juradai's GameSpot Friend's Reviews juradai's GameSpot Friend's Reviews juradai's GameSpot Friend's Reviews en-us Copyright (c)1995-2013 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. http://www.gamespot.com 20 Mon, 20 May 2013 05:24:23 -0700 GameSpot juradai's GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Thu, 18 Nov 2010 01:28:28 -0800 Darrogamer06 reviewed Castlevania: Lords of Shadow for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/castlevania-lords-of-shadow/user-reviews/745439/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Vampires, werewolves, trolls, skeletons & ghouls etc. These are the sort of beings that you would associate with horror films throughout the ages but they are also associated with a long-running gaming franchise that you may know as Castlevania. The Castlevania series has had its fair share of hits and misses through its 24-year career, with most of the hits being in 2D and the misses in 3D. Now another 3D offering is on the table in the form of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Did Mercury Steam's attempt to make a great 3D outing in the series succeed? I believe so.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is the latest in the established series and is quite different to what you would come to expect from a 3D or 2D Castlevania game. Many believe this to be more of a reboot to the series than anything else and for what it's worth, it is exactly that. If you've played the N64 or PS2/Xbox 3D games then you will not be expecting the exact same thing once you start playing Lords of Shadow. One of the main things that obviously has to be said and it could be considered a plus or a negative depending on what your views are is that it plays quite similar to another series in the genre, that being the excellent God of War. If there is one thing that this game doesn't have going for it, it is that it is pretty much unoriginal in its core gameplay mechanics but to me, that's just a minor niggle in an otherwise great game.

Lords of Shadow sees you play the role of Gabriel Belmont, a member of the Brotherhood of Light, a holy order of Knights whose aim is to defend the innocent and get rid of the evil that is throughout the land such as demons and the like. Gabriel is out on a quest to get back his lost love Marie who was murdered by one of these creatures. His quest is to find an item that can somehow bring the dead back to life but doesn't know where to start. He is told by Pan who bears a resemblance to the mythological beast of the same name that the item he is looking for is known as the God mask but in order to retrieve this; he must go to the area where the Necromantic wars occurred between the vampires and lycans etc and defeat the Lords of Shadow, who each hold a piece of the mask. This adventure takes him through all sorts of locations, meeting new allies, fighting deadly monsters with each culminating in an intense showdown with a lord of shadow.

With a possibly rich story in an interesting universe, you would believe that it would be one of the highlights of the game. Unfortunately it is not. It is not because the story is bad in any way but because of the fact they don't do a lot more with it. During the opening chapters of the game, you feel like this is going to be a enjoyable story-driven experience but that becomes non-existent during the middle part of the game as cutscenes only pop up every now and again and it just seems to be there as filler half the time but luckily, it picks up again towards the end with interesting surprises. Each level has a narrating passage that is spoken greatly by Patrick Stewart that tells you what is occurring. It is a nice touch to update you on what is happening but might have been improved upon if it the narrating was with cutscenes and not just static text. Gabriel could have possibly been a great character it the time was devoted to him but you become a bit less attached during the middling chapters as nothing really grandeur happens. Depsite these flaws, you will enjoy what is included in the overall package.

When you get into Lords of Shadow, you will notice the gameplay is split into three different sections: combat, traversal and puzzle. The combat is where the real meat of the game is and even though it took a good chunk from other action-adventure games, it has a few little subtleties of its own that differ from the other games out there. Gabriel is equipped with his combat cross that is used in combat but also to grip onto certain points that are highlighted throughout the traversal parts of the game. In combat, it is used mainly like a whip to deal some damage to the creatures that you encounter. Gabriel has a weak attack and a strong attack, which can be used together to form different combos and new advanced moves, which can be purchased with currency points you obtain by defeating enemies, bosses and solving puzzles. Gabriel also has an array of subweapons like holy water and knives. Each of these can be obtained by defeating enemies and destroying objects in the field. Upgrades can be achieved for these subweapons but Gabriel has to find Arks that have them but in order to get most of them, you will have to do a level again as chances are Gabriel will not have the required skill needed to reach the ark at the time so if its completion you're going for, you will have to go back and replay levels that include these brotherhood arks. Gabriel will also obtain upgrades for his combat cross that will help him get past certain obstacles that are in the way.

Traversal pretty much plays the same way as it does in God of War in that Gabriel will come across ledges and the like to traverse through and also to climb up to higher areas thanks to his trusted combat cross. During your traversal/exploration parts, you can explore and find soul gems for health (green), light magic (blue) and shadow magic (red). Once you obtain 5 of a certain colour, your meter is increased. If you missed any, a level can be replayed on the world map to find the ones that were missed first time around. Gabriel will also come across scrolls, which are from his fellow fallen brotherhood knights detailing their situation. If you are the reading kind, you can check them out in the menu but are not entirely necessary to move the story along.

Magic is brought to the table in two different ways. The first way is light magic and when this is activated, whenever Gabriel successfully damages an enemy, his health is regenerated. This is very useful during some of the more challenging parts and you will see yourself using it quite a lot during the later stages of the games. The second way is shadow magic and once activated, the damaged dealt to enemies is increased and can help Gabriel take down some of the more tougher enemies like the trolls or the animated knight a lot faster. Each of these also comes with their own set of moves that can be purchased but don't feel they are necessary until perhaps the higher difficulties. In order for you to replenish your magic, you must find statues then absorb orbs of energy from them. Another interesting way is to successfully attack enemies while evading and not getting hit. This fills up a special focus meter at the bottom of the screen and once full, orbs can come out in droves while Gabriel unleashes his attacks.

When it comes to puzzles, Lords of Shadow has its fair share of them. The good thing is that none of these puzzles would be considered as complex and are simple enough to do and figure out. A certain puzzle in the game sees Gabriel in a music box and having to find different coloured cylinders to play in the right order to get access to the next part. It is an enjoyable puzzle and the rest throughout the game are good but won't test your brain. However, if you find yourself stumped at a puzzle, you can unlock its solution and pretty much skip doing it but it comes at the cost of receiving no currency from doing it this way. I feel this is a smart thing to do and might be done in future games in the genre but it depends on what the general consensus is for it.

Boss battles are in the mix and when the gameplay is this fun, it's happy to know that there are a variety of them throughout the 12 chapters. There are two different types of boss within. One is that you find yourself fighting a massive titan and having to climb on it holding on for dear life and hit its weak spots ala Shadow of the Colossus. The second is the standard arena battle, which can find Gabriel fighting a mechanical spider, a butcher or one of the Lords of Shadow. A cutscene precedes each Lords of Shadow battle that moves the plot along. Boss battles are always exciting to do in Lords of Shadow and while they will not test your strength dramatically, they are one of the main highlights of the game.

If you are coming in looking for a challenge then you are going to get it because in some instances, Lords of Shadow can be a pretty hard game. The player will have to use Gabriel and his skills to their full potential in order to not see the game over screen too many times as the enemy can indeed pack a punch in some situations. One of the things that will probably annoy a lot of people is the fact that health is not replenished every time you start a new level so if you were an inch from death during a tough boss battle and won, then you will have that little amount of health in the next level. Castlevania is by no means a short game either and you can easily see yourself spending 15-20 hours in this game and twice as long if you plan to go through it again completing the trials that you can do once a level is complete and find all the gems. Trials can range from beating a boss within the time limit or finish a level without recovering health and you will encounter your hard ones but also your easy ones.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow definitely has one thing going for it and that is in the visual department. The game is stunning to look at from the intriguing monster design to the majestic vistas you see yourself exploring throughout the game whether it is ruins of an old city or through the snowy courtyards of a large castle with the shards of ice and snow displayed on the screen itself being a nice graphical touch. It is not all perfect now since the frame rate does take a bit of a dip at times in that the action can stop for a millisecond before it gets cracking again but it doesn't ruin the overall experience in the game. The model of Gabriel is finely detailed and animates well when he is in his stride in combat. Bosses like the titans are also a visual highlight. It is a great game to look at despite the frame rate problems.

The Castlevania is renowned for its stellar music and while this entry in the series doesn't quite reach the majestic heights of old in terms of the soundtrack, what is there is memorable but you won't see yourself humming it with glee along with the likes of Bloody Tears or Vampire Killer. The voice-acting is a treat with Robert Carlyle doing a fine job as the main hero in the game. Supporting voices from the likes of Patrick Stewart, Jason Issacs and Natasha McElrone amongst others do their jobs respectively.

When all is said and done, is Lords of Shadow better than the forerunners of this action-adventure genre namely God of War? Unfortunately not but it does come pretty close. Is it better than the various clones out there? Definitely yes. Mercury Steam and the teams at Kojima Productions and Konami have done a fine job on creating not only an excellent 3D Castlevania game, but a great action-adventure game. While most of the aspects in this adventure aren't original, those are cons that can easily be ignored as long as the experience itself is enjoyable and in my eyes, it was very enjoyable. Despite a few frame rate issues, lack of story and a difficulty curve for some, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is an entry that is welcomed with open arms into the franchise.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/castlevania-lords-of-shadow/user-reviews/745439/platform/xbox360/ Tue, 16 Nov 2010 06:05:01 -0800 edubuccaneer reviewed LIMBO for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/limbo/user-reviews/745218/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

When a game starts getting called art, something in my head just goes bananas. It's like a siren, warning me of an incoming air raid. That happens due to how often this has been happening over the past few years and how generally, said games just fall flat when I actually get to play them. Limbo is the newest of said titles, the first of Microsoft's yearly Summer of Arcade, a special selection of XBLA downloads that's been going on for a while.

A critical darling the last few game shows like E3 and GDC, Limbo is a game that has great aesthetics and a fresh presentation, all while the while sporting incredibly simple gameplay and an even barer plot. A little boy is looking for his sister in a dark forest… and not much else. The problem with Limbo, though, is that the content doesn't really follow the presentation in terms of quality, and even the beautiful art has some blemishes that are bound to pinch a lot players' nerves.

When I said this game's simple to play, I wasn't beating around the bush as there are only two buttons you have to worry about: jump and activate. Like any side-scrollers, there are plenty of obstacles to worry about, along with deadly traps and puzzles. These puzzles range from simply pushing blocks to more complex gravity dependant connundrums.

Part of my frustration with Limbo comes from how these puzzles and traps are dealt along the way. Thanks to the often times very dark presentation … this goes two ways in this game, but for now, 'dark' as in lack of light … some traps come out of nowhere, killing you off and forcing you to restart. At other points, foreground and background objects blend and what seemed to be in reach turns out to be scenery, often resulting in gory deaths.

Gore is another aspect of the game that might turn some people off. Even though the entire cast of characters, creatures and objects are presented as puppet-like shadows against a grayish background, deaths are very graphical. Thanks to the minimalist presentation, a lot is left to the imagination, which makes Limbo a game not recommended for kids. Some of the graphical violence can be turned off, but the dark tone of the game is enough to make up for more of the atmosphere, which is what makes up for most of the charm, but also for one of its blemishes.

Another topic of contention that has been buzzing around the web is how short of a game Limbo turns out to be. In its defense, I can positively say it lasted as long as I wanted to play it. That can go both ways, I admit. The pace of the game does not slow throughout its short one to two hour span, other than the occasional puzzle stump.

On the other hand, thanks to the many frustrations I had playing this, I was just about done with it when the credits hit. The tune of presenting puzzles by death is played all too often in Limbo, which makes it extremely difficult to jump back to. It's one of the most diminished of returns on Xbox Live Arcade, even if you take into account its few hidden collectibles that are part of its achievement list.

Limbo is just one of those games that seemed to have been born out of an incredible set of concept art images, with gameplay sewn around it. It's simply beautiful to look at with very unique art, but when things start moving, it quickly becomes an annoyingly frustrating mesh of clever 'oh-I-got-it!' puzzles that are blemished by a not so clever 'oh-my-god-I-want-to-turn-this-off' trial by death style that is sure to get in a lot of nerves, as it did mine.

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"edubuccaneer reviewed LIMBO for the Xbox 360..." was posted by edubuccaneer on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 06:05:01 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/limbo/user-reviews/745218/platform/xbox360/ Fri, 29 Oct 2010 05:48:24 -0700 visionary reviewed Enslaved: Odyssey to the West for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/enslaved-odyssey-to-the-west/user-reviews/742782/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

The term escort mission has undeniably received quite a bad rap over the years amongst gamers; it's one of those uncomfortable gameplay methods that can bring some of the most uncharacteristically vindictive hisses and curses from behind the hilt of a controller. Much like another irritating system known as backtracking, few titles have managed to unitize these gameplay concepts without falling victim to the associated flaws that make them weak by design. So it was a surprise to find a developer ballsy enough to base a videogame entirely around this much stigmatized genre.

Straight from the beginning of the game, it was clear that Enslaved was not going to waste time setting up the major backbone that would hold the two main protagonists together throughout the journey. It was the simple words "I die, you die" uttered by the technically minded and cautious female named Trip, to the more brawny and mile tempered fighter named Monkey, that helped illuminate why two completely opposite personalities would have to rely on each other under less than ideal circumstances. You immediately got the sense that character development was being paid with a lot more thoughtfulness than the surrounding plot … a refreshing take when compared to the plethora of games that put too much stock on telling a decent back-story.

Since most readers upon finding this review likely familiarized themselves with the basic storyline, it isn't necessary to repeat information in regards to the overall story arc. However, it's the world surrounding the two fictional characters that needs recounting.

You quickly find out that the depressive locale that Trip and Monkey reside in is actually a New York City set one hundred and fifty years into the future, within a world that has gone through one too many wars to the point where near human extinction is a reality and robotic creatures are the stereotypically dominant species. Despite the all too familiar scenario, it's important to note that visually, it isn't the rusty metallic visual look we'd often come to expect from most post-apocalyptic settings, rather it's a game that sports a surprisingly lush and green aesthetic. One of the very first visual highlights you notice is a dying world that ironically seems teeming with life … Broken down buildings with rich green foliage, a sky that seemed surprisingly blue; along with some unique character design choices all brought a certain beauty to an otherwise bleak world.

It all makes traversing throughout each mission all the more easier, and you'll definitely be doing a lot of that throughout your journey. Due to the fact this is mostly an escort mission, making use of each character's unique abilities comes into play. Trip, despite her frailty, doesn't fall under the same guise that makes so many escorts a frustrating pain, in other words, she isn't completely useless. Her abilities naturally coincide with your own (that being Monkey), she can use her tech savvy gadgets to sway enemy fire in her direction, or alert you of potential traps. However, much of her skills are defensive in nature which makes her particularly vulnerable to any sort of combative danger. But this is where Monkey's natural strength and agility comes into play.

The symbiotic relationship works so well between the two characters that you often feel like it's your obligation to protect Trip rather then it feeling like a forced task. On the combat end of things, Monkey is capable of handling most of the dirty work without a sweat, which is a great thing until you realize that this trend continues throughout the game. It's just too easy.

While you're given the ability to upgrade certain moves, enemies hardly put up a challenging fight and they usually sport the same move sets per encounter. The fixed camera angle usually present during a fight also adds a welcome cinematic flare to the action and works well, most of the time. The problem comes from a view point that normally remains fixated on your character throughout the action, which ultimately hampers your view of potential sneak attacks … a big no no for an action title.

You can also be expected to perform quite a bit of traditional plat-forming as hinted by the character's nick name, Monkey. For the most part, plat-forming within Enslaved provides more eye candy than actual challenge. Much of the appeal comes from watching the wonderfully animated Monkey effortlessly traverse the environment but it's a visual flare that comes at the cost of over simplification. Simply positioning monkey in the right direction and pressing a single button will always get you where you need to go without much effort … it's literally impossible to fall to your death. This is unfortunate since so much of the game provides you with the sort of death defying moments that would normally cause your heart to skip a beat, but with the prior knowledge of invincibility; it only takes the thrill out of the plat-forming segments.

Despite these various weaknesses, Enslaved never allows the gamer to focus on one element for too long. Thanks to some great pacing, It's a game that provides the player with some clever and memorable moments throughout. At one point you may be trying to evade bullets while Trip comically attempts to handle a vehicle without knowing how to drive, or you may find yourself trying to run away from an unstoppable mechanical forty foot dog with Trip hugged onto your back. It's a great method of pacing, and it also lends itself well to the game's greatest strength, the story telling.

Now you may be surprised when it's said that the plot isn't all that original or new, in fact it's mostly based on a ancient tale, and so, much of the back story would seem derivative regardless. This isn't where its strength comes from; it's the subtly handled relationship between Monkey and Trip that sets it apart from most story driven titles.

Thanks to some cleverly handled facial animations carried on from Ninja Theory's previous title, Heavenly Sword, every nuance of emotion can be seen between the two protagonists without a single word having to be spoken. You'll notice fear, distrust, curiosity, jealousy, humor, disappointment and anger without the robotically awkward expressions that often plague other titles. The great script also lends itself well to the overall story.

When it's all said and done, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West stands as a beautifully told tale that helps it excel as a cinematic joy ride, but with a few glaring flaws that ultimately prevent it from being truly excellent as a videogame. If you're one of those gamers that gains more value in a richly told character driven plot, than you should definitely give Enslaved a try.

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"visionary reviewed Enslaved: Odyssey to the West for the Xbox 360..." was posted by visionary on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 05:48:24 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/enslaved-odyssey-to-the-west/user-reviews/742782/platform/xbox360/ Sat, 09 Oct 2010 18:35:15 -0700 SciFiCat reviewed Viewtiful Joe for the GameCube... http://www.gamespot.com/viewtiful-joe/user-reviews/740061/platform/gamecube/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Side scrolling action games were the predominant template used to create most games of the 8 and 16-bit console era. It was a design imposed by the limitations of the hardware that developers had to contempt with in order to create their games, but despite these limitation, many classics titles were born during that era such as Castlevania, Contra, Metroid, Mega Man, etc. Capcom and Shinji Mikami have taken the original side scrolling action formula and recreated it in Viewtiful Joe but adding to it both, a visually distinctive art style and gameplay mechanics that borrow for the language of action cinema to create a incredibly exhilarating and challenging experience.

Joe, without much warning sees himself forced to enter the world of Movie Land ashis girlfriend Silvia is kidnapped by the very villain of the movie they were watching. Along the way he encounters Capt. Blue, the now pot-bellied-ready-to-retire hero of the movie. With Captain Blue's assistance Joe dons the V-Watch that transforms into the red suit and pink scarf wearing super hero Viewtiful Joe. The V-Watch allows Joe to manipulate time not unlike a movie maker would do to make the fighting scenes more dramatic: Slow Motion, Fast Forward and Close up Zoom, which can only be performed as long as there is energy in the VFX Bar. Using each of these visuals techniques expand upon Joe's special moves and abilities to fight the enemies and solve environmental puzzles in very unorthodox and stylish ways; there is something indescribably cool about going into low motion to punch a bullet back at a foe!

The cast of enemies that populate the game would feel right at home in a Power Rangers inspired flick. These enemies while having recognizable attack patterns, come strong in numbers and variety to keep the player on its toes. As more enemies are defeated by linking combos, Joe earns V-coins to buy extra moves and items to power up his move set even further, and believe it, those extras moves are a must to beat this game.

The game not only imitates the game play of the 2D era, it also brings along the difficulty those games were known for, and as with every though side scroller, along comes a cast of Boss characters to go with it. And it better be for the player to be fast at pattern recognition and twitch reactions, because otherwise Joe will end the Cutting Room floor in no time.

In the art department, Viewtiful Joe makes honor to its name spotting a very stunning and distinctive cell shading with heavy black borders and super colorful hues. The scenery also play along with the theme of a movie set with a combination of 2D cardboard thin props and backdrops that reveal the nature of Movie Land. The sound department blares with memorable tunes and excellent sound effects. The punch and kick effects are particularly satisfying.

The game's only drawback could be the somewhat short length. But it is not a game the player will be able to breeze through due to its difficulty and by a check point system that send the player back to the beginning of the stage once the continues are over. Special mention goes for using the old Capcom staple of fighting all Boss characters right before the final level ala Megaman, which could push the patience of even the most weathered old school gamer.

Viewtiful Joe is the kind of game that will kick a players' ass and he/she would gladly come back for more. It is that sort of challenge that people crave for the heck of it and Joe is happy to oblige. It is a dynamic, beautiful and fun game that is made from a template that is very rare to see or experience anymore. If you have what it takes, give it a go go baby!

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"SciFiCat reviewed Viewtiful Joe for the GameCube..." was posted by SciFiCat on Sat, 09 Oct 2010 18:35:15 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/viewtiful-joe/user-reviews/740061/platform/gamecube/ Sat, 31 Jul 2010 04:41:44 -0700 Darrogamer06 reviewed NIER for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/nier/user-reviews/731235/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

What would you do to save the daughter you love? This is the theme to Nier, an action RPG developed by Cavia Inc, the makers of Bullet Witch and Drakengard and published by Square-Enix. Cavia has not had the best track record in the past but will this game change all that for them?

Nier tells the story of Nier (although you can name the character something else), a gruff looking man who is the father of Yonah. There is a problem with Yonah in that she has a disease known as the Black Scrawl and Nier is trying to find a cure for this disease. He finds out that collecting the so-called Sealed Verses might help him achieve that task and by navigating through an old temple, he encounters Grimoire Weiss, a no-nonsense talking tome that also has another purpose within the game. Your character also meets Kain…, a woman who has seems to have a passion for obscenities since most of the stuff that comes out of her month is a swear word. This personality doesn't really fit at all into this game and can became unlikable from the get-go due to her 'couldn't care less' persona. With the exception of Grimoire Weiss and possibly Kain…, all the characters in the game are pretty much lifeless and therefore cannot relate to them or become attached to them in any way possible.

Like another game reviewed recently, the story in Nier is nothing special due to the fact that the first half of the game sees you going about this world collecting the sealed verses and nothing exciting comes out of it but a couple of decent boss battles, which will be discussed about later. When the you know what hits the fan in the game is when the story goes in some direction and becomes intriguing in a way but it definitely is not a fantastic story and you will soon forget about it not long after completing the game unless you plan to play through it multiple times to get the whole picture.

Nier is an action RPG hence all the combat occurs in real-time and to an extent, it is enjoyable to play but there have been better RPGs with better combat systems done in the past although some of the magic attacks in the game are quite pleasant to pull off and during the later half of the game, it is essential to use some of the superior magic against the gang of shades that surround you and fire their endless orbs at you.

As you begin the game, you are in this crumbled-down building with Yonah and all of a sudden you are attacked by the shades. This part of the game is essentially the tutorial and helps you pick up on how to do the different weapon and magic attacks nicely. Similar to other games, you have all the magic and equipment pretty much but then you start the game proper and you have only your sword to defend yourself with against the spooky shades. Early in the game, you meet Grimoire Weiss and he acts as your magic support since each of the various magic attacks you pick up throughout the game come from the tome itself. Every time you beat a boss in the game, you acquire a sealed verse and with it, a new magic attack. Some of them are really helpful like dark lance, which sees a lance or several if you charge it come out and shoot at the targeted enemy. Others like dark blast, which consists of little bullets orbs shooting at the enemy, seem like a waste. I mainly used two throughout the adventure and did just fine with them since the game is not really hard but at times, can get annoying due to stupid knockback attacks and the like.
In the game, your main weaponry at the beginning is a one-handed sword but once the 2nd half is reached, you have the ability to use other weapons such as spears. Each weapon has an attack power, a magic power and a weight to it. Lighter weapons would be the ideal ones to use even though they do have weaker attack power compared to the heavier ones but you will be able to pull off faster combos. In other games of the genre, you usually insert runes or gems or some sort of object onto your weapons or magic to increase its power or whatnot. This game does that same thing but with words. Sometimes when a shade is defeated, you gain a word and it has its stats that can be anything ranging from increased attack power to extra EXP rate, as your character levels up whenever you get the EXP required. This system is used with both weapons and magic and you can use any combination as you please although there is a recommended option there also, which is ideal as well. The gameplay is not very complex but it is easy to get into and is fun for the most part during my time with it.

Like most RPGs, you have your standard shops such as items and blacksmith outside of getting a few healing items I did not really bother shopping much at them but you can pretty much find a lot of medicinal herbs throughout the land by killing enemies or finding a shining spot somewhere in the world. In order to purchase some of the costly items in the game, you would be best doing some of the side quests that offer money in return amongst other things since that is really the only option into getting a good amount of money.

Shades are the main enemy in the game and during your adventure; you will come across different variations of them although they all the same colour, which is yellow. If you've ever played Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, you will notice that the shadow beasts within that game are similar in looks to the shades. This is not the only thing that Nier takes out of the Legend of Zelda book since a couple of the bosses are reminiscent of bosses in the Zelda series, which can be a good or bad thing assuming whoever you are talking to. Personally, the boss battles were enjoyable but the main problem I had was several of them went on a little too long where it got to the point I just wanted to beat it and move onto the next part. The boss designs are interesting to look at despite the mediocre visuals.

Nier has its fair share of side quests but the core drawback into actually doing them is that they are pretty much the same. During the playthrough of the game, a number of side quests were done just to give you a better indication of what was included alongside the main quest line in Nier. But in reality, they are not really worth doing unless you are the completionist kind. Most of them are of the fetch-quest variety with one example being having to get ingredients for a woman in your village that sees you travel to this port town and get them then come back. Another thing that has to be mentioned is that the side quests are not available all the time and some go for good once you pass a certain point in the game. There is also some fishing to be done although the introduction to it was terribly done and took me a while to get the fish required and never bothered doing it again. A gardening activity can also be done in your adventure but cannot be talked about since it was never done during the playthrough.

The game is not really long considering it is a RPG but it can be done in around 10-15 hours if you do very little of the side quests. Add the side quests to that and you can easily spend about 20 hours or more, which is poor compared to most RPG standards but the different endings can add more time to that if you really want to.

Nier, as you can see has its fair share of problems and another one is in the graphics department. The visuals looks mundane and dull and doesn't help especially when you are travelling through what seems like a deserted land most of the time since there are no characters to interact with outside the 3 towns in the game, which gives you an indication as to how small the world in Nier really is. The dungeons aren't exciting to navigate through since they are linear for the most part although one of them is fun to do, as you have to go through a number of rooms hitting a glowing cube at the end but you have to adhere to the rule or rules of that room and it can be you can't run or defend yourself etc. The maps for the most part are badly designed and look ugly and during dungeons, it might be hard a few times to figure out if you can go this way or not since it is not wisely displayed. One positive thing that can be said has to do with the way the camera pans around whenever you enter some buildings or going through doors in said buildings and becomes a nice side-scroller view. The models themselves are not heavily detailed and it looks like something that could have possibly been done during the last generation of games. The game is not horrible looking in any way but with the power of this generation's consoles, you expect Cavia to do a better job with the supplies.

While Nier doesn't do justice in the visuals, it more than makes up for that with the splendid musical soundtrack in this game. The music is very memorable and is beautiful, enchanting and sometimes haunting at the same time. Melodic vocal arias during some of the more memorable themes add a fresh lease of life to the game and really fit the mood to what is occurring on the screen at the time. It is not necessarily a huge soundtrack but what is there is very memorable and can see myself listening to some of those beautiful tracks again in the future. The audio side is nothing to shout about as the voice-acting is so-so at best although I enjoyed Grimoire Weiss's voice and felt it fitted the character very well. Your standard sword slashes and enemy screams are there but don't bring any great deal of ambience to the table.

When it comes down to the swing of things, is Nier worth the full purchase? I have to say no but it is not a game that should be totally ignored since it has its moments in the story, gameplay and music departments respectively. Also, adding new endings and backgrounds to some characters the more times you play through the game can add a little replay value for those that enjoyed the experience the first time around. Nier is a game that looks promising on paper but doesn't quite live up to that once you see its drawbacks.

Reviewer's Note: This review is based solely on one playthrough of the game therefore some of the extra content during other playthroughs cannot be discussed in great detail.


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"Darrogamer06 reviewed NIER for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Darrogamer06 on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 04:41:44 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/nier/user-reviews/731235/platform/xbox360/ Sat, 19 Jun 2010 10:50:11 -0700 Darrogamer06 reviewed No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/no-more-heroes-2-desperate-struggle/user-reviews/725211/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

If you have played No More Heroes for the Nintendo Wii, you will have encountered something completely zany that came from the mind of Suda-51 (the creator of Killer 7) that ended up becoming one of the best games on the Wii that year and pretty much still to this day. Crazy boss characters, slice n' dice action and a likable but cocky protagonist was just some of the craziness that was part of that wonderful game.

Now over 2 years have passed and we get to continue the adventures of one Travis Touchdown, the protagonist of the series. Has enough changed in this world to make it worth your gaming time? Let's find out, shall we?
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle continues the story 3 years after the events of the original released back in 2008 and a few things have changed indeed. Assassin rank battles are on the rise, a new corporation has taken over by the name of Pizza Bat and Travis is nowhere to be seen since he threw away his No 1 rank crown away and has never been seen or heard from since. That is until he returns to Santa Destroy to fight Skelter Helter, who wants revenge on Travis for killing his brother in the first game and thus becomes the 51st ranked assassin in the United Assassins Association (UAA). Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worse when Travis' best friend, Bishop is killed by henchmen of the CEO of Pizza Bat who also happens to be the No 1 ranked assassin, as told by the returning Sylvia Christel and thus Travis is on a path of revenge and must fight his way back to the top and become once again the No 1 ranked assassin of Santa Destroy. Along the way, you meet some old faces and new in the form of the zany boss characters that hinder your path of revenge.

The story wasn't entirely top-notch stuff from the first game as it got the job done and helped you along the way to becoming the top assassin. This time, little has changed since the whole revenge path storyline has been done before in countless games but in this type of game, it serves its purpose well and you will like some of the characters along the way despite some of them having brief appearances. Travis is his old cocky self and Sylvia is her old flirty self and they collide in words on more than one occasion and even though what happens between them is so predictable, it is a little interesting to see nonetheless.

No More Heroes 2 is pretty much similar to the first one in almost every way possible but that is by no means a bad thing because the gameplay in NMH was exciting and fun to play at the end of the day. You will feel right at home with the controls if you have played the first game but if not, then they are really simple to use anyway and the first battle in the game acts as a tutorial to help you get in the swing of things. The A button is used to attack with your beam katana and depending on if the Wiimote is upwards or downwards, a different stance attack will occur. You can use brawl attacks with the B button and again, different attacks are done depending on the stance of the Wiimote. Evasive moves are done via the D-pad and movement is done with the nunchuk with lock-on used with the Z button. It is very enjoyable to use throughout especially when you weaken an enemy enough to kill him with a directional swipe of the Wiimote and see the blood spray everywhere when an enemy gets sliced or decapitated.

Wrestling moves make a welcome return and you learn more via the magazines found at the Motel that Travis calls his home. Again, these are done when an enemy is stunned and the motions that have to be done with the nunchuk and Wiimote are displayed on screen. There is just something so awesome when you pull off a backdrop or a German suplex then the beam lands and instantly kills the goon you just kicked the crap out of.

The main highlight of No More Heroes was the eccentric boss battles you had throughout whether it was against a stage magician or an army girl. Desperate Struggle has its share of kooky characters although they aren't as fleshed out or memorable than the ones you came across in the first game. While some of the boss battles are fun to fight, others are too easy to be exciting (one that takes place in an abandoned house has one of the easiest bosses I encountered in a while). Some of the more interesting characters include a Russian astronaut, a co-ed and a football jock with his plethora of cheerleaders to cheer him on. Actually the battle against Charlie MacDonald as he is known as is definitely the most interesting since you fight in a giant robot known as the Glastonbury and him and his supporters form together to become the Santa Death Parade. It is a fun mech battle that is not overly complicated. Even though you start out as rank 51st at the beginning, don't let that fool you into thinking you have to fight 50 bosses because that isn't the case. It is more like 15 or so with certain events having you go up a few ranks in the space of one event. One thing that could be an annoyance to some is that a few locations leading up to boss battles can be overly long (one outside a shopping mall seemed to never end, as enemy upon enemy just seemed to keep coming and really got tired of it about 5 minutes in and lasted probably another 10-15).

When you defeat an enemy, a slot bar appears on screen and spins and if you manage to get three slots to match, then a darkside power activate. He has weird names for these darkside powers such as "Cranberry Chocolate sundae" and several things can happen depending on what matches up on the slow. Time could slow down and enemies can die within a few hits or if you transform into a tiger, a little pounce on these scared goons is an instant kill and it is pretty funny to see enemies cower in fear whenever you obtain this power throughout. These powers are excellent to do and can speed up some of the more mundane places in the game.

A few little additions have been made like the inclusion of a running slash attack that you pull off by shaking the Wiimote while running at an enemy and if you do a certain task within the game; you also get another attack called the Step-in slice attack, which you can enable by shaking the nunchuk. While these additions are great, they aren't entirely necessary as there were very few points throughout the 10-12 hour journey that they were really required and helped me out of a dire situation but the latter attack is perhaps quite useful for boss battles if you find yourself stuck at one. Unlike the first game, you are given the option to use the classic controller as well but since the Wii controls in my opinion are tight and reactive, I stuck with that method throughout the playthrough. Also, the ecstasy metre that is in the form of a tiger has a new hyperspeed mode once the tiger glows red and it is remarkable to see Travis slice his way through several enemies in twice the speed pretty much.

One thing that has been omitted from Desperate Struggle is the open world of Santa Destroy and instead you are given an overworld map of the city and can choose from a variety of different locations whether it is ranking battles, side missions or shops. I see this as a vast improvement over the boring world of the first and it makes the experience more streamlined. Ranking battles can be entered at any time now thus it is not required to get a specified amount of money to enter and once again, this is another improvement over the first. One of the best things about the sequel is that it has gone away with the dreary side missions from NMH and replaced them with 8-bit style side missions that really bring back nostalgia to those who grew up during the NES days. Several of them are 8-bit versions of side missions in the first game such as coconut grabber, which sees you kicking palm trees to get coconuts into your backpack. It is pretty awesome that they are accompanied by 8-bit music and you can find yourself quite addicted to a few of them although they tend to have only several levels each. One of the side missions is not 8-bit and has you picking up scorpions and it is easily the worst one of the bunch and you will try it once or twice and not bother with it again.

One may ask, "Why are there side missions in this game when you don't need the money to enter ranking battles now?" Well, you need money because of the fact there are other collectibles to purchase in the game such as beam katanas, clothes and to enhance your strength and stamina respectively at the gym. If you purchase a new weapon, you can switch to it at any time during battle but once you gain access to the dual beam katanas known as the Rose Nasty, you will stick with it and nothing else since they are very useful throughout the later stages. The gym challenges are different to those seen in the first game as they also take the form of 8-bit games. One sees you running on a treadmill and the other sees you punching and kicking dumbbells while avoiding hearts from the camp gym owner. The latter took a while to get used to personally but they are a welcome addition nonetheless. Collectibles in the game are obtained by hitting the chests throughout the different locales in the game and these take the form of Mexican masks amongst other things and you can easily see them crowd the motel room as you progress onwards in the story.

Also included in the sequel are revenge missions, which are the equivalent to the assassination missions in the first game. Unfortunately, these are not very interesting to do as you just do two different types of missions 5 times each (there are 10 missions in total). First one being that Travis has to kill all the enemies in the location within the time limit and the second is to kill the specified target within the time limit. If you are the kind of guy who wants to do everything in the game, then by all means go ahead and proceed with this.

As much as I enjoyed the game, there are a few disadvantages that have to be pointed out. First and foremost is the camera. The camera will not be your best friend in this game and it pretty much hinders you rather than help you especially during some of the more crowded battles against nameless foes. It will zoom up and just go all crazy on you if you are in some sort of boxed location and it got on my nerves but nowhere near the point of quitting the game entirely. It doesn't help that you don't have full access to the camera except for a few occasions in the game and can only centre it but it decreases the enjoyment of the action a little. The second is that during some levels, I was fighting enemies to no music whatsoever and just got me out of the game a tad because of that. When it is there, it matches perfectly to what is occurring on screen, which is non-stop action. Finally, during some of the more hectic action sequences, the frame rate would take a bit of a dip but not to the point of unplayable but if you play it long enough, you will notice it and it happened during a few cutscenes also. One thing that could be considered a negative point is that they game on its standard difficulty is not really hard and only seen myself having to do a few of the bosses a maximum of two times before progressing onwards but it doesn't take away from the enjoyable factor the game has at the end of the day.

I like games that have unique stylish graphics and NMH 2 has that with its great cel-shaded look. Some of the characters ooze with style and the animations are on the top-end of the Wii especially seeing some of the grand death sequences after defeating one of the bosses in the game. Blood gushes throughout this game when countless enemies are defeated and it makes a pretty nice change from the bloodless version of the first game that Europe got.

As I stated before, there isn't a whole lot of music within the main game but what is there is charming to listen to. Some of the 8-bit tracks are quite catchy to listen to and shows how far the gaming industry has come when you hear tracks like that but boy it does bring back nostalgic memories nonetheless. The soundtrack is a mixture of punk and rock songs and fit perfectly in this kind of crazy game. Voice acting is strong throughout and fit the character's moods well. Nothing is really bad on the audio side of things because fighting with the beam katana is pretty sweet especially hearing the sounds that come out when you clash with enemies and when an enemy is defeated etc.

Despite a few setbacks with the camera and lack of assassin characterisation, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle triumphs as a worth sequel to the excellent No More Heroes. Fighting and slicing your way through countless goons and killing the bosses in stylish ways is quite satisfying and with a decent story to boot and graphics that never get boring to look at, you can't go wrong. If you want more of the same action you encountered in NMH, then no look further and get yourself a copy of No More Heroes 2 today.


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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/no-more-heroes-2-desperate-struggle/user-reviews/725211/platform/wii/ Sat, 12 Jun 2010 13:00:18 -0700 rragnaar reviewed Red Dead Redemption for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/red-dead-redemption/user-reviews/724323/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

For as long as I've known about them, I've been a huge fan of Rockstar Games. I feel as though Red Dead Redemption is their best game to date. It may not be a Grand Theft Auto game, but it certainly stands on the shoulders of the series and achieves new heights. A lot of the time when a developer makes the claim that they've made a world that 'feels alive', I dismiss it as hyperbole. Red Dead Redemption is an exception to that rule, and an exceptional game in general.

I suppose the best place to start is to talk about the world they've built. The fictional territories of New Austin, Nuevo Paraiso and West Elizabeth are stunning. As someone who grew up in the mountains of northern Idaho, I'm particularly fond of West Elizabeth. The draw distance is incredible, and everywhere you go there is something to see, something to do, and often times something to kill. Whether you are just being attacked by coyotes, wolves, cougars bears and boars, or stumbling across random events that the game generates, exploring Red Dead Redemption is never dull.

The music is also fantastic. It adapts to whatever you do as you play the game. You'll get subtle whistles and guitars playing when things are calm, and dramatic music during gun battles and chases. It all blends together seamlessly. I wasn't a huge fan of some of the songs with vocals that play during certain key sections of the game. It didn't seem consistent with the world, or with the rest of the score, but that is just my opinion. All in all, the music of RDR is top notch.

The combat in the game is an evolution of what Rockstar did in GTA4. When you are on foot, you'll probably spend a lot of time behind cover, leaning out to take shots when you can. The horseback combat is a mixed bag. It can be very satisfying to shoot a man off his horse, or for the less 'peta-minded' of us to shoot the horse and watch it and the rider collapse to the ground in a heap. The problem with horse combat can be that the game has a certain amount of 'rubberband' ai for horse riders when they are trying to catch up to you, which means that they can move at unrealistically high speeds to catch up to you. This makes them harder to hit than they should be. It isn't a problem most of the time, but it can lead to an overreliance on the game's Dead Eye mode in which you slow down time to shoot your enemies. Dead Eye is satisfying, but it can start to feel cheap. Some missions feel as though you are all but required to use Dead Eye to succeed due to the sheer number of enemies they throw at you. This gets you in the habit of using it all the time, and from there, the game can become too easy. This is a small complaint, and one that is easily fixed by the player choosing not relying on Dead Eye so much. As is, the game is a little easy. I don't recall any mission giving me trouble. A higher difficulty would have been nice.

As great as the other elements are, the characters and stories of RDR are what makes it shine. John Marston is a great anti-hero. A former criminal that is pressed into service by the government to hunt down his old gang. John is very much a reluctant hero, and often times, the only thing keeping him going is the chance to see his wife and son again. The overall story is fantastic, particularly the ending. I feel like Rockstar took some brave chances and broke some new ground with the game's resolution. That being said, I've got some complaints about how some of the missions tie into the overall story. John ends up being a doormat for pretty much every sheriff, sleazeball, freedom fighter and corrupt government official along the course of the game. His reluctance can be a little hard to believe at times. He will say 'After this you better tell me what I need to know' to whoever he is working for, and then he'll proceed to do four or five more missions for this person. That pattern repeats itself throughout the game, and is one that was also used in GTA4 and The Ballad of Gay Tony. I'd like to see Rockstar find a way for their main characters to be more assertive in driving their stories forward, rather than just being the reluctant lackey for a diverse cast of dirtbags.

Once you are done with the great singleplayer campaign there is still a lot to do in both the singleplayer and multiplayer. As for singleplayer, RDR has a lot of challenges and sidestories to complete. There are hunting, shooting and survival challenges that test your skills, and the sidestories show you glimpses into the lives of various people in the west. Typically they are very simple missions with poignant stories. They play out like little mini-episodes in the game and they break up the pace nicely. I haven't put a lot of time into MP, but I have had a lot of fun with Free Roam cruising around with friends and getting into big gang shootouts. The competitive multiplayer doesn't seem nearly as fun as the more co-op aspects of Free Roam.

The overall experience of RDR is fantastic. The game manages to always present you with something to do. It is marred somewhat by glitches, and streaming errors where the game doesn't load the faces of poker players and whatnot. The game isn't perfect, but it comes closer than anything I've played in a while. John Marston's world feels very real and very alive, and it is an experience I won't soon forget.

9.5/10

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"rragnaar reviewed Red Dead Redemption for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by rragnaar on Sat, 12 Jun 2010 13:00:18 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/red-dead-redemption/user-reviews/724323/platform/ps3/ Thu, 13 May 2010 10:15:15 -0700 Darrogamer06 reviewed Final Fantasy XIII for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-xiii/user-reviews/720303/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Final Fantasy is considered by some to be the pinnacle of the RPG genre. After all, some believe it was this franchise that put the genre on the map and it was a certain popular edition of the series that made me fall in love with the Role-Playing genre. Over the years, we have seen numerous spin-offs and main editions from this renowned series and now in its thirteenth edition; does the series still have what it takes to fight among other big hitters that have come from the West and East?

We all know that JRPGs have a variety of characters in them. Some you can relate to and like as the story progresses, others that are just plain annoying no matter what they do and you dislike them from the get-go. Final Fantasy XIII is no different as it has its fair share of characters that have interesting personalities and ones that just have their habits that you can't stand. Luckily though, as the story progresses in XIII, those annoying characters tend to become semi-interesting but you will have to put the time into the game before that happens.

The story starts off on a train in the world of Cocoon, an industrial, high-tech world that has some similarities to the city of Midgar in Final Fantasy VIII. Here we are introduced to Lightning, the main heroine in the game and Sazh, a former pilot who carries a chocobo chick within his afro. Lightning is on the train to save her sister known as Serah since she was taken by a mechanical godlike being known as a fal'cie. As you progress onwards, you are introduced to Snow, a leader of a rebel group known as NORA whose main purpose is to stop the purging of innocent civilians, Hope, a teenage boy who has issues with Snow due to what occurs in the opening chapter and Vanille, a chirpy red-headed girl who you will either like or dislike from the get-go depending on your interest in the series.

A series of events brings this group together and unfortunately, they are marked by crystals that reside within fal'cie and become l'cie. The l'cie are given a focus by the fal'cie, which is a goal that they must complete within a set amount of time or they will become a corpse of their former selves called c'ieth. Their focus is given to them through visions and they must figure out what has to be done in order for them to prevent this change from ever occurring. Without going into more detail about it, the focus pretty much decides the fate of Cocoon. Later on in the game, you are introduced to the secret 6th character that has a special relationship with one of the heroes in the game.

If you are confused by the story from what you've read here, you shouldn't be ashamed as the story is the most confusing, complex and weakest part of the game all in one. The main problem is that the opening 15-20 hours does nothing to help you invest your time into these characters, their backgrounds and the story of this universe and only when you get to a certain part of the game that it becomes interesting and for some, it maybe too little, too late when that time comes around. Fortunately, other parts of the game more than make up for this weakness of the game. The biggest strength of this game comes from its gameplay.

As we all know, Final Fantasy tends to change the battle system with each iteration of the series. Some work while others do not. I can safely say that when it comes to XIII, the gameplay has enough depth and has a likability factor that it becomes one of those games you don't care about investing your time into since the battles are so fast-paced and exciting to do. A disadvantage of the battle system that can be considered is that there is a good chunk to take in that it takes a good number of hours for the various aspects to be learned.

First things first, Final Fantasy XIII is linear as hell. Gone is the world map, the exploration of towns and the expansive areas for you to explore and find its little secrets. Say hello to narrow linear paths with very few branching paths, save points that also act as shops and one main side-quest path that you have to invest a lot of time into in order to fully complete. Final Fantasy XIII does not have a world map but instead the game is spilt up into chapters whereas a significant area of the game takes the form of a chapter. RPG enthusiasts will probably not welcome this change at all while others who didn't care too much for the vast exploration will appreciate the more streamlined approach shown in here. When you begin the game, you are introduced to this new type of battle system but as stated earlier, it won't be the full complete system until a good while later.
Final Fantasy XIII reintroduces the well-known Active Time Battle system but in a different way than before. In previous games, you wait until the ATB bar is full in order to choose a command and when that occurs, you mainly choose just the one and then let that command unfold. Another thing that must be mentioned is that only one character is controlled by the player at all times while the other two are AI characters.

XIII lets you pick several commands at once and the great thing is that the ATB bar does not need to be full in order for certain commands to take place. Multiple commands are chosen and when the bar is full, the character does a combo of the chosen commands and lays some damage to the enemy or buffs your partners up etc. If you do not want to wait until the bar is full, you can choose certain commands and then press a specific button for it to deal out the commands chosen and retains any of the meter not used in the previous turn. Commands range from normal attacks to magic such as Fire, Blizzara and Thundaga. Final Fantasy XIII does away with Magic Points or MP and uses techniques and you are able to use these using Technique Points or TP for short. Some of the techniques include Quake and Dispel and use a certain number of TP with the maximum a character has at one point being 5.

The battle system might look and sound simple at the start but there is a lot more depth and has a more strategic nature that is easy to learn but possibly harder to master and you will have to find what the best strategy is to use in order to defeat the stronger enemies later on in the game. This has to do with one of the main aspects of the newly refined battle system known as Paradigm Shift. Each of the characters has 6 roles, which are pretty much this version's take on the job classes that include Commando, which is the warrior/all-rounder, the ravager, which is the mage and the medic, which is the healer. In order to fully implement the paradigm shift, you have to use a number of role combinations called paradigms and work out what roles will work best at the start of battle. Then you can choose a different paradigm and it will switch to that desired one once selected. Throughout my experience with the game, there were mainly two paradigms that I switched back and forth to that helped me throughout the later stages of the game. When it comes to boss battles, it is a different story and its best to use other paradigms, which are most suitable for the situation in order to make things good for your side and just plain horrific for the boss.

Summonings make a return to XIII and they play a part within the story itself as each character comes to possess an eidolon for them to use. They are tied with the TP and once it is summoned, it fights alongside the player character and a variety of attacks can be used including an ultimate attack that transforms it into its gestalt mode, which is basically its driving/vehicle mode. During my time with the game, I rarely used the summonings as I didn't have any major problems during parts of the game I assumed I would have.

Like in Final Fantasy XII, the enemies appear in the field area you explore thus you have the option to choose which enemies you want to do battle with. Once you encounter an enemy, the battle takes place in a proper battle field and you duke it out to see who comes out on top. This time around, just finding an enemy's weakness isn't enough and you have to find the right paradigm to get the battle over and done with. A paradigm consisting of the commando and ravager roles tends to do just that for most of the battles throughout the game in that the commando helps the stagger meter below an enemy name stay stable while the ravager boosts it up. Once the meter is full, the enemy becomes staggered and the damage dealt is increased depending on the percentage the stagger state is on. It is a great implementation in this game and makes battles more exciting and strategic that what you might usually see.

If you have played Final Fantasy X, the system used in this game to level up your characters is quite similar to the sphere grid used in X. The main difference perhaps is that the sphere grid was more expansive and that you could go in a variety of ways thus will take quite a while to fully explore it. The Crystarium, which is the system that is being used here is called uses a more linear approach but has branching paths that usually lead to new abilities or increase your attributes such your strength, magic etc. In order to use the crystarium, you need CP (Crystogen points) and these are obtained by winning battles and each enemy in the game has a set number of CP attached to it you obtain once it's defeated. Each role has a different section of the crystarium thus leveling up each character's main roles is pretty much mandatory if you want to survive some of the tougher encounters in the game. My opinion on the crystarium is positive and it is a lot easier to approach than the complex sphere grid.

At the end of the day, the gameplay in XIII might look a bit frightening at first glance and it does take some time to get adjusted but it becomes quite a treat once it becomes second nature. It is always great to see Lightning and crew juggle an enemy in the area dealing some serious damage and wiping it out entirely in a matter of seconds. Final Fantasy XIII isn't an easy game because if you don't know what you are doing half the time, chances are you are going to get killed in a matter of moments. But the more you get used to the slightly complex battle system, the easier the game is and you can easily know what paradigms are the best to integrate into battles during your 40-50 hour experience if you are not doing the side-quest path.

Shops take a bit of a backseat in XIII as they are only used in save points you encounter. Here you can buy all sorts of items ranging from healing items such as potions and antidotes to weapons for your character. Most of the weapons you find in the shops can easily be obtained in chests throughout the game hence it is a bit silly, as the main focus on weaponry is to increase the power of weapons that are best suited for your character. Materials you get from enemies, chests and in the shop help achieve this task. To be frank, I am not entirely fond of this procedure and enjoy getting the endless amounts of weapons so I know what is best from the get-go and what's not instead of having to build each one up.

One thing that can be said about Final Fantasy XIII in its favour is that the game is a visual masterpiece. When it comes to the CGI cutscene, Square-Enix can do no wrong, as they are a luxury to watch visually. Exploring the different lands of Cocoon and Gran Pulse shine throughout the game with one area being particularly beautiful and reminds me of another stunning look RPG released back in 2007. The character models are etched in fine detail with Lightning's glossy dark/light pink hair being a standout in my eyes. Monsters throughout the game are always great to look at and some of the monster designs in this game are quite unique while others are the same old stuff you've seen time and time again. The lip syncing is pretty much near-perfect but that is due to the fact they worked on that for both the Japanese and International releases. Animations are pretty much sublime and its always fun to see the characters fight with euphoria whenever they come across the interesting monsters throughout the adventure.

When it comes to the audio, it is a bit of a hit and miss. While the music in the game is good for what it is, I see myself only remembering one track from it and that is Blinded by Light, which is the main battle theme in the game although that tends to change a couple of times throughout and is replaced by inferior themes. The voice-acting I considered to be good all around although some of you probably might want to cover your ears whenever Vanille speaks although I am somewhat of a fan of that squeaky-style voice in games like this.

Final Fantasy XIII is a love it or hate it game. Some fans will treasure the changes the developers have made to the series and enjoy this new experience while others will hate for what it has done to this adored series. Unfortunately, most people might not get past the slow start the game brings but if you manage to get past the slow start and the complexity of the battle system, what you have is a good and visually stunning adventure that you will appreciate once the end credits roll on the screen.

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"Darrogamer06 reviewed Final Fantasy XIII for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by Darrogamer06 on Thu, 13 May 2010 10:15:15 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-xiii/user-reviews/720303/platform/ps3/ Sun, 18 Apr 2010 09:57:18 -0700 Darrogamer06 reviewed God of War III for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/god-of-war-iii/user-reviews/717511/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

You can tell from the get-go that Kratos is one angry SOB, a trait that has pretty much spread throughout this illustrious series. Now we step into God of War III, the fifth game in the series (counting Chains of Olympus & the mobile only Betrayal) and one question needs to be asked: Does the series still have its spark? I can answer that with a resounding yes.

If you have played any of the previous God of War games, then you will know you play as Kratos, an angry Spartan whose one sole goal is this: revenge. Why, you might ask? Due to the fact that Zeus, his own father killed him on a temporary basis in the previous instalment and therefore Kratos will stop at nothing to kill the King of Olympus. Events pick up right where they left off at the end of God of War II, which sees Kratos on the titan Gaia along with the other titans climbing Mount Olympus ready to kill Zeus and his fellow brethren. After an epic opening battle, things don't go according to plan straight ahead and due to this mishap, Kratos sets out on another bloody adventure acquiring weapons and artifacts necessary to defeat the Greek gods and co in what will undoubtedly end up being a gory way.

As you would come to except from the God of War series, the story is told via cutscenes that break up the action just right. They are told either in-game or through flashback sequences done in this terrific pseudo art-style showing that Santa Monica studios can do no wrong when it comes to the visual department. Although the story is kind of a linear path in that it is all about Kratos killing everything in his path to get to Zeus and having no retribution for his acts, it takes a turn towards the end and you see a different side of Kratos you never seen in the previous games. If you enjoyed the story in this series, then the supposedly final chapter of the series ends on a good note.

When it comes to the gameplay of God of War III, not a whole lot of things have changed, as they go for the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" motif. You fight a range of enemies with your blades or the other weapons you get throughout and have light and heavy attacks that you can make a variety of combos with to deal damage to the creatures you encounter. Once an enemy is weakened enough, a glowing circle prompt will glow over its head and you will either make mincemeat out of it in some way instantly or enter a quick-time event that sees you pressing the allotted buttons to deal the final blow to some Minotaur or Cyclops you just beat the crap out of. The Golden Fleece introduced in the 2nd game is back also, which helps you counter enemies by blocking just as they are about to strike and thus deal more damage to them. It is a lot easier to counter enemies this time round making it a more approachable and streamlined experience for the player. The Rage meter makes a welcome return in the form of the Rage of Sparta, which is activated by clicking on both analog sticks and sees Kratos summon the Blade of Olympus and is pretty much invulnerable as long as the effect lasts. If you weren't fond of the combat in the previous games, this game will do little to change that perspective but for fans of the series, it is the same tried and true formula you've come to know and love.

Most of the enemies are recycled from the previous game but are given a great makeover that makes them feel fresh somehow. New additions include the Chimera, which is part snake, part goat and part lion and although you do not fight it a lot throughout the game, each confrontation is exciting and it's a rewarding feeling once you take one down.

If you are accustomed to the series, you will notice some new moves that Kratos now has in his repertoire. One of these is the ability to grab a weak enemy like an Olympus sentry and use it as a battering ram to knock back enemies that are surrounding you in whatever combat arena you are in at the time. Another new addition is that you are able to combat grapple enemies using the L1 + circle combination, which sees Kratos grab an enemy with his patented blades from a distance then ram right into him to get himself back into the action. These new additions are very welcome and are useful in certain scenarios throughout the 8-10 hour journey.

With new moves also come new weapons and tools at your disposal. Throughout the adventure, you gain certain tools that help you in certain locations. An example is that the Head of Helios helps lighten up dark places and reveals hidden chests that usually have a glimmer of dust surrounding them so it makes it easier to notice. They can also be used in combat situations although they are not entirely necessary to use since I only used the Bow of Apollo a handful of times to finish off enemies due to having low health at the time. These are attached to a new yellow meter that is below the magic meter thus you can't use them infinitely. The weapons Kratos possesses include the Claws of Hades, the Nemean Cestus and the Nemesis whip. With the exception of the Nemean Cestus, the weapons are just different variations of the Blades of exile and not entirely useful during my experience with the game. The Nemean Cestus is a pair of fist gauntlets shaped like lion heads that are incredibly useful to deal great damage to some of the tougher enemies in the game like the armoured Cyclops. At times, I felt the Cestus was more powerful than the Blades of Exile and is perhaps the best new addition in the entire game.

Unlike before where you had magic attacks and your weapons separately, this time around your magic attacks are attached to the weapon being used. The Blades of Exile release the Army of Sparta, which sees a big circular army with shields and spears in a blood red colour come crashing down in the middle of the battle and arrows come shooting down once the weapon is powered up some. The Cestus magic sees you slamming the ground with the gauntlets, the Claws summon souls of certain enemies in the game, which you can select in the menu and the Nemesis whip electrifies enemies. Again, some of the magic attacks are better than others but will be helpful no doubt in the tougher battles that occur late in the game.

In terms of upgrades, it's still the same work you have done before. Kill enemies or find chests and red orbs come out that help you upgrade your weapons and tools you possess. Throughout your adventure, you will come across chests that contain one of three items, the gorgon eye, which increases your health once three (formerly six) is obtained, the phoenix feathers that increase your magic and the Minotaur horns that increase your item meter. It will be quite essential to find as much of these as possible during your playthrough depending on what difficulty is chosen because certain battles can be tough.

Boss fights are a pleasure to fight through and once again, Santa Monica studios surpass themselves in terms of epic opening boss battles. For those of you who haven't played the game yet and would like things kept at a hush-hush level, let's just say it is unlike anything you've ever seen before. Each boss battle whether it is against a Greek god or a titan dare I say is a joy to play through and require certain techniques out of you in order to get through it just fine and not see the infamous 'You are dead' screen. Like with the enemies, once you have dealt enough damage to a God, you will get the circle prompt and thus begins a great action-packed QTE sequence that ends up seeing you kill a God in a particularly gruesome yet satisfying and awesome way. One of these sticks out and had me gleaming with delight afterwards. Some of them provide a level of challenge while others can be pretty easy to tackle (the last one disappointingly fits into that category).

When there is no gory action occurring on screen, you will make Kratos traverse the plains of Olympus, Hades and elsewhere with a puzzle sequence every now and again. The puzzles are standard fare in this one, which usually sees you hit a switch here and push some object over there. A location in the game known as Hera's Garden provides a different kind of puzzle that sees you use a stone that makes the view different and can make pathways connected that weren't before and help you proceed to the next area. It is one of the cooler puzzles in the game nonetheless. They are not entirely difficult to figure out for the most part so you won't get stumped and find yourself stuck in a room for hours on end.

Once the game is completed, a bevy of unlockables are there for you to dig into. One that is included is the Challenges of Olympus that see you partake in 7 different challenges each with a different requirement. One of these challenges sees Kratos having to defeat all the enemies with his bare hands with a limited time put on top. While these have been done before in the previous games, they aren't nearly as hard as those that have come in the past but still provide a good level of strategy for you to master. Other unlockable includes videos on the different aspects of making the game and Chaos mode, which is the toughest difficulty in the game and if you played any of the previous games, you will know damn sure that's the truth.

The God of War series on the Playstation 2 was praised for its outstanding production values when it comes to visuals and on the Playstation 3, it is no different. From the opening sequence right through to the end, you will marvel at visual delights whether it's a location such as the Realm of Hades, an enemy like the Chimera or just the sheer scale of the game. You can easily tell how much work they put to make this game shine in visual splendour. Kratos himself is finely detailed with his scars and blood from a fallen enemy on display and his movements are expertly crafted that makes it a pleasure for the player to control. Also, thanks to the extra power, you will see a lot more detail and a lot more blood in the death sequences, which are satisfying to pull off and watch. Centaur filet mignon anyone?

The camera is the same as before and while it is good for the most part, certain parts of the game are hindered by the camera vision and therefore, an unfair death is likely to follow. During the epic scenarios, the camera actually zooms out showing you more of the action and the fact that this is done in real time gameplay makes it all the more astounding to behold.

With the visuals being top-notch, you think that the audio might take a bit of a dive but not in this game but you would expect no less from a great studio. From the echoing cries of a harpy to a scream of a fallen Minotaur, the audio is packed with excellence. For the most part, the voice actors in the previous game return to their roles but a new female actor takes over the voice of Athena. In the end, they do their jobs well and don't bring the experience down. The music is still the immense orchestral soundtrack that you listened to in the previous games and is still done in top-class style in this chapter of the franchise. Once a battle occurs, the music kicks things right up and fits the mood perfectly while at traversal times; it is a bit mellower waiting for that next encounter to happen whenever it may be.

If this is the end of the God of War series, then it has happily gone out with a bang. While some things may have stayed the same and little changes have been implemented, it still provides a first-class experience nonetheless. In all fronts, God of War III is a fitting end to an incredible action series.







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"Darrogamer06 reviewed God of War III for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by Darrogamer06 on Sun, 18 Apr 2010 09:57:18 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/god-of-war-iii/user-reviews/717511/platform/ps3/ Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:29:01 -0800 TheWesker reviewed White Knight Chronicles International Edition for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/white-knight-chronicles-international-edition/user-reviews/710698/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

White Knight Chronicles is a long-awaited RPG for the PS3 from Level 5. Having been announced around 5 years ago, some wondered if it would ever come out, and even then the question of American availability came into question. Well, there's no doubt about it now; White Knight Chronicles is here, and the only question now is whether or not it's any good. The answer may surprise you.

The story in White Knight Chronicles starts off, and remains relatively cliche. Nothing about it jumped out at me as being completely original, and I never felt much of a connection with any of the characters. You start off creating a character with options galore, allowing you to customize your appearance down to the jaw size and eye color. I was actually thrilled and shocked to see how much detail went into the character creation, as it seems that a lot of games tend to put less emphasis on customization and more on creating a set of canned characters to choose from. After finishing the creation, the story begins by introducing Leonard, who works at a local pub, and needs to find some barrels across a field. Of course, the whole thing goes to hell pretty quickly once we find out that the King has been killed, and it's then that the true power of White Knight Chronicles becomes clear.

Very early on, Leonard acquires the power from the Ark which is a giant suit of armor. Once Leonard learns to harness this power, he can transform into the suit of armor and fight the large enemies that you encounter throughout the game. While this was very novel to me at first, it faded somewhere along the way, when you find out the only difference between this and the normal combat scenarios is that, this time, you become very large. I must say, though, it is exciting to take out giant enemies, almost as if you're in some kind of backwards Transformers world.

The combat in White Knight Chronicles compares to more of the massively multi-player variety than anything else. You mostly end up looking for your next objective until you come across enemies throughout the land. Your party can fight with you depending on how you have set up their commands. Commanding your party all depends on how their skills are organized. The way I set my party up was: One melee fighter, one magic caster and one magic healer. I made it through the majority of battles without dying because if a member became close to death, they would automatically be healed by that certain party member. Besides the few skill classes mentioned here, there are several more to choose from in order to customize your party even further. It seems that the game really does allow you to customize the experience to how you want it to be.

The combo system combined with the White Knight transformation sequences make up the best parts of White Knight Chronicles. With the combo system, you can create a combo that unleashes several attacks in one sequence, provided you have enough AC built up from fighting enemies with regular attacks. Once you pick the combo to unleash, you just have to keep tapping the attack button until the combo finishes. Simple, easy and elegant are words to describe the system, and combos are also very easy to set up as well. The only truly bad thing I could say about the combos is that they are sometimes height restricted, which can cause the occasional problem or two.

Graphically, White Knight Chronicles is not the best looking game, but it does the job nicely. The style has an appealing feel that some games in the genre lack. Each of the characters looks distinct and the worlds are very vast. Although, some parts can be jarring, such as the FMV cutscene transitions and blurry far-off backgrounds. The score is a real treat in this game, combining metal with orchestral music that is an absolute joy to listen to.

Overall, White Knight Chronicles sums up what a good, modern JRPG should be for the most part. The battle system remains interesting for long enough and the story provides some nice, albeit cliche moments. Without reviewing the online portion, it's difficult to say how much extra playtime this will add to the game, but I'm sure it will be a good chunk of time. If you can stand some of its repetitive nature and the cliche story, White Knight Chronicles should provide you with a good time.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/white-knight-chronicles-international-edition/user-reviews/710698/platform/ps3/ Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:27:46 -0800 TheWesker reviewed Divinity II: Ego Draconis for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/divinity-ii-ego-draconis/user-reviews/710697/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 4.0.

Divinity II certainly has an interesting premise. The idea is to create and customize your own character, down to the very last detail, and then take him on a very elaborate story involving Dragons and how to kill them. Along the way, the execution falls flat on its face, making Divinity II difficult to recommend.

You assume the role of a Dragon Slayer set upon the mythical world of Rivellon with the ultimate goal of becoming a Dragon Knight. Very early on, you are able to choose your class between Magic, Warrior and Ranger. Each have their own unique abilities that will help you further yourself in the story. The overall objective is to put an end to the commander of the Dragons so they may stop terrorizing this fictional land.

As with standard RPG fare, you will gain XP from killing various creatures and level up using that XP. You can then choose which aspects to enhance with skill points. On top of that, you may choose a new 'spell' to use with each level up. The options are varied and vast, which can lead to feelings of being overwhelmed.

Graphically, Divinity II: Ego Draconis does not look good at all. The world and its inhabitants look like they are from a 2006 game with blurry and muddy textures everywhere. Sure, the areas within the game are somewhat large, but there is still no excuse for a game to look this ugly in 2010. The animation is even worse, sporting canned animations with about 2-5 frames per character. The pre-rendered cutscenes within vary wildly, with one looking like it was being rendered on a PS1, and the next looking like it was on a current generation console.

My biggest, and most disappointing problem with Divinity II is the lack of focus on the story missions and how the side missions are presented. In most games, I tend to like to only play the story, doing minimal side missions just to get to the end. Divinity II does not allow that at all, forcing you to either grind or do the side tasks to level up. I would not be so annoyed if the game's side missions were treated as if they mattered when it came to the mechanics of the game. When given a side mission, you are given sparse details about where to go for the mission, and there is no location marked on the map at all. For most every side mission, I found myself wandering around for a good 20 minutes trying to find the person I needed to complete it.

Despite these issues, I still felt oddly compelled to continue playing Divinity II. I'm not sure what it was, but the game seems like it could be a rather good RPG if it fixed the issues I described. I really did not mind the combat as it is real time, which tends to be my preferred playing style in RPG games. The voice acting was decent, and the story seemed like it could be pretty good if I could just get past the issues presented here.

In the end, Divinity II can be described as mediocre. The game has an interesting premise that seems like it could work well given the right amount of effort on the core game mechanics and story flow. Lacking that focus, Divinity II cannot be recommended to the average player. I can see most people playing it up until the second or third story mission and never touching it again due to the unruly grind required.

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"TheWesker reviewed Divinity II: Ego Draconis for the Xbox 360..." was posted by TheWesker on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:27:46 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/divinity-ii-ego-draconis/user-reviews/710697/platform/xbox360/ Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:23:19 -0800 TheWesker reviewed Left 4 Dead 2 for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/left-4-dead-2/user-reviews/710696/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 10.0!!!

"Left 4 Dead is the new best horror franchise" is an odd thing to say, especially for me. After playing a metric ton of the first game, I was satisfied with it just being another zombie game that hadn't really reached its potential. When a second game was announced, I figured it was going to play just like the first and be nothing more than a map pack. After playing this sequel for a good 25 hours, I can safely say that Left 4 Dead 2 is far and away a lot more than a map pack. In fact, I would say that Left 4 Dead 2 is probably the most addictive and intense game I've played all year.

Left 4 Dead 2 has all of the modes from the original, including Survival, but also adds a new Versus type called Scavenge. The campaigns are where most people are going to start and most likely eventually try the other modes. Unlike the first game, Left 4 Dead 2 has five campaigns right from the start. Each has a specific theme and setting making each unique, but each one is significantly longer than any campaign in Left 4 Dead 1.

"Dead Center" takes place mostly in a shopping mall, "Dark Carnival" takes place in an abandoned amusement park with infected clowns and mini-games to play, "Swamp Fever" is as its name suggests: a romp through some swampy terrain complete with zombies that attack from underwater, "Hard Rain" takes place in a small factory town that is flooded by a massive thunderstorm, and "The Parish" is a city in Louisiana complete with a Mardi Gras float and giant bridge at the end. Each one is independent from the other, but all are somewhat connected and explained in the small amount of narrative the game has.

What makes these campaigns unique isn't just the setting, but also the different trials and actions that the survivors must accomplish in order to complete it. For example, in the finale of Dead Center, you must bring 13 gas cans to a race car to escape the mall, and in The Parish you must run across a giant bridge and try to survive. These new twists on the formula are not only refreshing, but also completely change how the game is traditionally played. In Left 4 Dead 1, you were never challenged like this, wherein you could always stay as a group and complete the tasks. Left 4 Dead 2 practically requires that you split from your group at times which is a stark contrast to the way the original game flowed.

A new arsenal is also at your disposal, and that simply means there are a ton of new ways to kill the zombie horde. There are new shotguns, new machine guns, and a new revolver, but the most significant addition is the melee weaponry. A crowbar, baseball bat, cricket paddle, and more help take out the zombies with ease, and are especially useful in crowds. The most important and unique melee weapon is the chainsaw. Not only is it the most deadly melee weapon, but it can also run out of fuel so conservation until you're surrounded by the undead is recommended.

Along the way, you're going to come across some special infected, and there are some new types to encounter. The Spitter spews poisonous goo at the survivors that will quickly incapacitate them if they don't move out of it, the Charger rams Survivors against walls and pummels them into the ground, and the Jockey takes control of a Survivor and can steer them into further danger. Each of these new special infected also add a new layer of freshness not only in the campaign, but also in versus. In the two versus mode types, these new special infected are playable and make versus a lot more interesting than before.

Versus returns just as it was in the original but with the new special infected types. However, the real new versus mode is Scavenge. In Scavenge, you essentially play the finale of Dead Center over and over at different locations. The survivors are attempting to get gas cans to a generator or car and it's up to the infected to stop them. A spitter can destroy gas cans and plenty of the other infected types will make the Survivors drop the cans. This mode sounds simple on paper, but I assure you is extremely amusing and fun when you get a team of competent people together.

Also returning from the first game (albeit via a patch) is Survival Mode. This mode pits the Survivors versus an endless horde with a race to see how long they can survive. While the new weapons do help a bit, it's still as difficult as it originally was. I have to say, I'm not a fan, but if you enjoyed Survival in the original game, you're going to like it here.

Graphically, Left 4 Dead 2 shows that the source engine still has life in 2009. The lighting is nice, the characters look lifelike and the environments are all graphically different from one another. I used to be hesitant to Valve being insistent on just constantly improving on the source engine, but now I see that this familiar engine allows them to make games easily without having to build a new engine each time. Running on my medium-high PC, I never noticed any slowdown even when there were zombies as far as the eye could see. Easily, the best visual treat is Hard Rain, showcasing a thunderstorm like I've never seen. The brilliant sound design from Left 4 Dead is back, with superb voice acting and music that can send chills down your spine.

Comparing the Xbox 360 version to the PC version is difficult because they are basically the same thing. The only thing I can suggest is to play where your friends are, and with which control style you find more comfortable. I guess there's also the notion that any future DLC will be free on PC as well. Still, the game is most fun with friends, so pick your poison accordingly.

There isn't much left to say about Left 4 Dead 2 except that it is an amazing experience that should not be overlooked. I have put in close to 30 hours or so, and will probably gladly put in 30 more. The new Scavenge mode is one of the most addicting and just plain fun modes, especially for being one that I never saw coming. If you even mildly enjoyed Left 4 Dead 1 or any zombie type games at all, you need to go buy Left 4 Dead 2 now. Left 4 Dead 2 really is as good as it could possibly be without over-complicating itself.

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"TheWesker reviewed Left 4 Dead 2 for the Xbox 360..." was posted by TheWesker on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:23:19 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/left-4-dead-2/user-reviews/710696/platform/xbox360/ Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:21:45 -0800 TheWesker reviewed Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/resident-evil-the-darkside-chronicles/user-reviews/710694/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Let's be clear on something first: I didn't really enjoy Umbrella Chronicles as much as I thought I would. That game had an excellent premise and some new ideas, but had some poor execution. The controls felt over-complicated and the aiming just felt plain wonky. I am glad to say that most of those problems are fixed in Darkside Chronicles, to the point where they are about as good as they can be.

Now, Darkside Chronicles is very similar to Umbrella Chronicles in a lot of ways. It is an on-rails shooter that pits familiar Resident Evil characters against wave after wave of zombies with the occasional boss fight here and there. The difference here is that the controls are now smooth enough to allow you to shoot them with ease. In Umbrella Chronicles, it was difficult to maneuver the cursor where you wanted it to go; its movement was very sluggish as if there was a significant delay. Now there seems to be next to no delay and the cursor moves fluidly and allows for many more headshots than before.

This brings me to my next comparison to Umbrella Chronicles. Umbrella Chronicles was hard. Very hard. A lot of this had to do with the control problems mentioned earlier, but a lot of the monsters took a lot of ammunition to kill anyway. In Darkside, they seemed to have toned it down a few notches; monsters take less to kill, controls make it easier to get critical hits, and the controls are simplified. Umbrella Chronicles required a Nunchuk to play, but in Darkside, they managed to simplify it to just the Wii Remote. Also, if you are still left struggling after all of these improvements, the game's easy mode has an auto-lock feature making it very difficult to fail.

Returning in Darkside Chronicles are some familiar faces such as Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield, Jack Krauser, and Steve Burnside. Some of these have to do with the game returning to some of the franchise's older titles. Resident Evil 2 is revisited in a new light, showcasing the most memorable sequences and some new twists on the existing story. Code: Veronica is also revisited with all of Steve's antics intact. This continues the trend seen in Umbrella Chronicles of re-imagining the older games for the newer generation of Resident Evil fans who maybe find the controls of those older titles a pretty harsh barrier.

Darkside Chronicles also adds some new story to the mix, showing some of the backstory between Krauser and Kennedy. These events were mentioned briefly in Resident Evil 4 and I find it to be pretty neat to visit some of these lost memories. I don't want to give anything away, but it had some nice surprises, and it all takes place in totally new environments.

The Darkside Chronicles is not a perfect game by any means. The new camera system that is supposed to provide a better, more cinematic experience ended up just making me nauseous by swinging the camera around at some points like a Parkinson's patient on crack. I also think the addition of online co-op would be very welcome, but I can't hold it against the game because, as a Wii game, it's not expected. Offline co-op is a feature that is fun with some local friends though. The customizable weapons also did nothing for me as it never really seemed as if it was necessary to do.

As far as Wii games go, the graphics in Darkside Chronicles are very nice to look at. It's probably the best looking Wii game I've ever played, but it's not saying much by any means. All of the environments appear to be rendered in 3D, which is a nice touch, but the real treats are the character models. The models don't look quite as good as RE5, but do an excellent job of bringing these characters to life.

All in all, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles is an excellent game. It encompasses the best of Resident Evil and the best controls I've seen for an on-rails shooter on the Wii. Nearly all of the new additions were very worthwhile and really added to the core formula seen in Umbrella Chronicles. Most importantly: The shooting is fluid and the game is not impossible. Darkside Chronicles is probably my favorite Wii game, as I put a lot more time into it than I expected.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"TheWesker reviewed Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles for the Wii..." was posted by TheWesker on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:21:45 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/resident-evil-the-darkside-chronicles/user-reviews/710694/platform/wii/ Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:16:43 -0800 TheWesker reviewed God of War Collection for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/god-of-war-collection/user-reviews/710693/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

God of War was one of the greatest games on the PS2, garnering much praise for its cinematic style and smooth gameplay. Its sequel, God of War II, was praised in the same areas, and for pushing the PS2 to its absolute limit. The God of War Collection combines these two great games into one cheap package and promises a few graphical upgrades. The question is: Is the God of War Collection worth it? Yes, provided you haven't played these games before.

Starting up the God of War Collection on your PS3, you are presented with a pretty basic menu that simply asks which of the two games you'd like to play. Once chosen, you're brought to the same exact main menu presented in the original PS2 versions. Starting a new game presents the same opening cinematics and all. To put it bluntly: these are the same exact games as in the original PS2 editions.

The graphics in the God of War games were always top-notch, and they still generally hold up in the Collection. One of the most touted features of this collection is that the games run at 720p and 60 frames per second. This generally makes the games look better, but it also tends to show off the low polygon counts therein. Still, it is a nice upgrade that newcomers and returning players should appreciate. However, some of the pre-rendered CGI scenes stick out like a sore thumb. These pre-rendered scenes were not originally rendered in 720p, which is what the rest of the game renders at, so they tend to be a bit grainy and pixelated compared to the in-game scenes.

Another exclusive feature to these versions is the added trophy support. I consider myself to be a goal-oriented game player, so these were a welcome addition to these new, updated versions. They vary from defeating certain bosses, collecting power-ups, and beating the games at different difficulties.

The aforementioned are the only things that are new in the God of War Collection, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. With the upgrade to 60 FPS and 720p, the games look as beautiful as ever. On the one hand, for newcomers to the series, this is the best way to experience these games, so they are highly recommend to anyone playing them for the first time. On the other, for those coming back for a second taste, it's difficult to recommend because there is nothing new to draw you in, except the updated graphics.

However, this collection retails for only $40 and includes the God of War 3 demo along with trophy support, so picking this up still wouldn't be a bad idea for those looking to play through them again. Plus, this collection shows just how great the God of War games were and still are, and the God of War 3 demo gives a nice taste of what is still to come for the series.

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"TheWesker reviewed God of War Collection for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by TheWesker on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:16:43 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/god-of-war-collection/user-reviews/710693/platform/ps3/ Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:09:32 -0800 TheWesker reviewed Hasbro Family Game Night 2 for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/hasbro-family-game-night-2/user-reviews/710691/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

Hasbro Family Game Night 2 presents a concept that just plain works. Take a bunch of existing board games and convert them directly into digital format, and then sell the package at a reasonable price so that everyone can enjoy them without the mess and hassle of the physical games. While all of the games translate to the digital form just fine, don't expect much beyond that.

Just as its predecessor, all the familiar games include their original modes plus a "remix" mode that changes the rules a bit to make the purchase worthwhile for those looking for a bit of a change in the formula. The included games are: Operation, Jenga, Bop-It, Pictureka!, and Connect 4…4. Having only ever played Operation and Jenga before picking up the Wii remote, I was most interested in seeing how those translated first before moving on to those I hadn't played before.

Jenga is exactly what I expected it to be, with simple controls. Hold A and move the Wii remote on the block you want to move and then put it on the top of the stack. I was surprised how well it controlled because my Wii setup is probably not ideal. Operation has you pulling items out from a patient's body and lining them up with the shapes that fly by. While I enjoyed how well these translated to the digital format, it seems as it will get old rather quickly.

Moving on, the other 3 games, Bop-It, Pictureka! and Connect 4…4 also seemed to do just as well. Pictureka has you drawing differently colored cards,and it's essentially a picture hunt game to find different items in the different pictures, but the definition of the item is up to you. For instance: I had to find a dog, and instead of clicking a canine I clicked a hot dog. There is also a time limit which ups the challenge significantly.

Bop-It is a rather interesting game simply because of the setup. In the real world, Bob-It is a physical toy that you hold and you must operate different parts of the toy to win. In the digital form, the camera is simply pointed at the object and each part of the object has a different control on the remote. It's like Simon, but controlled differently. A voice instructs what to do, and you simply perform that action by either twisting the Wii remote, pulling it towards you or shaking it. It worked as well as it probably could without holding the actual toy in your hand.

Connect 4…4 is pretty much exactly like the original Connect 4 game, except there are now 2 layers to place the small discs in. This can make things a bit complex, but is still the same basic concept of placing 4 of your colored discs next to each other either horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

In addition to these regular modes, there is also the addition of the remix modes. Operation has added a mini game called The Germinator and Jenga has Hammertime which makes you draw a card each round requiring you to pick certain blocks from the tower. These extra modes do add a bit more value to the game once you're bored of the other games.

Also new in Family Game Night 2 is the game show mode, which pits you against up to 4 friends in a race to the finish line. To advance on the course, you have to complete mini-games based on the 5 games. Fail at a mini-game and your opponent is given the option to play it. If they win the game, they advance up the board. First to the finish wins. While this mode is pretty bare bones, it is still probably the best way to play the games if you're having a party.

All in all, Family Game Night 2 is a pretty decent game for the most part. If you like any of the games listed here, they all work just fine in their digital forms. My complaints for Family Game Night 2 rest in personal preference. I am not the biggest fan of board games, especially when playing by yourself. Of course, I'm also not really sure what could be done to improve this, as the whole experience is very shallow on its own, and it's as if the game just expects that you'll have the whole family over each time you want to play one of these games. Don't get me wrong, the game is fine, but just don't expect anything that will change how you feel about these types of games; this is a party game and nothing more.

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"TheWesker reviewed Hasbro Family Game Night 2 for the Wii..." was posted by TheWesker on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:09:32 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/hasbro-family-game-night-2/user-reviews/710691/platform/wii/ Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:07:16 -0800 TheWesker reviewed Trine for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/trine/user-reviews/710690/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Trine is one of those games that you just don't see coming and never quite understand until you play. The game is a platformer, but it's not the usual type of platformer in that it has a whole new layer of depth that it brings to the genre. While having that depth certainly makes Trine very interesting and fun for the most part, I still found it to be lacking in some areas.

Trine tells the story of a Wizard, Knight and Thief. These three characters come into contact with the Trine, which is an ancient artifact that fuses the three characters into one body form. After this happens, an undead army awakens, and it's up to the trio to take out these undead enemies and find out how to reverse the effects of the Trine. While that sounds pretty basic, the story is at least told well by having a narrator during the loading screens.

Having all three characters fused together as one is not just a story element, but it is incorporated into the gameplay nicely as well. Pushing either the R1 or L1 buttons allows you to swap characters, with each having their own unique weapons and powers. The thief can shoot arrows and grappling hook onto wooden objects, the knight has a blunt sword and shield, and the wizard can telekinetically manipulate objects. Each one is essential to the completion of the game as every level makes good use of them.

The levels in Trine are pretty nicely designed to make use of each character's power. The thief can be used to get across seemingly unreachable platforms, the knight is mainly used in combat because he can quickly dispose of any enemies in the path, and the wizard can be used in the most diverse ways. The wizard can manipulate existing boxes or platforms, but more importantly, can create his own. This is where Trine really shines, in its ability to leave a lot of the paths up to the player to decide how to get to the next area. Each of the characters can be leveled up as well, to add additional abilities and make their current ones more powerful.

Graphically, Trine is very impressive. Each area is nicely lighted and technically pretty. The art style and cinematics are also well done, having a sort of painted on look to everything. While there are certainly prettier games out there, I don't think anyone is going to accuse Trine of being ugly.

My complaints with Trine are few, but they disappointed me enough to mention. The game isn't very long, and should only take a few hours to complete for most. For being a $20 game, I expected a little more out of it. The next problem being the bugs that are present. A few times I fell through a floor to my death, and sometimes the jumping didn't feel as tight as it needed to be. These few problems left me pretty frustrated (especially on the rather hard final level).

In the end, Trine is a very good PSN game. Very few try to innovate on the platforming genre the way Trine does. Throughout the game, it manages to stay interesting with new and unique level designs that take advantage of each of the game's characters. While I do have some complaints with it, I can safely say that Trine is the best PSN game I've played all year.

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"TheWesker reviewed Trine for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by TheWesker on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:07:16 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/trine/user-reviews/710690/platform/ps3/ Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:05:20 -0800 TheWesker reviewed Fairytale Fights for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/fairytale-fights/user-reviews/710688/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 4.0.

Fairytale Fights is quite an interesting creature. The game is all about fairytale characters fighting other fairytale characters in a fairytale dreamworld. While the concept is rather interesting and mostly untouched, Fairytale Fights' problems remain in execution, with its having a rather bad camera, frustrating controls and uninspired level design.

The game starts off with a storyteller introducing you to the world by telling a somewhat vague fairytale story. After that, you're left in a hub world called Taleville. From here, the game allows you to change your character (Red Riding Hood, Naked Emperor, Snow White or Beanstalk Jack), change a few settings, and build a statue of yourself, but the area is mainly useless because anything important can be done from the start menu. You can also start up a Xbox Live session at this point to bring in up to 3 other people to play with you.

Visually, Fairytale Fights is a beautiful game. The colors are very vibrant and they really fit the world well. This game has a lot of blood, and it's also shown off pretty well, with blood literally splattering all over the place like some kind of slaughterhouse. Having this cutesy type fairytale world with blood and guts everywhere does make things a bit uneasy, but it's something you don't see very often.

Once you've picked your level, you are set upon a mission to perform some tasks involving a fairytale character. The first mission involves the Three Bears wanting their stolen porridge from Goldilocks and it's up to you to get it back. At this point, Fairytale Fights starts going downhill and it never really recovers.

The gameplay can best be described as overly complex and repetitive. At first it seems cool to slice enemies in half by swinging a sword and cutting their torso in two, but it quickly becomes a bore because the core gameplay never varies outside of this hack-and-slash gameplay. This is made worse due to the analog stick controls, because it requires you to tilt the right analog stick everytime you need to attack. You can also hold the tilt for a few seconds to charge an attack that does a bit more damage.

The weapons do have some variety but only in a contrived ranking manner. The weapons rank from 1 to 5 stars with 5 being the most powerful weapons. There are also 3 types of weapons which are projectile, slicing and blunt. Slicing weapons let you slice characters in several different ways, blunt weapons let you smash characters to death ,and projectiles shoot a few different types of items. All of this would be okay if the controls weren't mapped to the analog stick and were switched up once in a while, but it never changes; you are smashing your analog stick ad-nauseum for the entire length of the game.

My next complaint is the camera angles that go hand in hand with the atrocious platforming segments. For 90% of the game, the camera is set to the side of the action and works fine for the combat sequences but for the platforming sequences it doesn't work well at all. There are plenty of platforms to jump on in these sequences and falling off any of them will equal instant death. These parts of the game don't add anything but bouts of cussing and frustration.

At the end of each chapter, there's a fairytale boss to fight (Pinocchio, a giant, Hansel & Gretel etc.) and this breaks things up a bit, but generally the battles take way too long to complete and have plenty of cheap death moments.

Online play is one of the bullet points in Fairytale Fights, and it appears to work at times. Playing with a friend through some of the levels, it mostly worked okay, but there were also some crazy bouts of lag that made things a bit unpleasant. There is also an Arena mode that is sort of interesting, but the gameplay is the same as the rest of the game; however, it could be fun with some friends for a few minutes.

In the end, Fairytale Fights has a lot of problems. The title has repetitive gameplay and just plain bad platforming segments. The addition of co-op attempts to make things a bit better, but nothing can cover up boring and repetitive gameplay. While not bad in concept, Fairytale Fights does not stay interesting long enough to warrant a purchase.

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"TheWesker reviewed Fairytale Fights for the Xbox 360..." was posted by TheWesker on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:05:20 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/fairytale-fights/user-reviews/710688/platform/xbox360/ Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:42:43 -0800 edubuccaneer reviewed Lucidity for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/lucidity/user-reviews/710242/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

There's no denying it, Lucidity is a beatiful game. It started out as a side project among developers over at LucasArts, and quickly evolved into a full fledged Xbox Live Arcade release, combining the frantic pace of a Lemmings game with the strategic and luck-of-the-draw pace of Tetris. The result is a heart tearing disconnect between a thoughtfully designed art style and actual gameplay.

Lucidity revolves around a tale of loss, and how a little girl, Sofi, copes with it. Her vivid memory and imagination help her create dream-like environments in which she travels, oh so slowly, from which you must protect her. Sofi's movement is mostly out of your control throughout the entire game as she carelessly collects fireflies. The only way you can interact with her is by laying down items that have a host of uses, like fans, slingshots, ramps and even bombs. Bombs have the double use of being both a defense mechanism and a way to clear a path, since Sofi's dreams are haunted by monsters as well as many obstacles and hazards. Just like a game of Tetris, you are given a different piece out of a random draw, with a peek at the next one. You can save your current piece and use the next in line, out of the random draw, which is a welcome mechanic, but does not save you of some frustration, simply due to the fact that at some points, you just run out of options and are forced to restart the level. The simple nature of this randomness is Lucidity's main problem, and is one that stands in its way throughout the entire story mode. As levels progress, more dangers creep up on the slowly moving Sofi, as the screen not only continuously scrolls, but also kills her with a venom-like fog, and some of the later designs also add obstructions that cannot be destroyed in any way, making the latter half of the game suffer from a lot of trial, error and frustrations. The aforementioned fireflies act as a currency that unlocks bonus stages, and serve as the game's replay incentive, since most of Lucidity's levels require more than one play through in order to be fully emptied of these collectibles.

All of these gameplay problems are a shame because Lucidity is a gorgeous looking game. Its presentation hits all the right notes, with an incredible art style and care in every nook and cranny Sofi explores. Blots of paint and combinations of a huge palette of colors cover each and every level, cutscene and character, in a simplistic but overall beautiful art direction. The music isn't far behind, with whimsical and sometimes sad tunes that chug along with the game at a steady pace.

It's a crying shame such a wonderful art design isn't followed by enjoyable gameplay. The mix between the Lemmings style of indirect character control and the randomness borne out of the Tetris way of giving you puzzle pieces reads great on paper, but fails in execution, due to how little time the is to react and the sheer luck of the draw that comes with this type of game. There's a great, innocent tale to read and live in Lucidity, but in the end, it isn't enjoyable enough as a game to play through in order to live it, only proving that great art can only go so far in a game without good gameplay to accompany it. Lucidity is available for 800 Microsoft Points (10 dollars) on Xbox Live Arcade Marketplace.

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"edubuccaneer reviewed Lucidity for the Xbox 360..." was posted by edubuccaneer on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:42:43 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/lucidity/user-reviews/710242/platform/xbox360/ Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:17:05 -0800 rragnaar reviewed Heavy Rain for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/heavy-rain/user-reviews/709917/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

I had the pleasure of playing through Heavy Rain a few days back, and I've sat and thought about it for a while, and I think I'm ready to do a review. I loved the game, but I feel it has a lot of little issues that detract from it. I'm going to get the negatives out of the way before discussing the game overall.

For everything that Heavy Rain gets right, there is a minor flaw that is there to remind you that it isn't perfect. I frequently ran into little sound glitches where entire lines of dialog would be missing, and there were a few spots where I'd move my character around a room and the screen would go completely black, and my speakers would erupt with white noise. Technical glitches aside, I really feel like a game with this much dialog needs to have consistent quality from the voice actors. Most of the main characters pull off an American accent very well, but the supporting cast, especially the children in the game, are obviously French. It sounds a little weird to here so many accents from people who are supposed to be American. My other complaint, even though I'm sure we all saw it coming and knew it would be there, is that the game relies too heavily on cutscenes and QTE's. My favorite moments in the game were when I had downtime to explore environments and interact with the people and things within those environments. I feel like it could have used more of those moments throughout the game.

As for the QTE's, they really are well done for the most part. I may have wanted fewer, but they really did allow you to control a wide variety of scenes. I do feel like a better implementation of the sixaxis controls are in order, because most of the time when it was used, you were just supposed to shake the controller up and down as fast as you can. Towards the end of my game, there were things rattling in my controller that weren't rattling before. I'm also someone who has never been too fond of the 'mash the 'x' button as fast as you can' school of game design. It kinda sucked in MGS1's torture scene, and it hasn't gotten much better since.

As has been mentioned in other reviews, I feel like the 'tank' controls for moving your character could have been axed for something more user friendly. It mostly feels like an oddball and stubborn design decision, as there is no real reason I can think of to limit a player's movement through shoddy controls.

*deep breath*

Ok... I've gotten the bad stuff out of the way.:P

There are moments in this game that are like no other. I love the opening of this game. Spending a quiet morning at Ethan's home while you wait for your wife and children to come home is one of the more impressive bits of gaming I've played. They set the scene so well, and the sound design and phenomenal graphics all come together to make you feel like you are really there, doing these seemingly mundane tasks that are somehow very satisfying. I wish there were more moments like this, and like the evening you spend with your son Shaun. There is a complete freedom there that I haven't seen in other games. In that particular scene, your son doesn't really want to talk to you. I had the freedom to let him watch TV, force him to do his homework, make him a snack, or ignore him completely. After I'd tried to talk to him, and been more or less rejected by my own son, I went outside to play basketball in the rain. It was very powerful. In real life, I don't have kids, but for that moment, I felt like I understood the pain that fathers have to go through in trying to relate to their kids. Heavy Rain is at its strongest when going for these sorts emotions.

I felt like Ethan and Scott's storylines were the best out of the game. Norman Jayden didn't have much of a personality, and I feel like Madison was almost there for gratuitous nudity more than anything. In comparison to other games, sexuality is handled in a tasteful and mature way, but so many of her scenes seemed only to exist to give players some eye candy. She seemed to be the least developed of the main characters.

From a gameplay standpoint, I feel that Ethan and Jayden steal the show. Ethan goes through some horrible trials in this game to find his son, and his chapters are easily the strongest from both a gameplay and story standpoint. Jayden gets some of the meatiest scenes from a gameplay standpoint, although I feel like there were some missed opportunities with him. In the course of your investigations, you find that there is only one origami shop in town, but Jayden never goes to investigate. That doesn't seem like something an FBI agent would miss out on.

The story as a whole is fantastic. It took me around 9 hours to beat and I'm eager to go back and see how some of the scenes play out had I done things a little differently at key moments in the game. The mystery is rather well done, and there are lots of red herrings along the way.

I criticized the game for being a little on the unstable side, but all in all, it is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played, and when the sound isn't cutting out, it does sound amazing, especially the little things. I remember standing in Shaun's room looking at drawings he'd made in school and listening to him brushing his teeth in the next room. The great graphics and sound combined to make it all feel so real.

All things considered, this game really delivers. There are some missteps along the way, and it could have been more polished, but I don't think you could ask for a more impressive piece of interactive cinema. As an experience, I'd say this is something that no one with the means to play it should miss. As a game, I feel like it falls just short of greatness.

8.5/10

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"rragnaar reviewed Heavy Rain for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by rragnaar on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:17:05 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/heavy-rain/user-reviews/709917/platform/ps3/ Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:43:28 -0800 TheWesker reviewed WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/wwe-smackdown-vs-raw-2010/user-reviews/706487/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 6.0.

WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 picks up exactly where last year's edition left off, adding new features such as a Storyline Designer and more, which makes it seem like it could be the best wrestling game ever. Unfortunately, some of the problems that have plagued the series for years are still present in SmackDown 2010, which largely makes it difficult to recommend if you already have last year's game.

Maybe I just don't get why other people buy wrestling games. I've heard stories that people buy them because they just want some multiplayer action; I've heard it's the storylines, and I've heard that people want a wrestling game that isn't about having direct fighting gameplay, but rather a managerial role. SmackDown 2010 addresses a few of these issues in some interesting ways, such as the Storyline Designer.

In the Story Designer, you can essentially call the shots and decide how each week of storylines plays out by adding scenes and text. There are quite a few options such as interviews, poses, car accidents, and attack sequences. The other option is to add matches to the show to further these storylines you're creating. This really leaves the door wide open as far as storylines go, and does somewhat address the complaint about how wrestling games should be representative of what the real product consists of, that being carefully planned storylines alongside preplanned winners and fake drama. While this is a step in the right direction, there is a giant problem with all of it. Throughout the storyline designer, there is only room for 50 total scenes (PS3 version, I'm told there is 500 on the 360 version) and you can only use a maximum of 10 created superstars. Now, that 50 scene limit could easily be filled up in a single week, making this part of the game practically useless to me.

My next complaint comes from the shallow career mode. In career mode, you take a superstar (created if you choose) through the championship ranks by fighting a series of matches until you're given the option to fight the champion for the title. This is all well and good except that it just feels so dry and empty. There's no storyline, and no connection between the matches; it's just a list of matches to complete until you manage to snag the belt.

On the flipside of the career mode, there is the Road to Wrestlemania mode. This is the exact same mode ripped from last year's title, but with all new storylines to take on. These storylines are all fully voiced by the actual WWE Superstars. Each one of these should take about a couple of hours to complete, requiring a good 10-12 hours to complete all of them. I don't really have any complaints about this mode as it's probably the most focused part of the game.

Now, ever since the first SmackDown on the PlayStation, the series has been known for its excessive and wild game modes. In 2010, this trend continues with the addition of Championship Scramble. This mode is a six-man battle for a championship, in which the object is to have the last pinfall or submission as the time runs out. I can't say I found this mode to be that special or challenging, and it's actually a bit of a mess really, due to the way the game controls your character's viewpoint.

The gameplay is, for the most part, unchanged from last year as well. By that I mean, it controls almost exactly the same. Tilt the right stick to grapple, push R1 and the stick to perform a strong grapple and push square to strike. The one nice change is the simplified counter system. To counter, just hit the R2 button. In previous entries, a counter required either a push of L2 or R2. This added a layer of complexity that the game really didn't need, and I'm rather glad to see it changed.

Abilities do add a bit more to the gameplay, allowing you to perform certain special moves that give a slight edge over an opponent. For instance, Shawn Michaels can rile the crowd in order to garner a finisher status, and Randy Orton can escape out of the ring to regain his bearings when he's in trouble. It was a nice touch in gameplay, but the game does not explain the feature well and requires the player to search in the pause menu to find out what the abilities mean. Due to the incompetent presentation, I found myself forgetting that the feature existed and never really touched it.

As with every wrestling game since WWF War Zone, this one has a create a superstar mode and proclaims to have redesigned the mode entirely. I found this to be a false statement, as it's still very much the same, except it only allows a certain (small) amount of clothing on your superstar. Having said that, I did not enjoy this year's mode that much. There is a paint tool and such that allows you to customize down to the very centimeter, but I seriously doubt that many players are actually going to use it. The nicest additions in this mode are the ability to create the wrestler's entrance video, and the ability to share the creation with the world.

Perhaps one of the most requested and neecessary features of a game with so much to create is a way to share it with everyone you know and those you don't. Smackdown 2010 addresses that in a system allowing you to upload and download Created Superstars, Movies and Created Stories. This is nice and keeps it on a simple interface with some healthy search options. My biggest complaint comes in the form of not being able to edit anything you've downloaded. Why this was omitted I can't be sure, but until I can make my downloaded Hulk Hogan come out to his 'Real American' theme I can't count this as a total win.

Online multiplayer is included, allowing you to play any of the modes online, but is still just as broken from when the series first went online. There is usually unruly amounts of lag, and your opponents will do everything in their power to make you lose, including editing the movesets of characters to make them overpowered. I can't stress enough just how bad this part of the game is so I'm just going to leave it at that.

The roster is very important in wrestling games and SmackDown vs. RAW 2010 mainly delivers in that department. The roster has all the big stars like Randy Orton, Triple H and John Cena, but also the lesser known stars like Kofi Kingston and Festus. There is also a host of divas and unlockable characters to choose from that round out the roster nicely; however, some inclusions such as Jeff Hardy and Ken Kennedy are out of date.

SmackDown 2010 has an interesting approach in its presentation as it immediately boots into a wrestling ring attempting to show you the controls. This is a good feature for new players so they can learn the ropes quickly. Once a match has started, the wrestlers still waltz down the aisle to their rock ballad themes like some kind of bad rock opera. The commentary is still repetitive and bland, which has become the norm in these types of games. The HUD is a bit simplified as it is now nothing more than a ring around the wrestler's feet showing their current energy and, once full, allows for a finisher.

As has been noted all throughout this review, I have a lot of complaints about WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2010. The thing is, they should have been fixed about 4 or 5 games ago, and not still be present in this year's edition. Each new addition added to this version feels like Yuke's is only going halfway in their approach because the features are never fully realized. I think my biggest complaint and piece of advice that I can offer to the developers is that the game lacks focus. There are a lot of features here, but none of them are what they could be if there was more focus on what they wanted to do with the game. As it stands, 2010 is an improvement on the franchise's previous installments, but it's still not where it needs to be, and I personally find that inexcusable. I do like SmackDown vs. RAW 2010, but it's hard to ignore that this game could be a lot better than what it is.

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"TheWesker reviewed WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by TheWesker on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:43:28 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/wwe-smackdown-vs-raw-2010/user-reviews/706487/platform/ps3/