As a huge fan of Resident Evil, since my first introduction to the original title back in 1996, I’ve followed the whole series and played almost every version of the game, including the Gun Survivor entry. I have loved this series in every type of incarnation. Yes, I even enjoy the movies. And without going into the whole discussion about games and their often times terrible big screen counterparts, I’ll just say the diverting direction of the movie story line was something easy to go with. They kept the same basic things from the games, but added their own twists.

I have also enjoyed the direction and gradual evolution of the games. Now there are a lot of fans that be-moan the series’ more action oriented direction, but really where can they go? We are still playing the same characters. Just like any battle hardened soldier, the more you see the less you jump in fear, which leads to more of just taking care of business. Fans complain about the loss of the fixed cameras, yet we all know we would complain endlessly if they were still there. If you really think about it, many of these changes are not that surprising for a franchise that as been around for almost twenty year now. Which brings us to today, the beginning of 2012. We have no less than five Resident Evil related properties coming out this year.

• Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (PC/PS3/360)
• Resident Evil 6 (PC/PS3/360)
• Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS)
• Resident Evil: Retribution (live-action film)
• Resident Evil: Damnation (computer-generate film)

That’s right, five properties coming up in twenty-twelve: three games, a live-action movie, and a computer generated movie. Yes, certainly something for the Resident Evil fans to look forward to. And although such a influx of content will undoubtedly have the fans smiling from ear to ear, over-saturation is a concern. Is it just too much? Having so much come out so soon definitely has the potential to leave a sour taste in ones mouth.  Are we so quickly bored with our games now that we need the next one so soon, or are these games differentiated enough that they each have a chance of success in their own right. Let’s take a look.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, and presumably Resident Evil 6, both have online elements, with rumblings of it being a very important component in Operation Raccoon City. Will these undercut each other? If your a budget gamer by necessity, how  do you go about picking which one to get? Do you go for content, story continuation, or game play? So many things to consider. If you have a Nintendo 3DS, as well as a Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 that’s three games in one year to look at, in the same series with a pretty hefty line-up of other titles for each system this year as well.

The decision to see the live-action movie is not so bad. Like me, you will probably go to your theater’s cheap day, or hit the cheaper matinee. As for the computer generated movie, judging from my previous enjoyment of Degeneration in all its 1080P glory, it will most likely be a buy for me.

I don’t know about you but my belt budget is pretty tight. Like most of you have probably had to do, I have had to cut extra holes in the belt to hold my financial pants up. One of these I will be missing out on, as my fanboyism of the series no longer is so feverish as to make me by a new system. So Resident Evil: Revelations, I will most likely miss out o, unless borrowing it from a friend is an option.

With so much of a franchise that I love coming out, and most likely not enough money to enjoy it all, how do I choose what to experience? Or if I even have the money to experience it all, is it too much in such a short a time span? How would we react to say that many Street Fighter, or Call of Duty titles coming out in one year? What do you think?

Developed by Incognito Entertainment for the PS3, StarHawk is the successor to the PS3 game WarHawk. Warhawk was a semi remake/re-imagining of the original WarHawk PS1 launch title. The original WarHawk was a 3rd person flight game that pitted the player against an invading alien onslaught all by their lonesome. It was revolutionary for it’s time as were most PS1 launch titles.

The remake of Warhawk on PS3 was quite a bit different. Out was the single player mode. Incognito felt it just didn’t hold up to the multi-player section so they just straight dropped it. WarHawk still kept the 3rd person perspective, but added new things. You could run around as a trooper, drive a armored jeep, or hop into a Hawk and battle it out in the sky. If you’ve missed out on WarHawk…for shame. It still has a very large fanbase, and online community even after more than 4 years on shelves.

StarHawk is a in spiritual successor to Warhawk, and it adds some new things to the mix. First up is now you can build structures. Anyone can do so at any time within their team’s green zones, provided you have enough building blocks. You can build walls, auto turrets, jeep garages, jetpack hangers, Hawk platforms, sniping towers, armouries, large anti vehicle weapons, and an energy shield generator. Whew…that’s a lot, but in the BETA there are still two structures in the construct wheel that are blank, so expect that list to grow.

The great thing about building the different structures is that anyone on the team can use them. If you build a Hawk platform for instance, anyone can get a Hawk. All they need is two construct blocks and away you go. Also, the Hawks are done a bit different. Taking a Robotech-esq approach, the Hawks can be in one of two modes, the aerial vehicle mode or a bi-pedal ground mode. Which makes for some interesting tactics in capture the flag games.

In the BETA are just two maps and two gameplay modes. The modes you have are capture the flag and team deathmatch. As for the maps you get, they are two very different types. You have Acid Sea, an industrial island that is literally surrounded by a ocean of acid, and a Space Platform stage that gives great opportunities for aerial fun. For the buildings and spawning, you get drop pods. On the Respawn screen you get a top down view of the map and can choose where to spawn, then you rocket down to the map.

After selecting your construct you get a ghost outline of the structure that when it is green means you can build it right there. Then all you have to do is stand still, look up and you can see it coming down from the dropship to you. Spawning both yourself and your constructs can be used to kill enemy team players which is really satisfying when you pull it off.

I’ve played several BETA’s over the years, but in my opinion this one has changed the most while I played. Every day there seems to be a latest version to update to with generally no less than 4 major tweaks and changes that have been implemented due to player input. Everything from Hawk mobility, to jetpack durability. Most of the BETA’s I’ve played would generally let you play, give input, and add tweaks to the final product. So this BETA has been a huge breath of fresh air.

Final Judgement: If your a Plus member check this BETA out. If not there has been talk about a more open BETA soon, and if so then you definitely need to check this out.

So I picked up this game at Gamestop for about ten dollars –brand new– out the bargain bin a while back. For obvious reasons, GameStop just wants to get this product out of the store. And for all the horrible reviews Duke Nukem Forever has received, I had to see for myself if such overwhelmingly negative reviews were justified. Brace yourself.

The gameplay mechanics are OLD AND SERIOUSLY OUTDATED. Currently, gameplay mechanics are measured by such games as Halo or Call of Duty, and if a game doesn’t play anything like these games, you can almost certainly know it will be automatically received as being bad. This game plays like all the first person shooters that came out when this game should have come out, about eleven to thirteen years ago. Game intensity and difficulty ranges from calm and relaxing to ‘I want to pull my hair out’. As far as controls go, by today’s standards the controls are clunky at best. Don’t get me wrong, they are responsive, but nothing like what we have become accustomed to. There is no snap feature when it comes to locking onto a target, and no lock-on system whatsoever, with the exception of the rocket propelled grenade launcher, but then you have to manually keep the rectal on the target for a few seconds to get the lock. The multiplayer system suffers from the same outdated-ness. Multiplayer matches are limited to four-on-four no matter what mode you are playing.

The narrative of Duke Nukem Forever hurts the game a lot, but this could partly be due to the game going through several development teams. But honestly, it’s a Duke Nukem game and none of them have been known for their stories. When Duke was first introduced he was a parody of every seventy’s and eighty’s action hero. He’s muscled, kicks-ass, crude, and spouts a crap-ton of one liners. The game is filled with lots of moments of plain silliness.  For instance, on one stage Duke does nothing but go through his strip club finding items to get a lap-dance in a dream sequence. There are moments when it seems your going to have non-player character help, but these are basically cannon fodder and die almost as soon as any action picks up.

There are several places where the gameplay takes a change. A turret sequence, some vehicle driving, and a few places where Duke gets shrunk down and has to do some platforming to get around. The weapons are typical Duke. With many Duke mainstays like the trusty pistol, shotgun, RPG, and devestator, with the added weapons of a Shrink ray, and a freeze ray. You also get two types of throw-ables, the pipe bomb that you throw and then detonate with a car clicker, and a trip mine you can set onto any surface. The bosses are set to where only explosives can kill them so these, along with the explosive weapons are your only means to win.

Once you beat the game on normal you unlock the cheat extras. Which include Big Head, God Mode, Infinite Ammo, and more. Yet like all other games they disable trophy acquisition. Which may or may not matter as for the most part the replay value of the single player is a bit lacking on the whole.

For the multiplayer you have the normal game modes with some twists. Death-match and team death-match are called Duke Match and Team Duke Match. The capture the flag is Capture the Babe, which does have some interesting twists. You of course pick up the enemies Babe, but you lose the ability to use any of your weapons. You must instead use the single shot garter pistol the Babe has on her. She will make it hard for you as well by placing her hand in front of your face, but you can just press the button to spank her ass and she will move it away. The garter pistol is a one shot kill which is nice, but it has slow reload, and the lost of the snap feature does mean you have to use more skill. Your domination match is Hail to the King, where you must take the control points and do a Hail to the King while in the point.

You get quite a bit of customization as you progress through the multi-player. You get different hats, eyeware, and shirt logos to outfit Duke. Also added is the My Digs, that has furniture, games, and babes to unlock as you level up. Which makes wanting to progress through the multi-player a bit more intriguing as you get the ability to ogle the babes.  The maps are interesting. You get simple ones, and some that are really cluttered. Duke Burger map has all of you shrunk and running around the Duke Burger kitchen. It’s a very fun map, in that you have several ways to trap and kill other players with environmental hazards like the microwave, and dishwasher.

Unfortunately the main problem with the maps are the weapon placements. Some are hard to get to, and are set to where you can be a very easy target. Which can make it very frustrating to get the things you need to rack up your points, unless your the guy that gets them first and starts camping. Matches can be set up in various ways: limited weapons, infinite ammo, score counts, etc. As a side not, guys flying around with jetpacks wielding the devastator can just ruin your day.

Overall the game is enjoyable, and will give you a few good hours of playtime. The multi-player is actually a great way to hop online and just play for a few matches and then get off. It also has a huge plethora of challenges you can do that can rack up to big experience point rewards. Again if this game had come out when it was originally supposed to, the only thing that would have given it a run for it’s money would have been Doom 3. As is today, I really think they just put it out to get rid of it and maybe move on to something else.

For the original price it definitely wouldn’t have been worth looking at. At ten bucks or even five, like some Best Buys have done, you get what you pay for. A simple game that plays simple, gives you some fun moments, and has lots of crude humor, and gives you something to go “Damn” about.

The PS3 and Wii are both 5 years old. The Wii, already a generation behind in the hardware dept, has a successor coming next year in the Wii U. Sony has been quiet about PS4 release timeframes. They’ve touted the PS3 as having a 10 year life cycle, but much of that is lip service. Both the PS1 and PS2 had 10 year cycles that heavily overlapped each other, expect that to happen again. The soonest I would expect anything from Sony is at least 2013, possibly later.

Yeah, remember that?

Typically the need for new hardware arises about every 5 years. Since the third generation (NES and Master System), the average time between consoles is 4.8 years. We are at 5 and 6 years into the seventh generation with no end in sight. This delay can be attributed to multiple factors. Updatable firmware, graphical diminishing returns, and consistent hardware sales are factors, but the biggest thing in the way of the new generation is the economy.

The current economic climate initially didn’t affect the games industry, but now that we are 3 years into the recession, less money is being spent on everything, including software. The argument goes both ways, on one side sales could be down because there are no new consoles, but on the other side consumers might not be able to afford new hardware. Right now, both Sony and Microsoft are more comfortable rolling out stop gap upgrades and peripherals to prolong what is becoming the longest generation since the Atari 2600 days.

What that means for game development is that the innovation typically tied to new hardware is being stifled. The more developers work with consoles the better they get at exploiting the strengths of its features. That’s why first generation games on every system are ugly. Go back and play Perfect Dark Zero, or Motorstorm and tell me you don’t agree. Its not just graphics, its physics, lighting, shaders, enemy AI, crowd dynamics, or basically anything a game does that needs to leverage the hardware strength. We are getting to a point where the software wizards making games cannot get anything more out of the hardware.

I don't get it, I he supposed to be on fire?

Battlefield 3 on PC is evidence that there is a better looking graphical standard out there. This difference is a relic of a bygone era. It used to be that PC games were looked at as the future; “This is what games will look like on consoles in 4 years!” The decline of PC gaming is causing development to flip and instead of games being built for PC and ported to consoles, consoles are getting top billing and the PC games are upres-ed ports of console games.

Without PC developers pushing the boundaries of what can be done in a virtual space, console makers are content sticking with their current horse as long as the sales are consistent. Developers are hitting the glass ceilings created by processing bottlenecks, and unavoidable power limitations. The games being released this year are evidence that this is a growing problem that will only get worse until the next generation kicks off.

The top tier games this year are all still great, but they don’t have the innovation that came from their predecessors. Uncharted 3 is great but basically its just another Uncharted game. Sure it does alot of really impressive things, but I wouldn’t say anything in it is groundbreaking. Modern Warfare 3 is basically the same game that was released 2 years ago in Modern Warfare 2. The settings are different and the perks are adjusted, but again, no innovation.

I promise you, nothing in that game is nearly as epic as this painting.

Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Batman Arkham City, Gear of War 3 and Battlefield 3 are all guilty of being more of the same. Outside of some nifty Motion Plus features, Skyward Sword is exactly like every other Zelda game. The only real innovation that I hear coming from Game of the Year candidate Skyrim is that its scope is huge and you have a lot of choices, two things that don’t need new hardware to improve upon.

I’m not saying these games are bad, but they aren’t the generational milestones that their predecessors were, and outside of Bioshock Infinite, I don’t see anything coming down the pipeline that has “milestone” written on it. I hope you were pleased by the games released this year because chances are you will be playing them again next year and possibly the next. Come on guys, bring on the PS4 and Xbox 3, I’m ready for genuine excitement.

All right Tekken fans, the next big installment of the Iron Fist is here. For those who don’t know, and I’m not surprised if you don’t, Tekken Hybrid is a bundle-pack of three separate pieces of media: Tekken Tag Tournament HD (Game), Tekken: Blood Vengeance (Movie), and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Prologue (Game).

First up, is Tekken Tag Tournament HD. Tekken Tag Tournament, also known as TTT, is one of the keystone fighting games during the genre’s heyday. This iteration has almost every Tekken character showing up to represent, with the exception of Gon and Dr. Boskonovich, who were both guest/joke characters from the console version of Tekken 3. The core game-play is picking any two characters you want, in any combination you want, and beat the crap out of anyone you can. The game kept the basic engine of Tekken 3, while adding in the twists for the tag feature. You have tag launchers, tag throws, tag combos, and special tag moves depending on the your choice of characters relationship. With over twenty characters, that’s a lot of combinations to work through. But it gives the game a completely unique feel that no other game since has been able to capture. Also returning in the revamped release is the Tekken Bowling mini game from the PlayStation 2 iteration. This simple, yet highly fun, Tekken Bowl mode allows you to do just what you think it does, bowl, adding some fun twists here and there. Sadly, Tekken Tag Tournament HD falls short on two very important fronts. First, the game installs on your systems HDD, and shows up on your XrossMediaBar like any other downloaded game. Unfortunately, you still need to have the disc in the system to play. Secondly, there is no online play included in the package. This is unfortunate and would have been a huge selling point to the old school players.

Next up in the package is the computer-generated Tekken movie, Blood Vengeance. This movie is meh at best, with the actual story elements lacking, but at least the fight sequences are really fun to watch. Which as any long time Tekken fan knows, that’s mostly what you get anyway. Blood Vengeance follows Ling Xioyou in her quest to find Jin Kazama. Again it’s meh, but for a Tekken fan still enjoyable.

Finally, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Prologue is the last piece in this bundle. Which, in my opinion, is supposed to be the main selling point of this package. You get four characters Xioyou, Alice Bosckonovich, Devil Jin, and Devil Kazuya, along with two stages. In addition you get the option to map your buttons, but that’s about it. No online here either, nor is there even any practice modes or a moves list in the pause menu. Which, as far as I see it, is a really half-assed demo. It uses an updated version of the Tekken 6 engine, so most of the stages you’ll be in will be enclosed with walls, with a few multi-tiered stages thrown into the mix.

Tekken Hybrid was released with very little press. Unless you kept up with it on Tekken forums or came across it on a retailers website by accident, you’d most likely never notice it until you were in the store and saw the name Tekken on the cover of the box. Which leads me to believe this release was really just a way to rake in some quick cash. At only forty bucks, they probably feel you’ll drop the bones for this on the spot.

I’m calling this one a waste of money. If your a hardcore Tekken fan, this is for you. If you missed out on playing the original Tekken Tag Tournament, or no longer have a PlayStation 2, this is also for you. That said, if you have a bit of patience and can hold out for a bit, I have a feeling Tekken Tag Tournament HD and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Prologue may be popping up on PlayStation Network for a lot less than forty bucks.

Verdict: Tekken Tag Tournament HD still has solid game-play and is worth your time, but without friends, it might be missing the mark.

Being a guy who gets his games from the bargain bin, sometimes years after they come out due to a very tight budget, there are only a few franchises that I must have and actually plan ahead to get. My point? This is definitely one of the few franchises I mark my calendar for and will shell out the $60 to get right away.

When I played Arkham Asylum I was blown away by the dark and gritty tone of that game. Not only was it a masterfully written by Paul Dini, creator of one of my favorite villainesses, Harley Quinn, and celebrated writer of many of the Animated Series episodes and comics, but the game looked amazing!

Here we are nearly two years later and Paul has done it again…almost.

Don’t get me wrong. The game is phenomenal, and in this review I will go over the Pros (many), and the cons (more than I thought there would be).

When the game begins, you start as Bruce Wayne being escorted into Arkham City as a prisoner. Right away you can sense that this game is going to be much more ambitious then Arkham Asylum and the real feeling that shit just got real. Immediately you are greeted by the first “so called super criminal”. I won’t spoil it by saying who, but that moment sets the tone for the whole game. Nearly every criminal in the Batman mythos makes an appearance in this game whether it is as a boss, mini boss, or just a cameo. After your brief time as Bruce, you call Alfred to get your gear delivered and that’s when you finally get to don the suit and become the Dark Knight.

Now at this point you actually start the game with all the gadgets you had by the end of Arkham Asylum sans the zip line. You also get some new toys along the way that make toasting baddies (insert “Don’t tase me bro!” clip here) even more satisfying. There are more new gadgets, but you will see for yourself. Also added to the ass kicking arsenal is a more natural feeling flow to the CQC with new animations and moves added just to prove that the Batman owns you like the little girl that you are.

The whole of Arkham City is beautiful in its design and nuances. The city is filled with subtle references to the Batman lore from the Ace Chemical Company where, in some stories, The Joker came into existence, to Crime Alley where a young Bruce watched his parents murdered, signified by a chalk outline and sad music. Hell, you can even get a trophy for stopping to pay your respects here.

Another cool feature to this game is the ability to play as Catwoman. Sexy Selena Kyle has her own set of unique baddie beating moves that also make use of her whip (meow) as part of the combos. Apparently she has also pissed off The Riddler at some point because he has left trophies around Arkham City for her too. Unfortunately, she is only playable for four missions in the entire game.

Each faction has its own set of goons dressed up like their respective bosses. Loyal only to whomever might be winning the turf war at the moment, you can also listen in on their conversations to help determine who they serve and also hear updated comments based on your progress in the game a la Grand Theft Auto.

Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill return as Batman and The Joker respectively in this game once again reprising their roles from Arkham Asylum. As always, Mark Hamill’s Joker is genius and still my favorite to this day. Asylum alum Arleen Sorkin did not return for unknown reasons but was replaced by one of my favorite female voice actors, Tara Strong. Tara picks up the mantle of the sexy psycho Harley Quinn without missing a beat.

The challenge maps are back where you can play as Batman and Catwoman. You can also play as Nightwing if you want to shell out the extra cash but I hardly think it’s worth the price.

Now to the bad stuff.

Bad is a relative term here because it isn’t that anything is necessarily bad, certain things I noticed just bothered me a little bit. For example, as I stated above: YOU ONLY GET TO PLAY CATWOMAN FOR FOUR LOUSY MISSIONS! One of them is literally the amount of time it takes you to kick three guys asses. Not only that but IF you didn’t buy this game new or even if you DID buy it new and don’t have an internet connection, you don’t get to play as her anyway. Plus, most of her dialogue sounds like a bunch of cheesy one liners straight out of the old 60’s sitcom.

Another gripe I have is with the Riddler side missions. They made it 100 times more difficult to get the trophies, which is fine, but they made it so that you can’t progress with Riddler’s story line unless you get most of them. Why not make them two separate goals? It’s bad enough that there are 400 plus of them in this game but unless you want to spend countless hours getting them, you will have to just live with the fact that the Riddler is indeed smarter than you.

The main story, although amazing, seemed to go very quickly and I almost feel like they tried to cram every single bad guy from the Bat’s franchise into it which only serves to not give the really great ones proper story development. I’m looking at you Joker/Harley.

All in all this game is a must have for anyone who even kinda liked Arkham Asylum. Not only does it improve on almost everything from the first game, but it’s story brings some closure to the night spent in the asylum. Also, if you know where to look, the next game is hinted at to have a crazy new variable added to the situation. So get out there and get this game. It’s worth every penny.

Proving that zombies (like rats) can show up anywhere, Techland has invaded the Action/RPG/FPS genre adding another / with Survival Horror after that. Much like the Fallout series you run around stuff, pick up stuff, do stuff, level up stuff, and kill stuff. You get 4 different characters to choose from to do all of said stuff: Xian Mei who is your Ninja class. She is master of all that is sharp, and has skill unlocks that make her harder to be seen by the undead dummies. Logan is your projectile man. A former NFL star that has let his ego (and the booze) ruin what he had. Purna is on top of all things firearms, your resident man hater. Last but not least is Sam B. A one hit wonder from New Orleans’ lower 9th Ward, and your loved Tank classman.

As I stated this game is a Action/RPG/FPS/Survival Horror game, so leveling up is paramount. Each character has three skill trees that as you level up you get unlock tokens to use on new or to improve existing skills. With each character having vastly different skills. Purna in particular has a skill called “Gender Wars” which allow her to do extra damage to male zombies. LOL. And like any multi-genre thingy there are things for each genre section to do. There are missions to complete. Objects, and people to find. Random people to help, and zombies of different levels to contend with.

  No matter which character you pick you all start the same way. Picking up whatever you can find to make the zombies not go chompy  chompy on your booty booty. The controls are your standard FPS fair. Unfortunately you don’t have a skills hotkey. Now normally this wouldn’t be a problem in a single player affair, but I have yet to mention that this game is meant to be a co-oped endeavor. That’s right. You and 3 of your friends, or 3 random whatevers, can up and run through this game together. Either completing each mission together, or splitting up and doing them separately. Though I would suggest working together as much as possible, especially at the mid-way point of the game. All classes can bludgen, throw, shoot, slice, oh and flatten. So during co-op there is no pause while you upgrade skills. Oh! Don’t let me forget that you can find vehicles to run around in. The zombies react awesomely to being hit in those trucks.

As for the zombies they come in quite a variety. From walkers, to runners, to just plain big and don’t want to die for nothing. That’s ok because for everything but the big guys each character has a MIGHTY BOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes I said mighty boot. You have a kick button that you can use anytime. So if you’ve ever played a zombie game and wished you could kick them back…….Well you got it.Now to me this thing is HUGELY overpowered. Except for the mini-boss guys I used the kick/stomp for every enemy I came across for the first 2 chapters. You can kick to knock back, then walk up while they stumble and kick to knock down, then stand over them and curb stomp the $%!* out of them. Of course when you have groups this doesn’t work as well. But I’ve had several times I knock 2 down at the same time, landing on top of one another, and took out both at the same time stomping.

Now even though I do feel it’s overpowered it just made playing that much more fun for me.  For the melee weapons you pick up you actually have two different control options to choose from. Digital or Analog. Digital is you aim the crosshairs, and then you hit the button to strike. Analog on the other hand has you move the mouse or right analog stick one way then quickly move the other way. Allowing you to strike in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal trajectory. Also with analog the trade off from being more difficult is that you can build up more power in to your swings. Taking a page out of Dead Rising’s playbook you can also modify and make improvised weapons. Which there are some really fun ones to make. The electrified machete is a favorite of mine.

Dead Island is set on a fictional resort island. And it shows everywhere. The place looks like Panama City the day after Spring Break is over. Stuff broken, beer bottles everywhere, blood on the streets, stumbling assholes that are pissed and trying to kill you……..Wait a minute……..Maybe those aren’t zombies but dumbass collage kids. HHMMMM……. The Island looks gorgeous. Lush and green, with some awesomely blue water. Oh and if knocked down in said water whether it’s the ocean, a pool, or a stream, etc, the zombies take damage as long as their down. So yes to answer your question zombies CAN drown. But they can’t swim.

You know you want it!

For the first part of the game your running around the beach area. In and out of bungalows, lifeguard posts, and beach roads. Unfortunately the game switches to the city area, and it again becomes the drab, apocalyptic scenery we’ve all seen before.The zombies are very detailed. With different cloths, accessories, and body styles. Though of course you mainly see the fit body female zombies. On the consoles and the PC with options up all the way you can see on the fly damage registration on enemies. You can blow off the side of a face if your not dead on the head. You can break or sever limbs to make them unusable to the zombie. Which is the best strategy against the boss zombies.

Whether you play this with friends, strangers, or just with yourself, this game has a lot to it to keep you going. With missions that are easy, to “WTF?!?!?!”, there is something for everyone. Now granted when this game launched just a few short weeks ago bugs abounded. Luckily if you were on the fence, or just waiting it out a bit, most to all of these problems have been fixed.

ICO tells the story of ICO, a poor boy sent to a prison because he has horns. He breaks out of his cell and meets Yorda a white girl that has seemingly cosmic powers. The game is ICO and Yorda trying to escape their castle/prison. The story is vague throughout. Like Shadow of the Colossus, Team ICO depends on the art style and visuals to tell the story. The platforming and puzzle solving is a standard affair, with your character only having two basic moves, swinging a stick, and the vaguely named “action” button. Not including the standard navigation, and jumping mechanics that’s the entirety of your abilities.

The right shoulder button is used to call Yorda and/or hold her hand; this is where the game mechanics get frustrating. Yorda spends the entire game with you and in no way is she self sufficient. She has to be guided through every section of the game usually by holding her hand and running or physically helping her climb onto ledges (a process that takes entirely too long to transpire). At context sensitive spots, she will stay still and stand on switches, but most of the time she aimlessly roams around the room she is in waiting for you to direct her or pull her to where she needs to go.

This effectively makes ICO the longest escort mission in the history of gaming. When moving from screen to screen, if you are not holding Yorda’s hand, she doesn’t follow you. If you leave her in a different room, the shadowy bad guys come and take her away. You are essentially babysitting this girl the entire game. Sadly, this will probably be the deciding factor in whether a player likes the game or not. The puzzles are solid, the environments are lush and the enemies are creepy, but toting her around from room to room, may be the breaking point for you.

As for the port, Bluepoint obviously put more work into ICO than they did Shadow of the Colossus. When looking at side by side shots of the original and the re-release, redrawn textures can be seen in places. It still looks like a PS2 game, and if anything the new textures bring it more inline with its disc-mate Shadow of Colossus. The controls are still clumsy, and the environments are 99% unchanged, so if you played ICO on the PS2 don’t expect it to be too different, just a bit cleaner.

Having played the original, I wasn’t prepared for the stylistic shock that would come from booting up the re-release. I described ICO as Prince of Persia without the excitement on last week’s podcast, but that really only scratches the surface of the antiquity of the base game structure. As stated above the controls aren’t really clear and the items you interact with in the world are not labeled as such. The “action” command, attached to the circle button, is used for a variety of things in the world, but the game never tells you what they are. Essentially, ICO wants you to just figure it out.

This style of gameplay is all but gone from gaming these days. Sure, there are a few hold outs, namely Demon’s Souls, but games are much more willing to hold your hand or guide you through areas than they were a short ten years ago. It’s pretty ironic that a game where a major character mechanic is holding hands doesn’t hold the player’s hand at all. If you aren’t keen on environmental puzzles, its possible you could roam an area for hours without seeing that one thing that is the key to moving on to the next area.

Alot of people have never played ICO and will be experiencing it for the first time on PS3. These people need to know exactly what they are getting into before embarking on the journey. There will be and has always been a very vocal minority of people that love this game, but its age is not doing anything to help that minority’s argument. It has an extremely slow pace and rarely does anything truly exciting. However, ICO is an experience like none other.

Verdict: Not as good as I remembered it.

If this comes off as a bit biased I apologize.  Shadow of the Colossus was hands down one of my top five games of the last generation.  Everything from the art style, to the scale, to the graphical polish, Shadow captured a unique epic feel that I had never experienced in any game.  Each Colossus was an independent experience and the bare-bones, no BS, journey to each giant felt like a tasteful art-house project.

Shadow of the Colossus felt like an adventure. The lonely protagonist trying to save his love interest story was wrapped in mystery and his noble horse following him was a call back to many older tails.  In a industry where things like Kung-Fu Rider and No More Heroes come out of Japan, its hard to think that something so subtle and dynamic was developed there too.  To call the art-style in Shadow of the Colossus anime wouldn’t be doing it justice.  Its obviously Japanese, but its classy and low-key.  Looking back at it, has made me realize that with the rise of online gaming and fewer and fewer opportunities for large art focused titles, this game may not have gotten the green light had it been pitched today.  Shadow of the Colossus is a game that everyone should experience, just like the Lion King is a movie everyone should watch.

Is it perfect? Oh of course not.  The original game was clearly stretching the capabilities of the PS2 as far as they could go.  The frame rate was choppy in the visually intense areas and texture pop and clipping were both prevalent throughout.  However, Shadow of the Colossus is one of the best examples of a game so enjoyable that the flaws seem worth it, granted none of the flaws are game breaking and are mainly caused by the original platform’s restrictions.  Moving Shadow to the PS3 shouldn’t be too much of a problem, all developer Bluepoint had to do was not break it.

When remakes or releases are done there are several different directions that can be taken.  The game could be completely remade with new art and engines (like Tomb Raider Anniversary), the game could have new art bolted onto the old engine (like Halo Anniversary), or the  game could remain the same and the visuals smoothed to look better on newer systems.  This is the route taken on Shadow of the Colossus.

Everything from the poly-count to the textures have be preserved and moved in the porting.  The texture pop is inexplicably still present, but that’s a minor set back.  Sure, small things have been added, like better lighting, 3D support, a solid frame rate, 1080p video, and trophy support, but largely, Shadow of the Colossus is the exact same game it was on the PS2.

Don’t take that as a bad thing.  The battles feel just as epic and satisfying as they were originally and the soundtrack is still as somber and elegant as it ever was.  What has been created is a pristine, almost historical record of what Shadow of the Colossus was on the PS2.  Let’s say as a kid you watched Raiders of the Lost Ark on VHS hundreds of times, then you buy the movie on Bluray, that’s the difference you are going to see and experience with the ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection.  For anyone just getting into gaming or anyone that was too young to play the original release, this collection is a fantastic way to experience the best of the PS2.  For fans of the original, this is a great opportunity to get rid of your PS2 copy.

Verdict: A great primer for impending release of The Last Guardian.

(PS – An ICO review is still to come)

For this outing, Rayne is sticking to the 2D plane. Betrayal has been made into a pure platformer with 15 levels of running, jumping, shooting, slashing, exploding fun. First off we’ll touch on Rayne’s changes. In addition to making the jump from 3D to 2D, Rayne’s look has changed as well. No longer bearing her belly WayForward has toned down Rayne’s sex appeal in favor of a more modest look, while still retaining the essence of the 3D game design. Her face has changed significantly though.  When you see her up close she looks like Emo-Rayne, which I must say is my only gripe as a long standing Bloodrayne fan. While maybe not the best games in their genre I have loved the first two games. They were a huge amount of fun for me.

The look of the game is like a very smooth running motion comic. All the animations flow easily from one movement to another for both Rayne and the enemies. The colors contrast nicely so you won’t lose Rayne in the chaos onscreen. There are a few moments where the screen goes dark and you simply see nothing but shadows as you slice up your foes.

Rayne still has her signature blades and a nice power packing pistol that can take out several normal enemies in one shot.  During the game she also receives a solar gun, the ability to transform, and can make enemies explode. That’s right, you can make them explode. How this works is when you go to feed on your victim to replenish your health you can simply bite them quickly and they will take on a green color and start to smoke a bit.  Then you can press the taunt button to make them explode, causing damage to nearby enemies, and even causing them to explode in a chain. Rayne also has a headstomp move.  Strangely enough there’s a trophy for do this 50 times in a row.

In the platforming department………..well damn.  Betrayal takes the typical platform challenge and amps it up. With great level design, and tricky jumps, platform lovers will be happy with where this game takes them.  When I say tricky jumps I mean TRICKY jumps.  There’s one battle where you have to fight while jumping from one quick vanishing hop post to another while fighting two enemies at the same time.  Some of the 15 levels are almost nothing but pure puzzles, challenging jumps, run through traps, moving saws, flying missiles, floating bodies, dropping spikes, and pools of acid. Whew they throw a lot at you in this one. It’s ok though, Rayne’s a tough girl and can take care of herself. She has two moves that really help with her survival. A dash move that has some frames of invincibility, and backflip move that gives much greater height to her jumping ability.  With almost 10 different enemy types the game doesn’t get very repetitive. Certain sections dish out the challenges out in combinations that will require you to use strategy to overcome.

In true platformer fashion there are power ups to find.  Every 5 red skulls you collect will give you the option to increase your health or ammo cache. I always chose health. Your score in each level is ranked and these scores are shared on the leaderboards. A time bonus is seen ticking down quickly when you start a level, or checkpoint. The faster you complete the level the higher score you’ll get. The controls are tight, and very responsive. When I missed jumps I knew that it was me that missed them and not because the controls were off. Just like a whip Rayne will do exactly what you tell her and just like said whip, if she stings you it’s because you told her to.

Sound-wise this game has hits and misses for me. First off, the sound is excellent. The music is full, rich, fun, but sometimes repetitive. Not annoyingly repetitive, but you do get a little tired of hearing the same few songs from time to time. Hits, grunts, moans, shots, explosions, deaths; they all come out beautifully and distinct. Unfortunately where the misses for me come from is not actually hearing the small bit of story that’s going on in the game. When I said the game looks like a really smooth motion comic I meant it. Dialogue is handled with text bubbles, so we won’t get to hear the sultry voice of Laura Bailey as Rayne this time around.  You’ll most likely remember her as the voice of “Lust” from the Fullmetal Alchemist series.

If your a longtime Rayne fan, or a fan of great platformers this is a must buy. At only $20 or $15 if your a Plus gamer.  This game is well worth your time and money.

Verdict: A MUST PLAY.