Mega Man 9: Blaow-Blaow-Blaow-Blaow-Blaow

Embrace this sight and the sound because you will see it alot in this game. I'm not going to give it a full review because in the few hours I've spent with it I've only conquered Galaxy Man, I guess this begs the question of should someone review a game without having beat said game? So I won't technically review it, but I will recommend that you go out and buy this game pronto, even though I'm dying like mad I'm constantly smiling and it's such a nostalgia trip that I'm always pumped to turn it on and start getting killed to amazing 8-bit music. This game made me realize how gamers may have lost their hardcore edge, we're so used to checkpoints after every somewhat difficult segment in a game, we're used to being able to control the difficulty of the game, we're used to there being no such things as spikes that will kill you in one hit. This game takes away all those things, it's simple, it's fun, and I hope this game sells well and sparks a new 8 and 16-bit revolution. Nintendo, if you're listening, encourage developers to go this route on your system, XBL and PSN picked it up because it's Mega Man and there's bound to be some people that will play it on those respective systems, although playing an 8-bit Mega Man title on either of those two platforms would feel odd, it feels just right on the Wii and all you do is turn the Wiimote sideways and bam you've got an NES controller. The best thing about Mega Man 9 is that even though it's rooted in the 8-bit days with the graphics and sound, the gameplay feels fresh and they've thrown in some ideas that you wouldn't have seen on an 8-bit game in the 80's. So hats off to Capcom, I know Microsoft and Sony have a strict policy against developers making 2D games anymore, they feel it doesn't contribute at all to their beefy systems and specs. That's why I'm saying, Nintendo, get this ball rolling, I want more 8 and 16-bit games! Play this game ASAP and return to childhood!

Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway

"As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable."
American Scientist Albert Einstein, date unknown

This review is going to be brief and short, because this game follows all the fundamental rules and contains all the necessary parts to be called a game but nothing more really. It turned out to be such a generic, run-of-the-mill game that for the most part had a been here/done that feel to it. So I can't really hate on it, because there's nothing here that isn't done wrong or terribly, it just doesn't gel into a fun experience.

So in this game you play as Baker, I was so unattached from the story I couldn't even tell you what his rank is, it took me awhile to realize even which one I was, this game does a terrible job at catching you up if you've never played the first two, there's a "Previous on Brothers in Arms..." section at the very beginning, but Baker just mumbles and they show random things happening to random people. So the entire game I was trying to piece who I was, who the others I was talking to during cutscenes were, and what the big hub bub was about this pistol with an engravement on it. By the end of it all I could piece some of it together, but this hodgepodge of story was trying too desperately to be emotional and deep but failed so hard at it, I admittedly began to zone out during some of the scenes.

So what's the gameplay like? Basically you're in charge of anywhere from 1 to 3 teams, and you follow your compass and lead your teams, hiding them behind things and then having little trench warfare type fights with the Germans, or if you like you can take a group with you and perhaps sneak up on the side of the Germans or behind them even. Rinse, repeat for 6-8 hours. I will say there were a few parts where you were all alone and it was more run-n-gun, which I enjoyed, there was a few tank segments which I liked, basically you roll around in a tank and massively blast everything and watch it all crumble and German body parts go flying in the air in slow motion. Then there were some segments like sniping Germans to protect a boy, and a run-down hospital level that I liked, had a vibe to it unlike any World War II game level I've ever played. But these few and far between segments can't save the rest of the game or make it recommendable. If you played the last two and somehow feel like the narrative is something you connected with and want to see more exploits of Baker and company, then you'll probably enjoy this game but I wouldn't plunk $60 on it even then.

The graphics are nice, but I remember seeing videos a year or so ago and I'm pretty sure the developers said what they were showing was in-game, and that old footage was very impressive but I'm wondering if that was more of a tech-demo where they were pushing the engine to the max, then realizing hey we actually have to ship an entire game on a disc, not just one visually amazing scene, the graphics took a respective dip into somewhere between good and average for the final product. I also found the sound lacking, I figured this was a World War II game, I bet this will be booming, I'll be hidden behind a wall and hearing gunshots pecking off the corner of the wall and hearing my squadmates screaming out and calling positions while emptying their clips, and Germans shouting and firing etc. That sort of happens, but the audio seemed mostly quiet and low-key. I had to really crank my system to try and get a feel like I was actually out on the battlefield and in the war, and I ended up having to turn on the subtitles because during cutscenes it was if the characters dialogue was spoken through a pillow before it reached the microphone that was recording it.

Having never played much of the first two, I figured Hell's Highway would be the best of the first two, plus some new additions with next-gen technology, I also figured since I hadn't played the previous installments the gameplay would probably stay refreshing all the way through the title unlike where it might go stale quick for a veteran of the series, I was mistaken. It went stale by about the 2nd hour. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and was treated to some interesting segments, but still wasn't enough to leave me feeling positive about this game. Oh and for those who love the series, at the end of the game I was treated to a "To be continued...." screen. I have a feeling Gearbox won't be developing another title however, unless this game sells really well which I don't see happening, I can't see anyone wanting to fork more cash into this series. Third-person shooters have moved so far beyond where Hell's Highway stands, I really feel like this is the last stop for these games.


Final Verdict: Thumbs Down

"As long as there are gamers possessing great wealth, World War II games are inevitable."
American Gamer Bane, date September 30, 2008

Last Hurrahs of September!

We're soon heading into October, I'm going to try and review the new Brothers In Arms game as soon as possible, but until then I offer you a glimpse of what lays ahead. You can look forward to reviews of Silent Hill:Homecoming, Dead Space, and the granddaddy of October, Fallout 3. Quite a spooky month really for gaming, and I'll also try and throw in a review of the Alone in the Dark game that came out months ago. Basically I'll be on the edge of my seat all of October but that's cool with me. Hmm, it just dawned on me that Fable 2 also hits the month of October, jeez, I'll try and put something down on that too. I don't know if I'll be able to digest all the gaming but we'll see how I do. I really wanted to tackle the RPGs that hit the system this month but I don't think I'll have the time. This is why great games need to be dropped throughout the year and not crammed within a four month period. It's a double-edged sword, the lulls that usually carry through the other months is terrible, but the high during the 4 months of gaming lunacy is quite something. Well I have many things to do, but thanks for keeping tuned in!

Star Wars: The Fun Restrained!

This game should have been awesome. This game does look awesome in screenshots and in theory, but after playing through the entire campaign repetition and boredom set in quickly.

So in this game, which is considered canon, you take the role of Darth Vader's secret apprentice code-named "Starkiller", the story here is interesting, you'll see many things from the Star Wars films including cameos from more than Vader and the Emperor, there's a nifty boss fight with someone from Episode I, and you run across a young Princess that you may remember from the movies. Because I'm a fan of the original trilogy and the game focuses more on those aspects, it help my attention and I sought to see what would happen next, though now that I look back on it I should've realized how it would all eventually end.

The gameplay however gets stale quickly, the intro level and the first level that you play as the Apprentice are fun, but after that the game ramps up in difficulty and enemies gain resistance to some of your Force powers causing you to find and frequently use repeated combos that get the job done instead of just going all out with the Force and enjoying the destruction. Depending on what level you're on and the enemies being thrown your way, the game can be sorta fun to downright frustrating. There are moments where the developers thought it would be a good idea to have you fight multiple Rancors, this wouldn't be that much of a problem if the Force Grip and Throw worked precisely and quickly, but beyond the Rancors who want you dead you've got these indigenous people who are being run by a leader and until you take out their leader they're pretty much invincible, so you've got to deal with those, oh but wait there's also these indigenous King type versions of these creatures in yellow that will either mess you up if you try to go in close and lightsaber them or if you stray from them they'll throw powerful projectiles that knock you down. I can't count how many times I was bludgeoned with tons of enemies and there really was no right way to deal with them, I figured I'm the one with the lightsaber here I should be able to dole out my extreme Force powers AND slice and dice with the saber, apparently there exist creatures and types of Stormtroopers that can withstand 10 or so smacks from the saber. As you progress through the game you can unlock more combos and increase the ranks of your Force powers, but your enemies grow stronger throughout the game as well so this basically leaves you on an even playing field throughout, and the new combos you acquire are more trouble to pull off than they're worth.

Two other things of note, one is that the boss battles are lackluster, I really want to stroll into a store and leaf through the strategy guide for this game because by my understanding there was no strategy required, more luck. The game seems to decide when your saber will dole out damage, and Force Push during the battles is a joke because it works no doubt, whoever you're fighting will indeed fly back and lay there for a few moments recouping yet if you dash over to strike them when you would think they're at their weakest you'll notice their life bar doesn't drop a smidge. My only other gripe is the fact that the pulling down a Star Destroyer scene is marred and boring as hell, kill some tie-fighters, pull, rinse and repeat until you've pulled it enough to trigger a cut scene. I wish the games levels had been the Apprentice just massively messing places up and then at the end of each level would be a difficult boss fight with strategy and clashing Force powers.

I don't really feel like speaking too much more on the game, the visuals are very good, the sound as well, overall the title will last you about 6-8 hours and there's two endings so you may revisit the game one last time to load the last level and see the other ending like I did. Overall there were brief moments where I was enjoying myself but overall the combat is lacking and it's repetitive. If you're a big Star Wars fan then I only can suggest renting it, everyone else can just skip it.


Final Verdict: Thumbs Down

Darth Vader: "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed."

Let There Be Rock...Band 2 (Yeah, yeah, I could've done better, but I'm sick, so deal)

Whew, like I said, I am coughing up a lung at the moment, but the show must go on. If out of every review I've ever done this one ends up the most disjointed and makes the least amount of sense I apologize in advance. This review shouldn't be that long anyhow, if you've never touched the Guitar Hero or Rock Band franchise, then this review isn't your cup of tea anyhow.

So in this game just like the last you play music and you play one of four instruments, unless you're the type that likes to sing and play guitar or bass, I've never tried but I definitely should, songs like Modest Mouse's "Float On" I wouldn't even have to gander up at the lyrics, they've been imprinted on my noodle from repeated listens before they were even in the game. So anyway you play any one of the 84 tracks that are on the disc and rock out by yourself or with band members you enlisted over XBL or just some local buds all rocking out together. If 84 songs for some reason aren't enough, there are another 20 coming down the pipe shortly that will be free as well, my guess is that they'll be from Harmonix artists like Freezepop, Anarchy Club, Bang Camaro etc. That's not a bad thing, the in-house bands that exist at Harmonix know how to write good stuff.

One of the biggest features is that the Tour Mode is finally online, that was my biggest complaint with the first one, because I didn't have a steady stream of people over to play and jam out with me I couldn't even touch that mode. So, in this mode you travel from city to city, venue to venue playing setlists and gaining fans. Along the way optional challenges arise, and you can hire personnel like band managers, roadies, sound guys, and the different ones you come across have different attributes about them so you may actually prefer one manager over another. There's also Tour Challenges and a Battle of the Bands, both of which are constantly updated with new challenges week to week, it's a great idea and while I think it would be really cool to have two complete bands competing against one another straight through XBL, I'm sure technically that would be a stretch to pull off so online leaderboards will have to do, it's still satisfying to see your ridiculous band name, like Flight of the Ebony Woman posting a score that slaps you in the top #200 out of thousands of bands. Just knowing that others who play the challenges may run across my band makes me laugh.

Lastly there's still a training mode as well as a Drum Trainer which helps people play lots of drum beats and fills at various speeds. This will definitely help people get over the hurdle of playing the drums if they feel they have no rhythm. Oh, and if for some reason they really have no rhythm at the end of the day you can turn on special features, one of which is No Fail, I can see this being a mode widely used at parties where people playing the game may be also having some booze. No longer do the drunks have to fear that someone will fail the band as a whole and ruin the moment.

Since I have the original Rock Band instruments I can't really comment on the new stuff, but I've heard it's much improved and finally all wireless. Also a quick comment on those who own the first game, for 400MS Points you can transfer all but three songs from the Rock Band disc onto your hard drive to use in Rock Band 2. So if you're in that boat and aren't the kind to go and buy weekly DLC, you'd still have a total of 159 songs to play.

Alrighty people, I have spoken enough, I'm surprised my fever and coughing has allowed me to type all that I have, and I think it even makes sense. Bottom line, if you own the first Rock Band, go out and get Rock Band 2. If you don't have Rock Band, go buy the big Rock Band 2 bundle.

Final Verdict: Buy

Unleashing the Force of Rock n' Roll

Hello everyone, giving a heads up on what's going down, by the end of the weekend I'd like to have reviewed both Rock Band 2 and The Force Unleashed. I've already plunged head first into Rock Band 2 and it's more of the goodness us fans of the first one have wanted. This weekend I'll embark on and hope to finish the latest Star Wars title. I also dedicate this post to Corpse Droid up above, I heard about him a few weeks ago before the game came out and they were hoping to have him be a sidekick in the game that would help fight people with you plus collect and harvest their body parts. Yes, this droid wants nothing more than to be human, so they were hoping throughout the game you would witness that he was collecting more and more pieces and parts and slowly making himself appear human. I thought the idea was pretty rad, but I forget if they said the game would've been slapped with an M rating going with a sidekick so dark, or if they just couldn't figure out a way to have him tag along, either way the Corpse Droid is a great idea and the art design for the game looks amazing.

So stay tuned peoples, there are future endeavors ahead!

Oh, quick side note, my band on Rock Band 2 is named Flight of the Ebony Woman, challenge me or rock out by my side sometime.

360 Reboot? (Rumor)

Look how much fun they're having, unfortunately the 360 sales figures have been slowly declining and we all know about that great new Dashboard Update coming out in November. Any chance it may be coming out in September? That's the word going across the Internet. Supposedly there will be a 5 hour block on G4 dedicated to the new Live Experience, Sirius Radio integration, music store like iTunes, "mad lib" channel (your guess is as good as mine), dozen new game demos, previews of the new GTA IV DLC, new Mass Effect expansion and a free Halo 3 map pack, six free Xbox Originals for Gold members, and about a dozen newly announced retail titles. Then finally to cap it all off at midnight the update would go live and you could jump into this new Live Experience.

So what do you think? Microsoft did hold off on a Bungie/Halo announcement at E3 but I figure they wouldn't want the lid off of a new Halo title until GoW2 is out and in the hands of many. I've got a 50/50 shot on this but I'm going to go with false on this rumor. I think the update will launch in November, and all this free content and games is just the mad musings of some guy. Would I love to be proven wrong? Sure. I just don't see it happening.

Almost 200th View Celebration!

Hooray, his blog is slowly chugging and churning and for some reason I feel 200 views is a milestone of sorts. I promise I won't celebrate again until say, 500 views. Then I have to, then I won't until 1000 views. My next two goals will take months so let me have this time to drink down this delicious frosty beverage. I'd also just like to quickly run down what I'm looking forward to in the future, I'm either going to tackle Tales of Vesperia or Infinite Undiscovery, then there's Rock Band 2 coming this Sunday. What else? I'm also going to try and down Star Wars The Force Unleashed and the new Brother's In Arms game. Finally if I still have time I will tackle Lego Batman. That's the upcoming schedule for September. Thanks again to any and all who have been reading this!

Mercenaries 2: I Love The Smell Of Mediocrity In The 360

I gave Pandemic Studios latest game Mercenaries 2 all I could, and I can give no more.

Stepping into the shoes of a Merc who has free roam of Venezuela to do what they like to get their revenge sounds like the premise and promise of a damn good game. Unfortunately, the game falls flat in almost every way. I was thrown into the game and after the few brief intro missions and after having to sit through some terrible FMVs that looked as though they were ripped from the PS2 version I finally was free to start plotting my revenge. I took some contracts right away, and here's my first quibble, the mission structure consists of blow this up, kill this, steal this, rinse and repeat. I realize open-world games are often criticized most for having missions that have all been done to death, but GTA IV did a hell of a better job at giving me convincing characters that I felt like I grew to know and even became attached to, and in turn the missions had more heft and impact. In Mercenaries 2, it's more like "Good job mercenary, have some cash, we like you enough that you should come to our depot and spend some of it, oh and do more contracts and maybe I'll tell you where Solano is". Riveting. I would've preferred a plot in which you're accruing money in the hopes of completely nuking Venezuela altogether, because in the game world the cities are barren and it doesn't even feel as if real citizens live there anyway, just the factions that give out contracts and those you're after.

So I thought I'd spice up the mission structure by doing what the game is to be known for, lots and lots of explosions. Well, first I had to save Ewan otherwise how would I ever airlift fuel and money that's just laying about Venezuela. Then I had to rescue Eva if I wanted some new vehicles for which to cruise around on because most of the vehicles out in Venezuela are boring. Then I had to save Misha if I wanted some bombing runs and anything that requires a jet. Whoo. Okay got that all done. Now the fun begins? Oh, hold on I have to tackle capturing some high value targets and destroying some objects for the factions so they love me enough that I can buy fuel capacity upgrades as well as new Shop Items. Okay, now I need to go to the various shops around Venezuela and purchase things, alright now I'm ready to drop some bombs on these suckers. Why couldn't they have streamlined the shop from the D-Pad menu? I should be able to be out and about on a mission, draw up the menu and order whatever I wish from it as long as I have the funds. Even if I could do that however, mindlessly dropping explosions and vehicles from the sky would be mostly worthless as the A.I. is garbage. The controls and physics are also very loose, I understand they want the objects to be somewhat floaty for when major explosions go off but my vehicle shouldn't be taking damage from just driving along the roads of Venezuela because they get a little airborne from said floaty physics. Whichever mercenary you choose is also very weary of heights, if you sprint down a hill and because you're sprinting you vault off the hill and get some air, be prepared to lose about 10-15 health or more. On the other hand if something important is up a hill or mountainous region, your mercenary has no problem sprinting up it like it ain't no big deal.

I'm having a difficult time reviewing this because I can't think of much to say, the visuals with the exception of the explosions are disappointing. The sound effects are good but the VO is annoying and Fiona constantly pesters the player. The story is bare bones as are the cutscenes revolving around it. The gameplay feels outdated and is plagued with bugs, glitches, loose controls, floaty physics, and when those aren't intervening the A.I. doesn't put up much of a fight so it's at best a mindless run-n-gun game. Co-Op is there, but it just made me feel like I was suffering only with someone else also slogging and suffering through it.

If you love open-world games keep playing GTA IV or pick that up if you're shopping around for one. Maybe hold out for Saints Row 2 but if you feel that you must absolutely play this game please heed my advice and rent it and nothing more. I've got to hand it to the Pandemic guys who would show off builds of this game during gaming conferences and conventions, they really made it seem like it was a great product. Turns out it's just average at best.

Final Verdict: Thumbs Down

Mediocrity, son. Nothing in the world smells like that.

Brief Mercenaries 2 Impressions

So let's dive right in, what do I like about it so far? The explosions are fun to watch and the carnage is over-the-top just how I wanted it. What am I not digging about it? The graphics so far have been lackluster, the aiming kind of annoys me, and I exhausted myself on the Training missions thinking I could be a bad ass and beat all of them on the hardest difficulty. Turns out not so, in fact I want to see some footage of the developers doing it, see when you go to do these missions you have to place a side bet with your cohort, so not only do you get mad because you failed but then you realize you're also losing precious money. The pistol training got me ticked the most, the right analog stick aims so loosely and trying to be precise with a pistol was never and will never be what Mercenaries is about. So why is it there? So far I've yet to ever want to pick up a pistol in the game, you know why? Because there are RPG-7s and AK 47s and M16s, that's why. I need to spend a lot more time with the game which I will, but so far it's an alright experience, I'm enjoying it as much as I enjoyed the first one. For those keeping score, I had a bit of fun with the first one but recognized it was style over substance.

Castle Crashers: It's Got A Deer That Shoots Rrhea'!

This week I embarked on putting my time and money towards Castle Crashers, it's finally been released after being kicked around and being shown for about 3 years. If you ever grew up when arcades were still around and remember plunking lots of quarters into some of the great 4-player beat em' ups like TMNT, X-Men, and The Simpsons then you'll feel right at home here.

At its heart Castle Crashers is a 4-player Beat Em' Up with some light RPG elements to it. There's 20 levels that you and hopefully 3 other people will be marching through. If you don't have some people to invite over, you can find people to play with over XBL. You and your respective friends or strangers that you've just met over Live will move from left to right beating the crap out of the onslaughts of enemies that are thrown your way. Each Knight is imbued with his respective power, whether it be poison, fire, ice, or lightning. So as you're fighting you can use magic, your blade or a combination of the two, and as you level up more and more you'll gain more combos. If you level up during a level afterwards you get to pour some that XP into Strength, Magic, Agility, and Health. Those may or may not be the exact names, I can't recall at this moment but you get the idea. The game is very addictive and you'll constantly be wanting to level up your character, as well as finding new weapons that enemies drop while moving around the levels. There are 20 additional characters to unlock and level up as well. There are also 26 Animal Orbs to find and collect throughout the levels, you bring them along with you and they imbue your character with either more health, more defense, quickness through water, higher jumping, all sorts of things that you'll want to play around with.

Past the main game you can also play offline or online two mini-games, there's the Arena and All You Can Quaff. The Arena is pretty self-explanatory, you either fight one another or if you run in solo you fight waves and waves of enemies. It's fun and I've heard getting far into it by yourself nets you some hidden items. Then there's All You Can Quaff which plays sort of like the mini-games that were between some levels in The Simpsons Arcade game, you mash two buttons repeatedly to eat the food in front of your Knight, then press another button to ring a bell and have a new dish thrown in front of your character. You keep going until you eat a certain amount of food. It's fun but apparently I lack my old button mashing skills, against the CPU I'm fine, but I tried a few Ranked matches online and always came in 2nd. It's not the games fault but it was frustrating. I probably won't play it too much as I'd like to keep my X and Y buttons intact for as long as possible.

Finally I feel I have to mention some issues with the game that I'm sure in the coming weeks will be patched and completely gone, still I want to throw them out there in case it may deter anyone from picking it up right away. Right now it's difficult to find and jump straight into an Online game, and once you do find one sometimes you may not even get through an entire level before the game freezes up. Lastly, there's been some save issues where the save file gets corrupted or it just doesn't save for you, so you might exit the game and return the next day to find that your LVL30 Knight is back to LVL15 or whatever the case may be. Like I said, The Behemoth realizes these issues and is already on the case to patch them up and make them a thing of the past.

So what's the verdict on the game? Well, I wouldn't outright tell everyone I know to go drop $15 dollars on this game, but I in no way dislike the game and would say just skip it altogether. I recommend that you get the Trial version and see where you stand on it. If you're like me and grew up playing all those quarter eating Beat Em' Ups chances are you'll be crazy in love with this game, if you've never had those nostalgia pangs you might walk away feeling better with $15 still in your pocket. At the end of the day, it's a wonderful game and one that will be even better once it gets the patch treatment.

Final Verdict: Trial It