Review: Modern Warfare 2
Monday, November 9, 2009 at 6:15PM 
Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare redefined how a shooter can stand the test of time back when it was released in 2007. While the last entry in the series concluded the Second World War, it obviously did not continue in the footsteps of its predecessor except for in the multiplayer department. Fans would have to wait another two years before a proper sequel to Infinity Ward’s money-printing title would be released and, when it was formally shown for the first time at E3 2009, people flipped out. There is no doubt in the minds of every video game analyst that Modern Warfare 2 will be the biggest selling game of the year if not of the past ten years, but do sales numbers reflect quality?
Click to read the full reviewReview: Heroes Over Europe
Friday, September 25, 2009 at 6:10PM 
Five years ago IR Gurus and Ubisoft brought us Heroes of the Pacific, an arcade-oriented flight sim which essentially seemed to be the first legitimate competitor to Crimson Skies, a title that had dominated the genre throughout the life of the Xbox. Though released at the end of the lifecycle of the system the game met generally favorable reviews and sold well enough to warrant a sequel. Heroes Over Europe, though having very little to do with its predecessor other than time period, takes the battle to the other side of the world and arguably the most overused setting in the history of video games. But does Heroes Over Europe fly high or does it crash and burn?
Click to read the full reviewBuy War Bonds!
Heroes occurs over the course of four different campaigns between the beginnings of the war in 1940 and follows through to the bombing raids on Berlin in January of 1945. During that time frame you play as one of three different pilots, primarily focusing on the American pilot who joins the Royal Air Force (a force composed of volunteers from the US, Britain, and Poland) to show up his father. The various campaigns range in size from up to six levels to an abysmal two. The singleplayer experience jumps across the various campaigns and gives you the chance to try out a bunch of different types of planes but therein lies one of the first problems players will come to notice: a lack of cohesiveness. When playing the game and jumping from campaign to campaign you’ll notice that, up until the very end of the game, none of them have almost anything to do with the other.
Each campaign takes you through a tour of service of four different flight groups whose missions concern different phases of the war, the first campaign (and longest of the game) covering the defense of Britain in 1940. From there the game branches out and covers different sections of the war with levels that are based in and out of reality. Players get to experience battles like the Battle of the Bulge, escort bombing raids across the English Channel, and even participate in several raids within Germany itself. Most of the levels play out with some sense of reality but most of them reside more on the fictitious side than anything else. Call me crazy, but I don’t recall a raid into 1942 Berlin to interrupt a Nazi war rally, do you? If you’re looking for historic authenticity then it’d probably be best to look elsewhere.
Two strong omissions must be mentioned when considering the overall breath of the singleplayer campaign: the lack of a Russian or an Italian campaign. The entirety of the game covers the American and British war effort in northern Europe and doesn’t concern itself with the Eastern Front or the invasion of Sicily and mainland Italy, two significant events in the history of the war that could have had some great battles to fight. The Russian campaign could have given us a much more edgy take on the war effort and could have concluded the war with the invasion of Berlin in April 1945 but instead the game ends in January of that year which is nothing more than a tease for what could have been an epic battle.
The only other issue players will run into storywise is that the characters in the game are faceless and really don’t attach any meaningful relationship to the player; you don’t seem to care who dies and who survives. They do share some witty banter between them but otherwise lack anything that makes them standout from the crowd as interesting characters.
Unfortunately the game’s multiplayer segment was not reviewable at this time as multiple attempts to play online lead to empty lobbies with no one to play against.
Tally Ho!
Flight sims occur few and far between on consoles these days with the last major flight title to be Tom Clancy’s HAWX this past March. Obviously as a World War II game you’re looking at a different dogfighting experience than you’d play in a modern fighter scenario. The game has a strong arrangement of planes that are unlocked based on campaign progression and the completion of objectives therein. Heroes Over Europe’s selection is also arraigned in chronological as well so don’t look to be flying a P-51 Mustang during the Battle of Britain on your first go-around, though you can fly unlocked planes in earlier missions of the game. The selection includes variations of several planes as well that may include stronger stats or additional loadouts such as rockets, bombs, or both. You’ll quickly find yourself sticking to one model or another to do most of your missions, though several of them require you to fly one particular aircraft.
The level arrangement of the game is designed to fit the campaign you are playing in. For example, during the first campaign in the Battle of Britain players will be defending British positions and taking out German bombers making a run on London itself. The majority of the offensive levels involve either escort missions, defending allied positions against onslaughts of German air and ground vehicles, and light raids into enemy territory. As previously stated many of the levels venture into the realm of fantasy more than anything which offers a good breakup in the monotony of ending the Axis threat. The final campaign of the game primarily consists of escort missions for bombing raids into the heart of Germany itself and can get tedious at times but overall it is an enjoyable experience.
Combat in Heroes Over Europe is 80% dogfighting with a mix of exploration and investigation built into it. Several of the more pleasant missions involve torpedo runs in a biplane against German warships as well as the defense of American infantry positions in the Ardennes forest. One particularly interesting mission involves the escort of a squadron of B-17 flying fortresses across the English Channel during which one of the bombers you are escorting turns out to be commanded by German spies and is proceeding to take out the other bombers in the formation. The only way to find out which one it is though is to carefully fly close to them until you locate which ones are firing their weapons. Realistic, no but quite entertaining.
Another element of the combat system Heroes utilizes is the Ace Kill ability which allows players to instantly kill an enemy fighter. In order to activate the ability players must get in close behind an enemy combatant and charge a meter. Once activated the camera zooms in on the targeted plane and highlights weak points on the body of the aircraft. If executed correctly Ace Kills can be strung along and can allow you to wipe out entire squadrons of enemies in just a handful of seconds as opposed to doing traditional dogfighting. Enemy fire will quickly reduce your meter so the optimal approach is to keep bucking and weaving between enemies instead of focusing on one particular one. Boss battles against enemy aces are make indefinitely easy by this ability, provided the ace doesn’t shoot you down while you are trying to charge the kill meter.
The only real gameplay problem players will run into is the fact that the enemy AI is incredibly biased against you. As if a decree from Adolf Hitler himself was made that you are the most wanted man in all of Europe it seems that German fighters will spend the majority of their time focusing on you rather than any other combatant on the field. More often than not you’ll find half a dozen German fighters on your tail gunning you down while attempting to get an Ace Kill. When playing on the ace difficulty it is almost impossible to complete a level without dying two dozen times, an experience that is distressing considering the fact that the game’s checkpoint system is based on objective completion rather than player saves.
A Hail of Gunfire
Heroes Over Europe’s presentation is a mixed bag of great plane models and slightly disappointing textures and models on everything else. The aircraft in the game have a great amount of detail on them with real-time damage modeling, though damage seems to have almost no effect on the handling of an aircraft. The on-screen vehicle count is very impressive at times, especially in the later missions. The sense of speed is greatly translated on screen by blurring and heightened focus upon a target and watching smoke contrails follow a fleeing fighter is a thing of beauty. However, once you turn your eyes to the environment things start to get a little ugly. Ground textures are usually nice to look at but buildings are blocky, lack detail, and are repeatedly used over and over again with not much variety in models. Also, I’m not too certain but I don’t believe that many streets in Germany are wide enough to allow heavy bombers to fly down them. The weather isn’t very well done either as stormy conditions are anything but a hazard in the game and are not as visually worrying as they should be. Cloud formations are fine at a distance but don’t feel exactly realistic upon close inspection.
Each mission in the game is cinematically presented not with gameplay footage or character models but rather by artist illustrations and animations. These sequences are monologues of the characters usually talking about how they feel about the war or letters sent home to loved ones that have been done to death by every single war movie/game in existence and don’t feel necessary given that the characters are not interesting. The only interesting cinematics come in the form of black and white newsreels with a overly charming and enthusiastic voiceover typical of the propaganda films of the era that precede several levels. Players will find themselves skipping through them rather than watching them as they just aren’t worth watching. Since the title of the game implies that we get to see a romanticized version of the war it is a shame that the overall story (if you could call it that) doesn’t present itself in a manner that warrants attention. In the end all you will want to do is skip through the cinemas and get right to the meat of the gameplay.
The Road to Victory
Heroes Over Europe is an interesting if flawed title for players looking for something a little different to play without venturing outside the realm of Nazi-killing. The singleplayer campaign doesn’t warrant a second playthrough unless you are achievement/trophy hunting and the multiplayer experience is nowhere to be found given that everyone else right now is off playing Halo 3 ODST. Looking beyond the AI, the cinematic blandness you find a pretty decent game that easily deserves a rent but is definitely a questionable buy. Sorry Transmission Games, but better luck next time.
Review: Wolfenstein
Friday, August 21, 2009 at 4:26PM 
In the history of video games there are many titles that stand out as definers of a genre. Pac-Man and Donkey Kong invented the arcade. Starcraft defined the real-time strategy. Mario showed us how to make a proper platformer. For the shooter genre, though, Doom stands out as the dominating title and its roots can be found in 1992's Wolfenstein 3D. Filled to the brim with Nazi-killing fun, Wolfenstein 3D showed us how to play in the first person perspective far better than any game ever before. It holds a special place in this reviewer's heart and for many of you out there as well. This year's semi-sequel, simply titled Wolfenstein, keeps the hero, the Nazis and the premise, but attempts to recreate it as an open-world game. But can this be done?
Click to read the full review
William B.J. Blazkowicz is your typical American super spy, able to wipe out entire legions of Nazis with a handful of weapons and whit. Picking up some time after the events of 2001's Return to Castle Wolfenstein, the Office of Secret Actions agent is sent aboard a Nazi cruiser to stop a missile attack on London. Disguised as a now dead Nazi general he is quickly discovered and a chase ensues. Cornered, his life is miraculously saved by a strange medallion he finds inside of a German coat. Making his escape as the ship explodes behind him, he returns to OSA headquarters and is quickly routed to the German town of Isenstadt (based on the real Eisenstadt in Austria) where the SS Paranormal Division, B.J.'s arch nemesis, is performing experiments and archaeological digs in the same place the medallion came from.
This is where the gameplay begins. Blazkowicz's journey takes place almost entirely in Isenstadt and the surrounding countryside, allowing players to explore places like SS bases, dig sites, farms, and even a castle. And by 'explore' I mean 'destroy the Nazi horde with reckless abandon.' B.J. almost immediately meets up with the local resistance group the Kreisau Circle as well as the Golden Dawn, a group of scholars seeking to learn more about the ancient Thule technology the SS are uncovering and developing. Performing missions between the two groups drive the story forward and gives you access to new weapons and abilities just like any other game on the market.
When you are eventually asked to compare Wolfenstein to any other FPS title on the market you might find yourself leaning in the direction of Crysis or Quake. Would it surprise you to learn that the game has more in common with last year's exceptional Far Cry 2 than anything else? It should. The city of Isenstadt is an entirely open world to explore, consisting of four separate sections (the second half available later in the game). And when I say explore I do mean it as there are quite a few collectables to obtain throughout the game including gold, intelligence and tomes. Collecting these will make the game easier for the player as gold obviously allows you to modify your weapons at the local black market while tomes and intel unlock upgrades and power enhancements. The streets of Isenstadt are a war zone so naturally the player will run into resistance fighters and Nazis as well. Naturally, the number and variety of Nazis increase as you progress through the story. While the streets of the city may feel a little claustrophobic at times, there are several open areas that serve as battlefields as well as sewers and rooftops to explore, making Isenstadt surprisingly believable.
There are a few let-downs to Wolfenstein however. While the story has great set-ups for nods and moments from the previous games, the opportunities are rarely utilized outside of the difficulty selection screen. Offhand mentions of events from Return to Castle Wolfenstein but other than B.J. and the SS Paranormal division there really is no reason to call the game Wolfenstein given the fact that it doesn't even occur near the castle the game is named for, nor does it really tie into the previous game other than for a short cameo. NPCs that you will be interacting with don't necessarily develop in an impressive manner and the story and bosses are predictable.
Mein Leben!
Combat in Wolfenstein is comparable to that of games like Time Shift or Crysis wherein players utilize their Thule medallion to manipulate themselves and their surrounding environment. The medallion is powered by the Veil, another dimension outside our own that has become infused into the city of Isenstadt within our reality. Activating the Sight ability allows players to enter the Veil and see hidden paths and Veil pools (which recharge the medallion) and it also increases your speed. The Mire ability speeds up the player in a manner not unlike bullet-time, slowing everything down around you. The Shield ability protects you from enemy fire and the Empower ability increases the power of your weapons and lets you shoot through enemies' shields. Using these powers is a necessity, though you will find yourself more often than not relying on Sight's ability to highlight enemies from the surrounding environment.
Weapon variety is what can make and break some games (or, in the Ratchet & Clank series for example, a characteristic) and luckily Wolfenstein has a decent variety of weapons at your disposal. While you won't be bringing along any weapons on your trip to Isenstadt you'll come to rely on the German weapons you acquire in the field. The variety consists of three German infantry rifles (KAR-98, MP40 and MP43), two heavy weapons (Panzerschreck and Flammenwarfer) and three paranormal weapons that I won't name because each of them is awesome in their own right and are worth the surprise of discovery. Surprisingly, two of the staples of the genre, a pistol and a shotgun, are absent from the game, though that is not necessarily a bad thing. Upgrades for all your weapons can be purchased at the local black market and give you enhancements that are well worth the purchase. Everything from silencers to scopes can be purchased (and should be) though it is hard to find enough gold in the game to purchase all the available upgrades.
Kein Durchgang!
Visually, Wolfenstein is a very good looking game. The local of Isenstadt is presented in a very authentic way and feels like a Germanic city that's been turned into a war zone. Character models act and move realistically in a manner typical of many other AAA titles on the market. Entering the Veil reveals the same world with the same models present but with a greenish tint to everything and a vortex-like sky giving a bit of an eerie feel to everything. All of the explosions are nice and the visual splendour of disintegrating your Nazi foes draws a smile to your face. The game also uses a nice dismemberment system so, for you sickos out there, you can take apart bodies piece by piece if you wish.
The only thing I can complain about regarding the technical side of the game is the voice work. Sure, I understand that the Wolfenstein series as a whole has a bit of a campy feel to it, but does it need to be expanded upon? Everyone in the game speaks English, no exceptions, with everyone but B.J. speaking with a strong accent. Sure, you'll catch an achtung or a nein every now and then but for a game that is set in Germany you'd think that most of the denizens would speak, I dunno, German?
Spion!
The problem with shooter games out there nowadays is that even though they look to have a decent or even strong singular component, for some reason they have to tack on another component to make it feel like a complete package. Thus, because Wolfenstein has a decent single-player campaign it must naturally have a multi-player segment. While this can be a benefit to the overall experience for many games, more often than not it is a detriment. This is clearly an example of the later.
To put it bluntly, Wolfenstein's outsourced (built by Endrant Studios) multi-player is bad. It's not just bad; it's embarrassing. Though it isn't necessarily a bad thing that the game utilizes the old style lobby selection system instead of a matchmaking system commonly used in games like Halo or Call of Duty, the way the system works leaves a bad taste in your mouth from the first minute. The lobby selection screen takes a good twenty seconds to load up a list of rooms and gods help you if you accidentally refresh it. Even if you make it into a room there is no guarantee you'll be there for long either as stability issues abound. The game does not use a host migration system either so if the host quits don't think that you can keep on playing.
When you actually make it into a game and begin a match is when you begin to notice some of the strong issues present in the multi-player. While the game utilizes a class-based system composed of either the Engineer class (support, heavy weapons), the Medic class (healer/reviver, light weapons) and the Soldier class (mid-range weapons, explosives) there is no option to really customize it to your liking, nor do you get a feel for variety.
Weapons carry a precariously low amount of ammo (one reserve magazine) so even if you survive a strafing session you'll most likely have to switch to your pistol (why isn't there one in the single-player by the way?), a weapon that carries more ammo than your primary weapon does. The game utilizes both a ranking and a cash-based reward system, allowing players to both build up cash to unlock new weapons and upgrades while you rank up to unlock them. While the ranking system comes at a decent pace the reward system is broken. Though there will no doubt be fixes for these bugs in the future, even if you complete a match there is no guarantee you get to keep the cash you earn.
This reviewer played several matches all the way through (battling lag the entire way) and was given multiple messages talking about how I earned enough cash to buy a new upgrade but the fact of the matter is that when I got back to the unlock menu to buy some upgrades it said I didn't have any money. What? The reward system clearly needs to be addressed before this reviewer will play further. There also seem to be issues with the lobby system as players can still talk to one another even after they leave the room.
It seems that the most embarrassing part of the multi-player is not the gameplay so much as the tech specs. While the single-player campaign uses a highly modified and very well running id Tech 4 engine (the same engine that powers Doom III and Quake IV), it seems that Endrant Studios didn't get the same engine Raven Software was utilizing, as the visuals are simply awful. Everything you see in the game, from the models, to the textures, to the overall design screams boring. The textures are particularly low-res and don't even begin to compare with the quality present in the single-player. This downgrade from the campaign just looks plain bad, but coupled with the buggy system issues and the broken rewards and you've got a recipe for an almost deplorable experience. And yet I ask the question: why have so many of the achievements/trophies be multi-player longevity ones when they overall experience isn't worth the effort?
Es ist schade!
For a game like Wolfenstein it certainly has the unfortunate problem of having to live up to its legacy. While the single-player is pretty decent experience to have for those looking for a different kind of World War II shooter, the multi-player is a very lackluster affair that probably should have never been added on to the game. Fans of Enemy Territory should stay clear but the game is definitely worth a weekend rent.
Review: Red Faction Guerrilla
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 7:49PM 
Last generation Volition introduced us to the Red Faction, an organized resistance movement of workers and miners who fought for their survival against the oppressing Ultor mining company. Players fought throughout the innards of Mars and, in desperation, called for help from the Earth Defense Force to help eliminate the Ultor threat. The second game in the series took us away from Mars to show us the rise to power of the EDF but for this title we’re back, this time fifty years after the events of the first game. Much has changed in the last half century. Mars has been terraformed, providing oxygen for everyone to breathe and the foundation for vegetation to grow on the planet’s once barren surface. The Ultor Corporation has all but been destroyed after the events of the previous two games and, logically, the citizens of Mars couldn’t be happier.
Click to read the full reviewBetter Red than Dead
Well, logic didn’t win the day on this one. With the economy of Earth having all but collapsed the military might of the EDF has been deployed to Mars to take over the mining operations there and help bolster things back home. With the deployment has come oppression far worse that anything the Ultor corporation had done; workers are being kidnapped in the night, arrests and indefinite detentions are handed out left and right, and any resistance to the EDF regime leads only to bloodshed. In response, the Red Faction has been reorganized to help rid Mars of the EDF threat. Enter Alec Mason, a newly arrived miner to Mars whose brother, a member of the Red Faction, is killed the same day. Out of revenge, Mason joins up with the fledgling resistance and plays a key role in the destruction of the EDF on Mars, all the while exploring Mars and discovering what has happened in the last fifty years.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, it seems that this is more information than you get in the game itself. While the story has the potential to deliver an epic sci-fi adventure what is given to us is a series of pre-rendered cutscenes and heavy-handed dialogue tell you very little about the world around you and many potentially interesting plot points, like the ultimate fate of the Ultor Corporation after their downfall, remain unexplored. None of the secondary missions expand the plot and even an entire third faction remains un-explored until the very end of the game. The game could be so much more if they had delivered an interesting plot but as it stands they might as well not have had a story at all.
Life as a Human Wreaking Ball
The previous Red Faction games were known more for their technology than the rest of the games themselves. Utilizing a custom engine designed around environmental deformation, the previous games allowed players to carve their way throughout levels using whatever they see fit. Dubbed the Geo-Mod engine, it helped make Volition’s first FPS game a smash hit and also served up untold numbers of hours of multiplayer action for me. Red Faction 2 didn’t impress me nearly as much as it did at most of the review sites, mostly given the fact that there was just less stuff to blow up compared to the first game.
The elephant in the room clearly is the new Geo-Mod engine. Despite having reached “2.0” status the engine is pretty much entirely different from what we remember it to be as, instead of terrain being destructible, buildings are the object of focus. Terrain is completely indestructible so don’t waste your time trying to dig a tunnel through a hillside. The story of the engine’s development is an interesting read for those who want to learn about it, but let me sum up the experience of the Geo-Mod engine in a little story.
Several hours into the game I came across an EDF base that seemed to be a heavy industrial sector. According to the map there were several targeted buildings in the area that needed to be destroyed, these targets ending up being smokestacks that were littered around the area. With the EDF having already spotted me and calling in the big dogs I’m basically running through the area taking out as many as I can before I kick the bucket. As I round the corner of a warehouse and sight my fifth target I notice one of the more imposing enemy vehicles in the game: an EDF light tank. Knowing that my health bar is depleting fast from the soldiers hot on my tail, I formulate an idea. I use my jetpack to get on top of the warehouse and pull out my satchel charges and toss them all at the top of the smokestack. I then jump to the ground, pull out my sledgehammer, and proceed to go to town on the base of the smokestack. As I hit it one last time the base of it comes apart and begins to lean. I watch as the target I just knocked down tilts and falls on top of the tank at which time I detonate my charges and destroy it.
A smile eroded onto my face.
The power of the new Geo-Mod engine is fantastic and easily one of the most impressive pieces of physics tech since the dawn of the Havok engine all those years ago. Buildings fall apart exactly the way they should in real life and can be taken down just as easily. Sure, you could spend several minutes taking out the entire base of a building but why do that when you can just place some explosives on the supports and cause it to imploded? I personally enjoy taking out most of the supports and watching a building fall apart on its own. Either way, the Geo-Mod engine is definitely the best part of the game bar none.
Bringing Down the House
The Red Faction series has always relied on the Geo-Mod engine to stand out amongst the crowd when considering gameplay. Unfortunately, Guerrilla is no different in this regard. Despite the shift to being a third-person open world shooter the end result isn’t as grand as you’d want it to be. The map, despite seeming huge in comparison to Liberty City or Stillwater, is much smaller than you’d expect, only taking a handful of minutes to cross via vehicle. Many of the outlying areas are unreachable as well leading one to wonder why they are even mapped out.
The map for the game is divided into six different sectors and starts the player out in the Parker sector (remember him?). It is the goal of the Red Faction to take control of each sector one at a time and eventually rid the entire surface of Mars of EDF control. Each sector plays out the same way too as you have a set number of missions to accomplish before taking complete control of the sector. This only does half the job however as you need to reduce EDF control of a sector down to zero in order to completely liberate it. This can be done by taking on side missions, called Guerrilla Actions, as well as destroy EDF property and buildings. Completing missions also raises the morale of a sector and increases the likelihood of civilians coming to your aid in case you find yourself in the middle of a firefight. Raising morale isn’t necessary but it does certainly help you when you are in a tight spot.
Guerrilla Actions, if you want to get more to the meat of the game, are the things to play. Consisting of several different types, missions are placed at random throughout each sector and are quite common to come across. Actions also appear at random sometimes when simply roaming throughout the land but do not require you to partake in them unless you want to. By far the most entertaining one of the bunch are the Destruction missions, scenarios that require you to destroy a building using a given set of tools and a time limit. By far one of the best examples of these missions resides in the Oasis sector and requires you to take out a water tower from a distance using your sledge hammer to knock explosive barrels at it like a golfer at a driving range. Instantaneous fun is to be had with these missions. Two other ones that are particularly enjoyable are the Heavy Metal missions that require you to fend off the EDF whilst riding around in a mech and the Collateral Damage missions that have you hopping in the back of a buggy and destroying EDF buildings and propaganda with a rocket launcher to earn cash. The only really annoying missions are the Transporter ones that require you to take a random vehicle found on the map to a safehouse in a set amount of time, something not easy to do when the EDF is hot on your tail.
IdiotGuy420, Meet Sledgehammer
Surprisingly, the one of the more enticing parts of the game comes in the form of something that, these days, doesn’t go well for most shooters: multiplayer. Simply put, the multiplayer portion of the game is probably the most entertaining I’ve played in a while. Level sizes range from claustrophobic to stadium-sized and are of many different locales that feel as though they were ripped out of the singleplayer campaign. The various modes included therein are your typical fair with different names like Anarchy being your normal deathmatch and Siege being a CTF mode. Damage Control, a take on a territories mode, has players destroying specific enemy buildings and then rebuilding them in order to gain points.
The main draw of the multiplayer is the variety of backpacks you can find littered throughout the map. Varied in nature each has a specific function and is almost essential if you want to survive during a session of play. My personal favorite is the Rhino, a backpack that, when fully charged, will propel you forward through almost any manmade wall and, if hitting the enemy in the process, causes them to ragdoll for about fifteen feet. Pure hilarity will ensue if you can ram your opponents into the air and introduce them to your sledgehammer. The multiplayer also utilizes an experience system that rewards you based on your actions in-game just like almost every multiplayer shooter on the market today. Unlockable rewards include the aforementioned Ostrich Hammer, seen in Volition’s April Fool’s Day video about the game, as well as many other collectable hammers.
Shaved Heads are Sooooo Cliché
Red Faction has shown to be one of the most surprising hits of 2009 and is definitely a game everyone should experience. As a playground experience just like Saints Row is, the gameplay, though not without cavieats, is still unique enough to warrant some good old fashioned stress relieving. The multiplayer, though not holding up to the fierce standards set by Halo or Call of Duty, is still very enjoyable and deserves even more attention than the singleplayer campaign warrants. After all, who doesn’t enjoy hitting that annoying little twelve year old who won’t shut up with a sledgehammer? I do! With the summer gaming drought beginning soon, those looking for something new need look no further; Red Faction Guerrilla has you covered.
Review: Tenchu Shadow Assassins
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 4:14PM 
Tenchu is one of those series that started out great and later on went straight into the crapper. Originally released by Acquire in 1998, Dimensional Ninja Action Movie Tenchu (title subsequently being reduced for international release) became a quick cult hit and spawned a strong following. After several titles in the series however control of the franchise was handed off to K2. This action resulted in what many consider the beginning of the downhill trend for the series, with sub par gameplay not meeting fans' expectations for one of the most well known titles in the stealth action genre. Thankfully, the rights made a return to Acquire and thus we have Tenchu 4: Shadow Assassins.
Click to read the full review
When all is said and done the game's storyline is pretty much par for the course. The game is separated into two parts, each following one of the heroes' depictions of what happened after the kidnapping and eventually rejoining at the end. The game unfortunately does not build on the backstory nearly as much as it should and thus does not answer most of the questions players have about what has happened to the characters in the previous games.
Out of the Shadows
When people think of stealth action they immediately realize that the game's goal, which usually contradicts the player's, is to sneak through a level without being caught up in a firefight. Games like Metal Gear and Splinter Cell are completely based around such a concept. Tenchu however is not. While the series does incorporate the standard hide-and-seek mechanic the game all but forces you to kill every enemy in sight, including the kill count into the overall score for the level. This is immediately different and somewhat alienating to the average stealth player but in the end becomes second nature to them once they get used to the game.
The Tenchu series is also all about playing like a cinematic ninja that we all imagine must have existed back in feudal Japan (Itagaki standards aside). Players bound from rooftop to rooftop, stalking their prey until just the right moment comes along. Shadow Assassins however feels like a detriment to the series in this regard. Unfortunately it seems that Acquire has procured the same fate as almost 80% of all titles on the Wii: minigame syndrome. While previous Tenchus have been about roaming freely through open levels and accomplishing objectives at your leisure, Shadow Assassins takes three steps back. The basic gameplay consists of getting from point A to point B while killing everyone in your way and not being seen. While this may sound like a good idea in the beginning it is actually far removed from traditional Tenchu gameplay.
Time of the Assassins
It seems like Acquire made some very poor design decisions when regaining the rights to the franchise. For one the controls are clumsy and will have you thinking which buttons to press even after several hours of play. The game also limits you to three items at any given time, limiting your options and making several of them all but useless under many circumstances. Like all Tenchu games, Shadow Assassins encourages you to not lunge head on into combat, but unlike the others, this title actually prevents you from doing so most of the time. Players can only engage in combat during boss fights and against regular enemies when they have a sword on them. The game switches to the first person perspective and plays like a poor man's version of a boss fight in Red Steel, usually ending in the player losing due to the irritating difficulty and the Wiimote's lackluster accuracy.
Enemy AI is disappointingly dumb despite the fact that they have extremely keen eyesight at times. So it does not make sense how they won't see you twenty feet away when you are fully exposed but will when you are five feet away completely shrouded in darkness. In the end the game just seems like a lesser version of Resident Evil 4 with clumsy controls. About the only thing the game does get right are the stealth kills which must be preformed via Wiimote gestures. But since you pretty much have to flail madly for them to pick up sometimes it is almost not worth the effort.
Perhaps the most annoying aspect of Shadow Assassins comes in the form of the health system. Or, rather, the lack thereof. If the player is spotted by an enemy the character you are playing almost always explodes into a cloud of smoke and returns to the very beginning of the level. This frustrating mechanic forces you to retread every single step you have made (minus all the enemies you have killed) and will result in the player feeling a sense of accomplishment in not being seen at all in a level regardless of whether they have killed anyone or not. I can understand why Acquire would want to encourage the player to not be caught but since the game gives you poor scores for NOT attacking enemies it leaves this writer most confused.
Shuriken Your Duty
These days more and more Japanese games that traditionally wouldn't be seeing an international release are finally being played by western audiences. Games like Oneechanbara and Earth Defense Force 2017 hit the market despite their overt eccentricities. With such games however, to go along with the campiness of each title, you would expect to find a terrible English dubbing job. You would not however expect to find it in a long running franchise like Tenchu, especially when a developer who has just reacquired the rights to one of their classic franchises gets a quality company like Ubisoft to handle the overseas distribution.
I think you see where I'm going with this. Yes, dear readers, it turns out that Shadow Assassins is one of the worst dubs that has graced this generation of consoles, going so far as to force this writer to turn off the in-game voices. Not only is the lip-syncing completely off but the voices neither fit the characters nor match up with the emotions the characters should be feeling. The most egregious offender is the narrator who decides that not only does he have to explain every single little thing step-by-step for the first few levels but he also has to act as if he is analytical. It also doesn't help that all the characters, enemies and protagonists alike have an extremely limited set of things to say, making the game seem more like a script for a television show or movie (and a bad one at that).
Return from Darkness
Surely the graphics aren't all that bad though, right? Well, I'm sorry to report that they are disappointing as well. The game would have looked decent about five years ago but the fact of the matter is that it is only on par with launch titles from the last console generation. Almost all the textures are dull, character movements are extremely over-exaggerated, and the scenery is just downright dull. The game doesn't even run in 480p which was a strong blow in my book. The most egregious problem is the lighting. Upon startup of the game the player is treated to a brightness adjustment screen advising you to change your television settings, a foul problem in this day and age of games in which most allow you to adjust the game itself. That aside, the lighting for the game is horrendous, displaying environments with mediocre bloom lighting and environmental lighting that is as clear as day. Shadows are non-existent, instead replaced with whirling clouds of black mist that signify darkened areas. Even if a bloom light like a torch is put out the area around it is not darkened; instead it only opens "darkened" areas that you must travel through so that you won't be seen by the guards. It is hard to understand how a stealth game that mainly occurs in nighttime settings can be so bad at creating dark areas. The fact that even seven years after Splinter Cell perfected the art of creating shadows and darkness that we still get games that have poor lighting design is just sad.
A Knife in the Back
Tenchu Shadow Assassins is a great example of a good game series that has gone bad and it is difficult to bear witness to a cult classic franchise that has fallen so far from grace. Games on the Wii are notorious for their lacking quality and sloppy ports but Tenchu shouldn't be one of them. If this is one of the games Nintendo fans trumps as a return of hardcore games to the Wii and is a sign of things to come then I have one piece of advice: get ready to sell you Wii.
Roger Vulture 14, Solid Copy All
Modern Warfare 2 begins five years after the events of the first game. Things haven’t gone well for the world in the days since the death of Imran Zakhaev. In the months following his death his former associate Vladamir Makarov has seized control of the Russian Ultranationalist Party and has labeled Zakhaev a martyr of the “new Russia.” The Ultranationalists now have a controlling interest of the country while the United States and Great Britain can only watch and (covertly) attempt to change the course of precipitating events.
In the wake of the Ultranationalist surge a new generation of terrorism has arisen throughout the world. To combat the threat the United States and Great Britain form Task Force 141, an elite contingent of hand-picked troops from over a dozen countries. The remaining members of the joint operations group that headed up the attack on Zakhaev’s missile base in the first game take up positions as leaders in TF141 with none other than Captain “Soap” MacTavish, the player’s controlled character from Call of Duty 4, leading your squad into battle. The player controls several different soldiers throughout the course of the game, though for the majority of the combat you play as Sgt. Gary “Roach” Sanderson assigned to MacTavish’s squad.
The story itself clocks in at roughly seven hours or so for an experienced player which is comparable to the length of the first game. The levels in the game are significantly shorter than the previous game but the number of missions, 18, fixes any worries about a short gameplay experience. The story does include a significant cliffhanger which guarantees a Modern Warfare 3 (like you didn’t know they’d make that) but it doesn’t pull a Halo 2 at the end and leaves you (almost) satisfied.
Remember, No Russian
The story of the game takes a significant turn early on when Makarov leads a strike against a Russian airport filled with thousands of civilians. This is the controversial level that has plagued the internet for months now depicting mass murder on a scale that hasn’t really been seen in a shooter before. Though the level of violence is incredibly realistic in its brutality the end result is one that can change the perspective of the player and deliver an emotional experience I’m sure most haven’t ever experienced in a video game. The level can be skipped through at no penalty to the player but for those who wish to see the story all the way through it is a vital event to witness. It should be noted that, if you choose to play through the level, you will be forced to fight as there is almost no way to get through the entire level without killing anyone. Should you get too far from Makarov you will be labeled a coward and are shot on site by him and his men. Damned if you play it but damned if you don’t and miss the story event.
This is a Message
The level design of the game is far more generous in its variety this time around. While you will still be fighting in forests and mountains a much stronger portion of the game emphasizes urban warfare. No other set of levels highlights this fact more than the ones set in war-torn Virginia and Washington D.C. Once you find yourself in the boots of a US Army Ranger charging into battle against invading Russian troops you know you are in for one of the best parts of the game. The overall feel of these levels evoke a tremendous sense of awe as you buck and dodge your way through a Virginia suburban neighborhood or the decimated streets of what remains of the nation’s capital.
One of the more surprising and welcome additions to the series is the presence of civilians in the game. Obviously shooting civilians is explicitly discouraged (except for the airport level) but it does give many levels a lived-in feel versus the abandoned buildings of every title in the series up to this point. Civilians will obviously panic and run away as soon as the combat starts making shooting bad guys a troublesome experience for the first few minutes until they all clear out but it definitely does make you feel like you are fighting for more than the brass back home.
What players will notice throughout the game is a set variety in length of the various levels. Some, like the Cliffhanger level in which Roach and Soap infiltrate a Russian airbase, are incredibly long to the point of being longer than several other missions combined. Others are far shorter and can last just a handful of minutes though the majority of these are usually so action-packed that you really don’t realize it until after the mission ends. Many levels are accentuated with multiple varying paths that ensure different experiences upon multiple playthroughs but it isn’t exactly enough to result in you talking to several of your buddies and learning a new approach every time.
Call of Duty 4 struck a balance of action experiences coinciding with plotline development. This has changed a large amount in comparison to the first game as the game is filled to the brim with shootouts throughout all but 90% of the experience. While this is a welcome change, especially given the expanded level design, you usually don’t get a breather until the level is over. The only truly disappointing feature of the singleplayer experience is the lack of a stealth level. All Ghillied Up, a level from the first game in which a pair of snipers infiltrate the rotting remains of Pripyat, was a very generous shake-up in comparison to the overall feel of the previous game. It seems that this has almost all but been abandoned in favor of an action oriented experience. Several levels do have stealth sections within them but there is not one that places this as a priority all the way through.
Stack Up!
Infinity Ward had a conundrum on their hands: how do you keep a solid singleplayer experience without diminishing its cinematic nature when adding in co-op? After all, while World at War’s singleplayer and co-op were interlinked the end result diminished the overall experience when playing with a friend. At the end of the debate Infinity Ward came down with a decree: keep the singleplayer experience separate from the co-op and for those yearning to kill hundreds of foes with a friend outside of multiplayer came Spec Ops.
Spec Ops was designed to do just that. Separate from the singleplayer and multiplayer options present with the game players can team up with a buddy and attempt to accomplish a variety of mission objectives across multiple levels taken from both the singleplayer campaign as well original levels not present otherwise. Players earn a number of stars from completing a mission on a certain difficulty level and these can be spent to unlock more levels. Players can unlock a total of 69 stars across 23 levels so replay value is indefinitely assured.
Levels are organized into one of five sets: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo. The difficulty of objectives increase as you go from Alpha to Echo. The variety of mission objectives are divided into four further groups: Assault, Stealth, Wave Defense, Elimination. Assault has you attacking waves of infantry while attempting to reach or complete an objective. Stealth fills in the much-needed singleplayer hole and lets players sneak around enemy patrols. Wave defense is just what you expect and Elimination has you killing all enemies on the map.
The end result: very fun. Playing through a session with a good buddy is very exciting and often memorable. If you don’t have a buddy to play with you can always go solo on these missions but it just isn’t the same. The only unfortunate truth of Spec Ops is that it completely replaces the Arcade mode from the first game but you still get the same general feel with Spec Ops.
Tangos in the Open!
This brings us to the reason you will be coming back six months from now to play Modern Warfare 2: the multiplayer. While the overall feel of the new title’s multiplayer hasn’t changed very much since the previous game the overall nature of it has been upgraded significantly. Gone are many of the problems that plagued the previous game: modified controllers making guns automatic instead of their intended fire rate and the gratuitous use of martyrdom grenades are now a thing of the past. Many of the griped-about features of the first game have been fixed thanks to simple modifications such as the deletion of some perks and the reassigning of others. The game also incorporates host-migration, something that will prevent many from shouting and cursing at their TVs because someone decided that losing wasn’t something they wanted to do today.
The multiplayer component of Modern Warfare 2 also takes the idea of ranking up and pushes it to the next level. The level cap has been raised to 70 as compared to Call of Duty 4’s 55 and World at War’s 65 making it an even longer experience, not to mention the ability to engage prestige mode once you have reached level 70. Ranking up doesn’t only apply to your overall rank however: while doing normal ranking will still unlock new weapons and perks for you to use, perks and new weapon enhancements can be unlocked seperately. Perks themselves can be upgraded to “Pro” versions of themselves that have further effects on top of their base powers. Weapon attachments work the same way: for example, once you have killed a certain amount of players looking down your gun’s red dot sight you will unlock the EOT holographic sight for that weapon.
The levels included in the multiplayer are a mix of mostly original levels as well as ones almost taken straight out of the singleplayer. There are almost no remakes present save for Wasteland, a remake of Brecourt from the original Call of Duty, which is a bit disappointing as fan favorite levels like Overgrown and Crash may not be making an appearance until the DLC map packs start coming out. What is present is a nice variety of open and close-quarter maps that almost never leave you with a feeling of being lost or one of claustrophobia. Modern Warfare 2 launched with 16 multiplayer maps total which is a very healthy amount when compared to many other shooters out there.
What you’ll end up with at the end of the day with Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer is a battle you want to player for some time to come, one that never gets old no matter how many times you shoot your friends (and strangers) in the face. You’re going to be coming back to this one for a long time, as will millions of other players.
Hammerdown
Several games this generation have left us breathless when it comes to their graphics. Gears of War, Killzone 2, Uncharted; each one has been one of the standouts in showing how next-gen hardware could truly be harnessed to its full potential. The only caviat in this however is that each one of these titles is a platform exclusive and, as such, is only designed to take advantage of one system’s power with little consideration to any other platform. It is safe to say without a doubt that Modern Warfare 2 beats these titles in the graphics department simply because, as a multiplatform title, it is forced to make the most out of multiple platforms and thus must take the sacrifices of one system and apply it to the other. “Sacrifice” isn’t a proper word however as Modern Warfare 2 does not fail even once in the visual department.
While the game does use an upgraded version of the first title’s engine, Modern Warfare 2’s sheer beauty isn’t so much in technological improvements so much as refinements and subtle enhancements. No longer are environments drab and lacking life; rather, they are brought to life by the little things present that you really take the time to think about. The environments are now absolutely filled to the brim with things to interact with: chickens in cages, electronics, you name it. One of the later levels in the game, The Hornet’s Nest, has you fighting hundreds of militia in the middle of a large market and, as you are blazing through it, you start to notice the collateral damage: tons of debris, dead chickens, cover ripped-asunder by gunfire. In another level you are plunged into darkness with only fires and lighting from a storm lighting your way, both demonstrating an excellent enhancement to the engine’s lighting code as well as making the player subliminally more cautious. It is really hard to describe in words how wondrous these enhancements are but you’ll definitely be agreeing with me on this one.
The game’s audio design is excellent as well. Not only is there a ton of well written and acted dialog to experience but the sound effects really draw you into the experience. Keith David, actor turned voice actor who voiced the Arbiter in Halo 2 and 3, plays a center role in the game and returning voice actors Billy Murray (not the comedian) and Craig Fairbass return, though Fairbass’s role (Ghost) is the same as his predecessor character Gaz which adds an odd sense of familiarity with the previous game. Hans Zimmer, famed Hollywood composer, took on the task of adding music to the game, something that, despite his relative inexperience with video games, succeeded incredibly well. The music easily compliments the scenes at hand and never lets down, not even for a moment.
Wait a Minute, It Comes with WHAT?
Of the three SKUs available for the console versions none is more ingenious than the notorious Prestige Edition. Coming in an oversized box larger than a Nintendo Gamecube (also packs more awesome than the Gamecube), the Prestige Edition is for those who either love the franchise, love collector’s editions of games, or look forward to selling it for a high price on eBay in the near future. For $150 USD you get a surprising amount of stuff to mess with: an art book, the collector’s edition of the game, and a voucher code for the original Call of Duty on the Xbox Live Arcade. Oh, and a set of night vision goggles.
Let me repeat that last sentence: a pair of NIGHT VISION GOGGLES. If that doesn’t turn your head then you my friend are just a sad, sad little man. The NVGs are provided by Activision but were built Jakks Pacific, a toy company that created the EyeClops NVG set for kids. While it is still a toy worth around $90 USD the product is surprisingly well put together. While it doesn’t hold a candle to professional sets that you can buy for an exponentially larger sum of money, Modern Warfare 2’s set works very well and lets you see up to about 100ft or so in near-total darkness. Of course, this won’t be of any practical use for most people, but for those looking to play a late night game of tag, have an impromptu paintball match at 1:00am, or just feel that a early morning panty raid is in order, these NVGs more than do the job.
Roger That, I’m Oscar Mike
Modern Warfare 2 is an excellent game; it can’t be said any other way. The game’s singleplayer mode will make for a fine shock-and-awe moment for your non-gamer friends, the Spec Ops co-op will have you playing with your best buds for weekends on end, and the multiplayer will be exactly what you’ll be booting up every night for the next eight months. What else can be said? Buy this game. Now.