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Rush ‘N Attack: Ex-Patriot Review

April 10, 2011

Game: Rush ‘N Attack: Ex-Patriot
Publisher/Developer: Konami/ Vatra Games
Price: $10.00
Genre: Stealth Action – HD reboot
Consoles: PSN and XBLA
Try the game here.

Rush ‘N Attack: Ex-Patriot is a 2D side scrolling stealth combat game, focusing on knife play, cold war plot lines and general “spy stuff.” For most of the game, the only weapon the player fights with is a HUGE knife. When unlocked, many various combos can also be used. For example, pressing down on the “L” stick and then hitting “X” “Y” will allow the character to grab an enemies head, do a flip over said bad guy, and then stun him, allowing you to make that glorious finishing move, blood spurts included. Oh, and that is all done in slow motion too. Yup, pretty cool.

However, it is worth noting that there are not that many combos available to use. Only about 15-20 could be unlocked, and they were fairly simple to pull off. And the finishing move was always the same: a standard knife to the chest, also in slow mo. Due to some not so smooth animations, the character felt super clumsy in regular combat as well. When more than one enemy is attacking, it is nearly impossible to pull off a combo, and the limited strong & light standard attacks did little.

Nevertheless, Rush ‘N Attack is not a hack and slash type of game, although that is what it will feel like most of the time. No, this game would actually like you to focus on stealth as your main asset. Darkened closets and ceiling openings are available to sneak past cameras, surprise guards and wreak havoc. Rushing in ‘n attacking is not really a viable option, as the main character will more than likely end up laying down ‘n dying when this type of gameplay style is used.

Initially, for about the first hour of the game, I struggled at trying to sneakily take down enemies without being seen and having to knife fight multiple dudes carrying machine guns. It soon all began to click though. Take a guy down, rush past the next few, hide in a closet, pull a hapless Russian inside and carve him up, and then it was onto the next bunch. Once I was able to pick up some artillery, with very limited ammo, it got even better, even if the weapons were VERY ho hum. Lame assault rifles, standard rocket launchers and boring grenades more or less were the only option besides knives. A glitch in the game that caused the character to only pick up a fallen gun about 50% of the time was also a a source of minor irritation.

In many ways, I felt that the game was a precursor to a modern game that we would play now. In this console generation, silky smooth animations, near limitless combinations of combos, large weapon variety, and easier character handling have made a welcome splash. If you wanna see where it all started though, just take a look at this game. Its not that its bad, because it isn’t. Its that it feels old, which can be good or bad depending on you viewpoint. The only really frustration part was how clumsy the platforming and main character were.

As far gameplay goes, Rush ‘N Attack: Ex Patriot is sorta solid. But the foundation on which it rests, the story, is atrocious. If it were a house, it would be condemned and killed with a wrecking ball, after which it would be burned to appease the story gods. Galaxy ripping plot holes tear the story to pieces. The game starts out with the narrator telling of how he was sent to Russia to spy on what the communists were doing: in this case the Russians are excavating a special rock that can make super soldiers out of ordinary soldiers. Part of the SpecOps team was captured, and he and a few others made it out alive. 20 years later though, his special crack team of agents (you) is assigned to rescue the left behind men. Ok, so far so good, although 20 years seems like a preeeetttty long time.

All of sudden, it is revealed that YOU were captured too. So much for being a crack team, eh? Next, a prisoner, with a large knife no less, breaks you out of your cell, saying that your team is on its way to be scientifically tested on by a mad scientist. OOOOH, MAD SCIENTIST YOU SAY! CRAZY!

Now, your mission is to rescue the squad and find out if the narrator’s 60-something friend is still alive.

And that is about where I stopped caring. Rocks that make super soldiers and mad scientists? Yea, that hasn’t been done to pieces. Also, why would a prisoner have a HUMONGO knife, that he then just gives to you?! This same prisoner also reveals that he has the same training as you do. Therefore, why in the name of all that is good and holy did he wait for you?! He couldn’t break out, rescue the CIA ninjas and escape himself?! Obviously, either the training method sucks, or the plot is awful. I’ll leave that up you to choose.

The other parts of the game, audio and graphics, also feel outdated. Rough edges make for unappealing eye candy, and the background is not all that exciting either. The soundtrack is there all right, but it doesn’t make the action more gung ho. The sound effects are generally a redeeming feature to the rest of the audio though. Whenever the main character slides into the shadow or does a combo, there is some cool “whoosh” effects and the rockets and other items also have good audio behind them.

Concluding thoughts

My favorite line in the game came at the beginning, when the narrator, talking about your squad, said, “You are one group of badass ninjas.” I though to myself, “This game will be awesome!” Promptly thereafter, I was captured, and all hell broke loose. It was then I realized that this game is good, but not badass.

In summary, Rush ‘N Attack: Ex Patriot is fun in one area: the game play. Even then though, there are some terribly boggy sections that siphon the fun out. The rest of the package falls flat on its face too.

Virtua Tennis 4 plus XBOX360 Trailer

Darren Resnekov

April 9, 2011

Featuring a huge line up of 19 of the world’s top players combined with some exciting up and comers, Sega’s Virtua Tennis 4 is about to be served up upon the gaming community and from a first glance looks like it will certainly give the Top Spin franchise a run for its money. Whether you are using your Kinect, Move or standard Wii controller, players will experience new motion technology designed to produce more interactive gameplay. The traditional calendar style layout found in almost every tennis game has been replaced with quirky, fun board game layout.

While the basic retail disc will be the same for the 3 consoles, David Kempshall the Brand Manager for Virtua Tennis 4 has announced exclusive download content for the PS3 in the form of classic legends Boris Becker, Pat Rafter (for all you Aussies out there), and Stefan Edberg, as well as 2 bonus party type games. PS3 owners can further rub it in the noses of their Xbox360 nemesis with Mie Kumagai, Executive producer of Sega having announced 2 exclusive demos coming soon to PSN. Lets hope Microsoft can secure something for their users but hey its only the download content, the game is the same on all platforms.

Taking on much feedback from players of the franchise, who complained that the single player mode was repetitive after the first season and lacked imagination, Sega have revamped the World tour, shortening it but broadening its scope to encompass Australia, France, USA and the UK. The World tour career mode has also taken on a RPG element, as players have to perform off and on the court, winning matches as well as signing autographs and attending press interviews to build their characters profile. This results in unique character growth where no 2 players have taken the same path to get to the top and ads replay value to the single player mode. All characters designed and used within the demo mode can be brought across into a retial copy of the game.

Online play looks to be more evenly matched as Sega have implemented the Virtua Fighter 5 matchmaking system making it more attractive to all gamers rather than just the pros. Another cool little feature is the Match momentum gauge (also in offline play), which can be built up to allow players to play shots they normally wouldn’t be able to. Chock full of mini-games and a focus on multi-player modes will make this a great addition to any sports fans game library.

Virtua Tennis 4 demos are available on PSN from April 13^th

Virtua Tennis 4 will be available on Wii, PS3 and Xbox360 on 29^th April

http://www.facebook.com/VirtuaTennis

http://www.facebook.com/SEGA

Rayman 3D – Review

Dustin Spencer

April 9, 2011

Game Name: Rayman 3D
Platform(s): Nintendo 3DS
Publisher(s): Ubisoft
Developer(s): Ubisoft
Genre(s): Platformer
Release Date: March 25, 2011 (EU) March 27, 2011 (US) March 31, 2011 (AU)
Price: $39.99
BUY NOW!

Just a little bit over 12 years ago, Rayman 2: The Great Escape took the world by storm when it was released on the Dreamcast, Playstation & Nintendo 64. The game helped cement Rayman’s legacy in the video game world and went on to see many ports over the years. This classic has now been fully ported yet again and renamed Rayman 3D for the Nintendo 3DS, launching right along with the console. After all the ports and years passed, I still had not tried Rayman 2 yet, so just about every bit of this game was new to myself but being a platformer fan, I knew I had to finally give this classic a full run-through. How exactly does Rayman fare in his first 3D outing? Here is my review for Rayman 3D.

Please note that all screenshots are in 2D

Story
Rayman 3D puts players in control of Rayman, who now must trek through “The Glade of Dreams” and put a stop to a group of robot pirates along with their leader, Razorbeard, who have invaded the land and captured many of his friends. Rayman also is set with the task to collect four masks to awaken the much powerful Polokus who is the key to restoring order in the world.

The whole plot is rather simple and easy to follow most of the time as there are many cutscenes throughout the game. In this journey you will encounter many different enemies as well as allies along the way and each are usually filled with the game’s quirky style and humor. Instead of standard voicework, Rayman and all of the other characters speak in a jibberish language, but it is hard not to enjoy the way this story is told as all the characters are charming and keep the game as bright and enjoyable as players explore the colorful world.

Gameplay
Rayman is a full 3D platformer, much like many of the older titles in the genre that we seen so prominently on the Nintendo 64 many years ago. Of course this title comes from that era and yes, it also still feels like it was ripped right off the system and thrown onto the 3DS. For my own personal preference though, this isn’t a bad thing as I still am a huge fan of the late 90’s/early 2000’s platformers and Rayman 3D did a great job of offering a hefty piece of nostalgia with the way the game not only looks, but also with how controls and plays out.

The control scheme in Rayman 3D works wonders for this port with the key ingredient of it’s success being the system’s circle pad. Rayman of course is able to run and jump, as with any platformer, but the hero also has quite a few other techniques up his sleeve. Rayman is able to shoot a projectile out of his fist to attack enemies. This attack is done quick and rolls out smoothly, but the lack of any actual sound effect kind of left more to be desired with this action overall. You can use this technique not only to actually shoot enemies, but also to trigger switches and perform techiques such as swinging which are learned later on in the game. Rayman also can float across gaps with his hair, much like we have seen characters like Dixie Kong or Tails perform, except he thankfully never grows tired and can use this technique until he hits the ground.

The world in the game is actually quite large and the developers did an excellent job at making sure that each level felt different from the next. The main objective for each level is to take out enemies, collect a set number of Golden Lums (which resemble a firefly), free both lums and allies from cages, and make it to the warp pad at the end. Outside of the occasional boss battle, this formula is used throughout the game but there is plenty of variety mixed in to each area outside of standard platforming. For instance, there are a few paths where Rayman must slide down a slippery path dodging obstacles, shooting enemies, and collecting lums along the way. There are also bits of swimming, puzzle solving, and even moments where you can ride on enemies that all switch up the gameplay and keep things feeling fresh. The best thing about all of these techniques is that they control quite well and all are actually enjoyable to perform. I did however have a bit of trouble actually trying to swim, but that was mainly due to the camera rather than the actual swimming in general.

The camera isn’t really much of a problem as it seemed to behave most of the time automatically, but this flaw actually boils down to adjusting the angle itself. To perform this small task, you must press the D-pad and completely take your finger off the circle pad to do so every single time you need to get a better look at whatever area you may be in, you will have to come to a complete stop and use the other control pad to move the camera. This isn’t a huge annoyance as you can also “auto adjust” the camera with the shoulder buttons to look straight ahead, but many areas require getting a full scope so this alone may frustrate some players out there and cause a few unnecessary deaths from time to time.

When you collect all of the Golden Lums in a level, you are awarded a bonus level to compete on. These are not too complex and more like mini-games such as racing, but they do allow for a nice break between levels. If you miss your chance at collecting everything in a level, the game also lets you revisit any level at any time which should be fantastic news for the completionists who are sure to want to hit that 100% mark at the end of the game. Seeing as you learn new abilities as you go, you can also revisit any level you have completed and take full advantage of your new-found power. At times, this is even required but in all honesty I didn’t mind as this form of backtracking actually lengthened the overall game. I would have loved to have seen some sort of multi-player, streetpass, or even a leaderboard of some sort added, but this is simply a straight port through and through and aside from the 3D, it does feel a little disappointing that it didn’t utilize the system a just a little more to bring it to the present day.

3D Effect/Visuals
Rayman 3D is the first ever full 3D platformer on a handheld, and for the most part I was quite impressed by the way the game utilized the 3D function. The textures of the environments have that painted on look that we seen years ago in just about every game, but when you put the 3D on, these actually seemed to “pop” and added a much larger sense of depth to the stage. This works particularity wellwith the top-down angles where Rayman is hovering as it is much easier to tell how far that floating lum is or if you will make it to the nearest platform. The 3D also makes small animations such as mosquitoes, fish, and butterflies all seem to fly right out of the screen. Rayman 3D is already a very visual game as the environments are filled with color, but the 3D definitely enhances the whole experience and should not be ignored. As great as the 3D was during gameplay, I actually wanted to turn it off during the cutscenes. Sometimes when a scene is playing, “ghosting” can take effect where you see two of one character or the subtitles simply become a bit blurred and hard to read. As I mentioned though, this problem was only noticed during the cutscenes and never once showed during any gameplay whatsoever.

Audio
The music in this title is fantastic all the way through and the 3DS’ sound does wonders to really add a huge amount of atmosphere to each environment. As I mentioned, the “jibberish” also adds a ton of personality to each character as well, making it easy to read emotions and the humor within the dialogue. The sound effects though are just not up to par with the rest of the experience, sadly. Rayman’s main attack in my opinion could have at least had a popping noise or just some added in “plop”, but instead there just isn’t anything and it is sometimes hard to even tell if your attack has connected due to the sound alone. Even when I would shatter a wall or flip a switch, there was just no true indication as the sound effect was either barely there or just not present whatsoever.

Overall
Rayman 3D is by no means a perfect game and does show it’s age in a few areas, but this title is still a fantastic platformer which controls well and stays enjoyable up until the very last boss. I never felt like I was doing the same thing twice during my experience due to the constant introduction of new elements of gameplay and because of that, it was easy to progress quickly and even easier to actually want go back in and try to aim for perfection with the many collectibles scattered throughout the stages. Rayman comes with some flaws in this journey, but he does show the world just how capable the 3DS truly is at running a platformer and has quickly became my favorite out of all the 3DS launch titles in the process. Whether you want to revisit this classic with it’s new 3D shine or just want to experience this quirky title’s interesting characters and fast-paced gameplay for the first time, Rayman 3D stands as one of the stronger contenders in the 3DS’ launch line-up and is a must have for anyone who wants something sweet and fulfilling for that nostalgic sweet-tooth.

I Give Rayman 3D

Fate of the World – PC Review

Chris Cerami

April 9, 2011

Fate of the World
Developer: Red Redemption
Publisher: Red Redemption
Genre: Strategy / Educational
Price: $9.99 / £9.99 / €9.99
Platform: PC
Release Date: Available now at www.fateoftheworld.net or on Steam!

Fate of the World is a strategy game developed by Red Redemption, the developer of the similarly themed Climate Challenge. The game puts you in charge of an international organization in charge of managing political and environmental issues throughout the world in the hopes of curbing global climate change while maintaining political and social stability. If that sounds like a lot to handle, then you’re correctly imagining the scale of your mission.

Story:

As the president of the Global Environmental Organization, you will be in charge of 12 different regions throughout the world: North America, Latin America, Northern Africa, Southern Africa, Europe, Russia, Oceania, Middle East, India, China, South Asia, and Japan. In each of these regions, you will need to put in place programs in technology, politics, energy, environmental protection, and society, along with special GEO projects.

Gameplay:

Technological development will allow for increased gathering of natural resources, cleaner sources of energy, and more advanced industries for the region. Political programs will allow the GEO to maintain order and lawfulness in the region, and includes increased security and the ability to declare martial law when necessary. Environmental protection policies will further the goals of slowing global climate change and stopping deforestation, as well as protecting biodiversity. The societal section will help increase the quality of life for the citizens of each region by offering medical programs, increased educational opportunities, and development of commerce and industry to lower unemployment rates. The energy programs will allow you to focus a region’s effort in a particular type of resource, such as oil or renewable options like solar and wind.

The GEO projects are all long running efforts by the organization to further its agenda of preventing climate change. Some of these policies can include either committing a region to either nuclear or renewable sources of energy to reduce carbon emissions, to reforest natural areas, to initiate cap and trade programs for emissions, or to advocate vegetarian habits, which will decrease dependence on livestock agriculture.

Each of these programs will improve certain aspects of a region, but like in real life policy making there is only so much funding to go around. Sometimes you will find that in order to keep a region from militarizing you will need to neglect environmental concerns in order to increase security and law enforcement. Other times, medicine and education may suffer because climate change is progressing at unsafe levels. On top of juggling different programs in each region, you will also need to work to keep each region satisfied. Spending too much in Northern Africa will leave less funds for South Asia and so on. If a region goes neglected for too long, they will eventually kick the GEO out of the area entirely, usually leading you towards a scenario failure.

The game is very complex, and it will most likely take some time to learn the ins and outs of gameplay and the nuances of each strategic option. Players who are unfamiliar with strategy games, or who struggle to multitask well may have difficulty adapting to the steep learning curve of Fate of the World. While the opening scenario asks the player to improve the quality of life in Northern and Southern Africa, the second scenario puts you in charge of all 12 regions and gives you the simultaneous tasks of preventing a certain amount of global temperature increase while also keeping a certain number of countries satisfied. If the global temperature rises by more than 3 degrees or if you’re banned from too many regions, the mission is over. Since missions will take more than an hour to complete, Fate of the World requires a hefty time commitment from players.

The message in Fate of the World is an important one, as global climate change and other environmental issues are just as threatening to our way of life as civil unrest or economic downturn. The science also seems to be pretty accurate for a video game. Environmental issues in Fate of the World vary between biodiversity loss, carbon emissions, deforestation, and water management, each having its own set of consequences. The game will even alert you as species begin to go extinct if you neglect investing in wildlife conservation, as I discovered when I was told that I had accidentally let the black rhino fall by the wayside.

Technological advancements also seem to have been researched exhaustively, with innumerable options between which one can choose. Nuclear, coal, gas, renewable, and oil energy each have their own tech advancements which will lead a particular region towards either an environmentally friendly wind and solar empire or a polluted, carbon-belching wasteland. Choices don’t have to be that drastic of course, as players will usually need to make compromises on the spectrum in order to survive through the decades. While renewable energy is cleaner, it is slower to develop and can leave regions in crisis if oil and other fossil fuels are neglected.

Final Thoughts

While I found Fate of the World to be an extremely challenging and mentally taxing game, strategy enthusiasts will probably appreciate the wealth of options available to them and the depth of the consequences. There are four scenarios within Fate of the World, each with its own set of objectives and requirements. While most missions task the player with protecting the Earth’s fragile equilibrium, there is also the Dr. Apocalypse scenario where the player is told to make everything as chaotic as possible. There will also be a new scenario released shortly which will apparently bridge the difficulty gap between the first and second missions.

Players who prefer getting into the action will probably become easily bored by Fate of the World, but strategy enthusiasts who appreciate some mental stimulation will find more than enough to satisfy them. As an educational tool, Fate of the World would also be invaluable to schools and other environmental education programs thanks to its integration of real issues and ideas with addictive strategy gameplay. Even gamers who have little knowledge or interest in environmental concerns should find something enjoyable in Fate of the World.

For its challenging take on strategic simulation and its environmentally responsible message, Fate of the World gets:

WiiWare/DSiWare releases for Friday 8th April

Jack Joly

April 9, 2011

Fans of pelvic floor exercises can rejoice – boy, do the Nintendo downloads have a treat instore for you or what:

Trollboarder (DSiWare: Enjoy Gaming, 500 Nintendo DSi Points)
3D Twist & Match (DSiWare: Sanuk Games, 200 Nintendo DSi Points)
Successfully Learning Mathematics Year 5 (WiiWare: Tivola, 800 Wii Points)
Physiofun Pelvic Floor Training (WiiWare: Kaasa, 1,000 Wii Points)

As well as ‘Physiofun Pelvic Floor Training’, arguably this week’s main release, comes an assortment of other games including 3D Twist & Match, the review of which is up on the site HERE, the latest instalment in the maths series, Successfully Learning Mathematics Year 5, and Trollboarder, and quirky game which has you snowboarding down the mountain as dragons, goblins and trolls.

Supernatural: The Anime Series arrives on U.S. shores this July

Travis Bruno

April 8, 2011

Considering the fact that the anime was released on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan with the English and Japanese dubbing already finished one could assume that Supernatural: The Anime Series would be getting a quick turn around to an American release date. You are correct of course because Warner Brothers announced that Supernatural: The Anime Series will be released in one bundle on July 26th.

The price of the DVD set of the film will cost $49.98 and the Blu-ray cost will be $54.97. With only a $5 difference it isn’t much of a surprise to think that the Blu-ray will be the format of choice for anime fans. Now the release schedule is very different from the Japanese release which saw the episodes released in bundles over a period of time. The first two episodes were released on January 12th, with episodes 3-12 being released on February 2nd and the final episodes, 13-22, on April 6th.

Those who do not know what Supernatural is, will find that it is an American TV show that features brothers Sam and Dean Winchester doing battle against numerous supernatural forces and has run for six seasons with a seventh season on the way. The original voice of Sam Winchester, Jared Padalecki, has provided his voice work for his character while Jensen Ackles couldn’t voice Dean due to scheduling issues.

Rebecca Chambers to be playable in Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D

Travis Bruno

April 8, 2011

Having a demo copy of your game available for play at a game convention is a standard for publishers. Now having people unlock hidden content and share it to the rest of the world on video… probably not part of the plan. At Wondercon there were playable demos of Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D and one of the people waiting in line to play it happened to have a video recorder handy to catch a previously unannounced character being unlocked and played.

Rebecca Chambers who made her first appearance in Resident Evil 1, or Resident Evil 0 I suppose…, will be a playable character in the upcoming Mercenaries game from Capcom. The video shows plenty of first hand gameplay footage with the standard over the shoulder shooting we’ve grown accustomed too in RE4 and Re5. The man who uploaded the video said the person before him completed a level with an S ranking, possibly unlocking Rebecca ahead of Capcom’s reveal.

Kinectimals demo on Xbox Live for Gold users

Travis Bruno

April 8, 2011

Despite the fact that it was released alongside the Kinect back in November, not everyone has had a chance to interact with their very own little wild animal cub. Of course the game probably won’t be for everyone but if you have a little brother or sister, or children of your own then this is definitely a game worth taking a second look at.

The demo will require the Kinect to play and is currently available only to Gold members of Xbox Live. Also better make sure you have a lot of space since the demo takes up 1.52GB of space. This doesn’t mean however that you can’t play the demo if you a bit older, its hard to avoid giving the game a try. You can read our review of the title here and add the demo to your download queue here.

Capcom’s DD site updated with beating dragon heart

Travis Bruno

April 8, 2011

Nice field huh? A couple of days ago we mentioned that Capcom had opened up a teaser website that contained nothing but a countdown and half of an outline that had dragon wings. Now the website capcom.co.jp/DD has received a bit of an update. Now the outline is completely formed and is quite obviously a dragon but the interesting thing is that this dragon has a red beating heart inside of it.

To further create speculation of what the countdown may be about, Andriasang has gathered various images discovered by Capcom fans in the website’s source code. These images feature an impressive looking field with some ruins near them. Unfortunately nothing definitive about what the title will be has been found yet. Though Dragon’s Dogma continues to sound promising. From the looks of things it won’t be another Breath of Fire game, unless they really updated their approach, but most likely will be an entirely new franchise.

Red Faction: Battlegrounds Review

J. Bradshaw

April 8, 2011

Game: Red Faction: Battlegrounds
Publisher/Developer: THQ / Volition via Juice Games
Consoles: Xbox 360 (Reviewed), PS3
Price: 800 Microsoft Points/ $10.00
Genre: Car Combat

Try the game here.

There is nothing quite as endearing as destructible mayhem caused by none other than yourself. And when that game is set on a distant planet, with carnivorous machines as your wrecking instruments, its tough not to get engaged with your inner bad ass.

Fortunately, Red Faction: Battlegrounds aims to give you that experience, and it is a offered at a budget price. Does it actually succeed though? Is it possible that huge explosions could be overshadowed by anything? Does everyone really have an inner bad ass?!

The first item of note in the game is the graphics. Brimming with details, there are absolutely fantastic. There are no jagged edges and no pop out. Plus, the frame rate seems to run smoothly as well. Every environment that is available for play through is full of variety, although not necessarily originality. For example, one map is a standard ice map, with icy peaks scattered among the mining machinery. There is also a map that has been infected with a strange bacteria, and it is stained blood red. In addition, there is a map with the colorings of a the Martian planet, and it is most likely the only one that has not been in countless other games. Most every map has had its day in another game. Come on, every game has a “winter level.” Nevertheless, each map is still drawn well and they are interesting to play in. Its just too bad a more unique art direction was not chosen.

Of course, the Red Faction franchise is not especially known for their upstanding graphics, but rather for what happens when these graphics fall apart. Yup, destructible environments are a definite part of Battlegrounds, and they can be crucial to your success in the gameplay area. Literally every building, structure or man made creation can be blown apart. This part of the game could have been really fun, if it wasn’t hampered by the other parts of the game.

Red Faction: Battlegrounds is a car combat game: get your vehicle, whether it be a tank, buggy, jeep or walker, and blow to bits anything attacking you. The game is set in a top down view, with you looking down on the action and having to control your car while looking at its roof. The maps are basically different track designs, with some buildings and berms scattered around. Your mission is to drive around the track over and over while avoiding missiles and dealing out some pain of your own. The worst part about the maps though is that they are all the same basic size. There may a hill here and a track there, and then the next map will have the hill over there and the track cutting through it, but every map design is still more or less the same size, so it feels very similar every time you play it, no matter how much different the art is in each map. This means that strategic options are extremely limited and it is basically just ends up being a random driving and shooting type of game. And those destructible environments talked about earlier? Every time one of them falls, it causes a massive explosion, and since the environment is so tiny, your more often than not going to be caught up in this very explosion. But avoiding shooting these buildings is also super difficult. The only advantage is that you can take some of the enemy with you. Plus, explosions are just so darned pretty.

Nonetheless, when the game is not trying to kill you, it can actually be enjoyable. There are quite a few pickups that you can use in addition to your regular guns that come standard on your vehicle. One of my favorite to use was the black hole. It is like a mine that you can set down, but when you press the detonate button, it sucks up any enemy vehicles in its path and then it also goes nova, taking even more of the AI attacking you. Its just too bad that the game modes don’t match the awesomeness of this weapon.

When I first started up the game, I immediately went to the training mode, thinking I should get a handle on things before I started doing my thing in campaign mode. After an hour though, I figured I was ready. I exited back to the main menu and then I found out why this tutorial seemed to be taking forever. The training mode was actually my campaign. That was a let down, especially when I realized that I was about a ⅓ done with the training missions and it appeared that the next ⅔ would be repeats of the missions I had already completed, except that this time the AI would be tougher, and I would only be using the same weapons I had gotten to used too. The missions consisted of either trying to survive as long as possible against waves of enemies, or trying to shoot all the waves coming at you. Yep, not too much variety, eh? Oh yea, I guess there was that one mode where you could collect flags and run them to bases, but it was basically a glorified time trial. I also unlocked all of the weapons in this first ⅓ and it was not until the very last mission that I was “taught” about the final item I could use in my quest to rid the Martian planet of oppression.

In summary, once you get over the initial “cool factor” of, “OMG, I have a tank/buggy/walker with guns and I just shot up the environment with a black hole powerup and then laid down mines to take care of the rest of these people,” the game is actually pretty tepid, hard as that may be to believe. Luckily, that “cool factor” will last fairly long, but not long enough to realize that your not having fun anymore.

I was really hoping that the multiplayer side of things would enliven the game. But, I was only able to get into one match, and then my stint was over because nobody was playing online. However, while playing the multiplayer, I do have to say that it is pretty wild, especially if you like so much chaos that you cannot see any order. The ludicrously small maps strike once again, and with 4 people all trying to grab limited power ups and shoot continuously, it can be ridiculous. It might provide some enjoyment to some, but I couldn’t’ find any due to the constant gunfire that wiped me out as soon I spawned in.

If all that was not enough, then lets talk about the camera and controls. The camera would constantly swing to where I did not want it to go, and the overhead view did not help matters. Aerial views just don’t seem to work for intricately controlled games like this, and trying to control teeny cars was a nightmare. Thankfully, when you did go under bridges and the like, there was an X-ray like shadow that showed up to let you know where your going, but that is the only positive feature of the camera. Otherwise, the camera and controls was awful, although not impossible to use. Note that it is possible, just annoying.

The final warning about the game is that the achievements/trophies could be troublesome. There are a few that will require a lot of grinding and the online ones may be hard to come by depending on how many people stay online. Check them out before you buy and make sure your up to the challenge.

In conclusion, there is very little to like about this game, and I can’t believe that a game based on around using a walking tank to destroy everything could be so tedious and frustrating. The gameplay has its moments. The soundtrack is acceptable and the sound effects do their job well. Graphics keep up with the best of the pack. But it is just nothing to get super excited about. I was grateful that the training mission only lasted 3 hours, because I was getting tired of the repetitive gameplay. However, when I tried to test multiplayer, I was shot down again. Its a shame that this game could have been something new, like having you perform ACTUAL missions. However, it is not anything new and even what it does do, it doesn’t do well. Because of that, you should save your money for a game that will test the limits. Since the game is only 10 dollars, it may be worth a try, but Red Faction: Guerrilla is probably also 10 dollars by now, and that game will probably provide much more bang for your buck than this one.

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