Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game Review

In a world faced with realistic graphics and story-laden plots perhaps it is a bit refreshing to play something like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game (whew), a game that debunks the idea that all movie games must suck - or does it - yes it does. Scott Pilgrim KO's the conception that licensed games must be lackluster; perhaps the downloadable route is something more developers should do.

The game keeps the story to the basic framework that the graphic novels set forth but provided that you have read the books you will be surprised what the developers at Ubisoft got right - and how much they managed to stuff in.

The Overworld

The gameplay is a old-school (punishingly so, at times) Streets of Rage, Double Dragon style game and you would be remiss to not feel some sense of nostalgia pulling at your heartstrings on your journey through the Toronto-styled overworld.

The sprites are wonderfully animated and I often found myself wondering if I would have really been about to see a game that looked this good in the early nineties (the style that they were going for). The "cutscenes" are cutesy pictures of the outcomes of each level and every time I watched one I could not help but smile or laugh depending on what I was looking at.

The soundtrack is perhaps the best part of the game - you know, other than having a game to play it to - provided by Anamanaguchi. Particular favorites were world 1's song and world 3's.

The game has 4-player couch co-op where you can play as a part of Sex Bob-Omb (as a taunt). You get a rating, comparatively to the people that you were playing with, at the end of each level. There is no online co-op and though I am sure that it was an issue of time, I see this game as more fun played on the couch with 3 other friends.

The only other qualm I had with the game is when the enemies get stuck on the sides of the screen - you can not see them and you can not progress - and you have to either restart the level or systematically punch and kick at the sides of the screen until you kill the seemingly invisible guy.

Scott Pilgrim: The Game had a lot to offer: two secret characters to unlock, paths on the overworld that do not unlock during the natural progression through the game, and easter eggs galore (personal favorite was the goku sprite).

If you are a fan of Scott Pilgrim you are a fan of this game. If you are a fan of old-school beat-em-ups you are a fan of this game. Get out there on the streets of Toronto and beat up some evil exes - or something.

4.5 out of 5
Review based on retail Playstation Network version provided by Ubisoft.

Limbo Review

Danger lurks everywhere.

In Limbo you may never truly know what is going on but regardless you will be on the edge of your seat until the very end. My heart was jumping out of my chest several times throughout the game.

Limbo tells the story of a boy who enters Limbo to see what has become of his sister. You would never know this because the game just begins - and for that matter ends - and plays through.

The only actions in the game are to move forward or back, jump, and interact with objects (usually by pushing or pulling them). Despite all of this the puzzles in the game get challenging (but not controller throwing) and often result in, "AHA," moments.

The best part of the game is that this game is timeless. It will look great in 10 or twenty years - in its beautifully rendered black and white, film grainy style.

On the opposite side of the coin the most disturbing thing about the game is all of the ways that you will be dismembered while trying to discover the right way through a puzzle. My heart would beat faster every time I slipped and feel of some spikes or stepped in a bear trap. I cringed.

I feel that even if you are a very careful player this game requires a lot of trial and error. For me it never became frustrating though I was a little annoyed with one puzzle that required very precise timing.

The length of the experience should not matter to anyone but look at five or so hours for your first playthrough. The game invites at least a second playthrough to discover all of the game's secrets and perhaps the achievement for finishing the game in one sitting dying five times or less.

At the end you leave feeling that Limbo is art. You are playing in a movable Edward Gorey book and might feel right at home in a Tim Burton Movie. Playdead hit the nail on the head (literally) with Limbo. This is an experience everyone needs to have.

10 out of 10

Limbo is XBLA exclusive, part of the Summer of Arcade promotion. It costs 1200 Microsoft Points and was paid for by the reviewer.

DeathSpank Review

DeathSpank is not like many other games. It has charm, wit, and a great ability to make you feel like a hero to the downtrodden. It unfortunately also has an ability to make you feel like one of the downtrodden that you are supposed to be downtroddening or something like that.

From the second you start playing it is easy to see where Ron Gilbert's (Monkey Island) influence takes root. The jokes are familiar yet fresh and there is even one in there about Monkey Island. To say that the game is aware of itself would be speaking lightly as you are constantly greeted by jokes about game mechanics and common RPG terms.

The game is an RPG, heart and soul, from the loot to the constant questing. The game is a real time RPG with solid mechanics, good inventory systems (an auto-grinder would have been nice), and a hefty amount of content. It also takes a teeny slice from the adventure game pie but that lies in a few puzzles and the dialogue options.

The dialogue remains fantastic throughout the game but toward the end of the experience it all begins to feel samey, boring, and washed out. Jokes at the end of game would have been funny at the beginning of your experience but when you are nearing the end of a ten hour experience you have - in so many ways - heard it all before.

The same thing happens with the gameplay. It is fun to begin but toward the end it feels like rinse and repeat. Despite the constant loot you will find that you stick with the same weapons throughout the game. You might switch to new weapons 4 or 5 times in the game throughout. The runestones change it up a bit (mostly just for the cool aesthetics) but they are by no means necessary so you might never use them at all. The game may also have plenty of loot but you will rarely find that you are ever maintaining your inventory (though toward the end of the game you will constantly be grinding things that you do not want in order to make room for the things you need).

Despite all of the caveats, I played through the game in two long gameplay sessions and watched time melt away after I did - short, simple and sweet - quest after quest. The game is built for short gameplay bursts and it may have done the game a greater service to play it like this because after the first long gameplay session I felt like I had no reason (other than to finish it off) to go back. The story is okay, and once you have heard some of the jokes none of the others will catch you off guard.

Something that did catch me off guard was that this was also the first game in a long series of games played through where I found the music boring and less inspired than the rest of what the game had to offer.

Everything about the DeathSpank experience (sounds like an exotic ride) screams - from the Enchanted Forest to the Demon Mines - of polish, careful thought and crafty design. I remember several times throughout my playthrough stopping to marvel at just how well everything worked though DeathSpank, the game, is much like Deathspank, the character; he means well but the outcome is not always what was intended. Buy this game if you are a fan of Monkey Island or Diablo as the hype has suggested (or for an easy 200 gamerscore) - the rest may be able to wait for DeathSpank 2.

3.5 out of 5

Review based on the retail XBLA code paid for by the reviewer.

Alan Wake Review

 Five years in the making and the light is finally shining upon Alan Wake. Remedy Entertainment makes sure that the product that they release is a character driven - story laden - psychological romp through the Pacific-Northwest town of Bright Falls. They succeed at their task and ultimately you should not wonder why this game took five years until completion.

Alan Wake is a writer suffering from a two-year bout of writers block; coincidentally this has put a strain on his marriage (and perhaps his mind) so they find themselves vacationing to the idyllic town of Bright Falls. The visit, quickly, takes a turn for the worse and Alice goes missing. You wake up a week later with no memory of what has happened and dark shadowy figures - also known as Taken - are attacking you whilst you try and piece together what has happened to your wife by finding and reading pages of a manuscript that you do not remember writing. Heavy, no?

So begins your mission of trying to find out what happened to your wife using only a flashlight and whatever gun you can get your James Joyce Brett Easton Ellis mitts on.

The gameplay is simple enough; boost your flashlight to burn of the darkness shrouding the Taken and only then, only after the shield is completely gone, can you dispatch them with your gun. In most instances it becomes challenging - especially when three or four Taken spawn right next to/behind you (scaring the bejesus out of you) and while you are trying to knock away ones shield (because, again, they are otherwise invulnerable) the other two are flanking you. Fun. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and it keeps the game interesting.

The sound design and music in Alan Wake create some of the games best moments. Particulars that comes to mind are the songs that cap off each episode and the ambient sound (or noise) when Taken are about is enough to keep you on your toes throughout the game. The sounds of the forest let you know that this is still a "real place" and of course the game would never be complete without the Old Gods of Asgard but that is all I have to say about that so as not to spoil a great part of the game.

The graphics are great but at times they show their five year tenure of development. The game often looks photo-realistic - especially at night - but at other times - specifically when characters are speaking - the marionette style mouth animation looks antiquated. It is nothing that took myself out of the experience and is my only gripe with the game.

The game is also full of product placement, from Energizer batteries to Verizon cell phones, but again for me it just added a sense of realism to the game. Think about your own life - we are living, breathing advertisements.

Though it does not really factor into a review per se it is no secret that the fine folks at Remedy want Alan Wake to be a series (or at the very least to have a sequel). The ending allows for that (not in a bad way) but in a way that if there is not a second game a lot of folks will be disappointed.

This a fine psychological thriller is every sense of those two words. Alan Wake will be talked about for years to come as a return to form for the thriller genre when it comes to games. It tells a terrific story and has you feeling and pulling for the characters throughout the game. Buy this game new so that we can all play Alan Wake 2 (The Search for Better Lighting).

'Splosion Man Review

So innocent. So Sploderrific.

I can remember a time when I thought of the Xbox Live Arcade as merely a portal for retro games. You could count on one hand the number of original games and better still you were lucky if you found one worth playing. This is not a review of a service but I feel, as do others, that this service provides me with more games - as of late - that I love than traditional retail.

That being said, Splosion Man is the stuff of legend. You and I both wish that there was this kind of passion for creating games everywhere in the industry. Twisted Pixel splodes their way into your heart and here is why:

Splosion Man is the two-hour old product of Big Science's ridiculous experiments - other experiments often come in the form baddies that you encounter throughout the game - and he is not happy. His is happy, however, to turn all of the scientists into big chunks of meat. It never gets old. The "story" is really that simple and technically there is no real ending (Splosion Man 2 please?).

The biggest achievement for this game is the level design. It is brilliant and naturally the best - and most prominent - part of the game. The levels are always at a level of impossible adding in just a glint of being able to beat them; it keeps you going and makes you feel like a king when you pass one of the levels.

What brings those levels to life? The fact that the game is rendered in the beautifully stylized Third Dimension; can you believe it? It looks similar if not identical to the graphical style of The Maw and it is just as charming - if not more so.

Though you cannot put a price on charm and the fact that price does not usually factor into a review (as well as it should not) let us just look at this game from a value standpoint: it is is 800 Points (ten bucks) and for that you not only get 50 levels of single player but 50 different levels just for co-op multiplayer (couch co-op or LIVE). Extra goodies also make their way in there in the way of gamerpics, a premium theme, and avatar clothing. If you end up liking the game, of course if you do not you should be sploded into steaks, this a splodin' sweet value.

I remember that when this game was announced on April Fool's Day of 2009 I rolled my eyes. On April second they confirmed that Splosion Man was a real game. I was still not impressed, excited, or at all interested. Then folks got their hands on it, started talking about it, and I had to have it. Splosion Man never disappoints and is always coming out with clever quips and hilarious random sayings that border on catch phrases. The three bosses in the single-player mode are equally as funny and the animations for all characters in the game are amazing. I cannot say enough good things about this game so please, if you haven't already, liberate your wallet of ten dollars that desperately wants to be spent on Splosion Man.

Editor's Note: Only this single player portion of this game was played for this review. The multiplayer was sampled but not completed. Not that it matters - obviously - but the game was paid for by the reviewer.

Kick-Ass Review

To start off, I want to be clear that this is the movie we are talking about. I know that this is a site for video game reviews and other such news but I felt strongly enough about this movie that I figured you, the reader, needed to know how I felt. We all belong to the same geeky nerd genre anyway. Also, there might be spoilers abound.

Kick-Ass is beautiful. The fine folks behind this movie deserve credit for making this movie look as sweet (I literally mean candy-coated here) as possible. Everything is a bright color (like someone just flicked the color boost switch on the side of the camera) and it all makes you feel like you want to be part of the Kick-Ass version of New York City (you know, aside from all the thugs and gangs that this movie pays homage to). The style of all of the fight scenes even makes you feel bad-ass Kick-Ass. This is the kind of movie that I cannot wait to own on Blu-Ray.

But then, if you are like myself, and a fan of comic books, you probably read the comic - right?

Well then, I am sorry to say that you are ass-kicked in this representation of Kick-Ass.

Granted that the comic was not yet finished before the movie's screenplay there were bound to be some differences between stories; it was my hope that these would not be too major. This is the story of a kid named Dave who decides that the world needs a hero and that he is going to be that guy. He feels empowered by his suit until everything goes wrong. There are real heroes out there who are not about the flashy nature of it all and Dave gets mixed up in it all. He quickly discovers why being a superhero is not all fun and games.

The first of my laundry list of story complaints was that I was disappointed with how Kick-Ass got his name especially seeing that they kept the same basic You-Tube scene in there. I was also disappointed when they assimilated scenes from the comic together so that the events were all happening to main characters. I did not feel like there was too much or too little content in the comic that these unnecessary liberties needed to be taken.

There are a few major twists in the comic that really impressed upon me but in the movie they all fell flat or did not even exist. The movie was not shy about throwing the whole Red Mist thing right out there in the open. It was also not shy about completely blasting the whole Big Daddy/Hit Girl story to pieces.

The casting for the movie and the character portrayal were perhaps some of the worst parts of the movie. First - McLovin. I am sorry but Christopher Mintz-Plasse was only cast in this movie to drawn in the SuperBad crowd and while it may be to understand that from a business decision, from a I don't want you to butcher this movie standpoint all I can literally think of is "face. palm." It ruined the revelation of his character and just the whole character itself. Ace Enders Aaron Johnson did a good job portraying Kick-Ass but the decision to portray him as more pathetic in the movie was a poor one. I cheered for his minor victories in the comic but again in the movie everything came out like a whimper and in the end Kick-Ass ends up using guns just like everybody else. The portrayal of Hit Girl was almost spot on if not for all of her use of guns and Big Daddy, played by Nick Cage, was far too skinny.

My last on the long list of complaints is where the film makers try to appeal to us gamers. There is a scene where Hit-Girl ends up in the dark fighting everybody in a warehouse alone, I know - shock of shocks. What you did not know is that the illustrious film makers decided that they wanted to appeal to us gamers by putting in a DOOM (movie) style FPS moment while she is taking everyone out. I rolled my eyes through the whole part.

In the end if you did not read the comic perhaps Kick-Ass was a good movie. There are a lot of people out there who disagree with my thoughts on the movie. At the end of the day I wanted to like the movie but it was really just a terrible garbage mess. Sometimes I want to like something so badly that I just tell myself that I like it. You may be able to find a few glimmers of a decent comic book movie but just remember that you are looking through shit.

Mass Effect 2 Review

If you are a previous fan of Mass Effect, this is the game that you have been waiting for. If you love a good space faring story (Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.) this is the game that you have been waiting for. This has been called the Empire Strikes Back of the Mass Effect series and in turn, it may be the best game of all time. Something I read on Gizmodo puts it better, "Mass Effect 2... transcends to science fiction that you can play."

The events of Mass Effect 2 take place two years after the events of the prior entry in the series. The Collectors are abducting human colonies and you are charged with taking on the suicide mission to stop them. Throughout the game you will assemble a team in order to stand a fighting chance against the Collectors and assembling that team takes you to the far reaches of the galaxy.

The majority of the experience takes place in the middle of the Terminus Systems - only previously mentioned in ME1 - so the subject matter is far grittier and the subject matter is significantly darker. The story that we are given in the Mass Effect series is some of the greatest because the information - the Mass Effect bible if you will - was created at the same time and it allows for a lack of plot holes. Most science fiction stories that we encounter have been told over many generations and Mass Effect has had the luxury of being told over the span of one - let alone one platform.

The story could not exist without its characters and the characters that you encounter are nothing less than gorgeous, gritty, deadly, and charming - there is everything to be said about the writing that surrounds them. Depending on your play style you will have your favorites and there will come a point where it becomes upsetting that you can only take two of them with you on each mission. Each character has a rich back story that will leave you feeling as though you know each one personally. I personally became attached to many characters and one would be a surprise those whom have not yet dipped their toes into the ocean that is Mass Effect 2. At the games end, though I did not take him on a wealth of missions, Thane had become my favorite character.

The combat - this time around - actually feels like combat. In ME1 we were given combat, based on dice rolls (To the naysayers: I know this to be a standard RPG element) that was supposed to feel more like a third person shooter. In its successor we are given complete third person "control" and are still, in the way of an RPG, if not more than the first game, encouraged to deploy our squad and continue doing so throughout the remainder of the fight. You could also set menu options and rob yourself of this experience having the computer take control of your squad. Everything from the controls to the way actual combat takes place feels fluid and perfect. It is a third person shooter, much like Gears of War, inside of an RPG. Having compared the combat to Gears of War, ME2 ends up missing a few bits. You cannot move from cover to cover and I also noticed that there is no animation for turning around a corner. These things never get in the way of gameplay but they will be welcome additions in Mass Effect 3.

The combat is not the only improvement on the first game. There is no longer micromanaging of weapons and armor but instead a simple upgrade system that allows for everything to be upgraded as you collect or buy research items. The minerals that you have to mine throughout the game (again another fluid system) fuel those upgrades. The mining system no longer involves landing on the planet but instead scanning and sending down probes. It is only annoying some of the time, especially when you are scrambling to look for Element Zero and Platinum.

Another change, subtle as it may seem, are what I like to call "Action Moments". These moments allow you to either take a Paragon or a Renegade action in the middle of certain conversations and they vary depending on how you are choosing to play through the game. They involve a left or right trigger press (left = Paragon; right = Renegade) and it dramatically changes the way that scene would have progressed if you had pressed nothing at all.

All the revamps and additions to Mass Effect 2 are welcome and they all feel like the team at Bioware were listening to what we had to say.

There are not enough good things that I can say about Mass Effect 2 but one is that I will be playing this game, over and over, for years to come. I still plan to return to ME1 in order to create more "Shepards" that I can drag over to ME2. There is not a soul that should go without this gem of an experience. You should not be one of the few that choose not to play. Join the team and, "Fight for the lost."

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review

Do you own a PS3? Yes? Good, now you can play this awesome game. I am sure that is enough of an endorsement for Uncharted 2 but for those of you that need more, read on. Oh and for those of you that do not own a PS3 and are still reading this I can promise that this game is worth owning a PS3 for. Naughty Dog has made a game that people will talk about for years to come... or until Uncharted 3 comes out.

Uncharted 2 picks up roughly a year or so after the events of Drake's Fortune but this time we are plunged directly into the middle of an adventure gone wrong. In the first scene Nate wakes up, looks down, and says, "That's my blood. That's... a lot of my blood." After that you begin flashing back to how you got to this point and so begins another exciting romp in the shoes of Nathan Drake.

We are treated to the same basic gameplay from the former game so veterans of Drake's Fortune or those whom have just played it will feel right at home in this new experience. I was disappointed that the brutal combo from Uncharted 1 did not return but some mini QTE's show the remnants of that system. Overall the hand-to-hand combat will be easier for newcomers because most of the combat consists of tapping the square button and pressing the triangle to counter.

The gun combat is also mostly unchanged. There are no prompts telling you how to do some things that you learned how to do in the first game. A perfect, and the most noticeable, example of this is when you are aiming from cover you are able to click in the left thumbstick so that you can switch the gun to your other shoulder and gain another vantage point. You are not taught this again in Uncharted 2 so it is something that you will have had to take from this review or from the first game. Certain guns also now have a zooming feature and it is very helpful especially when taking out snipers.

One thing that you know about the Uncharted series is how over the top in nature it is. The movie feel of this game is what makes it so fun to play but even in the last quarter of this game when things slow down a bit it still feels as though you are playing an interactive movie. The game also looks fantastic but it is not leaps and bounds above what the first game accomplished.

Tell me if this sounds familiar: You are making your way through game "X" and it has an amazing story, amazing gameplay, and even better cut scenes; the whole time you are playing game "X" you are thinking that this is as good as games get. Then you make it to the ending and you either get a 30 second "ties everything up" cut scene that feels rushed and like you deserved something better for playing through this awesome game or you get something awful that again, just feels tacked on. Uncharted 2 will not leave you feeling like this and I even dare you not to laugh (because we know Nate Drake has his funny moments) through it.

It is hard to absolutely suggest playing a sequel knowing that some will not have played the first game and to those I say that it is not absolutely necessary to play Uncharted: Drake's Fortune but it does come highly recommended. Uncharted 2 is the reason you own or will own your PS3. This is the game you recommend for any player. This game will capture the Indiana Jones fan, the Tomb Raider fan, the platforming fan, the pirate fan, and it may capture fans of well... actual fans. What I am trying to say is that there are a handful of people on Earth that will not enjoy this game and I personally do not want to have anything to do with them.

Flower Review

Unless thatgamecompany (which is in fact the name of their game company) has something equally as charming up their sleeves you are not likely to see a game like Flower ever again. It is so simple yet so innovative in its simplicity.

You start the game with one flower pot in an apartment window and you begin the first level with one flower petal. It is never explicitly stated but your "avatar" is charged with brightening the world from the drab black and white that it has become. You will feel something warm grow deep inside of you as you play through this game. It can easily be played in one sitting and you would be foolish to consider this a caveat. I would recommend this for a first sitting with the game. Then come back after a week (nab yourself that trophy) and do it all again.

There is enough to go through the game at least a second time if not a third; you might find that you just want to be playing the game because of its beauty. The music is absolutely soothing and gratifying and your ability to subtlety control it adds to the experience.

There is not a lot more to say about the game other than it comes with the highest recommendation. It is simple, beautiful, and an experience you will not find anywhere else.

Shadow Complex Review (XBLA)

There are not a lot of games that come out in the Metroidvania genre as of late; this is the first in 12 years, the last one of any note was Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Twelve years does a lot for expectations of a game that comes out in their beloved genre. What is that genre exactly? It is a side scrolling action adventure platformer.

Shadow Complex is set in the Empire universe (owned by Chair Entertainment, penned by Orson Scott Card) and it takes place simultaneously with the book. Shadow Complex tells the story (game story written by Peter David of comic book fame) of Jason Flemming and his new girlfriend Claire. They are hiking in the Pacific Northwest when a group called the Progressive Reformation kidnaps Claire. From there we are strung along by a barely existent thread of a plot into what is the first and best game in this genre in 12 years.

The first and foremost object that needs addressing is that one just needs to get their hands on this game to know what quality lies in store for them.

The game is beautifully rendered in 3D, but is played in a 2D plane, by Unreal Engine 3 and from the second that you boot it up you will be greeted by crisp visuals that one may only expect from a retail title. The cut scenes are the one area that one can notice that this is an arcade title but if they are bothering you that much you are either missing the point of this game, which is not the story, or you just are not skipping them, which is an option I took during my second playthrough.

The story is just about the only downside of the game because there is no story. You can give the story and extra point if you have read the book but it is still non-essential to the gameplay experience. The dialogue is trite, predictable and just plain boring and the most interested pieces of dialogue happen when Jason is in the vent above or below a room; a particular Chicago Cubs reference comes to mind.

The only other downer in this game is that Chair’s added feature to this genre, the touted aiming at enemies in a 3D space (the Z-axis), is sometimes broken and though I never died because of this it became very annoying over two times through the game. I specifically remember one room where I was attempting to make a foam mountain so that I could reach the ceiling and for some strange reason the Z-axis kept moving to some place in the foreground and I had to find a different way up (this was before I found a certain piece of the game’s armor that is specifically crafted for this purpose).


Shadow Complex really shines in its wealth of collectables and unlockables. The game can easily be replayed several times over without any sense of boredom. It is extremely easy to lose oneself in this game and on more than one occasion you will find that you are telling yourself, “Just one more collectable,” only to find that you will play well past that point.

The Proving Grounds section of the game is just one more area of the game that screams replayability. The three challenge packs are laden with difficulty and are not for the easily discouraged. These are the parts of the game that would have made the story mode too challenging for most people to master or even complete. These packs need have not been included but that is the kind of value that Chair packed into this title.

This game will have you reevaluating what you spend $15 dollars on in the future and I mean that in the best way possible. This is best arcade game to come out this year (this could have easily been a $40 boxed retail title) and one can only hope that that it means more of the same from Chair. Perhaps other developers will also see the success of Shadow Complex and will jump on this age-old bandwagon once again.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game REVIEW

It is just another night in New York City when a paranormal pulse sweeps across the city starting you (the Rookie) off on a brand new Ghostbusters adventure. You play the role of the rookie (who never gets a name because Venkman does not want to get too attached) who gets to test all of the new proton pack equipment. Ghostbusters: The Video Game starts off two years after the events of Ghostbusters 2 so for all intents and purposes, this is the sequel Ghostbusters fans have been looking forward to. The question is, “Does it live up to the Ghostbusters reputation?”

From the opening cinematic one can get an idea of how well written (in the GB sense) this game is. It is witty, well acted, and it will probably charm you right into a Ghostbusters suit.

The story is straightforward enough but without giving too much away, the city is in trouble again and this time you get to help in the rescue. In the first level the rookie is tracking down Slimer at the Hotel Sedgwick and it is there that the Ghostbusters discover that something bigger is abound. From there you are taken on a romp through Times Square, the museum, the library, alternate dimensions (of course), and even Central Park.

None of the story ever feels forced or out of place (except for the last scene between Peter and the love interest) and it is all held together by the glue that is classic GB humor. You could not write this stuff better yourself.

When it comes to game play it is nothing new or innovative. It is your somewhat ordinary, run of the mill, slightly modified, third person shooter. None of that matters though because it still manages to feel fun and fresh. The combat is changed up only slightly throughout the game and it (the combat) never failed to satisfy.

The biggest problem with the game was with some of the combat; it was riddled with intense difficulty spikes (keep in mind that I was playing it through on the Professional difficulty though I imagine that it would spike in all of the same places) that were numerous enough that it almost ended with the controller in/on the wall/floor. In these moments it almost felt as though the game mechanics were broken and that you were relying on luck to get through. I would try a section of a level a ton of times and I would only pass through after what seemed like an eternity. I considered a restart of the game on a different difficulty level on more than one occasion. The last thing is that the load times became annoying when forced to something in the game more than twice.

There are a few other things that were wrong with the game but nothing quite at erroneous as the difficulty spikes. For example during some of the cut scenes there was awkward motion capture based on what was going on in the game. It seemed as though the characters body was telling a different story than the voice acting and it just felt unpolished. There was also some minor slowdown during times of intense ectoplasmic action but nothing that broke or spoiled the game.

On quite the opposite end of the spectrum, it never got old smashing headstones with the proton stream. The destructible items/environment in the game were a nice touch that definitely added to the aesthetic.

I would play the game again if only to nab some missing achievements but even without them I would be able to see myself playing it at least once more. The game was not too long or short; it ended right where it felt like it should have.

In the end the game stands out as though it could easily be the third part of the Ghostbusters canon. From the cut scenes to the random in game dialogue the game feels like a piece of the mythos. In the level that I will not spoil for you, Winston says, “So this is where all of the slime that was running under the city came from.”

Bustin’ made me feel sooo good.

Mass Effect Galaxy Review

Let's quickly establish how big of a Mass Effect fanboy I am. I am a huge Mass Effect fanboy.

With that said I was surprised with the high production values that this game had. It looks like Bioware had their hands in this (okay maybe just one hand). The stylized cut scenes are worth playing the game for alone. The story is your basic, run of mill, "Batarians are trying to take down the Citadel," type of story and it is funny because the Batarian ambassador, who we are introduced to rather quickly, looks like a stuffed animal (but perhaps that was the point).

You then, quickly, get into the combat and realize that what you are playing is a high production value cell phone game. Everything has nice animations and it works well but it is the same rinse and repeat gameplay throughout the entire game.

The combat takes place in "combat scenes" where you must kill every enemy in order to pass through to the next one or to the next conversation. You typically get 3-5 combat screens before you get to your next conversation (I would honestly take a stab at it and say that there are probably only about 25-30 combat screens in the entire game).

The gameplay is not hard (it might take you five minutes to learn how to play) and I only died about 4 or 5 times throughout the game and that was just because I was seeing how far I could push Jacob.

All of this is not to say that I did not have fun while playing the combat scenes but I do not see myself playing this more than once more. It is missing the addictive driving point that most addictive cell phone games have and in the end the entire game might take you anywhere between 2-4 hours to complete [and 4 hours is being pretty generous].

Other than the cut scenes the other place where the game shines are the conversation pieces. Usually you are given between 3-5 different things to say and they all have varying responses (ala ME1). Your facial expression changes based on each selection and you can also avoid conflicts based on what you say (also akin to ME1). But like everything else in the game, it still feels watered down. You can threaten people or you can be their saving grace but in the end it is all for naught because there are no Paragon or Renegade attributes rewarded. Essentially you could tap through all of the conversation pieces, without changing anything you say, and you would end up with the same ending that I recieved.

Ending Thoughts: The game was fun enough to play and I'll get my five bucks worth out of it, if just for the reward that it gives you for Mass Effect 2, but overall it was disappointing. I didn't go into it expecting to be disappointed but at the very least there was some decent addition to the Batarian (albeit very short (maybe the length of one or two Sci-Fi book chapters)) backstory. Only the hardest of core Mass Effect fans need apply and still then you are stretching it pretty thin. I have read both books and played through the game 4 times and I still think that this game was bare bones (very pretty bare bones).

"Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt."

April Fool's Game Diary (Call of Duty 4 Game Diary/Review)

So by the time that you read this April Fools day will have came and went without any interesting jokes coming to pass. What is funny is that this entry was really meant to be posted yesterday but I fell asleep with only the rough draft in hand.

I am disaapointed because this industry usually comes up with the best ones (this year Google came up with CADIE). Googles last year was much better. For Gmail they gave you the ability to send email dated for the past (funny because at first I thought that it was true) so your paper, proposal, PowerPoint, etc would always be in on time. Think of the possibilities, one could never be late.

Anyway that's not what we are here to talk about. Or was it. If you had any good ones from this year, drop it in the comments. Okay bye.

Still here? Anyway, I have been playing and completing Call Of Duty 4 for the first time [I played pieces of the single player campaign long ago but I was mainly centered on playing the multiplayer aspect]. I know I know, hang me; Sacriledge or heresy, if you will. If you saw my last post you have an idea of what I am going to say regarding this game though. It gets a ten for the single player experience alone.

I have not felt as involved as I felt in a single player, first person shooter experience, since Halo: Combat Evolved. All I can ask for in the sequel has even better visuals and brings as much innovation to the level design as they did in this one.

Let's have a little makeshift review party right here:

Let us begin with the stunning visuals. The game was just that, stunning, though I do remember it looking even better (even a short time has it's toll).

The immersion I felt was so great because of the excellent sound and gameplay design. The gameplay felt so solid I really felt like I was in it. Which brings me to the sound which was so perfect. The combination of the perfect clicks of the guns and the helis overhead were great; firefights, when you are in the middle of them, it truly feels as though bullets, grenades, whathaveyou, is coming from all directions. In less words, the sound design was perfect.

As far as replayability goes I know I am going to give it a shot on Veteran (it has scared me since COD2) tomorrow and I look forward to getting involved with the multiplayer again and giving the arcade mode a run through.

I remember what originally left a bad taste in my mouth or why I think that I stopped playing the game. I had purchased the GOTY edition which was supposed to come with the Variety Map Pack. Instead my card that was supposed to have a code on it was blank. I went through a whole hub-bub-a-loo which involved contacting both GameStop and Activision several times to no avail. I was pissed at the time - you should have really seen those emails to Activision - but what can one do? I ended up finishing the game and loving it.

Has a game every put a bad taste in your mouth, so to speak, and left you not playing it, despite it being a good game? Leave those thoughts in the comments.

The Force Unleashed Review

Hardly the most recent game to come out but the one that I have had the chance to complete; a review for is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

After finishing TFU, a few goodies and costumes aside, I was left feeling satisfied (there it is right there, go buy the game). I've completed both the light and the dark side endings and either way the story is the best Star Wars video game story that I have encountered since Knights of the Old Republic. It was satisfying possibly in a way that only a Star Wars fan might understand.

The most thrilling parts were the story driven cut scenes and the overall length of the campaign. The campaign progressed nicely and I was never bored (frustrated possibly but bored, no). The cut scenes were breath taking and I felt like I was watching what should have been another Star Wars movie. The only thing I could have asked for were missions (levels) that looked exactly like these stunningly rendered cut scenes.

Most of these missions were ultimately satisfying all with boss fights at their ends. The only thing bad about the boss fights were that as soon as you figured out how to beat them, they were no longer a challenge. But until you were to figure out these magic formulas to beat these bosses most of the fights were long and obnoxiously difficult. After the long and arduous battle to ‘beat’ the boss the boss fights would end in a series of quick button presses (quick time events) and though most people might not find these as satisfying as some other method, I ultimately enjoyed them a great deal (though I am sure they do not hold up after more than one play through).

The only other real complaint I had with the game was the camera angles that the game sometimes forced one to use (again most often in boss fights). On an often enough occasion I found myself dead because of an obnoxious camera that forced me to stay in an area while someone was stabbing me in the back.

On quite the opposite side of all of these complaints this game does the best ever job of making you feel like a truly (and pardon my language here but it is the only way to describe it) bad ass Jedi. The only part where I felt like less than myself is when I had to face off against bubble shield wielding flamethrower guys (trust me, in retrospect, it is a funny thought). My only hope in those moments was the possibility of a huge rock that I could force throw at the guy with the hope that he would, at the most, fall over long enough for me to get up to him with my lightsaber. Okay really, enough with what annoyed me.

Another fantastic aspect of this game was that the levels were beautifully designed and I loved Starkiller. I have never seen such a beautifully rendered Star Wars game and as a whole it did the best job at making me feel like a Jedi or a Sith.

After seeing both endings there was no real reason for me to continue aside from some extra achievement grabbing and though I could not suggest a way to make this game more repayable (that is why I am not the designer of this game) that is a sad fact because as big of a Star Wars fan that I am I could not merit purchasing this game (yes, I know I said to go buy it earlier). If I want the extra gamerscore that I did not nab on the first rental, I'll just rent it again. This games lasting value is something akin to Assassin's Creed. So as a final note (and in closing) I thought that this was a fantastic addition to the Star Wars canon and despite the games flaws it still shines through as a memorable gaming experience.

7.5

Game Review: Fallout 3

I have had a very busy day in which I spent most of my time in a car traveling from place to place. The purpose of all of this was to collect various items from various places in order to complete various quests. On one hand, my father needed me to get a 12 pack of beer, so I had to travel to the liquor store to buy it. On another hand, I had to go to the comic book store because Wednesday is new comic book day. On yet another hand, I had to go to a store to buy a gift for someone. And on yet ANOTHER hand, I had to hunt down some medicine for my mother. Eventually, all of these items will connect in my home to create a vast amount of rewards. This is real life.

And then there is Fallout 3.

I will start out by saying that there is no way that before playing this game, I wasn't biased. For starters, Bethesda is a great gaming company. For seconds, I am in love with almost anything post-apocalypse related. It intrigues me in so many different levels. I will see any movie and read any story if I am told it is based in a post-apocalyptic environment. That's literally all it takes. Add to the equation the fact that I loved Fallout 2 when I was younger (even if I could never beat it) and you have created a sure-fire win in my book.

The plot of Fallout 3 is simple: you live in one of the many vaults created by Vault-Tec as a result of a nuclear war. You're happy enough with your life down there until one day, your father (voiced by Liam Neeson) leaves the vault for an unknown reason. You follow him out into the Capitol Wasteland and are faced with limitless possibility. If you want to play the story, you can follow after your father, but you don't have to. You can merely travel around the world, picking up quests and odd jobs. People will ask for all sorts of things, such as spare parts or help saving their town from Super Mutants. The choice is yours, and what a wonderful set of choices it is.

This, in my humble opinion, is where Fallout 3 shines beyond shining. The world they have created is so beautiful and wondrous (in a morbid way). The second I stepped out of the Vault I was floored about how everything looked. There are mutated animals roaming around, people hunting you or just attacking you for the fun of it, wandering robots that were never turned off, and little floating bots broadcasting the glorious word of the Enclave and President Eden (amazingly voiced by Malcolm Macdowell). I remember the first thing that I did was go into a broken down school and fight off some Raiders with my sub-par equipment. I am still a little confused as to how I got out of there alive, but I was stunned. They took the game experience to a whole new level for me. I know some people call this game Oblivion 2.0, and I suppose that is partially true, but I think that Fallout 3 runs much better than Oblivion did. It's smooth and a little less chaotic, and it still manages to keep the basics of character creation from Fallout 2 which made that game such an individual experience to play.

One might think that an open ended game experience like that might be a little daunting, and that is very true. There are many locations in the game that one can visit, all with their own little stories which may or may not have anything to do with the main story of the game. There are numerous vaults, only three of which you ever actually need to enter. Quests are not a given and, outside of the story, not only do you have to find them by searching the Wasteland, you aren't guaranteed to win them. If you fail, that's it (unless you reload). Not only that, but even if you complete a mission the right way, it can still go wrong! I'll give you an example (possible spoiler ahead, but not really): there is a quest known as the Nuka-Cola Challenge. In this quest, you have to go get 30 bottles of Nuka-Cola for some broad out in the Wasteland with a fetish for the company. Living next door to her is some guy who wants to nail her, and he thinks that if you give him the Nuka-Cola, he'll finally be able to do so. I decided to give all my bottles to him (because I talked his price up with my speech), and once he had 30, he told me to come watch him put the moves on her. At this point, I completed the quest. Hoorah. I go outside of his house only to find that, in between his two second walk to the girl's house, he had encountered a giant scorpion, and I watched it kill him. (end spoiler) It's little things like that that make me happy. Granted, all quests have many ways to be solved, and I took some unorthodox methods in completely some of them, but that is by far and large my favorite outcome of any quest ever, and I think it says exactly what type of game Fallout 3 is.

So now you know what I love about it: everything. I truly adore the way the game runs, and I truly adore the experience I got out of it. I spent 53 and a half hours playing it and doing every little thing before I beat it, and the only reason I could afford to spend that much time on a game is because I do not have a job. After getting the game, I thought to myself how truly thankful I am that I am currently unemployed because it afforded me the time to really dive into this. Fallout 3 truly deserves the love and devotion you might put into a serious relationship, and if you are just getting into a serious relationship then stay away from Fallout 3. And I know exactly what people have as far as problems go in the game. Some people think it's too much of a leap from the style of game play in Fallout 2 that it's just not as fun. To this I wave my hand and say, "Pish posh. If anything, it is more fun!" I went back and replayed Fallout 2 in anticipation for the release of Fallout 3, and I found that while the basic elements of the game stood the test of time, the overall experience did not. I'm not penalizing it for graphics, but you have a 3D world that's 2D, and some things in the game are incredibly unclear. There were definite parts when I just was not sure what to do and had to ask the internet and my roommate (who had the game and had started before and was also consulting the internet for advice) on what to do. I legitimately think that Bethesda took the game and just made it all around better. Some people are also complaining about graphical glitches and freezes, but I only ever experienced one graphical glitch and I chalk that up to the fact that I play this game for 8 hour sits at a time. The XBOX is going to get hot and maybe get a little wonky after that.

So all in all, I think that if you don't play Fallout 3, and you are a fan of legit video gaming, then you are truly missing out. There is so much more I could say about this game, but if I did that then I'd probably be here 53 and a half hours explaining everything. This game comes with the highest stamp of approval I could ever give, and it has taken the spot for "All Time Favorite Game." I am going to be starting my second play through soon, and I'm going to be playing it in an all new way with a character who is truly the polar opposite of my last game, so I'm excited. But seriously - Fallout 3 is the only game you need this holiday season. There are other fun games out there, and I will review some, but all you really need is this.

The next review will probably be Mirror's Edge, so keep an eye out for that.