Breach

Have you ever wondered what Modern Warfare would be like if Treyarch developed it…10 years ago? Worry no longer; Atomic Games’ Breach realizes that hypothetical with what is best described as “Call of Duty meets Darkest of Days.”

Breach is a strictly online affair. Atomic Games did not see fit to include even the half-baked bots found in similar titles such as Blacklight: Tango Down. That means that, like said games, in a month or two when everyone stops playing, your $15 purchase will be completely useless. There is also no split-screen support for those who still prefer to go the Goldeneye route with a room-full of friends.

Breach features four maps (as well as a nighttime variant of a pre-existing map) shared across five different modes: Team Deathmatch, Infiltration (conquest), Convoy (escort), Sole Survivor (OLTL), and Retrieval (CTF). Hardcore variants are also available, but when your game has less maps than modes, you’re already off to a poor start. The maps are sizable, supporting up to 16 players at a time, and are reasonably well-designed, but they will get repetitive very quickly.

Breach’s key gimmick is its destructible environments, but anyone who played 2009’s Red Faction: Guerrilla (or even the original Red Faction from 2001) will not be impressed. Atomic has promised that the destruction would play an integral role in creating dynamic gunfights, allowing players to pop a brick out of a wall and use it as a sniping position, or to destroy the pillars of a building in an attempt to bring it down on top of the enemy team. You can collapse a few bridges/huts and blow holes in certain walls, but unfortunately the destructible environments rarely have a meaningful impact on the gameplay, and the pyrotechnics look somewhat dated.

The other gimmick is the cover system, which allows players to pop in and out of cover from behind certain objects. While in cover, the camera will switch to a third-person viewpoint a la Rainbow Six: Vegas, and taking suppression fire will cause the screen to shake erratically, reducing accuracy. The effective use of suppression is probably Breach’s sole worthwhile contribution to the FPS genre, even though I rarely encountered it myself.

Like every other game released after Modern Warfare, Breach includes a leveling system and customizable classes with unlockable perks and gadgets. You’ll have to put in your time before you can start unlocking anything, though. XP is gained by scoring kills and completing objectives, but most players will likely quit and return to Call of Duty before even reaching their first promotion. The pre-emptive exodus is not only likely due to the less rewarding unlock system than the one seen in games its trying to imitate, but also a number of fairly substantial technical flaws. Random glitches such as ghost players and questionable physics start the party off, but lag and the easily the worst grenade mechanic in any FPS ever make things that much worse. Also, every time I get a kill the game freezes for a whole second, which is frustrating to say the least, especially when another enemy is right around the corner.

Although Breach sounds like an incredibly exciting game on paper, its execution comes up short. The online-only content is very limited, and the action pales in comparison to pretty anything Infinity Ward has ever created. With so many superior alternatives, this kind of lackluster experience has no place in the modern market.

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de Blob 2

The free-spirited, color-absorbing, amorphous glob of goo is back in a much deserved sequel. The first game, which started out as a PC indie game, later became a sleeper hit for the Wii in 2008. Does this latest outing on all major consoles bring back the enjoyable, color-centric gameplay?

De Blob 2 is, in truth, largely similar to its predecessor. The storyline continues with Blob reaching Prisma City where Papa Blanc, secretly Comrade Black from the first game in disguise, is up to no good, deploying his band of Inkies and attempting to rig the election in his favor. Needless to say, all of the color gets sucked out of everything and everyone, and it’s Blob’s job to restore it. If you’ve played the first game, the mechanics will all seem very familiar, but a few notable changes have been made to the gameplay to distinguish it.

Painting the town red or any other color is as easy as jumping in, absorbing a pool of color, and then unleashing your creativity upon buildings, scenery, billboards, cars, and most anything that’s monochromatic. Back for more are the paint bots that produce a certain color when smashed and the ability to mix colors to create new ones. Your tasks in every level are basically the same: Absorb a certain color, paint some buildings, and smash the opposition, all in a given time limit that increases as you complete tasks.

The biggest change, however, is how major landmark buildings are taken over. In the previous game, all you needed was a specific color and a certain amount of it absorbed, and the undertaking then turned into a Wii remote waggle fest until the building was fully colorized. The sequel ditches this mechanic and instead makes players traverse the insides of these buildings as an old-school side-scroller. During these segments, you’ll be tasked with hitting color coded switches, eliminating various Inkies, and avoiding the deadly black ink. Though these stages are a huge improvement over the previous method, the game relies on them far too often. In later segments, you’ll find another building in need of liberation every five minutes or so.

Blob has learned a nifty charge attack that not only helps to get rid of the INKT statues all over town, but also serves to find hidden, blocked off areas that hold power-ups or upgrades. Scattered throughout each area are Inspiration bulbs that help to improve Blobs abilities, such as being able to hold more color or having the charge attack cost less. Completing the main objectives on each level opens the area up for full exploration without a time limit, rewards players by coloring the entire scenery, and offers some side quests that reward Blob with more Inspiration.

The enemy variation is also drastically improved. Besides the standard Inkies, you’ll have to take care of the ghost-like Blancs, mounted turrets, tanks, remote control UFOs, and even specialized Inkies that have unique abilities. Even with the variation, the way you dispatch all of them is essentially the same. Blob’s homing attack can easily get rid of any target, as long as you have the necessary amount of color absorbed. This almost seems like a missed opportunity, but given that the game is primarily aimed at kids, the developers probably wanted to keep the game accessible.

A second player can get in on the fun in a way similar to Super Mario Galaxy. The player can take control of Blob’s hovering friend Pinky, who helps out by picking up items, painting, and dealing with Inkies. Like the Galaxy games, however, the inclusion will hardly give older players any sense of satisfaction or feeling of involvement, and is most likely geared for the younger crowd. The true multiplayer mode, Blob Party, is a much tougher experience. You and a friend have to work together to paint each level in a much shorter time limit, making teamwork absolutely essential. It’s a welcome mode that expands on the same principals of the single-player experience without dumbing it down for the sake of a multiplayer mode.
Little touches, like different music cues playing as you’re painting, make a comeback, and though they’re less noticeable than they were in the first game, they still add a welcome layer of personalization. The presentation won’t blow you away, as the game seems to use the exact same assets from the first title, only this time in a higher resolution. Rest assured that shortcoming in no way detracts from gameplay. Controlling Blob with a Xbox 360 controller is a perfect choice, though the controls can feel a bit loose at times, especially when jumping. Making long jumps or landing exactly where you want will definitely take some practice.

De Blob 2 is like a blank canvas ready to have your creativity unleashed upon it. It’s an excellent sequel that improves on aspects from the original and includes some new, nifty additions. While it does rely heavily on exploiting these features, the game never reaches the point of monotony. Fans of the original will be pleased, and players unsure whether to dip their feet in this pool of bright colors should definitely take the plunge.

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Dragon Age II

Sitting down to play the upcoming demo for Dragon Age II, I had a certain sense of worry in the pit of my stomach. For me, Dragon Age: Origins, a fantastic and outstanding title, fell by the wayside to other major titles in 2009. So it was with a little trepidation I picked up the controller and started up the demo that players can turn on later this month. Good thing I did, because for half an hour I had more fun with this RPG than many others in the last few months.

Dragon Age II’s demo starts out as a second hand story, the frame narrative that arches over the entirety of demo, if not the game. Hawke (male or female, and entirely customizable within the human race) is the survivor of something called the Blight, and is known as the “Champion.” He is renowned throughout the world of Dragon Age, and while the game does take place in the same universe as Origins, Dragon Age II looks to be mostly independent of the previous title. However, characters such as Flemeth, the Witch of the West, do indeed make appearances in the game, creating some certain unity between the two titles.

But let’s not forget that frame story. The entire actions of Dragon Age II are told second-hand by Hawke’s comrade, the short Varric, to the militant Cassandra, a woman with a tongue as sharp as her accent. From these early impressions, it creates a rather unique way to play the game, as Varric doesn’t seem to be an entirely reliable narrative. The very first training section places Hawke in battle with his formidable brother, as heroic men in battle. This is proven a lie, and when Varric tells the truth, that Hawke is nothing more than a person escaping the Blight with their mother and siblings, there is a real sense that Hawke is going to start off an unknown to a hero. Sure, it’s a trope held over from Japanese RPGs, but Bioware has a nice touch saving it from dull blandness.
Combat this time around is much, much faster. Yep, I’ll admit it, I’m not the best person to go in depth with the battles of Dragon Age II, seeing as I skipped over Origins, but it does put me in the unique position of being able to appreciate the battles of Dragon Age II from a fresh perspective. For the most part, the main character Hawke (male or female) will be spamming attacks while mashing the basic attack combo. Depending on what class is chosen, Warrior, Mage or Rogue, Hawke will have different spells and abilities at his disposal. Secondary (and more powerful) attacks can be performed at anytime (should they have hit cool-down) by tapping any of the other face buttons. Players can switch at any time to the other party members, so my general impression is that Dragon Age II plays like a fast-paced action role-playing game. It can still be played with the command wheel from the first game, and players can get much more in-depth with each character, but the game seems to do a pretty good job taking care of itself. I suspect Bioware is hoping to make a game that can appeal to a broader audience than some of their other titles, for while the game isn’t easy, I never felt like I was going to die at any time.

And that is also true for when the game jumps ahead to a port town. There players will be aided by one of their siblings (more on that later), Varric, and busty pirate Isabela. Apparently she had a small cameo in Origins, but here she’s front and center fighting with Hawke and company. She’s had some issues with shipments, and so the final battle with some rivals shows off the game’s impressive attacks. Rogues will be summoning raining arrows, while mages will bring down torrents of massive fire balls. It’s pretty cool, and the tactical element of the game seems much more substantial in this later area.
Now, this is a Bioware game, and like any Bioware game, the choices players make will greatly impact how they interact with other characters. There are some substantial plot twists that do happen in this demo, giving players a taste of the small decisions that impact the game, so spoiler alert. for those still reading, Hawke starts out fleeing his village with his mother, brother Carver and sister Bethany. Depending on how you interact with them, and the good, bad, and humorous things Hawke says, a giant troll will attack the fleeing family and smash one of the siblings to death. For example, my male mage Hawke saw Bethany die (who needed two mages anyway?), but another player (rolling a female rogue Hawke) saw Carver die. It’s an interesting way to start off the game, and I’m curious to see what decisions dictate how the game plays out.

Having played the demo of Dragon Age II, I can certainly say Bioware has done the right thing to drum up interest. An epic, fully voiced RPG with lots of dynamic conversations and unique storylines, an action-packed battle system, and a brand new story for an established world, there is a lot here for new and old fans of the game. I know I’m excited to get more hands-on with Dragon Age II, and keep an eye out for the demo I played on XBL and PSN later this month.

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DiRT 3

When a developer makes a sequel, usually one expects a return to the comfortable and expected. A good sequel builds on the foundation of its predecessors, while bringing new and fresh gameplay elements to gamers. A bad one? Well, it can alienate gamers if the game ignores what made the originals so successful, and it can leave a bad taste in the mouths of gamers if a sequel isn’t fresh enough. Walking that fine line is difficult.

When Colin McRae: Dirt 2 launched in 2009, it was clear that Codemasters was taking the franchise in a more action-oriented fashion. Yes, while the game replicated the journey of a rally car driver from the rookie to professional, it was definitely a “Mountain Dew” version of the original Dirt’s off-road racing. Not necessarily bad, is was certainly different. For fans of the more straight-laced versions of Dirt, Dirt 2 was a little too brotastic. This time, however, Codemasters is reigning in the “xtreme” and making upcoming sequel Dirt 3 a little more refined.

Where to start? Well, the first thing they did was start with how the cars handle. Codemasters rebuilt the suspension of the cars and changed how cars interact with the ground. Vehicles now handle better and are more realistic. Cars can be thrown left and right, and as the center of gravity shifts within the vehicle, so does the driving behavior of the car. Players will have to work with this new suspension system if they want to win races, and the new tuning system will force gamers to build their vehicles to best fit each course.

Then they’ll be building a car for the biggest addition to Dirt 3: gymkhana. A freestyle driving method, gymkhana is drifting taken to the extreme, where drivers perform a series of driving tricks, such as doughnuts, figure-eights, jumps, and more. Players will even be challenged to swing their car underneath low hanging trailer and between construction equipment. It’s all pretty impressive and difficult stuff, and to complete all 75 challenges in the gymkhana compound, players will need to practice and tune their drifting machines.

Gymkhana will also show up in multiplayer. Invasion challenges players to knock over cutouts of aliens, while Infection is a zombie tag mode. Finally, Transporter is a vehicle version of capture the flag, and Cat and Mouse places one player in a standard Mini Cooper, while the rest are fully tricked out cars trying to catch the Mini. Seems like substantially fun stuff, although we were not given hands-on with the multiplayer.

Bar none, the gymkhana driving is the most exciting and enthralling portion of the game. However, other new features, such as a dynamic race track audience, different driving surfaces, locations based upon real world tracks ranging from Finland to Kenya, and real-world co-drivers offering audio guidance on the track indicate this is a substantial upgrade in the Dirt franchise.

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Jurassic Park

When Telltale Games announced that they would be bringing adventure game adaptations of Back to the Future and Jurassic Park, fans of both the films and adventure games were left scratching their heads. How in the world would Telltale bring these franchises to fruition? After the fantastic Back to the Future, we were proven that the studio is more than capable of making a game feel like the lost sequel to that series, setting up a good situation for the dino action franchise.

Taking place concurrent to the events of the first film, Jurassic Park deals with the lost genetic samples collected by the doomed Dennis, who was killed shortly after stealing the specimens. Seems there was a tracking device inside, so a sexy smuggler breaks into the park to track it down. With the electrified gates no longer keeping the dinosaurs in control, things are slowly going to hell. Just like the movies! Very exciting indeed, and while the game generally ignores the characters of the first film (which is a bummer), nothing from Jurassic Park 2 or 3 seems to be around to sully the game.

I was given an opportunity to play some early ten minutes of the game. It appears our Spanish-speaking smuggler has been injured, and she’s being taken care of a park ranger and his teenage daughter. The initial puzzle involves moving a triceratops that is blocking the path. Seems like the gates are already down, so the player guides the park ranger through moving the triceratops, unlocking the game and getting it closed. A T. Rex comes along and ends up battling the triceratops as the poor human characters have to leap and dodge past the dinos to get to safety. Yep, Jurassic Park follows the same pattern of including a scientist, a teenage girl, and a grumpy disgruntled anti-hero, like pretty much every single Jurassic Park story line to date, and the scene here played out like the famous T. Rex scene from the film.

Curiously, the game does not play like other Telltale games. Instead of pointing and clicking, or directly controlling a character, a series of Xbox controller icons pop up on various interactive objects. A press on the direction pad will change the scene, and players dictate the actions of the characters through these icons. It’s super simplified and very streamlined, which is a good thing for a title that is obviously designed with a game pad in mind.

However, as things get more action packed, players will be tasked with quick time events to rush their characters around. Sometimes there will be different options for the players, such as dodging around a tree or jumping in front of it, but in my scene it didn’t really offer any plot differences. However, mess these QTEs and the game can get…messy. Jurassic Park isn’t a bloody game, but the teen girl will get eaten right in front of the player, the dad will be squished under a T. Rex, or characters will even be simultaneously skewered and eaten in the moment. It is, to borrow early nineties slang, gnarly, and the deaths are almost gleeful to watch.

Visually, it’s probably the best looking Telltale game to date. It isn’t quite as clean as Back to the Future, but it certainly looks pure to the franchise. Fans of Jurassic Park will be pleased, and the voice work sounds good as well.

After ten minutes with the game, it’s hard to decide if Jurassic Park will be a good or bad game. It’s certainly different from other adventure games, but it looks good, and it plays like a series of quick time events. With the game out in early April, players won’t have long to wait to decide for themselves as they reenter the world of Jurassic Park.

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Two Worlds II

Is it possible to talk about an open-world fantasy RPG without mentioning The Elder Scrolls series, particularly Oblivion? Ideally, Oblivion wouldn’t come up once in this review, but one of the primary goals of Two Worlds II is to brazenly dethrone Oblivion as the king of the genre, and as such the comparisons are openly invited. Two Worlds II simply isn’t as good as Oblivion. Despite a slightly different combat style and a third-person perspective, it’s virtually the same game but less polished; not very impressive considering Oblivion is nearly five years old.

After creating your character (male only, sorry girls, and guys who like to play as girls), the story begins with your character in prison (comparisons to Oblivion begin in earnest). Your sister has a Demon within her, and Gandohar, dark lord of the realm, is sapping this power while using your life energy to keep your sister alive through the process. Without notice, you’re sprung from prison by a small band of Orcs on a quest to defeat Gandohar and liberate the world. Not entirely original, though there are some neat twists and turns along the way.

Unlike Oblivion, the world doesn’t scale to your skill level. The storyline becomes fractured as you’re forced to take large breaks to level up your character to keep up with the enemies, making the optional side-quests wholly mandatory. The quest system is built on a very standard model. You can carry multiple quests at a time and complete them in the order of your choosing, while small quest-lines link together to form small stories and inject life into the world. Veteran RPG players will be pleased to know that there is a classic ‘clear monsters out of some poor soul’s basement’ quest near the beginning of the game. Unfortunately, many quests promise far more than they deliver. There is very little in the way of intrigue and variety. There’s the odd stealth quest, but they quickly become more annoying than anything.

The world of Antaloor is a well-realized place. Cities are filled with citizens and guards, and the frequently stunning landscapes contain plenty of wildlife. What is lacking is a sense that life would go on without you. NPC characters don’t feel like they have lives of their own. The problem is that the programming is not transparent. We can see the world and the characters that populate it, and we can see the processes whereby we interact with the world and cause effects. It’s a problem that all RPGs face, but most do a better job of covering it up, allowing you to feel more immersed in the world as a result. Two Worlds II is so rigid in its use of RPG traditions, every process so visible, that I was never able to suspend my disbelief.

The combat is repetitive and typically requires little more than spamming your primary attack, possibly sprinkled with an occasional block or counter-attack if you really need it, and perhaps a special skill now and then. It’s not the worst combat system around, but it lacks the responsive controls and strategic combos of modern action games. And, since enemies don’t automatically level with you, some of the earliest fights are the toughest; not the best way to welcome players to your game. Magic is fun, especially with the ability to combine cards to create your own spells, but magic doesn’t feel particularly powerful. At least using magic you’ll get to experience some of the game’s best graphical effects.

Two Worlds II can be visually inspiring with beautiful landscapes and some very good textures, but the poor and clunky animations effectively ruin the whole package. It really is an old game spiced up with some new colors. Even the interface is thoroughly archaic, with bulky icons, boring menus, unresponsive cursors, and no bulk-purchasing at vendors. At least the voice-acting isn’t terrible this time around, or rather, not consistently terrible. Dialogue is usually mediocre and tolerable, but when it dips, the results are appalling.

Two Worlds II is an interesting beast. As a lower budget, quirkier version of Oblivion, the game does hold its own, and were it left at that its flaws would be much more understandable, possibly even virtuous in a strange way. Everyone loves the underdog, and people love it when enthusiasm outshines quality. Unfortunately, in aiming to dethrone Oblivion, Reality Pump have shot themselves in the foot. Every little quirk in the game becomes a major flaw highlighting the fact that it just isn’t as good as Bethesda’s effort. By turns engrossing and frustrating, the game will appeal much more to those willing to look beyond the obvious flaws and those who enjoy B-movies because of their charm. For everyone else, Two Worlds II will comfortably fill the RPG gap until Dragon Age II, providing plenty of hours of saving damsels, assisting smiths and slaying interesting beasts.

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Dead Space 2

The necromorphs swarm through the halls and crevices of The Sprawl with relentless brutality, shredding the populace and reconstructing the mutilated remnants into an army of deadly carcasses. Isaac Clarke, engineer and rare survivor of the Aegis VII incident, wakes in the psychiatric facility of the orbital station. He’s disoriented and bound in a straightjacket with no recollection of the past three years, but the violence around him is all too familiar.

The change in scenery, from starship to a massive city built into one of Saturn’s moons, affords Visceral Games a wealth of new possibilities. Dead Space 2 is home to a parade of stellar action sequences that might make it an early contender for ‘best of’ lists. Whether battling waves of necromorphs in a train as it careens toward a sure death, or speeding through space and threading the debris like a human missile, Dead Space 2 is on a mission to constantly top itself.

Whereas the original game was known for startles and stingers as creatures popped out at you, Dead Space 2 embraces horror at its core. Art Director Ian Milham and Audio Director Andrew Boyd have created an unsettling atmosphere that plays with your emotions as it tiptoes along the thin line between dread and safety. Although you can play this sequel without prior knowledge of the series, I don’t recommend doing so. I don’t want to ruin any surprises, but there are more than a few nods to returning players, and old memories really can come back to haunt you.

While the action and scares are set to overdrive, the plot never clicks fully into gear. The first third of the game, or roughly four hours, is a carrot-on-a-stick scenario with a rather unappetizing carrot. A strange woman occasionally contacts you to guide you along an obscenely convoluted path. You don’t know who she is, or why a crypt counts as a viable shortcut when the dead are rising. Without clear goals and motivations, the journey is disconnected from later events and serves little purpose except to show of a handful of environments, including a Church of Unitology.

In later chapters, it’s character development that suffers most. From reading and listening to collectible logs, I can tell you about the hobbies, dreams, and frustrations of deceased citizens, including a few of their names. By comparison, Isaac’s companions are vacant caricatures with names and little else. This is especially true of a key villain who is awkwardly interjected in the middle of the game. Not even Isaac is safe, whose dialogue includes cheap psychology while holding his head and screaming. It’s a shame that even with so much backstory and a conflict fueled by the mingling of politics and religion, Dead Space 2 never delves beyond surface-level entertainment.

The original Dead Space was widely criticized for not being a true survival-horror game. For those players, Survivalist and Zealot difficulties feature significantly harder enemies and fewer supplies. The difference is dramatic. Shortly after switching from Survivalist to Normal, I had a stockpile of health and ammo to sell back to the store. For the most extreme players, or foolishly masochistic, Hardcore mode pushes the boundaries of survivability, removes all checkpoints, and limits you to three saves. Good luck with that.

All of Isaac’s weapons and RIGs (his armor) are upgradeable. Like the branching skill-trees of an RPG, you must choose which upgrades are most important at the time, such as ammo capacity, damage, or reloading speed. Buying a new RIG can now yield a bonus ability, such as a discount at the store or higher damage with the pulse rifle, and you always retain the highest armor rating and number of inventory slots. It’s a concept that I would love to see expanded upon, perhaps with more weapon-specializations and RIG-specific abilities.

Typically, the key to stopping a necromorph is to dissect it limb by limb until it runs out of appendages. Of the new breed, you may have already seen the unsettling Pack - groups of naked children with massive claws - or the projectile-spewing Puker. There are other newcomers, and the emphasis is more on strategic maneuvering than dismemberment, as it seems to matter little where you shoot them. Your arsenal is largely the same, with the addition of a high-powered rifle, explosive-launcher, and the electrifying javelin gun. Each is a worthy addition, although I would have liked to see some changes to the old gear, like a more effective force gun or a flamethrower with a longer range.

Multiplayer is new territory for the series and it mixes the team mechanics of Left 4 Dead with the ranks of Call of Duty; the more you play, the more weapons, abilities, and outfits you unlock. Four players attempt to complete objectives as humans while four players don the roles of bloodthirsty necromorphs. Multiplayer is enjoyable enough and quite polished, despite a scant five maps. The only real problem is that it struggles to find an identity all its own, as if it only exists because multiplayer is what the kids want these days.

Dead Space 2 is a fantastic experience, filled with stunning action sequences and environments that inspire fear, as opposed to relying on cheap scare tactics. Creatures still jump out once in a while, but not before a few seconds of spinning around, desperately searching for the source of that gurgling sound. I’m disappointed that the story never pays off, and seems more like a bridge to a third installment (getting close to Earth). It may not be deep, but it is an exciting journey, and possibly the most frightening game since the original Dead Space.

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Magicka

It could be said that Magicka is a large departure from the normal Paradox released title. The standard Paradox game often involves the grand strategy genre, so it’s refreshing that they have tackled the hack and slash genre. Although it suffered through a bumpy development and surprised the world with a stealth release, players can finally band together and experiment with a wide variety of spells.

One look at Magicka and you might confuse it with a Diablo clone, but this could not be further from the truth. Unlike Diablo, Magicka’s appeal relies on its innovative spell system. Instead of running around and slashing your enemies, you have a set of eight spells; Water, Fire, Earth, Cold, Lighting, Shield, Arcane, and Life are at your disposal to mix and match to create even more powerful spells.

Having no Mana to worry about, each spell can be stacked five times, or combined to varying effect. Each spell can be cast as projectile or do damage in an area. You’re also able to cast spells on yourself to cancel out certain hazards such as being on fire or when in need of healing. For example, stacking five fires on top of each other unleashes a massive flamethrower on your enemies. Combine a rock with a fire spell and you just made a projectile fireball. Certain elements such as lightning and water cancel each other out when stacked, however you’re able to drench your surrounding enemies and then cause maximum damage by unleashing a massive chain lightning.

Besides stacking attack spells, spell books that you find on your quest contain helpful and often very powerful spells call Magicks. Haste for example is cast by stacking lightning, arcane, and fire and then using that on yourself to give yourself a speed boost. Other Magicks of which there are 21 in total include Rainfall, Grease, and Thunderbolt. Exploration is encouraged as certain spells can be used to access hidden areas, such as being able to freeze the lake and crossing it to find a hidden spell book, or dousing fires with water to access sealed off areas.

This amount of experimentation will no doubt lead to some mishaps. I found that the monsters didn’t really put up that much of a challenge, outside of a few bosses, but I found myself dying more because of accidental spell casting. Sending off a chain lightning while soaked or in a body of water will kill you, same with accidentally stepping into grease that has been lit up with fire.

Multiplayer is another major component of the game, but getting online was a pain. Not only were there only a scarce amount of games, but almost all of them timed out before letting me join. Once you’ve connected however, it’s an absolute blast. The game becomes much easier since now you can coordinate attacks and combine spells to maximum effect. The game contains a few graphical and sound bugs but it has been patched numerous times since launch which shows the developers are at least working to fix these problems.

The biggest issue I had however were the controls. The mouse and keyboard setting is the best for spell casting as each of the eight spells are mapped to QWER and ASDF. This setup makes for quickest spell combining and execution. However sending off these spells is another thing. The right mouse button shoots the spell as a projectile while Shift and RMB cast it as an area spell. Middle mouse button casts it on yourself and the Space bar activates Magicks. On the other hand, playing with a 360 controller completely reverses this. Casting, whether its projectile, area or self is easily mapped to the triggers and Y button, but the process of spell stacking is an issue. The right stick has to first be pointed in a direction, Up, Down, Left or Right which reveals two spells, and then slightly tilted to select that certain spell. This makes stacking and especially executing Magicks a tedious process not to mention it takes quite a toll on your thumb.

Besides Adventure mode, the Challenge mode tasks players to defend themselves against waves of increasingly harder enemies. Unless you’re super proficient and a master spell stacker, I’d avoid trying to do these solo, as these are meant to be enjoyed with multiple people.

Though it has some hurdles to overcome, some bugs to exterminate, and a fairly inconvenient control scheme, Magicka is a thoroughly charming and entertaining tongue in cheek adventure.

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World of WarCraft: Cataclysm

It has been six years since players first stepped into Azeroth, and still no MMO has come close to challenging the dominance of World of Warcraft (WOW). Blizzard works tirelessly to constantly improve the game at all levels. WOW has been through so many changes that it scarcely resembles its former self, but none have altered the experience as severely as Cataclysm. Although you can witness many of the changes via a patch, the expansion is the only way to try out the new races, professions, and endgame content. For veteran players, it is a necessary investment.

There’s quite a bit of lore to read through, so suffice to say that a dragon of unfathomable power, Deathwing, has escaped from his prison and he is seriously ticked off. Continents are literally ripped apart and balances of power are shaken to the core in Deathwing’s vengeful wake. The valleys of Thousand Needles are flooded, Darkshore is a mess of crags, and the Barrens has been sliced in half, but keep in mind that these are the exceptions. Most areas got away with only minor damage, if any at all, but the atmosphere of destruction is everywhere with the Horde and Alliance clashing more openly than ever.

Retired and jaded players have ample reasons to roll new characters. The Worgen (werewolves) have come out of seclusion to join the Alliance, and the Goblins have reunited with the Horde (finally!). Blizzard has learned a few lessons from previous starting zones, such as the painfully dull Draenei zone, resulting in the most engaging low-level quest chains WOW has ever had. High-level players will likely interact with the altered zones through the secondary profession of Archaeology. Although it can yield rare items, there isn’t much to archaeology besides following your map and digging up artifacts until you have enough pieces to possibly make something of value.

Many of the old quests have been scrapped or altered for improved flow (i.e. less pizza delivery) and higher experience gains. Sometimes it seems as if you can’t swing a sword without going up a level. It makes for a more enjoyable experience with less grinding, especially for players who want to focus purely on PVP, crafting, or dungeon-crawling. Don’t expect a smorgasbord of all new quests though. Most will be familiar, but you can often look forward to improved rewards and more mini-boss encounters.

Blizzard uses phasing, which was introduced and sparsely used in Wrath of the Lich King, to extremely good effect. Think of it as an invisible dome covering you in the world. You might be embroiled in a vicious battle against a monumental boss or rolling across a battlefield in a siege engine. Meanwhile, everything looks like business as usual to other people nearby. You might not even realize that it happened, but the heightened sense of importance and impact in the world is unmistakable.

Despite the new races and faster leveling, WOW is not the most inviting place for newcomers. There’s a catch-22 in which every feature added to please the old-timers represents a new hurdle for rookies to overcome. Some of the most basic functions that we take for granted can be quite confusing for the uninitiated, such as activating the ability to find herbs, where to get PVP rewards, or how the auction house in Booty Bay differs from that of Orgrimmar. Much of the information in the manual is outdated and useless, and after all these years, there is still no full in-game knowledge base akin to Age of Conan’s.

The reworked talents are my favorite changes. Instead of mixing and matching among three trees, players are locked into one choice for 31 points. By buying into a tree, you immediately receive powerful bonuses and/or abilities free of charge. Many talents have been altered, introduced, or outright deleted. Talents typically work together more cohesively, including some new functions for classes, and trees are much more clearly defined. Again though, the new talent trees might provide difficulties for newcomers, since many of the effects won’t be realized for 10-20 levels, but I suppose that’s what respecs are for.

There are five new zones for the 80-85 set, and they are simply stunning. The underwater realm of Vashj’ir and its seahorse mounts have received much of the attention lately, but it is the beautiful caverns of Deepholm and the Egyptian-inspired Uldum that struck me most, especially when you consider how long the Gates of Uldum have been lying dormant in Tanaris. It’s that foresight and dedication to atmosphere that keeps Blizzard at the head of the pack. Other MMOs may have technically superior graphics and more content updates, but no one can match Blizzard’s ability to create such captivating and exciting worlds.

A host of fresh dungeons, heroic versions, and heroic renditions of Shadowfang Keep and Deadmines should be more than enough to keep most guilds busy. Otherwise, two 85-exclusive battlegrounds similar to Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch in mechanics, and the outdoor PVP of Tol Barad await more competitive players. Admittedly, I barely scratched the new dungeons and PVP areas, instead spending the bulk of my time enjoying the new quests and taking in the sights, but I’m more hesitant to offer decisive opinions due to future tweaks and rebalances that will surely occur. In fact, the newly introduced Rated matches and Tol Barad have overhauls already in the works.

Cataclysm isn’t the complete rebirth that many people expected. The majority of quests and locations are familiar, and stepping into Azeroth for the first time is sure to be mildly overwhelming. Cataclysm is an expansion for the veterans, and an amazing one at that. Never has the notion of starting a new character and revisiting old haunts been so attractive, and rarely has end-game content been this enthralling.

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Bulletstorm

From all of the pre-release hype you would think that Bulletstorm is the next triple-A franchise from Epic. Hyped to hell and back by one Mr. Cliff Bleszinski and developed by People Can Fly, the team behind Painkiller, Bulletstorm definitely feels like it should be the “next big thing.” It is certainly unique, rewarding players for smartly performing creative kills in a cartoonishly violent world. It’s childish and immature, and there is a sense of pride in that. Downright fun, gleeful and self-aware, yet some serious flaws keep Buletstorm from reaching its full potential.

For all of the trailers showing off the creative and violent ways to kill, very little has been shown of what the game is actually about. Killing neon-colored enemies would get old otherwise. Thankfully, a story is there, and while it doesn’t break any boundaries, the adventure of Grayson Hunt and his pals is entertaining enough. Hunt is a drunken and immature space pirate, talented in killing dudes and generally screwing stuff up.

In a fit of drunken revenge against his former general, he ends up stuck on the planet of Stygia in the city of Elysium with his robotic buddy Ishi, a pissed-off and foul-mouthed commander named Trishka, and the bad guy himself, General Serano. Things have gone poorly on Stygia, and all of its citizens are crazed cannibalistic freaks, dangerous mutants, or worse, turning the formerly gorgeous resort city into a “Life After People” ruin.

The game never takes itself seriously, and Hunt and co. will journey through ruined amusement parks, beachside dams, underground prisons and the downtown metropolis. The game is visually varied and colorful, an onslaught of bright oranges, blues, purples, greens and lots and lots of red. Bulletstorm wallows in the pure, unadulterated fun of shooting bad guys. It’s the peak of primal pew-pew-pew, from the story, scenery and gameplay.

Oddly, there is one serious sense of irony riding over everything. Hunt feels guilty for the lives taken by his hand, and many of the end-game diatribes deal with his desire for redemption. The lives of innocent soldiers and civilians suddenly become important. It’s an odd progression and I do question why the writers at People Can Fly felt the need to abruptly moralize the characters. I mean, Hunt kills hundreds of freaks, mutants and soldiers, so why make the game discuss the nature of redemption and life and death when you are being rewarded for the horrible ways you can kill guys. Maybe there’s a bit of meta-commentary on itself here, but it just comes across as hypocritical.

That said, Bulletstorm is filthy, raunchy and crass. Characters can’t go a minute without spouting dialog that would fit well in an all-boys middle school. Hunt and his crew are at their best when they are letting loose with vulgar obscenities. However, there is a line that the characters do not cross (those no-no words are entirely missing), and many of the jokes revolve around the different words you can attach to “dick.” You’ll need the maturity (and vocabulary) of a 14-year-old boy to best appreciate Bulletstorm’s humor, but if you let yourself be charmed by the game, you’re going to have a much better time.

A particularly unique option in the game is to turn off the gore and to tone down the language. Basically tossed in to make the game palatable to Germany and Japan’s legal standards, Bulletstorm with these settings on is an entirely different experience. Levels are missing smeared blood and piles of skulls, and enemies just fall over instead of losing their heads in a bloody explosion, or gush blood from their neck, or grab their balls in pain. Having played through the game with the normal amount of gore and all of the language, then switching on the gore and language filters, I can confirm something is most definitely missing when Bulletstorm loses the viscera and expletives. Sure, the skillshot system is still in place, and the plot continues just fine, but Bulletstorm loses a lot of the piss and vinegar that makes it unique. Obviously this is a title that is carried far on its charms, perhaps more so than the gameplay.

Thankfully, what Bulletstorm does right, it does very well. The score-based skillshot system keeps rewarding players by allowing better upgrades to Hunt’s weapons. From the default carbine to the shotgun, flare gun, flail gun and more, each weapon can be upgraded for even more ways to kill. The leash, a blue whip that can be used to fling enemies around like toys, is probably the best addition to the game, resulting in some of the best skillshots in the game, while also sending enemies into a slowed-down state. Unfortunately, I have issue with the final weapon you receive in the game, as not only is it more powerful than anything else, it renders previously brutal enemies push-overs. The last portion of the game isn’t terribly difficult, and if a player has been smart with the skillshots, they’ll have maxed everything out by the second to last chapter.

Multiplayer is a whole different ball of wax. Instead of offering a plethora of multiplayer modes like Deathmatch and Capture the Flag, Bulletstorm offers one mode, and one mode alone: Anarchy. A variation of the Horde mode popularized by Gears of War, Anarchy dumps up to four players into a smallish arena as a customizable character attempting to join the General Serano’s Zero Echo squad. Players fight wave after wave of enemies as they attempt to reach a par score to move onto the next level. While early rounds require the team to earn a paltry two or three thousand points, later waves require 18,000 to win. A lot of points indeed, and completing a game in Anarchy can take two hours. There really needs to be a way to make for shorter games, or at least offer more substantial modifications to the mode besides a level select.

Unlike other horde-esque modes, Anarchy doesn’t really challenge the player with dying (although that does happen, but other players can easily revive them almost instantly). Instead, Anarchy is challenging because points can be so difficult to earn. When there are only thirty or forty enemies to kill, a paltry ten points from a body shot isn’t going to cut it. Near the end, every enemy becomes a resource for potential points, so players need to make sure they are performing all the best skillshots, as well as utilizing the team and arena-based skillshots.

Team skillshots range from players using their leashes to draw and quarter enemies, to thumping an enemy in the air while another enemy slams them down. The arena-based skillshots vary from venue to venue, and can be anything from flinging a dude into a giant fan to crushing them in the skeletal remains of a giant beast. Communication is an absolute must in Anarchy, and something about this game mode does a really good job of getting people to start talking. This is something I haven’t even seen in Left 4 Dead, much less any other shooter.

As someone who usually detests Horde modes, Anarchy takes all the crappy parts—like the constant fear of death and the increasingly dangerous rounds—and makes them fun. Between each wave players can connect to a drop point and spend their points on weapons and upgrades, offering another incentive to kill smartly. Anarchy is fast and chaotic, and while Bulletstorm doesn’t offer a very great versus experience, this co-op mode is a blast. It’s a shame that this is the only multiplayer mode, but it does work very well. It’s not perfect, but there is a lot of promise.

Now, if Anarchy isn’t your cup of tea, Echo mode might better suit you. A mash-up of the single player levels and a score-based speed-run, Echo Mode will be loved by fans of high scores and leaderboards. As anyone can attest by the Bulletstorm demo, running through a level to perform the best score possible can be addictive. Those who want a competitive game mode will find that right here.

Unfortunately, the game is buggy. Really buggy. Almost-completely-ruining-the-game buggy. Collision detection is a common problem, as enemy characters, particularly when skewered onto a cactus or wall of spikes, will often stretch out to odd and weird-looking proportions. Enemies will sometimes bug out and writhe about on the floor when shot. These aren’t exactly game-breaking problems, but more serious bugs do occur.

For example, on one Xbox 360, the game crashed multiple times, and twice the game wouldn’t let me progress due to my AI teammates not moving forward during one of the very few time challenges. Three times I had to play through this segment before I could continue. In Anarchy mode, it’s relatively easy to get stuck on geometry in the game, and graphical errors are common, such as a bullet trail sticking around for much too long.

These bugs are seriously detrimental to an otherwise solid experience. Bulletstorm isn’t a particularly difficult game, but the bugs add a frustrating hurdle all on their own. While a patch might fix many of these problems, these glitches go a long way to keeping Bulletstorm from being the triple-A game it wants to be. Someone should have told People Can Fly they’re not in PC Land anymore.

Ultimately, the biggest problem is that EA, Epic, People Can Fly—they are all touting Bulletstorm as the next big thing. At the end of the day, it’s just not as amazing as they would like it to seem. Sure, the game is hilarious and “laugh out loud” funny, but not everyone is going to find the dick and fart jokes worth their $60. If the developers can ensure the future of the franchise is free of bugs, and work in a competitive multiplayer mode, we might be onto something outstanding. As it is now, Bulletstorm is a very good start to a series on the cusp of greatness, yet hindered by some seriously problematic technical issues.

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Killzone 3

How ironic is it that we’re only the second month into the New Year and we’re already getting a game that’s contender for Best of the Year? Seriously, everything that could go right for Guerrilla Games’ Killzone 3 absolutely does, from the enthralling single-player campaign to the addictive multiplayer to the high-level presentation, which does wonders for the PlayStation 3 hardware.
The game immediately follows up on the events that unfolded at the end of Killzone 2. With Radec and Visari wiped out, Sev and Rico, the remaining ISA agents, find themselves facing a slew of Helghast warships, loaded with soldiers that want to wipe out everything in their path. With only a few ISA operatives by their side (including a new female character named Jammer), Sev and Rico will have to give everything they’ve got in order to survive the battle.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the curtain, two men are fighting for control over the Helghast following Visari’s demise. Jorhan Stahl and Admiral Orlock are battling for control, without trying to butt each other’s heads so much that they draw pistols on each other. With tensions rising from the ISA, however, something’s got to give, and part of the fun of Killzone 3 is watching how it all unfolds.

To be fair, though, there’s still not enough emphasis on the heroes in the game. That isn’t to say you won’t identify with their cause and have fun kicking ass with them, because you will. But the villains have an unfair advantage here with their overpowered egos. Kudos to Guerrilla Games for hiring ideal voice actors to help push their dramaticness to new heights. Malcolm McDowell (as Jorhan) and Ray Winstone (as Orlock) push the envelope here. The rest of the voice acting is good, too. Some of you may even recognize James Remar from the old-school Warriors flick.

Heroic focus aside, we have yet to find a major flaw in Killzone 3. The first thing you’ll notice in the game is how well it plays. A few folks were complaining that precision was a mild problem in Killzone 2, but that never happened once with Killzone 3. The controls act with utmost precision, whether you’re zoomed in through scope view (with a click of the R3 analog button) or zoomed out and running-and-gunning for your life. Even when you’re driving a vehicle, such as the buzzsaw/go-kart combo or the newly introduced jetpack, you won’t find any problems. In fact, the jetpack handling is amongst the best we’ve seen in a game to date. Rather than clumsily relegating flight to a face button, you thrust with the L1 trigger, fire the pack’s gun turret with the R1 trigger, and thrust forward (you’ll need to in order to reach platforms) with X. It’s so much fun, you’ll never want to take it off. The turret and mech controls were spot-on as well, even if there were times we didn’t see an enemy sneak up behind us. (Damn Helghan Predator clones.)

Killzone 3 not only features great on-foot combat and vehicular sequences with a regular controller. It also gives you the option of doing so with the PlayStation Move. Whether you’re using the newly introduced Sharpshooter peripheral or going at it with the controller and supplementary unit, it works remarkably well, as you can aim with on-screen precision and hit your target almost every time. It only takes a few seconds to set up and calibrate, and then you’re on your way to killing fleets of Helghast.

You’ll need every ounce of skill you can muster, too, because Killzone 3 literally throws everything it can at you. One minute you’re fighting enemies in a zero gravity enabled control deck (where all hell breaks loose when you try to throw a grenade with precision), and the next you’re running for your life across a forest planet, with claw-bearing Predator Helghan chasing you like madmen. (And if they don’t kill you, the animal-like robo-tanks probably will.) This game doesn’t back off from its intense battles for a second, though the CG sequences do kind of give you a breather should you need it. (If not, you can always skip them.)

Along with a single player campaign that’ll take you several hours to get through (and ends with a bang, to say the least), Killzone 3 also features a terrific multiplayer set-up. Here, you’ll be able to challenge friends, manage squad members and upgrade to new weapons and classes over the course of battle. You can choose from various types of matches, including Guerrilla Warfare (deathmatch), Warzone (with missions that continuously change up) and Operations (where one team defends a point or person and the other tries to take it out). These multiplayer modes mix up wonderfully, and there’s plenty of opportunity to score major points off headshots, sneak kills and more. From there, you can rank up and unlock new goods, or select different classes to see how they fare, such as the Engineer, Marksman, Tactician, Infiltrator and Field Medic. They’re all worth trying out too, even if you’re the kind of person who prefers a rocket launcher to a revival kit.

What’s more, if you’re not quite ready for multiplayer, you can enter a Botzone and get your skills up. Here, you’ll work with and fight against AI controlled opponents with all weapons and skills unlocked. This is a great mode to try out if you’re not used to the fury of online competition, though having everything within reach is a little bit of a cheat. But don’t worry, we won’t tell if you don’t.

As Guerrilla Games pointed out in previous interviews, Killzone 3 utilizes 45 GB of the PlayStation 3’s 50 GB of disc space, which would translate to approximately eight discs on the Xbox 360. And believe me when I say that this game puts it all to good use. The graphics are absolutely phenomenal, making Killzone 2 look obsolete in the process. You’ll notice just how much detail is being poured into each stage just by wandering around for a bit. One stage in particular we have to point out is the Iceberg stage, which you’ll be able to play for yourself in the upcoming demo. The water is freakin’ phenomenal, even if you’re flying headfirst into it. The explosions are outstanding, especially on a stage where you’re battling a 40-story high boss, blowing out its ventilation shafts and then flying in to finish it off. Furthermore, the character animation is second to none. Try sneaking up on a few Helghan and perform a melee. You’ll see a number of up-close-and-personal animations that will knock your socks off, from a soldier getting his eyes gouged out to a knife slashing across their throat. The CG sequences look great too, even if there are occasional glitches entering the picture. Hopefully Guerrilla will have a day one patch to clean those up upon release. All of it simply looks insane, and will more than likely prompt those who don’t own a PS3 to snag one right away. For those that do, well, no need to wait.

One side note: Killzone 3 does come with 3D support, but you might want to play the game in 2D first before choosing that option. The 3D is fantastic from what we’ve seen thus far, but it’s easy to throw you off if you’re not used to it. We suggest going through the single-player campaign in standard view, then trying out Botzone in 3D before making the switch. It does help in the long run – and will keep you from dying so often if you know what to expect.

As for the audio, well, you already know the voice acting is up to snuff (complete with shouting Helghans galore). The music is equally impressive, with plenty of war themes to keep your ears busy. We like the sound effects too, especially the throttling gunfire of the Bolt gun. It’ll grow into one of your favorites, just so you can hear one pop out of the gun and into a Helghan soldier – and blowing him up seconds later.

Killzone 3 is a tour-de-force for the PlayStation 3, and one of the best action games you can play right now. It’s balanced across the board, whether you’re on your own in single player or Botzone, or letting everyone have it in multiplayer. Move over, Black Ops – the Helghan are moving in on your turf.

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Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam

New weapons, new maps, new vehicles, a few dozen songs, and a fresh coat of paint. These are the humble offerings of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam, a multiplayer-only expansion to DICE’s hit FPS that kicks players into the wayback machine with four maps (soon five) based on the Vietnam war. Not to be confused with a simple map pack, the expansion sits on a different menu from the rest of the multiplayer offerings, jamming a significant wedge between the regular game and the new content.

Some statistics are shared between the original and the expansion, such as the player’s rank and unlocked equipment. Fans should rest easy knowing that they aren’t going to have to work towards unlocking the 15 new weapons again if they’ve already done so in Bad Company 2. In fact, on paper, it might be hard to see why the expansion is getting so much press, especially considering that there aren’t really any actual improvements to speak of, with the only real gameplay differences coming from the previously mentioned maps, six new vehicles, and 15 new weapons.

But oh, what a difference these additions make. It’s an incredibly dense package, and the drop back to the 1960’s dramatically alters the game, even if the code remains mostly untouched. Weapons are less accurate and do less damage than their Bad Company 2 counterparts, meaning more gunfire is necessary to take down a foe. Vehicles suffer even more of a setback, with tanks that spawn less frequently and helicopters that can be shot down by small arms fire. With these mechanics plunged into the new maps, all of which are set in the jungles of Vietnam with both Rush and Conquest modes available, one important thing has changed: people spend a lot more time shooting.

There’s no doubt that DICE really put care into the new maps. Each provides a slightly different experience, and while they all take place in the same general area, there are plenty of unique set pieces to set them apart. Vantage Point, for instance, features hillier, mountainous regions than Phu Bai Valley, which has more jungles. Hill 137, on the other hand, features dark caves contrasted by a massive field devastated by napalm and mortar attacks. It is easily the strongest looking map, with some of the best visuals the series has ever seen. It’s hard not to have some sort of reaction the first time you wander out of a dark forest into a massive, burnt-out wasteland. Odds are there will be no time to admire the scenery, though, as not a second goes by where the enemy players aren’t firing blindly into the distance.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam is a much more chaotic game than either Bad Company 2 vanilla or Battlefield 1943, and provides the most frenzied combat of any Battlefield title. It feels a lot more like Vietnam, or at least, how Hollywood taught me to perceive the war. Players will spend more time hiding behind cover, planning assaults and flanks. There are no remote controlled helicopters, no motion detectors, no heat-seeking missiles. Instead, there are flamethrowers, a new weapon that can destroy foliage and decimate enemies at close range. Everything is closer, more brutal, more desperate. The game, on the whole, is much different because of it.

Yes, different. Not better, not worse, but different. Bad Company 2 Vietnam provides an experience that is, at its core, as different from regular Bad Company 2 as Battlefield 1943 is. The controls are the same, the graphics are as high-quality as they were before, and there’s little to excite those who passed on DICE’s previous efforts. For fans of the series, however, there are four new, fantastic maps to explore, new weapons to master, and, most importantly, more dog tags to collect… while listening to Flight of the Valkyries.

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