Thursday, September 24, 2009

Review: Halo 3: ODST


It’s been about two years since Halo 3 came out and since then Halo fans have been waiting for a new installment in the franchise. Halo Wars came out but lacked the traditional gameplay instead focusing on an RTS scheme. But now Halo 3: ODST has come out and it is everything that Halo fans have been waiting for.

ODST comes with two discs; on the first one is the campaign mode and the brand new firefight mode. The campaign follows a group of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST’s) scattered in New Mombasa during the Covenant invasion just before Halo 3 begins. You are a nameless, faceless rookie who is attempting to figure out what happened to the squad and try to regroup. Along the way you will come across beacons where other ODST’s have been and you will find an object that will trigger a “flashback” of sorts (it is a flashback of the memories of the other ODST’s not you) then you will play as that trooper so you play as most of the squad at one point or another.

The gameplay is varied and is slightly different than Halo 1,2, and 3 because you are no longer the Master Chief. You will have to be a little more strategic and killing enemies is harder. You don’t jump as high or run as fast and this adds a terrific element to the game, it reinforces the character change. You can still board enemy vehicles and carry turrets so it keeps the popular features while adding some new weapons and equipment. You will initially have a scoped and silenced SMG and a pistol that is similar to the Halo1 pistol with the zoom mode. All of the familiar covenant weaponry is there too so Halo fans will be at home with the weaponry.

The game also features a new Visor mode that outlines enemies in red and allies in green, it also shows key locales and acts as night vision. But this does have a downside; the goggles make it hard to see if you are playing a level during the day. The “X” button toggles the goggles on and off. There are health pickups like the other games and most of the gameplay and features are the same. You will drive a variety of vehicles and fire a variety of weapons. There are weapons caches throughout the map that will show up on your map.

The game’s campaign is good but a lot of the replay value will come from the new firefight mode. This mode allows you and three friends to battle waves of covenant foes ala Horde mode in Gears 2. You get points for destroying enemies and enemy vehicles, you are given 7 lives and if you pass a wave you get an additional life. You can play this mode online or local however if you want to play online there is no matchmaking so you need to invite friends to a game and this is disappointing. The mode is great and challenging, classic Halo fun.

The second disc includes Halo 3 multiplayer modes, matchmaking, custom games, and forge mode. The disc comes with all map packs including the Mythic map pack and this allows the player to play any multiplayer game. The game is basically Halo 3 without the campaign mode. This is good for someone like me who never got around to downloading the map packs and couldn’t play certain game types.

The game is a great addition to the Halo franchise and hopefully Halo: Reach will be like this. With a fun single player campaign and awesome multiplayer modes this game is a must have for any Halo fan. I would highly recommend.

Gameplay: 10

Story: 9

Replay Value: 10

Graphics: 9

Overall: 9.5

Monday, September 14, 2009

Review: Mass Effect DLC-Pinnacle Station


The second piece of DLC for Bioware’s Mass Effect is entitled Pinnacle Station and is a nice change of pace from the main game. The basic idea is that Commander Shepard is invited to an elite training facility called “Pinnacle Station” run by Admiral Ahern of the Alliance. The station is simply a large simulator that allows you to play four different combat modes over three different maps for each mode.
The combat modes are straight forward; survival has you and your squad trying to survive as long as possible, it is time based not wave based like Horde mode in Gears 2. Capture has you and your team capturing 3 points around the map and the quicker you do it the better your score. Time Trial has you eliminating all of the enemies on the map as quickly as possible. The last mode is hunt, you gain time for every enemy you kill and you are trying to kill as many as possible before the timer runs out.
The maps are mostly based on locales from the main story of the game; there is the underground section of Liara’s dig site, a section of Virmire, a warehouse similar to the enemy bases in the main game, and the only unique map, a volcanic setting. You are competing against the best scores of the other combatants on the station but their scores are usually pretty easy to beat. There isn’t much in terms of story to the DLC but it offers a nice combat simulator that caters to replay value and you can try to topple your own best scores so it’s fun.
It has been criticized for being very different from the main game because it doesn’t add any new alien species (like Bring Down the Sky did) and it didn’t add any new worlds, just a space station, but I think that it brought a nice combat element to the game that allowed the good combat system to shine. Most RPG’s don’t have traditional shooter elements like Mass Effect does and this allows the game to pull off a piece of DLC like this. Overall it wasn’t a bad piece of DLC and it’s fun for what it is, 800 MS points isn’t a bad price so I would recommend this to Mass Effect fans.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Review: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled


Turtles in Time is one of the greatest and most remembered arcade beat-em-ups of all time, it had good action, a variety of enemies, and a good variety of scenes to play through as the turtles were warped through time by Shredder. This arcade classic was ported to the SNES and the Sega Genesis (although it was called the Hyperstone Heist on the Genesis) and is widely considered one of the best games of all time. So when Ubisoft announced that they were going to be remaking the classic arcade title in honor of the turtle’s 25th anniversary this year I couldn’t wait to see how it would come out. It was announced that the game would feature new 3D graphics but that the basic gameplay would stay the same and up to 4 people could tackle the game cooperatively. The game was released today on Xbox live and PSN and it does not disappoint.

The new graphics are nice and stylish, they have good texture but they deviate only slightly from the original game. The foot soldiers and other enemies look exactly the same and the turtles have a look that is more reminiscent of the 1991 turtles and not the current turtles (although Splinter looks like he does in the new cartoon) You will still need to use the same visual cues to see where the wrecking ball is coming down in the first level and things like that.

The gameplay, which was always the best part of the game, is still stellar and it hasn’t been changed at all. You still have two attacks, a jump button, and a jump attack. You can also pull the left trigger to reveal an exclamation point that shows where your character is if you get swarmed and lose track of where you are on the screen. The pizza power ups are still there and they include the health pizza and the pizza power up that starts you spinning and it will knock down any enemies around you. You are given 9 lives and if you lose all of them you can restart the level you are on with 9 new lives but you’ll lose your score for the game. The music is the same but the dialogue has been re-recorded so the “shell shock” won’t be the same voice you are used to.

There are three gameplay modes the first is the classic story mode, the second is the survival mode where you are only given one life bar, and the third is the quickplay which allows you to play any level that you have previously beaten. There is local and online co-op and up to 4 players can play the parts of all the turtles. The ability to play 4 player online and local co-op is one of the strongest selling points in the game because playing the game with friends was always a lot more fun than playing alone, although the game is still fun solo. All three game modes are available online and local for multiplayer and single player.

Ubisoft has done a fantastic job of recreating one of the best arcade games of all time and the 800 microsoft points (or about $10) are well worth it. I would highly recommend

Gameplay 10

Story 10

Replay Value 10

Graphics 10

Overall 10

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Review: Fallout 3 on Xbox 360


Nuclear holocaust is one of the most frightening thoughts in the modern world and the game Fallout 3 gives us a look at what could have happened if history had unraveled in a different way. The Fallout universe diverges from ours after WWII, the technology advances but the 1950’s mentality sticks, robots and fusion cars are staples of the world by the mid 21st century. However the Cold War did not end in 1989, instead it continued until it reached a culmination point in 2077 where China shot off nukes at the US and in about 2 hours the world as we knew it was gone. Fallout 3 takes place 200 years later in the wasteland that is Washington DC. You play as dweller of Vault 101, around your 19th birthday your father leaves the vault and you are forced to follow.
This is where the real gameplay begins, you have the option to traverse the massive open world that is the Capital Wasteland, doing good or wreaking havoc, the choice is yours. But anyway you play it the wasteland is a dangerous place to live; you will encounter bands of raiders, ruthless mercs, feral ghouls, super mutants, mirelurks, deathclaws and the enclave (the remnants of the US government) to name a few.
To combat these foes (and keep you alive) there are a wide variety of weapons, armors, food, stimulants, health packs (called stimpacks) and other things to find so it’s a good idea to open every cabinet, desk, box, and footlocker in a given place to stock up. All of these items can be sold for caps, the currency of the future. You can then use caps to repair equipment, buy new weapons, ammo, or anything else you want to, the choices are vast.
The combat is unique in that you use the VATS system (Vault Assisted Targeted System) to fight enemies. You can fire weapons with the right trigger using a crosshair but the VATS system lets you decide where to shoot your enemy to try and deal the most damage. It also slows the game down and lets you strategize, when you press the right bumper it enters the VATS screen and the enemy is zoomed in on. The game pauses and you can toggles through targets on the body of the enemy and each part has a percentage that shows the likelihood that your shot will succeed.
Your Pip-Boy 3000 (a wrist computer that acts as the pause screen) is essential to the game and it is where you do all of your interactions such as equipping weapons, using stimpacks, and listening to audio tapes. You can also listen to radio stations and sometimes “Three Dog” of Galaxy News Radio will reference you and your exploits. You actually get to meet him in the course of the main storyline.
One thing that the game does exceptionally is show how America never left the 1950’s and everything that is still standing in the wastes is a throwback to the 50’s. Even the hairstyles of the characters and the clothes mirror the styles of 1950’s America. This helps you get immersed in the game’s fantasy timeline and it makes everything seem more possible because of how close it is to reality. This game really makes you wonder what would have happened if the USSR hadn’t collapsed and the major world powers fought a nuclear war. It is a rare “deep thought invoking” game that while it does make you think it is still fun and simple.
The game features an experience system, just like any RPG, and the max that you can get to is level 20. Along with the experience system is a karma system that acts as a good/bad meter, helping people gets you positive karma while hurting people gets you negative karma. There are different achievements for reaching xp levels with a certain type of karma so it’s up to you. The scale of this RPG is one of the biggest I have ever seen, you can spend hours just traversing the landscape and checking out what is left of Washington and its surrounding areas. Discovering locations on the map and exploring can be very lucrative so every now and then just get lost and see what you can find.
I could talk about the story and the sidequests for hours and literally write a book detailing my experiences with this game but that is an experience that is best left to each individual gamer. The story itself is solid and you actually feel like you are making a difference when you save a town from raiders or find a home for a little boy who has just lost his parents.
The game performs well technically with load short load screens (relatively for an RPG) and very little framerate slow up. The environments are impressive from a distance but can be blurry up close, however that is to be expected in a game that has this much content. The night to day transition is nice a fluid and the pace of the day seems to be just right, it isn’t real time but the days don’t zip incredibly fast.
Overall Fallout 3 is a fantastic open world game that incorporates stellar gameplay with an awesome story, an incredibly vast number of plot choices, and a convincing post-apocalyptic world. I would highly recommend this title to anyone that has the time to commit to it because you won’t want to put the controller down once you pick it up.
Gameplay: 9.5
Story: 10
Replay Value: 10
Graphics: 8.5
Overall: 9.5

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Review: Prototype on the Xbox 360


Prototype is a good open world game that utilizes superpowers pretty well and has an interesting plot line to match. The game follows the story of Alex Mercer who wakes up in a morgue in New York and has no idea who he is or why he has superpowers. The military is after him and there is a virus loose in the city that is mutating the populace. Alex soon realizes that he has the ability to “consume” people and take their memories he sets out to find the people that made him what he is and find out who he is and what is going on. The main story line is told through a series of flashbacks as we see Alex talking to a mysterious man on day 18 of the infection. After some narrative the game flashes back and you play through Alex’s story. You have the choice to either continue the main plot progression or go on a number of side quest type missions. This is where the open world element comes into play, it is very much like the Spiderman games where you can go to the main story or side stories, or you can just run around the city. I played the game on normal difficulty and it took me about 10 hours to complete just the main missions so there is a good amount of content.

Now on to the gameplay itself, Alex will gain a number of powers and all of these can be upgraded in the menu of the game. For every opponent you kill you get EP (Evolutionary Points) and these can be put towards the upgrades. There are upgrades for your powers, movement, combat, survivability, weaponry, and vehicle use. On my first playthrough I had plenty of upgrades that I couldn’t purchase by the end of the game but if you play through the free roam element I’m sure there is enough EP to upgrade fully. These powers and other upgrades are really cool and become essential later in the game. Some of the best are the glide move, the groundspike, the longshot with the whip which lets you hijack helicopters from a distance. But the most essential power that you have is the ability to “consume” and become anyone in the game, if you want to pilot a tank then you can consume a tank commander and you will know how to drive the tank. You can also use this to fool enemies, if you consume a soldier, for example, and then walk up to a military base no one will suspect and you can get in close without being fired at. This has a lot of uses but if military personnel see you as Mercer you need to duck out of sight and turn into someone else to lose them or they will continue to attack even if you look like someone else, there are also detectors and certain enemies that will know who you are even with a disguise. But consuming people also restores your health and you will need a lot of that. When you buy the critical mass upgrade you can continue to accumulate health past the max and then you can use that to unleash a “devastator” attack. This attack takes some time to charge but it is a massive attack that will take out or seriously cripple all opponents in about a 20 foot radius.

The control is nice and fluid for movement but switching between powers can be clunky and annoying, the mechanic is that when you press the left bumper a wheel screen comes up (like in Mass Effect) and you select what power you want to enable, this itself is fine but it doesn’t pause the game like in Mass Effect, it slows the game down for a brief period then the game goes back to full speed so you need to be quick and that is annoying. It was also more difficult to find the right weapon when the pressure was on, if they had an option to put your four favorite powers on the D-Pad that would have been great. There is no block button but if you have armor or shields equipped it will automatically engage if you are being attacked. This is a little annoying because certain enemies can beat you to a pulp in a corner and with no block you keep getting knocked over so you can’t attack and you get stuck. The left trigger locks on to targets but I found that when there were big boss battles it locked on to the smaller targets a lot and it really should stick to the boss unless you manually switch it so that could have been improved.

The graphics on the CG cut scenes are absolutely gorgeous, especially the opening cut scene but the in-game graphics can be pretty mediocre at times, perhaps this is a side effect of the massive amount of info on the disk but many of the textures on certain buildings and people got blurry and pixilated at seemingly random times, however regardless of how crazy the action got the frame rate never slowed up so that is really good. For the most part the city and characters looked impressive and there was no lack of blood and gore so the graphics were good for the most part.

The game has a lot of replay value because of the new upgrades and the side quests, after the main story ends you can still free roam the city which is a nice touch. Overall the game is satisfying on all accounts, the graphics are good for the most part, the gameplay is solid mostly but it can get unfair at times, and the story is good but slightly tough to follow at times. What this game does well is the integration of superpowers which is something that has not been done very well in video games to date. I would recommend this title.

Gameplay: 8

Story:9

Replay Value:9

Graphics:8

Overall: 8.5

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Review: Ghostbusters the Video Game on Xbox 360


Ghostbusters: The Video Game is the game that Ghostbusters fans have been waiting for ever since the movie came out in 1984. It has a great story, the original talent, awesome graphics, and an incredible ghost catching mechanic that sets it apart from other third person shooters. When most people look at a licensed game they see a quick cash in that needs to be rushed to be released with the movie, this game doesn’t have that problem. The last Ghostbusters movie came out 20 years ago and as of right now there is no GB 3 set in stone. So the game takes place in Thanksgiving of 1991 which is about 2 years after the events of Ghostbusters II. The Ghostbusters are now backed by the city and are loved not hated like they were at the beginning of the second movie. The mayor (played by Brian Doyle Murray) rode to election on an “anti-ghost” platform so the GB’s are now city contractors, this means they bill the city and don’t have to pay for the damage they cause. To keep the GB’s in check the mayor appoints Walter Peck (William Atherton) to keep track of them. All of the original GB’s return to provide their voices and likenesses in the game; Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) as well as Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts) as the Ghostbusters’ secretary. There is also a new player, Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn (Alyssa Milano) who is the guest curator at the Museum of Natural History’s new Gozer exhibit. You play as a rookie Ghostbuster hired to test out Egon’s new equipment. Without spoiling the story I will say that it all revolves around a PKE shockwave that erupts from the museum the night before the opening of the exhibit.
In the game there are revisits to some classic ghosts from the movies but also a ton of new stuff. You will return to the Sedgewick to fight Slimer, battle Stay Puft in Times Square, and bust the library ghost from the beginning of the first movie. But this isn’t a rehash of the movie there is a ton of original stuff. The voice acting is fantastic and all of the actors really got back into their characters, some reviewers have been saying that Bill Murray “phoned it in” but that isn’t the case at all, they all do a phenomenal job and I was thoroughly convinced that I was listening to the characters and not the actors. The storyline is really deep and there is a good twist towards the end, the dialogue is spot on (Aykroyd and Ramis wrote it so it would almost have to be) there are a lot of chuckles and some laugh out loud moments in the game that hit on what the movies were all about, comedy. But of course in a game there needs to be more action for the player so you will be seeing a lot more of ghost fighting than witty dialogue but that is part of the shift between mediums and it makes complete sense.
Ok on to the gameplay, there are two main types of ghosts; corporeal and ethereal. The corporeal ghosts simply need to be blasted to pieces with your equipment. The ethereal ghosts are a little bit more of a challenge, they need to be dragged into a trap like the movies. Ray describes this as a three step process Sap’em Cap’em Trap’em. You fire your proton stream (or other offensive weapon) to sap the ghost of its PK energy, your crosshairs have a green circle of bars around it when you fire at a ghost, that signifies the amount of PK energy left in the ghost, when it is sufficiently depleted you throw out the capture stream and start the second part Cap’em. Once the ghost is in your capture stream you have to wear him down by pulling in the opposite direction of where he is flying. This will build up a slam meter, when you have built up some “slam” power you hold the left trigger and use the thumbstick to slam the ghost into the ceiling, ground, or anything to weaken it. When it is dazed you will see stars above its head and it is time for the last step Trap’em. Press the “X” button to throw out a trap and you will see a yellow beacon of light emanating from the top of the trap. Drag the ghost over to this and the trap funnel will automatically open then the ghost will try to fly out so use the thumbstick to keep him in the trap funnel while it sucks him in. There you have, that wasn’t such a chore now was it?
You will get upgrades to the proton pack over the course of the game and you will find yourself using them for different types of foes, many reviewers have stated that you don’t use two out of the four equipment functions but that just isn’t true at all. You will get the regular proton stream which includes the blast stream, capture stream, and the boson dart which is like a large pulse of energy that fires from the nutrona wand. Then you will get the dark mater generator, the primary fire is a shotgun like function that sprays dark matter particles, this is perfect for dealing with charging foes. The secondary fire is the stasis stream, this long blue stream will slow down a ghost and if you keep it on a ghost long enough it will actually freeze it in place. Freezing and then blasting apart an enemy is a cool one-two punch. Then you will receive the slime blower which has the slime stream that can be used to destroy or weaken certain monsters, neutralize harmful black slime, get possessor ghosts out of their victims and expose certain doors and such that can’t be seen with the naked eye but can be seen after it is slimed. The secondary fire is the slim tether that can tether ghosts and physics objects together, this will primarily be used to solve puzzles but if you shoot one tether at a ghost and the other at a trap on the ground it will pull the ghost into the trap. Finally you will receive the Meson Collider which probably is the least useful piece of tech but it still can be used effectively. The primary fire is a homing beacon that will attach onto a target then you can use the secondary fire which is like a machine gun and the meson particles will lock on to the beacon on the bad guy and hit him regardless of where you are aiming, if you can get it on a fast moving ghost it is a real good weapon to have.
As you bust ghosts you receive money and you can put that money towards upgrades to all of the equipment, this is all accessible through the PKE meter which is the next thing I am going to talk about. The PKE meter is like a PDA, it is the pause menu of the game and it includes Tobin’s Spirit Guide, your stats, options, tutorials, and the “store” where you can buy upgrades. When you press the “Y” button you will be put into a first person perspective with the PKE meter in front of you and the Para Goggles (or Ecto Goggles your choice) down. The goggles will pick up a lot of otherwise invisible things like markings on walls and ghost trails. The PKE meter words like a hot and cold meter. The lines will spike in the direction of a ghost or collectible. Green means there is a faint trail of a ghost, red means there is a ghost in close proximity, and blue means a collectible is nearby. You follow the spiking lines and the wings of the PKE meter will start to go up when you get really close. Then you can attempt to scan a ghost or artifact or paranormal anomaly for entry into Tobin’s Spirit Guide. There are three circles in the goggle interface and if you line up the ghost with the smallest circle and press the right trigger you will get a full scan, this scan will allow you to pull up the spirit guide and see the strengths, weaknesses, and backstory of the ghost you just scanned. This can be very helpful in knowing which weapon to use on any type of ghost so when you see a new type of ghost scan it and look at its weaknesses! The backstories for the ghosts were also written but Aykroyd and Ramis and they can be pretty funny or a little creepy at times. Collectibles are cursed artifacts that, when scanned and collected, will appear at the firehouse. You get money for each ghost or collectible you scan. The collectibles are really funny like the disco pants that follow you around and play music or the toaster of sights unseen that dances on the pool table like the toaster in the second movie.
The graphics are simply amazing, a lot of attention was put into the character models and everyone looks spot on. The full CGI cutscenes are more impressive than the in-game ones but that’s not to the say the in-game cutscenes aren’t impressive as well, it all looks and plays great. The framerate did not slow down once and I only saw pixilation in the background of one in-game cutscene so the reviewers who say that those cutscenes are pixilated must be playing a different game. The ghosts’ coloring and the hue about them is nice a vibrant and just what you would expect. The game’s engine performs incredibly and allows for massive destruction. When you fire your proton stream chairs will break apart, walls will scorch, and windows will shatter. You will get a damage tally that you can review in your PKE meter and it is just fun to see a room that you blasted apart. The physics in the game are also impressive and the slime tether is a fun toy to play around with. The scenery is nice a varied and it doesn’t get boring to look at each level is very distinctive.
The sound design is fantastic with the original film score by Elmer Bernstein playing throughout along with some of Ray Parker Jr’s “Ghostbusters.” The proton pack, trap, and PKE meter all sound perfect and there really isn’t anything that could have been better, it is just like listening to the hum of a lightsaber you just know when it’s right. The repeating tracks aren’t that back especially considering the movie was 2 hours and this game is 8-10 hours so people who complain about that just want to complain about something but I didn’t really notice too many tracks repeating and when they did it was appropriate so I thought is was perfect. The load screens have Ray Parker Jr’s song playing and it just gets you so pumped up to buts some heads, in a spiritual sense of course.
The game can border on really creepy and really silly but it’s all within the parameters of a Ghostbusters story so it is fine, the story gets darker as it goes on just like the movies. But even though it gets darker the sense of humor is still there and you will still be laughing even when the level itself is creepy. There are a ton of references for fans, especially in the firehouse. The firehouse is a great hub world and you can do a lot of stuff like talk to the painting of Vigo, check out the containment unit, listen to messages and yes you can slide down the pole. You can almost spend hours just fiddling around in the firehouse without ever going on a mission.
There are very few nitpicks about the game and they don’t even rally matter that much to me but I will let you know them to try and be fair. A map screen or compass function would have been nice because it is easy to get lost but the maps are pretty linear so it isn’t too bad, your flashlight should be something you can turn on whenever as opposed to something that turns on automatically because there were some parts where I thought it was too dark but the computer obviously didn’t. Some reviewers have complained about bad lip synching but to be honest it really isn’t that bad and who cares? Also they say that the characters are stiff but that isn’t true either, there are a lot of nuances to the facial expressions of the characters and I never once thought they looked stiff so they’re totally wrong with that. The only other complaint I have it I WANT MORE! But of course as a super fan I will never be satisfied however the replay value is great because of the unique ways of catching ghosts, the achievements, and the dialogue that you may have missed the first time through. The online multiplayer is great with my favorite mode being survival where you try to survive waves of ghosts like the Horde mode in Gears 2. Some local multiplayer would be nice but that doesn’t really bother me and no character creator makes sense because of all of the cutscenes that the rookie is in. The nameless character makes the experience much better because when Ray calls you “Hoss” or Winston calls you “Rook” you really feel like they are talking to you. A final complaint that some have voiced is that the other GB’s need to be revived too often and while that may be true it is only in the boss fights and it isn’t that big of a deal.
If you like Ghostbusters, shooters, comedy, or all of the above buy this game. It is by far my favorite game of all time and while you may not agree with that you will have a blast playing this wildly fun ride, here’s hoping for more games and some DLC!

Gameplay: 10
Story: 10
Replay Value: 10
Graphics: 10
Overall: 10