BioWare has a brand new Mass Effect 2 DLC coming down the pipework. Now don’t get your hopes up, it isn’t a story pack add-on, instead it is a costume pack which will give three characters on your team the chance to have another outfit to wear. This DLC marks the second pack which gave Jack, Garrus and Thane a new outfit. This one however will provide a new outfit for Tali, Miranda and Grunt.
Tali only ends up getting a change in her coloring however, which is a lost opportunity as it could have been possible to make a transparent helmet so we could have finally seen her face. Definitely would have made the DLC a sure buy for many. On the other hand however Miranda picks up new armor that actually looks like something somebody would go to battle in, as well as a visor for her face. Grunt rounds out the group with a headpiece of his own that cover each eye and plenty of lights to make him hard to miss in the dark. Now there hasn’t been a price announced yet, but the DLC pack will arrive in only a couple of days on February 8th, so we’ll find out the cost then.
Ready to see a description of a game that focuses entirely on what you wouldn’t want your children to be playing it for? Then you are in luck because the ESRB has released their rating for Dragon Age II, M of course, but the description for games as immense and diverse are always interesting. From the description alone it sounds like the relationship meters will return and so will the possibility of same-sex relations with your party members if you choose to pursue that course.
Beyond that there will be blood splatters which means that your players will end up being covered with blood like they used to and there will be plenty of sword swinging, explosions and even some dismemberment. Oh and apparently there will be a scene which will depict a woman about to perform fellatio, but the game does not actually show the scene. Read the below description for everything:
This is an action-adventure role-playing game in which players assume the role of a warrior who completes quests in a mythical land. Players use swords, bows and arrows, and magical spells (e.g., fireballs, energy beams) to defeat human-like enemies and fantasy creatures (e.g., giant spiders, demons, ogres, golems). Attacks are often accompanied by slashing sounds, large explosions, and cries of pain. Blood splatter effects occur when enemies are hit, and damage sometimes results in dismemberment or decapitation—blood stains and body parts occasionally appear in the environment.In one cutscene, a man’s severed head is held up then tossed to the ground.
During the course of the game, characters sometimes engage in sexual dialogue (e.g., “Why is it always about sex with you?” and “Sailing is like sex. Do it wrong, and it’ll make you sick.”). Players can also initiate brief cutscene sequences in which couples (male-female or same-sex) are shown kissing and embracing one another in a bedroom as the screen fades to black. In one cutscene, a woman kneels in front of a male character and appears to perform fellatio—there is no depiction of the sex act; the camera pans out to the rest of the room. The words “a*s,” “bastard,” and “sh*t” appear in dialogue.
The Behemoth, that lovable team behind indie game such as Alien Hominid and the highly successful Castle Crashers now brings us Super Soviet Missile Mastar for the iPad and iPhone, their first game for iOS devices and it’s completely free. This game originally appeared as a mini game in Alien Hominid HD for the XBLA. Shrouded in 8-bit “cold war era” graphics and chiptune audio, Mother Russia wants you to guide their Super Advanced Missile to the Capitalist Scum homeland America. Meanwhile, dodge incoming fighter jets, helicopters and pesky birds on your trajectory. In Soviet Russia, missile fires YOU!
If anything, this game doesn’t take itself very seriously with its satirical, trademark Behemoth humour. Dated 8-bit ‘old school’ graphics and audio just adds to the overall look and feel of the game, and that’s not a bad thing at all. Much like the game’s deliberate 8-bit graphics and audio, controls also follow suit, deliberately being quite difficult in an ‘old school’ gaming sort of way. You control your missile by swiping your fingers up and down, much like a side scroller, the further you get without crashing the more points (or kilometres) you’ll gain for your highscore.
The missile itself is slow to respond, and often last minute quick changes to its trajectory are impossible resulting in you failing your mission, but that’s really the entire point of the game. The key in this game is to plan your future path as it comes, dodging incoming enemies whilst compensating for floating bonuses, but which also acts as bait for you to crash, burn and fail Mother Russia. It’s not that complicated at all once you get your hands on it.
If you’re still a bit iffy on this game ‘8-bit games aren’t really your thing, satirical humour isn’t either’ well don’t forget that (perhaps the best part about this game) Super Soviet Missile Mastar is absolutely free. This game is set you back zero dollars, but will probably suck out many hours of gaming. And remember, in Soviet Russia, game plays you.
Super Soviet Missile Mastar is available for download right now on the iTunes Store
Prince of Persia Trilogy
Developer(s) Ubisoft – Montreal
Publisher(s) Ubisoft
Platform(s) PlayStation 3
Release date(s) 25/11/2010 (AU)
Genre(s) Action Adventure
Mode(s) Single Player
Rating(s) PEGI 16
Difficulty: Medium Rare
High definition may be all the rage and current standard these days, but the recent trend of these conversions is the type of testament to old classics where the format shines. Seeing the difference based off our memories from the originals and comparing them to glorious HD really does the format as well as the games justice. Not so much the 3D component, because who in their right mind has a 3D TV.
In some respects you can take the cynical approach. With the PS2 and Xbox effectively dead and limited backwards compatibility between the new consoles. Obviously publishers recognize the potential to milk the cash cow with these re-releases, which play on the industries tendency to value graphical improvements, rather than anything else. But on a positive note, these games might otherwise be lost, or at least off-limits to a new generation of gamers, and in some cases that would be a real shame. The Prince of Persia Trilogy is a good example.
Story
The opportunity to play these 3 games back to back has been a pleasure story wise, it’s like any good trilogy where you effectively spend hours and hours inside the world, only to come out with some sort of over indulged hang over. Try watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy for example, you come out muttering “my precious” and other such fantasy based nonsense. But alas, this is Prince of Persia, and the lore doesn’t compare.
The original Prince of Persia released in 2003, and all the hype surrounding it at the time is indicative of the quality it holds today. It stands out between the three in all aspects except the visuals, the story goes something like this. The Prince of Persia and his dad are flush with new toys after a playable intro where you invade India and loot the Maharajah’s city, but one such trinket, a dagger, unleashes unspeakable horrors when a treacherous Vizier tricks you into releasing the Sands of Time. It’s bad news for the Prince, but for us what follows is a cleverly told, atmospheric platform adventure in a mysterious palace full of excellent ideas and puzzles. The story book style of the narrative works well and revisiting the world is a pleasure to behold, particularly if you have those nostalgic memories from playing as a kid.
Enter Prince of Persia The Warrior Within, which is more or less a victim of it’s time ironically (2004), where every game had a tendency to be dark and brooding. In addition, the first game had a mixed response at the cash register, so Ubisoft decided to take a darker and realistic turn to chase the mature audience. The resulting game had alot of improvements, but it was the startling transformation of the Prince’s character and unsatisfying story that left the faithful high and dry. The premise isn’t too bad; the Prince is attempting to outrun death at the hands of infernal guardian of time, the Dahaka, and reaches the Island of Time to try and stop the Sands of Time from ever being created – thus changing his fated death. What could have been a great tale of desperation and fighting fate was actually too dark and angst-driven, like a teenage soap opera, that’s not to say it didn’t resonate with 13-17 years olds. But never did the plot make you feel that the Prince was desperate or afraid, just angry and spiteful. That, and it didn’t hold together well, resulting in both game endings being quite lame and self-indulgent.
Following the second games mixed response, more so to it’s realistic approach than anything else. Ubisoft went back to the beginning with The Two Thrones to finish off the trilogy. Making a return to features such as the story-telling presentation and a linear approach with more focus on platforming, while at the same time making aspects such as boss fights less of a grind, the developers found themselves in the right place. Returning home from the Island of Time, the Prince is again faced by the Vizier and his nefarious denizens, as he learns the lessons that he should have across his travails. While not quite as charming as the original, it was a much welcome return to form with clever design, humor in the plot and breathtaking presentation.
In terms of a trilogy, Prince of Persia finished on a high rather than a low, which is the case of many failed attempts. The middle of the ride wasn’t overly promising, but a return to form in all aspects of the game can be acknowledged in the final chapter. As I said, it was a pleasure to play them back to back and considering I had never played these games much before, they stand the test of time.
Graphics/Sound
First off I’ll say the trilogy has a range of 3D options that I could not test because I don’t have a 3DTV, why? Because 3D is fail. Then again, this could be Ubisoft’s way of testing how 3D works, and I’m sure it works fine because generally 3D gaming all tends to be the same in my experience. The HD upgrade across all games is a beauty to behold, but it doesn’t ultimately make the games any better, and they can obviously be enjoyed without it. The interesting thing about the port is that most of the original issues with games in terms of graphics, sound and gameplay bugs still exist. It makes you wonder how much effort was put into the conversion process, its like a straight port, one of the most major complaints is the lack of adding subtitles or simply adding modern improvements to the overall experience.
In saying that, the games don’t look or sound bad, which is more of a compliment to the originals than this current version. It doesn’t to compare to the reworkings of the GOW Trilogy, which improved the frame rate, amongst other things. Also the ability to unlock the original POP game would have been nice, it doesn’t effect the game, just the overall experience and quality. You won’t be disappointed by the visuals or sound, just by the overall lack of polish or improvements. But hey, if you don’t want the whole package, each individual game is available for download through the PSN Store.
Gameplay
The Prince is easy to control and has a useful range of abilities – he runs up and along walls, has never met a ledge he can’t hang from or sidle along, and knows his way around a trapeze – but the important thing is that he does everything fast and moves fluidly between actions, which back in 2003 gave Sands of Time an advantage over clunkier rivals like the then failing Tomb Raider. Others have caught up since, like Ubisoft’s other golden child Assassin’s Creed, but the Prince still holds his own. It was rewinding time that helped the series make its name and it’s still a welcome idea, better implemented here than in many derivatives. Should you foul up a jump or take one too many hits in combat, you can use the Dagger of Time to rewind a few seconds’ worth of gameplay and do things differently. It was no surprise to see time-manipulation return in other games and genres in the years that followed Sands of Time, but it is perhaps surprising that some of the game’s other good ideas never caught on. Whenever you reach a save point, for example, you’re shown a cool little video montage of things you’re about to do, and, with frequent checkpoints evenly spaced, more often than not it compels you to continue rather than call it a day. It’s this nature of the game that makes it so compelling to play.
Ignoring the angst ridden attitude and average art direction, Warrior Within is of a similar standard to the first game, in terms of gameplay. A heavier emphasis on combat detracts from the platforming slightly, but everything that made the first such a hit is still in place. Major improvements to combat mean the Prince can now wield two weapons at the same time. His repertoire of moves has been greatly expanded too, with numerous gory finishers to compliment the thematic ‘Warrior Within’. It’s not a bad game by any stretch, just one that tried too hard to conform to what was cool at the time.
As with the first game, third game Two Thrones has the platforming as it’s shining star, and several new mechanics are introduced. Such as the Prince launching himself off window shutters, flying at 45 degree angles through his environment. He can also slide down chutes and walk along balance beams, as well as everything else he could do in previous games. The Dark Prince brings something to the platform table, too, using his Daggertail to swing off chandeliers, doubling the length of a standard wall run.
The Two Thrones walks a line somewhere in between Sands of Time and Warrior Within. It’s certainly more violent than the previous two, with gruesome execution animations and some fearsome-looking bosses, but it’s portrayed with a maturity that was lacking from its predecessor. For better or worse, it’s also a much more diverse experience than the previous two, with chariot racing, stealth sections and set-piece battles against huge enemies. It’s far more epic in nature, offering an experience more like God of War, but with an emphasis on platforming.
There’s around thirty hours of gameplay spread across the three titles, with a quality of platforming that refuses to drop throughout, only lowering itself in narrative. There’s so much more to getting from A to B than there is with most platform games, which have turned acrobatic traversal into a mindless case of button mashing. In some ways, Sands of Time is the pinnacle of 3D platforming, with a quality of level design and fluidity of controls high in satisfaction. If you’ve never played the PS2 Prince of Persia trilogy before, this is the perfect opportunity to do so
Overall
Is the collection worth the money? Well it obviously is if you haven’t played the originals as this is a first class experience. Fans who look to buy again might have second thoughts, as there’s nothing new here other than an up-scaling of graphics, which isn’t really worth it in my opinion. But it’s certainly value for money, and as I mentioned, you can buy and download the games separately if you have no desire to purchase all three.
Yes I know that most of you are watching the Super Bowl XLV at the moment but there’s always a little time to enter a competition to win something cool.
Tell us who you think is going to win this years Super Bowl and win yourself a video game. (Could be on XBOX, PS3, Wii or PC)
Who’s got what it takes .. The Green Bay Packers or the Pittsburgh Steelers !!
Leave a comment below .. we’ll pick the best comment and award that person a prize.
Of all places to stop for a smoke, teetering on the edge of a cliff face has to be the most daring. This is where players of Modern Warfare 2 first saw the audacious Captain Soap MacTavish, the man they played in the first Modern Warfare. He has now risen to the rank of Captain and is the commanding officer of the elite Task Force 141.
Like many before him, MacTavish has earned a fan following. Gamers are recreating his infamous Mohawk and personifying his cunning, bad arse attitude. But despite his male fan base, there is something sexy and raw about this Scot. It’s not daring to say that Soap has a sex symbol status that will probably keep his legacy alive years after the Modern Warfare series have been shelved.
Since the conception of video games, there have been no shortages of handsome protagonists and their crew. Why? Would males who are indefinitely targeted for combat and war games prefer a good looking main character or someone who have looked to have stepped out from a Brothers Grimm tale? It seems a large majority of Call of Duty characters have some good looks which have been earning a few stares from female gamers (this writer included).
With the newest Call of Duty release, Black Ops, the men in the game are reinforced to look like movie stars. Playable character Alex Mason has a face like Matt Damon and his commanding officer Frank Woods is a replica of Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder character Tugg Speedman.
Soap personifies everything a gamer might seek in a character. He’s a bad ass, loyal, dedicated and a hard core military man. What made him this way and can he only grow from here?
Like his predecessor, Captain John Price, a legend in his own right, MacTavish has the opportunity to rival the likes of Dante, Jack Carver, John Marston and even his own second in command, Ghost who has become a soldier after my heart appearing in comic books, YouTube tribute videos and websites.
There is no doubt that a mention of the Call of Duty series can cause the biggest of men to flounder around the floor like a fish. It has become one of the most well known and critically acclaimed franchises in history and it seems the characters that dwell within it become almost as famous as the games.
It took years for the likes of Mario, Lara Croft and Marcus Fenix to reach cult status but can a Scot with a funny hairdo make his mark? Many argue that it was the Captain Price that made the man the way he is. The similarities between both men are noteable: If you look closely at the mission Cliffhanger in Modern Warfare 2, Soap still owns the pistol Price infamously slid to him in the bridge massacre in Call of Duty 4 , he adopts the ‘muppet’ phrase and even enjoys his cigars, all mannerisms made famous by Price.
There has been no confirmation if Soap or his team will appear in the new Modern Warfare 3 when it’s released later this year. But fans can only imagine the trials Soap will find himself in and how much we will enjoy to go along with him.
Mass Effect 2 Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: Bioware Platform: PlayStation 3 (Reviewed), Xbox 360, PC Release Date: January 18th 2011 Price:$59.99 US, £49.99 UK, $109.99 AUS
Overview:
Over a year ago Mass Effect 2 released on the Xbox 360 and the PC and it was welcomed with open arms as an amazing space epic that took the Mass Effect trilogy and developed it into an amazing story that people can’t wait to finish. Now with Mass Effect 3 just recently announced; what better way to get more people excited than to finally bring Mass Effect 2 to the PlayStation 3. Now there has been over a year since ME2 was released and all of the DLC has been included into the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2, does it still stand as the polished gem that we saw last year or shine brighter than before?
Story:
Now one immediate thing that gamers will realize when they turn on Mass Effect 2 for the PS3 is the fact that it is impossible for them to take and bring any changes to the story over from Mass Effect 1. Also if players had never even tried Mass Effect 1, then wouldn’t they be partially lost when they jump into the story? Not at all.
Mass Effect 2 begins with the loss of the Normandy after it was attacked by an unknown ship, causing the crew to scatter and Commander Shepard to be killed in action. Now while killing your main character off right at the start of the game isn’t your standard storyline setting but it does bring about the reason that Shepard starts from scratch in ME2. Now those familiar with the choice system and it’s effects on the storyline will immediately realize that there are going to be certain choices that can’t be made due to the fact that Mass Effect 1 is not available on the PS3, but this is negated due to an interactive comic called Mass Effect: Genesis.
This comic is very useful for those who never played the first game as it introduces some of the main plot lines that drove Mass Effect along. But one thing that is essential to this experience is the fact that during the comic flashback you will be able to make choices which impact parts of ME2 as if you had actually ported your save file from ME1. Now this comic book obviously doesn’t portray the most in-depth parts of the storyline and may leave players wanting more structure, but it does its job well enough to establish the backstory for what you will be experiencing in ME2.
The storyline itself is amazing to experience and the amount of different choices that you can make, while not always game changing, are countless. There are a number of choices that make you feel like you are truly the hero of the galaxy, or the tyrant of the galaxy depending on your Paragon and Renegade choices respectively. As soon as you are brought back to life by Cerberus you may be chained to the will of the Illusive man, but your life is still your own and so is your free will.
The highlight of the entire game however is the fact that your crew members all have different pasts and stories. Sure you will see some old faces to fight on your side, but even they are expanded upon and fleshed out so that by the end of your journey you will truly grow attached to each of your crew members, especially if you completed their Loyalty missions which delve deep into their history.
The inclusion of the extra storylines from the DLC such as Overlord, Kasumi’s Stolen Memory and Lair of the Shadow Broker works flawlessly when integrated into the game. Back when these DLCs were released individually many players had already beaten the game and finished the main storyline. The fact of the matter was that anyone who bought the DLC would have to go back from what they experienced and finish it up then. With these DLCs being available during the normal storyline without any backtracking it truly feels like you are playing a much grander space opera than you would have minus this content.
Graphics:
Now Mass Effect 2 may be a game from a year past, but judging from what you will see and experience there will not be much to show that age. The PlayStation 3 version provides perhaps the best use of lighting I’ve seen in a video game perhaps ever. The neon lights of the Afterlife Nightclub are absolutely amazing and are a great example of what lighting can do for a game.
Beyond that the character models and designs are as impressive as they previously were with not much of a difference in appearance. Supposedly BioWare used the Mass Effect 3 engine to animate the characters but I noticed nothing different. This isn’t a bad thing however as the animation and faces of the characters are very impressive and can be said to be some of the best you will find for an RPG of this magnitude. Also it is worth mentioning that Mass Effect: Genesis was illustrated by Dark Horse comics whom produced top quality drawings and an interesting take on the characters when drawn by hand.
Now there are minor graphical hiccups here and there. There are slowdowns during heavy action sequences with minor drops in frame rate when loading up a populated area. Despite the fact that there is slowdown in some areas the game usually runs quite flawlessly, especially after the long install on the hard drive of the PS3. The game froze suddenly twice during my playthrough with little reason, as one of these freezes happened during mining a planet.
Audio:
One thing you will notice is that the ME2 features a lot of talking. Everything in ME2 is fully voiced by top of the line voice actors and there are plenty to hear as you play through the game. The storyline and the characters would not feel as alive as they do when they are combined with the presence of great voicework. To top that off the musical score is simply amazing. The award winning music and background noise is very impressive and is what one would expect from a space opera. There was one instance where the audio cut out temporarily during Jack’s loyalty mission which had me reading lips and subtitles but it fixed itself immediately when I left the area.
Gameplay:
Mass Effect 2 can be seen as a streamlined experience as far as an RPG standpoint is concerned. There is no need to micromanage your characters anymore and even leveling up and equipping your crew has been made very simple. Of course this means that nothing has changed structurally from the 360 and PC version, but this is for the better considering ME2 has been considered one of the best games in the past few years.
Battles in ME2 still occur in real time and feature your usual shooting elements which we have grown accustomed to over the years. The cover based system is used extensively which means that Shepard will be hiding quite often to either let his Biotic powers recharge or to recover health because health automatically regenerates along with your shield. Guns will need to be reloaded as they use ammo and no longer simply overheat. As before every time that you kill an enemy you then level up.
However leveling up isn’t quite as complicated as it was before. Rather than having multiple skills to level up and power up, your Shepard will only have four abilities to worry about which you can choose depending on your class at the beginning of the game. Also you have the option to allow the game itself to auto-level your skills for those who aren’t heavily concerned with character building. There is also a station where you can perform upgrades to your ship which, trust me, you will want to do.
It is worth mentioning that besides getting all of the different storyline DLC, you will also get every weapon, armor, visor, etc. that has ever been released so far for Mass Effect 2. This means that you will have access to the Blood Dragon armor immediately along with a number of different weapons that would have required either a pre-order before or a download of a DLC pack for weaponry alone.
Besides the battling and shooting of course there is the way the stories develop through talking and exploring the world around you. The conversations you have with various NPCs are directed by a dialogue wheel where you are able to select your responses. While most of these responses are not universe changing and are simply there to find out more information, there are those that will change your Paragon and Renegade points.
Paragon and Renegade are basically your good and evil spectrum, but rather than become a scale of what your player is, they are two separate bars which fill up depending on the choices you make. Besides the Paragon and Renegade choices in the dialogue trees you also occasionally are presented with actions you can perform immediately during a scene which will perform an action depending on your Paragon or Renegade choice. These options aren’t very well hidden however as Paragon responses will always be on top, while Renegade will be on the bottom. Building your Paragon and Renegade meters unlocks different conversation options which affect the world and your crew members even more than standard choices.
One part still remains quite annoying however, resource gathering. The resources, which are required to upgrade your ship, build new weapons, etc. are all mined from planets which is a very arduous process regardless of your upgraded probe size and ability to scan slightly faster when you upgrade it. This mini-game is unfortunately very time consuming and it is very hard to enjoy or have fun, even when you find a planet rich in minerals.
Overall:
Mass Effect 2 has never been better than it is right now. The integration of the DLC missions into the storyline seem flawless now that they have been pre-loaded into the game and having all of the special weaponry is an added plus. For the most part a lot of things will appear just as you will remember them if you had access to the Xbox 360 copy, but much better. Despite the fact that there is the occasional slowdown and possible freeze the game has never had as good of graphics as it does on the PlayStation 3. There shouldn’t even be an option to not pick up Mass Effect 2, and if you haven’t picked it up yet, now is the time.
530 Eco Shooter Platform: Nintendo WiiWare (Reviewed)
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Genre: Rail Shooter
Release Date: December 21, 2009
Price: 1000 Nintendo Points
The wii console actually has a nice variety of rail shooter games for the platform, but out of all of them, 530 Eco Shooter is probably the most bizarre. Your not shooting terroists, your not shooting zombies and your not just shooting targets in a shooting rage. Nope. Your shooting evil, animated cans that are trying to take over the world that also wish to kill you. Yeah, you heard right-cans! From tin cans to oil drums, your shoot killer cans. But it’s not completely lame, because their possessed by bad guy aliens called ‘cannoids’ or something. Before your completely turned off the game however, its developed by Intelligent Systems, who do the Fire Emblem and Advanced Wars Series, and 530 Eco Shooter actually includes a few rather unique and interesting features that saves the game from being just silly, and makes it actually pretty good for a Wiiware title.
Can it, Tin Man!
530 Eco Shooter is a little similar in a zombie shooter like House of the Dead, with enemies coming towards you or throwing projectiles and if they get within a certain range, they will attack cause you to loose energy, and if your energy is depleted, it’s game over. The interesting twist to this title however is its theme of recycling with the protagonist’s recycling gun. Firing of the weapon causes energy to drain, so a strategy is needed to decide between taking single shots or using rapid fire, as firing aimlessly could literally kill you. At first it may seem a little annoying, but really its encourages and rewards you for your accuracy rather than be randomly and aimlessly firing at random. So this doesn’t kill you though, you have the interesting idea of recycling opponents. After defeating someone, energy is left behind and can be sucked by your weapon to re-fill your energy. However, it can overheat so players must keep this in mind. This depth of gameplay in a rail shooter is really seldom seen and its really nice to see. A few negative points really bring the game down. Firstly your targets don’t stand out so your never really sure who, what or where your looking for and on some rare occasions it can be be an issue. Also, while the system is slightly deep and the ideas are original, your still just shooting cans. For the exception of bosses and a few select enemies, your never really feel threatened so even in hard situations there isn’t much of a thrill from shooting your enemies. Level design is also very basic and uncreative, which is a shame. Boss battles though are a bright highlight, filled with intensity and challenges, just the way they should be. Players can play with the Wiimote as well as the Wii Zapper, but it makes very little difference to the gameplay. Sadly, there’s no inclusion of a multiplayer or time trial modes which could’ve easily been added which could’ve made the game much more interesting.
530 Eco Shooter has a nice recycling theme to it. Unfortunately there is no vegan punk rock sound track or Captain Planet cameos, or anything cool about the enviroment involved other than a gun. Oh wait sorry, it’s a Recycling Gun.
One of the highlights about 530 Eco Shooter is its done with 3D graphics, which arn’t commonly seen in Wiiware titles. The graphics are actually not too bad, and are on par with some average Gamecube and PS2 games. The textures arn’t the most impressive, but they do their job. The protagonist is nicely presented too. Its a shame however he is not seen in cut scenes to tie a story together which would’ve been nice, but its understandable as its just a Wiiware title. As previously mentioned, a big downer of the graphics is how your targets don’t stand out as much as they should, so your never really know what to shoot at. Audio is decent but nothing outstanding. Sound effects are ok and the music is fine, other than the theme song in the the main menu which I personally found very irritating, sounding like a jingle from a terrible detergent or fabric softener commercial, however some may enjoy it, it just seems out of place for a rail shooter title.
Remember kids: Recycle! Or your rubbish may or may not kill you!
530 Eco Shooter is not a bad game, its just not a great one. It’s nice to see decent 3D graphics in a Wii game, and it includes some interesting ideas into the gameplay which are very unique. Intelligent Systems took a risk with this game which is admirable, not everybody is going to choose to shoot flying pepsi cans over zombies and terrorists which is admirable, it just sadly didn’t pull through as an epic win for the Wiiware. Worth picking up for hardcore tigger-happy rail shooter fans, but I wouldn’t recommend killing for it.
Talented artist and youtuber Harry Partridge is pretty excited about Skyrim (as are most of us). Known for his funny videos and parodies, he decided to create a little buzz for Skyrim by making this awesome song and video. Check it out, it’s sure to make you chuckle.
Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 Platform: PSN & XBLA Publisher: Capcom Developer: Fatshark Release Date: Feb 1, 2011 (XBLA) Feb 2, 2011 (PSN) Price: 1200 MS points/$15
Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 (not to be confused with Bionic Commando 2, the failed franchise reboot that released in 2009) is a sequel to the retro remake of the original Bionic Commando that was released on the NES. Keeping in line with Capcoms “living in the past” attitude, the game is made to mimic the restricted development of titles from the 90’s, much like its predecessor. However, in this latest installment the developers decided to be a little risky and add in the ability to jump (gasp!). Let’s see if this modern addition, among a few others, is enough to ruin the game or help
Story
Alright, I’m just going to say this now, there isn’t much story. You are 90’s era badass Nathan Spencer sporting the good ol’e spiky hair and manly mustache he was known for (also his big, bionic arm). You are part of a special team of bionic commandos (hey! That’s the title!) on a mission to rescue your former captain and confront Fidel Castro…errr…I mean General Vicente Sabio, dictator of the “Papagayan Islands” (totally not Cuba, nope)
The story is little more than an explanation as to why you are doing the things you are doing. You can get through the game without ever paying attention to the story and nothing will be different. A handful of cutscenes or dialogue contain tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek jokes and one-liners that would only make your grandma laugh. The name of the game here is corny, pure 90’s style.
Gameplay
So this is where I’m going to do the most talking since much needs to be explained. I preface this section with the sentence, “Remember this is a RETRO game.”. However, just because it is made to feel like it was made in the 90’s does not mean it WAS made in the 90’s. Technology has allowed us to make a FEW improvements in the creation and development of games and so you should keep that in mind throughout this review.
First and foremost, the grapple. The grapple is essentially what made this franchise initially successful, without it it was just another piece of shovelware at the time. You use your grapple to deflect attacks, grab objects and latch onto ceilings and overhangs to traverse the level. Traditionally this was the ONLY way you were able to get airborne, even in the first remake, Bionic Commando Rearmed (1). In Rearmed 2, thankfully (and much to the chagrin of the hardcore retro fanatic) there is a jump button. The jump isn’t like Masterchief’s or Samus’s moon jump, but it will at least aid in your travels. For all of you diehard Bionic Commando fans (if these even exist), the game rewards you with an achievement/trophy for never jumping, so at least you have that to look forward to since each and every level has been designed to be beaten WITHOUT the use of jumping, jumping just helps (a lot).
Second is the difficulty, which is to say moderate. This isn’t Mega Man challenging, but to the average gamer it will provide a challenge. On the “normal” difficulty setting you lose about 1/3 to 1/4 of your health from taking a bullet from an enemy. Luckily, enemies only shoot one bullet every 5 or 10 seconds (even though they have a machine gun, more retro inspired backpeddling). They also take about 10 shots to die, but you can mash the shoot button to dole out the damage relatively quickly, not to mention you get a handful of weapons that prove much more efficient.
Lumped into this difficulty is also the controls. Much of the game surrounds the use of the bionic arm (grapple). You use it to pick up barrels, flip switches and swing around, swinging being it’s most needed function. As you progress the game will require you to make more and more precise maneuvers with the grapple while swinging, which to some will seem downright impossible if not only because of the way the grapple is implemented. You can only shoot the grapple in 3 directions, Up, Diagonal Up and to the side. When I say 3 I MEAN only three, none of this “wherever the analog stick is pointing” nonsense like gamers have come to expect. This becomes an issue when pressing the grapple button will have it shoot diagonally by default unless you are holding up for up (duh) or…get this, down for to the side. I really can’t explain to you how frustrating it is to try and manage with that while swinging around trying to grapple JUST the right spot to make up into a secret area. Having “shoot to the side” mapped to down is completely counterintuitive and will likely serve as nothing more than a thorn in the players side.
Movement is very “clunky” (again made to feel like a retro title, not an improvement). While the game does look very good, graphically, it’s better to just imagine it as an assortment of blocks. By that I mean don’t think you can “cheat” the game by timing a jump just right and managing to get to an area that would have required more work. The jump is only one “block” (or half-block, it seems) high and only 1 block long, so it won’t get you very far. Due to your grapples poorly developed directional issues, if you make a wrong jump or grapple and find yourself quickly falling into a pit, there isn’t much you can do. You can ONLY latch onto ceilings and overhangs, not walls so you will need to hope there is an overhang on your way down or you aren’t making it back alive.
Enough complaining, I’ll explain a typical level. You mainly go from point A to point B, left to right (with some vertical travel thrown in) while taking down a few guards along the way. As you progress you find new items and abilities such as a grenade, health regen (never use anything else but this) electric arm, etc.. These are all used to get through the level in a sort of metroidvania fashion. I mention metroidvania because you will come across obstacles or secrets that you can’t access until you have an ability or item that you find later in the game, requiring some backtracking. Some don’t like that, but honestly I love that mechanic, it rewards exploration and experimentation, two things that video games are based on so kudos to you Rearmed 2. At several points you are told to hold the right trigger to enter “biovision” to essentially pause the game and began scanning the screen for marked set pieces and objects. Once found, hover over them and press a button to find out more info, be it tips on how to play, what to do or what an enemies weak spot is. Toted as a new and innovative feature, it’s pretty forgettable. Useful for when you are just starting out and finding out what a bosses weak spot is but it is by no means a core mechanic that will change the way you play. At the end of some levels are “bosses”. I use quotes because at the start these are nothing, one is a soldier with a helmet that you need to grapple to weaken, another is a tiny R2D2-like robot that you need to grapple to weaken, etc.. They generally don’t pose much of a threat, though later on you fight some pretty monstrous bosses like a giant robotic monkey. Nice sense of progression, but the beginning is a bit too rinky-dinky if you ask me.
Presentation
Aside from the poor, retro mechanics that plague the title, the game actually looks quite good. Sporting that pseudo 2d-3d style that is gaining popularity (much to the thanks of Shadow Complex), graphically the game hits the mark. Unlike Shadow Complex, however, Rearmed 2 doesn’t make much use of the background or foreground. It’s more just a visual style than it is part of the experience. Basically what I’m saying is, they could have done without it and the game would be no different, it just looks nice. Upgrades and collectables visually appear and change on Nathan which is a nice touch as some games simply refuse to do that (cough cough FINAL FANTASY cough cough). Animations look smooth even if they act clunky, set pieces are somewhat interactable at times such as a truck backing into playable space to unload a soldier, pulling on a support beam to cause a ceiling to collapse, etc.. The audio is VERY retro, which some may like. It’s not my cup of tea but that is a matter of preference, so to each his own. One thing I will say, however, is that in a handful of the levels, part of the music involves a repetitive chime or jingle which might trick you into thinking something you are doing is affecting the game. It’s just part of the music so don’t panic. Also to be noted is the game’s length, which is actually pretty substantial. The game will take you 10-15 hours to beat and collect everything which honestly is pretty good for a digital game. Some full-priced retail games last shorter than that.
Final Thoughts
Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 isn’t bad (you know a game is great when the reviewer needs to emphasize that) but it isn’t great. If you are REALLY itching for some hardcore retro action with an updated look, I would suggest you look for something else like the Mega Man games, Castlevania or Shadow Complex. Heck even Metroid Other M might work. But with a $15 price tag and restrictive DRM (it REQUIRES that you be online while you play, if you aren’t online then you CANNOT play it) I really can’t recommend this game to anybody with all honesty. If there is ever a sale that brings it down to $10 (preferable 7 or 8, half of the original price) or a change of heart from Capcom with the ridiculous DRM then I would feel better recommending this, but at the current price point with it’s restrictive DRM and handful of problems this title really isn’t worth picking up.
As it currently stands, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 gets…
