.

The sound in this game was great. Everything sounded like it should have. Explosions, gunshots, bows, horseback riding all sound like it should in a western. Voice acting was a little better than average with some of the characters sounding like they are in the wrong game. I loved the banter between the McCall’s as you play through the game. It can go from complimenting you on a good shot to ridiculing you on aim. I am glad they didn’t go crazy with the cursing since it would feel out of place if they did. The music choices felt right even though it was a little to modern rock like at times. It seemed to fit like it would if this were a movie instead.

Not sure why the developers didn’t include Co-op since this game is built like it should have it with the AI playing along side you through the whole game. The AI is good enough to be an asset in the game which is a surprise since most AI partners tend to hinder more than help. The game also opens up letting you complete side missions for extra cash in certain parts of the game. To me, they seemed to go by way to fast. Still fun to do to earn that extra bit of cash needed to upgrade your weapons. Sometimes you can find really good weapons from dead enemies so keep a lookout for those. Also, there are collectibles in the game (89 in all) that unlock things like artwork for the game and extra back story. Multiplayer is really fun which surprised me. I thought it was going to be your standard deathmatch and free for all game styles. They do have that but also such modes as Manhunt and my favorite Wild West Legends. In this mode, one of the teams has several things to complete. Some are optional. The opposing team has to prevent them from completing the objectives within a time limit. The cool thing about this mode is that the levels you play are based on Historical Events. How awesome is that?

Great game despite its shortcomings and the best western game I have played in a long time. With the good story and fun gameplay alongside multiplayer, this game is worth a play through.

$38 out of $60

Andy Breeding is the Co-Founder and Host of Handheld Heroes. You can also find him on Twitter

Suikoden Tierkreis Review (DS)

by MoreLikeAndyJune 30, 2009

We all know the DS has a ton of great RPG’s to play. Suikoden Tierkreis is one of the new entries into the great RPG’s on the DS. I dare say that it’s in my favourite RPG this year on a handheld device.

The story revolves around your character (in game you are referred to as him regardless of what you name your character) Running into some soldiers trying to take over your town. You fend them off and start to find out who they really are, The Order. The Order believes in the One True Way in which that everything in life has already been determined and you cannot change it. They want people to worship the One King and follow a predetermined path for the rest of their lives. Well our hero and his friends don’t like that idea so they set forth to stop The Order and the One King. There are books called The False Chronicles you come across that grants certain people with the Mark Of The Stars. This unlocks what essentially is magic in the game. You soon realize that The Order is trying to collect them all to use to summon the One King to their world and you have to beat them to it. The story progresses easily and flows well enough to keep you engaged for the 30+ hours you will be playing the main story. The voice acting is terrible but still doesn’t get in the way of the story itself.

The graphics are very lush and easy on the eyes. I was amazed at the detail this game has. One of the best looking games on the DS in awhile. The soundtrack is ok but the music at the Castle/Fortress is kinda annoying unless you like Irish music.

The gameplay mechanics are pretty good overall. Moving around in areas are smooth and its not hard to get around finding where you need to go. The game has an overworld map that makes it easy to travel to other places once you have been there at least once. Menu systems are a little clunky and hard to navigate. Also, the way it handles weapons/armor when buying it sucks. It’s hard to tell if it boosts or lowers your stats. You basically have to remember what your stats are and see if the number is higher in the item you are trying to replace. Battling is your typical turn based style system in any basic RPG.

I didn’t find the game too challenging until the last part of the game which is a shame but the story is good enough for you to forget that and have fun throughout. The big thing about Suikoden games is that you can recruit 108 people on your team. This game has a cool way of finding the ones that you don’t find automatically in the main storyline. There are jobs that you can do throughout the game that can earn you money and sometimes special items. These jobs also unlock characters to add to your party. Some are easy to figure out, others are next to impossible without some sort of guide. The game makes you level up most of your characters by forcing you to make 2 or 3 parties of 4 characters in certain parts of the game. I like that for the reason being that you don’t just level up 4 guys and leave the rest to get drunk at the bar alone and sad. Getting some of the more powerful characters through the job system would help you out a lot with this but is not necessary.

This game has enough detail, depth, and story to keep you engaged for the 30+ hours it will take you to complete the game. If you are looking for a RPG to have tons of fun with, pick Suikoden Tierkreis up now. You owe it to yourself to play a wonderful RPG this year on the DS.

$30 out of $35

Andy Breeding is the Co-Founder and host of Handheld Heroes. You can also find him on Twitter

Ghostbusters: The Video Game Review (PS3)

by MoreLikeAndyJune 30, 2009

A show of hands if bustin’ makes you feel good….no not that kind of bustin’ sicko, the kind of bustin’ that only Ray, Egon, Peter and Winston can do. Ghostbusters has been a long time in the making and after all the wait with this game, we finally get a movie game that actually is good (Wolverine doesn’t count since the movie sucked and the game was in development before the movie was announced).

You play the new recruit hired to help out with testing new equipment for the Ghostbusters. As your training begins with Ray and Egon, a blast of energy sweeps across the city emanating from the Gozer Exhibit at the museum. Slimer’s containment cell breaks from the blast and he escapes. You follow his trail to the Sedgewick Hotel where he first appeared. Trying to catch him you stumble upon some strange things and run into some old foes. Realizing that the blast from earlier is the cause of all this, you begin to investigate it and find all sorts of crazy things and familiar places throughout the game. This game is a treat for fans of the original film since most of the content in the game references the movie. There are references to the second movie as well but not as much as the first one. Now this is not to say this is a rehash of the first movie, the script and story for the game was done by Dan Akroyd and Harlod Ramis and is a brand new story. One can say this is what the third movie would have been had they made it back in the day. I love the fact that they don’t set this story in present time. It is actually set in 1991, two years after the second movie so it flows better and ties in easier with the movies.

Sound is amazing in the game. They use the original score from the first movie and the famous Ray Parker theme song. The voices are great with the original cast with the exception of Louis (not in the game himself but a reference is made about him in the game) and the Mayor (new mayor voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray). New love interest for Peter is Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn voiced by Alyssa Milano. I did have some issues with the lips not matching the words spoken and there were some delays at times with the line deliveries. Sometimes there would be a good 5 second delay before someone spoke. It made those lines less funny or effective. Also, Bill Murray seems to not have the energy in most of his voice acting in the game. Almost like he is bored. Just when he says something great, it goes back to him sounding monotone or bored.

The graphics were ok for the PS3 but after hearing how it pales in comparis

on to the 360 version I have to say that I am disappointed in Atari and Terminal Reality for letting this game look that bad on the PS3 compared to the 360. Terminal Reality used the PS3 as their developing console and said that their Infernal Engine was better on the PS3. Not sure what they were thinking. The texture quality and compression is bad compared to the 360 version. Still, it doesn’t take away from how good the game is and if all you have is a PS3 then it won’t hurt the quality of fun you will have with the game.

Gameplay is pretty good. The game plays like Gears of War in that you move around the screen in the same manor. Over the shoulder view, shooting, and even what they call sprinting in this game feels a lot like the roadie run in GoW. I think this is a good thing though since the game mechanics make you actually feel like a Ghostbuster fighting alongside the rest of the guys. It’s like you are playing Multiplayer with the cast throughout the whole game. You get 4 different weapons in the game but they are not available to you right away. You have to get to a certain point in the game for each one to unlock. Once unlocked, you can then spend money you earned for catching ghosts through the missions to upgrade your weapons and traps. What I thought was cool is that all your weapons and status for health and “ammo” are built into the Proton Pack. When you switch from your main weapon to another one you unlocked, the pack changes shape and color to let you know you are using a different weapon. For instance, when you get the slime upgrade, when switching to it, the pack changes and you see a green canister come out of the top of the pack and the 4 lights on the back of the pack turn green. There is a reload button for your weapon in the game but its more of a cooling switch. When using the Proton Pack, it will start to overheat. You will know this by either the pack smoking, the beeping noise or the meter that is on the side of the pack. If you don’t vent (reload) the pack, you overheat and have to wait about 3 to 4 seconds before you can use the pack again.

Load times are kinda bad even after the 4GB mandatory install on the PS3. Not sure what the install is suppose to help with but seemed like it was a waste.

I tried Multiplayer out and there are 2 modes. First mode is campaign mode where you can pick a level from the game and play though it with up to 4 players. Kinda wish you could play co-op in the main story instead of this lame mode. The other mode is made up of 6 different play styles.

Thief: Protect the Artifacts from the ghosts

Protection: Activate and defend the PKE disrupters

Slime Dunk: Compete with teammates to dunk Slimer in the Super Slammer trap

Destruction: Destroy evil relics to stop the ghosts from appearing

Survival: Stay alive as long as you can fending off wave after wave of ghosts

Containment: Capture as many ghosts in a set time limit

I for one love the Survival mode and think that would be great with 3 of your good friends online. Just like Horde mode in GoW.

This game has very little faults and does the fans of the movies service to the extreme. If you are not a fan of the movies, this game might come off as an ok title to rent. If you ever imagined being a Ghostbuster when you were little and bought the Proton Pack toy and uniform to match, this game is for you.

$45 out of $60

Andy Breeding is the Co-Founder and Host of Handheld Heroes. You can also find him on Twitter