Soulcalibur IV
Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: Project Soul
Genre: 3D Fighting
Release Date: Jul 29, 2008
When Soul Calibur was released for the Dreamcast in 1999, it set a new standard for fighting games on home consoles. Subsequent entries in the series have changed very little as far as the weapon-based fighting mechanics are concerned, and have introduced new features and gameplay modes with varying success. Soulcalibur IV is no different in that respect; the series-first online play is a great addition, but though the visuals have improved and the gameplay has undoubtedly evolved, it still feels very familiar. And that's no bad thing.
The majority of the characters on Soulcalibur IV's roster will also be familiar if you're a fan of the series, though only around half of the 30-plus combatants are available at the outset, including Yoda on the Xbox 360 and Darth Vader on the PlayStation 3. Others are unlocked by defeating them in the single-player Story and Arcade modes, and by purchasing them with the gold that you're awarded for winning fights. There's more than enough variety on the roster to ensure that you can enjoy playing as at least a handful of different characters, and a robust customization system gives you the freedom both to edit their appearances and to create your own fighters from scratch.
Regardless of who you play as, Soulcalibur IV is accessible enough that even first-time players will have no trouble performing some powerful and great-looking moves. Rather than memorizing lengthy combo attacks and knowing how to attack your opponent, the challenge here comes from knowing when to attack, when to block, and when to sidestep around the arena. That's not to say that the combatants in Soulcalibur IV don't have impressively large repertoires of moves, because they do, it's just that very few of them are tough to pull off.
Your goal in Soulcalibur IV, of course, is to defeat your opponent by depleting his or her health bar. Alternately, you can win by knocking your opponent out of the "ring," which is possible in almost all of the game's beautifully realized arenas. New to the series--though reminiscent of a feature in 1997's Soul Blade--is the soul-gauge system, which appears alongside the health bar and changes color if you spend too much of your time blocking attacks and not retaliating with your own. When the gauge turns red and your health bar starts flashing, you're just an attack or two away from entering a defenseless "soul crush" state, at which point your opponent can perform a one-hit-kill critical-finish move. It takes a long time for that to happen, so the soul gauge isn't always an effective deterrent as far as overly defensive players are concerned, but it at least discourages online players from trying to score cheap victories simply by landing a couple of blows and then blocking until the time runs out.
Online play is where Soulcalibur IV really shines, though there aren't many different modes of play available. The action is fast-paced and free of lag for the most part, though if you have a slow Internet connection, you might find that your character takes a split-second longer to respond to your inputs than you're used to, which can prove fatal against a skilled opponent. You can choose to play ranked battles online against random opponents or join up to three other players in an unranked lobby, in which the winner of each round gets to stay in the fight as spectators get their turn in the ring. Both Arcade and Special modes of play are available online, the difference being that in Special mode all of the characters' move lists are augmented by special skills bestowed on them in part by weapon and clothing choices. Disappointingly absent from Soulcalibur IV, both online and offline, is an option to pit teams of fighters against one another. Team battles have appeared in the series previously, and given that the tagging mechanic is present in the single-player Tower of Lost Souls mode, its omission is baffling.
Considering that Arcade mode does nothing new and Story mode is really short and text-heavy, the new Tower of Lost Souls mode is where you'll find the majority of Soulcalibur IV's compelling single-player content. Taking control of one to three fighters, you must ascend (and later descend) the tower one floor at a time by defeating multiple groups of enemies without ever having your health replenished. Variety comes courtesy of opponents with carefully tailored skill sets, as well as battle-specific challenges that can be completed to unlock treasure chests containing new armor and weapons. For example, you might have to defeat three fighters who all have the ability to leech health from you, or who are impossible to force out of the ring. Optional challenges during these fights can be completed by meeting very specific conditions, such as landing the final blow as the timer ticks down to zero, performing four or more counter hits, or for defeating all opponents by knocking them out of the ring. As you ascend the tower, the difficulty level can ramp up pretty quickly, and you might find that you have to revisit the character-customization mode to prepare your chosen combatant for certain challenges.
How you go about customizing or creating a character for Soulcalibur IV depends on the use that you have in mind for the character. For Arcade mode, the only thing you need to concern yourself with is how your character looks, and you'll find that the number of armor pieces and weapons available for you to choose from increases quite dramatically as you spend time playing. For other modes, you'll have to consider the pros and cons of everything that you equip, even if that means ending up with a character who looks like he or she has just stepped out of a medieval thrift store. That's because just about every item has an impact, not only on your basic attack, defense, and health attributes, but also on the distribution of skill points, which fall into five distinct categories labeled power, impact, boost, gauge, and special. For example, equipping an executioner's breastplate will give you 30 power skill points to spend and will boost your attack and defense attributes, but at the expense of health points. There are dozens of items to choose from, and they're balanced so that it's possible for you to make more specialized fighters but not to gain an unfair advantage. Even skills such as temporary invisibility, unblockable attacks, and health recovery--which on paper sound like they'd break the game--are kept in check because to get any real benefit from them you have to forgo spending skill points in other areas. It's worth mentioning that more powerful (and costly) skills can be used only if you've played your character enough to reach a certain "style level," but reaching the level-nine cap doesn't take very long.
Style is something that Soulcalibur IV certainly has no shortage of. The nicely detailed character models look even better when the flamboyant animation kicks in, and the sheer variety that's on show in the arena locales can't fail to impress. The orchestral soundtrack ends up feeling a little too epic for its own good in places, but that's largely because it's paired with cheesy character dialog and an announcer who delivers his melodramatic lines without even a hint of irony. Fortunately, this isn't a game that's ever in danger of taking itself too seriously, as evidenced by the presence of Star Wars characters, animal costumes, novelty weapons, and plenty of amusing arena details.
Perhaps the most amusing, or at least laughable feature of Soulcalibur IV is that Yoda, Vader, and The Apprentice from LucasArts' upcoming Force Unleashed game all have stories that attempt to explain their sudden presence in the Soulcalibur universe. In terms of gameplay, none of the aforementioned fighters from a galaxy far, far away are a great fit with the rest of the roster, but they're certainly not so far removed that they ruin the game or anything like that. Some Force powers aside, Vader actually isn't radically different from some of the other members of the cast. The Apprentice uses the force a lot more liberally and, at least until you figure out how to fight against him, he can feel like a really cheap opponent when he throws lightning bolts and even his lightsaber across the screen at you. Given his diminutive stature, it's no surprise that Yoda feels very different from any other character in the game. He's impossible to throw and, considering that he spends most of his time jumping around very acrobatically, he can also be tough to hit. He doesn't use the Force a lot, though, and he moves around the arena relatively slowly, so he's not so much overpowered as just tricky.
The fact that Yoda and Vader are exclusive to the 360 and the PS3 respectively is easily the most pronounced difference between the two versions, but given that both games have an empty box on the Star Wars row of the character-select screen, it seems reasonable to assume that it'll no longer be an issue once downloadable content starts coming. The only other noteworthy difference between the two games is that the PS3 version offers an optional install to make the load times between fights shorter. Depending on how seriously you take your fighting games, the controllers that you use to play Soulcalibur IV might also be a consideration The PS3 controller's D pad is superior to the Xbox 360's on this occasion, but the latter's analog sticks fare a lot better. The question, then, isn't whether or not you should play Soulcalibur IV, it's which version you should play.
Out of the Park Baseball 9
Publisher: Out Of The Park Developments
Platform: PC
Developer: Out Of The Park
Genre: Baseball Management
Release Date: Jun 1, 2008
Game Information
Offline Modes: Competitive
Online Modes: Competitive
Number of Players: 1-32
Number of Online Players: 32 Online
Minimum System Requirements
System: Pentium III 800 MHz or equivalent
RAM: 512 MB
Hard Drive Space: 600 MB
For a game franchise in transition, Out of the Park Baseball 9 is incredibly well polished. The baseball management simulation series from one-man development team Markus Heinsohn may have just gone through a couple of tumultuous years due to being acquired and then dropped by the U.K. soccer-game masterminds at Sports Interactive, but you would never know it by the latest addition to the family. This edition of the game might just be the best yet, thanks to quicker sim times, the addition of major league players, and some small refinements that improve the interface. It remains a little too hardcore and stat-heavy for anyone who doesn't have aspirations to be the next Bill James, although the game is nearly perfect for bleacher creatures who have noggins for numbers.
Statisticphobes shouldn't be scared off, though. While you need an affinity for baseball stats to really appreciate the game, the core of the game is all about indulging your inner Steinbrenner and taking total control over the operations of a big-league baseball franchise. You oversee everything from the top down: signing free agents, trading clubhouse troublemakers out of town, inking stars to contract extensions, setting the daily lineups, organizing the starting pitching rotation/bullpen assignments, promoting/demoting players in the minors, and even deciding on an average ticket price. Seasons progress in a turn-based manner, and you can manually sim each game as the dugout bench boss, auto-sim one day at a time, or go for a big-picture approach by simming through whole weeks and months in big chunks. Leagues are just about unlimited in scope. You can play solo running one team, take over all the teams in Commissioner mode, or get into an online league to take on other Branch Rickey wannabes (the multiplayer support is outstanding). Historical database support and downloadable mods that add the entire major leagues from any point in their history let you start a baseball universe at any time from the formation of the National League in 1871 to present day. You can then continue for unlimited decades, moving through authentic league expansion, team movement, and whatever else baseball has grown through over the years.
Attention to detail is incredible, which results in an authentic major league baseball feel. Although the game is mostly text-based, with little visual pizzazz aside from player photos and the big-league ballpark depicted on the simulation screen, the atmosphere is so lifelike that you can almost hear the hotdog vendors. Dozens of stat categories are tracked for each player. So you better have a good idea what ERA, OPS, and WHIP stand for before making a challenge for the pennant. However, there is also a strong human element. Players are given role-playing-game-like ratings that involve such personality traits as mood, loyalty, leadership, greed, desire to play for a winner, and so on that affect on-field performance, as well as come into play whenever you talk contracts. Negotiations are about more than number-crunching because you often wind up with pouting wannabes demanding trades if they're riding the pine too often, happy superstars taking hometown discounts on contract extensions, and free agents who simply won't listen to your offers because they don't want to play for your organization. All of these preferences are communicated in plain old English, too, which makes it seem like you're dealing with real people--not just names and numbers. It might not seem like a big deal, but having A-Rod comment on your smooth negotiation skills while giving him a $120 million extension makes all the difference between playing virtual accounting with baseball stats and feeling like you're actually running a big-league franchise.
But with all that said, there isn't a whole lot in OOTP9 that is completely new. Although this is a more refined, more complete version of the game than its OOTP 2007 predecessor, it doesn't bring any showstopping new features to the table. Streamlining is really the big focus of the design. Gone is the cumbersome Sports Interactive scouting system with scouts all over the world, replaced by a single head scout who does everything. There's also an animated baseball on the game-sim screen so you can watch plays develop. The biggest improvement is probably the simulation speed, which has been dramatically ramped up across the board without any loss in realism. You can now rip through a full season in under half an hour of straight simming and even zip through a year in no more than a couple of hours as a more hands-on manager simming one week at a time. This is a huge plus when compared to the last two OOTP games and arguably worth the price of the new game all by itself. Only an occasional stutter remains to slow you down, such as the near eternity it takes to load up the player award voting screen at the end of a season.
Built-in major league rosters are the other top selling point because previous OOTP games only came with fictional players. Being able to send real contemporary MLB stars, such as Magglio Ordonez, Roy Halladay, and Derek Jeter, onto the diamond is a much more attractive option than having to deal with a bunch of anonymous Joe Sixpacks. But these rosters do need to be tweaked somewhat. Bizarrely poor performances from some of the best in the game are too common. In a year as the Yankees, for example, A-Rod hit just .243 and counted a measly 30 homers (his lowest since 1997), while 2007 19-game winner Chien-Ming Wang finished 6-10 with a 5.51 ERA. Most players are pretty much dead-on, although this quirkiness is pronounced enough to apparently produce some weird contracts. Bona fide big-money superstars sometimes settle for ridiculously low deals, while average Joes wind up making huge bucks. So the Yankees can cheap out when re-upping Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera for $3 million a year on a three-year pact (although maybe this was just a huge hometown discount for a longtime Yankee who didn't want to leave town), yet a light-hitting infielder like Chone Figgins somehow gets the Anaheim Angels to give him $10 million a season for three years.
Computer GMs will also lay down big money on past-it stars like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. In the first season we simmed, Bonds somehow got a three-year-deal worth $7.7 million a year from the Cincinnati Reds. Priorities seem to be skewed toward these established diamond dogs as well. While teams are making outrageous deals for washed-up old guys in their 40s, they're also dropping five-star prospects in their early 20s for no reason whatsoever. If you keep an eye on the waiver wire, you'll eventually scoop up enough talent to fill out a pitching staff. In our first season, the Yankees managed to put together the best middle relief in baseball due solely to a pair of killer young waiver pick-ups and score a 21-year-old four-and-a-half star starting pitcher who tore up AA ball.
At least the fictional and historical leagues aren't burdened with this sort of baggage. Starting with completely made-up rosters or going back to a past season seems to result in remarkably accurate player performances based on their skills and stats--whether you're playing on your own or in an online league. This is particularly noticeable if you go back to the 19th century--or the dead ball era--or even the offensively challenged years before the DH was introduced and the mound lowered. Now you can really see how different the game was back then, in terms of such key factors as greater pitcher endurance and fewer runs scored.
In a lot of ways, the above criticisms can be set aside as nitpicky. OOTP9 is a superb game--the closest thing we've got to major league baseball in a box. A few wrinkles need to be ironed out and owners of the previous game in the series might be a bit disappointed by the absence of prominent new features, but there is no doubt that this is the best baseball management sim out there for serious followers of the national pastime.
Ninja Gaiden II
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Platform: PC
Developer: Team Ninja
Genre: Fantasy Action Adventure
Release Date: Jun 3, 2008
Ninja Gaiden II is a great game and a maddening one. In some respects, it improves upon the core Ninja Gaiden gameplay to exhilarating effect. It's flashier and it's bloodier, and when those enhancements are in full force, the game offers the best action available on the platform. You de-limb werewolves and slice up legions of rival ninjas and demons, and pulling off these moves produces a gory, showy explosion of particles and body parts. And, as any fan of its Xbox and PlayStation 3 predecessors should expect, it's incredibly difficult, which makes a successful confrontation still one of the most rewarding moments in all of action gaming.
Team Ninja also went back and fixed a few of the frustrating issues from the previous entry. For example, should you lose a boss battle (and you'll do it frequently), you can restart most of them at the beginning of the encounter, rather than having to revisit 10 minutes of lead-in gameplay. There are more save points, which also replenish your health, and your health will replenish on its own after action sequences. But for every step forward, the game takes an infuriating step back. It isn't as slickly paced as its precursors, and it isn't the visual leap forward that Ninja Gaiden was. Most noticeably, the camera has taken a turn for the worse, seemingly more interested in flaunting the game's flamboyant flurries of steel and black spandex than in being functional. Ninja Gaiden was hard, but it was rarely cheap; when you died, you knew it was because you needed to perform better. In Ninja Gaiden II, the badly implemented camera and other factors (more on this later) can lead to trial-and-error repetition that relies more on dumb luck than on your controller-wielding prowess. Sure, this sequel is a fantastic game, but it isn't as good as the game that reintroduced the franchise.
The core action is both familiar and remarkably intense. As returning hero Ryu Hyabusa, you hack, slash, and decapitate your way through hordes of nasty-looking foes, many of which are returning enemies from the Xbox original. What makes it so satisfying is how fast and fierce these encounters are. Using just two attack buttons and a jump button, and pulling a trigger to block, you can execute a flurry of slashes, ground-pounds, and high-flying feats with ease. And it looks fantastic in motion. The particle-heavy, blood-spattering special effects and silky animations will make your jaw drop, thanks to the exciting spectacle they create. Each battle keeps you focused and engaged, and the speedier your thumb waggles, the more satisfying and explosive the resulting acrobatics are.
In fact, the standard combat is even better than before, thanks to a few violent touches that take the series to new levels of adrenaline-pumping ferocity. Humanoid combatants routinely lose limbs at the mercy of your steely weapons, but rather than collapsing in a pool of spurting blood, they just get angrier. Amazingly, a werewolf with one arm is more dangerous than one with both limbs intact, but this fact is nicely offset by the possibility of a finishing move. If you get close to a de-limbed demon and hit Y, the camera will move in close and showcase a fantastically over-the-top fatality, complete with flying viscera and the ghastly sounds of spurting blood and squashed tissue.
Bosses are more frequent now and vary in terms of quality and challenge. Some of them are maddeningly difficult, such as dual armadillos that spew fiery rocks toward you. Others, like a blood-dripping, sword-yielding she-fiend, hit all the right notes. And one of them, a giant worm that speeds through subterranean caverns, will get stuck in walls due to a glitch and is easily defeated by slashing at its head while it tries to extricate itself. You can slash and bash using some of the old weapons, including the dragon sword and the lunar staff, but you may want to go into these battles with some of the newer additions such as the blade tonfas, which deliver some excellent combo moves and are fun to wield.
Make no mistake: All of this is really hard, and the second half of the game in particular is certainly just as hard as the original game. You'll face a number of enemies at a time, but they aren't content to lounge around like Dynasty Warriors refugees. They jump around quickly, may tackle you and execute an overpowering assault, and are often remarkably in tune to the actions you're trying to pull off, ready to counter with their own violent reply. The insane level of difficulty may not seem apparent in the first few chapters, which franchise fans may notice are hard but not as hard as Ninja Gaiden's. However, the challenge ramps up considerably as the game progresses, and you'll eventually be repeating certain sequences multiple times until you find a way to dispose of the brawny baddies. Much of the time, death brings with it the realization that you simply need to be a better ninja. When Ninja Gaiden II relies on its formula, it's not unfair; it's tough, certainly, but not punishing.
Unfortunately, the game strays all too often from its roots and meanders into the abyss of cheapness that Ninja Gaiden only rarely peered into. There are some hints of this early on, but the first third of the game and the final third are incredibly satisfying. Nevertheless, the center portion relies on tricks that simply don't cut it. Ninjas who you can't see pummel you with unblockable rockets over and over again, a defeated boss explodes and takes you down with it, and under- and over-water sequences feel more like work than fun. These sections are where the camera is at its most annoying. Apparently designed to focus on Ryu's exciting swordplay, the camera has been pulled in closer and moved a bit downward, which isn't ideal, but at least it isn't a hassle in wider levels, like one in a postmodern New York City. However, for the majority of the time you're in confined spaces and narrow corridors, where the camera gets stuck in corners, moves into uncomfortable positions, and requires more resets than before.
Then, after the infuriating middle section comes to a close, Ninja Gaiden II jumps an impressive hurdle. During its final third, everything clicks into place, and brilliantly so. The enemies become more interesting, unfair difficulty is replaced by breathless challenges that reward your skill, and the level designs take advantage of the platform's visual strengths. In the best of these levels, you fend off flying fiends while fighting ground foes across bridges and on ledges, as lava cascades down the cliffsides. Other quality levels throughout the game include a nail-biting trek through a hulking airship and a tour of duty in a sprawling castle, where you slice up dining-room chairs in addition to growling lycanthropes.
It's disappointing that the same amount of attention wasn't given to other levels, or to environmental design in general. Devil May Cry 4, Ninja Gaiden II's closest competitor, showcases sumptuous backgrounds that stand in beautiful relief to its furious action. By contrast, Ninja Gaiden II's environments are generally bland and utilitarian, such as the ugly and repetitive green caves that one of the previously mentioned bosses calls home. Some trips back to Hyabusa Village provide some needed narrative connections to the previous game, but it looks barely better than it did before. As far as its environments are concerned, Ninja Gaiden II does not feature the technical prowess you would expect from a game in 2008. It also suffers from some occasional hits to its normally smooth frame rate, which was simply never an issue in the past. Another familiar visual glitch is a returning one: Splotches of blood and goo still stick to the invisible walls, and because there's so much gore, this flaw sticks out all the more. By now, this sort of thing should have been addressed. By contrast, the vivid special effects, excellent enemy design, and fluid animations are fantastic, and they make it easy to notice that the rest of the visual design is decidedly behind the curve.
The cutscenes are great as well, if a bit cheesy, and they give some flair to Ninja Gaiden II's throwaway story. Not that it's bad, but the tale's just an excuse to pit you against a series of greater fiends, and to introduce you to the game's femme fatale, Sonia. She's exactly what a Ninja Gaiden fan would expect: blond, beautiful, and buxom. So buxom, in fact, that you will marvel at how she manages to move at all without suffering from back pain, and at how much breast physics have evolved over the years. Ryu's archenemy Elizebet is just as curvy, and a scene that features blood dripping from her bare bosom is wild, intense, and disturbing. You probably won't get invested in any of these characters, but the cutscenes are good enough to look forward to, and the finale may very well knock your socks off.
Leaderboards and unlockable, masochistic difficulty levels provide some replay value. You can also record sections of gameplay and upload them for other players to watch, but though this feature is neat, it isn't implemented very well. You're stuck recording entire swaths of gameplay, and the frame rate takes a bit of a hit when you turn the option on. But it's a feature that, like its amped-up combat, will please the game's core audience. If you're one of those folks, you'll enjoy what this sequel offers. Its various inconsistencies and visual deficits are obvious, but the fluid, heady action makes Ninja Gaiden II a great game.
Sinking Island
Publisher: Encore Software, Inc.
Platform: PC
Developer: White Birds Prod.
Genre: Adventure
Release Date: Aug 12, 2008
Unfortunately for billionaire hotel developer Walter Jones, the beach below the rocky cliff on Sagorah Island was not wheelchair-accessible. On this beach, investigator Jack Norm examines Jones's body, with the wheelchair perched precariously on the cliff's edge above. Was it the fall that killed Jones? Probably, Jack thinks, as he examines Jones's tangled corpse. But the woman's fingernail lodged in Jones's cheek and the bludgeon wound on his forehead indicate otherwise.
And so begins Sinking Island, the upcoming point-and-click mystery adventure from developer White Birds. At the helm is writer Benoit Sokal of Syberia fame, and his preferred brand of noir is evident from the opening cutscene as Jack choppers to Sagorah Island in the Maldives. Looming above the swaying palms is the Jones Tower Residence, the most recent--and final--project of the eccentric developer. For what is supposed to be an unrivaled tourist attraction, the tower is dark and ominous, with elements of gothic architecture--not exactly Club Med we're talking about here. The constant storms that pound the region are not ideal for snorkeling, either. Although not ideal for a tourist brochure, the gloomy atmosphere does serve as a fitting backdrop for another of Sokal's mystery games.
The Jones Tower has yet to open to the public, so there are only 10 people on the island, and everyone's a suspect. We'll leave most of the investigation to you, but you'll quickly run into Jones's pretentious lawyer Hubert de Nolent, freeloading grandson Billy Jones, and sexy island native Baina Jumhu. Given that Jack is a trained investigator, you won't have to wander around the island blindly, piecing together random clues in a maddening pixel hunt. Instead, the game is broken up into 10 questions that act as minor investigations within the entire mystery. The first question Jack asks, fittingly, is, "Was Walter Jones murdered?"
This first question acts as a basic tutorial while you search for evidence to answer this question. Besides the forehead wound, a fingernail in the cheek, scratch marks on the face, and a wheelchair on a cliff above, there are also numerous footprints that indicate a struggle. It doesn't take Nancy Drew to see that Jones expired prematurely, and against his will.
At your disposal is the handy PPA, aka personal police assistant, which helps organize photos, documents, and interviews with suspects. By pointing and clicking your way through the hotel and the grounds, you'll casually interview suspects, asking for their whereabouts at the time of the murder and their thoughts on the other guests. When you have enough evidence in the PPA to answer the major question, you simply punch in the clues, hit enter, and progress to the next chapter of the game. There's also a matching tool that's useful for matching up footprints to boots, comparing fingerprints, or discerning if two items are parts of the same object.
Sounds neat, but then why not simply title this mystery "Jack Norm and the Curse of Sagorah Island"? Because Sagorah is, you guessed it, sinking. In fact, in the span of three days, the island will disappear beneath the Indian Ocean for all time, taking along every piece of evidence with it. As the water level rises, certain areas and items will become inaccessible as they are washed away, and Jack is not a licensed scuba diver.
Along with the standard adventure mode, there's a race-against-time mode in which the island sinks even faster. The guests are surlier and will get annoyed at your constant questioning, forcing you to gather evidence even faster. All of this action is accompanied by an excellent cinematic score that pulsates throughout the island, an ominous opus of heavy strings and piano sure to induce, um, a sinking feeling.
For adventure fans looking for another mystery to solve, Sinking Island is due this fall for $29.99.
Dracula 3: Path of the Dragon
Publisher: Microids
Platform: PC
Developer: Kheops Studio
Genre: Adventure
Release Date: Aug 12, 2008
Just as more and more companies look for college degrees from employees, vampires too are becoming increasingly choosy in their selection process. No longer can a victim simply be bitten and expect to transform into a garlic-hating, heliophobic prince of darkness overnight. Instead, aspiring bloodsuckers must follow the path of the dragon, a series of unholy challenges and obstacles that will eventually lead to immortality, provided those blasted heroes Simon Belmont or Van Helsing don't burst on the scene armed with holy water and oak stakes.
In Dracula 3, you'll follow the path of the dragon as Father Arno Moriani, a mild-mannered catholic priest dispatched to Transylvania by the Vatican to investigate a candidate for sainthood. This point-and-click adventure game from developer Kheops Studio adopts the universe envisioned by Bram Stoker, and you'll travel to Rome, Budapest, and Turkey tracking down the evil Count Dracula.
The year is 1920. You begin your investigation of Dr. Martha Calugarul in the village of Vladoviste, half-destroyed in World War I. On the hillside sits the Castle of Twilight, the famed home of Vlad the Impaler. Your opening objectives are simple: Visit Martha's grave, contact her parish priest, and visit the dispensary where she worked. As you run into different characters, such as the local innkeeper, a grave digger, and a nurse, you'll have different conversation choices to follow, although it's not a branching tree, by any means. Instead, you simply check your questions off the list in any order you choose, learning more about the brave and courageous work of Martha, who helped soldiers on both sides during the war.
It's her research into blood, however, that is probably more important than her good deeds. Many locals were stricken by an anomaly Martha knows little about and refers to as, simply, the P anomaly. Aside from strange characteristics in the blood stream, those who suffer from the anomaly tend to have strange hematomas on the neck. See where we're going here? Most victims were also found dead--drained of their blood.
Father Arno--not being knowledgeable of the ways of the vampire--begins to track a mysterious figure he believes is responsible for these deaths. He realizes later, as he follows this person from bloody crime scene to bloody crime scene, that he is inadvertently walking the path of the dragon. Later on, as you solve puzzles based on medicine, history, and the occult, you'll also use the famed Enigma machine. This was the cipher used to encrypt and decrypt secret messages that was later a hit in Nazi Germany.
The mechanics in Dracula are simple: point and then click. You can also right-click to open a series of menus that handily point out your objectives, inventory, recent conversations, and documents recovered. And when in doubt, consult the bible. A bible written in Latin is included, and you can open it to random pages for verses that act as clues for what to do next.
We'll let you walk the path of the dragon yourself when Dracula 3 is released this fall.
Midnight Club: Los Angeles
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Platform: PlayStation 3
Developer: Rockstar San Diego
Genre: GT / Street Racing
Release Date: Oct 7, 2008
It's a summer afternoon, and as we arrive at Rockstar's London offices, we can sense the post-GTAIV relief in the air. Having already released what is likely to be 2008's biggest selling game, Rockstar is in understandably high spirits. But video gaming doesn't stand still, and all eyes are now on the publisher's next game. Midnight Club is the company's second most successful franchise, and the development team in San Diego is currently putting on the final touches to the series' Los Angeles debut. With the game set for release later in the year, Rockstar invited us down to sample the City of Angels for an extensive two-hour hands-on session.
Like Burnout Paradise and Test Drive Unlimited before it, Midnight Club: Los Angeles is an open-world racing game. You can drive around the city as much as you want, and when you feel like racing, all you have to do is flash your lights at passing racers. LA itself has been re-created with some artistic license by the game's designers because the real-life grid structure of the city would have been detrimental to the actual racing. This means that some of your favourite landmarks might be missing, but we thankfully saw the 20th Century Fox building, which Die Hard fans will recognise as the Nakatomi plaza and was the scene of the denouement in Fight Club.
Running on Rockstar San Diego's own RAGE engine--the same one that powered GTAIV--Midnight Club looks superb. The environments are immaculately detailed, even down to the obnoxious level of advertising in the city. Such brands as American Apparel and Rustlers have made it onto billboards, while all the car parts are from real-world manufacturers. Product placement aside though, the game itself moves at a blistering pace. While Rockstar says the game is more likely to run at 30 rather than 60 frames per second, we encountered absolutely no slowdown as we cruised through the city. In fact, the game is looking very polished at this stage, and it looks like most of the major features are already in place.
When you get behind the wheel, you'll soon see that the new Midnight Club is very true to previous games in the series. Although handling changes subtly between vehicles, the cars feel light and responsive, meaning you can twitch your way through competitors, traffic, or roadside obstacles. We got to drive the Mercedes S600, as well as 1967 Mustang Boss cars, and we even got to take the latter to a garage for a series of upgrades. To say Midnight Club's customisation options are extensive is a massive understatement--we were able to customise every conceivable part of the vehicle, as well as design its appearance with paint jobs, logos, and lighting. You could conceivably spend hours in this mode alone, changing everything from the engine components to the stitching on the interiors.
We got to see three different racing styles during our time with the game. The most prominent was the standard race, where you compete against four other racers through a series of checkpoints. We also played through a couple of red light races--one-on-one point-to-point races where the idea is to find the quickest route to the finish line. The final racing style we saw was the dynamic freeway race, where you compete against one other racer at speed on the motorways surrounding LA. The traffic on the freeway means that you have to weave much more than in the city centre, but some stretches do allow you to open up the throttle and get up a decent amount of speed.
For the first time in the series, Rockstar is set to incorporate a storyline Midnight Club: Los Angeles. We didn't get to see any of it during our play, but short cutscenes will show you as a young driver who gets involved with street racing in order to win money and respect. The reward system is based on these two features, so you'll earn more money and respect for coming in first in races and driving better vehicles. There are also races where you can lay wagers, play missions to deliver packages, and take part in pink slip races where you can bet your car against someone else's car. Finally, tying in with the story are revenge missions, which will trigger cutscenes before and after each race as you take on special characters from around the city.
There are two other features to the Midnight Club package--the online mode and the bikes. We unfortunately didn't get to play either of them during our play time, but Rockstar did divulge some more information about how they'll work. There will of course be a multiplayer element to the game, and it's clear that you'll be able to go into an online version of the city to challenge other people to races, much as you can with Burnout Paradise. There's no word on player numbers or race types as of yet, but Rockstar has promised to fill us in with the details closer to the release of the game. Motorbikes will also be making a return, and while we didn't get to try them out ourselves, we did get to race against a couple of them for our final race in the city.
There's no doubt that this Midnight Club is going to be compared to Burnout Paradise--the open-world setting and racing structure are incredibly reminiscent of what you can find in Paradise City. But while Criterion's arcade racer had little time for realism, car lovers will certainly have more to sink their teeth into with Rockstar's effort. We're sure to see more of Midnight Club: Los Angeles in the run up to release, and we can't wait to see how the two games stack up once October arrives.
Assassin's Creed
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Genre: Historic Action Adventure
Release Date: Nov 13, 2007
Assassin's Creed will stay with you long after you finish it. Here is one of the most unique gameworlds ever created: beautiful, memorable, and alive. Every crack and crevasse is filled with gorgeous, subtle details, from astounding visual flourishes to overheard cries for help. But it's more than just a world--it's a fun and exciting action game with a ton of stuff to do and places to explore, rounded out with silky-smooth controls and a complex story that will slowly grab you the more you play. Make no mistake: Assassin's Creed is one of the best efforts of the year and a must-own game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners.
Not enough can be said about the living, breathing world that you'll inhabit in Assassin's Creed. As assassin extraordinaire Altaïr, you'll explore three major cities of the Holy Land in the 12th century: Jerusalem, Damascus, and Acre. Each city is beautifully rendered from top to bottom and features meticulously crafted towers that reach for the sky, bustling market squares, and quiet corners where citizens converse and drunks lie in wait to accost you. As you wander the streets (and rooftops), you'll push your way through crowds of women carrying jars on their heads, hear orators shout political and religious wisdom, and watch town guards harass innocent victims. Altaïr has a profound effect on this world, but the cities are entities all their own, with their own flows and personalities.
The visual design has a lot to do with how believably organic everything feels. The cities are absolutely huge, and though you don't get full exploration privileges in the first few chapters, they eventually open up to let you travel seamlessly from one side to another. Everything is beautifully lit with just the right amount of bloom effect, and almost everything casts a shadow, from tall pillars to Altaïr's cloak. In fact, sometimes the shadows get to be a bit much and may make you think for a moment that there is artifacting on your screen, when in fact it's a character's head casting a shadow on his or her own neck. Every object, from scaffolds to pottery, is textured so finely you feel as if you could reach out and touch it. Animations are almost as equally well done. Altaïr scales walls, leaps majestically from towers, and engages in swashbuckling swordfights that would make Errol Flynn proud. And he does it all with fluid ease, generally moving from one pose to another without a hitch. Minor characters move gracefully as well, though one of the game's few visual drawbacks is the occasional jerky animation on the part of a citizen. However, it's easy to forgive, considering that the cities are populated with thousands and thousands of individuals. In fact, these tiny blemishes are noticeable only because everything else looks so incredible.
What you hear is even more impressive than what you see. At the top of a temple, you hear little but the rush of wind, the twittering of birds, and the barking of a far-off dog. In the most populated areas, your ears will fill with the din of street vendors, the pleas of beggars, and the occasional humming. It's never too much, though, and the game does a good job of making sure you hear what you need to hear (for example, the cries of citizens who need your help), without filling your ears with pointless noise. All these effects, along with the clangs of swords and groans of assassinated foes, are outstanding. The voice acting of the supporting cast is similarly remarkable. Conversations are completely believable and delivered with the perfect amount of solemn dignity. Oddly, the weakest link is Altaïr himself. Actor Philip Shahbaz does an all right job, but he isn't up to par with the first-rate acting of his fellow troupe. Rounding it all out is a beautiful orchestral score that is most notable for its subtlety. Many of the game's most impressive moments are accompanied by lovely musical themes that add even more threads to the game's rich living tapestry.
Fortunately, the story that binds it all together rises to the occasion. Actually, there are two related stories in play. The unfolding drama of Crusades-era Palestine is a mere memory, forcibly pulled from a modern-day bartender named Desmond by a resolute researcher using a machine called an animus. The memories aren't Desmond's own--they are Altaïr's, stored safely in the hapless subject's genetic code. We follow Altaïr as he assassinates nine public figures at the command of his master, and as the common thread that ties these men comes into focus, so does the true identity of Desmond's captors. There are no cutscenes in the traditional sense; every bit of story exposition and dialogue flows smoothly from the gameplay and takes place entirely within the game engine. The ending is confusing, and it blatantly leaves open the possibility of a sequel, but it's a small blemish on an otherwise stirring tale. Altaïr's world is not one of absolutes. His assassination targets aren't always evil, and Altaïr isn't always likable. As he is fond of reminding us, "Nothing is true. Everything is permitted."
Of course, such an authentic world would be meaningless without a lot of fun things to do in it. Thankfully, Assassin's Creed is endlessly entertaining in that it features a fine mix of stealthy exploration, tight platforming, and exciting combat. To discover the whereabouts of your assassination targets, you must first follow up on possible leads. There are several different mission types in this regard. In some cases, you sit on a bench and listen in on secret conversations. At other times, you will closely follow someone carrying an important letter that you'll pickpocket. Alternately, you can beat the information out of your target. Most missions are relatively easy to pull off in the early stages of the game. But once the guards and townspeople start recognizing you (or you alert them to your presence too close to the scene of one of your crimes), they get a little tougher.
There are also some optional tasks, such as rescuing innocent townspeople from the clutches of guards. The reward for doing so is a group of vigilantes who will hang out in the area afterward and hinder any foes chasing you. It's also a good way to try out Assassin's Creed's combat, which is surprisingly satisfying, considering the game's focus on sneaking around. You can pounce on enemies using your hidden blade (an incredibly rewarding one-stab kill), or use throwing daggers to take enemies down from a distance. However, your sword is your melee mainstay, and though the hack-and-slash combat may seem simple at first, it gets more challenging once you unlock the various countermoves. Often, you'll have a dozen or more attackers to fend off at once, but though these fights can be a little tricky, you'll never feel as if you're in over your head. In fact, the few circumstances in which you are forced into combat--such as a late-game boss fight against a seemingly endless crowd of attackers and their leering leader--are challenging and require some pitch-perfect timing to counter every strike and lunge.
Nevertheless, brute force is rarely the best way to handle a situation. You want to slink unnoticed through the crowds, but you can draw attention to yourself in a number of ways--whether it be galloping past a guard station on a horse, knocking pottery off of someone's head, or getting so frustrated by the various beggars that you fling them away from you. (And trust us--these are the most aggressive panhandlers you'll ever meet.) If you antagonize the guards, they'll give chase. Yes, you can stick around and fight, and though it's never the easiest option, breaking stealth does not damn you to death like it does in other sneaking games. But why not lure them to a rooftop? Once up there, you can grab them and fling them to the street below. Or if there are too many of them, you can jump across the rooftops gracefully until you find a hiding place, such as a nice bale of hay or a curtained garden. Once you're hidden, they'll break chase and you'll be free to roam about.
You can also seek refuge in small groups of scholars who serve as mobile hiding places. It's a bit contrived to walk into a stationary cluster of scholars and have them suddenly start moving simply because you're there, but it gets the job done. Actually, if there's any drawback to the usually excellent gameplay, it's how synthetic certain elements feel. Vigilantes are always in the same spot, missions reset if you don't get them right the first time, and those same guards will be harrassing that citizen, an hour after you pass by. It's easy to forgive these quirks though, given the easygoing flow of the world surrounding these pockets of gameplay.
Climbing up buildings and jumping around the rooftops is fun and breezy, thanks to effortless controls that strike a great balance between ease of use and player input. You can leap across alleys and scale walls with the pull of a trigger and the press of a button, and though it's possible to launch yourself from a wall or hurtle through a vendor's booth by accident, these moments aren't very common. You'd think that a city specifically designed to let you climb structures and caper about the roofs would look overly artificial, yet there's never a moment when you will think to yourself, "Wow, that looks like a place where I'm supposed to jump." The architecture looks completely natural, which makes Altaïr's abilities all the more exciting to pull off. The environments don't look as if they were created for him to climb around on; he just uses the hand he's been dealt, as any good assassin should.
In Assassin's Creed, the greatest joy comes from the smallest details, and for every nerve-racking battle, there's a quiet moment that cuts to the game's heart and soul. Climbing towers to uncover portions of the map is a simple mechanic but forever satisfying, thanks to the beautiful vistas and soft musical themes that accompany the view. Even the drunks that pester you are amusing and fun, though their constant shoving is more than annoying, especially if you are trying to pickpocket a pedestrian or eliminate a target without a fuss. It all makes your missions that much more compelling, and you'll be inclined to explore every nook and cranny and take on every optional task, just for the fun of it. There's a ton of stuff to do, and even when you've exhausted your official tasks, you can search for the collectible flags and crosses strewn around the cities and countryside. You could probably plow through the main quest in 20 hours if you're lucky, but completists might spend close to 50 hours finishing every quest and gathering every collectible.
There are few differences between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions. PS3 owners are blessed with a slightly more solid frame rate, although the 360 version features a little more contrast in the lighting, so it's pretty much a wash. But regardless of which platform you go with, you'll have an amazing and unforgettable game. Assassin's Creed is the kind of game you tell your friends about, and one that should be in your collection.
Soulcalibur
Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Platform: xbox 360
Developer: Namco Bandai Games
Genre: 3D Fighting
Release Date: Jul 2, 2008
Soulcalibur first wowed arcade-goers with its impressive 3D visuals and sublime head-to-head combat in 1998. The following year, a Dreamcast version packed with new features was released and quickly became a best-seller on Sega's fledgling console. Soulcalibur has since spawned a couple of sequels (the third is scheduled for release later this month) and an adventure game spin-off, but the Dreamcast game is arguably still the pick of the bunch and should be a no-brainer now that a version of it is available on Xbox Live Arcade for 800 points ($10). It's not quite that simple, though, because while Soulcalibur's gameplay has survived the transition intact, the same unfortunately can't be said for all of its gameplay modes.
Specifically, the XBLA version of Soulcalibur lacks the Dreamcast game's Battle Mission mode, which was easily the most significant and inventive addition made to the arcade game for the console release. There's no point dwelling on features that didn't make the cut in the context of this review, but for those of you unfamiliar with Battle Mission mode, it was composed of challenges that built upon the regular one-on-one formula by adding gusts of wind, quicksand, dangerous rats, and other hazards. Needless to say, its omission is disappointing.
In the Dreamcast game, playing through Battle Mission mode served as a tutorial of sorts and was the only way to unlock over 300 pieces of art in a gallery, some of which would in turn unlock new character profiles and gameplay options. All of the unlockable content is still present in the XBLA game, but it's available from the outset, which makes it much less compelling. Also available from the outset are all 19 of the characters on Soulcalibur's roster, several of whom needed to be unlocked before you could play as them originally.
Soulcalibur's fighters are a varied bunch. The requisite samurai, ninja, and martial artist character archetypes are all accounted for, and do battle with more unusual combatants that include a lizardman, a powerful golem, a European knight, a pirate, and the mysterious warrior Yoshimitsu--perhaps best known as a character from the Tekken series in which he's also a regular. Even characters with seemingly similar fighting styles and controls play differently because, unlike their counterparts in most other fighting games, they're armed with axes, nunchaku, staffs, and a veritable collection of different swords. You don't get to choose weapons with different properties as you could in subsequent games (and in Soul Blade before them), but there's plenty of variety here, and you're sure to find at least a handful of characters that you like to play.
Gameplay modes in Soulcalibur include Arcade, Vs Battle, Team Battle, Time Attack, Survival, and Extra Survival, most of which will be self-explanatory if you're at all familiar with the fighting genre. Extra Survival mode is a little unusual; it challenges you to beat as many opponents consecutively as possible in the same way that the garden-variety Survival mode does, but every battle is won by the first combatant to land a blow. Be quick, be good at blocking, or don't bother. Online leaderboards for the Survival, Extra Survival, and Time Attack modes are a good way to see how your skills stack up against those of other players around the world. They're not nearly as compelling as competitive online play would have been, though, and it's unfortunate that Soulcalibur shows its age in this regard when the rest of the game has stood the test of time so well.
The controls are accessible and responsive. The Japanese voice work for the characters, the English-language announcer, and the tunes specific to each of the different-shaped stages that you fight sound good. And the original 480p visuals have been reworked just enough that they look decent on a modern 1080p setup. There's no option to play in widescreen, though, so if you play on a widescreen display you're stuck with unsightly borders on either side of the playing area.
Since it lacks the Battle Mission mode the Xbox Live Arcade version of Soulcalibur is inferior to the Dreamcast game and, at least where online features are concerned, it's inferior to other XBLA fighters such as Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Soulcalibur is still an extremely good fighting game, though, and provided you have a friend to play it with on your couch, it'll certainly keep you entertained until Soulcalibur IV arrives in stores.
Moon
Publisher: Mastiff
Platform: ds
Developer: Renegade Kid
Genre: Sci-Fi Action Adventure
Release Date: TBA
From the makers of Dementium: The Ward comes Moon, a sci-fi shooter that derives its name from the extraterrestrial setting. You play as Major Kane, leader of the Extra-Terrestrial Encounter Organization (ETEO). Kane and a team of soldiers and scientists are gathered on the surface to prepare for possible alien encounters. Developer Renegade Kid has teamed up with Mastiff to create another first-person shooter for the Nintendo DS. We had the opportunity to meet with Mastiff and play a half-complete version of Moon, and even though sound, dialogue, and cutscenes are still in development, things are looking good so far.
The game starts at Lunar Base Alpha, in the year 2058, where a hatch has been discovered. There are interesting energy readings coming from the subterranean structure, and before you know it, your team is attacked and you are left to explore the hatch on your own. Though the game primarily focuses on the action, Mastiff assures us that it is story driven and that the mystery will unravel itself and the gameplay is full of surprises. You will be in frequent contact with your general via a commlink, which functions like the codec in the Metal Gear Solid series. The dialogue drives the storyline and also provides mission objectives and guidance. We were taken down into the alien hatch and were able to explore some of the corridors, searching for items and fighting off bizarre creatures and droids.
We got a chance to see the first boss, which is a mechanical-looking creature with limbs that fires large painful balls of who knows what at your face. To take it down, first you need to move around the room to shut off the defense shield by hitting switches at four locations, and then you must shoot the three red spots under the boss's head, which will reveal its weak spot. This section of the game wasn't complete yet, but it was a nice glimpse at what's to come. It's not the type of game where you can just barge in with guns blazing and hope to eventually take the enemy down. Careful planning is important, and there were droids that we came across who eagerly set off the alarm to call in reinforcements.
Even though the DS may not be as comfortable as a regular controller for shooter games, the controls work surprisingly well with the touch screen. You use the control pad to strafe and the touch screen to aim and look around and double tapping will make you run. The L button is to shoot. If you're a lefty, all this can be configured the other way, using the XYBA buttons to strafe. Your touch screen will display a minimap of the rooms nearby, and if you pause the game, it shows you a map of the area. Buttons for your commlink, map, mission, and options are available as well. You can select weapons or switch to a search droid using the options menu.
The search droid is used for some of the puzzle elements of the game where you may need to get under some pipes or cargo to retrieve items or upgrades. The droid is also equipped with an EMP cannon, which can stun and destroy enemies as well as shut off electronics. It definitely comes in handy when you want to get to hard-to-reach places. Items that you will come across early on include an alien fluid that has regenerative properties. We were told that this is a key part of the story, but of course it's too early for us to find out why. A variety of weapons will also be included, many of which are to be used strategically throughout the game. You begin with a self-regenerating semiautomatic, which will work for the early stages, but as you explore the moon further, more weapons will be at your disposal. Although we had only an hour with this game, we were told that we will have a chance to come up to the surface again and that there is a moon buggy just waiting to be driven.
The developers have designed this game for hardcore players who want a solid single-player challenge. There are different difficulty settings, and you can unlock hidden content by playing on the hardest setting. During your exploration you can pick up alien artifacts that will also let you unlock more content. Each time you complete an area, you unlock the ability to quickplay short levels on different difficulty settings. If you're worried about save points, Renegade Kid has learned from its mistakes and has made sure to include checkpoints so that you do not have to go back to the beginning of the stage.
The environments and sound were not complete yet, but so far the surroundings seem fit for an alien hatch, with glowing walls and high-tech-looking catacombs to explore. If you're not looking at the map, it sometimes feels as though you're still in the same room, but details like switches or even alien terminals will help you get your bearings. Adding to the sinister mood are ambient sounds and repetitious beeps that echo off into space, creating a sense of mystery and uneasiness. Like with Dementium, headphones are a must to fully experience Moon. For more space action, be sure to look for Moon on the DS this fall.
The SimCity Box
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform: PC
Developer: Electronic Arts
Genre: Compilation
Release Date: Jun 30, 2008
The SimCity Box is a good value, so if for some reason you haven't tested your mayoral prowess in a SimCity title before, now's your chance. Ostensibly, this package includes five games, though that isn't quite the case, since two of them are expansions. Yet at $39.95, it packs in dozens of hours of quality gameplay, thanks in particular to the inclusion of SimCity 4 and its Rush Hour add-on. This isn't quite the dream team of SimCity games--no one wants or needs the lame SnapCity, and the inclusion of 1998's SimCity 3000 would seem a no-brainer--but if you can overlook the filler, you'll still find that the cream rises to the top.
The most recent title in The SimCity Box is Destinations, an expansion to 2007's SimCity Societies. Societies on its own was a decent but unremarkable take on the city-building formula, in which you juggle social energies and economic needs while making your sims happy in your ever-expanding burb. With the recent release of Destinations, however, SimCity Societies leapt a great hurdle--so be sure to install both the original game and its expansion when prompted. The duo won't provide the challenge or depth you might be used to from a SimCity title, but the presentation is charming, and the simple gameplay is surprisingly engaging. When you consider that the expansion goes for $29.95 on its own, it's also an obviously valuable part of the package. You may have rightfully dismissed Societies as too easy to hold your interest, but the expansion is good enough to bring it in step with the big boys.
Of course, the meat of this package is SimCity 4. As with its predecessors, it was a rewarding challenge that could keep you glued to your computer monitor for hours at a time. Five years after its initial release, the game is still up to that task. The early hours are admittedly slow: You create residential, commercial, and industrial zones while balancing the intricate economic burdens of a growing metropolis. But as your town grows, these needs require a tight balancing act that involves a lot of thought and care. This installment allows for more micromanagement than do prior games; you can set taxes based on social class and zone type, for example, so expect to fiddle around with these options often as you search for that financial sweet spot. In turn, these elements make for an involving game, and seeing impressive new buildings sprout up is an excellent reward for your keen eye and thoughtful calculations.
SimCity 4's expansion, Rush Hour, streamlined the gameplay in ways that made the initial release seem obsolete, so again, be sure to install the expansion before jumping into the original. As you can guess, Rush Hour is all about transportation, and it gives you all the tools to manage your travel networks: parking garages, intercity ferries, and other enhancements that allow you to better see how your roads are affecting traffic congestion. But the most interesting aspect of the expansion is the added ability to get behind the wheel of a vehicle (or in the cockpit of an airplane) and zoom about your bustling burg. It's all good fun, though you shouldn't expect much from the driving mode: It's clunky and a bit unintuitive, though it was pretty awesome back in 2003.
Together, these four games make The SimCity Box a worthwhile value, if only because there's so much gameplay for a good price. SimCity 4, the oldest game of the bunch, still looks good and sounds great, so there's no reason to shy away if you're worried about the dated visuals. The pair of Societies titles looks better by today's standards, though the frame rate can get a little rough in a city packed with structures and decorations. All four of them benefit from a good deal of charm, from the oft-hilarious news tickers to the dramatic-looking disasters that can lay your city to waste. As for the fifth included game, Sims Carnival: SnapCity, it's best to ignore it completely and hope it goes away. It's a weird and boring mixture of Tetris and SimCity, and as interesting as that sounds, you shouldn't play it.
It's too bad that The SimCity Box isn't more historically relevant: A package including SimCity 2000, SimCity 3000, and SimCity 4 (and their add-ons) would have made for a fantastic, entertaining look at an important game universe. Thankfully, four of the five titles included provide enough value and entertainment to be worth the price, so if you're looking for a broad introduction to the SimCity series, this is a good way to start.
Gears of War 2
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: Epic Games
Genre: Sci-Fi Shooter
Release Date: November 2008
You'd be hard pressed to a find a more anticipated fall title among the Xbox 360 masses than Gears of War 2. The game has been top of mind since its GDC debut earlier this year. North Carolina-based Epic Games has been cranking on the sequel to its juggernaut Xbox 360 and PC title since the announcement and recently gave us an update on the upcoming game. While a brief overview on the sequel from Epic's Cliff Bleszinski was nice, the real meat of the experience was the chance to try out a bit of the competitive multiplayer modes.
Our look at the game began with the aforementioned overview from Bleszinski who touched on many of the points Epic's been covering since it started talking about the game. The game's story picks up after the original Gears and finds Delta squad doing its part to keep humanity from being wiped out. Gears 2 will also follow Dom's search for his wife. Beyond that, there wasn't much in the way of new detail offered about the story that will unfold in the single-player campaign outside of the assurance that it will be a longer experience.
There's a bit more info to run through in terms of the tech improvements and gameplay. For those anxious to know the tech stuff going on under the hood of the game, we offer a small laundry list of features being implemented in the latest version of Epic's Unreal Engine. The engine now features a what's what of tech speak that includes ambient occlusion, improved character lighting, improved shadow lighting, liquid dynamics, soft body physics, a new fracture system, a new decal system that marks the world with your handiwork, and enhanced world detail. On top of the hard tech enhancements, the Gears 2 art team is taking advantage of the new engine and adding a host of touches, such as higher res characters, weapons, and enemies, as well as detailed blood decals and tracers. This all adds up to a better looking game although, to be fair, all this stuff may not jump out at you initially. The game retains the same overall look as its predecessor, although we’ve already seen a greater variety in environments, which naturally lend themselves to a broader color palette.
As far as game content goes, our sampling of the competitive multiplayer modes amounted to a dense but frustratingly modest slice of what Gears 2 is going to offer. While we really only tried out three competitive game modes, they offered a pretty tantalizing look at what to expect from the proper game. Before we dive into the specifics of the three modes--Wingman, Submission, and Guardian--we'll lay out the various gameplay tweaks going on under the hood. One of the most interesting is the notion of "stopping power," which now slows your movement when you're hit by bullets. The effect is cumulative, so any hopes of rushing someone in a mad dash are pretty much gone. Along the same lines is a new concussive force element added into grenades, which dizzies you when one hits in proximity. Another element to grenades is the ability to stick them against walls where they'll rest until an enemy comes by at which point they'll detonate.
You'll also be able to take enemies hostage and use them as shields when things are rough. You'll be able to do this when you get close to a foe in battle or when he is near death. In fact, you'll have quite a few options besides using a foe as a meat shield when he's near death on the ground. Besides using him as a shield, you'll be able to execute him in a variety of different ways based on the weapon you're holding or do a curb stomp. One of our favorite additions to the mix are the chainsaw duels, which are button-mashing fests that require you to mash the B button like a mad dog when you lock chainsaws with a foe. The game will keep tabs on who mashed faster and let the winner do the slicing. Another fun and likely soul-crushing facet of having one foot in the grave and desperately hoping a friend revives you in time is the ability to mash the A button and slowly crawl around. While this is ostensibly to help you reach a friend in time, it also makes for some games of cat and mouse because an enemy can toy with you for a bit before going in for that curb stomp. Larger enhancements to the multiplayer experience include a party system that lets you hang with your buddy through the game's various modes. There will be a number of enhancements to the camera system in multiplayer, allowing you to switch among a number of different views once you've been taken out and even take in game photos you can upload.
Epic is also tweaking all the weapons from the original Gears and introducing some new toys into the mix. The Gorgan Pistol is a new pistol, and the scorcher is the Gears take on a flamethrower. The game will also now feature a poison gas grenade and a shield you'll get off a new Boomer type (like they really needed shields). All weapons in the game will feature a new enhancement if you do a perfect active reload and will range from increasing their rate of fire, damage, or even range.
Now what about these new modes? Wingman is a 10-man game that breaks the group up into teams of two, assigning each pair the same character model. Your goal is simple; kill anyone who doesn't look like you. Guardian breaks you up into two teams and randomly assigns one member as the role of leader. Your goal is to take out the opposing team's leader while protecting your own. While your leader is alive, you'll respawn every 15 seconds, but that stops once he's taken out. Submission tasks opposing teams with finding and taking a fallen non-player character hostage. Your goal is to drag him to a set point on the map and keep him there for a set period of time. This isn't easy for a number of reasons, namely because he doesn't go quietly, he's packing a shotgun, there's the hassle of the opposing team, and there are a series of laser grids you'll need your teammates to switch off so you can get to your destination with the hostage.
While what we saw amounts to a tiny bit of what Gears 2 is going to offer, we have to say we're pretty excited to see more. Epic has some smart ideas that it's toying around with, and we definitely like where the multiplayer is going. Look for more on Gears of War 2 on July 14.
Skate It
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform: wii
Developer: Electronic Arts
Genre: Skateboarding
Release Date: TBA 2008
We recently took our first look at Skate It, EA Black Box's upcoming spin-off of last year's critically acclaimed skateboarding game, Skate. Instead of using Skate's dual-joystick "flick it" controls, Skate It is strictly about the Wii's motion controls. Well, at least it was. In our previous look, we were only able to get our hands on the Wii Remote, but this time around Black Box decided to give us a look at how it's aiming to implement the Wii Fit Balance Board as a way of mimicking what it's like to stand on the maple deck of a real-life board. On top of this, we were able to check out a new level displaying even more of the post-disaster San Vanelona setting.
First and foremost, the balance board isn't intended to replace the Wii Remote as a control option; the two are meant to work in conjunction with each other. You'll be steering, balancing manuals, and executing flip tricks with your feet while using the remote to push, do grabs, and spin while airborne. And just like in the original Skate, there's no grind button--how you land on a rail or ledge determines what sort of grind you do.
When you first step on the balance board, it will automatically detect your center of balance and set that as the neutral point in terms of steering and doing manuals. If you find it's not working out for you, resetting is a simple matter of stepping off and getting right back on. When you've found a foot position that suits your needs, you can steer by leaning left or right. It's not complicated, but at this stage, it's a bit tough to balance between sharp and gradual turns. We're told that Black Box is hard at work tuning this aspect of the controls and is attempting to find that ideal point of compromise such that the board delivers responsive turns but doesn't react to every incidental shift in movement you might make whenever your legs get a little sore.
The other aspects of the balance board seem to be working quite well. The surface of the board has been divided into six sectors, with all the dividing lines intersecting in the middle of the board. To do an ollie, you stomp on the tail of the board, and to perform a nollie, you do precisely the opposite. You stomp on the bottom-right sector to do a kickflip and the bottom-left to do a heelflip. The rest of your skating repertoire--shuv-its, hardflips, 360 flips, and so on--are mapped to other areas of the board. As a way of broadening your range of tricks, the developers have implemented a feature that lets you switch between move sets on the go. Simply hit the D pad, and you'll swap between your trick slots, instantly expanding the number of tricks you'll be able to do with certain parts of the board.
We enjoyed taking a spin on the balance board. Steering was definitely the trickiest part, but the rest of it felt natural after only a minute or two. We were catching air in bowls, doing 360 grabs, and grinding benches in no time. If Black Box can manage to get the steering down, the balance board controls should be fun enough to warrant a serious look at this peripheral, at least for anyone interested in Skate It who doesn't already own Wii Fit.
While the main focus of our hands-on time was on the new control options, Black Box also unveiled a new level. This new area of town is the same downtown library area featured in the original Skate, but this time around it has been ravaged by numerous disasters. Chunks of buildings, random signage, and other post-earthquake detritus dot the once-pristine urban sidewalks and plazas. What this creates for you is brand-new skating opportunities, ones you wouldn't find in the man-made architecture of the first game. But the interesting part is that a lot of the random materials strewn about are taken from the original game's version of San Vanelona. As one example, a member of Black Box pointed out that the curved library sign lying on the ground (the one begging to be ollied over) is actually the same 3D model once attached to the library building in Skate.
At this early stage, Skate It is already looking like a game that should capture the interest of Wii owners who never had the chance to play the original, as well as those who've played the original game but who are looking for an appetizer for the proper sequel. Either way, you can expect more on Skate It in the coming weeks and months.
NASCAR 09
Publisher: EA Sports
Platform: PS3
Developer: EA Games
Genre: Stock Car Racing
Release Date: Jun 10, 2008
There's no question that with all of the new features, NASCAR 09 is an improvement over previous installments in the series. The gameplay hasn't received much attention, but better presentation, the ability to completely customize your ride, and other minor enhancements make this a game that should please most fans of the sport.
Jeff Gordon's involvement can be seen consistently throughout the game--he's not just the guy on the cover. What makes his involvement unique is that Gordon essentially acts as a pit-crew chief to help users navigate through all of the different stages that a driver must take to reach the winner's podium. The onscreen addition of the four-time Cup champ improves the presentation and results in a better overall experience. However, he's not the only driver to have an impact on the game. EA has finally worked out a deal to add Carl Edwards and his #99 car to the roster. The rest of the field remains the same as a year ago.
Although some may prefer to get right down to racing with the Race Now mode, many will be intrigued by the improved Career mode. After you set up your new driver information, it's off to the garage to explore the robust new customization options. You start by selecting and designing your own number, and then lay down a base color for the body of your car. Racing stripes, waves, flames, and sponsorship decals are just some of the graphics that you can use to pimp your ride, though many of the sponsors won't be available until you earn them. As if that weren't enough, you can design your own graphics in an image-editing program (such as Adobe Photoshop) and upload them to an online locker to make them available in-game. This impressive depth of customization makes NASCAR 09 a much more engaging experience.
Upon completing the design of your car, you'll be asked to sign with a sponsor. Each sponsor has a set of expectations that must be met to improve your reputation and, ultimately, move up to bigger sponsorship opportunities. Unfortunately, though it may be cool to raise your reputation and gain bigger sponsors, it actually does very little for you other than boost your ego. The real key to improving your skills in NASCAR 09 is to complete as many of the 77 different Sprint Driver Challenges as possible. The first challenge asks you to complete a lap without going under 150 mph and to avoid going off the track or hitting the wall. Another interesting challenge is to finish ahead of a specific driver within a certain time frame. These challenges are actually more fun than the races themselves because they are shorter and more intense. By completing the different challenges, you'll earn performance points that can be used to improve your car's performance. The challenge mode's variety is one of NASCAR 09's strengths.
Before each race, you can tinker with every aspect of your car's suspension, aerodynamics, tires, drivetrain, and even weight distribution if desired. For those of you who aren't full-time mechanics, you have the option of choosing between a basic rookie setup and a veteran setup, which immensely simplifies the process of setting up your car. Nevertheless, you probably won't have to mess with your car's setup if you're playing on rookie or veteran levels. Qualifying for a race is uninteresting and too easy on either setting. It's possible to drive through the grass or even scrape the walls and yet still grab the pole. Obviously, the first position is desirable to any driver, but starting first often feels like you're racing the track alone because you rarely ever see any other cars. In fact, the hardest part of winning a race may be staying awake for the remaining laps after you've taken the lead.
Fortunately, if competition is lacking on the rookie and veteran settings, you can step it up another notch to legend difficulty. This makes qualifying and finishing first much more challenging and rewarding. If you start the race toward the back, it may take you 50 laps just to get up front. You can also turn damage and collisions off as well as set the flag rules to full to further increase the difficulty. Computer-controlled drivers aren't noticeably more aggressive on this setting, but they are much faster and more precise when making turns. You may have to work a bit to find the settings that fit for you, but NASCAR 09 provides a level of competition for all users
There are five different camera options when driving. The in-car perspective delivers the most exciting driving experience; every turn seems to be magnified and demands your utmost attention. NASCAR 09 offers two different driving styles in the game to go along with the different viewing options: normal and pro. Normal is the easier of the two styles in that it lets you be a little less precise when taking turns. Conversely, the pro driving style requires a more experienced driver with steadier hands to be successful. To master the driving controls, it certainly takes some precision behind the wheel at first. The slightest wrong move and you'll slam into the wall if you're not quick enough to correct. Despite the sensitivity of the controls, they're accurate. When racing at almost 200mph, the stakes are high and your every turn must be precise, and the controls reflect this. However, it's really not that difficult to remain on the road and become the pack leader once you've adjusted to the game. Overall, the computer AI is definitely not as aggressive this time around. Drivers will still attempt to fight for position, but it's nothing like the road rage exhibited in the past.
NASCAR 09's graphics are adequate but the crashes could use some work. The problem is that you rarely get huge collisions that result in cars flipping end over end. Most crashes result in one driver bumping another and spinning out of control until the yellow flag comes out. It's more realistic that huge crashes don't happen that often, but it would no doubt add to the excitement of the game. The graphics aren't stellar, but they still look pretty good considering the number of cars onscreen at any given time. All of the tracks are the same from a year ago and look nice, but it's difficult to notice any major graphical flaws when you're consistently driving more than 170 mph.
Online play was difficult last year, and it hasn't gotten much better this season. EA has changed the number of allowed drivers in each race from 11 to 14. The change to 14 is nice, but that just means that there are now three more drivers who can bring out the yellow flag by being reckless. Fortunately, users can turn off yellow flags and collisions when racing in both ranked and unranked matches. Keep in mind that you may have to wait a while for a race to start, though. Sometimes the process of getting a race started will actually take longer than the race itself. However, once you actually do get online, you may find that there are some advantages. For starters, when the yellow flags aren't coming out, there's a lot more action during the race because so many drivers are fighting for position. Furthermore, the lag doesn't seem to be a problem, despite so many drivers playing at once. NASCAR 09's online play also includes the ability to share paint schemes with other users. This cool and unique feature is another attempt to pull the NASCAR community a little bit closer together. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game played the same both online and offline.
The sounds within NASCAR 09 are a great complement to the game. The noise from all the crowds and the engines sounds lifelike throughout the game. Additionally, the spotter does a solid job of helping you navigate through the field by consistently letting you know if there's an opposing driver running down low or up high. The music on the soundtrack has a nice mix of hard-rock tunes featuring such bands as POD and AFI to help set the mood on race day.
The bottom line is that NASCAR 09 is a good racer but doesn't provide the same level of excitement as the real thing. Regardless, it's at least a small improvement over last year's game in nearly every way. If you're willing to spend the time adjusting some of the settings, you'll find NASCAR 09 to be a fun and challenging game.
