Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 09/05/2012
Posted in: PlayStation 2, Retro Consoles, Sony. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: NIS America

Developer: Gust

Release Date: 1/20/2009


Available Exclusively On

  • ps2

I first have to say that this is a review coming from someone who particularly doesn’t care for or can stand JRPGs. I forced myself to play this, and I am very glad I did. Ar Tonelico II strays from the typical JRPG battle system and story with a little sexually confused boy trying to save some generic fantasy world with generic fantasy characters. You play as an entire team of people whose balance of Ar Tonelico (the world they live in) rests on two Song Maidens. The game is full of political schemes, betrayals, and deception. These two maidens must also get to know each other more before they can sing Metafalica and bring about the paradise of Metafalss. The characters are very well designed, and because of how the story is developed, you get to love these characters more than you probably would in any JRPG.

The main design behind the characters and story is getting to know their deep, dark secrets. This is done by diving into Reyvateil’s minds at a dive shop. There are different levels of their cosmosphere that you must explore, and these are played through dialog. You need dive points to trigger certain events, but this is where you really get to know the characters. After completing each level, you will unlock new song magic, which is essential for battle. Without song magic, you will not get anywhere in the game. You can also unlock new costumes for the three Reyvateils that will increase their stats. The diving gets really deep into the characters’s minds and is actually quite interesting. These are some very deep and well-developed characters with some serious issues that make you even question your own. There is also the Infelsphere, where two of the three Reyvateils need to learn to understand each other and get out their deepest, darkest secrets and thoughts about each other (the two depending on how you play the story).

The main protagonist, Croix, is caught in a love triangle between these two Song Maidens and the third Reyvateil. There’s sexual tension between them, which can be awkward in the game, but by the end, there are some pretty good scenes that will tug at your heartstrings. Overall, the story is well-developed, deep, intelligent, and very self-aware. When you rest at saves, you can talk to the Reyvateils and bring your relationship closer, which will unlock different levels of their cosmosphere that you can dive into. Of course, the game can’t just wing it on the story, so let’s get to combat.

The game uses mini-games during battle. There are two phases: attack and defense. When you attack, you have to use the D-pad along with each of the two characters’ assigned attack buttons. This will help your Reyvateils sing better, depending on what directional attack you’re using. There’s a meter that will show their desires for the direction they want. You’re banking on your Reyvateils song magic to do the most damage. You are just whittling down their health and protecting them while they charge. There are different phases of each song tree that do different attacks. Thankfully, there are also healing songs that you can use as many times as you want, but when you switch to another song in the same attack phase, the points will carry over, so you don’t have to charge again. I found myself charging a song tree as far as I could go, unleashing the attack, and then using a healing song. This also reduces the number of potions and healing items you need to use, which removes the headache that most JRPGs have. This makes combat exciting because you aren’t just mashing X until the enemy dies. Those attack buttons have meters on them, and you have to press the button when the green line goes by; otherwise, you won’t defend your Reyvateil, and they will take damage. They are fragile and can’t take much, so you must be on your guard and press that attack button quickly. If you get a perfect rating, you won’t do any damage! But this is hard and requires precise timing. Depending on which two Reyvateils got along and went through the Infelsphere, they can synch during combat and bring out devastatingly powerful dual song magic. This can only be done towards the end of the game, but it also requires doing the same attacks with your Vanguards so the girls synch.

Other than that, the combat is pretty straightforward. Each Vanguard’s attacks will increase in level during fights, so you can do more deadly attacks. The main issue I have with JRPGs is random battles. These usually keep me from completing them, but Ar Tonelico II skirts this by making random battles limited. There is a meter that goes down as you do each battle. Each dungeon only has about 10 (until the last dungeon, which is infinite), but it also turns from blue to flashing red, which will indicate you are about to get into a fight. This lets you explore dungeons freely without getting frustrated. Once that meter runs down, there are no more battles until you leave the dungeon. Even the map system is very useful when most JRPGs don’t even have one.

Of course, there are some side things you can do, like synthesizing items with shop owners. As you advance through the story, you will get new recipe cards from them, but unlike most games, this isn’t just menu-driven. When you synthesize, it brings the characters together more, and dialog plays through. Sometimes the item may not even be what was on the recipe! After a while, you can go back and try again to improve on it. Lastly, you will run into I.P.D. victims in dungeons, which are high-level Reyvateils that you have to battle. If you can beat them, you can do dive therapy on them, which will give you girl power that can raise your stats quite a bit. You can even dualstall during saves and level up your Reyvateils by doing onsen baths! You find dualithnode crystals and put them in this bath, and the girls will absorb them. It is not recommended to do solo baths because the effects aren’t that strong.

The game isn’t perfect, though. The very last dungeon (Sol Morta) is a long, frustrating nightmare with endless random battles and too much backtracking. The visuals are disapprovingly 2D and not very good-looking. During the dialog, characters pop up with different facial expressions, but there are some anime cutscenes, but not nearly enough. There’s even a lack of spoken dialog, but at least the game includes the Japanese tracks. The English voices are hilariously bad and make you want to tear your ears off. There are also a few game-breaking glitches as well as typos. The last 20% of the game is just really tough, and the game stops giving you a sense of direction. This last 20% really disappointed me and was kind of drawn out and long-winded. If it weren’t for these issues, I would give this game a higher score. One plus for me is the amazingly beautiful music in this game. The Hymnos are beautiful, and I loved them so much that I downloaded the songs and listened to them often.

Overall, Ar Tonelico II breaks the JRPG mold with unique gameplay elements, from combat to leveling up Reyvateils via baths and synthesizing. The music is beautiful, and the story is deep with political intrigue and reveals the deepest, darkest secrets a person can hold. However, there are some issues that hold this otherwise wonderful game back. If you hate JRPGs, I recommend giving this one a shot.

Frequency – 11 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 09/01/2012
Posted in: PlayStation 2, Retro Consoles, Sony. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: SCEA

Developer: Harmonix Music Systems

Release Date: 11/19/2001


Available Exclusively On

  • ps2

Before Guitar Hero and Rock Band, Harmonix created this fun rhythm game using pop, hip-hop, industrial rock, and other genres. You tap away on your controller with a “pick your own path” type of gameplay. The game is fun and very challenging, and it comes with some great tools.

You use the square, circle, and triangle buttons to tap away on a track. Use the D-pad to rotate the tube and pick any track you want to play. You will know when you have to play when you see a green line connecting dots. This gives you a break between sections so you can rest your thumb for a second. Tracks range from vocals to synth, bass, drums, guitar, and other instruments. When you successfully complete a section, that instrument will continue playing. Score perfectly in that section of the song, and the instruments won’t turn off when you enter the next gate. I found this a little annoying, but it encourages you to play perfectly; the song doesn’t stop. You are scored, as usual, and a meter is shown on how well or poorly you are doing. Fail too much, and you will fail the song.

That’s the entire game, in a nutshell. It seems simple, and it is, but the game is challenging later on when you have to do longer sections and faster button presses. There’s some pretty good music here by Powerman 5000, No Doubt, Fear Factory, and other popular musicians. The visuals are trippy and can give you a headache after a while. They are psychedelic and full of bright colors and fractal shapes. One thing I found useless was the free scratch mode, which lets you press one of the three buttons while moving the left stick back and forth to scratch. This isn’t there for anything but for fun, I guess.

Once you beat the main game on each difficulty, you can go into remix mode, which plays a song while you add your own notes to the song. This can be pretty fun for people who want to change up the game themselves. However, I did find that there should have been more songs, but I guess remix mode is supposed to remedy that. There are a good dozen hours of gameplay here, and you will keep coming back to master the game.

For just a couple of dollars, Frequency is one of the most fun games I have had in a rhythm game since Rock Band 2. I found myself coming back and trying to master the songs. The music may not be to everyone’s taste, but if you open your mind, you will find a gem of a game here.

Silent Hill: Downpour

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 08/31/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , . 1 Comment

Publisher: Konami

Developer: Tetra

Release Date: 3/13/2012


Available On

Silent Hill has been one of my favorite series of all time. I remember renting this as a kid and being so scared that I couldn’t finish it. The last great game was Origins, which truly brought the game back to its roots on the PSP and PS2. Homecoming was a surprisingly good entry into the next generation, but Downpour is an utter disaster. The team claimed they were going to bring the series back to its roots and redeem the series. They only made the series worse with so many things going wrong that I can’t believe this game made it onto store shelves. Is there anything good about it? Sure, if you are a hardcore fan, you will probably play it anyway, but it will leave a nasty taste in your mouth. If you have never played the series before, stay far away from this and pick up any other game in the series.

You play as a prisoner named Murphy Pendleton who gets into a shady deal to kill the supposed killer of his son. Murphy has been charged with the murder, but for some reason, he is being transferred. Upon this transfer, the bus crashes, and only you and one female officer survive. So far, the game seems fine. You wander around a bit until you start finding clues on how to progress. Once you get out of the first area and into the “free-roaming world,” that’s when things really fall apart.

Silent Hill is meant to be a linear story where you search a building and figure out what to do. The team tried putting in “side quests” here that are just absurdly cryptic and nearly impossible to solve without some sort of walkthrough. Even with a walkthrough, I gave up on a few because the world you wander around is no fun to navigate! They put a convenient subway system into fast travel, but you need to do one of these hair-brained side quests to unlock the routes! Who’s brilliant idea was that? One side quest called “Shadow Play” has Murphy trying to find several different trinkets in cardboard boxes throughout town. In this huge, confusing mess, how am I supposed to find tiny little trinkets in cardboard boxes? Then you have to figure out where to put them, and then you have to use your UV light to get the shadow they cast just right. Then you use those clues to find a place to get stupid loot like pistol bullets or an axe. Not worth it.

The game is littered with these pointless and meaningless side quests that are nigh impossible to figure out. Even the main parts of the story are hard because these areas are huge, vast, and confusing to navigate; even the traditional Silent Hill map system doesn’t work. In fact, the puzzles are even more confusing and broken. Sometimes they won’t activate or are so cryptic and confusing that you just give up on them. The only fun parts are the Otherworld sections, but even these have their problems.

In the Otherworld, you engage in chase sequences running from some sort of void that is never explained. Usually, you are running in labyrinthine paths that are confusing and will make you die often. Solving puzzles in the Otherworld is fun because they are like other Silent Hill games and the only puzzles that are. There’s some interesting art being used here, but in the rest of the game, it is not Silent Hill-ish at all. In fact, I’m ashamed to call this a Silent Hill game.

To make things even worse, the combat is absolutely horrible. It makes exploring Silent Hill harder and makes you want to just quit the game. No matter how much you swing your weapon, you will always have a hard time hitting these boring, non-scary monsters. All four of them. That’s right. There are just four monster types in the whole game. The monsters always move faster than you, and they can block. Their attacks are frustrating, and blocking doesn’t do any good. Once you start swinging after a block, they dodge and just hit you over and over again. The combat is clunky and frustrating, and there are way too many enemies thrown at you at once. It doesn’t help that when it rains, the enemy count is higher, and they are harder to kill and do more damage. Firearms are scarce as they are, but even an axe breaks after a few swings.

It doesn’t help that the game just isn’t scary. There are a few moments that made me jump, but just a few. The enemy designs are stupid and lame (all of them are humanoid), and the atmosphere doesn’t hit home. The legendary music is even missing here with repeated sound effects. The graphics are ugly and outdated; this really looked like a good Xbox 1 game. The story isn’t even that great, with some plot holes and stupid endings. There are framerate issues that abound, and the auto-save is unfair and will drop you back to a spot where you have to do entire levels over again.

Overall, Downpour is a complete disaster, and any Silent Hill fan will act like this game never existed. This is the worst Silent Hill game ever made, and it is just chock full of problems with very few redeeming qualities. The Otherworld parts are fun, but there are only four of them, and they aren’t that long. There’s a cool end boss, but other than that, this is nothing like a Silent Hill game should be.

Reviewed On

Bloody Roar 3 – 11 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 08/29/2012
Posted in: PlayStation 2, Retro Consoles, Sony. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Eighting/Raizing

Release Date: 6/25/2001


Available Exclusively On

  • ps2

The PS2 wasn’t without its fighting games, and most were solid. The Bloody Roar series started on the PS1 but has seen rocky acclaim ever since its first entry. Competing with games such as Street Fighter, Tekken, and Virtua Fighter at the time, people didn’t see the need for another Japanese fighter. Bloody Roar features some interesting characters that can turn into beast form, which unlocks a new set of moves and some devastating attacks. Bloody Roar 3 has great visuals and solid controls but lacks the large roster and modes that fighters are known for.

First off, the game only has 12 fighters. That’s tiny, even compared to other fighters with small rosters. The characters, however, are unique, but there is a serious lack of female fighters (only 4). The stages are busy and well designed, plus the game looks great even for today. The fighting system is simple compared to most Japanese fighters, but I preferred this. There is just a punch, kick, and beast form, as well as a dodge and block button. The game has no move list, so this is for button mashers, which is just fine here. The controls are smooth and responsive, and there are a lot of visual flairs. The characters’ beast forms look really cool, and it is fun to see them all.

Another main disappointment is the lack of modes. Just arcade, survival, and versus, really. There’s not even a main story mode, but the arcade mode does go through all the characters’s stories. I found the story to be pretty boring and unexciting, like most fighting game stories. Most Japanese fighting fans will mainly dislike the lack of depth in the fighting system, but I really didn’t mind it.

Overall, Bloody Roar 3 is a solid fight game, but it just feels like bare bones. The fighting system lacks depth, the character roster is small, and there are only 3 modes. The game looks great and the controls respond well, so this is a love it or hate it type of game.

Darksiders II

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 08/25/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, Nintendo, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: THQ

Developer: Vigil Games

Release Date: 8/14/2012


Available On

THQ and Vigil return with a new protagonist and tons of improvements over the first game. This time you play as Death, War’s brother, who is trying to redeem War from the Charred Council’s wrath for destroying humanity. On your adventure, you meet new and old faces, as well as a ton of puzzles, bosses, and combatants, as well as new abilities.

The first thing I have to mention is that this game isn’t nearly as confusing to play as the first game. I was always lost and had no idea what to do. Even finding hidden chests was a pain. This time around, there are lots of collectibles and chests, as well as some free-roaming, but in a more organized fashion. You wind up traveling through three different realms, each with its own secrets. The Forge Land is where you start, and you can buy armor and weapons, so Vulgrim plays a small part this time around. By finding Book of the Dead pages and Boatman coins, you can trade them in for special keys as well as random boxes with a piece of armor or weapon from Vulgrim. There are lots of different items to collect and find, so loot is abundant here.

My favorite part about the game is the platforming. It’s just so fun and fluid, as well as fast-paced. The level design is ingenious here because it seems labyrinthine at first, but I rarely had to go to a walkthrough to figure out where to go or what to do. Death even gets to acquire some abilities that are just for puzzle-solving, like the Soulsplitter, which allows him to split into two, and the Voidwalker, which makes a return from the last game. I found the puzzles to be really fun, and they were just challenging enough that you only had to think for a bit before it all clicked. The satisfaction reminded me of how I felt when solving puzzles in Portal.

Secondly, the combat is a lot better than in the last game. Death feels fast, fluid, and has a lot more moves at his disposal than War did. You can buy over 20 new moves throughout the game, as well as upgrade your skills. You will need to play the game twice to be able to upgrade all the skills, but what I did unlock was fun. Eventually, certain moves leached health from enemies, gave me more wrath (needed to do these moves), and stunned enemies. You can turn into Reaper for a while, which does a lot of damage, and you take very little damage. Overall, the combat was just fine, but the camera had issues. Every so often, when I was in a tight corner, the camera didn’t know what to do. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, you can’t really see what’s going on and will take hits. After Forge Lands, the game gets extremely difficult. I died multiple times during certain fights because they were so hard. You also get fewer health potions later on, which can lead to frustrating deaths.

The boss fights are some of the best things the game has to offer. There are plenty of them, and they are fun but challenging. You have to be quick, dodge, and learn the enemy’s moves. There isn’t a block button here, so the game can get really tough. I did find the final boss disappointing because I beat him in one try in just a few short minutes. Besides these issues, the combat is fun, solid, and well done.

I did find the game a bit repetitive after a while. It was the same thing over and over again, just in different orders. Fight these enemies, solve this puzzle, and do this platforming bit. Most action-adventure games are like that, but Darksiders II doesn’t offer much variety. Even the enemies repeat themselves constantly, to the point where you just get sick of killing them. The only time I felt excited about combat after the mid-way point was during the boss fights. Thankfully, the game is just overall fun, so even when you feel the game is getting old, you will want to press on.

The game looks pretty good, with a gorgeous art style. The textures can look a bit ugly up close, and I was disappointed that Vigil didn’t include any PC-specific features. In fact, the graphics options only allow you to change the resolution, and V-Sync doesn’t even work. The keyboard and mouse controls are clunky, so stick with the Games for Windows controller if you have it. There are plenty of collectibles in the world, so people who are dedicated to them will stay busy. This is one long game, ranging from about 15 to 20 hours if you just go through the story and most side quests. If you complete it 100%, you are looking at close to 40 hours of gameplay here. I just couldn’t find the motivation to collect everything, like in games such as the new Batman games and Assassin’s Creed. After I got to the end of the game, I just wanted to finish it and be done.

Overall, Darksiders II is a solid action-adventure game with some minor issues. There are no PC-specific graphics options, there are camera issues during combat, and the final boss fight is a disappointment. Enemies repeat often, and the same puzzle, platform, and combat formula follow throughout with not much variety, but the game is fun. There are a lot of collectibles and a few side quests, and the boss fights are a blast. If you loved the first game, you will love this even more. People who didn’t like the last one should check this out.

Reviewed On

Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

Darksiders: The Abomination Vault

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 08/24/2012
Posted in: Book Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Del Rey

Author: Ari Marmell

Release Date: 7/24/2012

MSRP: $14.99 (Paperback), $9.99 (Digital)

Pages: 368

Recommended Audience: Young Adult

With the success of Darksiders II, it’s no surprise that a novel would come out. The Abomination Vault follows War and Death, two of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, before the events of the first game. This is an all-new, original adventure that uses the game’s ideas very well. Death and war are trying to keep the Grand Abominations in the wrong hands. These are weapons made of flesh and steel by the now-extinct Nephilim race. Of course, the White City is involved, and so are the angels. The Charred Council sends Death and War to stop this problem so it doesn’t tip the balance of the pact between Above and Below.

You get to see some insight into War and Death that wasn’t in the game, as well as sneak peeks at what Strife and Fury are like. They appear briefly in the novel, but it’s more than the games. I liked how Ari gave us a closer look at Dust and Death because their relationship isn’t really fleshed out in the games. The same goes for Despair, his horse. There are some pretty good fight scenes in the game, and I found they were well-written and entertaining. Ari really brings across the true power of death and his personality. One thing I was disappointed in was that he never appeared in his true form in the book. Death is a Grim Reaper, and in the game, he can turn into one, but never in the novel. The book is about the relationship between death and war. You truly see how tight-knit these two are and how much they care for each other.

The conversations in the book are well written and keep you drawn in. Ari does a wonderful job describing the environment and what’s around the characters, so you can paint a perfect picture in your head. Overall, The Abomination Vault is highly entertaining and gives us some insight that the games can’t or don’t offer. That is what I mainly came here for, and I feel satisfied after closing the back cover. I know Death and War more, as well as their relationships with their horses and weapons. Pick this up if you are a Darksiders fan, but hold off until you play the second game.

Catherine

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 08/21/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Atlus Co.

Developer: Atlus Co.

Release Date: 7/26/2011


Available On

I usually regret playing Atlus games because they are frustrating and difficult experiences. The games are usually excellent, but the difficulty always leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I have only been able to complete a couple of Atlus games due to this. Catherine is no different, but she shouldn’t be taken lightly. RPG fans should stay away. If you just want to experience the story, go on YouTube. This is for hard-core puzzle fans only. I mean the hardest of core puzzle gamers. This game will leave you infuriated, angry, full of rage, and probably with a few smashed controllers. The game is plagued with issues, but for some reason, there’s a story that makes you want to see the end. Thankfully, the game isn’t very long. Just prepare the video walkthroughs because you will need them.

This experience is coming from someone who hates these kinds of puzzles. This game is complete to taste. I hate block-pushing puzzles, but here we are with a very deep game that includes these. The first three stages aren’t that bad. Starting at stage 4, things get frustrating, and forget about progressive difficulty. First off, the story is very engaging, and it’s a love story. A man named Vincent Brooks is in love with a girl named Katherine, and she wants him to marry her. Suddenly, a sultry seductress named Catherine comes along, and somehow Vincent wakes up with her naked next to him. The rest of the game is him trying to hide each Katherine from the other.

The story gets tense in spots, like any well-written drama. When you are in the Stray Sheep bar, you will receive text messages on your phone that you can reply to. Be careful because this will affect your morality meter, which will impact the way Vincent handles inner conflict. I had a lot of fun replying to these texts because it’s almost like you are actually doing it and in this relationship yourself. Atlus did a great job bringing you into this problem. Of course, every night when Vincent dreams, you are brought to an area where you climb an endless tower of blocks with other sheep, and that’s where you start to hate or love the game.

I can’t really explain the methods of all the block-pushing because there are over a dozen that you learn throughout the game. You can push blocks horizontally, but it’s not so simple. There are other types of blocks, like heavy ones, ice, traps, randomly changing blocks, and others, that will make your life hell. It was nigh impossible to figure most of these out without a video walkthrough, because otherwise, you will be restarting dozens of times due to trial and error. To make things harder, the stage is crumbling underneath you. To make things even tougher, you are awarded medals at the end. The only way to get gold is to keep your step multiplier up throughout the whole level and never mess up. Sure, there are checkpoints every so often, but I had such a tough time that even the video walkthroughs didn’t help sometimes.

There are items you can pick up that help create one extra block, allow you to jump two blocks, kill enemies, and turn all blocks to normal. You can pick up coins along the way to increase your score as well. At the end of each stage, there is a boss that you must run from and who tries to kill you. These changed the pace, but they just made things even more frustrating. You just can’t catch a break during these puzzle levels. Even the controls are terrible, with reversed control when crawling around behind the blocks, delays, and strange quirks that will make you die just because of control problems.

I really felt like this was a puzzle game with a love story wrapped around it. The game is tough, and I highly suggest renting it first because most people won’t even finish it. Don’t think this is something like Pushmo with a reset button. Some levels take over ten minutes to complete. There is a co-op mode you can unlock, but all you will do is lose friendships. The best parts are the story in between and the questions that you answer that even make you question the way you view romanticism and maybe even your own relationship. I even liked how you could see how other people answered. Besides these puzzles and answering text messages, there is no other gameplay apart from talking to people.

Overall, Catherine is a love-hate thing. Puzzle fans will fall in love with this, but RPG and other genre fans will hate it. I only hated the puzzle stages, but I loved the story. With the puzzle levels being 90% of the game, I can’t really give this a higher score, even if I wanted to. It is gripping, exciting, steamy, and can go any way. The anime cutscenes are beautifully done, and even the English voice acting is tolerable, but I would have preferred the Japanese voices with English subtitles. If you insist on wanting to know the story and characters, rent this and keep a video walkthrough handy, and maybe a spare controller or three.

Reviewed On

DiRT Showdown

Posted by axlevest on 08/18/2012
Posted in: Linux, Microsoft, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Codemasters

Developer: Codemasters

Release Date: 5/23/2012


Available On

The fourth DiRT game to come from Codemasters was out of the left field. A rally racing simulator turned arcade demolition derby? The truth of the matter is that the game is solid and is a lot of fun with friends. The single-player AI is frustrating and annoying, but after you finish these events for achievements, you won’t come back to it. Some people seem to be pretty harsh on the game, so let me stamp out a few fires here. It’s the AI that makes it feel like you have low top speed. The game has a very fast sense of speed, but Codemasters chose to use the much-hated “rubber-band AI.”.

There are several events you can play, such as 8-Ball, which reminded me of Hot Wheels’ Criss-Cross-Crash track set from when I was a kid. There are good ol’ demolition derbies and regular race-offs. There are no real-world cars available for these events, only in Gymkhana. I’m kind of torn with this event because I found it too difficult in DiRT 3, even with all the assists. I found it much easier this time around, but the only event I really liked was one where you had to smash down colored blocks in a certain order.

Other than that, the game is a standard DiRT affair. Beat the main event, play online, rinse, and repeat until you race yourself to boredom. I found playing online a ton of fun, but after a while, the novelty wears off, and you get sick of the game after a while. If Codemasters put some other gameplay elements in here to deter that, it wouldn’t be this way. From what we have, DiRT: Showdown is an extremely fun arcade racer with gorgeous visuals, but don’t expect to stay for too long.


Reviewed On

Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – 9 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 08/14/2012
Posted in: Android, iOS, Mac, Microsoft, Mobile Reviews, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, Retro Consoles, Steam Deck Unsupported, Steam Deck Verification, Switch, Xbox. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: LucasArts

Developer: BioWare

Release Date: 11/18/2003


Available On

BioWare is a company that revolutionized the action RPG genre for the western era. In a time where Japanese RPGs dominated the market, BioWare was sitting in a little studio, churning out one of the best RPGs of all time. I remember when I was younger how much of a big hoopla this game was. For someone who didn’t own an Xbox or a PC that could run the game, it still slipped under my radar. I eventually got a chance to rent the game years later on 360 and quickly got bored due to its age. I finally picked it up again on the PC, and I am glad I did. The game may feel very dated and old (an entire decade), but there’s no denying the excellent story and well-crafted atmosphere that truly feel genuine in the Star Wars universe.

You play a custom character that has to defeat the evil Sith Lord Darth Malak. He has found some sort of Star Forge to use against the Republic, so you are shadowing his footsteps to find the star maps to this star forge. This takes you across several planets, such as Tatooine, Dantooine, Kashyyyk, Korriban, Kevin, and even Taris. You acquire companions of all types along the way and endure some pretty tough battles and story choices. You have to constantly choose between the light and dark side during choices, and there are plenty of ways to go about the story.

Firstly, you can choose any world in any order. Each one is roughly laid out the same, with a larger hub area than an area beyond where your main quest and some side quests lie. I got rather annoyed with the constant similar layouts and wished for variety. Each world has the Star Map area blocked off until you fix some global catastrophe on the planet. Some are so serious that your decision will determine if you are allowed back on later. Besides running around and talking to people to get quests and buy stuff, the combat and customization are fathoms deep; fans will be pleased.

You can customize your character with a plethora of items, such as implants, shields, different weapons from lightsabers, blasters, vibroblades, belts, armor, robes, and headgear, and I haven’t even started on leveling up. You should pick your character based on how you’re going to fight. I chose to use melee weapons because you eventually go through Jedi training and get your first lightsaber. I have to say that this brought a smile to my face when I inserted my crystals and watched my character whip around those sabers with the classic lightsaber sounds. Nothing can top that.

The game allows you to customize all your items by inserting upgrades that you find or buy. This is mandatory because there really isn’t a “most powerful weapon in the game.” You just get a powerful weapon, and you have to upgrade it, or it won’t do you much good. Other than this, there is the deep leveling system. You can choose an attribute, feat, power, and skill. Feats affect what you use physically in combat and what combat attacks you can use. Powers are forceful powers, and there are plenty of them. All the light and dark powers you can possibly think of are here. I had a lot of fun using them in combat and getting an edge over certain enemies. The level cap is at 20, but most people probably won’t even hit that by the end. I finished at level 18 and didn’t have too much trouble finishing it. You can even choose how your companions level up because you can control them too! This is great for people who like variety and can’t have every skill available for their character.

Combat is turn-based, with dice rolling behind the scenes. I really would have liked real-time combat, but what’s here is exciting and fun on its own. There are tons of different enemies to fight on each planet, and some are harder than others. I found the game really hard at first, but after a while, you will level up and find the game very balanced. There are some issues in combat that just really annoyed me. There seems to be a targeting problem in small areas. When you click the action you want, the characters will get stuck in an endlessly looping animation if there is someone in their way. This can cause you a battle because you have to disengage and restart the attack or move around the obstruction. This happened quite a lot, but you will learn to just live with it.

While the story is interesting and choosing how dialog will change it is fun, there are some issues here. Instead of your choice being final, some dialog trees will allow you to go back and change your answer, or no matter how you persuade or force persuade, neither will work and you can’t continue the dialog. This is usually on side missions, but I have never seen the persuade option fail so much in a BioWare game. No matter how much I leveled up my persuasion attribute, I failed an awful lot. Other than this, though, my other issue is that some dialog just drags on way too long. I found myself skipping a lot of it or just reading ahead of the voices. These, again, are just minor issues that can be overlooked.

The graphics in the game look old and terrible these days, but back in the day, they looked amazing. I can see why it looked so good then, but you can still feel the Star Wars atmosphere, and that’s what counts the most. The character models and animations are stiff, blocky, and repeat a lot, but overall they work. Even some of the voice acting is spotty at best, but overall it is pretty good.

KotOR is an amazing Star Wars experience, but the age may turn a lot of people off. My biggest issue of all is that the game doesn’t give any clues on where to go. You get no hints and are left on your own to just figure out what to do. I had to use a walkthrough through most of the game because I had no idea where to go, or some quests were very cryptic. This is a huge no-no for me and really hurts the score the most. Overall, this is an amazing Star Wars game, and any Star Wars fan will love this game.

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Keyboard & Mouse

Shadows of the Damned

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 08/11/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , . 1 Comment

Publisher: EA

Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture

Release Date: 6/21/2011


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During the first 10 minutes of the game, the first thing you will think is, “WTF?” There’s nothing else to describe this game full of childish, mature humor and sickly, twisted ideas. That’s not to say that it’s bad. Most of the humor in the game is actually so childish and gross that you can’t help but laugh. Some stuff is downright hilarious, such as Johnson’s Boner Gun. Before I get into any detail, I have to say the story is pretty entertaining if it is straightforward and simple. You play Garcia Hotspur, who is a Mexican demon hunter and has a demon accompanying him in the form of a floating skull named Johnson. I didn’t really care much for Garcia because he is a typical potty-mouthed action hero, but I found Johnson to be the steal of the show. He’s a posh British demon that uses clean cuss words and is a stark contrast to Garcia, which makes him more likable and hilarious to listen to. Garcia is trying to get his stolen girlfriend, Paula, back from the demon lord Fleming, and of course, you follow him into the depths of Hell.

That’s about it, as far as the story goes. There’s a small twist at the very end after the credits, but after you see it, you won’t be surprised it happened. The main attraction is the banter between Garcia and Johnson and the stories you read throughout the game. Some of these made me bust up because they were so funny. Other than the story, I have to say that I really love the guns in this game. The creators force you to use all three, but they are upgraded so much that they feel like whole new guns throughout the game. Boner is your pistol, Teether is your machine gun, and the Skullblaster is your shotgun. These can be upgraded by finding blue gems from bosses. Boner turns into Hot Boner, which can set explosive mines; Teether can get a homing upgrade; and Skullblaster will eventually get an upgrade to create giant bombs. You can find red gems throughout to upgrade your weapons and health. Garcia guzzles down alcohol to heal himself because, apparently, alcohol keeps you alive in Hell.

The game works around a light vs. dark gameplay idea, and it works well. When you are surrounded by darkness, your health depletes, and you need to shoot a goat candelabra to return the light. Yeah, it’s weird, and that’s only the beginning. Gate keys consist of shoving strawberries, eyes, and brains into creepy baby faces that are guarding the gate. One level even has you walking over a giant, naked Paula. The game never stops delivering weirdness, and that’s exactly what makes this game so fun, because hey, it’s a Suda 51 game; what do you expect?

There are a few puzzles thrown in that can be fun because they are straightforward. I didn’t even need a walkthrough to get through this game. Even the boss fights use light and darkness to be beaten. In the darkness, you can only see the weak spots of enemies, so you have to quickly shoot them because you will die. This sounds frustrating, but it’s not. You get a darkness shield that depletes before your health starts going down. The enemy design is pretty crazy but repetitive. I got tired of shooting the same demons all the time. The whole game overall is repetitive in nature because it uses the same few elements mixed around a lot. My least favorite idea was the 2D shooting levels. These were frustrating and felt like pointless filler. There’s a fun boss fight at the end of the third level, but I could have gone without these.

After you beat the 8-hour game, there’s no reason to go back. There are no multiplayer or extra modes, which is a shame. I guess if you want to collect all the red gems, you can, but why bother? This is a fun weekend rental or cheap bargain bin purchase, and nothing more. If it weren’t for the repetition set throughout and those pointless 2D levels, I would have liked this a lot more. Garcia is a hard character to like, and the story is simple and straightforward. Overall, though, this is a solid game and highly entertaining. Just be warned that mature content isn’t for everyone.

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