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: 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: 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.

Review: Catherine

After waiting for almost a year since its Japanese release Catherine has finally made it to European shores. Has the wait for our dreamer Vincent been worth it? Or is this game just another sheep in the herd? Find out in this review.

Catherine’s story is a very interesting one and was the primary reason for why I was looking forward to playing the title.  The introduction gives you a rough understanding of what to expect in the game, and early on introduces the “Stray Sheep” (a bar where Vincent’s friends come to get drunk and talk about their woes). During this time the neighborhood in which Vincent lives has been involved in a number bizarre incidents where young men die in their sleep with a look of anguish upon their faces. The story quickly moves on and opens up, further adding to the character development throughout the interactive sequences.

You’ll soon realise after the first dream that there will be many situations like this.

Throughout the game you take control of the main protaganest Vincent, who ends up cheating on his partner Katherine after she proposes the idea of marriage. This causes Vincent’s mind to go a bit haywire, and even though he has been with her for five years he ends up cheating on her, but doesn’t remember anything during the time that he cheats. As you can probably figure out, the other girl he ends up sleeping with is Catherine. After meeting Catherine, Vincent begins to have nightmares every single night, making you wonder if Catherine is causing all these men to die, but because Vincent can’t remember the nightmares he can’t question anyone about what is happening to him. As the game progresses the story starts to revolve around your interactions with other people in the bar. Throughout your dreams and when you are back in reality, your thoughts rely on a meter that changes depending on what you say to other characters. This is also presented in a form of mobile texts which you will both receive and need to deal with whilst at the Stray Sheep. Depending on what you choose to say, it can change the outcome of the ending.

The story is very easy to follow, and very interesting. However, while visiting the Stray Sheep and talking to people the dialouge was always predictable and Vincent’s three main friends aren’t the most interesting characters in the world. I found myself countless times just reading the titles and skipping a lof the useless dialouge. It’s a nice option however that depending on who you talk to depends on how they react with you in the dreams/nightmares as well. There are many male characters that visit the bar that are also in the same dreams that Vincent has. Your ability to help them will also net you some achievements/trophies. Throughout the story I decided to be a good guy and choose as many of the good options as possible to receive the better ending. There are in total 8 different endings, some which you can do on about 2.5/3 playthroughs if you save your game at certain points. This opens up the replay value and has already sent me back into the game to find out the different endings as the main story between Vincent and the two girls Catherine and Katherine is brilliant and well thought out. It’s just a shame the other characters sometimes fall a bit flat in the dialogue. There’s also a lot of adult content in the game with sex scenes where you will see Catherine naked or near enough naked, not to mention the ‘naughty photos’ that she may send you when you are at the  ”Stray Sheep”. It’s borderline pornographic, nothing too revealing but also can effect the story depending how you react to the images.

The gameplay in Catherine revolves around a lot of puzzle/platforming elements requiring direct control over Vincent during his strange nightmares. As the story develops, the dreams become much more complicated when he meets the gorgeous girl named Catherine. This all takes place during the main story mode ‘Golden Playhouse’ during the time Vincent decides to leave the bar, of which I felt he frequents a little too much, hardly doing wonders for his liver. The gameplay changes depending on whether Vincent is asleep or awake. Whenever Vincent’s awake you never enter the dreams and most of the gameplay consists of you conversing with the other characters. The balance is well done and doesn’t feel too repetitive, though I admit that there were many times that the dreams will cause huge frustration even when playing on easy and normal. In the ‘Nightmare’ world of your dreams you’ll notice that there are other men, represented as sheep, and in order to survive and proceed you will have to climb countless blocks and create  giant staircases that are slowly collapsing underneath you. The game makes you think quick, but also requires you to look at your surroundings and think. Throughout the game you will come up against all types of different stages and boss encounters.

There’s also a variety of different blocks that will keep you on edge at all times, especially the ice blocks as they can often send you to your slippery death. The overall goal in each stage throughout the main game is to safely reach the top. You’ll gain medals, multipliers and achievements/trophies depending on your skills and use of blocks, with speed being of the essence. The stages are split into numerous areas, culminating in a boss stage in which a bizarre and really creepy creature also attempts to kill Vincent. This is where the game really shows you how twisted it can be, given that the boss creations are very unique and genuinely scary. If you’re lucky during certain stages you can find items including pillows (extra lives), block items that can be placed anywhere in the level, lightning that can destroy sheep which block Vincent’s path and lastly a form of energy drink that allows you to climb two blocks instead of one.  There are also certain attributes which Vincent can gain depending on what he drinks during the day. This is no easy game though as Vincent will die if he falls off the stage, gets caught by a trap or is killed by a boss. Depending how quick you are, or if you need to rewind a certain movement you can do so with the back button, though this is only present in the easy and normal mode.  It took me a while to master certain stages as it takes a while to master the control scheme, seemingly to sometimes exaggerate my movements, causing me to loose many of my pillows.  One you finish each stage you will enter a form of lobby where you will meet other sheep. Talking to certain cheep can open up more story links and techniques to help you in the later stages.

After first the first few stages caused me a lot of grief, I decided to slow down a little and s0on learnt that this more careful approach can really pay off. This is definitely a game that you can’t run through.

Even though at times my mistakes did cause a lot of my deaths, many of them were caused by inconsistent bosses.  Often I found that when clicking the undo button, the boss was even closer than they where before, requiring you to rewind a lot more and then re-do your previous steps, potentially causing an early death. There were also times where the game glitched and caused my character to do random things such walking when I didn’t touch the controller. I checked the controller, even used a new one in some segments to test it and I still had some random issues.

The experience is an interesting one, it’s a different type of platformer and it does work well, there’s just a lot of difficulty issues which were rumored to have been lowered in the European version, but it still seems pretty hard, even on easy. If you’re not particularly familiar with the platforming or puzzle genre, you’d be best off trying the demo before purchasing.  However this said, if you want to play for a unique story with multiple-endings with over twenty hours of gameplay, the flaws wont be much of an issue for you. 

For those looking for Multiplayer, Catherine does actually have a Multiplayer mode which I didn’t know until I completed the game. ‘Babel Mode’ features four large stages playable with up to two players, while ‘Vs Colosseum’ features two players racing to reach the top first. They aren’t the most in-depth multiplayer modes, but they are fun. Catherine didn’t even need these modes, but feels like a reward and a bonus for playing,.

Catherine’s presentation switches between cut-scenes and gameplay, each of them looking appealing and beautiful. The game is full of different enviornment and level designs that have a great lasting visual appeal. The characters are very anime-esque which isn’t bad and suits the game very well. All the cutscenes have been drawn to look like an anime, contrasting with the 3D elements shown when you are in the “Stray Sheep” or talking to other characters during the day. When you are in the nightmares the designs get much more creative, especially during stage 5 when the ice blocks first appear.  I have to admit the graphics aren’t anything like most of the modern games on the market, but are similar to other games based in a Japaense environment like Naruto or Tales of Vesperia.  It’s not graphically stunning but it’s artistically beautiful and really impressed me. It suits the game well and I enjoyed watching and playing the story to see what cutscenes/stages would appear.

Lastly the soundtrack, of which is now a personal favourite of mine. There’s a song to fit every scenario in the game. They also included the option to change songs on a jukebox in the “Stray Sheep”, which you can change and listen to when you unlock more songs by doing certain level’s/stages in the game. The soundtrack is very varied and include a wide range of songs from beautiful piano pieces to rock and roll mixes and relaxing songs, it’s not all doom and gloom. If you’re ever stressed out and want something peaceful to listen to I recommend the track ” Roux” or “Jouji Washington”.

Overall 8/10

Catherine is beautiful, unique and fresh, featuring an effectively told story. The character development between certain characters is great and finding out more details to do with the suspicious deaths make you eager to complete and find out what is going on with poor Vincent. The alternative endings will lead you to replay a number of stages, and the multiplayer modes are a nice addition. As mentioned, there are a few issues with the gameplay, primarily due to the high difficulty, but a patient player will reap the rewards. The overall package, with the artistic design, beautfiul soundtrack and a great all-round experience was worth the wait.  A must have for platformer/ puzzle fans.

Review: Haunt (XBLA Kinect)

Haunt was debuted from NanaOn-Sha back at the Tokyo Game Show 2010 along with a number of other Kinect projects including Project Draco and Steel Battalion: Heavy Armour. Since then there hasn’t been much coverage of the title, and seemingly without fanfare it released rather subtly on the Xbox Live Arcade earlier last month. Is this haunted mansion worth exploring, or are you best leaving the ghosts to rest in peace?

Taking on the role of an unnamed adventurer, you’ll utilise full body motion and gestures to move through the Mansion encountering many puzzles and ghosts as you follow the lead of the rather eccentric Benjamin ‘benjy’ Muldoon (voiced by Double Fine’s Tim Shafer) who whilst stuck in a painting is able to hop between any frame allowing him to offer tips and advice wherever you go. Your quest for the Phantaflask’s will lead you all over the mansion as you help Benjy to reactivate his mysterious machine, and whilst the ending is hardly going to surprise you, there are some great twists and turns on the way.

One of the most important aspects when discussing a Kinect title are the controls. Rise of Nightmares also had a stab at full body motion last year, but Haunt opts for a simpler control scheme. Using either of your hands as the torch, you’ll direct both your view and turning. To move in the direction you are facing simply walk on the spot, whilst a jog will get you moving a little quicker. The aiming uses a bounding box, similar to a Wii first person shooter where to turn and look around you’ll need to move the flashlight to the edge of the screen. While admittedly this can be a slow process, you’re never required to react quickly to objects around you whilst in free movement. The flashlight itself controls very smoothly and is responsive, following your hand accurately, along the lines of Child Of Eden.

You can step backwards by placing a foot behind you, though this does not move you continuously, instead you’ll use this to get out of a corner. This method can be quicker than having to turn around fully, but you won’t end up using it a huge amount. When it comes to stairs and corners, the game does a lot of the work for you by guiding your movement, taking a lot of potential frustration out of the equation. Each object in the world requires you to perform a basic gesture such as opening a cupboard or drawer, and while these interactions generally require you to be quite large with your movements, you’ll get accustomed to them quickly.

After the initial tutorial, you’ll be able to choose between three doors; The Auditory Annex, Luminarium and the Motility Vaults. Don’t let the tutorial fool you into thinking that this is a linear adventure though, as many of the levels require both backtracking and puzzle solving, providing a varied experience to keep you interested. There’s some novel use of the gestures ranging from covering your nose to using both hands to operate a pulley system, and that’s just in the first stage. Each area has two stages, generally taking about 20 minutes or so to get through (depending on whether you are after the collectables). For a downloadable game, there’s quite a bit to this one. Overall it took me just over 3 hours to 100%. I decided to find every collectable and check every cupboard since I am quite the completionist at times.

The puzzles generally boil down to locating a particular item for use in the environment, and while I would have liked to have seen some more in-depth puzzles utilising all the methods which Kinect can track, there are a couple of more innovative interactions scattered around the mansion in the later levels which are worth seeing.

Speaking to the presentation of the game, I was very impressed. You’ll find that the music, graphics and various sound effects culminate effectively to really set the mood of the game. It’s hardly a scary game though, feeling more akin to a first person Luigi’s Mansion as opposed to The Grudge. There’s some effective use of surround sound at times, especially when the bats swarm around you.

Objects that can be interacted with are highlighted, and by simply holding your flashlight over the object till it focuses you’ll be drawn in close to perform the required gesture. You’ll be checking a lot of cupboards and drawers in your adventure, most containing Vitality, Vitality Vials or a Newspaper Clipping. The Vitality pickups top up your heath meter, whilst the Vials give you a second chance if you run out. The Newspaper Clippings are the secret collectables, giving you some back-story on the character of Benjy, and the mansion itself, which may hold more secrets than you first thought.

In terms of the ghosts, there’s definitely a good variety, each with their specific weaknesses and methods for disposing of. You won’t have to worry about movement when you encounter a ghost however as the game locks you into combat, requiring timed gestures and careful use of the flashlight to rid yourself of the enemy.

Haunt is far from a hard game, and will remind you at each encounter which gesture is required, I ended up with 13 vitality vials by the end of the game, and didn’t have to use even one. Once you get accustomed to the various ghosts attacks you can better anticipate the motions to avoid attacks, though they do give you a lot of time to react. The only times you’re likely to get hit are when it doesn’t quite detect you correctly. This doesn’t happen for the full body motions, but it did occur a couple of times for me during sections when you would have to cover your eyes or ears, to achieve best results, have your elbows facing outwards from your body, really emphasising the motion, as opposed to just moving your hands directly up.

As you explore the mansion, you’ll encounter new gameplay mechanics from time to time, especially in the Auditory Annex as this introduces use of sound where you’ll have to both cover your ears and shout at enemies to destroy them. There’s also a nice little touch when you have to say your name to enter a door, and then later on…well, I won’t spoil it, I’ll just say that you should pick up the ringing phone. There’s a good mix of areas, from free moving to on rails segments where you’re riding a train cart through tunnels dodging skeletons and waving your arms to disperse the bats.

You’ll also gain various abilities throughout the game, allowing you to better fight back against the ghosts, ranging from deflecting projectiles back at your enemy, to waving your arm to trap the ghost. Each of these abilities are preset for each type of ghost, so you won’t be able to experiment with your attacks. It’s good to keep aware during the loading screens, as they can provide you with a number of helpful tips that the game doesn’t explain in the Instructions such as the ability to crouch and also the option to interact quicker by pushing your hand forward as the flashlight focuses.

Unlike nearly all other Kinect games, Haunt does not tell you when its taking pictures or recording you, leading to some funny moments when you spot yourself on various photos around the mansion, all I’ll say is, it’s worth exploring all the side rooms if you want a smile.

While this strictly single player adventure may be short, it’s a lot of fun while it lasts. I felt that they could have gone a step further in the puzzle solving areas, but I feel they give you your money’s worth. There’s not a huge amount of replay value, though each level is scored based on your ability to get through unscathed and the amount of collectables you uncover. If you have 800 Microsoft Points and want a new and interesting experience to play with Kinect, this is definitely a good buy, and is suitable for all ages.

8/10

Review: SoulCalibur V

SoulCalibur V is the latest installment to the popular fighting series, and it certainly has been a while since we’ve seen it last. The game is back though, and has taken a big leap into the future. Even though the story takes place 17 years after SoulCalibur IV, has the leap done the series any justice? Or has the battle of history come to an end? Find out in this review.

SoulCalibur as a series overall always has had a special place in my heart and was one of the first fighting games I played back on my Dreamcast. Over the past few years the series has both grown and evolved, adding new bits and pieces to the formula. The story has changed a fair bit since SoulCalibur IV as it is no longer a linear set of stages and you aren’t able to choose which character to partake in the story. The story is based around the main protagonist Patroklos (the son of Sophitia), while Sophitia’s daughter Pyrrha is the deuteragonist. Throughout the short 20 episode story you will take part in different roles of about 3-4 characters, mainly sticking on the primary story path revolving around Patroklos saving his sister Pyrrha from Soul Edge. It’s very simplistic, though presented quite well. There are many moments where you are gifted the beauty of the CGI cut scenes, which I have to say are by far the best looking of the series. You will notice though, that during the story, it doesn’t rely fully on CGI, and is told in the form of a book/scroll. The voice overs are still present, but are shown in a photographic slide-show form. It’s a shame that they couldn’t present the whole story mode in CGI as I feel the effect of the characters emotions and situation would of been a much better experience to see visually instead of through the more conventional and static drawings and text.

It’s nice to see that Namco focused a lot more on the single player story mode than in previous series entries, and it definitely shows. The story took me roughly 2 hours to complete, and even though this may sound short, it is by far the most indepth single player story in the series, and there’s much more here than you’ll find in many other fighting games. The overall experience of the story mode was very impressive, it could have been a lot longer and could of branched out to more characters, however it does a really good job of introducing the game’s characters and fighting styles by switching player control between a small chunk of the roster. It’s just a shame that some of the new characters don’t even get a mention in the story line, which previously in SoulCalibur IV you could choose any character and follow a linear story path for that character. It wasn’t much, but it was interesting learning about how each character fit into the SoulCalibur universe.

You’ll also get to fight in 20 different vibrant locations, differing in detail and scope, though all featuring an amazing score setting the atmosphere for each battle. If that’s not incentive enough to jump into the story mode, then you will also be happy to know that you unlock loads of bonus content including new fighters, locations and items for you own character.SoulCalibur V’s action is as extravagant and over-the-top as fans would expect, but its fighting system has been reworked to offer quicker and smoother combat, removing the sluggish gaps found between moves in previous installments. I felt before that the gameplay was arguably a bit too heavy, especially online, where I would not feel an instant reaction to the characters moves.

The gameplay in SoulCalibur feels like it has had a huge upgrade compared to SoulCalibur IV. The most noticeable aspect is the speed of the action, by this I mean that the fights never have a dull moment and are much more fast paced than they were previously. This could be due to the new characters and balancing, or the fact that they have re-booted the mechanics. It’s brilliant and feels fresh, but still familiar to the classic SoulCallibur formula.

Enemies have weapons which vary their playstyle, along with the different move sets and timing which you’ll need for the critical blow. Side stepping and dodging enemy attacks still play a huge role in this title and feel much more functional than they did in the previous games. The defensive  side has also seen some upgrades, including a new quick side step move, while the basic guard button operates as it used to, with players needing to block incoming attacks at the correct height, and requiring precise timing to parry or counter moves.

For those familiar with the series, the Guard Impact feature will be familiar. This time though, it has been altered, as it now requires you to hold away from the opponent and the horizontal slash, vertical slash, and kick together (as opposed to forward and guard). This already has opened up a new defensive element into the fights, as the feature now allows the player to repel any attack regardless of height, of course ignoring the unblockable attacks.

Another defensive feature added to the game is the new Just Guard  technique, replacing the old style Guard Impact feature. This time around  if you use the Just Guard at the precise moment of an opponent’s attack, you’ll land a perfect guard. This means that the defensive move lessons the amount of delay that the character must wait before retaliating. Giving the great counter-attack option for a lot of players, this is something I took advantage of and will continue to do so.

They have also created a new character leveling system, working across the various game modes including Training and Arcade, allowing you to rank up your fighter while also unlocking customisation options and items. These can then be used in the character creation mode, giving you the chance to create your own SoulCalibur fighter. This feature has been present in previous entries, though this time it returns with many more options for you to adjust, not to mention the copious amount content, keeping the hardcore fans interested for some time. There’s a huge amount of varied content to unlock including a Devil Jin (Tekken) Fighting Style. You can also fiddle with the default characters as well as start from fresh. There’s quite a lot of options to mess around with and it goes to show how much customization they wanted to give to the player. SoulCalibur V wouldn’t be complete either if it didn’t feature a guest character from outside the franchise. Ezio from the Assassin’s Creed series makes his appearance to vary the playing field. He is actually a very interesting fighter to choose and has very good mid-air to long range attacks. Thankfully he doesn’t look out of place, so if you aren’t aware of the character’s background, he shouldn’t stand out too much.

Story mode isn’t the only mode available either, there’s the Legendary Souls, Arcade, Quick Battle, VS Battle, CPU vs CPU (Battle Theater), Training, PlayStation Network/Xbox Live modes and The Creation mode. The Legendary Souls mode is probably one of my favourite new modes, essentially boiling down to a boss rush, with the difficulty ramping up fast.  Arcade is the same as previous arcade modes, just fight you way through different foes until you lose. Quick battle is just for a quick match with a CPU. CPU Vs CPU is a strange mode to put in but if you feel like watching the CPU  fight, feel free. Training and online battles are pretty self explanatory as I’ll explain later on.

The design in SoulCalibur is by far the best in the series, the animation is very fluent and looks beautiful, not to mention how amazingly detailed the backdrops are during the fights. The classic Ring Outs are still present but now they can also add an extra layer of depth on certain stages, as knocking out an opponent from the ring will result in both characters falling down into a new arena to continue the fight ala Dead Of Alive/Tekken.
SoulCalibur has always had great graphics, even since the first title on the Dreamcast. There were many times where I have gone back to the story mode just to replay the parts featuring the cut scenes as I just can’t stop looking at how detailed each character is. Even during the fights, the characters look simply amazing.

The multiplayer mode is probably the best feature in the game. Throughout the whole time playing online while managing to fit a few hours of solid play, I can easily say that this is far better than SoulCalibur IV’s online offerings. You also have to put inconsideration the fact that I’m playing in the UK and the only available servers are currently the USA servers. I played many games and throughout playing online I experienced no lag and had an all-round great experience. Searching for a match is fairly quick, even though there’s hardly anyone online at this point. As soon as you find someone, it shows you their title and the rank information/location before you proceed.  Player matches are also present, similar to Super Street Fighter Arcade Edition. You can have 8 players in a lobby at one time with the winner staying on. You can also now watch other players battle it out whilst waiting, this also means you can save replays and upload them. There’s no editing functionality however so every upload you save consists of the entire match and not just your best bits. It’s not to much of an issue however, though I would hope future fighting games to allow expanded replay functionality.

Now besides your standard, ranked and player matches there is also a new mode called the Global Colosseo. This mode offers many functions, including a form of chat room, tournaments, normal matches and you can start lobbies and hold you own mini tournaments. It looks like it will be a great and popular mode, especially the tournament mode. You can also choose which country/ server you wish to fight in, so if you feel the need to take the challenge across the boarder the option is there.

Now lastly, the Soundtrack. I personally feel that over the past two SoulCalibur titles the soundtracks haven’t been outstanding, personally my favourite soundtrack of the whole series came from the second title. I wasn’t shocked however, as with the amount of work they have put in to making this one of the best SoulCalibur games, the soundtrack doesn’t fall short either, as the soundtrack is truly amazing. It feels like the team went back to their roots to re-master and reboot the music side in the franchise, adding many touches from the previous songs in the series. The musical score is just a masterpiece. Each stage has an amazing score and so do the characters. My personal favourite in the series, and it’s hard not to love all the songs but it has to be Sword of Resolution (Patroklos’ Theme) that does it for me. There are just so many amazing original pieces in this game it is just really outstanding. I would even recommend purchasing the soundtrack even if you’re not into the series.

Overall 9.5/10 – Editors Choice

SoulCalibur V is the best SoulCalibur title since SoulCalibur 2. The team has worked exceptionally hard by putting the series back on form. It has had a lot of work put into the balancing of the characters and the overall feel of the gameplay. The package feels more complete than ever before and fans of the series will be happy to know that it seems SoulCalibur is back on track. There are many added features that sold it for me. The new take on the story mode was a great touch, even though it’s short and not fully animated it still was interesting and very fun to play through, and I’m sure I will play certain episodes again in the near future. The overall disappointment is how the story doesn’t give room to introduce all the new characters, or even a separate story for the new characters. Hopefully with some upcoming updates/DLC we may be able to venture with the newer characters.  The design and soundtrack alone are the best in the series since SoulCalibur 2. The updated creation zone as well as new characters have added much more depth to the gameplay, especially on the defensive side. The multiplayer is near enough perfect, though there could be a few tweaks here and there but nothing too major that caused me to stop playing. It’s addictive, fun and the Global Colosseo mode will be very popular for hardcore fighters. I feel that with all the major changes, upgrades and new systems in-place that the game could deserve a 10/10. There are some minor flaws, mainly in the story section of the game but the overall experience of the title is one I will never forget and will continue playing for a very long time.

Review: Quarrel (XBLA)

Quarrel is a word orientated strategy game developed by Denki, and is by far one of the best word games to date on any system. The best way to describe Quarrel would be to say that it plays something along the lines of a strategic battle game of Scrabble, where everybody is gunning for your territory and words are the best defence in your arsenal. If you weren’t already aware, Quarrel was originally an iOS title and, having played both versions, it’s safe to say that a game like Quarrel is more suited to a touch screen. However, the Xbox Live Arcade version of Quarrel is by no means less enjoyable, if you’re a fan of word games in general this is a must have. But let’s break Quarrel down shall we?

The way in which Quarrel is played is simple enough. To win, a player must capture all enemy territories by changing them to their colour. To take over a territory you must create a high scoring word from an anagram, or be able to spell the whole jumbled up word. Each letter is given a numerical value, for example the letter “J” is the highest and worth 15 points. The capture of any territory is shown through the use of your own personal minions, though sadly said minions are not customisable. The player is assigned a minion design for the game; Ninjas, Ginger Scotsmen in kilts, Robots, Pirates and many more are up for the choosing. If your attack prevails, your little minions bombard enemy minions with the words tiles, resulting in little ghostly angel figures ascending to heaven. If you earn enough points during a game you’ll be awarded with the ability to call in extra minions to back-up your forces when attacking or defending a territory. One thing worth mentioning is that when backup is called for, it’s signaled by a cavalry-esc fan-fare. When the fanfare is initiated the sound quality drops, arguably something small but it’s also something a little bit annoying.

There are many aspects that set the Xbox Live Arcade port apart from its iOS sibling. For one, Quarrel incorporates the use of Xbox Live Avatars. This adds a sense of personalisation to the game and increases the level of competitiveness through the emotive responses provided when winning or losing a quarrel. Despite having similar art styles, Quarrel on the Arcade is simply nice to look at. Yes, looks aren’t everything but it sure helps. The art style in question is very child friendly and emanates an inviting vibe. The visuals aren’t childish enough to deter the older generation of gamer however, it is a game to be enjoyed by all if word games are your thing.

For the solo gamers, the Single Player aspect of Quarrel offers a variety of game modes to choose from. First off, you have the bog standard Quick Match, no real explanation needed there. As with most games, a tutorial is also made available for those who need a better grasp of the game. The Domination mode gives you the chance to “conquer all 12 islands to dominate the Known Quarrel World”, with each individual island offering a different theme or setting. If a head-to-head play style is more your cup of tea then you’ll want the Showdown mode, beat all nine AI opponents to be crowned Quarrel Master. Prefer objective based play? The Challenge mode offers twelve unique challenges to be completed by only the best Quarrel players. Regardless of what you decide to play, all of Quarrel’s game modes were very enjoyable. If you play enough of them you will even receive a Word IQ level, practice makes perfect and speed can often be the key.

For those with a more competitive streak, Quarrel’s multiplayer aspect is nothing to be sniffed at. The benefit of Xbox Live Arcade over iOS is that the Xbox Live service provides a much better online experience. Like most games, you’re given the choice to play either a more competitive Ranked Match or a friendlier Player Match. You have the choice to play with a maximum of three friends online or simply hop into a random game; it’s a fun experience whichever way you decide to play and for 400 Microsoft Points you really can’t go wrong.

In short, Quarrel is a great game. If you like word based games or you’re simply looking for a game to relax with then this is the game for you, hats  off to Denki!

Overall score: 9/10

Review: Lord Of The Rings: War In The North

It’s been a while since a decent Lord Of The Rings title hit our consoles. The recent release of Lord Of The Rings: War In The North ventures into a new area in the saga which has yet been touched upon before. Warner Bros. has taken the plunge with this title, so how does it shape up? Find out in this review.

LOTR: War In The North takes place during “The War Of the Ring” and is told through three characters: Eradan: Dunedain Ranger, Andriel: Loremaster of Rivendell, and Farin: Champion of Erebor. The narrative is not particularly in-depth, but it expands on the already big universe that encompasses the previous films and games. The story can at times have some very interesting dialogue, but most if falls short on achieving what the pervious entries in the LOTR franchise produced. This doesn’t mean it’s bad however, and will keep you interested throughout as you venture through Middle-Earth and discover what the three warriors did to stop Sauron from getting back the Ring of Power.
 Throughout the campaign you’ll stumble upon many different locations and environments which will feel familiar to any fan of the series. This includes places like Bree where the game opens up at The Prancing Pony to visit with Aragon who gives you your first mission. The opening cutscenes and gameplay does feature some dialogue which can drag on as the first incentive for me was seeing what the combat was like. This didn’t take long however, as the swords start swinging as you head to Fornost and save Beleram (one of the great eagles), along with the sons of Elrond: Elladan and Elrohir. As the game progresses, you’ll head to Rivendell and meet many of the main players of the Fellowship: Elrond, Arwen, Bilbo, and Gloin. During this you’ll get your next mission, a couple of side quests and some achievements for those who are interested. The story and missions are all set in beautiful locations, which is probably one of my highlights of the game along with the fact that you get to go to Rivendall and speak to the Fellowship characters. The game’s story may not interest everyone however, if you are not a fan of LOTR then this game won’t change your mind or make you want to watch the films. The story’s appeal is aimed squarely at fans of the films and many locations relate directly to those.

The art design for War in the North is pretty good overall. There are a few nice details added throughout the game, especially the effects on the armour depending on the weather condition. It’s the small details that just make the game look appealing to the eye. There are some locations however than just seem rushed, there are also many things that look really outdated and mashed together. A number of locations that involve water all add to variety, especially when they appear beautiful and crisp in contrast to the others looking terrible and unrealistic. The design does have many flaws which a lot of people will notice throughout playing and the textures do look a bit grainy, but it does have its fair share of polished locations, so overall a 50/50 balance between the two. Another good design feature is the combat system, since when you kill an enemy in a certain way you get to see their arms, heads and legs fling all over the place. It’s a nice added feature and is rewarding after you brutally take down the poor little orcs.

The gameplay in War in the North follows the generic role of an action RPG, opening up more ways to take on the different parts of the game. This also helps with the fact that you can play with up to 3 people online at one time, levelling up and completing the game together. The RPG element is balanced quite well, especially given the focus on Co-Op. Levelling up is based on the amount of enemies you kill and how you kill them. For example if you take down and enemy with a Final Blow you will gain more XP than if you just used your basic sword attacks. The quests are all story related, other than the few side quests. This may put some people off as the length of the game isn’t very long and took me and two friends around 16 hours to complete the game, minus side quests. Even though there isn’t a large amount of side quests, they do help with the levelling system. What is interesting is how well balanced the RPG and combat elements are. I didn’t feel at all bored throughout out the game and the RPG parts were very simple to learn and use effectively. Every time you level up you gain 3 skill points to attribute, and an ability point, to which you can unlock more attacks, combos, spells to use whilst in combat. I also spent a ridiculous amount of time on making sure I got the best armour for my character, hunting down treasure chest and secret caves to gain more items. When in combat, you are able to choose three ways to attack. If you choose the Ranger and Champion you can have a bow equipped to take down enemies at long distances. The Loremaster is able to shoot at enemies with her staff, however it doesn’t have amazing range. In terms of their other specialisations, the Ranger is able to duel wield two primary weapons, the Champion prefers handling two handed weapons or a shield with a one handed weapon, and the Loremaster has ability to shield players from attacks. It’s well balanced between the three characters and gives a lot of replay incentive to try out the different characters. You can also achieve heavy strikes, as well as the standard strikes with your hand to hand combat weapons. Characters can combine that with special abilities that each character possesses. The game is very button mash friendly, but isn’t too repetitive to annoy you. I found it great mashing buttons and seeing enemies fall to my feet in slow-motion.

Overall 7.5/10 

The Lord Of The Rings: War In The North is very fun to play, both solo and in its great three player co-op system. It’s nice being able to see a different side of the story, as I did wonder what was going on whilst Frodo went to destroy the ring. The game does have its flaws however, mainly in the design side of things. The length of the game may put some people off, but I don’t think it should as if you’re looking for a fun RPG  then the length of the game will no longer be an issue. There is also the incentive to replay the game due to the different difficulty modes that unlock achievements. If you’re not of a fan of LOTR then this RPG may not suit you, but if you are interested in finding items and unlocking new abilities then this would be great for you.

Review – [Revisited] BioShock 2

With Bioshock Infinite due next year, I take a look back at the second title in the series.

Bioshock 2 features the same diverse art style, graphics and sound design of the original to create an amazing atmosphere as you roam the under water city of Rapture. With rich storytelling and enjoyable multiplayer, it’s a welcome return for one of the most interesting games of this generation.

Fans of the original will not be disappointed here. While the reigns of the series has been handed over to a multitude of other 2k game studios, the new team has clearly done their research into how Ken Levine with ‘Irrational games’ (System Shock, Freedom Force) created the original masterpiece, taking inspiration and also evolving the game into something that shows just how unique the world of Bioshock is.

Taking place in the underwater utopian turned dystopian world of Rapture, you traverse through many giant areas of the city attempting to rescue a girl, your ‘little sister’ as her Big Daddy. These terms may seem odd to those who are not aware of the universe this game occurs in, I shall fill you in; The world of Rapture was created by Andrew Ryan, fed up of the controlled communist world, he designed an underwater city where the brightest minds from science to literature could all live and work together productively. Soon, ‘Adam’ was discovered, a liquid of sorts, that could grant people superhuman abilities by literally rewriting their genetic code. ‘Plasmids’ were injections, hugely diverse in their applications. From cosmetics, to weapons that would allow you to throw fire or lighting from your fingertips, or even force your enemies to attack each other. Of course, addictions followed, and world took a dive into a broken society of deranged people known as ‘Splicers’. ‘Little sisters’ were created to harvest ‘Adam’ from corpses, and the ‘Big Daddy’s’ were designed as their protectors, depicted similarly to early 20th Century diving suits, huge hulking and menacing beings.

The story of the original was a rollercoaster, and the ending was especially impressive, however what made the original so amazing was the sense of discovery, this broken society under the sea, hidden from view. The sequel doesn’t quite have the same feeling of discovery as you have already ventured through the world once, however, since you are traversing through new areas, all unique and beautiful, this is not a big issue.

The story of this sequel took me a little longer to get involved with, but a number of sequences through the mid and end points of the game, featuring large set pieces and emotional moments brought it all together. In this world, Sophia Lamb is the new Andrew Ryan as it takes place many years after the original. She has the same dominant overtones, with a large influence on the environment. With all the little touches including the writing on the walls, pictures and audio diaries, these all come together to create an amazing sense of what this world once was, and how far it has fallen. Every area is filled with a huge amount of unique objects, almost as if the world hit pause when the downfall occurred, giving you the chance to pick up the pieces and see the world as how it once would have been.

Gameplay wise, this will feel very similar to the fans of the original, using the same engine and control scheme. What gives this game something new is the aspect that you play as a Big Daddy, granting you much more power and tools to use in combat. One of which is the duel wielding abilities, where you can have a plasmid in one hand and a weapon in the other, operating both independently, allowing you to approach combat in a huge variety of ways. The drill is also a welcome addition, allowing you to literally rip people apart as well as charge to stun. The main situations you encounter in the game are directly opposite to those in the original. This time as a big daddy you are tasked with defending ‘Little Sisters’ as they gather ADAM, in contrast to the original where you were tasked with killing the big daddy to get to the ‘Little Sister’. A new enemy, the ‘Big Sister’ gives you a little more challenge in an impromptu fast paced boss fight from time to time.

Each level is huge and intricate, meaning you will want to explore every nook and cranny of the great open level design as you go from area to area. Of course, the water is back, creating some impressive set pieces where the environment crumbles under the power of the flooding water. As well as being hugely visually impressive, it creates a very panicked mood, as well as the sense of isolation and being trapped in a number of occasions. The underwater walking areas are new to the series, as you now occupy a diving suit, and while they may be linear paths, they serve as a nice break from the action, allowing you to slowly plod through the underbelly of the city.

Upgrading your abilities makes a return. Using the ADAM that you collect you can upgrade your plasmids, or purchase gene tonics which act as boosts to your non-active abilities, ranging from making you better at hacking turrets and cameras, or giving you more stealthily abilities to sneak up on your enemies. The research camera this time does video; giving you the chance to improve your damage to certain enemies of even grant you with new gene tonics.

By far, the biggest contrast to the single player centric design of the original is the new multiplayer in the sequel. Developed by Digital Extremes, they took all of the mainstays from the solo game into the multiplayer arena to create something very enjoyably, complete with XP and leveling system as seen in most online shooters. Creating a unique setup and story for this mode helps settle itself in the universe, taking place before the solo games with you playing as test subjects for the plasmids. The controls here are a little more responsive, but the shooting feels slightly weaker and less powerful. The uniqueness of the Bioshock world shows itself with the plasmid use as well as the research camera, allowing you to get damage boosts over foes. While this will never reach the same levels of popularity of mainstream shooters such as Call of Duty, it does offer something a little different in the overcrowded genre.

It’s very hard to do the game justice in a written review, but you owe it to yourself to play both of the Bioshock games. The sequel brings many new additions to the table, and successfully tells another tale in the world of Rapture, and you’ll find yourself itching for more when its over, with it’s stunning design and atmosphere, as well as the sense of isolation and decay, you won’t find anything this year like it.