My ode to the Dreamcast

When I was a young lad, I remember my brother and I went to this mystical place called "Blockbuster", along with a few other local rental places (does anyone remember when grocery stores had their own video stores in them?) to pick up these amazing arcade ports on NES, SNES, and Genesis. I'd sit there for hours in front of the TV playing these perfect ports of games like Street Fighter 2, NBA Jam, Joe and Mac, and tons of others. At the time, I thought nothing could ever get any better than that. You could practically play authentic renditions of the same games you would normally have to plop quarter after quarter into in your own home! Sure, maybe the graphics weren't quite as polished, they might have altered some of the sounds, but the core experience was the same! How could it ever get any better?



Things started to change once the move to CD-based consoles started. When the Sony Playstation launched, instead of playing these compressed arcade games, we were getting closer to replicating that very same experience without having to sacrifice nearly as much, thanks to the superior hardware and the increased storage capacity on CD's. Unfortunately, as with most changes in technology, there was a trade-off: insane load times. Mortal Kombat 3 on Genesis was the first time I really noticed how much less crisp its sound was compared to the SNES, along with the fact that the color pallet seemed lacking. The SNES version seemed to look closer but still lacked that definition that made it stand out in arcade. The PS1 port, however, looked and sounded JUST like its big brother. Enter the trade-off: due to the laser having to read data off the disc, whenever Shang Tsung morphed, the game would freeze for a few seconds as it loaded the new characters moveset, which kind of ruined the whole experience, not to mention the loading time between fights. As time went on, the Playstation would become the next home for arcade ports, but we were always forced to just deal with the loading. All of that changed on 9/9/99.



When the Dreamcast finally hit, we saw a significant difference between what had been available during the 32-bit era (Saturn and Playstation) in terms of graphics, sound, and the core gameplay experience. While previous consoles had to sacrifice something, Dreamcast benefited from being constructed on the same basic hardware as what was then available in arcades. This meant that everything you saw at the arcade was finally playable at home with no losses, going so far as to throw in tons of extra modes (Street Fighter Alpha 3 says "Hi"), allowing you to refine your skills at home without having to take frame rate or input differences into account.



As previously mentioned, this was not the Dreamcast's only strength. It definitely makes it easy to go back into if you feel like playing Capcom vs SNK 2 or Soul Calibur, but there were tons of amazing games that were exclusive to it that still hold up well today. Jet Set Radio is still a landmark title thanks to its introduction of the cel-shaded art style that games use to this day. Shenmue can be blamed for the origin of so many QTE events in games for years to come, even going so far as to be the primary control element in this years hit, Heavy Rain. While online console gaming technically existed years before thanks to the xband, Phantasy Star Online is the title people look back at and remember how excellent the netcode was, or that crazy night they jumped on to trade items with some guy from the other side of the world. With the creation of the 2k sports games, it felt like Madden and NBA Live had some serious competition, forcing them to seriously consider what their strategy was. Sure, there was NFL Xtreme, Game Day, NBA Shootout, and other franchises that tried, but none ever managed to really get the experience as refined as NFL and NBA 2k did, which also looked leaps and bounds better than anything we'd seen before. Last, but definitely not least, who can possibly forget their first time seeing the Ready 2 Rumble commercial?



I could go on and on forever about how amazing the Dreamcast was and still is, and there might be future posts nailing down specific experiences I had with the amazing, but for now, I'd like to bring this to a close. The Dreamcast is still my first choice for amazing 4 player split screen games and loading up amazing arcade ports, and while the PS2 is a close second, I really feel that this was the niche Sega carved out for itself in the hearts of gamers everywhere. The next time you hear that ridiculously loud beeping sound the VMUs made when starting up or hear about a new Cel Shaded game, or even when you're cursing out a game because of that damn QTE you missed, think of the Dreamcast and pour one out for Sega. Better yet, track one down if you don't already have one, get some friends, some controllers, and bask in the glory of one of the finest consoles of all time.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Review

I've owned a copy of Uncharted 2 since shortly after it came out and haven't even touched it yet, although I spent extensive time with the multiplayer betas. Even though I've heard so many great things about how Uncharted 2 pushes the possibilities of narrative and character development, I felt I'd be doing myself a disservice by not touching the original Uncharted first. After finishing Uncharted 1, I would like to say that I'm totally ready to move on to the next game to see where this goes, and as a sort of goodbye to the original, I'm writing this review while my thoughts are untainted.

Graphics - 8/10

For a game that came out in 2007, this is still one of the most impressive PS3 games I've seen. While some people have dubbed Uncharted as "Dude Raider" or "Larry Croft", it has a lot more in common with Indiana Jones than Tomb Raider. The way the scenes transition to cutscenes, and then the in-game cinematics all combine to create an incredibly beautiful game. While some games might give you a lush jungle and fail at creating any other locations, Uncharted looks phenomenal at every single location you end up in. The high quality graphics don't just stop with the environments either; all of the models, while not as realistic as something like Heavy Rain, their animations along with the attention to detail (Drake's Half Tuck comes to mind...) help to make these some of the most life-like characters you'll ever encounter in a game. Unfortunately, even though all of the models and environments look great, it's a bit of a bummer that eventually, you start getting into firefights (which have some amazing explosions, by the way) with a lot of the same enemy models, which kind of ruins things a bit, but it's understandable. If every NPC had been completely original, who knows how long it would have taken for this to come out!


Gameplay - 7/10

Uncharted's weakest area might be in its techniques used to build tension. Adventuring through the amazing locales, taking in the sights, even the platforming and shooting are all incredibly well done. The controls feel tight the entire time, allowing you to go to whatever cover you need to, pop a few headshots, then move somewhere else. So if the core mechanics are as good as I say they are, how is it possible that this section gets a 7/10? First issue is the problem with how they set up certain battles. When you're walking through twisty tunnels in a cave and suddenly come to a big clearing with randomly strewn about boulders and pillars, you'll start to realize that this means there are going to be dudes pouring in from everywhere. It doesn't matter where it is, this always happens, and during these encounters, you tend to die a lot until you figure out exactly where that rocket toting soldier is, where the snipers are, and when the enemies that keep punching you to death are spawning from (tip: it's probably behind you somewhere). Also, the last few hours of gameplay introduce a completely different enemy, and while the change starts off as being completely welcome, it quickly grows trite when you realize it's essentially forcing itself to become a straight up action game, which isn't the best path for this type of action/adventure game and brings focus to the respawning enemies + arena formula that plagues the whole game.

Sound - 9/10

I don't think I've played any other game where the dialogue between characters comes off as natural as it does here. Every time I've heard someone mention either Uncharted, they immediately start talking about how much the liked the characters, ranging from the archetypes they represented to simple character design. The presentation of archetypes are mostly done through their dialogue and how well the actors did, elevating the scriptwriting from lines on a paper to sounding like believable responses for any of the characters during these harrowing situations. Fortunately, the voice acting isn't the sounds only strength; the soundtrack is incredibly fitting. In addition to every song being fantastically composed to create that treasure-hunting atmosphere, all of the songs are used at fantastic times. Last but not least, the weapon sounds are all distinguishable from each other during gunfights, allowing you to audibly tell who you should be avoiding or precisely where that guy with a sniper rifle is firing down at you from.


Overall - 8/10

While the whole experience is fantastic, it's a bit disappointing that some of the gameplay mechanics really do drag what would otherwise be a fantastic experience. To this day, all these years later, I've yet to come across more believable characters, and while the graphics aren't the best any more, thanks to titles like Final Fantasy XIII and Heavy Rain, they are easily in the upper echelon of what's been presented on PS3. Despite its flaws, Uncharted 1 is a title I highly recommend every PS3 owner at least try out and any collector needs in their library.

God of War III Review

I was going to attempt to hold off on writing this review until I finished the 14 other reviews I've had pending since last October, but the more I think about my experiences with God of War 3, the more I realize I need to let it all out. First and foremost, I would like to say that I was a huge fan of the first game, skipped the second, played the PSP one which made me hate the entire series, and I'm back again giving 3 a chance. This was the one release this year that was guaranteed to be at least a good, worth owning PS3 title, especially after enduring all of the hype it was getting. What were my impressions and most importantly, could it possibly rekindle the flame that Chains of Olympus urinated out then shoved into a vat of steaming elephant dung for me? Read on to find out.

Graphics - 8/10

I think it goes without saying that as of right now, the graphical powerhouse titles on PS3 are Killzone 2, Heavy Rain, and Uncharted 2 (leave a comment if I missed one). While I can't comment on the last one since I've barely played the single player in it, I can safely say that God of War 3 does a stellar job of pushing the cell processor just as hard if not harder than the previously mentioned titles, and all without a hint of slowdown. GOW3 continues to emphasize the scale of Kratos vs. the insurmountable odds he faces at every turn, from minotaurs to titans. While the previous games looked particularly well considering when they came out, God of War 3 manages to keep everything running at a smooth 60 fps the entire time while presenting almost every story event using the in-game graphics engine instead of prerendered cutscenes, which is just about the only time you get to see how impressive the models look up close. All of the models sport incredible detail, even down to the way that sash around Kratos' waist moves. So why is this only an 8/10? Unfortunately, there are moments in the action based gameplay where when the camera zooms in and you get to see the texture work on the regular geometry and you realize that the only reason the world looks so detailed is because those textures were clearly meant to be seen from a distance and lose that sharpness as you get closer. Another downside is that there are also a lot of enemies and locations that have been (or at least look) recycled from previous games and while they have been increased in detail, it would have been nice to see completely original enemies or new designs for the pre-existing ones. Fortunately, some of the bosses you come across (the first comes to mind) look spectacular and there's a rather clever 300-styled cutscene that happens early in the game.



Gameplay - 7/10

I managed to not come close to touching the demo since I had a really weird feeling that God of War 3, at its core mechanics, would be more of the same. I'm a bit conflicted on how I feel about the end result. After unlocking more weapons, the ability to switch them on the fly mid-combo comes as a welcome change of pace. Despite this innovation for the series, most of the time you'll end up just hammering out the same button combos that you've been doing since the first title. It's nice to be able to pick up the controller and instantly know things, such as how the right stick has to be dodge, but it makes me wish that there had been more originality overall instead of falling back to the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it end result that we're left with. When you consider that Heavy Rain came out a few weeks before GoW3 and completely changed how most people feel about character interaction and presenting you with compelling QTE's, it's almost disappointing to see almost all of the events in GoW3 resort to hammering on a single button. At it's best, the game slows down long enough to let you see the button presses and make sure you hit the right ones or offers a cinematic camera angle from the enemies perspective, but the competition seems like it's moved way beyond the basic mechanics presented here.

Sound - 8/10

Since I've relocated to an apartment that I'm sharing with someone else, I feel like I shorthanded myself by not having experienced this game in 5.1 glory. Fortunately, I did have a set of Turtle Beach X1's handy, and while they don't simulate surround sound or anything dramatic, they do have great bass reception. When you get to hear the booming voice of Hades, it really made me appreciate how much effort went into the voice acting. Even Kratos' trademark anger is present, if a bit trite. The score continues to be phenomenal, just as it has been in the previous games, while fitting in appropriately to each section of the game, easily succeeding in further immersing the player into the insanity of the situations at hand. While all of the voice acting is phenomenal, it's a shame that the lines written for the characters have to be so weak at times. "WHAT TREACHERY IS THIS?!" Really now?! At least the line was delivered well in spite of its content!



Overall - 8/10

God of War 3 did manage to convince me that all hope was not lost for the franchise, even if it's supposed to be the end of a trilogy. While the whole game isn't continuously full of the high notes like the first hour or so, it did make a good job of making me want to see what was around the next corner, more for the experience instead of story. One thing I did forget to mention in the gameplay segment is how infuriating the double jump system is. While it is a total bummer to survive a tough fight only to fail at jumping a tiny pit because the timing is so strange for it, it still doesn't completely drag the experience down. I almost feel like if the studio had been tasked with creating a new title from a fresh IP, they might have put more effort into overcoming some of the traps they fell into (Kratos is still one dimensional, the double jump issue, and an incredibly predictable story). God of War 3 this still succeeds in being one of the best action games of this type on the PS3 and a must play for anyone owning the console. If you're a fan of action games or the series, this is easy to recommend as a purchase. If you're new to the franchise, you might want to just rent this one or pick up the God of War Collection instead. While it is a fitting end to a trilogy, it's also incredibly formulaic which keeps it from scoring higher.

Beatmania US Review

With DJ Hero just recently coming out, I feel like it's time to go ahead and give credit where it's due. That's right, ladies and gents: it's time for me to finally review Beatmania.

GAMEPLAY - 7/10

Beatmania (US) is actually based on the 9th game in the popular and long running Beatmania IIDX arcade series, which is also a sort of reimagining of the original Beatmania series. The gameplay consists of buttons falling from the top of the screen to the bottom, with the player having to press the corresponding button as soon as it reaches the bottom. While the formula doesn't sound to different from any other music game out there, its real charm comes from the sheer difficulty and learning curve. While most games tend to make concessions towards introducing players to the game, then getting progressively harder, Beatmania starts you off at the bottom of the staircase, shows you the first two steps, then smashes the rest of them with a gigantic hammer, lights it on fire, then lines the rubble with nails dipped in poison and asks you to reach the top. Part of the challenge comes from the fact that the samples you're playing usually involve tapping rhythms and melody at the same time, while managing the turn table. This might not be that big of an issue, but it requires you to have at least 85% of the notes played correctly through the entire song, with your percentage becoming a life bar. Once you reach the upper threshold, any missed notes will slowly pull it down. Basically, this boils down to you possibly being great at a song and failing because of the last 5 seconds of the song if you don't know the ending, which can lead to a lot of frustration. If anyone out there is a fan of the previous (or later) releases, the US version is a perfect port in terms of gameplay, along with giving you a chance to get an official Beatmania controller.



GRAPHICS - 4/10

While the US music games tend to focus on creating unique interfaces, characters or customization, Beatmania focuses more on a minimal graphical style that makes it feel more like you're learning some bizarre language instead of playing a game. Most of the time, you'll be staring at a plain black background with white, blue, and red keys flying down screen. If you can peel your eyes away, there's a video playing on the side, but that's about it as far as in-game visuals are concerned. The music select screen is nice, but there's really not too much that sets up any sort of atmosphere other than music-game-in-corner-of-arcade, which doesn't really cut it for console music games anymore.

SOUND - 7/10

If you're one of those people that criticizes DJ Hero for not having enough trance/techno, the soundtrack here might float your boat a bit more. While there's still a bit of the traditional eurobeat stuff that plagues so many japanese music games, you also get some of the more original songs from the franchise (Bad Boy Bass? Yes plz). In addition to that, you get a few original songs along with the required American tracks, which includes a decent remix of Britney Spears' Toxic, Funkytown, etc. In total, you've got 58 songs, some exclusive to Beatmania, the others in IIDX, and a few more that are selectable in both modes once you unlock them.



OVERALL - 7/10

For anyone that's always loved Beatmania or is a huge fan of music games, this is well worth at least trying out, however the steep difficulty curve and song list might alienate some players. If you persevere and manage to pass some of those more tough songs and possibly even AA them, you'll get one of those rare moments where you might jump out of your chair or away from the TV in excitement. This is also probably one of the easiest way to score an affordable and decent Beatmania controller for long time fans, but it's a bit hard to locate copies of the game since it didn't sell too well in the US. While BM US is easily a must buy for Beatmania fans, people that are hardcore fans of American music games might want to approach this one with caution and everyone else might want to look at videos to see if it looks interesting before even trying it out.

Wii Sports Resort review

It's nice to know the first Wii game reviewed here is a pretty good one! The original Wii Sports was one of those games that really helped to showcase the features of the Wii and was a primary reason so many people purchased the console, but it was clear after a few sessions that it was pretty much just a glorified tech demo. Is it possible that Wii Sports Resort presents the player with more of the same, or does it bring anything new to the table? How does the Motion Plus affect gameplay? Why are there so many questions here? Read on to find out!

Graphics - 7/10

Annnnnnnnnd it looks like we're off to a bad start. Unfortunately since Wii Sports came out, there have been a lot prettier games produced without having to add the "good for a Wii game" qualifier after it. While the graphics in Wii Sports Resort do have a certain charm to them, it's mostly just a few small enhancements to the same visual style from the original game. Your characters are all Miis, which is cool and all, but they aren't exactly the most detailed things out there. I know it's nitpicking, but I feel like things might have been a bit better had they pushed this into a slightly more unique art style. To be fair, the new levels feel a lot more organic with the miis walking around in the background or cheering you on, or even subtle things like the ducks swimming in the lake while you're canoeing. Most importantly, even though it might not be pushing any graphical boundaries, it still feels like it captures that classic Nintendo feel that nearly all of their first party games have.


Gameplay - 9/10

The first game did a phenomenal job of convincing people to spend 250$ on an experience they couldn't get anywhere else, but unfortunately didn't keep anyone really coming back for more past the first week. Wii Sports Resort relieves all of those issues by offering 12 different sports, each with tons of unlockable bonuses that change up the gameplay (frisbee golf, speed slice, 3v3 basketball, etc) with the core gameplay of most of the modes being incredibly fun and accurate to their real life counterparts. While there's tons of content for all 12 games, the typical reaction from people is to love some of them, like a few more, then have 1 or 2 that they utterly despise. The other small issue is that while most of the games take full advantage of the motion plus, a few of them feel like they could have been done without it, which is a shame since the game requires each player to have the accessory attached during multiplayer. I'm not sure if you want to at the package as a full game with a pack-in that you might end up needing in the future or a 40$ accessory with a 10$ game, but this time there's definitely more than enough on the game side to keep you coming back for a long time.

Sound - 6/10

While the graphics get by because of the sheer charm, the sound in WSR is actually harder to excuse. On one hand, you have an incredibly catchy theme with some decent sound effects that you'll hear from time to time, but you'll quickly realize that those few sounds are what you're going to be hearing every single time you play. It would have been nice if they gave you an option to use a custom soundtrack or maybe had a few classic Nintendo game songs just to help things stay fresh a bit longer. While most games feature overly cinematic scores, Wii Sports Resort skips all of that and uses some incredibly simple, yet memorable songs that you might actually find yourself humming while not playing the game for the first time in years.


Overall - 8/10

If you're a Wii owner or considering purchasing one soon thanks to the new price drop, WSR definitely deserves a place in your library. Not only does it blow the original out of the water, but the enhancements to the returning games gives you tons to keep coming back for. If anyone is looking for a title to show off the graphical prowess of the Wii, you might want to shy away from using this, but if you're looking for one of the most flat-out fun experiences this year, look no further than Wii Sports Resort.

Blueberry Garden quick review

Winner of the Seamus McNally indie gaming prize has been out for quite some time, and has all sorts of mixed opinions. The one thing I think everyone can say that has played it is that it's not really much of a game in the traditional sense. While there is an objective, it's not exactly...clear at the beginning of the game, or even once you start doing things. Honestly, Blueberry Garden is more of an experience than anything else. People thinking of picking this up based on the awards or the praise it had been getting pre-release might want to check out the demo first to see if they enjoy it, but even then, it IS only 5$ so whatever opinion you walk away with, at least you won't be broke. Some people have called it a garden simulator with an abstract ending, others have mentioned how some of the things laying around in the world almost offer a perspective on environmentalism, but if there is one positive thing I can say, it's that the piano score is incredibly well done. The controls get the job done, even if you don't know exactly what the job is. On the other hand, due to poor computer optimization and no post-release updates, it's even harder to recommend since there's no way to make the game run better and its not clear whether or not your system will be able to play it smoothly. I'm playing on a 2.5gb RAM + Radeon 4670 HD pc and it runs the game at about 10-15 frames per second while all of the laptops in the house which have 256mb integrated graphics cards seem to run it flawlessly and I can't figure out why. So...what does all of this mean? There's probably 2-3 people out there that might ever read this and decide that Blueberry Garden is their ideal game, and while it IS a unique concept, it's definitely not for everyone. It's honestly not even recommendable to fans of abstract or indie games in general because of how terribly it runs. For people waiting for a score, here it goes:


OVERALL - 4/10

It's almost unplayable and even though you might completely go beyond the requirements, there's no guarantee that it will run smoothly. Maybe if there's ever some sort of fix, this will do better, but I've got to say you'd be fine watching a youtube video of this instead of playing it yourself. On the plus side, it's got a great soundtrack and a pretty cool looking art style.

DJ Hero Review

It's hard to deny that Activision has essentially become the evil empire that Electronic Arts had been in the past. While in the past, they were known for rehashed Tony Hawk games and quick movie cash-ins, they also launched the (at it's release) innovative Guitar Hero franchise. While Guitar Freaks existed before it, GH was the first title to actually make it to US consoles with a music list that appealed to American audiences. While the first one was a critical success, it wasn't until the second that it became certain that Activision had managed to cement its place in music game history and inspired Rock Band and Konami to actually release its long-running Beatmania franchise here. Unfortunately, they pulled an Activision and like the THPS franchise before it, the Hero name seemed to appear on every single platform (DS?!) with several releases coming each year (4 being released in 2008). With that and Rock Band constantly competing against each others release dates, many people have grown tired of anything with the name attached to it and are slowly losing any dwindling interest in the music game genre. The most recent release with the Hero name attached to it is DJ Hero, which sounds like a quick attempt to cash in on the franchise name or emulate Beatmania. Does it actually do anything new? Is it worth the 120$? Read on to find out.



GAMEPLAY - 9/10

From the moment its name was announced, it was painfully obvious that this was another cheap move from the publisher to make as much money without doing anything new yet again. At least, that was everyone's expectation. Readers, I would like to take this time to inform you that despite the name, this is probably one of the best music games I've ever played. While the core gameplay is completely reminiscent of of the notes-streaming-down-a-highway we've all grown accustomed to, the new mechanics and controller set this apart from anything else you've ever experienced. The first assumption when touching the controller is that the buttons on the turn table are going to ruin the game, or at least detract from the feeling of actually mixing the tracks, but it adds another layer of depth while also kind of helping you to get a grip during some of those extra tricky scratches.
Instead of just forcing the player to dive in and get started, the game only has easy, medium, and hard opened from the start, and forces you to go through the tutorial first to make sure you have a basic understanding of the mechanics before you get yourself overwhelmed. After that, you've got a playlist at your disposal until you quickly start unlocking more and more sets, some with hidden songs that are only playable after getting at least 3 stars on everything else in that set. Along with the "Hero" title attached to the game, the lack of failing in the game was also heavily criticized before the game shipped, but as you progress, you'll realize about halfway through unlocking that just barely passing songs is NOT enough to unlock at least 10 of the playlists, which get progressively harder and still requiring you to get a decent number of stars to unlock even more things, which gives you something to work towards and rewards players that stick with the game long enough to start improving their scores.
The peripheral itself seems to garner people that love it and people that think its terrible. For the people that think it's a horrible piece of hardware, remember that you don't have to slide the crossfader directly back into the middle for it to count as being centered, so that argument goes away as you start playing more and more, and the grill on the outer edge of the turn table gives you extra grip for some of the quick scratches. The other major complaint I hear fairly often is that the game doesn't let you mix songs how you want to, and to that camp of people, I would like to remind you that you're playing a video game, not an actual turntable.
For those looking for multiplayer options, this feels like it was constructed as more of a single player experience (especially with the lofty price), but a few of the songs allow you to play on a turn table while a friend plays the guitar track, or even head to head battles with two turn tables. I'm not..sure..why you'd want to do that since there's all of the rewinds and samples you can throw in when you play alone, but...to each their own, I guess.

GRAPHICS - 7/10

This section will be kept as brief as possible since the main features of the game are its soundtrack and gameplay. The graphics work. That pretty much sums up what you expect from a music game anyway, right? While you can't create your own character, there's probably about 15-20 (including actual djs) that you'll have after you unlock all of them, with plenty of alternate costumes, custom decks/headphones, and venues that you earn the more you play, which helps with the variety. At the same time, all of the created male dj's feel ridiculous, especially when placed in the realistic looking locales (such as the mansion), or actual DJs included in the game. The crowds also seem to have this weird 2D or simplified 3D rendering that gives the illusion of tons of people gathered around watching you, but then you realize the crowd is constructed of like..3 models that are incredibly jaggy whenever you get a real view of them, but works since you spend most of your time staring at the notes streaming down the screen anyway. The noteskins and everything gameplay related work just as expected, which is to say sort of flashy to give it a bit more flare than the lines from Beatmania, but don't distract you from the overall gameplay experience. Despite my criticisms for the way the crowd looks and some of the bizarre male characters, there's still some sort of atmosphere of almost being on a stage in front of tons of people because of crazy lighting effects and the sheer size and variety of venues.


SOUND - 8/10

I'm not going to lie: the soundtrack in DJ Hero isn't going to please everyones tastes. At the same time, if you're upset that Metallica or Johnny Cash isn't in DJ Hero, you might have bigger problems than worrying about the music selection that IS available. On the disc, you've already got 93 mixes to play through, and while there might be a few weak mixes, you still have probably more than twice as many songs than what was available in Rock Band 1. That's an insane number of songs to be included on the disc in a music game. While some of the songs seem to get reused pretty frequently, the mixes still sound amazing if you can open your mind to the entire mashup genre. After you accept the fact that you're scratching at places the person that mixed it would scratch and you get to hear the full thing, there's tons of moments where you'll realize that these two songs you didn't think could work together mesh perfectly. Who would have ever thought MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice were possible to unite without the entire world being reverted to the 90's?



OVERALL - 8/10

For music game fans, regardless of your musical tastes, DJ Hero is an absolute must-play. For everyone else, you'll probably have tons of fun if you can accept the song list, and it's a completely different feel from anything you've ever played with the heavy emphasis on the scratching and crossfading, not to mention the ridiculous songs towards the latter half of expert that are incredibly rewarding once you start getting higher scores. Thanks to the tons of things that are left to unlock even after you get all of the songs, there's TONS of replayability in DJ Hero. The multiplayer feels kind of forgettable, but for those of you who want to try it out, there's online versus even though there's almost no one playing it. The biggest reason this didn't get a 9 however, is that even though I think this is probably one of the best music games I've ever played, there's the fact that it costs 120$, which makes it hard to recommend to anyone that's not a hardcore music game player. It's a shame because this is definitely one of those games I think everyone should at least give a chance, but thanks to everything else that's coming out or already came out this year, you've probably got tons of things to do to pass the time until the price inevitably goes down after the holiday season.

Lost Planet 2 Multiplayer Demo Impressions

I realize this quick-look at the upcoming Capcom action game is probably 2 months late at this point, but better late then never, I always say! Lost Planet 2 is clearly the follow-up to the early 2007 sleeper hit, which took place on a distant planet that humanity was looking to colonize, yet had to compete against tons of space pirates and the native life forms, not to mention the incredibly harsh environment. The core gameplay was almost a blending of old-school mechanics with cutting-edge graphics and newer 3rd person shooting action, mostly set in frozen environments, but with volcanoes, abandoned facilities, and caves thrown in for variety. While it did fairly well, it never caught on well enough with the mainstream to warrant a sequel in my opinion which is why it's so shocking to find out that not only is Capcom working on a sequel, but they're throwing in more of the gigantic boss fights, 4 player co-op, and even more varied locales thanks to the aftermath of the original game.



The new demo for Lost Planet 2 highlights the 4 player co-op while showcasing one of the gigantic new bosses in a familiar frozen environment for fans of the original. With all the co-op functionality included in most games at this point, it would be fairly easy to assume that this is just another quick cash-in, but it's well worth sticking around to find out just how crazy and useful having 3 other teammates there with you are. The boss still has the same gigantic glowing orange weak spot that was in the first game, but it's worth pointing out that he completely towers over you and the other players. As everyone quickly scrambles around, searching for their weapon of choice, activating spawn points, or just trying to find a good spot to begin the beat down, you'll sooner or later learn that the size of the boss isn't one of those things that just intended to intimidate you. With a well timed approach while the enemy is crouching down, you can actually manage to get ingested inside of the creature and fight off tons of enemies as you work your way through its digestive system until you eventually come across the heart of the beast and have a few moments to attack it through its ribcage until you're inevitably forced out the butt of the thing, then can rejoin your teammates outside or attempt to start the cycle all over again.




While this was probably one of the coolest boss fights I've played in a while, it's worth noting that if you have a team of people that aren't very good at the game or don't want to help out, you'll probably die off really quickly, making this the ideal game to play with people that you actually game with on a regular basis that you know you can depend on to save yourself a lot of frustration. After the end of the boss fight, you've got a few seconds to run around and gather up points and ammo before it shows you with a ranking screen and exits back out to the main menu. If they can keep increasing the creativity of the boss fights throughout the game and the co-op includes...you know...levels and is NOT just a boss rush, along with bringing back the addictive competitive multiplayer from the original, this is totally a day one purchase for me. On the other hand, if you're not a fan of trying to find gigantic glowing weak spots, or you're looking for a more narrative driven game, it might be best to try out this demo first or wait for a review after the full game comes out, since the first one definitely wasn't for everyone and the demo feels the same way.

Katamari Forever demo impressions

Originally, I had planned on writing this a few months ago after some hands on time with the Japanese demo, but felt I should wait. So here we are! The US demo has finally come out on the Playstation Network and the verdict? It's pretty much the same thing you grown to love or hate. While the gameplay changes are minor (using the six-axis to jump...sort of.) there's a bit more variety in the missions, not to mention you can change characters now, and it sounds like you might be able to unlock a few of them in game if you manage to roll them up. While in the previous games, the King of all Cosmos would sort of taunt you or maybe give you an backhanded compliment for doing a bad or great job, there's an actual grading system in place, giving you more replayability if you're the kind of person that's into getting and improving high scores. The controls aside from the jump are the exact same and work as great as they always have. The two most significant changes aside from the grading system and mission variety (one mission has you absorbing water then rolling over sand to expose the lush environment underneath) is the new art style. It's not exactly cel-shaded, but it does have a cartoon-like feel, which is appropriate when you think about how outlandish what you're doing is in these games anyway. The soundtrack is great as always, with the demo featuring two songs that I don't remember from any of the other versions, but still are a variation on the unforgettable Katamari theme. Lastly, I would like to say that this is the first version of the game that I've played where once you start exceeding your goals and become huge, there's no drop in the frame rate or graphical quality. Then again, the demo does only offer one scenario where you're getting bigger, and it takes place indoors so that might not be the case for outdoor environments. As a Katamari fan, I'm looking forward to playing the full version whenever it comes out, but if you've never liked the series before, it seems like this will do little to convert you.

Darkest of Days demo impressions

Darkest of Days is one of those games that I know is going to be overlooked by tons of people that probably would have enjoyed, yet won't experience due to negative feedback or the outlandish premise. Keep in mind that all of the following statements are based on the demo, so it's possible there's some even more crazy plot twist that ruins the game/gameplay later in, but if you're trying to play through this for the story, you're probably missing the point. From what I gathered from the demo, you start off as a soldier during Custer’s Last Stand, tasked with simply surviving against increasingly more and more Native Americans. Unfortunately, you get shot and end up firing into the masses on a CoD4 last stand mode, and when everyone around you finally dies, a time bubble pops open and out pops some futuristic looking soldier, telling you that they need you to come back with them. Enter Darkest of Days; Once you're teleported to the future, you're given a brief explanation of why you're going back through different periods in time, which is usually something along the lines of "THIS GUY IS IN THE WRONG SPOT! GO BACK AND FIND AND PROTECT THEM WHILE SHOOTING REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIERS WITH A ROCKET LAUNCHER LOL" It's not in exactly those words, but I think you get the point. After a brief training session, you're warped back in time again, with more control over the outcome.



The gameplay itself is really reminiscent of things like Serious Sam or Painkiller, or possibly even Left 4 Dead since it's mostly you moving to an area, holding it, then moving on to another. To keep things a bit more fresh from just saving one guy while killing everyone else, there are random enemies that have a blue aura surrounding them, which means that you're supposed to score a non-lethal take down on them, which is easily done by shooting them a few times in the legs or arms. It's not much of a change from the formula, but it is a welcome addition. While everyone you're fighting is using weapons from the respective time period, it doesn't mean that you're necessarily going to be blowing through them. Judging from the demo, when you enter an area, you're given 2 weapons from that time, which in this case meant an old school rifle that you had to reload by packing gunpowder and dropping in ammunition and a faster semi-automatic rifle that's a bit weaker in terms of pure firepower, but later you‘re handed a weapon to turn the tides in your favor. While it's not exactly complicated, the well done engine, mechanics, and controls do provide a lot of mindless fun. It's nice to play newer games that don't try to have elaborate cover systems or RPG elements from time to time.

Graphically speaking, I'm a bit torn. On one hand, the game really does a great job of modeling the chaotic feeling of organized battles during that moment since firing a manual reload rifle leads to tons of smoke filling up the air, which clouds your field of vision, but those same effects are largely what cause the frame rate to drop down from 30-40 to somewhere in the teens for a few seconds. The character designs are pretty well done, and while their talking animations aren't that great, it still looks good enough to not break you out of the battle while getting shot at. The only real downside I've noticed is that the color palate seems to reflect what you have a mental image of what a battle would have looked like at that time period, and not an actual realistic environment.



The sound effects are ...not the greatest strength of the game, but they aren't really terrible either. Considering the game is coming from a smaller studio, it's not that bad, but I almost get the feeling that the voice actors in particular are trying to feed on stereotypes to help you identify where they're coming from. I would like to point out how bizarre it is that no one at all ever mentions how you're using an incredibly overpowered weapons, but hey, what can you do?

Overall, I'm really impressed with the simple fun that's here, but I’d have a hard time recommending it to anyone that’s not a fan of more arcade style shooters. While there isn't a point mechanic or anything that I'm aware of, it's not exactly the deepest game out there. Then again, you've got tons of those coming out between Halo: ODST, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and several other shooters coming out from this year or in early 2010. Why not give this one at least a chance as a demo or if you see it for a lower price. Unfortunately, I've heard some bad things about the console version, so if possible, go for the PC one (29.99 on Steam), provided you can run it. While I have your attention, I've got to say that this feels like the perfect engine to mod on since you've got all these weapons already demonstrated in game.

Dreamcast 10th anniversary spectacular!

I know this is a bit late, but it's still the 9th, so happy 10th anniversary, Dreamcast! This list is just a list of ten things that I feel made the Dreamcast special. It's not the ONLY things, but these were the first ten that popped into my mind. If you have anything to add, feel free to leave a comment!

1. The 128 bit Graphics.



I still have that scene of Sonic racing down a dock as a killer whale crashes through behind you against the blue sky and crashing waves in Sonic Adventure 1. While the N64 had been a 64 bit system, most of the games didn't feel like nearly as big of a leap as what happened with the launch of the Dreamcast. While Sonic Adventure 1's dolphin scene and maybe the commercial for Ready 2 Rumble are two of the most memorable launch experiences, who can possibly forget the first time you saw Soul Calibur? Say what you will about the franchise, SC1 on DC had some amazing effects. Then you've got Jet Grind Radio, the amazing 2d art in Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike, completely trippy visuals like Rez, and countless other games that showed you that, at least for a while, Sega did what Sony and Nintendon't.

2. Peripherals



While there weren't actually too many peripherals for DC, the ones that were actually helped out people a lot. You've got the infamous Rez vibration controller, but there's also great things like the light guns, and arcade stick for creating an authentic arcade experience at home. If you were a fan of pc games, specifically Quake 3, you could grab the keyboard and mouse for the dreamcast, allowing you to play a console FPS exactly how you always wanted to, which was great for online matches against other PC players (cross platform play ftw!). The keyboard attachment was also later used to help players all over the world talk to each other in PSO and was infinitely more useful than the on screen keyboard or quick commands, along with later being used in Typing of the Dead. A microphone had been released later to use with Seaman, which was useful, but never really managed to make it beyond gimmick status. Either way, you've still got stuff like the Samba De Amigo maracas and that definitely gave plenty of people a lot of enjoyment.

3. Cel Shading and Jet Grind Radio.



What probably would have been overlooked as just another extreme sports game, the art style really made this game stand out amongst the Tony Hawks and Dave Mirras, which allowed people to realize that this was actually about graffiti, helping to spread word of your crew while surviving against the oppressive military and other gangs. If I ever see anyone take down a helicopter in real life with a can of spray paint...I think I'll have finally seen everything.

4. PSO/Online Play



Managing to waste entire weekends playing Phantasy Star Online for free through Sega's 56k modem is simply unforgetable. I'm STILL not completely sure how they managed to keep everything running so smooth while everyone was using telephone lines to dial in, but WOW, what an amazing experience! I'm not certain that Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst is still online for the pc, but if you haven't played this game yet and are a fan of Diablo style hack and slash adventures, do yourself a favor and grab it on pc, xbox, dc, or whatever else you can.

5. All of the amazing arcade ports.



From Shmups to Light Gun games, whatever your favorite games were in the arcade in the late 90's, if you wanted to see a 100% faithful port, Dreamcast was the way to go. While this tradition was sort of started with the Saturn, the faster loading times, great dpad, and hardware specs made this an arcade fans dream. When it was finally announced that the Dreamcast was no longer going to be produced, it left everyone a bit uncertain since this also happened during the decline of arcades. Luckily, the torch was passed on to the PS2, but if you're trying to find that perfect port of Marvel Vs Capcom 2 or want to go back and experience the way Ikaruga was meant to be, look no further than the DC.

6. VMUs.



While card based storage would later be phased out with the dawn of the Xbox, both Sony and Sega tried their hand at creating portable memory cards with screens. Unfortunately for Sony, their attempt never caught on and (if I remember correctly) was never officially released in the US. Dreamcast, on the other hand, was launched with their Virtual Memory Unit, a memory card that had a dpad, 2 buttons, ran on one of those...LR3 batteries or whatever, and had a (terrible) speaker built into it. While many games just used the feature to show the name of their game on the screen as you played, there were plenty that actually took advantage of it and several sites that had downloadable games specifically designed for the VMU. To think, it took Logitech until 2005/2006 to produce their G15 keyboard that had a screen with more or less the same functionality!

7. The controller.



I'm not going to lie. The Dreamcast controller, aesthetically speaking, looks pretty frickin' unwieldy. First, you have the 4 candy colored buttons on the right side, two triggers, a big wide space in the middle with a start button at the bottom center and a gap in the face to view the VMU, then a dpad and analog stick. It even sounds awkward describing it. Amazingly, when you put that thing in your hands, it feels perfect, largely thanks to the grips the triggers provided so you could comfortably rest your extra fingers behind it. While issues arose with first person shooters (dual analogs hadn't really been around yet), those hadn't really caught on too well with the console market, so this controller is still perfectly suited for the games available on the console.

8. Sega Sports.



While I'm not a big sports gamer, I really do admire how much the 2k sports games forced EA to actually get better, to this day. Before NFL 2K had come out, it was already accepted that football fans were going to get the new Madden whenever it came out, and maybe give a game like NFL Blitz or NFL Xtreme a shot, but nothing had come close if you were looking for a realistic sports game. Then here comes Sega's first real sports game in ages, NFL 2k, which blew Madden out of the water, while the NBA 2K games slowly gained dominance of EAs NBA Live. With its 128 bit graphics, completely unique play selection screen, and the sheer amount of detail that went into every aspect, it was evident a new and formidable competitor had finally stepped into the ring.

9. That Ready 2 Rumble ad.



THIS LONE AD was what made SO MANY people think games had finally started to really look realistic. While biting fro's was not an actual attack in-game, it was still managed to be a lot of fun to play. Now that I think about it, R2R was the first time I'd had a great time with a boxing game since Super Punch Out. While the gameplay itself was great, the graphics, characters, and commentary by Michael Buffer really helped keep this in the heart of countless Dreamcast fans.

10. The arrival of Shenmue.



Talk about ambitious! Shenmue was originally planned to be a 16 part game that followed Ryo's quest to avenge his father. The first game in the series was one of the most hyped Dreamcast games I can remember. Putting the game in for the first time, you were treated with an epic (for the time) intro that lasted at least 10 minutes. The game took place in Yokosuka, Japan and one of the cool features of the game was that as you hunted down clues to the man that killed your father, there was a day-night cycle with randomly generated weather that was respective of the season in addition to using some of the real weather patterns from that area in real life during that time. While looking back at it now, many people scoff at how "hunting down" a killer boiled down to asking sailors what they knew about "THE THREE BLAAAAADES?!?!", and then repeating the question to the person only to find out they know nothing, there's an actual feel of tension of trying to finish all of these tasks within the hours you have awake. For those that just wanted to enjoy the world, you were free to roam the streets and talk to the many npc's, or maybe hop in the local arcade to play a few games of Space Harrier or Hang On while wasting the rest of your money on the countless toy dispensing machines in your attempt to collect every action figure known to mankind. The only downside to this game was that this is the game most people directly blame for QTE's catching on. Finally, the series was cut short, and even though it had been critically praised, terrible sales prevented Shenmue II from ever making it overseas on the Dreamcast, doomed to stay forever in Europe and Asia, yet somehow managing to get a US Xbox port many years later. It seems like every year, people hold out hope for a Shenmue 3 or something to continue the adventures, but until that day comes, keep crossing your fingers.

XBL indie spotlight - I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1

I'm long overdue to write an article here, so here we go! While there's been many, MANY retail games that are well worth owning released this summer, it’s pretty obvious that with the economy the way it is and the sheer number of things going on in peoples lives that sometimes you just can’t afford to spend a full 60$ on something new. For those of you who are on a budget, there’s been plenty of great sales on Steam and some amazing PSN and Xbox Live Arcade games going from 10-15$. For people that aren’t able to spend that much either, this is exactly the type of game you’ve been looking for. Since Geometry Wars came out years ago, its formula has been reiterated and cloned many times, so it’s easy to think you’ve seen everything that can be done with twin stick shooters. Luckily, there’s some pretty amazing people out there that want to prove otherwise. Enter I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1: a game that I bought simply because of the laughable title, the fact that it only cost 80 Microsoft points (1$), and the incredibly minimalist box art which stood out in the Indie Games section. It sat on my hard drive for 2 days, unplayed but not forgotten, until I had some downtime two days later, so I finally decided to fire it up.



While its gameplay is still a reiteration of the tried-and-true twin stick shooter format, there’s a certain charm in its construction that has to be experienced once in everyone’s life. Since Portal came out, people have occasionally tried their hands at making a game with a comedic ending song (Portal - Still Alive, and You Have To Burn The Rope come to mind), but this game is almost built around this concept. While it’s fun to play on its own, the real humor of the game comes from the amazing song blaring in the background, which I don’t want to ruin here. The great thing about the music in the game is that just when it starts to get old, it switches into another version of the song and the map and graphics changes accordingly, along with introducing new enemies and weapons. I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 is one of those things that might have benefited from online play or an online leader board, but even without it, there’s tons of laughs to be had each time you play the game. It’s hard to say too much about it without kind of spoiling or possibly overhyping the experience, so do yourself a favor and download it with those 80 points you’ve had laying around on your account or at least give the demo a chance.

Demo Woes.

Perhaps one of the most definitive memories of the huge change to using CD's for video games, aside from the technical side of things, was that gamers everywhere were given the ability to play demonstrations. When the format had been around for a while, you would find yourself getting demos included with everything from magazines to cereal, and even as promotions for fast food companies. The entire idea behind things such as Playstation Underground or the demos for Sega Dreamcast were to generate hype for titles that you might not have heard of or perhaps just seeing images in magazines didn't do justice to the feel of the games themselves. Demos were constantly tweaked as years went by, changing as companies attempted to understand exactly what the consumer needed to see in order to make the jump from casual interest into being prepared to purchase, so the general expectation was that you would have around 10-15 minutes or a few levels, with the first few minutes or first level used primarily as a tutorial, explaining exactly what you were playing while showing off a few of the mechanics that made it different from the crowd by not being too challenging. Following the introduction, the next section typically let the player see how they could use those same mechanics in more difficult ways, such as an actual game to practice the trick stick that had been newly introduced in NBA Live 2k3 to getting a good grasp on the combat system of an RPG. It's always been incredibly vital that the new player that's trying to see if they're interested in a game to have some sort of brief tutorial or a slowly increasing difficulty meter without ever getting too hard just to start the hype machine in their minds and push the person towards purchasing the product.

So....WHY has this format of demo slowly been pushed out? Where we were once rewarded with a demo simply for buying a certain box of cereal or picking up a magazine, there's a lot of companies that refuse to have their demos available anywhere unless you do some sort of special preorder of a deluxe edition, which allows you to try out a game that you've pretty much already decided you're going to buy. Doesn't that completely eliminate the possibility of enticing anyone that was just casually interested? Even more frustrating than exclusive demos or releasing a beta for your game that pretty much functions as a demo in many peoples eyes after a certain point is releasing a demo without ANY sort of instruction as to what's happening. Just to lay all of my cards out right here, this entire article was fueled by my run through of the Madden 10 demo on Xbox Live. I haven't played a next gen Madden game (unless you count 07 on the Wii, which is significantly different), so this was my first time giving the franchise a fair shake since 2004. I've kept my eye and ears open by listening to what friends of mine that are into the franchise have told me they've added each year and how to perform the moves, but had it not been for that, I would have absolutely no clue how to control anything in this game, much less any clue of what makes it unique aside from looking pretty. To be fair, the demo is about 8 minutes long, which lets you at least get a feel for the basics of the game, but that's it. The demo doesn't even go so far as to tell a person that's never touched the franchise how to hike, pass, juke, the new defensive line moves, or any of that. Loading the demo up takes you to a 'Press Start' screen, which then shows you a menu that has the following options: Play Now, XBOX LIVE, Career Modes, Quick Modes, NFL Roster, My Madden, Exit Demo. Picking anything aside from Play Now just lets you see highlights of that feature of the game in a sentence or two, which is incredibly vague. Once you select your teams in Play Now, you're taken to the field annnnnnd that's it. From then on, you're just thrown in to the mix. One of the features that people either love or hate about these games is also missing from this demo too, which is the commentary. I don't... understand what the point of this demo is aside from letting people who were already fans of the series play this one a bit early, but it doesn't even inform you of what you should be looking for.

There's also the issue of vertical slice demos, which highlight specifically the best parts of a game, and I understand what it accomplishes, but if you're the developer/publisher and you identify a certain part of your title as being particularly well done or better than the rest, shouldn't you also know exactly what to go back and change with the rest of the content to make it a much more cohesive experience instead of trying to fool people with the one fun level from your game? The last thing that needs to be somehow figured out is what to demo and what not to demo. Some games just aren't going to hold up or seem all that appealing if you only get to play a small section, and while some studios seem to get this (Bethesda not releasing a Fallout/Oblivion demo), others tend to stumble and put one out which can have a negative effect on opening day sales (Burnout Paradise). If anyone else out there can think of any solid examples of well done demos, horribly botched ones, or has a different perspective, feel free to comment and get a bit of discussion going. Maybe I'm completely wrong in my assumption that demos are slowly starting to miss their original intentions, or maybe it's just the big companies that aren't utilizing them correctly and everyone else is doing a great job.

inFAMOUS review

Sucker Punch’s (the studio responsible for the Sly Cooper series) debut on the PS3 has finally arrived in the form of Infamous. It’s been one of the most hyped PS3 titles in gaming circles and while it instantly draws comparisons to Crackdown and Prototype, this title truly is in a league of it’s own with its moral choice system and the slight rpg elements included. Some may complain that the game lacks a true morality system since in order to get the most powerful version of yourself, you have to be truly good or truly evil, it’s fairly obvious that the game wasn’t designed with the concept of a grey area in mind and it embraces it with every choice that you make.


Gameplay – 8/10

Let’s clarify one thing now: inFamous is a pretty long game. That said, for the 30 or so hours it will take you to complete the main quest, you’re going to be in for one incredible ride and is well worth every cent of its price. Not to go into too much detail, the game starts off with a picture of a bike and the title screen displayed above it. The moment you press start, theres instantly an explosion, which serves as your prologue and sets you up for your cleverly integrated tutorial mission. As you progress through the game, you come through a few more sequences extending all the way up to the final hours where you enter a room and end up coming across a sewer that sets you up with a new power but also functions as a tutorial to help you come to grips with the controls for that specific move. Eventually, you'll find a point when you're easily able to judge exactly how far it is that you're going to be jumping and pinpointing your landing. Fortunately if you miscalculate a leap, the incredible parkour stuff kicks in.
Cole, for whatever reason, is extremely agile and capable of scaling nearly any building that populates the lush city. Any single ledge that you can see jutting out even the smallest bit is completely open for you to grab, which leads directly into the first complaint. Cole literally grabs anything within reach, which is awesome when you're scaling buildings vertically, but the moment you need to go sideways? You're going to find yourself wanting to leap from one side of the building, across two windows and a drain, then grabbing that very last one, but instead the game automatically forces you to grab on all of the things in between. Another major time this becomes an issue is during combat sequences when an enemy launches a rocket at you and you really need to dodge, but end up getting hit because you grabbed something you didn't mean to. It's nothing too major, but it does detract from the experience a small bit. Progression through the game, as previously mentioned, unlocks tons of abilities depending on which path you take, with the good side focusing more on sniper like attacks and the evil path gives you a huge area of destruction, since that's probably what you want anyway, right?
Once you become settled with the controls and gain some of the more powerful abilities, Cole truly becomes a force that can't be stopped... except by water and chain link fences. Dodging foes attacks becomes second nature as does using your environment and their strengths to your advantage. For a quick example, the kamikaze enemies you see throughout the streets are able to be blown back into a mob and detonated, taking it and several other creatures out with it. Of course, using your powers does drain your energy a bit, but quickly tapping the L3 key shows lighting icons throughout the world via minimap that you can drain in the middle of a fight, or you can drain enemies/civilians for a quick boost as well. While the entire game is pretty satisfying, unfortunately the mission variety starts to get stale about halfway through, with the basic missions being slightly different variations of things you've previously done. While I didn't mind, a lot of criticism has been aimed at how you do have moral choices, but it's almost always along the lines of "help the old lady cross the street" or "help the old lady cross the street, but when she's halfway across, shoot her into traffic, revive her, then detonate every car that surrounds her and wipe her and entire population nearby out as well." While the choices themselves may be extremely black and white, they do add a noticable change to your character and the way the city reacts to them, going so far as to slightly alter the ending and the way certain major events play out. It might not be the most incredible way to do moral choices, it actually starts to feel really fun, and that's what games like this should be about anyway. Last but not least, the storyline does a good job of giving you a slightly above average origin story and outcome of a completely original super hero that you could easily see belonging inside the Marvel or DC universe and the limited number of major characters in the cast allows you to become more attached to them than you realize.


Graphics - 8/10

While Cole is an important character, it almost feels like the central focus of inFamous at times is the city itself. Cole's character design isn't anything spectacular and could probably find itself comfortably fitting in any other game of this type and you wouldn't notice. His animations, however, are fabulous. While the controls feel great themselves, the fluidity of animations when you're running , then make a daring leap and grab on to a ledge just looks exactly how you would want it to. His various idle animations actually made me smile since this is one of the few 3rd person action games that has not just one, but several that happen as you're sitting there waiting. Sucker Punch really did an amazing job of giving you certain awesome looking moments that when you're holding on to an object with one while reaching out and pulling the electricity out of a nearby structure, or the way he slightly reaches up when he's crouched behind cover to take off a quick shot at an enemy. Enemy designs, while cool looking in the sleek comic style cutscenes, don't really look all that amazing in game. It's fine since you're almost too busy to notice, but instead of coming of as clever or creepy when they're alone, they just look...odd. NPC's in inFamous have enough models that create the illusion of a crowd when necessary, but you'll quickly find yourself coming across some of the same models throughout the 3 islands, which isn't bad considering how large the world is. Unfortunately the models for the cars are pretty bland, but that almost encourages you to just make one explode, which makes them look a lot better.

Sound - 6/10

Since this is such an anticipated title, it's a downer that there's almost no sort of soundtrack in 95% of the game. When the score does come into play, it's never intrusive in its style, but at the same time it's incredibly forgettable and seems to just happen at random times. I'm not certain if inFamous supports custom soundtracks either, so a lot of what you're going to be hearing will be the sounds of combat, the city, and npc's along with sporadic chatter with various characters from your cell phone. While the soundtrack and its integration was completely overlooked by the developer, the voice acting does a pretty good job. Cole's voice amused me since it captured that feeling of constantly being annoyed with people asking for his assistance, while others did an excellent job of portraying whatever emotion they were trying to get across. Since the sound effects consist of powers created via electricity, the team had a lot of liberty in creating whatever sounds they wanted to (I can't name a single person that's ever heard what's essentially a electric rocket launcher in real life) yet somehow everything sounds exactly how you would expect it to. A really nice touch that is typically overlook that inFamous completely nails is that NPC's actually react to you in the world, and even though it's not much, it's better than hearing "The hero of kvatch!" for 50 hours.


Overall – 8/10

For PS3 owners, inFamous is a must buy, without a doubt. If you're still a bit skeptical, you should at least borrow or rent it. The sheer size of the world, number of missions, interesting story, and creative powers will give you tons to do. Completionists will have tons of orbs to collect, which help to increase how much energy you have for your moves, the three islands to reclaim, two different stories, and loads of areas to explore. While the game on a whole is incredibly entertaining, the downside is that since there's so much to do, after playing about 50% of the time, you'll start to notice that even though theres so much stuff there, a lot of it lacks the polish of more focused games. The lack of a soundtrack for almost the entire game slowly takes it toll on you and drags the otherwise solid experience down a bit. Anyone that's a fan of superheroes, comics, sandbox games, or just looking for something to do this summer should definitely find a way to play this this out, but inFamous isn't quite what I could recommend to anyone looking for a system seller since there's all these minor gripes that add up. On the other hand, if you're looking for a game to add to your library or you're thinking of picking up a ps3 with this and a few other games, you're going to have an incredible amount of fun here.

Music Review: Atmosphere, When Live Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold.

Album: When Life gives you lemons, you paint that shit gold
Artists: Atmosphere
Album cover-

Sound: 7
Lyrics: 10
Originality: 9
Overall: 8.75

Rated - Nonexplicit

Comments: Slug and Ant of Atmosphere have come a long way since their lyrically charged debut, Overcast. They have gone through many transformations, and with each new album coming out, you never know what you will get till you give it a listen. They have created their own brand of hip hop that exists outside the macho, violent, sexist, and obscene world that dominates most of this genre. “When Life Gives you Lemons, You paint that Shit Gold“, is the fifth full length studio release by Atmosphere, and easily one of the best. It took the Story telling formula that had worked so well in their previous album “You Can’t imagine how much fun were having”, and took it one step further. It takes it to a much more personal level. I couldn’t help by smile when listening to "You" and “In her music box”, and I couldn’t help but cry when listening to “yesterday”. Each song on this great album expresses a different emotion. Hope, determination, desperation, sadness, regret, happiness. It is truly an emotional experience.

This album shines in more way than one. Besides the lyrical content displayed by MC slug, producer Ant has probably done the best work of his career on this album. His synthesizer based beats are unique, creative, and just absolutely brilliant. They possibly even outshine Slug.

If you are a fan of Atmosphere I highly recommend this album. If not, it wouldn’t be the best album to break your atmo cherry with, however it wouldn’t be the worst either. Give it a listen if you have not!

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