Letter of Apology: Dynasty Warriors

To save effort I'm going to used the localized naming conventions for the series so this mostly disregards the first game which is a fighter. I jumped into the Dynasty Warriors series with the third entry. I had no idea what to expect but you gotta try things out right? When I started up the game I was greeted to some characters who I hate no hope of pronouncing their names properly. (Neither did the English voice actors for that matter.) I thought that this Zhao Yun guy was pretty cool looking (Turns out it was the only character I ever used besides Xiahou Dun at the time.) and proceeded into the game.

After some awful voice acting I was itching for a fight. I had no idea how I was supposed to win against such odds but sure, I'll wing it. It was after my first few encounters that I realized that I was more than a little bit overpowered. Zhao Yun was wailing on the enemy and in retrospect it was almost like playing a third person shmup. Other than the fact that I won't die in a single hit or several for that matter. In fact, other than a select few generals, there was no challenge to be seen.

This was only one small part of the problem though. Lack of challenge is one thing but I was quickly realizing the limitations of my attack options. Hammering the square button before finishing off with triangle got old quickly for me then. I felt like I was playing a game about rising the kill counter more than anything else. It was dull and boring, I quickly gave up after a couple of playthroughs. Other than playing the two Drakengard games, I mostly stayed away from hack & slash games ever since.

Well that all changed when I played Dynasty Warriors 6 (Better represented in Dynasty Warriors 7 however.) I finally started to realize what these games were all about. Dynasty Warriors is very much a game about base capture and field control. That may not exactly sound astonishing on paper but I can assure you that it adds a surprising amount of tactical depth to a game where you expect there to be none. Still don't believe me? You want to know one of the more popular game genre's around these days? The MOBA or Multiplayer Online Battle Area. Those games are about squashing minions while slowly pushing forward to gain influence on the map. Hindered only by the other player characters on the map. Dynasty Warriors is more or less the same formula but singleplayer. (or co-op if you're going to be pedantic about it.)

I'm not a massive fan of MOBA games because to my experience I’ve found the people to be quite rude and I don't want to sink as much time into a game like a MOBA demands. Like my Final Fantasy VI apology, this is all a little bit pointless but I wanted to write this because I now think that Dynasty Warriors is a great franchise and it's lead me into not only playing tons more hack & slash games like Sengoku Basara but it also get me greatly interested in the source material Romance of the Three Kingdoms. (Which I recommend you read if you ever get the chance or time.)

Aliens: Colonial Marines Review

Game over man! Game over!

This game is terrible. Just...Just trust me on this. Avoid it. buggy game with terrible lighting, stupid A.I. from your allies and the enemy...Those things might be forgivable but it's just so damn boring! Honestly, save your money and go buy any Aliens vs Predator game or better still. Grab your DS and buy Aliens: Infestation. Seriously, Infestation is a far superior game in every aspect. Your marines have perma-death and there are a finite total amount of marines to encounter during the game. Each with their own personality. This helps each encounter come with a sense of fear and tension as opposed to just popping back two minutes to the last checkpoint. It shares a great deal with Metroid, which in itself is inspired by Alien. It's arguably the best Aliens game to date.

I cannot understand why Colonial Marines failed so badly...I mean it's textbook! You make some aliens and then you have them jump out at you...Not run slowly upright towards you in the same comical animation. That is, of course, when you actually fight aliens...You spend a good chunk of Colonial Marines not even fighting aliens but humans. Other than a couple of nods to the Aliens film, some good, some bad...I cannot even recall a single remarkable thing about the game. Pulse rifle had good sound effects I guess? As a result, I am forced to give Aliens: Colonial Marines...

DmC: Devil May Cry Review.

Has Dante changed for the better?

I remember the day, the first time we saw what the new Dante looked like. Oh the outrage from fans who predicted how utterly disgraceful this reboot of Devil May Cry would be. Dante has short black hair, he's a foul mouthed thug, and yes, while all of this is true, it is not quite as simple as that. Believe me, I was one of those people who were quick to criticize the new style but for those with an open mind, you may find yourself completely surprised by this game.

Story.

I felt the dread when I first started to play this game when it came to the plot. Dante was exactly as I thought he would be. He felt like he was developed by children. He swore every chance he got, he was a sexual deviant, he was the furthest thing from the original Dante that I could imagine. You see, the original Devil May Cry games knew they were silly and over the top. It was tongue in cheek. It was cool because they were aware of how absurd it was. It's clear that DmC however is mocking the style of the original game and plays it completely serious and ironically coming across as totally childish.

Well that was my first impression. Thankfully DmC is not like I thought at first. It's a refreshing story with new and interesting characters. Perfect it is not, predictable characters and plot changes are everywhere but that being said they are well designed characters. Dante does not continue his infantile attitude throughout the game, or at least it's toned down greatly as the story goes on and the rewriting of the mythos of Devil May Cry is actually very good. I could not say it's better than some of the best that Devil May Cry has to offer in terms of plot but it's still one of the strongest.

Probably the most interesting element is that of limbo, a twisted version of the real world where demons inhabit and rule the real world from inside limbo. All of the fighting in the game gets done when Dante is dragged into limbo and is guided by the spectral presence of people within the real world. Another change in the reboot is that Dante and Vergil are no longer just demon's but half Angel, half Demon called Nephilim. An unholy union which is despised by the demons.

Gameplay.

Having played every Devil May Cry game so far, I was worried about how they would ruin the gameplay compared to the peak of DMC4. Dropping the framerate to 30fps from 60fps. Oh I could see the jerky motions and unreliable combos now. I did not have much faith for the new DmC and based on the information we were given, I think I was right to be worried about it.

You can still play with your enemies by pulling them into your aerial dance of death.

Thankfully the negative information betrayed the fact that DmC really feels like Devil May Cry at it's core. There have been some changes, some for the better, some for the worst. First thing's first. Combos are fluid, I feel like I am completely in control of Dante's moveset. Most of the moves from Rebellion you remember have returned. Stinger, High Time, hell, he even has Roulette from Nero in DMC4. Some of the buttons have been simplified, High Time is now just attached to it's own button and Stinger requires a double tap forward and the attack button but it's basically just how you remember the game.

There are basically two major elements to the combat which have changed. Firstly you have angelic and demonic weapons and an angelic and demonic grappling hook. Both features change the gameplay greatly. The grappling hooks help with both combat and platforming. The demonic grappling hook can be used to drag demon's and platforms towards you and the angelic can pull you to platforms and demon's. While in combat this allows you to chain absurdly high combos, much like Nero's demonic arm in DMC4. The demonic hook can also be used to remove the shields from some of the more pesky enemies in the game.

The second element is the angelic and demonic weapons. Each are connected to a trigger on the controller in which you enter either angelic or demonic mode, changing your melee weapon into one of their type. Angelic weapons are fast and deal in crowd control and large juggles. Demonic weapons are slow, heavy hitting weapons which serve as a great way to crush bigger enemies or break past shields. Both of these new forms of gameplay add a great deal of depth to the gameplay.

Limbo adds a great bit of platforming outside of the combat, pulling platforms and yourself, gliding through levels, it's one of the first action games that comes to mind with really fun platforming elements. However, not all is good in the gameplay. The problem with DmC is that it's frankly too easy to avoid death. Most enemies put up zero challenge and others mess with the pacing by playing the waiting game, ruining the flow of the normally fast gameplay. There are plenty of highter skill levels but so far, I’ve not hit any major wall of difficulty. I'm sure that once Son of Sparda and onwards have been unlocked, it'll be a nail biting challenge but being you have to finish the game before you can take that challenge, those planning a single playthrough might be disappointed by the frankly, pathetic AI.

Music.

The music of DmC is by far the worst aspect of the game to me. Even prior Devil May Cry games had superior music and you felt the rhythm in the music to help the pace of combat. In DmC it falls flat. You can tell that the choice of music was one that tried to invoke the style of the original DMC games but with more modern sounding tropes but ultimately it's not very fun to listen to. Not that it's all bad, some of the tracks ring a good level of emotion for the game. Just don't expect anything world changing here.

Visual.

The visuals of DmC is arguably another spotty area of the game. Graphically it's an okay game. There are some muddy textures during some points in the games due to Ninja Theory's reliance on the Unreal 3 engine but otherwise the graphics are completely suitable. The area's that you'll visit in the game are very interesting. Not to mention the fact that seeing them from limbo gives a nice extra take on where you are. The problem mostly is within the colouring or rather, lack of.

Prepare to see a lot of red and it's not blood.

You will see lot's of browns and reds during your demonic romp through limbo but it never really has much flair. Even the deep colours feel dull and uninspired. Nothing like as bad as what we see from the modern shooter and quite frankly the original DMC was not much better but even so. It's not very good. There are a couple of times during the game where artistically I wish they had used the style throughout the whole game. Ghostly wisping colour, escaping the characters.

Final Thoughts.

DmC is the poster boy for not judging a book by it's cover in the game world. Everything we were shown about the game made most loathe the idea of it. We were so sure that there was no way this game could possibly hold a candle to the original series. Not only does it hold a candle, it ranks up with some of the best in the series. Do I prefer it to the original series? No. I still think Dante is not as interesting or as fun as the original and the style is not one that I prefer but I would like to see a sequel. DmC is by no means a bad game. It's a great one.

8/10 DmC does almost everything right. Not all of it works as well as others but it all comes together well.

Asura's Wrath Review

It's sometimes hard to understand how some games get localized and others not. Don't get me wrong. Asura's Wrath is a very interesting game but it's a wonder how Capcom think that the game will sell better than a Megaman title. I honestly think the Japan sales alone of the Blue Bomber will surpass the global sales of Asura's Wrath. The game can be best described as having three styles of gameplay. Two button brawler, On rails shooter and QTE. The brawler parts of the game easily involve you the most in even if it's pretty repetitive feeling. The general idea is to keep hitting your enemies with normal attacks and to fill up the burst gauge to continue the story. You also have a heavy attack with cooldown. There is a state you can transform into which gives you infinite heavy attacks for a limited time but it doesn't really change the outcome of the battle very often.

The second part of the game is an On rails shooter. I regret that this mode is also pretty dull with very little to do but chain up attacks and shoot enemies to fill up the burst gauge so you can continue the story. It's pretty hard to get killed here and it really only serves to pad out the gameplay. Why it could not be like panzer dragoon I do not know. The final element to the game is the QTE parts. These can pop up at more or less any cutscene in the game and pretty much serve to give you a slightly different cutscene depending on if you fail or succeed. There is no way to die from QTE's in what I played of the game and the only purpose for it to be there is to keep you alert during the story. Shenmue pulled of QTE's fairly well as the pacing was better for it. Asura's Wrath is already an insane ride that adding QTE's just cheapen the experience.

So there you have it. From a gameplay point of view. The game is utterly terrible. I do not think I've played anything quite so bland and boring in my entire life. I really do not know how they cyberconnect2 screwed up the gameplay so much. Solatorobo had awesome gameplay and even the .hack series had interesting elements to the gameplay. It is good then that the story is good right?

Well yes actually, it's a pretty awesome story which taps heavily into Hinduism with an absurdly over the top anime flair. It's clear the game was created with anime in mind. You have fight scenes that feel like they've been pulled from a shounen anime like dragon ball. Mix in a massive revenge story and strength which seems to stem from the philosophy of rage solves everything.

If you like that kind of story then you're in for a massive treat with the game...If you're not...Then I cannot really see any redeeming feature to this game for you.

Before I finish this up though I'd like to point out that this is a Capcom game and while I was going to rate it well on the story alone. They even screw that up. What I mean is that you should not expect to see the ending. Even the special secret ending greets you with a cliffhanger and “to be continued” at the end. This is because Capcom have obviously seen fit to make us pay for the ending via DLC. Capcom cannot say that they did not have an ending planned already so this cheap cash-in is really not acceptable and one of the most detestable attempts at emptying our wallets I have ever seen. So unless you are planning to shell out £11.50 for the DLC I would honestly not bother and wait for Jet Set Radio or something.

My Score: Boring gameplay with a pretty awesome story which is held ransom as DLC. 4/10

The People: I don't really see people enjoying this game even if we didn't get ripped off out of DLC but I've surprisingly heard little complaints from people about it so I'll give it the same score. 4/10

Street Fighter X Tekken

Being I've not had my hands on the game for long I'll be mainly giving my first impressions of the game. I am also no expert on the more subtle elements of fighting games but I'll give it a go. Street Fighter X Tekken does surprisingly well with the character roster in this game. The complaints about the on disc DLC are well founded on principle but there still is a massive cast of characters regardless. This, however does not excuse Capcom as the game takes a clear stance that it's being built from the ground up to extend the game by releasing Characters, Costume Packs, Costume Colours (possibly) and Gems.

Back to the characters though. Most of who I've used play really well and the Tekken characters make the transition as well as I'd hoped. While the Street Fighter characters play mostly the same on a basic level as their SFIV counterparts, they do have some minor changes for the most part. As always the Street Fighter characters focus mainly on special moves where Tekken puts their focus in Unique Attacks which serve as their trademark “Combo” moves. Hitting LP,LK,MP,LP and MK as Jin for example will execute a string of pre-made moves that link together. Whereas the Street Fighter characters would literally attack using the standard same strength moves in that order. I probably explained that poorly but in short the Tekken characters are quite easy to get a high combo from with little practice but there is no doubt a learning curve for Tekken players moving to the SFXT engine.

The game really rewards tagging out often in the game as it opens up many juggle chances and keeps your partners damage minimized as the first KO ends the round. I'm personally in half a mind about the Gem system. While it seems very interesting for personalized play it does add a pay to win aspect to the game. Also it means being familiar with a character is even harder because having power gems for example will make a character more powerful than he is. It would be nice if online play could turn the gems off but at this point I have not found such an option.

The online plays well as so far I've had little to no lag, even on the PS3 but one major problem is that pretty much all the sounds cut out when playing online. This is terribly annoying as it can do as much as throw off your rhythm when trying to string a large combo together. They should fix it soon but there is no way they didn't notice before launch. Game patches have ended up being a massive crutch for developers and now look where we are. Arcade mode is the usual deal. Nothing really worth mentioning. It's short but fun. You pretty much have the same modes as you've seen in SFIV already. Trials can absorb a decent amount of your time but otherwise you'll be waiting to play online or locally with friends. This is one of the reasons why the incomplete online is such a blow but in due time I'm sure it'll be fine.

On one last note. The framerate is great throughout. I never noticed a single dropped frame to my eyes and you get vsync, so no nasty cuts in the screen while it pans. The art style is great, just like SFIV was and the cartoon like look is pulled off well for the tekken characters. A few people like Law looks strange but it's overall a good job. It may be too early to tell if SFXT will be ruined by DLC in the future or that it'll be written off as a poor feeling game like MVC3 (though I feel like this game has plenty of substance compared to MVC3) but I personally think it's pretty good so far. Maybe not a replacement for 3^rd Strike or even SFIV maybe but time will tell.

Sonic Generations Review

Well here we are. It's 2011 and there's a new Sonic game. It's almost been like clockwork over the years and to be honest Sonic is met with heavy criticism these days. I do sort of feel for Sega...We're talking about trying to please two radically different fan bases...Granted I had no idea that such modern fan base really existed but it turns out that I'm wrong about that. I as you can guess by my above statement am from the classic Sonic camp. However, I am not against all 3D Sonic games...I think that like most Dreamcast games, Sonic Adventure 1&2 were fantastic examples of making a good 3D Sonic game. Obviously "Sonic 2006" was a low point for the series but besides the Wii game's being a little flaky, was it all that terrible? Or just not as good as Sonic 3 & Knuckles?

Anyway...Fast forward...Sonic Unleashed. Good concept, failed execution. Colours. Great game but some lackluster level design for me and here we are. Sonic Generations...The molding of two eras, A perfect idea which will in all probability never be repeated. Classic Sonic with 2.5D gameplay. Physics and level design close to that of the 16bit era of sonic. Modern sonic with what seems like an engine similar to Sonic Colours. Switching between 3D and 2.5D gameplay with his own style of gameplay.

The story is not important as always to what Sonic is all about but I'll put the basics of the plot. an evil existence that controls time as put Sonic and his friends in a sort of limbo where colour has been taken from the world. Meeting up with his classic counterpart they must race through the zones of their past to return colour to their history. It's not much but it's enough to get you playing from zone to zone. The "banter" between  the characters can be fun to watch as it's apparent that Sonic greatly changed with the idea of "cool" from the 90s til now. It's sort of like seeing how much the industry changes with the times...Sort of sad in a way. It's not a very long game...Say six or so hours depending on what you do or how you play. Challenges can increase the length a fair bit and they are reasonably fun with their different level design.

The gameplay is superb. Yes fans on both sides will notice changes where it's not exactly like sonic for the megadrive or like the modern sonic games but  they are emulating the core gameplay of both. I think the most important thing is that Sega still knows how to make a fun, non cheap game with fun stages that flow very well for both Sonics. Playing as classic Sonic you'll notice all the old sound effects and many of the old gameplay choices which made the old games great. Rule number one of Sonic...Always take the high ground for speed.

Modern Sonic does well also in gameplay also. There are some times when he sort of messes up in the 3D plane when not moving forward as he's not really designed to be moving slowly through the levels. I do not recall any cheap deaths in the game. When I die it's because I've been too eager to use the boost button. This game is not boost to win. Yes if you know the level design perfectly you probably can boost a fair bit but overall there will be times when you need to time your jumps to avoid pitfalls and other such traps. Modern Sonic is not as fun or as well made as Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 for me but it''s very much a pass in my book.

So let's see...Classic Sonic and modern Sonic play well, The story is enough if you want one and it's long enough for a platformer if you want to do the challenges. The biggest flaw in this game for me is that with my experience on the PS3. It suffers from some pretty annoying load times for this kind of game...Music takes a little bit to kick in sometimes...It's all a little random on the technical side...I hear from a friend that the Xbox 360 version does not suffer from these issues...Bottom line...An install function would of not gone a miss this time. 

Sonic is back at last and appears to be making up for lost time. 9/10

Batman Arkham City

Honestly, I was never a fan of comic video games in recent years. I played Spiderman on the Sega Master System back in the day and I played the first Playstation Spiderman game. In reflection they were not what I'd call a fantastic game but I felt  there was something missing from comic games since...Maybe it was my love for varied costume designs which the Playstation game did well. Anyway...This is about Batman but first I'll refresh quickly on Arkham Asylum from a couple of years back.

Arkham Asylum is proof that source material will not limit your game design choices...Just because it's a movie game or an adaptation of a comic hero does not give it the right to suck. From the fluid rhythmic combat, to the
creative use of Batman's gadgets. This game was made with equal part Batman and video game. It's only real limit was it's narrow scope to place it on an island. That's where Arkham City comes in.

Everything good about the first game is built upon and improved. Tons more options for combat, some interesting new gadgets. There is also a bat signal this time round as your map marker. The game went sandbox this time but without destroying the core story to do so...It's more akin to Assassins Creed II or Infamous than it is to something like GTAIV. I won't lie though..Arkham City feels pretty small when compared to the above but it does not really detract from the experience. It's just tons of fun to swoop from building to building as the caped crusader.

Detective mode feels far better paced this time. In Arkham Asylum you feel like you need to check every nook and cranny but this time you just use it as a quick flash to help an objective. If you force me to pick a fault with the game then i'd say it's the lack of options to take out guards silently...It's a mission to get by without alerting the guards to your location...My impression is that Batman would not be such a screw up...Maybe it's just me.

The story is well put together too. It's made in such a way that you are not required to play Asylum to understand the plot, but I'd do it anyway as it has tons more screen time for the Joker. You get to see pretty much all the famous bad guys from the Batman universe and even some of the smaller ones. Every character feels like they are strong enough to the plot to justify being there. I would've liked to see more Tim Drake as Robin in the game and Nightwing would not have gone amiss during the main story but Catwoman is awesome to see and plays differently enough.

On that note..Catwoman is the kind of DLC i'm more keen to try out. Her DLC has actual point in the plot and is not some short few minute ordeal...It is a little bit few and far between that you get to use her but it's great considering it's free. Next time though, I'd rather play as Robin or Nightwing.

So I guess in closing...Best comic book game so far? Yeah most likely so. The flaws in this game are so minor that even someone who is not a fan of Batman should play this game...Hell play this if you don't even really like comic books. Let us just hope that in future we see less post release DLC and more core game...I dont feel like missing out on playing Nightwing just because I've decided to buy it near launch and finish up with it before it comes out.

This game deserves all the Praise it gets. 9/10