Elsword – Pre-beta Preview

You may have seen it, you may have heard of it, you even may have played it – but chances are, you haven’t! Those constantly on the hunt for a new MMO title to sink their time into stand the greater chance of running into this diamond in the rough through the hundreds of other like-minded games crowding the F2P pipelines. But Gameforge’s attempt is certainly one of the more noteworthy and deserving titles come out of the woodwork.

Chibi characters? Check. Anime art style? Check. Attacks that could light up a small town? Check. It’s going to be a good ride.

With popular hack n’ slash titles like Bayonetta, God of War and Devil May Cry proving their worth against the flood of shooters and sport titles, the genre is looking more and more likely to become the turning point of the new generation. While not a new concept by any stretch of the mind, MMOs are some of the least like titles to adopt the form.

Elsword pits itself against 2 major competitors – Dragonica and Dragon’s Nest, each with their own different takes on the hectic button-mashing battle system.

The former of the two mixes the classic beat em’ system through a plane-based side scroller while the latter took a more realistic approach to the art of beating the pulp out of dozens of monsters within the same minute – with a fully 3D over-the-shoulder perspective to match its game vision.

With a 2.5D and a fully 3D version being on the market long before itself, Elsword has taken up the task of filling in the missing link with a 2D side-scrolling take on the unforgiving combo-based method of monster slaying. You’ll dart to the right – smash some kangaroo things – go right again – kill some thieves for a guy you met back in town – go right some more and end up in what feels like a different country. It’s pure monster bashing bliss for anyone who craves sinking giant weapons into chibi creatures for hours on end.

Though it’s instinct to judge a book by its cover, to jump to conclusions and to knock it before you try it, Elsword and its flatter approach to gameplay makes for a much more fluid beating of giant insects and bat-wielding kangaroo-styled creatures rather than having the action stunted by sliding between the Z axis of an otherwise 2D game and completely misjudging the distance of your target.

While a game of its kind can never situate itself on heavy exploration or a gripping story, Elsword features enough fast-paced action and challenging combo systems that while won’t keep the DmC veterans from mastering in more than an hour, will prove satisfying enough for just about anyone who’s looking to have a bit more of say in the control of a character they’re expected to pump dozens, or hundreds of hours into when slotted side-by-side to the traditional method of monster smashing seen in the myriad of MMOs bombarding the bandwidth of the World Wide Web.

Here’s my version of the sword-user. The dummy gives bonus ATK, I swear.

Crafting, PvP and the all-expected co-op play are in effect no matter which version of Elsword you play. Beta or not, you’ll be able to jump straight into the somewhat confusing menu-driven equipment upgrade service and beef up your gear in time for some quick 1v1 matches to test your judgement, timing and ability to anticipate your opponent. It’s not something I’ve had hand-to-hand experience with, but it’s sure to please those who get their thrills from the challenge of another player. Thinking on your feet is what we gamers do best… apparently!

As per the norm, this more than satisfying beat em’ up features a number of classes craved by any potential MMORPG fan – albeit with a slight twist. Rather than make a name for yourself as a budding fresh-from-the-village adventurer, each ‘class’ in Elsword comes in the form of a lore-based character with Elsword himself taking the helm as the cocky blade-wielding bullet sponge.

If, for some reason, you’ve only gone from one P2P MMO to another without ever knowing a place like MMOHub existed to bring these quirky little F2P efforts into your condemning online game ‘to-do’ list, you’ll be surprised to hear Elsword uses a system where your character classes not only level up, but quite literally switch to a completely different class as your progress. Each of the 6 basic classes found on the character creation screen have the option to develop into 3 different classes at level 15 and another 3 at 30 in conduction with your first choice.

5-figure digits and lots of em’! That’s what every fan of cel-shaded visuals looks for in a game.

If you’ve played Flyff, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t then… just think of your standard MMO class completely erasing your skills in favor of more flashy, destructive ones every few levels and you’ll get the idea. It’s a concept that means you’ll be doing even more re-rolling than you normally would. And that’s a habit any MMO player can admit to falling into!

Other chapters range from the close combat expert, magic-wielding sorceress, ram-rotting heavy armsman and a couple other key class types you expect from a game sticking to the simplified skill-tree method of level progression. It’s not the most refined and original system, but it’s one that ultimately keep the story somewhat straightforward and not at risk of the complaints of ‘if I’m such a hero, why are there millions of others?’ You’d get from say… Rift or World of Warcraft. It’s refreshing in some ways, actually.

Those of you who’ve maybe grown accustomed to the similar titles – like the aforementioned Dragonica – may see little point in turning your efforts to a game taking a page from the same book; but the truth is, so far, it seems as if the team behind Elsword will stay committed to the efforts of growing this addictive title into a game far more capable of throwing fun in your face once it’s rolled out to a more global audience. It’s fun, fast, simple and good to look when you’re not staying in once place scrutinizing it all.

Dungeon bosses become the perfect excuse to build your combo count. Bash away!

Essentially, Elsword is a game you’ll be able to run on your aging laptop to scratch the niggling itch of wanting to pound monsters into the ground for a slightly understandable reason. They’ll put up a fight, but thankfully not on the level that’s likely to have you smashing your machine with a giant weapon instead.

Elsword will be leaving it’s UK closed beta in a couple days while numerous EU regions and the US can already experience the final product completed free of charge. You’ll be able to nab it from Steam eventually, too! Warning, though; the micro-transaction shop filled to the brim with cute cat paws, swimware and demonic wings is mighty tempting.

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros. Review

It’s the year of Luigi! While that’s certainly not what my 6 year old Chinese calendar says on its wearing pages, I know for sure the tall green underdog isn’t quite at the level of fame needed to get up on that pedestal – instead, he’s just getting a bigger role in a couple of video games over these 12 months before being pushed back to the shadow of his stumpy brother.

Regardless of what happens at the year’s end, Luigi is enjoying his year in the spotlight. Proving he could entertain us again with his own misfortune chasing ghosts around haunted mansions and kicking his brother aside for his own round of classic platforming action, Luigi has decided to partner up with his equally moustached sibling once more for a round of… dozing off.

That’s right! Mostly, anyway. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros. sees the iconic, out-of-place trade workers break out the hammers to fight battles in a way you’d expect to see in a 10 year old Final Fantasy – but with a twist. Turn based combat becomes intertwined with micro-games to spruce up the ‘traditional’ combat system in 1 ways good and 2 ways bad.

Taking the brother’s out of their comfort zone, Dream Team Bros. drops the major denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom into the colourful Pi’illo Island through the invite and transport of the land’s main man. Rightfully sceptical of the invitation, Toadsworth’s ageing wisdom scores a point as the team gets ambushed by a ghastly force with Peach, again, becoming the targeted victim. What a perfect excuse to have the brother’s reclaim their former turn-based battle prowess!

Seemingly unphased by the attempted abduction – the poor girl must have grown accustomed by now – Princess Peach calms down her subordinates and pushes them to have a good time in the game-show inspired island without caring much at the though of who was pulled the strings of the attack. Despite his absence in the last fight, Luigi soon gets to justify why he should have become the headlining name of the series decades ago by… falling asleep.

Learning that the Pi’illo Island used to play home to a species known as the Pi’illo  (as if you didn’t see that coming) you soon come across the treasure the current denizens of the floating landmass had been looking for all this time. A pillow. Genius.

Placing the ageing headrest atop the ancient bed situated in the island’s heritage museum soon makes for an image Luigi just can’t tear himself away from. As if spending so much time with a Princess over the past few decades wasn’t enough, the green-glad ‘hero’ throws away all memory of manners and decides to take a nap on the relic as a much earned reward for finding the crusty old pillow.

Falling into a deep sleep within a matter of seconds, Luigi’s apparent narcolepsy activates the pillow’s ancient magic and tears a whole into the ‘Dream World’ subjecting Peach to the kinds of voices that cause her to lose it and jump through the gateway. Back in slightly-sane ville, Mario notices his que to follow suit leaving Luigi as the lazy gatekeeper staying back to keep the doors open.

The Dream World essentially flattens the planes of the 3D overworld limiting your movement to the standard 2D platforming of the older entries in the series. Hopping and stomping your way through the stage’s obstacles and enemies, with help from Luigi’s dream body ‘Dreamy Luigi’, will eventually lead you to a crystallised character from Pi’illo islands days of old; shatter that and you’ll have yourself booted back into the world of the X, Y and Z axis with a safely rescued Pi’illo citizen to take away from the dozens of other stone pillows dotted around the overworld.

It’s a fairly repetitive process that’ll only slowly expand into a viable puzzle segment later down the line, but does offer perhaps the longest breaks away from constant meaningless character conversations between the action.

Combat doesn’t stray too far from the series’ classic take on the traditional turn-based JRPG brawls. While fighting in the 3D segments with a concious second brother you’ll command the attacks of both judging on the looks of the enemy to make your decision of jumping on them, smashing them down with a hammer or combining the efforts of the two siblings in micro-game style ‘Bros. Attacks’ you’ve picked up along the way to rack up some extra stopping power. In the Dream World, however, you’ll see the emerald brother lend his power to the crimson plumber to essentially rain Luigi’s during every swing – The core aim to watch, judge and counter everything your enemy throws at your during their turn comes across as equal parts a god send to the system as it is a curse – as if to say it strays too far from the genre-defining formula to appeal to the more hardcore demographic.

Pulling away from the game’s quirky characters, shallow puzzle sequences solves by hammers and a tug of Luigi’s moustache and the understanding that you can actually run through the game without being hurt if you’re reaction timings see you capable of the feat, you’ll notice some surprisingly catching music stemming from the talent of the series’ long-standing composer, Yoko Shimomura, and some incredibly crisp and vibrant backdrops for the fairly simple 2D sprites to traverse. Ignoring the obvious flaws, Dream Team Bros. is rather kind to the senses despite the stretched images plastered throughout this review.

Nintendo and AlphaTeam have certainly gone into this idea with the core value of ‘Gameplay over story’ the monolithic developer has employed since its first venture into video games, but this strikes me as the prime example of where one simply can’t stand without the other. While the dialogue will certain see your blank expression turn into a noticeable smile on more than a few occasions, you’ll still be itching to skip the text boxes and look for any option to omit cutscenes from the cartridge itself.

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros. ultimately suffers from poor execution. A tiresome storyline coupled with constant dialogue sequences makes for one slow and, quite frankly, boring role-playing game only backed up by a slightly interesting twist on the classic turn-based formula and enough comedic tropes to push you ahead just a little further. It’s not going to scratch the itch of any loyal RPG fan, but anyone looking to see the brother’s in a more personal light after all these years may value the purchase. It’s certainly not for everyone.

Audio/Visual – 4/5: Surprisingly catchy tunes and a beautifully vivid world made better with the 3D effect – It’s a shame not opt to turn it off.

Replay Value – 3/5: Without going into too much detail, it certainly isn’t just a campaign run.

Innovation – 3/5: Luiginary and Bros. Attack put another spin on the combat system turned on its head in the past games, but doesn’t offer much more in terms of tactical thinking.

Gameplay – 2/5: Offering little more than past games in the series, Dream Team Bros. couples minimal change and aggravating plot-points to an already mediocre RPG experience.

– Josh reviewed Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros on Nintendo 3DS –

Song of Saya Review

Visual novels have been coming in all shapes and sizes for well over a decade. While still incredibly uncommon pastimes outside of their native Japan, the interactive stories have finally gained a group willing to break through the fan-translation scene to commercially license the rare products across the pond – and Gen Urobochi’s ‘Saya no Uta’ is but one of those gems.

Translated as ‘Song of Saya’ across the pond, JAST USA brings Urobochi’s bloodied horror/thriller to the western audience. Not shying away from a full-voice script, Song of Saya doesn’t shame itself from explicit acts and severe violence by the hand of a number of the game’s characters. Telling a tale of depression, desperation and common-found loneliness, this grotesque visual novel ultimately explores the lengths the human race can sink when they have nothing to lose and, perhaps, everything to gain.

Waking up to find the whole world in ruins Fuminori Sakisaka succumbs to the potential after-effects of an experimental brain surgery introduced to save his life following a car accident that claimed the lives of his parents. Due to the harrowing effects of the surgery, Fuminori sees everything in the world as if it were the inside of some horrific monster; pulsating vessels and entrails adorn walls, pavements, buildings and street signs while every living creature presents itself as squalling, grotesque monstrosities – expect a single mysterious girl found walking the corridors of the hospital after dark.

Fuminori leaves the shelter – without alerting anyone to his condition – to live his life with the only creature capable of reminding him that he’s still human. Still under the heavy influence of the depression caused by his problems, Fuminori begins to descend into the inevitable madness brought on by his losses and bleak view of his claustrophobic, almost suffocating, nightmarish world.

While Fuminori learns to return to his once-regular school life, his friends soon begin to notice his change in attitude. Boiling it down to the traumatic experience of losing his loved ones, the group sit waiting for his cloud to blow over unaware of how he really pictures them.

Slowly but surely Fuminori grows to see Saya as the only light left in his dark world. Giving up at the thought of becoming normal, the student pursues the ideal of making Saya happy just as she made him – with no ramifications of the horrific tasks he’d be carrying out to pull off the feat.

Changing perspectives throughout the story, you’ll soon realise why you’re given the opportunity. As you witness the events of the story play out through numerous perspectives, it becomes apparent that there’s no real protagonist or antagonist in this bloodied high-school thriller – instead, it’s up to you to decide who to root for – and, rest assured, you’ll have a hard time making the choice. Between putting yourself in the shoes of the troubled Fuminori or Koji, the friend who’s losing it all at your hands, you’re left questioning your own moral sanity and glued to the screen to see the end result. And by god is it worth it.

Though the reputation of the visual novel outside the land of the rising sun may be the closet pastime of lonely otaku looking to get a quick fix of explicit fan-service and ‘rewarding’ H-scenes, Song of Saya easily breaks the mould. While still containing brief scenes of intimacy, each one serves a purpose in more than the obvious conveyance of Fuminori and Saya’s desperate relationship so-much-so that ridding them from the title would leave a major void in its story-telling prowess.

Song of Saya manages to put a severe spin on the traditional romance novel. It’s incredibly hard to make a case in favor of the game’s well-written script without ruining many of the surprises it builds its warm reception, but everything from the art to the voices make this game as delightfully harrowing an experience as it could possibly get – and that’s certainly not a phrase I ever expected to use in a review.

Despite its relatively short length for a visual novel, its shorter campaign and single-option paths make it a much more well-rounded experience. You needn’t worry about severe storyline diversions and constant decision events and can just sit back, controller in hand, and immerse yourself in one of the most captivating horror novels I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.

It’s difficult to write a review of Gen Urobuchi’s 10-year old novel without ruining much of what causes it to be delectably worthy of a second playthrough. Saya no Uta delves straight into the horror that’s about to unfold in its 6-hour long transcript. Including the usual rounds of tragedy, despair and well-rounded human emotion, this work of fiction promises to do what movies can’t manage in 90 minutes and other visual novels take twice as long to achieve all in a way you never thought you’d fall victim.

Audio/Visual – 5/5: Everything in the AV department screams horror in your face. Fantastic attention to detail and pitch-perfect voice acting and audio affects really elevate the nightmarish and saddening script.

Gameplay – 5/5: Without dozens of choices sending you on a wild goose chase for the ending you really want, Saya no Uta has 3 endings with 3 distinct paths. While short, you won’t get lost in a maze of drawn out filler text and dull moral dilemmas.

Innovation – 5/5: Finally ditching the fan-service and moé sub-types, Urobochi fully utilizes the gifts of sound and vision to give a real sense of depth to the nightmare without any cheap sales ploys.

Value – 4/5: Though it may be on of the shorter visual novels (clocking in at 6 hours)  under £20 gets you Steven King level writing with 2 added dimensions. You’ll want to epereince this again down the line.

– Josh reviewed Song of Saya on PC –

MadCatz M.O.U.S.9. Review

MadCatz have garnered a lot of attention over the years with their transforming gaming peripherals as a very different approach to the normal research of ergonomics, and they’re looking to bring that shape to form a more portable asset.

This is a test caption

Rather than over-analyzing the shape of the average body and bone structure to weave into a £60 input device, they throw you a fancy looking bit of hardware and then throw you more bits of the same hardware to tweak the original into a beast that fits your hands best. It’s a concept that earned them a lot of trust, but it’s also not one that comes back fully in their newest mouse – one that’s essentially designed for those who have grown accustomed to their own MadCatz mouse modified or not.

The MadCatz M.O.U.S.9 is the companies latest offering, and also the latest addition of their hardware fleet to drop the branding of their other peripherals like ‘Cyborg’, ‘Tritton’ and the other household names invisibly tied to the MadCatz corporation.

Seemingly aimed towards those who have used one of the MadCatz R.A.T. mice before – like R.A.T 5 or MMO7 – the M.O.U.S.9. is a wireless clicker designed around the shiny new Bluetooth 4.0 technology – a term that means you’re getting a good year of juice in this thing from a single AA battery.

Being a wireless mouse, that’s a tagline that’s already going to be pushing a few elite PC gamers back in their seats – and that’s fair enough. The M.O.U.S.9. isn’t designed as a gaming mouse, but instead as a way for R.A.T. users to have a mouse that feels familiar to them while on the go without having to unplug and wrap up their current mouse from their rigs. You’ll still be finding most of the same features you’d find on your preferred R.A.T. mouse, albeit with a few sacrifices being made to the MadCatz gods to give make it a little more enticing to those in need of a wireless input device.

Sporting the same dashing looks as the previous mice in the R.A.T. range, the M.O.U.S.9 is just as comfortable to grab and hold as it’s predecessors – and why wouldn’t it be? But those accustomed to the removable weights of the other options may see the decision to omit the feature for the use of a battery compartment as a bit of a turn-off.

With the mouse stripped of it’s ability to put on – and shed – weight for the joy of the user, you’re also likely to detest the fact that the M.O.U.S.9 doesn’t feature the same removable wings and attachable rests to cater for those who adjust their R.A.T. mouse away from the default set. While the palm-rest may still carry the feature, it’s to a small degree. It can still shifted back to make for a longer device, but cannot be switched with the textured or more extruded plates seen in say – the M.M.O.7 – something which may repel those who came looking for a more portable version of their familiar setup.

While the M.O.U.S.9 is marketed highly on it’s laser tracking functionality to play nicely with the numerous surface types encountered in certain set-ups, I found the cursor to be noticeably more jittery on the same pad as a standard-issue HP bluetooth mouse, and even found the cursor unable to track on the glass of my corner desk’s glass panels. It’s even more worrying when your brand-spanking new mouse can tilt on the desk like an uneven TV remote.

A precision button situates itself on the left side wing alongside the default Back/Forward thumb buttons with a second horizontal scroll wheel placing itself just above the thumb rest. Two buttons within perfect reach of your main mouse button fingers also act as whatever you assign them too from the Profile software. In it’s default state, the M.O.U.S.9 is decent enough to be of use in shooters and for general computer use – and easily capable to be switched into a useful tool for the application power user who’s away from their professional work-space – but those accustomed to mice who’s buttons reach the double digits, the M.O.U.S.9 isn’t going to appeal.

While the M.O.U.S.9 seems to be designed for those who’s hands have already been converted to the R.A.T. way of life, this device may still be of some relevance if they’re often lugging their own outside – but for anyone who’s seriously in need of a wireless clicker, the M.O.U.S.9 lets its comfort and battery life down with its disappointing sensor and seemingly borked underbody.

Value: 3/5 – With a potential year of use from a single AA battery, it’s just a shame the Bluetooth 4.0 system bars it from legacy devices without a USB port.

Aesthetics: 4/5 – Visually very pleasing. The coated black matt paint and ridged body still looks amazing.

Practicality: 3/5 – Very easy to bring along for a ride and squeeze a few commands into the buttons. The sensor issues are a huge blow, however.

Ergonomics: 4/5 – The R.A.T series is often comfy enough with their default layouts, but ridding the option to customize fully is a let-down.

Final Score – 3.5/5

Shootmania Storm Review

In a time when competitive gaming is becoming more and more the norm for both professional gamers and amateurs alike, it’s strange to see shooters strategical shooters like Counter Strike and Call of Duty take the main stages by storm when it was the chaotic mayhem deathmatch shooters like Quake and Unreal Tournament that really kickstarted the idea of blowing up a preachy foreigner through the tubes of the internet.

Shootmania Storm has attempted to come in and change that. Despite the game only releasing to the public officially around a week ago, the pseudo nostalgia inducing shooter been a staple feature of eSports festivals for months already through multiple early access programs, beta events and certain competitive previews brought in to run up interest early for the game early on.

From the same folks that brought us the shiny arcade-style racer – Trackmania – Shootmania Storm sets out to demonstrate how shooters used to played during the early forming of the multiplayer scene. Out goes the idea of camping in a window to mow down each enemy attempting to make a break for a game changing care package and in comes the need to anticipate each muscle reflex capable of your enemy and deduce split second timings against your own to shut them down in near point-blank range. It’s a concept familiar to those who have played Quake, only simplified to the bare minimum for the sake of a more pick-up-and-play atmosphere with give others a chance to learn the ways of old.

With more wide-scale maps and some debatable choices in the way of in-game physics, Shootmania Storm will feel familiar in the eyes of Tribes players – another recently revived old-school shooter series (and also one not all that prominent at major eSports events) that picked up quite a bit of steam during it’s release period, but seemingly cooled down in recent months.

With a peculiar starting GUI set up in a similar fashion to recent operating systems like Windows 8 and iOS, the start-up screen – accompanied with pulsating music – as a very app-like feel blended into a sporty backdrop effect. Each square on the screen acts a beacon or tile capable of displaying a visible shortcut to your favorite functions and gametypes throughout the entire ‘ManiaPlanet’ gamebase. A feature that will most likely remain untouched by those not entirely devoted to the title.

Boot into the main Shootmania tabs of the user interface, and you’re still unlikely to really know what you’re getting yourself into. The interface’s function and obvious desire to be customized seems to instantly inject a feel of confusion to those just looking to hop in abuse their mouse’s left click. Navigating through the tiles and lobbies is by no means perfect, but gets the job done eventually and manages to get new players into a beginners-only match in due time.

While Shootmania is mean to pride itself on acting like an old-school multiplayer shooter, it’s hard to see the resemblance when you’re equipped with a single weapon only capable of firing off 4 rounds before requiring you wait to charge the bullets back up for another shot. While it’s one way to teach the art of twitch reflexes, precision and tactful thinking, it comes across as a very bare-bones shooter on the verge of resurfacing those memories you have of your patronizing highschool teacher who picked on your every flaw because of a single brain-fart you had in that lesson 3 years ago.

Engaging in any mode be the attack and defend rely match the staple of the Shootmania Storm release will have you calling up the menu and quitting to the main screen in due haste – whether caused be a steep learning curve unsuitable to a ‘winner-stays-on’ 1v1 cagematch with nothing in-between downtimes, or being shut down too quickly for you to have the patience needed to sit through to the end of another Free-for-all deathmatch. It’s only in the game’s frontal mode that you’ll find any joy in until you feel you’ve really gotten the hang of the anticipation skills and mind-games needed to stand a chance in the more personal grudge-matches.

The Mania titles pride themselves on their creative attributes leaving the community to really drive additional content and the overall lasting appeal of the games, sadly, the in-game level editor falls short of a few creative freedoms needed to really allow the userbase to flourish their creative sparks. The amount of dead lobbies and chat among players suggests Shootmania won’t enjoy the same appeal of Trackmania in the past.

Shootmania Storm sets out to be a big title for those who’re either looking for something a little different to the yearly military shooter or just want to go back to the days of old, but the dust settles on this title to reveal what feels like a watered down version of a certain popular online FPS title that doesn’t force a penny out of its customers to enjoy. I either suggest you look at these other options or just go ahead and join a match of the – very much still alive – Unreal Tournament series or Quake Live. It can certainly be considered during a Steam sale, but it’s current asking price is undermined by a hefty competition that it just can’t overwhelm.

Audio/Visual: 4/5 – Visually pleasing and very smooth with a soundtrack able to get your adrenaline pumping during the hectic moments.

Gameplay: 3/5 – A hit or miss. Some matches can be a blast while others can be as dull as a desert stretch. Appoach with caution.

Innovation 3/5 – While it may seem I’ve bashed this into the ground, it actually has a decent premise if you can get into it. But it’s certainly not for everyone.

Replay Value 2/5 – I can’t see myself getting much enjoyment out of this in the long run, and the already slim playerbase seems to pour truth all over my words.

Final Score: – 3/5

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Review

With any mega shonen manga series making its way out of Japan, you can always expect to see game after game flowing from the 10 year lifespan the series’ seem to endure. Naruto certainly isn’t the one to go breaking the tradition as much as he wants to be the head honcho of his town, he also seems to pride himself in being the top manga series across the world.

 

Mere days following the release of the comedic Naturo title for the 3DS centered around the franchise’s chibi spin-off – Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals – console goers get something a little more series in the form of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 – the sequel to the games that offer another way to enjoy Naruto’s on-going a lengthy campaign.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 takes place – without ruining anything – at the start of the current manga arc. As far as my knowledge goes, the anime has also reached the same point – so there’s no excuse for any current Naruto fan to not be up-to-date with the current events now that every medium is practically up to the same point.

 

Anyone who remembers the initial release of the Ultimate Ninja Storm series will remember the pre-release promotional screenshots drew a lot of attention from not only the Naruto fanbase, but the industry as a whole for showcasing gorgeous HD cel-shaded visuals not long after the world was wowed by the likes of the Dragonball Z Budokai visuals from the last console generation. You’ll be glad to know that those have only improved as time goes by as Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 demonstrates some gorgeously smooth graphics and animations that quite literally sent shivers up my spine from the opening menu. It’s just a shame those visuals come to bite the game in the backside during the bigger fights.

Naturo has matured a lot over the past few years. It’s been some time now since he arrived back from his 3 year training session with Jiraiya – a legendary ninja –  ready to take on the organisation plotting extract his still uncontrollable power for their own benefit. Following his joint efforts to take the group down, it’s leader appears from behind the scenes to unveil his master plan and puts the daredevil stunt swiftly into motion. Because of this, expect those fabled tailed beasts to emerge and put up a hell of a fight.

 

While the game’s name – and the franchise as a whole – may imply it follows Naruto on a 24/7 basis, this is the title that’ll help to you understand that it really isn’t the case, here. Across the game’s 10 chapters you’ll take control of character’s like Sarutobi, Sakura, Killer Bee and even Mifune – a Samurai. The story of Naruto tells the tale of not only the titular character’s following of a dream; but the ongoing feuds of an entire continent, and it never shies away from getting under the nails of the topic of war and its ultimatum.

Each chapter of the game’s campaign features a heavy dose of arena style combat similar to that of the Dragonball Z Budokai fighting series. You’ll capable of – and encouraged – to run around the fairly large circular battle stages to utilize a combination of fleet-footed movement,  battle items and physical combat to open up the enemy to a whole host of devastating ‘ninjutsu’ attacks. It’s a nifty little battle system that leaves itself open to a fair amount of multiplayer mayhem across its 80+ strong character roster; but it’s sheer simplicity will keep it from being a much loved and religiously practiced fighting game outside of the home.

 

Between the brawls breaking out between the series more prominent characters – and a lot of more minor tagalongs – there’s time where you’ll be wandering on your own two feet to the next mission objective. Ultimately there to make the game seem a little less straightforward, the ‘free roam’ sequences are essentially what people complained about in Final Fantasy XIII – a corridor system – and that’s disappointing coming from a franchise that managed the sequences quite well in the earlier Xbox 360 titles – Rise of a Ninja and The Broken Bond. The walkabout scenes boil down to giving the player an opportunity to talk to a few characters around the area and a cheap excuse to ‘hide’ collectables under everyday objects on the single path to the next fight or cutscene.

The high level of voice acting paired with the excellent visuals breath life into moments that the still images of the manga could only dream of pulling off. Naruto fans will feel those nerd chills traversing their spins in near every chapter of the fairly lengthy campaign and will come away with a new lease of the story that had, admittedly, grown stale over the past few years.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 is a hard sell to anyone who hasn’t kept up with the series, but is a must have for those who have followed the tales far enough – or further – that the story arc it follows. Die hard fans will begin to notice inconsistencies stemming from the manga adaption and the plot followed by the anime – the version this title seems to more closely partake in. Newcomers to the series will surely get a kick out of the fast-paced combat, but won’t gather the desired effect of the tale told from an already lengthy legend.

Gameplay – 3/5: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 suffers from a unsteady mix of gameplay elements when it should have stuck to just one or two. For the most part, it does a good job as a thrilling fighter while at others feels like it has some unrealised potential in the lesser – tacked on – hack n’ slash moment.

Audio/Visual  – 5/5:  Absolutely gorgeous cel-shaded visuals show of a world that couldn’t be more dull in a rather artistic way. The soundtrack and voice acting work wonders to showcase the drama and tension of the story and its depth.

Innovation – 2/5: It’s hard to see what they’ve added here to differentiate it from the past UNS games. The choice system offers an interesting approach to difficulty but the fighting mechanics are void of the polish a 4th entry should have aced by now.

Replay Value – 4/5: Not a whole lot to see, but certainly a whole lot to do afterward. Collecting characters, hidden cutscenes and those infamous ninja info cards. Did I forget to mention a Sasuke sub-quest, too?

Final Score: – 4/5

– Josh reviewed Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 on Playstation 3  –

 

Luigi’s Mansion 2 Review

It’s not often the more lanky brother steals the spotlight away from himself. Usually double acts tends to stick together under the end of their career. The Chuckle Brothers, Morcambe and Wise and Ant and Dec were – or still are – side by side during their every appearance to the general public. Mario and Luigi have – on many occasions – broken this rule, but it’s always been our shorter, red-clad plumbing friend that has saved the mushroom kingdom and had cake baked for him by Princess Peach. Well no longer! Luigi has broken free from the shadow of his brother – again – in <em>Luigi’s Mansion 2</em>.<span style=”text-align: center;”> </span>
<p style=”text-align: center;”><a href=”http://thegamershub.net/2012/12/new-luigis-mansion-dark-moon-screens/luigis-mansion-dark-moon-screen-1-2/&#8221; rel=”attachment wp-att-61714″><img class=”size-full wp-image-61714 aligncenter” title=”Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon Screen 1″ alt=”” src=”http://thegamershub.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Luigis-Mansion-Dark-Moon-Screen-1.jpg&#8221; width=”416″ height=”254″ /></a></p>
While I can reluctantly say that the original <em>Luigi’s Mansion</em> never graced my beloved Gamecube – somehow, my PS2 obsessed friends have both played the sleeper hit 2002 title and speak nothing of good words about the experience.

While we’ve recently learned that Luigi’s original escapades through the haunted mansion formed another attempt of 3D gaming with Nintendo during the turn of the millenium, it seems only fitting that it’s sequel took so long to arrive now that the company has nailed stereoscopic 3D at an affordable price and pushed it onto consumers in a way 3D television manufacturers could never manage during the apparent 3D boom asserted by the market leaders.

<a href=”http://thegamershub.net/2012/12/new-luigis-mansion-dark-moon-screens/luigis-mansion-dark-moon-screen-4-2/&#8221; rel=”attachment wp-att-61717″><img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-61717″ title=”Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon Screen 4″ alt=”” src=”http://thegamershub.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Luigis-Mansion-Dark-Moon-Screen-4.jpg&#8221; width=”416″ height=”254″ /></a>

Armed to his chattering teeth, Luigi is pulled back into the misty manor of Dr. E. Gad. to regather the shattered ‘Dark Moon’ that kept the professor’s ghouls friendly and tranquil. With a multi-purpose vacuum that could put James Dyson to shame, our lanky green plumber gets roped into a job that actually requires the plumbing skills he and his brother must have shelled out many coins to learn without ever really showcasing their planned life-talent.

The Professor ships our green hero out into the murky surroundings of his own mansion to put an end to his once loyal lab minions. Packing just a flashlight to illuminate the path to the mansion’s garage – Luigi is pixelshifted out to the gardens like a groundskeeper to recover the tool he mastered over a decade ago – the ‘Poltergust 5000’.

<a href=”http://thegamershub.net/?attachment_id=67784&#8243; rel=”attachment wp-att-67784″><img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-67784″ title=”Luigi’sMansion2-02″ alt=”” src=”http://thegamershub.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/WP_20130402_003.jpg&#8221; width=”416″ height=”600″ /></a>

Somehow managing to combining the naive art of sprawling back on a lounge chair in a haunted house – while having a hulking vacuum strapped to his back – Luigi seems to get by with the thought that his efforts will eventually mean he can fall asleep in front of the television without fear of Dr. E. Gad pulling him back through for a 3rd round at ghost busting.

Traversing the eerie manor – and the areas preceding the adventure from hell – follows different main objectives throughout the tale. Sometimes you’ll simply be tasked with clearing the rooms of cobwebs, other times you’ll be hunting down fragments of a key required to get a little closer to the clouded rock the professor calls the ‘Dark Moon’ – what you can be sure of, though, is that each and every trip back into the darkened rooms of valley’s buildings will showcase a healthy amount of fear on Luigi’s part as he fights off the giddy ghosts turning the poltergeist legacy into a humorous affair.

<a href=”http://thegamershub.net/?attachment_id=67783&#8243; rel=”attachment wp-att-67783″><img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-67783″ title=”Luigi’sMansion2-01″ alt=”” src=”http://thegamershub.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image_297035_thumb_wide940.jpg&#8221; width=”690″ height=”360″ /></a>

While each room may not be filled to the brim with ghosts swinging from lampshades and paint obscure artwork on the nearest available easel  the Poltergust will always manage to be of some use. When it’s not busy sucking up ghosts on Luigi’s command, it’s blinding them with a high-powered flashlight, blowing a chestnut-esque spiny shell into a hungry venus fly trap or revealing illusions through the marvel that is ‘Dark-light’. It’s a busy little contraption that seems to run on the spectral mass of those that it absorbs.

Running through room after room and spending a good deal of time poking everything imaginable, Luigi’s return trip to ghost hunting seems like how an entry into <em>The Legend of Zelda</em> would play out if Link wasn’t the courageous young man the Hylian lore demands. Each segment of the title has you solving puzzle after puzzle in much more reasonable and subtle way than the newest<em> Professor Layton</em> story – and both characters in question are near silent, green-clad heroes… maybe we’re onto something here!

<a href=”http://thegamershub.net/?attachment_id=67782&#8243; rel=”attachment wp-att-67782″><img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-67782″ title=”Luigi’sMansion2-00″ alt=”” src=”http://thegamershub.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image_296830_thumb_wide940.jpg&#8221; width=”690″ height=”360″ /></a>

While the game’s missions may still be laid out in a stage-like manner like standard Mario series games, <em>Luigi’s Mansion 2</em> is still – at it’s core – an adventure game. Each subsequent stage within the same area will often have you retracing familiar rooms to uncover secrets like hidden pathways, collectibles and familiar Boo ghosts suspected to be encouraging the ill behavior of the other ghouls.

While you’ll probably run through the main quest in around 8-10 hours, you’ll add a healthy amount of time to that tally by trudging back through the shaky buildings and their questionable architecture hunting down the remaining Boos, secrets rooms and gems by essentially dismantling each room in a way only a vacuum could – but probably shouldn’t – partake in. And that’s without ever touching the online or download play co-op modes.

<a href=”http://thegamershub.net/2013/01/luigis-mansion-dark-moon-multiplayer-announced/luigis-mansion-dark-moon-multiplayer-2/&#8221; rel=”attachment wp-att-64025″><img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-64025″ title=”Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon Multiplayer 2″ alt=”” src=”http://thegamershub.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Luigis-Mansion-Dark-Moon-Multiplayer-2.jpg&#8221; width=”416″ height=”504″ /></a>

At its core, <em>Luigi’s Mansion 2</em> is a captivating adventure-puzzle combo that eludes itself as a horror title much in the same way <em>Ghostbusters</em> or <em>Ghost Master</em> did in the past. The nervous plumber gains a seriously well-needed sense of character after decades of being “that other one” and actually comes out as the better of the two for his efforts. Everything about <em>Luigi’s Mansion 2</em> screams the attention to detail only Nintendo manage to pull off time and time again to offer a game that’s a much fun as it is challenging.

&nbsp;
<p style=”text-align: right;”><em><strong>Audio/Visual – 5/5:</strong></em> Pixel perfect visuals come in strong on the Nintendo 3DS hardware. The added extra of Luigi humming along to the music in true Mario fashion just ups the ante.</p>
<p style=”text-align: right;”><em><strong>Gameplay – 5/5:</strong> </em>I’ll admit. I was sceptical here. Creeping around and vacuuming ghosts didn’t sound appealing to me the first time around, and certainly didn’t with a sequel. But switching a serious topic (paranormal activity) into a comedic affair works out well more times than not.</p>
<p style=”text-align: right;”><em><strong>Innovation: – 5/5:</strong></em> There’s no shame in using the obvious as inspiration. Luigi’s Mansion 2 does what Ghost Busters did to Hollywood.</p>
<em><strong>Replay Value: 4/5:</strong> </em>Secret rooms, gems, lazily placed cash hiding within curtains, Boo screwing with the light fixtures and a multiplayer mode only existing through Miyamoto-san’s approval means you’ll get a lot out of this after the main ‘story’.
<p style=”text-align: right;”><em><strong>Final Score: 5/5</strong></em></p>

i48 – Proof That LAN Gaming Is Alive?

3 times a year comes a weekend I believe every gamer needs to experience at least once in their life. The infamous ‘Insomnia’ gaming festival roosts within the Telford International Center in the heart of England for a 5 day weekend of classic LAN gaming – a function you’d think died during the start of the millennium with the boom in internet gaming. It did not.

Open up most multiplayer-focused PC game and you’ll most likely be greeted to dozens of server listings donning the ‘Multiplay’ tag – and you most likely play on them. The very same server providers you most likely get your day-end fix of TF2 action is, in fact, the very same organizer of the 1000-man mega-lan we’ve come to love. Oh. And they’re also the very same guys to host MineCon – Minecraft‘s monster convention in Paris, France.

Whether you pay a couple of pounds to show up for a day or go the extra mile for a weekend BYOC ticket and partake in the festivities with your beloved gaming rig, the iSeries – as it’s more commonly known – caters to your every need and ultimately serves as a way to prove that us geeks are a proud breed and are most certainly not the unsociable bums modern society sometimes still labels us. Games, beer, beanbags and junk food are all the highlights of the LAN experience.

While the Summer event extends the capacity to near 2000 gamers situated across 2 halls while reserving the next for the ever impressive exhibition hall – last weekend’s Easter event saw it return to a more manageable single dual-hall format similar to the smaller Winter LAN which keeps the same amount of halls but decreases the range of the floor space.

While the floor space may have been lacking the span of the true largest LAN event in the UK – the Summer variant – it’s never short of breathtaking walking into the gaming halls to see the sheer amount of screens reflecting the same light we once though to be radioactive in a by-gone era.

Christmas lights decked the back of the hall and big-screen televisions crammed onto the desks courtesy of the folks who appreciate the term “get your head into the game”.

Let’s set something straight here, shall we? While the iSeries event may bring gamers together in a place to compete for large cash prizes – that doesn’t stop us from acting like care-free idiots, chilling out in the bar and singing Bohemian Rhapsody at the end of every pub quiz. Believe it or not, gamers can have fun doing just about anything – and most likely will.

A small portion of the event even had our resident group – LFGG – playing solitaire while the rest of the event attendees were more than likely at each other’s throats in heated DotA matches and back-stabbing pesky snipers on 2fort.

Between the relentless playing around on hefty computers and eating junk food, a very large time is spent hanging around the exhibition hall where vendors and manufacturers like Overclockers UK, Mad Catz and CoolerMaster on hand to showcase products from their entire range dedicated to helping said players get the most out of their game.

We enjoyed hands-on time with some very flashy mechanical keyboards on show at the CCL Computers stand, became re-acquainted with Goldeneye on the N64 thanks to Retro GT and a very well appreciated few rounds of Injustice: Gods Among Us – a DC super hero brawler from the makers of Mortal Kombat.

Whether you decide to game it up all night or hit the the bar, it’s proved impossible time and time again to come out of the Telford International Centre feeling unfulfilled.

With 1000+ people in any one building at the same time, you can try all you want to be the unsociable hobbit you were judged as at school, but you’ll always come out with more friends than you arrived with.

Within the first hour or so of arriving, you’ll soon begin to notice just how in-tune those with similar interested can really be. It was nigh impossible to strike up a conversation with a punter expecting the generalized 1-minute relay of small talk and not come out with someone you’d likely strike up another with just a few more hours down the line.

With each subsequent visit, the iSeries festival proves to be well worth the £200+ it costs me to enjoy it at it’s best. 5 days in the gamer’s playground acts as once unforgettable and incredibly relaxing get-away 3 times a year.

While it’s entirely possible to lower the costs considerably by using the free camp site as opposed to a hotel – or even shelling out a measly £10 for the new indoor resting area –  we’ve actually managed to convert many hardcore campers to the less rugged sleeping arrangements following the disastrous snowstorms that blew through the venue over the course of the weekend.

The mutual decision to sleep in-house has been agreed on come August – the time of i49. The idea of walking back to a hotel at 9am following a 24+ hour session isn’t the most enticing of tasks, and the ability to just collapse upstairs is much easier on the exhausted mind.

I can’t imagine anyone’s significant other would be happy about substituting the annual £2000 vacation for a glorified basement gaming weekend, but please note that iSeries is a hell of a lot more than what it sounds.

Hopefully this combination of awkward photos and sloppy words is enough to justify my case here in saying that Multiplay can offer you a much cheaper – and much more fulfilling – weekend break as opposed to a few days down in Wales in a shoddy caravan.

Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army Review

With all these games focusing on the annihilation of the zombie sub-species, you’d think we were all a part of some crazed political party against the undead; but just how Call of Duty branched away from its war against the living to fighting the rotting flesh of historical figures, and Sniper Elite has decided to get in on the gore-fueled action.

Suddenly famed for its unique X-ray kill cam, any excuse to see an eroded skull break away under the impact of a high-calibre round seems to go hand-in-hand with the series’ signature gimmick Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army is a stand-alone titles recently released for the PC that focuses on… you guessed it… zombies! Cornered in, Hitler sits behind his desk contemplating his next move. His advisers admit that the his war efforts have failed, his goal lost and his campaign doomed. Proclaiming that surrendering isn’t an option, he war chief  blasts down his ill-minded commander and ushers in his final strategy. The graves of his lost army rip apart as his troops stand loyal even after death.

Nazi Zombie Army ushers in 4 player co-operative play – a first for the series. It’s hard to imagine any zombie game these days not centered around fighting off the hordes with your friends. As if to say the idea of becoming boxed in by the undead without any ammunition isn’t where the genre gained its horrific charm to begin with. Regardless, its still an option as Nazi Zombie Army allows you to go it alone or go through the matchmaking system to take the fight to the walkers – be warned though: there’s no AI bot options for those wanting a team effort without the actual teamwork/drama – so it’s one or the other.

Going into battle won’t mean much to start. Setting off on single-player amid the highest difficulty setting proved not all too troublesome to start. The zombies stayed back as my scoped aim set sights on their brains. We all know the way to kill a zombie is to completely shut down it’s head, and the X-ray killcam makes its triumphant return to ensure that you see that process in all its glory. The bullet leaves the chambers, spins and chops through the air and finally meets the body of the target sinking in, destroying the skull (or bones, heart or anything else you aim for) and fires back out the other end.

The kill-cam is meticulously overboard but it’s also oh-so satisfying to see your novice shooting deal the doom it was intended – albeit it does have a small problem; with hordes of zombies come hordes of lethal shots. And with lethal shots come more slow-motion. Once the gimmick wears off or you’re just growing tired of the fight, die and reload scenario, you’ll soon find yourself turning down the kill-cam frequency in the options. Why there’s no “Turn off” function is beyond me, but  it’s certainly something it could use.

5 missions set you and Hitler’s undead army onto each other. Prior to each campaign you’ll get to tweak a loadout of your choosing by picking from a handful of historical sniper rifles, assault rifles and a small selection of handguns while playing a sort of pick n’ mix for your favorite assortment of explosives. Grenades, deployable dynamite, tripwires and landmines mean you can pick and choose whether you prefer to set the traps of just go guns blazing and tossing stielhandgrenate around every corner.

Sniper Elite’s take on the over-saturated zombie shooter genre does a good job of what other zombie shooters never quite manage – a fear factor. It’s not the game that’s going to have you dropping bricks like Resident Evil or Silent Hill did in the past, but it manages to have those deep moments of struggle and worry set in more than a handful of times. The kinds of situations where you find yourself being slowly pushed back by the sheer magnitude of enemies or becoming slowly sandwiched between them.

Many times did I find myself fighting through corridors of the undead only to become trapped in enclaves I thought may give me the room needed to survive. It does so well as to give an emphasis of hope that it then shatters by having you become so lost in pulling off shot after shot that you forget your key survival instincts and fall victim to the soldiers shuffling up behind you. Even the shadows manage to do what you see in the movies; gradually getting larger and more obscured from the lighting angles to give off that true horror-flick flavor. Whether intended or purely coincidental, it certainly made this zombie fan happy.

You get a solidly well rounded game for the price here, which in itself serves as enough reason to say you’re not getting and DLC for this – ever. Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army managed to turn its own formula upside down. Rather than focusing itself on immaculate aiming and low enemy counts for that true gritty, patient feel of marksmanship from the other end of the battlefield it – instead – bumps the enemy count to way into the double digits and leaves you to fend for yourself however you see fit. While movement works well, it feels a little clunky like most third-person games when played with mouse and keyboard, but it’s nothing to split you from the game.

The challenge remains exactly that – a challenge – and multiplayer works well even when paired with the co-op killcam – something I can see being well worth a Skype session while playing. Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army is certainly worth the attention of anyone looking for either a challenging shooter, a zombie party or just a decent game to play with their mates – just don’t go expecting this to be your new Left 4 Dead.

Audio/Visual – 3/5: Sound effects play a key role in the atmosphere but only sound right though headphones while visuals remain strong and very customizable for lesser capable machines

Gameplay – 3/5: Single player and multiplayer feel like different games at times.  One seems to focus on a real challenge while the other loses its edge through non-serious co-op antics

Innovation – 3/5: The X-ray killcam remains a strong point here but can get a little tiresome. The concept of a historical take on zombie slaying has been done before but not to this degree

Value – 3/5: Campaigns feel quite lenghty and can offer a nice amout of replay value for those who get an itch for zombie slaying. Just don’t expect it to be your go-to zombie game months down the line.

Final Score – 3/5

Josh reviewed Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army on PC

Four In February – Week 4 Roundup

It’s midnight. The final part of the final day of the final week of the Four in February challenge. The month had me (and not many others) set out on the unrelenting task to burn through 4 of the games occupying a back catalog of virtual escapes. Did I manage the task? Nope! Do I really care? Not at all!

If you’ve been keeping up with my tireless ranting and unapologetic dissection of a certain “top of my hit list” game – thanks! If not – why?! You can catch up on them here, here and around about… here. It’s been a month of discovery, if anything. A month that’s taught me the reason why my catalog has increased so much over recent years ranging between “This game sucks” to “It was cheap” to my all time favorite – “I think I’m actually going to leave the house.”

I kicked off the challege with Alice: Madness Returns – A game I learned to be a bitter disappointment and one of the worst games I’ve played in recent memory. Alice took a swift boot to her British behind from atop my mountain of other – hopefully more promising – titles before I moved on to the next – Alan Wake – A game I played a little a few months back and enjoyed immensely.  Trust the guys behind Max Payne to keep me engrossed in a game by not by its gameplay, but by its storytelling and strong voice acting. Alas, 2 hours in, my playing was cut short. This is where I started to realize my attention span was far too lacking to put up with fairly repetitive gameplay. Either that or I just wasn’t in the mood.

My chances were certainly looking grim. 3 weeks in and not a single title down I decided to swap out my 4th choice – The Last Remnant – for a game I had actually finished at the start of the month but didn’t count – Ninja Theory’s DMC: Devil May Cry. With 1 game in the bag I began to really understand the extent of the challenge. You could pick any 4 titles from your list and soon find you hate them all. Suddenly it wasn’t about finishing a game but really understanding how engrossing a game is when you’re having to play it with what is essentially a time limit. If £40 disc can’t keep you entertained for even less than the hour a day it would take to complete over the month, then what kind of game is it, really?

With having enjoyed DMC: Devil May Cry more than any game since Max Payne 3, it seemed only logical to replace another title with once of Dante’s earlier outings. Alan Wake stepped into a dark corner while Dante somersaulted through a window in Devil May Cry 3. While this may pain the die-hard fans of the series, I threw Dante’s Awakening aside after around an hour. Whether the game aged incredibly quickly or the PC port was really as bad as many said is beyond me – but in the end, DMC3 stood out as a vastly inferior product to Ninja Theory’s take on the franchise so much so that I questioned how the games took off in the first place.

In between the social events like the Manchester Furmeet, Telford MCM Expo and other site work, the challenge was doomed from the start. This final week had me conducting the review of Richard & Alice – a game that made me realize  again, how a game needs to grab you in order to be worth your time. This simple point and click adventure game told such a deep tale that I played it from start to finish in a single sitting without noticing. How long that sitting was, I don’t know. That’s just how well crafted that ambitious part-time indie project turned out. Unknowingly, that game turned the challenge clock forward by not very long indeed while marking my second completion of the month. 2 down and 2 to go. The scales were even!

And that’s certainly where they’re staying.

The conclusion to the final week isn’t anything to really call out on. Over the past few days I’ve managed around 5 hours of Final Fantasy XIII-2 (the third game of my list) and it stays there as one I’m adamant to keep playing. The challenge ended with me only finishing 2 out of the 4 games required to pass the challenge of no prizes. It’s certainly been an interesting month nonetheless what with the meets, cosplaying and tolerance of Call of Duty turning into a proud K/D count –  it just wasn’t the one built to see a pile fall 4 games smaller.

I wonder if this little test could become an annual event?

PC Review: Richard & Alice

Each year the winters are cold and white as snow plummets from the clouds and onto the ever unsuspecting roads of world. Unlike the United Kingdom, any other country simply shoves the silky white frosty substance to one side and carries on with the day with only a minor increase in workplace body-sliding incidents. Each year, England and its connected lands fall into complete disarray as they either fear for their own safety or use the many issued radio warnings as enough of an excuse to skip out of work and lounge around in a onesie while pretending to look disappointed by the icy carpet not even an inch above the ground.

Richard & Alice is – in many ways – how I’d imagine this country becoming if the snow were to start falling one morning and never stop. What once was a rare occasion filled with excitement and joy as people took to the streets to pelt each other to the point of their ear succumbing to frostbite only to refuse to leave the house and forever moaning how the snow is ruining their plans to visit their nearest McDonald’s the day after next. Richard & Alice feels as if it took the experiences of the English over the past 3 winters and looked for foresee just what would happen if we were pushed to the brink of extinction from a once whimsical weather condition.

The snow just started. Richard stands staring through the window as the ground outside turns an from tarmac black to an ever-lightening shade of white. His son stands by proclaiming how he’s growing up too much to appreciate the snow like a child should – to see it as the ultimate plaything in an otherwise boring environment. Richard goes on to explain to him – in a way only a father could – how he shouldn’t be so quick to give up on those little childhood wonders. Gladly enough  he smiles. The snow is his toy again. But it never breaks.

Fast forward to the present day and the frame has stripped Richard’s cozy abode to something a little more… secluded. The man sits in a prison cell watching re-run after re-run on a provided television with his family nowhere in sight. A sound in the only cell nearby – the once adjacent his – indicates a new arrival. A little company. A woman by the name of Alice has occupied the cell that had been bare since Richard’s arrival; and, of course, there are questions to be asked and stories to be told.

Richard & Alice takes the form of a good old-fashioned point n’ click adventure game. You’ll start by guiding Richard around his cell as he tries to use the pen’s linen and scraps to deliver a family photo over to the opposite side of the bars. Succeeding in these brief segments of chit-chat between the two titular characters will progress the story further and delve deeper into Alice’s last few weeks prior to her condemning prison sentence. It’s immediately apparent that Alice is troubled by something – and why wouldn’t she be? – she’s been surviving on the ground above with her 5 year old son since the breakout of the plaguing snow; it’s just exactly how she juggles the relationship with her son, Barney, and the sacrifices the public have had to make for their own survival that makes the tale so engrossing and, at many times, so diabolically realistic.

It’s a world thrown into a chaotic sub-zero warzone; houses have been enveloped and families made homeless, shelters have become cramped, food supplies are low and medicine has become something of a commodity around the surviving groups and the off-springing  tyrant party – The Polars. The tale of Alice’s downfall and the struggle of bringing up a toddler in a world ransacked into oblivion is told with enough well-written dialogue to cause emotion to splurge out slowly but surely from the pixelated backgrounds and foreground text.

Richard & Alice is a touching tale that’s equally as twisted as it is truthful. It may not be breaking  new ground in terms of gameplay mechanics, but it certainly made this writer see an interactive story through to the end – and that’s a rare feat indeed. It tough to explain just how deep this game really is without divulging in what will essentially take away from the expereince. You really have to play through the story to understand how powerful of a tale it really is.

I’m the kind to not take anything away from the latest blockbuster marvel as the time sat in the cinema isn’t enough for me to grow attached to a character to the point of me caring what happens to them; but this game managed to do that without me even noticing how long it took from start to finish. It’s a mighty powerful story set aside very basic visuals that essentially proves that a story – given the right atmosphere – can achieve something special without relying on visual effects to pull it off.

Gameplay – 4/5: It’s as simple as point and click can be. You’ll pick up items from across the screens’ few surviving objects and shelters while putting them to sometimes obvious and sometimes crafty uses. It’s simple, but it really sets the scope of the world Richard & Alice are having to cope with.

Audio/Visual – 3/5: While the visuals are nothing short of SNES worthy at best, they manage to pull off some incredibly emotional and disturbing scenes. Paired with the atmospheric music and subtle jarring sound effects the game becomes something more captivating.

Innovation – 3/5: By the end of the game, I had no idea how long I had been playing. That feeling of immersion is something I haven’t gained from a title in many years. That alone should be enough reason to warrant the score here.

Replayability – 2/5: While the game is said to include a few different dialogue and paths, I’m not sure how likely you are to replay through a story again just to find them – but the inclusion is never a bad thing.

Final Score – 3/5

 Richard & Alice is available now on PC through GOG, Desura and IndieCity for $5.99 (£3.99). A Steam version is currently working its way through the Greenlight system.

Josh reviewed Richard & Alice on PC. A review copy was supplied by the  developers .

 

Four In February – Week 3 Roundup

It’s the middle of Wednesday night/Thursday morning, I’m awake, I’m hot, I’m sleepy and I’m rather bored. Sony opened the floodgates of their new system – the PlayStation 4 – but a few hours ago and left me apologizing to my own rear for the onslaught of sitting it just… sat through. Alas! It’s the end of week 3 of the Four in February challenge, and not a lot has changed!

Lets recap, shall we? The ‘Four in February’ challenge has me starting the month with a real-life mission in mind. Nope, it’s not achieving world peace, getting rich from the export of quality meat or the sale of fragments from a certain space rock from a certain northern Eurasian country – it’s merely the initiative to complete 4 of my long-standing and incomplete games by the end of the month – and it’s not going well at all!

It’s not all bad, though. I did manage to squeeze in 2 hours of Final Fantasy XIII-2 – that’s a whole 20% of what I had already played before a HDD upgrade to my PlayStation 3 meant losing my save game months before. Fantastic progress! The good news is that it made me decide on my next cosplay – Yuj! For those not in the know from the past 2 weeks of my moaning, it should be noted that a lot of my time this month has been spent finalizing my fairly basic Link cosplay for the Telford MCM Expo here in sunny England. It went well. My sword got me into a little trouble, but a lot of people stopped me for photos and seemed overjoyed when I asked for them to unsheathe my Master Sword – I refuse to explain that any further.

In the second week I had ditched Alice: Madness Returns 5 or 6 hours into the apparent “adventure”. It was bad. Really bad. Instead, I opted to class the completion of DMC: Devil May Cry during the first few days as a legitimate victory to alleviate the first strike-through on my proposed checklist.

Replacing Alice’s trek through Blandland came Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening. This also lays on the verge of being culled after realizing both how bad the PC port truly is, and how bad of a game it is in comparison to the reboot. I’ll brave it a little more for the final week before my head is decapitated by a fan’s replica Rebellion sword when I’m out buying the newspaper in the morning.

Hint: I don’t buy the newspaper in the morning.

Moving on, the majority of time spent winding down from the expo was spent either yelling some more at Devil May Cry 3, recovering from ‘Expo Blues’ and a completely unsuspecting illness or spending a lot of time trapped in a prison cell of which will be explained in my review of Richard & Alice this weekend. By this point, the time spent on the review game has exceeded what I’ve spent on titles currently occupying the bucket mission list. It’s starting to become pretty clear that I made a mistake in compiling a list consisting of big budget releases when I know how much I tend to enjoy the games released by budding indie teams.

Looking back on this now, I’ve made a lot of mistakes. The challenge has carved itself out to be more of a test of character; something to try you and to remind you exactly why you kept putting those games off in the first place. Maybe I should just class Richard & Alice as my #2 – finish off Deus Ex: Human Revolution and completely devour Final Fantasy XIII-2 and then quietly make my way back into whatever MMO I get pulled into. With the beta launch date of Final Fantasy XIV set for next week, I guess it can act as my ultimate reward whether I complete the challenge or not. I’ve been waiting a long time for this day!

Today/tomorrow begins the final week. If I die now, I’m going to shoot myself. Or let the girl above apply the finishing blow to my 1 remaining heart.