Read Our Minds

Borderlands

Having just recently gotten back into the console gaming scene, I thought it best to complement my XBox360 with a subscription to Gamefly, a netflix-like service that allows users to rent one game out at a time, and swap it at any time.  My first selection to take out was the recently released Borderlands, a decision I would not regret. 

The game's setting is one in which Mad Max would be fairly comfortable.  You are on the planet Pandora, a barren rocky world where the bandits run thick and the law runs thin.  Much in the style of Final Fantasy, or  any number of other Japanese role-playing games, right off the bat you are forced to choose your character's class- a role which determines your special abilities, strengths and weaknesses.  For instance, the Siren class can disappear from view, and quickly gain ground and surprise an enemy, where the Soldier class can drop a defensive turret, healing allies and cutting down enemies with a hail of gunfire.  But, in place of swords and shields, your character has access to guns.  Big guns.  Lots of guns.  Any kind of gun you can think of.

One of Borderlands biggest strengths is the sheer number of different guns you can wield.  You can carry  rocket launchers, shotguns, revolvers, combat rifles, each with different clip sizes, rates of fire and bullet damages and types.  Much like elemental spells in your typical Dungeons and Dragons fare, each gun can carry an element type as well.  You can wield a shotgun that adds corrosive damage to each shell, or a sniper rifle with shock damage.  No two guns are exactly the same in a playthrough of the game.

The best way to advance your character in Borderlands is through missions.  You can follow instructions left on Bounty Boards throughout Pandora to gain money and experience, retreive the head of a particularly vile bandit lord from a local gun shop ower, or find small robots who offer backpack upgrades in exchange for help.  Borderlands boasts tough enemies as well: wild skags, the ever-present psychos, bandits and midget shotgunners and big bosses who are all eager to make your life short and miserable.  As your character completes missions and levels up, you can purchase more class-specific abilities, wield more weapons and ultimately make life for the common man on Pandora a little bit easier.  The overarching objective of the game is to seek out the mysterious Vault, following clues left behind in the barren wasteland.

Borderlands can be played cooperatively, up to four players splitscreen on one XBox, or four players cooperatively online.  My one main gripe with the game is that it currently offers no functionality for splitscreen players to go online; so my roommate and I are unable to play with our friend in Texas all at the same time.  Minor gripes, however, for what is overall a fun, engaging and content-rich game.

-- Reviewed by Dan McDonnell

Fight Night Wins Decision Over Punch Out!! in Video Game Rumble

Gamers were treated to two highly entertaining boxing games this summer. Electronic Arts’ Fight Night returns to the ring after three years, and Nintendo’s Punch Out!! is duking it out for the first time in 15 years.

While these are both games of pugilism, each has a totally unique offering for gamers, and are both great games in their own right.

Punch Out!! is more of a puzzle-solving game than a true sports simulation. As boxer Little Mac, you have to figure out the sequence of punches thrown by your opponent to determine when to duck, dodge or return your own punches in order to become victorious.
 
Returning are all of your old favorites – Bald Bull, Mr. Sandman, Glass Joe, etc., and then there’s the addition of Disco Kid. I like bringing in a new boxer, but Nintendo could have done better than adding this annoying dweeb.

Also new to this version, Little Mac has to beat the whole group of 13 boxers again to retain his title – harkening back to the original Punch Out!! arcade game. Each opponent picks up new skills since the last time Mac defeated them, making it a much harder challenge.

There is also a new training round where you fight a holographic image of your opponent, so that you can train against them and lose without it hurting your overall record. It’s the wimp’s way out, but who cares? You save your record.

Anyone who played the original Punch Out!!, Super Punch Out!! or the two arcade games will love the new nuances this version brings to the table, and I highly recommend it.

Pugilist fans looking for a real simulation should check out Fight Night Round 4 by Electronic Arts.

EA has brought in a number of real boxers, including Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Morrison (for reasons I can’t fathom), and, for the first time in a boxing simulation, Mike Tyson.

Each boxer looks almost identical to their real-life counterpart, and they each fight with the unique styles for which they are known. Muhammad Ali, with his long reach, is more effective fighting from the outside, while Tyson, with his bobbing and weaving and inhuman-like powerful jabs, is much better fighting in close quarters.

Using and fighting against these boxers is highly enjoyable, but what I feel is the real draw of the game is the “Create a Boxer” function. Players can create a boxer after their own likeness, with the ability to download a photo of themselves.

What is more, players can also download boxers that other players have created through a new community download section. So, if you want to, you can go head-to-head as Rocky against Ivan Drago, Apollo Creed, or Clubber Lane. You can also download some real-life classic boxers that EA didn’t include – like Max Baer, James Braddock, John L. Sullivan, Jack Dempsey et al. And, if you don’t like the young George Foreman provided in the game, you can download the 47-year-old heavyweight champ version that some amateur game designer created, which looks better than the young Foreman.
In the game’s Legacy mode, you take your newly created boxer through a career, starting at age 19. He has to go through 50 fights to finish his career, with the hopes of making the hall of fame. You get to set up the fighters he competes against – that includes any created boxers you made or downloaded – which makes it an even more enjoyable game.

Putting Fight Night head-to-head with Punch Out!! is hard – they are both enjoyable – it just matters what you are looking for in a game. If you want a true simulation, it’s definitely Fight Night, but if you just want to jump in the ring and enjoy some quick bouts, Punch Out!! is the way to go.

Overall, though, I have to give the nod to Fight Night. The online community, realism, and uniqueness of each bout gives it higher replay value.

--Reviewed by Dan Green

Mega Man 9, Wii's Virtual Console and New Retro Gaming

 In stark contrast to the graphics-intensive Playstation 3 and the online-multiplayer focused XBox 360, the Nintendo Wii has occupied somewhat of an odd position in the gaming scene.  At first, it seemed like Nintendo was going for simply a wide-audience appeal rather than focusing on its core gamers.  It's great and all that Wii Fit, Wii Sports and other family friendly games have gotten people of all age groups swinging wiimotes in rhythm, but every time I see a news story about Alzheimer's patients enjoying Wii bowling, a small part of my inner-gamer dies.  Somewhat recently Nintendo has recognized its neglect of brand evangelists- people like me who grew up living and breathing Nintendo - and thrown them a bone, in the form of Virtual Console and WiiWare.

Many older games that would be otherwise unavailable outside of eBay or garage sales are now sold in the Virtual Console on the Wii Shop Channel.  Not only are they capitalizing on older titles that would otherwise not be earning them any scratch, but they are creating the possibility of re-booting old, neglected franchises.  Maybe the numerous cash dollars spent will get Nintendo to finally realize that fans want(and would pay for!) a TRUE sequel to Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars.  Or a remake of Super Mario Bros. 3- with tougher level design, achievement features and an online competition mode.  Or an official translation of the Japanese-only title, Mother 3- whose English predecessor Earthbound initially sold poorly due to shoddy marketing and would almost certainly garner huge sales numbers at minimal cost.  But, I digress.

The first title I picked up on my Wii was Mega Man 9.  Sold in the Wii Ware section of Wii Shop, Mega Man 9 is a new title in a very old series, which dates back to the genesis of the NES.  MM9 is most certainly a shout-out to the core gamers of which I spoke.  After years of updating the Megaman franchises with spiffier graphics, unnecessary storyline and tottering dangerously close to anime-icizing the Blue Bomber, publisher Capcom(who is also famous for the Resident Evil franchise) returned to its pure, 8-bit roots to great effect. 

With most of the unnecessary trimmings stripped away, Mega Man 9 plays exactly like its predecessors (a few of which are available on the Virtual Console- Mega Man 2 and 3).  MM's objective is the same, defeat 8 Robot Masters using their weapons against one another, then confront longtime nemesis Dr. Wily. The biggest change in this entry in the series is the ramping up of the difficulty.  Capcom developers seem unbelievably cruel at parts in this game, and many jumps and bosses are extremely unforgiving.  The crippling difficulty, believe it or not, is what makes it fun- challenges are to be had in each level, and this game is not an easy, beat-in-one-sitting kind of game.  I have yet to finish the game myself. 

Another beauty of this title is the addition of the achievements system, a common trend in modern gaming.  Once the game is beaten, you have the ability to go back and complete certain extra challenges (defeat x level in under 3 minutes, beat y boss without being hit, etc.).  Speed runs are encouraged, as best times worldwide for completing certain levels are ranked on an online leaderboard, greatly increasing replayability.

One of the minor aspects of the game I was most impressed with was the handling of the sound and music.  Almost all of the sound effects were exactly the same as in the original games.    The music throughout the game is equally excellent.  As a fan of video game music (and its modern incarnations  chiptunes, bitpop and the like,) I much enjoy Concrete Man's level music- an interesting mix of funk and jungle beat, almost remniscient of Drums and Bass artist Pendulum, though perhaps a bit of a stretch.  

Nintendo truly has a goldmine on their hands.  Rather than having to focus on developing original, technology/graphics intensive "cutting-edge" games, they ought revive old franchises of games.  Adding new features, creating remakes or a small bit of level-editing to classics cannot be nearly as expensive as creating entirely new franchises, and the channel through which they are selling makes it incredibly easy for both the distributer and the end-user.  Just like Hollywood churns out sequels and remakes like clockwork, so should Nintendo.  Nostalgia is a powerful thing.

--Reviewed by Dan McDonnell

 

MLB 09: The Show, Another Homerun for Sony

I picked up MLB 09: The Show the day it was released and have spent my time playing in the regular exhibition mode and the career mode, called Road to The Show (RTTS).

The exhibition and regular game play modes are flawless, providing the most realistic representation of the national pastime that has ever donned a video game console, while renderings of all Major League stadiums are pristine.

 

In the regular modes, controls are responsive, fielding is flawless, and in my opinion the use of buttons for swinging rather than the analog sticks used in 2K’s series actually makes the game better.

The only problem there is with this game is in the RTTS game play – specifically with running and fielding.

In RTTS, you create your own player and try to have a career that leads him to entry in the Hall of Fame. You start out in Spring Training trying to make the Majors, and if you aren’t seasoned enough, you’re sent to the minors to gain the skills you need to make The Show.  It makes the game really interesting and addictive.

Rather than playing every player on the team, you only control your created player during plays that he’s involved with during the game – so if you are a left fielder you can bat four times during the game and make three plays in the outfield, and you’re done.

Initially, I was controlling my player on the base paths after getting on base. To advance to the next base you have to press the analog button forward to move ahead. Simple enough, except that if the ball is hit by you, you have to move the analog stick to the left in order to advance because the camera’s perspective is now behind you and can’t read the movement correctly. This leads to a lot of putouts at second base on what should be base hits.  The controls in this mode are very unresponsive, so if you push right first instead of moving left, you’re out by a mile.

Then, when you play in the outfield your perspective is viewing the infield, and you can’t look up to see the ball in flight. A locator helps you find the ball if it’s in the field of play, but if you have a play at the wall, there’s no way to time your catch, so you jump and five seconds later the ball falls right next to you.  It’s very frustrating.

This game would be a 10, if not for those two flaws, so it drops it down to a 9.0 for me.  For other perspectives on this game, visit GameSpot.com (http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/sports/mlb09theshow/hints.html?tag=tabs;cheats). And, for fun, check out the great commercial for this game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5b9YdMbG1I

--Reviewed by Dan Green