Review: Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (3DS)

Retro games these days can mean anything before the Game Cube and the Play Station 2. Of course it may also mean anything that you yourself think is retro or what the people behind the big corporations think. Either way we all know that the Game Boy is perhaps one of the greatest consoles we have ever laid eyes on. It did produce some of the best games, such as Super Mario Land 1 and 2 and Link’s awakening. This time for the 3DS Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land is released and I have to say that it was one of my favourite games on the original Game Boy.

This game pretty much sets off straight after Super Mario Land 2, where Wario wants a Castle to himself and he journeys out to gather as many coins as he possibly can so he can get this castle. Of course it is no easy tasks, he must journey through many places and gather as many coins as possible, and otherwise he won’t get any and may lose them to enemies!

First thing we notice about this game is the graphics. There is no denying it, it is one of the best looking Game Boy games out there, but they obviously do look outdated now compared to the later Mario and Wario games. It is in standard black/white/grey and admittedly has some nice scenery with it, as it goes on through the game, you see more and more enemies who look both great and bad.

The game play itself is simple, push two buttons, to either jump or attack and that is pretty much your arsenal. Oh how we all love simplicity. This doesn’t destroy the game play; as you want to go back and repeat what ever it is that just beat you so you can get towards the end a lot quicker!

It does last a while, as it has many things to throw at you and has the same aspect as Super Mario Land 2 does, but does not meet to how great the quest is from the previous game. Either way though, it is a great game to play!

Overall 6/10

It is a great game, just lacks that little spark as it did back in 1990’s. But for £3.60, this is a gem worth getting!

Review: Warp (XBLA)

Warp kicks off Microsoft’s ‘House Party’ Xbox Live Arcade promotion (heading soon to PSN and Windows), and being the first title from studio Trapdoor Inc. it definitely has a lot to live up to. Does this orange critter teleport to the top of the charts, or does it turn inside out … and then explode?

You play as Zero, a small orange alien who must escape a mysterious lab after being kidnapped by humans. It doesn’t take long until you unlock your main ability and you’ll soon pick up the basic gameplay mechanics through a tutorial, taking place under observation from the scientists.

Zero has the ability to warp (unsurprisingly), allowing him to teleport short distances – often through walls or obstacles to navigate the world – though you can also teleport into various objects, and this is where the game claims its 18 rating. By shaking the left stick in a circular motion you’ll expand the object until it explodes. This goes for containers and turrets but also humans…showering the area with blood and limbs, and it really doesn’t get old. Later skills allow you to create an echo of yourself and swap yourself with various objects, creating some quite complex puzzles towards the end of the game, requiring you to combine these skills effectively.

Warp has a unique appeal, and the style must have come into question during the pitch for the project. You have a quirky orange alien who can teleport, in stark contrast to the blood, violence and bad language of an mature title. I appreciate the seemingly at-odds competition of the two, but I’m sure this must have been interesting for EA to decide how to promote.

There’s a lot of charm to Warp, the art style and animations reminiscent of ‘Splosion Man, providing a clean and shiny world, – that is until you cover it in blood – and all the areas are full of attention to detail, creating a very cohesive gameplay space. The humans are very animated and often scared of you … unless they have a gun, in which case you’ll want to keep in hiding or sneak up and warp into them, since if the bullets start flying it’s a one hit kill for the most part. I found from time to time a little inconsistency with objects in the world that were affected by the physics system, so that sometimes I’d get stuck on the edge of objects or lodged into a corner, though having the warp ability means it’s easy to get yourself out of such situations.

The levels are quite large, although primarily linear with clear objectives, and while side rooms may prove a challenge to locate, they are well worth the effort for the upgrades you’ll unlock. To move from one area to another you’ll often hop into transport tubes similar to those of the Chemical Plant Zone in Sonic 2. Later levels do get a little wider (and trickier), offering more chances for exploration, though the objective route is generally well signposted, meaning that you can progress through pretty quickly if you don’t wish to explore and collect everything. There’s a small amount of backtracking, though this is usually because of a newly acquired upgrade, varying the trip back slightly. Brain power will be required in the later stages to collect everything, since as new abilities are acquired, you are increasingly asked to combine multiple powers together and it can get pretty tricky!

As to be expected from a stealth action game, there can be some trial and error, but thankfully the loads are quick and checkpoints frequent, meaning that you’re never out of the action for long. The boss battles may require a few attempts, and as you might already know, I really don’t like boss fights for the most part! The final boss in the game took a number of tries, and unfortunately brought to light the sometimes inconsistent collision detection where for example I’d find myself getting stuck on the corners of objects.

The game is played from a top down perspective, shifting slightly for cutscenes and specific gameplay moments, and you move the viewpoint using the right stick to get a better idea of your surroundings while hiding.

Controls are relatively simple, with use of the two sticks and four face buttons, keeping it straightforward even when you’ve collected all the core abilities.

The Upgrade Stations can be used to unlock new perks using the Grubs that you collect. These aren’t key abilities, but instead help you to move/warp more quietly, or detect all the hidden collectables in the level. Others offer you more gameplay choices such as ‘stealth frags’, allowing you to disintegrate your enemies with no blood or mess, and saving your thumb from some RSI. Some are more useful than others in terms of providing a means of simplifying the gameplay, but they are all worth the Grubs you spend on them. I found the stun perk for the echo very useful, as it allows you to dispatch the fully shielded guards with ease after drawing them in with a distraction. The collected film reels unlock some quite pretty production artwork, accessible from the main menu.

It may be that I’m right handed, but having to move the left stick quickly in circles often proved to be more awkward than I expected. While the right stick is used for the camera, I would have liked some customisation on the controls so that I could have used the right stick to explode/frag.

Warp gives you a lot of variation throughout, and a number of the combat scenarios offer options too. For example there are some areas that you can choose to sneak through silently, or use skilful warping to massacre the entire squad, with a number of the achievements encouraging you to try new methods. In the larger areas it’s also a good idea to take out the alarms first, therefore if you are seen by the scientists, you are likely to be able to take them out before they alert anyone else .. i.e. they guys with the guns!

Challenge rooms are scattered throughout the game to test your skills. While they aren’t hard to locate, you’ll have a tough time getting Gold medals on them all, since they require some pretty quick reflex based actions. Thankfully they are replayable at any time from the main menu, and they’re worth persevering with as they provide you with Grubs, further allowing you to upgrade your skills.

The ending was satisfying, but there’s absolutely no music during the credits, which seemed odd, given that the soundtrack throughout the rest of the game had been very effective and of high quality, with quite an epic main menu theme.

Warp could really have used a New Game+ option, as you probably won’t be able to play with all the unlockable skills on your initial adventure, whereas a second go through with some of the extra abilities would have increased replay value tenfold. How about speed run leaderboards? It does feature quite comprehensive stats, something to the extent you’d expect to see in an open world title, with values on how much distance you’ve covered, as well as the various means by which you died.

Warp took me a good afternoon to get through, with the ingame timer clocking in around 4 and a half hours, though I can’t be sure that this took into account the 30 minutes or so I spent on the final boss encounter!

Overall I really enjoyed my time with Warp. By the end I was becoming a little tired of the underwater complex environment; however there was enough variation in the core gameplay to keep me entertained. The charm and art style are very effective at creating a unique looking stealth puzzle adventure game, working nicely with the soundtrack. As expected, it can be quite trial and error, with some situations becoming much easier with the various purchased upgrades. I wish they had thought a little more long term with the replay value, and while the challenge rooms are a nice touch, I can’t help but think they could have offered a level replay feature, or smaller side missions such as the VR missions seen in the Metal Gear Solid series. Maybe they’ll offer these as DLC, since the core mechanics are very strong. The adventure mode is a good length and gives you your money’s worth for the most part; just be expected to die … a lot!

7.5/10

Review: Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (3DS)

Mario & Sonic are back, but this time in London for the 2012 Olympic Games. Does the game get the gold or does it finish in last place? Find out in this review.

When the Mario & Sonic Olympic Games titles first released in 2008 it was a joyful occasion to see the old two rivals put things aside and compete in the Olympic games together. Since then we have had the Winter Olympic game on both the Wii and the DS, and more recently the 2012 Olympics on the Wii. After a short delay, it’s now the 3DS’s turn to head to the track.

My initial thoughts when booting up the game was excitement, I haven’t even really acknowledged the Olympic Games being held in my home town and I have never really had much interest in the live events, though I have enjoyed the video games enough to make me want to watch the live events. This quickly changed after playing the game for 10 minutes with the 3D switched on. This is the first 3DS title that has actually hurt my eyes and caused me to have an headache. After giving the 3D a rest and playing in 2D my eyes felt relaxed and I continued playing and checking out what the game has to offer.

The game has four modes including  Single Player, Story Mode, and Multiplayer. In Single Player mode you can choose to either play a Highlight Match, which is a mode that lets you choose an event and play one round, or Medley Match where you can choose numerous events and try get the top score.  You can also design your own Medley Matches with events of your choice, to then share them to your friends.

In Medley Match you choose a five-person team from five groups: Heroes, Girls, Tricksters, Wild Ones, and Challengers. Sadly, you can’t just choose specific characters to participate in specific events. I was disappointed by the lack of my favourite characters being present in some events.

I was initially surprised to see a Story Mode as the game doesn’t really need it, but it does add a narrative to the the game and has some interesting scenes.  Multiplayer lets you play in Local Play with up to three friends with their own carts; Download Play is also present which gives players without the cart a more limited selection of events. Record Log lets you see play data, medals, and online rankings. The lack of online multiplayer is a shame and I feel it would of opened up a whole new level of enjoyment for the title.

There are a lot of events to keep you on your feet, but many feel rather too gimmicky and they pretty much try use all of the 3DS’s functionality. It’s a nice idea but some of the events are far too frustrating due to the awkward control scheme. The variety of games is good, but they do vary in length drastically, though they are still entertaining. I was really excited to jump in and play hockey and soccer but the limited functionality held back the events from their true potential.

The design of Mario & Sonic at the London Olympic Games 2012 is bright, colourful and vibrant. Something that we are all familiar with if you have played the previous entries. The colours are charming and from time to time nice to look at, I did manage to test out the 3D some more and it didn’t hurt as much but still the 3D wasn’t that impressive. The characters also suffer with some rough patches, which can be a bit distracting when playing.

Lastly, the sound. The soundtrack and sound effects throughout are very interesting and have a lot of emphasis on the Olympic Games.  Mario and Sonic’s theme compositions are included with some nice funky music.

Overall: 6/10

Mario and Sonic are back in their first 3D endevour. It’s an enjoyable title overall, but at times there were many issues, and for me it took some time to adapt to the colurful 3D effects. The gameplay has some nice elements and  good events, but is flawed by many dodgy control schemes, and the lack of online multiplayer may put people off. Fans of the series may be impressed by the library of events which is where the game stands strong. The overall look and appeal is decent, and along with some nice added sounds make the game enjoyable but not perfect.

Film Review: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Who are Neveldine/Taylor? The Directing duo responsible for the sloppily shot and chopped actioners Crank 1 & 2 and Gamer. Their signature hallmarks? Grainy, ugly low angle shots, boorish jokes and a sensibility that if transcribed would only register in two variations of grunting. In other words, the oeuvre of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor is the perfect storm of a soiled art form: Rednecks with Cameras.

For Marvel Knights’ (Marvel’s banner for their ‘darker’ offspring) second entry, this edition of the ballad of Johnny Blaze relocates the inaction to ‘Eastern Europe’ (not at all like setting your movie in ‘North America’) as we’re shunted through a ‘story’(?!) about a young boy and his jailbait mommy, ambivalent monks and poor old Ciarán Hinds as the devil. Whatever screenwriter David Goyer assumed would pass for an exciting chase movie, backfires miserably in the hands of such an incompetent directing team. The problem comes from everything Neveldine/Taylor stand for, they effectively take the worst of Michael Bay and Tony Scott (e.g. the ‘T & A’) and push it so far beyond good taste that no longer passes for amusingly outrageous. In a pact not dissimilar between the titular rider and the fallen one himself, the directors sold their competency for gratuitousness. But now they’ve been shackled to a PG-13/12A rating, unable to fulfil their R/18 rated antics they’re left to stagger around like a couple of newly neutered Dobermans.

Satanic deals always backfire and when your directors are stuck without their id or their capability to tell a story, is there even a film left? Is the film in question even in 3D? Given that Neveldine/Taylor’s favourite pastime on Crank 2 was bouncing a camera off of Amy Smart’s buttocks, 3D seemed to be a logical trajectory for this miscreant duet. Not surprisingly however, they fail to create even basic depth perception and fail utterly even in shoving things in our faces. The look of the film makes its predecessor look avant garde, the colour tones are bleached and miserable and the superpowers of the Rider and his new enemies are just as dank. There isn’t a single scene, shot or effect in the film worth writing home about. Every attempt to wow or stun fails as we don’t care and never will, the directors are so obsessed with making their movies badass that they fail to tell a basic story. But then we have a problem in rationalising this film in ‘basic’ terms, it tends to help matters if the directors have a concept of a story.

The worst feeling in the audio/visual torture that is Bone Rider: Spasms of Incontinence is just how boring it is. Sadly Neveldine/Taylor have fanboys and we will see them again to peddle their snot-encrusted, spittle-flecked, piss-soaked mode of filmmaking. Their ballistic attempts at engaging with a media art form will continue to fail and hopefully their coke-induced rush will wear off and they’ll gain some social skills. In fairness, they’ll have made enough by now for a dozen six-packs of Coors Light for the Daytona 500. It’s your money folks.

1/10.

Film Review: A Dangerous Method

Can the man who made bodyshock horror famous really make a movie about the birth of Psychotherapy? It would appear he can. David Cronenberg has always been somewhat of a cult hit director. Any student of film will no doubt spend hours discussing how Cronenberg has inspired and influenced many of his peers.  Like any Auteur, Cronenberg has his traits….body mutilation, dark backgrounds, trademark music. Any fool with access to IMDB can view a list of what makes a film a Cronenberg film. Even reviewers do it from time to time.

A Dangerous Method is being considered his least Cronenbergian (questions may be raised regarding that spelling) movie to date. Gone is the body manipulation, the gore and the explicit violence. What’s left behind are the things which Cronenberg should be better known for; his links between sex and violence, comments on the self destructive nature of humans and at the core of all his movies…..fantastic dialogue and characters.

A Dangerous Method explores the complicated relationship between Carl Jung (Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (Mortenson) as they develop what is now commonly known as Psychotherapy. Due to the nature of its subject matter A Dangerous Method doesnt include any car chases, dance numbers or big robots punching each other in the face. It perhaps may be a good idea for Optimus Prime and co. to sit down and discuss where it all went wrong, but this is neither the time nor the place to address those problems.

Forget for five minutes if you will that Mr Cronenberg has made this film. What plays out is interesting, insightful and beautifully made. Much like Moneyball succeeded in making a film about stats interesting, A Dangerous Method has made sitting around and talking about ones feelings very very interesting.  At the key of all this is Keira Knightley’s performance as Sabrina Spielrein, a troubled but intellegent patient who is the main guinea pig for this new talking treatment.  Knightley is fantastic portraying the trouble russian beauty, showcasing a performance which is opposite to her male counterparts.  As she describes her experiences and emotions she physically wretches in agony while the cool and calm gents express their views with subtle glances and gestures.  This brings a nice balance to the film and it’s refreshing to see Knightley take on something more challenging and bold.  Mortenson and Fassbender are as always fantastic.  The father son relationship that builds and crumbles is executed with excellent subtlety.  There are no shouty dramatic scenes here, instead just perfectly executed dialogue from two guys on the top of their game.  It is a shame to not see these two actors awarded more, it is only fitting that they appear in a film whose director has also been overlooked by academies and societies.

In many ways A Dangerous Method feels like Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige.  Not merely for its setting but for the friendship that slowly declines into a bitter rivalry.  The passing of time is often conveyed through journals and letters which works perfectly for the narrative.

Throw Crononberg back into the mix and you have the bravery of a director that refuses to shy away from potraying sexuality on screen.  Again the bravery and versitility of Knightley comes into play.  The sexuality of the topic of psychoanalysis is never glossed over nor is it exploited to get cheap thrills.  It is pitched at a perfectly adaquate level.

Spanking and talk of masturbation it may include but this is not the video nasty fan boy cult fodder that some would hope for.  Cronenberg’s die hard fans may be disappointed, many of them might frantically dash to internet forums and message boards to express their disgust in the king of living flesh.  The rest will hopefully show an appreciation for acting, direction, dialogue and the brave experimentation that has put Cronenberg on the map.  This film is another example of how the director brings stunning performances together with the style and class we associate with a Cronenberg film.  Long live the new flesh indeed.

Review: Metal Gear Solid HD Collection

Metal Gear Solid is arguably one of the most important video games of all time. It showed us all exactly how blurred the line between game and film can be with its cinematic presentation and superb voice work. Some may argue that its writing and story leave a lot to be desired, but as a starting point for the interactive cinematic experience it was indispensable.

After the impact the original made the 2^nd game was one of the most anticipated games on the Playstation 2, but upon release was almost derided for the curveball it threw involving the playable character. This, however, had no effect on the hype for the third instalment, which many to this day regard as the best in the series, if not one of the greatest games of all time. These are the two entries from the main series that have been given the high definition treatment for this collection, along with the previously PSP exclusive “Peace Walker”, which is more or less a side story chronicling Big Boss journey towards Outer Heaven after Metal Gear Solid 3.

The version of Metal Gear Solid 2 here is the Substance version, which means that beside the original campaign you also receive a whole host of VR and alternate missions and separate “Snake Tales” campaign, as well as a few extra bonus features. While many will often deride MGS2’s campaign for the sudden switch in player character after the snake based intro, it is still a very good game. It took the gameplay of the original MGS and refined it, while adding some techniques such as being able to hold enemies up, aim in first person, tranquilise rather than kill and more. Although the lack of pressure sensitive face buttons on the Xbox means that the controls for precision shooting or holding up can be slightly more fiddly than need be. On the Playstation raising an automatic weapon required the fire button to be pressed lightly, with full pressure being applied to shoot. This allowed precision shots and bursts by alternating the pressure on the button to fire then return to simply aiming. On the Xbox the movement stick must be clicked to raise the rifle, but it must be clicked after every break in shooting to re-raise it for aiming, which present problems in the faster paced boss battle sections by breaking aiming and costing you more time than you often have in between attacks.

Despite these tweaks and introductions, however, it still plays almost exactly like the first game, with even the story playing out in a similar fashion. Although this being Metal Gear there is of course a very good reason why it emulates the original, and is in fact a central story point. The story is the weak part of Sons of Liberty though. The original game had a convoluted story but it could be followed as long as you concentrated, the sequel however gets tied up with too much conspiracy and tries to weave several storylines and alternate meanings throughout. By the end of the series a lot of these were eventually unravelled and explained, but the lack of MGS1 and 4 to the HD collection means newcomers will be lost and confused, and have to branch out further into the series to understand and conclude the many open plot threads. Unfortunately, 1 and 4 are currently unavailable, and are likely to remain so, on the Xbox 360, so those playing on Microsoft’s console are going to have to extra hoops to jump through in order to appreciate the narrative presented here.

Luckily the VR and alternate missions, and Snake Tales, all present their own individual scenarios that allow anybody to enjoy either a quick objective based scenario or a longer self-contained story set around an alternate set of events during the main campaign. With multiple missions for multiple characters these can (and likely will) consume hours of your game time, as being able to complete a quick stealth section or go all out in a weapons mission allows for low attention Metal Gear excitement.

Metal Gear Solid 3 doesn’t have any alternate or VR missions, but what it does have is arguably the best campaign of the franchise. Set in the 1960s, Snake Eater shows the start of the whole story, and focuses on a pre “Big-Boss” Big-Boss, here referred to by the codename “Naked Snake”. Being a prequel it is mostly a self-contained story, with only references and foreshadowing to later events. It is an introduction to many of the characters that are pivotal to the series, such as Revolver Ocelot and of course Big Boss. The actual story itself is one of duty to your country and duty to those you love set against the backdrop of the Cold War. As the story twists and turns its way through some excellent intrigue you will be hooked, and come the close you’ll have been treated to an examination of what it means to be a patriot.

Although despite being a better story than MGS2 there’s a better story to gameplay ratio this time around, and the gameplay itself is much improved. Being the Subsistence version of the game this entry introduces a fully rotational 3D camera, which proves invaluable for the new jungle setting. No longer do you find yourself with straight corridors, plentiful corners and obvious lines of sight, but rather your confronted in wide open areas with little more than foliage to blend into, which brings us to one of the many new additions – Camouflage. Snake Eater brings configurable camouflage and face paint to the series, as well as the camo index. What this means is that everytime snake enters a new terrain, such as swamp or jungle, going from green to brown and many in between, he has to keep an eye on his camo index, a percentile that shows how well hidden he is. Movement and position affect this index but the real change comes from choice of clothes and face paint, adding a whole new layer of tactics and stealth to the mix.

Joining the camouflage is the stamina meter and injuries. Everything you do in the jungle relies upon your stamina to some extent, let it get too low for instance and you’ll have more trouble aiming steadily. The more you exert yourself the more this meter decreases, so taking it slow helps you keep in fighting shape. There will come a time when this meter has to be replenished however, and to do so involve eating the local wildlife and vegetation. Capturing or killing animals allows Snake to feed (to varying degrees of effectiveness depending on the animal and how fresh it is should you have killed it). This mechanic alone may count for a hefty chunk of playtime as you try to eat at least one of everything you come across, with some animals being a one-time only offer. Be wary about killing your meal, however, as its freshness is determined by the consoles internal clock, meaning it will proceed to decay even while the game is turned off (though, without trying to say too much, this feature is also a nifty little way to see off one of the bosses).

Injuries, on the other hand, permanently remove a chunk of your health bar until they are fixed using the appropriate methods, as well as present other limitations. For example a broken leg will slow Snake down until a split is produced and applied. These two mechanics, stamina and injury, introduce a whole new survival aspect to the series, an aspect which unfortunately is only seen in Snake Eater.

The third game in the collection is Peace Walker, and is the weak link, but being the weak link in a collection of this calibre means it’s still a very a good game. Set after MGS3 it shows the formation of Big Boss’s “Militaires Sans Frontières”. However it doesn’t take place directly afterwards, with the other PSP entry – Portable Ops – filling that gap, but being omitted from this collection means that some may be lost as to the inclusion of some characters or why some events are taking place. References to Portable Ops are thankfully minimal, but a summary of its plot could have helped. The story in Peace Walker is told through motion comics, which introduce a new feature to the series, interactive cutscenes. Every so often a button prompt will appear or manual aim will be required for events to play out correctly. Nothing too drastic and should you fail the game only penalises your final score rather than game overs you.

Peace Walker is the most different gameplay wise in the collection. Taking many cues from MGS4 aiming is now handled in a third person over the shoulder fashion, as well as being able to move while crouched make this entry faster paced and with the potential for more action, showing of its handheld roots in accessibility. The layout of the game also shows its portable pedigree, with missions being episodic in nature, allowing you to play towards an objective in patches of 5 or 10 minutes should you wish. Side missions also pop up that allow you access to develop new weapons and items in the games mother base interface.

While not in action you’ll often find yourself managing your ever growing army – unconscious enemies or prisoners can be extracted during gameplay via Fulton recovery and ‘coerced’ into joining the MSF – and tasking individuals to either combat, research, medical, mess hall or intelligence roles. These allow development of new weapons and items with which to go into missions and help keep morale up and soldiers fighting fit. As you progress your base keeps expanding, slowly adding more and more features to keep track of, and adding new tactics to the main game, such as tranquilising rather than killing to capture soldiers, or trying to capture mechanised units instead of destroying them.

Although with the introduction of online co-operative play you may not be the only Snake in the field trying to recruit. The majority of the campaign and side missions can be played with up to 2 or 4 players depending on the individual stages, although should your friendship break down you can also enter into Versus Ops to settle a score. Along with these modes there are also Outer Ops missions that see your recruited combat unit (and captured mechanised units) sent into battle against the enemy, and some special bonus missions that see you take on guest appearances from the Monster Hunter series.

All three of these games looks glorious in HD, with Peace Walker being the obvious lowpoint coming from a handheld system. This is more to do with the fact that these games have aged spectacularly well than the extra level of shine that has been added. The most noticeable improvement comes from the frame rate, which now runs at a blisteringly smooth constant 60fps and makes the animations so smooth you almost forget two of these games are coming on a decade old. The inclusion of achievement/trophy support allows extends the already ample play time for those so inclined.

Overall 10/10
In conclusion these three games being sold together for £30-40 almost feels like stealing. Metal Gear Solid 3 alone covers the entry price, but being packaged with the definitive editions of MGS2 and Peace Walker just seals the deal. A couple of minor downsides do nothing to sully the overall experience. Fans of Metal Gear are getting a greatest hits collection and those who missed out first time round are getting a great entry point. Even compared with many new releases these games still stand as some of the best, and have aged so well that a purchase is pretty much required by those with an interest in stealth, action or story. A must buy for either console.

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection is available now for Xbox 360 and PS3, and is planned for release on PS Vita later this year.

Review: The Darkness 2

The Darkness was a surprise hit from Starbreeze that endeared itself to a fan base that has been baying for another chance to step into the shiny Mafia shoes of Jackie Estacado and Digital Extremes take on the mantle. Having worked on the multiplayer portion of Bioshock 2 and the slightly underrated Dark Sector, there were a few concerns that they couldn’t carry the torch of The Darkness in a way that would please fans of the comics and the original game. How did they fare?

From the opening scene, it’s clear that the dark and gritty tone of the original is still very prevalent. Jackie, who is now head of the Franchetti crime family following the brutal trail of revenge he tore across New York, has been suppressing the power of The Darkness for two years. Despite his reluctance to use the power of the Darkness, it’s the only thing that will save him after an attempt on his life.

The Darkness tears a bloody swathe through the scum, and it’s business as usual; whacking mobsters and cutting them to pieces. It’s not long before a new threat reveals itself in the shape of the Brotherhood, an ancient organisation that was sworn to protect the world from the Darkness, but has now become obsessed with using the power of the Darkness for their own devious purposes.

The storyline is cut and dry; revenge, loss and violent rage are the main motifs in The Darkness 2, but it doesn’t need much more in the way of motivation. Despite the change of pace from the original, the Darkness 2 manages to incorporate the same touching moments that we witnessed in the original. While not as effective for new comers, there are plenty of subtle nods to events in the previous game.

The story campaign will take around six or seven hours to complete, and while that may sound short, there is plenty to kill. Its inventive combat system, that brings true quad-wielding to the forefront, allows the player to become an instrument of doom. The system works extremely well to the point where it’s possible to reload a gun, shoot another, knock an enemy to the ground and throw another back at his buddies simultaneously.

On paper it sounds hectic, but it works. The movements are fluid and almost graceful, in a mass murdering kind of way. It’s a system that becomes second nature after half an hour of play and when complimented by the upgrade system, the player becomes capable of pulling of some really insane kills and handling any situation the game throws them.

Black holes, execution upgrades and more practical gun skills are available for the price of dark essence. This is gathered by murdering your foes in the most inventive way possible. Death is a by product of everything you do, but how you get there is a matter of taste. Executions are gruesome to the point of disgusting and not for those with a weak stomach.

One of the major issues with gameplay is the repetition of enemy types. Constantly handling the same groups of enemies can become tedious, but the variety of killing techniques keeps combat rolling on. The game is punctuated with boss fights that, for a change, never seem unfair and are not so tough that they break the flow of the rest of the game.

Visually speaking, the change from gritty realism to the format that Digital Extremes have called Graphic Noire has worked really well and it helps tone down the level of gratuitous gore to a point that’s more acceptable rather than being over the top. The same issue with gameplay plagues the visuals, as a lack of enemy variety can mean that it can look quite samey from time to time, though it’s not a deal breaker.

Dingy pool halls, a seedy brothel and a carnival fairground are just some of the locales that you’ll make a gory mess of. Environments are detailed playgrounds of destruction, with a slew of usable objects like poles and blades, all useful for slicing and pinning enemies to walls.

The character models are highly detailed, and that’s a good thing considering how close-up you’ll see some of your foes before their spine is ripped from their anus. They call that an assecution. The graphic noir art style works extremely well and compliments the franchises comic history. Any doubts about the new art direction are dispelled quickly.

The Darkness itself is voiced once more by Faith No More front man, Mike Patton. His performance leads the cast in a fantastic display of voice acting that’s rare for the FPS genre. Accompanying the stellar acting are all the squelchy, gory splatterings of blood and bits. It can be quite sickening at times as your enemies gargle and scream through blood choked throats, but it’s more than effective.

As well as the single player element, the player can take on the Vendettas campaign or the Hit list missions. This becomes an extension of the campaign from the view of a group of Jackie’s stereotyped hired guns. It can be played solo offline, but where would the fun be in that?

The secondary campaign follows Big Jimmy, Shoshanna, JP Dumond and Inugami, each carrying a heavy stereotype and a weapon infused with darkness powers. It’s a great addition to the single player element that fills in plot holes that are mentioned in the campaign. You’ll see darklings running amok and black holes pulling victims to their death, all of which leads to hectic and violent fun.

The Hit Lists are a range of bite-sized missions taken partially from the Vendettas co-op, and are nice little time wasters if you need to collects dark essence to build your characters skills. In saying that, the skill trees in co-op are small in comparison to the single player experience, and on occasion focus on team specific bonuses.

The online aspect feels like a natural addition that’s not tacked on and it’s worth your time once you’ve completed the main campaign. It’s designed for multiple players so played with friends it’s a lot of fun, but played solo and it can be a pain.

The whole package delivers short bursts of carnage, violence and some genuinely touching moments. Each mode compliments the other and provides lashings of bloody good fun whatever way you decide to play.

The Darkness 2 is a worthy successor to Starbreeze Studio’s classic, and while it may seem too ‘extreme’ a change for fans of the original, it’s more direct approach to combat is satisfyingly cathartic, so embrace the darkness and revel in the massacre.

Overall: 8.5/10

Review: SoulCalibur V Fight Stick (Soul Edition)

Beautiful, attractive and one hell of a sturdy piece of equipment which is built to last, SoulCalibur V’s fightstick from Mad Catz is finally upon us. This isn’t the first time Mad Catz has released a tournament edition themed fight stick, with their previous Tournament Edition fight sticks launching to coincide with the console debut of Street Fighter IV back in 2009. This sprung open many new windows for more fighting games to enter the professional fighting realm.  These fight sticks aren’t just peripherals; they are akin to having a portable arcade cabinet in your home, giving you the feeling that you are fighting back in the classic arcades. But how much has changed since the first release of these tournament fight sticks? Find out in this review.

There have been many changes with the SoulCalibur V Soul Edition fightstick. Many noticeable improvements to the  functionality due to Soul Calibur’s patented 8-Way Run system which is perfect for the new style of fightsticks of this generation. The joystick quickly becomes sufficient as you are able to execute and evade attacks much quicker than using a stand alone controller. The double down movement with the joystick allows you to side step out of the way of an enemy attack making the counter attack inevitable. The vast improvements in the swish movements with the joystick doesn’t feel as tight as it did with the previous fight sticks and allows the near-total lack of input delay. Soul Calibur V also features a new gauge system that after a few days playing relates strongly to what was present in Street Fighter IV’s astounding Super and Ultra meters, the attack’s can cause a devastating blow to any opposition in a similar fashion to one of Ryu’s fireballs; the essential fight stick manoeuvre.

SoulCalibur’s Guard Impact system has been revamped in a new guard scheme called “Just Guard”. This new guard functionality gives players the opportunity to pull of a “Perfect” guard, by pushing the block button at the exact moment your opponent’s strike hits. Again the lack of input delay is obviously a massive advantage here too, as this move is based on your timing your before they’re able to flow attacks at you. The benefits are phenomenal due to the laggless reception the fight stick has will benefit online players dramatically.

The Soul Edition is one beautiful looking piece of arcade equipment. The official Artwork embosses the SoulCalibur and SoulEdge swords beautifully, with one side covered in icey blue textures with the SoulCalibur sword and the Soul Edge in a firey blaze with its eye staring you in the face (Not as worrying as it sounds). The trademark colours blending in together with the logo embossed at the bottom with the Project Soul logo makes this fight stick appealing for fans and non-fans of the franchise.  The stick has also been made “Transparent” on the edges allowing you to look inside and see all those special mechanical bits that make the stick function as well as it does.

Owners of  the previous fight stick may recall one minor fault that was present in the tournament edition of the fight sticks. There was a problem that some of the iron screws had a tendency to rust after extensive use; something that isn’t an issue anymore due to the new stainless steel screws that have replaced them. This also still means you can remove the rubber underneath the fight stick still allowing you to mount the fight sticks onto tables or cabinets.

There has also been some improvements with the screw on the face panel, making it much easier to remove compared to the Round 2 edition of the SFIV Tournament Edition stick.  This also means the issue with the previous sticks that had complaints regarding the previous Tournament Edition’s edging is no longer an issue with this one. The SoulCalibur stick has a nice smooth rounded edges, so no more issues with the possibility of causing annoyances. Previous functions that are included in all of Mad Catz fight sticks such as the various button-lock switches, built-in cable storage and multi-speed turbo functionality are all present and correct.

Overall:

This is one of the best fight sticks on market to date. If you want to take SoulCalibur V seriously then look no further as this stick will fit your every need, though it sadly can’t move and fetch you snacks. The size, look and feel of the fight stick is beautiful, proving to be much more portable compared to previous fight sticks.  It’s not essential for everyone but it unquestionably gives you a more rewarding way to experience the game.  If you’re looking for a decent and well crafted/improved fight stick then the £140 price tag shouldn’t put you off as it’s definitely worth the hard earned cash.

The Soul Calibur V Tournament Edition Fight Stick released on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on the same date as Soul Calibur V itself: Friday, February 3rd 2012. You can purchase yours here. You can also check out our review of SoulCalibur V here. 

Review: Final Fantasy XIII-2

Once again the time is upon us to jump into the vast and unending world of Final Fantasy with this latest title bringing with it a huge assortment of new locations, items, creatures and an unyielding and engrossing storyline that continues on the epic tale of its award winning predecessor.

Set 3 years after the events of Final Fantasy XIII, the planet of Cocoon now sits suspended in the sky consumed in crystal with its surviving refugees abandoning their old lives to start anew on the wild lower world of Gran Pulse. Among the survivors; Serah, Snow and their band of friends known as team NORA have begun to build their new home of New Bodhum to replace their old city in a hope to start a new life for themselves and for future generations.

However, with Lightning thought to be dead, and Snow’s disappearance in search for her, life for Serah just hasn’t been the same. Clouded and distorted visions of Lightning’s whereabouts have found their way into Serah’s dreams, convincing her that her sister is still out there somewhere and is trying desperately to make contact. But no sooner does she realise what she has seen, a meteor brought forth from a different time finds its way onto Pulse, bringing with it a storm of monstrous creatures that have begun plaguing the world. As new Bodhum is once again at war, Claire unexpectedly finds herself under the protection of a young man called Noel who has travelled from the future with a message from Lightning and a mission to journey through time and space in order to unite the two sisters once and for all.

Revolving largely around time travel, Final Fantasy XIII-2 will have you traversing through various time periods with the use of the ‘Historia Crux’ allowing you to effortlessly move back and forth through time to any location on both Gran Pulse and Cocoon whilst either following the narrative or any of the countless side quests that encourage you to explore the many open areas dotted throughout the game. When using the Historia Crux, your surroundings will no doubt shift along with you, as one moment you could be running through the snow covered Ruins of Bresha, and the next you will be running through same area and instead be met with a beautiful summery scene. And as the scenery changes with time, so do your environment as you may additionally be able to explore other areas that you were unable to beforehand.

Whilst adventuring, you will no doubt notice the ‘Time Gates’ that sit in areas throughout the game which can be activated via Artefacts found when defeating certain enemies or hidden in secret areas. These gates serve as portals to the Historia Crux and so must be unlocked in order to expand the game’s universe. An added bonus is the ability to reset the Time Gates, therefore restoring the area to how it was before you entered. This may not seem like much of a bonus, but for the extraordinarily adventurous, this can prove quite helpful if you want to make different decisions or enter certain areas or talk to people that were otherwise unavailable after your first visit.

Another helpful system integrated into XIII-2’s gameplay is the introduction of ‘Live Triggers’ which work to provide you with more control over the story ultimately branding your own thoughts and opinions within the narrative that builds your own outcome of the game. Usually appearing during dialogue sequences, certain question or answers depending on the conversation appear, prompting you to choose the most appropriate sentence that best reflects your own opinion. Combining Live Triggers with the Historia Crux can also be quite helpful as you will be free to choose any and all options to find their outcomes and even gain access to additional items.

Much like its predecessor, XIII-2’s combat system serves as the game’s core component, offering up fast-paced action with the help of the familiar ‘Active Time Battle gauge’ and a large selection of battle types and styles to fit the preferences of any gamer, revolutionising the way fans have faced off in battles since Final Fantasy’s birth. In XIII-2 this highly refined but user-friendly system gives you full control over the battle-field, encouraging you to build ‘Paradigms’ for your party to utilize in battle. Customizing Paradigms gives the player a huge tactical advantage by combining certain traits for the character to use such as melee/ magical attacks, defensive techniques, buffs that give your party perks like increased defence, and de-buffs that give your enemies negative effects.

That said, simply using a paradigm only makes up part of the battle, switching between your Paradigms is one of the most effective and efficient ways to fight as you can swiftly change up your tactics when the going gets tough. For example, if your party is in serious danger of dying, the best option would be to use a paradigm made up of healing and defensive traits for your characters to use. However, if you manage to trigger your opponents ‘Stagger gauge’ causing it’s defence to drop for a short time, the best option would be to use a Paradigm composed of combat traits such as Cammando and Ravager causing your party focus on dealing as much damage as possible.

Making its successful debut in XIII, the ‘Crystarium’ is back once again with a few refined features allowing more freedom to upgrade your party. Gaining Crystarium Points through battles will help you to level your player roles, rewarding you with more perks and heightened abilities, and unlike XIII, lets you climb each of the tiers without any restrictions. Climbing these tiers is essential for your party’s growth as you can gain some helpful perks such as more ATB slots that help to elongate your attacks, or even access to completely new roles that your characters had been unable to use beforehand.

During certain battles where you find yourself facing off against major opponents, you will likely come to a point in the battle when a ‘Cinematic Action scene’ comes into motion, pulling you out of the original action and throwing you into a thrilling button sequence that if done correctly can reward you with a number of advantages such as dealing extra damage or receiving stat boosts that last the rest of the battle.  However, failing a sequence will result in negative effects on your party, ultimately making Cinematic Action scenes a make-or-break situation.

When progressing through the story you may find yourself engulfed within one of the various rips in time known as a Temporal Rift, which will require you to complete a set of tasks in order to continue such as navigating a maze of platforms using a certain path so as to collect all of the crystals placed around the stage. You may also be asked to collect certain crystals that must be matched in pairs. The implementation of brain teasers such as these is a step in the right direction for Square as they do a great job of breaking up the gameplay, lessening the inevitable repetitiveness of the battles you face throughout the game.

If travelling through time and space with Serah and Noel gets a little bit lonely, you can always benefit from recruiting one of the 150+ monsters found roaming the two worlds. Square’s implementation of this ability gives you mastery over most wildlife allowing you to choose your favourite monsters to fight alongside you in battle. Using certain monsters in battle is essential to your victory as you are able to integrate them into any of your paradigms allowing you to mix and match different monster to fit your tactical preferences.

Not only do your new friends offer up another set of hands (or paws) to the battle, but they can also impress with a special attack to give you the advantage over your opponents. Each monster carries their own unique attack which can be activated once the ‘Feral Link gauge’ has reached its limit, resulting in a mini Cinematic Action sequence requiring you to input a number of button combinations in order for your monster to unleash its fury. Much like normal Cinematic Action sequences, the amount of damage your companion deals depends on how well you perform during the sequence so it’s important to pay attention even if it isn’t exactly you who is fighting.

One familiarity your monstrous companions share with the rest of the party is the ability to level up, but even more so do they share a familiarity with the way you upgrade your weapons and items. As you move through the game you will no doubt pick up an assortment of strange materials that can be used on both weapons and monsters in order to increase their abilities. That said, you must find special monster materials in order to strengthen your creatures, and depending on the material, certain abilities such as magic or strength can be heightened allowing you to play around with the balance of your monster’s skills.

One little monster you will come to know early on in the story is Mog; Serah’s Moogle companion who not only can take on the form of Serah’s weapon, but can also provide a database of insightful knowledge and some helpful abilities that will no doubt prove useful no matter where you are in the game. One of the more interesting and rewarding abilities Mog can provide is the use of the ‘Mog Clock’ which you will notice at the bottom of the screen when ambushed by enemies that appear out of nowhere due to the disturbances in the timeline. It is wise to keep an eye on the clock before entering a battle as the more time that passes, the lesser chance you have of gaining some advantages in battle such a various status buffs or your opponent’s stagger gauge instantly reaching its limit.

Mog’s services can also be used outside of battle as he holds the uncanny ability to sense certain items hidden in locations throughout the game. Some of these items will be hidden in plain sight and resemble nothing more than a shadows which will require some of Mog’s magic to bring the item into your current timeline. Some items however might not be stuck in time but may be just out of reach rendering Mog’s time bending skills useless. Luckily Square have given us the ability to throw the poor Moogle around the environment and so can retrieve items if thrown close enough to them.

While XIII-2’s rich narrative and immersive gameplay provide much of the charm found throughout, none of it would have been achievable without the stunning graphical detail that shines through every inch of the game. But with such a variety of open environments, simply charging through the story won’t be enough if you want to capture all of XIII-2’s beauty as everywhere from the sunny shores of New Bodhum to the overgrown forests of the Sunleth Waterscape, glow with an alluring tranquillity that never fails to impress. That said, much of the gameplay also contributes its fair share of beauty, especially when facing off in battle as your party perform a number of elegant attacks while magical lights and weapon clashes glisten through the battleground which can be enhanced even more so if you enter a Cinematic Action sequence, throwing your party into a fantastical show of acrobatics and skill as you work to systematically take your opponent down.

With more music than any of the Final Fantasy titles before it, XIII-2’s soundtrack is nothing more than a masterpiece, combining a dynamic selection of music genres to fit every event and location. And whether you’re ridding Chocobo’s through the game’s open environments or facing off against colossal monsters, you’ll always be in the company of some hot blooded track that will follow you unfalteringly through even the stickiest of situations while providing you with that much needed boost of vigour, inspiring you to journey the lands to their fullest and stand up against impossible odds as you come face to face with hordes of monstrous creatures all eager to take you on.

When compared to the argued flaws of its predecessor, the hype surrounding XIII-2 made it seem like nothing more than a desperate attempt by Square to sate the tempers of a few angry fans who only saw XIII for its weaknesses. With that in mind, XIII-2 was given the unfair image of another dud title made up improvement focused content with no real mind of its own. However, not long after playing XIII-2, all trace of negativity that had built in my mind (thanks to the internet) had washed away as I was met with a huge array of fresh, dynamic and innovative content… with the obvious improvements thrown in for good measure.

Overall 9/10

Square Enix have truly outdone themselves with this title, keeping the great story and legendary name running on without failure and with no end in sight. Taking its rightful place in the Fabula Nova Crystallis series; Final Fantasy XIII-2 stretches the borderlines of modern gaming with its groundbreaking gameplay, emotional and engrossing storyline, and a vast open universe, encapsulating you in its immersive environments, encouraging you to explore and experience the endless amount of content on offer and to ultimately lose yourself in the adventure at hand.

Film Review: The Woman in Black

After terrifying readers and audience members of its respective novel and stage adaptation, the acclaimed heritage of Susan Hill’s potboiling shocker could only be poorly served by cinema. This was a fate suffered by The Golden Compass (previously a wildly imaginative West End production) but recently overcome by the stellar War Horse (likewise, following a stage version). The problem lies in the adage of ‘less is more’, theatre knows this and therefore has to compensate. Film isn’t constrained by 20 by 15 feet of stage (unless specified by the filmmaker, a’la Lars Von Trier’s Dogme phase) and in the case of such a high profile production, subtlety goes out the window, nuance is abandoned and invention isn’t catered for because the production has neither the impetus nor the ability to separate itself from the needs of boosting production value. This is one of the many issues nagging at the undead heart of Hammer’s newest foray into mainstream chills.

This is most evident in the music. Entire sequences are badly served by Marco Beltrami’s lacklustre score. It’s one thing to create unmemorable incidental music, it’s another to play it so persistently and overtly over moments that command underplay. Being loud and unimpressive, not good odds.
The story itself is tired and indeed tiring, two thirds of the story being devoted to drearily spouting exposition and exploring a location whose mystery isn’t even introduced properly until the third act. It’s one thing to deprive us of information; sure we’ll ask questions, but only if the clues are interesting enough.

The scares come into effect in the third and final act, and they come thick and fast (and god knows, the film needs them by this point). Director James Watkins of Eden Lake (an ASBO centric take on I Spit On Your Grave with Daily Mail pandering paranoia in the vein of Reefer Madness) does demonstrate some knowhow in conjuring some spooky rumblings. Pulling out all the haunted house tropes (eerie china dolls, creaky floorboards, overgrown weeds and dust, glorious dust) with reverential abandon. Some work, but one can’t shake off the feeling that they’re not much more than production design indulgences foisted upon the film, on the basis of Hammer’s schlock heritage.

At centre stage is Daniel Radcliffe, taking the role of young solicitor Arthur Kipps. Radcliffe does an admirable job with what is not much more than a ‘stick in the mud’ rendition of Sleepy Hollow’s Ichabod Crane. Kipps has all of Crane’s timidity, but none of his idiosyncrasy or more crucially, his cynicism. Radcliffe is therefore saddled with a character who doesn’t offer much beyond his stoic Potter persona, unfortunate as Radcliffe could easily have delivered a much more dynamic character if the writing allowed him.

The Woman in Black is neither a truly lacklustre experience nor a necessarily exceptional one, it is an experience of individually effective components. But a handful of scares can’t save a story that only kicks in during the third act. The production values overwhelm and paradoxically rob the film of its atmosphere. Less could have indeed, been so much more.

6/10.