As I watched the latest trailer for Final Fantasy XIII something inside me seemed to click with the game, and I became interested in it unlike I was in the past. I think it was during the night action sequence where I saw the party member with an afro driving through a battle with a Chocobo chick fluttering about in comical fear that I knew this game is going to be one of the best Final Fantasy titles.

In another scene you see the party holding on atop some flying creature. You see the team in motion together screaming, and laughing at their situation. Square Enix has built a chemistry into the party members in XIII, and that excites me.

Obviously the game is beautiful. I downloaded the trailer from the Zune Marketplace on my Xbox 360 and watched it all in glorious high definition. The cinematics are incredible, and the in-game graphics are equally impressive. Final Fantasy XIII will definitely be the best looking Square Enix game to date.

I recommend watching the trailer. View it in high definition if possible. Don’t try to understand the conflict in this game, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Instead watch the party, and their interactions, unique features, and get ready to enjoy a masterpiece on March 9th, 2009.

]]> http://kansascitygamer.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/ffxiii-international-trailer/feed/ 0 SteveDaWonder http://kansascitygamer.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/marvel-ultimate-alliance-2-review/ http://kansascitygamer.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/marvel-ultimate-alliance-2-review/#comments Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:16:37 +0000 Steven Kelso http://kansascitygamer.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/marvel-ultimate-alliance-2-review/ ]]>

There is just something about humanity that draws us to the stories and the lore surrounding the super powered citizens that we can only dream about experiencing. Movies and television have allowed individuals to be a part of the action for years now, and the latest generation of consoles has produced some exceptional super hero experiences.

Vicarious Visions’ Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is a quality super hero experience, providing a massive crossover of over twenty-four playable Marvel creations. Watching Iceman, Storm, The Human Torch, and Daredevil bash into wave after wave of enemies is not only a unique team-up, but is one of many combination of heroes you can use to rid the world of its latest enemy.

On the surface this sequel does not have any significant differences from its predecessor. The basic gameplay mechanic is still the same. You want to smash, kick, punch, burn, freeze, electrify, web, blow away, obliterate, shield throw, HULK SMASH, crush, cut, bomb, and decimate all of your enemies over and over again.

In a traditional hack and slash role playing game the simple fighting mechanics might become stale after a time, but Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 mixes it up in a few key areas that really, in my mind, make a difference.

One of those key areas is in the twenty-four unique playable characters provided in the game. You could potentially play as a new person in every mission and still never experience all that is available. There are classic characters from the original Ultimate Alliance, along with some newcomers that lend their powers quite nicely to the team gameplay experience.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Playable Roster on all Platforms

To go into detail on each of the twenty-four playable characters would take quite some time, but they are all have some slight similarities that allow for easy adaptability between various heroes. There are heavy hitters such as The Ting, Hulk, and Venom. These men are large and in charge, able to deal out a lesser amount of damage unless they have activated a special ability that only lasts awhile. The beneficial thing about the big guys is that they are able to take a lot more damage.

As a fan of hack ‘n slash role playing games I generally choose more well-rounded characters that are able to move quickly, and deal a lot of damage at once. Agile, close combatants such as Deadpool, Wolverine, Mr. Fantastic, Captain America, and so many more are generally going to be the preferred players in the game. It is almost as if Vicarious Visions knew this, and spent the most time focusing on the combat for them. In Comparison to The Thing, Mr. Fantastic is much easier to control and has an extreme sense of polish about him. The Thing feels unnecessarily clunky, and at times make you think your controller is not working correctly. I assure you, it is.

If you find yourself preferring to attack from a distance, you’re covered. Flinging flames with The Human Torch, repulsor fire with Iron Man, or Ice with Iceman works well once you figure out how to aim properly. You’ll also put characters such as Spider-Man into this category because he’ll swing his web anywhere in order to gum up the enemies diabolical plans. Finally there are a few oddities, such as Storm. She is all about the special attacks. A good Storm controller will be blowing enemy clusters away from you, allowing you to keep what little health you have.

Each of the different character types allow you to play in styles of your choosing, with a variety of powers and special abilities that make you really feel super.

In the previous title, you were always in need of a more devastating attack to help rid yourself of an overwhelming number of enemies or a particularly annoying villain. Fusion allows any two characters to join up to crush enemies in various ways. If you combine The Thing and Storm, Ben will toss rocks and boulders into Storms tornadic winds and round up all of the lesser enemies on the map and pummel them. Iron Man will shoot a devastating beam at Captain America’s shield, and it will reflect off causing a deathtrap for anyone caught inbetween Stark’s hands and Rodger’s shield. The combinations seem almost infinite, with every character able to join with another for some style of super-powered attack.

The RPG elements have been significantly stripped down from the previous Ultimate Alliance. You can play the entire game without even knowing this is an action role playing game. What few decisions you can make regarding your character can all be done automatically if you choose. For purist, like myself, this was somewhat disappointing. Did it really take away from the overall experience? That’s debatable. Still, removing it entirely really is frustrating considering how leveling worked in the previous game.

On the other hand, you’ll spend a fair amount of time collecting medals that offer various upgrades to your individual heroes. You can assign three to each hero, and there is an endless variety. Want more resistance to cold? Care to gain more XP? 10% Regen every minute? The choice is yours. Need resistance to stunning? Is your stamina low? Just make your choice and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

In every level there are medals, dossiers, audio logs, simulator disks, and very special artifacts for you to locate and collect. This significantly adds to the replayability. You can go back and complete any mission as many times as you want, gaining more experience and unlocking more power ups and content. Another significant factor for a certain second play through is the Civil War storyline.

The story found in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 takes its cues from the super hero civil war led by Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. forces, who support the Superhuman Registration Act. Captain America, in complete disagreement, chooses the side of Anti-Registration and leads a team of “rogue” heroes to take down Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. Towards the height of the conflict, the story branches off in a different direction than the comics, most likely in order to bring forth a more “happy” ending for those who are only fans of the video games, or the various characters as they have appeared in the more recent Hollywood films.

The story and characters are further improved by the addition of fairly decent voice-acting for all of the major characters in the game. Unlike the previous Ultimate Alliance, the quality in which all twenty-four playable characters are presented is much higher, which in turn makes the game far more enjoyable.

The game comes across as a fairly solid title, but there are some problems that need addressing. For the first time ever, I am encountering in-game bugs and glitches on my Xbox 360 that are rendering the game frustrating at different points. Due to the very destructible items in the environment I often find myself getting stuck in various locations on my map. I’m basically an open target until I am blasted out of that position, or can perform a fusion that removes my character from that particular location on the map. Another issue I have had is with the game freezing while enabling a fusion, or trying to access the menu when there are a lot of onscreen characters and powers going off. This is truly inexcusable, and disappointing. Thankfully the game auto-saves often.

Recommendation for this game comes down to two basic premises. If you are a fan of these characters, and the Marvel Universe in general I recommend buying it. You’ll play through it multiple times and try to collect everything. If you’re not a big fan, but like the style of game Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 presents you’ll find yourself with about 12-15 hours of quality gameplay if you play through both story lines on the Heroic difficulty, Legendary Hero being the most difficult will take you much, much longer.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 deserves an 8 out of 10 stars.

Reviewed on the Xbox 360.

When the original Bionic Commando was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, I would have been too young to do well at it, even though I owned a NES. Now, almost twenty years later…how does the world of Nathan Spencer and his bionic arm hold up?

Capcom did it. In my opinion there is no debating on whether or not the swinging mechanic with the bionic arm works well or not. They nailed it on the head, and it is one of the coolest gameplay mechanics I have experienced in quite a while. Obviously Nathan Spencer isn’t doing anything that any of the games in the Spider-Man series haven’t, but what it does mean is that I think he may have done it just as well, or even better.

As we enter into this chapter of Nathan Spencer’s life, the Bionic Commando has been imprisoned for over five years. The world is now afraid of anyone implanted with bionics, and he is obviously one of them. Things take an interesting turn when the government releases you, and offers you freedom if you will swing into action and help take down the terrorist organization known as BioReign.

Being the dastardly evil that they are, they’ve dropped an atomic bomb, and through that act violently murdered millions of residents. This regime of evil will stop at nothing to locate a secret weapon that is housed inside the city, and could help them potentially rule the world. Sounds like a typical story, and it is, but I really enjoyed how it was executed.

Besides avenging the death of millions, Nathan Spencer is also promised that if he does what is asked of him – retrieve that weapon – then he will receive information about his missing wife. He agrees, and is blasted off into the city via a pod, and then goes in search of his bionic arm which did not quite hit the same target that he did.

The execution of the story is unique, because Nathan Spencer really undertakes just one mission: retrieve the weapon. You travel all over one city to do it, and by my calculations the game only spans the length of two, perhaps three days. Some have complained that the story is lacking, and whilst that may be true it is the way they tell the story, and the time frame that make it work so well. These intense few days of Nathan Spencer’s life are filled with so many victories, defeats, ups, and downs that it really pulls you into his heart and mind and wants to help you succeed.

Because you have been detached from your bionic arm for over five years, you do not come back into the game remembering all of the amazing moves you once had, but you can still do a lot of devastating damage to your enemies. Without a doubt, the bionic arm is one of the most unique weapons I’ve had the opportunity to kick-ass with in a while. Grabbing onto an enemy and swinging through the air to zip down onto him and crush him is a gratifying feeling every single time you do it. It must be a horrifying way to die, and I’m glad I am the killer.

Ascension City may have been bombed, but it is a breathing world full of buildings, obstacles, and BioReign enemies for you to take down. In Bionic Commando you’re going to be doing a lot of swinging, but you’ll want to avoid the areas covered by a blue fog, which represents the radiation. Now it’s obviously an inconsistency that a man can go into an irradiated place in the first place, but, oh well.

They mend that plot hole by killing you rather quickly if you get close to the heavily radiated locations. There are times at later points in the game where you will have no choice but to swing through them as quickly as possible to get to your next way-point. Hopefully you’ll be fully versed in your wire action acrobatics by this time.

Even in its destruction, the game and the characters within look absolutely amazing. The design for the sections of the city is not only perfect for swinging, but easy on the eye too. From lighting to lightning the visual effects are absolutely incredible, and Capcom’s achievements should not be overlooked. The enemies are fairly generic and all look the same, but they do all look “okay”.

At many points throughout the game you’ll be swinging from spot to spot over areas of water, or deep seemingly-endless pits of doom; make sure not to fall into them or you will drown, die and experience a ‘classic’ game over screen. Oh, and speaking of the game over screen, you’ll be seeing that a lot. After fifteen hours of playing on the easiest difficulty, I found myself dieing over and over. I want to complain, but I really shouldn’t.

Do you remember Bionic Commando and its “rearmed” editions? You can not make it past the first few moments without dieing at least once! What truly makes it frustrating is when you die you likely had a check point far too long ago, and will have to swing your way through a large portion of the section just to get back to where you were to try and do it again…and again.

The single player experience alone is worth the purchase price, but there is a multiplayer component that should not be forgotten. Now, do not go in there thinking this is a multiplayer experience that will rival Halo 3. It is not, and didn’t intend to be. It’s simple, and it works. You run around a map picking up weapons and body armor, and shoot the other guy while swinging through the air. It is a lot of fun, and is a great addition to the game.

Bionic Commando is an amazing revitalization of a franchise that was almost forgotten. From the perfect wire action mechanics, to the beautiful world, the interesting way to tell a story and solid voice acting it is an experience that fans of the original should not go without! Great sequences, boss battles I don’t even want to come close to spoiling, and really cool music that makes you feel like an action hero. It’s awesome, bionic hands down.

Reviewer’s note: The Xbox 360 version was tested for this review

Let’s face it. The ending that Bethesda had originally intended for Fallout 3 was incredibly anticlimactic. You’re left with a decision, and you get a cutscene based upon it and then its over. Broken Steel makes a valiant attempt at rectify this problem, allowing you to play beyond the original intended ending of the game. Is it worth it? Let’s figure that out. Oh, and by the way?

**Spoiler Warning for anyone who hasn’t finished the original ending for Fallout 3.**

It’s you or Sara Lyons. One of you two are going to go inside the airlock and finished what your father started in the way of Project Purity. You already decided not to put in President Eden’s virus, but the choice has come. One of you will die. What I didn’t understand is why? Fawkes, your Super Mutant cohort, is mostly impervious to radiation. Why in the world could you not send him in? It never made a lick of sense to me, so I did the noble thing and died. You win, but at the same time the game is over. You never get to see the fruit of your labour of love.

Broken Steel changes everything, and they are good changes. I chose to send Fawkes in, and he lived and the game continued. Now then I am uncertain what would’ve happened if I would have gone in myself, but I will assume that however you do it you will miraculosly live, and be able to enjoy the rest of the rest of the game. As I went through the main quest quickly, the ability to continue on appealed to me greatly. Although it isn’t something that I should have had to pay for.

Saving the post-apocalyptic D.C. is one thing, but when you awaken inside the Citadel you are informed by Elder Lyons that there are multiple things to take care of before the battle is truly won. You begin your new mission as a fully recognized member of the Brotherhood of Steel. No matter your morality level, this is your new title. After recieving these new orders you come to find that they actually awarded you experience points to finish the game in the form of enough to level up one more time. Those of you who were at level twenty will be pleased to find the cap has been raised, new perks added, and there are more skill points to assign. Getting to the new cap will take even veteran players quite some time to complete, and a lot of quests to complete.

Some of the new weapons include the Heavy Incinerator, and the Tesla Cannon. The Tesla cannon has quite story background, so as to not give anything away let me tell you that it’s awesome fun to shoot at people, and watch them die in slow motion over and over and over and over. Protecting the Brotherhood of Steel’s interests becomes much more difficult after your first new mission, so the new addition is appreciated. Oh, and the final map? Use that Heavy Incinerator and strip an Enclave of his Hellfire armour, trust me.

Broken Steel may not take you outside of Washington D.C., but it does add a little bit too it. New underground facilities to explore, along with Adam’s Airforce Base and the Presidental Metro. Although I cannot confirm this, some of your enemies may change slightly in the new content, becoming a bit more difficult and intimidating as you delve deeper into their domain.

You really should not have had to pay for Broken Steel. It should’ve been included on the original release, but it’s so worth it. The slight changes due to fresh water, a few other little secrets here and there that I do not want to spoil, new missions, new level cap, it is all worth it. The Wasteland is now almost perfect to play through, and I am sucked in yet again to a world I have grown to love.

Broken Steel deserves a 9/10.

Throughout the history of video games, World War II has been fought, and won a seemingly countless number of times. Each of the perspectives of war have been that of a soldier scrounging for life in the trenches, or storming Normandy on D-Day, or trying to survive the attacks on Russian soil. Velvet Assassin is a polar opposite of the first-person shooter experience that is World War II. Hiding from, and sneaking up on the enemy has never been so difficult.

The story of Violette Summers is perhaps one of the most interesting for that of a trained killer. Before she was recruited by MI6, Violette grew up in a happy family in Devon, England. At the beginning of her life of responsibilities, she spent her time working in a beauty salon before the war broke out. After that, she felt compelled to join the weapons industry. The story seems to just comb over the details in order to avoid us wondering why she went from a beautician to an assassin, but I digress. While she was working in the weapons industry, she was simply noticed by a member of MI6, and because of her beauty and athleticism, was trained to become a killer for England.

If you think the background is oddly unique, you’ll like the story presentation even more. Violette has been severely injured, and is lying on what seems to be her deathbed in the hospital. You play through the game in a world of flashbacks, forcing Violette Summers to relive some of her best and worst moments while fighting under the order of MI6. The bulk of the game play takes place during these flashbacks.

At its core game play, Velvet Assassin is nothing more than Splinter Cell ever was, but there are a few differences. The beautifully rendered Violette Summers is an incredible killer. In fact, near the beginning of the game you almost feel as if she has the power to defeat the German war machine all by herself. Perhaps she does, but the player won’t.

Obviously when stealth is the key game play element, you will not be running and gunning through each level. Instead sneaking up and quietly ending the life of individual Nazis is your goal. As you plan your strategy, and slowly begin to secure victory something could likely go wrong. If you’re lucky, you can escape from the bullets of your enemies, but more often than not you won’t be lucky. Then because after twenty minutes of playing the game there was no check-point, you really do feel like you have wasted twenty long minutes of your life, and precious game play time.

It isn’t as if you’re hurried along. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Violette does nothing but wait and plot. You’re ability to stay hidden in the shadows and watch enemy patterns is an awesome addition to the game. It turns more into a strategy game, than stealth, which is a major redeeming factor. Of course, even if you execute several things with near perfection, you’ll end up doing it again and again because of the absolutely unforgiving checkpoint system. Surviving past a difficult section of the game should always reward you with a checkpoint, but the developers at South Peak must disagree with us. A lot.

One portion of the game requires perfect timing, and you’re obviously set up to kill, hide, run, kill, run, kill, and then hide. After several attempts and losses, you feel as if you’ll never complete it. That is, until the magical moment that everything rolls together, and you come away unharmed. You walk past a doorway you didn’t realize was there, but you make it past, kill the guy…and keep moving. After several little kills, you’re set up for another sequence of running, hiding, and killing. Then you die and go all the way back to the beginning. After a literal twenty minutes of playing, you wind up having wasted all of your time. It’s really unfair, even on a high difficulty setting to punish you for all the time you spent making it perfect because the game does demand perfection.

A quirky element of the game is Morphine Mode. At times, if Violette is in trouble and about to loose her life on the field of battle, she will start to go into convulsions in her hospital bed. The nurse will give her a shot of morphine, which will allow Violette to perform an instant kill on her enemies.

The beautiful purple glow that surrounds Violette as she is hidden throughout indicates whether or not any enemy can see her. The brighter the glow, the more hidden she is. This new feature is an improvement over other stealth titles, and really provided a great assistance in knowing where I could wait, and where I could not.

The world of Velvet Assassin is plagued with brown. Through the years I have come to expect this from World War II titles, but it seems to me that Velvet Assassin brings it into a whole new light, and it gets old. Gamecock does a good job trying to change things up. At times you are watching Violette in the hospital, and so there are those slight changes. Other times the brown takes over as the entire scene is filtered through a sepia tone, and you’re left with even more brown than before.

The crux of the matter is this. Velvet Assassin is hard. It’s hard by stealth title standards. This is going to turn off a lot of gamers from wanting to finish the game and fully appreciate the story. The extreme difficulty and lack of forgiving checkpoints is going to cause many people to believe that the game is broken, but it is not. It is going to be an extreme challenge that will turn off a lot of people in the first five hours. The story continues to become more interesting, but the game does not even begin to become easier. You’re in for a challenge, are you up for it?

Reviewer’s note: The Xbox 360 version was tested for this review

Several questions came to my mind as I began to play through Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2. Most of them began with one word, “Why?”. For example: “Why would they start us out with the slowest Gundam with the most annoying weapon in the game?” That alone almost left me with more frustration than desire to continue on. Thankfully, I decided to soldier through the beginning portion of the game, and onto greener pastures.

As you continue through the story mode,  you will be presented with a variety of Mobile Suit’s to pilot. Each of them much faster, and far more fun to use than the first one you are given. Many of them are light on their feet, and use a wide variety of sword-based energy weapons to slam through the hulk of the Federation army. Picking up upgrades to your Mobile Suit is important, so make sure that you grab anything off the map you possibly can. It is worth it once the mission is over to improve the individual pieces of your Gundam. The story mode is only the real beginning of the in depth upgrade system that is fully fleshed out in the Mission Mode.

I have another question to ask, “Why did the developers not push the power of the consoles in order to have a more beautiful game?” It is in high definition, and it does look crisp…but I have a few concerns. When I compare DWG2 to Playstation 2 titles, I seem to find that besides the high definition visuals, there is not a large difference between the Xbox 360, and the Playstation 2 versions of the game.

Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t ugly…it is just bland. The individual Mobile Suits look alright, but the enemies they fight and the world they inhabit is somewhat bland, and without very many amazing design choices. I know that they are giant robots, but that does not mean the little buildings should look like something I drew, and colored in. The brightly colored attacks, and drawn character art is a nice addition, but it really does not allow for the fact that the rest of it just looks plain, almost as if they didn’t really finish the game.

Another question I have it, “Why am I getting my butt kicked on Xbox LIVE so often?” Upon entering the online arena, you are presented with a few different options to occupy your time. The commonly played mode is simply entitled “War”, which is similar to the single-player missions. There are opposing Mobile Suits, and their armies to fight. Only this time the “megabehemothbot” is attached to another controller. This changes things, dramatically. I do not know if who I fought just had a lot of experience with the first game, and now number two, or if I just stunk. Either way, I got my head handed to me on a golden platter.

The lack of balance within the multiplayer seemed to be far to obvious to ignore. Children are obviously going to be included in the highest percentage of consumers, so why is it so difficult? If everything goes well, you’ll end up learning how to take down your human enemies, but it is always going to be a challenge unless you spend a lot of time with this title.

The last major question I would have for the developers is “Why did you make the achievements so difficult to obtain?” It almost seems to me that these specific goals were put in place to extend the game because perhaps it would not have a lot of replay value on its own merits. My gut feeling says that this is definitely a possibility to entertain.

After reading all this, you’re probably ready to ask me a question: Why should I get Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2?

The original story that follows the Gundam storyline is a quick, yet accurate recreation of the the series. It allows you to play through a few of the main characters and allows you to take part in many of the battles that are unique to the series. Although these battles take place in the Dynasty Warriors style, they’re still quite stressful with the time limit and the various objectives that need taken care of. Oh, and the other people that you need to help get annoying. Make sure and protect anyone who needs it, or you’ll undoubtedly fail. The in-depth Gundam upgrade system found inside the Mission Mode will give you hours of content to complete. From customizing your Gundam, to leveling your characters, there are truly hours after hours of things to do in this game. You’ll be asking yourself, “Where can I find the time?”

Fans of the anime are going to be picking this game up regardless of what I have to say, and they’ll be enjoying it for many, many weeks to come. As for everyone else? It doesn’t feel like they’ve done anything to improve upon the Dynasty Warriors genre of gaming: all they did was slap in some giant robots, again.

Reviewer’s note: The Xbox 360 version was tested for this review

I want to take you down to Paradise City, where the cars are fast and the girls are pretty. Playing Burnout will confirm all of the things mentioned inside of that song, and it will forever change how you feel about racing games. Well, minus the fact that there are no girls in Burnout Paradise. The cars? They’re very, very pretty…and they go fast.

As we begin our tour through Paradise City there are some things that I want to be certain to point out to you in hopes that you’ll decide to pack up and move from whatever you are playing now, and enjoy the high speed world of Paradise City. It has a lot to offer, in fact it almost has too much to even thoroughly discuss.

First on our stop is the obvious, Paradise City must be one of the most beautiful destinations on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC. The developers over at Criterion not only had to use a lot of imagination to come up with this playground, but a lot of skill to make it look so good. From the sky above, to the buildings that surround you there is a feeling of actually being a part of this world. It isn’t that they took a really realistic route with the game, but that it is so alive that as you drive through you feel like you are a part of the magic. Great detail must’ve been taken to the design of every building, tree, statue, road, and sign. You don’t go but half a mile and see something new or interesting.

Each of the cars are equally incredible, each with a different design or color that makes them distinct from any other. Every type of car imaginable, and it is there. Each of the cars fall under a few different categories. There are stunt cars, speed cars, and then vehicles with a lot of endurance. Each of them are equipped with a different type of boost that changes the way you’ll race, take-down, and take care of the burning routes.

The single player in the game is alone worth the price, and gives a lot of value to an already quality title. When you begin the game in a car you’ll start out with a very basic stunt vehicle. With time and skill, you could complete every stoplight mission there is in the game, but you won’t want to try.

As you reach a stoplight, the single player game begins. It might just be a basic race from point A to B, or a round of take-down where you smash up as many cars as possible. The Burning route is basically racing against a certain time, with your only barrier the traffic in Paradise City.

While you complete these different tasks, your “Driver’s License” for the game will gain higher, and higher rankings. After you reach the next rank, you can do all of the missions again, plus a few more. Think of it as earning experience points, and leveling up…although that’s about as far as it goes.

One nifty thing about this license is that you’ll be able to use your Xbox Live Vision Camera to put your mug right where it belongs, otherwise you can throw up your Avatar, or other gamerpic up there of your choosing. The Vision Camera is also used during multiplayer. Every single time you take someone down and they have a camera, it shows their picture. Of course the same goes with you.

Paradise City is home to many other drivers who are absolutely crazy. On the single player side of things, you’re racing, and road-raging against some intelligent AI. More likely than not, you will lose some of the events you participate in. The challenge is great, almost to the point of frustration…almost.

The multiplayer on the other hand is a whole new world in and of itself. Once you connect to the internet, a whole new set-up is available for you to explore. How it works is unique, and addicting. Is it only you and a friend? That’s fine. You’ll be given a slough of two-car challenges to complete. From racing, to jumping, to twists, flips, and spins…you’ll be smashing through Paradise City with your friend of choice to the tune of destruction. Getting online is simple, and the integration if seamless.

Have two friends? Three? Four? Five? Six? Even Seven? You’ll be able to add to the carnage and come up with even more incredible stuns as you turn the city into your own playground. This challenge mode is only a small part of the multiplayer offerings. You can always spend hours taking down your enemies, or friends. You can race, or just see how many degrees of flat spin you all can accumulate. It does not matter, whatever you want. Paradise City is your playground.

Criterion has developed an amazing arcade racer, in fact it could be the best arcade racer of this current console cycle. With that said, they’ve taken advantage of the whole downloadable content phenomenon, and they aren’t taking advantage of you. Criterion has released multiple content packages to improve upon the quality of the game, add vehicles, and even motorcycles. While they are releasing some paid-for DLC, it is not their main focus. To watch a developer continue to support a game that is now only $19.99 is absolutely refreshing, and they should be applauded for it.

Let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment. Burnout Paradise is not completely perfect. The voice of narration throughout the game, DJ Atomica, is incredibly annoying. It isn’t that he sounds bad, but hearing him comment on everything you do gets annoying. While all the licenced music in the game is great, listening to Paradise City by Guns n’ Roses gets incredibly old after the 100th time of booting up the game. Those gripes are minimal, and easily ignorable. That’s what the custom soundtrack is for, right?

Burnout Paradise is an amazing playground. Remember the days of ramping Hot Wheels around your bedroom? Yeah, it’s like that…even better.

Reviewer’s note: The Xbox 360 version was tested for this review

This newest offering from Treyarch is without a doubt of a high caliber of quality, but is it worth it? Let’s try to figure out if Map Pack 1 for Call of Duty: World at War is worth the 800 Microsoft Points.

One of the greatest things about a multiplayer map is the joy you feel when you know maps inside and out, and can use ever crevice, hole, nook, and cranny to your advantage while waging war against others. In Call of Duty World at War, the multiplayer maps are very different from Call of Duty 4. In Call of Duty 4 most of the maps are based upon stealth, sniping, and sneaking up behind someone. In World at War, things are slightly different

The first map, Station, takes its cues from the single-player campaign by putting players in an abandoned railway tunnel filled with old cars, fallen debris, crates, and barrels. Allied bombing has decimated this station, and it has obviously been used to house troops by the cots placed about. One of the unique elements of this map is that it is virtually a straight line. There is not a lot of width to this map. Being able to ambush from atop the railroad cars, and from underneath stairs makes for some fun Team Deathmatch experiences. Unlike some of the other new maps, it is much easier to find your prey, and defeat them.

Knee Deep is set in a Japanese village, and is arguably the worst of the three maps. Due to its size, and places to hide you will hardly ever be able to find anyone on Team Deathmatch! It’s a frustrating experience to say the least. Where this level has the potential to shine is through the other multiplayer modes.  Headquarters, Capture the Flag, Domination become the frag fest that it should be. The capture points are always in great locations to keep bringing down the rain, rattling the bullets, and sending in the hounds. It truly begins to feel like a war after awhile.

The beauty of this map is obvious. All of the single-player levels that take place in the Pacific tend to be incredibly beautiful. Treyarch did an amazing job at recreating it down to the details inside houses.

Nightfire is likely the favorite out of the bunch. The design is unique in that it almost feels like a perfect square. The boundaries of the city combine a stealth/street fighting combination that takes this game to a whole new level. Why? You can’t really snipe. Rocket launchers flying past your face, with bullets and grenades at your feet really keep this map moving quickly. It is best for Team activities due to its sheer size. One group in Free-For-All and you’d never find each other.

Last, but certainly not least, is the Zombie Asylum. Treyarch provided an excellent experiment in the Nazi Zombie mode included in Call of Duty: World at War. In fact, for some it is the most played mode in the game. Take everything that you liked about the original mode, and make it twenty times better and you’ve got Verrückt.

To survive the Zombie Asylum to high levels you’re going to need a few specific things. You must have four people with microphones. You must have people who are willing to work together and listen. Finally, you must be willing to employ strategies you’d never have thought of in the original Zombie map. The first thing you will immediately notice about Verrückt is that it is much larger than the other Nazi Zombie map.

An insane asylum in Germany shortly after the drop of an atomic bomb has caused the undead to rise, and its your job to fend them off. The next thing you’ll notice is that you’ve only got one other person on your side of the map. The other two are separated by a door that can only be opened after many points have been spent, and power has been restored to the building.

Other obvious additions include brand new sounds for the zombies, the perk machines, and for the pick-ups. Designed to horrify you even more, it takes an almost Bioshock-esque stance on some of the humor in the map. At random times the four men trapped in the building will talk to each other, and yell disses at the zombies. All the while if there is a zombie in the map, you will hear him screaming and wailing about.

It’s still all about the survival of four people as long as you can, but their are multiple strategies you can employ to make it so much easier. I won’t go into detail, but making it to level 26 with over 150,000 points and 1,000 kills looks really awesome on my record. A great pick-up group developed a strategy using the electric fences, rayguns, and a flame thrower that basically made us untouchable. With new places to hide, new weapons at your disposal…it becomes a lot of fun to experience.It almost makes me wish they’d make a retail game consisting entirely of this. I’m glad Infinity Ward is taking a cue, and putting zombies in their game as well.

If you enjoy all that Call of Duty: World at War has to offer then I can gauruntee [sic] that you will enjoy the new maps. Treyarch did an excellent job. The ten dollars is a great price to pay for all new content. If you’re a big fan of Nazi Zombies, then that alone will provide you with hours and hours of playtime. Buy it.

Map Pack 1 deserves a 7 out of 10.

Why? Perhaps because of the time that was taken to nurture every partnership, perhaps it was because Electronic Arts knew how to push the buttons…or maybe it was because they made an offer that no one could refuse. The Godfather II was that offer, and I gladly accepted it.

The Godfather II is the sequel to the original video game that was developed by Electronic Arts years previous. While the first game cast your character as a soldier for Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather II takes spins around the story in the sequel in an interesting way. It does nothing but confuse me, but that doesn’t mean that it turns the game sour.

Throughout the entire Godfather II story you play as a start-up soldier known simply as Dominic. At the beginning of the game your job is to simply protect Don Corleone through an escape from Cuba, and then as thanks he gives you control of his compound in New York. If you’re familiar with the game, you end up becoming your own “Don” of sorts, complete with soldiers, capo’s, and an Underboss. Throughout the game you play through the stories within the film, only from the side, assisting Michael Corleone in any way you can all the while taking over rackets and businesses in three major locations from the first game. It sounds confusing, almost as if it wouldn’t work. But it does, and it really isn’t anything to worry about. The game does completely avoid the Vito Corleone subplot that appears in the film, but…batta bing, batta boom…what can you do, eh?

Creating your character is as simple as filing through many complex tools. The way Dominic looks is completely up to you. A lot of detail is paid to the face, and your body mass index. You can be a bald slob with a big gun, or a skinny nerd with a big gun, or a handsome devil with big guns and a pistol. It’s all up to you, really. Your imagination is key to allowing this process to work correctly. One of the things that is obviously missing from the character creation is a randomizer, or any pre-made avatars for you.

When you arrive in New York, many similarities with the original Godfather come to life. You’re tasked with the responsibility to take over businesses and rackets to increase your criminal empire. As you advance through the story you will find that there are several tutorial cut scenes that are quick to the point, and actually interesting to watch. They’ll give you some idea of how to advance through your current objective, and it is over.

The third-person view of the game is spot-on. The Godfather II developers may have taken a cue from Rockstar, and implemented a combat and cover system incredibly similar to what we find in Grand Theft Auto IV. It is simple, and intuitive. That’s really all that matters, right? Your weapons load-out is fairly simple. You have a pistol, magnum, shotgun, machine gun, garotte (choke wire), your hands, and some sort of melee weapon. Throughout the maps and missions you’ll find upgrades for all of the guns, even for dynamite and molotov cocktails.

Rushing into a racket and searching for the owner is exciting. The difficulty behind it is trying to take out the rival family all the while avoiding civilians, police, and the owner of the establishment. Sometimes I would find myself mowing down the wrong people, and I would have to leave and return later. Although you would think it would get old, because the game rewards you for every take over, you end up wanting to get it right every time.

After taking over a business or racket, you’ll be given the opportunity to go into The Don’s View and assign guards to protect your racket. Find a way to afford all the guards, it is worth it in the end. The Don’s View is also an opportunity for you to change the look of your character, and your soldiers. “The View “also includes a 3-dimensional isometric view of the entire map. It’s a great way to manage, and keep an eye on all of your businesses. It’s also important because you keep a close eye on your rivals through this view.

As you grow your criminal empire, the opportunity will arise to hire on soldiers with different abilities. The engineer is your techie, allowing you to kill the power to buildings and cut through wire fences. The bruiser is required to burst through reinforced doors and windows. Your safe cracker can not only crack safes, but also help you get into locked doors. You have an explosives specialist to add to your queue, along with a medic. Each of them are required to complete the game, as you need more than your own talents to get through.

It is enjoyable to drive through the sunny south and see all of the brightly dressed people, and brightly colored cars. Although the direction that the developers took with the graphics is far from realistic, the amount of polish that is involved is almost detrimental. Would it make sense if I told you that I think the game is too shiny? It almost looks like there is a thick layer of gloss over everything. It’s just weird, and there is not something else out there to compare them to.

The original films actors are too old to get into the recording studio, or dead, so the re-creation of the voices from the movies had to be done, and they did an excellent job. After I finished the game, I watched the film to compare it. Each of the characters, in comparison to their film counterparts, sound almost the same. I was absolutely ecstatic when listening to this game. An equal amount of work must have been put into the soundtrack as well! While the previous game just re-used the Godfather theme over and over, the current iteration of the mafia underworld uses a variety of themes based upon the time period and location. Although none of it stands out, it all flows together into a smooth experience.

Godfather II does not leave you feeling like you are the Don, but more like you’re just a high ranking soldier with your own family. This is the same complaint that I had with the first game. You really do not end up feeling like a mobster, just a punk.

Finishing this game will take you about 10 hours, if you’re lucky. There aren’t any sort of sidequest, or even things to collect. Breezing through the story is an enjoyable experience, but in the end Godfather II winds up failing as great way to tell the story. It is, however, an awesome sandbox game. In the end, it has it’s problems, but it is an offer that would be hard to refuse.

Reviewer’s note: The Xbox 360 version was tested for this review

The story behind Leisure Suit Larry is one of the most unbelievable things I have ever experienced via my television. Larry is a good-for-nothing graduate of film school as far as I can tell, and he is without work, and without goals. His daily ambitions include eating, drinking, and getting laid, and the state of his home reflects that. It’s a pig pen.

You get a call from Larry’s uncle, who is also named Larry. Uncle Larry owns a large film studio where they make pornography. He invites his nephew to come work at the Meaty Media Conglomerate and thus the story begins…after some very long load times.

As you hit the studio lot you’ll be treated to a tour by Uncle Larry, where you will be told that there is someone trying to destroy his company and he would like you, the good-for-nothing perv, to figure out who it is and stop him/her dead in their tracks. Larry admits that his only “private eye” is his skin flute (chuckle), and so the game begins.

As you begin to walk around the lot you’ll notice….wait, did I say walk? Let’s air out the first pair of this game’s dirty laundry. Larry is a freak of nature and he cannot walk! You see, instead of walking he skips in slow motion. It’s almost as if he has a boot up his backside and cannot do anything else but this slow, poorly paced skip as to not cause more pain to his prostate. It goes without saying that you end up very frustrated from the get-go. In fact, this could be the game’s greatest flaw next to controlling the action sequences.

It’s hard to define what sort of game Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust is. At first glance it is an action platform title with a lot of different mini-games to occupy your time. You’ll do everything from deliver packages, to taking pictures of some of the actresses involving themselves in an afternoon tryst on the roof of one of the buildings. If the game kept this fetch this and that platforming element I might be able to forgive the whole skipping with a spike up the ass, but it doesn’t.

For some strange reason the developers decided to place some action platforming complete with combat.  If Larry can’t get laid, he sure can’t fight! It’s not his fault either. The combat in this game is atrocious. There is no lock-on, there is no way of knowing if you’re close enough to hit, and there is no way to stay alive. Your enemies are significantly stronger, and they know how to fight. Each of these action-platform sections are without a doubt, the breaking point of the game. These are where your large achievements come from, and where you end up walking away from the game like I did.

While I am tearing this game down, let me continue. Although the character design is unique, it is in need of polish. All of the graphics are in need of some serious polish and shine. At times it seems like the skin and texture is filled with little holes where you can almost see through to the white base they use for everything. No polish. No care. Why did they bother making this game? The girls may have absolutely massive boobs, wide hips, and eyes that all practically say “bend me over” it does not excuse everything else about it that is absolutely pathetic.

Now that we’ve absolutely torn it apart, let’s look at what might barely make things passable. Although everything about this game seems broken, the writing is disgustingly good. Every dirty joke, every “That’s what she said!”, and every reference to spanking the monkey is put in with perfect timing. It is almost uncanny how great the writing is in comparison to everything else.

Along with the writing are some great choices in voice acting. It isn’t like the game is going to win an Oscar, but it is really good! Why is it that this company is able to succeed at what others seem to fail at, and they fail at what others can do well at.

What pains me the most is that I really wanted to like this game. From the time I put it into the tray until the time I took it out it absolutely pained me to watch it fail. If you think you can stomach horrible gameplay, and weird graphics…just try. If you’re a big fan of dirty jokes, and great innuendo then this is an absolutely funny game.

One thing that this game does lack is nudity. There is sex implied everywhere, but Larry never scores. It’s almost dissapointing, as you want to help the poor guy actually get some. It’s horrible…but I just want to keep playing.