Fallout 3 is in it’s own right a fantastic game. Highly addicting and fun to play, seeing the little character nuances that you can bring out of your hero, whoever that may be. The game is epic in it’s own right. As I was reaching the end of the main story, I found myself wanting more. This certainly could not be it for the Capital Wasteland could it? Well, imagine my surprise when I realized that XBOX Live has several bits of downloadable content that not only enhance your character with incredible weapons, but take you to new locales and even have you fight new baddies.

That said, I would like to say that Mothership Zeta was at least a little more interesting.

Sure, you know about the crashed spaceship in the wasteland. Well, you get to see what happens when you get to close too it aside from some radiation poisoning. You end up beamed aboard a ship that is orbiting Earth. You get to fight aliens, and you can get such weapons like the super awesome Alien Disintegrator. There is nothing more satisfying than watching your enemies be reduced into a minuscule pile of goo before your eyes. You also get the chance to unlock some interesting costumes in this particular add on, including a cowboy outfit, and even a Samurai suit!

How can this be? That would be spoiling but the surprise is rather nice.

The action is intense in Mothership Zeta. Fights erupt between you and the aliens at any point and when they do, expect some fierce resistance. Especially from the aliens that are in adaptive force fields.

As far as what I didn’t like, the chapters were too short. Also the corridors of the ship can get a little too repetetive to the point that you end up going in circles quite a bit. Also, for some inexplicable reason, the alien scientists are good. What I mean is that if you kill them, you lose karma. Apparently in this case, the only good alien is an alien that doesn’t shoot at you.

Ultimately, I enjoyed Mothership Zeta but not as much as the other two expansions that I also downloaded which were Point Lookout, and Broken Steel but more on those soon.

Is Mothership Zeta worth your while? Sure. You get some killer weapons and some neat upgrades but be warned, you can expect it to end before you really start enjoying it.

Final Rating out of 10: 7.5

When I fired up Dark Void I had no real notion of what the game was about. I knew there was flying and that the game was a cover-based shooter. With the birth of my son in December, I was glad of an excuse to really sit down and play through a game. The list of unfinished games for both 360 and PC is growing ever so steadily.

But I digress – Dark Void, developed by Airtight Games and published by the good people at Capcom is an experience that has a distinct feel. And that feel is unfinished.Riddled with small annoyances and loose controls, and a story that has more holes than Star Wars (I say that with love), I would have loved to see this game in 6 months or more when it would have been finished. With no singular direction, the game suffers but still manages to pull off a passable 8-10 hour single player experience that has some satisfying moments. However, with a distinct lack of multiplayer

Read on to know the whole story…

Dark Void starts off with a taste of what’s to come by getting you used to the flying mechanic. Now, for those playing on PC as I am, you should be warned that this is a joystick-shooter. If you don’t already have your favorite console controller for PC then you will find the mouse/keyboard controls frustrating. The game was meant to be played with a controller. Anyways, it goes through a short flight tutorial, and then drops you into the shoes of Will (voiced by Nolan North), the game’s main protagonist and introduces Ava (voiced by Polly Walker), the inevitable love interest who has a complicated past and relationship with our hero. A short cut-scene later, you’re in the Void, and robots are trying to kill you.

You pick up a gun and the game shows you how to shoot and survive by hiding behind cover. The ruins of an old civilization provide ample coverage for a soft-skin such as yourself. It was heavily inspired by the likes of Gear of War, but never achieved the satisfying feel of it. Most of the time, I saved ammo by running and shooting in bursts, then just mashing the melee button until the bad guy died. There are only a few ground enemies that this cannot be done to and I took full advantage of it. The shooting was alright, if a little loose. I never felt fully in control of my aiming reticule, even near the end of the game when I was “used to it.” The heavier the action got, the more squirrelly the controls felt. Headshots seemed to be at random, which was frustrating because I am big on saving ammo when I can. The gun upgrade mechanic seemed almost like a throwaway. Each gun only had two upgrades, and you get far fewer points than you have options for upgrading guns. I just upgraded the main rifle (most ammo) and the disintegration gun to max which gave them more ammo and blew stuff up better.

With the annoyances of the ground combat and control, the air battles were fun and crazy. Unlimited ammo and the ability to upgrade your jetpack to shoot missiles was a nice touch that made the combat satisfying. It was at this point of the game that I realized that I didn’t see any options for multiplayer. Playing 8 or 16 person aerial deathmatch or aerial firefight/horde mode would be an incredible amount of fun, taking me back to the days of Starfox 64. The controls were tight and the physics were not too game-y to be ridiculous. This was the best part of the game by far. The lack of multiplayer is an enormous oversight and a downright shame for a game so short. I am hard pressed to say the game merits the $60 price tag for consoles, but the $40 price for PC is much more reasonable. Airtight and Capcom missed a huge opportunity to capitalize on the lack of aerial combat shooters.

With a strong performance by Nolan North (Will, the protagonist) you feel like you’re playing something of a Nathan Drake spin-off. With competent one-liners and an overall interesting take on the anti-hero Will is not really endearing but likable. Ava, voiced by Polly Walker is mostly good but Tesla and the rest of the voice acting crew were greatly overshadowed by North’s work – sometimes to the game’s detriment. The performances were so far apart in quality sometimes that it made you cringe.

The story was somewhat contrived and lacked finesse. There’s only a tiny bit of backstory for Will and Ava, but the rest of the game’s characters are, essentially, red shirts. Tesla seems like he was thrown in just to explain their technology (the jetpack, ships, etc) and there was almost no explanation of how anyone else came to be there. It makes a small effort to explain the “bermuda triangle” disappearances as saying ships and planes fell into the Void.

To get a bit mushy, the game is very pretty for the most part. The character models and scenery were done very well and I think the PhysX were a nice touch. This game, more than others I’ve played, looks better with the extra particles and such that it adds. It adds a bit of grime and dirt to the scenery which makes it look at feel more genuine and real. I actually like the character animations and facial expressions better than certain current games. *coughAssassin’s Creed 2cough*

To top it off, there were times during the game that the music made me stop, reload an earlier save and play through the section again just to hear some of the best music in a video game I’ve heard in a long time. Its no wonder, because Battlestar Galactica composer Bear McCreary was the composer – his liberal use of heavy drums and exciting passages add an almost immesurable ammount of joy to the flying parts. The last battle in particular is one of my favorite musical moments in the game. Also, for those who are patient enough to sit through the credits there is a nice musical treat near the end. McCreary has some interesting things to say about his involvement in Dark Void on his blog. Warning – there are some plot spoilers ahead – Bear McCreary’s Blog.

Overall, the game does a great job of bringing us some good air combat and an incredible music score, however the ground combat and story leave much to be desired. If you have a chance, at least rent the game to hear some decent Nolan North and have a lot of fun flying around shooting things. The game lays the potential for a sequel, however I don’t know if that project will ever get the green light.

Dark Void (PC) Final Score: 6.5

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was one of the many box office hits from last summer that was an ultimately hollow movie, deviod of any nuance, a good plot, and, with the exception of Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber, just generally awful acting.  So how is the video game based on the movie?

I am quite pleased to say that the game is way better than the movie.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition is easily the best Wolverine video game ever made.  This game has everything you want out of a game starring our favorite bezerker raging mutant.  You follow the events from the movie with additional material from RAVEN, linking specific events from the film seamlessly to an overarching storyline that involves several flashbacks to Africa, as well as a visit to Project Wideawake, which for your non comic geeks, is the project that unleashed these three story tall robots that hunt mutants on the X-Men.  You play as Wolverine, as you hack, stab, maim, slash, and kill anything and everything in your path. I think it’s safe to say that  this is by far the goriest game that has come out with an X-men character.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing.   A really good thing.

I was surprised at just how much gore there is specifically from the amount of damage that you take as Wolverine.  That said, because Wolverine is a mutant, one of his abilities includes a healing factor where essentially your life bar restores itself slowly and you get the treat of seeing Wolverine’s wounds heal themselves.  You can get stripped down to a near skeleton and still recover from that thanks to the two life bars that you have if your first life bar is depleted, then that means Wolverine’s vitals are exposed, therefore renderng you vulnerable.  At this point, it’s best to take some cover from your opponents or expect to be killed.  The kills that you get to deliver on the bad guys are incredible.  One of my favorites is where Wolverine stabs the victim in the stomach, and pulls up, thereby decapitating and leaving the poor bastard so shredded up that he won’t be getting up even if he could.

The boss battles are epic.  One battle has you going up against a Sentinel and that one alone is worth making the game worthy of a play through.  The fight with Gambit spans an entire hour of game play, taking place all over a casino, and even outside.  That fight is one of my favorite parts of this game.  The final fight with Weapon 11 is interesting and it actually challenges you to vary your moves against the enemy more than you have up to this point.

If I have any complaints with the game, it will be about the repetition.  The gameplay is as follows, lunge, hack, slash, rinse, repeat.  The repetition in this game is a major issue especially when you return to areas that introduce one new villain to fight.  When I say new, I mean in looks only.  The boss fight with The Blob is also a disappointment in that you have already fought big guys like him and the strategy for fighting him is nothing new by the time you get around to him.   (Spoiler) Also the fact that the idea of the magical memory erasing adamantium bullet is in the game just infuriates me to no end.  I hated that aspect of the movie and I hate it here as well. (Spoiler end)

The extras are minimal but neat.  You are able to find Wolverine action figures in different costumes from every aspect of the character’s history in the various stages of the game and when you get three of the same one, you unlock a challenge.  The challenge involves you fighting the Wolverine in that costume.  If you defeat him, then you unlock that costume and it’s instantly a selectable costume in the game.  Otherwise, you are playing ad Hugh Jackman in a  wife beater and jeans and let’s face it, it’s not the most interesting costume in the game.

My final verdict: If you want a good, solid action game that won’t take too long to finish, then X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not a bad choice.  I might even say it’s one of the best comic book based video games out this year after Batman: Arkham Asylum.  There’s nothing more satisfying than being able to cut loose with Wolverine and finally give some much needed gore to this already violent character.  While the repetition can get a little tedious, it’s definitely a guilty pleasure of a game and worth your time.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition: 7 out of 10

Not since Marvel Ultimate Alliance have I truly enjoyed a comic licensed game. Then came Batman: Arkham Asylum.

And all is good.

The one-man show that is B:AA absolutely reeks with authenticity. From Kevin Conroy as Batman to Mark Hamil as Joker to Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn I was literally thrown back to after-school cartoons where I literally raced home to watch Batman: The Animated Series. I am a bit behind the times only just finishing it, but, being one of my favorite games of 2009, it was worth the wait.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is a very dark game, pulling more from a Frank Miller-esque world than even the the last two Batman movies. Yes they could be dark, especially Dark Knight, but neither come close to Miller’s Dark Knight Returns. You begin the game by returning the infamous Joker to Arkham Asylum. You make it clear to the warden and to Gordon that something isn’t right. Lo and behold, ten minutes later you’re already starting to fight the Joker’s goons after he’s escaped and beginning the crazy ride that is Batman: Arkham Asylum.

I’m not going to delve too much into the story here, because that is one of the best things about this game. Suffice it to say, the story and storytelling include you in their interactions. Think Half-Life 2 camera control in certain parts, and 3rd person storytelling in others. You battle against a full gamut of Batman baddies including Zsas, Bane, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Scarecrow, Killer Croc and, of course, Joker. You match wits against The Riddler performing a somewhat interesting collection game throughout your quest to stop the Joker. The game is very interesting as the riddles are true to form, however if you have a knowledge of the DC comic universe, Batman specifically, you may have an easier time. This was one of the few games where I went back to play the collection part because it was actually interesting and fun.

The gameplay was absolutely phenomenal – there is a saying in life that should be applied to video games: Less is More. B:AA takes a few good concepts, for example free-flow battles, and does them extremely well. I found myself looking for trouble more often than not just to feel like a badass fighting anywhere from six to twenty thugs. The combat just works so WELL. The boss fights were simple, yet satisfying.  The platforming was no-fail in almost every part, so if you fell off a cliff, in true Batman form, you pull out your grapple and save yourself. The game is very forgiving of stupid mistakes out of battle, which makes for a very stress-free platforming experience.

The battle focus primarily resides around two types: stealth and brawl.  The stealth mechanic… well it was a bit heavy-handed. I know Batman is a nina and is practically silent, but when I drop right behind a guy from a few hundred feet up, something is going to move. Whether it be the walkway shivering or a sound, the guy should have at least a clue. Plus, hiding on gargoyles is one of the main escape tactics and it seems a little gamey to me, but I actually find it a bit funny that they are clueless at the beginning, but later on in the game they have some surprises waiting for you on your gargoyle friends. That’s all I will say. The Brawl battles are just all out fistfights that, if you’re quick enough, can link together in one long series of thug-crunching blows. The key is to learn when to defend and when to attack. Practice in the challenge rooms if you’re having trouble, because that is one of the coolest parts of this game. The combat flows so smoothly and is relatively simple to be proficient in. Mastering it takes some time, but the process is so fun anyway that it doesn’t matter.

The visuals in the game are also amazing – I personally enjoyed the big reveals of the cityscape when you’re on a cliff overlooking Arkham near the beginning of the game the most because it gave you such a daunting feeling. The entire island is crawling with thugs and super villains just waiting to punish you. The art and presentation of the game is spot-on with creating exactly the mood and representing the DC Hero’s world. Hell for Batman probably includes 90% of what he has to deal with in this game. The way that Batman’s suit get progressively more torn up as the game goes on is neat, if a little canned. Its not really based on how much you get beat up, but more of a progress meter. You really only get your suit damaged in cut-scenes, and it looks cooler and cooler as you continue on. By the end your suit is in pretty rough shape. It would have been cool if it was a bit more interactive, but it was a cool storytelling device. The look of the villains and thugs were great. I’ve not seen such a sexy Harley Quinn since the comics – they almost went a little anime with her and the uh… well rounded… figure she has up top. Poison Ivy was a beauty to behold, and Croc was an actual terror. Joker looked amazing as well. They all did. Top notch visuals here.

The PhysX were a great addition to the PC version – the way you interacted with the environment’s less obtrusive elements such as smoke or mist, spider webs, and breaking building was amazing. There is a part where you are battling the Scarecrow’s toxins, and the building breaking effects are amazing. The way everything moves makes it feel more like an interactive movie than a game. My wife actually sat down and watched me play this game for a few hours, just enjoying watching it because of this.

The music and ambient sounds are extremely good at setting the mood and the desperate odds that Batman faces. It does a good job of sucking you in and creates a level of immersion that really helped me feel part of the game. So many studios don’t really put the time needed into sound creation and scoring. Eidos and Rocksteady scored a win with me, a musician, on the score on this game. It wasn’t always present, but it was when it needed to be and created the appropriate vibe for the scene.

Overall, B:AA is one of the best games of the year as far as I’m concerned. Its arguably my favorite comic book game of all time as well. Its up there with Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Its done a good job of setting a new bar for comic book games, telling the world that they can be great, and that the public will respond if they are. Apparently, so with the Guiness Book of World Records, who awarded B:AA the ‘Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game Ever’ world record. Not too shabby, gents. Not too shabby at all!

Overall I give the game a 9.75 out of 10 – the games small annoyances in stealth and gamey approach can’t be ignored, but the rest of the game is stellar. Best game of ’09 so far for me.

I had the great pleasure of playing a near-final build of indy developer 8monkey Labs’ newest game, Darkest of Days. This game is one of many adopting nVidia’s PhysX technology which really seems to be taking off in regards to dev support. Take the role of Custer’s last stand’s only survivor, Alexander Morris….

Wait, what?

A game that takes historical shooters in a different direction, the effort is not necessarily indicative of the overall game fun-level. The promise is there, though.

The game released on this week, and to give you an idea of what the game is about, read on….

So I am a casual fan of history, knowing that at any given moment most of what we’re taught in school is horribly biased. Knowing what I know now about people and the human condition, I have a slightly more probable idea of how some things went down. There was no good or evil, and everything is morally gray. From a premise standpoint, this is where the idea of Darkest of Days caught me and I was excited to play a game that was trying to tell it like it may have been. Bloody, dark, and with a bit of a sci-fi twist. Its more likely something like this will happen than George Washington never telling a lie.

As I said earlier, you are Alexander Morris, sole survivor of Custer’s last stand. Fortunately, while injured you are rescued by a man in fancy clothes and none too smooth a demeanor.

You step through the portal well into the future, where you’re met by a rough speaking (seriously rough – you don’t want your kids around when you play this if they’re still “innocent.”) companion who you find out is going to be your partner. From here you go through what has now been known as the standard for meshing training and story, which is a short tutorial that assumes you’ve played a FPS before, but not this one. There are the FPS staples: machine guns, grenades, snipes, etc. But there is another mechanic that is introduced but not really explained well. Essentially there are important people in history that shouldn’t die, so you have to just take them out with these special orbs that knock them unconscious. Once you run out of them, though – you have to try and take them down, but not out, with a shot in the knee or shoulder. This is tougher than it sounds, considering most battles you are using a flintlock rifle or German Luger. The PhysX work really is apparent here, as those weapons are inaccurate as all hell, and the farther you shoot, the more actual arc you have to put in your shot. This is over long distances, and later in the game there are some weapons that really show off the cool physics work.

The game looks good. There are some tough frame rate spots that pop up because of the sheer number of people on the battlefield. I honestly was shocked at the sheer numbers I was fighting from time to time. Sadly, most of my compatriots were falling like flies around me but somehow the enemy’s ranks always thinned out eventually. From time to time I got to throw down on the big guns, like the cannons Having actually fired a 12 pound howitzer myself on multiple occasions, it was semi accurate in regards to the feel and look. One issue I took is that one man cannot reload, move, and fire a cannon that fast. But it is a game.

The game places you behind time-accurate weaponry, uniforms, and uses historically accurate troop deployment and movement in the battles, most of the time giving you a good idea how ugly battle truly is. Run, then gun, then hide behind a rock. Your health meter is unfixed, showing up as a darkening of the screen and blood splattering on it a’la Gears of War. It works well because you get shot A LOT. I think the system will do well to help you not feel like you’re continually dying, which always gets frustrating.

Now to jump to a really cool part which I was VERY happy to see, which is the ‘corrections’ that you get to perform on history when battles are changed and history goes awry. You get to apply some heavy force to save certain people from dying. You get weapons from super fast machine guns to auto shotguns to awesome laser guided mortar launchers that lay waste to anything and everything that moves.

Now, for the preview I had to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. Will I pick it up? Probably not.

Sadly, the narrative is told mostly through other people. The protagonist, Alexander Morris, has almost nothing to say and is really just a pawn in what looks to be a big corporate scheme involving time travel paradoxes that make the Terminator series seem completely cogent. The fun I had running around in time-accurate battles waged heavily, but I was just too frustrated at times with problems with the maps, the environment, and being beaten to death by my own allies. There are things you can fix in a month, and then there are things you can’t. If they hit 100% of all the issues I had, I still don’t know if I would truly have fun for more than a few hours. The levels are looong and while its cool to a point to battle it out Frankenau, battles are not nearly as exciting when they are too accurate.

I definitely recommend you rent it through Gamefly or Blockbuster and give it a few days to really soak in the history, as you will definitely find yourself being more curious about history after playing this game.

Enjoy the vids

Finally, the long-awaited, Resident Evil 5 Review! Please drop comments or email and let me know what you think!

So… I’m pretty much a big chicken when it comes to horror games, moves, etc. I struggled through Doom 3, and just about soiled myself when I encountered my first Big Daddy in Bioshock. So, hearing how good the Resident Evil games have been over the years in regards to scaring you, I stayed as far away as possible. Not because I was afraid of a good game, but because I was just afraid. I’m finding the fact that I’m writing about the newest installment of the RE series very odd as I know that I am not a horror fan in the purest sense of the word.

To give you some background on why I ever picked up the latest installment, I start with an anecdote. I met and spent the weekend with Ken Lally in March for All-Con. He is Wesker in RE5 in every aspect but the actual voice. Pretty amazing dude – super-passionate about his craft and glowing about the game. Then the fangirls started rolling in gushing about this game and I find myself thinking, “I’m going to pass up a game that this many people are crazy about because I’m chicken? No way!”

And that’s when I picked up RE5. There were some pretty intense parts, and some were even scary, but overall its gotten away from its intense horror roots, and for me, that’s a good thing.

Starting off in a small shanty-town in Africa, the story picks up as Chris Redfield pulls up and meets his counterpart and ambassador, Sheva Alomar. The visual counterparts that Chris and Sheva make are notable, but its hard to believe Chris is still so pretty after all these years fighting BOW’s. Playing through this game, I’m pretty sure he’d look more like Freddy Krueger than the buff chiseled-jaw hunk. But I digress.

Speaking of visuals, the game palette is amazing. This game gives creedence that video games are true visual art. So many games are hitting a wall in regards to realism and opting for a stylized look (Madworld, No More Heroes) that does a decent job of telling the story its easy to forget what a studio like Capcom can achieve with their big-budget games like Resident Evil. The options you get after beating the game the first time to change the visual filter is interesting but doesn’t really do much to really change the feel visually. For me personally, it takes away from what is already stunning, making the game seem like a bad remake of, “Night of the Living Dead.”

The beginning “tutorial” takes you through the town. Don’t be afraid to explore here. While everyone looks at you like they want to kill you, no one actually will. Yet. You make your way towards a butcher’s shop where you ammo up and equip your tools of trade. From there is where the game really begins. Quickly you are introduced to the infected and the control scheme with a few infected coming your way. You’re supposed to run but its not really apparent at first so just be warned. You’ll need every spare bullet early in the game so don’t make the same mistake I did – run for cover when Sheva says run.

Getting used to the gun control scheme was filled with frustration while I broke my traditional FPS habits. Remember, I’m not a veteran RE player, so this was even tougher for me than most. I would say, if you’re like me, it will take you the entire first chapter and part of the second before you instinctively have the controls down. Afterwards, I found the system interesting but ultimately it was just something to get used to.

The inventory system is intelligent and uses proximity to determine if you can give something to someone or get something. This by no means that it was any good. I found that most times I was managing my inventory and using Sheva as a pack mule. I’ll cover Sheva’s AI shortly, but to really drive it home the game is sometimes infuriating when you are trying to keep a decent array of weapons on your person for different situations and the game gives you items and/or ammo that you have next to no use for at the moment but you want to keep so you don’t have to tap into your very limited cash resources.

The games atmosphere was heavilly reliant on sound and the team did not slouch here. The use of dogs popping out of stuff to scare the living bejeesus out of you is still the hallmark of the RE games and is used to great effect. The music revving up when you are getting into a hairy situation is a nice indicator that they need to mentally prepare themselves. However, I think from a horror point of view this is a bit like giving away the surprise. Worked well for me, though.

In regards to the useful(less)ness of Sheva’s AI I found that she was nearly utterly useles throughout most of the game. Playing through parts of the game online in co-op mode I found the experience infinitely easier and more enjoyable as we were actually able to rely on each other. I know that AI isn’t going to be as good as any human but it would be nice if Sheva switched weapons to meet each challenge rather than when one of two scenarios arise:

1. She runs out of ammo
2. She’s on a rooftop and has a sniper in her inventory

Eventually I gave up on her and only gave her a fully upgraded pistol (one you start off with) and a sniper rifle with no additonal ammo. I essentially used her as a pack mule from there through the rest of the game. I did get annoyed with having to swap out herbs to combine them sometimes, and at other times she already took care of it. The game is obviously meant to be played co-op, but for many people they would rather have the option to do both. Personally, I didn’t have anyone that I could consistently play with on a regular basis available during my play-through but I jumped in on any number of games after I finished my solo-experience.

Now, I want to comment on the whole race issue very briefly here. I do not believe Capcom was out to anger anyone or point out one race over another. The thing is, they listened when the first truly angry people started criticizing the game. They made sure that all races were represented on both the protagonist and antagonist sides. I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but the 3 main evil people are all white? Again, I didn’t feel that race was an issue in the game because it doesn’t seem, to me, that the intent was there. I think the discussion is good and the sensitivity is good to have, especially in our Politically Correct US of A. However, Europe isn’t really like that, folks. Japan isn’t really like that. I keep reading and hearing about people taking issue with race but I just don’t see it.

Anyways, overall fun-value and replayability is very high for this game, despite the infuriating AI. After I beat the game I immediately went back and began planning out my next moves in regards to how to upgrade all of my weapons and get the rest of the goodies that I missed on my first run-through. I’ve gone back and played some pick-up games several times since I moved on to other games just for some fun zombie-esque blow stuff up cravings. I give this game very high marks based on its movie-style script and execution, and the AI and other small annoyances are gotten over somewhat quickly to give RE5 a solid BUY IT. I have not been this impressed with production value in some time. I loved the game and look forward to following the RE series as it goes into its “reboot” and see where that goes. Well done, Capcom. Well done.

P.S.
Now, I did not pick up the additonal content out of principle that I don’t believe in selling extra content so close to release. If its ready this close, just put it on the disk. If its truly a new chapter or content that continues the story after a great finale (RE5 does not slouch on the ending, either) then I am game but money is pretty tight in everyone’s wallet and I just don’t see paying $70-80 on my games when there are other options out there for my (and your) cash.

What if you looked like a war hero, and found yourself being hauled off to prison because you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? This doppelganger scenario is where you start off in tri-Ace and Sqeenix’s (Square-Enix) latest party-oriented action-RPG. I had no real expectations outside of that. I thoroughly enjoyed Tales of Symphonia and wanted more of the same. What I got was something similar for sure, however differed in some key areas. Tri-Ace certainly has guts, and tried some new mechanics that sometimes worked, and other times proved to be an exercise in frustration. The game played at times more like an interactive movie, with FMV being extremely prevalent. It is well done and fun to watch, but sometimes you wish you could be a little more part of the action outside of the battles.

The game does come together to present a very entertaining story and definitely worth playing now that its dropped in price significantly

Full Article After the Jump…

The game begins with a beautifully crafted FMV depicting an epic battle between three heroes (Lord Sigmund, Aya, and Edward) and a spiky chain using villain (Leonid). Its not completely clear, but after a stout fight it is implied that the heroes were defeated. Thus, it makes sense when you begin the story in the previously mentioned prison, meekly sitting in your cell begging for something to eat. From the first scene, it is obvious that you are not Sigmund, but a look-alike. Shortly after the scene begins, Aya drops in and takes out the guards and comes to your rescue. However, you quickly inform her that you have no idea who this Sigmund is and that your name is Capell and you don’t like fighting. The voice acting at this point is fair – it improves significantly later, but at this point Capell can’t say two words without stammering or getting tongue-tied. It doesn’t help that Arya is beautiful and trying to rescue him, I imagine.

The game then really begins – you take control through a fighting tutorial that gives you the basics of fighting. The blocking mechanism, however is abysmal. It takes an amazing sense of timing to block anything, and the benefit is minimal at best that I played the entire game and only really incorporated blocking occasionally because it only works about 20% of the time. I was able to stay mobile enough that avoiding attacks was easy. The tutorial gives you way too much information without enough context to back it up. A better way would be an interactive tutorial that showed you rather than told you what to do. I had been playing the game for about 2-3 hours before I actually realized how to air-juggle an enemy or drop an enemy and hit them on the ground. The benefits of air-juggling are that you receive extra Action Points, or AP, which let you begin another air-juggle on another enemy. Hitting them on the ground recovers your HP and MP. These are both interesting mechanics and can be very beneficial but sometimes its just easier to not worry about the technique and just hack the enemy to pieces.

It is also in this first scene that you learn about Connect Actions. You can connect with any in your party and use two abilities of theirs. Most primary characters have a special connect ability that allows them and Capell to do a combo attack or even let the player control the character. Aya’s connect ability allows the player to direct her shooting her bow and arrow, blowing up red barrels (surprised?) to injure enemies before they see you. This is a good method to incorporate combos and special moves, however the real-time environment does not really lend itself well to the two menus and 3 button presses to execute the action. You essentially have to memorize the connect actions and as you try to figure out who you want in your party later on, this becomes difficult to do. I essentially had the same 4 characters in my party for the last 1/3 of the game and was able to use them semi-effectively by the end.

As you progress, you escape the castle and meet up with the real Sigmund and the Liberation Force. Unfortunately, Aya falls ill and you are tasked with rescuing her. The game is very linear with some potential side-quests that aren’t really that interesting. One of the cool things that I really liked was that I didn’t feel like I had to “grind” levels to be able to beat the bosses. The difficultly was fair for doing a moderate amount of combat going from location to location. The variety of enemies was decent, and each enemy had different patterns that you had to learn if you were going to make it through without much issue.

One issue I had through most of the early game is that there is no map system that helps you find where exactly it is that you are going. I probably gained half my levels in the early game by being lost. There was a point where I almost quit playing because I had no idea where I had to go. I started messing around, and talked to my party members and they finally told me where it was I needed to go and roughly which direction it was in. Adding waypoints or Fable’s glowy pathway would go a long way towards helping the average player.

In the process of saving Aya, you gain team members and venture into your first dungeon. The puzzle aspects of Infinite Undiscovery are pretty easy and a good change of pace from time to time. It is here that you get a magical flute and your first song (that actually is useful). You can dispel illusions and make things visible. They make good use of this tactic as later on in the game there are many uses for this ability. After saving Aya, your group grows to 4, which is the max you can have for single-party combat. As you progress during the game I eventually had between 12-16 people at any given time. There are situations in which you have multi-group battles and sequences, where you must pick your group of 4 and up to two other groups of 4 to complete separate tasks. I tried to make sure that each group had the basics – tank, healer, and magic users. Each time you go into a multi-party situation, at the end you are graded based on your choices. I apparently made bad ones because the highest I got was two C’s and the rest were D’s. I don’t know if a side party can actually fail, but I never encountered a situation where they did.

With so many party choices I was troubled with the age-old question of “who do I use?” because unused characters don’t level if you don’t use them. I typically always used Capell (always have to) and Michelle (best healer in the game, but spare no expense with her armor). In the early game I used Edward and Aya in my party, but later in the game I stuck with Komachi and Touma because of their powerful attacks and Komachi’s ability to disarm traps and pull treasure from out-of-reach chests.

Another thing that some games just don’t seem to get right is the camera – anything flying above my head was out of sight and it was a coin toss on whether or not I would hit it. Trees and foliage got in the way more often than not, and the lack of a targeting system meant that moving the camera was a full time part of the game. I felt like a frustrated film director most of the time.

The sound and music was fantastic – many times I complain about games not using music to its full effect, but IU does a good job. I definitely felt the same chills I did during Final Fantasy VIII’s first cut-scene at least twice during the game.

The pace of the game revs up as you play through and if you can get over the bumpy beginning, you will be hooked into the story by the end that really has some twists and turns that I did not expect and a reveal near the end that dropped my jaw.

All said, it was definitely a good adventure, but it has its flaws. It could have been something so much more to so many. It really had the potential to say something powerful and relevant, but like so many other J-RPG’s, it is a little too full of itself and its archetypal jargon to really do so. I was reminded of the recently ended Battlestar Galactica in that the “hero,” does what he has to do to stay alive, slowly embracing his role and always trying to find alternatives to fighting. That kind of storytelling worked for BSG, but I don’t know if gamers are mature enough yet to realize that a reluctant protagonist is much more interesting and real than most game heroes. Many of the reviews I’ve read have shown me that the games media is split about 50/50. I hope that more developers will go the “anti-hero” route and take what tri-Ace has trail blazed here and expand upon it.

Fallout 3 – The latest entry into one of the most lauded RPG franchises for their brutal re-tellings of humanity’s attempt to survive the apocalypse. Bethesda Softworks, creators of the Elder Scroll’s chapters Morrowind and Oblivion have stepped up to take a swing at a series that many thought to be long-dead, this writer included. Having completed both Fallouts 1&2, I could easily draw many parallels between Fallout 3’s predecessors, however this is no sequel. It is as complete a re-telling as Fallout 2 was from Fallout.
How did Bethesda do? Find out after the jumpBeginning with one of the more unique intro cut-scenes that I’ve seen, I was immediately faced with a pretty standard character creation system. You select your name (which means no one ever calls you anything but some generic pronoun), sex, and creat your look. I did have quite a bit of trouble trying to make my character look like me and eventually gave up. Not really a failing of the system, but just another game that relies on a person’s memory of their own face to try and re-create it. I really wish that some game would find a way to extrapolate a starting place from photos taken at different angles or something similar. Then you enter a pseudo-tutorial. It really only covers basic movement, shooting, and the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (aka: V.A.T.S.). You are expected early on to spec your character with some pretty vague descriptions of your primary stats. Don’t worry about this too much, though – you have a chance to change them before the end of the “tutorial,” and when you do, the descriptions are better.

One thing that you will likely realize quickly is that Bethesda was trying to walk the line between an action-oriented FPS and the turn-based play of an RPG. What you end up with is an interesting hybrid called V.A.T.S. I truly am a lover of both Role Playing Games (RPG) and First Person Shooters (FPS), so this left me feeling satisfied on both levels, yet somewhat unsatisfied on both as well. Before you begin throwing stones, let me explain what I mean. When playing a pure FPS or RPG, you have a certain level of challenge that comes from the medium. First Person Shooters have a twitch type of play that requires pinpoint accuracy and speed to shoot first and best. An RPG, on the other hand, requires that you plan your attack and know your enemy so that you can defeat your opponent, maximizing effort and minimizing resource use. Fallout 3 combines these, however it takes away the challenge of both styles leaving most combat lacking what makes each genre’s combat style rewarding. When I faced my first Super Mutant, I certainly did feel good, however as an RPG player I felt wasteful of so many bullets, and as an FPS player I felt extremely inaccurate. The game wants you to use V.A.T.S. to full-effect and you really have to master it to survive. I do enjoy the combat for what it is, however I don’t really feel like I’m performing at the top of my game in either category. A small annoyance in comparison to the coolness of what Bethesda did with the V.A.T.S. system.

Graphically, it is as pretty as Oblivion and then some. Its not really even worth talking about graphics much due to the fact that telling you that it looks about as good as the 360 can push out really covers it. Without spoiling anything, take a trip in the elevator in the Washington memorial and tell me if its not at the same time one of the most horrific sites you could imagine, as well as one of the most beautiful.

The games’ story is very immersive. I spent well over ten hours doing side-quests before advancing the main story a single step. This is one aspect that I love in open-world RPG’s. You truly take it at your own pace. You can rush through the main story, but you’d be doing yourself a great disservice. The rest of the Fallout 3 experience lies in living in the world that Bethesda has re-created for you. I thoroughly enjoyed the Survival Guide quests because they injected some added difficulty to some otherwise mundane encounters and asked that I play a little differently than I normally would. On a very base level, the story is about a son’s search for his father who left the vault for a reason that isn’t fully known. I find this to be a very good premise, because its very relatable. There are times in people’s lives when people leave for little or no reason and whether it be a sense of love or duty, we follow them. I lost a little of that sense while completing the side-quests, but quickly got it back when progressing the main storyline. Delving too far into the story would endanger some for spoilers, but let me say that in addition to the main story you have more than enough to keep you interested in an engaging way for a long time.

Leveling up your character is straightforward with several perks that lend themselves to the type of character you’re playing. In the early levels I really recommend getting the XP bonus perks so that you level faster, and can get other abilities more quickly. Talking to a friend who played the game through already and never took those perks, I was about 2-3 levels higher than him early on, and maxed out well before he did. It was well worth suffering early. Using the items and quick-select system is nothing really new. The Pip-Boy 3000 is a neat inventory interface, categorizing items nicely. Overall, the mechanics are solid, but not really redefining the genre, except for V.A.T.S. as I already discussed above. The similar decision system and Karma system was present that governed most of Oblivions interactions was present, but mostly irrelevant. One interesting thing was that if you were too good (as I apparently was) contracts get taken out and you have to fight bounty hunters. By the time this was written, I hadn’t played through as a bad boy but I imagine you have similar situations with that as well. I was impressed by the effect that your decisions did have on a global scale. I’m still always surprised that some towns have heard of things I did in others, and there’s no mail system I’m aware of. Creepy weird

Lastly, covering sound… The score for Fallout 3 is what I would call the bare essentials. You have the hits when its scary, you have the silences when its awkward, etc. However most of a great story is told through its music. I think in the context of the game the music is acceptable but it does not approach what it could be. What could have taken this game to an ethereal, epic level would have been more attention to the musical details. When going into new areas or new parts of the story you have token sound effects and music that help to re-iterate what you are seeing visually. What I would have loved is more music that helped tell the story. I use John William’s music as a guide here – I know pretty much what is happening by the music. This is not so with Fallout 3’s music most of the time. When investigating some of the vaults, I got more annoyed with the sounds and wished there were something else going on and then BAM, something significant would happen and I felt sort of let-down because there was no build-up to it. Even if there is no build-up visually or story-wise, you can do it musically. Also, the radio system annoyed me because I felt like I was missing something if I didn’t listen to it, so I did until I started hearing the same crap over and over and then didn’t listen to it again. I would have to say that the sound did what it was supposed to, and that’s it. It didn’t really add too much more to the game than being present.

Overall, the game was extremely enjoyable. I enjoy talking with friends about it and the different decisions that I made and how it affected everything, including the story. At present, there are three DLC packs planned, extending the gameplay considerably, and, from what I have read, even change the ending in a way that twists what actually happened. Even without these, though – Fallout 3 was a very fulfilling game and stands on its own two feet.

Overall: A-

Interestingly enough, I dumped some cash into points the past weekend to purchase Street Fighter II: HD Remix at the recommendation of three different friends who wanted to pwn me old-school. So, being an avid SF:II player back in the day I acquiesced. Ten minutes later I was jumping in to something that made me question my experience from over ten years ago.

Relive it with me after the jump….

Lets start off with the look – the updated artwork is beautiful. They pulled directly from the Street Fighter anime series, which was very well drawn. The looks and colors are, simply stated, amazingly crisp. The animations flow smoothly from one move to the next, almost better than I remember. What I thought would be just a precursor to SF:IV was actually give a very meticulous overhaul graphically.

Next is the sound – that was what actually brought back the most memories. I actually sat and listened to the remixed guitar riff and thought of the sweet, sweet midi sound that I heard in my youth. The music, professionally remixed was exceptional and I recommend some first run games (not naming names…) get the same treatment. A nice touch was leaving a couple of the old “is the supposed to happen?” moment from the arcade and SNES version, such as the absence of music that kept us wondering if it was a glitch or not. I chuckled the first time I heard that again.

The control, now. Alright, I have to admit that this game was not meant to be played with an analog control stick. Its clumsy and pretty much guarantees a frustrating time. Doing something as simple as Ryu or Ken’s Hado-ken move becomes an exercise in precision analog movement. I am not a fan of inconsisent moves as I used to be very comfortable with Ken and I felt almost like a new player. Some sort of compensation should have been built in to use some sort of AI to allow for analog players’s inevitable poor sticking ability. If you really want to be competitive, get a joystick. The Xbox 360 Street Fighter IV FightStick is expensive, but if you’re serious about tournament play then you need a top notch stick. It feels wierd recommending a MadCatz product after their shakey years, but they now create solid products.

Gameplay – The game is good. It will kick your ass on the hardest settings yet provide steady fun on easy or medium. Online play was virtually lag-free. The smack talk I got on XBL was more heated than in other games. I actually filed my first report on a player for really nasty messages he sent me after I delivered an unexpected whooping on his ass. So, be prepared to mute or ignore people because these games bring out the worst in people in some cases.

Overall – The game met a periodic need for me. I really wanted a good fighter and just couldn’t justify $70 for SF:IV at release. Its in my Gamefly Queue so I’ll have it shortly and you’ll all get to hear what I think. If its at least as good as HDRemix, I’m in for a treat.

Overall Score: A-

Now I don’t know how many of you logged on to XBox Live! last night, but I imagine those that did weren’t able to resist clicking on a teasing Capcom Announcement. If you gave in to that base urge, you were treated to an extensive Lost World 2 trailer. I had to say I was pretty impressed. The gameplay looked similar to Lost World, yet prettier but honestly not much else besides to give much indication of what other changes are going to be. There is obviously a co-op mode in this iteration, which is almost always a welcome addition. If its done right. Capcom has done pretty well so far this year and its just started.

I was happy to see that the lack of run ‘n gun has been restricted to RE5.

I’m interested to see what else is going on here. Please let me know what you thought of the trailer in a comment!