Search

Follow Gamerzitch
Gamerzitch Crew
Saturday
Oct272012

The Walking Dead: Episode 4: Around Every Corner Review

Hits

 

  • Interesting New Character
  • Plot Twist
  • Dark Mood

 

Misses

 

  • Uninteresting side story
  • Nonsensical Plot Line
  • Unwelcomed New Gameplay Addition

 

Recommended For:

People Who've Been Heavily Engrossed Into This Game Series

Not Recommended For:

The Faint of Heart

__________________________________________________________________________

The last time we were with Lee's group a lot had gone down. Most of the core group hadn't made it and some new folks joined the mix. Mainly the Hobo Chuck, and couple Christa and Omid. After sustaining an injury, things look pretty bleak for both Omid and the group as they were travelling to the coast and finding any chance of escaping this new world. Not to mention the man whom Clem had been communicating with over the walkie talkie. After reaching Savannah things get even worse. Before you know it you have barely any time to save Clem in a new game mechanic: first person shooting. Yep, you read that correctly, first person shooting. Even though it may have been a welcome addition for others, it took me out of the character and felt like I was playing Dead Island: Walking Dead. 

From this point on "Around Every Corner" becomes the darkest episode of the series to date. After escaping a zombie threat, the gang hides out in an abandoned home and make a chilling discovery that carries the weight of the events of the previous episode. It is soon after this that a mysterious new character "Molly" is introduced as a complete and total badass. Through a series of bad luck you end up in the worst place in both the old and new world: the sewer system. Talk about disgusting. While down there you make a saddening discovery, an idea, and a haven for people who are deemed unworthy. One of those things is not like the others. This cause of action leads Lee down a dark road that he may not come back from.

A few supplies and a bunch of deaths later you are given a choice that is supposed to give you a strong case of indecision but fails along the way. Just when you think everything is safe a wrench is thrown into your happy hopeful ending. Faced with unimaginably low odds the entire plan changes and turns into something with many lives on the line. 

Make no mistake, this is a great episode and deserves to be played by even the most novice video game player. Even though it feels out of place with the ebb and flow of the story Telltale finds yet another way for you to hate yourself. 

(P.S. Apologies in advance for the general vagueness of this review as I didn't want to spoil much of the episode)

Wednesday
Dec072011

WWE '12 Review 

HITS

  • New Engine Adds New Layer of Depth
  • More Superstars than Ever
  • Improved Universe Mode
  • New Create Modes
  • Revamped Control System
  • More Customization Options
  • Improved AI

MISSES

  • Weak Road to Wrestlemania Mode
  • Fair share of Glitches & Errors

 Recommended for:

Wrestling Fans

 Not Recommended For:

People Who Don't Like Wrestling

___________________________________________________________________________________

THQ and developer Yukes have been putting out WWF/E games for over a decade and wrestling games in general even longer. Ever since Smackdown vs Raw 2006's release in 2005 wrestling fans have said that Yukes hasn't been able to top themselves. Last years edition, Smackdown vs Raw 2011 was in all terms a good game but wasn't the megaton that fans were expecting. After the next WWE game was revealed as "WWE '12" info began to release regarding the developers listening to fans, critics, practically everyone who had a piece of constructive criticism.

The past few WWE games have been much of the same but with improvements in an undeveloped area. (Tag Team, Creation, and Physics) But aside from those improvements, nothing new except for some graphical improvements or story modes.

For the first time since Smackdown vs Raw 2006, WWE 12 includes features both new and old. The big change for WWE 12 is the implementation of the Predator physics engine. This is designed to fix the static movements, clippy animations, and fighting system. For the first time ever in a WWE game the Five Knuckle Shuffle and Scissor Kick to name a few, will be done wherever the superstar is in the ring. Another new edit is the ability to interrupt many of the moves featured in the game (including finishers). This is ideal in a match like the Royal Rumble where interruption is key.

 In previous iterations Road to Wrestlemania, the campaign mode if you will, was six or seven short stories involving wrestlers such as Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, and more. One of the announcements from THQ about WWE 12 was that Road to Wrestlemania, like many other elements of the game, would be redone. Now, there are three stories instead of the usual six, they are all interconnected, and would span 18 months. You will go from the Villain (Sheamus), to the Outsider (Triple H), and finally to the Hero (Created Wrestler). While it's clear that Yukes showed an extreme amount of effort, the story falls short and the action does as well. Most of your matches end with pressing a button and watching a cutscene of the matches end and whatever comes next. It seems that the best way to experience a large chunk of the story is just sitting back while the game does it for you.

All that aside there is one storyline that I will not spoil but they sure did save the best for last. Even though Road to Wrestlemania falls short there is one mode that takes the ball and runs with it for a touchdown. (XFL anybody?) This mode is the new and improved Universe mode. If you've been living under a rock for the past two years than you have no idea that Universe mode is taking the best of the WWE tv show and mixing it with many customization options. A couple of years ago GM mode made its last appearance in WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008 and people have been clamoring for it to return since then. Last year, Yukes introduced Universe mode as a spiritual successor to GM mode but it didn't take off the way GM mode did.

That being said, this years Universe mode or Universe 2.0 as its being called, is exactly what people wanted to begin with. You are controlling Raw, Smackdown, and Superstars and can switch characters from one roster to another and even resurrect defunct titles like the Undisputed Title to replace the boring "Spinner" belt. While it can be amazing in the beginning, it can easily turn into nothing but boring match simulations and numerous quick edits so you don't have Cena dropping the belt to Santino. One of the downsides though is that you have no control over #1 Contenders matches, rivalries, and vacating title belts. Normally in these games the artificial intelligence is unrealistic and can finish a match in 5 moves but now it's gotten much better than previous iterations.

 If you've been following the Smackdown vs Raw games for a while than you've noticed that creativity is starting to become as important as the wrestlers themselves. All the favorites from past games are here (Create A Wrestler, Entrance, Higlight Reel). A new create mode this year just happens to be something that people have been begging for: Create An Arena. Now you can wrestle in arenas similar to those of TNA, ROH, NJPW and much more. The only downside is that you can only edit the ring and its surrounding area. But since THQ made this information clear before the games release it's not the biggest problem.

Like last year all your created content can be shared over Xbox Live/PSN and be downloaded by other people. Due to server issues some matches can't be played but will work after a couple tries. The Community Creations on the other hand is a very different story. Seven times out of ten the server will fail to load the content and you'll have to try again. But when you can get through to the other side oh boy is it glorious. Where else can you find a WCW Halloween Havoc arena to recreate the infamous Eddie Guerrero - Rey Mysterio Jr match? My only gripe with this is the amount of slots you are given for a created wrestler. I may sound like a crazy man but 50 slots is not enough to live out your wrestling dreams.

Most of the time WWE '12 shines as one of the best wrestling games ever made. Most of the problems that can be encountered show up if you're really looking for them. While GM mode is most likely gone forever, Universe mode is both a welcome replacement and a big surprise. Wrestlemania mode isn't going to light the world on fire but it's a nice thing to play if you're okay with the amount of play time is taken away from you. If you're a wrestling fan then you absolutely must pick up this game. If you don't like wrestling then why are you reading this?

Thursday
Dec012011

Saints Row: The Third Review 

 

HITS

  • Beautiful Graphics
  • Over the Top World
  • Freedom In Open World
  • Burt Reynolds
  • Unique Missions for Each Gang
  • Extremely High Replay Value

MISSES 

  • Unintelligent A.I.
  • Mission Choices
  • Dull Story

 Recommended for:

Lovers of the open world sandbox genre, anarchists, and people who have played the previous Saints Row games.

 Not Recommended For:

People who don't like fun. (Mikey)

___________________________________________________________________________________

Saints Row: The Third as you can probably guess is the third installment in the Saints Row series. The original Saints Row was the first sandbox game of the new console generation. After releasing in '06 it was praised by critics and gamers alike. Two years later the sequel to Saints Row came out and received publicity from critics and angry folks practically everywhere. Despite numerous attempts to have the game pulled it was still loved by the mass market and critics and sold well over three million units worldwide.

If you followed the series in general than you noticed that as the games went on the tone was shifting from serious, to comedic, and finally to outright wackiness. When Saints Row 3 was announced it was also revealed that the game would be a reboot of the series with the introduction of a new physics engine. The playground of the Saints would be moved as well from Stillwater to Steelport.

After the events of Saints Row 2 the Saints have finally defeated the villainous Ultor corporation along with the rival gangs that were in the way. They've now merged with Ultor (under better management) and have essentially become a media giant with everything Saints related being branded. For example, Pierce is now a recording star, their is a Saints movie happening, and their own energy drink among other things. After a botched bank robbery the player character, Shaundi, and Johnny Gat are taken aboard a jet belonging to an international crime organization known as the Syndicate.

After some fun is had you are thrust into the new environment of the game: Steelport. From here you are free to do whatever you want, whenever you want. The mission structure is laid out the same as previous Saints Row games but with some changes. You no longer have to fill your respect meter to play missions. The respect bar is now used for upgrades. An example being able to automatically completely all the strongholds/activities for a certain area. Another being the ability to increase certain attributes of your character.

The Saints Row series has been known for its characters and despite some dying off quickly, the ones that stay around are phenomenal. One of additions are the brute enemies which are simply that. The character that is the genetic basis for the brutes eventually joins up with you and the words that are exchanged between he, Shaundi, and Pierce are pretty funny as well. My personal favorite new character has to be Zimos. He is a pimp that due to a health problem has a voice box. But even when things are looking down for ol Zimos he has to do something that makes him ten different kinds of awesome. After you are introduced to Zimos you soon discover that he uses an electronic voice box that's autotuned.

One of the main antagonists in the game is Killbane. He's a Mexican wrestler (luchador) who doubles as a power hungry gangster. To find out more about Killbane you go in search of his former tag-team partner who he humiliated by unmasking him. The partner is Angel De La Muerte. The interesting thing about this is that he is voiced by Hulk Hogan. What? Not interested? Okay, let me rephrase that. HULK HOGAN! WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN ANGEL DE LA MUERTE RUNS WILD OVER YOU! Aside from the Hukster there's Viola DeWynter who is a member of the Morning Star, Matt Miller who's an Aussie computer geek who looks surprisingly like an 18 year old goth kid. Finally as if you thought things couldn't get better than Hulk Hogan you've got Burt Reynolds as Burt Reynolds mayor of Steelport.

In Saints Row 2 you had missions that were fairly similar and on some occasions yawn inducing. Thankfully things have changed and you get some really diverse missions that pay homage to everything nerds love. You'll be in the ring wrasslin, in a computer a la Tron, and more. That being said some of the missions early on are mainly activities so there's a chance you may become uninterested while doing the typical activities you've come to know and love.

While I practically love the game the story isn't great but isn't bad. Certain things happen in the beginning of the game that have rammifications later on but at the core it's just urban warfare. One of the things that's been touted by Volition is that at the end of certain missions you get choices that's interesting in theory but in reality it's do or do not.  The perfect example is with Killbane. You can either unmask him and shame him in his culture, or leave him masked and in return he'll teach you the secrets of the Apoca-fist.

At the core, the game like the series has and always will be an open world/sandbox/playground of destruction. Unlike certain open world games what goes on in the story has lasting effects on the environment. After a certain mission towards the end of the game you get to go back to said area and fulfil a very deadly fantasy. It's these permanent changes to the area that make the city of Steelport feel like it's a living, breathing, world unlike those seen in recent open world games like Mafia II and Rage.

Going from Saints Row to Saints Row 2 you didn't get much of a feeling you could do anything in Stillwater. In Saints 3 that feeling dissipates as soon as you complete one of the early missions of the game. Once you've gotten everything available in the game you'll realize that you are a one man army. Something that I, myself have been dreaming of since my many days of Vice City nearly a decade ago. Some of the toys you can expect to find are Vtol aircrafts that make you anticipate the future, a laser targeted air strike, and much, much more.

If you've read this far than it's pretty clear that I really, really, love this game. In an economic depression (as we're in now) this is the perfect game to get for $60. It offers countless hours of entertainment wreaking havoc in the urban jungle. This game is an ideal purchase for anyone and if you aren't down with the whole Skyrim thing this is the perfect game to get if you're still aching for that open world experience.

Wednesday
Nov092011

Batman: Arkham City Review

PROS

  • It's Batman
  • Diverse Gadgets
  • Good Stealth Gameplay
  • Smooth Gameplay
  • Includes Many Batman Villians
  • Conspiracies
  • Good Level Up System

 

CONS

  • Not The Smartest AI
  • Side Quests With No Motivation To Do Them
  • Boring Boss Fights
  • Sandbox Doesn't Have Much Of A Point
  • Story Lacks Drive

 

Recommended For:

Anyone who's played Arkham Asylum, people who like melee combat, Batman fans.

Not Recommended For:

People who don't like stealth gameplay forced upon them, people who don't like open world games.  If you haven't played Arkham Asylum yet, I also recommend you play it first.


Batman Arkham City is the sequel to the famous and loved Arkham Asylum, but you already knew that didn’t you?  I’m going to start this review off by saying I didn’t beat Arkham Asylum, I played it for a few hours and….well never got around to playing more.  Now that that’s out of the way, the game’s main plot is that instead of there being an Asylum, a nice chunk of the Gotham Slums was bordered off and all criminals are essentially left to do whatever they wish inside, thus, Arkham City.  The game starts off by Bruce getting taken by the police, and then thrown into Arkham City, he hears about this thing called “Protocol 10” and like a good superhero decides to go and investigate instead of simply leaving.  At the beginning of the game you play as Bruce without the batsuit, but one thing that stuck out to me was that seeing him without the suit and still jumping 2 meters high and dashing around like a track star didn’t seem to fit with a human character, it seemed too super human.  I know he’s batman, but I think they should have toned it down and tried to portray him as a human a little bit better.

If you played Asylum then you’ll be pleased to know that the core gameplay hasn’t changed much, except that it’s a sandbox of course.  It has all the stealth elements such as swinging from gargoyles, ground vents, areal attacks and the lot of it.  Except the AI seems rather stupid, while it does make stealth easier, I think it would have made it an overall better experience if they could have made the AI smarter.  Although I do give the game credit, that in the last hour of the main story the AI does get the idea of shooting down the gargoyles that Batman sits on…but only in the last hour, and I don’t really see why they would decided to make the AI smarter in the end of the game instead of giving them all the same…common sense.

Now the translations of a non-sandbox game to a sandbox game always requires some gameplay changes, and while they clearly did a good job of it, I don’t think the overall structure of the game works as well as it did in Asylum.  Asylum’s linearity actually helped the game in my opinion, and the sandbox in Arkham City almost seems like an unnecessary addition.  Yes traveling around the city with the bat-claw and zipline is fun for a while, but after a little bit it just seems like the developers tried to make the game appear more vast, without the actual need to do so.  I think it may have actually been better if they made it more linear.  In the main story you only deal with a handful of villains, and the rest are a part of side quests. 

Making the majority of villains optional ultimately limits the overall story of the game.  If the game had you deal with more villains in the main story, there would have been a lot more places for the development team to implement more unique gameplay elements.  While Joker is great, he seems to really overstay his welcome by the end of the game.  Also, once I beat the game, I really didn’t have any reason to complete the side quests anyway.  Collecting all the Riddler puzzles seemed like a pointless hassle, and ultimately I don’t see the appeal of the other small side quests.  Implementing the majority of villains into the main story would have really expanded the game as a whole since there would be many more directions for the plot to go.

Speaking of plot, it didn’t really drive me all that much, since I didn’t have any motivation in the first place.  I think that a lot of it had to do with batman’s ideals, but those aren’t my ideals so ultimately I end up getting bored half-way through the game.  While the side quests do offer something else to do, it would have been better if they were used to make the main story more diverse.  Now I think they did try to add more gameplay with the addition of Cat Woman, except I got the game from Gamefly so I wasn’t able to play as her.  While I understand giving additional content to people who buy the game new, having a specific part of the game locked which includes its own gameplay and story really isn’t excusable in my book.  Ultimately that limits the game experience as a whole which doesn’t seem like an incentive for buying new, but more like a punishment for those who rent it, which really is a problem in the industry.

The game does have a nice assortment of boss fights, but they seem too simple.  At the beginning of the boss fight you usually get an obvious clue as to what device to use, and generally you just have to use that device over and over again until their health bar goes down, so I think they could’ve tried to make more “multi-stage” boss fights, and also let the player figure out what to do.  There was one boss fight which I actually found rather entertaining, you could ultimately use any way you want to try and take him down, while each attack made his health go down, it also made him realize what you were doing, so you couldn’t use the same tactic twice on him, I wish all the boss fights were like that, because it gave the player a sense of control and strategy.

Now I’m not saying Arkham City is bad, it’s actually a rather good game, it’s just it wasn’t executed as well as it could’ve been, and I believe turning the game into a sandbox actually limited the game in the long run.  The game has great gameplay overall, some interesting characters and with the leveling up and new gadgets you get throughout the story, it introduces new gameplay mechanics along the way so it’s still a fun experience, just not as fun as it could be.  It seems like they ultimately wanted to try and expand the batman universe within this game, and they actually did a rather good job of it, but it doesn’t appeal and doesn’t give enough incentive to people who aren’t specifically Batman fans, like myself.

Friday
Oct072011

SPAZ - Review

PROS

  • Backgrounds that look better than space itself
  • Tons of customization
  • Zombies
  • Procedurally Generated Galaxies
  • Tons of missions
  • Infinite replay value
  • Continued support from developers

 

CONS

  • Combat can become repetitive
  • Mining can be an annoyance
  • Lengthy distances between some story missions

 

Not Recommended For:

 Gamers who dislike a challenge and gamers with little free time.

 Recommended For:

 Everyone Else.


SPAZ, or Space Pirates and Zombies is a game in space, the end.

What, you actually wanted a review, is space not good enough for you?  Well then you either need to play Portal 2 or you have expectations which are way too high, but fine, whatever you say.

Space Pirates and Zombies is a game about Space, Pirates, and Zombies.  In game you control a single ship within an expanding fleet, while having the overlord-ish ability to hop between them at anytime, as well as to pause the game and issue orders.  While the game mostly has a fast paced, action feel to it, it has a very nice underlying strategy system.  One thing I love is that the tactics are optional, while if you don’t use them you won’t do as well within game and will die more, you don’t need to understand what everything does, since the AI tends to handle itself fine on its own.

Tactics Screen

The game is basically a hybrid between mission based and open world exploration.  You can freely fly between systems, but then you need to choose which mission/station/planet to warp to.  When you aren’t in one of those places, you are at your mother ship, which serves at a mobile base between systems.  While the game does have an overarching story, you tend to forget what it is after playing for a few hours, since while you do have goals pertaining to it, there isn’t really anything story related outside of it, since the game gives you so much freedom you just tend to do missions while doing your story ones along the way.  But basically, you and a group of people created a giant ship, with the hopes of traveling into the depths of your universe to become rich bastards.

The open universe is nice, there are tons of random missions which can help you progress with either experience, Rez (The games currently), or with new blue prints.  I really like how the game goes about giving you new ships, you can’t simply go to the nearest station and buy them, you have to kill a certain number of that ship and reverse engineer it, which makes getting bigger ships a challenge, since the bigger, the stronger.  As far as ship customization goes, it is diverse and works well.  Each ship has a certain amount of turret slots, device slots, missile slots, bomb slots, etc. and you can choose what to put in each one, and as you level up you can put on even better items.  While there aren’t too many different turret/main weapons, each weapon is different so that not having too many differences isn’t that big of an issue.  Each ship also has a build cost, which is how much it costs to rebuild once destroyed, if you aren’t a player who enjoys mining for 30 minutes every hour or two, then you need to be careful not to make the most expensive ships in the galaxy!

Each galaxy in game is procedurally generated, which means each time you play; it will be an entirely different world to explore.  The developers did a good job of bringing these galaxies and systems alive; each game has two warring factions, the military and the civilians.  You need to choose which one to side with, or just not to take a side at all, and many of the missions in game help please one of the factions.  And depending on which faction you choose, will depend on if they give you access to their station or not, which can have items for sale, allow you to bribe guards, or allow you to mine.  There are tons of random missions which can pop up, some connected from earlier ones, which helps give a sense of…life to the systems, though it would be even better if there were neutral factions such as bounty hunters and merchants, who could reward you with rare items or money for helping them, which would in turn get others of their faction to like you.

A Rather Large Galaxy

The combat itself is very in-depth, action packed, and fun, though also challenging.  One thing the developers did very well is balancing combat, while it does feel hard at times, you simply need to try a different strategy, if small missiles aren’t doing the trick, fit all your ships with large slow moving missiles and try that instead.  I love how the game allows you to refit ships in the middle of combat, so you can completely switch strategy, with nothing but a small build time in between.  There are many strategic approaches to take such as cloaking devices, drones, bombs which stall enemies, and many others, allowing the player to choose how he prefers to play, since there isn’t one “win it all” combination.

Combat in an Advanced Ship

My only complaint is that after playing for a while, combat can get repetitive.  Because about 10 hours in, it boils down to “Shoot with missiles, fire laser, get hit by gravity bomb, sit here and get shot at, die, rebuild, repeat”.  Because I came to a point in which I needed to travel halfway across my galaxy, and since to unlock new systems you have to destroy blockades (or you could bribe the guards, but shooting is easier) and some of them were at a level too challenging for me, I had to do other missions to level up while also killing blockades, which were mostly the same fight over and over again, with needed mining in the middle.  I understand that the bigger you make your galaxy, the longer the game takes, but if they could’ve simply condensed missions and not have made some of the story ones so far away, it not only would have helped speed up the pace, but it would’ve been less repetitive.  Speaking of which, I wish exploration was a bit more rewarding, I would have liked if some random missions involved finding wrecks of rare ships to reverse engineer, some rare ship equipment, some mission which involved moral choices which had repercussions (which also would add to the ‘alive’ feel of the galaxy) but instead it is mostly a mix of mining and shooting.

Now there is one thing that does change up combat, and that is zombies.  When fighting zombies you really have to take a different combat approach, which is a welcome change from the usual dodge and gun.  If a zombie spore reaches your ship, your whole ship will be zombified and be taken control of by the zombies, so you need to make sure you keep your distance, but the ships still have weapons so you can’t be too defensive, which makes zombie combat much for interesting.

Zombies

All of the SPAZ ships look very cool and differentiated, along with the systems and asteroids, all the art smoothly works together.  Now the backgrounds are…just amazing, easily the best space backgrounds of any game I have played, since they are multilayered and dynamically animated.  The sound is also good and fits in with the game.

So ultimately SPAZ reinvents gameplay you’d expect from more retro games, mixes in some RPG elements along with procedurally generated galaxies;  which all forms together into one hell of a game.  This game honestly has nearly endless gameplay, and while it is challenging, it is balanced, and above all else, fun to play.  It also has good progression as you play through the game.  You can check this game out on steam with their demo, or get the full game for $15.  You owe it to yourself to buy this game, since it isn’t just an Indie Gem, it’s near Indie Perfection, and one of the best Indie Games I have ever played…hell, it’s one of the best 2D games I have ever played. The developers clearly put a lot of hard work into this game, and they are going to continue to do so with additional content in the upcoming months.  The only thing that would’ve made this game better was if there was a mobile version so I could play a mission or two if I’m bored for twenty minutes.