The Final Fantasy franchise was always the staple barometer to the J-RPG genre, and with a couple of years of wait, can FF13 be the one to grab others? almost.

*Disclaimer*

Reviewing this game was to see if a non J-RPG fan would like the genre or the FF series specifically, the knowledge or lack of terms are foreseeable, so be aware that this review was done without having any experience with J-RPG’s or with any FF game. The game was reviewed with playing fully on the FIRST DVD  and a small amount of gaming on the SECOND DVD on the 360 version, tha main rason i did not passed beyond that, is because i was stuck on a boss, even with help, and for that the game can take a good or a bad turn in any aspect, but this is my view of it from what i played, take that with a grain of salt.

Presentation:

Saving Cocoon, that is the primary goal from all characters to the universe, and while the regular people did not see a Pulse in the eyes before, things are about to change, this is an epic tale of couple of characters that had nothing in common before, but now they are at one to save Cocoon and to fulfill their destiny.

Stunning cut-scenes with fantastic lighting and detail, beautiful In-Game environments with plenty variety, character models look good, but not great, some of the enemy design is quite flat and blend, but for the most part, FF13 have a lot to sell, great story with nice plot twists and turns, with pretty substantial character development with some great dialogues, sadly, its inconsistent with its set-pieces, while most characters are intriguing, some are just boring, and while some of it works on the narrative side, gameplay wish, its just plain. A big part of the game is the linear style game with directed fighting sequences, and while it could be fun, the structure and the design could have been a lot better. Clear menus with plenty to upgrade and discover can be good for the ones that are not familiar with the lore or the basics of the combat mechanics.

Visuals:

Most areas look really impressive, but some look rough and un-inspired, but for the most part, the game look gorgeous with nice environmental detail that is clear to the eye, most enemies design is not really appealing, but at least the cut-scenes makes up for it for the grander moments of the game, going between flashbacks, real time and basically an overview of the plot is nice visually, since most of it look great, some minor hick-ups regarding the frame rate, but it is not crucial by any means.

Sound:

Somewhat fitting music at points, but overall im not a big fan of the music, some parts are just plain weird to the setting you are in, and some are just annoying regardless, and even though the effects are pretty awesome in-game and cut-scene wise, its not enough. The voice-overs in the game can be a hit or miss, some of it is related to the script, but there is a big problem with some of the characters, especially when the game goes to a more emotional level, plus side characters sounds awful with really bad accents that does not fit at all to the setting.

Gameplay:

As a semi turn based RPG, the game can take from 10 second to 15 minutes, depending on your skills, party members and tactics, and obviously on the enemy that is in front of you, while it may seem easy at first (i would say it was easy for the first two hours) the game picks up after a certain point, but even with that, someone like me who never had experience with these games, it was manageable to get the hang of the different classes, abilities and pre-made tactics.

Upgrading and purchasing weapons, potions and accessories can be done via a simple yet effective portal, which also work for saving the game, and it is placed at the right area, mostly  after a big fighting sequence or a few small encounters, giving someone like me, a compulsive saver, a good place to make a mistake and try again, even though the game have a tendency to checkpoint right before a cut-scene instead of after, which is weird, but i can attest that the game is more friendly at the combat, at least for a while, after browsing through the different skill trees that you can evolve, i found myself upgrading minor yet effective skills that i didn’t even know i can upgrade, and perhaps it is just me, but i find it abit complicated to know what to upgrade or what is the right direction to go with the skill tree. Upgrading weapons and accessories almost essential for getting a substantial EXP boosts and rewards, which leads me to a small yet problematic situation the game, at parts you can use differnt shrouds to avoid or to use stealth of some sort to pass along enemies, but the structure of the main areas and side ares for rewards pickups can be deceiving, granted, there is a risk and reward situation for getting extra items with fighting, but it misses the point of the spell if there is no possibility to advance without having that fight done.

Linearity can be a problem, and even though i have no reference to something else, it is a massive problem because the structure of the fights and missions design is flawed, adding repetitive encounters to the area you are in, with the same weaknesses for the enemies can be a big grind for almost no rewards, and it is mandatory. Part of the problem is the un-appealing characters that you have to play with, even though they are great for the narrative, their weapons or skills are just weak and boring to use, and with the almost mandatory party members that the game throw at you, it could be frustrating, especially when it become hard for no apparent reason, even if it works on the narrative side.

The big and most challenging part of the game is the need to use tactics with the party members you have, if any, being a medic and assigning a commando party member can help with some, but can be slow or un-effective with other, finding the balance between what to trigger a stunned enemy  and loosing health can be a problem at later levels, but once you are set with the main role for each party member you have and trying to evolve their skills with that mindset, could help quite a lot.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

Fascinating story with some good character development, even if it is not perfect, it is surprisingly appealing.

Stunning visuals with hick ups, mainly the cut-scenes that are really impressive.

Easy to learn- hard to master fighting mechanics, it can be deep, but it can also be quite flat for the unfamiliar gamer.

Using different tactics and use age of different skills from the party members can be a crucial yet a fun thing to experiment.

Cons:

Facial animations\expressions can be quite rough, there isnt a lot of detail to it aswell, and it shows in the emotional parts that game have.

Lackluster music and twitchy voice overs.

Linearity can be a problem, not a big one, but it does exist.

Character motivations and acting could have been better, mainly the side\smaller ones.

In-game characters and enemies are lacking detail.

Battle ending statistics are annoying.

Structure to the fights and some of the main missions can be a problem for some.

Brutal boss battles at points, even if there is a way to scan the boss weakness, executing it can be quite hard.

Scoring:

Presentation:

9 Great story with mostly interesting characters, the banter is good.

Visuals:

8.8 Stunning cut-scenes and some amazing looking environments are being deluded with some roughness with character detail and animations.

Sound:

8.5 While most of the voice overs are solid, unfitting music can be a big downer.

Gameplay:

8 I like the battles and i really enjoy the tactics, but the structure and design of the game can be a big problem.

Replay Value:

9 This is a big big game, not sure if there will be a need for a second run, but I’m sure one run will do it.

Conclusion:

Final Fantasy XIII is a great game with flaws, for me, the inexperienced J-RPG player, the flaws are not necessarily a problem with the genre or the series, but at points i can see why people would love it, but at other points, i can see them seeing it like i did, where it was a bit stretched at points, but for the most part, FF13 is a great experience, if not for the gameplay, its for the narrative, which is weird for me to say, since i don’t have any interest in J-RPG’s or the FF series in general.

Final Score:

8

If you are a Resident Evil fan then you’ve probably already picked this DLC up and played though it. If any of Evolved Gaming’s Staff Writer’s owned a PlayStation 3 version of Resident Evil 5 then a review of it’s DLC would have been more timely. But as it turns out Drew, @FrustratedFury, is the only one with a copy and its on the Xbox 360. Therefore as we a community website we turned to the community to find a gamer that still owns Resident Evil 5 on the PlayStation and is willing to still play it. Now we did have to go all the way to Peurto Rico to find said gamer but @HECV stepped up and helped out with the following “Guest Review” of the fist Resident Evil 5 DLC “Lost in Nightmares”. Stay tuned for his review of the second RE5 DLC “Desperate Escape” in the coming days.

Also if you didn’t know the Resident Evil 5 “Gold Edition” is being released this coming Tuesday, March 9th, 2010. On the PlayStation Blu-Ray both DLC episodes will be included. The Xbox 360 edition will contain Voucher Codes for the DLC. Now on to the review.

Resident Evil 5: Lost in Nightmares Review
By Hernán E Colón

This DLC takes place in Ozwell E. Spencer estate, one of the key founder’s of Umbrella. Resident Evil fans will notice how familiar the place looks. Doors will open slowly in first person view and you can examine the main door three times to enable the classic camera mode; and there are more references to the classic Resident Evil throughout.

The atmosphere is just as creepy and tense as classic Resident Evil games. The only new bits of story are found in diaries and most of the cut scenes are the complete flashbacks you see in the main game. The new enemy is called Guardian of Insanity and is very powerful!, but walks slow because of a huge anchor that it carries. Throughout this chapter you will find different types of weapons depending on the difficulty you play and the Guardians will show up in different places randomly which adds a bit of replay value. There are a total of 18 hidden stars to find but only help on your final score for the leaderboards.

It took me 1:37 to finish it on my first try. One thing to note is that there is no saving system and that means you will need to finish this DLC in one sitting. A total of 5 new achievements/trophies to collect. You also get to play as Barry Burton and Excella Gionne on the Mercenaries mini-game.

If you’re looking for more Resident Evil 5 or want an excuse to come back, this DLC is a good chance to do so. For 400 Microsoft Point or $5 on the PSN I’d say this DLC is worth a try.

Well there you have it. DLC that is actually worth picking up! Let us know what you think of the Lost in Nightmares Episode in the comments below and look for a review of the second DLC Episode Desperate Escape in the next few days.
A big thanks from everyone here at Evolved Gaming to Hernán for doing a review and for Capcom for providing a review voucher token.

Dante’s inferno is a game where the hook of the story is essential to survive its gaming elements and mechanics
Can the 9 stages of hell be fearsome and interesting?  Unfortunately, not really.

Presentation:

The tracery of Dante is the cause of all problems leading his wife Beatrice to hell, and from there, the road to saving his wife is brutal. Your goal as Dante is to save Beatrice from her path.

The mix of animated, CGI and in-game cut-scenes gives the game something unique, but the in-game cut-scenes are not pretty! The animated sequences on the other hand have a lot of fascinating direction and design with some gruesome violence and sex. Also the animated segments give you flashbacks about what happened with the people and events that were inflicted with death and sent to hell. The CGI segments look really good and detailed, its usually to give points to the main story and characters, brutal detail to the blood and really good animations. The big difference to the game is the choosing between the “holy” and “unholy” path regarding actual gameplay mechanics and also narrative decisions that you will make.

Visuals:

The game looks decent, most areas are not as sharp as they could have been, the gore is there but its not enough, especially since the game is trying to convey violence, even if some of the finishing moves do have brutal decapitations. The variety in the environments is there, but not all the environments are interesting or unique, same goes for the enemies, most of them are just dull to fight or to look at, most of the attacks that are available are great to look at, especially the air attacks.

Sound:

The voice-acting in the game is good but not great, the main character Dante couldn’t been more standard and rough, sure, the actions that happen should evoke something from a character, but its too much standard, the background music is not doing anything to the game, its just there, and its not good, it takes out any small vibe and atmosphere feel that the game have. Weapons and attacks sounds good, but Dante’s reactions could have been more varied.

Gameplay:

As a 3rd person action game with platforming and RPG elements, the game is varied with its challenges, but most of the gameplay is very dull, the action itself feature quite a lot of combos, attacks and healing upgrades that changes the game quite a lot, but sadly the problem is more with the enemies and bosses the game throws at you, the action set pieces are weak and sometimes not well thought out, the big bosses are boring to fight, the quick timed parts are small which is good, and they are fun to do at the most part since its basically larger than life actions that you wont be able to do yourself, also the big beast segments are awkward to handle. The platforming and rappelling mechanics are awkward aswell, it works well, but its not obvious at points where or what you need to do, also the animation transition with some of the puzzles and jumps are weird, the puzzles are boring with no fun or challenging elements besides one or two. The RPG elements are shown with the combat and sparring or saving sinners, the right thing to do is to go through the entire game with one decision in mind, meaning being evil or savior throughout the game, since you get holy or unholy EXP “souls” that open your upgrading options with the choices you made, evolving in exp works simple and easy, but i have to say, the entire element of holy and unholy works well regarding what combos\attacks you will get (there are two tablets, one is for each, and basically when you evolve yourself with that side, you will get up to 7 levels and get more unlocks in that tablet).

Replay Value:

The game is quite short, its around 6-8 hours, if you have any interest to go through the game twice to have both sides and get different upgrades, it will add value obviously, but for one play through it is quite short.

Pros and cons:

Pros:

Great attacks and combos to unlock and use, the variety is not fully there, but its enough to use each attack against different opponents.

Really gorgeous CGI cut-scenes, interesting animated  cut-scenes as well.

Cons:

Boring enemies and boss fights.

Lackluster story and characters.

Dull music that takes you out of the immersion, if its even there.

The in-game cut-scenes are not impressive to look at, same for the actual script.

Scoring:

Presentation:

6 The biggest aspect that i have disappointment with, the premise and the narrative seemed so intriguing at first, but the actual story and characters are just boring.

Visuals:

7  The inconsistency with the sharpness, detail and the design can be a disappointment, since there are a lot of really neat areas with some well thought out design.

Sound:

6 The voice-overs are good besides Dante and some minor characters that appear,  also the lackluster music  can be  problem, but the weapons sound great.

Gameplay:

7.5 The actual gameplay is good, but the control scheme is hard to get used to, and some of the animations are weird to play with, especially the rappelling one, the RPG elements combined with the holy and unholy decisions are a unique design to give variety to a potential second run. 

Replay Value:
5.5 The game is short, sure how much can you stretch a 9 levels? i guess not enough, playing a second run could potentially be good, but only if you will like the mechanics and set-pieces.

Conclusion:

Dante’s Inferno fails with what the narrative and presentation that it seemed to have, the gameplay is known to the genre with some interesting ideas, but because the story is so boring, its just not good, since it was the big hook for me, despite that, if the love for the action genre is there, its a decent game to experience, but sadly for my view, it was the lack of an interesting story.

Final Score:

7

Dark Void is an ambitious game with new ideas and mechanics to the 3rd person genre, but can the game be that good?

Presentation:

As Will you start off with a crash of your plane right into the Bermuda Triangle. What you are going to face along with your partner and formerly lover Ava will bring true meaning to a lost planet; with new breeds of life-form and never seen enemies on Earth.

The game has a very slow beginning, especially regarding the more in-depth story encounters and elements. While the vibe is there at the beginning, the characters, factions and the actual story is not that interesting and I found the dialogue between Ava and Will, and between most of the other human characters, boring. Also the past between the two have nothing to add to the story or even the feel of the characters. Some of the cut-scenes look really impressive and epic; while others look oddly low-res. The main gameplay and story parts do use the jet-pack, and it works well for the most part.

Visuals:

The inconsistency within the visuals is really visible! Some of the environments looks really inspired and detailed with fantastic scale, but most areas look really bland and boring. The character and enemy design is visually fitting, being very sci-fi mixed with an alien idea that works really well. The enemy vehicles, weapons and the miscellaneous bosses look good as well.

Sound:

Overall the voice-overs are decent, some characters sounds fit while some are not. My main dislike is in the two main characters Will and Ava. The characterization and personality of Will is not to my liking and Ava could have been even more extreme with the direction the game is portraying her. Weapons and vehicles sounds really good, even if there is not that much of a variety.

Gameplay:

The game is a 3rd person shooter combined with aerial sections using enemy’s saucer like vehicles and your own jet-pack. While on-foot Dark Void is a cover based action game and added in is some vertical platforming to maneuver the environments to pick journals, technical points (EXP) and enemy weapons.
Dark Void is mainly linear with its missions, but at points there is some freedom; especially when the game is focusing its missions on the more shooting oriented missions, where its driving you to use your jet-pack in different areas while most of the enemies are on the ground, and its also vice versa at later levels when some enemies can fly as well, and that’s where the game is really open for your decisions and game style. 

Dark Void does give technical points for its basic experience system. These you can use to upgrade your jet-pack and the weapons that are in the game and you usually get points from killing enemies or in the open world areas you will have points to get as well; but the actual upgrades really don’t make that much of an impact to the weapons.

While the game has a good pace and direction, all the mechanics are really wonky. The on-foot shooting feels really bad, the weapons feel weak and not accurate (if the sniper feels the best weapon in an action game, you know there’s a problem) and also the shooting with the jet-pack feels weak, even if you are upgrading it, it’s just not there. The platforming animations looks really weird and out of place, same for the melee animations in the on-foot sections, but the biggest problem is the aerial mechanics with the saucer or the jet-pack. Camera issues and just overall really weird mechanics just do not work, big sections with flying can be a very frustrating because of this.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

Fun and satisfying AA\turret sequences. Actually they were the only fun part in the game.

Really cool enemies, with their vehicles and weapons.

Pretty good variety to the environments.

Cons:

The story and the entire narrative is not intriguing as it may seem and most of the characters are not fascinating to talk to.

A very glitchy game. I had at least four or five game-braking glitches with enemies missing from the world but still in the radar. Also the game has inconsistent frame rate issues at points.

All the mechanics in the game has problems. Whether its technical or animation problems I don’t know but then lead to a very frustrating game to experience.

Conclusion:

Dark Void had some really good ideas improving and innovating the genre, especially with the aerial mechanics, but sadly, the entire narrative and set of characters are boring.

Scoring:

Presentation:

5.5 Boring characters with annoying personalities along with a non-interesting story and narrative to be in, the good part is the enemies that give something good to the entire game.

Visuals:

7 Inconsistency is the key word, some great areas but some are really blend, also the design for Will is really unappealing.

Sound:

7.5 Weapons, enemies and vehicles all sound great, voice overs are only decent at best.

Gameplay:

4.5 Some fantastic ideas that are not done well sadly, since it seems that the game had some good set pieces, but its just not good on the actual gameplay, also the technical issues are not helping.

Replay Value:

6.5 Around 8-10 hours for the campaign, some minor exploration for picking journals and extra technical points can help the length a bit.

Final Score:

6 Dark Void could have been a great game to experience, sadly everything about it is not there, boring story and characters, technical problems and bad mechanics to almost everything in the game.

Polar Panic is an Xbox Live and PlayStation Network game that puts you in the paws of Polar the polar bear. Polar must fight against a corporation ran by the evil Mr. Big who wants to drill for oil on Polar’s land. Mr. Big has his goons destroy Polar’s home and kidnap his family. Now it’s up to Polar to take back his home and family one stage at a time.

Polar Panic is a simple game. You move on a isometric grid-based area where you move from grid to grid avoiding enemies and pushing blocks of ice into baddies to knock them out. The whole point of each level is to defeat all enemies and get to the exit as fast as you can. There is a time limit to each stage and if you don’t make it there in time, you lose a life. You start with 3 lives. If you get hit by enemies or their projectiles, you lose a life. It’s simple as that.

Of course, the game does get a little more complicated with the addition of new enemy types and new scenarios. Pretty soon you’ll have to deal with Pyros that use a flamethrower that can reach halfway across the grid, and barracks that will continually respawn enemies until you shove an ice block into the entrance.

There’s 50 levels in all each with a different strategy for victory. Plus, because you’re timed, there is always room for improving your score after the mission is over. Boss battles also make an appearance, each with its own play style. The game also features a 2-4 local multiplayer mode which is actually quite fun with a couple of friends.

The only real gripes I have with the game are the collision detection is a bit off at times. As in I know I didn’t touch that trapper, but I died anyway, and vice versa. There is also a little stiffness when it comes to the controls, particularly when moving Polar. Sometimes you move the analog stick and Polar doesn’t move to the next block. Sometimes it works too well where I end up getting killed because I overshot my move. It’s not too bad, but it is there.

All in all, Polar Panic is a decent little puzzler that will keep you entertained for a good 5 hours or so. There are a few minor flaws, but the complete package is not bad at all. With a decently long story mode, puzzle mode, and multiplayer mode at hand, you’ll have a fair amount of fun shoving gigantic ice blocks at trappers.

The Good: Lots to do, Multiplayer is actually fun, A good amount of replayability.

The Bad: Controls are somewhat stiff, Hit detection is a little off, Although fun, only local multiplayer.

Bottom Line: For ten bucks, you can’t do too awful bad with the game. If you have some friends over, you can have a good 4 hours worth of fun with it. Despite the flaws it’s still a rather enjoyable game.

Final Grade: 7.4

Army Of Two: The 40th Day can be a good upgrade to its predecessor for some, but can also be the same for others, one thing is for sure, the game is great! Regardless of what new or old features that are in there.

Presentation:

Rios and Salem are back, and they are in Shanghai for a pretty standard mission, but what they didn’t know, is that there will be a big attack on the city, and they just want to get out of it all, well, its not that easy.

Inconsistent cut-scenes, some are absolutely beautiful and realistic, but some are blend and un-inspired, visually or story wise, along the two famous characters, new and old that are different, but for the most part, not something to really care about, despite having pretty good script and voice overs, its just not that interesting, but at least the characters are good and playful  for some parts.  One of the big mechanics in the game is using te mask in order to view information and tackling enemies, also seeing the line for the next objective location, and it works really well, the first game had the line as well, but in this game, it shows and feels more organic to the user, visually when you are in “aggro” your vision within the mask is red while the partner is in blue and vise versa, also when you are dead or your partner is down, it is visually visible through the mask, also the new feature is the ability to mark enemies with the mask, also marking civilians and hostages. All these additions really add something unique, unlike the first game, in Ao2-TFd you feel the difference between using the mask and not, and it works great, both visually and gameplay wise. The game also have morality choices in the story, after each morality choice you make,  the game move to a comic book type cut-scene that will reveal the consequences of your choice, which add something rather interesting, especially if you will play twice with different choices.

Visuals:

Models, weapons, environments, all look good, but just like the cut-scenes, its not consistent, some areas look fantastic, but some areas looks really dull and un-detailed, but for the most part, the game have a really nice visual vibe to it, since it is shanghai, some of the streets got a real dark design for it with the propaganda element that you will figure out in the story, and it adds alot to the regular greedy look to the game. Explosions are not impressive visually, but headshots and flanking the enemy’s helmet is visually are very exciting.

Sound:

Overall i am pleased with the voice overs, the new characters and NPC’s sound great, weapons, explosions, machine gun turrets, RPG’s, all sound solid, but i was not into the music at all.

Gameplay:

The core 3rd person shooter cooperative oriented game is well known, playing with an AI partner is not bad of a choice, for the most part, it works really well, playing with a friend (offline\online) is also a good choice, it all seem to work good. The new main feature in this game is to tag enemies and civilians, by doing so, you can actually stop a group of enemies, by taking the leader as  a hostage and tie\kill the other enemies, it adds a very nice tactical gameplay, if you desire to, also the game throws hostages situations where you can save them, if its “mocking surrendership” and letting your partner to shoot them, or using both people to “mock” the enemy and take them down with your pistols, also the game have the “back to back” sequences from the first one, where you basically shooting enemies that are scattered throughout the area that you are in. The game still feel more of the same, but not in a bad way, most of the mechanics have been improved if not changed completly, for example, the best grenade mechanics ive seen in along time, if you just want to throw  a grenade near you, pressing the button will do enough, but if you want to throw the grenade to a specific location, holding the button will promt you a visual aid, which help in alot in certain scenarios.

The new feature in the game is a morality system, but unlike most games, it not entirely about charisma 0r karma (even though it is there), making the right choice, will give you different reward, for some you will get new weapons, for other choices it will help you eventually with the story, making bad choices will probably give you more money or substantial weapons along the way.

The game also have new enemies that are more of a “boss” feel to them, even though they quite easy to kill, there is some strategy to it, especially in a crowded area with alot of enemies.

Customizing your weapons in this game has been even more deep than the first game with different barrels, mags, colours and much more, you can also create your own design for a mask or armor through the EA website, after finishing the game for the first time, you also unlock more outfits that look really good.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

Achievement\Trophy tracker is a really nice feature.

Fantastic design to the grenade function.

The story is solid, characters and big moments in the game are nothing but a good thing even if they are not “deep” per say.

Cons:

Inconsistency with the AI and Cut-scenes can be a problem, but not a crucial one.

The game still feel repetitive at points, even with the new sequences and mechanics, its not much a difference.

There is no real difference between Salem and Rios, and it was for me a problem in the first game, since visually Rios is more big and muscly and Salem is more agile, it would have been nice to see something that will match to that, gameplay wise. 

Conclusion:

Army Of Two: The 40thDay is a great game with great moments, the story is pretty good and the script is good aswell, the weapons, masks and other customization to the character as a whole really add something personal and unique, but the biggest thing is that the game is very fun, with AI or a friend.

Scoring:

Presentation:

9 A lot of new stuff to look and experience, the morality system works well with the story, customizing almost everything adds something unique, and the new mask features makes this a fantastic experience.

Visuals:

8.4 The game at points looks blend, but for the most part, it looks fantastic, explosions could have looked alot better, but the headshots make up for it.

Sound:

8.8 Solid voice overs, the weapons and explosions sound great, but the lackluster music is a shame.

Gameplay:

8.9 The game is very fun, even with the repetitiveness, the new mechanics works great, adding some strategy to the core action made this game more fun, since its not all the time just run and gun, the hostages situations can be a tackle and i love them.

Replay Value:

7.5  It will take around 8 hours for the first run, if you are planning to see both sides of the good\bad choices you made the first time, it will probably take you 6 hours or so for the second run, after you encountered the set pieces and know where to go it will be quite easy. *The game comes with several multiplayer modes that i did not test, but it seems that if you will like the mechanics, it will worth a try, the game also comes with a survival cooperative mode for those who pre-ordered the game (Extraction), but it will be available for free after a month or so after the release of the game.

Final Score:

8.8 Army Of Two: The 40thDay is a fun game, even if you only want to play with the AI, that’s fine,  playing with a friend online\offline is fine aswell. despite it repetitiveness, the set pieces are good, and the story is solid, cool masks and weapons gives alot of personality aswell.

Darksiders is a game where you feel powerful, strong and basically can kill any enemy you will face, sadly, its not the case, and even if you could, it probably would not be fun to do so.

Presentation:

The name is War, one of the forth members of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the protectors of the world. War comes to earth after an attack on humans and starts taking over. Eventually followed by his actions, he get’s killed and being blamed by The Charred Council for flaring the war between heaven and hell early, War on his hand wishes to investigate who is the one who started this mess, and who presumably framed him, but for his wish he get to have The Watcher (voiced by Mark Hamill) on his head so he wont do anything beyond his objectives… And that where the epic tale begins.

Photo-realistic opening cut-scene that immerses you immediately to the game, with impressive detail to the world, great design to the characters and  environments and pretty epic moments that are scattered in the game, sadly though the bosses and enemies have nothing interesting to bring to the game, their design could have been better and more varied, also the weapons are really un-inspired, even with the narrative element to it, its just not enough. The story and narrative are strong and really intriguing, with some really cool moments, it is definitely a great game to experience, narrative wise.

Visuals:

Models and weapons look good, some characters  and enemies are designed well, but some are really boring to look at, mainly bosses, also the almost greedy look to some of the dungeons like areas adds to the dark tone the game is trying to convey, but its not always that impressive to look at, but its good enough to not be turned by it.  The gore level is quite what you want from a greedy looking game.

Sound:

Overall fantastic voice acting with fitting accents and nuances, but for me personally, War is the only weak link for me, it wasn’t conveyed good enough, but it’s just my opinion, Mark Hamill (The Watcher) is doing a fantastic work, almost uncanny to The Joker from the Batman franchise, and i dont think anyone mind that, especially since The Watcher is actually designed really good and have quite a personality to experience. Boring music can harm the feel of the atmosphere and the attachment to the great narrative that is in the game.

Gameplay:

The core gameplay is based on a 3rd person action game, with flying, platforming and dungeon like areas with more linear structure to it with  puzzling and small exploration parts to the game as well. Some of the mission design is different with some sequences, but for most its standard, even the blocked areas with magic until you eliminate the entire enemy lineup against you.  Part of the problem with the game is that the game is not fun to explore or even travel through just to get to the big moments, linearity is not bad by any means, but the game is structured very strict to a dungeon with puzzles and almost all the time. The second problem is that the game dont have enough to offer regarding the actual game, even with upgrades, combos and other additions, the game feels very repetitive with its animations, kills and combos, even the addition of one or two weapons, its just not enough, you can probably see how the game will play by the first segment since you have all of your powers in that point, and for me, it wasnt enough there already, the small platforming parts are really not fun to do, the puzzles could have been more then just getting X keys or using one of your weapons to solve the area, its just not fun. The game also throw at you areas with specific challenges with different elements, gameplay wise, it also work decent enough with the narrative, but the actual challenges could have been designed better, some of them are really fun, some are really not, sadly. Using The Watcher to get hints (occasionally) gives a nice touch to the character and the areas or objectives you have.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

Great narrative and story, with some great characters, a lot of  good personality conveyed  with the story and the overall voice acting. 

Solid game with no problems on the technical side.

The Watcher “hint” button adds something little yet really good to the game and narrative.

Cons:

Repetitive animations, boring enemies and bosses and some really uninspired puzzles.

Jumping animations can be weird and unresponsive at points.

Conclusion:

Darksiders is a game that suffers from its release date and mainly only having  standard gaming mechanics and animations, even if the game throws impressive new elements to the genre, its not there on the execution part, the core action game is really boring and dull with nothing interesting to sell regarding bosses and enemies, even if the story is really well written.

Scoring:

Presentation:

8.5 Great story and really strong narrative but the enemies and some bosses are not fun to play or interact with.

Visuals:

7.5 The game looks good at points, but also blend at others, its not a bad game to look at, but its not superb either.

Gameplay:

5.5 The game is not fun to play, the platforming, exploring and small open areas are really not fun, the dungeon areas work but not designed well with the puzzles or platforming for the most part, the core action elements are dull and repetitive with really boring enemies to fight.

Replay Value:

7.5 The game is quite big for its genre, it would take at least 15-12 hours at minimum, but you wont play it a second time or do anything after you’ve finished it.

Final Score:

6 The game had a great premise,  a great story with fantastic characters and  conceptually new additions to the genre, but the execution was not there, sadly, everything else besides the actual game is great.

Bayonetta is a new intellectual property that rises from the creator of the Devil May Cry series, and as a result Bayonetta is even more insane and epic with its gameplay set-pieces to the genre its in, but sadly the game also suffers from the same problems that are known in the genre.

Presentation:

Interesting cut-scenes in form of a rolling  film, comic book  esque types and also traditional style of cut-scenes have different effect but also shows different side of the story, the rolling film parts gives you the flashbacks and the amnesia state that Bayonetta is in, the comic books type gives you the more current story and the regular style is to keep everything at flow with the gameplay and it gives something unique to the entire game, sadly the characters, script and story is not interesting by any means, terrible accents and stereotypical characters with over-the-top moments  but its  just not good of a story, and when the main character don’t have any real character, its hard to get attached to the narrative.

Visuals:

A highly sexual protagonist with almost nothing interesting visually to sell.

Special moves and attacks that are being created from Bayonetta’s hair can be a nice change and add something to the concept of the main character and perhaps even the narrative, but its just visually cool not more than that. Environments looks pretty varied and detailed, weapons looks fantastic, enemies looks good and fitting and the gore is just in the right amount.

Sound:

Horrible and stereotypical voice overs, terrible and repetitive music but the weapons sounds great, especially the ones you unlock later on in the game.

Gameplay:

As a 3rd person action hack’n’slash game, the game works good, the known open world linear structure from the Devil May Cry series is back, and its great, the known factor of being stuck in one area until you kill the number of enemies the game is throwing at you work, the game also have small parts for exploration to find extra halo’s (the currency in the game) or to find extra LP’s to unlock extra weapons at the store that is available in the game, which adds something to the narrative, unlike DMC, the game have small yet noticeable transition to the narrative in the shop, that adds alot, even if the narrative is not that appealing or interesting.

Using the Evade button will give you the opportunity  to use slow-motion in the game called “Witch Time”, which allows you to tackle enemies faster and cause big damage to bigger enemies that you will encounter, the problem with the ability is that the game after a certain chapter, forces you to evade and counter to attack the enemy at all, and it breaks the crazy and generally flowing game, the second problem with the ability, is that the mechanics and the detection to use the slow-motion is not perfect, the games takes perfect timing to counter, in a normal game it wouldn’t be a problem to just adapt to it, but in the genre of hack’n’slash, where the camera can be an issue, its unbearable, especially with some of the weird environments design to some of the levels.

On top of the evade mechanics, holding B or Y will result shooting with pistols on your legs or special position with your hands(B for legs Y for hands), there are some camera issues with rotating the left analog and shooting with the B button mechanics, but it works ok with the Y.

One of the problems with the game is the boring regular enemies, while the bosses are  pretty good and epic, also having enemies dropping their  weapons and picking them up adds another layer of depth and fun to experiment and try different types.

Torture rack attacks can be activated once filling a special meter, with killing a set number or enemies or doing long combos and you’ll have a small sequence of pressing usually one button to get more points and have something crazy to see visually with the kill.

 Air and “hair” combos all work pretty decent, but  some of the animations cutting\transition have some  problems (exp, pressing Y Y Y and  B as one stretch can be an upset).

Walking on walls work decent,  but it feels contrived with specific  missions, areas or challenges, also the small puzzles when you’re needed to use slow-motion to pass a certain part in timed place.

*The  game is easy if you get the mechanics but if you are new to the genre it wont be as easy as you think, part of the challenge appear  when the game have at least 5 enemies or more, and its  not working that well especially as mentioned where you have to counter each enemy and use the Witch Time. Big bosses encounters can be tough but only if you are not recognizing the patterns.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

Crazy and epic boss battles that really get you in the game.

Great weapons and combos, even if its not the smoothest transition sometimes.

Great variety with the different unlock-able weapons (each weapon that you unlock\discover in the story will have a different vibe to the fighting, whether its the gameplay or visually).

Cons:

Unappealing and just horrible characters with a really dull story.

Loading times take you out of the immediate immersion. 

Locked difficulties is a bad choice, especially for the fans of the series\genre that would like to start on harder difficulties.

Some of the mechanics don’t work perfectly, but if the fast adaption is there, it will be less of a problem.

Some of the mission design is really bad, they are not fun or interesting, frustrating is the best way to describe them.

Camera issues are known to this genre, and it is still there as a problem, but knocking the entire game on that problem is not a fair thing to do, but mentioning them is fair.

Conclusion:

Bayonetta is a great game for the genre, it adds a lot of depth that was needed, and it also ups the ante with the craziness of the enemies and bosses, sadly it also doesn’t change the core problems with the genre, and specifically the Devil May Cry series, this is really a game for the lovers of the genre, if you have any interest in the characters or the premise, you might like it because visually everything is blowing up, dying or your just having alot to see, but the problems are the known problems in the genre, if you never played a game like Devil May Cry but you are interested in Bayonettas character, be aware that the game is not easy to adapt, especially in the later levels.

Scoring:

Presentation:

7 Its high just because the actual design and style works and looks great, sadly everything else is terrible.

Visuals:

8.0 The game looks good overall, there is alot going on screen with no frame problems (played on the xbox 360 version, it seems that  the PS3 version suffers from technical issues and frame drops), weapons and enemies looks great.

Sound:

5  Terrible accents and voice overs, and even though  the weapons sounds great, its just not enough.

Gameplay:

7.2  The core gameplay and new mechanics can work but not always, the crazy combo system is easy and works well overall, the game is fun when you have a flow, but the game have flaws that stop the flow every once in a while, that takes you out of the immersion of the game, also some of the mission design can be frustrating.

Replay Value:

6  The game can take you around 10 hours or more, depending on skill and adaption level, any sense or need for exploration and if there is any interest to get the best scoring for performance, online  leader boards are an interesting choice to have.

Final Score:

7.2  Bayonetta is a good effort to give something new and unique to the genre, especially when its coming from the maker of DMC, but sadly its not all there, some of the mechanics are a big problem, and even though the camera issues are notorious for the genre, some moments will really frustrate you because of it.

What do you get when you combine an open world game with the premise of the Nazi’s domination over France in the 1940?  You get a fantastic story and narrative with great new ideas towards gameplay, but can they actually work?

In The Saboteur you play as Sean Devlin, an Irish mechanic and a “known” racing driver in France. You are looking to get away from life and to seek for revenge over Kurt Dierker, the commander of the Nazi’s forces in France. On top of that Sean finds himself fighting, and building the French resistance. Along the way you meet a lot of interesting characters including the British Intelligence hot on the tail of Nazi’s. The Saboteur is a game where almost anything can happen.

Presentation:

The black and white art style works really well with the oppression that the Nazi’s have put the French people through and make this game unique for that open world genre. The story  is really good! Its written and acted well and the characters are varied and unique to each of their own. This really shows in the dialogues within the cut-scenes and in-game chatter, and the most big part of the game is the narrative that is really strong with how the game goes from black and white to regular colors depending on the areas you are in, and how much the Nazi’s forces and dominance is in that areas. Big set-pieces and big moments in the game change big chunks or areas, but also side missions help make the French people to believe they can fight the Nazi’s and stop them.

Visuals:

The unique black and white makes the game look really good since the small and obvious details like blood and explosions in a regular game looks similar, but because everything is in black and white, the game really shines in it, while the visuals on the “revolutionized” areas look decent, there is detail but its just no pretty to look at in these areas, and its sad that the entire game cant be just as black and white since the game’s narrative is evolving into something different, and the entire game is about hope and courage, both to the people you fight with, but also the entire country.

Sound:

Hard to tell if the voice-overs are really good or just really stereotypical, but it’s just feel right, the melodrama in the dialogues add a lot to the feel of the game, especially after the prologue when you realize what happened. The characters are definitely different from each other and in their way as they immerse you into the game and the story even more. Explosions and weapons sound good but nothing spectacular, NPC’s and Nazi’s react well to what is going behind you and also in the world. Whether its the Nazi’s investigating someone on the street to see if he is from the resistance, or just being aggressive towards the civilians.

Gameplay:

The game is a 3rd person shooter with some platforming, racing and stealth and blending elements. The core shooting gameplay is simple and decent but the shooting mechanics could have worked better; especially the hit detection. The platforming can be used to maneuver between rooftops and find that special spot to not be seen and take out that one guy you need, or just to make a big diversion and take advantage. The stealth and blending mechanics works with a disguise system where you can take a downed enemy’s clothes and use his uniform to be one of them, the mechanics are interesting, but they have some core problems. The main problem is when you are trying to be in closed areas and trying to find that one target or place to go to, the game uses a dynamic meter to show you what  are you doing and if they are suspicious. Simple stuff like jumping over buildings or climbing make the enemy become suspicious and after a while to attack you which on concept it works well, but sometimes it doesn’t.  Using Dynamites and other explosives can give you the right distraction or if what you need as an extra blow to take out big structures\vehicles they are fun to use.

Improving and evolving your character financially and narrative wise can be done by doing extra missions by some of the characters you’ve met during the story, or simple missions like racing. You obviously make money in the game, while on the narrative side  it breaks after one point, the basics of the system is to ruin or destroy big or small devices\vehicles or any other Nazi structures and the big and noticeable thing is to destroy Nazi crates that are in the world, that will give you more money and usually ammo and explosives. Some side missions require you to be sneaky and take one target, while some will require you to take out a big area or something substantial, which is fun for those who loved the game, for others it wont be anything they will care about.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

Great story, narrative and unique characters.

Great art style that shines in black and white, and makes the game really interesting to look and experience.

Fun and varied for the most part with a good  mission design that offers big moments and grab you.

The game gives you a convenient visual outline in the platforming parts that give you a guideline where you need or choose to jump to, which helps alot sometimes when you are stuck.

Cons:
Shooting, platforming and stealth mechanics work OK but they are not as solid as everything else; they are just not enough precision with some of the AI behaviors the design interior for some missions, also the platforming doesn’t feel organic or fluid enough.

Replay Value:

The game can take around 12-15 hours which is pretty short for an open world game, but the story and narrative is so good that it doesn’t matter, especially more than once, the side missions are not fun or varied enough to really give any real value to it.

Conclusion:

The Saboteur is a good game with great narrative and story, the characters are playful but also serious when needed, the protagonist is rough but can be charismatic, and that works really well with the story, the actual gameplay is good but not great. Some of the mechanics can be iffy, but overall The Saboteur is a game that will suck you in for the story and leave you for the big set pieces; all the while you will experience a great art style in the black and white parts that it will make you want to experience everything in the game, just know that the actual gameplay is rough at points.

Scoring:

Presentation:

9.5 Great story, narrative and  really unique characters, some of the story twists or elements can be dull and predictable, but overall the game presentation is brilliant.

Visuals:

8.5 The black and white art style makes this game shine in this genre, but sadly the regular colors make this game look blend at a lot of spots, facial animations can look weird at points.

Sound:

Great voice overs (no matter is the reason or feel) and well acted scenes, the emotion goes well, also the Nazi dialogues gives some information about the characters, which gives the entire narrative something really unique.

Gameplay:

7.5 Good game but not great, some of the mechanics don’t feel fluid or precised enough, but the big moments that you actually play and experience makes for the small problems.

Replay Value:

6.5 The game is pretty short to its genre, even though its not always fun or compelling to play side missions, the game feels over stretched in one or two times.

Final Score:

8.3 Great game with everything you want, great story, universe and characters, pretty good variety to the missions and big set pieces that works well, sadly not everything works well in the gameplay, but they are not  a game breaking problems, by any means.

The game is a prequel to the movie of the same name and it features a great narrative with some fantastic moments! The universe and the story are very interesting, but can Avatar be as fun as a game and not only being intriguing because of its plot and narrative? I’m and not sure yet; read on to make up your own mind.

Presentation:

Fantastic story and characters, the universe works and appeal, the sci-fi elements to the weaponry, vehicles and armors works really well with the jungle as a big open world, while the cut-scenes are good, the animations are not on par, weird movements and reactions, glitches and weird behaviors while talking to other characters  in the game, even though it seems better on the Na’vi’s part perspective.

Visuals:

Bright and colourful world, with different plants, animals, vistas, and areas with big variety\diversity to the entire world as a whole. The models for the Navi and the human side looks good but not sharp enough, and it seems that entire game looks really detailed, but not as sharp as it should have been. Great design for the vast of the weapons and armors with really modern yet sci-fi feel to the weapons, its not over-the-top crazy, but its not really realistic which is great, flamethrowers, grenade launchers, machine guns, assault rifles, shotgun, nail guns and some superb upgrades that makes the basic model look different and somewhat unique from the rest of the soldiers and captains that are within the universe.

Sound:

Solid voice overs with abit of campiness, it is still in a military world (on the human side) so you cannot have that part, but it is passable, different accents and personalities gives this aspect something unique, even though it was done before many many times, having as a whole, good voice overs and a solid script to get into the world. Weapons, explosions, enemies, animals, everything sounds great, its not the largest and different line dropper regarding your enemies and soldiers in the world, but its enough to put you in something that you would like be in and learn more about it.

Gameplay:

The core gameplay is  a 3rd person shooter with elements of RPG  and vehicular segments, which is good, you have enough to use in the world to move around, even though it wouldn’t make sense to say, the game is linear in a way, certain missions will lead you to a one path to get to that objective, no matter what you’ll try to do, which can be a problem since the vehicles are not as bad to drive or fly with, but the camera issues when driving or flying can be tough, and since the buggy or the mech or the choppers  can take damage pretty quickly and  blowup, it makes the game a bit tedious to just be on foot and killing useless enemies and Navi’s, which may work on the narrative side of things that the game is about the war between the two factions, killing aggressive plants and Viperwolfs that may have any challenge to the soldiers, at least on the narrative side, its not fun or interesting to fight these enemies just to get to a certain area every time. The RPG elements are small and almost unseen, which is simple and easy to understand that you have a bar with the EXP points you currently have to how much you need, along with this, (almost) every mission that you will get, will show you how much EXP you will earn by doing it, and it doesn’t feel organic enough since you basically only getting EXP from doing missions, at least on the more essential parts of the game, since killing an enemy will grant you 150 EXP at tops,  besides bosses and big moments, again, which is not bad by any means, and you have some small objectives where you can Conquer parts to earn more EXP (Turn Based Strategy), but the core parts of the RPG elements is to give you (almost as a guideline) more armor, weapons and upgrades.

Upgrading\Unlocking armors, weapons and abilities is easy as mentioned, but also very cool, every time you level up you get upgradable armors, weapons and skills, the core part of the menu screen is based on going and choosing weapons\skills  that are bind-able in the game (with LB and the D-Pad) and also using them in the game (with LB and the D-Pad), at first, it will seem weird to use the LB to use the skill since you immediately use the “Slow Motion” skill that you get from the get go to help you deflect and kill enemies better, it works ok, but it is weird until you will get into it. Whether the skills are more towards you and your physical state with having the boost running for a couple of seconds (Elite Training), to recover health (Genetic Re-generator) or to have a Repulsor to clear enemies near by and stun them at later levels to even have a tactical air strike in the field by the army, which is great, but the lack of any auto-aim really give this skill something to think how and where to point, especially in boss segments. Different armors  unlocked through the big parts of the game, and at least on paper give you more immunity to attacks and defend yourself, but it dosent feel that much of a difference, at least not to me, but visually it looks different as mentioned, same thing with the weapons, some weapons do feel better or stronger after a certain level, but at the moment where you know what weapons you like and play with them regularly, the upgrades don’t feel that much of a big difference, but it is a fantastic idea to throw alot of new weapons right at the beginning of the game, and let the player decide what they want to use and test them out early on.

The pandorapedia is  the encyclopedia of the universe, weapons, vehicles, enemies, areas, everything you want to know about is there, even though I’m not a big fan of getting into the pendorapedia (Pandora, the planet you are in) to learn how to control a helicopter or any other vehicle.

Unlocking more ammunition units  inside the area you are in will finalize everything you did in the area and give you a percentage on your progress, also unlocking all the transporting devices  that are scattered in the game.

Playing as the Navi side will only give you story points and the ability to see the perspective of the other side, but gameplay wise it is the same missions design of going to X get Y and kill U (basically same as the human side, which can be boring to do).

Pros And Cons:

Pros:

Ammo drops that works well on the narrative side and gameplay wise.

Great variety to the vehicles, weapons and abilities.

Easy to understand  game design to level you up fast early on and give you fun weapons  to play around with.

Cons: 

The shooting, driving and flying  mechanics are not perfect, it will not stop you from playing the game, but they are not, by any means, good, especially the flying mechanics that are really bad.

Tedious loading  times,  it works well on the narrative side, but not on the gameplay side, especially the small loading times that occur in the game while you’re in the world.

Not enough variety to the missions\ Pretty repetitive mission design.

Camera issues when driving\flying.

The game have frame drops every once in a while, its not crucial but you can see it when it does happen.

Replay Value:

Playing as both sides potentially will give you quite alot of hours in, the game is atleast 9 hours on one side, along with the Turn Based Strategy as  extra missions, and the unappealing Multiplayer, it will depend on your level interest in the story and universe to play as the second side.

Conclusion:

James Cameron Avatar works well as a prequel even though we havent seen the movie yet, it builds something unique and interesting, atlaest on the narrative and story side, the gameplay is not the best, but it is varied with great weapons, armors and abilities, the divided story between the Navi’s and the humans will want you to explore the game twice if you liked the structure, since it is the same. The Multiplayer side is not appealing at all aswell.

Scoring:

Presentation:

9.5 Great story and characters, well thought-out universe and factions, voice overs are solid with pretty good cut-scenes.

Visuals:

7.8 Game looks detailed and varied in the planet, armors, enemies, weapons, everything  besides the characters that look blend, but as a whoel the game is not sharp enough, especially with some of the animations.

Sound:

9.0 Great voice-overs and pretty much everything else sounds great, besides the music.

Gameplay:

7.3 The game is fun but the mechanics to driving  can be a problem, the mechanics and control scheme for flying are horrible, but  the different weapons and abilities adds alot to the core basic shooter, and it works really well, even though the shooting mechanics could have worked better, it wont  stop you from playing it, since the narrative is really strong. What could make you not playing the game is the mission design that can be quite repetitive or similar, especially the first half of the game that takes everything besides the narrative to a low point.

Replay Value:

7 If you’re planning to play as both sides it will take you around 15-13 hours total, both  the Turn Based Strategy extra missions and the multiplayer is not the reason to play the game, by any means.

Final Score:

7 Great Narrative and story along with great weapons and abilities, the game still suffers from technical problems and some clunky mechanics, it is still a recommended game to experience, especially if you have any interest in the movie, since this is the prequel that builds everything well towards it, but the core mission design  is repetitive and un-unspired.