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9
Aug
2009
Fat Princess Review
Overview
Fat Princess is a $15 game developed by Titan Studios and it’s a PS3 exclusive. The game first shown on E3 2008 and since then there have been a lot of hype and anticipation surrounding the title and it was well deserved.
Controls
The control scheme in Fat Princess is really simple and that’s one of the things that make the game so fun, to perform your basic attack on any class you hit the square button, hit the triangle button and you will change weapons. Also you can lock on your enemies with the L1 button; this is pretty useful, especially when you are using the ranger. With every class you can charge your attacks by holding the square button, this increase the power of your attack.
Graphics
The art style of this game is wonderful, with awesome cel-shaded graphics that make the game look incredible. There are a lot of things happening on the screen and the frame rate will stay very steady. The game is very colorful and looks very nice, and when you see it you think is a kid’s game but suddenly a Warrior comes and kills you and a huge amount blood comes out, this is pretty funny. I must say that this is one of the best looking games on the PSN.
Gameplay
You can find a lot of different modes on Fat Princess, and the single player aspect of the game works like a tutorial showing you all of them. One of the modes is the Snatch n’ Grab, the objective in this mode is kidnapping the enemy’s princess from their castle and carry her to your castle, this process needs to be done 3 times to win the game; an awesome thing that I found on this game was the fact that if you are the top scoring player on the game when the match ends you will turn yourself into “The Death” and be practically invincible and extremely powerful, so you will be able to kill all the remaining enemies with ease.
There are five different classes in the game:
First, we have the worker, this guy needs to collect resources like wood and take them to the base; this resources are used to upgrade the castle or build doors or bridges. Using the worker sounds a little boring because the only thing that you do is collect and build but actually is really fun and important to win the match.
The warrior is the most powerful class in the game, you will be carrying a sword and a shield and will have a lot of health. Basically the warrior is used to kill some enemies or to breach into the enemy castle.
The ranger carries a bow, so it is able to shoot arrows, you can use fire to light up your arrows which will increase the damage done to the enemy. When this class is upgraded you will carry a very powerful shotgun that causes a lot of damage to the nearby enemies.
Now, we have the mage, this class wields a staff that can throw fireballs, also you can charge up your attack holding the square button inflicting damage on the enemies that are near you. If the mage is upgraded you will get a secondary ice attack which slows downs the enemies making them easier to kill.
Finally we have the priest; this class is a support class so you can only heal your enemies recharging their health. If this class is upgraded you will turn into a dark priest, which is the exact opposite of the pries, because you will drain the life of your enemies.
The Bottom Line
9.5/10
In the end Fat Princess is an incredibly fun game, with a very deep gameplay and amazing visuals, very fun to play offline and online with your friends, making it one of the best and most fun games available on the PlayStation Network.
16
Jul
2009
Droplitz Review
Overview
Droplitz is a game developed by Blitz Arcade and published by Atlus. The game is $9.99 and is out now on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. I have to say that Droplitz took me by surprise! After browsing through the marketplace, I stumbled upon this game. Once I noticed that the publisher was Atlus, I was immediately interested and went to watch some gameplay videos. It seemed like an extremely addictively puzzler, and true me, it doesn’t disappoint.
Controls
The path making process consists of rotating circular pieces that have paths inside them. Once you align them with each other they connect to make a larger pathway. You need to plan ahead how you are going to rotate this dials because if one of the Droplitz hits a dead end you will immediately lose. There are different types of dials; they have various shapes so you need to plan which dial to rotate to be able to create the path for the Droplitz. The way the game controls is fairly intuative, you use one button to rotate the dials to the right and another button to rotate them to the left. So, not too complicated.
Graphics
Visually, Droplitz is nothing that will blow you away. This is kind of obvious considering it is a puzzle game, but the graphics are very clean and do their job making the game presentable and visually appealing. When you are making your way through the game you will see that the themes of the puzzles are constantly changing, this is pretty good because the backgrounds and the music evolve similarly to how Lumines created backgrounds and moods set to music in various stages.
Gameplay
For a 10 dollars game, Droplitz offers a lot of content. You can find four different game modes, each with different boards to play in. These different levels are made available as unlockable content that is obtained through achieving certain high scores. While the first goal is fairly easily attained, as you progress through this downloadable title, the high scores seem harder and harder to reach. The first mode is the Classic Mode, in here you only need to create paths and get a good score, as simple as that. (Well, it’s called “classic” for a reason, right?)
The second mode that you can find in Droplitz is the Zendurance Mode. This mode challenges you to last as long as you can while playing the game, and while doing so you will have to keep creating paths in order to keep your “life” meter up. When you select this mode you will be able to choose between the different themes that you have unlocked while playing the Classic game. These themes have different music and a different kind of background attributed to each of them.
The third mode is the Power-Up mode. Like the name indicates, in this mode you will get a variety of power ups that modify the gameplay. Example of these are a power up that slows down everything and help you to create the paths with more time, another type of power up is one that destroys the area where you place it, you can use these with certain dials that make your work easier.
The fourth and last mode available in Droplitz is the Infection Mode. In this mode the dials will get “infected”, and when this happens they will be harder to rotate because they slow their rotation speed down making the path-making process more difficult. You will also have the power ups at your disposal in this mode, so you have to think about how you are going to use them to keep things flowing.
The Bottom Line
8.5/10
In the end Droplitz is an incredible game, extremely addictive and fun. With a very simple gameplay mechanic, this title will steal a lot of hours from your life. If you are a puzzle fan or you only want a game to spend some time with I extremely recommend you to look into this title.
12
Jul
2009
Battlefield 1943 Review
Overview
Battlefield 1943 is the latest entry on the classic Battlefield franchise, this time developer DICE have decided to take a different approach and make a download only title for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
Controls
The controls in BF1943 are the same as other shooters on the consoles like Battlefield: Bad Company and Call of Duty, you aim and shoot with the triggers. You can also take control of different vehicles like jeeps, tanks and airplanes, in here the controls also feel very solid but you will have a hard time maneuvering your bomber.
Graphics
Considering that this game is a downloadable title the graphics are great, the maps are very detailed, the water looks awesome and the explosions on vehicles and airplanes also looks very good. The Frostbite Engine makes a good job to keep the frame rate solid while a lot of action is happening on the screen. Also the character models look good with great animations and very detailed uniforms. Another thing that I liked from the overall presentation of the game is the menus; they are very stylish and work really well.
Gameplay
This aspect of the game doesn’t come with any surprises, it is classic battlefield gameplay so everything that you liked (and hated) of older Battlefield titles is still present in this game; this is not something bad at all, you will still have loads of fun playing this title. Initially there are 3 maps on the game, I say “initially” because DICE added a community challenge where the objective is to reach 43 million kills between all the people that are playing the game, when this happens a new map named Coral Sea will unlock for everyone. The game features 3 different classes (Rifleman, Infantry and Scout) each with different guns, explosives and melee weapons. DICE has managed to balance the whole game adding weaknesses to all the vehicles and the classes.
The Bottom Line
9.0/10
Battlefield 1943 is one of the best titles that have been released on the PSN and the XBLA, it blends great graphics with extremely fun gameplay, resulting in a package that every shooter fan should get.
17
Jun
2009
Sucker Punch Delivers a Knock-Out: inFAMOUS Review
Sucker Punch 2009 for the PS3
Overview
Sony has found their new posterboy in this new multi-faceted main character, Cole. inFAMOUS is altogether a really well thought through, great game from beginning to end. This is the kind of title that you play for hours, and when you finally turn it off, you can’t help but keep thinking about it. Not that there’s anything extraordinary about the storyline that sucks you in more than any other game, but there is just so much freedom to manipulate the world however you choose, that the game becoming strangely addictive.
Controls
I have to congratulate the team that developed the controls for this game. Being able to control a super-hero’s every move with a small-handheld controller, yet still have all of the inputs be intuitive is no small feat. They somehow managed to pull it off though. With everything from being able to scale any building on the map, to using your powers to “fly”, the player actually feels really in-tune with the character, because of how easily they can manipulate him to perform the most complicated moves. My only critique is that that radius around objects that you essentially “snap to” as if you were going to climb them when you fly by is entirely too large. Just because I may be flying near an object doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m going to want to cling onto it and climb it instead of continuing on my current flightpath. But, since everything else is done so well, this minor detail is negligible.
Graphics
Sucker Punch did a great job of creating a nextgen game without losing the stylistic flare they were trying to achieve this game. The graphic novel cutscenes are a nice change of pace compared to graphics heavy cinematics of say: MGS4. Not to say that anything is wrong with having movie quality graphics incorporated between gameplay, however the graphic novel approach seemed to work well with the feeling of this particular game. One thing that was done particularly well was the distance that was rendered in the open world map. You could take your character to the top of the highest building, then use the zoom-in ability, and you could still see details for nearly as far as the eye could see. However, the character models felt slightly unfinished as a whole. Specifically towards the very beginning of the game when there is a lot of dialogue, it’s really evident that the production was rushed to meet a deadline, and they simply didn’t get around to polishing off all of the edges of the character models and talking animations. The good part about this though, it that is has absolutely no effect on the gameplay whatsoever!
Gameplay and Story
I cannot brag enough about how much fun this game was to play. I was looking forward to this title for multiple reasons, but once I got my hands on the controls, I forgot all of them and just got sucked into how much plain fun it was to run through Empire City as a “walking sparkplug”. What makes this game stand out is the engine it is running on. There is ZERO lag for the game no matter how many explosions are onscreen at the same time, or how many dozens of enemies you are fending off. That’s the beauty of an engine that is specifically made for a game, rather than a game that is designed to work around the capabilities of a specific engine. All in all, the storyline and gameplay were captivating and addictive, what more can you ask for from a new IP?
The Bottom Line
9.4/10
Despite the fact that I’ve already beaten the game completely through twice, and gotten the platinum trophy, I don’t see this game collecting dust on my shelf for long. Even after you beat the game, there is so much fun to be had simply rampaging through the streets and abusing your superpowers against “exploding pedestrians”. This is one of the best titles yet to be released on the PlayStation 3 platform, and I would go far enough to say that no self-respecting PS3 owner’s game collection would be complete without this game among the others on the shelf! If you haven’t bought this game already, I don’t know what you’re waiting for, if you have then you’re probably going to do the same thing I am after writing this, go back to playing more inFAMOUS!
13
Jun
2009
New Reviews Incoming!
I am writing the first installment of a new series of reviews that I’m going to call: “I’ve got the platinum, so I know what I’m talking about.” For those of you who don’t know, I’m a huge trophy/achievement collector and have over 1500 trophies now. So, just because I’m limiting these reviews to games that I have platinums for, it won’t really restrict me since I have 19 of those already. Keep checking back, because this inFAMOUS review will be coming soon!
26
Apr
2009
Worms Review
Overview
Worms finally hits the downloadable marketplaces (XBLA and PSN), developed by Team 17 and with a $12.99 price tag, featuring a variety of challenges, offline and online multiplayer modes.
Controls
If you are familiar with the original title, then the controls won’t be that much of a surprise for you. Also, if you are new to the franchise then don’t worry, there really isn’t that much a learning curve. Overall the controls are pretty simple and not really hard to understand for gamers of any age.
Graphics
Worms boasts incredible animations, extremely colorful backgrounds and nice explosions. The developers held true to their style of graphics but still managed to give it a nice little nextgen tweek. The game have a very steady frame rate and it is overall pretty good in the visual aspect.
Gameplay and Story
When you first watch this game you can think the gameplay is really simple, but when you play it you will realize that it is incredibly deep; when you use your weapons you may want to think of some things before pressing the fire button. One of these elements is the trajectory and power of the wind. This wind (which is constantly changing) has a major impact on the trajectory of your missiles or grenades, making it a very important factor. The main goal on this game is to simply destroy the worms from the other team before they kill you. Overall the gameplay in this game is very well balanced and is have pretty much everything you can expect when buying a Worms game.
The Bottom Line
8.5/10
Worms is one of the best and post additive multiplayer titles available on the downloadable marketplace spectrum. I would highly recommend this title to anyone, especially if you like the previous Worms games.
25
Apr
2009
Flock Review
Overview
Flock is a physics based puzzle-platformer where you take control of a flying saucer to guide a variety of animals to your mother ship. The game features a single player and co-op. This game is published by Capcom and costs $14.99 or 1200 points.
Controls
In Flock you have control of a flying saucer that produces some sort of power that scares the animals that are near you, so basically you need to move the left stick to move the ship in order to make all the animals walk (or run) to the Motheflocker. But not everything is that easy, sometimes you will need to move some obstacles or you need to make some bridges with the objects that are around you, to do this you need to press the R2/RT button. And finally with L2/LT button you can deploy some sort of boost that makes your ship go faster for a moment.
Graphics
The graphics in this game are very nice and crisp, but it lacks some variety, most of the levels look really similar. The frame rate is very solid; this makes the experience very smooth and more enjoyable. Not too much more can be expected from this genre in a downloadable title.
Gameplay and Story
We can say that this is the aspect of the game that is lacking; sometimes you want to guide the animals to some place but they go the other way. However, this can make the experience extremely frustrating. On every level of the game you try to make your best to earn a variety of badges (Bronze, Silver, Gold) awarded to you based on your performance, also you can find leaderboards to compare your score with your friends. There is even a level editor where you can create your own levels. This really is one of the few elements that gives lasting appeal to a title the seems to like a lot of replayability.
The Bottom Line
7.0/10
Flock is a game that could have been a lot better. You have the features, you have the content, but the gameplay can drive a lot of people away from this game. It is worth checking out, but very hard to justify the $15 price tag.
11
Apr
2009
Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic Review
Overview
Rag Doll Kung Fu is a 2D fast paced combat game developed by Tarsier Studios. The game features single player challenges and 4 player local multiplayer, sadly there is no online available on this game. The game costs $9.99 and it was released on the PlayStation Store on 04/09/09.
Controls
The controls of this game are really simple, you jump with X, punch with Square and kick with Triangle. You can also make special attacks like a lightning ball or a flying kick, these moves are performed with a superb implementation of the motion controls. In addition you can move your character’s arms ala LittleBigPlanet, to do this you need to hold the R2 or L2 buttons and move the analog sticks. Not really necessary, but a lot of fun to do.
Graphics
The visual quality in this game is great and it reminds me quite a lot to LittleBigPlanet. The game features a variety of levels that have lasting visual appeal. The ragdoll physics are always good for a chuckle, and this joke never seems to get old. Considering its a 2d party-fighter in the same vein as the Smash Bros series, the graphics blew all of their competitors out of the water.
Gameplay and Story
In Rag Doll Kung Fu you can play 8 different single player challenges where you need to achieve certain objectives, there are 4 different medals attached to every challenge (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Plastic). The difficulty of these challenges is very well balanced; they aren’t frustrating but they require a certain amount of practice to beat them. On the multiplayer portion of the game we can find 4 different modes (Deathmatch, King of the Hill, Dodgeball and Capture the Fish). The most entertaining multiplayer mode is dodgeball: on this unique mode you throw a ball in flames to the other 3 characters to try to hit them and earn points. The game also features certain unlockables where you can earn clothing to customize your character. You can also find leaderboards for every challenge, here you can compare your score with your friends and with people around the world. But after all of this, there still seems to be a key feature missing with the lack of online multiplayer.
The Bottom Line
8.0/10
Rag Doll Kung Fu is an incredibly fun and entertaining game that you will find yourself coming back to again and again both by yourself and with friends. However, the absence of online multiplayer seems to take away from what could have been an incredible title. But, there’s still room for a future patch!
8
Apr
2009
WipEout HD Review
Overview
WipEout HD developed by the masterminds over at Sony Liverpool is another title of the classic WipEout franchise, which is known for its excellence and quality. The game is a downloadable only title but it has enough content to be a full retail title; with 8 tracks, online modes and a decent lasting campaign, this game offers a great package for just $20.
Controls
The developer gives you two ways of controlling your ship, you can use the Sixaxis or the analog sticks, obviously it is much easier to play with the analog stick, it is far more responsive. You can use your weapons with the square button and use your airbrakes with L2 and R2, this comes very useful when you need to take really tight turns at high speeds. Overall, the control configuration of WipEout HD is really good and the motion controls are one of the best in the PS3.
Graphics
The Wipeout games are known for the quality of their graphics and this does not change in this version, supporting native 1080p resolution and 60FPS, the game features stunning graphics that can be compared and may even surpass most full retail games. This game renders high resolution textures combined with beautiful backgrounds. While you are racing you can see a lot of things happening on the screen, missiles exploding in front of you, ships flying on the background, an impressive quantitiy of lights and a tracks full of colours. All of this makes WipEout HD one of the most visually stunning game not just only on the PSN but on the PS3.
Gameplay and Story
The graphics are not the only good thing in this game, the gameplay is great, with intuitive controls and a decent camera. For many people the difficulty of this game is going to be tough, so it requires a lot of practice to refine your skills and advance in the campaign mode. In the campaign mode there are 8 grids, each with different types of events, like Tournaments, Single Race, Speed Lap and Time Trial. In each grid you need to earn a specified number of points to advance to the next grid, sometimes this becomes tedious because you might not have sufficient skills to earn more points. In “tournament” and “single race” you will face other opponents and you will have a lot of different weapons to take them down, you can also refill your energy lost by absorbing the weapons instead of using them against the enemies. There is also the option to race online with your friends or other people from around the world. (it works really well) It has a lobby system where you can setup your own games with a lot of options to customize.
The Bottom Line
9.0/10
WipEout HD is an awesome experience that every PS3 owner should play, it has enough content to be a 60 dollars game. It comes highly recommended by me.
4
Apr
2009
Flower Review
Flower
ThatGameCompany 2009 for the PS3
Overview
Flower is the sophomore project for ThatGameCompany on the PS3 platform. Continuing with their roots of solely using Sixaxis controls, as established by their first endeavor, fl0w. This was outlined to be an experiment in creating an “emotional” experience for the gamer. fl0wer takes you through 6 very different stages that all play off different emotions from the bright and cheerful levels depicted in all of the trailers. However, while the game takes your through these “high” emotional moments, it contrasts it with lows as well. The 5th stage particularly is spent in an effort to resurrect nature in a dark is dismal “industrial wasteland”. This dark stage is where the “emotional” gaming experience is allowed to truly shine. It creates a unique gaming experience that I have not found playing any other title.
Controls
One word: Sixaxis. To all of the critics that have stated over and over that Sixaxis is a waste of time and money to have present in the PS3 and controller, this game will finally provide much needed opposition to that argument. This game takes what was a stepping stone in fl0w (using Sixaxis in a 2d environment) and takes it to the next level by incorporating it into a full and brilliant 1080p 3d world. The controls are simply intuitive, nothing more needs to be said. Being restricted by joysticks almost seems like a cage that wouldn’t be fitting of holding the “wind” that you’re controlling within. Instead, the freeform motions allowed by the Sixaxis controls allow the gamer to become more fully immersed in the experience and allow them to almost have a “full body” experience with the game. ThatGameCompany seems to have laid the groundwork of how to successfully implement Sixaxis controls in a title, expect more developers to be taking a hint from them in the future and trying to work it into their titles as well.
Graphics
Beautifully rendered 1080p 3d environments. The crispness of each blade of grass can be visually experiences as you soar through the air and nose-dive into the lush landscape. Each individual blade has physics applied to it so that it reacts to how you (as the wind) affect it. As far as I’m concerned, the graphics are simply the icing on the cake of what is a beautifully crafted game and story. The bright colors are vibrant in the “happy” environments, while the dark colors are deep and rich in the worlds that are made for you to experience “sad” emotions. Once again, I couldn’t ask for more from this standpoint.
Story
Essentially, this is a story without words. The gamer can read a lot into what the publisher is trying to say about nature and the destructive tendencies of our cities on the environment, but in the end I don’t believe that any of that really matters or affects the gaming experience as a whole. These 6 different “dreamstates” give the player a chance to experience the full spectrum of playful windmill farms, to the dark industrial underbelly of a city. But in the end, this game was created to relax the user and create an emotional experience for them to talk about and come back to experience again and again.
The Bottom Line
9.1/10
I don’t know much more you could ask for out of a $9.99 downloadable title. My own complain would be that there aren’t more levels and environments to enjoy. I want more fl0wer! As far as replayability goes, particularly the second and final stages I could see myself coming back to again and again, or even relying to those levels to show the game off to a friend. It is a great title by an innovative company. I look forward to seeing what ThatGameCompany and SCEA Santa Monica Studies come up with for future releases.