Takeshi-GS's GameSpot Friend's Reviews Takeshi-GS's GameSpot Friend's Reviews Takeshi-GS's GameSpot Friend's Reviews en-us Copyright (c)1995-2013 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. http://www.gamespot.com 20 Sun, 19 May 2013 23:54:26 -0700 GameSpot Takeshi-GS's GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:28:45 -0800 LarkAnderson reviewed The Elder Scrolls: Arena for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/the-elder-scrolls-arena/user-reviews/779830/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 10.0!!!

I've never played this game before, but having seen the Bluffer's Guide to the Elder Scrolls, I understand the following three critical points: it's the progenitor of The Elder Scrolls, a video game series that is to amazing games in the role-playing (not THAT kind of role-playing!) genre as Fallout 3 is to terrible third-person cameras; it doesn't really have all that much to do with arenas, arena combat, or the movie Gladiator; and it looks like that one shooting game with robo-Hitler.

In understanding these three things, I feel like I know enough to accurately describe in a vaguely critical way what this game is all about, and in doing so apply to it a numerical value that people out there on the greater Internets (all four of them) will no doubt discuss in heated tones while most likely anonymous.

Luckily, this numerical value is the highest of the numerical values, so I won't have any of these mouth-breathers (who have ALSO never played this game, I may add) heatedly and anonymously discussing how I dared to give it less than the highest of the numerical values available in my arsenal of numbering.

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"LarkAnderson reviewed The Elder Scrolls: Arena for the PC..." was posted by LarkAnderson on Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:28:45 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-elder-scrolls-arena/user-reviews/779830/platform/pc/ Thu, 10 Nov 2011 23:46:09 -0800 LarkAnderson reviewed Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/barkley-shut-up-and-jam-gaiden-chapter-1-of-the/user-reviews/779712/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 10.0!!!

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa is, quite literally, the pinnacle of human ingenuity, achievement, and spectacle. All other games that came before it were flawed, sacrificial lambs upon the twin alters of science and progress. All other games that followed are but mere shadows of the radiance contained within one tiny but majestic minute of its glorious presence.

Bow down and grovel before this, the great God-King of gaming, and know that within its warm and fresh oven baked bread scented embrace, you have been graced with a complete and utterly infallible knowledge that every step you took in your previously unfulfilled and in hindsight quite lackluster life has led to this climactic moment.

I'm not sure how much more emphatic and hyperbolic wit I can include in this review to meet the minimum character requirements while maintaining a willful suspension of disbelief and a sense of authoritativeness in your mind's eye, so I will end with this nugget of infinite truth:

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/barkley-shut-up-and-jam-gaiden-chapter-1-of-the/user-reviews/779712/platform/pc/ Sun, 11 Sep 2011 20:48:25 -0700 Synthia reviewed Catherine for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/catherine/user-reviews/774418/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

My Night With Catherine

Many things have been said about "Catherine"… that it's a third person, puzzle, erotica style, horror game with Tetris like moments, and a little bit of dating Sim thrown in to a journey of making moral decisions.

The Premise: Catherine is indeed a puzzle game, there is no doubt about that. You play as a young man by the name of Vincent who is struggling with making some important life decisions due to the prompt by his long time girlfriend Katherine. Stress is further prominent as mysterious deaths occur in the city, effecting seemingly random targets. Our "hero" is further stressed due to these strange dreams where he is forced to climb a ever collapsing tower armed with nothing more than a pillow and his boxers. What happens if he refuses the climb? Well he'll die, I don't know about you but that would make me climb for my life.

One evening while at the Stray Sheep (a local bar) he meets the seductive and stunning Catherine. Who spends the evening telling you that it's not fair for someone to expect you to be tied down, and "Why can't we just have fun?" A few drinks, and some pretty strong advances later, Catherine makes her move and everything gets a little fuzzy… or maybe wooly… either way. You spend another night climbing and climbing in hopes of not ending up stuck between a block and a long fall to your death. Soon a new addition to the horrific nightmares being a terrifying set of claw like hands now chasing you to the top.

You wake up the next morning with none other than a naked Catherine cuddled next to you. Why is this a big deal? Well in case you weren't paying attention Vincent already has a long term girlfriend, he proceeds to have a "Oh shoot" moment when she suddenly dismisses herself leaving you to reel in your alcohol blurred memories.

As much as I want to talk about the rest of the story anything beyond this point can lead into spoiler territory, which I will cover later in a spoiler cast.

Controls: Very simple, you push, pull, shuffle and climb blocks until you reach the top of a tower. Other options allow you to adjust the camera to and fro for a moment to help you better evaluate your plans for placement. And further into the story you are given items that you can use as you see best. However you are only able to hold one item and should you pick up a new on you loose the old. It's hard to mess this type of control system up and I honestly have little to no complaints. Though if I was pressed to find a flaw it would be that when shuffling about the blocks (holding on to the ledge) you can sometimes get jammed between block A and block B, but this is a mistake that happens only a handful of times.

Difficulty: Something that I cannot seem to say enough, when this game gives you the option to start on easy I HIGHLY suggest taking it. Though as a disclaimer I am not accustomed to this style of puzzle games. IF you have had the pleasure in already taking part in a puzzle platformer like Catherine you may be able to fair better then I did. I however was forced to cast aside my gamer pride and start on an easier difficulty because I simply couldn't figure out how to beat some of these puzzles. I will however mention that if at any time you feel the difficulty is too easy or too hard for that matter you can always adjust it mid game.

Characters: The cast of Catherine is an interesting one to say the least, and I found myself caring about most of the characters that I crossed paths with. During the game you are prompted with options from time to time to respond or answer questions about various scenarios. Answering these questions causes a shift in your alignment leaning towards chaotic or lawful. On my first play though I answered many of the questions as I would have if someone had asked me personally, causing Vincent to lean HEAVILY to the good side of things. However on my second go around I answered things in an opposite fashion which is causing me to, yep you guessed it. Embrace the dark side.

Your supporting cast features a young man named Tobias who while is very green and seems to be following your group like some wide eyed puppy also seems to have those same eyes set on the strikingly sassy Erica, a waitress at the Stray Sheep.
Next we have Jonathan the silent type, not much is ever really revealed about this character other then that he doesn't seem to have much emotion about the girls he dates, and currently has no plans to merry his current girlfriend. Then we have Orlando a dashing and rather cheeky "gentleman" who comes from a broken marriage, he seems light hearted in nature but there is more to this character than meets the eye.

We then have Katherine, a strong willed and overly opinionated know it all that seems to relish in the idea of treating Vincent like a child rather than a boyfriend. (I personally hated this character).

And last but not least we have Catherine, an 'everyman's' fantasy in the flesh. Some of her favorite past times include, sending you flirty texts, kinky photo's and showing up randomly in your house after you spend a drunken night at the Stray Sheep. What's not to love? Oh, she might be a little crazy… but that's all I can really say without spoiling too much about her.

Music: The music in this game does a fantastic job of conveying emotion… most of the time. Though personally I found that during boss fights the score was something that left my hands shaking and my judgment blurred, while the music to the cut scenes was vague enough to not distract me from what was going on but still enforced and perfected to the point where without it I might feel like the scene was missing something crucial. I did enjoy the score enough to have a copy of the soundtrack if that is any indication of my pleasure level for this game in question. One thing I would like to call out would be the use of a church bell as you find your self oh so near to the top of the tower. This queue did a fantastic job of urging you to climb faster be it due to the annoying ringing or the feeling of urgency it often spurs.

Graphics: This games graphics were not ground breaking, they weren't anything "new" or overly special. But I enjoyed them given that they were going for an "anime" style rather than a realism thing. I will say that the animation sequences were stunning; I only wish that the CG could have lived up to the animated version a little more.

Game play: I either loved it or was impressed with it, but on average I was entertained by the story long enough to spend a long, red-eyed, blurry and somewhat memorable night with Catherine. I'll be honest; I have the hardest time putting this game down, unless of course it is from a fit of rage due to me falling to my death for the 7th or 8th time.

All in all I enjoyed my nights with Catherine and while I'm not the first to feel this way about her I'm sure I won't be the last. For a more detailed night on my exploits with Catherine you can check out my spoiler cast about the game on my GameSpot profile. Until then GameSpotters…. Stay Golden.

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"Synthia reviewed Catherine for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Synthia on Sun, 11 Sep 2011 20:48:25 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/catherine/user-reviews/774418/platform/xbox360/ Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:02:50 -0700 Synthia reviewed Hunted: The Demon's Forge for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/hunted-the-demons-forge/user-reviews/773061/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

Hunted Forge of Demon Souls is an action based fantasy game where you can play as one of two characters, the stalwart human Caddoc and the spunky elf E'lara. You have been an adventuring team for goodness only knows how long. But before you think that there are some romantic ties involved I can stop you there. Their relationship is more one based on the symbiotic one. They need one another to survive in this world of odd creatures, bandits and minotaur's.

As I mentioned before when your playing this game you have to option to play as one of two characters. Depending on whom you play certain details about the characters backstory are reveled to you. Being a fan of the ranged classes I couldn't help but want to stick almost exclusively to the Ranger character.

Graphically speaking the dark and dramatic tones are quite pleasant and help make up for the occasional blockyness of various game features. The visual queue's of this game were rather impressive, able to trigger what needed to be conveyed when it was appropriate. My one complaint however would be that this game was at times too dark, and while they have the option to raise the gamma in an attempt to lighten things up all it does is wash out the game in exchange for a measly amount of light. However, playing as the ranged class I found that if I strutted around with what seemed to be an ever burning arrow the game suddenly becomes a slightly less dark and scary place to be.
The soundtrack to this game was very enjoyable. The music was composed by Kevin Riepl who also had a hand in Gears of War.

The music was subtle though was pronounced enough that it never lost purpose and effect like I've seen happen in many other games. If I had one complaint about the audio of this game it would stem from the fact that from time to time you will encounter these hysterical and often crazed villagers which do nothing but ramble on and on and on. Now, I'm not a "good" character by any means and from time to time I will admit the thought to sink an arrow into the never ending babbling baphoon that is the people of this fair land had crossed my mind more than once. However this is never an option. Much to my shagrin.

The game play was not bad, but it was not great. Often due to the lighting of the game I found myself being peppered by foes that were extremely far from a logical rage. The auto aim feature was useful for this but then my experience. Even if personally I feel that auto aim dulls ones skills. Another quirk that I could never quite understand was the unusually large affinity for ballista's. Okay I get it siege weapons are pretty awesome but I couldn't help but feel these things were a bit over used. There are plenty of other large awkward means of fire power to explore and I wish they would have considered them a bit more. And the last point that I will make is from time to time things become so muddled that while jamming the B button with all your might to get off that finesse maneuver you might trigger something that you did not wish to (for example drinking Slig).

Puzzles, okay there really weren't too many of these that I can honestly recall as being "puzzling" there were a few maze type scenarios as well as "find this to get that" type events but nothing overly complex. One puzzle that I can remember being particularly frustrating was one where you needed one of the characters to stand on X while you stood on Y. Due to the AI's lacking of I you may very well spend several minutes just trying to pull this task off….

The Story, which is by FAR the most important part of any game, was fantastic. As a D&D player and a story teller I was constantly interested in the main story line as well as the side story that was going on with E'lara. Without giving too much away you and your companion set off for the standard promises of glory and riches, when you are eventually met by the woman of Caddoc's dreams (literally) a feisty little leather clad vixen by the name of Seraphim, who sets you on the path to your greatness by asking you to retrieve the death stone. Without going into too much detail you later discover that there are these creatures addicted to this strange liquid. Evil forces are being summoned and while this isn't exactly what you signed up for you take up your sword and arrow for the greater good.

The banter between the two characters is nothing short of amazing, whity and cleaver. At no point did I ever think to myself "who says that… really…" and as clich… as it sounds there were even times where they would say exactly what I was thinking. For example there are these rather large and frustrating doors that often block your path that require both of the characters to lift up (Think Dragon Age 8 people) E'lara at one point declares with snarky vigor that "If I ever find the person who made these doors I'm going to punch them in the throat." I couldn't help but find this horribly amusing since I too was growing weary of these doors. And so it was refreshing to hear a pair of characters who I could feel a bit of a connection with on some strange level.

The final thing that I will mention will be the multi player…. Words cannot express how starved I am for a truly epic multiplayer fantasy game. And perhaps my high hopes were what disappointed me, but as a whole I was not a huge fan. I own a rather large TV so one would think that the split screen for the multi player would not bother me… but it did. I often felt cramped as though my character were being shoved into some walk in closet and forced to fight her way out. I can only hope that the multi player when performed with two boxes is better but honestly I was unable to test this theory.
All in all Hunted Forge of Demon Souls is a good game, a hard working game, and often entertaining game. Game of the Year? Maybe not exactly, but I'm proud to have it on display in my game library and I don't look back on my purchase with shagrin or thoughts of "why didn't I by X instead", I would recommend at least checking it out.

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"Synthia reviewed Hunted: The Demon's Forge for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Synthia on Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:02:50 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/hunted-the-demons-forge/user-reviews/773061/platform/xbox360/ Mon, 04 Jul 2011 07:32:07 -0700 Synthia reviewed L.A. Noire for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/l-a-noire/user-reviews/769560/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!

There are many words one could use to sum up their experiences with L.A Noire.

Fantastic, Refreshing, Complicated, Boring, Original, Inspired, Repetitive, Classic, Compelling.. . the list goes on and on. Anyone and practically everyone who has played this game has a well formed opinion as to why it ranks the way it does. So here comes my two cents to add to the fedora.

Personally I found the game play to be refreshing. I am all too aware that mystery games are not by any means a "new thing" but it certainly feels that way with how fantastic the game play feels almost instantly. I will confess that originally when I was told about the concept and that of all publishers it was Rock Star who was releasing the title I was… intrigued for better or worse. Even with the ending and major plot points being spoiled for me, I was still salivating at the thought of spending evenings in the oh so vintage 1940 setting of Los Angelas solving one case at a time.
In L.A Noire you play the role of the war hero Cole Phelps, a rising star of the L.A.P.D who seems to have a knack for solving crimes big or small as well as a bit of a chip on his shoulder for reasons that are unknown to the player until deeper into the story.

Throughout the course of the game and during any given case you collect clues from crime scenes, investigate people of interest, interrogate suspects, and at times find yourself shoved into various heart pounding scenarios until you eventually solve the mystery in question and make your way up the ladder that is life with a badge.

There are 4 "desks" to mark your progression in the game; traffic, homicide, A.D Vice, and finally arson. Each one with a very distinct type of theme to help move your character as well as the story along all be it from time to time at a less than quickened pace.

Controls: Personally I found the controls to be somewhat awkward at first, It has been some time since I had sat down to play an X360 title so it is quite possible that it was simply getting used to that "new driving" experience. I did find the camera to be clunky from time to time squishing me against the wall for a oh so special close up of Cole's pretty all be it serious face. Another issue that I noticed with the controls would be the aiming feature. While yes I can understand how some may enjoy the auto target feature, as a former fragger I could not help but feel slightly belittled at the idea that I needed my shots to be pre determined.

Lastly I found that it was not uncommon for the controller to be less than responsive to my commands. While that may have simply been an issue with the X360 version or my controller I found it frustrating that at times it would take too long to achieve cover, or that I would linger for too long.

Video: The cut and scripted scenes of the game were gorgeous to say the very least. The dark and frankly… Noire style of videos were always a treat for me personally. I enjoyed every cut scene, every blast to the past, though from time to time it did seem slightly too fuzzy or too dark but I am certain that these points were intentional.

Music: I'm not even sure where I can begin to praise the score for this game. Every thing from the classic 1940's music to the creeping tones of suspense as you dive head first into crime scenes. The music was personally one of my favorite traits to this game, granted I'm a sucker for music from that oh so golden age of sound.

Characters: Here's where things get somewhat tricky. While I enjoyed many of the characters that tagged along with Phelps I couldn't help but feel that some of them were somewhat… one dimensional, lacking much if any kind of motive to why they behaved the way they did. Mind you I wasn't expecting some lengthy dip into L.A Noire lore but I was hoping for more than what I got as far as Coles side kicks were concerned. Also in regards to Phelps I can't help but feel if they had given his personal life some more highlights in the game some events would have had more weight and meaning to them. Though one thing is for sure, the bad guys were fantastic. I have to say that I have no complaints about the nefarious population of this setting.

Story: I wanted to give this story a 10, trust me, I spent much of my time attempting to justify why and how I could convince people that this story was perfect. But honestly it is far from that. There are many plot holes as well as lack luster events that leave many, including myself that at times cannot help but feel somewhat cheated. Perhaps during my time cruising the crime riddled streets I missed out on one or two events that would clue me in to these subtleties that I feel were missing but somehow I doubt that. I did like their references to the infamous Daliah case as well as many other historical goodies about the time period other than it took place towards the end of WW2.

I enjoyed the flash backs to Coles past quite a bit as well, it was nice to see what had happened to cause Cole to behave the way that he did towards many people who would often bring up his history or time spent in the war. Though I will say that I did not enjoy my stint in playing other characters in the slightest, and without giving away too much I feel that its placement in the game was… inaccurate, and had it happened at a different point of time it might not have bothered me quite as much.

However, one thing that I would feel horrible about leaving out would be a special shout out to the villains of this game. While I will not go into detail about who they are, I WILL mention that a RockStar does a great job of making you at very least strongly dislike the "bad guys" and as a matter of fact, some of the climax characters I couldn't help but down right loath. Though to be fair this game had its fair share of forgettable bad guys, there are a few who will stick out in your mind for one reason or another.

Combat: Yep there was combat, granted it was not exactly of a typical Rockstar fashion that their games I had come to expect from them in years past but I found that to be refreshing. If a combat dragged on for too long, or you didn't quite manage to catch a bad guy during a chase scene it would often give the player an option to continue along with the story regardless. Now I'm not exactly sure what effect this had on the game if any because I REFUSED to take the easy way out. But I imagine in addition to loosing points to your final score at the end of the case that perhaps you find yourself down a slightly different story path, if only for that one case.

Choices: While these didn't come up as often as I thought they would you from time to time would be given a choice who you wanted to put away based on the evidence you had collected and the aftermath of interrogation. Again a feature that I would not mind revisiting in a second attempt at the game and I quite enjoyed.

Exploration: I loved traveling the streets of L.A Noire about as much as I love walking around sharp gravel bare footed. I found that the map was exhausting and more often then not so many cars and people would jump in front of me that I would just end up skipping past any and all possible drive/exploration time. While I don't mind exploring typically I wasn't a fan of taking the long way while going to and from crime scenes. Again I believe this caused me to miss out on some content which is unfortunate.

All in all I would highly recommend L.A Noire to anyone and everyone who has a X60, PS3 or PC. Will this game be remembered through out the years of gaming as a aesthetic perfection.. defiantly no. Will it forever be lodged in my memory as a great way to spend my evenings. Yes, with out a doubt.

So to sum things up, if you don't decide to get this game your going to regret it. Maybe not today maybe not tomorrow but someday.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Synthia reviewed L.A. Noire for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Synthia on Mon, 04 Jul 2011 07:32:07 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/l-a-noire/user-reviews/769560/platform/xbox360/ Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:13:58 -0700 Synthia reviewed Okami for the PlayStation 2... http://www.gamespot.com/okami/user-reviews/762636/platform/ps2/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Okami takes you on an epic journey, where you are a heroine known as Amaterasu, Goddess of light and Mother to us all. Along with Issun , your perky wise cracking brush wielding warrior who provides interpretation and comic relief. However to the rest of the world you appear to be nothing more than a shining white wolf and they are completely unaware of your divine ability and are in fact quite shocked when "miracles" happen around them.
On your adventure you free the furry guardians of Nippon who bestow upon you the legendary symbols that you can then use to defeat the various monsters that plague the land, discover hidden treasure, or to master puzzles. While at the same time you are cleansing the land of the cursed mark in a good old fashioned battle of good vs. evil.
The collection aspects of the game were great; collecting stray beads, blooming hidden clovers, and feeding the hungry animals of Nippon. Also I never felt that nagging urge that the world was too small, they did a very fantastic job at making it seem like you could explore everything should you really want to. There are a few mini games that your able to play and some special side quests that they tempt you with, easily distracting me from the main task.
Putting it simply, Okami is a gorgeous game. The artistic quality of the game made me fall in love instantly. I've always been a fan of the Japanese wood block or brush painting work. The character art work is nothing short of amazing, every character, every animal, every tree, every house, every enemy has a simple and beautiful technique applied to them.
The music, while I adore is so serene that its almost hard to stay awake, even during combat or joyful moments. I don't wish to trivialize the score in the slightest, I'm actually hunting for the sound track for the game because I loved the music so much. I just didn't ever feel, stressed during situations where I felt that the tension should have been higher.
If I had any complaints about the game it would be the following:
There is too much of a good thing, I can remember getting about 25 hours into the game feeling that it should be over by now… and it wasn't. I enjoyed the story that they offered but honestly there were some moments that felt like unnecessary fluff pieces.
Combat …can- be horribly simplistic, just spam square and done (though you can take the high road and use your celestial brush to add some spice to combat). Also there is no real sense of danger, never once did I die during the game, my astral pouch (which is I guess like a free resurrection, I'm not totally sure since I never needed it) was always 100%, further more… I had two.
Lastly, there seems to be a lot of talking happening but the characters are often not actually saying anything. If it was poetic or even entertaining that would be fantastic, but its not. Also the gibbering noise that they make in place of actual speaking I found to be slightly annoying.
The collection aspects of the game were great; collecting stray beads, blooming hidden clovers, and feeding the hungry animals of Nippon.
All and all this game has all the makings of a classic to share shelf space with great games like Crono Trigger, or Ocarina of Time.



Get the full article at GameSpot

"Synthia reviewed Okami for the PlayStation 2..." was posted by Synthia on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:13:58 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/okami/user-reviews/762636/platform/ps2/ Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:14:46 -0700 dannyodwyer reviewed Lazy Raiders for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/lazy-raiders/user-reviews/713682/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

The quality of Christmas cracker toys is in a downward spiral. Last year I won a cheap plastic comb, while my brother's pack of cards had no spades in it. Do you remember years ago, you might win one of those tilting ball-mazes where a steady hand and patience were key to success? Well, replace the steel ball-bearing with a rotund treasure hunting archaeologist, drop back to two dimensions and you have the basic idea behind this charming puzzler. Though Dr. Diggabone's adventure doesn't require too much patience, quick reflexes should be enough to see you through his 75 level adventure.

In Lazy Raiders you control the game world rather than your character. You can rotate levels 360 degrees and watch as the chubby treasure-hunter become gravity's plaything, tumbling around and collecting treasures on contact. Press the A button and the world flips 180 degrees, allowing you to accurately aim Diggabone at treasures, keys & switches. This is the lazy style in which he carries out his raids, though you can also choose your equally lackadaisical Microsoft Avatar for the job.

The initial training levels will help you grasp the basic mechanics, but like any good puzzle game, the formula is modified several times throughout the game. The goal of every level is reaching the golden pickaxe which appears once you've collected enough gems and idols. When it appears you can end the level right then or continue collecting treasure for leader-board glory. Like any decent video-game tomb, treasure is often hidden behind doors which require you to reach colour-coded keys. Hazards come in the form of spike-pits, rolling boulders and explosive crates among others. As some items also fall under the influence of gravity, the trick is to try use these to disable traps, giving Diggabone clear passage. Snow boulders will soften a dangerous spike pit while navigating a TNT box toward a flame-thrower will blow open locked doors.

You play across Aztec, Arctic and Wild West themed tombs, each with their own unique mechanic thrown into the mix. After every five levels the game adds thieves to the equation; devilish looking chaps who collect keys and treasure just as well as Diggabone. Though touching them will harm your fat friend, what's worse is accidentally guiding them to the end-game treasure. Levels, though often re-branded across the three themes, are well designed and are key to keeping the action entertaining.

Death in Lazy Raiders results in a points penalty if your struck twice in a row. The game continues as normal, but the points deducted can inhibit you unlocking the illusive 75th level. For this reason Lazy Raiders can seem easier than it should be. If you're not interested in unlocking the final level, you could easily burn through each level dying multiple times without hesitation. However the satisfaction of figuring out and executing a level perfectly is its own reward. Scores are measured in dollars, and on top of the treasure collecting, cash can be made by disabling hazards and killing thieves. This gives you several ways to accrue enough cash to gain a gold rating.

Controlling Diggabone's world feels fluid as he tumbles and slides hilariously through each level. Presentation is polished too, with colourful visuals, quick loading times and a catchy soundtrack typical of the genre. However it's a pretty slim package with no multiplayer or alternative modes in sight. At 800 Microsoft Points, Lazy Raiders' value for money is very much dependant on how much of a completionist you are. In any case, the imaginative level design and silly gameplay makes Lazy Raiders enjoyable from start to finish. If it makes any difference, a cheesy treasure-hunter outfit for your Avatar is thrown into the deal with an extra hat available on completion. Now that's something you won't find in a Christmas cracker.

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"dannyodwyer reviewed Lazy Raiders for the Xbox 360..." was posted by dannyodwyer on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:14:46 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/lazy-raiders/user-reviews/713682/platform/xbox360/ Sun, 21 Mar 2010 08:34:19 -0700 dannyodwyer reviewed Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/battlefield-bad-company-2/user-reviews/713422/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is DICE's third attempt at translating their unique breed of grand-scale warfare to modern consoles. Third time's a charm it would seem as the multiplayer is far more refined and feature rich than previous games in the series. A clever ranking system across five seperate classes gives you plenty of reasons to keep coming back. Unfortunately this has come at the expense of the single player campaign which feels underwealming by comparison. A weak plot and unimaginative enviroments let down what is an otherwise enjoyable barrage of the senses.

After a brief prologue level to set-up the absurd storyline, we find Bad Company in Alaska where commanding officer, Sarge, is enjoying his last tour of duty. Nothing is mentioned of the truckload of gold they aquired at the end of the first game, but it looks like things didn't go quite according to plan. It's here your reintroduced to the team, including Marlowe and Sweetwater who's exploits will keep you laughing over the course of the adventure.

Soon enough you'll be blasting your way through occupied towns and villages, using grenades, RPG's and conveinently placed fuel barells to blow chunks out of enemy fortifications. This is how Bad Company 2 plays from start to finish, so it's just as well the act of destroying buildings is such great fun. Soldiers taking cover are just a single grenade launcher shot from exposure. Snipers posts and fixed guns can be blown apart with a well placed rocket. You can even fell entire building's by blowing away their support columns. From Alaska to your eventual exploits across South America, this formula is replicated over and over. And you'll be pleased to know it never gets old.

Quite how you blow up stuff is up to you. Bad Company 2 has a large range of fixed and mobile weaponry for you to decimate structures with. Every unlockable weapon from the multiplayer can be found during the campaign, from shotguns to sniper rifles, machine guns and rocket launchers. Then there are the vehicles which are capable of doing their fair share of damage too. Tanks lay waste to human and cement alike, bursting through jungle fauna and blasting open buildings like rock through cardboard. Chopper-mounted grenade launchers pound on fortifications and APC turrets shred through concrete. The game never leaves you short of ammunition as infinate ammo crates are frequently accessible in the heart of the battlefield. In fact it's often fun to stick around after a firefight and destroy what's left of a town before moving on.

Like the best of teamates, the three amigos you fight alongside are great fun to be around. Oftentimes breaking into impromtu conversations about religion, their ability to speak "Spanglish" and the occasional subtle swipe at the Modern Warfare franchise. Their indiference to the mission highlights just how out of place they feel in a narrative that's failing to take itself seriously. They serve to make the game more entertaining, but simultaneously make the story even less believable. You often wish you were back chasing that truck of gold or doing something equally as ludicrous.

As unbelievable as the story is, the game itself does everything in its power to make you feel you're in the thick of a real battlefield. Audio design is superb throughout. Buildings groan as they buckle under their own weight, firing a weapon indoors creates a hollow crackle and if your too close to a large explosion your eardrums are battered into momentary deafness. The visuals are decent too. Areas are vast and as a result look much better at a distance than under close scrutiny, but that suits the game just fine. You'll battle your way across snowy mountain villages, meandering rainforest riverbanks and vast arid deserts. The problem is you can't help feeling you've been to all these places a thousand times before. There's even a favela level that looks remarkably like something you probably played last year. As you're basically blowing up buildings no matter where you go, it would have been nice to see a bit more creativity in your surroundings. The nail in the coffin is the final level which is lifted wholesale from Call of Duty 4. For all the jokes Bad Company makes about Infinity Ward's game design, it didn't mind taking more than a handful of inspirations.

One inspiration you'll be thankful for is the new multiplayer experience in Bad Company 2 which allows you to level up your online persona while unlocking special features across five classes. In any level you can play as assault, medic, recon or engineer. Playing as a class helps you unlock scecial abilities within that class, as well as raise your overall level. So if you play as a medic you'll eventually unlock the ability to revive fallen comrades, while your overall level might symultaniously unlock extra weapons you can use as any class. This system rewards you for sticking to one class, with the aim of creating an online enviroment of specialists. It also helps to learn each classes nuance, as playing as an engineer who primarilly fixes tanks and plants mines in the heart of the battle, can be very different to a recon who snipes the enemy from afar.

No matter what class you choose, you'll always feel involved in the battles. There are four game modes on offer; Rush, Conquest, Squad Deathmatch and Squad Rush. In Rush one team defends a set of objectives while the opposing team attemps to destroy them by way of detonation or brute force. If the attacking team destroy the points before their respawn tickets run out, the defending team must retreat down the battlefield to a new set of points and the ticket counter is reset. Match quality can vary depending on the decision making of your teammates, but the selection of vast maps on offer are all well designed to ensure victory is never totally out of reach.

If you fancy something a little shorter, squad Rush is similar to this, but with 4 players on each team. Squad Deathmatch also has 4 man teams is but points are gained for kills rather than capturing points. Lastly in Conquest mode your required to capture and hold flags. The enemys tickets will decrease if your holding more than half the flags. These retain the scale of Rush, but are much more frantic as controll of the battlefield can shift unexpectedlyat any point. You always feel in the thick of the action, and with a selection of land, sea and airbourne vehicles at your disposal, game changing surges are the reward for organised teams.

Though it may take you a while to get used to the various game modes and classes, the mechanics of shooting and movement are simple to grasp. Each gun has a recongnisable weight, recoil and range. Grenades are easy to aim, sniper rifles require a timely reload between shots and shotguns are powerful within a certain range. You can highlight incoming enemy forces with a red HUD icon, by pressing the controllers back button (select on PS3). The awkward button press pays off if they're subsequently killed, as you gain XP for successful spots. In fact you gain XP for most things; killing, healing, defending positions, headshots, driving, mending broken vehicles and reviving stricken team-mates. This means you can just as easily enjoy each match without even firing a shot; especially as a medic. Reviving your squadmates and executing the enemy with the very same defibrillator carries a wonderful irony.

No matter what tactic you take, you're better with doing it with friends. If your joining a match in a party, the game puts you in the same squad allowing each player to respawn next to his squad members. This is very effective if your squad has successfully flanked the oposition or are running riot in a chopper. However if you have no friends fear not, as you can opt-in to join a squad with random players. Though you may or may not work as a unit, at least it gives you options each time you respawn.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is the console multiplayer experience fans of the series have been waiting for. Accessible and addictive, EA's dedicated servers are sure to be ringing with the sounds of crumbling building's for years to come. Though the single player campaign is weaker this time around its certainly still worth playing. The rampant, large-scale chaos that defines the online action can be found in no other game available today. Whether or not you have the time to level up an entirely new online persona, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is game shooter fans shouldn't miss out on.

Danny O'Dwyer

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"dannyodwyer reviewed Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for the Xbox 360..." was posted by dannyodwyer on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 08:34:19 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/battlefield-bad-company-2/user-reviews/713422/platform/xbox360/ Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:06:07 -0800 dannyodwyer reviewed EDGY for the iPhone/iPod... http://www.gamespot.com/edgy/user-reviews/696844/platform/iphone/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

EDGE is a platforming puzzle game, something akin to the bastard child of Devil Dice and Kula World of Playstation 1 fame. You control a multicoloured cube, climbing walls, tumbling across falling bridges and generally doing the whole 'platforming' thing over the course of 40+ levels. What makes EDGE a truly great platforming puzzler is it's ability to use the five or six core mechanics of the game in every possible combination, creating new puzzles out of familiar problems. It also has genuine personality which without a single character or line of dialogue can make you laugh and scream, as levels take pleasure in messing with your head.

The wonder of EDGE comes from its dynamic, cubic levels. Each level is made up of a number of greyscale cubes which create the mazes you navigate. These are populated by moving platforms, pressure triggers, perspective puzzles and much more not worth spoiling. It all looks fantastic too, with fluid animations, clever use of color and an overall clean feel. The audio is great too, with a varied plinky-plonky soundtrack and some very satisfying in game effects, not least the end level crechendo.

With levels floating in an abyss, death comes in the form of moving your cube off an edge, though you reappear immediately at the nearest checkpoint. These checkpoints are invisible, put feel fairly distributed for the most part. Levels in EDGE have no countdown timers, death limits or 'baddies' which gives you the time to experiment and enjoy each stage at your own pace. Some of the more skill maneuvers can be mildly frustrating to learn at first, but you'll be surprised at how quickly they become second nature.

You'll spent at least 3 hours with EDGE before completing the main mode and then still have further missions to unlock by gathering extra prisms you failed to collect first time around. Considering the rocky road it took to arrive on App Store, you should thank your lucky stars you have the opperunity to buy it, and at a measly …2.99 you'd be foolish not to. EDGE is by far one of the best games on the iPhone and among the most enjoyable gaming experiences you'll have this year.

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"dannyodwyer reviewed EDGY for the iPhone/iPod..." was posted by dannyodwyer on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:06:07 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/edgy/user-reviews/696844/platform/iphone/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:46:36 -0800 dannyodwyer reviewed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2/user-reviews/693403/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Modern Warfare 2 takes place five years after the events of of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Despite your best efforts, the ultra-nationalist have wrangled control of Russia proclaiming Zakhaev, everyone's favourite one-armed bad guy, as a national hero and political martyr. As in previous Call of Duty games, you step inside the body of several distinct characters over the course of the campaign's five to seven hours of gameplay.

Though entertaining, the story itself twist and turns so radically you'll probably finish the game with more questions than answers. It feels messy and incoherent most of the time but much like an episode of 24 its so damn entertaining that anybody hung-up by the illogical plot-points is really playing the game for the wrong reasons. More importantly Modern Warfare 2 is ripe with the gob-smacking set-pieces moments we've come to expect from the Call of Duty series, some of which will leave you genuinely stunned.

Your efforts to save the world take place in locations across the globe; from South American slums to political prisons, the hills of Afghanistan and the roof of a fast food outlet. For the most part they all play great, utilising the location to twist the gameplay each time. For instance the Favela levels in Rio have you being shot from several vertical levels, whereas the fantastic oil-rig mission has you breaching through wooden doors to save hostages in slow motion gunfights. This frequent mixing-up of the gameplay keeps the experience engaging, which probably makes it all feel shorter than it really is. The memorable levels also encourage you to take on the campaign a second or third time and with four difficulty levels on offer you certainly won't be short of options to re-play.

When you eventually bring the single player to its memorable conclusion you're probably going to want to call into work sick for a few days, as Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer is among the most addictive available on consoles. Game modes include the usual array of Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Domination and a host of others. Your online character collects points for killing opponents, capturing flags, getting head-shots, shooting down helicopters and pretty much everything else. These points add-up after each match, adding to a total which raises your characters numerical level, unlocking special weapons, perks and achievements as you do so. Essentially, the more your play Modern Warfare 2, the more cool stuff you get to bring into the battlefield.

The kill streaks from Call of Duty 4 make a welcome return too. These are special power-ups that unlock if you successfully kill a number of opponents in a row without dying. In the past these were set in stone, so killing 3 opponents would unlock a special UAV radar, killing 5 would unlock an air-strike. However in Modern Warfare 2, you can unlock and select your own kill-streaks as your character levels-up. So if your not a fan of air-strikes you can unlock a droppable machine-gun turret available after four kills. Or if you fancy yourself a bit of a Modern Warfare legend how about a tactical nuclear missile, unlockable after 25 successive kills, which ends the game. These changes make Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer feel like a very different beast and customizing your character a lot more interesting.

In addition to the single and multiplayer, Modern Warfare 2 has "Special Ops" mode where two players can play cooperatively against the computer in a number of scenarios. These include facing off against waves of approaching enemies, supporting each other as you gun from one side of a battlefield to the other, or racing across arctic tundra on snowmobiles. These can be played across a range of difficulties in split screen on the same console or with friends and strangers via Xbox Live. It's a worthy addition too with over 23 missions on offer, some of which are rock hard on higher difficulties.

Modern Warfare 2 marries an entertaining single-player campaign with one of the most enjoyable multiplayer games around, and then throws in a great co-op mode for fun. The single player has its flaws, but like any great game, the issues are only apparent because the rest of the package is so fantastic. Simply put, if your a fan of first person shooters you really have no excuse for not owning this game.

Danny O'Dwyer

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2/user-reviews/693403/platform/xbox360/ Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:26:49 -0700 dannyodwyer reviewed Canabalt for the iPhone/iPod... http://www.gamespot.com/canabalt/user-reviews/687351/platform/iphone/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

It seems Twitter has penetrated every aspect of daily life. If your plugged into the twitterverse you've probably heard of people running 1200 metres before crashing into a wall and tumbling to their death. This is the final part of every attempt at Canabalt; a run-em-up game of cartoon, urban hurdles which rewards patience and persistence with an auto-tweet button to show your friends how much free time you clearly have.

Canabalt is a single-level game where you control the jumping of a man sprinting from left-right. Your character is running for his life across rooftops, over sky-cranes and through windows as the city is torn down from beneath his feet by nameless invaders. You spend each level making Morpheus-like leaps between skyscrapers, jumping over crashed missiles and bounding over smaller obstacles. These come in the form of boxes and office chairs, which don't kill you, but slow your momentum making the larger jumps more difficult, and often impossible.

Each attempt creates a new level which begins with a dramatic sprinting-crash through a skyscraper window, and ends in the death of your character with a score in the form of meters ran. As each game lasts little more than half a minute, so it's a good thing the game has some pretty neat visuals and music. Canabalt loads with a helpful note to wear headphones "for maximum awesome" and it's pretty accurate. The minimalist graphics look great in motion with smooth animations and some very smart backgrounds that give the game visual depth. All of comes together to create a genuine atmosphere of trepidation and tension.

Canabalt was made in 5 days at Kyles Experimental Gameplay Project, and is free to play on their website. It's the sort of game the iPhone was really made for; short, cheap and infinitely replayable. …1.69 / $2.99 really is a fair price considering how much you'll go back to play it. Let's hope the platform allows for more of this experimental nonsense.

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"dannyodwyer reviewed Canabalt for the iPhone/iPod..." was posted by dannyodwyer on Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:26:49 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/canabalt/user-reviews/687351/platform/iphone/ Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:47:37 -0700 finalcross reviewed Art Style: PiCTOBiTS for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/art-style-pictobits/user-reviews/663092/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Probably the best aspect of any puzzle game is the pick-up and play nature each one possesses. It doesn't take too long to learn how to play but it does require a lot of investment before you can say that you have mastered one. PiCTOBiT manages to give you an exciting puzzle experience for DSi owners but one that will take a lot of time to master thanks to its strong difficulty.

The objective in PiCTOBiTS is to group colored blocks together. Each level begins with three rows full of multicolored blocks which must be moved to different parts of the screen then combined with matching blocks that drop from the top of the screen. If you match up groups of three more, the blocks disappear and are transferred onto the top screen.

All blocks that go to the top screen begin to form an image. Once you have the right amount of blocks to complete the image, you've completed the level. Each level contains four different colors and you need to obtain enough blocks of each specific color in order to complete the image. You can continue to match blocks of a color you already have enough of, but it will not help complete the puzzle.

The groups of blocks that fall down vary in shape. Sometimes they are large 4x4 blocks other times they are shaped completely different and almost always contain more than one color.

If you manage to combine the right colors of blocks before they reach the bottom it will make each level significantly easier. In a situation where no colors are available, a simple tap on the falling pieces will drop them down and make those blocks accessible to use later on.

PiCTOBiTs starts off fairly easy and most people should be able to complete the first few levels without too much difficulty. As you progress though, the challenge ramps up fairly quickly thanks to the game's increase in speed, frequency of blocks and other special blocks that can hinder your progression.

For those who love puzzle games, this challenge will be a delight. You certainly will get frustrated with the increasing challenge, but it never feels cheap or that the game is cheating you. PiCTOBiTS is about quick movements and reflexes and you will really work your brain trying to find the best way to complete the levels. If you play a level enough times, you will begin to notice the patterns of the blocks as to where they drop, but the colors always change.

Thankfully, moving pieces is not 1:1. You can store up to 8 blocks and then use them when needed. The stylus works well that you can also slide across a few blocks to store them and replace them just as quickly. In later stages, you will begin to use the POW feature. This can be your friend if the screen begins to fill up as it will reduce the last three rows and spread out all the blocks on the screen. It can be helpful, but it comes at a price. You need to collect coins, coins that you obtain as you earn chains and break blocks, but once you use a POW, the number of pieces you can store gets reduced.

There are thirty stages to play and the most challenging ones occur when you begin to buy and unlock the Dark one. The Dark Stages are even more difficult than the Normal ones and will require extra precision and quickness if you wish to complete them.

The game uses very simplistic graphics but it works really well for a DSiWare title. Each of the game's images that you unlock to complete a level come from the NES days of games. You'll see plenty of sprites from your childhood and it each one looks really swell.

The music in the game also takes homage to the NES days. The chiptune and MIDI sounding tunes work well for the game and there is also the option to buy the music in the game to listen whenever you please. Also included are a few remixes of classic NES tunes which will only not appeal to those without soul or who have never experienced the Golden Generation of Videogames.

PiCTOBiTS is certainly not an easy game, but at a mere 500 DSi Points it is by far the best DSiWare game available right now. Yes, the challenge of the puzzles will throw off inexperienced players but there is nothing quite like it available right now. Considering DSi owners got 1000 Points to use, this is the best bang for the buck and should be in your collection without question.

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"finalcross reviewed Art Style: PiCTOBiTS for the DS..." was posted by finalcross on Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:47:37 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/art-style-pictobits/user-reviews/663092/platform/ds/ Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:54:22 -0700 dannyodwyer reviewed And Yet It Moves for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/and-yet-it-moves/user-reviews/654426/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Many hundreds of years ago Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was forced to recant his theory that the Earth rotated around the sun, a blasphemous concept that went against the entire belief system of the day. Popular culture states that he muttered a phrase resembling 'And Yet It Moves' during his trial, a bold statement that contradicted the foundations of accepted truth at the time.

And Yet it Moves is a bold game, which takes the core idea of a 2D platformer and quite literally turns it on its head. At any point in the game the player can rotate the world 90 degrees, turning walls into floors, ceilings into chasms and certain death into a second chance. What could have been a one-off gimmick is expanded upon in unexpected and wonderful directions making AYIM a spellbinding indy diversion that is familiar, yet entirely unique.

Initially at least, the gameplay is pretty standard. You control a paper man, exploring a series of bizarre mazes, moving him left and right and jumping from time to time. The twist comes in your use of the cursor keys, which allow you to flip the world 90 or 180 degrees at any point. Seemingly insurmountable obstacles can be overcome with ease by rotating the world at your will. However your paper avatar isn't immune to the powers of momentum so if fall too far, even while rotating, he'll be torn to shreds on impact. Thankfully every level is littered with checkpoints, allowing you respite from all the dangerous leaping and more importantly, pointing you towards the next one. These checkpoints are expertly places, rewarding skill and driving the games brilliantly balanced playability. Rarely does any obstacle take more than a few attempts, which is just as well as the puzzles are far more varied than your standard platform game.

As you explore the diverse levels of AYIM you're frequently aided and obstructed by objects who's relationship with physics can be exploited. Falling boulders, springboards and swinging bridges can be manipulated in astonishingly acrobatic ways to traverse chasms and leap impossible heights. The animal kingdom plays a bizarre part in all this too, with ceiling dwelling bats, gate keeping lizards, ridable evil hamsters and the odd snake playing their part in a game that keeps you guessing. At times the amount of gameplay mechanics on show is incredibly impressive. Even more impressive is how finely tuned the experience is, in spite of the assortment of eccentric ideas it composes of. Creating a unique experience from a tried and tested genre is an impressive achievement.

Unique also, is the visual design of AYIM. As every object's texture has been taken from video and photographic sources, the levels feel like paper-cut collages. It's not going to serve everybody's tastes, but at the very least it sucks you deeper into the twisted world of AYIM and gives visual depth to a game routed in two dimensions. Mirroring this hand-made aesthetic is a unique and outstanding sound-scape. Much of the looping music has been made using human voice, popping & whistling like an eerie beat boxer. The same can be said for many of the games sound effects; such as when your character falls to his death to the sound of a voice-made 'Squish!'.

Considering how immersive this rich, backward world of AYIM feels it's a terrible shame it lacks any narrative drive. Levels come one after another with nothing to tie them together. Your character is never explored, neither is his world or its peculiar inhabitants and ultimately leaves AYIM feeling more like a puzzle game than a platformer. Though it takes nothing away from the games playability or pacing it does leave a hollow, and is a disappointing omission in an otherwise creative melting pot.

You'll be rotating worlds for a good three to four hours before you've unlock the games three chapters. After that, Competition Mode allows you to attempt speed runs on any individual level or across an entire chapter. These can be undertaken for the sake of Steam Achievements or to upload your own time to the games online ranking system which can also filter your score against players of similar skill or global positioning. Better still, the system takes note of when a player crosses each checkpoint, allowing you to download other players speed runs and try and beat their time section by section.

AYIM was originally created by a group of students from Vienna University of Technology in 2007, and it's clear to see that the developers have spend years refining the experience. The game is littered with 'Wow!' moments from start to finish, most of which are far too brilliant to spoil in this review. Simple to pick up and satisfying from start to finish, this unique game is available on Steam for little more than a tenner, and it's very hard not to recommend

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"dannyodwyer reviewed And Yet It Moves for the PC..." was posted by dannyodwyer on Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:54:22 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/and-yet-it-moves/user-reviews/654426/platform/pc/ Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:34:24 -0700 dannyodwyer reviewed Peggle Deluxe for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/peggle/user-reviews/651294/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Peggle is the sort of game that relishes in word of mouth. Since its original PC release in early 2007, it's been bouncing from platform to platform appearing on Apple's iPod, Valve's Steam service and most recently on Nintendo DS. Fans of the series will be pleased to know that not much has been lost in the translation to Xbox 360, and if players unfamiliar with the series can look past its cutesy exterior, they'll find a deep and skillful game that deserves any gamer's attention.

At first glance Peggle is the sort of game that frightens the life out of hardcore gamers. Right of the bat you are introduced to the head of the Peggle institute 'Bjorn the Unicorn', a charming stallion drawn beautifully in soft pastel colors. Soon after you meet another handful of cute characters including Claude the French lobster, Jimmy Lightning a skateboarding beaver and the Zen-Master owl named Master Hu. Each of these Peggle Masters guides the player through 5 of the 55 campaign stages of the game, bringing with them a special move to mix up the gameplay.

Peggle does what all casual games do right, its fun to play in long and short bursts and is easy to get to grips with no matter what your gaming skill. The objective of each level is to clear all the orange 'pegs' from the screen by shooting balls downwards into the stage. The ball bounces down through the pegs like a pinball, picking up scores and removing pegs along the way. Each level is populated by low-scoring blue pegs which clutter the stage, high-scoring purple pegs to tempt your shot in a certain direction and green pegs which activate your Peggle Masters special ability. These include multi-balls, score multipliers and pinball flippers among others and are a treat to master during each stage of the campaign. Add to this a bucket that slides across the base of the level, rewarding successful dunks with an extra ball, and you have a game that rewards lateral thinking while keeping the core gameplay simple and snappy.

Peggle is quite a simple game to play but its hook is in how it constantly delivers positive feedback to the player. Though the player controls which direction the ball is shot, what it does on its downward journey has more to do with random chance. Watching the ball bounce downwards, racking up a score as it clears pegs, is pure drama. Trying to hit the last remaining orange pegs as they hide behind obstacles takes equal parts precision and dumb luck and watching the ball drop neatly into the bucket at the bottom is satisfying every time. These mechanics all to work toward building the excitement which crescendos in the slow-motion impact of the final orange peg, triggering an explosion of color and digital fanfare as Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' blasts from the speakers.

The difficulty curve is steady and shallow and once the main story mode is completed challenge mode is unlocked, allowing the player to take on 75 more levels, each with an added stipulation. These range from quite easy to a degree of frustration usually reserved for call center conversations, but as each attempt usually lasts less than two minutes it gets away with it.

Then there is 'Duel', where players pick their own Peggle Master and alternate taking shots in an attempt to get the highest score. This can be played locally with a friend, against an AI controlled character of varying skill, or online in ranked and unranked matches. The game translates very well into online as matches are short, encouraging players to take risks in pursuit of pole position. A group based version of this exists in 'Peggle Party' where up to 4 players battle for points on seperate boards concurrently, viewing opponents boards between shots. Currently the online community is thriving and any lag met is made redundant by the turn based nature of the gameplay.

Peggle is a game with a broad appeal that every gamer must give a go. To dismiss the game on its visual style would be a shame, as beneath the fuzzy exterior lies a rewarding single player game, coupled with a fun multiplayer component that will endure on its simplicity. The only imperfection in this gem of a game is that it's almost entirely a like for like port with the original PC version. Though more original content would have been welcomed, it's a testament to the genius of Peggle's core gameplay that its omission doesn't stop Peggle being a terrifically fun game.

Peggle is available now on Xbox Live Arcade for 800 Microsoft Points.

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"dannyodwyer reviewed Peggle Deluxe for the Xbox 360..." was posted by dannyodwyer on Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:34:24 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/peggle/user-reviews/651294/platform/xbox360/ Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:37:58 -0800 finalcross reviewed flower for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/flower/user-reviews/647477/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

If you work a steady, full-time job, chances are that you have had a really bad day at work. Once you get home, you just want to relax and forget about all the problems you had. For some, you will pick up your favorite book or watch a TV program. For others, you might decide to go for a run or hit some weights to relive all that tension. I really doubt people would pick up a Videogame to help them forget about their troubles. Well it seems that answer to that is here and it's called Flower.

The premise behind this half-game, half-interactive experience is that fairly vague at first. In the game, you play as the Wind and it's your goal to help bloom various locations from drab environments into scenic and peaceful ones.

In each of Flower's 6 stages, you begin as the wind with a single flower petal. With the use of the X Button and the motions of the PS3's Sixaxis controller, you 'lead' that single petal towards flowers located around you to blossom the flowers and to collect more petals.

As you bloom flowers, you open up the environments. In the beginning, the levels all look desolate but as the flowers blossom, the grass becomes greener and the sky becomes clearer. As you progress through the stages, you'll eventually blossom all of the flowers turning the stage into the kind of place you'll want to spend an afternoon just relaxing.

Flower is a very linear game. There is no dying so you never have to worry about doing anything wrong. Often, the objective is simply to bloom all the flowers in a specific spot in order to progress. Flowers that haven't been bloomed have a glow and you'll be easily able to pick them out even from far away. The controls make moving around each stage a breeze. When Sony released the Sixaxis back in 2006, this should have been a pack-in title that would have shown why you need this feature.

In terms of graphics, the game is fairly simple with it's look but stunning none-the-less. There are very few outside particles in each stage. For the most part, you'll be simply collection flower petals and traveling through grass, but both look stunning in High-Definition. Even the 'outside' environments look really good and add to the game's feel.

With incredible looking visuals, the sound helps to compliment the experience even more. The game contains a great instrumental score that will often have you leaving it playing to give your home a more relaxing feel. The music shifts with the speed of your flower petals and works on multiple levels, especially in the later stages of the game which have a very different feel from the beginning.

Flower is not a long game. The six stages can be completed in about 1-3 hours depending on how much time you spend on each. There are a lot of tiny secrets hidden throughout the game which does add to some replayabilty, but chances are that once you've completed the game, you'll only go back to get some trophies. Even with that, this is a game that does exactly what it intended on doing, offering a different, yet unique experience. Only hard-core gamers looking for something to kill will not find anything here to enjoy. If you've had a hard day at work, I strongly suggest turning on your PS3, playing any of the 6 stages (except maybe stage 5 = spoiler) and watch your troubles fly away with the wind...even if it's only for a few moments.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"finalcross reviewed flower for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by finalcross on Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:37:58 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/flower/user-reviews/647477/platform/ps3/ Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:22:16 -0800 dannyodwyer reviewed Skate 2 for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/skate-2/user-reviews/645067/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

EA Blackbox took advantage of a downbeat genre to release 'Skate' back in 2007; a critical darling which dumped arcade high-scoring gameplay for a more realistic trick-centric approach. Though the first game received oodles of praise for its innovative design, it wasn't without some obvious flaws and Skate 2 does its best to eradicate most of them.

Story wise, Skate 2 continues a few years after the conclusion of the first game, 5 years to be exact, all passed away incarcerated in San Van prison. Upon your release your introduced to New San Vanelona; a similar but different urban sprawl built upon the ruins of the earthquake-ravaged former skatetopia.

The benefactors of this new city, MongoCorp, have made provisions to stop skaters from taking over New-San-Vanelona. Security Guards are more plentiful, grind-stoppers have been bolted onto rails and ledges and worst of all, most of New San-Vanelona's pools are full of some nasty blue teleport liquid. So the premise is basically Saints Row 2 with skateboards in place of casual racism.

Like this review, the game introduces the story early on and never really touches on it in any meaningful way during the course of the game. So onto the important question, how does the game actually play? The good news is, Skate 2 is a pretty excellent sequel.

First of all New San Vanelona is simply the best skateboarding world we've ever played. Every area of the metropolis is littered with spots, gaps, rails and parks. Though the city still rests on a sharp decline, the hills are positioned further apart to induce you to explore more. Its larger too, with loads of hidden parks, alternative routes and dynamic areas which change as you progress through the story. As your notoriety in the skate world increases you unlock a number of contacts including some girl who drains pools, a guy who prises off grind-stoppers, and the number one In skateboard security; Mr Big Black himself (oh wait, there's the casual racism).

Pacing has drastically improved also. Skate 2 embraces its open-world core by allowing much more variety in the sequence you approach the games challenges. Better still the variety and sheer amount of challenges on offer has been wildly improved too. These include street and vert competitions, downhill races, video and photo opportunities & location challenges, most of which are extremely clever in their execution. There really is a loads to do in Skate 2.

The repertoire of tricks on offer has opened up too. Skate 2 expands on the flip and grab trick-set with a selection of plants, tweaks and lips while the D-pad exclusively manages a selection of taunts & emotes. There's still so sign of complex flatland tricks or dark-slides, but then again I'm sure this wont be the last in the series. Besides, you'll spend most of your time attempting to hippy jump benches and cars.

The essential session marker from 'Skate' makes a welcomed return, allowing you to transport your skater back to a preset marker to attempt, and re-attempt gaps quickly. The issue in the first game was the area in which you could teleport back without incurring the wrath of the load screen. Thankfully the streaming world has been tweaked to allow much greater distances to be skated and transported back to instantly.

One unforgiving gripe many had with the first game was the inability to step off your skateboard. In Skate 2, a simple button press and voila, your walking…Daddy's so proud. Unfortunately you walk like a 1920's robot who can't turn unless standing completely still or sprinting at terminal velocity. The mechanic works fine when you're moving pieces of the game world around, which incidentally is one of the best new additions to the game, but is otherwise useless unless your stuck at the bottom of a stair set. Another new way of getting around is by sketching on the back of one of the any hundreds of cars meandering the streets of San Vanelona. Pulling away from the car can whip you across areas at high-speed for awesome high-speed trickery or awesome high-speed collisions.

That's right, when you bail in Skate 2, you really bail. Most gameplay sessions involve a number of impressive tricks spaced in between YouTube type bone Ownage. The games 'Hall of Meat' feature makes sure you know just how much damage you're doing, but it pales in comparison to how the engine makes every fall, snap and crunch almost too hard to watch. Skate 3: Limb dismemberment … you heard it here first.

Graphically Skate 2 has changed quite a bit also. The de-saturated look of the original has been dumped for an expanded colour palette. Texture resolution is sharper; the framerate can be glorious at times and the effects such as lens-flare and speed blur are fantastic to watch. In the same respect not enough can be said about the audio design. Wheels rumble, scrape and pop depending on the surface you're moving across, wind rages pasts at high speed and ambient effects such as chatter, birds and cars give the city a tangible depth. The soundtrack is another skater-friendly playlist which stays clear of chart toppers in favour of hip-hop, soul and rock classics. It may not be as memorable as many other skateboard game soundtracks, but the music is perfectly serviceable.

Off the board Skate's replay editor makes a welcome return even if its scaled back to force editing fans to buy a DLC pack. As ever you can upload your favourites to your EA account with mixed results. 'Create a Spot' allows you to create your own score-area with its very own online leader board. Friends and strangers alike can download these spots and compete to beat your score. As it's totally based on community input, only time will tell if this feature picks up.

Online, the game takes more than one trick from Burnout Paradise. Freeskate activities are suggested and voted on by the gamers in the lobby, many are competitive such as 'best trick' contests, while co-op activities add flavour to proceedings. If this style of online is your cup of tea, there are hours of activities here that will help you burn away that midnight oil.

Fans of the first game will eat up Skate 2. It's a safe but refined sequel that looses the chaff of the first game and expands on what made it great. If you're on the fence or unfamiliar with the series, a quick playtest of the Xbox Live or PSN demo will be enough to turn you on or off. What's sure is Skate 2 is so packed with features and stuff to do that it's hard not to like it. EA Blackbox have delivered a polished, feature-packed experience that is not only the king of skateboarding games, but still the benchmark for innovation in any tired genre.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"dannyodwyer reviewed Skate 2 for the Xbox 360..." was posted by dannyodwyer on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:22:16 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/skate-2/user-reviews/645067/platform/xbox360/ Sun, 01 Feb 2009 22:01:23 -0800 finalcross reviewed Dead Space for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/dead-space/user-reviews/642320/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

There is always a lot of risks involved when introducing a new series to the world. The first reaction most people will have is 'this game is a lot like…' We are skeptical because most gamers want to play something they know will be good. When Dead Space was announced, most people claimed 'this game is a lot like Resident Evil in Space' and while that a fair assessment, when you actually start playing, you notice that this is a very different game and a good one at that.

The plot behind Dead Space involves a crew that has been called to assist with some problems that has occurred on the ship USG Ishimura, touted as one of the biggest and most powerful ships in the fleet. When they arrive, the Ishimura fails to respond to the calls and it seems that something else has occurred. At first, you're under the impression that the problem is the communication, but once you arrive on board, you realize that something else, much larger, is the problem.

You play as Isaac Clarke, who is an engineer capable of fixing what is initially believed to be the problem. As you begin the game, you and your crew members thing that the communication is what is causing the problem, but once you begin walking around the ship, you notice that people are no where to be found, feared dead. Now it's up to you to get the ship online in order to escape and at the same time, try to figure out what exactly has gone wrong with the ship and its crew.

The game is played from a 3rd-person, over the shoulder view. You will also not have a HUD (Head's Up Display), rather all of your stats are available on your person. Your weapon's ammo shows up on the weapons when it is drawn; your health bar is located on your spine and your Stasis strength is shown on your shoulder blade. Lastly, in levels that require you to venture into space, you're oxygen supply timer will also appear. It's a great mechanic that works really well. Since the screen is not cluttered with data so it allows that game to really look good. Also, everything that occurs happens in game. When you bring up your items menu, a holograph appears which will allow you to continue moving and access key items. Also, whenever you crew members appear to communicate with, it too happens with the use of holographs. This is really nice as it never stops the flow of the game.

The enemies you will encounter are called Necromorphs, Some are fast, others are slow but all of them are extremely deadly. Your arsenal begins with a simple weapon, but as you progress and obtain credits you will unleash more powerful weapons. Since Isaac is an Engineer, all of his weapons are actually modified tools, such as Cutters and other Mining Tools. All of the weapons are upgradeable and necessary for you as you progress into more difficult stages.

For the most part, Necromorphs are relatively slow, so you should be able to attack them before they get to close, but that's not to say they are easy to take down. The game puts the emphasis on dismemberment. Most Necromorphs can actually morph into different shapes, so in order to stop them you will have to strategically cut off limbs, to slow them down even more then cutting off their heads or targeting certain parts of the body to destroy them.

The attacking is where Dead Space gets the talk about being similar to the Resident Evil franchise, specifically RE4. In RE4, character perspective is similar to what you encounter in Dead Space, but here you're character is able to move while aiming. This may seem to make the game easier, and as it may be the case in some situations, the fact that the game often puts you in small corridors and dark locations, the best way to approach any area is to constantly move.

The majority of the game is played on the USG Ishimura, but the environments are not that repetitive. There are plenty of situations where Isaac will have to work in areas with Zero Gravity and even outside of the Ship. In areas with Zero Gravity, every section with a flat surface can be used and you will have to move to them in order to advance. In those parts where you'll have to be outside of the ship, or areas with no oxygen, you will have to move quickly as you only have a limited amount of air available to you. These portions are always frantic since not only will you have to battle enemies, but work against the clock.

In terms of graphics, Dead Space is absolutely stunning. Majority of the game is played in dark locations, so the atmosphere really makes things difficult for you. Often, you will have to walk around with your weapon drawn, since each one of them has a flashlight. You can walk around without it, but be prepared for attacks, which can be really fun and challenging. Some environments look the same, but in actuality there are subtle differences to each of them. As you trek through the game, you may want to walk off path just to check out what you might find. There is a lot of secrets available throughout the ship, which will appease those who actually go through each nook and cranny.

The game's sound is also top-notch. The voice work from the small cast and the sounds from the Necromorphs all stand out. There isn't a single weak point throughout the game. The sound both the ambience and the score is also extremely fantastic. In those key moments where it seems like something bad is going to occur, the music is right there to reassure you. I really enjoyed those moments when your oxygen gets low since you can hear the panic breathing of Isaac. It doesn't stop there. When Isaac is low in health, if you try to run, his breathing will also point sound weird giving you the hint that you should be hunting for health packs and using them. In survival horror games, sound is just as important as 'shock value' and Dead Space truly delivers.

Dead Space's story plays out in 12 chapters, each of which will take about an hour or so to complete, so you've got a minimum of twelve hours of gameplay here. If you stick to the path, given to you by the objective assister, you will only get a portion of the story here. There are a lot of audio and text logs that you need to uncover to understand the storyline. Also, what some people might miss out is that Dead Space the videogame is actually only the final portion of a three tier story. Also released prior to the game hitting stores was a six part comic book story which chronicles events that lead to the discovery of the key plot to the game. On top of that, there is a full-length feature animated film which then connects the comic book mini-series to the game. If you want to understand the full lore behind the game, picking up either of the two will help understand the game just a bit more. Thankfully, you can easily pick up the digital versions of the comic book which were made available free on Xbox Live and PSN.

In the end, even with all the connections made between Dead Space and Resident Evil 4 and films like Solaris and Event Horizon, EA has done a great job in giving gamers a fantastic playing game. There is plenty of action, suspense and horror to satisfy just about any gamer out there. Some might be put off by the fact that you're only getting a portion of the overall story, there is still enough that you can get an understanding of everything even without going that extra mile. If you've been looking for a game to keep you at the edge of your seat but were annoyed with questionable tank-like controls, Dead Space delivers.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"finalcross reviewed Dead Space for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by finalcross on Sun, 01 Feb 2009 22:01:23 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/dead-space/user-reviews/642320/platform/ps3/ Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:49:17 -0800 finalcross reviewed Left 4 Dead for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/left-4-dead/user-reviews/638324/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

I know in my youth whenever I watched zombie horror movies I thought to myself 'I think I could handle myself if this happened to me.' It might only be a game, but Left 4 Dead is what you could essentially call a Zombie Apocalypse Simulator and one fantastic one at that.

Left 4 Dead is the newest venture from Valve Software which puts players in the role of a survivor trying to escape from hordes of Zombies. The game allows you to play as one of four characters. You have Francis, the tough biker dude, Bill, the elderly army vet, Louis, the regular guy and Zoey, the twenty-something girl. There is no real back story other than the fact that you four are the only survivors trying to find help and stay alive.

The game contains four scenarios, which are played out as 'movies'. Each of the four scenarios takes places in different areas including an airport and an abandoned train yard. The objective is simple, move from point to point and not die. There are five chapters to each movie and they end when you reach either the safe house, or in the case of the final chapter, the rescue vehicle. Along the way, you'll encounter wave upon wave of various infected people and to spice up the action, other 'special' zombies each with their own special abilities. Their abilities include one called the Smoker who upon killing him turns the air into smoke causing your characters to cough for a few moments. Another character, a witch, is harmless unless you disturb her. If you do, she'll charge at you, knocking you down and will continue to pounce until you manage to kill her. These enemies occur at various burst, but when they strike, they manage to do the most damage to your characters.

Left 4 Dead features a cool feature called AI Director. Each of the four scenarios is approximately 45-105 minutes long in length depending on how well you play. What the AI Director does is ensure that each time you play through a scenario, your experience is different. The first time you play through a chapter, you might remember some pipe-bombs located in a room, but the next time you play, they won't be there. You think you're approaching a section with a Hunter zombie, but when you get there, the area is empty. If computer thinks you're having an easy time, it will throw more zombies at you, and reversely, if you're dying too much, it will ease the difficulty for you. The AI Director ensures that each time you play through the game the experience is different. You never know what to expect and because of this, you'll always be at the edge of your seat.

If you decide to play Left 4 Dead on your own, thankfully your partners are very good at what they do and it's very rare that you will have to save them. In fact, you're more inclined to run ahead of them and have them save you then the other way around. But Left 4 Dead is really enjoyed playing with others. While you can play this game with friends, to get the true experience, you need to play this with strangers.

The four characters in this game are not friends, but four random people who just happen to have the same goal, find safety. If you play with friends, chances are you will play smart and efficiently, but that really limits what you can do. If you're playing with strangers, you don't know what to expect. Like in real life, you might have the smart person who will grab gas tanks and place them before a horde attacks to burn them, or you might have a scared person who runs off ahead of everyone then pleads for help when they're getting consumed by the infected. While you should be working together, it's never perfect and this randomness makes every experience something special.

For a game located in isolated and deserted locations, Valve did a great job in make the environments looking true to form. All four of the 'movies' are significantly different but each one has plenty of detail in them. You'll walk or run through apartments, warehouses, train tracks, backwoods, airport terminals, hospitals and other locations and each one doesn't just look like the other with a different coat of paint. The generic infected look good even though there seems to be only about 5-8 different models (two or three female and three or four male skins) and there are also only 5 special zombie characters. It's not a bad thing, but sometimes you do wish there was a bit more variety in that department. You will encounter some graphical glitches here and there as well. These only seem to occur when you stand really close to a character, as textures will disappear, but it doesn't hurt the game.

The sounds from the ambiance to the voice-work are actually fairly well done. The game sounds from top to bottom like a horror movie with great sounds occurring at key moments. When you're nearing a witch, you'll hear her moan and groan and at the same time an eerie score will accompany it until you either kill her or move far enough away. There is some limit to the dialog between the playable characters, but when playing with friends or with strangers, you won't be listening to the 'reloading' 'come here and let me heal you' that Francis and the gang will state, so it is a non-issue.

If you only play this game alone, you're only experiencing a fraction of what this game is intended to do. This game needs to be enjoyed with others and with various people. When you play online, there is also the ability to play as the special infected characters against four real people as the survivors. This mode is fun albeit short at times since infected characters do die relatively quickly. If you manage to use your character effectively, you can do a lot of damage and thanks to the AI Director, even this experience will be different each time you play.

When I first started reading about Left 4 Dead, I thought this was just a generic shooter in a zombie environment. I guess you can blame the lack of fun I had trying out Resident Evil Outbreak and its attempt at this type of game. Valve proved that it can pull this off and I cannot stress this enough, you need to play Left 4 Dead. If you have a decent PC, I would recommend the PC version over the Xbox only because of the great support and eventually free content that will be available down the road. The Xbox does have the leg up thanks in part to the fact that each Xbox owner has a head-set which is an important tool needed to play, so even if you settle for that version, you're getting your money's worth. If you were looking for a fun game that will still give you the creeps when you're playing it over and over again, I have to say that Left 4 Dead is the only game you'll need.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"finalcross reviewed Left 4 Dead for the PC..." was posted by finalcross on Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:49:17 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/left-4-dead/user-reviews/638324/platform/pc/ Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:26:27 -0800 finalcross reviewed Mass Effect for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/mass-effect/user-reviews/637181/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

The best part about Role Playing Games is the fact that they are made for the gamer to experience the adventure at both their own pace and for the most part, branch the story to their specification. Because of this, RPGs can last a long time and you will still only experience a fraction of what the developers have to offer.

Mass Effect is a perfect example of a solid Role Playing Game; one with a great story that is possible to play a number of ways. The game has you controlling a Human solider in the future where Species from different Galaxies interact with each other. Your character can be created from the ground up, with the ability to adjust your sex, look and even your character's history, all of which affect the story and the interaction of other characters. This is actually quite a common feature with Western-styled Role Playing Games but the developers at Bioware have taken this to another level considering the amount of dialogue involved in this game. Where in some games, the main character would be a silent one, here it's quite the opposite. Your character, Sheppard, is very talkative and there is full voice dialogue in both a male and female voice.

As stated before, the future has various species from around the galaxy interacting with one another. The Human race are the new boys on the block and have yet to gain the full trust of the rest of the species, to the point that they are still not given the same treatment as the other, more superior species. The Humans are eager to gain this trust including earning a spot on the high council and earning a spot in the Spectres, a sort of Galaxy police that helps to protect everyone.

Sheppard begins the game as a support character on the Human ship the Normandy and one a mission discovers that a Spectre called Saren has gone rogue and seems to be plotting something very diabolical. Sheppard witnesses Saren and attempts to stop him but because of his status and strength is unable to do so.

The council see that Saren is a threat and because of Sheppard's efforts, they award him as the first ever Human Spectre with the sole purpose of determining what Saren is upto and to stop him. This begins the key story and your adventure through the Galaxy will see you traveling to various Solar Systems and planets trying to uncover Saren's plot and try to stop it.

In terms of Gameplay, Mass Effect is played out very much like a tactical 3rd person shooter. All action is played in Real time with you and two other team members. Depending on your character class your abilities both with weapons and biotics, essentially your magic powers, will vary. Upon leveling up, you have the ability to allocate points towards various skills. When you create Sheppard in the beginning of the game, you determine which abilities you will have throughout the game. Some traits will have you stronger with your Biotics but weaker with weapons, or reversely, you might be have great knowledge of all the weapons and armor but your Biotic abilities are extremely limited. Regardless of how you develop your character, as long as you learn your characters strengths, you can be very effective on the battlefield.

Your team always consists of you and two other party members. As you progress through the story, you will have the ability to choose from more than 5 different people to aid you along the way. Each of the other characters have specific abilities as well and finding the right balance for each mission is critical. During fights, your teammates do act on their own, with fairly good AI, but you will be able to influence them and direct them to varying degrees. With the simple tap of the up button, you can direct your squad to advance or if the heat is on, you can tell them to retreat. It's a great mechanic that works quite effectively. You won't be able to tell them to run around crazy, but they are smart enough not to stand around and let themselves get killed.

The game itself is fairly long but only long if you decide to go through the plethora of side-missions made available to you. Through your journey, you will encounter various different characters with many of them needing your help. Some might ask for some simple tasks as aiding them with some research or you might have the daunting task of traveling to various planets and collecting resources. How you interact with others will also developer your character either as a Paragon (hero) or a Renegade (anti-hero). If you fail to help people or kill the wrong people will only make you look bad in the eyes of the public, but if you are willing to help and go out of your way to help will make people think positive about you.

The game's dialogue, which is extensive varies greatly depending on how your character talks. In every major situation, you are given the opportunity to answer in one of three ways that can lean neutral, positively or negatively. Also, if you decide to develop your charm and intimidate skills can open up other dialog windows that may be important a key points in the game.

Mass Effect is not an easy game in the beginning and it will take you sometime before you get fully adjusted to switching weapons and using your Biotics effectively. Once you do get familiar with the combat system, the difficulty does get a lot easier, but this is a game that cries to you to save every chance you get. Enemies are strong and if your character is not developed a certain way can also add to the possibility of having to restart key points numerous times.

The only real down-side to the game has to be with the controls of the Mako, your ground vehicle. It can be fun to drive, but often the controls are a bit too sensitive causing you to drive it erratically. The camera can also pose a problem as you can get stuck if you drive yourself into a rocky area.

The game's sound is absolutely incredible. I have already stated how impressed I was with the amount of dialogue in the game. The voice-actors are all really well done and the lines are delivered quite effectively. Because you can attempt every area with any of your characters, each one had to deliver the full lines of the game, so you can imagine how many hours were spent recording dialogue. The score is also fantastic and adds to the game's fantastic setting. The sound effects will impress you thanks to the distinctive sounds of the different weapons, grunts and shouts of the enemies and allies and the noises from the environment.

Graphics do suffer a bit. It's far from a poor looking game, in fact, for the most part, it's a fantastic looking game but there are some noticeable polygon issues throughout the game. This game suffers a lot from loading and you will often see models 'load' their polygons as a cut-scene plays out. It almost gives off the impression that the graphics were rushed at times since it happens at such weird moments. There will be points where you will be amazed at what you see, but other times you'll wonder why it looks so bland only to see the detail slowly pop in. The game is also a victim of 'cookie cutter' syndrome where many of the smaller levels and planets look eerily similar to each other. Because of this, you can essentially learn what to expect once you reach a destination. This problem occurs with your side-quests but considering how much effort was placed on all the other aspects of the game, this omission stands out more than it probably should.

Depending on how much time you spend on sidequests, Mass Effect is about a 20 hour game. If you decide to play through the various rescue and research missions given to you, you could spend a very long time before you actually complete the main story line. Also, once you complete the game the first time, you can take your character and go through the story again, experiencing it from a different and/or more difficult point of view. It's great, especially for those who like to find every possible nook and cranny placed by the developers.

I absolutely loved playing Mass Effect. It is a great game that any RPG fan will enjoy. The game strikes the right balance of challenge and enjoyment that you might not realize just how much time you've been playing. The story is very deep and very engaging with plenty of twists and turns along the way. Your experience with the game could be very different from your friend's. On top of that, the 2nd or 3rd time you go through the story, you might notice things you didn't the first time. If you're looking for a game to get lost in, this is your best choice and should not be missed.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"finalcross reviewed Mass Effect for the Xbox 360..." was posted by finalcross on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:26:27 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/mass-effect/user-reviews/637181/platform/xbox360/ Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:16:43 -0800 finalcross reviewed Prince of Persia for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/prince-of-persia-2008/user-reviews/636910/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

The re-imagining of the Prince of Persia franchise for the PS2 and Xbox were in the eyes of many as one of the best games available in the last five years. The game took the puzzles of the original series and offered a great addition with the inclusion of the Sands of Time, an in-game function which allowed you to rewind portions of the game to fix a mistake you had, such as dying or missing a key jump. For the HD Prince of Persia, the same idea is brought into the mix and in the end, determines how much you will actually enjoy playing this game.

For this branch of the PoP series, you play as a crook rather than prince. Very little of your back-story is given to you except for the fact that you just obtained some loot and have lost your donkey, who is carry your cash. As you walk through the desert looking for said donkey, you stumble upon a beautiful young girl who is being chased by some armed guards. Your character intrigued, quickly follows her. You find out the girl is a princess and by accident, her father has released the imprisoned God. By releasing the God Ahriman, it begins to devourer the land. In order to stop Ahriman's corruption, you along with the Princess, Elika, must travel to various locations and restore the fertile land.

Your progression through the game revolves around you and Elika traveling from location to location in search of key spots where Elika can restore the area. In order to get to each location, you will have to run, jump, climb and perform other various manoeuvres to get to certain spots on the map. Where in Sand in Time, the key feature was the ability to rewind time when a mistake was made; this time around Elika acts as your saving grace. Since she possesses magical powers, if you make a mistake, such as fall off a ledge or miss a jump, she can quickly grab you and bring you back so you can try again. This mechanic is a key feature in the game and will ultimately determine your enjoyment of the game. Those who might find games like this a bit demanding will enjoy the fact that her assistance will make things easier for you. You won't actually die, so if you make a mistake, it's simply try and try again. But those who want a challenge may end up finding this as a crutch and will be put off by the easiness it makes the game feel like.

Thankfully, this key feature of Prince of Persia is a great addition to the game and for the most part, Elika is a great character that it doesn't feel like a cheap-game-play mechanic. Elika is a key part to the game and in fact, she is the more important character of the two.

The game focuses solely on the puzzles of each locale. For the most part, once you get to a location, there is really one way to get to the main point, but the game doesn't force you into playing the game in sequential order. Upon restoring fertile land, special 'orbs' will appear that must be collected to help Elika's strength which are then used to unlock additional abilities and progression through the game.

The first few levels are basic, but as you unlock plates, each with special functions to them that acts as the key to completing the game. You can select whichever plate you want to unlock first and that will open up parts of the area for you to complete. Some levels require only one plate to complete, but later on in the game, you will encounter spots where two or more of the plates will be used to reach key spots. The four plates are each significantly different. One acts a teleportation plate which takes you automatically to another point. Another one turns your character into a speed demon, where you will literally run along a path to reach your destination. If you hit a wall or an obstacle, you'll have to start again.

The game's actual combat more or less only occurs during stage battles. With each of the fertile lands contains a boss that must be defeated numerous times, once per each of the four sub-sections and then once more to rid them of Ahriman's possession. The combat in game is a bit hit or miss. In the beginning, the combat is simple and taking care of your enemies is a breeze, but that quickly changes and boss battles end up becoming a long series of quick-time events. This is the weakest part of the game as the combat feels out of place from the great platforming you do throughout the rest of the game. Often, you will be spending a good chunk of your time deflecting attacks before you actually manage to strike your opponent. There also seems to be a problem with the sensitivity of the controls, where you will be certain that a button was pressed, but nothing occurs.

This touchiness with the controls also occurs during the platform puzzle portions of the game. Because you essentially use only one button for majority of your actions, depending on the camera angle and the position of your character, he might end up doing an incorrect action forcing you to restart a long series of moves. It's not too bad, but it happens enough that it will frustrate most people.

Because of Elika's saving ability, the game is easy, but not easy enough that you can breeze through this in one sitting. The game does take a long time and even with the saving and assistance she gives you, you will be playing this for a while. There is plenty to collect and admire that you could end up spending a lot longer than you'd think.

Prince of Persia contains some of the best looking graphics I have ever seen in a long time. The game uses the once popular cell-shading art style exceptionally well and everything from the characters to the environments are breathtaking. The animations of both Elika and the 'Prince' are very fluid with almost no noticeable hiccups. Yes, I did encounter some weird graphically glitches, including once in which my Prince ended up running on air which forced me to restart from my last save. Other than that minor malfunction, I often would stop playing only to admire the art design. Some might feel that cell-shading should have been stopped years ago, but Prince of Persia shows that it can still be done effectively.

The sound is nearly on par with the game's graphics. All the voice-work, be it Elika, the 'Prince' or even the enemy characters are very convincing. The game's score is also one of my favourites in recent years. The music during points in the game where you unlock the plates is something I will surely not forget for a very long time.

Outside of the rare control issues and the weird combat mechanics, this is an absolutely incredible game that will appeal to fans of the Prince of Persia series, especially those of the Sands of Time series, and fans of adventure games. I can't stress enough that this is one fantastic game that should be played by even those who might not be attracted to this type of game.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"finalcross reviewed Prince of Persia for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by finalcross on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:16:43 -0800
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