New Super Mario Brothers Wii-Nintendo Video Game Review

Title: New Super Mario Brothers Wii
Release Date: November 15, 2009
Genre: Platformer
Rating: E for Everyone
Platform: Nintendo Wii
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo

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Any gamer in my generation knows the significance behind this game. New Super Mario Brothers Wii isn’t just another crapshoot game in a long line of new Wii releases; it might possibly be the most important Wii release this holiday season.

New Super Mario Brothers Wii is the first side-scrolling Mario game for home consoles since the days of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, or three console generations ago. This type of game is aimed towards gamers who grew up playing the genre and would like to rekindle the excitement they used to get from playing them. Another version of this game, New Super Mario Brothers was released for Nintendo’s portable DS system but the game was way too easy and could be completed in just a couple afternoons. This version is much harder. There are quite a few levels that it took me half a dozen attempts to complete. However this isn’t a bad thing, because I’d much rather have a challenge in games like this rather then blow through them and have them sit on the shelf collecting dust.

One thing I noticed when I first started playing is that the wireless controller is slightly less responsive then it’s corded counterpart. It took a couple minutes of playing before I was able to get the right timing down and stopped jumping too far over enemies and completely missed hitting boxes and platforms.

Within the first couple stages I was presently surprised to find Yoshi as a ridable companion. He had all the actions and abilities that he did for the SNES and they all look a little sweeter with better graphics. The more I played the more I realized it was just a teaser, since he rarely appears in the game. Also it’s not as if I can keep going back to that level to grab him and take him to additional levels because you lose him at the conclusion of the stage.

A bunch of power-ups can be collected throughout your travels. The normal set is here, mushroom, fire-power, star-power, but a few new ones have been added too. An ice-flower can be collected and used to freeze enemies. The frozen enemies can then be picked up and thrown. There is also a penguin suit that, much like the frog suit in SMB3, can be used to swim faster underwater, but this isn’t the limit of its abilities. It also shoots ice balls and can be used to slide, kind of like a koopa, but only on icy surfaces. There is even a helmet that causes Mario, or whatever character you are, to briefly fly into the air when you shake the Wii-Mote, an action that can be accidentally triggered with the slightest move of the controller.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is only available for the Nintendo Wii. Although there are some minor headaches to overcome, the overall game is as solid as you would expect from the Mario franchise. The game is long in length and the levels are so vast it could take months to discover every hidden path and collectable coin.

Overall Rating:

The Gaming Savant, Ryan Smith-MuzikReviews.com Video Game Review Staff Team Leader

October 24, 2009

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For questions or comments on this review send an e-mail to rsmith@muzikreviews.com

Tekken 6-Xbox 360 Video Game Review

Title: Tekken 6

Release: October 27, 2009

Genre: Fighting

Developer: Namco Bandai Games

Publisher: Namco Bandai Games

Platform: Xbox 360

Rating: T (Teen)

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Tekken 6 is the home console port of the updated arcade version of Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion which has been in arcades for years prior to the console version. As a result, the graphics are not exactly cutting edge or mind-blowing but still maintain the high caliber quality found in past Tekken games. The animations are fluid as fighters maneuver, twist, evade and counter throws and punches. A match between two veteran players will always yield something akin to a violent ballet or a well choreographed action movie fight sequence. The way in which the fighters respond to each punch, kick or grapple is realistic for the most part—knocking fighters into the sky and juggling them with straight jabs still looks ridiculous though. The FMV cinemas are as frantic and confusing as ever, but the opening single player campaign retrospective does a surprisingly good job of quickly and thoroughly explaining the main story of Tekken across five titles which is no easy feat considering all the corporate espionage, evil battle gods and the complete lack of cliff safety.

The user interface is unnecessarily cumbersome to navigate. The game divides its play modes into three categories—offline, online and single-player campaign. The way the menu is displayed suggests that there are online and offline versions of every play mode such as versus, team versus and survival. Instead, all of these modes can only be found under “offline” while “online” only grants you ranked match or a player match. You can only play the game online in a ranked or player match so why does the game section it off from the main menu? In addition, wouldn’t the single-player campaign be listed under “offline”? If anything, by listing the single-player campaign mode separately, Tekken 6 inadvertently highlighted its worst feature before any fighting takes place.

The single-player campaign is a continuation of the “Tekken force mode” which started back in Tekken 3 for the Playstation. Imagine playing a 3-D action game as your favorite Tekken fighter. On the surface it sounds tantalizing, however, none of the fighters you select play exactly like their arcade counterpart due to technical limitations and poor gameplay decisions. Also, not all fighters are immediately available from the start. Players begin with Lars, Alisa and one fighter of their choosing. The rest need to be found within the branching level paths in the soul-less garbage that is the single-player campaign. The voice acting can pass for a terrible anime series while the plots and subplots never make sense or come together in a believable or satisfying fashion. Namco Bandai attempts to cram just about every Tekken fighter in history into a story that bursts at the seams with outlandish tripe. The gameplay is mind numbing and exasperating without any redeeming qualities to speak of. You earn cash, which can be spent on costume changes and accessories, but cash can be accumulated in other modes found in the game making the entire single-player campaign awful to play as well as useless.

Now if we remove the single-player campaign like cutting off the head of a dead fish, we are left with something much more appetizing. Tekken, in its original, familiar form has never been more refined or more enjoyable. The balancing of characters has undergone extensive updates and tweaks since being in the arcades and in the end presents a wonderfully crafted fighting game. Each fighter has a plethora of attacks and combos that is accessible for people with Tekken experience while encouraging players to become masterful at creating their own style. Tekken provides as much as the player is willing to learn; it is a highly technical fighter that will require training much like playing a sport. The game becomes deeper and more fulfilling as you learn not only the entire repertoire of attacks and counters, but how to use and execute them effectively. With over thirty fighters to choose from, you will no doubt find someone best suited to your particular play style. The only misstep to be found is the final boss encounter with Azazel which is a cheap, overly-powerful monster that undoes much of the skill and practice needed to play Tekken 6. You have to find an attack that works against him, spam it repeatedly and hope for the best.

The online play is tricky to compete effectively on. Lag becomes your toughest foe and degrades the quality of bouts. At the time of writing this review, however, a patch should have already been released to help alleviate this issue and create a stable fighting experience. Tekken has always worked better when played with friends who are in the room with you. Your ability to round up friends who like fighting games and can play consistently will ultimately decide how long Tekken 6 will last in your console.

Tekken 6 is an impressive fighting game from a long line of quality 3-D fighters. The single-player campaign nearly ruins the overall package that is deep as well as a blast to play with friends. With the addition of Tekken 6 to the list of fighting games along with Street Fighter 4 and Blazblue, The winner for best fighting game of 2009 will be a hard decision to make.

Overall Rating:

M. Michael Chwedyk-MuzikReviews.com Sr. Video Game Reviewer

December 3, 2009

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For Questions or Comments on This Review email me mchwedyk@muzikreviews.com

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes-Xbox 360 Video Game Review

Title: Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes

Release Date: October 6, 2009

Genre: Action
Rating: T for Teen

Platform: XBox 360

Publisher: LucasArts

Developer: Krome Studios

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The animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars is one of the best things to happen to the Star Wars franchise in recent years. It has nice voice acting, good plots and some great character interactions. Unfortunately, Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes, a game based on the series, isn’t as good as its namesake.

In Republic Heroes, you get to play the role of just about every key figure in the series at some point, including Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Captain Rex. As these characters, you must foil a Separatist plot to create a super weapon that could spell doom for the Republic.

You would think that after the success of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the designers of this game would have adopted that game’s over-the-shoulder perspective for this game. Unfortunately, this is not the case – instead, they went with a third-person perspective. This, more than anything else, drags the game down to the rating that it earns, because the perspective creates so many problems.

For starters, there is no way to adjust the camera angle you are viewing the action from like there is in many action games. As a result, the platform-jumping action that makes up certain parts of Republic Heroes gets extremely frustrating at times, as it’s tough to judge exactly where to jump to avoid missing the ledge. As if that wasn’t bad enough, there are quite a few times in this game where you get so far away from the camera during the action that it’s tough to see what the heck is going on.

As for the controls, they’re decent enough for what the game is. The Jedi and clone troopers have somewhat different controls, reflecting their different combat styles. The only gripe I have is that the clone troopers’ aiming controls could use a little work. Basically, you fire by pointing the right control stick in whatever direction you want to shoot in. This feels kind of awkward to me, and definitely doesn’t give you the same feeling of combat intensity as pressing the right trigger would. This is only aggravated by the aforementioned bad camera, which makes it tough to draw an accurate bead on enemies.

One cool feature of the game is the “droid jak,” which allows a Jedi character to jump on top of an enemy droid and control it for a certain time. For example, you can jump on a super battle droid and force it to march around shooting its allies, or you can take control of a chameleon droid and use it as your own personal mine-layer. It’s a nice feature that adds some strategy to the action, which can get somewhat repetitive at times.

Another good thing the game has going for it is the feel of animated series. The voice actors from the series reprise their roles for the game, and I can’t think of one major character they missed featuring in this game. Even the new bounty hunter character Cad Bane makes an appearance.

Unfortunately, none of the game’s good points can make up for all of the frustration that the fixed third-person perspective causes. If it weren’t for that, Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes could have been a decent title. As it is, though, it needs some serious fixing before it could be considered as worthy as the series it sprang from.

Overall Rating:

Christopher Mastey-Muzikreviews.com Video Game Reviewer

November 30, 2009

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Uncharted 2: Among Thieves-PS3 Video Game Review

Title: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Release: October 13, 2009

Genre: Action

Developer: Naughty Dog

Publisher: SCEA

Platform: PS3

Rating: T (Teen)

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During the past few months, Sony has had to bounce back from staggering fiscal losses and a bipolar handheld device. Despite these setbacks, Sony has regained momentum and capitalized on the PS3 price reduction strategy by releasing both strong exclusive and first-party content for the console. The biggest and most publicized weapon in their arsenal comes in the form of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves which was the show-stopper at E3 2009. The gameplay shown at the event was so spectacular that people almost forgot about Naughty Dog’s original Uncharted which struggled to find its place in the market. Uncharted was the developer’s first attempt at a third-person shooter and was the victim of many rookie mistakes which, for the most part, have been tweaked and refined in the sequel.

Uncharted was released in 2007 as an exclusive PS3 game which usually meant outstanding graphics and little else. Uncharted 2 keeps the bar set high with the tropical locals while adding the infinitely more interesting slums of Nepal and snowcapped mountain ranges. The graphics and presentation as a whole are cinematically brilliant. The engaging nature is due to Naughty Dog’s insistence that the voice actors be motion-captured while performing their lines not unlike a virtual play. The result is a seamless epic movie feel that makes Uncharted 2 the undisputed champion of playable cinema. The game opts for the hard road of graphics rendering by pushing the hardware into a realism test instead of creating a more cartoon-like, less graphically demanding art style. The result is a beautifully vibrant, gritty look that fits well with the Indiana Jones aesthetic. The sound effects and voice talent are identical to that of the original game which was pitch perfect. The music has an uncanny ability to slip by unnoticed throughout much of Uncharted 2. The music is not lousy by any means, it just isn’t very memorable.

The biggest upgrade from Uncharted to its sequel is without question the gameplay. The original game was overly difficult due to poor choices made to balance the damage inflicted as well as taken. In a standard shooter, the enemies start off as weak and progressively take more damage to make the game challenging throughout. Uncharted made the enemies equally hard to kill from the start and made the weapons you picked up later on more deadly. Enemies who were wearing nothing more than cargo shorts and tank tops seemed unstoppable. Certain pistols did more damage than shotguns at close range and head shots were insanely difficult to pull off even at point blank opportunities. Instead of fighting a steady stream of enemies within a level, players were forced to stay in one location and fight off wave after wave of henchmen mercenaries; death would result in having to complete the battle royal all over again. Uncharted 2 seems to have learned from the more frustrating aspects of the original and removed the underlying bone-headed design of Uncharted’s fight sequences. Enemies no longer take a full clip to kill, headshots are plentiful and battles, no matter how one-sided, can be won without super-human reflexes and patience. This is not to say that there are no more frustrating areas, they just feel less cheap and more rewarding to play.  Shooting mechanics simply feel more attuned with the player making fighting just as enjoyable as the climbing/puzzle aspects that are synonymous with the franchise. The gimmicky motion controls from the original are no longer required to throw grenades or balance your footing on narrow bridges. As a result, using grenades is now useful instead of aggravating.

Uncharted 2 introduces two new major features—stealth sections and online multiplayer. The stealth sections are the least enjoyable sections of the game. Being spotted by guards causes you to fail the level; the problem lies with the unequal spotting abilities of the guards. Some guards will not notice you at all from a few feet away while some will spot you from across the room. These sections require a precise course to complete them successfully and punish any form of improvisation. These sections are mercifully short, but slow the otherwise terrific pacing of the game. The new multiplayer offers the standard modes such as deathmatch, capture-the-flag, king of the hill, territory holding, etc. None of the modes present anything you haven’t seen before in most other multiplayer shooter games, but they are done well and grant extended playing time with Uncharted 2. The two-player coop mode does not allow you and a friend to play through the story mode; instead it offers a side-story that features multiple characters working together so playing with a friend makes sense. As you progress through the single player and multiplayer modes, you will collect money used to buy abilities, attributes and even new character skins granted you have already unlocked them by completing the game. Attributes are only used during multiplayer and you can only equip two at a time which makes going into online battles a tad more strategic depending on what mode you enter and what attributes you want equipped.

Everything about Uncharted 2 has either been overhauled or made bigger and louder. The story, which is strangely similar to the script of the first game, explodes with plot twists, new faces, old acquaintances and crazy supernatural portions that are just as unwelcome now as when they were in the original. Still, the story is engaging enough to help tie together reasons for shooting people all over the globe. Nathan Drake, the main character, seems to have grown as a heroic figure. He now appears to be better equipped to kill and fights more comprehensively while at the same time endures more punishment this time around making him less fragile. The entire supporting cast is remarkable in their ability to be liked; it is impossible to root against any one of them.

Uncharted 2 is an excellent example of how to handle a sequel—fix what is broken and make what works work better. Issues with combat from the first game have all been addressed while unfortunately creating new issues with the stealth sections, but these portions are miniscule when compared to the rest of the game. Cinematically the game is unmatched and the cast is so likeable it will be difficult to wait for the next sequel to see what happens next with these characters. Naughty Dog may be better known now for developing the Uncharted franchise than creating the critically acclaimed Crash Bandicoot games of the PS1 era.

Overall Rating:

M. Michael Chwedyk-MuzikReviews.com Sr. Video Game Reviewer

November 17, 2009

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For Questions or Comments on This Review email me mchwedyk@muzikreviews.com

Forza Motorsport 3-Xbox 360 Video Game Review

Title: Forza Motorsport 3 Release Date: October 27, 2009 Genre: Racing Rating: E for Everyone Platform: Xbox 360 Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios Developer: Turn 10 Studios Product Link It’s no big secret that I am a big fan of racing games. Recently I’ve reviewed a lot of stinkers that have tried to pass themselves off as viable simulation racers. Forza Motorsport, however, has been Microsoft’s answer to Gran Turismo, which is Sony’s franchise racing series. This is their first attempt at producing a game for the current console generation, hopefully they can retain their excellence with this edition. Forza Motorsport 3 is visually stunning. Beauty glistens around every corner, from the cars to the tracks to the background scenery, everything looks excellent. The cars take on all the aspects of their real life counterparts, a friend of mine who is a huge car enthusiast complimented this game on correctly placing the location of the back-up lights on the cars. Instead of just making the break lights change to white like some racing games do. There are a few tracks that are stationed on the side of a mountain. Off in the distance you can see other mountains, as well as trees and houses. All of these items look much better then I would have expected them too, especially for them being background objects. Another really neat aspect comes when exiting tunnels. Much like the human eye, when you leave a darkened area for a brightly lit one, the screen becomes very bright, and then fades back down to normal. Yet another little aspect you might not expect to be there. The bulk of your gaming time will be spent in the career mode. You start off with your choice of a low level, affordable car, I took a Chevy Aveo. You then run groups of races and depending on how you perform in the races you are awarded credits and experience. Credits are used for buying new cars and upgrades. Experience, or XP, comes in two categories, driver and car.  Driver XP awards you with progressively better cars the higher the level you achieve and car XP awards you with manufacturer discounts on upgrades for any vehicle from that company. One really cool thing is the gamer’s ability to use any car for just about the entire game. Depending on how much you are willing to spend you can upgrade the cheapest car to become competitive in the highest race classifications. For example, I bought a MINI Cooper S for 12,000 credits, added 134,000 credits worth of upgrades to it and was able to use it to win races in the second highest classification tier. I was able to use the MINI Cooper S to drive around a Dodge Viper SRT10 and a Chevy Corvette Z06. But upgrading cars can only take you so far. A lot of races are for a certain type of car, like Ford Focus only races. This is where the game forces you to dip into some of the free cars you’ve been given or visit the dealership and purchase cars. With more then 400 cars from over 50 dealers each with the ability to be tuned and customized, the possibility of coming up with the exact same car some someone else is nearly impossible, unless you use the automatic upgrade feature.  The tuning also allows you to increase single aspects such as handling or acceleration. This game is extremely realistic. There is a noticeable difference between driving rear-wheel drive and front-wheel drive vehicles. The damage is another aspect that is rendered excellently. Barely bumping another car will result in a few scratches whereas going balls-out into a guardrail will ensure quick, catastrophic mechanical failure. The only issue comes when I am awarded achievements. All Xbox 360 games offer the player achievement points, something like a brag list for gamers to show their friends. These achievements often appear before I realize what they are for. For example, right after a race I will get a pop-up awarding me achievement points for gaining a level when the game hasn’t added up my XP yet. This isn’t as big of a deal for a game like this as it is for some other games. Developers need to choose better times to display these messages that won’t ruin the anticipation a gamer gets from finally finishing a game. Forza Motorsport 3 is only available for Xbox 360. This is an outstanding simulation racing game. They have been able to hone their craft over the years and are now the proud owners of one of the best simulation racing games available today. Gran Turismo should be watching their rear-view mirrors closely, because a new contender is out there, vying for best racing game. Overall Rating: The Gaming Savant, Ryan Smith-MuzikReviews.com Video Game Review Staff Team Leader October 24, 2009 ©MuzikReviews.com For questions or comments on this review send an e-mail to rsmith@muzikreviews.com

Video Game 2009 Holiday Shopping Guide Gamer Edition

Another Holiday season is upon us and chances are if you are reading this you have a gamer on your list and are clueless as to what to buy them. Fear not, my friend, I have compiled a list of some of this year’s best gift ideas for gamers of all ages and genders. From games to gift cards to accessories to what not to do, I have it all covered. Just listen closely and you will increase your chances of seeing a happy face on Christmas morning rather then a disappointed one.

Games:

When entering a gaming store, or the gaming section of your local electronics retailer, it’s very easy to become disoriented by the vast selection of available titles. Instead of rifling through box after box and guessing which one your recipient might like, approach a customer service representative and ask for one of these following hits:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Available for: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC

Target Audience: Adult or mature gamers, online gamers, fans of first-person shooters

Why: CoD:MW2 has received praise from all its critics and is heralded as one of the best online multiplayer FPS games available for consoles. The game has only been out for about a month but is already setting the standard for realistic console shooters to come.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Available for: Nintendo Wii

Target Audience: Gamers of all ages and both genders, retro gamers

Why: The original gaming generation, people currently 25-35, new have families of their own and young children who are probably also gamers. NSMBW has an easy learning curve, co-operative multiplayer and takes that first generation of gamers back to a time when this type of two-dimensional side-scroller was all the rave.

Forza Motorsport 3

Available for: Xbox 360

Target Audience: Gearheads, men of all ages

Why: Forza Motorsport 3 is this year’s must-have racing title. The realistic graphics, long career mode and excellent gameplay ensure great replay ability and a long life in your gamer’s collection.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Available for: PlayStation3

Target Audience: Action gamers, men 18-35

Why: Uncharted 2 is this year’s must have PS3 title. The stunning graphics and movie like storyline are big reasons it is winning over critics and gamers alike.

Plants vs. Zombies

Available for: PC, Mac

Target Audience: Men, woman, children, teens, adults, casual gamers, experienced gamers, gamers with lower end PCs

Why: Plants vs. Zombies is a very simple concept that is performed excellently. Its story mode is easy enough for the most casual of casual gamers and the extra modes will keep the experienced gamers coming back for weeks to try to get higher scores. Plus the under $20 price will keep your wallet happy too.

World of Warcraft

Available for: PC, Mac

Target Audience: Men, woman, fantasy gamers, a lot of free time gamers

Why: It’s no secret I love WoW and I praise it ay every chance I get, but this season adds extra incentive since Blizzard is selling it for only $5. You now have no excuse for passing on trying it, unless you’re doing it just to spite me.

But what if the gamer you’re shopping for already has all the games they want? Here are some non-game ideas:

Accessories

Every gamer can use some accessories for their systems, most popular would be controllers. When buying controllers try to stick with the first party manufacturers; Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, they may cost a little more but they are usually the most reliable, responsive and comfortable to use. Another accessory is rechargeable battery packs as well as recharge stations. Most battery packs consist of two AA batteries, which can get costly and annoying.

Another excellent idea is gift cards. These could come in many forms, such as a predetermined amount to a favorite brick and mortar or online store, a subscription to a game magazine, a few months subscription to a rental service like Gamefly or Gametap, Xbox Live memberships or currency in online games or services like Xbox Live or PlayStation Network.

Things to avoid:

Just with any hobby in life, if you are unfamiliar with gaming as a whole you may be clueless when it comes to shopping for a gamer. My first tip of advice is to avoid general merchandise stores. Although they often have the best prices on everything else, their video games are overpriced. This doesn’t include new releases since they have a common starting price but these stores are often the last ones to reduce prices on older games. On top of this their employees, though probably nice people, are less likely to be knowledgeable on all things gaming, especially during the holiday season, when workers may be asked to work outside of their normal departments during peak hours. Stick to gaming or electronic specific stores.

With so many sequels in today’s market it is imperative you get the right edition of a game. With Guitar Hero for example there are a half dozen editions that have been released in the last couple years that can easily be mistaken for each other, this is where going to a general merchandise store could affect you.

Finally, make sure you are purchasing for the correct console. Not only can games be crossed up across the current generation’s platforms, but distinguishing PS2 from PS3 is a must. Funny story, when I was a young teenager I wanted Final Fantasy VII for the PC for Christmas because I didn’t own a PlayStation. My Mom wrapped up a good sized box and put my Dad’s name on it. I wasn’t paying attention when he opened it but he pulled out a handful of games and handed them to me. I was disappointed because although one of them was FFVII, it was for PlayStation not PC. My mom acted shocked and couldn’t believe she had bought games for the wrong system. My Dad then pulled a PlayStation out of the box and I couldn’t believe it. Feel free to use this on your own child, but don’t be expecting it to work as well on them. I am a gullible person. A few weeks prior, my sister asked my opinion on which system I preferred, PlayStation or Nintendo 64 claiming her boss wanted to buy one but wasn’t sure which. I was just glad to give my opinion, not at all thinking the system was for me.

Following these ideas might not win over every gamer, but it will be successful for most of them. Also, if anyone who might be buying me something is reading this, all of these ideas would make a great edition to my gaming library.

The Gaming Savant, Ryan Smith-MuzikReviews.com Video Game Review Staff Team Leader

December 8, 2009

©MuzikReviews.com

For questions or comments on this article, or for gift ideas for the special gamer on you list, drop me a line at rsmith@muzikreviews.com

Wet-XBox 360 Video Game Review

Title: Wet Release Date: September 14, 2009 Genre: Action Rating: M for Mature Platform: XBox 360 Publisher: Bethesda Softworks Developer: A2M Website Product Link The first thing you might be wondering about upon seeing Wet’s game box (aside from the very attractive female character pictured) is what the heck the title means. As the game tells you in the opening sequence, “wet” in this case is short for wetwork, also known as assassination. True to its title, Wet delivers a lot of gory action that, while a little repetitive, is ultimately a lot of fun. In Wet, you play the role of Rubi Malone, a freelancer who has been hired to bring the heir to a crime family home. Unfortunately, the job goes bad, and Rubi finds herself on the run from a lot of people who want her dead as a result. Rubi, intent on finding out what’s going on, finds herself in the middle of an underworld conflict as she fights for her survival. The first thing that people might notice about Wet is that the game absolutely screams “Quentin Tarantino.” So many things about Wet’s presentation call to mind Tarantino’s cinematic style, from the grainy “old film reel” effect seen throughout the game to the Rage Mode sequences (which are reminiscent of the “seeing red” sequences from Kill Bill) to the high body count. What looks to be like a standard third-person shooting game at first is given a few neat twists by the game’s acrobatics system. Rubi seems to be an expert gymnast in addition to a hired gun, and the action goes into bullet-time mode when she shoots during these acrobatic moves, allowing her to go to town in style on the hordes of thugs she runs into throughout the game. Mastering the art of shooting while leaping, sliding down ladders and even running on walls is a major part of the game. Rubi ends up with four types of guns by the end of the game, and she also has a sword that she can use. You can purchase upgrades, such as gun enhancements and new acrobatic stunts, using style points, which are gained by killing enemies quickly and with sufficient acrobatic style. Objectively speaking, I’ll admit Wet is a tad repetitive. There are fewer acrobatic moves available than I was hoping for, and the run-and-gun action remains mostly the same throughout. However, I found it hard to ding the game for that simply because the action remains so fun the entire time you’re playing it. Somehow, shooting down half a dozen bad guys in one dive never gets old. In addition, the game’s soundtrack has to be one of the best I’ve heard in a long time. Every piece of music immerses you further into the action, and songs like The Arkhams’ “She’s Lost Control” and Knock Galley West’s “Murder” are so fun to listen to that you might find yourself deliberately losing lives just to listen to the songs over again. Fortunately, there’s a jukebox mode available to make such a thing unnecessary. Wet isn’t the most original game out there, but it’s a fun ride all the way through and a title well worth playing. Overall Rating: Christopher Mastey-Muzikreviews.com Video Game Reviewer November 22, 2009 © MuzikReviews.com

Demon’s Souls-PS3 Video Game Review

Title: Demon’s Souls

Release: October 6, 2009

Genre: Action-RPG

Developer: From Software

Publisher: Atlus

Platform: PS3

Rating: M (Mature)

Product Link

Website

From Software has an excellent catalogue when it comes to making graphically sophisticated games. The developer is responsible for the gorgeous Otogi: Myth of Demons franchise on the original Xbox as well as the impressive-looking Ninja Blade which came out earlier this year for the 360. Demon’s Souls is no different but replaces Japanese monsters with the more familiar Western-inspired bestiary found in games like Everquest or even classic Dungeons and Dragons paper and pencil quests from yesteryear.

You will encounter giant spiders, blobs, ogres, dragons and other gothic set pieces, but the rendering gives them a realistic presence in a bleak, cold world that instills more fear in the player than any survival horror game released this year. The only character that lacks polish is your own avatar. The create-a-character options yield little imaginative flare while producing, in most cases, an awfully generic protagonist. Luckily, you can outfit your character with helmets and armor that successfully cover up any lasting remnants of whatever you built in the beginning of the game.

The sound design follows suit with the graphics in terms of style. The score is typical epic orchestral fare meant to add a sense of grandeur to your unique adventure. The music can switch between heroic and depressing almost instantly—depressing throughout most levels while heroic during boss battles. The voice acting is also incredibly solemn in representing the plight of most of the game’s inhabitants. The man in charge of watching your storage speaks with a tone of tortured sadness due to the loss of his family. Even though not much is known about his back story, the acting suggests a deeper world filled with strife and hardships that begs to be explored.

You will take control over one of many fantasy archetypes—the knight, archer, magician, etc. Fighting consists of a fast weak attack and a slow strong attack. Combos can be linked together depending on what kind of weapon you have equipped. Combat is all about timing your strikes carefully and knowing when to block with your shield or parry an incoming slash. The momentum shifts back and forth during battles and a few poorly timed attacks will get you killed. Magic users must have their wand equipped in order to cast spells which can be awkward at times when you have to switch from your sword to a catalyst wand during mid fight. The combat is unique to the genre in the sense that a typical action RPG simply requires players to click on the target they want to attack and the outcome is decided by statistical formulas and algorithms. Demon’s Souls’ combat has a more active and thoroughly more rewarding engagement than most games of its kind. Killing monsters and bosses earns you souls, the only currency in the game. Souls are used to buy weapons, armor and items as well as upgrade your stats such as strength, endurance and dexterity.

Demon’s Souls’ gameplay will ultimately separate the hardcore gamer from the casual crowd. A learning curve does not exist in this game; it is vary much a jagged wall. The difficulty level stays high from the very outset challenging you to basically survive. This game is very much against you and actively thwarts any attempt you will make to complete it. Some enemies are purposely made over-powered while others lie in wait for you behind doors and corners. Every enemy has the potential to kill you even when you are at full health. Some enemies, like the wolves, are so deadly that even the sight of them will send you running in the opposite direction. Upon dying, and you will die often, you are sent back to the beginning of the level as a ghost with you health significantly reduced, enemies fully regenerated and every soul you collected taken away from you. It is possible to retrieve all of your lost souls if you can manage to find the bloodstain where you were last killed, but there is usually a good reason why you died at this spot to begin with and you will realize that those souls are as good as gone.

Your only helpful source comes from other gamers. Demon’s Souls’ most novel and fascinating feature is its inventive multiplayer. During your campaign when online you will see ghosts of other players running through the level in real-time; players can leave notes, or in most cases warnings, about impending doom. Every time a player dies they leave behind a bloodstain. When you touch another person’s bloodstain you will see what that character did shortly before being killed. This provides helpful insight into the game’s puzzles and is also hilarious to watch people get crushed or fall off cliffs that lead no where. When online you will never feel alone and seeing other players die over and over will make you feel better about your own misjudgments. You can also jump into other people’s campaigns as either a friend or foe, but due to the game’s lack of a friend finding server, it is nearly impossible to link up with people you know and trust.

Demon’s Souls presents a quirky, dark role-playing experience that is both classic and refreshing. Combat is a thrilling leap in a more active direction that emphasizes the “action” in action RPGs. The online implementation is clever and adds a sense of camaraderie in what is a visibly desolate, defeated world. The sadistic difficulty level will scare lesser gamers away but those who are willing to put their RPG knowledge to good use will find an unforgiving paradise that will award a real sense of triumph…if they triumph.

Overall Rating:

M. Michael Chwedyk-MuzikReviews.com Sr. Video Game Reviewer

November 3, 2009

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For Questions or Comments on This Review email me mchwedyk@muzikreviews.com

The Beatles: Rock Band vs. Van Halen: Guitar Hero Xbox 360

The Beatles: Rock Band vs. Van Halen: Guitar Hero

 

A lot of gaming sites and publications have compared The Beatles: Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5 because their release dates were so close together. I however think this is an unfair comparison since The Beatles: Rock Band is focusing on one band and Guitar Hero 5 is focusing on 83. So for a more fair comparison, I’m going to compare The Beatles: Rock Band with Guitar Hero: Van Halen. This is an even comparison in my opinion since I am a bigger fan of The Beatles then I am of Van Halen and I’m also a bigger fan of Guitar Hero then I am of Rock Band, so lets see the results.

 

 

Title: The Beatles: Rock Band
Release Date: September 9, 2009
Genre: Music
Rating: T for Teen
Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: MTV Games
Developer: Harmonix

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Title: Guitar Hero: Van Halen
Release Date: December 22,2009
Genre: Music
Rating: T for Teen
Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Neversoft

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Songs:

TB:RB offers 45 original Beatles songs on the disc. Such greats as Eight Days A Week and Ticket To Ride appear, as well as some lesser known ones like I Me Mine and Dig A Pony. There are also plans to release the remaining songs off of Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Rubber Soul each month through the end of the year.

GH:VH will offer 28 Van Halen songs. Included are popular hits like Dance The Night Away and Panama as well as some rarities like Mean Streetand Hear About It Later. In addition to Van Halen, 19 guest bands have been included. Most notably are Blink-182’s First Date, Queen’s I Want It All and newcomer to the Guitar Hero Universe, The Offspring’s Pretty Fly For A White Guy. I would be renounced if I didn’t also mention Tenacious D’s Master Exploder, which may be the best song to both sing and play on guitar to date.

Advantage? I’ve got to call this a push. While The Beatles’ songs are really fun to sing, I get the same kind of excitement playing Van Halen’s songs on guitar. Van Halen is known as one of the most popular arena rock bands and that really translates over to an exciting guitar experience. Each game’s track list is stellar and neither can be declared better.

Visuals:

TB:RB’s graphics are alright. The whole game goes for a late 60s feel with psychedelic background animations and a soft feel. The background animations are what bring the game down, the trippy movements and colors are very distracting when trying to follow the sliding notes on screen.

GH:VH’s graphics are what you would expect from the Guitar Hero series. I guess if it’s not broken, you don’t fix it. Guitar Hero really takes advantage of this old adage.

Advantage? GH:VH gets the edge simply because it is a lot less distracting.

Gameplay:

TB:RB has some really nice features. The track list is sorted in order of their release, not their difficulty.  Each song does give you a preview of how hard it is to play on each instrument before you choose your instrument. It also gives you the option, before each song, to choose the difficulty. This is an excellent addition since my skill level is in between medium and hard, I have the option to choose hard difficulty on easier songs and medium difficulty on harder songs. You are also given the option to sing lead or back-up, which works great with Beatles’ songs.

GH:VH does a lot of things wrong. The music playing aspect is just as good as always but all the extras draw it downward. You cannot play a career and switch instruments mid-way. If you want to do a singing career you choose a difficulty and have to sing every song on that difficulty. I’d like to be able to switch because sometimes the bass line is better then the lead guitar riffs or I want to sing a single song or something.

Advantage? TB:RB definitely. The change-on-the-fly options make it leaps and bounds better in the gameplay department. Especially since you can do a career and have friends hop in and out at their leisure.

Final Verdict:

TB:RB is an excellent representation of the Beatles career. You jump from album to album playing most of their hits along the way. You get to be featured in the most popular moments in their legendary lifespan and come out the other side with a better respect for their music.

Overall Rating:

GH:VH puts you in control of the world’s foremost arena rock band. Their high energy tracks coupled with a sub-par career mechanism brings up mixed feelings from this reviewer. While I really had fun playing their songs on guitar, I couldn’t really get into the singing aspect.

Overall Rating:

The Gaming Savant, Ryan Smith-MuzikReviews.com Video Game Review Staff Team Leader

10/24/2009

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For questions or comments on this review send an e-mail to rsmith@muzikreviews.com

Wolfenstein-Xbox 360 Video Game Review

Title: Wolfenstein

Release Date: August 17, 2009

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Rating: M for Mature

Platform: XBox 360

Publisher: Activision
Developer: Raven Software and id Software

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It’s hard to believe that the Wolfenstein series has been going on for so long – since 1981, according to Wikipedia, with its first FPS game, Wolfenstein 3D, being released in 1992. Now the latest chapter in the Nazi-killing saga, Wolfenstein, is out on the XBox 360. However, while Wolfenstein is a decent game, a bit of repetitiveness goes a long way in keeping the game from perfection.

In the game, you take on the role of secret agent B.J. Blazkowicz. After discovering a mystical medallion during a mission, B.J. is sent undercover to investigate a dig site near the town of Isenstadt, where the Nazis are mining crystals that power the medallion. The dig site turns out to be more than a hunt for some pretty gems, however – the Nazis are attempting to access a mystical parallel dimension, called the Black Sun, in an attempt to harness its supernatural power in their scheme for world domination. Hooking up with the Kreisau Circle (a rebel group) and The Golden Dawn (a mystical order), B.J. sets out to foil the Nazi plot.

Given that this is a first-person shooter, it won’t be too surprising to anyone that you get a lot of guns to shoot around in Wolfenstein. Most of them are real-life World War II weapons, but a few fictional weapons, like the Tesla Gun (a lightning gun) and a particle cannon (which looks and sounds like it would be more at home in Ghostbusters than a World War II game) help bring some sci-fi shooting action into the game. In addition, you can use that medallion I mentioned earlier to help you out, employing powers such as a mystical shield and the ability to slow down time. All of these things can be upgraded with money found throughout the game.

There’s no doubt that Wolfenstein is quite a fun game. The campaign mode is nicely done, providing a fair variety of enemies to face off against. The levels are also very well-created, with both the normal areas (a European city) and the outlandish ones (the alternate dimension) feeling very real somehow. The online multiplayer mode provides even more fun, and playing death matches and objective missions never seems to get old, though the class-based system is somewhat restrictive.

The major flaw of the game, however, is that things tend to get somewhat repetitive in single-player mode. To borrow a line from Aldo Raine, Brad Pitt’s character in Inglourious Basterds, for the most part, you do one thing and one thing only: killing Nazis. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a lot of fun, but when that’s pretty much all you do, it gets a bit dull after a while. And while there are several different types of enemies to kill, they just don’t have enough variety to keep you fully interested the whole way through. The multiplayer mode helps make up for this, though.

Ultimately, Wolfenstein isn’t a perfect game, or even a great one, but it’s a solid one that deserves a look from fans of the series and FPS fans in general.

Overall Rating:

Christopher Mastey-Muzikreviews.com Video Game Reviewer

October 31, 2009

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