A Second Look @ OutRun 2

(Images used from MobyGames, Gamespot, and IGN)

(It does say OutRun 2006, but the same songs are in both games)

The only experience I ever had with the original OutRun game was on my copy of OutRun 2. I shouldn't have to say that the great arcade classic had gone unnoticed by me for years. But my first experience with OutRun 2 was in a bowling alley arcade years ago and after just one minute in the driver's seat I surprisingly found myself loving the force feedback of the steering wheel, the bright colors that blurred by, and the freedom of the old arcade racing days. When I found out that OutRun 2 was also released on consoles I knew I had to track down my own copy of the game.

In the gaming industry "porting a game over to consoles" is a dangerous thing to do. Its either a carbon copy or a rough approximation of the previous version. OutRun 2 fits into the former and was perfectly ported over to the Xbox with added extras. It has the same feel of the arcade game and has lost none of its luster or speed. This is an arcade port done right. Perfectly, I dare say. 

OutRun 2 features three different game modes: OutRun Arcade, which is the original no-frills Arcade game; OutRun Challenge, which gives you several specific goals to achieve along each route; and OutRun Xbox Live which is currently unavailable due to the original XBL being offline. Arcade mode features the classic point-to-point race as well as the new Heart Attack mode, where you earn hearts and points for completing requests from your female passenger such as drifting through an entire zone, passing cars, or staying within a certain lane. It offers quite a challenge for both beginner and experienced players. The final mode is Time Attack, which is self-explanatory.

OutRun Challenge Mode is for those who want a little more out of their time with the game. There are 101 different missions to complete with several objectives that you take on one-by-one along each route, be it knocking over cones, staying in a lane, or racing against a single rival. Challenge Mode justifies why the arcade game was ported over and you'll find the bulk of the enjoyment here.

There is a party mode for couch co-op where you and three friends can race to outperform one another through the same series of trials found in Challenge Mode. If you have a steering wheel controller for either your original Xbox or Xbox 360 (it is backwards compatible), then that may be the best way to play it if you want that true arcade feeling.

The usual host of Ferrari pedigrees are present including the 360 Spyder, Enzo, Testarossa and 250 GTO. The best and most famous machines are here each with different stats that don't really seem to matter in the grand scheme of things. Although the cars are classified by Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert level, they're all accessible and are easy to drive. The faster cars are reserved for the more advanced players but they're also more unruly in their drift traction and handling. Regardless of that, the slower cars and easier routes may still provide a little bit of a challenge for those who are new to the concept. Traffic changes each time you play and where other cars may be present on a tight turn, they might not be there the next playthrough, giving the replayability factor a little bump. While drifting may be the big show in this game, it feels as though its pretty much the only way to get around any turn regardless of the degree of difficulty. The original OutRun was simply about avoiding traffic and not crashing into objects on the side of the road while here it could be argued for the sake of evolving the franchise that the drifting was added in and given so much attention.

There's a ton of content to unlock and play so if you're not feeling like waiting to beat each of the Challenge Mode missions there are cheats that can unlock the original unaltered Out Run arcade game and music set as well as Eurodance remixes. You pretty much have three entire games in one if you count the Xbox exclusives apart from the OutRun Arcade mode.

Graphics are crisp, clean, and bright with no frames dropped and a steady 30 fps. Even though the Xbox version is currently 10 years old, it has shown little signs of age and looks good even today. The animated menus are never bothersome to navigate and gives the entire game its own personality. Its not trying to be just another racing game, and as creator Yu Suzuki has said "it's a driving game." Understanding that brings a whole new perspective to it.

Each route you take has a different theme and you can feel immersed in this world of speed as the advertisement billboards fly by and traffic is left in your review mirror; of course you don't have enough time to stop and gaze at how each route looks but you do get the feeling that a lot of work went into the details to get them just right with no glitches and no level breaks to distract you.

Each Ferrari looks amazing with clear defining lines, shadows over the models, and an accuracy that not even Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli could achieve. However it does come across as a little lacking in the car options department: more cars could have been added to give a wider variety. The options of paint jobs on each car is a nice thought, but it doesn't give a lot to the players.

Music is plentiful and each track is worth listening to, suiting the game perfectly and giving it more of a light-hearted feeling. There might not seem like a lot of variety at first with only 9 songs to choose from but after the Eurodance remixes and original soundtracks are unlocked you have plenty of options to cruise to.

The sounds you'll hear the most are your engine's rev limits and your tires screeching along the pavement. Its never bothersome and when combined with the music it completes the game's personality. As your passenger compliments you for driving well or berates you for crashing, as you see a cityscape form over the horizon, as your engine roars at the starting line, you get the sensation that the game is alive each time you play it. Most games are weak in the sound area whereas OutRun 2 has put as much effort into sound quality as it did the graphics.

Unfortunately for me, while the arcade racing experience is thrilling, it wears on my attention span quickly. Traveling down the same road(s) in a few different cars is okay for at least 30 minutes at a time but I can't see myself putting dozens of hours into this game. You may feel the same if you're stuck playing alone, it may be better with friends though. But you can't hate this game for doing what it does. Its not a racing game, its a driving game. It set out to be its own thing and accomplished that with flying colors and most importantly it is fun even if you just want to play through Arcade Mode once. The ease of accessibility and the amount of content make this a must-own for any Xbox/360 owner. It does the OutRun name proud.

This is the definitive Ferrari racing game and is meant to be enjoyed in the same way driving a Ferrari is meant to be (minus the insane drifting, of course). Sega has done the Ferrari license justice and has re-invented a classic game, it has a lasting power for years to come and has not lost its shine throughout the years. If you don't own OutRun 2 on Xbox its never too late to find a copy since they're definitely not rare. If you prefer just a little extra than the already large amount of content here, there's always OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast on Xbox, PC, PS2, and PSP. These have more tracks, tuned graphics, and more music. If you're wondering how to improve a game that was already great to begin with, it would be with Coast 2 Coast. As the days of arcades and arcade games are slowing down, OutRun 2 is a treasure, it proves that games can still be fun.

Keep Playing

A Second Look @ Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict

I'm admittedly cheating a bit by reviewing UC2, since it features a third-person camera, but since it is part of the Unreal franchise and its billed as an FPS, it counts. Deal with it.

 

Arriving a mere months before the release of the Xbox 360 and launching exclusively for the original Xbox, Unreal Championship 2 was once cited by one of the creators as "pushing polygons like crazy." That statement is held true as UC2 is probably one of the best-looking original Xbox games you could ever find. Epic Games made the most of it and created one of the franchise' best by taking things in a different direction with the addition of a third-person camera and melee weapons. If it doesn't sound like an Unreal Tournament game that's because its not; this offering is more balanced between the single player story and the multiplayer action by using all the content within for both sides. So much has been put into Unreal Championship 2 that its a wonder why Epic Games didn't just make it an Xbox 360 launch title. Understandably it would have been a gamble going against Call of Duty 2 in the FPS category, and by then the original Xbox was already in enough homes, so possibly sticking to the first console was a wise business decision.

This time around the single player campaign features a new tournament known as Ascension Rites. Liandri Corporation has gotten it's greedy paws into a Nakhti ritual that determines who the next king or queen will be. Enter Anubis, a warrior who gave up the princely lifestyle to fight in a far-off war which earned him the disdain of his people. He returns with the belief that the Liandri Corp has tainted the Ascension Rites through televising, marketing, and adding their own combatants into the fray. As Anubis you face your ex-betrothed Selket, her minions, and others vying for the crown through thirteen battles with various modes of play. There are four training sessions at the beginning to make sure you've got the game well understood and its easy to pick up and play by the end of them. While there are only five levels of difficulty it becomes a challenge to better yourself in the harder ones. Ascension Rites is played with Anubis only and by the end of it you feel most comfortable playing as him or someone of equal strength. Throughtout the Ascension Rites, Liandri is interfering by adding their own competitors and tipping the scales against you, including bot combatants and attacks outside of the arena, although the Ascension Rites do say that anyone can enter and win.

During the Ascension Rites ladder, Tournament legend Malcolm offers you to join the famous Thunder Crash team, and once its completed the real Tournament begins. While there are only 10 tiers with varying rules to play through, each of the fourteen characters has a tournament ladder for themselves. There's a special appearance by Raiden from the Mortal Kombat series as a tie-in with being published by Midway as well as the option to use the MK announcer.
In addition to the Ascension and Tournament modes, Challenges mode makes an appearance by offering trials wherein the player goes against several opponents on a team alone or must face off against new opponents, such as Raiden who is unlocked upon completion of all the challenges. Mods, known as mutators this time, make a comeback and take part in each of the game's modes with the series staples of Instagib, LowGrav, Speed Match, and others returning. Some new and exclusive mutators like Looting, Melee Only, and Camp Fire can make things a bit more interesting. Mutators add a level of fun and challenge that, even after many hours of normal play, can change the game in new and better ways.
DeathMatch, Team DeathMatch, and Capture the Flag being the usual Unreal game modes are present, while new modes Nali Slaughter, Overdose, and Survival make an appearance. Nali Slaughter has several competitors racing to kill as many Nali as they can while also killing or avoiding each other; its mindless fun at first but does feel like a real challenge. Overdose has players attempting to take control of an energy ball and hold it as long as they can without dying while attempting to reach a goal. More points are scored the longer the player holds onto the ball by the time they reach the goal. At the maximum dosage, the player reaches a godlike status with invulnerability, speed, and other temporary boosts. Survival pits the player or players in a one-on-one deathmatch against bots or a human opponent with the winner advancing to the next round.

Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses in regards to health and agility with four points split among the two. Those who are more agile have less health and vice-versa. Some characters, such as Anubis, are balanced. Aside from character traits, unique adrenaline power-ups can turn the tide of a fight with things like Repluse, which can shrug off some damage; Heal, which will refill a portion of the player's life bar; and Nimble, which allows the player to make several mid-air jumps in a row. Everyone has a set of temporary boosts that come at the cost of adrenaline, which is refilled slowly either automatically or via level pick-ups.
A big change for the franchise comes just before going into battle, this time the player is given a choice of only two weapons to choose from. One weapon that uses explosive ammo and the other that uses energy ammo. This forces the player to think ahead in terms of play style since the maps are too small to fit so many weapons, instead they're littered with ammo pickups of each type. The usual amount of Unreal weapons has been reduced down to eight, with series staples of Flak Cannon, Ripjack, Shock Rifle, BioRifle, and Stinger making a return. Each weapon also has they're famous alt-fire attacks to make combat more interesting.

The addition of a third-person camera adds a new depth to the playing field and allows you to see more of the action as well as a better view of the melee combat. "Bringing a knife to a gunfight" adds a whole new side to the Unreal franchise but don't think that the melee is a last resort when out of ammo. It can give you a definite upperhand in battle with the ability to charge weapons, dash through the air, shield your character, and reflect projectiles, which can add insult to injury. Along with each character having a melee weapon they also have two pistols in their arsenal with recharging ammo. When charged and released they can freeze a target in place for a short period of time, giving the player (or a bot) a few precious seconds to execute a Coup de Grace attack. These are stlyish one-hit kills with the melee weapon that are activated by pressing a button combination that's displayed.

According to Wikipedia: "A specialized version of Unreal Engine 2.5 called UE2X was used for UC2 on the original Xbox platform. It featured optimizations specific to that console." While it does feel like a true Unreal game, it seems to have lost the brooding of past titles and replaced it with a more technological look with glowing surfaces, water distortion, distance fog, and lights creating shadows and colors on the characters like crazy. It must have pushed the original Xbox to its graphical limits.

The level design is varied throughout the 40+ maps with none of the old Unreal maps making a return. This is all new stuff for a new game and the hard work shows throughout each design with amazing detail in each expertly crafted map. Distant mountains and structures look pixelated due to the technical limitations but the feeling of size and scale that's presented is mind-blowing for the console time.
The cutscenes in the Ascension Rites mode leave something to be desired in that the faces don't appear to be animated right while some textures seem to have lost a little shine that's present during play. Lighting looks good for the most part but the old FMV pixelation curse is still there. The videos do a good job of unfolding the story by introducing characters and driving the plot forward, but for those who are only caring about the action the story can be ignored.
While character diversity is a bit bland, the characters and armor designs are what you'd expect in the Unreal universe with the beefiness of the armor now becoming a mainstay in whatever Epic Games makes. Armors on Anubis, Selket, and the other Nakhti are heavily influenced by ancient Egyptian culture and look the best. All others, not so much. Besides the robots that are more appealing than previous franchise entries, the rest leave little to talk about. Regardless of that, each character design is considerably better than what was used in prior games, which they used to be recycled bodies with differing heads and colors.

The music is as dark and adrenaline-filled as you would expect from an Unreal game with techno beats, rock guitars, and orchestral instruments giving off vibes of urgency with a touch of old-school Egyptian mummy movies mixed in. While it is in tone with the Unreal universe, it feels somewhat lacking in edge and excitement as though the music is afraid to be anything less than empirical.

Voice-acting is superb with each character having several taunts, cheers, or orders when called for during gameplay while the Ascension Rites cutscenes are never too dry or phoned in. They inject a little bit of humor to keep things light-hearted and thankfully it never feels forced.

Sound effects are plentiful with grunts from the characters, distance explosions, pick-ups, gunfire everywhere, and sound distortion during a few of the adrenaline power-ups. Often times you can hunt down an elusive bot or player by following their grunts. The levels themselves never feel lifeless because there's always an environment sound happening nearby: birds chirping in open areas, the wind blowing by, footsteps through water, flames crackling, machinery motors whirring, water moving, and many other sounds give life to even the most mechanical-themed maps.

If there is a downside to Unreal Championship 2 its that it feels like just a one-trick pony. The possibility of a franchise here has flexed all its muscles with the ideas presented and for a sequel to be bigger would have to include some new and outrageous things. It would be hard to follow up and doing the next game in the same style would cause Epic Games to cement its feet and prepare to throw it in shark-infested waters. Its a conundrum: if they change it completely for a sequel then they'll be expected to keep changing with new ideas. If they keep it the same, they risk making the Championship name into a repeat offender.

I will freely admit that I have been biased in this review since UC2 is my second favorite game of all-time. Every time I put it in, even just to jump around the levels, I notice a new detail I hadn't seen before. Its easy to see why its my favorite with the amount of things to do and ways to play that make me want to play it more. The replay value is practically immeasurable if you have three friends willing to make a party of it. While the original Xbox Live may be dead, the Unreal franchise has always had bots and adjusting the difficulty feels like you'll want to better yourself. Unreal Championship 2 is only available for the original Xbox but is backwards compatible with the 360 and looks and plays best on it. You can find it incredibly cheap these days and its so very worth it to play it.
You need Unreal Championship 2 on your shelf and you need to experience this game. The ideas feel refreshing to a genre that was soon to be saturated with copy paste clones and even now it has aged well with the melee combat and character traits keeping things in a good balance with an ease of access that any FPS fan can comes to grips with.

We need to see an Unreal Championship 3 only to see more of the fresh ideas that 2 breathed into the franchise and the FPS genre in general. For it to be a follow-up to just a port of Unreal Tournament 2004 is a big deal since UC2 showed that the genre doesn't have to be stale if the developers are willing to push the limits and add new ways to play instead of how to play.

Keep Playing

A Second Look @ Star Wars: Republic Commando

Made and published entirely by LucasArts, Republic Commando was launched just before the release of the Xbox 360 and received mainly 8/10 ratings. To be one of the better-praised FPS games of the time, it wasn't very widely spoken of among the people I knew.

Republic Commando puts you in the role of  Delta RC-1138, call sign Boss, as he leads an elite group of Clone Troopers, each with their own personalities and specializations, through missions on Geonosis, a destroyed spacecraft, and the wookie homeworld of Kashyyyk. You play through the tutorial in the first level and its incredibly simple, showing you all you need to know to use your armor's capabilities and to use your squad effectively. The rest is shown as you travel through the game and its very easy to pick up and play. One major drawback is the length: there are only three levels, each with several chapters, and once they're done, there's the multiplayer that feels like just an add on. Republic Commando feels like a build up to something greater, but I don't think we'll see it anytime soon. 

One major feature of Republic Commando is the use of squad tactics. Tactics is a word used loosely in the sense that all you have to do is aim at a designated point and press the USE button, giving a command to one of your three squad mates to complete the task at hand. By holding down the same button you can bring up a command menu to order your squad to secure an area, fire on one target, form up, or cancel whichever maneuver you had previously chosen. Its a little bit of Rainbow Six but doesn't really hold any significance here as these commands don't really feel necessary when playing the game.

Republic Commando definitely isn't big on downtime unless you want to be the one planting explosives or slicing (hacking) a computer, which there is a lot of both. Possibly 20% of the game time is used for this. You can give these commands to your team but they will take the same amount of time performing the task despite the backstory claiming they're best suited for these certain operations. All this happens while you're being shot at and listening to their banter during combat; they love to talk and are present for most of the game with the exception of the tutorial and parts of two levels. There is no lone-wolf gunning and your squad will take the initiative to take out enemies and are not satisfied to let anything slip past. They're not just random cannon fodder either: They take a lot of damage and you'll find yourself often reviving them mid-firefight during the latter chapters. Its a nice change of pace from other FPS game's bullet-sponge action but it does get bothersome when you're the only one left standing due to the AI being spread too thin.

Shields and health both deplete quickly if you're not careful but you're never too far away from a bacta tank, which in basic terms is a health refill station, or an ammo drop. Don't worry if you do get taken down: just as you have time to save your squad, they have time to save you. You can order them to carry out their current orders to take out enemies, finish an objective, or to come and rescue you. The latter puts them in danger as it takes a few seconds to revive someone, leaving the healer an easy target and only puts the downed member back at half health.

You're not stuck with the assault rifle for the total length of the game. At one point you can find sniper and grenade launcher attachments, you're also never left without your trusty sidearm which recharges ammo automatically. Alongside those you'll find an old-fashioned physical shotgun, a wookie bowcaster, a rocket launcher, and a mini-gun each dealing out better amounts of damage than your rifle. Thermal detonators (physical), Electro-static Charge detonators, Sonic detonators (mines), and flashbug detonators (flashbangs) are the grenade types and you'll use a lot of them to take out clustered enemies. One drawback is that the grenade selector display is cryptic and you'll find yourself throwing a flash instead of a thermal unless you memorize the icon for each.

Melee is satisfying as you put your gauntlet knife into an enemy and your helmet is splattered with fluids. Meanwhile gunplay feels weak as lasers constantly miss their targets due to the bad sensitivity for the Xbox version (setting at 1 feels sluggish while 2 feels twitchy, this is improved greatly when playing on the 360).

Your HUD is constantly working by displaying your health, identifying where your squadmates are as well as their health levels, objectives, detonator counts, and can be switched between normal, tactical, and low light modes. The melee splatters and low-light modes feel like ideas taken from Metroid Prime and they work well here.

Friendly fire is present, and while your squad does its best to avoid harming you they may get in your line of fire which can drain their shields or health. Your squad will do their best to revive each other but this will cause them to be in the open and take damage themselves. Luckily enemies aren't exactly the smartest and will charge at you instead of sticking behind cover. It feels like a let down and the difficulty is never too rough if you're paying attention to the surroundings.

There's not a lot of enemy variety and you'll face mostly Geonosians, Trandoshans and their scavenger droids, battle droids and the occasional elite guard droid throughout the game's three chapters. Hilariously enough, the game features ragdoll physics on dead enemies but its only good for a chuckle as you push them around. There are also Clone Trooper and Wookie allies throughout but most are immediately killed off within the first few seconds of appearing onscreen. While the levels feel like they belong in the Star Wars universe, level design is lacking in originality. It can be commended for not following the now-traditional "narrow-way-into-arena" gameplay but it maybe could have used a few of those to keep things interesting. Perhaps a test of the player's skill to use the team effectively is what's missing. You can choose to run ahead and take on enemies yourself, or you can actually stand aside and let your team do all the shooting. 

Graphics hold up well for a late console life release, looking crisp and without cracks, but it feels like the Unreal Engine 2.0 isn't being used to its full extent. Take Unreal Championship 2 for example, which was released a few months later and looked like an early 360 release. There are light reflections, lens flares, light blooms, and the HUD shows holographic standing positions for maneuvers. Several graphical effects occur throughout the game that affect the player's display including static from electric-based enemies, waving heat lines that distort the view, flashbangs filling the screen with white, and blood, oil, or rain that are wiped off by an electric wiper.

The sound you'll hear the most is from laser fire, which is familiar among the Star Wars universe, and oddly enough doesn't wear out its welcome. Even the chatter among your squad is somewhat comforting as they often talk to each other. Scorch being the sarcastic one, Sev being the sluggish brute, and Fixer being average. (To show that there's a lot of voicework done, a YouTuber has compiled all of their voiceclips into 15+ minute videos.) Explosions have no real impact in sight or sound and it feels very tame because of this. Even wookiee yells and "screams" from the battle droids sound like clips taken from the movies.

The orchestral soundtrack in the background is constantly giving off a powerful tone and it feels in-place with the Star Wars universe but somewhat cliche here. A different approach in the music would have given the game its own identity and its almost a shame that that idea wasn't implemented. To be the die-hard tactical FPS that it was billed to be, it doesn't really have any edge soundwise. While the music video from Ash (featured above) is a nice touch its merely an addition and is unlocked right from the start, seems more like a promotion from someone among the development team who heard the band and thought they were good. Despite all of this, the sound is not the weakest selling point for Republic Commando.

Multiplayer on original Xbox Live may be dead but couch multiplayer is still present with splitscreen. It includes the usual offerings of Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Assault modes; the last being similar to Battlefield's Conquest mode.

Unfortunately, you only have 5 maps total to play throughout each mode. It feels more like an add-on than something worth playing. Regardless, if you can gather three friends to battle with you'll find that the multiplayer is hectic, fast-paced fun along the lines of the original Unreal Tournament. As your disembodied hands pick up weapons and throw grenades, you'll find that you can't aim down the sights of some guns, the bowcaster and the sniper rifle being the only ones that can. The same weapons from the single player campaign can also be found here. Aiming is very accurate and the multi-tiered maps offer plenty of corners to run away from a firefight. Running is the best option as it only takes a few shots to take someone out. 

The multiplayer aspect is weak in the overall package, like a lot more could have been done since, being built off the Unreal Engine, it should have a lot more going for it. The map Arena G9 features two low-gravity sections on each side that is a great idea, but isn't implemented anywhere else. Its the small ideas that could have made this part of Republic Commando something worth experiencing more.

There's never any big "wow" moments and the story taking place during the Clone Wars, one of the biggest battles of the Star Wars universe, is awfully bland. The only unlockables are concept art, featurettes, and an interview with the game's director. If, at the time, you were in to Star Wars then the game really held nothing new for you except for a few new vehicles that were to be seen in Episode III. It didn't try to outdo the current reigning FPS champion of Halo and is almost content to do what it was planned to do. It succeeds in that respect but fails to try and tread new ground. It seems very comfortable confined into its own universe.

Personally, I feel like a lot could be done with Delta Squad through their differing personalities and ability to think for themselves unlike the majority of Clone Troopers. its a section of the large Star Wars universe that would be awesome to explore. More unlocks like skins, HUD customization, cheats for the Xbox version, and maybe a few others would have been nice touches to finish things out. If one thing is wrong with it, it never feels too difficult. You'll get taken down by an enemy's melee attack, and it feels more like a pause in the action rather an urgency.

Republic Commando is backwards compatible with the Xbox 360 and not only looks better in terms of graphics and video playback, it controls better as well. You can find it cheap these days and its available on Steam for $10, PC having the best graphical fidelity.

As a total package, Republic Commando packs in a lot and I'm sure the dev team could have made it an early Xbox 360 release had they waited. It would have improved the graphics, the controls and physics, the game length, and the AI. But for what it's worth, Republic Commando is an excellent and solid game.

Keep Playing

Wait a minute.... What's going on here? I call shenanigans!

A Second Look @ Black

(Images taken from EA.com)

Upon its release, Black was labeled as "gun porn," a kind of game with so many guns that it should have been classified as such. It was touted as having cinematic quality gameplay, destructible environments, an award-winning soundtrack, and an engaging story. The world was your playground to blow up as you saw fit. And for the first half of the game, it does this well.

Black puts you in the shoes of Sergeant First Class Jack Keller, who in the opening live-action and proceeding (unskippable) cutscenes is being interrogated while in chains. What unfolds is a story of betrayal, disobeyed orders, and uncovering international terrorist plots. Or something. It is really hard to follow because the story does little to draw the player in. Let's face it: all you really care about is shooting stuff.

As Keller, you and your team are running through a war-torn city in Russia attempting to hunt down the leader of a high-tech and highly-trained terrorist organization. Along the way orders are disobeyed, plots are uncovered, enemies are mowed down, and things are blown up. Its a typical summer blockbuster story held together with duct tape. 

The gameplay is as simple as a formula can get for an FPS game: pick up a gun and shoot your way through the levels. Staying undetected isn't needed as it only means you have to shoot less bullets. One drawback is that once enemies know your position they lock on and know where you are even if you approach from a different position. They're less like human AI and more like scared hunting dogs. Their shooting is relentless, never running out of bullets but they lack intelligence, the only way to quickly dispatch them is with a tricky headshot. In this game, you need to aim for the upper part of the head rather than just the whole face. One would think a helmet would be more likely to stop a bullet than someone's nose.

Multiplayer is non-existent and in exchange each map is very large, taking around 45-60 minutes to complete, depending on how you want to play or how many times you die. The total game clocks in around 12 hours. That isn't bad, but when compared to other games of the same era, which some had longer campaigns and multiplayer, its a wonder why the graphics weren't touched up in replacement.

There's no button interference, no jumping or sprinting, which makes backtracking a boring task. The ability to screw on a silencer to some weapons is mapped to one of the face buttons. You can look down the scopes, reload, melee, and crouch. The usual. There are a lot of objects littered throughout the levels and all of them can be destroyed, meaning you'll be hard pressed to find cover in a SNAFU.

The orchestral soundtrack is a great one and lends itself well to the environments and the overall mood. On the Xbox, you can switch it out for a custom soundtrack so you can feel free to blast away enemies with whatever tunes you fancy.

Since the guns are the main attractions, the attention to sound detail is perfect. Each gun has its own unique and powerful sound. There is honestly nothing quite like letting loose with an M249 machine gun against a small horde of oncoming enemies.

The voice acting is awfully dry and doesn't show any emotion behind the acting. The cutscenes are the same way. Any talking is just ignorable at best.

The level designs range from several bombed-out cities, to a bridge, and finally a jail. Its not much and its not impressive at all. The "destructible" environments include anything from cars, crates, pillars, gas tanks, a few walls, and red barrels. The game rarely gets intense and the best moments usually come from a large explosion. You never feel above the enemies, you are just as easily taken down as they are. Some levels can be a bit confusing to navigate since it never directly tells you where to go. Sometimes you just have to hunt for the way yourself. You will also find yourself stuck on more than one invisible wall several times throughout each level. You can't just walk off the sides of stairs, the only times you can fall is from certain areas, otherwise there's an invisible wall to protect you.

All this serves as a distraction from what the game really is: a shallow FPS that was caught up in the hype of the genre at the time. Linear levels, poor AI, a typical selection of guns, and a poor story to hold it all together. What it has is a long, narrow-minded, even ignorable story, repetitive gameplay, a meager selection of guns, and the type of brooding similar to an emo teenager: its just a phase, and once you're halfway through this game you'll want to move on to something else. Gathering all the intel throughout the game unlocks nothing more than the requirements to advance to the next level in hard and black ops modes. They serve no purpose in the story and generally don't matter to the overall package. The end of the game comes abruptly with a cutscene and the credits roll. That's it.

There's no multiplayer, and the short campaign will either leave you wanting more or a deep feeling of disappointment. The back of the box says to "Get creative with your kills." The problem with that statement is that there is little creativity to be had.

There is no "wow factor." Even reloading takes away from the game as it seems to put an emphasis on it. The background blurs and Keller takes his sweet time to do it right. This becomes a major problem when in the middle of a firefight, instead of focusing your reticule dot on the next target, you can no longer see them because it wants you to pay attention to the action of reloading the gun. It's embarrassing.

Its not "full" of anything, even itself. It never has moments where its confident in what its doing. It doesn't do much to draw the player in to its world of shady black operations. If I could at least say one good thing about Black is that it sticks to its guns, literally. Every enemy drops a weapon that you can collect so you're never close to running out of ammo. It tries, but at the turn of the hardware cycle, trying wasn't enough. More weapon selections, more areas, a more detailed storyline, and a bigger emphasis on play style is what would have made this a great game.

If you're a fan of the run-and-gun FPS genre then Black deserves at least one playthrough. You can find it either on the original Xbox or PS2 for cheap or as a downloadable "Xbox Original" on the XBLA for $10. Despite all this it, its not hard to justify as a purchase for anyone else. Its a good, solid action game with long levels, amazing sound quality, and steady gameplay. It is definitely worth at least one playthrough.

Keep Playing

A Second Look @ APEX

(All images are from Gamespot.com)

APEX is known as Evoluzione Racing in Europe

APEX is hard to pin down as far as a racing title goes. The physics are sim-like and grounded in reality while speed is more of an arcade commodity, never fearing to cause the car to brake quickly or bounce off of a wall. What it lacks in depth it makes up for in personality, but that alone does not a good game make.
You and your bud have found an old garage and inside are blueprints for race cars. While he builds your first car, you build the business, choosing the company name, logo, and car designs. Unlike other racing games, such as Enthusia, APEX has a purpose for racing: the better you do in each race, the more demand for car sales come in. Occasionally you'll be thrown a challenge from another driver or a car magazine who wants to see if your machine is truly up to par. A lack of definition as to what you're doing is to blame for the parts of the game outside of racing being boring. You can't really upgrade your cars right away, you can only choose from a few colors, and it will take a lot of replaying races to get enough sales to begin production on a new design. With enough cars sold the game automatically expands the company, adding R&D and Production wings to the small garage. 

Its definitely one of the better-looking games on the Xbox for the time. The frame rate never drops, there are no pop-ups, cars are nicely detailed, and tracks are varied, feeling alive with crowds, planes, banners and confetti. When passing under a bridge with support beams above, each beam shows a reflection in real time on the car's back window. Racing towards the sun causes the screen to brighten and might cause you to lose focus. Cars get damage from each other and the track but it never affects performance. Mirrors fall off, bumpers get dented, and sparks flying are the only extents of damage. Additionally you don't have to pay for repairs after each race, adding one more point to the arcade checklist. There's no money system involved, only sales to track your progress towards developing your next car.

Sound is an important part of a racing game. If the engines sound weak or repetitive then immersion is lost. A Corvette simply cannot sound the same as a Lotus Elise. While the sounds between cars might seemed varied here its merely the same sound just adjusted in pitch, meaning a muscle car doesn't sound powerful with a whiny engine. The hits between a car or the environment each time is just the sound of a glass breaking. Better get used to that.
The music is purely generic rock and seems to loop the same song constantly, or its just me ignoring the difference in them. On the original Xbox, you can choose your own custom soundtracks which saves you from having to listen to the mundane and unattractive tunes.

The game isn't easy, but that's mainly due to poor AI. (At one moment I looked behind me to find that the last three opponents had wrecked... on a straightaway.) The AI runs on rails and is, for the most part, always properly braking, turning and accelerating, causing you to either hit them or vice versa on a sharp turn. The AI just feels lifeless and they're more like moving obstacles on the track that you have to avoid and overtake. There is no option to restart a race on the pause menu, which I've never understood why a racing game does that. It forces the player to completely back out of the race in order to try again. There are racing series that forces you to go to the next race automatically, and those moments are understandable to have a no restart policy.

You'll find you can only race your custom-created cars in the Dream Mode against real world manufacturers. Meanwhile in Arcade Mode you can pick from several. Racing is done on city, mountain, racetrack, and stadium/speedway locales. There are several tracks in different "cities" with each track being a variation of one larger track. It changes up often enough to prevent boredom so there's enough variety in each locale to keep you interested. City courses have long straightaways and tight corners. Mountain tracks have winding roads. Racetracks are meant to test the player's braking and handling abilities. Stadium races are for true tests of speed.
Cars are sectioned by classes ranging from Roadster, Sportcar, Supercar, and Dreamcar, in the first two classes you have upgrades from Street to Evolution to Racing. Dreamcars are unlocked by fully completing all of the racing series being presented.

Uniquity is a hard thing to pin on a game such as APEX. The only stand-out performance in this game is the "custom" car creation which, even then, isn't very customizable. The only multiplayer option being couch co-op is just racing between you and one other person with no special modes; just choose a car and race. Its a neat idea to create your own company and that's just about the only appeal behind it all. The AI is lifeless and merely follows the track. Mindless drones that sometimes don't even brake properly, which can make the racing itself not very fun. Handling is either too loose or too sharp, braking feels unresponsive, and there's a lack of a sense of speed (80 feels the same as 40). However, once you reach the racing evolution for each car, then the real speed starts and the game begins to pick up its pace.

But despite all the shortcomings, if you're a fan of racing games in general then its worth playing. The developer, Milestone, put their all into this game and it shows. A careful attention to some details that other racing games of the time didn't have. It feels like it wasn't trying to be the best, it was trying to be just a racing game. In that regard it only succeeds as "something to do." It doesn't have a huge fan base and to be honest it shouldn't. The game doesn't do anything to WOW the player into completing it unless you're a completionist by nature, yet its solid enough to stay in you're collection for a while until you feel the need to play every so often. And maybe, one day, you'll check it off of your completed games list.

Keep Playing

Shotgun Review: Halo CE Anniversary Edition

(Shotgun reviews are my one-shot, opinionated, quick reviews of games. I hit you with the facts and a little bit more all at once. Pictures taken from Gamespot and power-on.blog.hu)

Hard to believe its been 10 years. Actually, for me, its easy. I was never one that was heavily invested in the Halo games but I do like the extensiveness of the universe. I was curious to see how the new 343 Studios would handle Bungie's baby, seeing as how 343 is comprised of former Bungie devs.
Let's clear this out of the way first: its the original Halo game with graphical improvements, achievements, Kinect functionality, skulls and more storyline added via the data terminals hidden throughout the game. If you played it so long ago on the original Xbox, its the exact same game.

The new graphics are just the icing on the cake. Some things that might not be clear to see with the classic graphics become great to look at with the new. You can switch the graphics styles by simply pushing the Back button and the change happens fast, there is no level reloading. All its simply doing is placing the new textures over the old. It almost seems to be a rush job at some moments. Unfortunately, I will say that the graphics aren't as good as Halo Reach.
There are a few pop-ins, particularly a few Grunts and Elites appear out of nowhere, as well as Sgt. Stacker in the flashback video the Chief takes from Jenkin's helmet. Textures at a slight distance will also have a pop-in effect. Its definitely not fitting for people who get angry at glitchy graphics.

Is it worth playing? Yes, but possibly only for the achievements and data terminals if you're a fan of the story. If you're in it for the flashy graphics and are expecting a complete overhaul and re-telling of the first Halo game... its not here. If you're worried about the game needing Kinect to be playable, its not. The only thing the Kinect brings to it is a library of data from scannable weapons, enemies, and objects. The game can be played without it and its no reason to rush out and buy one. Its just an addition to give more depth to the universe.
As an added bonus, the game comes with a standalone Halo: Reach Anniversary map pack. The maps are remakes from the original Halo game and can be played without the need of owning Reach, just know that you will be missing out on a better game.

*Dodges objects thrown by fanboys*

Hey, hey, hey! Reach is better to me because you actually get to know a little bit about the characters rather than being a faceless space marine! For some reason that baffles me, there was a pre-order bonus that included avatar gear and the Grunt Birthday Party skull. Thing is, you didn't have to pre-order anything. I bought mine from the store with the cardboard box around it. it would be tough to find it that way now so any early adopters need not shell out $10 for the DLC.

The combat is the same as the original Halo, the button layout is different but not a huge change. The friendlies, enemies, vehicles, weapons, and power-ups are all in the same places. Driving the Warthogs are still wonky and floaty. Some small confusion might ensue because things look different but that's practically a moot point. There are some moments where the new graphics aren't attached well and you can find yourself poking through walls.

What it boils down to is this: if you want the achievements, get it. Its cheap and can provide a weekend of something to do. A rental at best.
If you're expecting a grand re-packaging of Halo, its not worth it.
All others need not apply. If the original game didn't draw you in to the Halo universe so long ago then this one will not help any. I've had it since a couple of weeks after release and I haven't even bothered to complete it. Its just not very interesting.

Keep Playing.

Control Freak: DLC and You

(Welcome to the newest part of this blog. The part where I can openly RAGE about something that's bugging me within the gaming world. This is NOT a light-hearted expression of what I think, or a See-It-From-My-Point-of-View blog like the Random Blogs. This is me, yelling at you, yelling at the companies, yelling at the games, yelling at a wall about what's being done wrong.)(Or what's being done right but I still hate it anyway.)

As the inaugural blog for Control Freak, I think it's best I start with a particular topic that strikes many gamers as unfair: DLC, or Downloadable Content for those not in the know.

DLC is what is offered over a console's Internet service as part of the ever-expanding experience. The type of DLC ranges from menu themes, new level maps, new cars, new songs, new costumes, new characters, new game modes, new game chapters, harder difficulties... basically anything that can be added to a game these days to make your life a living hell -- I mean steal your life away from you by making you play the game longer -- I mean... no wait, that is what I mean.

Keep in mind, non-gamer readers, that all DLC is entirely optional. There is no need to download a part of the game in order to keep playing it. You can think of it like a navigation system in a car: It's optional but not necessary.

There are some cases where DLC is offered on release day simply for the fact that there was not enough room on the disc to handle all of it. That can be understandable, but to most gamers it really pushes their buttons (seriously no pun intended) and they continue thinking it was done to make money.

That is the case when content is left out of a game on purpose so it can be sold either on release day or later as DLC. This makes gamers mad in the fact that:
A: It was withheld so the companies can make more money.
B: Some DLC can be seen as outrageously priced ($5 for one costume).
C: Some DLC should be offered as a patch instead.

Take Resident Evil 5's Mercenaries mode for example: on release day the player could connect to Xbox Live or Playstation Network and spend $5 to unlock the mode.
Alternatively they could have JUST PLAYED THROUGH THE GAME TO UNLOCK IT.
So what's the point of charging $5 for a mode that's readily available and only takes BEATING the game to unlock it?

Then there's the case of Capcom and Super/Street Fighter IV. When SF4 was released, gamers rejoiced. It was the newest offering of the Street Fighter franchise in almost 10 years.
A year later Super Street Fighter IV was announced and fans were pissed.
Why?
Because it's essentially the same game, just SUPER in the title and with more characters. All for a lesser price than the original game.
Non-gamers might be thinking: if there's more content, why don't they just charge more for the SUPER iteration? Or offer it as DLC?
Simple: MONEY. $. DOLLARS. MOOLA. GREEN BACKS. DEAD PRESIDENTS.
If they were to offer it as DLC, it might change the programming of the game entirely: new character selection screen, new intro movie, new title, new move sets, etc. It's not like an update where everyone's copy of the game is patched in order to fix something. They would be losing money in allowing everyone with the game to download the DLC. Not to mention the months it would take to get the DLC approved.
Someone with the original game might not be able to play against someone with SUPER because the programming will be different, and Capcom wants fairness all around.

Is the case of Capcom and SF4 cheap? (Some might say) No.
Is the case of RE5 and Mercenaries mode cheap? Yes.

Charging for content that's already on the disc is a traitorous act. We buy the games, we support the companies and yet we get the shaft.

Now let's talk Game of the Year Editions, what can be seen as some as the biggest rip-offs ever. Microsoft and Xbox 360 are especially notorious for this.
Take Forza Motorsport 2 for example: When the game was released the price was $60. Seeing as how most games this generation are released at that price it's reasonable. Then came the DLC: new race tracks and, over the months, about a dozen new cars. The DLC prices ranged from free to $5 (800 Microsoft points). That's not too bad I suppose.
But fast forward to today where you can go to a store and buy Forza 2 with all available DLC (on a second disc) for the low low price of $20
Considering it was originally $60 + cost of DLC does that make it a rip-off? Yes.
I can understand the value of a game decreasing over time but really? Someone who bought the game new would either have to get the DLC or buy the Platinum Hits version only for the second disc. (I'm not sure about content rights and all that, but someone could probably borrow the game from a friend, install the second disc and play everything. Again, though, I'm not sure.)

DLC, in many rights, is just and fair and adds more to the game. But when there are several chapters added on, taking our money, taking our time, taking our very lives from us... it just gets to be too much.
A player can sink so much of themselves into a game for months, maybe a year or so, only for a sequel or a Game of The Year Edition to be released with all the previous DLC offered up as bait.
"Maybe that'll make more people buy the game and there will be new people to play with!"
Or maybe everyone else already has the game and it's no fun to play against a n00b with zero experience?
Then what good is that game?

Now let's talk about Premium Themes and Avatar clothing.
First the themes: users from both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 will know what I'm talking about. You can pay so much money for a...
Oh, the non-gamers don't know.
Well a theme is color and picture scheme for the 360 and PS3 that changes the look of the consoles main menu screen and such. Again, it's not necessary, but it can get a little tiresome looking at the same starter theme for months.
Some themes are free. Others can cost up to $5.
$5.
5 bucks to change the look of your console's menus.
It can be seen as pointless on the 360 since you can import a picture file onto the background and use whatever you want. On the PS3 you can change the color scheme and maybe add a picture. Idk since I don't own one.
But as I was saying: you can pay so much for a theme that can be summed up as "putting a dress on your dog." You're going to spend a lot of time playing games or maybe watching movies with your console, not staring at how pretty your theme is. Do you really need to spend $5 to make it look fancy?

As for Avatar clothing: Avatars are Xbox 360's version of you, or a person you send to represent you. Your Avatar doesn't have to be of the same gender. Is an Avatar optional like the themes?
No.
With the release of the New Xbox Experience, the Avatars were made available to everyone who connected their 360 to the internet and updated their consoles. The console update is optional, but necessary if you want to... oh I don't know... keep playing games, getting content, and so on. You're required to select a pre-made Avatar and then adjust it how you want to, there's no getting around it.
When you get bored of the standard set of clothes available for your Avatar, you can go on Live and buy new clothes. But like I keep saying: it's not necessary. And it's pretty pointless actually. You're not going to make your Avatar cute by spending real world money on a fake shirt. Got it?

(And yes, that's my actual Avatar.)

All in all DLC can be evil if you're broke, an evil necessity if you really want it, and gimmicky if you have enough money. The fact that game companies can charge us for our lives is preposterous. The fact that we buy this stuff is even more so.
Try as we might, the game companies have us whipped. They say jump and we press a button and do it.

So what happens when the game companies don't listen to us: the gamers?
I believe that's for another blog.

Keep Playing.