The Charge:

Dual FX Engines!!  Parallel Hyperbit Interface!!

Opening Statement:

My lifelong affair with Capcom’s stalwart Mega Man franchise is by no means a well kept secret.  I’d go as far as to say it occupies the throne that is my favourite gaming franchise.  Since the heady times of its heyday, there have been close to 120 titles released that bear the Mega Man moniker, more than both the Street Fighter and Resident Evil franchises combined; and during my career in gaming, I’ve owned close to 40 of them personally.  That can mean only one thing, I’m totally the perfect candidate to review Mega Man 10, Capcom’s latest return to the series that built the foundations of their house.

This level has more to do with Windows 95 than Sheep.

Pikachu! I choose PAIN!

The Evidence:

Back in 2008, I positively gushed about the non-stop fun that was rampantly on display in Mega Man 9.  And while I still feel it was a glorious throwback to the 8-bit era of gaming, once my rose coloured glasses were back on the shelf, I noted several elements that could have been improved upon.  There was a collection of little nitpicks that began to taint my feelings towards MM9.  Thankfully, Mega Man 10 addresses most of these issues, and while it lacks the advantage of being the Blue Bomber’s big return engagement, in my opinion at least, it is a much more solid title.

He's even turned Frosty against us, DAMN YOU WILY!!

The presentation of MM10; tricky to pin down as I’m sure many of us gamers cannot appreciate the art of recreating the original Nintendo Entertainment System’s 24 out of 48 displayable colours and rather limited but distinct sound chip.  Developer Inti Creates, now Mega Man veterans with 7 of the more acclaimed titles since 2002; has finally succeeded in replicating Capcom’s signature look and feel.  While MM9 certainly was a bright spot in the franchises spotty history during the last decade, there were a lot of recycled sprites and level designs, and a couple of the bosses looked like pixel diarrhoea rather than game characters (I’m looking at you, Plug Man).  It was exactly what we all wanted at the time, a throwback to 1988’s Mega Man 2 (considered by most to be the original series’ pinnacle).  MM10, marks Inti Creates third attempt with the old 8-bit series style (following a bonus level in the DS release, Mega Man ZX Advent, and MM9), and their first complete success.  Here they’ve created imaginative boss and enemy sprites (try not to giggle when Strike Man pounds his fist into his mitt before throwing a pitch), colourful and creative stages, and music that may lack the high energy tempo of its predecessor, but is filled with a much more robust and inventive sound.  Bleeps and bloops haven’t sounded this harmonious since 1993.  Don’t believe me?  Try to resist whistling Solar Man’s theme music for the rest of the week.

Pictured: Not Solar Man's stage.

You want a closer inspection?  Unfortunately, with a title such as ‘MM10’, the only way to truly review is to compare with what came before.  Mega Man 10’s level design is insidiously clever, eschewing the greatest hits feel of the ninth entry in favour of new stage gimmicks and new raps, such as coloured platforms that begin to vanish once touched, taking all similarly coloured platforms (and any power ups littered around) with them.  There are stages where treadmills are used to power platforms, or make a seemingly indestructible mini-boss tangible and weak.  There’s a level where vicious sandstorms can either carry gamers into cruelly placed spike walls, or if they’re feeling foolhardily brave, carry them across the stage at high speed; but only if they can time those precarious jumps properly.  Each of the 8 bosses gives a weapon (franchise standard), and this time each and every weapon is useful, provide the player is creative enough to think around their limitations.  There’s an awesome spreading weapon, a high powered bomb which does nearly triple damage if enemies are caught in its blast radius rather than hit directly, even a wall climbing saw blade that can scale obstacles WITH the player.  I’m still amazed that Mega Man 10 has the first shield weapon which is meant to be used offensively.  There’s even a second playable character that brings the series later contributions like evasive slides and a charge shot to the table.  Plus an additional third player robot available for download in early April.

The man, the machine, Street Hawk!

The newly structured challenge mode, borrowing a great idea from the PSP only MM: Powered Up, offers gamers a collection of 100 short levels, each with a specific goal to accomplish, be it navigating an array of spiked tunnels, or simply destroying a collection of enemies.  Some challenges are even unlocked by playing through the game itself, bringing a great assortment of boss rushes into the mix.

Not that a boss rush mode would make you any tougher, Pump Man.

Rebuttal Witness:

12 levels?  One set of castle stages?  C’mon Capcom, we want more!  Inti Creates are clearly using MM2 as their blueprint to building a great 8-bit game, but I know a lot of gamers who would be happier if they’d broaden their vision just slightly and begin offering the game length of later titles in the series.

Closing Statement:

Mega Man 10 is everything a fan of the series could hope to ask for, especially for ten bucks.  Its one weakness is the fact that Inti Creates’ strict adherence to the game structure of Mega Man 2 stifles its scope, limiting the amount of levels once the first 8 have been vanquished.  That being said; the new challenge mode, and promised downloadable content are sure to keep Mega Maniacs like myself coming back, and the rather difficult game play should give today’s youth a great taste of what games were like in the days before respawning and tutorial levels.  This is pure game play on display, a potent formula that hasn’t needed to be changed in over two decades.  Now of you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a mad scientist to bring to justice.

The Verdict:

Platform: PSN, XBLA, WiiWare (Wii version reviewed)

Developer: Inti Creates

Publisher: Capcom

Release Date: March 1st, 2010 (Wii), March 11th, 2010 (PSN), March 31st, 2010 (XBLA)

Rated: E for Everyone.

The Charge:

Opening Statement:
The latest from French Developer Quantic Dream (Indigo Prophecy) has been hyped and heralded as a boon to the PS3’s growing library of top-drawer exclusives since it was first announced way back in 2006. Does this latest experiment in cinematic gameplay deliver an experience worthy of two thumbs up?

Facts of the Case:
In a terrorized city, the hunt for a missing child will lead four disparate people to ask the question: How far would you go to stop a killer? Heavy Rain puts you in the shoes of each of the four characters as they piece together clues and attempt to track down the latest target of The Origami Killer, a ruthless serial killer who abducts young boys and drowns them in rainwater, before he becomes another casualty.

The Evidence:
The first thing you need to know about Heavy Rain is that it is as far removed from your typical triple-A console selling exclusive as it gets. This is not Uncharted 2 or Gears of War. There is no cover mechanic or on rails vehicle segment, and there is no 16 or 24 player online deathmatch. There is no horde mode. What there is, is a totally riveting, near flawlessly executed blend of video game and movie that will appeal to casual players and anyone who enjoys a great single player experience.

The “interactive movie” moniker has been being kicked around since the golden age of the Cd-Rom, where horribly compressed live action video clips passed as vaguely interactive video games with point and click interfaces. The medium was all but dead and buried until Quantic Dream’s ambitious and well received experiment, The Indigo Prophecy (or Fahrenheit for those outside North America) hit the PC and last gen consoles in 2005. Heavy Rain represents the evolution of that concept.

The gameplay is simple enough; you move one of four characters around a 3D environment and interact with your surroundings using a series of on screen prompts, and the story unfolds over 7 or 8 hours. What makes the game so special is the level it immerses you into the action. You’re never passive in Heavy Rain. This isn’t Metal Gear Solid, where the story unfolds over mammoth cutscenes, and there’s not a single moment where the game lets you set the controller down and watch. On screen prompts pop up at a moment’s notice, you may have to hold a button or several buttons. You may repeatedly mash a few buttons or shake the controller (making great use of the seldom implemented sixaxis feature), or push analog sticks in various directions. Pretty much every button, knob or doo-dad on the controller is implemented in ingenious fashion, and while it may sound an awful lot like a game full of the dreaded “quick time event”, it never degenerates into random button slamming. Every prompt feels intuitive and logical, and a lot of thought went into making the actions of the player suit the action on screen. Even better is the complete lack of a ‘Game Over’ screen. You’re not required to hit every prompt or succeed in every scenario, but bad things can happen if you are too inclined to failure. The game never out and out halts or punishes you based on your skills though; the plot seamlessly steams along at full speed. It’s really an amazing thing to behold. The nature of the game’s progression makes it difficult to near impossible to put the controller down once you start in. Like watching a great movie, you just want to progress and see what happens next. It doesn’t help that the game doesn’t feel as though it’s broken into chapters or levels. Be prepared to marathon this sucker.

This sort of experiment would be all for naught if the storyline wasn’t interesting, and it’s here where Heavy Rain really triumphs. Much has been said in the past about games like Halo or Assassin’s Creed or especially Uncharted, and how their storylines could make for awesome cinema. In truth, these games are snippets of narrative stuck together with video game glue. Large chunks would have to be carved out, and narrative would have to be invented. Not so here. Heavy Rain bridges the gap between film and videogame like nothing else before it. The script is an incredibly well written and mature affair with a three-act structure that mirrors film, complete with dialogue and plot turns that don’t pander to a ‘gaming’ audience in any way, it’s one part Zodiac, one part Saw, and one part Seven with just a minor hint of Twin Peaks. Beyond that, the developers have seen fit to include multiple branching paths that allow for some incredible variety and some pretty stark differences depending on how you go about things throughout the game, including a multitude of different endings. The game quickly becomes a discussion piece when you run into others who’ve played it, talking about how drastically different your experiences were, just within my own social circle of five or six people, we all encountered different chains of events, and no two endings were identical.

On a technical level, Heavy Rain is a stunner in motion. The same level of motion and performance capture we’ve seen in games like Uncharted 2 is employed here to great effect. Environments look realistic and well planned out, even if textures occasionally appear a little flat, and the weather effects are fantastic at setting the gloomy mood of the game. Facial textures and facial animation are amazing and wonderfully emotive. The voice acting pales a little by comparison, with a few foreign actors trying desperately to nail that American style movie accent, but the excellence of the writing more than compensates. The music, fully orchestrated and recorded at Abby Road Studios in London is phenomenal, and demands a dedicated soundtrack release.

Rebuttal Witness:
There’s no such thing as a perfect game, and Heavy Rain doesn’t break that particular mold. The biggest issue is undoubtedly the clunky control scheme. The tank-like movment and static camera angles occasionally recalls the classic Resident Evil titles, and on occasion you may find yourself constantly correcting your position in order to properly interact with the environment. In a traditional action-adventure game, this would be a fatal flaw, but Heavy Rain is anything but traditional, and while occasionally frustrating, I doubt the controls will diminish too much from your enjoyment of the title.

More serious are a handful of plot issues that pop up here and there. When there are so many puzzle pieces floating around in the air, you can probably expect a few to go missing, or fall into the wrong place, and as a result, you may encounter one or two plot holes and logic gaps as you go. One thing myself and the three or four others I talked to who finished the game had in common: One VERY LARGE plot hole hits as you careen into the third Act. I won’t get into details; suffice it to say you get a plot revelation and the game shifts characters, with the new character magically knowing the information you just gleaned. It was distracting, and a real stand out sore spot in a game that had otherwise been fantastically plotted up to that point. One or two other lapses in character logic do crop up in the final third, but they aren’t near as distracting.

Closing Comments:
Bottom line, Heavy Rain is not a game in the traditional sense, it is an interactive experience. The narrative is the closest to films that video gaming has ever come, and is riveting throughout. The game is a technical marvel, and in spite of some control misgivings that twitch gamers may take umbrage with, it is an accessible title that will appeal to hardcore and Mature casual gamers alike. Those people who bought their PS3’s to serve principally as Blu-Ray players; let’s just say your first game purchase has arrived. Heavy Rain is a game you NEED to play. It’s one of the very best games on this or any console in this generation, and in years to come it will be one of those games that is fondly remembered whenever the Playstation 3 comes up in conversation. It’s destined to be a classic!

The Verdict:

Platform: Sony Playstation 3
Developer: Quantic Dream
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Release Date: February 23, 2010
Rated: M (17+) for Mature

The Charge:
Hunter. Survivor. Prey.

Opening Statement:
Everyone’s favorite extra-terrestrial Cuisinarts are back, and as per usual, mankind is caught in the middle. Can Rebellion, the studio behind the original PC classic, manage to get it right this time around?

Facts of the Case:
The Weyland-Yutani Corporation has found something beneath the surface of BG-386, a discovery so valuable that even Karl Bishop-Weyland (Lance Henriksen, of course!) has taken an active role in the excavation. When the planet side colony goes silent, the USS Marlow is dispatched on a search and rescue mission. The Marlow however isn’t the only ship in the stars above Freya’s Prospect; a group of Predators has made one hell of an explosive entrance. They’ve got some time to kill, and more than enough prey (of the soft meat and hard meat varieties) to keep them occupied.

"Let's ROCK!"

The Evidence:
It has been 10 long years since Rebellion graced PC-owners with the original Alien Versus Predator, 15 for those who remember the superlative 2D Atari Jaguar outing that one-upped the original Doom. In the interim, neither of Fox’s big creature franchises had much of a presence in the video game world worth talking about. Alien fans got a few shooters that ranged from passable to excrement, while Predator fans got a wretched 3D action adventure title, and both races would square off in an ill-conceived Real-Time-Strategy title before descending into crap portable and mobile phone game hell.

Rebellion has suffered a similar fate, their post AVP resume consisting of low rent ports and poorly received shooters and movie tie-ins, with only one or two notable exceptions like Namco’s Sniper Elite or the slightly better than average Rogue Trooper;. Their most recent offering was the abysmal Rogue Warrior, which currently stands with a whopping metacritic score of %27 (though in all fairness, that dud was handled by the recently shuttered ‘Core Design’ team). It’s pretty safe to say that, based on the pedigrees of the developer and franchises in question, that the odds would be pretty stacked against Alien Versus Predator.

The first thing the devs did right was follow their own game. AvP features three disparate campaigns, one each for Human, Predator, and Alien, and each campaign’s narrative interweaves into the other, making for a decent, well-told plot that fits soundly into the Aliens universe. The lion’s share of the exposition comes from the Human side, and I recommend that that one should be your first stop, while the ET campaigns give you alternate perspectives and provide a little fleshing out of events. To be frank, AvP could have included the Human campaign as it is and it still would have been one hell of an exceptional, if brief shooter. Every minute of the action is perforated with a sense of impending doom and tension that feels directly ripped from James Cameron’s Aliens. The derelict colony of Freya’s Prospect feels lived in and logical, and your trip through darkened corridors and dank tunnels eventually leads to a sparse jungle and some varying terrain that feels fresh. While the shooting mechanics do lack some of the core features that have been present for the last decade or so, like aiming down sights and crouching, the gunplay never feels old or stymied as a result. There’s a degree of melee combat included as well, it’s a last ditch effort as a Marine, a brutal alternative as the Predator, and your only option as an Alien, but it always feels solid.

As a human, the gameplay is essentially linear progression with some light backtracking. The model most closely resembles Bioshock, though there’s considerably more focus on intensity. Also borrowed from Bioshock (or maybe even Doom 3) are audio logs that are found scattered throughout the environments that help to further shine a light on the chain of events that occurred before you set foot in the formerly bustling colony.

The Predators are here to protect an ancient artifact that the humans have inadvertently uncovered. You play a rookie on his first hunt, and you’ll have to contend with an army of space marines and aliens alike, all swarming around your sacred grounds with little care or concern. Going toe to toe with the marines is out of the question, but taking the high ground and picking them off one by one is a ton of fun, particularly when you have all of the Predator’s wonderful gadgets reproduced brilliantly. When the dual wrist blades come unsheathed, however, know that the predator’s melee game is the strongest of the trio. Things are going to die horribly.

Then there’s the Alien campaign. Running around as one of these suckers is extremely fast paced, and the lack of any real long range strikes turns the Alien game into an up close stealth kill and retreat scenario that contrasts very sharply with the Marine’s nonstop struggle for survival and the Predator’s mix of stealth and brutality. As an Alien, every surface is your plaything, and when your skitting down narrow corridors at blinding speeds whilst scaling walls and ceilings, everything clicks, and at times, the goings on resemble the first person camera sequences in Alien 3. You play as 6, a captive chestburster with a clever mind, raised to adulthood under the watchful eye of human masters. When the opportunity to escape is given, you take it. The rest becomes a mix of chase and avoid gameplay that is pretty fresh feeling, and almost, dare I say it, evokes memories of the stealth missions in Batman: Arkham Asylum.

As good as AvP’s gameplay is, it’s backed up by some great, though hardly cutting edge visuals. The levels range from grimy and industrial to ancient ruins and, of course, the Alien hives, and all look great. The “lived in” look of the settlement of Freya’s Prospect, with windblown sandy streets and dank, wrecked interiors all feel great, look great and really capture the vibe of the Aliens future. The environments are complemented with awesome lighting effects that really add to mood and the tension of the gameplay. Pools of pitch blackness are everywhere, and oftentimes the marine’s piddly little flashlight is his best friend. The character models and animations, particularly where the Preds and Xenos are concerned, are fantastic stuff, and look great both in still frame and in motion. The marines come off a little chunky around the face, but their weaponry and gear is replicated near perfectly from Cameron’s Aliens. Last but not least, the juicy bits of gore that permeate the Alien and Predator stealth kills are extremely visceral and satisfying.

The sound design is also fantastic, with impeccable use of the 5.1 soundfield (DTS on the PS3). The sound design in these films is ported over flawlessly, from the machine like patter of the marine’s pulse rifle to the Predator’s auditory snikts and swooshes. The Aliens also hiss and roar just as they have on screen for the last 2 decades. Every element of the awesome sound serves to engross you further into the game. Voice acting is solid as well, with Lance Henriksen leading the charge. This is a game you’ll want to play with the lights off, and with the stereo cranked.

For those who crave Multiplayer, Aliens versus Predator definitely has you covered. The multiplayer suite is well stocked, with several modes and a full ranking system to satiate the experience point hunger. Rewards aren’t anything special, usually multiplayer skins, but the game modes are designed to fit the nature of the game, and they do so quite well. I had the most fun with co-op survivor, which pits up to four marine players against swarm after swarm of AI controlled Alien hordes. It’s Gears of War 2’s Horde mode for Aliens fans, and it works almost as well here as it did there. You also get several forms of deathmatch (including interspieces), and interesting game types like Infestation, where whomever bites the dust respawns as a Xenomorph. AvP doesn’t bring about any multiplayer paradigm shift or anything, but it plays well enough to be engaging, and the robust selection of options keeps things interesting.

"There's something out there huntin' us, and it ain't no man..."

Rebuttal Witness:
While AvP’s three campaigns do have a wildly varying feel to them, each is pretty brief. On the hardest diffuclty, the Marine campaign will end in 6 hours or less, with 4 – 4.5 hours being the more likely completion time for seasoned vets (about the same time it takes crazy people to go through Modern Warfare 2). The Predator and Alien campaigns are shorter (considerably so for the Alien). All told you’re probably looking at about 10 hours of single player gameplay if you stretch things. The multiplayer definitely picks up the slack, but for those who’s focus is single player, 10 hours and you’re done. It’s actually pretty generous for a shooter these days, but with that 10 hours split between three separate campaigns, the illusion of super-shortness may leave you feeling cheated.

Aliens versus Predator gets tough, particularly during the Human campaign. We humans are fragile meatsicles, and there were several points during the campaign where any kind of forward momentum ground to a screeching halt amidst a wave of black, acid-blooded death. Going toe to toe with any more than two or three aliens without something like a smart gun or plenty of rifle ammo in your arsenal is an incredibly brutal prospect, even on ‘normal’ difficulty. When you encounter a Predator, be afraid, be very very afraid. For some, the scripted nature of the game’s encounters may feel like a first person throwback, particularly when they have to repeat one section seven or eight or nineteen times because those hissing bastards are relentless. It wasn’t really an issue for me, but it bears mentioning.

Slightly more serious are control issues that pop up in the Alien and Predator campaigns. The Predators have the ability to jump some pretty outlandish heights, but the ability is linked to specific hot spots on a given level. There are times when the first person perspective makes it a chore to notice and navigate to and from these spots. It gets difficult to stalk prey by jumping from tree to tree when you keep missing your jumps. There are also a few instances where logic dictates that you should be able to leap to a specific point, but you just can’t.

Meanwhile, the Aliens, skittish little bastards that they are, can get a little squirrely when you’re zooming around floors and ceilings in cramped quarters. It gets tough to navigate when up is down and down is up. There were also a few times that I had trouble navigating through vents, as you have to line yourself up just right and wait for the button prompt to pass through. There’s an option in the menus to enable “auto transition” for the alien campaign, and that should be your first stop. Without it you have to press a shoulder button to get your critter to skitter to the fullest. With it enabled, movement from one surface to another becomes a smoother affair.

These issues will frustrate some more than others; for the most part, the fun I had with the creature campaigns far outweighed the minor infrequent annoyances I had with the controls. More often than not, everything clicks, and your careening down the roof of a low tunnel at breakneck speed with some human refuse waiting to take a tail to the eyeball, or you’re silently watching a platoon of marines, just waiting for some hapless bugger to separate from his squadmates so you can drop down and separate his spine from his body.

Slightly more serious issues are found in the multiplayer setup, which relies heavily on the now standard console matchmaking scheme. I could hop into 360 games pretty effortlessly, but the PS3 matchmaking was often slow to respond, and on at least one occasion I was waiting over five minutes for a match to begin. I won’t get into the shortage of multiplayer maps, as what’s included works pretty well, and therea re apparently more coming to DLC markets in the very near future (they’d better be free too).

The PS3 version also does “feature” some flicker and aliasing that I didn’t notice on the 360 version. It’s hardly a dealbreaker, and the games are close to identical on both machines, but I felt I should bring it up for those with both consoles.

"Game over man! Game over!"

Closing Comments:
Aliens Versus Predator is a suprisingly great effort. It not only trumps every other game that’s ever featured an Alien or Predator logo, but also proves that Rebellion is still capable of incredibly wonderful things in spite of their recent output. It is an unabashed love letter to fans of either franchise (though especially Cameron’s 1986 film); with three great (if brief) campaigns that bring equal parts terror, adrenaline, and awesomeness, an excellent complement of multiplayer modes, and the technical muscle to impress. I love it!

The Verdict:

Platform: Sony Playstation 3/Microsoft Xbox360/Windows PC
Developer: Rebellion
Publisher: Sega
Release Date: February 16, 2010
Rated: M (17+) for Mature

The Charge
Go to Hell.

Opening Statement
Hey, you might have heard that this game is a lot like God of War. And, well, it is. But is there more to Dante than timed button-presses and orb collection?

Facts of the Case
Yes, this is based on Dante’s Inferno the epic poem, but, let’s be serious: it serves merely as a narrative framework to get you, Dante, running around Hell beating the sulfur out of any underworld denizen you can find.

The motivation for this bloodletting is the recovery of the fair Beatrice, who got a bum rap and was tossed into the flames. Now, fresh off of a traumatic time in the Crusades, Dante pursues Beatrice—and Lucifer—into the bowels of the Inferno.
 

The Evidence
Let me just get this out of the way first: I hate the fanboy drivel of accusing games of being rip-offs or knock-offs or copyright-infringers or whatever. It ticked me off when people were talking about Saint’s Row and Crackdown that way and it is just as grating to endure all the God of War bitching with this game. Is the gameplay similar? Sure. But if we are to believe games like GTA and God of War are essentially genre creators (which I do), then of course you’re going to have similar subsequent offerings.

That being said, Dante’s Inferno is not as good as either God of War game and I predict God of War 3 will also eat its lunch, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun action diversion.

And that’s exactly what it is: fun.

At his disposal, Dante has a scythe and a cross, the first the up-close-and-deadly melee weapon, the second a primarily ranged attack that also sports some cool close-up moves. Both of these methods of death-dealing are fun to use, though not all the moves are winners. As a result, you probably won’t know which additional moves are worth upgrading until it’s too late, but that’s what a second playthrough or the new game+ mode is for.

In addition, Dante has a variety of magic (the best of which by far is the Holy Armor spell, which protects you and regenerates life when fully upgraded) and special relics that offer bonuses and special abilities. That’s a lot of upgradeable stuff, and the game is better for it; I, for one, can’t get enough ability unlocking. It’s a sickness I think.

Combat is fast, visceral, bloody and fun, but once you settle on the handful of solid movies, you’ll likely ignore the other stuff you just spent souls to unlock. For the larger foes you have the option to Punish or Absolve for a finishers, both of which are brutal, but yield experience for your Unholy (Scythe) or Holy (Cross) levels. Enemies can prove challenging (especially on the Hellish difficulty level, which I started on), but variation ebbs away towards the end of the game.

Which is the prevailing criticism and it’s valid: Dante’s Inferno runs out of steam in the home stretch. The combat, mythology and nifty design of Hell carry the day at first, but once you get into the bottom circles, the freshness is gone, replaced with repetitive characters and less-than-transfixing level design. The fact that the final circle of Hell is a series of challenge rooms doesn’t help things either.

Still, I enjoyed this game quite a bit. (Full disclosure: I also enjoyed X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Conan quite a bit, too.) A pro-tip, to end on: I consider myself adept at action games, but starting fresh on the Hellish level kicked me in the groin more than a few times, especially the final bout with Lucifer, a monstrously difficult showdown that took me the better part of two hours to finally get through.

Closing Statement
It’s a good time and I’m already playing through it again. Incoming DLC, a survival/arena mode (which every brawler should have as far as I’m concerned) and the resurrection/replay mode extend the life of the Inferno. At least rent it, action enthusiasts.

The Verdict
Absolved.

Platform: Xbox 360/PS3 (360 version reviewed)
Developer: Visceral Games
Publisher: EA
Release Date: February 9, 2010
Rated: M (17+) for Mature.

The Charge:
The Versus series returns in an all-new brawl!

Opening Statement:
Never let it be said that gaming dreams don’t come true.  Despite riding high on a wave of pure hype, I would have never guessed that Tatsunoku vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, the legendary developer’s return to their arcade smash-hit Versus franchise would ever see the light of day on western shores.  Seeing as juggernaut anime producer Tatsunoku’s cartoon commodities are tied up in what can only be described as several decade’s worth of logistical licensing nightmares outside of Japan, a game featuring a compilation of some of their best and brightest creations  would hardly be worth the headache for a game developer to even attempt off of their native soil, .  However, once again in what is rapidly becoming a habit for Capcom, trends will be bucked, and throngs of fans will get what they’ve begged for.  Question is…was it worth bringing over?

Facts of the Case:
An assortment of larger-than-life heroes and motley villains from both anime powerhouse Tatsunoku Pro and legendary third party developer Capcom have gathered for a barnburner of a brawl.  Ansatsuken goes head-to-head with Henshin-A-Go-Go Baby!  Crazy tag-team fighting is back!  Get ready for combos that go into the dozens of hits, and more flashing lights than the entire city of Tokyo.

The Evidence:
A 2D fighter with flair to spare, Tats vs. Cap wears its heart on its sleeve.  The regimented, balanced game play of games like Street Fighter have been eschewed in favour of a more frenetic style of fighting.  For starters, the controls have been streamlined down to a grand total of four attack buttons, the requisite light, medium, and strong strikes alongside a command that calls in a gamers’ tag partner for an equalizing support attack.  There is also a catch all “AT” button that will throw out whichever strength strike that best serves the current situation, allowing for a pretty simple way of extending combo attacks.  The result is fighting that is as fast as it is furious, with 10-20 hit sequences becoming a pretty regular occurrence (purists may argue that such simple combos belie shallow game play, but we are talking about a game where damage is measured in the billions of hit points).  Rest assured though, Tats vs. Cap is no simplistic button-masher.  Fresh concepts such as Advancing Guards, Crossover  Raids, Baroque Combos, and offense-smashing Mega Crashes will keep players heading back to the training mode and instruction book for the time being until they grow accustomed to the risk vs. reward structure of what is a refreshingly nuanced fighter.   There are several available control options, though any true gamer with more than a handful of grey matter to rub together will balk at the idea of using the Wiimote or the nunchuck and opt for a Gamecube or Wii classic controller.
With a full roster of 26 playable characters (most of which play very different from one another), it’s quite easy to lose an afternoon when there is more than one gamer in the room.  I am a self-professed Street Fighter fanatic, and despite any apprehension I had in my first few rounds with Tats vs. Cap, I must say that I can see even my hardcore Street Fighter crew, a group that flat out despised the earlier Versus titles plunking down quite a few hours with this one once we get used to the rapid-fire fighting system.  Anticipating the perfect moment to launch a counter-attack can lead to one shattering the game’s illusion of mindless offense.  It’s nice to see a Versus game toss aside the brain-dead air combo happy nature of Marvel Vs Capcom 2, and offer up the same sort of well balanced game play we’ve all come to expect from Capcom’s fighting franchises.  It’s not quite Capcom Vs. SNK for the Dreamcast, but then again, very few games are.
Visually, Tats vs. Cap packs a powerful presentation punch.  It’s not often I encounter a Wii title capable of blowing my mind with great graphics, which of course only adds to the presentation impact.  The entire game is just animated beautifully, every character just oozing a sense of life.  There is the odd case of pixelization on some of the character models, but the rest of the game just exudes such a high level of activity that it’s rarely noticeable and even less bothersome.  Stages are stuffed to the gills with familiar faces and brilliant cameos, and the animations on some of the special moves can and will cause loud chortles of laughter.  Anyone who is not amused by Tatsunoku-side fighter Doronjo’s Supreme Evil Plan hyper combo is completely lacking in a soul.

Vreeeee-hee-hee-hee-hee!

Rebuttal Witness:
Lamentably, not all is milk and honey with Tats vs. Cap.  With all the strength and surprising depth of the fighting system, the game’s online component comes perilously close to biting the big one.  And we all know how much fun biting the big one is.  Depending on gamers’ physical distance from their online opponent, the chances of lag increase almost exponentially.  It’s a nuisance at best, and King of Fighters XII at worst, making certain online bouts completely unplayable for anyone outside of a casual gamer.  After spending the majority of my free time over the past holiday season elbow deep in the buttery smooth online component of Street Fighter IV, I cannot fathom the online modes of Tats vs. Cap to be anything outside of a dismal failure.  Unless of course you’re playing a local round against a gamer in the same room.  Then it’s a real hootenanny.  As well, there are a handful of roster balance issues, which is something that has been a thorn in the side of the Versus franchise since the original X-Men vs.  Street Fighter.  Capcom have done extremely well in adding a sense of depth to the combo system, and thrown in just enough complexity to keep us brawlers coming back, but again the Speed/Power scenario pops up.  A player wishing to win needs to do little more than stack their team with either a zippy little freak like Yatter-Man 1 or a slow moving, damage-dealing bruiser like G. Lightan.  It’s the Spider-man vs. Juggernaut problem, and it’s a real issue that needs to be addressed.  Outside of these two extreme ends of the spectrum, the characters are balanced just fine, but seriously Capcom?  Gamers have been griping about this for close to a decade now.

Closing Statement:
After the dust has settled from that last 32 hit combo, when all is said and done, Tatsunoku vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars is a fantastic example of fan service and a more than solid delivery of apotentially brilliant new fighting franchise.  This fills a long empty niche on the Wii, and more than makes up for 2008’s massively over-hyped (and tragically mediocre) Super Smash Bros. Brawl.  Plus, there’s a ton of bonus content to delve into.  Gamers looking to knuckle down with some serious fighting action can’t go wrong with Tatsunoku vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, a cartoon cavalcade sure to please a whole new generation of fans.

The Verdict:

I have to admit that even for a guy who came of age during the whole anime explosion of the 80s and 90s, I still have no freaking clue who Yatter-Man is supposed to be.  I dig his disco threads and electric yo-yo, but I have no clue who he’s supposed to be.  I loves me some Tekkaman Blade though.

- J

Platform: Nintendo Wii
Developer: Eighting
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: January 26th, 2010
Rated: T for Teen.

The Charge
Assemble your team.

Opening Statement
The first Mass Effect blasted onto the Xbox scene and revolutionized many elements of the action/RPG experience, from its brilliantly-realized new IP, the revolutionary dialogue wheel and the pants-drenchingly fantastic graphics. Bioware’s anticipated follow-up is here and it is so, so much better.

Facts of the Case
Mass Effect 2 brings back Commander John Shepard: Space Bad-Ass, whose recent misadventures with the diabolical, genocidal Reapers led to big explosions and traumatic bodily harm. Cerberus, the radical pro-human group, led by the enigmatic Illusive Man (voiced splendidly by Martin Sheen), brought Shepard in to face off with the newest foes: the Collectors, a bug-like species that’s been wiping out colonies across the galaxy and kidnapping humans for Lord knows what malevolent purpose.

But before he leaps in the jaws of surefire pain and horror, Shepard must put together his squad, an eclectic group of aliens and humans from all corners of space who will offer him much-needed skills and talents or, at the very least, give the bad guys another target to shoot at.

The Evidence
There are games. And then there is Mass Effect 2.

Bioware’s sequel is stunning on every level, and represents both a significant improvement over its predecessor and a new standard for what kind of interaction and storytelling is capable in a video game. Yes, I know this sounds like your typical message board fanboy hype/drivel, but I have to say, this game absolutely put me in the fetal position with its awesomeness.

I had almost completed the first Mass Effect, but drifted away in part because of the touchy combat mechanics and the godforsaken driving sequences. Both of these annoyances have been cleared up. The combat is much sharper and is actually fun as a full-fledged, cover-based third person shooter. When the firefights came, I welcomed them, especially the culminating battles, which were aided by an increase in difficulty, some great music and added emotional weight to the outcomes.

Shepard as multiple weapons at his disposal, from a handgun to a mini-nuke (and other assorted heavy weapons). These are upgradable and the selection is expandable and ammo is never an issue. So blast away, and if you get bored with shredding Blue Sun mercs with inferno ammo (note: you won’t), you can always slap them around with your biotic, Force-like powers. In typical RPG fashion you can improve powers and skills (both passive and active) with gains in experience and mission completion. The refreshing aspect to this character progression is you won’t feel like you’re grinding to upgrade.

Missions are fun and interesting. It’s rare that a RPG holds my attention enough to see me gallivanting around the game world doing side quests, but I was fully into it here. I knew there was going to be some bodacious shooting action to be had, a slice of cool dialogue to partake in and perhaps a tech or weapon upgrade lurking in a wall safe somewhere.

The main story is the bread and butter of Mass Effect 2 and, thankfully, it delivers. The Collectors are imposing villains, the mysterious Harbinger—who’s connected to the Reapers—turns up during firefights with the Collectors and talks enough trash to get you amped about killing him and his minions, and the shiftiness of Cerberus and the Illusive Man are pervasive question marks.

But what really grabbed me was the building of my team. On the surface, it might seem that planet-hopping to recruit characters could become a tiresome experience, but it was the exact opposite. Each squad member had a cool, action-packed story to fight through, as well as an equally interesting “loyalty” mission. As I was plowing through these missions I actually began to care about these fake polygons. Legion the Geth synthetic, Thane the assassin, Grunt the tank, Jack the insane biotic—I was genuinely concerned about these guys, and Bioware knew that I would, so that when the shiznit hit the fan and my teammates were put in danger as a direct result of my decision-making, bother, that stung!

I don’t recall another game that got me as emotionally invested in its story and characters as this one, and, for me, that is Mass Effect 2’s greatest achievement. Set aside its graphics (stunning, by the way), voice-acting (perfect), sound (is the soundtrack for sale somewhere?) and gameplay, all of which are top-shelf, just the fact that I legitimately cared about what happened to the characters represents a profound evolutionary step in the landscape of video games.

Closing Statement
Here’s all I have to say: I spent hours strip-mining planets so I could gain enough space minerals to upgrade the medical bay in my ship so I can have surgery on my aface that would eliminate the scarring that comes along with making “Renegade” decisions.   Is it too early to decree a Game of the Year?

The Verdict

Platform: Xbox 360/PC (360 version reviewed)
Developer: Bioware
Publisher: EA
Release Date: January 26, 2010
Rated: M (17+) for Mature.

The Charge:

The Horseman Cometh.

Opening Statement:
At the risk of sounding terribly cliché, I’ve been patiently awaiting Darksiders since it was announced to little fanfare and the earliest concept art found its way onto my internets.  That patience vanished into the ether once it was announced that major video game publisher THQ had picked up Darksiders, and pumped enough cash into wee little developer Vigil Games to allow them to expand beyond a four man operation into a full fledged development team.  Whenever the topic came op on Pixel Verdict asking us what new franchises or games am was I most looking forward to in 2010, my answer was always the same; Darksiders.  It’s been a long few years, and I’ve converted a small cadre of gamers along the way from indifferent onlookers, to genuine followers of its development.  Now finally, the wait is over, and Darksiders has ridden onto the battlefield.  Is this a well deserved victory for the dreamers at Vigil Games?  Or is this an apocalypse for gamers that has long been foretold?

Hey, Mark! You love Gwar! Why don't you join the band?

Facts of the Case:
The seals have been broken; the time has come for the end war between the three kingdoms of man, heaven and hell.  The armies of the light and the legions of the dark one have begun their assault.  But, something is wrong.  The time is not right.  Mankind has not evolved to the point of readiness yet.  The end of days has come too early.  Players step into the pimp armour of War, the first horseman of the apocalypse.  Charged with the extermination of life on earth and creating a schism in the balance of all things, War is stripped of his powers and sentenced to death.  He is sent on a suicide mission back to the kingdom of earth, now a ravaged and blasted wasteland to find those truly responsible for this irredeemable crime.  Looks like more than a few angels and demons bought themselves a one way ticket to the hurt locker.

Stop! Stop! He's already dead!!

The Evidence:
Originality is a rare commodity when it comes to video games.  And if you’ve approached Darksiders expecting something new and fresh, step away from this review and go back to downloading Popcap games on Xbox Live.  Instead, expect to play a title that is descendant of great games already come.  This is not at all a disavowal of how blisteringly awesome Darksiders is; rather a rallying cry.  In the words of our very own Steve T. Power (Great Canadian); fill a pint glass halfway to the top with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, then fill a shot glass three quarters to the top with God of War.  The remainder of the shot glass is to be filled with the pants soilingly amazing artwork of Joe Madureira; Vigil’s lead artist and coincidently a former comic book penciller with a run on Uncanny X-Men during the 90s that was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful.  Set the shot glass afire and drop the blazing mixture into the pint glass.  Consume immediately.  BOOM!  There’s the flavour!  Darksiders is nothing gamers haven’t played before, but it’s certainly something we haven’t seen nearly enough of.  An adventure title with satisfying combat and creative visuals that stand tall above the sea of washed out browns and grays that plague the game industry like a rec room from the late 70s.

Loving would be easy if your colours were like my dreams.

For a game that takes place in a post apocalyptic tundra of bones and collapsed buildings, Darksiders has incredibly colourful presentation.  The characters all look like picture perfect 3D renders of what would occur if Pixar ever attempted a movie based on World of Warcraft.  The game’s visuals are uniquely bright, with the ruins of mankind including vibrant and colourful surroundings that still manage to not look like they’re trying to ape the gameboy’s colour palette (sorry Call of Duty fans).

Gameplay-wise, Darksiders is a refreshing breath of old-school air.  Linear treks through throngs of demon foes give way to expansive dungeons that pay such homage to the post N64 Zelda games that I’m sure Nintendo are drafting up a lawsuit as you read this article.  Dungeons feel like a massive puzzle, and each room that is solved provides a new piece, whether it is a map or a key that will lead further into its depths.  Fallen foes provide War a steady currency of souls to barter with the demon merchant Vulgrim for new weapons, stupefying combo attacks, and special items that serve a purpose for every situation Darksiders can throw at a gamer.  Every dungeon conceals a key item that will be used to solve puzzles, combat hostiles, and 100% of the time, overcome that dungeon’s megalithic end level boss.  It’s just as the comparisons have decreed, Zelda meets God of War, and all the better for it.  Though thankfully Vigil saw fit to put aside quicktime events in favour of one button fatalities on sufficiently weakened enemies, allowing us gamers to savour the brutal animations whenever War completely annihilates somebody.  And they are satisfying (War < Sub-Zero).

Mark, man, you play a mean guitar! It's really a shame that you must die!

Darksiders is the best comic book to come out of the mid 90s Image gold rush, only instead of a comic, we get it as a game filled with colourful characters, and a story of a journey across a decimated empire.  Yes it’s cheesy (for god’s sake the name of his sword is Chaoseater, and feeds on exactly that), and so is the voice acting by veterans like Mark Hamill, Liam O’Brian, and the deliciously menacing Vernon Wells (the only voice actor to have gone toe to toe with both Mel Gibson AND Arnold Schwarzenegger in big time action movies), buts it’s harmlessly trite.  Fans of stuff like Dungeons and Dragons or Krull will devour Darksiders, lick the plate and hungrily reheat the game for another playthrough.

The culmination of two hours of dungeoneering.

Rebuttal Witness:
I only have two complaints with Darksiders, and they’re such minor little gripes that it shouldn’t even affect its score.  No I’m not talking about the occasional screen tearing that larger review sits love to harp about (grow up you sissies).  The difficulty level is in flux.  The Easy and Normal modes are far too forgiving, letting gamers basically get through the game with their eyes closed and their hands held.  The aptly named Apocalyptic difficulty on the other hand is a soul crushing dive that nearly approaches the depths of fare like Ghost N’Goblins or Demon’s Souls.  If it featured a little more memorization, and less exculpating save points, Darksiders’ third difficulty level would be the stuff of legend.  The game’s own developers have asked gamers to play on this challenging mode to appreciate the nuances of the combat.  What they fail to mention is that on Apocalyptic, even the lowliest of foes can sap a good chunk of War’s life bar with a single hit.  It’s no real problem, and I relish playing on these difficulty settings anyway (stems from years of NES games), but some gamers may find the difficulty curve a little on the steep side.  As well, I’ve heard gamers put off by Darksiders’ lack of any multiplayer options.  To these gripes I pose a question.  Which would you prefer more?  A single player game that tacks on an underdeveloped, ill-advised multiplayer mode; or a fabulously developed single player game that needs no multiplayer?

Where Stridex fails, the Chaoseater shall not.

Closing Statement:
Darksiders is unadulterated radical.  It’s perfect for you…you should buy it.  Had it been released a couple of week’s earlier it would have made it onto my top five games of 2009; easily.  If this quality level becomes a regular occurrence for Vigil Games, the once tiny developer has a very bright future ahead of them.  Probably as bright as their debut title’s colour palette.

The Verdict:

Platform: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (PS3 version reviewed)
Developer: Vigil Games
Publisher: THQ
Release Date: January 5th, 2010
Rated: M (17+) for Mature.

The Charge:
The Battle For Our World Begins!

Opening Statement:
Capcom’s Rocket-man adventure has finally hit the skies. Developer Airtight Games, formerly the Microsoft studio that brought us Crimson Skies (and I’ll forgive them for Shadowrun) has once again taken to the air to provide us with some old school dogfighting mixed with new school action-adventure. Is Dark Void a flight worth taking?

Facts of the Case:
It’s the late 1930’s, and the world is on the brink of war with “the facists”. Ex-military man and crack pilot Will Grey has been tasked with carting a mysterious package along a dangerous route, along for the ride is ex-flame and still military woman Ava. Somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle things go pear-shaped, and Will finds himself in The Void, a sort of alternate dimension, where UFO’s soar the skies and a race of evil beings known as The Watchers work towards again breaching the borders of the Void and toppling humanity. In their way stand The Survivors, wayward travelers who have somehow found themselves trapped in the void as well. With an experimental rocket-pack created by none other than legendary Soviet inventor Nikola Tesla, Will takes to the air, and takes the war to the The Watchers.

"I'm a ROCKETMAN!"

The Evidence:
Dark Void, at its core, is a straight up 3rd person action adventure title. The devs at Airtight have obviously played Sony’s Uncharted a few times through, and have definitely cribbed a few ideas here and there. The mechanics are all familiar, you enter an area, snap to some cover, and proceed to blow the bajeezuz out of whatever bad guys are foolish enough to get between your bullets and their destination. Dark Void really doesn’t do anything new with that particular formula, the controls are smooth and responsive, and generally feel a lot like Uncharted did. The first chunk of game isn’t something that I’d call boring or dull, but there’s definitely a feeling of déjà vu that permeates the whole affair. Then you get your rocket pack at the hour (or so) mark, and everything changes. Dark Void becomes a clever mix of ground and air combat. The rocket pack’s maneuverability makes dogfighting fun, and it won’t take long before nuking UFO’s becomes second nature. When it comes to nuking said UFO’s, you can use your trusty built in .45 calibre machine guns, or if you prefer you can jack the bastards and turn their own weapons against their buddies. The UFO-jack minigame is a little drawn out, but it isn’t a necessity, and it adds a little variety to the flying affair. You can also grab friendly aircraft and rattle a few robots with some powerful on board machine guns and rockets.

Meanwhile on the ground, the wide open stages allow for some quick repositioning and “death from above” style attacks on ground based foes. Punching your jets and boosting to a higher vantage point to snipe is also an option. The controls are pretty effortless in this regard, and the boosting mechanics feel natural and intuitive in the 3rd person shooter shell. Certain parts of the game take the action vertical, where you cling to platforms and cliff ledges while shooting upward or downward at the baddies. It’s a neat idea, and it works pretty well, but it’s definitely disorienting the first few times out. Mission objectives do have a slightly ‘old-school’ feel to them, particularly the flying levels, where you’re given weak points to hit to knock out shields or disable larger foes, and there’s an escort mission here and there where you’re stuck protecting friendlies. It all adds to the retro vibe though, and I for one welcome the variety – it’s a hell of a lot better than simply throwing lead at wave after wave of baddie only to rinse and repeat in a room-by-room fashion.

All of this action is backed by a pretty solid story that piles the pulp on and does a solid job of establishing who’s who in the void. There was definitely some effort put into the storytelling, and it’s great to see an action game where the plot doesn’t exist solely as an afterthought. The Watchers make for some solid, if slightly enigmatic villains and you come across a healthy variety of ground and air troops as the game progresses, including a few nasty boss fights that are suitably epic.

El-Goddamn-Dorado? What? Never heard of it.

Technically, Dark Void definitely scores points for some original art design that I can only call Tesla-punk. The game has a pretty imaginative look that sets it apart from its peers. The texture work is top notch, and while there are times where environments look a little plain, for the most part the games stylish lighting and unique setting go a long way toward satisfying the eye-candy quotient (the blue flash of Watcher lasers looks nice too). The character animations are smooth and convincing, even if a little repetitive at times, and the framerate stays consistent. At first glance, Dark Void isn’t a visual stunner, but it’s definitely got a subtle beauty that appeals to me, and it’s well executed.

The audio package is one area where the game truly shines. The voice acting is solid all around, with rising star and video game mainstay Nolan North voicing our heroic lead, and weapon effects thunder and zoom appropriately. Of extra special mention is the fantastic score by composer Bear McCreary (of Battlestar Galactica fame), Bear’s score brings the action to life in a huge way. The driving percussion combined with otherworldly sounds and cinematic overtures is just flat out awesome. It’s not often that a video game score really grabs you and immerses you further into the experience beyond providing a little atmosphere, but the first time I went airborne and heard Will’s heroic overture blare from my speakers (in DTS no less) I had a huge stupid grin on my face, this is one score that ranks with the very best of them.

Rebuttal Witness:
Yes, I love Dark Void’s plot, but the characterization is about as cliché as it gets in video games. Will Grey is your stereotypical square-jawed real American hero, which certainly fits with the pulpy tone, but there’s nothing there that really endears him as a character. Nolan “Drake” North basically phones in a Nathan Drake-lite performance, which in and of itself more than gets the job done (we’re talking about one of the best ‘rising stars’ in the voice over racket here) but Grey just has nothing unique to set him apart from his more contemporary counterpart. Beyond that, Nikola Tesla’s appearance feels like the video game equivalent of stunt casting, and Grey’s love interest is anything but interesting. The character bits at the beginning really slow down what becomes a very entertaining and fast moving story. Ultimately story wins out over character, but the issue is certainly there.

It needs to be said, if you’re one of these “sea of brown” detractors who’s been bitching about color schemes in your next-gen games since 2005, look away from Dark Void. All of the great textures, beautiful lighting and wonderful particle effects do appear in a pretty dingy, well-worn environment. So yes, there’s much in the way of earth tones.

Eat Knuckle Sandwich Naz... er Robot... dude!

I’ve also encountered quite a few glitches during gameplay – most notably a loss of sound effects, and while Bear McCreary’s score is totally awesome and all, the game feels a little dead without any other kind of audio playing. It’s nothing that a patch wouldn’t iron out, but the glitches are there.

Finally, I wouldn’t call this a flaw per-se, but like many other games of the same cloth, Dark Void isn’t really the longest in length, and could probably be tucked away in a day or two, and with no multiplayer options, the replayability is sparse. I’ll pull it out every now and again like I do Heavenly Sword, using it as the video game equivalent of an awesome Sunday movie, but for those who don’t take joy in revisiting something you’ve already plowed through, you may want to forgo a purchase and give Dark Void a rent.

"We aren't the bad guys... honest!"

Closing Comments:
In truth, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Dark Void in spite of a few complaints, the narrative overcomes a slow start to become a strong experience that really propels you forward, even if every character is a simple yawn-inducing cliche. There’s a great mix of air and ground action, equally well implemented, and the visuals are great looking, even if they’re not cutting edge. If you’re looking for a solid single player action-adventure title now that you’ve finished Uncharted 2 for the 11th time, you could do a lot worse than Dark Void

The Verdict:

Platform: Sony Playstation 3/Microsoft Xbox360 (PS3 version reviewed)
Developer: Airtight Games
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: January 19th, 2010
Rated: T (13+) for Teen

The Charge:
Fight Together! Survive Together!

Opening Statement:
The first Army of Two was an effective 3rd person shooter that borrowed liberally from other, better games and made a decent first impression before quickly fading to bargain bins. The requisite sequel is now upon us, and our titular army of two has some new tricks up their sleeves. Does Army of Two: The 40th Day rise above the machismo and fist-bumping to provide a world-cass shooter?

Facts of the Case:
Elliot Salem and Tyson Rios have long parted ways with former employers at SSC. As the owners and sole operatives of TransWorld Operatives, they answer to no one save their sassy handler, Alice Murray. The dynamic duo has just finished up a routine job in Shanghai when all hell breaks loose. An armed force has launched an all out assault on the city, and carnage is everywhere. Our brothers in arms find themselves racing through Shanghai as it crumbles all around them. Co-op tactics and visceral action are the order of the day as Salem and Rios struggle to find Alice in the chaos, and attempt to discover the truth behind the 40th Day Initiative.

"Rambo... was a pussy!"

The Evidence:

The first Army of Two was well enough received when it hit consoles early in 2008. One of the spearhead titles in EA’s then fresh approach to new IP’s, it would go on to become the best-selling new IP from EA of this console generation. The game was not without its flaws however, and the development team took a hard look at what people liked and disliked when they set about assembling the sequel. The approach definitely shows, as Army of Two: The 40th Day is an improvement in many respects.

First off, what wasn’t broken, wasn’t fixed, and The 40th Day definitely feels a lot like its predecessor. You’re still guiding two armored up commandoes through room after room of bad guys whilst firing lead hoses at full auto as you hide behind cover. Kill.Switch may have given birth to the 3rd person cover-based shooter, but it was Gears of War that popularized it, and like the first game, Army of Two: The 40th Day borrows liberally from the Gears of War playbook. Salem and Rios control something like walking tanks, sure, but the controls never feel unnatural or cumbersome. The shooting mechanics feel immediately familiar, and the cover system is virtually identical to the first game, wherein you “snap” to cover rather than pressing a button to do so. It feels intuitive, and allows for faster cover-to-cover movement than you’d think. Things do feel a little more polished this time around, and the controller configuration is a little more user friendly, but the experience in this regard is much the same as it was the first go-around.

Also returning is the robust weapon customization, though this time you mix and match weapon parts from different models of firearms instead of parts unique to individual weapons. At first glance it doesn’t seem like there’s as much to choose from as there was in the first game, and that’s partially true, but the possible combinations allows for less redundancy in your guns and more unique designs. You’ll also stumble onto additional components in weapon caches strewn about the game. You can always pretend like you’re Eli Wallach in The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly and start combining components from M-16’s, AK’s and whatever else you can manage to fit onto your super weapon.

"I don't care if you do add racial diversity... it's called Army of Two.. one... TWO."

The co-op mechanics are still the driving force, and again, the “aggro” system has been employed, and works as well as it did in the first title. One player essentially draws fire by spraying bullets everywhere while the other player sneaks around to flank the bad guys. Co-op sniping, where both players must hit a target simultaneously, and back to back shooting return also. Thankfully for those flying solo, the computer controlled AI partner has graduated from Kindergarten and has been moved ahead to Elementary school. So no, I wouldn’t depend on the AI per-se, but if you do get taken out, at least he won’t drag you around for 20 minutes before healing you. Army of Two: The 40th Day is really geared around a multiplayer experience, and the game provides for you, the player with a robust set of options. Split screen and online modes are available, and while not quite seamless, it’s not too hard to get a player on your friend’s list to hop on in when the going gets tough, and it does get tough.

Competitive multiplayer has returned as well. The first game’s multiplayer approach was interesting on paper, but fell flat in execution; thankfully everything has been completely redesigned from the ground up, and the multiplayer modes are considerably deeper and more involving than before. Everything is geared around 2-player teams, adding a unique twist to the now traditional gameplay modes. The 40th Day features its own spin on Deathmatch and objective based multiplayer that should keep people busy a lot longer than the first game did.

Army of Two: Go on vacation - coming 2011!

Technically, the game gets a visual boost to character models, with solid animations and some great textures, but the backgrounds lack the sense of realism and atmosphere of the first game. That said, the environments are ripped to shreds as you pass through, towers topple, entire floors of nearby skyscrapers disintegrate in a haze of smoke and fire, and low flying aircraft slam into structures with impunity. It all looks very satisfying. The audio is full of thumps and bangs, and the subwoofer channel does its best to shake your gaming room. Weapon effects sound satisfying and explosions thump like they should. The voice actors have been changed up a little from the first outing. Nolan “Drake” North voices the erstwhile smarmy wise-ass Elliot Salem, who’s become more of a bad ass in the transition, but that doesn’t stop the continuity from title to title from suffering. Aside from that, the audio/visual package is pleasing, and really offers little to complain about, even if it doesn’t quite push the technical envelope.

Rebuttal Witness:
The first Army of Two title took its licks for its approach to plot, which was woven in and out of real world events in a none too subtle fashion. Some people had feathers ruffled with images of that fateful day in September of 2001, and the fact that our commando duo were racking up kills in real world hotspots where good ole American boys were dying in real life. I applauded the approach, it added some much needed gravitas to what was otherwise one step removed from an 80’s action flick. On top of that, those who did pay attention would discover that the game actually wielded a pretty effective story that gave players an excuse to plow through levels beyond cash. The 40th Day is severely lacking in this department. The enemies may as well be an NCAA College Football team, and the plot can be summed up in one or two sentences. The titular “40th Day” doesn’t really have much relevance in the game, and the morality moments, while a nice distraction, ultimately are exactly that, a distraction. I can’t help but be disappointed by the fantastical turn the series has taken, even if the gameplay itself has been tightened up. Sure, things blow up real good, but there’s just no sense of purpose behind it all.

"ROCK! HA!... You go first!"

Beyond that, Army of Two: The 40th Day adheres to the 3rd person shooter playbook pretty closely, which makes for some monotony in later levels. The last firefight feels pretty much identical to the first, just on a larger scale. You know the drill, you move from room to room and shoot at anyone who’s not you or your teammate. It doesn’t change up much in the 6 or so hours it could take you to get through the game.

Closing Comments:
Fans of the first Army of Two will definitely be pleased with Army of Two: The 40th Day, gameplay has been tightened, the visuals are solid, and the multiplayer is surprisingly well implemented and fully featured. The characters have been toned down, which will certainly please some moaners, but I can’t help but feel that EA Montreal has killed some of the appeal in the process. That said, if you’re looking for a decent co-op experience, you’ve found it.

The Verdict:

Platform: Sony Playstation 3/Microsoft Xbox360 (PS3 version reviewed)
Developer: EA Montreal
Publisher: EA Games
Release Date: January 12th, 2010
Rated: M (17+) for Mature

Note:  The following review is based on an imported copy of the Japanese release.  Bayonetta is scheduled for release in North America on January 5th, 2010.

Opening Statement:
I’ll admit, for the last year or so, I haven’t been the most eager to play Sega’s upcoming Bayonetta, a prophesized action epic from Platinum Games (the crazed geniuses behind last year’s Mad World for the Wii) and director Hideki Kamiya (the future legend behind Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe and Okami; pay your respects at the altar).  As I just typed the evidence of its pedigree, I realize that my bull headed and blind prejudice has denied me any sense of excitement for what has turned out to be a concentrated burst of gaming dynamite.  With Bayonetta, Kamiya and Platinum Games have served up a witch’s brew of devilish fun.

Krueger seems like Romper Room and Elm Street ain't so bad.

Facts of the Case:
In the beautiful (and fictional) European villa of Vigrid, a biblical cold war has been brewing between the last few remaining Umbra Witches, the followers of the dark; and the tyrannical Lumen Sages, the keeper’s of heaven’s light.  But all is not as it seems in this skirmish between what we believe to be good and evil; and as this metaphysical secret war reaches critical mass, Bayonetta; a forgotten daughter of the long since destroyed Umbra witch clan is caught in the middle.  She looks like the love child of Janis Joplin and a Barbie Doll, accessorizes with high calibre artillery, and possesses enough kung-fu badness to fill a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie.  Plus she’s got thirst for war and an insatiable lust to kill.  Somehow I get the feeling Bayonetta’s going to come out of this one okay.  Though with her antagonists primarily being the seraphic servants of the holy and the divine, I can’t see her growing too popular with the Religious Right.

Every sermon comes with a free bowl of soup!

The Evidence:

During a session of Bayonetta, it is not uncommon to be strolling through a gorgeous hillside garden, having just dispatched a platoon of angelic interlopers, only to have a gargantuan creature emerge from the skies to uproot a building and throw it at you.  The name of the game in Bayonetta is insanity.  Certified, frothy-mouthed craziness that cannot be bargained with, cannot be reasoned with, and will not rest until it has tied gamers across the world’s thumbs in knots.

This is considered run-of-the-mill for Bayonetta.

Kamiya has taken the concepts he developed back in 2001 for Devil May Cry, stripped away the parts that didn’t work, and chipped away at the barnacles that the series had built up in the three sequels that followed.  What remains is a sleeker beast, a diesel-fueled, white-knuckle 200 mph shot of video game awesomeness.  It’s a game where a simple twirl of an analog stick and an attack button sends our heroine into a spinning hand stand, bullets blazing in all directions; where just about every successful combo ends with an enemy being crushed underneath a summoned stiletto heel that is made up from the very fibres of the main character’s costume.  Yes, she loses her clothes the bigger her attacks get.  So nine year old Timmy should probably not get this one for his birthday.

Remember this episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch?

Make no mistake; Bayonetta is not a methodical title in the least, rather a gluttonous action smorgasbord.  The bulk of the game’s combat is spent intertwining a variety of attacks into boundless combo strings.  Bayonetta has four open weapon slots, two for her hands, and one strapped to each heel.  With a separate move list for each weapon type and the ability to link into impressively long striking combinations; the potential attack list is truly labyrinthine.  I guess that’s why the loading screens afford gamers a few seconds to practice Bayonetta’s bottomless barrel of tricks (which can be lengthened with a simple press of the select button while the level loads).

For some reason, Double Dragon II seems a little boring after this.

While combat makes up the lion’s share of Bayonetta, there are short spurts of level navigation to be found in between the game’s innumerable micro-battles with smaller enemies, and title bouts with the indescribably large bosses.  The long slogs through cavernous empty corridors that plagues games of this nature during the PS2 and original Xbox games have been peeled away.  So many great action games that aged like an open bucket of salt beef simply because their length was padded with marathon runs through sparsely populated levels.  While gamers looking for a little more side dish to go along with the prime-rib fighting will probably be disappointed that these segments pretty much consist entirely of carrying keys from one location to another (keys that can used as weapons nonetheless), or using Bayonetta’s Witch Time abilities to complete reaction-based puzzles.   Personally I’m grateful, because gamers who haven’t mastered witch time by the beginning of the game’s third stage will find themselves staring at the game over screen ad nauseum.  The concept itself is pure simplicity.  Dodge at the last possible second before getting waffled by an attack and time slows to a crawl, allowing Bayonetta to navigate an impassable obstacle at Mach speed, or score a few seconds worth of powerful counterattack time in between the infinite enemy onslaught.  What most action games play up as a gimmick, or a mere window dressing, Bayonetta uses masterfully as its main combat mechanic.  This is the John Belushi of beat’em ups.  Larger than life.  And that’s not even getting into the joygasm inducing Torture Attacks.  Naughty little insta-kills that are powered by successfully hitting an uninterrupted string of attacks without taking a single hit.  Fill the bar, press both kick and punch at the same time and witness the devastation.  You can even try to add bonus points with a little button mashing (hip hip hooray for crazy arcade action!).

You were right Dave, she is hanging him.

Items and weapons can be purchased in between levels at Bayonetta’s favourite demon-owned speakeasy, purchased of course with the shimmering halos that have been purloined from the corpses of the angels she left in her wake.  More halos can be scored in the between-level arcade shooting gallery (awesome!!)  With a selection including hand cannons, shot guns, a cursed katana, and a wicked whip with a demonic cobra head at the tip, and the cavalcade of weapons dropped by vanquished foes; Bayonetta is pretty much a wholesale retail warehouse club of destruction.  This game plays like the CostCo of kicking ass.  The fighting is structured in such a way that the battles never seem to go on too long, and we never get that feeling of programmed boredom, where gamers can pretty much predict which wave of enemies will attack next before they clear the room and get a break.  Besides, name me one other game that lets you literally spank prone foes?  Is it a game where the foes hide their twisted, inhuman forms under layers of Renaissance inspired sculpting and cherubic faces?  Ironically, while it’s visually cool to peel of these layers of Paladinesque armour to see the Clive barker inspired grossness underneath, that very graphical effect ties into Bayonetta’s ironically compelling storyline.  I don’t want to spoil any details, but suffice to say there is much more going on in the background than the Witch-slapping the entire world trailers have shown off.

Remember when we were kids, and a katana instantly made a character cooler?

I’ve been told that the PS3 build of Bayonetta, ported over by an internal Sega development team is of an inferior make to the 360 version, developed by Platinum Games.  I’m unable to make any sort of judgment, as I am unable to compare the two until the North American release.  But judging by the amount of fun I’m having with the PS3 version, unless Buddha materializes out of the Xbox 360 when it is switched on, declaring that he has arrived to miraculously free us all from the cycle of rebirth, I can’t see the games being that much different from one another.  It’s a great title on either console.  The presentation values are top-notch, with sublimely detailed character models that animate beautifully (check out Bayonetta’s hip swing when she walks slowly, or her facial animation when she winks or blows a kiss at the end of a large combo string) and appropriately pretty textures.  Watching the ethereal shimmer of her hair when a Wicked Weave attack is unleashed is almost hypnotic.  Effects such as explosions of flame or bolts of lightning make the screen crackle with life, and the game’s soundtrack is an explosive and eclectic symphony of bone crunches, high calibre gunfire, and some bizarre coupling of trippy jazz and rockin’ techno.  I don’t know what to call the feeling I got the first time I wiped out an army of monstrous angels to the oddly enunciated karaoke version of “Fly Me to the Moon” which serves as the game’s defacto theme song, but I do know that I liked it.  All in all the game’s presentation is a perfect wrapping around its sumptuous gameplay.

"Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God"

Rebuttal Witness:
There’s nothing I can really say about Bayonetta that I out and out disliked.  The game is HARD. It’s Geneva Convention violatingly difficult, and that may turn some gamers off.  But those who cut their teeth on, or were honed to a fine edge by the Devil May Cry series should be able to tackle its difficulty with little fuss.  Besides, would you expect a two headed angel-dragon that’s the size of sky scraper to be a pushover of a boss fight?  Man up dawg.

Closing Statement:
Bayonetta is one of the finest action outings I’ve played this generation.  An unstoppable bullet binge that undoubtedly gives all of us brawler addicts our fix.  If this is the sign of things to come in 2010, it’s gonna be one hell of a happy new year.  Put aside some holiday money and save it for January 5th.  You’ve all got a date with witch of a game.

The Verdict:

I wonder if there’s an executive at Sega who was so hung up on the idea of arming a witch with a machine gun that even after the unmitigated failure of “Bullet Witch”, he gave the go ahead on “Bayonetta”, in between 5 ¾ coke lines?  If so, I salute him.

- J

Platform: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (PS3 version reviewed)
Developer: Platinum Games (Xbox 360), Sega (PlayStation 3)
Publisher: Sega
Release Date: January 5th, 2010
Rated: M for Mature