Dustforce Review

There's something to be said about a game that grips you and keeps you coming back due to its blatant challenge. It's these games that, no matter how tough and imposing they may be, have you returning to the same levels to see if you can conquer them. Dustforce is one of these games. It systematically challenges you with its clever stage designs, but you can't help but return to it over and over again. While there are certainly spots that feel a bit too punishing and unfair, it's hard not to notice the excellence of this 2D platformer.

You play as a group of four custodians. These folks don't have some deep back story, but their intention is clear: to rid the land of dust and debris using only their cleaning tools and their snazzy acrobatic moves. Though it may not be apparent at first, each of the characters control differently and have certain perks. Some are faster than others, some jump higher, and one even has a triple jump. The best way to see which character is right for you is by experimenting with all of them.

The levels in Dustforce themselves are all pretty spectacular. There are a number of varying overworlds such as a park, a mansion, and a lab. Each of the levels within the game's many areas is joyfully engrossing. As you run through them, it is your job to clean up any leaves, dust, goo, or other debris using your broom (or dusters, or vacuum). All you need to do to perform clean-up duty is run over the filth. Enemies pop up from time to time, and you can give them a light whack or a heavy smack to release more garbage for you to sweep up.

Dust isn't just scattered along the floor, though. There's a lot to sweep up on walls and roofs, which means you'll be grateful that these janitorial heroes can run up walls and even do a bit of upside-down roof running. It's these abilities that really make it possible for you to clean up all the dust in every level, and if you want to get an S-rank for completion, you're going to want to do exactly that. The way the sweeping of dust accentuates and enhances the running and jumping gameplay is surprising, and it's impressive to see how you can speed through levels and link combos by going for flawless runs.

As enjoyable as it is to run freely through levels, there's a lot of emphasis on cleaning up dust. And if you intend on playing through every level in the game, you're going to have to do exactly that. While that's certainly fine, completion isn't the only thing you need to worry about in each level. A second determining factor, finesse, requires you to run through levels as fast as possible in a perfect manner. That means you can't break your cleaning combo or get hit by enemies. This is surprisingly demanding, and it's a bit of a shame that you need to do perfect runs of the initial levels to see everything Dustforce has to offer, especially because this means not everyone will be able to, or want to, put the time into mastering the game to unlock everything.

he Adventures of Tintin Review

Some of you may not be familiar with Tintin, the young explorer who finds himself on the verge of a number of adventures.  This week marks the United States release of Steven Spielberg’s CG-animated take on the Herge-created hero, as he seeks out a mysterious ship and the secrets it harbors.  With that, Ubisoft has released a sub-licensed game that’s based on the film, to a certain extent, putting players in control of Tintin (and, in some cases, his buffoonish cohort Captain Haddock) as they escape trouble and seek answers from the mysterious Unicorn vessel.

Getting into this game the first few minutes, we could tell it’s an adventure better suited for younger players.  It’s divided between some exploratory interludes and chase sequences, but mostly concentrates on side-scrolling platforming challenges.  You start out working your way through a huge mansion (after the Unicorn is stolen from you by some shady types), but the levels expand greatly as you go along, as danger picks up and the truth slowly begins to reveal itself.  It’s like Uncharted 3, but without going so much into overdrive.

That’s not to say it’s bad.  There are times that Tintin does lull, particularly during sequences that involve motion controls and with a couple of the chase sequences.  But the rest of the game moves about at a pretty fair pace, with plenty of enemies to knock out, some puzzles to solve (unlocking a door by having your dog Snowy retrieve a key through an air duct, for instance) and golden insects to find.  The vehicle stages are a mixed bag, between plane sequences that are a little too simple and bike sequences that don’t last long enough.  Nevertheless, not too shabby.

Still, we recommend skipping the motion controls.  Both the Kinect and PlayStation Move are used barely enough to register as anything but interesting.  We weren’t exactly thrilled with twisting sails around or using quick jabs to get ahead in a stage.  You’re better off sticking with the regular controller.

Along with the single player game, there’s also an interesting co-op side game, where you work alongside Tintin and Haddock, working as a team.  You can either switch between the two using a simple button press, or have a friend jump in for two-player fun.  While hardly a monumental co-op experience, it is fun and breezy, and helps prolong the replay value of Tintin a bit.

Ubisoft Montpelier do go the extra mile when it comes to the game’s presentation.  They could’ve easily slap-dashed this game together in a hurry.  Instead, they give the animation some vibrant touches, particularly during chase sequences.  Furthermore, the levels actually have some hidden secrets throughout that make them worth exploring.  There are times it looks a little awkward, though, and the camera angle isn’t exactly in your favor (like when a car is chasing you down a path and you aren’t quite sure which way to run next).  And for the record, the 3D support is barely there.  We couldn’t even tell when the 3D effects began and ended.

Likewise, the audio is good stuff.  Some samples from the film’s soundtrack are included here, and come across as great.  Meanwhile, the voice acting sounds like it came from the film, even if the exact actors weren’t used.  They’re solid sound-alikes.  The sound effects could’ve been a little meatier, but considering what they’re doing here, they’re acceptable.

The Adventures of Tintin probably won’t find mention in the same breath as other great adventure games – Uncharted it ain’t.  However, if you’ve got kids that can’t wait to see the movie, or are looking for a good caper to play along with them, Tintin just might be your go-to guy.

Marvel Pinball: Vengeance and Virtue Review (XBLA, PSN)

Announced a few months ago at Comic-Con (and an ideal place for it, no doubt), Zen Studios’ Vengeance and Virtue pack for Marvel Pinball couldn’t have come at a better time.  The initial tables, including Spider-Man and Wolverine, struck a chord with pinball and comic book fans alike, and the DLC tables that have come out since have done equally well.  Now, after months of waiting, we finally get to go tilt crazy with four new tables in the collection, featuring Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, the X-Men and Thor.

Like previous entries in the Marvel Pinball entity (or Pinball FX 2 if you’re playing on Xbox Live), these tables lean heavily on their heroic themes, yet dabble in the particular universe for each one.  For example, in Thor, you’ll combat the mighty Devastator or take on the bothersome (and odd-looking) Loki; in X-Men, Magneto will be a thorn in your side, and the Blob (“NOTHING MOVES THE BLOB!”) will pop up on occasion.  Also, we like how the devil has a permanent place on the Ghost Rider table.

Each table is fully supported with online leaderboards, three Achievements/Trophies apiece, and add-ons to your previous Pinball Wizard score, so you can pick up right where you left off when it comes to pursuing high scores and showing your friends who the pinball boss is.  The interactive leaderboards are always a great feature for this sort of game, so you can see who’s eating your dust – and who’s still the pinball king (or queen) on your block.

Now, let’s break down each of the tables themselves; we’ll start with the weakest one.

The Thor table, though authentic when it comes to following the Myriad of the Asgard hero (who found Hollywood fame earlier this summer), isn’t half bad.  Some of the skill shots are pretty cool, and it’s interesting how your ball is evaporated into a rainbow to Asgard’s gates when you need to start a new round.  But too often, the ramps are a little steep for their own good, which means your ball will come rolling back to you more often than you’d prefer.  What’s more, Thor won’t shut up.  He continuously talks about Asgard (“FOR ASGARD!”) no matter what you’re shooting at.  If you can get past these hindrances, you’re in for a  treat.

Second up is The X-Men table, and while we prefer the raw nature of the Wolverine table (which was included in the initial Marvel Pinball release), this one is pretty good.  Some familiar characters pop up throughout, including Professor X, Magneto and Iceman, and there are plenty of ramps and scoring lanes to shoot the ball into.  The skill shot at the beginning is somewhat iffy (you have to be PERFECT with Cyclops’ launch beam or lose it), and some upper table stuff is tough to shoot at, but we’re pleased with it.

Then we have the Ghost Rider table, and this is a really cool one.  There’s something going on all over the table, whether it’s with the upper ramps (complete with spinning roulette wheel), a reverse flipper shootout, that devil (as we mentioned earlier) and a cool shotgun that sits on the left hand corner, occasionally setting up a mother of a skill shot.  This table runs nice and clean, and is more entertaining in a few minutes’ time than the entirety of that Nicolas Cage film.  Yep, we said it.  (Granted, we’re not talking about the sequel just yet, we’ll give it a chance.)  Ghost Rider is a must buy.

Finally, we’ve saved the best for last, and ironically enough, it’s probably the most obscure.  Moon Knight features a suave, futuristic setting for its table, with a variety of trick shots to shoot for, along with ramps and some well-placed bumpers.  What’s more, it’s easy to activate bonus rounds and set up some good scoring runs, ideal for keeping up in the leaderboards.  Plus the sound is fantastic, the visuals look great, and that flying-in intro is vastly different from any previous pinball game before it.  If you’re only going to buy one table, give this a go.

MotionSports Adrenaline Review

Haven’t Kinect users already suffered enough with the bad games they’ve had to put up with?  Sure, there have been a handful of great ones (Kinect Disneyland Adventures, Child of Eden, The Gunstringer), but on the flip side, there have also been some truly atrocious efforts that no one should have to put up with, not even by accident (we’re looking at you, Hulk Hogan’s Main Event).

But no, Ubisoft thinks we haven’t suffered enough, and so with that, it’s produced a sequel to its somewhat average 2010 sports effort MotionSports, co-named Adrenaline.  That name is kind of misleading, because you won’t feel an ounce of adrenaline here.  Well, maybe you will, but it’ll be all anger-induced, as you scream at your Kinect and wonder what the heck you’re doing wrong.

MotionSports Adrenaline does feature six completely different activities from the original game, which serves as one of its few benefits.  We’re talking rock climbing, kayaking, kite surfing, mountain biking, skiing, and wingsuit skydiving.  The problem is that only two of these sound somewhat appealing when it comes to motion controls in the first place.  Do you really see yourself performing paddling motions with your Kinect?  Or, for that matter, trying to grab a rock in the right place while spread out in an awkward Spider-Man position?

Along with performing the main actions in each activity (as you would in real life), you’ll also need to occasionally perform stunts and collect points that are scattered on each course in order to bump up your score.  High scoring here is vitally important because you can compete against other players’ top scores online.  That would be appealing if the boards weren’t actually in dire need of competition.  Seriously, there aren’t that many people beckoning to become MotionSports gods.

There’s a good reason for that – the game sucks when it comes to controls.  Each activity relies on motion support to get things done on-screen, whether you’re moving arms and legs for rock climbing, sprawling out like an eagle for wingsuit flying, or jerking left and right to avoid crashing with biking and skiing.  The timing of said controls is way off, often leading to a number of mistakes that cost you the precious time you need to compete.  Worse yet, pop-up windows will get in the way of menu interaction, forcing you to start from scratch on the menu screen.  When all you’re trying to do is finish the activity you’re on, it’s a completely frustrating affair.

Between inaccuracies and delays with the controls, you probably won’t get into any of the activities whatsoever.  This makes the modes offered in each activity moot, including Quick Play, Adrenaline Party, and You Against the World.  The last two require competition in order to get the most out of them, and like we said, the community’s really a ghost town here.  They’re more than likely playing the heck out of Kinect Sports Season 2 instead.  Can’t say we blame them.