Peggle 2 Review

Peggle 2 Review

Here's my Peggle 2 Review on GameRev. It's a wild ride on Xbox One, but click the link to read the review and see the score. Peggle 2 is developed by PopCap Games and published by Electronic Arts and at least at launch there is no iOS, iPhone, iPad version of the game. Peggle 2 is only available on Xbox One, but I'd expect an iOS and Android version soon at least. Remember to click the link for my review!

REVIEW: Limbo for the Xbox 360

Some people just don't get it. Games can certainly hold a quantifiably artistic merit, certainly in some of their more passive aspects of design. Inherently, some people just won't "get" Limbo. Critics, myself included (if I've earned that title), will laude it for its design, visuals, emotional connection, and presentation.

All of those compliments are well deserved. Praise won't go unjustly to Playdead's little platforming, puzzling title. With the lead-off Summer of Arcade responsibilities thrust upon its shoulders, Limbo's review scores will be a blessing. Unfortunately, I don't see the title reaching the well-deserved sales numbers that would define Limbo as the second coming of Braid.

Still, it's deserving of the title, certainly moreso than P.B. Winterbottom. Limbo thrusts the player into its plot, unforgiving in it's puzzles, a complete lack of tutorial, a total vacuous and nightmarish feeling enthralls in soundtrack, visuals, and controls. It's hard not too mention Limbo and without paying regards to its hauntingly sparse atmosphere. Where every game tries to be louder, brighter and give the player a higher score (see Bulletstorm etc.), Limbo relishes its languid and withholding aesthetic.

I could help but feel like the game was chuckling good humoredly at me as I fiddled with puzzles, repeatedly finding the way I was looking at it to be wrong. Instead of taking every chance to mock my ignorance, Limbo would produce a solution almost on its own. At least, that's how effortless it would seem. Not since Tetris has a learning curve been so smooth.

Needless to say, its easy to fall for Limbo's devious simplicity. Successes feel extremely high, while lows never push the player to walk away from the game, much less do any frustration fueled controller tossing. Still, I would ask for a bit more. The ending comes as a surprise, not necessarily in terms of plot, but in that I wanted to solve more puzzles and traverse more land.

That's truthfully the biggest complaint I have about Limbo. Oftentimes, it's best to leave us hanging on, barely satisfied in what we've had, satiating to further the experience. Limbo surely does leave me wanting more.

PLAY READ WRITE / REVIEW SCORE: 5 out of 5

REVIEW: Depict for the iPhone

Depict is an iPhone app from Makeshift Games. In the same vein as Pictionary, Depcit challenges players to draw a representation of a set word in order to get other players to guess the word. While a competent game for on-the-go drawing multiplayer, Depict falls a little short.

This is primarily due to the fact that nearly every single game of Depict I've played has been broken thanks to someone cheating the gameplay. Depict gives te player one word to draw, while it gives the other players five words to guess from. Many users break the game by simply writing out the word they're supposed to be drawing.

Of course, this is near impossible to guard against from a programming stand point. I can't blame the developers for the way users break the game. There's an included "cheating" notification, but I can't tell how those notes are being used to police the game. Is there anything being done at all?

Multiplayer games rely on the other people you play with as much as they do the game, and with the iPhone user base this prone to game breaking playstyles, I can't give Depict a decent recommendation to anyone serious about games. Maybe as a free download I could suggest it to others, but at a cost you might be better spending your iTunes account balance on something else.

The actual game of depict isn't all that bad, no matter how shallow it is. You can easily hop on, score some points, and have fun drawing. Open Feint in Depict works great as well.

Check out Depict, if you don't mind the cheating you can find a lot of fun, especially if you can get a couple of friends on at the same time. Otherwise, avoid the exploiters!

PLAY READ WRITE / REVIEW SCORE: 3 out of 5

Perfect Dark (XBLA) Review Now Live

Ah, Perfect Dark. One of, if not the last good game for the Nintendo 64. I bought a copy of the game used for my cratridge collection, but I don't think I'll ever dare to play the game in that form now that the Xbox Live Arcade port is out.

I reviewed the game, what is it?, two weeks ago now, and that review has gone live on Game Revolution. I loved the game, and I have to admit Ray much of the review was filtered through a fine mesh of nostalgia. Frankly, of course Perfect Dark isn't going to be up to par with modern first person shooters, but let's get serious and talk about "fun."

When you're playing Perfect Dark, were you having fun? Forget how old it is. Did you have fun? Forget the graphics and how it's really only a port. Were you having fun Farsighting Meatsims for an hour?

My argument is that a review shoud have plenty of personal opinion, that is what people are looking for when they seek out one person's semi-professional opinion. I hope you enjoy reading my personal opinion on Perfect Dark (XBLA) at the following link, and if you're reading this, send me a message and a friend request (my gamertag is coolyfooly88) and we can complete some co-op achievements: http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/xbox360/perfect-dark

Scrap Metal Review Now Live

As part of Xbox Live's Arcade Block Party string of weeks, a lot more people have bought and played Scrap Metal when compared to the little known Greed Corp. When you get a percentage of the Microsoft Points you spent back after the promotion is over, it turns out to be quite a deal to extend your XBLA library.

Of course, at 1200 MS Points you've got to question whether or not Scrap Metal is worth shelling out for. We're not all 1 Vs. 100 Primetime winners now are we? Luckily, you can read my full review of the top-down car-combat title at Game Revolution now that it's live on the site. I wrote quickly about Scrap Metal on PLAY READ WRITE while I was in the middle of reviewing it, but you might have already read that. Are there any readers around after my long absence?

Anyways, check out my full review of Scrap Metal at the following link, and if you bother to have any choice words for me, please leave them in the comments on this post (that way I'll see them): http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/xbox360/scrap-metal

Greed Corp Review Now Live

Woah! What happened there? PLAY READ WRITE sort of blanked out there for a while! I think it might have something to do with the GDC '10 or maybe some of the big announcements like Nintendo's next DS (generation). Anyways, some news:

My review of Greed Corp for Xbox Live Arcade is now live at Game Revolution. I ended up giving the game a positive review, but for the full breakdown and score, you'll have to click on over to Game Revolution. I've already written about the game on PLAY READ WRITE, but seeing the review on GR has me thinking about Greed Corp anew.

I've been playing Resonance of Fate, by Tri-Ace, for review over the past week and that game also uses hexagonal squares, albeit in a completely different way. I really like Settlers of Catan, and that (board) game along with these two video games have me pondering if the hexagonal space is the new square, when it comes to gaming at large.

What do you think? While you're pondering the space within a hexagon, you can check out my full review of Greed Corp (XBLA) at the following link: http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/xbox360/greed-corp

Darwinia+ Review now Live on GR

My Darwinia+ review is now live and I have to say that I really enjoying writing about the game. When I requested to review the title, I did so with tempered excitement. I had heard so many good things about Darwinia from players of the game on the PC platform, but just because you hear good things doesn't mean good things are always there.

I suppose Darwinia+ showed me how polarizing specific video games can be. Many gamers may enjoy Modern Warfare 2's specific brand of action, but I doubt that being a fan of that title could possibly ensure the enjoyment of this title. Darwinia+ doesn't have the fine and glossy coat of the highest possible resolution graphics or the intense arcade gameplay that might make a game a system seller, but it is an incredibly deep, enthralling, and nuanced title. In my review I likened it to "the wine and cheese of video games," a palatable title that you might have to be a connoisseur to really enjoy.

Anyways, you can check out my full review over at Game Revolution at the following address: http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/xbox360/darwinia-plus

REVIEW: Assassin's Creed II Sequence 13 DLC

The first missing piece of Assassin's Creed II's campaign mode was as lackluster as Desmond's first trip in the Animus. Did Sequence 13 wrist blade the slump?

I guess you could say, yes. Some might ponder a little further on it. What was Sequence 13 about? Essentially, at the end of Sequence 12, Ezio lost the Apple of Eden to a mysterious monk who was missing a finger. Sequence 13 opens up a new area of Florence that's equipped with flagpoles you can spring jump off of. You'll use these to make about 3 assassinations that are located in the new are. The remaining assassinations, making up a total of 9 are spread out in other districts of Florence. After these 9 assassinations, the mysterious monk will have lost his grip on the city and you'll retrieve the Apple.

The new spring jump move isn't anything to write home about, but it does make the new area a slightly more interesting playground to run around in. It also helps the overall DLC package that the assassinations are better constructed and better paced. On target made his way around a long track with plenty of different ways of attacking the target. Another, on board a ship in the harbor, was much more difficult that any assaination in the main game.

Sequence 13 does what good DLC should do. It expands and adds to the main game, it makes the general experience larger, and perhaps adds some difficulty. I also bought the DLC pack that included some of the bonus interiors from collectors editions of AC II. Those extra exploration maps are great but don't change very much from the Assassin's Tombs from the main game.

PLAY READ WRITE / REVIEW SCORE: 4 out of 5

REVIEW: Assassin's Creed II Sequence 12 DLC

It's probably hard for a lot of people to justify paying $4.00 for DLC that last about an hour and a half. I'm probably being very generous for most gamers with that estimate, but even my love for Assassin's Creed II can't put rose colored glasses on me for this transaction.

That being said, I bought Microsoft Points for this DLC specifically, and Assassin's Creed II does have a hidden wrist blade pointed at my heart, albeit in a nonthreatening way.

If you've already played through ACII you'll remember a large chunk of "corrupted memory" towards the end of the game. It's easy to understand this as the Ubisoft Montreal team making their holiday release date in a slightly inventive way. There was plenty of game to be had in AC II as it stood anyways, so charging for these missing sequences doesn't necessarily make Patrice Desilets a dirty Templar.

Anyways, sequence 12 has you heading to Forli to help Caterina Sforza and Machiavelli as the city is sieged and Sforza's children are kidnapped. Not only that, but some monk steals the Apple of Eden! Oh man, don't you hate when the ancient powerful artifact you just retrieved is stolen?!

I would have better things to say about Sequence 12, but there's a reason it was so easily cut from the main body of the game: it is not necessary. One of the first missions has you escorting our two historical figures into the city as it is under attack. This mission in particular demonstrates some of the more important aspects of improvement over the previous AC. What improvements? Direction.

Assassin's Creed II gave the right tools, but it also pointed you in a direction. One of the franchise's strengths is easily the way you move throughout the world. AC II took a page from Grand Theft Auto and gave the player points on a map, making that movement, the traverse, more of a role in mission design and gameplay.

That early mission in sequence 12 has you listlessly following the haphazard and helpless historical star power as they make their way to the castle. You're job is to make sure they get there without being cut to ribbons by the slightly different color guards. Of course, this only confuses and frustrated me as the player. Maybe you'll love stabbing people in the middle of battle, but it seemed like such a waste to me.

The following missions go quickly, until you're left wondering who the four-fingered monk is. The point of the whole story is: buyer beware.

PLAY READ WRITE / REVIEW SCORE: 2 out of 5

REVIEW: Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 (ME2) is a good book. The player is sitting alone, media held firmly between two hands, and every time one chapter ends, it only drives the player to keep playing. ME2 is a real page turner. If the action doesn't drive the player, then the character drama does, or maybe the overarching galactic spanning plot.

First, a perquisite: if you care about valuing your experience in ME2, a playthrough of the original Mass Effect will be an investment paid back 10 fold. Reuniting with old friends will mean nothing without it, neither will some of the political issues running in the background of ME2's dynamic plot.

Once you've completed a stretch through the original, you'll be able to notice the subtle but saving improvements ME2 makes over its predecessor. The yawn-inducing vehicle sections have been surgically removed, and any problems you had with cover or combat have been streamlined into a more Gears of War kind of experience, minus the football playing lunkheads.

Ultimately that makes every little RPG experience the player is drip fed with that much more nuanced, precious, maybe even yearned for. What are the RPG experiences? The Paragon/Renegade system and talent building and character bits. I don't think anyone will be able to resist constantly heading to the next story mission, yearning to see what happens next. Of course it helps that a lot of side missions involve running from point A to point B delivering information or lost items. Not much can be missed when there's so little to care about on the sidelines.

ME2 is another game in a long strain of narative renaissance gaming seems to be going through. The dialogue branching, morality, and character development really launch ME2 into some kind of new generation in story telling. The gameplay has been dialed back, maybe refined, and then shot through a cannon, towing a much wider swath of the gaming population with it to the final battle with the Reapers.

All of these elements make ME2 the kind of roller coaster that doesn't scare people away, but still thrills those used to the more dangerous thrill rides. Is this where the RPG is headed? Mass Effect (the original) already differentiated itself and established the RPG genre with all of the shooting and western influences the Japanese RPG has been confusing western audiences without, but ME2 goes one further and allows those too scared of the leveling, grinding, and general work (oh no!) of RPGs to go ahead and jump right in. There's no work at all. My initial playthrough took a round 25 hours, and if you really get into upgrades, the scanning of planets will absorb several more hours. For an experience that will take the everyman gamer 4 times a typical Modern Warfare 2 campaign, ME2 retains a brisk and motivating pace. Now if only Playstation 3 gamers could get in on the experience and fund the Mass Effect 3 development cycle.

PLAY READ WRITE / REVIEW SCORE : 5 out of 5

Full Review of ZOMB1ES Up On GR

I wanted to let everyone know that my full review of I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZOMB1ES!!!1 is up over at Game Revolution now. This way, someone out there might actually read it!

Let's face it, I don't think there are too many PLAY READ WRITE readers out there, and if there are, they certainly aren't checking the blog on a day to day basis. Of course, I'm not updating that regularly anyways.

But I digress, ZOMB1ES was my first Xbox Live Indie Games... game, and it was a neat experiment. Of course, everything in that marketplace is about a buck, and ZOMB1ES probably offers more than a few hours of gameplay for only a dollar. That's really not that bad, considering I'm a college student and money is tight. I'll be sure to explore a little further in the Indie Games space and see what I come up with.

Until then, you can check out my full review of ZOMB1ES at the following address: http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/xbox360/i-maed-a-gam3-w1th-z0mb1es

REVIEW: Mass Effect

I consider Mass Effect to be the modern equivalent of literature. Slowly, as print dies out, and what used to be print moves further into an electronic medium, story telling efforts are going to be made more frequently in forms we might not expect.

What kind of story does Pac-Man tell, or how deep does the story of Mario and Princess Peach run? These concepts might be gaming lore, but Mass Effect goes further and allows for the kind of connection a reader has with a book through its pacing, attention to detail, and its ability to make a more personal connection with the player.

In Mass Effect, you have a whole world open to you, and the door is swung wide open pretty early at that. While a lot of the original content in Mass Effect is actually very derivative, it's nothing great works of the written word have been guilty of for centuries. Sometimes to create something new, captivating, and interesting, you have to borrow a little from the people who know best. Two professors, on separate occasions, have very recently echoed this idea.

In this brave new world, or galaxy, you play as Shepherd. Whether you decide to be male or female is up to you, much like your back story. This only encourages extra playthroughs, and should be standard in all RPGs. Shepherd is an alliance soldier being accompanied by an intergalactic Council agent on an investigation. Shepherd is heading to the human colony on Eden Prime to investigate a piece of Prothean technology that was unearthed. The Protheans are an ancient race, so this piece of technology is a big find. Another Council agent, Saren, is at the scene ahead of Shepherd. Saren goes rogue, kills your escort and aligns himself with the Geth, an army of artificially intelligent beings that plague the galaxy beyond the veil. Needless to say, you're quickly tasked with hunting the rogue Saren down and solving the mystery of the Prothean beacon. Saving the galaxy sounds so cliche, and Mass Effect's very fully encyclopedia disguises the cliche with a sense of believability.

Essentially, the best thing Mass Effect has going for it is the world it creates around the player, and the way it gives weight to choices the player is presented with. Having heavy decisions means being involved, and that's exactly what the player feels moment to moment. Playing as Shepherd makes the player feel like he or she matters, even in a galaxy full of colorful aliens, some bug-eyed, some monstrous, all entertaining. Choices aren't as black and white like deciding whether to harvest little sisters or save them. Instead they play on the players morality and politics.

That makes all the difference. If you stripped Mass Effect bare of its choices, of it's fully-fleshed world, it would be a third person shooter with some neat RPG influences, a clunky cover system and mundane vehicle sections. But as a sum of the greater works of science fiction and a game that requires the player to question him or herself, rather than the developers, Mass Effect shines.

PLAY READ WRITE / REVIEW SCORE : 4 OUT OF 5

REVIEW: The Ballad of Gay Tony

I've decided to review The Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost and Damned separately. Together, on the single Episodes from Liberty City disc at $40, I'd be hard pressed not to give the package a 5 out of 5, for any reason.

Still though, I can't help but consider TBOGT in the contest of having just played The Lost and Damned. Some differences are a matter of personal preference, Gay Tony being more geared to my liking in terms of fast cars, music styles, and lots and lots of explosions.

TBOGT is the story of Tony Prince and Luis Lopez, partners in the night club business who've fallen under the debt of some of Liberty City's underworld. Of course, that's how it always goes isn't it? Motivations in Grand Theft Auto gameplay is often a very short list, at the top of which is most often money. The general mission lay out can often be surmised as go here, fetch me this, kill these people, and TBOGT doesn't stray too far from that.

Early in, Tony is heavily established as your partner who's almost always gotten himself into a mess. As far as the stories and cutscenes are concerned, most missions involve Luis metaphorically running around with a pooper scooper and taking care of Tony's "business." Still, as nearly every character badmouths Tony while he's not around, Luis defends him. That defense is endearing and ties the player to Tony.

Still, there's the usual mission structure and the usual cast of assholes. Despite that, everything seems a lot more fresh, and every mission feels brisk. Whether you're blowing up a yacht, crawling the length of a train and dodging helicopters, or parachuting after a plummeting blogger, the elements seem endless. TBOGT also outdoes IV's cast of characters in their ego stroking, if you can imagine that.

The Ballad of Gay Tony is a long drink in the desert. It's wide mission variety never has you doing the same thing twice, even though some of the new vehicles and weapons will make you want to. Luckily, replaying missions is available after completing the campaign, and that replayability adds endless value to a campaign that only costs $20 (depending on how you look at it).

PLAY READ WRITE / REVIEW SCORE: 5 OUT OF 5

REVIEW: The Lost and Damned

I've decided to review The Ballad of Gay Tony and Lost and Damned separately. Together, on the single Episodes from Liberty City disc at $40, I'd be hard pressed not to give the package 5 out of 5.

But maybe The Lost and Damned suffers its counterpart, being the milder, better written tale of what it means to be responsible, even when you're a rough neck motorcyclist who manages to hold what semblance of a family a bike club makes.

In TLAD, you play as Johnny Klebitz, second in command of The Lost Motorcycle Club. When Johnny's captain, Billy, is released from rehab, Johnny sees much of the prosperity he's worked for go to shit.

I say TLAD is the milder, more mature story because of themes worked into the mission structure and the lack of ape shit weaponry and vehicular combat. Players will find themselves launching grenades into the windows of rival gang clubhouses, but they won't be doing any base jumping.

Johnny does a lot of complaining, but I'd be hard pressed to find anyone who wouldn't complain when they're being endlessly shot at for a leader who's junkie habit has turned him into little more than a maniacal, selfish, jackass. Tensions immediately rise between Billy and Johnny, though that tension is necessarily felt by the player, so much as it is unnerving. If you can't guess what you'll be doing in the final mission by the second or third mission, then I'd have to say "Pay attention, soldier!"

From a writing stand point, I actually remember liking TLAD better than The Ballad of Gay Tony, but as far as quality gaming goes, TBOGT is the way to go. If you're only interested in downloading one episode from Liberty City, I'd have to suggest investing in Gay Tony and his clubs. Despite that, just buy the Episodes disc. It's a much better value.

PLAY READ WRITE / REVIEW SCORE: 4 OUT OF 5