Dante's Inferno

This week we are going to hell, and not in a handbasket. Dante's Inferno takes us to hell and back.  Will hell be fun?  Will we be able to do our literature report on the Divine Comedy? Well let's see.

Dante's Inferno is rated M for Mature, and for this game I can not stress that enough.  This game pushes the mature factor in depicting hell.

Story 

Dante's Inferno is loosely based on the first part of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. In the original version the poet Dante is in a dark wood chased by beasts and he is unable to find the right path.  He finds the poet Virgil who helps him find his way, but the journey goes straight through the nine levels of hell.

This version is a bit different.  In this one Dante is a knight from the Third Crusade, during which he faces and kills Death (that's how he gets the scythe).  Weary from the war he returns home to find his father, Alighiero, and fiance, Beatrice, both killed.  While morning over Beatrice's body her soul appears to Dante, only to be taken by Lucifer.  This starts the quest for Dante to save Beatrice from hell.  Along the way we learn as Dante passes through sections the sins he committed that have brought about this situation.  You will also meet the ghost of Virgil, he will describe each level during your journey.

Controls

Well lets get the bad part out of the way.  Controls for the most part are ok, but there are problems.  Not only is Dante going into hell, but the player is going into gaming hell.  Part of the problem is they went with a fixed camera, which understandably was done to help tell the story.  Problem is it tends to ruin game play.  I don't know how many times I died making blind jumps, bad angle jumps, or misjudged distance jumps, but it was a lot.  Then there is enemies that are off screen, which wouldn't be bad if it was just them.  When you're knee deep in a bunch of them on the other hand, well they can be down right deadly.

Not helping matters is the fact that the right thumbstick normally used for camera controls is now the "evade" stick.  Now once you get used to the fact it's for evading it's fine.  You move quickly in the direction you tilt the stick.  The problem is getting used to it.  I jumped to my death quite often trying to "spin the camera" so I can get a look at my surroundings.

Another problem with the controls is animation lag.  You fire off a combo to beat on the enemy in front of you, which is great, until he decides to move.  You then try to start a new move to counter what he's doing.  Not always gonna happen.  Some times it works, sometimes you're stuck watching Dante finish off his combo as a nasty demon moves round to the side to turn his face into goo.

The last problem is the controls sometimes don't realize you are doing something different.  For example in one instance I'm climbing a crumbling tower.  At one point I have to jump from one tower to another.  First time worked fine.  A little further up though I have to jump back.  I make the jump, but now I want to continue climbing up, problem is the game seems to not realize I have the thumbstick pointed up.  I'm moving side to side but not up and the tower falls taking me with it.  The second try it seemed to figure everything out this time, but then again I paused after every jump, letting the thumbstick center itself before moving on.

Controls were not fun.

Gameplay

Dante's Inferno is a third person beat 'em up.  If you've played God of War, then you'll be right at home here.  Beat up bad guys, quick time event, rinse, repeat.  While that might sound a bit repetitive, and really it is, it's not completely boring.  They have a decent amount of bad guys, each with a different style of fighting them.  The problem is after a while they don't really offer any new bad guys, just more of them.  Wave after wave, just when you think you finished them, more pop up.  The quick time event, if you aren't expecting them they will throw you off.  Thankfully in most cases the ones while fighting a bad guy don't always kill you. 

As you journey through hell take the time to see the sights.  There are condemned souls to absolve or punish, depending on how you want to level up Dante.  If you decide to punish it's quick and brutal.  You get a set amount of souls and Unholy points.  If you decide to absolve them you get a set amount of Holy points and it opens a mini-game where you "absolve each sin."  With each successful sin absolved giving you bonus souls.  The souls are used to buy various upgrades to Dante's combat repertoire.  The Holy and Unholy skill trees have different abilities that can be unlock with X amount of souls that you get not only from condemned souls but from defeating bad guys, various pools, and occasionally from destroying parts of hell itself.

There are also relics to be found (some are Holy or Unholy), 30 pieces of silver, and 3 Beatrice stones for her cross that you carry and use for absolving.  Find all three stones and you can bypass the mini-game, but you don't get any bonus souls either.

One curious thing about level layout was the Malebolge.  Each Bolgia was a challenge level.  It just seemed an odd placement to group together challenge levels all on one circle of hell.  You'd think they would have laid it out with each circle of hell having it's own challenge level tailored to it's theme.

Graphics and Sound

Visually the game is a treat.  Each level is tailored to it's theme.  Lust has various....um....personal body parts subtlety used in it's construction.......OK some aren't so subtle.  My inner 13 year old did sound off at a couple points.  Not to mention the bad...girls of this level.  Gluttony used a lot of guts and mouths for it's layout.  The final boss was big fat thing with mouths.  Greed used a lot of gold.

Sound was very good.  The music never overpowered, and just right.  The most present sound was the constant suffering for the damned.  Mostly is was screaming and wailing, but if you stopped and listened you could hear people talking.  Sometimes the talking was more noticeable, and sometime kind of humorous.  For example while climbing down a wall of souls I suddenly heard, "Ow, you clawed out my eye, why, why?"

The voice acting was very good too.  I wonder if they were going for a certain style.  While Dante, Beatrice, Virgil especially, and others spoke almost prose-like, Lucifer spoke in a very modern style.  I kind of liked it, giving Lucifer an interesting character.  Almost smart-alecky in some parts.

Overall

I think this game could use a sub-title, Dante's Inferno: Cheap Death Hell.  I lost track of the number of times I died from cheap deaths.  The game went from fun to frustrating quickly.  I like that EA took a huge chance, basing a game on a poem written over 700 years ago.  Controls and cheap deaths aside I see a good story that's been well acted and placed in some great set pieces, but then it all falls apart when a jump gets misjudged multiple times.  And having the game tell me I could set the difficulty lower after I've died dozens of times in the same spot, while a nice reminder, it does not do my ego any good.

Some things they can fix with an update if the choose to, such as the various control lags.  Other things like the camera, the player is going to have to get used to.  That was a creative choice that they made.  I personally don't like it, as it hinders game play and exploration.  Which is something this game tries to encourage with it's hidden relics, condemned souls, pieces of silver, etc.  Thing is after blind jumps, areas that you think you can get to, but finding invisible walls, and just plain not being able to look around, fixed camera becomes a deterrent to exploration.

I think the only reason I finished it was I got so far into it I was like, well I've come this far, might as well see it through to the end. 

Considering the amount of money EA put behind the promoting of this game (Super Bowl commercial time is not cheap) I was really looking forward to a great game.  Sadly the bad out weighs the good.  Dante's Inferno gets a 3 out of 5 from me.  I say rent it first.  If you get into it, then by all means go buy it. 

Dante's Inferno is rated M for Mature for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content.

BioShock 2

This week we go back to the underwater "paradise," Rapture in BioShock 2, the sequel to the critically acclaimed BioShock.  Does it do the original justice? Are they just milking the franchise? How does a Big Daddy got to the bathroom? Let's find out.

BioShock 2 is rated M for Mature, it's not for the kids.

Story

Set eight years after the events in the original BioShock, Rapture is a very different place.  You are Delta, one of the first Big Daddies, charged with the protection of a Little Sister as she gathers ADAM.  Ten years prior Sophia Lamb, the woman now in charge of Rapture, made you kill yourself because her daughter was the Little Sister that was paired with you.

Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum has revived you to help her.  On the surface she had heard reports of little girls being kidnapped off the coast.  Tenenbaum, the woman who created the process of turning little girls into Little Sisters, came back to Rapture knowing someone there was doing it and using her process to create new Little Sisters.  Something she hoped would never happen.  Upon your revival she tells you that your paired Little Sister, Eleanor is still alive and that you need to not only rescue her, but that if you don't get to Eleanor a fail-safe designed to keep Big Daddies from wandering away from their Little Sisters will kill you.  She also wants you to rescue the other Little Sisters.

Sophia Lamb has other plans for her daughter and would rather see you dead, permanently.   Unlike Andrew Ryan, who believed in the power of the individual in the first game, she has organized much of the population of Rapture into a cult like collective she refers to as The Family.  It up to you to save Eleanor, the other Little Sisters.  Along the way you find out what happened to Rapture and the bigger plans Lamb has that go beyond the city's walls.

Along with the main single player story, there is sort of a prequel story for the multiplayer portion of the game.  It is set just prior to events of the original BioShock, with the multiplayer battles being played as sort of the internal war that brought Rapture down in the first game.

Controls

2K Smartly didn't mes with the controls to much.  They did change the "inject EVE" and "use First Aid" from the X and B buttons to the D-pad.  This reflects the new ability to use plasmids and weapons at the same time.  It was quick to get used to and the game will remind you what button to press when you get low on health, EVE, or ammo.  Otherwise they fairly the same as before and work well for a FPS game.

Gameplay

The gameplay is pretty much the same as the first.  As noted above you can now use plasmids (various powers) and weapons together.  Additionally as a Big Daddy you now have access to their weapons, the drill and rivet gun.  Other new weapons are introduced also, a .50 machine gun, a spear gun, and a hacking tool launcher.  The first two are pretty much reworked versions of the machine gun and crossbow from the first. 
The hacking tool launcher is new and allows you to hack machines from a distance.  This is a welcome change from trying to find a way to get as close as possible to the machine to hack it. 

Semi-surprising is how not so tough a Big Daddy is, at least you in particular.  Granted it is a game balance, but you seem to die a lot easier than the Big Daddies in both BioShock games.  Good thing the VitaChambers still work and bring you back to life.

The moral question of what to do with Little Sisters is also back. In this one though they ad a little twist, since you don't have the one you are paired with you temporarily "adopt" Little Sisters from other Big Daddies.  The trick is you have to defeat them first.  After defeating a Big Daddy you have the choice of adopting or harvesting the Little Sister.  If you adopt her then she will ride on your back as she guides you to bodies to harvest ADAM from, which she then gives to you.  Once found, you have to protector from the Splicers, the people of Rapture that are addicted to ADAM.  Not an easy task at all.  Once she has harvested ADAM from two bodies you can then take her to a vent where you will be give the choice of saving her or harvesting her.  If you save her she will give a certain amount of ADAM and possibly later other plasmid powers.  If you harvest her either earlier or after gathering ADAM, she will give you more ADAM than if you save her, but there will be no chance of plasmid power ups later.  Depending on how you deal with the Little Sisters will determine the final ending of the game.  There is six possible endings, two each for good, neutral, and evil.

Either way once you have dealt with all the Little Sisters on a level you will have to deal with a Big Sister.  Like you they are armored, have weapons, and can use plasmids.  Unlike you however, then are very quick, agile, can jump higher, and climb walls.  Defeating a Big Sister a lot harder than another Big Daddy or a group of Slicers.  Thankfully they give you a little warning via her scream. 

Why the big deal over ADAM?  ADAM allows you to buy plasmids and gene tonics from Gatherer Garden machines.  Plasmids being more powerful than weapons in most cases and gene tonics are helper powers that do things like give you more healing from a first aid pack or make the needle on the hacking mini-game move slower and many more benefits.

Graphics and Sound

Graphics are pretty much on par with the original.Very clean and very well done.  There is a lot more water effects in this game to reflect the deterioration of Rapture and some part of the game have you outside the city in the ocean itself.  Sound is excellent.  The voice work is great and the soundtrack is great at setting the mood for environment.  Early on the combination of lighting, music, and story really gave you the a scary creep factor.  Something that after a while will drop a bit but when they need to amp it back up it's all used effectively.

Overall

Originally BioShock was supposed to be a one-off game, no sequel was planned.  When it became a huge hit 2K decided to make one.  Thankfully they also decided to keep the quality up too instead of just doing a quickie cash-in.  The game is excellent, giving frights, making you think about moral choices and being downright fun.  They kept what was good about the first and improved on then gameplay.  The game really does make you think a bit, moral choices aside. Instead of Andrew Ryan's freedom of the individual and disdain for the oppression of government and religion (which they touch on in one level), they focus on collectivism.  Sophia Lamb's outlook is the opposite in that she believes in working together for good of the group or "family." 

And the feel of the game.  Certain parts had me feeling goosebumps, cold chills, they created some very good atmosphere, along with some fast action.  There were also a few "gotcha" moments too when what you think is just a dead body would suddenly jump up and attack.  

Again 2K put together a very good game that stands up well with it's predecessor.  A well written story, good voice acting, and great gameplay, I'm loving it.  I give it a 5 out of 5.

How does a Big Daddy go to the bathroom?  I still don't know, but some of the toilets in the game you can flush.  :D

BioShock 2 is rated M for Mature for Blood, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language.  Available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.

Mass Effect 2

This week we're stepping back aboard the Normandy with Commander Sheppard in Mass Effect 2.  This game has a lot to live up to considering how epic the first was.  Is BioWare up to the task or do they just phone it in? 

Quick note for complete honesty.  Mass Effect 2 is a huge game as in there are a lot of things to do.  The way I play my games is to get as much out of them as I can.  With my weekly deadline I have not finished the game, but have played through a good chunk of it to get a good feel for it.

Also I played Sheppard as a man and as such will be referring to him as a man.  You can play Sheppard as a female if you wish.

Lastly Mass Effect is a Mature title, not for the kids.

Story

OK I'm going to reveal a spoiler right off the bat, but then again most of you out there know it already.

Commander Sheppard dies, within the first 10 minutes of the game no less.

The story starts out shortly after the events of the first Mass Effect.  Sheppard and his team are searching for any remaining Geth when they are attacked buy an unknown entity.  The Normandy takes heavy damage and the crew has to abandon ship.  Most everyone gets to the escape pods, except Joker.  He is trying to fly the ship still believing he can "hold it together."  Sheppard goes in to rescue him.  As he gets Joker into a escape pod a blast from the attacker knocks Sheppard away from the escape pod as the door closes.

As the last of the Normandy breaks apart, Sheppard floats away in space.  Debris slices through his suit and he dies in the vacuum of space.

Cerberus, an extremist pro-human organization, retrieves Sheppard's body and two years later manage to bring him back to life.  The only problem is as he regains consciousness the space station he's on is under attack, by it's own mechs.  With the aid of Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor they manage to get to a shuttle and fly to Cerberus headquarters where Sheppard meets the Illusive Man, who is in charge of Cerberus.  He fills Sheppard in on why they brought him back to life. 

A mysterious insect-like race called Collectors are attacking and abducting human colonies.  Because they leave behind no evidence the Council have not been involved and that is why Cerberus is.  The Illusive man wants Sheppard to assemble a team and take out the Collector threat.

That is all I will tell, I don't want to ruin any more of the story or surprises.

Controls

If you played the first Mass Effect they you will know the controls already.  For the most part they are the same and work well.  Nothing I noticed was different and were pretty easy to pick back up.

Gameplay

Mass Effect 2 is very much the same as Mass Effect.  An action orientated, third-person, RPG.  You'll be having shoot-outs with bad guys, searching areas for "treasure" and other items, taking missions, going on adventures, and leveling up your characters.  Here is where BioWare really dug in.  The pretty much took everything that everyone didn't like out and streamlined the game.  Like the hacking mini-game system.  Gone is the is the "don't blink or you loose" "Simon-like" game in is two different matching mini-games.  One has you matching pairs of diodes on a circuit boards, the other looking of matching codes.  Both have time limits and both still present a challenge, but are a bit easier than  the first.

Another thing that was streamlined was health and healing.  In the first you were having to find and use medi-gel to heal yourself and your teammates.  Now they have a system where once you are out of combat (like behind cover) you heal on your own.  You still have to find medi-gel, but now it's revive your teammates if they die.

The Mako vehicle was removed from the game thankfully.  It was a bit of a pain in the butt to drive around as it really didn't handle well.  

An interesting touch to reward people that buy the game brand new instead of used or renting is the "Cerberus Network."  Via a one-time use code included with the game, players will be connected to the "Cerberus Network" through which EA and BioWare can provide DLC.  At launch they already have provided various items of free DLC, such as a set of Cerberus armor and rifle, the crash site of the Normandy for players to explore and a recruitable character, a mercenary named Zaeed Massani.  People that buy the game used or rent it will have to pay 1200 MSPoints ($15) to to get the "Cerberus Network."

They also have the game read your save game file from the first Mass Effect.  If you completed the first you will get various in game bonuses, such as 150,000 credits and you start at level 5 instead of level 1.  You also get the choice of keeping your appearance from the first game or not.  Players that have not played the first game will get enough backstory to understand whats going on.

I'm very pleased with what they have done.  It almost seems like there is more action too.

Graphics and Sound

Graphicly it is as good, if not better than the first.  For example, in the first game they had 20 animations for Sheppard getting behind cover, in this one they have over 200.  Too bad they didn't work on his dance moves, he still is a terrible dancer.

To give the game a more cinematic quality the static camera during conversations moves around getting different shots.

Sound-wise the music is great and helps clue the player in on what's happening.  It's so good that they have even released the score on CD.

The voice talent is also top notch, bringing in 90 voice actors.  Some big name actors took part too.  Michael Dorn, Carrie-Anne Moss, Yvonne Strahovski, Tricia Helfer, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Adam Baldwin and Martin Sheen.  Sheen voices the Illusive Man and I think they modeled the character a bit on him.

Overall

Mass Effect 2 is a huge game.  I love that BioWare listened to the reviews and the fans of the first game.  Taking out the junk that didn't work well and improving everything else.  It shows how much they care about their games and fans.  After how good Mass Effect 1 was they could have easily just phoned it in on 2.  Especially since they were also developing Dragon Age: Origins at roughly the same time.  Neither game suffered, both are quality.  For me Mass Effect was a great game to explore in and Mass Effect 2 continues that.  Tons of planets to explore.  Lots of freedom on how you want to play the game.  You can play it as a good person or a bad person (called Paragon and Renegade respectively in the game) and various conversation options will open up to you as a result, making the game kind of unique to each person playing it.   

The great news is that BioWare has a good amount of downloadable content planned for further adventuring.  So it may be a long time before anyone is really "done" with the game.

I can't wait to get back in it, and will find it hard to put down to work on the next game to review.

I give Mass Effect 2 a 5 out of 5 right now and reserve the right to change my score if somehow the game sucks by the end......but I kind of doubt that happening, this is BioWare we are talking about here.

Mass Effect is rated M for Mature by the ESRB for Blood, Drug Reference, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence

PixelJunk Shooter

This week we take a look at the Playstation 3 exclusive PixelJunk Shooter. Q-Games has had a magic touch so far with their PixelJunk series by taking old school game concepts, bringing them into the HD era and making hits out of them. Does PixelJunk Shooter continue this magic?

Story

The story is in the far future your ship comes to a planet to check on the settlers there only to find an SOS.  So you take one of your fighter ships down to find out what's happening and rescue the miners.

Along the way you find hidden scientists that help fill you in on what happened on the planet.

Controls

The controls are very simple.  One button to shoot, one for the grappling hook, one thumbstick for movement, and one thumbstick for aiming.  That's it.  As simple as they are they work perfectly.

Gameplay

The basics are you have to rescue the miners and scientists and fight off various enemy's.  In addition to that you have to manipulate the environment also to get at some of the miners and pick them up with the grappling hook.  It could be as simple as shooting through a wall or as complex as making lava drop onto an ice barrier to melt it out of the way.

This is where PixelJunk shooter shines.  Q-Games used real world physics for the water, lava, and a magnetic liquid.  So it all moves like it should.  Miners trapped in a rock cave under a lava pool?  Find a water source and turn all the lava into shoot-able rock.  The game blends Defender, puzzle games and a touch of exploration (each stage has hidden gems and a scientist) all together into a wonderful little game. The game has fifteen stages divided up between three episodes, each episode ending with a boss encounter.  A score and completion time is kept for each stage, so you can compare yours to your friends and try to one-up them.

In addition to the lasers you shoot, certain areas had special "suits" you could put on your ship that would alter the main weapon to shoot water or lava, depending on the suit.  Later level in addition to having the "hot and cold" theme also have a magnetic liquid that you can manipulate.  It's almost like a game and science experiment at the same time.

The game also has two player multiplayer, so you can team up with a friend and save the miners together.

Graphics and Sound

The art style is simple, clean and hand drawn style.  It looks great in HD, no pixelation at all.  It's very cool and funky.  And speaking of funky the soundtrack is well done too.  Done by the group High Frequency Bandwidth, it is a very atmospheric electronica and fits well.  The kind of soundtrack that complements with what's visually going on.  I'd hope find it on CD somewhere.

Overall

This game was a lot of fun.  I think the most fun was playing around with the elements in the game.  Dropping water over lava that didn't need it or letting an area fill with flammable gas and then shooting lava into it.  Seeing if there were different ways of getting though certain levels.  The game has an old school charm but very cool new ideas mixed in.  I had a lot of fun and I couldn't find any fault with it so it gets a 5 out of 5.  As a bonus, when you unlock certain trophies in the game you also unlock pieces of the miners space suit for your Sony Home avatar.  Once you unlock them in the game, then go to the PixelJunk space in Home and they appear in your inventory.  It's available now on the Playstation Network.

PixelJunk Shooter is rated E10+ for Everyone 10 or older  for Lyrics and Mild Fantasy Violence