The game play in this installment of the series seems gimmicky with a few basic RPG elements, a turn base battle system; and instead of leveling up your characters through the crystrarium to enhance them similar to Final Fantasy X, and you can also upgrade weapons and equipment similar to Final Fantasy VIII. The battles are no longer random enemy encounters happen when you come into the view of the enemy.Summonings are still in the game and can be commanded to attack similar to Final Fantasy VIII but now can transform into vehicles and assist in battle.  After playing 20 plus hours of beautiful movie quality cut scenes the game does start to get interesting, but starts to lose its shine due to  linear progressing before breaking to watch a beautiful story sequence.

The story takes place in Cocoon a utopian sky city that has had a long period of peace and prosperity due to its benevolent protectors the fal’Ce. With the discovery of a hostile fal’Ce from Pulse the lower world is awaken from it’s slumber, peace on Cocoon comes to an end. The fal’Ce curses humans making them l’Ce giving them magical abilities but forced to carry out their focus or be turned into crystals, a fate far worse than death. Players control a misfit group of I’Ce out to save a world that fears them and out to change their destiny. Unlike previous games this Final Fantasy focuses more on the character’s humanity than the esoteric creating a story you can grow feelings for the characters.

Battles in Final Fantasy XIII are about picking actions from the menu like previous versions but in this installment you only have control of one character while the computer controls the rest of your party. The new features do slightly raise the complexity, reducing an enemy’s hit points isn’t enough to defeat them; you have to fill up a separate gauge to “stagger” your enemy making them vulnerable to stronger attacks. Your also able to assign certain roles to characters, medic lets you heal, ravager lets you use attack based magic, and synergist lets you strengthen your party with support based magic, your also able to switch roles in battle using the paradigm shift to change your strategy during battles

While the new changes made to the series are always expected I was kind of disappointed in the execution with the linear game play, aside from the compelling story, beautiful CG movies , and entrapping story it feels like this experiment in the  series was a failure in delivering the ground breaking game play we have come to expect of the series.

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Like most action games combat is a key factor and if you ever played God of War you will do fine in Dante’s Inferno, your primary weapon is a scythe you also wield a cross for your ranged attacks to keep a good distance from you and your foes. Many elements similar to God of War are found throughout the game like the timed attacks and collection of souls, also your finishing moves give you the option of judging enemies by either punishing them or absolving their sins. Collecting souls gives you the opportunity to customize Dante and relics let you receive additional boost as well give bonuses such as increased damage, regenerative health and magic.

This game is targeted towards a mature audience with the levels based around the sins in the divine comedy. Dante’s Inferno pushes the mature rating to the envelope with plenty of nudity and shock value. All of the nine circle of hell are very nicely textured and graphic mixed in with beautiful CG movies for dramatic plot points and animated sequences. As well as pretty solid down loadable content with the dark forest and the trails of St.Lucia with new enemies and online co-op online play .

Overall the story and level designs are impressive me and the game play is very easy to get use to, it’s a great game once you get past over the God of war similarities Dante’s Inferno is a good game and the down loadable content  gives the game a very high replay value. And with the down loadable content with the prequel level the dark forest you get new relics , enemies , and puzzles, while the trails of St. Lucia offers co-op playing letting you play with a friend and create and edit levels you can play or let others play and rate. While not all that much original in game play Dante’s Inferno does stand on it’s own with the down loadable content and replay value.

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One of the first things that had me kind of concerned about this game is how it looks. The environments, the people, and the enemies just were not nearly as good looking as you would think an Xbox 360 game would be. Based on gameplay videos from the PC version, the 360 one took a bit of a hit when it got ported over. On top of that, there seemed to be a very limited amount of character models used in the game. So, if you are someone who absolutely has to have the most advanced, crisp graphics out there all the time, this may not be for you.

Another aspect of the game that had me a little put off at first was the combat. Everything about it just seemed awkward in the beginning, especially when there were multiple enemies on screen, thanks to the sometimes too sensitive camera. But with some patience, eventually you’ll find that after some combat training, it’s not so bad. You can also pretty much pause the combat at any time by accessing your inventory. For some reason though, after you close the inventory screen, you are out of combat mode and have to quickly try and get back into it again, something that, on quite a few occasions, caused the potion that I drank to be pretty much wasted after losing the health I just gained back.

The storyline in Risen is actually pretty interesting. You play as a stowaway on a ship that ends up getting shipwrecked on the island of Faranga. As you explore the island, you discover there are two factions you can join up with (which also dictates which class you’ll play as), The Don’s bandits or the Inquisitor’s magic users/warrior monks. Both factions eventually end up working towards the same goal, saving the island from impending doom. The character that you play as is quite funny at times, poking fun at quest givers and just generally being a jerk, something I can definitely appreciate.

Questing in Risen was kind of a mixed bag for me. There are a ton of quests to do, especially during the first parts of the game. Even questing towards the option to buy the first bit of armor as a bandit (that I actually wanted to wear) took quite a while to do. The only thing about them that bothered me just a bit was the quest log. It seemed only a little useful at times, reminding you of what exactly was said in dialogue with the quest giver while placing a sometimes misleading dot on the map to show you where your objective might be.

Which brings me to to what I think is actually one of the more respectable things about this game: there’s not really a ton of hand-holding to be found here. Too many games nowadays seem to spoon feed everything to you and get rid of the need for an instruction booklet by making the first portion of the game a tutorial that tells you everything you need to know. Not to say that the build-up to choosing your faction/class is not a tutorial of sorts, but it definitely did not tell me everything. For instance, I was sent by The Don to invade a nearby Inquisitor owned camp with some NPC fighters. Things seemed to be going fine, but then I realized that the enemies were not dying like the wolves and boars that cease to exist once their health bars are empty. These guys were regaining their health and standing back up again, ready to continue beating on us. This eventually led to them killing off my NPC party members and capturing my character, forcing him into service of the Inquisitor. While it was interesting that I didn’t just have to reload an earlier save, it was a path I did not want to take. I ended up finding the ability to kill an NPC in the instruction booklet and decided to start over again from the beginning, since there were quite a few that I wanted to get rid of.

One way Risen does end up giving you direction is through the enemies you encounter throughout the world. Unlike other open-world games like Oblivion, creatures don’t scale to your level. If you’re going to an area you shouldn’t be in, a monster that will either kill you in one hit or take many of your hits without getting damaged lets you know you’re out of bounds. This added a bit of tension for me while exploring the island, unsure of when I’d run into something that would show me the reason why I save every 10 minutes.

All in all, Risen is a solid, old school style open-world RPG. Those that are too use to the modern, in-game walkthrough style of game design may be in for a bit of a shock, while those that crave the lack of direction that was found in older RPGs will thoroughly enjoy this.

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The story seems like a clear cut light versus dark, (at first). There are 2 clans: the Lumen Sages and the Umbra Witches, guardians of the stones known as The Eyes of the World. Bayonetta’s past is hazy and you spend most of the game figuring out why she was banished and what her ultimate goal is. All you know is, she’s a super sexy, overly confident, kick-ass fighter who hunts down angels. She’ll encounter Jeanne, a mysterious woman who appears to have the same set of skills, and is someone from her past. A man named Luka, who claims you killed his father and a little girl who calls you “Mummy” and looks extremely familiar.

You dual wield guns, not only with your hands but with your feet. Your enemies frequently drop melee weapons you can pick up, which have a short life span, but are very effective. Most of the combos are done with 2 buttons (Y and B if you’re playing Xbox) and you can experiment with them during the loading screens, where they list them for you.

Cash comes in the form of halos, dropped by your enemies or by destroying environmental props. You can buy upgrades for weapons and skills, or new accessories and items by visiting your supplier in Hell. Boss mobs also drop Angelic records, which unlock bonus items or are worth a lot of cash.

Bayonetta’s powers include Witch Time (slow motion, if you dodge at the last minute), Witch Walk (walk on walls when the moon comes out), The Beast Within (cat form for speed) and buyable upgrades that allow you to transform into a flock of bats or a crow. Her big finishing moves involve her hair/clothes coming off and forming a giant hair demon, which varies in form (dragon, spider, giant hands, millipede, parrot, etc).

Health and temporary bonuses come in the form of lollipops, which can be bought, crafted or won. Besides halos, you’ll also collect herbs to make your candy. There’s also an arcade-style game between levels called Angel Attack, where you can win more.

The settings vary from what look like a modernized Renaissance Italy, to present day cityscapes to celestial worlds. There’s a nice variety of enemies, that are a visual blend of horror and angelic. When you start to get bored of the usual way of fighting, the game throws you on a motorcycle, or on the back of torpedo. I thought Bayonetta’s cocky personality would get old quickly but whoever wrote her dialogue kept her sharp tongue entertaining. Her initial interaction with the little girl is priceless.

It took me a little while to get past the confusion on the screen. There’s so much happening and Bayonetta moves so fast it’s hard to figure out what’s going on. As long as you dodge in time and mash the 2 main buttons, she’ll always do something cool.

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If you are a fan of any of the extensive Marvel comic book series, you know the story arc of Civil War. Mark Millar supplied an incredible allegory to the American PATRIOT Act via a comic book rendition. The popular Marvel crossover had a promotional tagline that read “Whose side are you on?” and it is my pleasure to announce—with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2—you are able to pick either one. Each side, registration or anti-registration offers about 6 to 8 hours of gameplay, which is pretty short considering the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance ran for…what seemed like forever! So 12 hours in story mode and any extras worth noting? Frankly, no. Let me break it down.

The story is fantastic, but that’s honestly the game’s strongest point. Even then, since it is based on the comic book crossover, you know who to give the credit to. The idea of being able to choose a side enhances the length of the game but not much else. It is true that the characters you are able to choose are limited, but that’s not true for the entire game so I can assure you it’s no big deal. The gameplay is still the same enjoyable repetitive action from the first, excluding the originality and charm. If anyone else remembers Ultimate Alliance as well as me, then you recall the entire act that took place in the carnival. In my opinion, that act was absolutely superior to everything in this entire game. Yes, the graphics are superb and there is a new Fusion element (which is nothing more than two of your characters attempting a lame move), but where are the fun mini-games that the supervillain Arcade offered? And since they are absent, would it be feasible to assume that something else would replace those elements? Why is it not included here? I don’t know, that’s something I’ll have to take up with Activision to find out.

The other game mode is on LIVE or PSN, which is not another game mode in reality. You go through the campaign with up to 4 people online and, as awesome as that may sound, it gets old. Perhaps some future updates or downloadable content may fix this, but I’m probably going to take the pessimistic approach and say the idea is futile. Now, if you’re wondering about the extras MUA2 provides then I’ll alleviate your worries by telling you that they’re there and plentiful. I was never a fan of the “Simulator” to begin with, but it’s nice to have it around again. In addition, you have your power-ups and only one alternate costume for your hero. That SUCKS! Even in MUA we had 4 alternate ones, but I suppose it is what it is.

In conclusion, the average gamer should give this a rental but a hardcore Marvel fan should buy it because that’s what we do, right? I’ll let you decide that one but I’ll encourage a rent for anyone even remotely interested. Grab a friend, some caffeinated beverages, and enjoy the co-op until you get bored!

Gameplay: 3/5, this would’ve been a 4 but I just can’t get over the fact that it’s essentially the exact same thing, which can get boring pretty quickly.

Graphics: 4/5, great graphics and nice colors, wherever they’re available. All the locations are creatively imagined and well done.

Sound: 3.5/5, my main qualm with the sound was the lack thereof. Cutscenes are basically your lifeless character exchanging in a discussion with a character that has voiceover, which ruins the feeling of being in the game. On a side note, however, you get to decide your responses to certain questions by being either aggressive, diplomatic, or defensive.

Presentation: 3/5 Horrible camera, ‘nuff said. Other parts of presentation were polished.

Overall: 3/5, Arkham Asylum set too high of a bar for any comic book game, but MUA2 makes a nice attempt and reminds us of its excellent predecessor. In the end, they promised more than they delivered.

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The first part of the DLC is entitled “Totally Insane” and it is a combat challenge similar to the ones you fight in the non-stealth oriented fights in the regular Challenge Mode with two twists: one, for the first time they’ve included the psychopaths (or lunatics? I think that’s what they’re called, you know which ones I’m talking about it, the ones that scream and scratch and bite you) that mix up the battle a bit, and two, it goes on FOREVER. No rounds, just a nonstop barrage of baddies for you to beat up until you can’t take it anymore. I assume the goal is a high score. I don’t how often I’d play this (though I suppose once you’ve mastered the other battles this is pretty much all there is left), but I DID finally get my 40 combo “combat freeflow” achievement that just a week ago seemed like an impossible task.

The other half of the DLC is, as you might have guessed, a predator challenge called “Nocturnal Hunter,” and it has you taking out 8 armed to the teeth baddies in a map outside of Arkham proper. I can play these maps all day, and I had a fun time experimenting with the very specific medals they ask of you. Nothing more to really add, other than is a very well done little map for a predator challenge – lots of hiding spots, escape paths, wall to explode, and of course, gargoyles.

So that’s about it – is it worth FREE? What do you think?!?! It’s more Batman! And I’ll also say this: its way better than Dem Bones, the useless DLC I got for pre-ordering at GameStop, which made me regret pre-ordering with GameStop (they put STICKERS on my NEW GAME!) Anyways, if you own the game, go and download this right now!

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After a night-long adventure on tour around the world, I’m back and ready to report on this rock and roll experience. Rock Band: The Beatles is similar to recent Guitar Hero titles that feature Aerosmith, Metallica, and (soon) Van Halen. However, unlike Activision’s titles, this swingin’ 60s spinoff features only the main event. You will spend the entire game as John, Paul, George and Ringo, moving through their career and their music from Liverpool until the end of Abbey Road.

The game features 45 of the group’s top songs, from “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” to “Octopus’s Garden.” All of the tracks sound wonderful, as all were digitally remastered specifically for this game. Every guitar note, every sitar pluck is crystal clear. The auditory experience is then enhanced further by the hordes of screaming teenage girls that flail and faint during just about every track, and the chatter of the band members that can be heard in between. These little touches really give the game a personal feel.

Visually, the Liverpool lads are also given star treatment. In most music game titles it is very hard to watch the characters on screen while you’re in the heat of things, but in this game you’ll be fighting to keep your eyes on your fretboard. The story mode goes through the band’s career. From their early performances across the Atlantic, to their debut on the Ed Sullivan Show, all the way to their final rooftop performance in 1969, you’ll see flawlessly recreated venues. That’s not to mention the band members themselves, who undergo a transformation from well-dressed Brits to long-haired hippies before you can say, “Day Tripper.” Even the fretboards themselves look like magical rainbows out of an acid trip.

The developers really took great care to make sure everything in this game was faithful to the Beatles name. Paul, Ringo, and Yoko Ono were even involved in production, and helped with a lot of the creative choices. You can’t get closer first-hand advice than that.

The tracks themselves are surprisingly difficult for what basically amount to 3-chord songs. The developers blended together several guitar parts, and even allow for the player to finger notes made by different instruments. All this is a staple in the Rock Band franchise, and was done in the name of making the game more challenging. They definitely succeeded. The game’s story mode is not sorted by difficulty, and you’ll be running into a nice mix of easy tracks and hard licks for the duration. Several of the songs left me with cramped hands, and though none of them were exactly “Free Bird,” there is plenty here to keep your fingers dancing the tango.

Now, let’s talk bonus material. You can unlock a bonus photograph of the band in story mode by completing each song with 3 stars,  another for 5 stars, and you get another for completing each venue. As you accumulate photographs, you’ll also unlock other bonus materials, including historic videos of the actual band. The need to get all of this bonus material will keep you coming back to the game and shooting for those five stars, so yay for replay value.

As far as innovation goes, I’m sorry to say there isn’t much. However, that’s what Guitar Hero 5 is out for. I don’t think you’re picking up Rock Band: The Beatles expecting a brand new revolutionized music game experience.  You’re probably getting this for, very simply, the Beatles, and seeing as you will get just that in every feasible sense, I cannot dock points for lack of innovation.

Rock Band: The Beatles delivers on almost every front. It recreates the feel of having been on tour with the group in the 60s, gives you a challenging gameplay experience, and rewards you with prizes that are actually worth shooting for. With the promise of more downloadable material to come, I have to say that this game will hold a very high place on my shelf until Rock Band: Led Zeppelin comes out sometime late next century.

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Fighting is simple, it’s 2 buttons: Strike and counter. Depending how you use them, you can perform free-flowing combos where you’ll do damage to multiple assailants without interruption. Countering and dodging is a necessity, unlike a lot of other games. Batman can’t take a lot of damage, particularly with armed thugs, who occasionally wield knives or stun batons. Guns are particularly lethal, even after upgrading your armor. 3 shots will probably kill you. Half of the time you’ll be require to use stealth tactics to take out roomfuls of bad guys (inverted takedown being one of my favorites). Thankfully, Arkham’s walls are littered with gargoyles and vents which allow you to travel undetected. And remember, Batman doesn’t kill. You’ll either be smothering or knocking your victims unconscious.

Wayne Tech provides you with everything from batarangs (upgradeable to multiple or sonic), better armor, a gel explosive gun (used for blowing up walls), batclaw and cryptographic sequencer (hacking security fields). Combine these with Detective mode and Batman can see through walls, tell which enemies are armed or zip line up or across impossible distances. He also has a visual tracking system that allows you to see trail of anything from fingerprints to the alcohol on someone’s breath. Your cape can be used to glide or stun your attackers long enough to disarm them.

Riddler trophies and patient interview tapes are the only real collectible items you’ll find in the game. Each area has a visual riddle which can be solved by taking a snapshot of the solution in Detective mode. Interview tapes are audio recordings between the doctors and of some of the celebrity villains at Arkham which provides some background character info. You can also unlock challenge modes for some extra-curricular fighting.

Thumbs up for the graphics and combination of stealth tactics and free-flow combat. Traveling by gliding and grappling hook becomes second nature. I even liked Detective mode, which while containing a lot of information, didn’t overwhelm the screen. I like that they force the player to stick to Batman’s practice of not killing anyone, even though you’re definitely itching to most of the time. The game keeps you interested enough by spacing out the introduction of different gadgets as you progress, or by coming up with different challenges that fit into the storyline: Saving 2 guards who are dangling over electrified water, before joker gas is released. For what would normally be considered a limited location, it has a surprising amount of diversity.

The one button strike ability gets really boring, particularly later in the game when your attackers are tougher to take down. Climbing through countless vents is also tedious and so is backtracking to old locations. Batman also has some set animations which can’t be stopped, which becomes a problem if you’re attacked before one completes. For example, someone started shooting at me while I was sliding open a vent, but the animation had to play out, so I couldn’t escape and died. Boss fights aren’t particularly original or exciting. Much like the Wolverine game, instead of coming up with different types of bad guys towards the end, they just combine or add more of them. But even with those few gripes, I still recommend playing it.

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The Tomb Raider aspects I’d mentioned earlier include dragging around statues to hold down levers, jumping across timed platforms and avoiding spike traps in the floor and walls. Not to mention the statues which come to life to beat on you or all the available pottery lying around for you to smash.

Lots of glitches in the game: Certain moves get stuck in a loop, camera won’t stop spinning, wolverine falls through the level or freezes to the point where you need to restart. Also there are points in the game where you require an enemy on the other side of a gap in order to lunge across, but if you defeat them and fall off and need to cross again, it’s impossible.

Wolverine loves his cell phone. Ok, so it’s not a cell, it’s an earpiece or something similar, but he’ll be chatting with his hand up to his ear while there are bad guys waiting in the distance or while his claws are still bloody from having sliced someone’s head off. Another funny event which you’ll see often is that almost every cut scene ends with Logan being blown up, only to safely land a few miles away with just a few holes in his body. Oh, and in case you miss the yellow or tan spandex, sprinkled throughout the game are classic Wolverine costumes.

Overall an enjoyable game. I considered giving it 4 stars, but it was a bit too repetitive and glitchy.

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A few months ago I got wind that Turtles in Time was being  remade with updated  graphics, due to be released on Xbox Live. An irrational excitement came over me. I got flashbacks of sitting in front of my SNES, playing through the game, and then popping in my VHS copy of some episodes to get pumped up  enough to go for another round. Ok, I know I’m not alone on this. Hopefully.

Skip  forward to August 5th, 2009. After the game has downloaded, and I’ve made a few phone calls to make sure my friends have downloaded it as well, I start the time machine up and jumped into this revamped classic. The game starts out great with a stylized  2D animatic explaining the story. Sadly, from here on in the disappointment begins.

At the main menu, instead of being greeted by the cheesy (but great) Turtles theme, we get a watered down rock soundtrack. Forgivable, but sad nonetheless. After you’ve picked your turtle, you jump into the game. It looks fantastic, retaining the classic cartoon look with the updated 3d renderings and visuals. The animations never looked better, and the controls are solid. You really can’t fail a simple “beat ‘em up” control system.

The game is fluid, easy to play, and fun to beat. Now, you’re probably wondering about that disappointment I was talking about. All the things that make this remake a great remake are also its downfalls. If I’m not mistaken, this was a combination of both the arcade and SNES versions. At least it seems that way, but the game is extremely short. Many levels from the SNES version have been removed, in addition to enemies and bosses. The game time runs about 35 to 45 minutes on single player and less on multi. Now, this may not have been such a big problem if it weren’t for the high price point.

For the price of the game I would expect a couple of things. Yeah, its great that they held true to the original, but they could have put an effort into implementing a combo system with counters to add more depth to the game play. With so many “beat ‘em up” games that have come and gone you would think that adding an option for a bit more flair would come to mind. Possibly something similar to Street Fighter  with optional style types. Updated or original?  The game modes are broken into three types. Story, survival and the unnecessary quick play. Why make a short game shorter?  Survival mode is fun, especially with a group, but nonetheless has very little replay value. The second thing I would have loved to have seen is inclusion of the original arcade version. That would have added the much needed replay value to justify the price.

Looking back on the game, they did a great job for what it is and I’m happy that Ubisoft was able to take the time to bring this to the fans. My lasting impression of the game though, is that it’s just not worth the price of the download, unless you’re a hard core fan of the series, but even then prepare for some disappointment.

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