It's about darn time DK returned to true platforming. Welcome back my friend.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is exactly what it sounds like in every sense of the word. Donkey Kong returns with Diddy Kong, both absent from true platforming since Donkey Kong 64, as well as the Donkey Kong Country spirit, last seen in 2D over 10 years ago on the SNES. Everyone was sort of skeptical when Nintendo sent Retro to work on Metroid Prime, but that turned out fantastic. And wouldn’t you know it, they did the same thing with Donkey Kong and made an excellent game.

Whereas Kirby’s Epic Yarn ended up being a game where difficulty wasn’t the central force, Donkey Kong Country Returns will have you screaming in fury at your own shortcomings regarding your platforming ability. DKC Returns is hard. Very hard from what I’m gathering. And good, because I’m fresh off of Super Meat Boy, so I like my platforming hard and my apes of the aggravating variety, whatever that means.

At the very least, there's too much fun stuff going on to make you too discouraged.

As you’d expect, Donkey Kong’s bananas have been stolen by another group of complete fools, this time Tikis instead of Kremlings. I’m sad to see the evil crocodiles absent here, but it does free up a lot for level and enemy variety. Besides, the Kremlings’ story is done. Time for something fresher.

And despite being touted as a complete return to form, there’s a lot of new bundled up in here. The highlight for me is the use of two planes of action where, at times, DK is hurled into the background and back to the foreground. It’s a simple concept, but it works great here. Each level is incredibly detailed with an abundance of things going on everywhere. It’s not going to win any graphical contests since the graphics aren’t pushing any boundaries, but it looks beautiful as a Donkey Kong Country game.

It also sounds like you’d expect a DKC game to sound like with a handful of remixed themes and new music that fits in perfectly with the aesthetic. Controls, too, feel good. You usually won’t have reason to blame the game for lost lives, even if you’re forced to use some waggle controls here and there. Why the basic roll attack was delegated to flicking the Wiimote is an odd choice, but oh well, can’t win ‘em all.

Plus, there are still giant animals popping up everywhere for the heck of it.

Continuing the trend of Nintendo platformers, there is a Super Mode in place here should you fail too often. Die enough times in a level and a silver Kong will appear to assist you by just beating the level, though it won’t technically count and he certainly won’t pick up any bonuses. You’re on your own for bonuses, which are thankfully plentiful just like in the old games. While you can speed through the main game relatively fast, collecting everything will be what keeps you around longer than the price tag would suggest.

As mentioned before, Diddy Kong joins DK again, though you can’t play just as Diddy unless you’re playing co-operatively with another player. Basically, Diddy just adds two extra hearts to your life meter and allows you to hover for short periods of time using his rocket barrel. The good news with co-op is that it works a lot smoother than New Super Mario Bros Wii, i.e. the levels were built with two players in mind.

And who wouldn't want to share this with a friend?

I can’t stress how well Retro nailed DKC with Returns. There’s not enough bad to complain and too much good to come up with interesting things to say. If you own a Wii and love platformers, this has probably been a very good year for you thus far. Super Mario Galaxy 2, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Metroid: Other M, and now Donkey Kong Country Returns? Someone at Nintendo must be looking out for us. The point here is that DKC Returns is absolutely worth your time and money, so go buy it as soon as possible. Retro Studios does good work, so let’s just hope they get another Nintendo property soon. Star Fox anyone?

Want more game reviews? Check these out:

-Nixon’s Back Baby: A Review of Call of Duty: Black Ops

-Platforming Served Well Done: A Review of Super Meat Boy

-More Like a Tall Tale: A Review of Fable III

Back to the good stuff again.

First, what works: Everything. Now, what doesn’t work: The PC version. There, that about sums things up. Oh, whoa, I’m not even two paragraphs into this and already I’m out of material. Okay, I’ll elaborate since I suppose that’s what I’m supposed to do.

Treyarch, the publisher better known as the “In Between” Call of Duty developer responsible for World At War, took on the project of outdoing Modern Warfare 2, a seemingly impossible task. Apparently, and this is just what I’m hearing from exactly everyone, they managed to make a game that’s not only better than Modern Warfare 2, but Halo: Reach and any other FPS multiplayer game available. Oh snaps dude, that’s heavy.

And then this guy gets rail-hucked. Sucks to be him.

The setting here is very thankfully not World War II and instead we get sent to Vietnam, more or less. Setting a game during the period of the Vietnam War hasn’t yet paid off really well, but Treyarch seemed to pay very close attention to what made the Modern Warfare games work so well: Unrealism. The fantastical moments where you get to ride all manner of whatever across random terrains is what differentiated Modern Warfare from a lot of other FPS based around the “modern” or “very near future” settings, but Black Ops decides, “Hey, why not? This is a game, it should be fun!” Therefore, variety becomes the spice of life and we get a game packed with an almost ADD-laced campaign mode. While it takes place during the Vietnam War, you’ll be hopping around the world playing various characters in various situations, all totaling a really cool experience that doesn’t exactly allow you to connect with any one character but sure does make for a cool story.

I hate zombies. I think they’re overdone and putting them in games anymore just feels tired. Therefore, when I heard the zombie-survival mode that made World At War so popular would come back, I said, and I quote, “Meh.” Then I saw the screenshots of who you play as during the zombie-survival mode: JFK, Richard Nixon, Fidel Castro, and Robert McNamera. WIN!

If this were the whole game, I'd probably buy it just off of that.

Then comes the most important aspect of a FPS these days: The multiplayer. “How is the multiplayer? Is it better than previous games? Why won’t you tell me?” Calm down random person asking me these questions, the answer is coming in the very next sentence. Treyarch took copious notes regarding what worked and what didn’t work about the previous Call of Duty games and implemented what they learned into Black Ops, placating fans and making a multiplayer experience that once again raises the bar for what you expect an FPS multiplayer experience to be and ensures that Medal of Honor will be remembered as “What game?”

The new addition in the multiplayer rankings is the updated point system. You’re able to earn points as usual for doing just about anything while within a match, but there are certain modes that allow you to wager these points on the outcome of the match. One game type in particular has you play against six other players, place a bet on who will win, and then the top three players have their bets taken seriously. It all makes for a great match-type.

There’s just too much to say about the multiplayer. The amount of content here justifies the $60 price tag. It’s kind of obvious that Black Ops is going to be topping a number of Game of the Year lists, though it does make sense.

It's just like a snow day from school: Awesome!

BUT! There is one snag: The PC port is broken. Don’t purchase the PC version of Black Ops unless you don’t care that the multiplayer aspect doesn’t work due to poor matchmaking and constant lag. I’ve seen instances of the PC version being the review copy and causing the entire review score to drop significantly (we’re talking Jim Sterling’s Destructoid review), so plan accordingly and prepare to accept a broken game if you buy the PC version. If you get the Xbox 360 or PS3 version though, you should be fine.

And that’s all you need to know about Black Ops. If you love First Person Shooters, this is a no-brainer. Call of Duty: Black Ops is a game you want to play right now, so go do that. There, review over. Did it make a difference? Nah, I didn’t think so. C’mon Nixon, let’s get all quagmire on these undead.

Want more game reviews? Check these out:

-Platforming Served Well Done: A Review Of Super Meat Boy

-More Like A Tall Tale: A Review Of Fable III

-Monkey’s Life-Changing Trip: A Review of Enslaved: Odyssey To The West

Probably one of the best villains ever, by the way.

The main character is a hunk of meat. He is dating a girl made of bandages named Bandage Girl. They are both hated by the evil Dr. Fetus, a fetus in a jar with a top hat and monocle who has stolen Bandage Girl and placed her at the end of some of the most difficult platforming stages this side of I Wanna Be The Guy.

Here’s where I get to brag just a little bit. Those unfamiliar with I Wanna Be The Guy, it is a free PC game made by a guy who felt like making a stupidly difficult platforming game where every single thing tries to kill you, including spikes, fruit, and the moon. And I somehow beat that game. Super Meat Boy is even harder than that, so much so that I’m not even 100% done with the game but I can safely say that I’m past the point where at least 90% of gamers would be forced to give up.

So yes, Super Meat Boy is difficult in the same way that vampires are pasty and toast is crisp. You will die thousands of times before reaching even the standard end of the game. At this moment, I have completed the first 4 chapters, Light and Dark Worlds, with an A+ on each stage, plus every Light World Stage in Chapters 5 and 6, Teh Internets, and found just over 50 bandages. My death counter is about to hit 4000, and even that feels generous to me. I’ve been forced to wrap part of my right thumb in bandages, lost feeling it its tip, strained my trigger finger, and felt sharp pains up that arm. Few other games have ever made me take a few days rest to physically recover.

This right here is an easy level. The harder ones are nightmares.

Normally I’d complain about the difficulty spiking at some point in the game to levels of unfairness, but that isn’t the case here. On the contrary, Super Meat Boy begins unfair and only seeks to find your breaking point via saws, salt, missile launchers, and all manner of hellish obstacles. Thankfully, while the game contains over 300 levels, each level can be completed in under 30 seconds with the longest level thus far asking me to complete it in under 70 seconds for an A+ score.

There will come a time where you’re expected to perform to such a high degree that single pixels could mean the difference between completing a level or getting munched up by some spinning instrument of death. And you will be angry. And it will be perfectly reasonable to scream obscenities and rage quit. But once you beat that level on the 50th try you’ll feel all the better with yourself.

While I expected myself to become bothered by every new addition the game tossed at me, I was actually always surprised with glee at how inventive the challenge becomes. Each chapter consists of some new main obstacle standing in your way, such as the homing missile launchers getting added at some point around the middle of the game, and as you go through the chapters and begin to hate this obstacle, you just keep reminding yourself, “I’ll see this thing less in the next chapter,” only to then have it replaced by something I can’t give a name to but could be summed up as “Satan’s screaming missile launcher of Hell.” In essence, the level design is to be praised rather than scoffed at, despite the difficulty. You’ll be a better gamer for having gone through it.

Shown: How you'll feel after beating a enough of the tougher levels.

This very second, Super Meat Boy is priced at a more than reasonable 1200 MS points, or $15 in the real world. Even just half of this game has been worth the $15, but where I am now? It’s worth a full-priced retail release. Snatch it up while the meat’s still rare and enjoy yourself raw. Unless you’re bad at platformers. In that instance, just say away from Super Meat Boy. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to save Bandage Girl a few dozen more times before my thumb falls off.

Want more reviews? Check these out:

-More Like A Tall Tale: A Review Of Fable III

-Monkey’s Life-Changing Trip: A Review Of Enslaved: Odyssey To The West

-Call Of D-Oops, I Mean A Review Of Medal Of Honor

See that mechanical doggy of doom chasing you? You are totally going to have to fight that thing. And it will be epic.

The most griping detail about Enslaved is undoubtedly the story telling. Monkey (played by the unlimited brilliance that is Andy Serkis) is strong, independent, and highly antisocial. Trip, however, is… well pretty much everything that’s the opposite of Monkey. Both characters manage to escape a slave ship by their own specialized means. Trip knows she can’t trek the 300 miles to her home base by her self, so she wires a slave headband to Monkey’s head that will fry his brains if Trip dies, giving him no choice but to assist Trip in her journey back home.

Unlike other games where you fumble through the buttons every time a cutscene comes up to skip to the action, it is the subtle but touching development of this very odd paring as they cross a perilous futuristic wasteland littered with deadly war-induced mechs that truly engages the player’s desire to move forward. The plot only gets even more crazy when a third character, Pigsy, shows up half way through and becomes a whole new factor in their progress, for better or worse. This is very easily the best written, acted, directed, and motion captured cut scenes in a game since Uncharted 2 Among Thieves, and when your game is being compared to another game that won no short of 25 Game of the Year awards in 2009, that is definitely saying something.

This here is your entire ensemble. Just three solitary characters. And they’re all awesome. Okay, so Pigsy’s annoying as hell, but endearing nonetheless.

My second greatest love is the setting. Is it just me, or does every game set in a post apocalypse, or just plain warzone these days, feel comprised of the same old grimy dingy grey wastelands littered with the same metal scrap heaps we’ve seen over and over again?

Until now.

Ninja Theory has crafted quite possibly the most beautiful post apocalyptic future I’ve ever seen. While there are all sorts of reminiscence of old society and the America as we know it, foliage is growing everywhere as if nature is striving to retake the planet. It’s quite astounding.

You might think that given the story, the gameplay would revolve deeply on -GASP- escort missions. I’ll say right now the whole game is basically just one huge escort mission [story wise], but the way the gameplay is handled, it rarely feels that way. Yes, there will be regular “making-sure-Trip-doesn’t-get-killed” actions you must take, but in reality, Trip helps your progress far more than she hinders it, acting as your weapon and skill upgrader, and seeking out weaknesses and strategies for taking down mechs. The end result is gameplay that feels like a mixture of the platforming from Uncharted, the Combat from Heavenly Sword (except replace the sword with a staff that can also shoot plasma blasts), and the variety from Jak and Daxter. Seriously not kidding about the Jak and Daxter part. Play the game and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

I especially like the parts where you get to ride Monkey’s “Cloud.” What? That’s what it’s called.

So, the game’s fun, the characters are fun, the setting’s fun, and even some of your mechanical baddies are pretty clever and fun, but just like I said in my Prince of Persia article a while back, nothing is ever perfect. There are a couple technical flaws in the way this game is put together. On one hand, I am very glad that Ninja Theory didn’t feel discouraged by making this game strictly linear, but then again, the setting was so gorgeous and I felt the game restricted exploration maybe too much, especially when there are collectables throughout the game. You’ll actually find yourself moving on and missing quite a bit. In addition, because of it’s linearity, there will often be times when you find yourself rolling around invisible walls trying to find where the next grab-able ledge is located. The jump controls are also case sensitive, as Monkey only jumps when he can actually reach. This means that difficulty is very non-existent, as platforming isn’t so much a challenge as it is a means to an end. (At least you don’t have to worry about falling off any cliffs.)

Add a wonky camera here and there and one small instance where the game lagged on me and it becomes relevant that this game could have used a little more polishing before it finished development.

In the end, the positives vastly outweigh the negatives. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is a fantastic adventure from start to finish, not to mention a brilliant retelling of the old Chinese novel, Journey to the West. I anticipate this one might take a while to catch on with the gaming public, but in the foreseeable future it will be seen as a hidden jewel that flew under the radar. Flawed as it may be, it is, I believe, another perfect example that video games can indeed be a work of art. Check it out on Xbox 360 or PS3 today.

Want more game reviews? Check these out:

-Call of D- Oops, I Mean A Review of Medal of Honor

-A Miserable Pile of Secrets: A Review of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

-Just Stay Dead: A Review of Dead Rising 2

"So, uh, I've gotta go kill zombies for a while. You stay here and don't turn into a zombie or anything, okay?"

From everything I’ve seen of Dead Rising 2- screenshots, trailers, and gameplay footage- the graphics have gained a significant boost. Reviewers keep knocking the game for the graphics, saying they aren’t as good as they should be, but from what I’ve seen, the game looks infinitely better than its predecessor. I’m actually a big fan of the way the game looks, as if a slight color overlay was placed on the new graphics. I’m just seeing more colors in this title than I saw in the previous one. Things looks smooth and the game plays smooth for the most part. I’m not going to take a point off or anything for having slight showdowns when hundreds of zombies are on screen at the same time. Just being able to do that is enough to allow for some mild slowdowns.

The gameplay is essentially the same exact game previously seen. Chuck can pick up just about any and everything to deal zombie-death with, though in this installment the number of items have increased quite a lot and varied themselves even better than before. While Chuck doesn’t have the ability to take snapshots like Frank did (good), he does possess the much more useful skill of combining items to form super items, such as a boat paddle and a chainsaw, or boxing gloves and kitchen knives. These stronger items deal more damage and last longer, two aspects I’m happy with. It’ll become a somewhat obsession to collect new combo cards to see what you can combine together.

I think I have my favorite right off the bat.

However, the controls still suffer from the downfalls of the first Dead Rising. Like Frank, Chuck is perfectly capable of wasting zombies by the street-full, but as soon as a psychopath shows up you’ll be lamenting the loose controls in favor of something that works properly for the situation. Encounters with the psychopath characters are frequent and usually unexpected, meaning that you’ll need to be in the habit of saving every single chance you get since much of the time you’ll go into a psychopath fight unprepared with awful weapons and no health. The psychopaths are a needed evil in the game, I guess, but they just aren’t fun to deal with. Killing zombies is satisfying, but killing psychopaths is just an annoyance between the good parts of the game.

The 72-hour timer is back for no good reason, though this time hinging the plot on a relatively interesting concept. Chuck’s daughter has been bitten by a zombie and is infected. If she doesn’t get regular doses of Zombrex, she will change into a zombie and die or something. That’s your main worry in terms of time and as something to base a timer on, that’s not too bad. Why the arbitrary 72-hours, I’m not sure, but whatever. You’ll still be asked to fight psychopaths and save survivors, but their AI is slightly improved over last time, meaning escort missions aren’t the most awful thing in the world. They’re still pretty awful, but things could be worse. The story and specifically the dialogue are more or less forgettable, but when you’re talking zombies, there is no need for a story.

You can kill zombies by ramming into them while wearing a moose head. That's great.

As a single product, Dead Rising 2 is a pretty good deal. There are some multiplayer modes, the best of which being a co-op campaign mode that makes the game far more manageable, as well as some competitive modes that are a one-play-then-done sort of novelty. Everything comes down to your opinion of the first game. If you hated the timer, the escort missions, and the wonky controls, Dead Rising 2 is just more of the same. If you loved the first game, you’ll love this one even more. If you were on the fence about the first one or this one, just give it a pass. No need to encourage this sort of behavior. I mean, I for one could do without zombies for a while. Say like maybe, forever.

Want more game reviews: Check these out:

-How to Reach The Masses: A Halo: Reach Review

-Samuses Should Be Seen, Not Heard: A Review of Metroid: Other M

-Scott Pilgrim vs This Game Review: FIGHT!

Snazzy, but will people really get what this is?

Now, with the popularity of remaking TV shows as films, remaking films as films, and so forth, Nintendo has decided to take that (now) classic James Bond game from 1997, and kick it up a notch, as a chef might say.

November, 2010 brings us “GoldenEye 007” for the Wii, and I have to wonder, is this a good thing that I should look forward to, or a cheap marketing tactic that I should abhor?

PROS

1.) Better graphics

The original had amazing graphics for the time. Go back and play it now, and the only things that doesn’t hold up are the character faces, the somewhat bland environments, and the physics. In other words, the only major improvement you can make to the big brother of “Modern Warfare” is to update the visual aspects.

While the Wii is not a graphics powerhouse, it isn’t 64-bit either. In the footage from E3, Bond looks like a well-animated version of the actor. Characters move realistically, and the weapons all look like real weapons (the cute little PP7 has been switched to the real-world Walther P99 that Bond carries). Taking a great game and giving it better graphics is a good thing. This is not an issue for me at all.

2.) A more adult game for the Wii

Oh, boy! You see, I’m not a big devotee to Nintendo classics like Chris clearly is (Mario retrospectives, you say? Collect every Pokemon, indeed?). I love those games, but I’m a cinematic kind of guy. I want a game that takes a great movie premise and makes me the star.

This is Nintendo’s big chance to say, “Hold on. We can do an FPS without a terrible port, and it isn’t even a wacky Japanese experiment for motion control!” This could help them capture that elusive crowd of adults who want to shoot something realistically.

3.) Fan service

I’m a big fan of James Bond, and I’m a big fan of the original game. I’m sure that millions of other gamers are right next to me on that. We haven’t had a great Bond game since the original “GoldenEye” (“Nightfire” was okay, but EA should really stick to sports), and this game’s very existence brings back so many great moments for us. Remember the first time you saw that dopey guard standing in the toilet stall? You’ll see him here! That’s great fun.

Some parts of the classics, regardless of better taste, are just fabulous.

CONS

1.) Rehash syndrome

I’m never a fan of trotting out the same product again and again. That’s why I don’t own multiple DVD editions of the same movie, and that’s certainly why I don’t play many “Halo” games. And I can’t help but feel that this new “GoldenEye” might be yesterday’s meatloaf. Even if the meatloaf was really good when it was fresh, that doesn’t mean it should be served to dear friends another time.

Nintendo is taking a big risk by altering their best-loved games for the next year or two. “GoldenEye,” “Starfox 64,” and “Ocarina of Time” were all being paraded around at E3. Either they just want to come back to our childhoods for fun, or they just hired a crop of developers who haven’t owned a system since the N64 (and probably played it during finals weeks in college).

I guess I’m just weary because the remakes of old “Resident Evil” games, “Prince of Persia,” and especially “Doom” and “Wolfenstein” have been so pointless over the last few years.

2.) Confusing for newcomers

This is a business problem. Yes, fans of the original may jump for joy, but think of the children! (Okay, that is the last time I use that phrase, ever) Some gamers now, who weren’t old enough to pronounce “Nintendo” in 1997, will tilt their heads at this.

It’s called “GoldenEye,” and that was a movie starring Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. This new game stars Daniel Craig as Bond, and the last time we saw a game called “GoldenEye,” it was that dodgy Rogue Agent game that everyone laughed at. To make matters worse, the story has been changed up so that it fits Craig’s take on Bond. This probably means no more flashbacks to the Soviet Union, and less emphasis on minimizing civilian casualties. All of this just may bite the marketing team on the bum in a few months.

3.) Control system?

The footage from the game raises a big question about how we will control Mr. Bond. The moves that he makes seem very precise and sophisticated (then again, those might have just been cutscenes), and the Wii is not known for being FPS-friendly. Back in ’97, the N64 had the appropriate controls for this game: a control stick for movement, a trigger for firing, and distinct different buttons for actions and weapon changes. The only thing that didn’t work great was the manual aim.

What will we get here? Motion control probably won’t be a factor, and the Nunchuk will be used heavily, I’m betting. Just in case the Wiimote/Nunchuk scheme sucks, the classic controller or Gamecube controller can be used. That doesn’t inspire much confidence, but it does cover possible complaints.

I mean, it looks alright, but who's the game really for? Honestly? Also, Bond totally looks like Elijah Wood in this shot.

Some Final Thoughts

So, will this game be another footnote in video game history, under the header “Total Blunders and Insults”? Or will it inspire me to buy a Wii, and poetically continue the legacy of the original? I doubt it will be cringe-worthy. If it turns out to be pants, I’m sure we will all forget it quickly. If it blows up and becomes the next great thing for Nintendo, I won’t complain (I’m sure other people will fire off hate-missiles at it, though). I guess we all have to wait for the exciting conclusion. “GoldenEye 007” for the Wii comes out November 2, 2010.

Like Army of Two but a whole heck of a lot better and not at all like Army of Two.

Can anything come along and uproot Modern Warfare from its place as the dominant FPS? For a while it didn’t appear so, but just as Halo was ousted by Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare has been outshone by Battlefield: Bad Company 2. How is that possible? Read on and I’ll tell you.

A Paradigm Shift Once Again

What Modern Warfare managed to do a few years ago was decide how online play would shift for what gamers really wanted. It’s had a good run, but now the play-style is shifting once again and Bad Company 2 is better suited for current trends. Namely, you won’t constantly be spawning into instant death and kills aren’t exactly simple.

The main aspect that people are finding most appealing about Bad Company 2 regards the amount of skill and strategy actually needed when playing online. You simply can’t run around with two shotguns and a riot shield mowing down everyone because you shot first. I watched my close friend Other Chris play a few multiplayer matches and really did see the importance of playing your role correctly. A sniper is failing if they’re attempting to defend a base from the inside with a pistol but doing his job when he’s staked on a rock picking off any advancing enemies. Similarly, an assault soldier is supposed to be hunkered in the base with his rifle aimed at the door, not running around shooting everything.

You try that and you'll get a tank shell in your face.

One big draw for me is the amount of destruction you really can inflict upon the environments. Nowhere is safe. Any building you hole up in can be leveled with enough explosives. Walls can be taken out with a tank round, leaving you completely unprotected. I found it fascinating to witness Other Chris run to his favorite rock, aim, realize a tree is in his way, and shoot the tree in half to give himself a proper view. That just seems cool. You can run up to a fence and knife it to create a hole to shoot through. You’ve just got to play this one smart.

In terms of a single-player experience, there’s nothing to expect other than the usual FPS single-player campaign. There are a few hilarious jabs at Modern Warfare’s expense, but not much else to really make it stand out. The characters are relatively forgettable but the main aspect of the campaign is that it isn’t trying to take itself serious, something that’s very welcoming. However, it has an extremely generous aim-assist that the multiplayer doesn’t have, so playing the campaign isn’t going to prepare you to play online like you’d assume.

No building is safe. Ever.

It is sort of sad that no matter what, Bad Company 2 will be compared to Modern Warfare 2 and as a result some people won’t play one or the other and that shouldn’t be the case. Both games are perfectly good titles, each with their individual strengths and weaknesses. At the moment though, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has a fresher and much fairer take on the online front, such as really rewarding skill. You’ll get a lot more points for sniping someone across the map than just a few feet away, for example. Essentially, if you loved Modern Warfare you’ll really love Bad Company 2.

Stare into the face of the Uncanny Valley.

I am not a fan of hype. Any time I hear too much on a title I start to dislike the game on principle alone, so Heavy Rain was big on my skeptical radar. I had been hearing all sorts of things about the PS3 exclusive regarding the detail of graphics and the amount of engrossing story, but all this did was make me hope the game would be terrible. Finally, Heavy Rain is out, so are my instincts correct? Is Heavy Rain a flop? Absolutely not.

Original Concept; Tough Sell

Heavy Rain is very much unlike any game you’ve played before unless you’ve played Indigo Prophecy. The style of game is something I can’t quite pin down as everything is based off Quicktime Events and dialogue trees. The plot revolves around the murders of the Origami Killer, a serial killer known for his trademark origami mementos left on the victims. You’ll play through the story as four different characters all related to the murders in some way, such as the dull FBI agent, the father whose son has gone missing, the mother who’s already lost her child, and the really developed detective character that I’d prefer was the only character I needed to control.

The FBI agent on the left is not who I'd prefer to play since he's, well, boring.

Where Heavy Rain sets itself apart from other games is the structure of the game itself. There are no Game Over screens or checkpoints to get to. You’ll go through the story doing the best you can to make the right decisions and what have you with each action you do having consequences at some point. If your character takes a particularly bad beating early on, they will look pretty damaged for the rest of the story. It’s even possible to have a character die. The game won’t end, but it could result in you not seeing the end if that particular character is crucial for resolution to the game’s plot.

I do like the “Choose Your Own Adventure” framework in Heavy Rain. The whole game takes maybe under 10 hours to complete once through, but you could play it again and see a completely different result, assuming you’ve changed your decisions slightly. For example, the game’s demo has a scene where the detective is pressing an individual for information about the Origami Killer. You are given the option to be nice and not really force a response, or you can push for the character’s story. It is quite possible to learn something new in each playthrough.

In this scene, the father loses his son in a crowded mall. To some people that's straight-up terrifying.

However, the controls frustrate me to no end. This is a game only since it uses a controller. You are constantly asked to perform some random button press that represents an action in the game. Some of these make sense, like a flick of the control stick to the left to dodge a punch, but then there are times that you have to flick the stick to reach in your pocket. I don’t care about that amount of detail in my motions. Every minute action is required. Even walking, a task that should be a simple as “push stick forward,” is complicated by the need to hold down a shoulder button and then steer your character. Heavy Rain is a game I much prefer to watch rather than play.

Should you purchase Heavy Rain? It depends. If you would like to replay the story over and over, then yes, certainly buy the game. For most of us, a rental weekend will suffice.

No seriously, you've seen this game before.

I called it. I’d only played the demo for Dante’s Inferno but that was all I needed to figure this one out entirely. Now that it’s been out for a week or so, let’s take a look at Dante’s Inferno as it plays as a game, though I could probably just tell you to go play God of War and get the desired effect. Whoops. Let’s start.

Creating New Games Must Be Hard

As I’ve already pointed out, Dante’s Inferno is absolutely a God of War rip-off. There’s no denying it, even if you want to. The games both have main characters seemingly tricked by dark forces and require you to battle your way through hordes of enemies with hack-and-slash controls and Quick Time Events, ultimately leading to a resolution that entails fighting a god or Satan or whatever.

So for this game, Dante, based off the classic Italian poet of the same name but not of the same anything else, must storm all nine circles of Hell to reclaim his love Beatrice, taken from him by Lucifer for some reason or another. It’s all supposed to be based off of Dante’s Inferno from The Divine Comedy, but we know better, don’t we?

You deserve every ounce of punishment you receive, Dante.

The game does play smoothly enough to be played, and it has a heck of a lot to look at much of the time. The first third of the game throws some truly messed up enemies at you that relate to their respective levels, such as Gluttony or Lust. Problem is, after that these enemies begin showing up again and again in circles other than the ones they make sense in. Right there is where Visceral Games loses its credibility when they say, “We used the poem exactly for inspiration.” No, you got lazy.

What makes this all worse is that the final third of the game consistently throws you into battle after battle on a platform without any real innovation or anything new. You just fight enemy after enemy for the finale stages of the game. That’s not good game design; that’s once again a sign of laziness. And of course the ending leaves itself open for a sequel. Looks like this is going to be a whole franchise if it sells well enough. So let’s try not to let it sell well, okay?

I just can’t get past the game’s two defining characteristics: It’s resemblance to God of War, and it’s use of a classical poem as a backdrop. I realize making games can be tough, and thinking up an original concept is even tougher, but just taking two already successful things with nearly no relation and deciding, “Yes, this is what our next game shall be,” well that just doesn’t work for me.

Maybe you’ll really like Dante’s Inferno, though. It’s not a terrible game. It’s just a game that’s two elements have been done before and done a lot better. Either go play God of War or read The Divine Comedy. Rent this one if you absolutely can’t resist.

You ready for another trip to Rapture?

If you’ve read my Bioshock review, you already know that I like Bioshock. If you read my preview for Bioshock 2, then you know I’m pretty psyched for the sequel. Well, the sequel’s out now, so did it live up to my expectations? There is some good, some bad, and some blah, but let’s save that for another day. Oh heck, why not, let’s do it now. On to Rapture!

Something Old, Something New

As you may remember, the world of Bioshock takes place in the doomed underwater city of Rapture. You got to see a great deal of it in the first game, so you’d think the second game is just gonna ramp up the amount of new areas, right? Uh, there are some new places, but to be honest, the first game sort of has this one beat in terms of atmosphere. Why? Because the first one completely set up a new world. This one just continues on, so there isn’t as much mystery to everything. It’s still great, but the effect of the city has somewhat diminished in a repeat visit.

You get to play as the very first Big Daddy here with all that goes along with that, such as a drill, the ability to walk underwater (which is completely under-utilized), and the choice to either harvest Little Sisters for Adam like in the first game or adopt them as your own Little Sister for a while, a new concept. It’s a good idea, but babysitting the Little Sisters for a while can get somewhat repetitive and, well, dull. Plus, the thought of a drill weapon is great, but it isn’t nearly as fun as it sounded.

Maybe if you were as cute as this doll, I'd have less to complain about.

Regardless of these faults, there is a lot of good to the game. It starts out slow but the later half hits hard and sweet, a good combo. This is an FPS, but the focus isn’t so much on reactionary speed and reflexes so much as just experiencing the world. Even if it doesn’t seem as vivid as the first outing, Bioshock 2 is still fantastic in the story department.

There are a lot of new Plasmids to play with and thankfully a completely new hacking system that happily replaces the monotonous hacking minigame from the first. There are also boss battles with the Big Sister, though it isn’t set up as the seemingly random encounters the pre-game hype lead on. These are scripted story events, but that doesn’t matter: Big Sisters are a welcome addition to Rapture.

The multiplayer, however, can just be done away with. No reason to play it after a single glance or two as it’s just like any other multiplayer shooter except with Bioshock as the backdrop. Forgettable, so just forget it and make this a purchase based on the single-player experience.

And it really is a purchase to make. I’m still big on the mythos behind Rapture, so any new storyline has high standing in my court. Go play this one after you play the first, at least as a rental title. Few other games are hitting this perfectly in the story department, so don’t miss out.

If I had any amount of stamina, I'd totally want to play soccer.

Something about football games don’t exactly appeal to me. Maybe it’s the fact that year after year they tend not to focus so much on progressing the series in favor of just updating the roster. Little did I know that such is not the case with real football, by which I mean soccer, the world’s favorite sport. Turns out FIFA Soccer ’10 is awesome, assuming you like soccer that is. Want to know more? Let’s talk about it some more.

The FIFA brand is still similar to the Madden brand in so much as there are new FIFA games roughly once a year. Beyond that, FIFA sits apart as a franchise that goes way out of its way to do everything possible to increase the overall experience of the game. This year gets the addition of new controls that allow you to juggle the ball more in depth than before. You’re able to make your character dance around with the ball with such control that you become amazing, though this isn’t without some drawbacks. The main one is, it’s bloody difficult to juggle the ball correctly. I don’t know much about soccer, so controls like this just make for more homework for me.

The same goes for the maneuvers you can program into your team to execute whenever you see fit. I don’t know the finer points of soccer well enough to make these features work for me. But this game wasn’t built for me; it was built for the hardcore soccer fan, and if you happen to be one of those, FIFA Soccer ’10 has made sure to be as intuitive to your needs as it ever has been.

Lots To Enjoy For Soccer Fans

Even more for the fans is the staggering amount of teams to choose from. There are hundreds of teams to pick and play as or against in dozens of venues. You’ll have your work cut out for you if you intend to master the nuances of every team, but at least you’ll have something to do for a while.

If you hadn't noticed, the game also looks pretty darn good overall.

So what could make this better? Excellent online support, that’s what. Beyond just simply being able to upload your face onto a player, the online feature allows for great matchmaking against all sorts of players all over the world. You’d just better know what you’re doing as there is a sharp difference between players that have put in the time and effort to rawk this game and those that just rented it this weekend. You’ll want to have spent some serious time training your players before you attack the other powerhouses on the online circuit. At least you’ll always have something to do.

And that’s about it. FIFA Soccer ’10 is perfect for soccer fans, but anyone unimpressed with the sport probably won’t enjoy this one for obvious reasons. If you’ve never tried a soccer game and find yourself curious, FIFA Soccer ’10 is a good place to start. You might just find yourself hopelessly addicted like the rest of the world.

With that many colorful characters, how can this game go wrong? Answer: It doesn't.

Capcom has made a nice handful of games for their Capcom vs series over the past decade with Marvel vs Capcom 2 being one of their most beloved, generating an HD remake this past year. Japan saw the release of Tatsunoko vs Capcom last year as well, but the ability to release it anywhere outside of Japan was sketchy at best due to the problems with copyrights laws and who owns what from the Tatsunoko brand outside the land of the rising sun. We are fortunate that not only were these licensing issues sorted out with minimal lost of the original game, the US release has four new characters and all new art for each character ending. That’s good news.

The Real King of Fighters

What makes the Capcom vs games stand out among other fighting games, including Capcom’s own, is that they basically adhere to the same principles that make the Smash Bros game sell so dang well: Favorite characters fighting each other without any inherent story structure. Marvel vs Capcom had a huge collection of favorites from both sides of the equation, and Tatsunoko vs Capcom strikes yet another great balance between known characters and unknown characters to create a rather diverse roster to choose from. Ryu and Chun Li are there, as are Mega Man and Zero, but so are a handful of Tatsunoko’s best.

Oh right, you may still be unaware who Tatsunoko are. I’m still mostly unaware myself. Tatsunoko is one of Japan’s anime leaders and have been for quite a while, so the company has a heck of a lot of recognizable and loveable characters to choose from. You may not recognize any of them at first, but after playing a bit you’ll learn to love them.

If I had a dollar for every time I performed a slide kick to a guy in a bird costume...

That’s yet another benefit of the US version: it’s been rebalanced. Capcom took notice of how the game had been played and altered it just enough to fix anything that needed fixing, such as possible exploits for people to hit infinite combos. Balancing like that makes me happy, mostly because I find no fun when on the receiving end of an infinite combo. It’s even more important since an online feature has been added now, meaning you’ll thank Capcom when you aren’t getting your butt handed to you by some jerk that found a glitch or two to ruin the game with.

Tatsunoko vs Capcom is a smooth presentation. It’s a great fighter for the Wii and will do a lot of good to help people with Smash Bros addictions but no new outlets. Consider this your new option over Turtles Smash-Up.

Want more video game reviews? Check these out:

-Some Kind of Black Magic: A Review of Bayonetta

-The Blue Bomber Strikes Again: A Review of Mega Man 10

-Who Needs Heroes Anyway: A Review of No More Heroes 2