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Title: Dante’s Inferno
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PSP
Developer: Visceral Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release date: 2/28/2010

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of religion in games. More specifically, I’ve thought about the role and presentation of Judeo-Christian religions in our favorite medium. I’m intrigued by how it’s handled, what developers decide to show us, and how this theme is received by the gaming public. All that stuff aside, Dante’s Inferno is a good game. But it has earned its reputation as a God of War clone. Earned it and seemingly wears it proudly.

The narrative here is provided by the epic poem “The Divine Comedy” penned by Italian poet Dante Alighieri in the 14th century AD. “Inferno” is the first part of the poem chronicling the descent of Dante, with his guide, Virgil, through the nine circles of hell. The poem goes into great detail into the geography of Hell, as well as its inhabitants and their punishments. The poem over the centuries has been woven into the fabric of religious thought specifically when it comes to imagery of demons, and what we imagine the eternal punishments of hell to be like.

So how does this epic piece of literature translate to a beat-em-up action game? It translates well as it turns out, though far from perfect. Instead of a mild mannered poet, our protagonist is a battle hardened veteran of The Crusades. A very troubled soldier as it turns out, having committed many questionable acts in this service. Our relationship with Dante begins in a cinematic depicting him sewing a cross shaped tapestry into his own chest. Really. We then are treated to a stylishly animated flashback of the battles Dante has endured so far, dissolving finally into our first true gameplay experience. Now, these animations, which artistically contrast with the look of the rest of the game, are used throughout to highlight relevant background information, or extrapolate further on our hero’s motivations and nature of his inner turmoil. The CG cutscenes in the game always refer to important current events to advance the story.

The developers really had a challenge on their hands with crafting a compelling story out of this particular epic poem. For one thing, they needed a compelling motivation for our hero Dante. Simply holding hands with Virgil through their little escapade wasn’t quite good enough. Enter Beatrice, Dante’s .. girlfriend (?) who is murdered early in the game and dragged to hell because of an as yet unforeseen betrayal on Dante’s part. Now, rescuing the “princess” is, has always been, and probably always will be, a good enough motivation in a video game. However, we simply have to dock a few points for originality here. Nevertheless, I suppose it is good enough, as some of the more subtle nuances of the story do unfold as the game progresses. It was somewhat difficult for me to subdue the cliché gag reflex when I first realized what Dante’s motive was, but it doesn’t distract from the gameplay really, it just feel s a little bit old.

Let’s get back to the gameplay. Dante begins the game armed with his Halberd polearm. There’s a light attack, heavy attack, a double jump, and evasions performed by the right thumbstick. A combo counter keeps track of the attack string and enemies generally attack from all sides. Hmm… this seems familiar. Dante controls very well overall and it’s pretty easy to get a hang of the controls. Pretty soon, Dante has his first encounter with the supernatural, a face to face with the personification of Death, and after the ensuing battle, Dante manages to defeat Death with a rather solid stab in the face with Death’s own Scythe, taking the weapon as his prize and it becomes Dante’s principal weapon in the game. A quick time event control scheme is used to execute the on screen action once the boss has taken enough damage. Again, this is familiar territory. Once you have the Scythe, these QTE’s are used to kill off the medium and difficult enemies and the player can determine whether they will be “absolved” awarding Holy points, or “punished” awarding Unholy points. This is an important issue because these points are used to enhance abilities on two separate skill trees. The unholy tree enhances the hand to hand light and heavy melee combat, while the holy tree enhances the ranged combat using Beatrice’s holy Cross. On my play-through, I found that it was possible to go deeply down both trees, but not to max them both out. The player will have to choose one or the other depending on playstyle. I was able to finish the game without focusing heavily on one or the other, balancing my play accordingly.

So there are two things going on here. Firstly you have the souls as currency and secondly, the holy and unholy points are used as leveling elements enabling the unlocking of abilities that you buy with the souls you earn. If you focus on punishing or absolving each enemy, you can potentially unlock all the abilities in that respective tree. I felt this worked out alright, but there didn’t seem to be many really awesome abilities at the top (bottom?)of each tree that had the “wow” factor to motivate me into maxing that tree out. Which I suppose is why I didn’t bother and it didn’t even seem to hinder me all that much.

Along with the regular enemies inhabiting Hell, there are also damned souls trapped there as well that you will come across in your journey. These souls are humans crouched in agony, their lamentations and wails filling the ears of the player. Each one has a story to tell, most of them are figures from Dante’s world, but others are historic figures like Attila the Hun. Once you listen to their stories (Or not. Listening isn’t mandatory, but I thought it was interesting) you can choose to absolve them, or punish them. I personally .. STRONGLY.. recommend absolving each one as you get to play a rather easy and somewhat fun mini game that will net you bonus currency souls as well as 600 holy points. If you choose to punish them, you get the 600 unholy points, but you don’t get the mini game for extra bonus souls. But some of them deserve punishing in my humble opinion. Again, I thought these tortured beings were an interesting touch. You will encounter a small handful of these beings on each level, some of them you will nearly trip over on your journey, others will require a little platforming know how to reach them. There were only one or two that I couldn’t quite figure out.

Which brings me to the controls. Camera control in a 3rd person action game is crucial if a game has platforming elements. At times, the camera in Dante’s is lacking. I’m not saying the game camera has to make everything easy mode, but it would be nice if I didn’t feel that the camera was the one thing standing in the way of making what I would think would be a relatively easy jump. It made a few areas of the game needlessly frustrating. It’s not the worst camera in the world, but it could have used a little more work. Actually, there are times when Dante doesn’t quite feel connected and solid in this world. Sometimes he seems as if he’s on rollerskates and not firmly planted where he should be. When you stand on some moving platforms, you tend to slide around even with no controller input which can lead to some problems if you’re trying to be precise. Other than that, the combat controls alright, but nothing really stands out as far as the normal attacks go. The cross attacks are definitely cooler.

Now there are a few other little elements to combat and control that enter into play, namely, the idea of relics. Relics are items that Dante finds or is given by Virgil that will help you on your quest. Some might give you more time to extend your combo string, some might enable you to open chests.. err.. fountains instantly instead of jamming the buttons to do so. These relics can make your life a lot easier and there are a bunch to find. Another tip, always complete every conversation with Virgil as he sometimes will give you a relic when you finish talking to him. I say this, because talking to Virgil isn’t mandatory, so some players may choose to skip him. I felt his input, which is mostly based on actual lines and excerpts from the original text, added a lot of color to the experience. Even if he never really seems to ever answer a question directly. However, he also sometimes refers to people and things that are in Hell that you end up never seeing. That at times was a letdown. I’m still looking forward to fighting Achilles!!

The levels in the game are all inspired by the nine circles of Hell originally envisioned by Alighieri. Each circle represented a different and progressively more heinous sin for which the prisoners of Hell were to be punished for. The levels are in this order: Purgatory, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery. Now, ideally, each circle will have its own feel and own set of enemies to defeat. Mostly this is the case, but there are some really notable exceptions, or omissions. The first three levels of “Hell Proper”, being Lust, gluttony, and Greed, definitely have their distinctiveness, but the middle levels really suffer from a lack of style in my estimation. There is also some odd puzzle placement. For example, there is an M.C. Escher influenced room that has portals that you pass through to figure out which way is up and which way is out. That sounds fine, right? Well, it would be if it wasn’t in the gluttony level. It seems just a bit out of place there. I think something like that would be best in the Purgatory level perhaps.

Overall though, the playability of the levels is fine. The pacing is at a decent tempo and the boss fights are very relevant. Each boss requires a slightly different tactic to defeat. Some surprising bosses are here, as many of them are people that Dante knows, or people close to Beatrice. I did enjoy the Clepatra and Mark Antony fight early and the fight with a close friend of Dante very much. They integrate with the story very well, and at times, the narrative of the story was driving me forward more urgently than the gameplay itself. The final showdown with Lucifer was challenging as you needed to basically use all the combat skill you learned up to this point. He was tough enough.

Upon defeating the game all kinds of new modes open up. There is an arena battle mode, and a new skin for Dante. The hardest difficulty level unlocks as well and the ability to use all of your abilities so far in another play-through. There was also a neat video promising multi-player over XBLive (PSN too I assume) once the mode is available sometime in April. This looks to be pretty cool as long as people are still interested in playing this game 2 months after release. I hope so. The developers deserve some attention and although the game is not perfect by any means, it is a good effort.

I wanted to save the issues of graphics and sounds for last. As far as the graphics go, although the game is well rendered, I don’t think the game will be winning a lot of awards. I must reiterate a point I made in an earlier preview of this title. Beatrice and other female characters in the game do appear fully nude at times, and there are very sexually suggestive themes. This is a game that earns its “M” rating. There are one or two visual glitches, and the camera at times seems a bit too far away from the action. I did love the voice acting and the sounds of Hell however. The audio in the game was extremely well done. I really felt the actors were well cast in almost every case.

The Review:

I really enjoyed the game. It was a good take on a classic piece of literature, and it was respectful to the institutions of religion. It wasn’t a theological masterpiece or a creative one, but the developers of this title have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. There are a lot of stiff competitors in this genre though and I don’t think Dante can really match up fully with the best of the best. If you never owned a PS and never played God of War, then this will do it for you.

Story:

Dante jumps into a hellish adventure to save the soul of his fair lady from the grip of Lucifer himself. Nuff said.

Gameplay:

There are nice if not stellar controls and camera. The puzzles are good even if some are misplaced. I enjoyed the act of absolving (or punishing) the damned. It seems as though the real depth in this game is in the smaller details. Which is how it should be. However, the platforming sometimes is more challenging than it should be due to a shaky camera. *sigh*

Graphics and Sounds:

Decent graphics and great sounds and voice acting. The environments in the middle of the game are a little nondescript and there could be more variation to keep things interesting.

The Good:

The story and the take on the classic poem are what stand out here.

The Bad:

The uninteresting environments in the middle of the game as well as the lack of enough unique enemies mar a really compelling experience.

The Ugly:

The fact that this game did not come out in a vacuum I think will really hurt sales. A lot of people that normally would play it will not because they just bought Bayonetta, or Darksiders, or will be getting God of War 3 soon.

Overall:

If you are a Xbox 360 owner and really want your 3rd person action itch scratched with a more traditional Action/Platformer, then I think Dante is your man. It’s definitely worth a buy. I want to see more about the DLC that’s promised.

Final Vote: 4/5

Title: Bioshock 2
Developer/Publisher: 2k Games
Platforms: PC, XBox 360, PS3
Release Date: 02/09/10
Number of Players: 1 player campaign, 2-10 player multiplayer

It is time, boys and girls, to return to Rapture. This time, however, we’re visit the idyllic city as one of its protectors, a Big Daddy. Although years have passed since the original Bioshock, the world hasn’t changed much. The Splicers still rule the streets of Rapture and are on their eternal hunt for Adam, Little Sisters and their Big Daddies can be found harvesting it from corpses and there are plenty of cameras, vending machines and turrets to be hacked. The game opens with you, as a Big Daddy, following your Little Sister through a cocktail party and the city of Rapture looks bright and new to you. As she races ahead of you and out of sight, you hear her scream for you. Your arrival finds a few local residents trying to harvest her for ADAM. Like any good protector, you swoop in and squish the evil ne’er do wells, saving your ward. The antagonist of the game, Sofia Lamb, arrives at this point and takes you Little Sister and orders you to take a pistol and kill yourself. Congratulations, you’ve lost the game…not really, of course. You wake up in front of a Vita-Chamber about 10 years later and it seems you’ve missed the Fall of Rapture. Welcome back to Rapture.

For people who have never played the first Bioshock, this one comes with a good mix of First Person Shooter and Role-Playing Game customizations. The game is, at its core an FPS, I won’t deny that. But it adds some nice RPG elements to it with leveling up for Plasmids, choosing which Tonics to use and having a finite number of weapon upgrades to select. Plasmids are genetic mutations that allow the user to do a number of amazing things from shoot lightning from their hands (stunning their enemies [or even killing them if they're in water] to shooting mutant wasps out of your very veins [which can even hunt down enemies in hiding]). For those who are veteran Bioshock players, the game adds some nice additions to spice things up, most notably are the Big Sisters and the multiplayer aspect.

A lot of what makes this a great game is the story. It tells the backstory of why Big Daddies are always there with the Little Sisters. It tells the backstory of the Big Sisters. It givers more history of Rapture and it even hints at the future of a Bioshock 3. From the first game, the Big Daddies were just hulking brutes with a drill or gun that beat the ever-loving snot out of you while you tried to save/harvest the Little Sisters, but you never really got any reason why they clues as to the why of it. This goes in depth into that from your perspective as a Big Daddy. The Little Sister from the intro was a special one that was taken by Sofia Lamb and you have retrieve her before you breakdown (although they hint at a time limit throughout the game, there wasn’t one that I could find).

I don’t want to go into too much detail as to who you are, who the Little Sister is from the intro or even what the connection is between the two of you is. A lot of that unfolds as you play the game and it a pure joy to watch. The story is moved forward by other people telling you what to do, very similarly to the first game. Since you’re a Big Daddy who has been resurrected from the dead and you’ve missed the Fall of Rapture, it’s time to figure out what you’ve missed and where your Little Sister is. Throughout the game, various people will contact you through your helmet’s radio, giving you basic missions as to where to go, what to do and how to get to the next area of Rapture.

Let’s get to the weapons of Bioshock 2. The nitty gritty of any FPS. The fun stuff. When you first start out, you start with just the drill. You can beat people with it and you can power the drill up and waste people that way. Both can be fun (and are very satisfying in their own right). Sadly, a knife to a gun fight ends up with someone dead…and it’s rarely the gun wielder. Early on you get the Rivet Gun (yes, another staple of the Big Daddy). This replaces the Revolver from the original Bioshock as your base gun. It is a fairly basic gun and does a pretty good job. Like any good FPS, there is a Shotgun (and yes, it is of the double barreled and sawed off variety) and a Machinegun. The last two weapons are a grenade/rocket launcher and a spear gun. Each weapon can be upgraded three times and all five of the six can be fully upgraded. You do get another item that is on your weapon list, although it in and of itself is not a weapon.

The Research Camera. You take a picture of an enemy and a grainy, sepia movie-ish film starts. While this happens, you need to attack the enemy with various weapons and Plasmids to research the enemy. Each enemy has four levels of research that unlocks different abilities (from damage boosts to an additional Tonic). The Research Camera, while a great help later in the game, can be a huge annoyance in the heat of battle. While switching between weapons and Plasmids, you’re constantly under attack from the enemy (or enemies, as the case may be) and once the enemy you’re researching is dead, you have to switch BACK to the Camera to start researching ANOTHER enemy…all while taking enemy fire. In the heat of battle, this can be a huge frustration. Even on the PC, where you can assign the Research Camera to a specific button, it is still very frustrating to have to swap between that, your weapon, your Plasmids and still move around to dodge enemy fire. Of course, researching enemies is ENTIRELY optional…but the bonuses are well worth the trouble.

Plasmids and Tonics…the spice of life. These fun toys are given by your special Little Sister throughout the game or purchased for ADAM at vending machines that you find in game. All of the Plasmids can be upgraded three times. The first level is helpful, no matter what…it will always give you some kind of damage attack, whether directly or
indirectly. After you’ve gotten one, you can purchase the later versions (for additional ADAM) for more damage, targets or area of effect. This is really where the RPG customization of the game shines. Although you’re required to have the level one ability of a few Plasmids, you can really pick and choose which Plasmids you want and
which you don’t. Tonics work similarly to Plasmids in that they give you additional buffs in the game. Their big difference is that they’re passive buffs and aren’t activated with a button push and you’re given a larger selection to have active at any given time. Each Plasmid and Tonic serves a play style and fits in somewhere in the game…just not
necessarily yours, so you will definitely find some that don’t use or need.

The enemies and the AI work very well. Even though the Splicers are supposed to be “deranged, ADAM addicted” psychopaths, they won’t sit there and let you shoot them. They will try to avoid your gunfire or lead in into a group of others. Even when there is just one, by itself, it will shoot, move to some basic cover, move out and shoot again and try basic tactics. Now, this isn’t anything great nor is it anything new. But for a game that billed the Splicers as psychopaths, that’s pretty amazing. The different types of Splicers have their different tactics, too. Some will try to charge you (and therefore your Shotgun works best), some will stay back and shoot you with a Tommy Gun (at which point your Rivet Gun or Machinegun works best). Where this can really be fun is when you have “borrowed” a Little Sister from its previous Big Daddy and are going to harvest some ADAM. Splicers are going to come out of the woodwork and bum rush you. What weapons you’re proficient in, what ammo you have and what tactics you use are going to mean the difference between a safe Little Sister or a quick visit to the closest Vita-Chamber.

Let’s take a look at Rapture. It’s been approximately 10 years since we last saw this desolate underwater paradise. Not much has really changed. The buildings are still in ruins. The walls are crumbling around you, there is water everywhere and graffiti is plastered on almost every wall. What makes this so beautiful, so eye-popping is the interaction between you, the Big Daddy, and the environment. When you walk under some water that is falling from the ceiling, you can hear it colliding with your helmet and it will obscure your vision. When your walk in from being out in the water, there are droplets of water on your mask that stay there for a while. All of this gives are sense of realism that makes you feel a little claustrophobic. As you continue through the story, you go through various parts of Rapture and see parts that you hadn’t seen from Bioshock. These new areas give a little more insight into the backstory of Rapture. A lot of it remains the dark and gritty look that the whole Rapture gives off, doom and gloom and a fallen Utopia. All of it, though, is beautiful in its own chaotic way.

When I saw that they were doing a multiplayer for Bioshock 2, I was very excited. I love FPS multiplayer games. Since the days of playing Half Life 1 for hours on end, I’ve been hooked. So, a game of running around as a pre-Fall Splicer sounded like a LOT of fun. I was both wrong and right. The multiplayer of Bioshock 2 is a lot of fun, but it carries one fatal flaw. That flaw is the leveling or Rank System. You start out as a Rank 1 schlub with a Pistol and a Shotgun and can choose two out of the three available Plasmids (those being Fire, Ice or Electricity). Your Plasmids are a little different than they were in the Single Player, Fire will still do medium damage and light them on fire, doing a damage over time. Ice will light damage but slow them down a little and lower their damage resistance (meaning other weapons will do more damage). And Electricity will do heavy damage and even more if they’re in water. Now, this wouldn’t be such a problem if the game allowed for some Rank matching in the game…Rank 1-5 vs Rank 1-5 kind of deal.

It does not, however. I’ve been in games where I was Rank 1 and was against people Rank 10-22. I can see why a lot of people are not happy with the multiplayer aspect of the game. Running around with the Pistol while people were hitting you with a Rocker Launcher was no fun. At Rank 2, you get your first new weapon and at Rank 3, you get your first Tonics. On the upside, the Rank system is easy It isn’t a long and drawn out process to go from Rank 1 to Rank 3 (that only took me 5 or 6 games, only lost half of them, too). There are plenty of non-combat things to do in the game, too. You get bonus xp, ADAM, for taking pictures of people and hacking turrets, as well as other objectives.

Like many all games for the XBox 360 and PS3, the PC version also has a number of Achievements to unlock. These are tied into your Live Gamertag if you also use the XBox 360 and will show up as two separate games (one for the 360 version of the game if you own/play it and one of the PC version if you own/play it, as well). Some of the achievements are fairly innocuous, ones that you’re going to complete anyways (such as “adopting” a Little Sister) and others are going to be a trial to get (such as getting all of the weapons upgrades available, remember that there is no going back in this game, so if you miss one part, you miss the whole achievement).

The Review

This was a good game. I enjoyed it a lot. I had a lot of fun playing it and I enjoyed the environment. The multiplayer on a whole is a lot of fun, even with it’s HUGE fatal flaw. The story is a bit short, but its still a moving story.

Story:

Big Daddy has Little Sister…Little Sister goes away…Big Daddy angry…you won’t like Big Daddy when he’s angry…Big Daddy SMASH!!! With a touching story backstory to Rapture and what happened after Ryan died at the end of the first game.

Gameplay:

Although I cannot speak for the console version, I love the PC version for the ability to map my controls to the mouse/keyboard. There are so many new controls in this game that a standard FPS doesn’t take into account that I would have trouble using a console controller for. Like any FPS game, I’m sure they did a good job of mapping the keys to your controller, I’ve played Halo and Left 4 Dead on the 360 and on the PC, both had good control schemes, but they didn’t retain the absolute control that a mouse/keyboard allowed.

Sound/Music:

There is a lot of sound in this game, from the overheard conversations of the various Splicers to the rattle of the guns. The splash of the water on your helmet, the sloshing as you walk around the water filled corridors all of this adds to a spooky atmosphere. As a side note, if you are claustrophobic or hydrophobic, this is going to be a difficult game for you to play, the helmet (even though unseen) and corridors all give you a feeling of being enclosed and there scenes of being submerged in water. Just a cautionary note.

Graphics:

While it is difficult to analyze the graphics while Splicers are charging down on you, when you have a minute of a rest take a look around. Absorb the beauty of Rapture. They did a great job of adding in little bits fun, not necessarily easter eggs, but just enough fun to make you smile.

The Good:

A beautiful story, a beautiful world and a great roller coaster ride from start to finish. There is a lot that I’ll do over again when I replay the game, different Plasmids and Tonics to try, different tactics as well as different choices.

The Bad:

Short story. I know that nowadays, you can’t expect people to play a game for the 50+ or 100+ hours that people did for Final Fantasy VII. I really wish that there was a way to go back in the story, too, like you could in the first game. Once you’ve left an area, that’s it…no going back to get something you’ve forgotten.

The Ugly:

The Rank System for the multiplayer needs to have some sort of grouping system. It’s daunting and can turn off a lot of people when you’re running around with the weakest weapons and the other people are running around with the top of the line.

Overall:

I liked the game. I thought that it was a lot of fun to play and even more fun to explore. I look forward to a second and even third replay to try things with different Plasmid/Tonic combinations.

Final Vote: 4/5

I would really like to give this a 5 out of 5 and at the same time I’d like to give this a 3 out of 5.  But there are too many good things to rate this as an average game and too many bad things to give this a perfect rating.  Those who are looking for a perfect sequel are going to be sorely disappointed, those who are looking for a great multiplayer Bioshock experience are likewise going to be disappointed.  But, those who are looking for a fun game that will waste some time, take them to Rapture and shoot some Big Daddies…ahh, those are the ones that will love this game.

I remember vividly the final stage, that mad dash to safety aboard a warthog, as the ring begins to disintegrate, fighting the Flood every step of the way. I remember my sense of satisfaction at completing the game (on normal. I’m a wuss). And I remember my anticipation of the sequel “Halo 2” which I reserved, waited anxiously for, and purchased, complete with a collectors edition metal tin.

But I didn’t have the same level of wonder this time. Halo 2 had me jumping from protagonist to protagonist, and the ending left me feeling like there was more game to be played, which I suppose is sort of the point. Nevertheless, I kind of fell out of love with the series and it took me until.. oh… about last Tuesday, to really rediscover what I loved about this series.

You see, Halo 2 was designed to be one of the best multiplayer games around. Still to this day, players are enjoying battling each other in a 6-year-old game online. (Too bad about Microsoft dropping XBL support for original Xbox titles very soon. More on that later) I am not big on multi player, or to be more accurate, I wasn’t too big on multi-player, so the real appeal of Halo 2 was sort of lost on me. Eventually, I took a break from gaming, a break that is measured in years rather than months. I only recently bought an Xbox 360. And the first game I bought for it was Halo 3. It only took me 2 years to make it to that party, but better late than never. Ironically, Halo 3 sat on my shelf, basically untouched for months. Honestly, I think I was scared to be disappointed. In the meantime, I played games on my PS3, and took in Gears of War, among other titles. Yet, there Halo 3 sat, awaiting my mood to favor killing aliens with plasma beams. So a few weeks ago, I popped in Halo 3 in an earnest attempt at getting through the series. I set the difficulty to “Heroic” and I settled in.

I can’t tell you how awesome I felt, to see and feel the world of Halo again. Halo 3 was the return to greatness that apparently never really left. Master Chief was my avatar. I was on his mission. The world needed saving and I was the one to do it. It was epic and breathtaking and I was so glad I took the time to fall back in love with this franchise again. Something else happened too. I became interested in the expanded backstory. The whole Halo universe became alive to me. I bought and read the novel “Halo: The Fall of Reach” (recommended for any Halo fan BTW). It kind of reminds me of how invested I have been in other sci-fi universes like Star Wars, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica. This universe that Bungie (the developer of the Halo series) created is bigger, much bigger than the games that carry the main storyline that most gamers will only see. It also really made me see that a compelling story can enhance even a title like Halo where basically all you’re doing is pointing a reticule at a funky humanoid and blowing them to kingdom come.

Now a new Halo game looms on the horizon. Prequel “Halo: Reach” promises to be the killer app of the fall gaming cycle. Highly improved graphics, gameplay changes such as assassinations and larger scale combat on sandbox-like battlefields is awaiting the player. Spartans will work together as a team, and of course, we will be experiencing the tale of humanity’s struggle against an overwhelming foe. The real menace of the Covenant will be felt and really witnessed for the first time since the first game. I can’t wait to see what Bungie has in store for us. Although we already know how this part of the Halo fiction will end (the planet Reach is eventually overcome and destroyed by the Covenant), playing a part in the telling of this story has me greatly anticipating the beta’s release on May 3rd.

I want to touch on another note here. With Microsoft ending XBL support for Xbox 1 games, Bungie has a relatively unique opportunity to satisfy the current gaming community as well as introduce new games, few as they may be, to the Halo universe. Recently Sony re-released the God of War series remastered in High Def on the PS3, complete with trophies and online support, giving new gamers an updated game experience in preparation for the release of God of War III. Bungie could (SHOULD) do the same with Halo. Can you imagine playing through Halo 1 and 2 in full HD with achievements AND next generation XBL support? I sure can, and now I just may be ready for it. Let’s do it Bungie!

Looking to cut a swath across the gaming landscape this first quarter is Dante’s Inferno. The game has garnered some attention and some controversy from the gaming community. With a demo already released on both Playstation Network and Xbox Live, gamers have been able to get a look for themselves about what this game will really be about. Are we just looking at a God of War clone, or is there something else there for us to experience? Recently, we here at Gamers Platform had an opportunity to sit in on a roundtable interview session with three key members of the development team for Dante’s Inferno: Jonathan Knight- executive producer, Mike Cheng- level designer, and Vincent Napoli- lead combat designer.

What do you think some of the challenges were in modernizing the source material of Alighieris epic poem to gamers?

I think there were kind of two big challenges. The first being, that the poem doesn’t have a real strong dramatic narrative to it. It’s kind of a “travelogue” if you will. Dante and Virgil are on a journey through the afterlife, describing what they see, and they are on a quest of sorts to get to Beatrice. And that was kind of the foundation of our story was trying to stay true to the idea of Dante, his love for Beatrice and his journey to get to her and we kind of built on that. What they describe in the poem as they see it is an incredible setting for a video game, so epic and bizarre and twisted and detailed, and there’s monsters and demons and amazing environments and weather. And all of that stuff reasonably faithful to that vision, I mean he mapped hell, that’s kind of what (Alighieri’s) remembered for in addition to this amazing poetry. The map that he created of hell that people have been drawing ever since he wrote the poem, that was really what drew us to it. But to turn it into a game there has to be a central character with a strong motivation, that’s a warrior that’s good at killing things and who has a strong objective. So we took the bold step of writing a new story that layers on top of the basic ideas of the poem, and we kind of twisted it so that Beatrice is a kidnap victim that’s been taken down to hell, Lucifer gets a bigger part in the game as an antagonist, and we kind of just shifted the dynamic. We took Dante and changed him from a poet/politician into a warrior. So those were sort of the challenging but necessary tweaks we made to the story to make it work as an action game.

The other big challenge was setting out to make a game set in hell, (we sort of start to think) oh, we’ll do a level based on gluttony or lust or greed, and those were exciting concepts for us. But really being able to design an environment that looks like hell when we can’t actually go there to take pictures of it we have to really imagine it, and everyone has kind of a different idea of what hell is. So we had to really employ a lot of concept art and a lot of iteration to really push the boundaries and come up with places that felt like they’d be in hell.

Religion in games is something that basically the industry stays away from, in particular, Judeo/Christian philosophies. Has there been any backlash that you at Visceral or EA in general have gotten from the public and how have you chosen to handle it?

You probably won’t believe me but, no. I mean you think we would’ve. It’s certainly been somewhat of a controversial project. I think that most of that controversy has sort of centered around taking a, you know, revered piece of literature that’s sort of a classic, and is studied in universities and is a great achievement of western literary civilization and turning it into a video game, I think that’s somewhat of a controversial idea, and I hope when people play the game and look at some of the special features and documentaries, they’ll see that we took it reasonably seriously, and that we really loved the material. I mean the game is creating interest in Dante and the Divine Comedy, there’s a generation of young people that are picking up the poem and reading it because the game got them interested in it. That’s just something that we know to be true. I’ve had actual schoolteachers come up and tell me that. Generally people who love literature are really excited that we’re doing it even though they may not agree with everything we’re doing, because it’s just created a lot of excitement and sort of reenergized a 700 year old poet. In terms of the religious aspect of it, we just haven’t gotten that a lot. I think that people understand that the Divine Comedy is a work of fiction, it always has been, and we’re sort of telling that fictional story that Dante told in the poem. The game is not particularly religious in that it doesn’t take a particular point of view or preach to people, it’s not saying “you should believe this or shouldn’t believe that”, it’s just telling the story of that poem. So in that way, it is not religiously controversial.

To what extent is Visceral working on the PSP version (co-developed by Artificial Mind & Movement) and what differences will be seen between it and the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 Versions?

It’s essentially a port of the game. It’s largely the same game on the PSP. And we’re sort of producing it out of Visceral using much of the same assets. It’s pretty impressive. We were really pleased that A2M was able to get the whole combat system onto that platform. It feels just as good, just as responsive. It’s super fun. Most of the environments in large part are in the game, it’s pretty much all there. There’s a little bit less content in the story, some big set pieces that we couldn’t make happen on that little screen and a few features here and there that are a bit different. But we developed it simultaneously with the other two so much like the PS3 and 360 are the same game, (the PSP version) is the same game on the go.

Does the Playstation 3 version take advantage of any additional processing power?

I think we did switch to a multi threaded system (for the PS3), but from a consumer’s perspective, the Playstation version and the Xbox version are virtually identical. Much like with Dead Space we’re expecting people to have the same experience on both platforms. The big difference being that on the Playstation, there’s the “Divine Edition” that has a few more extras but as far as the game itself it’s the same game.

A lot of people are comparing Dante’s to God of War. What gameplay features have been put into the game to make it bigger and better than God of War 3?

We have a more ability to customize upgrades. We’ve kind of created two different progression charts. (For example,)When you go the Holy route there are certain magical abilities you can purchase to give you certain advantages in boss battles. So it kind works out great with a choice of what character build do I go with. The other thing we have is the magic system, which instead of having one magic (ability) equipped, you can have up to 4. Dante can have three holy abilities and or three unholy abilities and you can make any combination you want anytime to whatever will fit your playstyle. So the holy abilities are sort of defensive and sort of stunning… go the evil route and you have sort of the damage shield that damages everyone around you (it’s more offensive). Kind of like an RPG kind of choice. And we have an accessory system. There are over 30 items and you can have up to four equipped. They have their own leveling system and modify your basic combat to provide you all the abilities like attack or dodging automatically or healing automatically when you get hit. We wanted to tackle the idea of bringing in stuff you normally don’t see in an action game (and)sort of don’t portray the action game merit (and)I think we accomplished that in a lot of ways.

Well, there we have some of the thoughts from the designers of Dante. I for one am really looking forward to playing the full game, as I really enjoyed the demo. It seems that the experience of delving into the levels of hell may be a memorable experience.

I imagine I’ll likely say this often- I’m not really a gamer. Surely, it would be a sin against the video game fates if I were to call myself a capital “G” gamer. I’m much more of a casual player, preferring to leave the hard core stuff to the true geeks of the genre. That being said, this is exactly my kind of game. CrossworDS doesn’t offer high end graphic arts of wild anime fighters flipping swords the size of mack trucks to make with the oohs and aahs. It doesn’t offer button mashing combat, in depth story with dramatic plot twists or some cliffhanger ending designed to get you to blow another sixty dollars on a tale, that if we were wiser, we could watch for free on basic cable in the early afternoons, complete with a glass of Sherri and a bowl full of bon-bons. What it will give you is simple, clean fun with actual intellectual results.

The game play offers three basic sections: Crosswords, Anagrams and Word Searches. Each of these sections offer a variety of difficulty levels and unlockable content as you complete the puzzles. Let’s jump right in, shall we?

Crosswords

Yup, they’re crossword puzzles. Filling them in is actually why this is my favorite of any crosswords game I have tried for any system. Using your stylus, you fill in the letter into the box, just as with any regular crossword in any paper. The nice thing about this particular game’s stylus recognition is that you may use both capital and lowercase letters, as well as a basic combination of cursive. This is brilliant for me, as I tend to switch back and forth between print and cursive in my normal handwriting, and because this game easily recognizes all of these forms of writing, I don’t get frustrated with the mechanics of the game when it does not understand what letter I have tried to input. Seeing as how you are timed and graded on both the speed of the puzzle as well as the amount of errors you make, knowing that you can breeze through and simply write how you would write any other time really does take loads of frustration out of the game. I know I sound like a lunatic raving about something as mundane as stylus recognition, but as a woman who has played her fair share of digital crosswords, it truly is a thing of beauty. This was the first electronic crosswords game I didn’t want to smash with a hammer, and I can promise you that letter recognition is a huge factor in why so many crossword games get turned into fodder.

“Easy” and “Medium” are available right off the bat, with “Hard” and “Bonus” available after a percentage of play through the previously opened levels. Each Level offers around fifteen pages of puzzles, each with twenty puzzles per page. Later pages in each difficulty level are also locked, making the player work through the sections one at a time to advance into other difficulty levels.

Starting at the top of a page and working your way down as if you were reading a book gets you from the shortest to the longest puzzles for each page, with each different page having the same structure. At the bottom of each page is a special “theme” puzzle. To call it “special” is a bit of a lie- it doesn’t do anything in particular outside of being a cute puzzle to help unlock further pages in the difficulty section.

The “Easy” puzzles are… well… easy. They’re fast to work through and don’t offer much in a challenge, making them great for moments of boredom in life, such as standing in line at the bank or waiting in a doctor’s office. You can easily kill a hand full of these on a fifteen minute work break. If you make an error it will stop on the box you’ve make the mistake in and show your wrong answer in red, waiting for you to correct it. In “Easy” mode, this feature happens automatically and can not be turned off.

“Medium” gives you the choice of turning the “you messed up” notification on or not. You score a better grade if you don’t use it, but it’s nice to have that option per puzzle. The puzzles in this section get longer, and they start to play around with the layout of the puzzles, creating basic shapes and pictures rather than random crossword lines. This creates a bit of a challenge as the words are longer than you might expect.

After working through at least 33% of each of the above, you should be able to try the “Hard” mode. These puzzles are indeed hard, but not impossible. They do take much longer to complete than the other levels, and I’ve spent as much as a half an hour on a single puzzle. Fortunately, you can pause and save your game whenever you need to, so there’s no worry about being interrupted while playing or having the game itself interrupt your life. In this mode, you are not given the choice to be told about errors. You do, however, get an amount of “points” to purchase hints, including a different clue, showing a letter, or showing a whole word. Be careful though… you only get so many points per puzzle.

“Bonus” puzzles are just a smattering of all levels and are purely for fun. You can turn hints on and off, and it really just offers you more puzzles, just in case the hundreds already available weren’t enough.

Anagrams

Okee, I’m horrible at these. I mean I’m really, really bad. Like “epic fail”. The secret to unlocking anagrams with any regularity, speed or efficiency is word recall, and my memory recall is a terrible thing. Which, I must say, is probably why I play these as often as I do. Sure, I don’t really do well with them, but they get my brain to work on areas that I have problems with. That can’t possibly be a bad thing.

There are three different sections of anagrams to pick from: “Short”, “Medium” and “Long”. In so far as I can tell, they are not graded as the crosswords are, and simply say “finished” when you complete one. Of course, this may only be because I am as slow at them as I am. Short anagrams are about two pages, medium have two or three, and long anagrams can have up to six pages of words. I’ve noticed a few minor issues here, with the game not accepting some words that are actually words. The dictionary of the game can work against a fast acting brain flying through the words in an effort to speed demon the round.

Word Searches

Admittedly, I’m not an enormous fan of word searches, but these are actually fairly fun. Each search grid is themed around a central concept (camping, art, cars, etc.) and are structured into “small” and “large” searches. In all honesty, I recommend simply staying in the “small” section. It’s not that the larger searches offer a higher level of vocabulary, but rather simply that the search grid is larger. Larger to the point where you have to scroll with your stylus to see other areas of the grid. This irked my brains out, and I didn’t bother with it. It’s hard enough to search over little letters in a little screen without having to scroll around the grid. The word searches are the only area that I actually avoid playing anymore. After a time, it tires out your eyes due to the small print in the grids.

The good news is that the vocabulary of the searches is not boring. Categories offer a wide variety of words not commonly found in general use today, such as cities in ancient Greece, Latin root words and a plethora of other uncommon words. Still, though… not really worth the burning eye pain.

On the whole, this is a game I continue to play again and again. I’ve still not worked through all of the puzzles, and because the anagrams are not a list of things to do such as the crosswords and the word searches are, you’ll never truly run out of randomly generated anagrams to keep you occupied. You don’t have to have the music turned on to play, but the sounds and background music are not annoying. The graphics are smooth, offering a soft zoom when entering into specific forms or shuffling around letter blocks. I take this game everywhere with me!

The Review

I love this game, and continue to love this game. It keeps me occupied both when I am bored and want something mindlessly fun, as well as when I am looking for more of a challenge. There are no irritating bosses to beat, buttons to mash or cut scenes you can’t pause during. The three sections of game play offer a wide variety of things to do, and with the randomly generated anagrams, the game never really ends.

Story:

In the long long ago and the far away, the Grandfather of all crossword puzzles waved his boxy hands to the sky and… okee, fine, I’ll stop. Obviously there is no story in this game.

Gameplay:

Overall, this game was very well done, and aptly titled. The true beauty of the game is right there in the title, and you could purchase this game solely for the crossword puzzles. The stylus recognition is the best I have found to date in regards to crosswords, and I was so satisfied with this that I actually got rid of my other electronic crossword games. The word searches and the anagrams are also fine, but like I said- you could purchase this game only for the crosswords and be totally satisfied.

Sound/Music:

The subtle sounds in this game are actually rather soothing. When filling out forms in the crosswords section, your stylus makes a soft “pencil on paper” scratching sound that is a pleasant white noise. Completing full words in any of the three categories gets you a happy little chime and the menu and completion screens also offer music. It’s well thought out in that it’s subtle, soft and soothing, keeping the relaxing nature of these word games in mind.

Graphics:

I was happy with the thought that went into the transitions of word box forms. They zoom gently, but quickly, giving you the speed you need without jarring your eyes. Almost all of the movement in the game, regardless of what section you are in, is soft, yet quick. Even the confetti that falls in the background of your winning screen is gentle. I feel like the designers put a lot of thought into keeping this game visually calming.

The Good:

Nearly endless puzzles offering a wide variety of difficulty levels and time commitments? Fabulous! The game makes you think and relaxes you at the same time. It can improve your vocabulary and your memory recall without feeling like you’re sitting in a school room, and there’s something that is just… indescribably fun about the play of the games.

The Bad:

Having the dictionary in the anagram section leave out some common three letter words is irritating.

The Ugly:

My only major complaint is the larger word grids in the word searches. Scrolling around like that is a true pain. The small font in the word searches is also a bit disappointing.

Overall:

In short, I would recommend this game for everyone, just as the rating suggests. Younger children can learn new vocabulary words and get a great introduction to crosswords in the “Easy” section. Adults doing the New York Times puzzle in ink will enjoy trying to beat their previous time in the hard section. There is something to love for everyone in this game.

Final Vote:

I would, even with the singular flaw in the larger grid of the word searches, rate this game a 5/5. I feel as though the scrolling of the word searches is a flaw, but a true lover of word searches might find this feature to add a unique twist to the complexity of the search, actually making it a bonus.

Title: Bayonetta
Publisher/Developer: Sega/Platinum Games
Platforms: PS3 and XBOX 360
Release Date: 01/05/10
Number of Players: Single-player

I’m going to start by saying I’ve NEVER played any of the “Devil May Cry” games. I’ve heard a lot of early previews say that this is either “Devil May Cry done right,” or “a good successor to Devil May Cry.” Since I’d never played any of them (I know, shun me), I wanted to give Bayonetta a try. I have a hard time comparing this to any other game, to be honest. It’s not due to my lack of gaming knowledge, it’s because the character concept for Bayonetta is so unique. She’s a gun wielding witch that can do nifty fighting techniques. Okay, let me amend that, the character concept reminded me of the game, “Bullet Witch” a lot. Bayonetta runs around with 4 handguns, two in hand and two strapped to her ankles. Her common attacks are based around a mix of melee, weapon and magical hair-based attacks. As you progress through game, you’re able to pick up other guns and melee weapons. As you get different types of weapons, you can have custom weapon loadouts. These different loadouts will change the basics of her attack combos and what attacks they do.

Most of the game is centered around Bayonetta’s search for her past…all the while fighting different ranks of Angels. The story is told as an old, serial-type movie. The cutscenes are grainy, dark and in a sepia-type tone. This was both a plus and a negative for the game. Although the between chapter cutscenes were not fully animated, they did feature voice acting for them. This is where the negative comes in, the voice acting is terrible. Most of it was rife with sexual innuendo and poorly scripted. Watching them, however, gave me the feeling feeling of nostalgia, watching an old, black and white action movie, like “Amazon Women in the Jungle of Despair.” The in-game movies
did a slightly better job. They were both fully animated and in full color. The scripting, however, was just as bad.

Now, I want to be clear on the hokey-ness of the cutscenes. A lot of them ended up reminding of of a John Woo gun fight. Guns swinging around, bullets flying and fists and feet whipping around only to end with the two characters point guns at each other. Some of these deal with Bayonetta’s guns on her feet and this is where suspension of
disbelief has to play a huge role. Although I can believe that someone is flexible enough to do some of the acrobatic combat maneuvers that she pulls off, the “shooting guns from the ankles and maintaining balance” part doesn’t really fly with me. It’s very hard to swallow, even for a fantasy game.

The gameplay is where this game excelled. Sega has never disappointed when it comes to actual gameplay. Most of this is done in a standard, run-and-gun style. There are some puzzles in the game, but they are few and far between and not very difficult to solve. Combat involves a combo-style system that usually involves punching and kicking the bad guys. As more weapons are acquired, though, you can change the dynamics of your fights. One of the first melee weapons you can get is a katana, this allows for a longer reach than the punches and kicks as well as new attack combos.

I really enjoyed the character/creature design of the game. The creatures, on the other hand, were absolutely gorgeous. All of your enemies are some form of Angelic Host. Most of the bosses looked like a mix of Angelic statues and something by H.R. Giger. They all looked both horrifying and beautiful at the same time. The generic enemies
didn’t seem so Giger-inspired. Most reminded me of a generic Angel or Cherubim. Bayonetta reminded me of a cross between Lara Croft and the Baroness. Whereas Luka, one of the antagonists, reminded me of an adult version of Link (from the Legend of Zelda series).

The graphics are beautiful, the scenery flows well into each new setting. The majority of the game takes place in a “slightly out of phase with ‘reality’ world”. A lot of this is going to sound similar to the upcoming, “Dante’s Inferno”. This “mid-world” is called Purgatorio and is the middle between Heaven (Paradiso) and Hell (Inferno). Although you never actually head into Inferno, you do spend the majority of the time in Purgatorio and occasionally visit Paradiso. I think that Paradiso was one of the best settings for a game. It really kept a feel of being Heaven but also kept the sinister aspect of the overall world of Bayonetta.

The music of this game, though, is campy. I don’t mind J-Pop. Some of the music is kind of catchy and you can really get into the game. The combat music, on the other hand, is where the game loses a LOT of style points. It’s considered the “theme song” of the game, as that’s how it’s listed when you unlock the music player. The box states that you can change the soundtrack around, however nothing is mentioned in the Instruction Book and it’s not in the basic “Options” menus.

Bayonetta offers some nice additions to the action genre. As an Umbra Witch, you gain the ability to walk up and along walls at certain points of the game. Doing so re-orients the game so the wall is now “down” instead of you seeing things from a sideways view. You can also transform into a panther for quick movement. Although this, isn’t new to the genre, you are able to quickly shift back into your human form for combat by pressing the attack button. When you go into “Witch Time” (their version of Max Payne’s Bullet Time), you’re able to walk on water and enemies are left vulnerable to all attacks. Witch Time is activated by dodging an attack at the last moment which makes combat more than the “attack until opponent is dead” that most games have.

Other items in the game seem to be lollipop based, with Bayonetta having a penchant for sucking on them during the videos. These items primarily serve the purpose of Health and Mana Potions, although there are other types of candy that can be used. Some do damage to your opponent while others give you a protective shield. Although these all serve to aid you in the game, most of the time, you can carry these for most of the game and never need to use them. In fact, you will get bonus points towards you rank if you don’t use any items. Playing through the game on the “Normal” difficulty mode shouldn’t bring too much hassle for most players of this genre and even if you should die, the game will automatically reload at the last checkpoint.

Lastly, on the subject of items, there are the costumes and characters that can be unlocked. Although most of the costumes are, in some way other another, fetishistic, they add something a little more fun than the generic get up of Bayonetta. The primary character that is unlocked is one of the antagonists, Jeanne. She, too, is an Umbra Witch and has the exact same weapons and abilities as Bayonetta. Although the Costumes cannot be accessed until you’ve beaten the game on “Normal” difficulty or higher, I’ve found that playing through on “Normal” and then going back through on “Very Easy” or “Easy” to get anything you missed. This allows you to find what you need without having to deal with enemies swarming you.

My final bit about of this game is that it really earns it’s “M” Rating from the ESRB. Honestly, it’s one of the few games that I’ve ever seen that actually earned it. This isn’t due to the non-stop violence of the game nor is it the rampant profanity that permeates the dialogue and movies. This is one of the few games where they really go overboard on the blatant sexuality and innuendo. Half of the talks between Bayonetta and a male character involves something sex related. This can even be seen when you complete a level and earn a Platinum Trophy, Bayonetta’s voice pipes up with, “I should have been a Pole Dancer,” as well as during the end credits where, not surprisingly, she is pole dancing. I’m not a prude, but if you’re look at this game for kids or teens…I’d recommend something like the “Devil May Cry” series, where it’s just animated violence.

The Review:

So, was this a good game? Indubitably. It kept a good pace for action, a decent (if not predictable) storyline that holds onto you and it has very good gameplay. Even though you can get through the actual game in probably 10 hours of play, you will definitely miss out on the fun weapons (Tonfa Rockets, FTW!!!) and additional Costumes. Although to story doesn’t change from difficulty level to difficulty level, there is enough variety and hidden gems in the game to keep you coming back for more.

Story:

Who am I? Where do I come from? Why are little Angelic versions of me beating me with whips (to paraphrase the Tick [SPOON!!!])? Who is this little girl and why is this reporter following me? All these questions can be answered if you cleanse yourself of all worldly possessions. Well, they’ll be answered, at the very least…don’t cleanse yourself of your worldly possessions…or if you do, can I have your stuff?

Gameplay:

I really enjoyed the way this game moved, the flow of one combat action into the next as well as the allows for a “Dodge Interrupt” for doing attack combos. Although there needed to be a one-button, Auto Lock-On feature, combat itself isn’t flawed. Although this wasn’t an exact nod to, there is a motorcycle ride along a bridge that made me feel like I was playing Final Fantasy VII again (but with better graphics).

Sound/Music:

Sound…the sounds are great, but there’s nothing really original about the actual “sounds” of the game. The voice acting in the game is pretty decent, there aren’t any glaring script errors. The music, however, is terrible. Although they managed to do a cover of “Fly Me To The Moon”, the cover sounds terrible as a J-Pop song. As I stated before, I’m not a big fan of J-Pop, I’m glad that the game features the ability to mute the music.

Graphics:

Wow…just wow. The graphics on this are stunning. The backgrounds look incredible, the various character models are gorgeous and the enemies/bosses…just stunning.

The Good:

I enjoyed the simple controls and gameplay. I enjoyed the storyline and the character interactions. What I really enjoyed was the unlockable content. It’s nice to see a game that actually rewards you for playing through a game more than once.

The Bad:

You know, the bad of this game is mostly insignificant. Predictable storyline, bad voice actors. But, those are very minor when compared to the rest of the game.

The Ugly:

Can you PLEASE, for the love of ALL that is (un)Holy, please give a clear answer on how to change the music to your Custom Soundtrack. If I have to hear the music one more time, I think I’ll keel over. Oh wait, thankfully you can mute the music.

Overall:

All in all, I loved this game. It drove my wife somewhat nuts. But, with everything they’ve put out about this game, it really seems to be a “guys” game. It has a solid combat system, a sexy Heroine and guns…big, fun guns. This seems a lot like Devil May Cry (or so I’ve been told), but that’s because it was directed by the creator of Devil May Cry.

Final Vote: 4/5

I have to give this a solid 4 out of 5. The only thing that gives the game a dark blemish on its rather perfect record is the music. Oh, if I could figure out how to change the soundtrack, or if that was clearly documented in the Instruction Manual, it’d probably get a 4.5/5. All in all, I’ve got to say this is a great game and I recommend playing through it if you’re a fan of Action/Shoot’em Up games. If you’re not, then I recommend renting this game to see if you like it.

Title: Darksiders
Publisher/Develolper: THQ/Vigil Games
Release Date: 01/05/2010
Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Number of Players: Single-player

The third person action genre is getting a lot of love of late, what with the recent release of Bayonetta, and the forthcoming releases of God of War III and Dante’s Inferno. Darksiders though, is a bit different. It’s a fascinating and somewhat compelling take with a distinct mixture of action, adventure, puzzle solving and storytelling. It’s certainly not perfect, but it does what it does very well.

Our story begins with the Apocalypse. The end of the world of man is at hand. Terror and hellfire rain from the skies as hapless humankind is caught in the middle of the final war between Heaven and Hell. Angels and Demons tear each other horn from wing as one of the four horsemen, War, begins cutting his own swath across the human world. Little problem though. The war has been started too soon. The seventh seal has not been broken, and according to the Charred Council, the group charged with maintaining the balance between heaven and hell, War was the one that pushed the “start” button. Needless to say, this is bad. They strip him of his powers and War is left a fraction of his former self, and he is very, very mad. He starts a quest of discovery and revenge as he attempts to clear his name and discover who set him up.

I want to start with the art style here, because this is where Darksiders sets itself apart. I have been a fan of comic books and comic art for the vast majority of my life and one of my favorite artists of the past 15 years has been Joe Maduriera. Joe Mad had fallen out of the comic scene some years ago after the cancellation of Battle Chasers. I am so glad to see him revitalized and putting out some awesome work on the game scene. The designs in Darksiders span the full range of angels and demons and our main protagonist, the fallen Horseman War, is a wonderful amalgamation of dark and light, spanning the bridge between good and evil with his very design. I was kind of reminded of the art style of World of Warcraft for some reason too. Well done.

If imitation is the best and most sincere form of flattery, then Darksiders is really spreading the praise around. War whips the hell out of bad guys like Kratos, solves puzzles like Laura Croft, gets gear like Link, and advances through stages like Samus. There are two good things about this. First, these are great games to imitate, some of the best of all time. Second, Darksiders pulls it off well. I mean, let’s be real. If you’re going to copy someone, you may as well do a good job.

War controls fairly well. Switching from one enemy to another is seamless and the lock on feature keeps War focused on one guy, which helps out a lot, especially in boss fights where the bosses tend to move around a lot. War’s main weapon is the Chaoseater Sword, a seven foot long bringer of pain. Sword attacks are handled by the square button (X on the 360) and for awhile, it seems that you won’t press anything else. There is a lot of button spam at first but luckily, you’re soon able to upgrade combos and find/buy other weapons. Namely, and most importantly, your main secondary weapon becomes the Harvester, Deaths own scythe which increases the number of souls you gain from killing enemies.

I didn’t mention souls? Well I guess I have to rectify that. As War dispatches his foes and opens chests, he collects a number of souls. There are three types. The white souls count as currency, which War uses to pay a rather unsavory vendor for weapon upgrades, health flasks, and combat combos to punish his foes. The green souls replenish health. And yellow souls replenish Wrath, a special combo and powers resource.

Wrath powers are pretty cool. As you advance, you can make blades explode from the ground, damaging all enemies around you, you can poison your foes with the green plague, and even light yourself on hellfire, burning any that you touch, or that dare touch you. To be honest, in the early stages of the game, because wrath is such a precious commodity, and your stores of it are so scanty, I ended up not using wrath powers too much. However, later on, the use of wrath becomes more important and useful.

Because there’s so much you can do in combat, and there’s so much use of shoulder buttons to lock on and modify attacks, combat can get a teeny bit tedious. Generally however, you can adapt to the situation. I will say that blocking and block countering are two moves you should not forget. Once you get the hang of it, and unlock/ buy a number of combos, you can seamlessly move from sword to scythe to ranged weapons, and keep the combo string alive. Not quite as silky smooth as God of War but really, there’s nothing to complain about in most normal fights. There was a boss fight in the latter half of the game where I spent so much time in lock on mode that I think my finger cramped up because you have to hold down the trigger. Controls can be somewhat unresponsive too as War has to finish one move before going into a block, or my personal favorite, or should I say the thing that made me want to break my controller in half, is jump control. I fell to my death numerous times because I ran too close to the edge of cliffs before pressing the jump button, falling before the jump was registered. That is a serious problem in a game that has such a strong emphasis on platforming.

Generally speaking though, the platforming is handled well. War is no Mario however. Carrying that heavy sword and all that armor really holds this guy down. Still, it’s not too difficult to get from one place to another once you get a real handle on War’s powers and abilities. War has a double jump and some nifty gliding wings to enable traversing wide distances. He can hang from ledges (not all of them) and can climb ‘demon growth’ which is like some kind of evil moss that grows on walls and ceilings. Over time, War gains tools to assist in his navigation. Like a hookshot .. err … Abyssal Chain.. which can be used like a grappling hook.

The puzzles in the game will frustrate few, but they are just challenging enough to spend a few minutes thinking and planning the next steps. Usually, the answers are fairly obvious. There are red walls that can be blown up (the little bombs are always close by), blue walls that can be crushed, big blocks that can be moved, time distorters that will give you enough time to get the job done, etc. There are a couple of stages that can take a little time, and affect the pacing. Usually, the puzzle rooms will have just a little combat, nothing to stress you very much.

Gameplay is actually quite varied. Believe it or not, there is a rail shooter stage in here. If you miss Panzer Dragoon Saga, well, you get a little taste of that here too, and that stage is really a lot of fun. There are even some stages where War gets to pick up heavy weapons that his enemies drop, beam cannons and grenade launchers. Using the heavy weapons in these stages is optional but highly, highly recommended.

The story is engaging but not too deep. The setting is all in the world of man 100 years after the onset of the epic war that our hero has been framed for. There are no humans left but we are exploring many remnants of the world past. Crumbling buildings, sewers, and encroaching deserts are the playground. War is a relatively compelling protagonist with a cool demeanor. But frankly, the supporting cast is much more interesting. This frankly is fine enough. After all, the player is the one interacting with everyone. War’s main assistant , The Watcher, is voiced expertly by Mark Hamill. But I wish he was given more to do. It’s always a pleasure to hear Mr. Hamill’s work. Nevertheless, the rest of the cast and voice acting is handled very well. Including War too, even if he is a little dry. Meh, if you were thousands of years old, you probably would have seen everything too. A little hard to shake up, amirite?

Overall, I really enjoyed the game. Top to bottom, there’s tons of quality here. And at somewhere between 15 and 20 hours, there’s enough meat to justify a purchase.

The Review:

Graphics:
Graphically the game is way above average. Beautifully rendered environs and character designs are telling the tale here. The textures look great from a medium distance but there are some ailiasing issues up close. The effects look great and aren’t overdone. Everything simply serves its purpose visually. No screen tearing in the PS3 version that I could tell. There seems to be a nod toward the color style of the comic book media. This is understandable considering the background of the art designers. Still, for a game called “Darksiders” most of it is kind of bright and colorful. There’s nothing wrong with this, but a few more shadows couldn’t hurt the tone. Honestly, I’m picking nits as the games visuals are quite good in almost every way. The effects are beautiful, and everything has a good amount of detail. I can’t wait to see what a sequel would have in store.

Gameplay:
The combat handles fine if a little dicey in boss fights. The puzzles change up the tempo nicely and really add to the experience. The weapon and equipment upgrades seem to happen at a steady pace and never seem to make the player feel overpowered. There is some backtracking to be made to find all the items and secrets in the game as well. I loved the ranged combat segments and the rail shooter stage. The boss fights were pretty good and fairly well scripted. I never really felt overwhelmed or overpowered by either the enemies or the puzzles either which is a good thing. The puzzles don’t exactly require a MENSA membership though, but I still felt proud of myself when I figured something out. Great implementation of great gameplay elements overall, even if all of this has been done before, Darksiders makes it all work extremely well.

Sound/Voice acting:
The sounds of combat are well done with everything slinging, and clanging just like it should. The script is polished and the storyline really flows. It’s certainly not overly complex for sure. Special nods to Mark Hamill for his work here. Again, I wish he was given a bit more to do. Liam O’Brian, who Plays War himself fits the role beautifully I think, even though he is written a little dryly. The music sets a decent tone but there are no memorable tones here. I kind of miss the iconic theme music we used to see more often in games.

The Good:
Just about everything is done well enough to earn above average grades here. Looks good, feels good, sounds good, but can it bake a cheesecake?

The Bad:
There are few originality points to be handed out here. But what is here has been executed well.

The Ugly:
That spider boss is surely not going to win any beauty pageants. Eww.

Overall:
Darksiders was a really great experience. I was anxious to see what Joe Mad had in store for us and I was pleasantly surprised with the overall quality, the look and the feel that his group at Vigil has brought to us. This has the makings of an excellent franchise as long as we are treated to a decent story for a second time around. The bar of the 3rd Person Action genre is extremely high, though, and if gamers have only a limited budget to work with, I don’t know if Darksiders has done enough to make it stand out from the other really good choices out there. But frankly I don’t think that’s the fault of the developers. They have put together a solid effort. It’s up to the marketers to let people know about it.

Final Score: 4/5

Make it so, bitches.

In what is almost assured to be the killer app of the first quarter (or at least Sony is hoping for it to be) Kratos, or as I like to call him, “that Fuzzy Little Teddy Bear” (aww… he’s so cute), is back for the third installment of the God of War saga. And let me tell you, boy, does he make a good third impression, in a multitude of ways.

I need to issue a disclaimer here. I am new to the GoW series. I missed the boat on the first two games. I think I was vacationing on Venus for a while. In all actuality, I spent a few years away from gaming and by the time I got back, there was always something new to chew on, and I never had more than a mild inclination to go back and try an “old” school action game. Nevertheless, I’m glad for this opportunity to take a look here because I’m coming to this series with a fresh set of eyes, unclouded by bias or fandom. There is a decent chance that some new PS3 gamers, having just bought their new system or received it for the holidays, may not have had a chance to experience the exploits of Kratos.

I’ve got to hand it to Sony. As far as flagship franchises go, the God of War series has to be one of the better ones. Kratos is a violent, visceral, compelling character, and the gameplay certainly stands up. If Microsoft has Master Chief, Nintendo has Mario, and Sony has Kratos, I think they will be ok. If the playability of the first two games (which were recently re-released as a combo pack for the PS3, and remastered in HD) is anywhere near as good as the demo I just finished playing, then I’ve missed a real treat and I just have to go back and play these games. No doubt about it, it just has to be done.

OK, let’s get to it. The demo wastes absolutely NO time. No cut scene. No exposition. No talk. It’s right to bloodshed and violence. Which is i suppose the way most GoW fans like it. A whopping 50 characters can appear on screen at once, easily 3 times more than the previous games. And our Homeboy Kratos is up to the added challenge. Believe that. Kratos is wielding his trusted Twin Blades of Athena, and the slaughter they produce is astounding. The battles feel epic and intense as Kratos dispatches his foes with ease and style. You can also switch on the fly with the touch of the d-pad to a wicked cool set of fist weapons called the Cestus. It’s like you have two lion headed battering rams on the ends of your arms. Wherein the Blades of Athena are fast, yielding multi hit combos into the hundreds, the Cestus are extremely powerful, deliberate weapons, needing very few strikes to subdue Kratos’ enemies.

The way Kratos controls is similar to previous editions. There are two strike buttons (light and heavy) a jump, a grab (keep those meathooks off me), a range weapon with his fire bow, and special move modifiers. As you play, it feels as if there is literally nothing you can’t do, as combos flow seamlessly and effortlessly from one strike to another. Grab a foe and use him as a snowplow to wreck his comrades? Easy. Switch from the surgically precise Blades for three strikes, and finish with a bone-crushing blow with your Cestus? As. Shake off a crushing mob, sweep the rest away with an arcing blow, pop up and juggle one hapless victim in the air while chuckling with glee, firing arrows at the remaining nasties? Pie. You think it, and the possibilities are limitless.

Traversing the world is done in a number of different ways. You have your feet of course, as well as gliding with the Wings of Icarus, which were acquired in the previous game, and forcibly hitching rides on somewhat unwilling (and extremely un-sexy) harpies. There are also Icarus vents in this game, which are huge wind tunnels that allow rapid, if dangerous, ascents of Mount Olympus using the aforementioned Icarus Wings. These events really do produce some edge of the seat, grit your teeth, moments.

Ok, I have to take some time to really describe the level of gore and violence in this game. The act of killing your enemies is treated with relish bordering on near fetishism. There is one scene where you’re fighting a rather upset centaur, and when you finish him (button press sequence finisher) his insides lay splayed across the gorgeously rendered marble floor. The killing of the Chimera moments later is a collection of dismemberments. But nothing compares to the much-hyped decapitation of Helios, the Sun god. When you put your hands on the sides of that hapless deity’s cranium… and twist…. Man… I’ve never seen anything like that. It’s so truly and unapologetically brutal. You end up using his head as a magic item later in the game, as a lantern, and as a means to uncover secret passages. I’m sure Helios feels just peachy about all this (oh, wait. Helios isn’t feeling much of anything at all now. ). Throughout all the unremitting carnage, Kratos shows the effects of all this brutality with blood and gore staining his person and garments, which gives me a nice segue into…

The graphics in this game are so so sooo good. Polished yet gritty. It’s realistic, and still stylish. Kratos has never looked better in High Definition. 1080p is your new home, my man. The effects are really great as well. The gore effects have been given great attention too, as entrails and organs are a treat (?) to behold. The lighting and music add a great deal of tone and feeling to the game. The scale and scope is majestic with thousand-foot Titans waging their war against the gods in the background. There are plenty of oh s#!+ moments in the demo, which I’m sure are just a minor touch of what this climax of the series has to bring to us. The struggle against the gods, the titans, scores of enemies, the look and feel and sound, all these things seem to be well concocted into a must play experience.

I will say this though. There is some competition with GoW in the 3rd person action genre. I have to wonder if the game is innovative and refreshing enough to match the upcoming Dante’s Inferno and Darksiders. Both of those titles seem to offer some really nice gameplay touches as well as epic scope that may rival this offering by Sony. Being a proven franchise does have its benefits however. There is a built in fanbase for this title. I’m sure reservations are going to be huge. Still, does Kratos need more innovation and a fresher take to fend off some really worthy challengers? And since this is game is to be the completion of Kratos’ story, what does that mean for the viability of the franchise and the use of Kratos as a flagship mascot? I can’t wait to find out.

It’s a good time to be a gamer again.