Splatterhouse

When a game has an M rating, normally its for something stupid like foul language. When Splatterhouse has an M rating, its because if it doesn't bleed, swear, or look like something that should be inside of the body as opposed to where it is, then chances are its a naked photograph.

Game play wise, it's a pretty dang solid game. Classic block/dodge, light attack, heavy attack, "special" mask move, "berserk mode", and grab move buttons all exist. Most sections involve simply beating the crap out of everything in the area, then moving to the next, with some mild interactions of "pick the blood sigil that is correct or fight more bad guys" and "throw bad guys onto these spikes to unlock the way" thrown in. In a classy, nostalgia-ridden move, they have also set some stages where the view point suddenly changes to that of a side-scroller, which adds a little bit of something different that is still mostly the same to the play. Moves/skills are unlocked via earning blood/necro, which is earned by (what else) killing the faces off of anything you come across. And I mean literally killing faces...

The game incorporates 'Splatterkills', which are nothing but a gruesome and cool way of finishing off a guy who has been pummeled to the point of a red outline. These kills, outside of looking like they would hurt extremely, net you the most blood for your punch, and also sometimes net you an appendage to beat someone else with. Yeah, you can pick up severed arms and heads, then use them to beat their friends with. In some instances (these particularly annoying blue-veined ghouls), enemies will even cause you to loose an arm. This effects numerous things and is quite inconvenient (you move slower, can't grapple, can't run, can't do combo attacks, can't use weapons), although using the games healing move will automatically regrow it if you don't feel patient enough to wait for it to come back by itself. Each enemy has one or two splatter kills associated with it (from what I can gather), but the face button's required to push will randomly change (by face button, I mean your A B X Y buttons). Also, a one-liner will normally be spouted from the Mask (the Terror Mask), such as "Hey, it's a twist top!"

Graphically the game is no push-over. Violence sticks around for a while, both blood-splattered floors and walls, and on Rick (you), making him look downright frightening at times. Damage to Rick is also displayed on him, leading to visible ribs, bones sticking out from severed arms, and all the pleasantries of such carnage. The in-game collectibles (Jen's Photos) are another part of the M rating (as if the Mask's constant swearing, sexual innuendos, and violence weren't enough already), as at least half of said photographs are generally topless (and there hasn't even been a big deal about it in the news or papers yet?). Honestly, this doesn't bother me, and if anything it's more incentive to get than some little dog-tag or laptop that does nothing anyways.

On the audio front, I have to give the game my vote for "best soundtrack of the year." Why? Its practically all Metal, and I like metal. Even if you don't like metal, it belongs in a game such as this, where the heavy pounding beats and violent guitar riffs only fuel the carnage you are about to unleash on the little digital world. The sound effects themselves are good, letting you really know just how much it hurt to get hit by that lead pipe a second ago. The voice over jobs are actually rather surprising. I've played more serious games that weren't as convincing as this, even when it starts to break that 4th dimension with comments like "This is what got us an M rating kid."

The largest downside to the game is the ending battles. I mean, there is one point at the start that involves some platforming that was rather difficult, but at that point its the only platforming you've done in the game, so you are totally not ready for it. The end of the game though...it quickly turns into a series of mini-boss type enemy fights. And not just one after the other, but at one point you have 4 of one type of mini-boss and 2 of another type all at once, and your expected to deal with them. To do this normally is just plain a nuisance, so I ended up resorting to using "berserk mode" to clear majority out as quick as possible (this can be seen to an extent in the video review).

Also of note, by beating story mode you unlock all three original Splatterhouse games to play, and there is also an Arena mode, which consists of beating the crap out of 20 waves of enemies to get a "rank", based on time, performance, and how many of the "hidden bonus objectives" you completed.

Modern Warfare 2 Throat Communicator

Alright, it's finally here, and for this we are gonna do things a bit different. Enter the list folks:

Pros:

• Excellent clarity of voice carried through
• Mic pics up everything
• Style won't muss up your hair
• Attached clip so cable can be 'pinned' to clothes
• Mute toggle switch, so people don't need to listen to you talk to in-house friends
• Volume dial to control inbound volume
• Single prong, second generation microphone jack
• No battery

Cons:

• Single ear bud is rather quiet
• Ear bud tends to fall out of ear if you move around much
• Mic pics up everything in the room (including the game your playing)
• Not for people with large necks

And that sums up this little bugger. Honestly, I prefer the wireless headset to this, but this won't suddenly die in the middle of an online match.

Battle of the Band Games 2 - Rock Band 3

Alright, given this is part two of two, I will take some liberties and assume you read part one. If you didn't, then your missing an explanation of controls and some of the "same" points between the two games.

Rock Band 3, by default on the disc, has 83 songs. This is only about 7 less than the newest guitar hero, but when you factor in the number of songs that have already appeared in past music games, the number gets cut significantly. This may be good news to some, because they wanted all those songs, but to others not so much.

The controls are the same here (with the exception of less pads on the drum set), and the only difference is how star power is deployed on the drums and vocals. For drums, a "fill" section is added, where you can drum whatever hits your little heart wants, as long as you hit that cymbal at the end in time to activate. For vocals, a psychedelic section appears, indicating that you must scream or otherwise make a loud noise into the mic to activate. Honestly, I personally find it sub par to the free-willed open tactics used in GH, and it makes it less useful in RB3.

One aspect of controls I could not test is the new Pro Mode instruments. Why couldn't I? I'm not rich. The biggest drawback to this game is the new features. For starters, they added a keyboard - although scrolling down the list at minimum one quarter the songs do not have a keyboard part anyways - and of course the new Pro Mode. What a wonderful idea! To have the game basically TEACH you how to play real instruments! Yet... 120 dollars for a pro guitar, and 60 dollars for a cymbal attachment for the drums... it gets pricey - too pricey - rather quick.

The outfit selection is about equal to other RB games, except practically every single piece of clothes and accessories is locked and tied to some achievement, like "complete Road Warrior set list", which is all fine and good until you read that some of the coolest stuff requires you to do Pro Mode, which means shell out all that money for pro instruments.

The band failure is still the same thing - 3 strikes and you fail, as the bar will continually drop regardless what the other band members do.

So what to go with? Again, not that RB3 is a bad game, but if you only had to get one, I would recommend you stick with GH's newest addition. RB3 has plenty of potential for those wanting to get into playing real instruments, but only if you actually have the bankroll to do it.

Battle of the Band Games 1- Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock

Guitar Hero. It's a name most all of us now, and some of us love. For the musically challenged, or people like me who just can't manage the fandangle of so many strings and frets, its a way to feel like your a rocker, without ever having to leave the house. For people that love music and games, its an excuse to hear some of your enjoyed songs while playing a game with reason.

The general format to Guitar Hero hasn't changed much over the years. Notes (circles) come down from the top of the screen, and you hit them in time. If you do well on the "star notes", you build up "star power" that when used enhances your score modifier (or even saves you from an untimely loss). In the case of singing, various formats are available, but most often used is the scrolling style, which displays an actual graph-style bar that you can use to judge if you have to raise or lower your pitch.

Star power is deployed through either a tilt of the controller (guitar), a double cymbal hit (GH 6-part drums), or a simple button press on the controller (vocals). Notes are as simple as hitting whats displayed when it lines up with the bar on the bottom.

The character customization is nearly entirely open from the start, although there are plenty of accessories and outfits to unlock through playing either the story mode or quickplay mode. All instruments can be customized to a righteous amount, although when it comes to the guitars I can see a lot of people going with the more...outlandish 'hero' guitars (such as the bat wing, the battle axe, or even the Frostmourne from World of Warcraft) after they are unlocked.

The story mode goes along the lines of the Deity of rock being beat by some big techno-looking robot, and the characters (many from previous GH games - such as Judy Nails, Pandora, and Axel) must go about reaching enough "power stars" (the measurement of how good you did) to become their inner warrior (pandora turns into a dark elf, judy a winged demon, Axel a mummy) and quest for the Axe of power, to return the Deity to power and defeat the techno-monster. Its cheesy, but plays out exactly like an old metal video, especially the set piece in the background during the final three-song set list, where they battle (lasers from instruments and all) the monster, releasing the Deity who battles it with his axe to the dramatic and awesome sounds of Megadeth.

Each warrior has a special power associated with them as well, from earning 4x star power off of the star power notes, to instant revives should you fail out. These become unlocked for use in some of the quickplay + challenges - a new way of adding replay-ability to the song list. The more stars you get, the higher your "rank", the more stuff you unlock through playing quickplay alone. Challenges range from "get a high score using powers" to "shake the guitar while rocking out in the designated sections".

Multiplayer is there, from quest mode, to competitive showdowns, from a mano a mano all the way up to full band duels. Although I haven't gotten a large chance to check into it, I believe the band fail out has been changed to a format where upon failing, a gauge appears that instructs the player to "win back the crowd!" What this means is you keep playing, and do good, and then you don't fail. It's honestly much more forgiving then the Rock Band 3 strikes your band fails entirely gimmick.

The track list, DLC excluded, comes at a whopping 90 tracks on disc, mostly all of which are new to the genre. Classic hits like Renegade by Styx, or heavy tv style with Bloodlines by Dethklok, or even just stunning hits people have almost been afraid to see such as Steve Vai. With 90 songs, its pretty easy for everyone to find a song they like.

In the battle of the bands, I would say this one wins. Simply put, it's easier to jump into and have fun without buying anything extra (beyond the main set of instruments you need to play of course).

Star Wars: Force Unleashed 2

So yeah... This wasn't what most of us thought of when we heard we where getting a sequel to the hit Force Unleashed. The first game had hours of fun, a long campaign filled with long-to level force powers, combos, and a (bit exaggerated) million costumes to wear for your character. The only thing really wrong was a semi-bad combat camera, repetitive kill keys (Quick Time Events for finishing off a character).

The second one, however, they didn't quite listen to some of the flak they got. They changed the saber crystal system (in most our minds) a step backwards. Instead of having independent color and ability crystals, its all combined, meaning its more a functional choice then an aesthetic choice. Minor gripe really. The kill events are less varied - one event for every type of that bad guy (the past Unleashed had at least two or three per enemy type) that can be killed in such a manner. The bad guys are fewer in type, but more specific in their roles. The only real new force power is Mind Trick - sure, it leads to a few fun moments, but its fundamentally flawed in the fact that whomever you trick seems to be, well, incredibly weaker than their compatriots.

Yeah, the graphics are a step up, especially noticeable on stages like Kamino, where its always raining (when your outdoors anyways). On the flip side of this coin, there are only (IRRC) four stages, and two of them are kamino. This means variety is pretty low.

However, the biggest problem is the overall play time. You're looking at 10 hours on normal mode, and that's if you factor in all the "challenges". Of course, the challenges are the only thing linked to the leaderboards, and their real only purpose is to unlock extras, or costumes, or earn a few XP points to upgrade your force abilities. The hardcore fan will appreciate some of the little voiced-over comics it adds by doing these, as they go into the whole "luke starkiller" storyboards - something I never knew about, but have a decent understanding off thanks to a friend who is big into the Star Wars fiction.

So really, it controls fine, it plays fine, and any problems you may have experienced playing the first are still there. The real set back is a weak playtime amount, and the story itself can seem pretty shabby at times (considering how nicely it wrapped up the first, they did a pretty good job all considering.

Really though, rent this one before you buy it, unless your a real devoted fan, because there isn't much too it.

Tron Controller

File this sexy beauty under AWESOME.



Really though, the video file on this says it all. Rubberized grips on the hand portion, 4 way dpad (as opposed to dpad with directionals). The overall feel is the same as most wired controllers - button sensitivy, stick rotation/sensitivity, button spacing all with no noticeable differances (at least by me). The rubber grips are comfortable, but can attribute to some hand sweating, and I haven't noticed it with any of my other controllers before, but this one has actually rumbled itself off the table during a cutscene before.

The only real negative on this bad boy is (to some) that its wired, and to more of us, that it does not work with generation 1 headsets (the bad boys with the huge plug part that contains also the mute switch on it). This, of course, is no problem to anyone with the newer headsets (either wireless, or containing just the plug at the end), but for those of us who've been around for a while, its troublesome.

Addendum: It's been brought to my attention that thanks to the g2 style mic jack, the controller will probably not work with the controller-plugged keypad either (I don't have one, so I can neither confirm or deny this).

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Castlevania is no newcomer to the 3d scene, having had various attempts in the past. This newest rendition, however, not only succeeds in its task of being a decent game, but also acts as a complete franchise Reboot (like oh so many movies nowadays).

So we fall into the shoes of one troubled Gabriel Belmont, a whip (sorry, "combat cross") using bad ass with a Scottish accent who has serious rage problems against evil. It appears that evil has killed his wife, who's soul is now lost to limbo because a dark spell has cut off access to heaven. Thus begins his quest to travel across the entire map of the games 10 or so chapters for revenge and an attempt to return his wife to the land of the living.

Scenes are voice acted lovely, with Belmont's Scottish-y accent being fun, although I feel that Patrick Stewart's monologues while the chapter is setting up sometimes feel rather un-attached (although I do suppose it fits his character). Most of the animations are quite good as well, although there are some facial animations that leave a person wanting. Details in both the environments and the characters themselves are sometimes stunning, but most of the time your more focused on not dying to enjoy them.

That brings me to the first point, when you start the game fighting werewolves, you feel utmost bad ass - stomping and slaying left and right. At a certain point in the game, however, you start getting your red-garbed rump handed to you, wondering "what just happened?" It's not that the game is perma-hard or something, far from it, but sometimes the difficulty level ramps at a rate that its more like a stair than a curve - manageable, but could be quite the turnoff to the more casual, not super-great players out there. Puzzles are similar as well - some puzzles are no brainers, others you end up figuring out purely on accident just because you got lucky. In the case of one puzzle after a boss fight, you really have to be perfect in your timing or else you won't get the line of blood to reach its next "pool point", causing you to reset back to the last pool point. Considering there where only about 4 points to hit on the way, it took me well over half an hour for just this one tiny puzzle. Each puzzle normally, however, comes with hints in the form of scrolls, and you can "unlock" the puzzle's solution simply by forfeiting all the exp you would earn otherwise.

Experience is used to upgrade moves (better combo attacks, stronger special powers), although with how fights work out most the time you'll be using the default attacks and a few of the fancier relic-abilities. This is mainly just because it's rare an enemy (or pack of them) will let you get off a move that focuses on just one of them without interrupting with a dodge or smack to the back of your head, stopping you from what your doing. Bosses, on the other hand, will take the attack and punch your face to show you they don't want any of that. Most the time, its better to just hit with a few normal smacks and then dodge, rinse and repeat. Grapple moves exist, and result in a 'QTE' (quick time event) where you time the push to a large circle shrinking to the smaller circle, and ranges in results from kicking a imp in the crotch, causing it to explode to a simple stake through the heart of the vampire. Sub-weapons exist in this game, although they don't feel nearly as useful as they used to - this may be because they exist in an ammo-count variety instead of a heart usage setup. Silver knives work great against werewolves, and then quickly become something that you could care less about later on. Faeries distract enemies (faeries? Really? With so many sub weapons in the old games, we had to come with faeries?) and can be turned into exploding pint-sized fliers using your "light magic". Holy water is great, AOE (area of effect) weapons, can be used to shield you with the ole LM turned on, but is so limited you don't want to waste them. The last sub weapon is the "crystal" that summons a demon to beat crap up on the screen cut-scene style. Cool and all, but you need to collect 3 parts to get 1 crystal, and that's all you can hold. I think I used it once, just for fun.

The enemies are varied enough, ranging from staples like the wolves and the vamps all the way to ogres and giant dead dragons reanimated. Of course, the boss size is also as different, and a true scale check can be seen in the video version posted. Each boss may be tricky at first, but you figure out the pattern and what to do, and it becomes a breeze. Well, more a breeze than before anyways.

The music is there, but it doesn't, to me at least, feel as fun or memorable as the normal castlevania's of the past (with the exception of the theme showing up when you are put inside a music box in one level). The plot itself is nothing super elaborate, although it does have some good plot twists, some I didn't see coming, and one I did after the game's credits roll.

All in all, I enjoyed playing it, and it was a good use of time (talking 20+ hours just to beat the game on normal difficulty, not getting all the little secrets or bonus tasks). You end up having to revisit some stages to get upgrades to the amount of sub weapons you can carry, which I did, just to not really end up using them in the end, but the replayability is there for the devoted.

Just in time for Halloween this review is, how fitting?

Front Mission Evolved

Ah yes, Front Mission. I've known you for years - way back into the super nintendo days - as one of the first cool turn-based robot games. Developing yourself over the years with more robo-varioations, better storylines, fun characters, and of course better graphics.



In the particular case of FME, things take a strange twist (much like they did for Front Mission : Gunhazard), where the game is as a matter of fact NOT a turn-based RTS game. In this case, its a shooter type - technically a third person Over The Shoulder, but I still call it First person on accident more often then not. You know what though? Its still a pretty darn fun game. One word of warning though: I got nothing on multiplayer, as I haven't played it yet. So just a SP review for now.

Alright, so the nitty gritty. Graphically its modern - good looking. The environ's in the single player are varied enough - cities, space, some indoor on-foot missions (yeah, they make you get out of the wanzer!), and even a return to the much reknowned Huffman Island from the original FM game. There are some on-rail vehicle type stages as well, where you are placed on a dual-gatling turrent aboard an Osprey transport, gunning things down on your way to your landing zone, but all stages are experienced on mechanical foot at some point or another, even the arctic and desert levels.

The campaign's story is what you would expect from both FM and a square-enix title. What starts as a basic revenge part spirals up until it hits the point where its save the world save the girl. Honestly, it leads into the best line in the game (at least, my favourite) exchanged between the main villian and the main hero, and I'm goign to paraphrase it up a bit, you know, to save on forgetting names and what-not:
Hero:"Where's the girl?"
Villian: "The fate of the world is in the balance and all you can worry about is the girl?"
Hero:"I know where the world is, and it's not going anywhere, because I won't let you do anything to it OR the girl!"

Characterwise, the big show-stealer has always been the Wanzers - that is the giant piloted mech units. Customizable to an extent that makes it instantly familiar to the players of past FM games, one can swap out torso, leg, and both arms of their wanzer, then apply whatever 4 color patterns to the individual parts they want, including gloss levels and decals. Each part has different stats - armor, weight, skate speed (think rocket-boosted skating) for the legs, accuracy for the arms, and energy output for the torso. How it works ideally is that the energy rating of the torso can't be exceeded by the overall weight of the parts and weapons combined. This can be tweaked a little by equipping an energy producing backpack, or some quad-type legs (which are made for equipping more weaponry). Weapons themselves are FM classics - snipers, bazookas, missiles and rockets, robot sized 'brass' knuckles, bats and pneumatic pile-spikes, machine guns and shotguns. The names themselves will make a FM fanatic feel at home, being the same old names from back in the day.

From a gameplay standpoint, its nothing new. If anyone has played Armored Core before, they will catch on to the mech-based parts just fine - shoulders and bumpers assigned to weapons (arms and shoulder mounts), left stick click activates the 'skate', right stick the 'precision aim', and classic jump, dodge, and bullet time-esque 'E.D.G.E.' mode to the face buttons. When it comes to the non-mech section, it plays out like a typical shooter game.

Difficulty-wise, its not bad, although having played through on normal, the second to final boss proved quite problematic, taking about 10-12 attempts just to beat him, allowing me to continue with the rest of the mission and fight the final boss (who was a pushover compared to the other). The stage's are all pretty linear, which never bothered me since I get too easily distracted on a wide-open course. Overall, the game gives you enough of a challenge that it makes you wonder why it just ramped up so bad, but not undefeatable in difficulty.

The sounds are good, and I find the almost transformer-esque noises made quite amusing. I enjoy it, and maybe sometime I'll spend a little time with the multiplayer so I can share my thoughts on that. I mean, heck, its probably got less people playing that other games, but they cant possibly be as bad as the crowd that plays CoD, right?

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair

Well then, I've decided to try a little something new with this one: Ive made a video to go along with it, so you can get a general idea of the post straight by LISTENING. Aren't I nice?



So Castlevania finally returns to something that's not portable. Isn't that great?

Nostalgia aside, the game plays as smooth as one would expect. Classic controls keep things simple, with some slight alterations to modern hardware that allows for a little something extra : By assigning the Right Bumper to a "character move", one can now have one less special combination to worry about (in Alucard's case, you turn to mist for a short span, Jonathon blocks, Shanoa uses her magnetic field to grasp "anchors" in the background).

The stages are limited, and I cant argue with that. At only 6 levels, some people will grow tired of it fast. The fact that each of the 6 characters feel unique does help a lot to keep things interesting on multiple play throughs, and the collection element (leveling up skill moves/spells, getting more armor/weapons/items) will no doubt draw a good deal of people - its what keeps a lot of people coming back to MMO's, after all. That being said, the stages are finely detailed in their immense 2d states. Drawn from 'the source' (the nintendo DS castlevania games), they represent various stages that newer fans (or older ones who have played them) will recognize, and the addition of a seamless multiplayer (as in, it feels the same playing with one or more people) lets you experience it in a new much appreciated light.

The biggest changes, of course, are foregoing the plot for a more multiplayer friendly set-up: Loot the treasure to get stronger, then kill the boss. Some treasure can be gotten only with multiple people playing, or by using specific characters (sometimes even cheating the game to get there when it doesn't think you can). The downside of this, of course, means that you are getting that short 60 minute or less run of the road each time, as opposed to having an elaborate progression of events incorporated in the average yarn of the tale.

Graphics are an eye of the beholder thing really, but the sprites are richly detailed and the entire game has that look of polish. The character models are offered in various colors ( to help alleviate the problem of multiple players choosing the same character), and each weapon looks its own. The backgrounds themselves even have weather animations (such as the lightning flashes in Stage 6), which add to the atmosphere.

The music is awesome, in that heavy castlevania styling that I personally love.

The multiplayer works great, with the exception of setting it up with friends is a chore. In order to all play together, one must set together a "team", which must be done before you get to the character/map selection screen. Of course, if you want to back out of the map/selection screen, then you have to leave the team altogether, which means if your playing with one friend, then another wants to join in, you have to go recreate from step one as opposed to the more streamlined "join session in progress" that xbox normally offers.

All in all, the game is fun, and well worth the 15 dollar price tag, hopefully with some DLC on the way (that wont cost as much as some DLC out there...). I've honestly spent so much time on the thing I'm personally surprised over it, since with only 6 stages and 5 characters, I thought it would grow old fast. What a pleasant surprise.

Oh, nostalgia.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

It's been a long time coming that my opinions on this disasterpeice be known. Some, possibly even most, may consider this game to be the utmost in awesome games. Others, like me, see it for what it is - a decent game with a horrid fanbase.

Let's start it off with the game itself, shall we?

The plot line is good - not as great as the first, but good. Although the first MW used the "your character has died" routine very few times - that one dramatic moment when you think you somehow survived a nuke just to be proven wrong - the second actually over-uses it to the extent of you not really feeling that same "holy cow" feeling you may have gotten from the first. The actual plot itself is nothing spectacular, but good enough to keep driving a person to the next mission - enough intrigue and backstabbing plot twists to make any person happy. Difficulty has been ramped down from the first, mostly in part to the end of endless enemy waves. Vehicle segments exist add to the variety of normal mission batches.

When it comes to "missions", theres always the included of the co-op mode, which chops up parts of the campaign and turns it into a small 2 man mash up of single objectives (ie. Kill 10 juggernauts, disarm the two bombs). It's a nice diversion from the single player, since it lets you bring a friend along for the ride to accomplish some great tactical excursions - something the AI is rarely capable of.

The multiplayer...well, we'll save that for later.

The weapon selection is broad enough, but the largest problem is outside of the rate of fire they all tend to feel very similar. Some do full auto, some only semi, and some burst, but they all take large round counts to kill anyone on the normal match types, and only one or two rounds to kill someone in the 'hardcore' matches. In addition to this, they've added an entire category of explosive weapons - four rocket launcher types and a single crack-tube grenade launcher. It baffles me as to why such weapons would be needed in a game that is totally infantry-based in multiplayer (where such weapons are still pickable).

So the maps are pretty varied, ranging from arctic sub bases, blistering deserts, forested estates, all sorts of stuff - including a very "the rock"-esque stage in a prison. These also go into multiplayer.

So then we get to the biggest problem - the multiplayer. The developers thought hey had a great idea - to force people to chat in-game so that everyone would work as a team for the majoraty of match types - that turned out to be a really, really annoying thing that causes most people to not bother plugging in their mic. To make that matter worse, the game has one of the rudest, most notoriously '12 year old in the parents basement acting like they are big and bad' xbox-live stereotype audiences to exist in any game I have ever played on the xbox, or on the pc. You can't go a match without someone accusing someone of being fat with no friends, not hitting puberty, or spouting the word 'faggot' 10 times in the course of 2 minutes. To make it worse, the few matches that support the Live Party feature have the tendance to seperate your group - sometimes a person just gets dropped from the party, sometimes they get left in a limbo that says they are "waiting for the party leader". The addition of the explosives leads to nothing but grief in multiplayer as well, as people bomb the spawn at the very second of the start of the match from across the stage, wiping out the entire team. The most game-breaking part, however, is the "Tactical Nuke". No game that is multiplayer should have an item, regardless of how hard/easy to get, that instantly ends the match and places the user and his/her team on the top. In a game that supposed to be intense fast paced action, you shouldnt need to worry about a camper winning the game in a ridiculous come from behind instant win victory is needless.

The number of modes is pretty good, being search and destroy (a classic counter strike type 'set the bomb at point X and make sure it blows up), Deathmatch (and team variant), Domination (a king of the hill type hold-the-points longest), Capture the Flag, and some Harcore (no radar, less health) versions of modes.

Now, some would say I got no skillz, that the items I say are horrible is just because im a hater or a noob who cant play. I've single handedly won team matches before - is it a consistant occurance? No. To be honest, the juvenile dimwitted actions of most people that play the game keep me away, and many a friend has had to fight to get me to play it. I love the fast paced action, the ability of bullets to penetrate walls, and the utter absolute carnage that can erupt over a capture point. What I dont like is the overall multiplayer experience. To each their own though, to each their own.

Super Robot Taisen

Little known to anyone outside a fan-following of giant robots called mech (mecha plural, although some still refer to them as mechs) in a often known format known as anime, this game has seen more iterations than even the power rangers have managed at this point in time. Released only a few times here on American soil due to copyright laws on the various shows contained with-in, some folks might recognize the little game boy/ DS cartridges named "Super Robot Wars." Yours truly just so happens to be an enormous fan of giant robots, extending from games on different formats, movies, and shows of many different kinds. Heck, I've even tried a few table-top war games involving them, so in this case you all get to be lucky and learn of a little series that offers a big punch.

The general premise of mostly all SRT games (outside of Original Generations, which featured completely custom-created content, hence allowing it to be released state-side) involves taking the various shows the characters (and mecha) come from, and spinning them all into a over-arching story, which for the most part actually takes you through sections of the shows they come from in honest (for instance, you may experience plot lines and events from the actual Gundam Destiny show, should the game include the characters). This is ideal, since not everyone would necessarily know where the characters are from, and it serves as a manner of introduction and a launch off point for those interested to expand to watching the source material. Unfortunately enough, that's really all I can tell you about the plots, as every copy I have ever played has been in japanese, which to me may as well be moonspeak translated into Italian drawn by a three year old. Thankfully, I've seen most of these shows, so I know whats going on.

The game itself plays out over a series of 'missions', each with a goal - some as simple as defeat all enemies, survive X rounds, get unit Y to point Z, and even the occasional don't let someone get killed - that will normally have something to do with the shows story path the game is currently following, played out in a classic Turn-Based Strategy format. Each unit has a range it can move, and plethora of attacks drawn straight from its source material. Most the games take place in the 2d realm, with sprites on an overland map being nothing more then the head of the bot in question. As the series goes on, more appear also on more modern consoles, with more improved 3d models replacing their 2d counterparts. Consistent in all, however, is absolutely stunning animations - 2d or 3d - of every attack (which can be turned off if you want to skip them, but lets face it, they are beautiful, why would you do that?).

An example of a later game in the series, and a Super Robot type:


The shows contained within are generally numerous and cause the 'bots to be drawn into two categories that effect their rolls game wise: Super and Real type. Super robots are similar to things such as the power ranger's giant robot, where its not really bound in the realm of reality by what it can do. Attacks will often involve such classics as lazer-eyes, rocket punches, swords/axes drawn from null-space, and of course the awe-inspiring super-attacks. These are generally something you put all your points into defense and power with, as they are not the most mobile things, functioning better as tanks that soak damage and deliver one-hit kills to those unfortunate enough to be in the way. Real type robots, on the other hand are more your Gundam show style - quick and fickle. Weapons are more a realistic based thing - lazer guns, machine guns, cannons and missiles, punches and over sized robot swords. Most of these items will have an ammo count associated with it, making you think about your tactics before you send them out to battle. Why would you use a Real type if it potentially dies so fast? After they have been upgraded a bit, they are darn near IMPOSSIBLE to ever hit. Its the classic example of pecking something to death.

Example of a real type - the Hi Nu Gundam:


Mentioned above, there is also in place an "upgrade system", in which the player will take money earned from missions to increase stats on the units available - this normally takes the form of Attack power (self explanatory), defense (explanatory), attack range (duh), evade (really?), HP (numerical life force baby), and Energy (used a real lot by the supers). The dollar amount changes per upgrade and unit, but you really notice the difference in the long run. Of course, with so many units to play with, the player really needs to decide weather to spread out the points, or to focus on their favourite units. Of course, there are also items that can be equipped that do various things - let the unit fly, enhance stats, restore ammo/energy/health, all manner of things - and in the case of reals, there's weapons as well.

Although things do get more and more improved as you go through time, with new features (tag-team attacks, nearby units being allowed to jump in and take the hit for another unit, a "favourites" system that allows higher stat increases), better graphics and sprites, more units, etc - the main menu choices are generally the same, so if you play one SR game, you can at the least control the rest without worry. Control isn't really something that can be commented on itself, because its all menu-based choices.

Now, I've mentioned how it draws heavily from various shows, and hence had issues coming out over here except for a few games that featured original creations. The inspiration to these units can be seen if you know it, but at the same time it also offers up one of the coolest character to be seen in the games, a man who "Shall cleave evil!"

Proof:


So yes, in the end unless you download a Rom or something - not endorsed by the US, btw - most of you will still never get the chance to play these great games. However, having played so many of them, I feel I wouldn't be doing myself justice if I didn't place a word for this little series that holds a place in my heart up here. Although, part of that is rage at an impossible difficulty jump near the end of SRW:OG. Talk about impossible, a boss that self heals every round!

Halo: Reach

If you enjoyed Halo (more towards Combat Evolved or even ODST), then you'll enjoy Reach. The graphics engine has been overhauled, and as such graphics are better than the other games (although they weren't bad to begin with). The game likes to boast such things through-out, as it often has moments where you are facing a stunning vista backdrop of the planet, or some large-scale battle happening, and you just let a little "wow" slip out. Details on things like guns and armor are even better, helping to add to the overall cosmetics, although every now and then you'll notice little hiccups (such as Emile's skull helmet paint randomly missing in-game).

The enemies...well, they are essentially the same, with some minor tweakings - Elites (the predator-mouthed aliens that were missing as enemies in the third installment) are ridiculously difficult (at least on Legendary difficulty) thanks to their re-tweaking of Shields and balance of firearm damages. You find yourself actually elated by the appearance of the brutes later on, even with their helmets and heavy hitting, simply because the elites (as designed) have returned to being the scariest opponent in the game. A new form of jackal (skirmishers) make an appearance as well, being toted as the "close range" specialists compared to the jackals, although with their crazy jumping antics, I found myself getting more often sniped-at by these little hairy lizards then punched at. Missing also is the Flood, something that I personally don't complain about although I do hear some murmurs of sorrow from others (psssh). Oh, yes, they also have a pair of big Rancor-beast looking aliens that you run into in one segment, but difficulty wise they may as well be non-existent. Ideally, if you didn't like any of the other Halo's due to lack of enemy variety, then this also probably won't be your cup of tea.

The weapon selection is much of the same, and many will find themselves gravitate towards sniper-esque weapons such as the Designated Marksmen Rifle (DMR), pistol, and alien Needle Rifle, ideally due to it being much easier to kill something with a shot to the head then deal with emptying multiple magazines of the less than ideal Assault Rifle (not as good as it was in the first, but an improvement over some of it's later trilogy sequels). Some of the other new additions are a crack-barrel grenade launcher, a covie "sticky grenade launcher" that mildly tracks targets, and a few variations of the plasma rifle - a more rapid fire version, and a slower one that serves as an inbetween for the stronger explosive weapons and the rifle itself. Assassinations are also new, performed simply by holding down the melee when behind an opponent. Although it's nice to just snap someones neck or bury a knife in them dynamically, you risk getting blown up, shot up, or otherwise killed while doing so - much like in the newer AvP. Missing as well are all grenades except the original sticky and frag grenades.

The campaign spins a fun story, that throws much nostalgia at the user ("This stage feels just like Y stage from Halo X"), but in the end it seems to putter out. I mean, anyone that's up to date with the halo mythos at all knows that "reach falls" (even the commercials tell you that), so you expect the end outcome itself, but just how it's presented leaves you wishing they could have come up with something a bit cooler - and this is coming from a fan of epic last stands. Now, outside of that end point, the story does indeed keep you going, trying to see what they will do next to try and win the fight, and the missions themselves are fun - even the two or three stages that turn into semi-railed vehicle shooters. The only downside to this is that there is no real tutorial to the game's newer features worked in, so anyone who doesn't know whats going on could be left clueless as to what exactly a specific item does - unless that little pop-up happens that tells them to hit the back button to show you what the items you have do.

The new features themselves - the "armor abilities" - are nice, but you don't get as much use of them as you'd like in any of the play modes. The jetpack, although fun to fly around with, most often will get you gunned down as you sail hopelessly through the air at pretty slow speeds. The 'armor lock' that turns you into a little invulnerable ball will save your life a few times ("oh noes, I was stuck!" lock for the save!), but often times if you are in the situation to need it, you will die as soon as it goes off and all the good folks who were patient enough to wait for it to expire kill you. The holographic ability that sends a fake you running to the point you said works a charm on the AI, but isn't always successful against humans that have had it used on them/for them. Active camo got downgraded quite a bit, making it only moderately useful if you do anything beyond crouch-walking (you decloak if you move to fast, shoot, get hit). The drop shield is especially handy in the campaign, as it functions as the bubble shield in Halo 3 (stops rounds and explosives from coming in) but also restores your health bar like a health kit. There's also a default sprint/dive roll. Now, these and weapons are combined into pre-made 'loadouts' that you select (for most game variants) at the start of the match and during respawn.

Multiplayer wise (and somewhat single), the "armory" armor customization is a nice improvement - finally you get to customize your look to more extent then just picking a handful of colors. I've been asking that of FPS games since they did it back in Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. Now, although I enjoy and I appreciate it being added in, the actual delivery method is an annoyance. First off, things are locked off in two ways : one- in game credits (earned by playing the game in any form, although to get any significant increase it must be done through online Matchmaking) are spent, and second - you must reach specific requirements (such as Rank - "leveled up" through earning credits, and owning other parts of gear in the chain). Now, this seems silly that we would need both of these, since the largest problem is that the cost in credits of some of the later items is ridiculous (average real good match might net you 2k points, and there is one helmet that costs around 2 or 300 k). To make it a little more frustrating, you will at some 'rank up's earn new gear, which is silly because this gear has pre-reqs of even higher levels that you ha vent obtained yet - why not just unlock it when you could actually use it. There was also some items that are unlocked from preorder/edition of the game you got. This leads to easier killings in multiplayer, when everyone thinks they are cool running around with helmets wreathed in fire, allowing you to see their mugs from across the map with your scoped weapons. Still, strangest yet about this system even though logically it make sense, when online you still see everyone wearing pretty much the same outfits.

The match types are wide and varied - slayers, capture points/flags, races, collect the most of something, "zombie" infection types, and team variants. There is also a mode that is called "Invasion" which comes in slayer and objective formats, which is a multi teared affair, with loadouts and weaponry escalating as events happen/time expires. It's what you'd expect out of something that is the 5th installment of a series of games. From what I can tell matchmaking doesn't offer customizable matches, which is a shame since its the only way to really earn a decent amount of credits.

Reach is also one of the few games that offers gear for your Xbox live avatar through achievements (the 5 members of Noble team you don't play give your little self helmets, if you can achieve the goals). More games should do it, as its a much better alternative that paying for all this stuff for your little bugger. The only downside is that three of the five helmets can be gotten ONLY through multiplayer matchmaking.

Control-wise, as long as your cool with a controller, its responsive and smooth. During a recent LAN party, I did notice a strange mishap where a grenade would be tossed while jetpacking (although the button was not pressed to do so), but this could be a controller issue and not the actual game. It's standard fair shooter controllers for the standard console gamer.


By the way, It would be a shame for me to not mention the 3 tiers the game comes in - default game, game with a super-fancy box that contains bonus in-game DLC and a journal that contains all sorts of thing (patch, 'ID cards', map, etc), and the version that contains all that PLUS a big mcfarlane-style statue of Noble team (minus noble 6 of course). Is that statue worth the extra 50 some-odd dollars? We'll dictate that when someone buys it from ebay for 20 bucks :-P

All in all, Halo is one of the games that helped make the Xbox, so it's only fitting that this game keeps the tradition going. I enjoyed it, the campaign on normal took only about 6-7 hours (legendary took more along the lines of 12-15 hours on co-op, and I expect it to take even more than that when I try to solo it all, albeit the first two stages only took 4 hours - but they are the easy ones).