Not Now, I'm Busy

It seems that zombie-themed video games have become the latest fad within the gaming industry. Whether it’s in the form of a first-person shooter like Valve’s Left 4 Dead, or in a satirical Western such as Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, gamers can’t seem to get over that crave for the zombie apocalypse.

Capcom’s Resident Evil series may have been the first to bring the undead theme onto home consoles, but aside from RPGs and First-person shooters, survival horror is one genre that hits home for me. So when I heard that Keiji Inafune (creator of the Megaman series) was returning for another Dead Rising project, it was hard not to be ecstatic; I mean, where else could you fend off against a horde of zombies using a nailed bat while wearing a green mankini? I’m also glad that they fixed the text-size issue that was prevalent in its predecessor.  

While DR2 may still suffer from a few flaws in its gameplay, it is quickly forgiven with its extensive replay value, multiple scenarios, item creations and the ability to repeatedly smack zombies with a foam hand while wearing a purple bonnet. Dead Rising 2 was definitely the funniest and most amusing game to hit the market in recent memory.

You play as Chuck Greene, a motocross superstar whom is part of a fictitious reality show called ‘Terror is Reality.’ Since the onset of the outbreak, Chuck’s wife contracted ‘zombie-ism’ along with his daughter, Katey becoming infected from a zombie bite. In turn, this required that Katey be given a daily 24-hour dose of Zombrex to keep her infection-free. 

But as can you expect from a zombie-related theme, a zombie uprising ensues and Chuckie is blamed for it. Thus, it is up to Chuck to not only save the day but to also clear his name of any wrong-doing. This requires searching for survivors, eliminating psychopaths and finding Katey the much needed Zombrex. As an added stress, you are only given 72 hours to clear your name before the military comes out to rescue you and your cohorts.

Dead Rising 2 is very much in the style of its predecessor but is also mixed in with the vein of Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead (2004).

Presentation:

DR2’s setting takes place within Fortune City, a Las Vegas-like locale chock full of casinos, malls, bars and hotels; but as you can expect, zombies are literally everywhere. Starting from your safe house, you leave for your primary missions and side quests via an aqueduct and onto Royal Flush Mall. Your missions come in to you via radio and you are given a fixed amount of time in completing these missions. To ascertain on the time you have left, players have access to their personal watch and a map to help determine the remaining timeframe for a mission and a particular mission is located (via an onscreen arrow). This ranges from finding Zombrex to saving survivors from their impending doom.

Eventually, Chuck’s world expands from not just the mall but to neighbouring areas, and, all in all, the game looks good. Fortune City is expansive with much to do and with plenty of ways to kill off zombies. At any location, you will face major hordes of zombies but may come at the expense of frame rate issues and severe loading issues. It is strongly recommended that you install this game onto your console if you happen to own one. The PC version on the other hand runs much more smoothly in comparison with the home consoles.

Graphics:

In comparison with its predecessor, DR2’s graphics have been vastly improved. Not only has small-text syndrome been removed, DR2 is successful in having being able to handle hundreds of zombies on-screen at any time without any slowdown. However, occasionally, there will be moment where a slow framework will kick in thereby hampering the performance on the gameplay. That being said, it is easily overlooked given how fun this game is.

The gore factor has been immensely stepped up. Here, within a matter of seconds, Chuck’s outfit could easily be gunked (yes, gunked) with blood after pummelling through dozens of zombies. Additionally, animations could also be improved as some of the character movement appear stiff and clunky. But nevertheless, DR2’s textures, color schemes, character and zombie models more than make up any short-comings that may be present throughout DR2. 

DR2 is filled with over hundreds of interactive items all scattered throughout Fortune City. This can range from coat hangers, shotguns, footballs, wine bottles to vacuum cleaners. Additionally, players can also swap outfits. These include thins such as a tuxedo, a cocktail dress or even a knight’s armor. Character customization is at its prime with this game and brings an excellent variation to the game.

Music:

The voice acting for the most part is both good and somewhat campy. This was perhaps Capcom’s attempt at bring a lil’ light comedy to a horror game. Given the subject matter, when you’re dealing with hundreds of zombies and a casino-like environment, sounds effects is what you are mostly going to hear. The cracking sound to a zombie’s cranium from a nail bat is quite satisfying.

The overall score and background is mostly forgettable, but occasionally during boss battles, players will get to experience some heavy metal tunes which add some atmosphere and intensity to the game.

Gameplay:

Dead Rising 2 makes an interesting attempt of blending RPG elements along with action elements from a third-person view. Not only do players have access to a vast arsenal of weapons, players are also able to ‘level up’ Chuck Greene and improve his current status. This is managed through the use of PP which serves as experience points and when enough PP is gained, the player reaches a level. Naturally in the beginning, Chuck has slow speed, low health, few inventory slots and lacks any tactical moves against zombies. Later through time, Chuck will eventually become more mobile, perform special moves like tackling and gain more inventory slots to carry weapons and healing items. But like any other RPG, PP can normally be gained through defeating zombies as well as psychopaths. Each ‘psychopath’ in DR2 carries their own unique pattern that players must figure out before being able to successfully defeat them. This can either be a blessing or a curse depending on how patient you are.

Another new entry to Dead Rising 2 is the ability to combine weapons together to create a special weapon. Not only do these weapons increase the amount of PP per ‘thwack!’ it brings a nice touch to the gameplay. In order for players to create such weapons, it requires of use of acquiring combo cards. These combo cards can either be acquired through levelling up, saving certain survivors or successfully completing primary missions. The amount of variety that players get in being able to kill zombies is alone worth the purchase.

Another important resource is Dead Rising’s time clock; this is criticized by many as being a hindrance to gamers as it creates the feeling that players need to rush in order to finish certain missions thereby undermining of the whole aspect of ‘exploration.’ Failing to beat the clock on certain occasions could either result in either a ‘game over’ for players or losing an opportunity to garner more PP from saving survivors. However, one must bear in mind that DR2 also contains multiple endings designed for multiple playthroughs. Players are more than welcome to return to this game for a second round with their current status intact and complete any other missions that they may have missed.

DR2 also provides an interesting multiplayer element to the game where players can even cooperate together to bring down zombies. Or, if players are interested in a more competitive approach, there is also the ‘Terror is Reality’ mode where players can compete together in a set of mini-games such as ploughing down zombies with a bike. But the bottom line here is that the multiplayer is just another added incentive. Like in Bioshock 2’s multiplayer, it’s nice to have but just not needed.

All in all, Dead Rising 2 is a great game and while it carries a few flaws such as stiff voice acting and crappy load times, you are not going to find any other scenario where you can hunt down zombies at your leisure while playing dress-up. Moreover, with over 5 different endings, DR2 encourages players to relive the zombie apocalypse over and over until their hearts content. Or perhaps until Dead Rising 3 returns….

My rating: 8/10.   

To start off, I have to admit I was never fully taken in by the original Dead Space for a number of reasons. Now, I’m not saying I disliked the game, I loved it’s presentation and its brilliant story, I especially loved the concept of slicing off limbs to take enemies down than the usual ‘pump-it-with-ammo-until-it-stops-twitching’ method normally used, but for me Dead Space just had some pretty major flaws that made me keep rage-quitting every single time I picked it up.

First off, I never seemed to have enough ammo or even the credits to buy ammunition, I found power nodes were hard to find and there didn’t seem to be enough around to effectively upgrade my gear as the Necromorphs got meaner and tougher. Not to mention I died every chuffing corridor or room I stepped into due to being attacked from all angles and the lack of space to manoevure into.

Now I’m not the greatest gamer, but I can easily achieve a decent level of skill in any game, so for me to die every minute trying to grind my way through to the next save point is not my idea of enjoyment (note: this was on normal difficulty).

The entire game just had a sense of staleness as it felt like you were just walking through the same areas doing the exact same thing.

Now that my griping is out of the way, I can get onto the review.  Naturally being a bit biased from my previous experience, I was expecting more of the same but fervently hoping that the game would fix some of these problems for my next journey.

First off, I love a good intro screen that immediately sucks you into the atmosphere and in this case Dead Space 2 delivers. I also noticed there was a ‘previously on Dead Space’ section which played a small movie filling in the back story of the previous game.  This simple act alone is a stroke of genius, as it helps refresh those who haven’t played the game in over two years or simply not finished (guilty) on the back story.  

Dead Space 2 continues three years after Dead Space and throws you back into the shoes of Isaac Clarke, a humble engineer with an aptitude for turning everyday space-household items into instruments of death.  Except the events that happened on the USG Ishimura have obviously left Isaac Clarke in pretty bad shape mentally.

Straight away you are thrown into the action as you are rudely awoken to find you are once again isolated with a host of Necromorphs around for some up-close loving.  Only this time, alone isn’t as alone as the previous adventure as you do actually get to meet numerous characters and for once even come face to face with quite a few, which I thought was a nice touch as games like this usually have NPC’s standing behind a big glass screen that is mysteriously unbreakable by any means.   Of course there are still inconvenient glass screens between you and characters throughout the game which means a 30 minute detour to (hopefully) meet up.

Now I found my first play-through was actually longer than my entire combined experience over a two year period on Dead Space, and I can explain why this happened in just a few words; I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Dead Space 2 is a lot more cinematic, and there are the explosions, big monsters, explosions, high-speed situations and more explosions that never seem to interrupt the flow of the game at all, but instead enhance the experience that you are stuck on a giant space station that is falling apart and under attack.

Isaac is also given a voice this time around, and while I’ve read a few reviews that feel Isaac is a bit of a bland character, I have to say they actually did a brilliant job with him, he genuinely feels like a normal guy who has been thrust into hell once again and knows he just has to get on with the job at hand.  Let’s face it, Isaac isn’t supposed to be an armoured killing machine or a soldier, he’s an engineer who makes use of whatever is at hand, and the fact he now talks just creates a more engrossing experience.

The entire experience in fact, is enhanced, there’s still no traditional HUD as expected, but giving Isaac a voice, and of course, the lighting, graphics and sounds all create an atmosphere that will have you on the edge of your seat from the very start, and won’t let go until the very end.

Of course, this is also helped by the fact I actually have enough ammo, credits and those awesome power nodes to feel like I am actually making progress.  Or, at the very least, not make ammo conservation a constant worry. It does become a concern later on, especially in the bigger encounters, but it still means for most of the game I am adequately equipped and geared up for anything.

The locations are a lot more varied, which keeps the player going as you journey through some colourful locations including a medical ward, children’s kindergarten, a church, shopping mall and a docked ship to name just a few.  All the locations aren’t as claustrophobic and cramped as before which means there is a bit more freedom to back up or run away for a better tactical spot.

The weapons are also highly varied, from everybody’s favourite; the plasma cutter, to other weapons including the javelin gun, pulse rifle, ripper, flamethrower, a sniper rifle which is pretty much useless and other weapons/tools that Isaac sees as weapons.  Then you have stasis which can be used to slow down Necromorphs so you can take your time slowly picking off each arm, and kinesis, which means you can throw spiky objects, Necromorph limbs and of course boxes, body parts and other miscellaneous objects at enemies for extra lulz.

Of course, having interesting locations and more than a single round left in each gun isn’t going to work without enemies to shoot at.  Dead Space 2 brings back all the old gang, and throws a few new and nasty bastards your way, and of course in the brilliant concept that it is, death will only come in the form of dismembering their limbs, some requiring highly accurate shooting to hit just the right weak spot.

There are a fair few easy puzzles thrown in as well, most in zero gravity, and no mini games that involve commandeering a slow moving turret and trying to shoot 20 asteroids coming straight at you.  There is however a small section which involves being catapulted through space and avoiding incoming obstacles, but I found this to be the coolest and best section of the game.

One thing I noticed was that you have an awfully big oxygen tank this time around, which means there aren’t any of those intense moments where you are struggling to get to an oxygen station, and it just doesn’t feel as dangerous being outside as it previously did.

Overall, Dead Space 2 feels like the developers thought very hard on what worked for Dead Space, and then set about trying to improve the experience, and they have done a marvelous job. This has easily become one of the greatest games I have ever played.  I am awestruck that all the problems I found with the first game have been fixed and ironed out for the sequel.

This is definitely a contender for game of the year, and if you haven’t played it yet, go out, buy it, turn the lights off, shut the blinds, crank the volume and enter hell.  You will love it.

Truth be told, prior to 2010, I didn’t know anything about Bayonetta. I mostly heard about this game through the IGN comments and forums section. I had no clue as to what this game was, I had no idea who Hideki Kamiya was and I never even heard of Platinum Games. My only knowledge at the time was that Bayonetta was some woman who could apparently kill enemies with her hair. 5 minutes of play was all it took for me to be completely won over.

Bayonetta is a fast-paced, adrenalized, high-octane (and any other synonym for ‘awesome’) action game that revolves around an Umbran witch who possesses guns on both her hands and feet. Seriously, name me one videogame character that carries weapons like that? Bayonetta provides one of the most intense games I have ever played. Upon initial gameplay, my first impression was that it was strikingly similar to Devil May Cry. It turns out that Platinum games was directed by none other than Hideki Kamiya. So who exactly is this guy? A quick Wikipedia search reveals that he was the director of Devil May Cry. And just like that, my tiny little universe began to make a little more sense.

The story of Bayonetta revolves around two clans, the Lumen sages and Umbran witches who were responsible for maintaining the balance of both light and darkness. The sages maintained the power of light (a.k.a. Paradiso). The witches on the other hand, were in charge of the dark, or the Inferno. While both clans valued the importance of world balance, war became inevitable which resulted in the destruction of both clans. Bayonetta, an Umbran witch was the only sole survivor.

Unfortunately, the plot has been regarded by many as ‘loose’, ‘cheesy’ and hard to follow. Upon pressing the Start key, players are immediately thrown into a token battle sequence fighting multiple foes while being forced to listen to the premise of the game. This however, makes it immediately difficult for players to transition themselves with the plot. However, Bayonetta’s core gameplay and its visuals provide more than enough reason to forgive the game for its contrived plot.

Bayonetta, in my opinion, has to be one of the most memorable female characters in the history of video games. While her level of sexual appeal is evident as seen in cutscenes and during gameplay, there is a lot more to Bayonetta than just T&A. She can fight, she can torture, she can punish, she can change forms, she possesses a witty English attitude and carries GUNS ON HER EFFIN’ FEET!

Bayonetta gives you with a ‘high’ that never lets up.

Presentation:

As mentioned earlier, Bayonetta carries a tough attitude and a style that is all hers. You couldn’t imitate her even if you tried. This style is shown not just through her typical attributes; it carries over to the rest of the game itself. Even when you target enemies, they’re highlighted with red lips. When she taunts enemies, she does a sexy pose.

Cutscenes are sometimes played using reel filmstrips to provide a rather ‘noir’ feel to the game. The acting, character and monster design are amongst the best. Bayonetta provides visuals that are only unique to this game and does it well.

Graphics:

Bayonetta is an exceptional looking game. The visuals are perfectly rendered to suit its unique style and presentation. The character animation itself is absolutely top-notch with every little detailed considered for every setting and background. Throughout the game, players battle multiple hordes of enemies (referred to as angels) and bosses on a constant basis, all of which have been exceptionally well-designed.

Bayonetta is simply wonderful to look at, all around. I can’t emphasize enough how gorgeous this game is. Views are simply breathtaking and I’m not just talking about the leading lady.  

Music:

The music portrayed in Bayonetta is among the best I’ve ever heard for any video game soundtrack. The official soundtrack for Bayonetta contains 150 tracks in 5 Discs! It is also among the most diverse as it contains a few J-pop references to a remake of Frank Sinatra’s “Fly me to the Moon.”

In addition, there are multiple upbeat jazz rhythms, intense choir tracks that will all the more immerse you into Bayonetta. The final boss soundtracks are among the most memorable. Imagine listening to something that is as powerful as Nobuo Uematsu’s ‘One Winged Angel’ from Final Fantasy VII. I’d crack out the Bayonetta OST any time of the day. It is in line with Yatsunori Mitsuda’s Xenogears and Nobuo Uematsu’s Final Fantasy VI.

Gameplay:

The best part about Bayonetta in my opinion is its core gameplay. It is smooth and fluid from the very start and the ‘feel’ of this game is absolutely perfect. The battle system is relatively easy to acquire with the gameplay itself being rather deep.

Over time, Bayonetta will have access to a vast amount of weaponry. This includes katanas, whips, shotguns, claws and even ice skates. Bayonetta has the ability to blast and slice her way through anything and players get to choose how. This all the more adds to the variation and depth to the gameplay. Additionally, Bayonetta can jump and ‘ninja dodge’ her way out of any situation and at any direction. The dodge technique alone is essential to battling the elements in the world of Bayonetta.

Whenever a dodge is correctly timed, it triggers a ‘Witch time,’ a slow-motion event in which players are given the short opportunity to pummel multiple enemies, catch their breath and adjust to the quick pace of enemies.

Bayonetta is capable of performing multiple combinations on her foes; moreover, players are practically given carte blanche as to how they wish to execute these moves and still be rewarded for their efforts. ‘Halos’ are the currency in Bayonetta’s world. Similar to DMC, they can be exchanged for healing items (in the form of lollipops), power-ups and so forth. Halos can also be purchased for additional moves such as break-dancing movies or additional aerial attacks.

Players can even practice these combo sets whenever there is a loading screen as well.

In addition to combinations and weaponry, Bayonetta is also able to perform torture attacks for additional halos. In addition to the typical health bar, Bayonetta also has a magic gauge that when filled up enables her to perform torture attacks. Each of these attacks is unique to the type of enemy and involves having Bayonetta summon various instruments of torture such as guillotines, wooden horses to destroy her angelic foes.

The boss battles within Bayonetta are among the most epic and entertaining. Not only are they powerful, they present a great challenge to players. Finishing off these demons require having Bayonetta perform a ‘Climax attack.’ Climax attacks are very similar to torture attacks but are far more gruesome.

Overall, Bayonetta is a genuine masterpiece all around. From the get-go you can tell that all the elements to designing a game have been closely factored in. While its plot may be difficult to follow, its soundtrack is amongst the best I’ve ever heard, the controls are both solid and fluid, the gameplay never gets dull and there are plenty of difficulty modes to encourage multiple playthroughs. In the end, the plot is the least of your concern.

Buy this game. While it is very much in the vein of Devil May Cry, you have my solemn promise that this is one of the best action titles that will make gaming history.

My Rating: 9/10.

With the holiday season underway, this for me would mean spending ample hours on my Xbox 360 over the weekends and finally dealing with the backlog of games that I have still yet to touch.

This ranged from titles such as Jericho, Just Cause 2 to Medal of Honor. After coming off of Clive Barker’s Jericho, I carried nothing but high expectations for Medal of Honor (2010). Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (2000) and its single-player campaign completely blew my mind. First-person shooter nostalgia comes to mind every time I think of it. The mission that I definitely recall the most was Operation Overlord; a mission that was a clear rehash of the opening scene from Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan and was also an epic turning point for World War II. This mission was often revered as one of the most intensive and action-packed mission for any World War II-based First-person shooter. It seemed that the Medal of Honor franchise already won me over at that very moment.

However, after spending a good 4 hours on the Single-player campaign, I came to the conclusion that this has to be the most boring first-person shooter I have ever played. After completing a number of campaigns, it slowly occurred to me that I really wasn’t having any fun. Perhaps I have been spoiled by Michael Bay-esque action sequences as seen on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops, but as for MOH, not a whole lot happens. I don’t even recall many moments in MOH where things even go boom!

Prior to MOH, I spent a good 3 – 4 days on Clive Barker’s Jericho, a horror-based FPS that was released back in 2007. Given that I am a big survival horror fan, I maintained rather low expectations as it was critically panned by many with IGN even giving it a measly 5.6. However, this game blew my mind. While its gameplay mechanics were somewhat broken, its utterly disturbing atmosphere and grotesque monster design made this game all the more enthralling. I honestly wished that I could say the same for MOH. It is forgettable at best. The action sequences are dull and you end up just not getting vested up in the characters. You might as well shelf this franchise after Crash Bandicoot but right before Spyro the Dragon.

Presentation:

I treat a presentation for any game based on the first ten minutes and right off the bat I was not impressed. Again, bear in mind that I carried very high expectations for this franchise. The graphics were average at best, the enemy AI itself was rather poor and the gameplay felt very much like any other typical corridor shooter. The very first level offered nothing special. It had characters named ‘Mother’, ‘Voodoo’ and ‘Preacher’ and involved a mission of finding a certain someone. How very exciting.

DICE was responsible for the development of FPSs such as the Battlefield series. I found it hard to believe that this was the end result. But like I said, it’s forgettable. The menu interface on the other hand is rather nice to look at.

Graphics:

The graphics displayed in MOH do not even hold a candle to COD: Modern Warfare 2. The game suffers from glitches such as exploding vehicles minus the actual explosion; the boundaries in this game are even poorly identified and designed. There were numerous occasions during gameplay where I was prevented from shooting from certain vantage points or moving to areas that are clearly open.

Character models are both generic and cliché with possibly only more than 10-15 different models. Valve’s Left 4 Dead had no issue with rendering over 1000 zombie character models for players to shoot at. You can even make this same argument with Dead Rising 2. This was not the same case with MOH. The animation itself is stiff, bland and appears dated.

Did I also mention the inconsistent amount of framerate that occasionally hampers the performance of the game.

Music:

One of the few redeeming qualities to MOH is the sound effects. The gunshots sounds are very life-like and contribute greatly to the realism of the game. The voice acting on the other hand is ‘meh.’ While I am certainly not expecting voice work from Ed Harris or Gary Oldman (As seen in COD: Black Ops), I find it really difficult to take characters like ‘Dusty’ seriously when everything they say is loaded with unnecessary f-bombs. Think John Travolta from The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. Ugh.

Gameplay:

The gameplay was very much taken from the Battlefield series. One nice touch that I liked here was the ‘Peek & Lean’ where players can peep to see what’s ahead while taking cover. An example was loosely taken from Goldeneye for the N64. However, the rest of the gameplay itself is bland, unoriginal and uninspiring.

The enemy AI itself has to be one of the poorest I have ever seen. They rarely cover and are predictable in nature. If you die and restart a mission, you can almost tell where they will respawn. The only skill you need is thus, good memory. Moreover, there were a few instances where a glitch would hamper my gameplay. In one instance, I was forced to restart the checkpoint after my friendly AI failed to actually move to the next spot located on the HUD.

Overall, I was disappointed, really disappointed. Like everyone else, I have been playing FPSs since Doom, but MOH has to be one of the worst shooters that I have ever played since…….well, ever. While it is evident that MOH strived to be a more realistic shooter than any of the COD series, it seemed more to me that it was doomed from the very start. The game has no plot worth noting, it contains characters that you won’t care for, the graphics are average, the gameplay itself is glitchy and why is one of your playable characters named ‘Rabbit’? Yes, I still think Clive Barker’s Jericho is superior. MOH is just boring.

My rating: 4/10