Mortal Kombat

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/28/2012
Posted in: Book Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Berkley

Author: Jeff Rovin

Release Date: 6/1/1995

Pages: 293

MSRP: $4.99 (Paperback)

Recommended Audience: Young Adult

The first thing I have to say is that the novel is nothing like the game, really. Characters’s backgrounds and origins have changed; some don’t make an appearance, and the story is slightly altered. That’s not to say it’s a bad thing because Jeff Rovin uses real Chinese history and mythology to make the game’s story make a little more sense from a real-world perspective. The story follows Kung Lao as an orphan boy in a village in 480 A.D. who winds up in the Mortal Kombat tournament. Shang Tsung needs souls to open the portal to the Outworld to let Shao Kahn through and take over Mother Realm (not the Earthrealm that we are all used to).

Hardcore fans will nit-pick the changes in the game, like Liu-Kang working with Sonya in the Special Forces and being a ninja, and Scorpion not being a specter of the Nether Realm. Without spoiling much, Sub-Zero is an evil ninja and has ice breath that freezes (not from his hands), and Baraka is a priest on Shang Tsung’s island. Before you scream blasphemy, it is actually very interesting, and Jeff does a good job depicting these characters in interesting ways. The story alone isn’t very deep or complex, but it is entertaining at the very least and is a fun departure from the series.

There aren’t many fight scenes in the book, and there are no fatalities. The fight scenes are also awkwardly written in a way that tries to be too much like the game. Overall, you get a short story about your favorite characters in a new way that we wouldn’t see otherwise. The Chinese mythology mixed in is nice and adds a bit of depth, but this book isn’t for all fans. If you don’t like your Mortal Kombat changed in any way, you won’t like this at all. Keep an open mind, and you will enjoy the rare offshoot of a beloved franchise.

Renegade Ops: Coldstrike Campaign

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/26/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Steam Deck Unsupported, Steam Deck Verification, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Avalanche Studios

Release Date: 12/19/2011


Available On

Not much can be said about this DLC for Renegade Ops. This closes off the story with just 3 levels and a couple of new enemies, but everything is the same, and that’s not really good or bad. If you couldn’t take any more after the end of the main game, then three extra levels may or may not kill you. The biggest change is the ice-cold scenery, but the overall design of the levels remains the same.

The final boss fight with Coldstrike is very challenging and even harder than Inferno was. The same problems consist of the repetitive nature of the game. The objectives are not any different from the main game, but if you really like the structure of this game, then this DLC is a must-buy for you.

The new enemies consist of a new huge bad boy called a Golem (who replaces the Juggernauts) as well as turrets that fall from the sky and just “re-texturing” of old enemies. There are a few scenes where you are running from missile drops that will break the ice for you, but that’s as exciting as it gets.

For the low price, you get an hour’s worth of fun activities, but you can go back with friends to experience it all again. With just 3 levels and barely anything new, it doesn’t add up to a “campaign” and more like, well, DLC.

Reviewed On

Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

Renegade Ops

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/26/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Steam Deck Unsupported, Steam Deck Verification, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Avalanche Studios

Release Date: 10/26/2011


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Twin-stick shooters are running amok on mobile devices, but the best tend to be on consoles. Renegade Ops lets you choose from a variety of characters with a special weapon each. You can level up and unlock new upgrades while trying to mow down as many enemies as possible to rack up a high score. The story is actually really cliché and stupid, with a commando leader named Bryant trying to stop the evil Inferno from taking over the world. The cut scenes are drawn in nice comic book-style stills, but the dialog is as cheesy as it can get. No matter how you try to kill Inferno, he always seems to survive, and it’s just one of those “You’ll never kill me, Bryant! MWAHAHA!” type stories.

Besides the cheesy story, the action is really fun, with some great graphics and physics. You drive your vehicle using the right stick to shoot with your machine gun. Along the way, you can get pickups to make your machine gun stronger as well as secondary ammo pickups like rocket launchers, rail guns, and flamethrowers. There aren’t many pickups, which is a real bummer, but this is just the start of what else there isn’t much of. The enemy variety is interesting with varying degrees of difficulty, but it leads to the game being very difficult most of the time. You start off with 5 lives per level, and if you lose them all, it’s game over. The levels are very long, and you will be infuriated if you have to go through all that effort again.

My main concern about the game is that it gets very repetitive very quickly because all you do is drive around and shoot. The graphics are excellent, so you could get some cinematic scripted scenes going, but instead, you just follow an objective arrow around all over the place and kill everything in front of you. There are secondary objectives that lead to achievements, but they span the entire level and take way too long to complete. You are also timed on the primary objective, so if you don’t get it done fast enough, a 3-minute timer ticks down, and if you don’t complete it by then, it’s game over. This means you have to abandon the secondary, which makes things even more frustrating. When you die, you lose your machine gun pickups, so you start with the weakest form and can die easier that way because it takes longer to kill enemies.

There is a lot of fun to be had here with destructible environments and a four-player co-op, which makes the game easier and more fun. The upgrades are disappointing because you can only equip four at a time, and this leaves a lot of useful upgrades unused. There are only 7 missions, so you will beat the game in less than 5 hours, but most people probably won’t go through it again due to the difficulty and repetitive nature of the whole game. Twin-stick shooters should pick this up and rejoice, but don’t expect it to change the genre.

Reviewed On

Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

Gears of War: Coalition’s End

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/24/2012
Posted in: Book Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Gallery Books

Author: Karen Traviss

Release Date: 8/2/2011

Pages: 464

MSRP: $24.99 (Hardback), $14.99 (Paperback, Audio CD), $12.99 (Digital)

Recommended Audience: Young Adult

There were a lot of questions throughout the Gears of War trilogy, and only the hardcore fans asked them. The books helped answer all of these and tie up the plot holes that the games couldn’t fill. The final book of the Gears series fills the holes between Gears 2 and 3 and leads right up to the beginning of 3. The book focuses mainly on Bernie Mataki, Colonel Hoffman, and Dizzy. The book explains the fall of the Coalition that you see at the beginning of the third game and why everyone was living on the ship Sovereign. Even little things, like why Anya cut her hair short, are answered in this book.

Like Jacinto’s Remnant (book 2), you get flashbacks during the Hammer of Dawn strike that wiped out most of Sera, and we get to find out how Baird and Cole met (which is the question about why they knew each other in Gears 1), but it focuses on Bernie, Cole, and Dizzy just before, during, and just after the Hammer strike. The book is riveting, sad, and really heartbreaking during some moments. Just seeing humanity crumble and every last hope fall apart is heartbreaking. Traviss does a great job of keeping the characters’s personalities in the book so they feel just like they did in the game. Of course, this is mostly about the stalk and polyp infestation on the island of Vectes, which is humanity’s last refuge. Hell, you even find out why Prescott left the COG and where Hoffman wound up.

The book has the perfect pacing, and I don’t think the book series could have had a better ending. With such deep and lovable characters, a tragic setting, and a great lead-up to the final game, you can’t really go wrong here. There isn’t much action here because the book really digs deep into the minds of the characters and more into the tragedy they are facing than actual battles. There are some battles here, but there aren’t any with locusts because of the polyp crisis they face. This book is really only for hardcore fans, but if you want every single question answered up to this point, then pick this book up.

DeathSpank

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/22/2012
Posted in: Mac, Microsoft, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Steam Deck Playable, Steam Deck Verification, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Hot Head Games

Developer: Hot Head Games

Release Date: 10/25/2010


Available On

The Dispenser of Justice! Hero of the Downtrodden! Those are just a couple of DeathSpank’s other names in this hilarious action RPG from Hot Head Studios. You play the silly hero DeathSpank in his quest to find the artifact and kill the evil king, Lord Von Prong. LVP wants DeathSpank’s magical thong to become eviler, but in the meantime, you need to do some saving for the downtrodden.

The overall story isn’t much, but the banter with NPCs is what really makes you crack up with the obvious stabs at RPGs and other games. It will take different shots at the genre without even saying anything, sometimes like one quest has you pleasing an orphan in the Demon Mines to put in your orphan bag. You must run into town and get everything she needs, but the store just so happens to have everything you need when you get there, like a cell phone and a pony! This is an obvious jab at RPGs, whose stores always have what you need.

The game also has some more childish jokes, like collecting unicorn poop, finding help letters in dragon poop, and helping villagers make their dirt and stone soup taste better using various animal parts. While this humor may not be funny to all, most will get a kick out of it, and DeathSpank is chock-full of it. Of course, the gameplay is important, and DeathSpank lets you assign four different weapons at a time to use, and there are a ton of weapons, armor, and different types of potions to use. You can even eat various foods to heal up, like pizza, fries, magic mushrooms, and root beer. When you whack enough enemies, you get to unleash your Justice meter, which is a power-up for certain weapons. The game consists of a huge map that you can wander around and travel via outhouses spread throughout the world. There are a ton of quests, and you’re looking at about 10–15 hours of gameplay here that is very entertaining.

The game has two major flaws, and this is the fact that no matter how high you level up or how good your armor is, you will be guzzling potions and healing items every 5 seconds. Enemies respawn when you re-enter an area, and you can’t move on to another until you are at a higher level, or those enemies will kill you quickly. This makes progression slow at first and forces you to complete quests because that’s the only way to really level up. You get very little XP for killing enemies, even if they are at a higher level than you. I found this very frustrating and made the game less enjoyable because of all these weird quirks. I also found that some quests were vague on where to go, and using fortune cookies spread around gives you hints, but those are just mostly useless.

The visuals are nice, but technically the game is very simple; there is a huge variety of enemy types, and you really won’t get bored on that end. The best part about DeathSpank is the humor in the dialog and the funny voice actors who over-exaggerate voices. Even as an action RPG, the game is fun and challenging for anyone looking for something out of the ordinary to play, plus it has co-op play for anyone wanting to share the fun and jokes with a friend.

Reviewed On

Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

Nuclear Dawn

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/22/2012
Posted in: Mac, PC Reviews, Steam Deck Unknown, Steam Deck Verification. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Viva Media, LLC

Developer: Interwave Studios

Release Date: 9/22/2011


Available On

Mixing RTS (Real-Time Strategy; Shogun 2, StarCraft) with FPS (First Person Shooter; Call of Duty, Quake) sounds like trying to hammer a nail with a banana, but it works here despite not seeing the RTS part too often. Unlike other games that poorly implemented RTS (Brutal Legend) into another genre, Nuclear Dawn does it right. The person doing the RTSing is the commandre, and only he can do it. This is an online-only game (boo!) so the commander must be voted in, but usually that’s the host, and rarely will he ever get booted.

The game uses standard RTS elements like building buildings that give your men on the ground more powerful ammo for their weapons (the FPS part is the men on the ground). You have to kill the commander to win the game, but capturing energy sources is also key for respawn points. Everyone knows an online FPS needs to respawn points, so that’s the commander’s job by making sure there are plenty. The RTS elements are light and not very complicated, but you have the constant fear of pissing off the guys down below and voting you off if you don’t manage your resources right, build useful structures, and give them frequent upgrades.

As the guys on the ground, you are doing all the work capturing resource points and killing that freaking commander. You get to choose four different classes that have unique powers, such as a tank that uses a minigun and can plant it and act like a human turret, or you can use alternate classes for each class, like the tank using an energy-type grenade launcher to knock out structures. You have a stealth class that can turn invisible for a while and knife people from behind. Plus, you get the typical sniper and foot soldier roles that have various sub-classes. The shooting mechanics are simple, if a little dated, and the whole game is rough around the edges.

Not that it isn’t any fun because fragging with other players is loads of fun because this game has a back and forth kind of like Team Fortress 2, and a game can go on for over an hour. Once a team starts knocking out your resources, you can make a comeback, and it’s just like a tug-of-war. This can be loads of fun since you can switch classes after each death and use it to deal with a problem like people camping in a small room or snipers that no one can spot.

Nuclear Dawn does not have a single-player campaign or even offline bots, so this is strictly online only. I really don’t like that, and it could use a campaign to get you better at playing it. Mainly because 99% of the time you won’t be the commander, you get almost no experience in the RTS part outside the tutorial. The menus are also pretty ugly, and the whole game feels more like a mod than a full-fledged game, but the unique mix of genres is worth a purchase for the low price anyway. The graphics aren’t anything to write home about because they are pretty average and will run on an average computer. This game is strictly for hardcore online players only, but pick it up if you want something new.

Reviewed On

Keyboard & Mouse

Corpse Party

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/20/2012
Posted in: 3DS, iOS, Linux, Mobile Reviews, Nintendo, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, PSP, Retro Consoles, Sony, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified, Switch. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Xseed Games

Developer: Team GrisGris

Release Date: 11/22/2011


Available On

Based on a popular manga in Japan, Corpse Party delivers a great and haunting story with memorable characters in a very haunting setting. Several school kids perform a cult-type ritual called the Sachiko Charm as a gag. They don’t realize that the charm is part of a sadistic and horrific murder of four schoolchildren, including the girl the charm is named after. They get thrown into a parallel dimension of Heavenly Host Elementary and must find a way to appease the ghosts or get stuck there for eternity. What the children go through is horrific and gut-wrenching, but that is the beauty of Corpse Party.

Forget about gameplay and everything else, because this game is all about the story and atmosphere. I have to give the developers props for bringing across such a scary game with such simple graphics as a 2D survival horror with low-quality sprites and the occasional well-drawn anime shot. The game is disturbing, mainly in the well-delivered Japanese voice acting and just the raw terror and gore in the game. There are buckets of blood, severed heads, and mutilated bodies everywhere, but mainly in textual descriptions more than anything. The game really doesn’t do much in terms of visuals, so you solely rely on the great script to get the horrific images. Some scenes are just black, with only voices and text to go by, but it still brings across the feeling of sheer terror.

This is possible because you go through everything with these kids, and the things that happen to them are just horrific and extremely sad because you really get attached to everybody. The game, however, is also lacking in gameplay because you only run around pressing X on everything trying to find items to unlock new areas. The school is the same through every chapter, but it just changes and blocks certain areas off or adds new areas. The game is pretty easy to navigate and understand until you get to chapter 3, and then it all falls apart and requires a guide. Everything has to be done in exact order, or you wind up with “bad endings,” and it’s game over. While each bad ending is different, you get frustrated when the game takes you through 20 minutes of gameplay only to realize it was all part of the bad ending. There is even a glitch that won’t let you get all the school tags to unlock the extra chapters. I really hate how the game has to be played out in an exact way, not to mention that during certain scenes you can die by selecting the wrong choice, but there are saves throughout the game that help remedy this a bit.

While the game lacks any type of gameplay at all, you will still be satisfied with the excellent story and characters. This is the only thing saving Corpse Party from being another terrible attempt on the PSP, but being so late in the system cycle is a surprise. If the game had better graphics, or maybe just more anime cut-aways, the game would be one of the best on the PSP.

Reviewed On

DiRT 3

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/16/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Codemasters

Developer: Codemasters

Release Date: 5/23/2011


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The DiRT series has come a long way from the Colin McRae Rally series and has been around for over 15 years. Codemasters has always pushed for the latest hardware for the best physics and graphics possible, and DiRT 3 is no exception. Not much has changed from DiRT 2 besides a visual, physics, car roster, and track upgrade. The core gameplay is pretty much the same. This time around, the visual aesthetics steer away from the street gang style of art and move onto a weird psychedelic thing about triangles—don’t ask me.

The main attraction here is the new Gymkhana events, which are all about tricks. Doing donuts, spins, getting air, drifting, and all the fun stuff you can’t do on the track. Pull out into a third-person view (it’s not really possible in the first person) and tear around the area, trying to rack up a certain amount of points, beat a speed run, or smash into a certain amount of objects. It’s all great fun, but it takes a lot of time to master. The cars can be squirrely because of how powerful they are, and learning when to time each trick takes hours. You will get frustrated early on, but keep at it because once you unlock the Battersea Compound to complete 80 missions, you will master it there.

All the other event types are back, such as Rally Cross, Rally, Land Rush, Trailblazer, etc. My biggest gripe is that there aren’t any new event types besides Gymkhana. The repetitive nature sets in at about the halfway point in the tour because of the lack of events and tracks. All these events are loads of fun, but most people probably won’t finish the tour due to the fact that it’s the same as DiRT 2. What does the new weather system that gives us snow, blizzards, heavy rain, and more night races really help? It helps give some variety to the tracks, but you will spend a good $30 buying the new tracks and cars, which is a major rip-off and not worth it.

The physics have improved and feel a little less floaty or too heavy. Of course, you can always tune your car if you don’t like the way it drives, but we still can’t customize them, and they even took away the little dash toys to show off the physics engine. I really want to customize my cars, but at least there is a bigger variety in them, and you unlock them at a faster rate. The graphics are phenomenal, and PC users get treated to some DirectX 11 features such as better lighting, shadows, and blur effects. It’s very light, so don’t expect a huge difference, but it lets us PC gamers know we get a little extra.

I also wish those stupid announcers would shut up like they wouldn’t in DiRT 2. They are more annoying now than ever, and I really hate the hip menus Codemasters is doing. What happened to the slick, simple menu of DiRT 1? Besides this, the online modes are fun and not much different from the past two games, except for the addition of Gymkhana. If you loved DiRT 2, pick this up, but newcomers will be amazed at all the greatness.

Reviewed On

Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/11/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive

Developer: Other Ocean Interactive

Release Date: 8/31/2011


Available On

The first three MK games saw dozens of ports over the years, and not all were very good. The latest port of the three is all packed into one tight collection, and they are perfect arcade ports. I won’t go into each game in detail, but it’s great to see the progression over the three, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. People who are used to the new fighters with tons of combos won’t like the first two as much because combos weren’t implemented until MK3. The first two are just spamming special moves and getting someone stuck in high-punch spam. The good old sweep and uppercut move worked, and the feeling of nostalgia came back.

While each game has great “alities” and characters, each game suffers from some visual quality because these are arcade ports. You can turn on various filters, but overall, don’t expect the games to look amazing. MK1, for example, is very pixelated, but what can you expect? Each game has online play, and that is what will keep you coming back. The CPU is cheap when fighting solo, and I always hated MK’s AI system, with MK2 being the worst. I also loved how all the “-alities” and special moves are on the pause screen, which prevents you from having to have an FAQ near you.

Arcade Kollection could have used more features, such as being able to play Test-Your-Might mini-games separately from MK1, throwing in the great Puzzle Kombat, and maybe even adding some more online modes. Including the Mortal Kombat Trilogy would have been nice, despite it never being in arcades. I’m also not sure why MK4 wasn’t included because it was the last arcade MK game. What is here is excellent, but only hardcore MK fans will really appreciate this collection.

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PDP Mortal Kombat Klassic Limited Edition Arcade Fight Stick

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/11/2012
Posted in: Hardware, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Manufacturer: PDP

Release Date: 11/18/2011

Colors: Black

MSRP: $189.99

Fight sticks are usually the only way to go when it comes to 2D fighting games. Mortal Kombat has finally started creating its own, and this bad boy is almost flawless. The components are Suzo-Happ, which are top-notch, and the thing feels like a piece of an arcade cabinet. The buttons have that lightning-fast spring, and the joystick snaps around like you would expect. The layout is just like that of Mortal Kombat cabinets, with the 5 buttons (think of a 5 on a die) and the Run button, which you can tap with your thumb. The buttons are big, and you can hit each one by just rocking your hand around and quickly slapping the buttons.

The Home button, Start, and Select are up top, along with L2 and R1. The stick is designed for the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection and needed some re-mapping for Mortal Kombat (2011). I did feel like I was ten times better at the game in MK (2011), and I could pull off moves a lot faster on this thing than I could on any controller. My win/loss ratio was boosted after using this thing.

The cabinet’s cosmetics are gorgeous, with the classic MK1 design on the front and soft velvet padding on the bottom for your lap. You can connect any mini-B USB cable to it, but I just wish it were wireless. Nothing can really beat this, and it is probably the best home console stick I have ever used. This also works for other fighting games but may need some re-mapping. I also had trouble pulling off X-ray moves in MK (2011) because the L2 button is up top, so I had to take my hand off the stick to do this. Other than that, the stick is perfect, and everyone should get one. Be warned, though, because these are limited, with only 6,000 produced (I have #1,069). The stick is very expensive, running at over $200 at most places, so this is probably for hardcore MK fans only.