Pineapple Smash Crew Review

Pineapple Smash Crew's capabilities should be bullet points for fulfillment: a great aesthetic, rockin' audio and a clever game play hook. But it does not have much in the way of, nicely, an actual game. Just what starts of being a novel premise swiftly devolves into a sometimes mind-numbing routine, souring the initial promise of this kind of quirky little independent game.

Pineapple Break Crew puts a person in control of four cute looking mercenaries. No, truly, their bulging shield and tiny brains - done way up in charmingly old-school graphics : can't help however draw out a smile. The actual mercs only goal in your life is to get money, carried out by smashing enemies a single randomly generated amount after the next. Ultimately they'll gain sufficient "coordinates" through completing quests to unlock the last stage, after which level you can do it all over again. However why you'd want to continue is beyond us. The missions simply don't vary sufficient - in appears, design or opponent types - to maintain it feeling interesting. Moreover money, on the face the reason you're undertaking what you're doing, is only utilized to buy respawns for your mercenaries.

The particular gameplay hook that produces Pineapple Smash Folks stand out is their take on "squad combat" and weapons. You control all of your mercs at once, shifting them about like a little unit, along with firing all their weapons in sync. In reality they will operate as one character with four, a bit spaced out, arms and legs but it's nonetheless a good way to make it experience different.

Its handle grenades, which really simply means all deployable secondary tools in this instance, also creates some initially fulfilling action. Levels tend to be littered with secondary goods, and as you gain levels by gathering expertise orbs you unlock more. Some examples of what drops under the "grenade" moniker within Pineapple Smash Staff include an item that permits you to teleport to its location, getting rid of everything in a series in between, a deployable relationship thrower, as well as more traditional explosives. What they've in common is that they can easily all be tossed out there at will, then after activated with a appropriate click of the mouse. It enables you to, say, toss a product gun grenade past the wall, activating this so it kills a lot of enemies who are unable to get to you. Each member of your product can carry a grenade from any one time, enabling you to quickly mouse tyre through them to be able to, in principle, obtain the right grenade for the scenario at hand.

There are a lot involving grenades to unlock, but none of them of them alter game play enough to really feel all that significant. A lot of games such as Tetris, Crops vs. Zombies and Irritated Birds manage to always be fun despite his or her repetition, most likely due to slight, but critical, tweaks they expose to the gameplay. Like a new zombie or questionable weapon might totally change up the methods you use. More often these kind of games might even bring in a new enemy kind and grenade simultaneously, driving you to adapt. Blueberry Smash Crew furthermore introduces new weaponry and minor adjustments to enemies during its campaign, nevertheless they really change up how we play. A tight few foes problem you by having immunities to a particular weapon types, with the remainder just having a much more health or shield. At no point would I unlock a brand new grenade that corresponded with adversaries that made me combine my tactics. Beginning to end the gameplay only agreed to be run, shoot along with blow up anything My partner and i saw in quantities that quickly combined together.

Gotham City Impostors Review

Ever since it came out, IGN's been a bit bewildered by Gotham City Impostors. It's really a downloadable first-person shooter placed in the Batman whole world, but it doesn't attribute the Dark Knight (who, naturally, is a hero which doesn't believe in pistols). I've spent several days with Gotham City Impostors, and even though I enjoy the game, I'm not sure why it exists. Who was simply asking for this mash-up? It is like when they released Batman action figures along with neon skis, however digress.

There's no single-player campaign throughout Gotham City Impostors outside of a number of medal challenges. The majority of the title can be online firefights between 6 members of team Superman and six people in team Joker. Actually, you are not Batman or even the Joker -- just folks and gals dressed up like the characters. You choose your body type and also loadout before spitting bullets in a of three multi-player modes (iterations involving deathmatch, king of the mountain and capture the particular flag) and wishing you end up with some nice XP to discover the next round involving perks.

It's one-dimensional along with straight forward, but it's great. Plenty of people picked up the particular controller at my workplace and said "Oh, this specific controls just like Cod." It's easy to intention, run, switch guns and everything else you'll expect from a first-person present shooter in 2012. The particular controls feel good plus it runs well -- particularly for an online title wherever you're dying then getting thrown back into the action.

Nonetheless, it's the things you pricier that Gotham City Impostors features loads of. Whereas Orlando Bale and comic books have got trained us all to come up with dark, rainy days with serious undertones in terms of Gotham City and its Caped Crusader, Impostors is focused on cheeseball.

You assemble the character's outfit from leftovers -- a vampire cpe, a cardboard field cowl and so on. All the five maps is actually bathed in natural light with bright purples along with greens radiating from the surfaces. The characters an individual play as goes one-liners such as "Why won't any individual be my friend?!Inch after a kill. This can be like the child associated with COD and the Superman and Robin movie. The Adam West Superman TV show would be it's Godfather. So much crazy will get shoved into the online game that it's easy to find oneself giggling after getting lost or watching the particular animated tutorials.

Whilst you have normal guns like rifles as well as machine guns, unlockable assist items and tools like spring footwear, the glider cape, along with roller skates also get thrown in. You can use boomerangs, excellent green goggles to determine through walls, and also personalized calling cards which means that your victims know whom smoked them.
Also, that Joker hurts.
All of this is... good. I had enough entertaining playing Gotham City Impostors, however was never hooked. The particular flat trees as well as blocky visuals aren't extraordinary, and, outside of deathmatch, the particular modes bore. Whilst perfectly functional and also crammed with unlockables (there's a minimum of a level 500), it amounts to just 5 maps, a sense of laughter and the Batman licence. I don't know if that's sufficient to warrant $15 and the other first-person shooter multiplayer selection.

Even worse for Personal computer players is the fact that it really is incredibly difficult to get right into a game right now. To be truthful, I'm sick of relaxing in lobbies waiting to get the minimal number of players to get started on. Hopefully, this gets greater as the days spin by, but today, it's frustrating. In addition, there's no gamepad support pertaining to Gotham City Impostors.

What's interesting -- at least from a gaming console perspective -- is Gotham Metropolis Impostor's love of the microtransaction. You cash in on costume coins will buy new safety gloves and emblems for the character throughout the sport, but if you don't feel as if waiting, you can use actual money to buy the light looks. I'm great with the ability to buy colder calling cards and friends that float close to your character, nevertheless the ability to buy one hour of Double Exp over and over again is a bit unusual.

Syndicate Review

Recreating a classic game in a new genre runs an overwhelming risk of failure. Not only must the product satiate fans of the original experience, the new game also needs to stand on its own with successful design choices and innovation. Oftentimes the redo reflects the exact standards and formulas of its new genre rather than marching boldly into new territory. Syndicate falls into this trap, telling a boring tale of swapping allegiances amidst flurries of gunfire. Yet it escapes the "just another shooter" label by executing an entertaining co-op mode, fun, manipulative gameplay, and good scoring ideas -- it just doesn't take them far enough to be great.

Giant corporations rule the world in Syndicate. Each employs deadly agents to fight over turf and technology. In this horrifying future, every citizen has a chip implanted in their head which the manufacturer can access. Eurocorp, the company employing Syndicate's protagonists, created top tier technology in the form of DART 6, a chip so powerful it allows its owner to slow down time using augmented vision and break into other's chips. This shooter draws inspiration and a few details from its 1993 PC origins, but sets itself up as a completely new experience. There's no isometric strategy here, Syndicate is all shooter.

The single-player plot tells the tale of Miles Kilo, a newly prepped agent who rediscovers his mysterious origin, and struggles with questions of why he fights and who he's fighting for. It's a generic story that cycles like an exercise in familiarity. Regardless of the player's choices at various junctures, Syndicate follows a singular route that doesn't reflect the player's behavior. While the lack of control is thematically congruent, all gameplay indicators point to a more open-ended conclusion which is frustrating. The co-op campaign takes a different route, opting for a "day in the life" approach rather than a story, which makes the missions more fun to fight through as they don't force plot into action.

Bluish hues dominate the journey through Syndicate's futuristic setting. While developer Starbreeze Studios paints blinding lights around almost every corner, the world maintains a clean and simple design, while also mixing styles with New York slums, Atlantic sea bases, and the alleyways of China. The settings, characters, and tech elements look really polished -- even if a train station in Los Angeles looks exactly like one in China. The DART overlay (the chip's analytical slow-motion view) paints a great sci-fi picture, and the onscreen reflection of damage marks a great pairing of visuals and context. When the screen scrambles like a loose HDMI cable, the full gravity of having a chip implant comes to life.

Manipulating the world using the DART chip is what sets Syndicate apart from other shooters. Under this shooter's skin, there's a puzzle game hiding amidst the gunfire -- one of Syndicate's best features. Using a hacking mechanic called breaching, players can enact horrors upon enemies' chips, making them kill themselves, shoot their comrades, or drop to the ground, stunned. By juggling these skills to destroy groups of enemies, there's a strategic sub-layer of action that goes beyond pulling the trigger.

Unfortunately, the trio of breach skills all perform in a similar manner, making them less useful than intended during the single-player campaign. Also, a bodycount-heavy portion of the campaign removes two of the powers entirely (due to malfunction), leaving the stun mechanic as the only available tool. Co-op shakes up the skills with additional features, favoring team-boosting powers like faster breaching and short-term damage boosters, but won't allow the powerful suicide and persuade skills into the mix. This creates a more complex balance that leans heavily on working together as a team.

Alan Wake Review

The PC version involving Alan Wake offers followed a long, folding path and occasionally decreased off cliffs. Remedy's motion game - it's first since Greatest extent Payne 2 - was first announced for Xbox 360 system and PC. Your computer version was afterwards cancelled for doubtful reasons, and sold as an Xbox 360 unique title when it was published in 2010 for Windows console. But the wish to put together a PC model never died out from Remedy, and in delayed 2011 the business re-announced Alan Wake pertaining to PC, which includes yet content as the Xbox 360 console version plus the Transmission and Writer down loadable content packs.

Your protagonist, Alan Aftermath, isn't initially a great action hero. He has been a popular fiction copy writer attempting to escape your pressures of celebrity and creative expectation as their vacation in Bright Drops quickly turns Dual Peaks weird. His or her wife goes missing, and his awesome search to find the girl is swiftly redirected into the realm of your paranormal, forcing him to get a gun as well as pull the bring about to stay alive. It becomes an adventure heavily advised by television shows just like X-Files and Twilight Area and horror fictional from Stephen King as well as H.P. Lovecraft. Display, character building, and also plot twists accept just as big a job as the tightly hurt action gameplay you'll expect from a Treatment title. The result is the swirling tale involving fiction that's endearingly self-aware, that will occasionally sputters and stumbles, nevertheless offers enough frightens, laughs, and excitement to keep you connected.

The core account spans six assaults, each crafted similar to part of a Television miniseries. After the first episode's exposition each and every that follows comes to an end with a cliffhanger, fades with a title screen (funnily without credits) because songs from the mission's excellent licensed soundtrack enjoy, and then transitions right into a plot recap since the next begins. Regardless of whether episodic gaming isn't specifically original at this point, the fashion of the presentation meets with what Remedy is wanting to accomplish here; supplying a video game knowledge that feels like any novel presented as being a TV show.



This joining together of different arts details all aspects of the video game, from how the account is told within just each episode, how the characters are designed, to how you connect to the environments. Available are standard cut-scenes in which characters interact and also advance the action in addition to plenty of inner speech voice over from Aftermath as he comes across brand-new and strange phenomena. As with a written work, this gives for insight into mental performance of the protagonist without overly artificial figure interaction to draw it, and various other storytelling devices additional fragment the order of truth. Techniques employed by Treatment to convey the unfocused anger of Max Payne, a sport fans will find referrals to throughout Joe Wake, are used a lot more subtly here to develop a sense of mystery, seclusion, and creeping hate.

By leaving the straightforward road to the next checkpoint as well as exploring the surroundings, shower radios and television sets are located in spots like solid wood lookout towers along with construction site trailers. It could be tempting for some to be able to plow past these accessories to get to the end, yet I'd strongly help you take the time to listen to and observe everything you can. This highlights what a good job Remedy has done developing a richly detailed sport world that holds authenticity even as their plot spirals further in the mists of the fantastic.

Specifics delivered through radio stations broadcasts and the Evening Zone-esque live-action "Night Springs" television show poke exciting at the genre's conventions, develop out character, and also dump more self-referential foundations into Remedy's melting container of mediums. Aftermath frequently stumbles across manuscript web pages which, like music logs in BioShock, satisfy the requirements of providing standpoint from other characters not necessarily otherwise possible, foreshadowing activities to come, as well as describing bits of the backstory. The particular twist is the web pages were written by Get up himself, something this individual can't recall performing. Making sure you investigate and collect as much as possible helps to much more fully develop the planet and story, along with building tension since the game blurs truth and also fiction.

Bright Drops and its forested tremendous mountain surroundings are genuinely realized and speak out loud with realism. Get up is a famous determine everyone recognizes, every one of the townsfolk know each other, and so they seems more anxious and excited around an upcoming town event than they are using the dangers encroaching from all facets. Of course everyone has his or her secrets, some malicious and some hilarious, along with sifting through the r / c programs, manuscript pages, along with talking to everyone allows solidify their private. While many still are removed as stereotypical -- there's the staple comic-relief figure, the batty old girl, the good-hearted local police officer, the troublesome Federal bureau of investigation agent - the direction they behave and interrelate retains them entertaining. Solution built in a large amount of external dialogue that's well worth hearing so if you look for a character be sure to hang out and listen to what they've got got to say, even though not all the words acting is of the identical high quality.

Additional personality is exuded by the form of the environments. Remedy's talent with crafting areas that feel were living in is readily evident. Locations are full of detail and experience rusted and used. Weeds choke the rear lot of the police stop, surrounding the husk of a prolonged forgotten vehicle. A new recliner ringed with alcohol cans sits on a construction package overlooking a superbly lighted power grow, reinforcing the idea that there is no whole lot to do to keep things interesting around these components. A mental remedy building is lined with motivating posters and heavenly paintings that mirror the ego in the proprietor and function in the establishment. This personal scale of fine detail is then juxtaposed with disaparate vistas as you fellow deep into moonlit pile valleys rippling with shadow. This gives the game feeling of place and objective, making it an easy entire world to identify with.

King Arthur II Review

The poet Ogden Nash once explained: "Middle age is when you might have met so many people that each new person an individual meet reminds anyone of someone else.In . I guess I must function as the youngest middle-aged person at any time, because it's uncanny simply how much King Arthur II jogs my memory of a bunch of outdated games, especially any turn-based title called Centurion: Defensive player of Rome. Prefer that game, KAII is played out primarily on an cost to do business map (of Great britain rather than the Roman Empire in such cases), and gameplay contains tactical battles spread with administrative jobs and a series of Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-esque diplomacy and also espionage quests. Unlike that will game, KAII isn't greatly fun.

And when I only say "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-esque," that's practically what the lion's share in the "RPG" gameplay consists of right here. You begin a mission by moving the army to it about the overworld map, and are offered a series of text discussion boxes. You can select a variety of approaches concerning how to respond to the writing, but all you do is click A new, B, or H. "Stats" as such don't access the equation, the particular entirety of game play here boils down to that of the several multiple-choice options you decide to go with. Since numerous pathways will often resulted in the same result (or perhaps slightly different ones), the actual quests tend to be devolve directly into clickthrough exercises that you just sort of want to get through as soon as possible. On the plus part, though, these missions are often interesting and well-written, and also the narrator, at least, is a good quality voice actor whom brings a sense of "book-on-tape" towards the quest portions. Certain, you probably didn't obtain a computer game for that book-on-tape encounter, but the quality perhaps there is, nevertheless.

The actual fights, of which you'll have lots, are a much more action-packed event, if a bit disorderly. Here, KAII tries their best to take a web site from the Total Warfare series - and also to its credit, KAII seems every bit as snazzy, if not more, compared to best AAA wargames on the market -- but inferior Artificial intelligence, both for enemies along with your own troops, and also a too-forgiving level of difficulty in normal and a way too hard level about anything higher than in which, render the military medical casualty something of an physical exercise in going through the moves. Generally, you'll situation your units prior to a battle, make an effort to come up with some kind of crystal clear strategy, give a number of initial orders, and also let fly, at which all hell basically breaks loose, partially because of the poor Artificial intelligence going pell-mell at the adversary, and partly as you can't practically make use of tactics other than flowing into melee because of KAII's miracle spell addition.

Notice, KAII employs a Master associated with Magic-type hero system, where your army's general (you are able to only ever have a few, disappointingly) can equip various items that will improve his (or his or her units') effectiveness in fight, and can cast periods directly at opponent troops. Theoretically, it is a nice touch associated with direct influence within an otherwise hands-off situation, nevertheless apart from waiting for these phones cool down after a spreading, throwing spells usually come with no cost or perhaps downside. You just mash absent at the spell key whenever you get the chance, absolutely no tactics necessary. Therefore your army must close with as well as engage enemy soldiers as quickly as possible to avoid being whittled straight down by lightning screws and debilitating curses when you maneuver.

And that problem speaks to the larger one particular: KAII is generally weak gravy. Aside from the fairly clear choose-your-own-adventure stuff, the advertising campaign fails to provide much of either ideal or tactical problem. Often, enemy nations around the world will have the means to annihilate your own unprotected lands, however never send a military that you won't be able take care of (if they send 1 at all). Partly for the reason that the AI is actually super forgiving in doing what it throws to you, even on the more challenging difficulty levels, and in addition because the tactical combat really doesn't require much in the way associated with battlefield acumen - despite the fact that if you increase the issues, enemies get significantly tougher, if not any kind of smarter, so plan for frustration.

On paper, you would like your archers behind your own foot soldiers, as well as your cavalry on the flanks (with just about any monster/demon/magic units doing what they have to do), but in exercise if you start the particular battle with experienced products of pretty much any kind, you're going to win. You could have more casualties, however, these are easily replaced with the press of a button. And then your models garner more expertise, and then you're much more badass, rinse and repeat. The original Master Arthur was criticized internet marketing too difficult (and if a person jack up the difficulty, KAII will even feel unfair), yet, at least on the go into default setting, the pendulum provides swung too far inside other direction here.

Dear Esther Review

Since it was at first released as a no cost Source engine mod in 2008, there's been a great deal of conversation about regardless of whether Dear Esther really is important as a game. I have found this an hugely boring question; you should be more interested in what it is offering than how to determine it. With no objectives, guns, puzzles or even any of the other things which you often find in online games, Dear Esther is an research the video game type, a piece of interactive visible storytelling; spend your $ 10 (or £6.99) and also expect an adventure video game, and you'll be disappointed. It is advisable to understand exactly what Expensive Esther is, and what it really attempts, before you decide whether or not you're inclined allow it a chance.

I located Dear Esther fresh; I just read the discussion round the original mod with awareness, but never really played it, for guessing that many prospective purchasers will be in a similar boat. Those who usually are not, though, will be very happy to know that the atmosphere on the planet and the incredible visual detail do ample to justify the game as being a commercial release. Should you be at all interested in looking at what games can perform outside of the traditional variety templates, Dear Esther gives an unforgettable two hours that may leave you feeling edified, contemplative, and possibly actually emotionally moved.

Expensive Esther is the story of your shipwrecked castaway on a remote Hebridean tropical isle, delivered through voiced lines of appealing, disconnected prose because you walk around the in depth landscape. The producing is unashamedly florid, flitting on a regular basis in an unsettling method between past and provides, and usually addressed for the eponymous Esther, whose identity turns into clear as time goes on. Inside first chapter, your narrator talks mostly within beautifully phrased snippets of info about the history of the area. Later on, his remarks becomes stranger plus more impassioned.

You don't actually do anything at all except guide the unseen protagonist around the isle, taking in the natural great thing about the coast as well as the startling luminescence of the subterranean caves. You stroll from lonely, bumpy beaches up wind-stripped hillside hills, through richly thorough underground caves and thru the skeletons involving long-decayed ships. You are directed, without ever genuinely feeling like you are now being led, by refined visual cues in which stand out against the panorama and draw an individual towards them : a low-hanging moon, a new slowly blinking interaction tower, or the yawning jaws of a cave.

It's really a ghost story, associated with sorts. Oblique graffiti sets out to appear on cliff people and cave partitions as time has on on, and it keeps a sense of mystery all the way through to its conclusion. Audio is often absent, allowing you to listen to the breeze and crashing surf, but fades inside and out with exquisite time to emphasise occasions of narrative importance. The perfect isolation with the island communicates any loneliness and a feeling of suspense that's far beyond precisely what traditional games try. If nothing else, Dear Esther gifts one of the most absorbing as well as believable worlds within gaming.

Dear Esther demands nothing of you nevertheless to occupy the world. There's very little functionality; a torch happens automatically in the dark, but that is pretty much the reduce. You can't help nevertheless imagine a version with this game that lets you effect and feel, buying pebbles on the beach front to throw in to the sea or thumbing through old textbooks in an abandoned bothy. You're feeling the urge to stop and also stare, to stroll off the path and also explore, but there's constantly the awareness in the rear of your mind that there's definitely not anything to find. Nonetheless, it's impressive Beloved Esther doesn't need puzzles or even mechanics to draw an individual in. The strength of your writing and the globe alone is enough.

I cannot give away anything involving Dear Esther's story along with premise without going bad it, but it's daily enough to support a number of playthroughs. The writing is actually dense with intertextual recommendations, most of them biblical, where there are clues and also allusions in the narrator's musings that you won't spot the first time you participate in through. It will endure between 90 minutes as well as hours, first time by means of; it's likely to be quicker the second and 3rd time. For the price tag, it's not a vast quantity of content, but what is actually there is complete and also well-crafted.

As a piece of visualised misinformation, Esther is a wonderful thing, yet judged purely as being a video game it has clear failings. You'll have to go for yourself whether which is a problem for you. I'm able to only recommend that you provide it a chance; regardless of whether you relate to that in the end, it will have been recently worth the experience. If you undertake connect with it, Beloved Esther can change your perspective about what games could be undertaking.

Jak and Daxter Collection review

I hold a very special place in my heart for the Jak and Daxter series. Games nowadays just don't have that charm that those games did. The wit and humor combined with the top notch platforming made it a joy to play and experience. It was also at a time when Naughty Dog was known for colorful platformers such as Crash Bandicoot and the Jak series. Now Jak and Daxter are making the leap to PS3's 720 resolution, but are they worth re-experiencing all over again?

In one word: Absolutely!

Jak and Daxter stars the titular character Jak and his trusty sidekick Daxter in their numerous adventures through various worlds. Pure platforming bliss was to be had in each game, but the games always strived to provide new and fresh gameplay tweaks with each new sequel.

The Darkness II Review

Ever want to play a demon tentacle simulation game? Well then The Darkness II is for you — if you add good storytelling, tight combat, and tearing apart bodies. Digital Extremes and 2K Games did an awesome job improving on the first game's combat, and while many fans were worried that the storytelling would suffer, that's just not the case.

The story picks up with Jackie Estacado as the Don of the Franchetti crime family. He's subdued the Darkness within him, but after an attempted hit on him, he needs to unleash it to save his life and get revenge. He has visions of his dead girlfriend Jenny and can't get over her death. As he dives further into the mystery of who was behind the hit, he finds that a secret society, The Brotherhood, wants the Darkness for themselves.

The story hits on all of the right notes. It's emotional and tender when it needs to be, and then it will be sharply contrasted with incredible violence. The best part about it is the whole Shutter Island feel to it. When you play it, you'll know what I'm talking about. Little details from a certain cell you're in bleeds into the entire game.

Story is great, but if you have demon powers, you're gonna want to know how awesome they are. On the combat front, The Darkness II does not disappoint. The ability to dual wield firearms and the two Darkness arms kicks combat into a level that's pretty hard to not enjoy. I played on the Xbox 360, and the shooting of firearms were assigns to the left and right triggers (with one gun equipped, the left trigger would aim down the sights), the left bumper would have your left tentacle grab enemies and weapons, and the right bumper would be for slashing with your right tentacle. You have more control over your Darkness melee attacks with the right analog stick; in conjunction with the right bumper, you can control whether your Darkness attack knocks the enemy up into the air or slashes them in two.

The nicest part about killing people — and I can't believe that I said that — is when you grab them and do one of multiple executions that rip of their head or split them in two from the crotch up in a move titled “Wishbone.” These executions restore health or ammo, and can reduce cooldowns on your abilities. It adds a nice layer of strategy to fights, because you have to think about how you want to kill people. Also, be mindful of every light in the area. Shoot those out or you won't be able to use your Darkness powers.

The talent system lets you customize your gameplay to suit your style. Every kill and mission completed gives you dark essence, which you then use to get you abilities. Find yourself using mostly shotguns? Get a talent that gives you larger clips in the dark, or allow you to control the spread of the shotgun blast. Want more health from your enemies hearts? Spec for that. Want to get abilities to unleash a swarm on your enemies to stun them, or give your guns Darkness powers to increase damage? We got that b-roll. 

Enemies aren't very varied, with the most of the bosses just having the ability to teleport, thus making it annoying. Things can get very chaotic, though. As one trick pony as the enemies were, the strategy with light switched things up, and I never found myself getting bored.

The voice acting in the game is impeccable and really brings the story to life. Your mob is full of loveable thugs with hearts of gold underneath all the curse words and gun fights. Oh yea, there's lots of curse words. In particular, the voice actors for Jackie, Darkling, and Jimmy the Grape were great. However, the best was Johnny Powell. He's a stuttering, mentally unstable occultist who knows all about the Darkness and kind of helps Jackie throughout the game. You'll find yourself looking forward to every time you need to talk with Johnny. Also, he describes the relics you collect in the game in your relic trophy room. Listen to these, because they're f**king hilarious. Foreskin or Jesus? Not really Jesus' foreskin — don't ask how he knows.

As good as the voice acting is, the music is hit or miss. In Jackie's residence, the music is perfect and sets a mob/soap opera setting. The music whenever Jackie is present is equally fitting, but then the music just cuts out if you leave a room. It's very off-putting. Also, over all of the combat, you won't even notice the music; there's nothing memorable here.

The game also isn't as long as I thought it would be.  I played on Normal and completed the campaign in about six hours.  In no way did I feel gypped, because the story did have a climax and conclusion, but I kind of wasn't ready for it to be over.

That brings me to my biggest gripe with the main campaign — the ending. While it's awesome, it includes a choice for the player to make. One choice gives you another level to play, prolonging the game. The other... doesn't. It kinda just ends. Luckily, you can go back and play through that level again in New Game + mode, which you get when you beat the game. This allows you to keep your current dark essence and abilities in another play-through of the campaign or just replaying certain levels. So make sure you try both endings out at that pivotal point.

Replay value? The Darkness II offers a co-op, online campaign that coincides with the main story. You can also play standalone missions, called Vendettas. In the multiplayer, you play as one of four hilariously creative characters, each with a special Darkness weapon and customized talent tree. That's right — you level up these characters too. While some of these talents are in the main campaign and available to Jackie, some are special to each characters. The talents are tied to the character's specialty — one has swarm, one has gun abilities, etc.

I fell in love with the visuals.  Darkness II makes excellent use of Cel-shading.  It looks like a mix of Borderlands and the movie A Scanner Darkly.  The art style goes perfectly with the theme of the game.

Ultimately, The Darkness II will captivate you with the combat, but it'll keep you playing due to the story. Even the multiplayer campaign features lines that you're going to want to hear.  Even with a lack of truly memorable enemies, the game doesn't take no for an answer and will demand that you keep playing it.  So pick up a controller, embrace the Darkness, and devour a few hearts. Just promise me you'll stop if light begins to bother you. I'm just kidding; break the light and keep playing.

Law & Order Legacies (PC) Review

Telltale Games is back, and this time they are taking one one of the most recognized television franchises of all time, Law & Order, and bringing it to PC gamers.  Never one to shy away from the difficulties of taking a well-known franchise and turning it into a video game, Telltale Games has developed for iconic franchises like Back to the Future and Jurassic Park.

In their most recent production, they tackled NBC's Emmy-winning Law & Order TV series.  Now, those familiar with the Law & Order franchise know there are dozens of spinoff series like Criminal Intent, Los Angeles, and my personal favorite Special Victims Unit (SVU).  Telltale Games' Law & Order: Legacies takes some of the iconic characters from each of these spinoffs and brings them together in a tightly woven seven episode video game series - of which the first three episodes are now available.

Law and Order: Legacies includes characters like Rey Curtis, Lennie Briscoe, Jack McCoy, and the very lovely Olivia Benson.  Now, if you've ever played a Telltale Game then you're probably familiar with the fact that their games aren't the most realistic looking.  Law & Order Legacies is no different as the character models do resemble the faces you see on TV, but in a very stylized way to them.  It creates a sort of graphic novel feel to the game.  Aside from the extra pounds tacked on to Olivia Benson, the characters are still very recognizable.

The Simpsons Arcade Game Review

It’s been requested for like the longest time, and for good reason.  Konami’s 1991 arcade take on The Simpsons is, without a doubt, one of the best video games the animated family has ever seen.  Granted, that’s mostly because the home games featuring the likes of Homer, Bart and the rest of the clan have outright sucked, namely garbage like Virtual Bart and Bart vs. the Space Mutants.  Konami was just able to “get” that certain something that made them click, rather than surrounding them with lame gameplay aspects.

ow, 21 years after the arcade game’s release, we finally get a meaningful home port, courtesy of Konami.  Of course, it was a smart business move on their part, since both Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and X-Men: The Arcade Game did fairly well on the download front.  But kudos to the developers at Backbone Entertainment, who have not only retained all the glory of the original coin-op, but added some great bonus goodies to boot.

In the game, you choose from Bart, Lisa, Homer or Marge as they set out to rescue baby Maggie, who’s been kidnapped by Smithers after she interrupts their jewel heist and gets a big diamond stuck in her mouth.  Over the course of eight stages, you’ll battle all sorts of goons while picking up food items and weapons, ranging from bowling balls to living animals, like Snowball II.  At the end of each stage, a boss awaits, including a blown-up Krusty balloon, a weird-looking Kabuki dude, and, one of the best end bosses in a video game, Montgomery Burns in a multi-transforming robot suit.  “Excellent.”

The gameplay itself is sheer beat-em-up action, so Konami doesn’t reinvent the wheel – nor does it need to.  This is blissful arcade gaming at its best, and it’s fun to play through, even if the run ends in like 30 to 45 minutes.  You can also play with friends, either locally or online through Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network.  From the sessions we tried, it works just fine, even if folks are just dropping in to help you beat up a bear in the forest.  (Yes, that’s right, a bear.)

But the Simpsons Arcade Game also comes with bonus features.  Once you beat it the first time around, you’ll unlock the Japanese mode, featuring some alternate text and mild changes.  You’ll also unlock extra goodies with each playthrough using certain characters, including promotional flyers and posters, along with a diverse Simpsons character guide.  We didn’t even spot Itchy and Scratchy until this feature pointed out where they were.

In addition, extra modes are available, including a Survival mode, where you try to beat as many people as you can with one life (good luck); and Quarters, where you have a specific amount of credits, just like an arcade game.  (Free Play is also available.)

While The Simpsons hasn’t exactly aged well in terms of graphics, they are arcade perfect, right down to Homer’s ignorant blinking as he walks and Marge’s brutal assaults with a vacuum cleaner.  Additional options are worth noting, including a sharp/smooth graphic filter and the default sized arcade screen.  As for audio, you’ve got plenty of character voices (“I’m Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?”), along with decent (though a little annoying) music and cartoon-style sound effects.

Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword Review (Nintendo 3DS)

It’s taken a little while to get there – like a few months longer than we anticipated – but the Nintendo 3DS eShop is really starting to pick up in a variety of game titles.  Not only do we have some worthwhile 3D classics to choose from, but several original games are validating themselves as must-haves.  The latest to join this bunch is Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword, an action/adventure that has an abundance of hack n’ slash action, along with mini-games, an interactive shopping village, and a sufficient amount of weapon upgrades to keep you hacking away.

The story revolves around a princess who is spirited away by an evil overlord, and the land falling into chaos.  Eventually, the dust settles and peace is restored, though the princess is never really found.  Saddened over this news, an old man who hangs out by a pool of water weeps for her, then finds a destined warrior who can make the perilous journey to rescue her.  You’ll set out on your way, making stops to do battle with warriors and eventually get to temples, where you’ll tackle tough bosses and gain the tools needed to save the princess.

Though the action doesn’t change much in Sakura Samurai, it’ll no doubt be familiar to those who grew up playing a Punch-Out!! game.  There’s a heavy emphasis on dodging opponents when they strike, then hitting them back at the key moment, sometimes with a quick one-two slice, and others with a great combo move, a flurry of sword strikes with flower blossoms pouring out.  As you proceed through each battle, you’ll need to take special care of your katana, using a stone to sharpen it up on occasion or calling upon a blacksmith in the village to treat it like new.

The balance between combat and strategy is very well done in Sakura Samurai, and the game has heaping amounts of action.  Rewards include coins and health upgrades, so you can continue on your journey.  Along with enemy encounters, you can also stop in villages, buy new items, upgrade your weapons, and play a few mini-games that will keep your skills from dwindling.  You’ll also earn your own Rock Garden, which grows as you work your way through the game, unlocking a special hard mode as well as additional challenges.  There’s replay value galore here, even if the gameplay doesn’t change much beyond dodge, strike, repeat.  (But, hey, it worked for Punch-Out!!)

While Sakura Samurai doesn’t have the same style of visual pop as, say, the Ninja Gaiden games, it’s a very good-looking downloadable game.  The traditional samurai environment pops out of the screen, and the bad guys, though lacking in a little bit of variety, strike just like traditional warriors -- some even with a running slash.  The over-the-shoulder perspective is quite satisfying and gives you a decent enough view of enemies that surround you.  The bosses are particularly well designed and give you a run for your money in the heat of battle.  As for the sound, customary samurai tunes and strong weapon effects sufficiently do their work.