Picking up the lightsaber once again

Title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
System: XBox 360
Genre: Action
ESRB Rating: T for Teen (for Violence)

It's sort of weird how you can discover new things. Having played Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on the Nintendo Wii, I wasn't actively seeking out the XBox 360 title. However, after reading tvtropes.com (as I tend to do, extensively, on an average night) and finding out about a funny XBox achievement in this game, I decided to check it out.

I found a lot more than a funny achievement during my time with this game. The 360 version of The Force Unleashed, while not perfect, is a great game that deserves the attention of every Star Wars fan.

The game's overall plot was explained in my earlier Wii review of this game, but since that was over a year ago, I'll go over it again. In this game, you play Starkiller, Darth Vader's secret apprentice and a badass with the Force. At first, Vader sends you on missions to assassinate Jedi that escaped the reach of Order 66. However, after Emperor Palpatine discovers Starkiller's existence, Vader sends him on a different mission: to link up with Palpatine's enemies and unite them into a cohesive fighting force in order to help Vader and Starkiller bring him down.

The action interface in The Force Unleashed is very well done for the action title that it is. As I said before, Starkiller is an absolute badass with the Force, and the game lets you play that out to the fullest. You can do so many cool things with Force powers in this game, from tossing enemies around telekinetically to charging foes with lightning to turn them into living grenades, that the action rarely gets stale. And that doesn't even cover the minigame sequences, which allow you to do things like cleave an AT-ST in half. There's also more variety in the minigame sequences than there was in the Wii version, which was nice to discover. Of course, there's always the lightsaber to fall back on if you feel like it (or run out of Force energy), and you can customize that weapon with crystals that you find throughout the game.

While I'm on the subject of the lightsaber, I must say that the duels in this game are probably the best I've ever seen or played through in any Star Wars game. They're the closest any game has come to replicating the fast action and swordsmanship seen in the movies' duels, and their quality really helps immerse you in the Star Wars universe as you play.

Another aspect that helps pull you further into the game is the absolutely beautiful graphics and sound. The levels are all very well designed, and with such locales as a TIE Fighter factory and one of the Death Star superlaser's firing tubes (yes, you read that last one right), you'll find yourself captivated by the sheer awesomeness of where you are. The game's three downloadable levels are also well worth the price of their downloads, with some cool takes on how some of the original trilogy might have progressed if the you make...certain choices in the game (sorry, can't really say much more without spoiling it). The sounds are also excellent, with lightsaber clashes and blaster shots against a great soundtrack consisting of some familiar tracks from the movies.

I wish I could say The Force Unleashed on the 360 is perfect, but sadly, it has one major flaw. The targeting system used for throwing things around with the Force needs some serious re-working. Rather than fly where you point the control stick, thrown objects sometimes seem to end up in random spots, which is a pain in the ass in confrontations where accuracy matters. It doesn't completely kill enjoyment of the game, but it does add some unnecessary moments of cursing out the game.

Overall though, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a great title, and one that deserves to be branded a classic in the years to come.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

For once, a decent movie tie-in game!

Title: James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game
Release Date: December 1, 2009
Genre: Action/Adventure
Rating: T for Teen
Platform: XBox 360
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft
Website: http://avatargame.us.ubi.com/
Product Link: http://www.amazon.com/Avatar-Xbox-360/dp/B002EZOQVI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1265145960&sr=8-1
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The movie Avatar is one of my favorite films in recent memory, which is why I steeled myself for total disappointment when preparing to play the video game tie-in, given the bad reputation such games have. After slogging my way through, however, I have to say that James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game, while far from perfect, is a decent title for those willing to give it a chance.

The game puts you in control of Able Ryder, a marine who has been sent to Pandora, the moon that the movie takes place on. Ryder is initially sent to Pandora as a new addition to the Avatar Program. Shortly after his arrival, however, Ryder is sent to hunt down a mole leaking information to the indigenous Na’vi aliens on Pandora, and must choose between helping the Na’vi in their struggle or aiding the RDA corporation in exploiting the moon and fighting against the Na’vi.

Depending on which faction you decide to side with, you’ll end up playing through the game in somewhat different ways. The two factions seem remarkably well-balanced, with each having their own strengths and weaknesses. The humans, for example, have higher-technology weapons and generally have a lot more fun toys to play with, including the very cool AMP suits. The Na’vi, on the other hand, depend more on close combat, but also have traits and abilities that allow them to hold their own against the gun-toting humans. Pandora’s biosphere even reacts differently depending on the faction you join – for example, as a Na’vi, you can gather plant cell samples (which help you gain items that let you recover from fatal wounds) pretty much anywhere, but as a human those same plants will try to kill you as aggressively as the animals will. I think the designers did a very good job on this front, making the two sides balanced without making them play virtually the same.

Control-wise, Avatar: The Game is a fairly standard action title, though it lacks some features that would have been welcome. The most notable of these absences is a zoom feature like the ones in Gears of War or Star Wars: Battlefront II, which would have been welcome given the wide-open areas that some combat takes place in. Vehicle driving (or in the case of the Na’vi, animal riding) controls are pretty simple, with tutorial screens providing all you need to know.

One aspect of the game is an experience point system that grants you new weapons, armor and abilities as you progress. In general, it works nicely, but quite a few of the weapons you get later in the game are merely upgrades of weapons you already have, with the only differences being in damage, rate of fire and other details. They’re nice, but there was definitely room for a few other weapon choices, in my opinion.

Another complaint I have about Avatar: The Game comes in regards to the special abilities that you earn in the game, which is the only place that the differences between the factions falls flat. They’re extremely useful and important to getting through the game, regardless of which faction you play, but some of them do the exact same thing whether you’re a human or Na’vi, with the only difference being the names. Some more variety would have been nice in this area.

The game’s action is fairly good throughout. While it never reaches pulse-pounding levels, it’s enough fun to keep you going until you get to the end of the game. Playing online is even more fun, as the game has several options for online battle including capture-the-flag, objective missions and good old-fashioned deathmatching available. Also found in the single-player mode is a Conquest mini-game that plays something like the board game Risk, in which you move forces around Pandora and take and hold territories. The fact that territory conquests earn you in-game bonuses adds more incentive to play it too.

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game is not a perfect title, nor does it live up to the greatness of its movie counterpart, but it’s a solid game that deserves a chance to prove itself to action gamers and fans of the movie.

Overall Rating: ***1/2 stars

Christopher Mastey-Muzikreviews.com Video Game Reviewer

February 2, 2010

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Meet this new game, same as a dozen others before it

Title: Rogue Warrior
Release Date: December 2, 2009
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Rating: M for Mature
Platform: XBox 360
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Rebellion
Website
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Let's face it – if you want a game to be counted among the good titles in a genre, you have to make it stand out in some good way. Whether it's the potential for hours of enjoyment, a new idea that nobody's seen before or something else, there's got to be something there to hook people.

Rogue Warrior, unfortunately, offers nothing to hook gamers in or differentiate itself from the many better first-person shooter titles around, resulting in a lackluster game that can safely be avoided by FPS fans.

In Rogue Warrior, you play the role of Richard Marcinko, a real-life soldier – according to Wikipedia, the guy founded both SEAL Team Six (a counter-terrorist unit) and Red Cell (a unit designed to test the United States' Navy's security against terrorist actions). At the beginning of the game (which takes place in the 1980s near the tail end of the Cold War), Marcinko and a small team of commandos land in North Korea in an effort to gather intelligence on ballistic missile launchers. An ambush leaves the rest of Marcinko's team dead, however, and Marcinko eventually finds evidence that there's a lot more to the ballistic missile plot than originally thought – so much so that it could bring the world to the brink of nuclear disaster if it's not stopped.

Let me get right to the point with my major gripe about the game: there is absolutely nothing new to be found. Everything you see in Rogue Warrior, from the first-person shooting action to the “kill moves” (which allow you to instantly kill enemies in inventive and brutal ways) has been done better elsewhere. The weapons are pretty standard Cold War-era stuff, with not much in the way of variation between them other than basic capabilities (machine guns and assault rifles have fully automatic fire, sniper rifles have targeting scopes, etc). The action, while it has its moments, never quite gets revved up to the heights found in Halo 3 or even the first Killzone on the Playstation 2. Even the online multiplayer portion of the game isn’t much fun.

A second flaw in Rogue Warrior, in my opinion, is the ridiculous overuse of cursing. Before anyone accuses me of being some tightwad about this, let me assure you that I'm far from a prude when it comes to coarse language – there are times when I make the stereotypical foul-mouthed sailor look gentlemanly by comparison. But the protagonist in this game overuses profanity in such a way that he comes off like an immature high school freshman trying to sound cool or “hardcore,” failing miserably in the process and making the game even more of a joke than it already is.

No first-person shooter fan should feel compelled to bother playing Rogue Warrior. There's nothing interesting or new to be seen, and too much fun missing from the action to make it worthwhile.

Overall Rating: ** out of 5

Christopher Mastey-Muzikreviews.com Video Game Reviewer

December 31, 2009

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Hello, readers. I want to play a game.

Title: Saw

Release Date: October 7, 2009

Genre: Horror/Adventure

Rating: M for Mature

Platform: Xbox 360

Publisher: Konami
Developer: Zombie Studios

Website

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I'll freely admit it – I love the Saw movies. They're among the few horror movies I'll actually spend money to see rather than waiting for them to show up on TV, not so much for the gore as for the storylines behind each of Jigsaw's captives and why they're chosen to be tested. While the fourth and fifth movies (I haven't seen the sixth yet) suffered from a lack of Tobin Bell's excellent performances in them, it's still a series I try to stay current on.

So when I heard that there was a Saw video game in the works, I was fairly excited about it, if cautious in my optimism. After playing through the finished product, I’ve concluded it’s a mixed bag that manages to keep the feel of the Saw movies in some ways, doesn't do as well at that in other places and succeeds far too well in yet other aspects, resulting in a game that evens out to an average experience on the whole.

In the game, you play the role of Detective David Tapp, one of the characters from the first Saw movie. He's been taken captive by Jigsaw, a serial killer who puts his victims in situations where they must make horrific (and usually gory) choices in order to survive. Jigsaw has imprisoned Tapp in a run-down asylum, which is intended to be the site of a test to see if Tapp can let go of his obsession with catching Jigsaw. In order to escape the asylum, Tapp must save several other captives by solving a series of puzzles, as well as fight his way through a horde of people who want to kill him in order to make their own escapes.

Saw functions as a third-person action title, for the most part. There's not really much to the controls – you can switch your light sources (which range from a lighter to a standard flashlight) on and off, and you can manipulate switches and other environmental items. You also have to find items hidden in lockers and cabinets, ranging from health hypos that restore your energy to materials for making traps to ward off the dozens of Jigsaw captives that want the key that's sewn into Tapp's stomach so that they can escape. Occasionally, you have to fight one of those minions, and there's a wide variety of improvised weapons you can use to do so. Unfortunately, the combat controls feel very stiff and awkward, making fighting with anything but fists rather frustrating.

The heart of this game, however, is its puzzles. Throughout the game, you have to solve several different types of puzzles to either advance in the game or save one of Jigsaw's victims, the latter of which are essentially the game’s “boss battles.” These puzzles include things like completing a circuit board and completing a pipe circuit, usually with appropriately dire consequences for failure.

Those puzzles are simultaneously the best and the worst parts of the game. On one hand, they're nice because they help keep the general feel of the Saw movies intact in the game. All the gore of failed puzzles is kept intact, and several traps from the movies, such as the reverse bear trap and the shotgun collar, can be found throughout.

However, the traps fail in two respects. First, they depart a bit too much from the traps in the movies. In the movies, the traps typically involved the captive sacrificing something important (whether a body part or an inanimate object) to keep himself alive. In the game, the puzzles are, for the most part, more like brain-teasers, which takes a good amount of drama out of the game. The only traps in the game that really feel similar to the movies’ in that regard are the acid barrel and the toilet full of hypodermic needles, both of which Tapp needs to stick his hand into in order to retrieve some crucial items. Admittedly, I can’t think of how this aspect of the movies could have been translated to the video game medium any better than it was with those two traps, but that doesn't change the fact that some of Saw's drama is gone from the game as a result.

Secondly, some of the traps are insanely, frustratingly difficult. You're not given much explanation as to how to complete some of them, and others are just ridiculously complex and coupled with a time limit that makes them very frustrating. I can't remember the last time I had to consult online tip guides so many times for help with a game.

In the final analysis, Saw is a game that tries to live up to the standard set by the movies, but falls short of doing so. Fans of the films might enjoy this game, but those without as much investment in the series might find it as about as much fun as actually going through one of Jigsaw’s tests.

Overall Rating: ***

Christopher Mastey-Muzikreviews.com Video Game Reviewer

December 17, 2009

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The Force is...sort of strong with this game

Title: Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes

Release Date: October 6, 2009

Genre: Action
Rating: T for Teen

Platform: XBox 360

Publisher: LucasArts

Developer: Krome Studios

Website
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The animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars is one of the best things to happen to the Star Wars franchise in recent years. It has nice voice acting, good plots and some great character interactions. Unfortunately, Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes, a game based on the series, isn’t as good as its namesake.

In Republic Heroes, you get to play the role of just about every key figure in the series at some point, including Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Captain Rex. As these characters, you must foil a Separatist plot to create a super weapon that could spell doom for the Republic.

You would think that after the success of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the designers of this game would have adopted that game's over-the-shoulder perspective for this game. Unfortunately, this is not the case – instead, they went with a third-person perspective. This, more than anything else, drags the game down to the rating that it earns, because the perspective creates so many problems.

For starters, there is no way to adjust the camera angle you are viewing the action from like there is in many action games. As a result, the platform-jumping action that makes up certain parts of Republic Heroes gets extremely frustrating at times, as it's tough to judge exactly where to jump to avoid missing the ledge. As if that wasn't bad enough, there are quite a few times in this game where you get so far away from the camera during the action that it's tough to see what the heck is going on.

As for the controls, they're decent enough for what the game is. The Jedi and clone troopers have somewhat different controls, reflecting their different combat styles. The only gripe I have is that the clone troopers' aiming controls could use a little work. Basically, you fire by pointing the right control stick in whatever direction you want to shoot in. This feels kind of awkward to me, and definitely doesn't give you the same feeling of combat intensity as pressing the right trigger would. This is only aggravated by the aforementioned bad camera, which makes it tough to draw an accurate bead on enemies.

One cool feature of the game is the “droid jak,” which allows a Jedi character to jump on top of an enemy droid and control it for a certain time. For example, you can jump on a super battle droid and force it to march around shooting its allies, or you can take control of a chameleon droid and use it as your own personal mine-layer. It's a nice feature that adds some strategy to the action, which can get somewhat repetitive at times.

Another good thing the game has going for it is the feel of animated series. The voice actors from the series reprise their roles for the game, and I can't think of one major character they missed featuring in this game. Even the new bounty hunter character Cad Bane makes an appearance.

Unfortunately, none of the game's good points can make up for all of the frustration that the fixed third-person perspective causes. If it weren't for that, Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes could have been a decent title. As it is, though, it needs some serious fixing before it could be considered as worthy as the series it sprang from.

Overall Rating:

Christopher Mastey-Muzikreviews.com Video Game Reviewer

November 30, 2009

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No, that's NOT what the title refers to; get your head out of the gutter! :-p

Title: Wet

Release Date: September 14, 2009

Genre: Action
Rating: M for Mature
Platform: XBox 360

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: A2M
Website

Product Link

The first thing you might be wondering about upon seeing Wet's game box (aside from the very attractive female character pictured) is what the heck the title means.

As the game tells you in the opening sequence, “wet” in this case is short for wetwork, also known as assassination. True to its title, Wet delivers a lot of gory action that, while a little repetitive, is ultimately a lot of fun.

In Wet, you play the role of Rubi Malone, a freelancer who has been hired to bring the heir to a crime family home. Unfortunately, the job goes bad, and Rubi finds herself on the run from a lot of people who want her dead as a result. Rubi, intent on finding out what's going on, finds herself in the middle of an underworld conflict as she fights for her survival.

The first thing that people might notice about Wet is that the game absolutely screams “Quentin Tarantino.” So many things about Wet's presentation call to mind Tarantino's cinematic style, from the grainy “old film reel” effect seen throughout the game to the Rage Mode sequences (which are reminiscent of the “seeing red” sequences from Kill Bill) to the high body count.

What looks to be like a standard third-person shooting game at first is given a few neat twists by the game's acrobatics system. Rubi seems to be an expert gymnast in addition to a hired gun, and the action goes into bullet-time mode when she shoots during these acrobatic moves, allowing her to go to town in style on the hordes of thugs she runs into throughout the game. Mastering the art of shooting while leaping, sliding down ladders and even running on walls is a major part of the game. Rubi ends up with four types of guns by the end of the game, and she also has a sword that she can use. You can purchase upgrades, such as gun enhancements and new acrobatic stunts, using style points, which are gained by killing enemies quickly and with sufficient acrobatic style.

Objectively speaking, I'll admit Wet is a tad repetitive. There are fewer acrobatic moves available than I was hoping for, and the run-and-gun action remains mostly the same throughout. However, I found it hard to ding the game for that simply because the action remains so fun the entire time you're playing it. Somehow, shooting down half a dozen bad guys in one dive never gets old.

In addition, the game's soundtrack has to be one of the best I've heard in a long time. Every piece of music immerses you further into the action, and songs like The Arkhams' “She's Lost Control” and Knock Galley West's “Murder” are so fun to listen to that you might find yourself deliberately losing lives just to listen to the songs over again. Fortunately, there's a jukebox mode available to make such a thing unnecessary.

Wet isn't the most original game out there, but it's a fun ride all the way through and a title well worth playing.

Overall Rating: **** out of *****

Christopher Mastey-Muzikreviews.com Video Game Reviewer

November 22, 2009

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