CONSCRIPT - PC Review

CONSCRIPT by developers Jordan Mochi and Catchweight Studio and publisher Team17—PC (Steam) review written by Robert with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes 

CONSCRIPT is developed by Jordan Mochi and Catchweight Studio and published by Team17. We at Chalgyr's Game Room would like to thank them for the free software key for the purpose of this review. Set during the First World War, you play as a lone French soldier and need to traverse the twisted trenches of the Great War, scavenge for limited supplies, and solve complex puzzles. The catch? You have to do all of this while fighting for your very survival through humanity's most brutal and horrifying conflict.

CONSCRIPT was an interesting ask for me, as I don't typically stray towards anything remotely horror-esque. I'm a wee bit of a baby regarding horror games/media so when I was able to cover it for us here at CGR, it raised an eyebrow or two, but that's the allure of CONSCRIPT... Even for folks like me that aren't fans of the genre, there's something interesting, intriguing, and more appropriately, "pulling" about CONSCRIPT that really drew me in and continues to hold on to me to this day...

CONSCRIPT is beautifully forlorn.

In all of the fear, adrenaline, shock, awe, and tension, the single most powerful emotion that CONSCRIPT exudes, is sadness.

Left to survive the attack on Souville in the First World War you're thrust into deeper, darker Hells ... that are oddly beautiful. CONSCRIPT's pixel-art-ish approach is the perfect throwback so the second generation of Survival Horror games (Silent Hill and Resident Evil-era). Gas attacks are grotesque yet hauntingly enchanting; the slight shadowing that appears before a bomb drops gives just enough warning to dive out of the way of the muted and brutal-looking explosive effect. The details aren't lost due to the art style, either. In fact, I think the style enhances the models in ways that keep both friendly and enemy models looking appropriately haggard and war-torn.

There are times where you'll be slowly moving along the corridor of trenches when an explosion will rock the world in front of you. Then out come pouring Germans and they are thirsty for your blood ... Their shovels, their helmets, even the shine (or lack thereof) on their boots is disturbing. Just as disturbing as watching them rush past the crawling French soldier ... crawling because he's missing his legs. Even if it's a few pixels, the detail is immaculate on the models. Where I struggled the most, though, was in the backgrounds. While they are serviceable, there are parts of the backgrounds/levels that were extremely difficult to identify as passable/impassable terrain. 

While I'm used to dragging my character's face along a wall in search of goodies to help me survive, it was frustrating to be constantly blocked by ill-defined hunks of rubble or detritus. While it's not game-breaking, in a survival title with limited items and resources in it (a staple of the genre and one followed well here), well, every move counts, especially given how tough some of these enemies are.

Where the audio puts the "horror" in CONSCRIPT's "survival horror" genre tag, the enemies put the "survival" in it. Some of these bastards are tough and require significant kiting. In fact, just get used to kiting. I found running around central sandbags whenever I could would keep me alive a wee bit longer than had I stood my ground. Pro tip ... rarely stand your ground; you'll get clobbered into three-weeks-from-yesterday. Maybe I just suck (I do) but I found that in most cases, when I stood there, ready with my entrenching tool ("shovel") for a nice swing ... and I'd whiff it hard.

While that's not all that concerning in most games, in CONSCRIPT it's stressful as every single pixel counts. At times I felt it was as demanding as a Soulsbourne or Metroidvania. The survival elements, managing inventory, and wonderfully-simple and elegant save system to take a bit of the bite away from what I feel is the the true masterpiece of CONSCRIPT ... the audio. Thankfully, the dev didn't retain the old tape-style save method from its inspirational titles.

I'm very sensitive to audio and the tension it can build and there's a subtle terror that's built throughout CONSCRIPT that sits oddly well with me. It may just be the current mood and state of things, but the quiet ambience of the haunting music is countered by the rough, painful, and often pitiful cries for help or mercy in sharp but not in a jump-scare-like fashion. To match the stunning art (though the mismatched fonts between in-game menus is jarring and off-putting), the audio needs to be punchy and subtle. The best way I can describe it is that the background effects, those very screams and cries I mentioned before, feel like they're being filtered through a foggy nightmare. I'm not sure if that was the effect, but that unsettling "aural uncanny valley" hit hard a few times throughout my time with CONSCRIPT. Swinging between that and the pregnant pauses in background noise or chatter can give something akin to aural whiplash, which sounds bad but the way it plays out in CONSCRIPT simply *works*. 

That's where CONSCRIPT succeeds the most, in my mind ... "it simply works." As someone not accustomed to, nor typically interested-in the Horror-end of the Survival Horror genre, CONSCRIPT was an interesting choice for me. It could be that my middle-aged sensitivities are getting the better of me as I begin to embrace military history as an interest. Or it could be that with all the over-stimulation that happens in the real world, finding a title that brings understated horror and an odd, gritty realism to life in a setting not-often taught here in the West (World War One) unless you attend higher education. With nothing more than your entrenching tool, the scraps of notes left by others, and the hope of finding the brother you were separated from at the very start of the game, you will set off into the trenches of Souville during World War One ... but will you survive?

I sure didn't. 

 

Score: 9/10

 

 

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Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - PlayStation 3 Review

I am coming at this review from a slightly backwards perspective.  My second review on this blog was actually Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.  I had never played a CoD game prior to that one, and honestly had never had much interest in it or first-person shooters at that point.  However, when MW2 hit, it was tremendously popular around my workplace.  Finally, two of my co-workers chipped in and basically got it for me for free - so I felt compelled to not only play, but sink a good deal of time into it.  Turns out, I enjoyed the game a great deal.  I haven't played MW2 in a couple of years, but plan to do a re-review on it in the somewhat near future.

See, I eventually traded it in.  I had been playing it quite regularly, but when most of my friends quit playing, so did I.  Then my son got into FPS titles on the PlayStation 3, which has the added benefit of allowing people to play multiplayer titles for free (he does not have a Gold account for Life).  So, my son bought Modern Warfare 1 and 2.

I only recently played the first Modern Warfare, and even though it is not a title I will probably play with any regularity going forward, it really gave me a unique perspective on the series' growth.

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Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway - PS3 Review

War is a frequent breeding ground for video games - often too frequently as our friend Jeff opined on his blog Volatile Mode.  It can serve as a grand backdrop for a variety of stories, and that is what this title is - a story about the horrors of war and how it affects those participating it.  This was a game that I did not even know existed, but that my son picked me up for Christmas one year, and I found myself pleasantly surprised by what turns out to be more of a tactical shooter that has more in common with Gears of War than Call of Duty.

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Record of Agarest War - Review Revisisted

So, one of my earliest reviews on this blog was the game Record of Agarest War. You can find it here if you are interested, as it was a pretty long review. So, I had first played it on the 360, borrowing it from a friend. There were elements of the game I really liked, but there were things that frustrated me as well. Still, I had an opportunity to pick the game up for the PSN a bit later, and I decided to take that opportunity and visit the world of Agarest one more time. Now, there were a lot of details in that review, but some things I have since found are different than I first thought, and I'm viewing them a bit differently as well. Some things I still stand by, but honestly this is more me picking on myself than defending my earlier comments.

The basics:

This is a turn-based strategy game with some heavy RPG elements.

Graphics:

I scored this a 6 last time, because of a few things: there were limited animations on the battlefield, the scenes in towns and such were very static, using portrait overlays instead of moving video. The characters are sprite-based and a bit fuzzy at times. These were my primary complaints, and they all hold true, but - I would probably edge this a bit higher, maybe 6.5. There were some things I really liked such as the art style - there is a good deal of detail in things such as the menu screen and the character portraits look good. Also, I find that the dungeons look cool in places, even if the proportions can seem a bit odd (especially in the castle screens)

Music & Sound:

I went with a 4 last time, and honestly, that's not changing much. There are a couple of songs I really liked - usually the boss battles. The save screen's music has a nice quality to it as well. I would maybe score up to a 4.5 - maybe 5 at best. Some of the other music still seems horribly misplaced in a fantasy style title like this, and since there's no English voice acting (it's all in Japanese with English text), some of the impact is lost in my opinion.

Gameplay:

I went with 8 before, and I would stand by that, maybe edging that up slightly - maybe not. A few of the things that bugged me before though, that I specifically called out, were in fact wrong and I'm admitting that. Here's the first one:

"the menus are fairly easy to navigate (though would it have killed them to make a ‘page up/page down’ using bumper buttons when going through long lists of items like Titles or Shop Inventories?)" --- turns out, and I have no idea how I never noticed this before, but pressing to the sides actually does a 'page down' option. I somehow missed that. That being said? It would be great if you could sort items or shop menus by different criteria. By the end of the game, I could make a ton of different weapons, but finding the one I wanted was like a need in a haystack.

"However, there is no flanking or backstab damage, so the impact of unit direction is somewhat minimalized." --- Now, nothing about this showed up in the tutorial, but I noticed that later in the game, there was an object or two I hadn't found the first time around that specifically negated directional damage. No other indication it was in the game (but then I played the tutorial to Agarest War Zero, the sequel, where this gets called out). So perhaps the design failure was in communicating this part of the strategy.

" That said, at the end of a generation, you automatically pick the woman you have the most ‘affection’ from. There is already a system in place where the stronger the bond, the stronger the next generation’s character will be. So why not let the player pick who they want to marry, for better or for worse?" --- big wrong on my part, but as of the time I originally wrote this, I had only gotten through the first couple of generations, and you can in fact marry different people if you get their interest in you high enough. I apparently just sucked at this part of the game and only had one girl interested in me both times, but on this last playthrough, I discovered you can in fact have up to 3 different choices in the generations.

Intangibles:

I went with an 8 here before, but probably more of a 9 after having played through again. For starters, I spent more than 100 hours on this playthrough. There's slightly different endings including a 'true end' I completely missed out on before that opens up further content. It's ridiculously hard to get to because you have to juggle a lot of choices along the way, and it's not very transparent how you get there - but it did add a lot of value to it for me. This is probably the game I've come closest to getting a platinum trophy in as well. I'm missing 2 trophies is all, but those last two are just too tedious. Still, I've sunk a ton of time into this game and I liked it enough this last time around to pick up the sequel for the PS3 recently as well.

Overall:

I had scored the game a 6.5 before. I'd probably say I'm closer to a 7 or a 7.5 now. There were definitely things I missed before - and I'm perfectly willing to admit it, but the core game is still the same. It's a very stylized game, and it's not going to appeal to everyone. There's suggestive themes everywhere and the game does nothing to hide those - in fact it flaunts them. But I enjoyed the strategy, sunk a ton of time into it, picked up Agarest Zero (which is a prequel) and am hoping that Agarest War 2 gets localized to North America at some point as well, as I would probably buy it.


So, I'm curious - but even if this particular game does not strike your fancy, does the idea of me doing a Review Revisited down the road appeal to readers? Or is hearing about a title once enough? My thinking is it may bring up titles that newer followers missed my thoughts on, and it gives me a chance to look at how I viewed a game in the past and see if my perspective has changed since that time. I won't do it very often, but once in awhile I'll pick a title up to play again and since I'm investing that time into it, I thought maybe I would share.

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Gears of War 3 - Xbox 360 Review

I've been posting about Gears quite a bit this week, and it has been a really pleasant trip down memory lane for me. The Gears of War titles were both excellent, though the first holds a slightly more nostalgic place for me since it really did usher in this generation of game consoles for me, introducing me to the high definition graphics, excellent use of surround sounds, fun gameplay and also experiencing what online gaming could be like on consoles now.

I am not going to lie - I have been spending a lot of time on this game. I already have two friends asking to borrow it. My son and I logged quite a bit of time one weekend doing the campaign mode together. I'm going to come out and say that this was my favorite Gears game yet, and if you have been following along with my other reviews over the last week, you'll see I looked at the first two pretty favorably as well. Here's the details:

Graphics - 9:

There is this really oppressive atmosphere that just bleeds into the entire game. The colors are still varied (unlike the reports that Resistance 3 for the PS3 was very brown and muddied at times), but the world of Sera is a dark, gritty place. Buildings are falling into decay. The Stranded (survivors) are a ragtag group of people with tattered clothing and scars. There's virtually no slowdown in any of my gameplay, and that goes for online and offline. The engine does not show pop in, tearing, things like that. Is it perfect? No. But it's still really impressive.

Sound & Music - 10:

The voice acting is really solid, and it's everywhere. Obviously some is better than others, but the principle actors do a good job though, and some of the banter and dialog is not only believable but just add a sense of 'life' to the entire game, which is impressive given the dismal surroundings of the storyline. Beyond that though, this is a game where the gunfire and explosions just sound great from top to bottom. I cranked this game up in my living room with the surround sound, and it felt like my system was getting a great workout from it, where the bass would cause my floor and sofa to shake with explosions and gunfire could be heard coming accurately from different directions.

On top of all of that, the musical score was quite good, helping to set and maintain the tone of the game throughout many of its major scenes. A footnote on the music front was when I was playing online and "Mad World" began to play as a piano instrumental. Kind of a cool nod to those of us who have been fans of the game since the beginning. Why? Because of this trailer for the original Gears of War that was very well-received, featuring this song playing over it in the background.

Gameplay - 9:

This is a third-person shooter, where taking cover is a major part of how you advance. It is a very different mechanic than those found in most first-person shooters like Call of Duty. I have one co-worker who is a huge fan of Call of Duty and Battlefield and has played through all of the Gears of War games, and did not enjoy them nearly as much. He could not really give a reason beyond saying that he just did not care for the style as much. I actually enjoy it quite a bit more, so there is definitely some preference at play here.

There are not a ton of innovations here, to be honest. If you played either of the first two Gears of War games, you know what to expect here. But there are some cool new weapons, the close-range combat feels a bit tighter than prior versions (maybe I'm just doing something different, but it seems like 'in close' my gun play handled a lot better in this version than the prior ones) and the way you to run in and 'stick' to cover is a bit smoother as well.

I still prefer the firefights to some of the mounted or vehicle sessions, but they did not annoy me nearly as much as in Gears of War 2. A couple of the sections were definitely tough, sometimes a bit unfairly so where you had an object that maybe was not 100% clear and you had to dodge some unkillable creature, for example, but these were far and few between and using the Left Button on the shoulder does a nice job of showing you your objective and teammate locations on the fly.

Intangibles - 9:

There's replay value to be had here. It is not a long game - you can beat it in a weekend but I think it takes longer to navigate than the Call of Duty games. There are several difficulty levels you can choose from. The campaign mode supports up to 4 player co-op, and you can have local or online players. My son and I did 2-player co-op and had an absolute blast with it. There are plenty of medals, achievements, online modes and campaign-mode collectibles to find as well, giving you reasons to go back in and play again.

The game modes range from story (including an 'arcade' variant), horde mode (a somewhat tactical you-versus waves of bad guys mode you can do solo or with friends), a beast mode (where you are on the other side of the coin - you are the monsters trying to infiltrate the human forts and kill them working against a timer - I liked this one, but it feels like a mode that requires multiple people - the timer is pretty harsh for just 1 or 2 players to get through), a fair number of unlockable skins for use when you play and it all works against a 'level' system that reminds me a bit more of Halo: Reach than Call of Duty in that it unlocks cosmetic things and not actual gear (that I've noticed yet anyway).

So close to a 10, maybe it is. I would have liked a slightly longer story mode, or even maybe some choices along the way that have cosmetic effects on the world around you, but I realize that this is not an RPG game. Just the same, you are part of this epic battle with tremendous stakes throughout, and the storyline is excellent

Overall - 9.25:

This is a game that is not meant for kids, but there are options to turn off the swearing and decrease the blood - but in honesty you're shooting people in the head and tearing them apart with chainsaws. It's not little-kid friendly, but I did find the options useful for playing with my son. With lots of modes and a well-made game all of the way around, it is hard for me not to recommend this title - especially if you liked the first two. That said? It is a different kind of animal than most of the 'shooters' out there, and as in the case of my one co-worker, it does not appeal to everyone. Also, the story could be a bit longer, but the key here was I simply had a lot of fun, and had a lot of fun with my son, and given the various game modes offered, I suspect we will keep having fun with it for the foreseeable future.

More Gears of War 3 Videos

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Gears of War 2 - Xbox 360 Review

I recently touched on Gears of War, which was an excellent early game for the Xbox 360. It was probably one of the most defining titles for this current gaming generation, at least if you owned an Xbox 360. I felt like Halo and Gears were counterpoints to some of the shooters specific to the PS3 like Warzone and Resistance.

The first Gears was one of the driving forces behind my leap into the Xbox 360 - almost all of my friends had it, and we made great use of the co-op modes and online play. To say Gears 2 was anxiously awaited would be a ridiculous understatement. With the recent Gears 3 release, this seemed like a great time to visit this title.

Graphics - 9:

Amazing stuff, really. Even better than the first game, which at the time blew me away. I bought an HD tv for the first Gears (and technically, my 360). This game made me appreciate it even more. The animations were sweet, the angles were presented very well and the oppressive atmosphere of the world around you is unrelenting.

Sound & Music - 9:

I loved the music in the first Gears, and that holds true of Gears of War 2. Constant voice acting is generally good, though there were times it felt a bit more flat than in the original, at least to me. The sound effects were good and varied, making quality use of my surround sound system. Loud, reverberating explosions punctuated with gunfire and dialog - it is good stuff.

Gameplay - 8:

I have to mark the game down a tad here. The game plays a lot like the first Gears, and the firearms combat feels tightened up. That said, I really disliked some of the vehicle/on rails sections. This is not a game with much freedom. Sometimes you make a path choice but essentially you are on a linear path, and that's fine, but I preferred the ground combat to some of the mounted scenes. Some of these parts really, really annoyed me - they weren't necessarily poorly done, but they were my least favorite part of the game.

Intangibles - 8:

The game is a bit longer than the original Gears, but not by much. Again you can tweak difficulties, but yet again I beat the game in a single weekend. The online modes are much more robust though, giving you much better bang for your buck than the first Gears game.

Overall - 8.5:

A technical improvement on the original in pretty much every way, though certain parts of the single player mode did annoy/frustrate me more than the first. Still, Gears of War 2 proved to be an undeniably fun, if brutal (this one is no more for kids than the first game in my opinion - even my son didn't get to play this one when I first got it, and he was like 7 or 8 at the time) experience. It's definitely not reinventing the wheel here - Epic took what worked in the first title and polished it up. This game can be found somewhat inexpensively now as well, and it was definitely worth it for me.

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Gears of War - Xbox 360 Review

This is well-overdue.

I mean, this was probably THE first big game I got with my 360. It was actually the game that got me to buy a 360 - and eventually my first high def TV. One of my best friends got a 360 shortly before I did, and he bought FEAR and Gears of War. I've played FEAR - though it's been a long time, and just never really got into it, but Gears was a completely different matter. Still, as hard as it is for me to believe, this game is about five years old. Is it worth taking a look at if you have not already?

Graphics - 8:

At the time, these were among the best graphics I had ever seen. They still hold up pretty well five years later. This is one of those titles that made me think of it like a summer blockbuster movie - full of visual spectacle. There are almost no technical issues with the graphics to speak of, and they really do a great job of pulling you into the game.

Music & Sound - 9:

That said, as good as the graphics are, the sound and music are even better. Sound effects are great, voice acting is generally very good and the music was excellent in my opinion. It often set just the right tone. This aspect, when combined with the graphics really made for a very movie-like experience at times.

Gameplay - 8:

The cover system was maybe not completely original upon release, but it worked as well if not better than almost any other I could recall at the time. There were some cheap deaths waiting to be had, but checkpoints were frequent enough to keep it from getting too annoying. Also, some aspects of the combat held up better than others - it felt like the real long ranged weapons were never quite as awesome as I had hoped, and while chainsawing an opponent was a lot of fun, firefights at close range were sometimes clumsy affairs.

Intangibles - 7:

The game is quite short - I beat it the first weekend I owned it. Being able to do it in co-op though was fun as I had 3 different friends I played through the game with in this way. Different difficulty settings are there for people who like to make their games harder or easier. There are some 'collectibles' along the way to find for people who enjoy that sort of game-within-a-game. This was also my first game I played online, and while the maps and variety were fairly limited, they were cool at the time. They hold up a bit worse now though, considering how far we have come with online modes.

Overall - 8:

Considering how cheaply this game can be found (I've seen it for as little as 8 dollars), it really is a very good deal if you like third person shooters. Not a kid-friendly game between the swearing and bloody deaths (when you chainsaw an enemy, the screen itself splatters with blood). With the online not being as robust as newer titles and the fairly short campaign mode, it would not be worth a full price new buy now for most people, but a used or discounted game price makes this an excellent play.

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Gaming Thoughts... 9/15/11 - Word of Warcraft

So my last post got me all nostalgic as I thought back to some of my earlier Blizzard titles like Warcraft, Diablo and obviously StarCraft. I spent a lot of time on these games. But like many people, the Blizzard game I probably spent the most time on was World of Warcraft. In fact, I've been a player on two different occasions.

I did not play right when World of Warcraft began, but I was not terribly far behind. I spent a good deal of time playing Alliance and got a couple of characters to level 60, and even went ahead and did the same for some Horde on another server afterward. I was really big into it, had quite a few epics and eventually got tired of playing and just quit.

I was an awkward MMO player though, especially that first time around. I almost never grouped, at all. I hardly ever did raids of any kind, which meant I was missing tons of content. Sure, I'd go back and run lower level stuff when I was bored/high enough level to solo it, but I just never really wanted to group much.

Fast forward a couple of years or so, and several of my old real-life buddies I used to play D&D with are all playing World of Warcraft on the same server. They wanted me to start up again and went so far as to chip in and get me the expansions. I played (very) heavily once again, and shot multiple characters up through the ranks again. I was even more diligent this time, having all of the crafting professions completely covered, tons of really good gear and even ran instances now with my friends. It was certainly a lot more fun the second time around, but still not ideal.

On the one hand, I noticed I was sinking just an absolute ton of time into the game. I play video games very heavily, and even I had to admit my time spent was probably unhealthy. The other thing is I still tried to be a husband, parent, full-time employee and found myself distracted when trying to group. There's no pause button. If a kid gets sick or dinner boils over, I have to hop up and deal with it. Now, my friends were pretty understanding - they know me, know my family, but it still made grouping with other people pretty much a migraine for me.

Once I was at the top of the food chain yet again, all that was left was lots of grinding. The sense of exploration was gone and it was just more of a chore than fun - and steadily sapping away some money every month to boot. So, this account eventually went the way of my old one - given to someone else I knew.

Still, when I look back on it, I still enjoyed Wold of Warcraft a good deal. I'm a big fan of RPG games. I played more than my share of computerized/console titles and D&D over the years. I run a MUD with my wife, which I usually describe as online, text-based dungeons and dragons. It's easy to see the influence MUDs have had on the MMO community over the years. They were the first MMO's - just without graphics.

Unfortunately the Warcrafts of the world have had their own impact on MUDs, and it fewer and fewer people invest in MUDs than they used to. Our own game used to have 50+ players a night, and now on a good night we see maybe 10. I think if my wife had gotten into World of Warcraft, I'd still be playing it today. I love doing things with her - the MUD is an example of that, but she tried it and just never took to Warcraft - but at least she did try it.

Still, I have a lot of fun memories from my time spent there. I've tried looking at some of the free MMO's out there like Dungeons & Dragons and Lord of the Rings - and I once won a copy of Guildwars, and while there's good things about each of them, none of them ever captured my imagination quite the same way World of Warcraft did.

Any of you reading ever play a MUD, or a graphic MMO? Did you stick to it? Were you a loner or a grouper? Do you still play?

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Gaming Thoughts... 9/6/11

I've been slowly chugging through a pretty large backlog of games, not only in terms of playing the games, but blogging about them. I've been trying to keep up a pace of posting about every 3 days. Aside from all of the reviews and newer stuff I've posted about, I have plenty of other games I've been revisiting as well.

I recently got my wife a Sony Bloggie and got a PSN $20 card with it, so I got my grubby mitts on Heroes of Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes - which has been a fun little puzzle/rpg hybrid. I've also recently downloaded and started to replay Record of Agarest War on the PSN (this was one of my earliest reviews on here, for the 360, and I had said I enjoyed the game despite its many technical shortcomings) - and I have to say I think I'm enjoying my current go-round more than my original one. At $30 you get a lot of gameplay out of it if you enjoy the formula, and now that I have a newer PS3 with more HD space, I can actually download more games to my drive.

Speaking of purchases for my wife that has benefits for me, I got her a new HP computer about a week and a half ago, and it came with a free Xbox 360 slim. I also had access to a cheap 250 GB hard drive for the slim, which is going to give me the opportunity to play and purchase more stuff for my 360 soon - my old 20 gig HD on my 360 was completely full (like 40 mbs left full) - I have some designs to get some more play time w/ DLC for Dragon Age and Mass Effect games, so I'm hoping to post on those.

Another side-project I had started was breaking down a lot of the PS Home content after the PSN came back up early this summer - but I read an article recently that said Sony's going to completely redo Home, so I never bothered finishing that project. I'll post my thoughts on it very soon, but I never got to complete it.

With my dad up and visiting, I've been playing some games I haven't touched quite as much of late like Peggle and FX/Marvel Pinball. That's going to lead me to another review here soon as well - my next post actually.

Neat trick on Peggle. I've gone to #1 in the world on one board and #2 in a couple of others, top 20 on a few - using the Rabbit. What's my trick? Well, it involves a ton of luck, but I'll share it. I realized that the last orange peg when you finish a map is worth a ton of points, so I try to leave 1 or both green pegs for right at the end, and then hope I hit the triple score. Then, whatever you get for the orange pegs plus the final 'point bucket' gets tripled. On my final shot on the map I took #1 on, I got over 350,000 points on that last shot as a result. There's a lot of factors that go into it, but I am up on 2nd place by more than 100,000 points. Cool trick I learned, figured I'd share.

 

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God of War III - Playstation 3 Review

Kratos is an angry, angry man - and he finally gets his revenge.

Sony Santa Monica tells a good story here, but perhaps not quite as good as the first two God of War games. That said, the story they do tell feels like a big budget movie at times, and delivers a ton of bloody action set against a fantastical ancient Greece. In the first God of War game for the Playstation 3, expectations were high -and rightfully so. The God of War series is one that has exhibited a ton of polish and this game is no different.

Graphics - 10:

Wow. I know this game has been out for awhile, but visually it still may be one of the most impressive titles I've played on any system ever. The sense of scale is amazing. Games like Castlevania: Lords of Shadow have you fight mammoth creatures at times, but God of War just feels better. One fight you are nearly crushed by a titan, only to blind him and carry out a prolonged battle against creatures on his body as you travel across an arm, over shoulders and so much more.

Even the way the game starts - *Spoiler here for those who haven't played #2* -

But you end God of War 2 on a titan's back, and you start 3 the same way. It looks like a forested area like you might see in any other game, but you are in fact battling enemies while riding this massive titan. The attack on Olympus is amazing - there always seems to be something going on in the background. On top of that, action is bloody, smooth and the framerate holds up despite everything that is always going on.

Sound & Music - 9:

As with the rest of the series, there are some fantastic musical scores in the background that really help to set the tone. I did notice a few of them are a bit shorter it seems than in the past and noticeably loop if you spend too much time in a scene, but the quality was so good I didn't really care. Voice acting was again very solid and the sound effects are even more varied than ever before.

Gameplay - 9:

The combat has been and continues to be amazing in this series. It has not really changed much over the years, but the formula works so I cannot fault the developers for that. Some of the puzzles still annoyed me, and there were times I thought the platforming led me to a couple of cheap deaths, but frequent checkpoints kept me from loosing my cool too often.

A very important note: Quicktime events. I hate them most of the time. They are heavily used in the Chains of Olympus and God of War 1 & 2 - so why didn't I bring that up? Well, to be honest, most people just accept them now. I've had a mini-rant about these in the past in other game reviews, and I just don't like them. They take my focus off of what is happening on the screen, and if I try to take in the action I - well, it can mess up the actual progression and get you killed. I just really do not like them. So, why am I bringing it up now?

Because Sony Santa Monica handled them brilliantly. Did I mess up several times? Sure, but they did something very different than most companies. Usually Quicktime events show up as a button press in the middle of your screen, covering up what's going on and generally just annoying me. Here, they put the triangle on top, X on the bottom, circle on the right and square on the left with a sort of faded white background. Kind of hard to explain, but a) it doesn't cover the action and b) I know which button to press based on periphery vision. I was able to enjoy what was happening on-screen without having to panic half the time. There are other Quicktime events too - like rotating the analog stick, tapping the shoulder buttons and my poor Circle button got abused in these three games (you pound on it lots) - I could have done without all of those all of the time. But, if more games followed God of War 3's lead on the button presses, I'd be a lot happier in general.

Intangibles - 7:

Off all the God of War games, I think this one might have taken me the longest to beat, but that's not saying much - I still probably won in ten or elven hours. There are varied levels of difficulty, things you can unlock like costumes and powers for subsequent playthroughs, and another set of trial/challenges to keep you busy. Still, none of the games in this series do much to keep me playing a 2nd time through, and unfortunately I suspect that this game will fall into the same category despite how excellent the adventure itself is.

Overall - 8.75:

This game can be found at Gamestop for $15 used. The replay value is lacking, but the game itself is completely worth it at the used prices you can find it at now. Not even slightly kid-friendly, this outings is even more verbally, sexually and violently explicit than any of Kratos' other adventures I've played. The game feels incredibly polished and while some of the puzzles and jumps frustrated me from time to time, it was an excellent overall experience.

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God of War Collection - PS3 Review

Awhile back, I needed a new controller and I noticed the God of War collection bundle was only $5 more so I figured "Why not?" I had thoroughly enjoyed the first God of War game years ago on my Playstation 2, but for whatever reason had never gotten around to playing any of the others. When I picked this bundle pack up, I decided to pick up the PSP game I reviewed a few days ago too. While God of War: Chains of Olympus came first from a storyline standpoint, these two titles were the first in the series in terms of when they were produced.

The games are a combination of combat, puzzle-solving and platforming on a bloody quest for Kratos to find vengeance. What does this package have that the originals didn't? Well, it got a nice HD gloss over visually and added PS3 trophies. Question is - how do the games hold up today?

Graphics - 7:

The HD improvements do indeed help, but the fact is the textures and movements are all the same as they were years ago. That's not a bad thing - I remember when the first God of War game came out. The sense of scale, the use of background animations and the visceral, vicious combat. The second game looks better than the first, but both show hints of their original age throughout.

Sound & Music - 9:

The voice acting is good, the sound effects are good, and the music is great. There's a lot of music that's reused from one game to another, or modified - but all in all this is one of the stronger aspects of the entire series. This aged far better than the graphics in my opinion. In one part, where you are in a desert in the first game, you have to rely on sound to find one of the three sirens in the sandstorm. A great use of sound where it is actually used as a part of the gameplay and not simply an effect.

Gameplay - 8:

So many games have tried to immitate the combat found in God of War. Castlevania: Lord of Shadows, Dante's Inferno and Heavenly Sword immediately come to mind. There is a real weight and flow to the way Kratos and his chained blades move on the screen and tear through enemies. The combat of God of War is still more satisfying tome than the above mentioned games, despite its age.

Some of the puzzles did not fare quite so well. The first game in particular was a bit frustrating in places and you get the feeling that over time, the studio has refined their mechanics. Sometimes the puzzles are just incredibly easy and require no effort at all, and others you're left scratching your head looking for some obscure hole in the wall you can only find from one specific angle or a lever hidden behind something that is perfectly blended with the rest of the environment. Also, I found myself frustrated with several of the platforming parts - a frustration I don't recall from playing the first game years ago.

Intangibles - 8:

No online, which is fine. There's costumes, trials, different difficulty modes - so the developers try to give you reasons to replay the game. The trophies were a nice touch as well. The way you level equipment and skills keeps you feeling like Kratos is continually evolving, which helps to keep you invested as well. There's also some developer videos and behind the scenes stuff for people who are interested in how this series was put together.

Overall - 8:

I got the disc for $5 - I can't complain. I've seen it used for about 12-18 dollars at several places as well. The core gameplay mechanics have always been solid, and they aged well. Some of the puzzles and platforming could have been better, and the game itself is very linear with a single ending to each one so replay value is a bit limited as well. If you're interested in these types of games though, then they are definitely worth the investment - just keep them away from your kids. Watch out for violence, language, nudity, sexual situations (there's a sex mini-game where you don't actually see sex, but let's face it - there's not a ton left to the imagination so my kids don't get to be anywhere near these titles).

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God of War: Chains of Olympus - PSP Review

I've been on a bloody good tear with video games of late, but perhaps none of them are bloodier than the exploits of Kratos in the God of War series. There's currently 2 PSP games in the series out there, and this is the earlier of the two, Chains of Olympus.

For those unfamiliar with this Sony exclusive series, these games are a mesh of combat, puzzle-solving and platforming in a 3D environment set in a fantasy version of ancient Greece. Chains of Olympus is actually a prequel to the original God of War game that came out on the PS2 some years ago.

Now, most of my PSP favorites are some form of action or strategy game. I just don't often feel comfortable playing action style games on the smaller screen, whether it's due to the controls, the smaller screen, weaker audio - whatever the combination of reasons are, I usually wind up disappointed. So, question is - how well does Kratos' prequel translate to the small screen?

Graphics - 10:

For the PSP, this game's visuals are absolutely amazing. Right on par for me with Crisis Core which I thought had some of the best cinema screens of any PSP game to date. God of War however, keeps the impressive presentation going right through the gameplay itself. There are moments of epic backdrops where you really just have to take in everything that's happening around you, and it's all brought in a tear and stutter free framerate that keeps the action moving along perfectly.

Sound & Graphics - 10:

The voice acting is generally good, the sound effects are varied and compliment what is happening on screen. The music in these games is amazing, and the PSP version does not disappoint on that front. A great sound track that really brings out the best in the action and atmosphere.

Gameplay - 9:

It's a tried and true formula that has been imitated a lot over the last several years, but this series still does the combat better than most. The RPG elements really keep you invested as well. As you topple more powerful enemies, you unlock new abilities and spells that can be leveled up through the red orbs you gather. On top of that, there are platforming and puzzle elements to help break up the action. Now, I will admit the platforming stuff sometimes got on my nerves, and this series for all of the things it does right, does sometimes struggle in that regard in my opinion. However, the PSP game did not often leave me feeling like I died cheaply and the controls actually work very well despite the fact there are fewer interface buttons than the ps3 controller.

Intangibles - 7:

It's a great game, but it is a bit on the short side - I think I beat it in about eight hours. The puzzles are good, and only once or two really had me annoyed. The storyline was interesting and there's plenty of things to unlock along the way. There are some bonus content as well, such as The Challenge of Hades which is a series of trials. You can unlock new costumes for other playthroughs and even some cool art and behind the scenes stuff as well.

Overall - 9:

The game is a bit light on replay value and there are no online modes of any kind. That said, if you enjoy these types of combat-oriented action games, then you will probably find a good deal to like here. It is a game that can be found pretty inexpensively as well - I've seen it at use game shops for around $8 and that is pretty hard to beat. Of note, this series is in no way appropriate for kids - I don't even let them go into my bedroom when I'm playing it, between the gore, language and nudity.

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Record of Agarest War - Xbox 360 game review

Record of Agarest War is one of the few turn-based strategy games I’ve played in quite some time. I used to love this particular genre. I first got hooked on them back during Shining Force and Warsong (Or Langrisser as it was known overseas). I love turn-based strategy games – I recently picked up Sonic’s Genesis Collection for my 360 – mainly for the Shining Force and Phantasy Star games.

Record of Agarest War tries to do something a bit different as well though, mixing in something of a ‘dating sim’ aspect. Your lead character winds up in a potential relationship with one of three female characters. The layout is an overworld map that you can traverse where you have towns, battles, quests and events occur. The events are usually cut scenes that help to advance the storyline along, and it’s during these cut scenes where you sometimes have to make decisions . Sometimes it is just a matter of answering someone’s question, other times you make decisions on a path to take. These choices can affect things such as available routes, the affections of the three women you can romance and affect a light/dark gauge.

Let’s break the game down a bit and see how it all plays out.

Graphics – 6:

The artwork of the characters during scenes is nice, and the maps themselves have a nice, painted look to them. Until you realize that they are completely static and that there is not much variety in them. The quest modes have a nice feel to them as well, again continuing with this hand-drawn look, but sometimes there is a lack of clarity as to where you need to go. In the first cavern you visit, for example, the far left upper edge is black and that leads to more of the cavern. This could have been larger or perhaps had more attention drawn to it in some way, because it really did not look much different than the rest of the cave, so I found myself running around in circles for awhile before ‘bumping’ into that spot and being whisked off to the next section. The sprite-based combatants during combat are okay – kind of fuzzy and they feel like they would be right at home on a DS, but they feel a bit underwhelming on the much more powerful Xbox 360. The biggest problem for me is just the lack of variety. Even some sort of parallax background, lighting effects or smoke/fog effects to add some visual interest to the combat fields would have helped a lot.

Music & Sound – 4:

I really liked a handful of the tunes, like on the overworld map and when you start the game. Some of the quest exploration tunes are at least catchy if nothing special. So why the low score? I generally hate most of the battle music. The overworld map has such a full, orchestral sound to it and then you get into the battle maps and it’s less Lord of the Rings and more garage electric guitar. It’s quieter, and it completely feels out of place with the rest of the game’s theme. Additionally, there is a fair amount of voice to be heard during combat – but it’s all in Japanese. They never localized the speaking parts to English, which is a bit grating at times. The sounds are repetitive enough, but the inability to know what they are saying just adds to the frustration. Half the time I played this, I had music playing on my computer instead.

Gameplay – 8:

It seems like there is a lack of explanation at times as you play through the game. There’s just small things that are not explained real clearly or at all. That said, once you have the hang of it, the game is pretty easy to control, the menus are fairly easy to navigate (though would it have killed them to make a ‘page up/page down’ using bumper buttons when going through long lists of items like Titles or Shop Inventories?). There’s a nice fast-forward feature for cut scenes you don’t want to sit through (especially if you’re on a part that has a lengthy dialog before a big fight you have to do over again), but the option to hit ‘start’ and skip those ones that don’t require you make choices would have been quite nice (or a start that takes you to your first choice).

The strategy aspects are pretty good, but not perfect. There is an emphasis on what direction you are facing, because there are blocks that can ‘link’ you to another player – allowing for combined attacks. You don’t get this fundamental early on, but it is really helpful later. However, there is no flanking or backstab damage, so the impact of unit direction is somewhat minimalized. Also, all of the combat takes place on these painted backdrops with flat ground. As far back as there have been strategy games, there have been things impacted by terrain such as damage/defense and range, but there is none of that here. This coupled with the lack of terrain/graphical movement make the maps feel small and somewhat lifeless.

My last real complaint is the dating simulation. The questions can be a bit vague at times – you answer them expecting different results quite often, and that’s fine I guess. It keeps you from metagaming for the best possible results. That said, at the end of a generation, you automatically pick the woman you have the most ‘affection’ from. There is already a system in place where the stronger the bond, the stronger the next generation’s character will be. So why not let the player pick who they want to marry, for better or for worse? Still, the overall impact of this system is pretty cool, and it reminds me of the often underappreciated Phantasy Star III: Generations game I played repeatedly on my Genesis once upon a time (to the point where I had seen all possible endings). There are five generations handled in this fashion, where your relationship with who you marry affects your child not only statistically but with skills and weapon type.

The combat itself is pretty interesting with a fairly decent range of skills and spells of varying ranges. There is also an SP counter that goes up over time when you attack, are attacked or a team member dies. Enemies do have an annoying habit of teaming up on a single character and killing him or her before you can do anything about it, but this allows your chars to return the favor from a powered-up standpoint. Also characters can link together, otherwise attacking creatures that would have been outside of their range, or creating combination attacks – like two double strike attacks equal a quadruple attack that both characters perform together at the same time.

Intangibles – 8:

I already touched on the dating simulation aspect and the varied children you can have as a result. It would be cool if this was somehow more impactful on the storyline. In Phantasy Star III it actually gave you completely different views on events and storylines – in one of the instances if I recall correctly, you could even wind up with twins. The impact here is a bit less as the new character each generation is a neat mix of the two parents, but somehow feels more like a skin to an existing storyline. There are other systems though as well that really help to add to the value.

There is a monster capturing feature as well that feels like a missed opportunity. If you lower a creature’s health far enough (less than 5%) and you have a character with the capture skill, you can attempt to finish the creature off by capturing (notice I said creature – not humanoids but wolves, skeletons, mummies, etc). You can combine monsters to get new ones (sometimes), and you can trade them in for items. I usually do the latter. Their function if you don’t trade them in, is that you can add them to your group as a leveling party member – and here is where I feel like maybe it was a missed opportunity. I have not felt the urge to replace my existing party members with one of these less interesting monsters. It might have been more fun if you could summon them for a few rounds or use them as spells – something that doesn’t take away from your group configuration. Hence, why I trade them in.

Gear can be purchased, found and crafted from various components. The gear can also be enhanced using a type of combat experience exclusively for this process and it improves the stats. There are a wide variety of items, equipment and spells/skills to be created, improved and equipped and I enjoy it quite a bit. These smaller systems all help add some variety to what is a very long game, and without these systems the game could become quite a grind. I have heard a lot of people complain about the length of the game and how repetitive it was, but I guess these side items help add some value to it for me.

The leveling system is nice as well, because you gain points you get to put into different statistical areas. Not all areas are created equal for each character though – a magic user might need only 2 points to improve intelligence, but 4 points to improve vitality. So while you are certainly herded into certain directions, you are not restricted to them and it is a nice bit of customization you can apply to your characters.

All in all, there is quite a bit to do to keep you busy, and it’s capped off with a kind of new game+ for people who want to replay again. You can replay and keep your stuff, and play it again at that difficulty or less (so for example if you opt for normal difficulty (there are 3 to start) – you can do a new game+ on easy or normal – but not difficult).

Overall – 6.5:

It depends on what you want from the game. I’m willing to forgive a game like this for lower quality graphics and sound than I might be a first person shooter where the environment is a big part of the gameplay. Here it is more about tactics, storyline and loot.

I’ve sunk a ton of time into this game already. I’ll probably give it a new game+ just to try out different combinations of decisions, romances and so on. I’ve always been one of those people who can grind and grind and level up with sometimes ridiculous efficiency in both roleplaying and strategy games, and this one feeds into those interests of mine rather nicely. However, there are flaws in this game as well. The music and graphics are substandard overall, and the lack of localized voice just feels lazy. There are a vast number of subsystems, but if you find that you don’t like them or use them often, then the combat could start to feel pretty repetitive. A little variation in the landscapes both visually and strategically would have carried this game so much further and maybe helped edge it into the realm of classics like Shining Force or Final Fantasy Tactics, but instead it lags a bit behind them and it is a shame because I definitely want to see more games like this in the near future.

If you are a fan of turn-based stategy games in fantasy settings, this game might be for you. If those subsystems sound like fun, then you should find plenty to do and the game definitely gives you some mileage - I've read comments from players saying they've gone well over 100 hours on it. However, if action is more your thing and none of the above premises particularly grabbed your attention, then there is not enough technical achievement to probably interest you either as graphics and music have certainly been done better elsewhere. Also, the game does come with a teen rating, so while the sprited characters are cute enough and the gameplay relatively easy for younger players to pick up, there are some alcohol references, mild fantasy violence, mild language, and suggestive themes.

My review was for the Xbox 360 - I've read that there is some additional content out there for the Playstation 3 version but I can't say as I've tried any of it so I did not weigh in on that. All things being equal, I believe that they perform equally (albeit averagely) on both system so if you have access to both, it may be worth getting it on the PS3 (my acquisition price was considerably smaller on the 360 however).

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