Borderlands 2

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/10/2012
Posted in: Android, Linux, Mac, Microsoft, Microsoft Consoles, Mobile Reviews, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Retro Consoles, Sony, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Playable, Steam Deck Verification, Xbox 360, Xbox One. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: 2K Games

Developer: Gearbox Software

Release Date: 9/18/2012


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Shooting things is what this game is all about, and I mean all about. Borderlands is highly successful in mixing RPG with FPS, bringing the best of both worlds to the table. Borderlands 2 is more of the same, just bigger and more badass. If you didn’t like the first game, you won’t like this one either. Fans of the last game will be very happy with this second installment.

There is actually more of a storyline here, with more main quests. Of course, there are 50+ side quests that you will pour dozens of hours into. You get to play as a new set of characters, but in the same classes. I stuck with Maya the Siren again in this one, and I loved her phase-locking ability, where I could make enemies hover in the air for a bit or do damage to large enemies. You will also be happy to know that you can customize your character’s head and skin as you find new ones as loot, but I would have liked a more detailed character customization system; it just feels a bit tacked on.

There are just so many different enemies and guns in this game that I couldn’t even count. The guns are all varied with different stats, but you will be micromanaging them again, and it does become annoying. I wound up selling or dropping about 80% of the guns I found because a lot of them are pretty useless. This goes for shields, relics, grenade mods, and other things. There are six different classes of weapons: rocket launchers, pistols, assault rifles, sniper rifles, sub-machine guns, and shotguns.

You will always be switching between different weapons in your four slots (that you slowly unlock). I never stuck with a single weapon for too long because I was always finding better ones. Enemies are constantly dropping loot, and some weapons are rarer than others. Some do elemental damage, which is actually a huge factor in Borderlands. Armored enemies are weak against corrosive weapons, and shielded enemies are weak against shock weapons. The new slag weapon coats enemies in purple goop that makes them weak to any weapon fire. Some of the weapons are pretty unique; I never found two that looked the same. Some have unique abilities like faster reload and better accuracy as you fire, and even one gun was cursed that slowed me down and made obnoxious noises when I fired. Some guns you can throw when you reload, and they will explode like grenades and regenerate in your hand. The guns are just awesome in this game, and you will be looking for new ones every second you play.

Of course, the game is tough as nails, but as you level up, you can unlock new abilities. This game is designed for multiple playthroughs because you will probably reach around level 30 and maybe a bit further even after you complete every single quest in the game. You won’t unlock all the abilities or even get the best loot until you do. In fact, Borderlands 2 is more designed around co-op this time around because the best loot is only available to more players on board. The game is also extremely tough without someone playing with you. The game keeps enemies leveled up with you, so that makes the game even more difficult than the last. One thing that I really loved was the badass tokens that would raise stats just a smidgen for completing in-game challenges.

This leads to the biggest complaint I have about the series: Respawns. You respawn at certain points, but you will die hundreds of times in this game. When you do, you have to backtrack to where you died, and these maps are huge. Some maps let you use Catch-A-Ride vehicles, but most of them don’t. This was just so frustrating when I would die 15 times while clearing an area, suffer through the long respawn animation, backtrack, and sometimes die in just one hit. You go into Fight for Your Life mode, which allows you to revive with full shields if you can kill an enemy. This alleviated the frustration a tad, but if there are no enemies nearby to kill quickly, you’re screwed. On top of this, the enemy that killed you will regain full health if you die. That includes bosses. This is just so frustrating and makes me want the game to end. The second thing I really hate about this series is the constant enemy respawning. Once you leave an area and come back, all the enemies respawn. This made doing missions annoying because I just ran by them all. I understand they have to respawn in a game like this, which is focused on large maps, but I personally found it a nuisance.

If you have friends, this isn’t so bad, but be warned when playing by yourself. Besides that, the game keeps the tongue-in-cheek humor of the last game with more characters and returns to the past characters. You really get to know them more this time around with about ten times the amount of dialog. The story is decent but has a pretty crappy ending. It is predictable and isn’t anything special. Just know that you are here to kill everything, and I mean everything. I found myself entertained throughout the whole game with double the number of areas to explore, more side missions, and just more of everything. I really wanted to see more change in the series, so in the end, this game just feels like Borderlands 1.5.

At least PC gamers get enhanced visuals with some nice touch-ups. Higher resolution textures, further draw distance, FXAA, and higher FPS, which can be capped at 120, This is the superior version over the consoles because you can’t get pinpoint precision while aiming with a joystick. I could snipe like I never could on a controller, and it made the game a tad more tolerable in terms of difficulty.

I only have a few major complaints, but they are just staples of the series. If you can tolerate the monotonous trekking around, respawning enemies, and constant death, then pick this up. Fans of the last game know what they are getting into, so this is a warning for newcomers. I recommend playing this with at least one friend because the game is brutal. Lots of enemies, lots of dying. I also didn’t quite care for the constant micromanagement of all the loot. This is a great mix of FPS and RPG elements and should be played by fans of either genre.

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Keyboard & Mouse

Orcs Must Die!

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/08/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PC Reviews, Retro Consoles, Steam Deck Playable, Steam Deck Verification, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Robot Entertainment

Developer: Robot Entertainment

Release Date: 10/11/2011


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I am not a real big fan of tower defense games because they become repetitive too quickly and are flooding the mobile phone market. OMD is a different take on the genre where you actually control the person laying the traps to stop the orcs, so the game actually involves the player in the action instead of you just sitting back and watching. There really isn’t much of a story, but that’s OK because the game is full of awesome gameplay, but after a while, you will wish you could bring a buddy along, but alas, there is no multiplayer.

You start out by laying traps around the map, but you get to survey it first before the orcs come in. This is key to knowing the choke points and weak spots of each map. You start out with just a few traps like spikes, wall crushers, and lightning zappers, but as you beat each level, you earn new traps, and you can upgrade them to do more damage, more AoE damage, and even more size. These traps are awesome because they are all part of the whimsical art style and tongue-in-cheek humor the game provides. Once you layout your traps, you watch the orcs come flooding in from different areas, but you have a crossbow and magic powers to help keep them at bay. I stood back behind choke points and just let loose with my crossbow button held down, making sure orcs didn’t get through. Once I got the trap that let me put archers and knights in different areas, this helped a lot. However, as the game goes on, it gets really difficult, and this is where you will wish you could bring a buddy along.

The maps, after a while, start looking the same, and this is where the game will test your nerves. Will you want to complete all the maps? The best thing to do is to have a friend take over and maybe play every other map after a while. Some maps were so hard; even using multiple strategies, I still failed to protect my portal and let too many orcs through. This is where co-op would have made some maps a synch. The maps won’t just get on your nerves, but the hero’s one-liners will, which seem funny at first, but after a while, you will wish you could turn that crossbow on him. There is some DLC available, like costumes and a few more maps, but I really wanted more interesting enemies to kill. I started seeing green in my sleep because I saw so many orcs. Some are big and slow, some are fast, and some have weapons of their own, but in the end, the game kills you on repetition. I would have liked to see some mini-games or maybe some sort of reward or achievement system.

When all is said and done, Orcs Must Die! is a fun game in short bursts, and it really needs co-op to make the game a little easier and more enjoyable. The snappy one-liners grate on you after a while, and the maps start looking the same, just shifted around. Even the orc units get boring to kill after so many maps. I played about 20 myself and couldn’t take it anymore. If it wasn’t for the difficulty spikes, it was the sheer monotony of everything. Once you unlock all the traps, there’s nothing to really look forward to anymore, and it takes forever to earn upgrade points. This is a fun game, but only for so long.

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Keyboard & Mouse

Castle Crashers

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/06/2012
Posted in: Mac, Microsoft, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: The Behemoth

Developer: The Behemoth

Release Date: 9/26/2012


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I missed out and passed up this game so many times on both the Xbox and PS3, but now that I have played it on PC, I’m a bit disappointed. The game has charming visuals and great humor, like all Behemoth games, but this is only fun in co-op and pretty hard and boring in single-player. If you buy this game, make sure you have at least one friend to play with and that you are both around the same level.

There are several characters available to choose from, each with its own magic powers. The magic is pretty weak until later on in the game, but once you get there, it is pretty useful. The whole idea is just to whack away at enemies until you reach each boss. The boss fights are pretty unique, some with environmental obstacles in the way of staying on floating debris in a river. Every so often, enemies will drop weapons or pets that enhance your stats or give you abilities. I was really disappointed in the weapons because they never felt powerful enough. I would advance several levels and be stuck with the same weapon. Once you get through a few levels, you will realize how hard this game is. If you die, you start all the way back at the beginning of the level, which is brutal and frustrating. This is why you need a friend or three along.

Co-op is much better because friends can watch your back. Just make sure you are on equal levels because one friend will find the game too easy or it will be really tough for the other guy at a lower level. When it comes to actually fighting enemies, there’s not much to it but to mash buttons. Enemies take forever to die, and there’s constant knockback from projectiles, which makes the combat even more frustrating. On top of this, there are annoying things like the weaponsmith. Having to run down a long hallway to see each weapon you have picked up is just annoying. Some levels also carry on for far too long, so if you die near the end, you will probably not want to play this game anymore.

The visual style is excellent with the classic Behemoth style, and even the humor is great. One level in a forest has animals literally spewing liquid feces because they are scared of the boss slowly approaching behind you. The humor is what makes you want to keep playing, but there’s not much of a story here, which is fine for this kind of game. The controls are responsive, but it is everything else wrapped around the combat that makes this frustrating.

Those are just some things that make this game really frustrating to play. Playing with a friend eases that a bit, but it seems the game could use more polish. Even lining up shots is hard because the characters are 2D, and you can sometimes just walk right behind them or in front of them because you weren’t lined up upright. I, for one, gave up on this game early on because it was just too damn frustrating. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, though. I feel some people like this kind of thing, but being a Behemoth game, that is highly expected. For the low price, you are getting a fun and challenging co-op game, but if you don’t have any friends, the game will be tough and boring.

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Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/05/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Retro Consoles, Sony, Sony Consoles, Xbox 360, Xbox One. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Activision

Developer: High Moon Studios

Release Date: 8/21/2012


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War for Cybertron was the first Transformers game that was actually good and not based off of any of the three movies (hey, I liked them!). It’s based on the characters of the Generation One cartoon series and even brings back some of the original voice actors. Fall of Cybertron continues in this fashion, but brings out some of the lesser-known Transformers and puts them in the campaign. The game is overall the same as the last one, but with more polish and fine-tuning.

The story is decent and entertaining, but nothing memorable. It picks up from the last game, where Megatron is still trying to wipe out the Autobots, but this time prevents them from escaping on the Ark. Optimus Prime and his gang are desperately trying to gather enough energy to power the Ark, but Megatron and the Decepticons, as well as the Insecticons, are causing problems for everyone. The planet is pretty much lost at this point, and all Optimus cares about is getting his autobots off the damn planet and to safety. You play through thirteen chapters of various different Transformers from both sides to experience this pretty cinematic and entertaining story.

You play as regular Transformers and the larger ones. Bumblebee is your first one in the first chapter. Optimus Prime and Megatron are used quite a bit, but also Cliff Jumper, Bruticus, Jazz, Vortex, Grimlock, Starscream, and even for a brief moment in the final chapter, Jetfire. I preferred this over choosing between just a few different ones, like in the last game. It made the campaign more unique and less repetitive and boring. Each chapter is completely different, with different gameplay elements, thanks to each Transformer being unique. Sneaking around cloaked as Cliff Jumper, grappling as Jazz, flying around as Vortex, and stomping things into the ground as Bruticus was awesome. The vehicle forms are better controlled, and I used them a lot more than I did in the last game. Even the gunplay is tighter.

The enemies are smarter this time around, and there’s a bit more of a variety. The insects add to this variety and are spread throughout the campaign. Even the objectives are more varied instead of just pulling levers all the time. There’s a new upgrade system via Teletraan 1, which allows you to use Energon Shards to upgrade weapons. These upgrades are actually useful and make a huge difference. I still wish I could upgrade my vehicle, but it is already powerful enough. The campaign just stands as a solid cinematic Transformers story and is just so much better than the last game. There are still a few issues, like difficulty spikes and minor collision detection issues, but they aren’t nearly as abundant as in the last game. This game is hard, and if you don’t take cover and watch out, you will die in a few hits. Using shields and energon packs helps, but at least you won’t die every 5 seconds like in the last game.

The graphics are really good, but it still uses Unreal Engine 3 based on the consoles, and it could look better. I was hoping the PC version would have some enhanced visuals, but it doesn’t. There are some ugly muddy textures here and there, but overall, it looks way better than the last game. War for Cybertron already looked dated when it came out. The art style is gorgeous, and the voice acting is just top-notch. The multiplayer comes back again, but not much else has changed besides being able to build your own robot. After a while, you will get bored with the last game, but hardcore fans may stay. If it makes you feel better, you get to be a T-Rex as Grimlock later in the game. I just can’t tell you how many surprises this game can throw at you. There is just a ton of love put into this game and tidbits for fans.

As it stands, Fall of Cybertron improves immensely over the last game, but still doesn’t offer enough variation and diversity to make this game of the year worthy. There is more variety here than in the last game, with different Transformers used in each chapter, but I really wanted something even more epic. What’s here is great, and this really is the best Transformers game ever made, but I know it can be even better.

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Keyboard & Mouse

Granny Smith

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/03/2012
Posted in: Android, iOS, Mobile Reviews. Tagged: , , , , . 1 Comment

Developer: Mediocre AB

Release Date: 8/30/2012


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I have to admit that I passed this one by as another ridiculous mobile game for kids. This game is one of the most fun I have ever had on a phone. The fast pace and perfectly balanced difficulty make you want to never put this game down. I got all three apples at every level in just a few playthroughs and desperately wanted more. That is how you make a good mobile game.

You play a granny who is chasing down a little boy dressed as a thief. You have to jump, zip line, and somersault your way through each level to collect every apple. Along the way, you get to collect coins, which you can use to buy banana peels, baseballs, and helmets. The helmets shorten your recovery time when you fall, and the other two slow down the little boy when thrown. The basic gameplay is simple yet addictive. One button is used to jump, but if you hold it, you will front-flip, which also makes you jump farther. It was very smart on the developer’s part to do this. The coins are your guideline on where to jump and what to do. Also very smart. I never got stuck because I didn’t know what to do or how to get to an area. The platforming gets a bit trickier with zip-lining and having to use momentum and physics to get around.

Each level is less than a minute long, but you have to do them flawlessly to stay ahead of the boy and get each apple. The level design is very clever, and there’s a nice balance between all the levels. I found that there were a few frustrating sections, but I eventually got past them and mastered the levels. The game is just so fast-paced with the flips, slides, jumps, and zip lines. The fact that you can get every apple and complete every level makes you want to not put the game down. This game wants you to beat it, and it feels really great.

Granny Smith is well worth the $1 and probably even more. More levels are coming soon, but what is here is some seriously addictive and fast-paced fun. I haven’t had this much fun with a mobile game in a long time, and that’s saying a lot. My biggest complaint is probably that you can only buy three items with your coins, and there aren’t enough levels or characters to play as. These are minor issues that don’t really hinder this excellent game.

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Black Mesa (Pre-Xen)

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/03/2012
Posted in: PC Reviews, Steam Deck Playable, Steam Deck Verification. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Black Mesa Team

Developer: Black Mesa Team

Release Date: 9/14/2012


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Black Mesa: Source has been one of the longest-running Half-Life 2 mods, as well as one of the most anticipated. 10 grueling years later, the mod is actually stand-alone, using the Source SDK 2007 instead of being a Half-Life 2 mod. BMS recreates the original Half-Life game in excruciating detail with a few minor tweaks. Every morsel, texture, pixel, and polygon has been redone to use the source engine’s advanced graphics features. The game looks stunning and pushes the engine to its limits.

This could really just be another review for Half-Life, but this is about a better HL. Does this make the game better? Hell yes. In fact, people who couldn’t stand the dated visuals of HL should check this out. The best thing about the game is that so much love was put into it. Every sign, clipboard, paper, poster, mug, pencil—everything was recreated, and it looks fantastic. All the enemies were upgraded, voices were re-done, and the game just feels tighter and more fluid than the original. Several famous areas that I remember really stood out for me, such as the mountainside in the chapter “Surface Tension.” The desert vista looks gorgeous instead of a low-resolution picture posted in the background. The reactor levels toward the end look so much better, but the graphics also help with navigation. The lighting is better, so I could see things that were difficult to figure out in the original.

What makes Half-Life so great is that you have to figure out everything on your own. There is no compass, no map, and no objectives. You figure out puzzles and navigate your way by yourself. There are no cutscenes, just characters you meet that talk to you to give you slight hints. The game does have some cinematic moments, but it’s the unique atmosphere that Valve created that makes this series so famous and memorable. No other shooter has been able to replicate this type of feeling in a game. There is a very interesting story about Gordon Freeman arriving at the Black Mesa research facility for work. A project goes wrong, and all these weird alien creatures start pouring out and overrunning the facility. Suddenly, the military shows up to wipe out every single person here, but Gordon needs to escape and find out how to stop the aliens from spreading to the rest of the planet. However, there are a set of problems that make playing the game a little frustrating.

The game is extremely difficult. There’s no regenerating shield, and a cover will do you a little good. You have a large arsenal of cool weapons that are both original and well-known. Shotguns, revolvers, rocket launchers, pistols, crossbows, and all those weapons you are used to being here, but Valve made each one useful and memorable. Some weapons have an alt-fire mode, like the submachine gun with a grenade launcher. The shotgun can shoot one or two shells, and the crossbow also has a scope. The weapons are balanced for the level design of the game because you will rarely be far enough from an enemy to need a sniper rifle. Most firefights are close to medium range, and that is due to the excellent level of design. You are wearing an HEV suit, which is like a shield, but you need to power it up at stations, and the same goes for health packs.

What also makes this game frustrating is not having a map or compass because you can get lost in these hallways with no idea what to do. Your goal or path isn’t always clear sometimes, but HL incorporates a strange navigation system where you climb around on pipes and places that other games won’t let you do. There’s even a frustrating jump mechanic, the crouch jump, that makes platforming very difficult, but fans have grown to somehow love this. The game can also get repetitive after a while because you are just running around shooting enemies with innovative yet boring storytelling. The game is also about atmosphere, but people who are so used to today’s hand-holding in shooters will probably scoff at this.

Black Mesa: Source is a wonderful re-creation of Half-Life but is missing the final Xen chapter. This is because the team has decided to use this as a whole other chapter and recreate another 8–10-hour game starting here. I have to knock the game a bit, though, because that is the ending, and now we have to wait for God knows how long for it. Longtime fans won’t mind so much, but people who have never played Half-Life will find this annoying and probably stupid. You went through all this to not get the ending. With the few issues I mentioned aside, as well as a lot of crashing and glitches, BMS is a wonderful mod that isn’t a mod.

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Keyboard & Mouse

They Bleed Pixels

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 09/29/2012
Posted in: Linux, Mac, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified, Switch. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Spooky Squid Games

Developer: Spooky Squid Games

Release Date: 8/29/2012


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If you loved Super Meat Boy, you should check this game out. Will you love it as much? Probably not. TBP is all about a little girl who picks up some mysterious cursed book that turns her into a demon in her dreams. The game has a Lovecraftian style but the same 8-bit graphics as Super Meat Boy. The game features twitch reflex platforming and combat.

The platforming is simple enough, with abilities to double jump and cling to walls, but the game requires mastering the controls to maneuver through nigh-impossible paths that require pixel-perfect timing. The combat is actually what brings this game down so much. The developers tried to make it too complicated. Hitting the attack button doesn’t really do much damage to enemies, which is stupid. You also don’t get a multiplier if you use a standard attack. They want you to be “creative” and use the dash attack, knock them into obstacles, and use the high kick. I know these kinds of moves don’t belong in this kind of game. The combat system is convoluted and requires too much thinking for a game that relies on instinct and muscle memory responses. After a platforming section, I start wailing on an enemy and realize I have to think about this combat system. It hurts my brain and really messes with the momentum of the otherwise solid platforming and controls.

There is a neat checkpoint system that allows you to put it wherever you want. If you get enough purple orbs, you can fill up your checkpoint meter and stay still for a while. This will place a checkpoint at that spot, allowing you to save them for complicated platforming sections. This alleviates the frustrating combat that leads to some cheap deaths. If you do well enough on a level, you can unlock special stages that are from the iOS version and user-created.

With all of this combined, They Bleed Pixels would be great if it weren’t for that combat system. You just can’t stop and think about fighting when you are on a good platforming run. The custom checkpoint system helps remove some of that frustration, but in the end, I just want to hit an enemy a few times and be done. Even having to do the complicated moves just to flip switches is pretty annoying. If you can look past this, you will enjoy this game, but most people will just stick with Super Meat Boy.

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Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

Sleeping Dogs

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 09/28/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Steam Deck Unsupported, Steam Deck Verification, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: United Front Games

Release Date: 8/14/2012


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Sleeping Dogs is actually a True Crime in Hong Kong, for most people who didn’t know. Does anyone care? No, because the True Crime series had two previous games that were mediocre to poor, and there was little hope for this game. Square Enix picked up the project, seeing the potential in the game, and released it as Sleeping Dogs because they did not buy the name from the previous company. What we have here is probably the best GTA clone since Saints Row, and that’s saying a lot. There have been many GTA clones, but very few are any good or do anything different. Sleeping Dogs features a fluid martial arts system, a huge open world, a gripping story and characters, and a few side missions.

The story is actually very gripping and entertaining. You play an ex-triad member turned cop named Wei Shen. You are working undercover to bring down the Son On Yee triad gang and bring in their chairman. Your rival gang is the 18K, which is relentlessly making hits on your turf. This isn’t just your typical gang war story. You actually get to really like the characters and feel for all of them in different ways. While you were working for the triad, you could do cop missions on the side as well as bust drug deals throughout the city. This story is pretty epic and has a satisfying ending. I never once felt bored or detached from the story.

If that isn’t enough, then the combat system should help bring you in. The combat system is simple but deep and requires some skill to stay alive. You can counter when enemies turn red, but you must use the attack button and hold the button in combination to bring them down. The animations are fluid, and you can really feel the punches. This isn’t just some wailing and kicking combat system that feels half-baked and broken. Some enemies may have weapons that you can take and use, but they are pretty rare because they do so much damage. If you are doing really well, you will go into an adrenaline-type state and start to heal, while enemies may flee from you. The other half of this combat is the gunplay, which is really smooth and well designed. The cover system works great because, as you leave cover, you can go into slow motion and shoot out enemies who might be an immediate threat. This also goes for jumping from ledges. Once you actually start completing missions, you will earn Cop, Triad, and Face experience, which allows you to upgrade to better moves. Each one can be upgraded to level 10, but I reached this level way before I finished the game, so I felt all that experience, later on, was wasted. There just aren’t enough upgrades in the game.

Another main feature of the game is a parkour system similar to Assassin’s Creed. Chase sequences play out often, but instead of climbing up walls, you can climb ledges and jump gaps. The trick here is to hit the sprint button just before each obstacle so you can smoothly go over them. Keep fumbling over everything, and you will lose your target. This is something that has never really been incorporated into a GTA clone, and Sleeping Dogs nails it perfectly.

Of course, you can travel around the huge, open city of Hong Kong, but there isn’t much to do. There are the drug-busting side missions, favors, races, and random events, as well as finding hidden boxes for money and clothes. That’s about it. I wound up doing all the favors and most drug-busting side missions, but I didn’t care for the others. There are some hacking mini-games thrown in here, as well as lock picking, bug planting, and other mini-games that are fun. There’s a lot of detail put into the gameplay of Sleeping Dogs, but I just wish I could do more in this huge city.

After you finish the main story, there’s no reason to really go back unless you want to collect all the boxes (which can all be shown on your map, thankfully), but after you finish this, you will probably have had enough. The driving works great; there are lots of different cars; taking taxis is convenient; and there are other things you will be familiar with within this kind of genre, but Sleeping Dogs masters the story, characters, and combat system very well. My biggest complaint is only the lack of variety in side missions and the large number of bugs and glitches in the PC version.

The PC versions do give us some nice DirectX 11 visuals with a free high-resolution texture pack for people who have 1GB video cards or better. There is a huge difference with the game maxed out on the consoles. The anti-aliasing and FXAA make the game look smooth and flawless, plus the ambient occlusion adds a little extra that consoles can’t do. The PC version is by far the superior version, and most of the bugs have been ironed out by now since there have been 5 patches released thus far, but a large number of crashes and bugs were unacceptable at launch.

Sleeping Dogs is a beautiful game, both in execution and spirit. The game really captures the Chinese culture, atmosphere, and triad feel of Hong Kong. This is a must-buy for any fan of the genre, and if you have a high-end PC, make sure to pick that version up.

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Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

Resistance: Burning Skies

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 09/26/2012
Posted in: PlayStation Vita, Retro Consoles. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: SCEA

Developer: Nihilistic

Release Date: 5/29/2012


Available Exclusively On

  • psvita

Resistance is a series that should have stopped with the third game. The series is really starting to run itself into the ground because it ultimately fails to fix issues with previous games or add enough content to deem it an individual sequel. Burning Skies is a bare-bones Resistance sequel that doesn’t really add anything new or interesting to the series. The multiplayer is average, and as it stands, Burning Skies is only good as a weekend rental.

You play Tom Riley, who is a firefighter who gets caught in the middle of the Chimera War. His wife and daughter are taken away by them, and he will do anything to find them. Don’t think this is some heartfelt story like Resistance 3, because it isn’t. There isn’t really that much story here because the campaign is extremely short. You can probably beat this in two long sittings, or about 4-5 hours. The characters are uninteresting, and the voice acting isn’t nearly as good as in the console games. The way it sits now, I forgot about this game the second I finished it.

It doesn’t help that there just isn’t anything memorable in this game. It copies everything from the past games and doesn’t do anything new. The only thing new is probably the touch-screen controls for secondary weapons; that’s it. Touching the screen and sliding the circle where you want projectiles to go is pretty intuitive. The Mule lets you slide back on the crossbow for bolts, and tagging enemies with the Bullseye is as simple as pressing the enemy on-screen for a second. I also liked the fire axe melee button on the side, which came in handy. Even dragging grenade icons to where you want to throw them was a nice touch. One thing I also liked was that there was no health bar, so you don’t have to rely on getting health packs; however, you die just as quickly. A few shots, and you’re down! This game carries over the relentless difficulty from past games, which I didn’t like.

You can upgrade your weapons again, but not like in Resistance 3 through use. Picking up Grey Tech allows you to unlock 2 of 6 upgrades for each weapon at all times. Each weapon has three red and blue upgrades, but only one of each color for each weapon can be active. This system was alright, but finding the Grey Tech was a serious pain and isn’t as intuitive as upgrading through use. You can also collect hidden files in the game, but I also don’t care for this very much.

There really aren’t any bosses in the game except the terrible one at the end. Shooting red, glowing objects and being able to be instantly killed in one hit is just unfair. The game, in general, is just seriously lacking any of the huge epic moments from the PS3 games and even the PSP game, Retribution. The graphics are great and some of the best on the console so far, but they could have done more with them. The visual style is pretty mundane and feels recycled from the first two games. The Chimera is all the same, with only 3 or 4 different types that we have already seen. Burning Skies could have been a whole new game on its own, like Retribution for PSP, but instead, it just copied from past games and added a Vita shell around it. This is a great weekend rental, but nothing really more.

Red Ninja: End of Honor – 7 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 09/20/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PlayStation 2, Retro Consoles, Sony, Xbox. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: VU Games

Developer: Opus

Release Date: 3/30/2005


Available On

I try to be forgiving with games, but there are some that just can’t be overlooked. Red Ninja is a perfect example that has mechanics that are broken beyond reason or repair. The story is the first thing you will notice that isn’t very interesting. You are trying to stop a rival clan from getting a machine gun blueprint from yours to use to destroy their enemies. The beginning cut scene shows your clan using a machine gun to cut down hordes of samurais. Just one machine gun. After this, your leader tells the man in charge of making it to destroy it because it dishonors the rules of engagement. Sure that’s noble, but all this for one stupid machine gun!

You will notice the game is severely flawed in the tutorial. The camera is completely useless, the controls are awkward, the platforming is uncontrollable, and the enemies are stupid as well as generic. The only interesting thing in the whole game is the tetsugen weapon and Kurenai’s panties. The camera is inverted no matter what you do. In the options, you can turn it off, but it becomes inverted vertically instead of horizontally. I constantly had to consciously remember to turn the camera the opposite way I wanted it to go. This is so frustrating during already busted boss fights or when surveying enemy patrols. On top of all this the combat works a little but needs a lot of work. You can use the tetsugen as a melee weapon or throw it from a distance and slice enemies in half. One awesome feature was being able to run around enemies in a circle while one is tethered and trip them down or cut them in half. Good luck keeping all the enemies focused because of that broken camera.

Secondly is the platforming, this is probably more frustrating than anything because you need to do this to avoid enemy detection. You can shimmy ledges, ropes, wall run, and dash around, but the combination of the camera and the weird controls make it frustrating. Wall running consists of you having to be in a dash while running at a wall. You have to continue running while moving the analog stick in the direction you want Kurenai to run. This is ridiculous and unintuitive. A lot of times I had her bouncing off walls because the camera just couldn’t keep up. Enemies will detect you even when you are on rooftops which is weird. Swimming is no better because enemies can always see you and you can only hide underwater while being still. Completely useless. You can use projectiles by picking them up, but aiming them is just too time to consume. There should be some sort of auto-aim for these.

If that isn’t enough for you to stay away I don’t know what will. I got two levels in and just couldn’t take anymore. The camera constantly going berserk and doing its own thing, the stupid AI, weird control scheme, bad platforming, and just overall an unpolished mess. The combat is somewhat saveable, but the camera and controls make this frustrating as well. The game looks pretty good, but in the end, you won’t even care. Not even the sexy seduction kills are enough to save this game. I hope one day this series is revived but needs to be built from the ground up. Just stay away from this pile of garbage.

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