Fallout 3 Review

The Apocalypse is a Pretty Big Place
by Brian

I know I'm not going to touch on a fraction of everything you can do in Fallout 3 in this review. But unless your obsessive-compulsive tendencies border on Rain Man-esque, you won't touch on a fraction of everything you can do in Fallout 3 in a single playthrough. Like Grand Theft Auto IV before it, Bethesda's latest masterpiece eschews the last-generation notion that bigger is always better in favor of focusing on density. GTA4 offers less real estate than the sprawling GTA: San Andreas, but there's a new attention to verticality and packing in activities per square inch. In San Andreas, murdering a motorcyclist, stealing his hog, and driving from Los Santos all the way across the map to San Fierro took nearly seventeen days of real-time traveling (or at least, that's what it felt like), but there wasn't much to do in the spaces between cities. GTA4 didn't offer a lot of wide open spaces and rolling hills, but it tried its best to make sure you never grew bored commuting from place to place. Fallout 3 takes the same approach to its predecessor's design. And no, I'm not talking about Fallout 2.

"Oblivion with guns." That's the Twitter-friendly tagline often used to describe the Fallout 3 experience, and it's true. The post-nuclear retro '50s wasteland, sardonic humor, and intuitive character leveling system of the original Interplay classics are all intact in Fallout 3, but the game itself feels like last Elder Scrolls game with a new skin. And speaking as a fan of Oblivion, this is a great thing. As much as I love Fallout and Fallout 2, I don't at all miss the click-heavy top-down perspective. For one thing, it just doesn't work with a console's control setup. For another, games should evolve just like the irradiated mutants you'll find roaming about the Capital Wasteland.

Fallout 3's Oblivion-esque first-person perspective and heavy emphasis on exploration makes for a more immersive experience than anything else I've played in the last year. You begin the game literally as a newborn, choosing whether the delivery room doctor tells your parents that you're a boy or a girl, then proceeding to customize your appearance by way of a computer simulation of what baby you will look like all grown up. The first half hour or so of gameplay follows you through your toddler and teen years, grounding you in the skewed reality of this world while teaching you the ins and outs of controlling your character. But when you finally step out of your underground vault and set out to find your missing father somewhere in the ruins of a bombed-out Washington D.C., nothing can really prepare you for the scope of this universe.

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Great games are built around memorable moments. Chances are, you won't come out the other side of Final Fantasy VII without remembering the death of Aeris, just like you won't finish the original Metal Gear without having "I feel asleep" branded on your brain. (Okay, so one of those is a little more powerful than the other.) Fallout 3 is chock full of these moments, both large and small, but the first for me was the bloom of light that fades as your eyes adjust to the sun-drenched outside world for the first time. When you finally escape your vault, you'll find yourself at the top of a rocky hill looking down on the ruins of a suburb below. Of course you'll be impressed by the visuals. Fallout 3 is built on a version of the Oblivion engine, but it looks even better. Sure, it's a junk-strewn wasteland, but unlike Amy Winehouse's face, this junk-strewn wasteland is still beautiful.

See what happens when you leave paint cans near the water heater?

Aside from the technical impressiveness of the graphics, though, you'll be overwhelmed by the attention to detail. Everywhere you look there are signs of decimated civilization, from rusted out shells of old cars to empty houses with the toys still resting on the kids' bedroom shelves. Every location--a ramshackle down built around an undetonated nuclear bomb, a repurposed luxury hotel, a docked aircraft carrier converted into a bustling city, the creepy remains of the Jefferson Memorial--looks hand-crafted from corrugated tin, moldy tires, and whatever people could use to build. The closer you look, the more you find.

It's this feeling of infinite discovery (as opposed to "Infinite Undiscovery", a phrase that means nothing other than "disappointing sales") is just one more reason why that first post-vault moment is so impressive. Looking out on the horizon, you can see what's left of the Washington, D.C. mall, with the Washington Monument still barely pointing skyward. Your view stretches for what looks like miles, but there's always a promise of something to explore in the distance, with a million distractions between. Again, Bethesda has embraced density over size. The map isn't as big as Oblivion's, but there's much more to find.

Fallout 3's combat system is another huge improvement over its predecessor. Fighting in the Elder Scrolls games always seemed like an exercise in button pushing, but not much more. You'd swing your sword at an enemy, but the animation would never really change, and you didn't feel any feedback other than the occasional controller rumble. Fallout 3, on the other hand, is simply visceral. There are a huge number of weapons available, and all of them work perfectly. If you want to play the game as a first person shooter, you're certainly able to. Your success with hits will be determined by your character's level and stats, but the mechanics of point and shoot will be familiar to anyone comfortable p0wning 12-year-olds in Halo. If you don't take advantage of the V.A.T.S. system, though, you're missing out on some of the best fun of the game. Short for Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, V.A.T.S. basically works as an attack queue. When in range of an enemy, you can tap the V.A.T.S. button and stop time. You'll be able to target specific limbs in a series of shots using your accumulated Action Points. You'll be given a percentage chance of a successful hit for each shot, which is obviously determined by your character's stats at that point, the distance from your target, the type of weapon you're using, and whatever obstructions are between you and your enemy. With your moves queued up, you'll exit V.A.T.S. and watch a slow motion movie of the violence you've inflicted. With enough AP, it's possible to pull off fancy maneuvers like shooting the Gatling gun out of a muscle-bound Super Mutants' paws, popping a cap in his knee to keep him from running, and topping it off with a skull-exploding headshot. It's convenient, hilariously gory, and incredibly fun.

Maybe he just wants to talk.

The rest of the game mechanics primarily involve bartering and and chatting with NPCs. While making your way the only way you know how, perhaps doing a little more than the law will allow, you'll constantly be on the lookout for items you can scavenge from the wasteland and sell to merchants and traders throughout the game. When you find yourself digging through garbage bins for sellable goods, you might mistake Fallout 3 for a hobo simulator, but all the foraging really drives home the idea that in this world, you have to scrape by to survive. This feeling of desperation provides some interesting moral challenges along the way. Can you stomach nuking an entire town for the promise of some much-needed bottlecaps to buy new weapons, ammo, and armor? You'll definitely have to think about it.

The depth of NPC interactions lends another level of immersion and moral ambiguity to the game. Unlike in Oblivion, the character models don't look like porridge vomit in Fallout 3. And you won't hear the same six voice actors over and over. Through the strength of the writing and acting, nearly everyone you encounter is a fully-formed character with some motivation and a life outside providing you with quests. When you're offered the chance of destroying a town for money early in the game, you'll not only have to weigh the benefit of the cash. You'll also have to decide whether you can murder the manically friendly shopkeeper you've come to really like.

Sadly, these two Super Mutants will die before their love is known.

I only have two criticisms of Fallout 3, and they're minor. Yes, scavenging for survival adds another level of immersion, but money is perhaps a little too hard to come by--especially early in the game. Consequently, you might find yourself in a low ammo situation more often than you'd like. Depending on your choices of which quests to take on, this may or may not affect your particular game. I was desperate for shotgun shells on my first playthrough, but I never had that kind of trouble the second time around. Of course, that may have been because my second character was an evil S.O.B. willing to blow the head off of anyone for a little bit of cash. And then blow the head off whoever gave her cash. Good times...

My second gripe has to do with recycled level designs. The world of Fallout 3 is huge and open, so it's no surprise that a few corners had to be cut just to save space. Still, it tends to take you out of the game when you find yourself in identical looking locations once too often. It sort of makes sense that the sterilized retro '50s suburban houses will all have a similar floor plan, but the number of times you have to make your way from place to place via rotted out subway tunnels just drives home the fact that all of them pretty much look the same. It's not a game killer by any means, but you might find yourself fast traveling from one location to another just to avoid another slog through a subway tunnel.

The Game

You must buy Fallout 3. I don't care what system you play it on, it's the best game of 2008 and one you'll keep coming back to for years. And even then, it's unlikely you'll discover all of its secrets. I played well over forty hours before completing the main quest in my first playthrough, but in my second time around, I stumbled upon a fight between two would-be superheroes in a town I'd never even visited before. Like Christopher Walken's basement, Fallout 3 is full of horribly wonderful surprises. (9.5/10)

The Time

Fallout 3 is huge. The ability to save anywhere and anytime you like makes it entirely possible to play for small chunks at a time, but Washington, D.C. might really be a nuclear wasteland by the time you're through. (5/10)

The Verdict

Can you tell I love this game? Because I do. Buy it or the terrorists win.

Fable II Review

It's alive!
by Brian

I wanted to enter the Temple of Shadows. Who wouldn't? The guard at the gate tried to warn me that this would be a road to evil, but isn't being bad much more fun than being good? Sure, you can do the speed limit and stop at all the traffic lights in Grand Theft Auto, but how can you resist revving your motorcycle over the edge of a parking garage and landing atop an old lady with a bag full of groceries? And then slice at her corpse with a samurai sword? Nobody, that's who. (For the record, don't try this at home. Unless you live in a parking garage.) Anyway, I was expecting to be sent on some sort of kill/fetch quest. Fable II is an action RPG after all. In those games, it's tough to get anywhere without collecting some amount of something or other and/or killing some amount of someone or other. But in many wonderful ways, Fable II is unlike any other action RPG. The guard simply handed me a bunch of baby chicks. You know, the little fluffy yellow kind. And then he made me eat them. I didn't have to go anywhere. I didn't have to do anything other than access my inventory, press a button, and listen to the chirpy crunch. And instead of cackling maniacally with every swallow, the guard was taken aback at my callousness. Maybe I should have felt bad that my dietary fortitude was enough to make the guard at the Temple of Shadows lose his lunch, but I didn't. I laughed. And then I explored the Temple of Shadows.

Fable II is really the fulfillment of the promises made by legendary game designer Peter Molyneux back with the original Xbox game. He said it would be the game to end all games. The greatest roleplaying experience known to man. He suggested (but didn't overtly claim) that if you boiled the game disc in a tincture of newt blood, it would cure you of both cancer and voodoo curses. But it ended up being just a really good game. The world was all bloomy beauty and charmingly fableish, the characters were vivid and funny, and you could play dress up with a wealth of customizable clothes. But the story was a little spare, and it ended way too quickly. And then you still had all your voodoo curses.

This is the night the lights went out in Albion.

Okay, so maybe Fable II isn't a fulfillment of all those promises, but it's at least a hefty truckload of improvements. You begin the game as a lowly street urchin, and the story of revenge and redemption spans nearly a lifetime. It's not the kind of epic stuff you might expect from a Final Fantasy (and, thankfully, there's no trace of sexually ambiguous homicidal maniacs sporting whale tails either, so score), but it's emotionally involving--particularly the revenge aspect. While scrounging the Dickensian streets for cash with your big sister at the beginning of the game, you can really feel a bond start to grow. Which makes it all the more motivating when she's killed by--

Hold on. Spoiler alert.

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When she's killed by the game's main baddie. The rest of the game is spent becoming the hero you're destined to become so you can buff up and go all Uma Thurman. The only problem with the story is paradoxically what makes Fable II a much greater game than the original. While you're slicing through goblins, racking up enough experience to fight the Big Boss in style, there's so much other crap to do in this world that the main storyline can start to sink. But it's all this stuff that makes the game so incredibly immersive.

This begins with the art style. Fable II is slightly exaggerated and a little cartoonish, but everything fits the universe perfectly. The first game looked like a Grimm's fairy tale come to life, and this one has just turned the clock forward a couple of centuries. Mixed in with your sparkling caves and water mill villages are cobblestone cities and smoky wooden firearms. Fable II is less sandals and armor, more top hats and buccaneer boots. It's a welcome change from the standard brown/gray murkiness of most next-gen games.

Added to this beautifully designed world are layers upon layers of life. You're constantly bumping into people, whether in the crowded city squares or jogging along a country road. And everyone has a place. It's not hard to imagine that a passing stranger is on his way to work at the fruit stand or just walking dangerous roads looking for bandits to kill. This world breathes, and you can lose yourself breathing right along with it. You can take a job forging swords at the blacksmith's or pulling drinks at the tavern. You can hire a prostitute or try and woo a spouse. You can buy instructional manuals at the bookstore and use them to teach your dog new tricks. You can scour the countryside looking for passive-aggressive Demon Doors and coaxing them to open. You can use your fame to pose for statues or hire yourself out as a freelance mercenary. Fable II is huge.

If it's skeletal and glowing, it probably wants to kill you.

One of the main criticisms of the game is the length of the main quest, and I admit it can be blown through pretty quickly is that's all you set your sights on. But if you take the time to explore, this is a fulfilling experience that doesn't intimidate with its possibilities in the way that a ludicrously dense game like Fallout 3 or The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion does. Fortunately, the mechanics of Fable II make participating in the life of the game all the more enjoyable. All combat is mapped to three buttons--one for melee weapons, one for ranged weapons, and one for magic. By collecting experience orbs after defeating enemies, you can upgrade all three combat areas and learn new tricks. Mostly, different moves are controlled with timed button presses. A certain rhythm on the melee button will allow you to slash quickly, for example, while another rhythm will let you build up a slower, more powerful attack. The same principal goes for your ranged and magic buttons. Combat frustration is nearly destroyed by the fact that you don't have to worry about ammo or some arbitrary magic meter. If you have a musket, you can always shoot it, and if you know a fireball spell, you can always cast it. Maybe this makes combat too easy, but it also frees you to worry about nothing much more than having fun. Personally, I'll take the trade-off.

Most other activities in the game are built around that same foundation of simplicity. If you take a job cutting firewood for some lazy farmer, the activity itself it really nothing more than a timed, single-button minigame. But even these menial tasks become surprisingly addictive when you can then take the money you've earned and buy a house to rent out or a barbershop to manage or a new outfit to embarrass yourself in. Character customization is a major part of the game, and you can waste endless hours changing your hairstyle, losing and gaining weight, or seeing how convincing you look as a crossdresser.

One of the only areas where Fable II comes up short is in the morality department. One of Molyneux's unfulfilled promises about the Fable series (aside from the voodoo curse thing) is that you will be presented with a moral reality that forces you to not only make choices between good and evil but also to feel the consequences of those choices emotionally. This was never the case in the first Fable, and it's still a shortcoming in Fable II. Take the aforementioned Temple of Shadows, for example. Sure, it can be a little stomach churning to eat live baby chicks, but it's also hilarious. Same goes for sacrificing your new wife to the gods of darkness. You'll rack up a ton of "evil" points, but you won't lose any sleep over it. Partly because there's no lasting consequence in the game, and partly because your wife was only some floozy you picked up with a tacky diamond ring in a bar one night. You can have children in Fable II, but the problem is that you aren't forced to love them. Really, there is only one point in the entirety of the game where I really had a moral quandary, and it came so late that it couldn't impact the entirety of the experience. For the most part, the only motivation I had to be good or evil came from how I felt about my looks. If you're too evil, your eyes glow red, your skin loses color, and you start to grow a set of devil horns. I was fine with this until I couldn't go anywhere without a swarm of flies buzzing around my evil head, so I slashed the prices at all the shops I owned in order to gain some good mojo. This, by the way, is the only reason the owners of Walmart don't have devil horns.

In the art of fencing, this move is called le stabbe.

My only other gripe with Fable II has to do with multiplayer, but even that's couched in a compliment. You can only play with other humans in co-op, and it's the same online or off. At any time, a friend (or an enemy you want to keep close...) can join your game as your henchperson. They choose some generic body and follow you around, helping you murder and/or save people. It's just not very fun. There's nothing about the game that benefits from the extra help, and when you're playing online, you don't even get the cheap thrill of allowing your henchperson to enter your game with the same appearance and clothes from their own game. But, I do recommend that everyone play Fable II while online. As you're playing your game, you'll see little glowing orbs that represent other people playing their game. In other words, if you see an orb in a blacksmith's shop, that player is currently in the same blacksmith's shop in his or her game. It's no MMO, but it's almost as if there are thousands of alternate universes existing at once. Plus, you can talk to and exchange items with other players. Nothing makes the time slinging drinks for cash go by like chatting up some other hopelessly addicted soul who's doing the same thing. And there's nothing more amusing than wandering into a cave to hear a glowing orb begging you in the voice of a 12-year-old boy to tell him how to find a treasure chest. When the in-game sun goes down, I occasionally climb to the highest point I can find and just look out at all the orbs flitting about the world below. It's a little bit incredible.

The Game

Fable II is on my best of the year list for good reason. It's thoughtful, artful, detailed, and simply fun to play. This review is approaching novella length, and I haven't even mentioned several of the game's best qualities. The writing is superb, and the voice acting does it more than justice. With the bread crumb trail that can guide you from objective to objective, you can feel free to explore without ever fearing getting lost. Peter Molyneux isn't interested in making you like a game. He wants you to love it. And although all his promises have yet to be fulfilled, there's plenty to love about Fable II. Unless your voodoo curse has robbed you of the ability to love. In which case, there's always Fable III. (9/10)

The Time

Even though there's more than enough to keep you busy as long as you want, everything's partitioned enough for the short-on-time gamer to still feel included. Very few quests take an inordinate amount of time to complete, and you can always save whenever you want. And one advantage to a comparatively short main storyline is that you will eventually finish this game, and it's almost as satisfying as finishing a good book. (8/10)

The Verdict

Fable II surprised me. Not that I didn't expect to enjoy it so much, but because of the aspects of the game I enjoyed the most. This is the kind of game you keep playing over and over simply because you start to miss the world it's created. Plus, I hear if you grind up the disc and mix the powder with unicorn extract, you can create a paste that grants you the power of flight. I've yet to try that, though.

Doritos Dash of Destruction (Xbox Live Arcade Review)

If the ultimate goal of Doritos Dash of Destruction is to persuade me to purchase a sack of Doritos, I have to say the developers failed. I don't have anything against Doritos, but I'm not particularly a fan. I like to keep the inside of my mouth un-torn up and non-chemical burned. I am, however, a fan of cybernetically enhanced dinosaurs destroying public property and tearing apart delivery truck drivers. I also like free games. In other words, Doritos Dash of Destruction is a mild success.

For the low, low price of zero Microsoft Points (which translates to roughly zero American dollars), you can download your own digital copy of Doritos Dash of Destruction from the Xbox Live Arcade. Now, you might be thinking to yourself, "Hold on a second. The last free game I downloaded was that Toyota Yaris thing that burned my retinas and assassinated the very concept of fun. I'm not going through that again." But I'll ask you to close the window, put down your Xbox 360, and take a deep breath. Doritos Dash of Destruction is nothing like that Toyota Yaris game (one of the few, by the way, that was actually removed from XBLA for being too horrible). Sure, you have a massive corporate logo plastered over nearly every screen, but you're not really compelled to buy anything. If you feel your will weakening, just think about the chemical burns. Also, Doritos Dash of Destruction is actually kind of fun.

There are two basic modes of play in Doritos Dash of Destruction. (And before you ask, no, I'm not going to abbreviate it. Partly because I just love typing "Doritos Dash of Destruction" and partly because shortening it would forfeit my stipend from Doritos.) You can choose to play as a dinosaur rampaging through a small town, knocking over houses and trees on your way to slaughtering the seemingly innocent drivers of tiny Doritos delivery trucks. With each subsequent level, you must violently murder ever more Doritos employees. The task becomes more difficult when a second computer-controlled dinosaur joins you, taking valuable innocent blood from your jaws before you can get to it.

Or you can choose to play as one of the innocent delivery truck drivers making your rounds throughout the city, dodging dinosaur teeth and feet as you labor at near slave wages for a massive snack corporation. Make all your stops without being eaten too much, and you're the winner.

There's even a couple of multiplayer modes. One has a group of four dinosaurs competing to eat delivery trucks. Whoever eats a truck first gets to play as the truck, making stops and dodging dino-competitors. When that truck is eaten, its player becomes a dinosaur again, and the victorious dinosaur becomes a truck himself. At the end of the round, whoever has made the most Doritos deliveries wins.

The second multiplayer mode is called "Chaos" and consists of an open town where players compete either as dinosaurs or delivery trucks to rack up the most kills/deliveries in the shortest amount of time.

Of course, you aren't expected to make it all the way through the game with just your thumb twitching skills and your insatiable Doritos hunger. As a dinosaur, you're awarded cybernetic upgrades after every level by some sort of mad scientist named Mike Borland. Turns out Mike came up with the concept for Doritos Dash of Destruction as part of a contest called the Doritos Unlock Xbox Challenge. The winning game idea got to be developed by an actual game studio (in this case, NinjaBee) and released on Xbox Live. If it weren't for Mike's crazed explanations of all the cybernetic dino-enhancements, the between-level menus would be pretty boring. I actually chuckled a bit when Mike explained via static text that the robotic arms he granted to my t-rex did absolutely nothing. Not bad for zero dollars' worth of entertainment.

The Game

You aren't paying anything, so what are you complaining about? Who whines about free stuff? Okay, maybe you shouldn't have downloaded that free Subway Sandwich Restaurant Xbox Live theme. Didn't I warn you? You can't take that stuff off! Now it's nothing but footlong tuna subs every time you want to play Gears of War. But the Doritos corporation isn't like that, see? They only have your best interests at heart. They only want to entertain you is all. Dinosaurs and trucks, man. Dinosaurs and trucks. (6.5/10)

The Time

I beat both single player campaigns while waiting for my frozen pasta to simmer. But the multiplayer adds a little more value to your ZERO DOLLAR PURCHASE! (10/10)

The Verdict

Okay, so Doritos sent me an e-mail just now, and they want me to take back that stuff about their chips destroying the inside of your mouth and causing chemical burns. Fine. Maybe that's just my experience because I'm too much of a wimp to handle the X-TREEM NACHO CHEEZINESS of Doritos X-TREEM NACHO BLAST DUNKIN' SCOOPERS. I admit my shortcomings. And I (reluctantly) admit that Doritos Dash of Destruction has very few. Enjoy your freebie.

Shaun White: Road Trip (Wii Review)

Your Virtual Lift Ticket Awaits

Since I first laid eyes on the Balance Board, I pondered the prospective games that could come down the pipeline. The first balance game that came to my mind was snowboarding, and luckily developers agreed. Although Wii Fit debuted with a snowboarding mini-game back in May, it was limited and only increased my hunger for a full-fledged title. Fortunately, Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip has come to the rescue, thanks to the fine folks at Ubisoft Montreal.

The main idea of the game is to snowboard through different countries in an attempt to meet up with the nomadic Shaun White. Wait a minute. Why does this sound so familiar? Traveling the globe… snowboarding…Shaun White? Maybe it’s because the whole premise of the game is the same as an old American Express commercial, starring Shaun White!



Alright, so it might be a little different. After all, you are trying to catch up to Shaun White in the game, not travel with him. And as the premise for a video game, it is pretty weak. Personally, if White invited me to Europe to go snowboarding, and when I got there found out he was in Japan, I’d probably be pretty ticked and want to go home, not keep following him around. But moving on…

Instead of giving us a port of the HD version given to the PS3 and Xbox 360, Ubisoft decided to build the game from the ground up. The main differences in the Wii version of the game are of course the graphics style and the controls. The game’s characters have a bland, cartoony, anime-like look, many unintentionally resembling The Muppets. While I feel like the character design is sloppy and unappealing, some might find it charming.

Some of your multicultural acquaintances.

In contrast however, the environments are well designed and some of the mountains are surprisingly gorgeous, especially for a Wii game. Some of my personal favorite courses are in Japan, which features an indoor snow-filled arena, and nighttime snowboarding.

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(Continued Here)
As far as the controls go, you can use either the Wii Remote in the standard remote holding positon or the Wii Remote with the Balance Board. Each option uses the Wii Remote to execute all of your tricks by pressing the A or B buttons. The Wii Remote by itself just doesn’t offer a lot to the experience.

I’m not exactly sure why they didn’t use the nunchuk as it adds more buttons to diversify the tricks as well as a control stick. Your hand can easily get tired twisting back and forth all the way down a mountain. Steering, added with jumping and tricks, turns into a whole waggle fest. I think having these controls is great if you’re going for casual audience (a Wii tradition), but more options would have been appreciated. SSX Blur seemed to have a perfect blend between motion controls and button usage.

The Balance Board is much more fun and is really what makes this game worth playing. If you don’t have one, you should scratch the game off your list. All of the controls are done by moving your weight around the board, just as you would expect. Leaning on your left leg on the front of the board makes you go faster, and a brief squat and lift makes you jump.

Every single time I played this game with the Balance Board, I ended up breaking a sweat and being sore the next day, just from a few runs down the mountain. It’s really nice to see an innovative peripheral get some use after collecting dust for all these months. The controls work perfectly and never once did they fail because of anyone’s fault but my own.

“Road Trip” offers no tutorial at all, which can be really frustrating when trying to learn how to play. The game’s instruction booklet tries to explain how to pull off Advanced and Basic tricks, but many of the tricks use the same motions and button configurations. A tutorial would have really been welcomed and that’s coming from a guy who has never used one in his life. However, I must say that completing a trick is easy to do and the game registers your movements perfectly each time, even though you might not always execute the trick that you wanted to.

The game includes a single player mode as well as multiplayer. The multiplayer mode consists of Co-Op, Versus Mode, and a Hot Seat Mode, where players face off against a ghost of the best player’s run. The multiplayer modes are solid, and really add depth to an otherwise shallow single player experience.

The single player mode starts you off in Canada (America’s hat), but eventually you’ll trek around the whole globe. Your character choices are slim pickings at first, but don’t you worry, you’ll meet new friends who join your road trip along the way. These friends are playable characters that you can switch between at anytime between events.

While gaining more friends increases your character choices, it also comes with its setbacks. Your new found friends constantly get in your way on the slopes. It doesn’t matter how fast or slow you go, they keep up with you and they’ll be sure to either knock you down off a rail or ruin your landing off a jump. This is especially bothersome in the last few locations where you have gained a good amount of boarding buddies. It could have really added a fun and realistic element to the game, having your friends accompany you on the slopes, but instead it turned into an unintentional game play mechanic that is quite frequent and exceedingly bothersome.

When selecting characters, you pick one Rider and one Cameraman. The Rider is your snowboarder and the cameraman is the person who trails behind, filming your every move, which is essentially the viewpoint of the player. What is neat about the cameraman position is that each character contains a special ability that will help your rider once your Respect Meter is activated. For example, choosing the character Gordon as your cameraman will give you a speed boost, where choosing Zaz will give you a trick boost. The Respect Meter is filled by Power, which is earned by either scoring points, skiing between objects or collecting Crown objects throughout the slopes. While there aren’t a lot of characters to choose from, this element allows you to mix and match different riders and cameramen to see what combination works best for you.

Throughout each country, you’ll take part in different Events. These events, some of which include Slopestyles, Half Pipes and Slaloms, have goals attached to them. The goal that you must complete to advance is the Dare Goal. The Respect Goals are a little bit harder and aren’t necessary to your overall objective of catching up to Shaun White. They really are just a means of advancing your skill level. Where a Half Pipe’s Dare Goal might ask you to gain 5000 points, a Respect Goal might ask you to gain 7000 points.


Some of the Events can be fun the first time around, but for the most part they are pretty repetitive. You’ll either have to pick up a designated number of trash objects throughout the slopes or earn as many points as you can by doing tricks. And, well, that is pretty much the gist of the whole game.

The repetition is my biggest problem with the game, as it creates a pretty shallow experience. At the same time, the courses are attractive and they are designed with frequent rails to grind or ramps to jump. Those looking for just a casual stroll down the slopes are going to be disappointed, but I suppose that’s more of a skier’s game.


The Game:
Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip for the Wii is a good game for those dying to get off the couch and hit the slopes, all within the comfort of their living room. The environments are great, the characters are forgettable, and while the soundtrack of licensed tracks is refreshing, they often force you to listen to two or three of the same songs over and over again. The events in the game are fun at first, but the repetition can turn you bored. Yet despite it’s lack of depth, the game does offer a solid snowboarding experience. I’d actually welcome a sequel if it brought some variety to the table. (7/10)

The Time:
Not a lot of time? No problem. The main single player mode is surprisingly short. Depending on how quickly you can beat each event, you can easily progress through the different countries and beat the game. There are also a lot of side events you can take part in, which add to the game’s replay value. (8/10)


The Verdict:
Wobble, don’t waggle. The Wii Remote is great for a lot of things, but I just don’t think it was implemented in a fun way, at all. If you are looking for a snowboarding experience that uses the Balance Board just as it was intended, then I recommend “Road Trip.” It actually is quite a workout to carve down the different mountains. But whether your goal is to burn some calories or to just have fun, “Road Trip” creates the most authentic snowboarding experience on Wii to date.

NBA 2K9 Review

NBA 2K9 is simply stuntastic. It's the closest any basketball game has come to perfection and its competition knows it. That being said, it's not without its flaws.

The most enjoyable aspect of playing 2K9 is the way the it looks. To get the full effect though, you need an HD TV. It doesn’t matter if it’s 720p or 1080p because both are visually glorious. The reflections of the lights on the hardwood floors of the NBA arenas are just unreal. The player’s faces and even their tattoos are spot on for the most part.

Naturally, there are some players that defy the realistic trend and look absolutely crazy. The only problem with the graphics (and I think this is primarily on PS3) is that players seem to have ghosting white lines around them. I understand that the white are representing the lighting from the arena, but it just looks unusual. Also there are times when the center court logos for different teams look blurry at certain points, but these are minute issues.

One aspect of the NBA 2K franchise that tends to fall behind is the commentary. This year Kevin Harlan is back, but with Clark Kellogg instead of Kenny Smith. There are some points at which Kevin Harlan’s commentary is very accurate and his enthusiasm matches the plays. Sadly, there are also moments when Kevin and Clark are absolutely off.

Read the full review here...

After playing a few games, you will hear all of the key stats about certain players and teams repeated so often that you can just about memorize them. For some reason, 2K just can’t get their commentary to match the high quality of NBA Live. However, this is probably the only significant weakness in NBA 2K9.

The animations in 2K9 are what make this game insane. Since arriving on current gen systems, NBA 2K has had signature jump shot animations for almost ever NBA player. All the Superstars, Stars and bench warmers have their own signature jump shot. The cover athlete for the game, Kevin Garnett, was motion captured to have his own shot duplicated for the game. Most of the other animations are imitated by motion capture artists.

A few discrepancies naturally arise such as Allen Iverson’s signature jump shot which, in 2K9, is just nowhere near his real life formt. In fact, Iverson’s default jump shot looks more like that of Timberwolves player Al Jefferson. Thankfully, 2K9 gives you the option of editing players signature jump shot animations, which is a huge plus because you can give different players any type of jumper you deem fit for that player.

There are different sites that have dedicated sections just for user suggested signature jump shots for different players. There are some gamers that think that Kobe’s jumper is way off while some think it’s perfect. This area is a highly debated topic among dedicated NBA 2K9 gamers.

In fact, the debates are so heated that it has been suggested by the 2K9 community that 2K sports should institute three jump shot animation points to remedy the problem of jumper inaccuracy. One point should be a standstill position, the second would be for stepping into, and the third would be a jump shot of the dribble. Customizing each phase of the jump shot should help calm the cries of angry fans.

Along with signature jump shot animations the 2K series has signature Dunk Packages. This has been in the 2K series since its jump to the next gen, but this year they have added packages for more than just dunks.

This year contains signature layup animations for Steve Nash, Chris Paul, and Tony Parker. They also added in signature moves for Rajon Rondo’s “show and go move “and Jamal Crawford’s “behind the back crossover move.” I guess the developers have a soft spot for Rondo and Crawford, because to me, they aren’t superstar players. Do they really deserve to have their own signature moves? Kobe and Lebron have their own signature Dunk packages, but they should have their own signature way of dribbling and making layups.

Most likely this is just the beginning of having signature moves for all players. Matching real life signature moves for all players is a tall order for developers, but is becoming more of a reality with every iteration of the 2K series.

Another addition to 2K9 is the chance for real time injuries. During the course of playing 2K9, I have seen players get injured by everything from awkward landings to hard fouls. In all there are three different degrees to the pain of injuries. With 1^st degree injuries, you can walk off the court on your own. Second degree injuries require help from a teammate. Third degree injuries demand two teammates carry you off of the court because you’re in so much pain. The way the players grimace during these injuries makes you sort of feel for them because of their realistic facial expressions.

Most injuries in 2K9 are direct correlations to fouls. The in-game foul animations have greatly improved in comparison to 2K8. When you foul somebody using the turbo, you really get your money’s worth. While committing a hard foul, the player who committed the foul will often hover over the opposing player talking trash. The player who was fouled in result, depending on their Emotion attribute, will either walk away from the confrontation or push the player back to stand up for themselves.

Also new to 2K9 is 2Kshare. This allows users to upload rosters, sliders, and highlight reels onto the 2Kshare server to share with their fellow gamers. The 2Kshare system also incorporates another new feature called the 2K Insider. This is 2K’s response to NBA Live’s DNA system. The 2K Insider, is an individual hired by 2K to make real time trades, adjust different art aspects of the game, add Isomotion, and new dunk packages for certain players and adjust player ratings to mirror the real life NBA. The 2K insider has been up to date on the different trades that have happened this season, but he has drawn criticism because of the way he adjusts player’s attributes to match their real life production.

For example, Dwayne Wade at one point during the season had a couple of games where he had a lot of blocks. The 2K Insider deemed fit, to raise Wades, block rating all the way to 90. A 90 rating is near Dwight Howard’s rating for blocks. This also ties into the fact, that for the first time in NBA 2K history there are multiple players who are rated 99, the highest rating a player can have. Lebron, Kobe, Chris, Paul, and Kevin Garnett are rated 99. Many players are all up in arms because of this but I guess they forget that you can change any players rating by adjusting their attributes.

But going back to the 2K share system, you have the option to not allow the 2K Insider to automatically download his rosters to your system. You can turn off the automatic 2K Insider downloads and make adjustments the old fashioned way by yourself or by downloading the roster changes from the many users who upload their own sliders and rosters on 2Kshare.

The Sliders of NBA 2K9 generally decide how you want to play the game. There are different sites that have a wide selection of user created sliders for the certain type of gamer you are. Using the 2KShare feature makes trying out different user sliders easy. It’s just a simple download whereas in years past you had to manually change the sliders yourself to match a particular user's. Also keep in mind that while the sliders are an integral part of the game, your experience is mostly defined by your own skill level, the number of minutes you play, and the difficulty level.

Another important feature of 2K9 is the AI. Suffice it to say that the AI in 2K9 is the best basketball AI to date. In years past, the simple act of pick n rolls would cause an assortment of matchup problems. When a Power Forward or Center would switch on the point guard, you were left stuck in this position.

In 2K9, getting stuck is almost a non-factor. If a PF switches on a point guard and his guard or small forward teammate is near him, the guard or small forward will quickly switch with the PF or Center to put their defense in a better position to stop the offense. Also in years past, if Shaq switched onto Allen Iverson, Shaq could actually defend Iverson on Isolation. This year, this is nonexistent. If Shaq tries to defend Iverson, he will blow past him before Shaq even moves. Also, players who are great at blocking shots such as Dwight Howard, will actually go for blocks rather than taking a charge like players such as Shane Battier. In previous NBA 2K titles players would not play like their real life counterparts whereas in 2K9 they are one in the same.

If playing against the Cavs, Lebron James will embarrass your entire team. In 2K8 Lebron barely took any shots whereas in 2K9 you have to double team him in order to stop him from scoring. The AI works to get open shots for the right players when facing double teams. If you double someone like Lebron, he will make the correct pass to ensure the right player gets the open shot. These examples, seem like common sense to any fan of the NBA, but no basketball game AI has ever gotten these simple facets correct until NBA 2K9.

The online feature of this game is way better than in years past. This year you can have “player lock” for 5 on 5 games online. This is a new feature, which allows you to control one player. You can set picks, grab opposing player’s jerseys to impede their progress, post up, and nudge players on defense. These new added controls make for interesting experiences while controlling just one player.

Players are randomly assigned players on the 5 on 5 online games, which is fair, because if people had the choice everyone would pick Lebron James rather than playing with Ben Wallace. While waiting for others to join a game, you get to shoot around in an arena with an NBA player. I really haven’t messed with the online feature much, but it seems to be that PS3 users are tending to have more problems than their 360 brethren.

The rest of the game is pretty much standard. There are 5 difficulty levels: Hall of Fame, Superstar, All Star, Pro, and Rookie. There is an outdoor Blacktop mode where you can play a game of 21, one on one and two on two. Along with this Blacktop Mode, they have semi All-Star game contests like the 3 Point Shootout and Dunk Contest.

To help master the Dunk Contest, you have the Dunk School. This feature shows you the different button combinations that will help you pull of a wide assortment of dunks which can be unlocked and used in the regular game modes.

Ultimately there’s a lot to say about NBA 2K9. It does so many things and manages to do most of them well. 2K9 leads the way in basketball video games and (thanks to its rabid fan base) looks to get even better in the future.

The Game:

NBA 2K9 is the ultimate NBA sim. The game is too much fun to play. You will cry when you have to stop playing because of bodily functions or having to go to work. (8/10)

The Time:

Well there aren’t really any levels per say on this game. I can say that 8 hours can fly by when playing. There are unlockables in this game, such as scoring 40 points with Kobe Bryant vs. the Phoenix Suns or any type of rivalry games between certain teams will unlock in game trophies. These unlockables probably can take up to 2 weeks to accomplish. (6/10)

The Verdict: This game has the stupid juice and the dope moves. It’s very fun whether playing against a human or against the computer. The unreal animations in this game and the improved A.I. will always result in a fun experience. This is the best basketball game ever, but it’s not perfect. In the end, any fan of basketball from high school to the NBA will love this game.

Prince of Persia Review

About halfway through Prince of Persia, I found myself standing on a platform that towered over the area below. A terrifyingly narrow little plank pointed from the edge. With nowhere to jump or run from its tip, I stepped out on it anyway. I just wanted to take in the scenery. And for that, the fine folks at Ubisoft Montreal awarded me an achievement. All I had to do was wiggle the right thumbstick. Aside from the time I earned the Irony achievement for just following by base sociopathic instincts in Bioshock, those were the easiest gamer points I ever scored.

And that about sums up the experience of playing Prince of Persia. The first thing you notice after firing it up is also its best feature. Namely, the thing is gorgeous. (Okay, if you're an Xbox owner like myself, the first thing you notice is that it hasn't red ringed your system. Unless it did. In which case, bummer.) I've seen the world "painterly" used to describe the games graphics. It skirts a line somewhere between the cartoonish cell shading of The Wind Waker and the grimy grays and browns of Grand Theft Auto IV. It's closest graphical cousin may be Okami, though considering how dismally that game sold on the Playstation 2 and Wii, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. (Seriously Wii owners, you ignore a masterpiece like Okami and spend your hard earned cash air hula hooping? Have you had your frontal lobe scanned lately?) Anyway, PoP's colors do blend and merge like brushstrokes, but this isn't a static world you're presented with. Sure, the game looks great in photos, but it looks even better in motion. It's a world of rocks and vines and rickety wooden jungle gyms left to bake to a golden tan in the sun. There are towering Arabian spires and delicately tattered windmills. Also, balloons. I have a thing for balloons.


But there's no denying that PoP breaks one of the cardinal rules of gaming in that it doesn't really provide a challenge. This is where it will be maligned by a sizable chunk of gamers, and I can't say I blame them. The rumors are true: you can't die in this game. Your magical companion Elika will use her mojo to grasp your hand and pull you back from a free fall, and she'll use her shimmery fingers to knock an enemy across the room before it can deliver a killing blow. Of course, this isn't instant gratification. When pulled back from a rocky squish of doom, you might find yourself at a checkpoint dishearteningly far away from where you were when you took the plunge. And if you need your girlfriend's help to keep the scary monsters off of you, you'll trade your life for a refill of that scary monster's energy bar. But with patience and a modicum of skill, you'll always succeed. And you'll have a hot sorceress by your side while you do it.

So your enjoyment of PoP boils down to how much you're willing to invest in the experience. I loved running along walls, swinging off of poles, and flying across chasms in one fluid move. But in order to give you such fluid lines of acrobatic awesome, the controls have been simplified to something approaching rhythm game button pushing. If you jump towards a wall at an angle, you'll scurry along on autopilot until you lose your momentum or hit the jump botton. If you're climbing up a ledge and see a conveniently placed brass ring above you, one push of the B button will grasp the ring, propel you up, and keep you in motion for several feet. Given a long line of platforms, planks, poles, and other implements that begin with "P", you can conceivably bound across an entire area with only the occasional button tap.

But its this ease of use that also makes PoP such a breeze to soak in as entertainment. Fans of the series will definitely want to compare this outing to the famed Sands of Time, last generation's platforming masterpiece that wasn't just the high water mark for this series but for games in general. In Sands, it was all about meticulous jumps and giant environmental puzzles. But the new PoP is just a different game. Timing a leap or aiming for a pillar won't be that taxing, but in the meantime you'll be able to appreciate the beauty and the history of this world. And whenever you want to chat with Elika, she's just a trigger press away.


In the game mechanics department, there is one area where the new PoP has Sands beat. Combat this time around is more exhilarating than ever before. You won't face rooms full of undead sand soldiers. In fact, you won't face any enemies at all through most of the game. Your battles are always one-on-one against any of the four bosses enthralled by the evil god Ahriman, who's the central antagonist of the game. Like in the platforming segments, combat is all about timing and spacing your attacks rather than mashing buttons to rack up hits. It's sort of like the rhythm-based fighting in Assassin's Creed, though your move set and combo options are much broader here. You use one button for your sword, another for your spiny gauntlet, a third for acrobatics, and a fourth for Elika's magic attacks. These can be mixed and matched to different effects. And while it may sound limiting that all fights are mano-a-princo-a-magico-girlfriend...o(?) and ultimately in enclosed arenas, this actually adds to the immersion and tension of the fights. The camera doesn't have to worry about watching your back, so it can zoom in for dynamic angles unlike anything you'd expect from a simple platformer. Combat in PoP is almost like a fighting game, only with characters you care about and no sweaty friends throwing controllers at your head.

But combat isn't the focus of this game. When you defeat one of the bosses, a fertile ground is healed and an area is cleared. This means that Elika washes away the evil stink and glowing blue orbs called light seeds spring up all over the place. You'll have to hop and swing all over the area to collect the seeds and unlock new magical powers that you and Elika can use to access other territories. This can mean backtracking through a newly beautified area you've already explored or going off on your own jaunts. In essence, this is the tried and true collection mechanic you'll find in every 3-D platformer since Mario learned to butt stomp. But the beauty of the world and the excitement of the acrobatics on display as you flip and slide from light seed to light seed is what this game's all about. If you don't get it after the first few boss fights and fertile ground healings, you probably never will. And you've probably sold your soul. I just hope you traded it for some rocking guitar skills.

The Game

Prince of Persia is a classic. It's no Sands of Time, but it isn't trying to be. This is a new story with new characters in a new world with a new look and focus. Let's hope the solid foundation built here isn't squandered in the inevitable sequel. If the thief/prince from this game sports a greasy mullet and rocks out to Nickelback in part two, I'm going to have words with some of the cheese-eating Quebecois responsible. (8.5/10)

The Time

The whole game will last you 10-15 hours if you stop to smell the light seeds (oddly, they smell of cumin). But if you love it like I did, you'll want to play through again and again. Plus, Ubisoft promises downloadable expansions of some sort in the future. It's a decent time investment, but the structure of the stages allows you to pick it up, play as much as you want, and save anywhere you need. In short, you won't feel cheated in the value department, but it doesn't demand all night gaming sessions that dry your eyes and alienate your loved ones. (9/10)

The Verdict

The holiday season of 2008 will probably go down in history as the deathknell of giant end-of-year release jams. Since September, we've had Fable II, Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, and countless other huge profile games raiding our wallets. Reportedly, titles like Dead Space and Mirror's Edge got lost in the vortex and will end up costing EA a pretty penny. And if the sudden and swift price cut of Prince of Persia is any indication, sales for this wonderful game may have been a little soft as well. If you've been hesitant to sell your first borns for this game, I'm here to tell you to go ahead and put little Billy on the black market. If you're willing to put down the chainsaw guns and molotov cocktails and slip into something more fantastical for a while, you won't regret picking up Prince of Persia.

Wario Land: Shake It! Review

(Insert Polaroid joke here.)
by Adam

As far as side characters go, you've got to tip your hat to Wario. The man has come from humble beginnings as a game boy antagonist, and now has successful platforming and party game franchises under his belt. The Wario games are well known for their quirky characters, which often rival Mario's lineup in absurdity.

With his accomplishments recognized, I'm proud to say that Wario's 2-D sidescroller legacy continues in top form as Wario-Land: Shake It for Wii.

Shake It starts out in an anime cut scene that explains how the Evil Shake King has kidnapped the Shake Dimension's Queen Merelda and stolen the kingdom's infinite coin bag.

These events throws the Shake Dimension all out of whack and its inhabitants know they need help fast.

Luckily for them (I suppose), a pirate named Captain Maple has stolen an artifact that will allow her to access the Shake Dimension. Maple plans on claiming the infinite coin bag for herself, but doesn't feel like doing the work. She tells Wario of the kidnapped queen and the infinite coin bag, knowing he would want to help.

In true Wario fashion, our yellow and purple clad anti-hero agrees to help, but could care less about saving a princess. To Wario, it's all about that infinite coin bag.

Once the exposition has passed, it's time to play. Wario must traverse five continents, finding an artifact in each that will reveal the Shake King's stronghold. Each continent has four levels standard, with a few hidden ones that can be unlocked. Each stage contains various treasures to be found, and defeating a continent's boss will reward you with an artifact needed to access the Shake King.

To conquer each continent and find all the treasure, it's up to you the player and your trust Wii remote. The game plays ala classic NES style with the Wii remote turned sideways. Pressing the one button makes Wario dash (through walls and other object), and the two button makes him jump.

Being a Wii game, Shake It has several motion based moves available as well. Shaking the remote up and down will cause Wario to smash his fist into the ground, which has numerous effects on level environments.

Picking up an enemy and pressing the one button will initiate a throwing sequence. Simply press and hold the one button with an enemy in hand and tilt the Wii remote. An arrow will be displayed that matches the angle you are tilting your controller to, and you will fling the enemy in your desired direction upon releasing the one button.

And what would a game called Shake It be without shaking? Grab any stunned enemy and shake the controller like mad to receive coins or items. Shaking a coin bag will release an onslaught of shiny currency. Coins are an essential part of the game as you will need them to buy health items and maps to new levels.

Another move at your disposal is the classic (from the 3D era) Mario butt stomp. Pressing down on the d-pad and one in the air will initiate a butt stomp that can harm enemies and destroy weak floors. Holding down the buttons through a long fall will initiate an atmospheric burning effect on Wario's butt that will help get through the toughest of destructible floor sections.

You will need to use all of these moves in order to figure out Shake It's puzzles. You will have to throw enemies into switches, pound the ground to knock over loose set pieces, dash through certain walls, and butt stomp through certain floors. All of these concepts sound simple, but the developer's saw to it that critical thinking skills were required to one hundred percent Shake It's levels.

The ultimate objective of each stage is to rescue the Merfle (bird/elf creature) locked away by the Shake King. These Merfles use their power to give you access to each continent's boss. Freeing a Merfle from its cage at the end of each level will alert the Shake King. To escape his wrath, you have to race the clock and try to get back to the beginning of each stage.

The "escape scene" mechanism offers a great contrast to regular gameplay which can focus on exploring and puzzle solving. While racing the clock, it's all about speed. You will need to use any means necessary to dash, jump, and dive back to the beginning of the stage. While it may sound tedious, it actually allows you to go (gameplay-wise) from a traditional 2-D Mario experience to a more Sonic-esque speed-centric approach.

In all, you might think that five continents with six or so levels each would make a short game. If you play straight through the title, it will take a few solid sittings. However, the game has a challenging built in achievement system to keep you playing through levels. These level challenges can range from speed runs to not taking damage, and will push your skills to the limit.

I mentioned that the intro is told through an anime style cutscene, but let's talk about the in-game graphics. Shake It has a very unique art style that comes off as a mixture of cell shading and flash animation. The characters and environments are very colorful and look more cartoon like in their animation than a lot of Wario (and Mario) titles.

The enemy characters fit very well into the Wario universe. Everything from the lowliest of grunts, to the absurdest of bosses are colorful and interesting. Speaking of bosses, each one requires a different approach to take down, and ultimately serve as fun challenges. A quick word of warning about the bosses, be wary if you're of the "scared of clowns" variety.

In a nutshell, the game looks great and the look matches the game's whimsical cast. The only visual drawback is that the game doesn't support a 16x9 aspect ratio. The game is played in standard 4x3, with borders filling out the left over screen room on the left and right sides. The lack of 16x9 doesn't kill the experience, but it is annoying that such a fixable problem was not addressed.

Shake It also features a decent soundtrack. The music has a generic matching to the themes of each level (exploring an Egyptian-ish tomb yields Egyptian-ish music) but the tracks always manage to capitalize on the goofy nature of Wario.

On a sound related tangent, the game is ultimately devoid of any voice acting other than Charles Martinet's handful of "Waaaario's" and other one word sentences. Ultimately though, the game doesn't need a whole lot of useless banter, so the lack of voice acting could be said to strengthen the experience.

The Game:

Shake It is loads of fun. The bright colors will also reel in the not so hardcore gamers, like my wife, who really enjoyed it. The controls might seem like a recipe for Wii waggle blandness, but trust me they work. Fun levels plus fun characters plus fun controls equals a very fun game. (8 / 10)

The Time:

Wario's latest entry is ideal for the short on time gamer. Levels can be beat quickly, but completing level achievements will take time and dedication. All in all, if you've got time to play, you can feel comfortable investing it in Shake It! (8/10)

The Verdict

In closing, Shake It! is a great game for the busy nerd. As mentioned above, every level is beatable in an average sitting, but completing every level objective will keep you busy for a long time. The 4x3 will irk some folks (myself included) but that is quickly dismissed as you take control of Wario. With that, it's safe to say that the sheer fun of Wario Land: Shake It, will have you coming back for quite a while.

The Force is Strong With This One… Everything Else is on the Fritz.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Star Wars. Admit it, if you clear your mind and say those two words, delusions of grandeur fill your mind. Then you quickly remember Jar Jar and start looking forward to J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie. Have faith though! The fine folks at Lucas Arts have unleashed the Force in the form of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Force Unleashed takes place between Episodes III and IV of the Star Wars saga. You play as Darth Vader's secret apprentice, a Sith that goes by the alias "Starkiller." As Starkiller, you jet about the galaxy with your femme fatale pilot, Juno Eclipse and your holodroid Proxy. Without spoiling too much of the story, suffice it to say that your primary objective is to wipe out the remaining Jedi while secretly helping Darth Vader pull off a military coup d’état behind the Emperor's back.

This brings me to my first point. The story in the Force Unleashed is the best thing to happen to Star Wars in a very long time. Compared to the new trilogy, the Force Unleashed (and SpongeBob) is a Shakespearian masterpiece. That being said, I was delighted to enjoy a Star Wars story this much.

Let’s jump into gameplay. Armed with your lightsaber, the Force, and a pocketful of wit, you trek across the galaxy doing thy master’s bidding… and it feels pretty good. Saber combos are aplenty and there is a lot you can do with the force (push, pull, throw, shoot lightning, etc). Some things in the game work better than others though, so let’s break them down.

Starting with the lightsaber, there are a decent number of combos to be unlocked throughout the game and most of them are fun to pull off. Combos can further be infused with Force techniques such as ending with a Force Push, or enveloping your saber with Force Lightning. It’s no God of War, but it’s solid nonetheless. Speaking of God of War, quick time events are a nerd’s dream in TFU. Once any boss like characters health is near empty, a button sequence will pop up on screen. Pressing them correctly results in super stylish kills with all kinds of Matrix style action sequences. Nice. Plus things get more interesting when you further explore the Force.

From a marketing standpoint, the use of the Force in TFU seemed to be the key selling point, and rightfully so. Your left analog stick moves objects and enemies left to right, front and back; the right stick moves things up and down. This gives you a full X,Y, and Z axis through which to move things and it is swanky. Using both sticks at once allows you to throw a Jawa to the right and into the air (or any desired direction) at the same time. What could be more fun? (I know it would be more entertaining to throw Ewoks, but sadly their presence in the game is naught.)

Another important point regarding the Force is the in game physics engine. TFU uses the critically acclaimed Euphoria Game Engine from Grand Theft Auto IV for extremely realistic (Star Wars) physics. For example, if you pick up a Stormtrooper with the Force and he is near a crate, he will grab onto the crate and try to pull himself back to the ground. While you can still manipulate the Stormtrooper and the crate together, it changes up the dynamic. The weight ratio is shifted and will handle differently than either object by itself. It’s an impressive system and well implemented into the game.

Force techniques and lightsaber combos are further developed through the use of an RPG style level up system. You earn experience for killing enemies and will earn greater amounts by killing them stylishly ala Devil May Cry. The system works well and does a good job of rewarding you regularly for hard work. At the same time, to adjust your levels and acquire new skills, you have to access an upgrade menu via the select button. This is my biggest problem with the game. Accessing the upgrade menu and any submenu therein requires you to sit through a load screen. This may not seem like much, but it can quickly lead to four separate load screens between accessing the menu, changing sabers, upgrading Force skills, and exiting the menu. It may sound like a trite complaint, but it’s annoying to deal with and really takes you out of the action.

One more quick complaint involves environmental issues. I’ll stay away from global warming at the moment and focus on programming bugs. Some boundaries in the environment are not clearly defined and are easy to get stuck in. Several times I found myself trapped between the wall and any number of random objects. At other points, objects in the environment seemed to have no definition. Some platforms I had to jump on to obtain Jedi holocrons (cubes that unlock new abilities) would leave me bewildered as I would pass right through them. It felt like I had to jump on the right square inch of certain platforms not to slide off or otherwise fall right through it. Likewise, once after killing a Rancor, my character was left stuck in mid-air. These events may be rare, but getting stuck in place often means restarting the game.

Moving on to the issue of time, The Force Unleashed is a fairly short game. Not that that’s a bad thing. It took me a smidge over ten hours to complete it the first time at a little over an hour a day. In that sense, it’s a great game for someone who has to study a lot, or kids to entertain, etc. You can play it for a short while everyday and still make progress. At the same time, I died a lot. Sometimes due to a lack of skill and other times due to the level design. Starkiller falls faster than Mega Man, so an hour of play may lead up to twenty minutes of trying to jump a pit. Also, the later game bosses offer a decent level of difficulty and it will take you a couple of times to figure out what attacks work against each one. This is an enjoyable challenge and will leave you feeling like a pimp, so go on brush your shoulders off.

The Game: 7/10

The game is almost a polar opposite of the new film trilogy. Episode I-III looked amazing, but the stories were weak. The Force Unleashed has a great, almost refreshing story, looks amazing, but suffers from a few technical issues.

I feel that if the game had been delayed to a Christmas release, Lucas Arts could have produced a much more polished product. Taking that with a grain of salt, TFU still stimulates a lot of childhood/fanboy nerves. The use of the force is better than any Star Wars game out there, and the combat is intense and challenging. The game is fun and worth a play through.

The Time: 8/10

At the end of my ten hour run, I felt like I was done with the story. Its length almost guarantees the game to be on my ‘to rent only’ list for a while. In my first time through, I managed to unlock a majority of the combos, force techniques, and lightsaber colors/attributes. The nerd in me wants to one hundred percent the game, but the one life gamer in me just wants to move on to different waters. It is a fun and enjoyable game I just don’t know how often I would like to revisit it.

The Verdict:

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a good game. It’s fun for what it is, and it’s the best story Star Wars has seen on a screen since Empire. That’s enough reason to play it alone. However, feeling complete with it after a ten hour play through, really keeps me from wanting to purchase it. If you own every Star Wars movie / game, sure go out and buy it. You’ll have a great time. For anyone else, go rent it. It doesn’t take to a huge investment to beat, and you’ll get a tiny bit of your soul back from that scruffy nerf herder Lucas.