Better late than never?

After writing my previous article regarding my review for Alice: the Madness Returns I got motivated to finally sit down and compose my little review for Portal 2.

The original portal game began as a small little filler game created by Valve and wasn’t meant to be this high budget franchise like so many other games out there. In spite of this, Portal developed a rabid cult following due to its original concept, brilliant writing and the ease and simplicity of the gameplay. It is no wonder that when Valve released the announcement of Portal 2 we die-hards peed in our proverbial pants at the mere sound of GladOs’s voice.  I usually don’t make a habit of pre-ordering games for release date, but I had to make an exception for my beloved Portal.

Even with its rabid following I am surprised when I hear gamers (even those who have played Half Life) say they know nothing about it. The premise is simple for both the original and the sequel. You are Chell, a test subject stuck in an immense lab/testing facility being run by GladOs, a self aware ego maniacal AI whose sole purpose is to put you through these tests. The only weapon you are given (if you wish to call it that) is your trusty portal gun which gives you the ability to create entrance and exit portals throughout various parts of the maze levels. It is part first person shooter, part puzzle game, and all fun.

The first Portal ends (and since it has been out many many years I don’t feel the least bit bad about spoiling it) you fight GladOs and it looks all but certain you defeated her. It wasn’t until the Alternate ending came out that you got a glimpse of a possible sequel (well that and now famous and catchy end song “Still Alive” should have been a give away) but here we are. Chell wakes up after being in suspension for god knows how long only to find out she is still in the lab and is still getting tested.

There was a lot of speculation and skepticism from the fan base that regarding Portal 2 and its ability to impress and entertain the masses. I can honestly say it did not disappoint.  There is still a beautiful simplicity to the game paired with amazing character voices and humor to go along with it. Because the first Portal was meant to be a filler game they didn’t include all of the nuances that they did in the second. There are more levels (3 stages each with its own, unique flavor and a buttload of test chambers) as well as other hazards and tools used to help you solve the puzzles.

Another point that adds to the success of this series isn’t simply the game; its the marketing behind the game. During the game itself there is very little story to go on. It is more about solving the test chambers than sullying it with plot (really they are doing what people wished porn producers did; skip the story and go straight on to the action). However, there are nuances, little Easter eggs strewn about to help you piece together the story behind Aperture Science, it’s founder, it’s Ties to Black Mesa in Half life, an much much more. It isn’t blatant, but it is there if you look for it. And it isn’t on the game… Valve has an Aperture Science website that was an Easter Egg filled paradise that can only be compared to the Dharma Experience in LOST. They give you the clues and it is up to you to put the story together. Even pre release date they had something called the potato sack pack which allowed Steam users to get the game sooner if they helped to “power up” GladOs. You throw in some brilliant TV spots that made me giggle each time I saw it and you get an amazing marketing strategy*.

Along with an amazing single player, Portal 2 gives you a whole second experience in the form of Cooperative Testing allowing you to co-op locally or online with a buddy (in the form of 2 Laurel and Hardy-esque robots Atlas and P-Body) to get through the test chambers. It ads another great layer of entertainment on top of an already brilliant game.

My only negative critique is that once the game has been played and beaten in both single player and co-op replaying it isn’t as brilliant. Yes you can go back, Hunt for Easter Eggs and get achievements but unlike other co-op first person shooters replay is very limited. If you have played with someone who hasn’t it is frustrating for both of you, because one of you knows how to solve the puzzle while the other one is confused as all hell (that is, of course you have a friend who you simply like to spend hours on end figuring out ways to blow each other up…that’s kind of fun..;) ) . However, Valve (being brilliant and awesome again) is going to be offering DLC (the first one will be dropping soon and it is FREE) as well as offering the map gen software to Steam users to create their own maps.

Overall I give Portal 2 a 9.5 out of 10. the half star being deducted for the original replayability. Everything else is amazing and it is going to be one tough game to dethrone in my book as far as best game.

*You should check out Chuck Wendigs post about the mythos of Portal. You can find it HERE.

Once again as the resident spooky estrogen based life form it is a moral obligation for me to play and review Alice: The Madness Returns. So without further ado:

Enter into the rabbit hole:

As a fan of the book and the former game this was probably one of the easiest sells EA had. pile on top of it the promise of Spooky steampunk stabby Alice  I was sold.

The story of this game goes much in line with its predecessor. You play the protagonist Alice Liddel of Lewis Carol storybook fame. After returning from Wonderland the first time (aka the much acclaimed story books) you come home only to lose your entire family to a house fire. Suffering from PTSD, survivors guilt and pretty much a case of over all delusion you reenter Wonderland, but this time it is dark and disturbing to match your madness. The first Alice video game deals is your original mental reaction to losing your entire life. In Alice: the Madness returns it is just that; having a complete mental relapse you return again to Wonderland to deal with your emotional trauma. In both cases the Wonderland landscape is a twisted, distorted version of its original version and you must fight your way through to wondering to help to restore your sanity. In Alice: the Madness Returns you delve deeper into your psyche to recover pieces of your memories that have been lost due to years of bad psychotherapy.

Helping you along the way are some old characters who themselves have been distorted and twisted. The lovably fluffy but mad Cheshire Cat is still mad, but in a darker, more demented way. The Grin is still there, but now it is surrounded by skin, bones, piercings and tattoos. The Mad Hatter has become a steampunk bio-mechanical version of himself that still has a penchant for tea. They give you clues and tools you need to fight the baddies you come across. You get to hack and slash your way around fighting off various species of Ruin, which I can best describe as a gooey doll part encrusted version of the Heartless from Kingdom hearts.  Put is all together it is one romping, stomping good time.

The landscape and themes are amazing. Each level has it’s own world and with it, its own theme each of course me made me squeal with girlish glee. They have everything from a steampunk tea party to a nightmarish world that looks like it is straight out of a Mark Ryden art book filled with meat and broken doll parts. Visually it is an amazing and surreal feast for the eyes. Each level also gives Alice new garb and upon completion of the game gives Alice attributes. There is also a Weapons and Dresses pack that gives you bonus outfits that also give you attributes as well as pimped up weapons versions that improve the stats of your existing weapons.

Hands down the story line is the best part of the game itself. The mood was dark an psychotic The graphics are good, but not mind blowingly awesome. They are leaps and bounds beyond the original, but no where near some of the games that are out there. Game play is glitchy, and there are points where you need to do some step retracing but it is impossible because the shut points off once you pass them. You can’t randomly save points in the previous game which makes level completion a bit frustrating. I was also disappointed with the lack of boss fights. At the end of the first chapter I was prepping for an all out brawl only to be disappointed with a cut scene.

Overall I give Alice: the Madness Returns 7 stars out of 10. It has all of my favorite things: Victorian era psychology, Dickensian London, A homicidal Alice thwomping baddies with a Hobby horse and a parasol, Steampunk tea parties, Japanese Samurai fighting wasps and mantis geishas, a hauntingly child like soundtrack , and of course cake. But all of that doesn’t make up for the fact that there were several times I threw my controller in frustration because I had to restart due to a glitch or I went to claim one of the extras to complete a collection only to be forced to a new board. As much as I wanted to be blown away I wasn’t. This also means that Portal 2 has still not been dethroned as my favorite video game ever. But that is a whole other story to be told at a later date.

There is no question that the God of War series of games has been a hallmark of action gaming since the arrival of the original title.  While only playing through pieces of the first game, I borrowed my good friend DLB10000′s PS2 (well into the 360′s life cycle mind you), corded controller and all, and played through the 480p-enabled copy of God of War II to a thoroughly satisfying and epic conclusion (I still reserve the right to bitch about the QTE ending, as it seemed disproportionately difficult with the rest of the game).

In keeping with my tradition of getting a loaner console to play high profile games, I borrowed a PS3 (not from DLB10000) to chew through the recently-released God of War III.

I’ll say it again: if you haven’t played it yet, you should.

I’m going to avoid giving a recap of the old games or a rundown of the current game from a plot perspective, but sufficed to say, this game wraps up the trilogy neatly and with the same level of epic flair that the series has been well-known for.  What surprised me was that, for a game that has (let’s be honest) usually gratuitous violence and sexual content, there are moments of well-delivered voice acting, and even a few thoughtful moments on the state of humanity, and the concepts of sacrifice and forgiveness.  Please don’t misread this as a comparison to Braid or even Bioshock, but it was perfectly appropriate for the proceedings and lent just the right amount of weight to the head-ripping, gut-spilling good times that Sony Santa Monica serves up here.

Let’s talk about the good:

- The graphics!  *gasp*  Whew.  This is a Herculean (yup, I said it) effort on the part of the developers.  Some of the moments actually equal pre-rendered offerings from other companies (that is no hyperbole).  The Kratos model in particular exhibits animation, texturing and layered special effects that never stop being incredible, from the title screen through the final sequence.  The other characters that are extremely impressive are the Titans (these are not the only “big” spectacle, but the only ones I will semi-spoil).  As you know from the ending of God of War 2, you and the Titans were scaling Mount Olympus to conquer Zeus.  In GOW3, the Titans are actual playable levels upon which you run around, and seeing these enormous beasts lumbering around you as you shift to keep your balance is just as awesome as it sounds.  There are very rare moments of weakness in the graphics (the handling of water/liquid is always a trick unfortunately, and never really feels like actual fluid), but as soon as you notice the tiniest of flaws, some jaw-dropping moment will whisk you away to Radville, and you’ll forget all about it.  The fact that a credible game can be built around such wondrous graphical prowess is a testament to great development.

- The sound is similarly well delivered; some highlights for me include the epic-but-never-too-epic delivery of voices from the Gods (I was particularly impressed with Hades and how they mixed his voice), as well as full use of the surround channels for special effects when appropriate (the souls falling to the underworld and screaming on the way down in the rear speakers never got old).  I wouldn’t call the soundscape “subtle” at any particular moment, but it’s always appropriate for the grand scale of this game.

- Gameplay-wise, God of War 3 is just as accessible as the previous games, with some added depth in the use of several weapons and items that can be switched to on-the-fly (and even mid-combo).  These are never put too far out of the way of the player, and all of them (when powered up) are viable options for combat.  My particular favorite was the Cestus; two enormous metal boxing gloves shaped like lion’s heads.  They hurt people in the matter you’d expect them to.

But what’s not really “working”?

- This is not a perfectly polished game; I ran into a couple of very strange bugs during my playthrough (connected to PSN and downloaded most updated patch), including falling through the scenery to my death and once I didn’t even appear when the game loaded up near the final moments of the game, also resulting in a “You Have Died” screen.  These were rare considering the overall size and scope of the game, but they bear mentioning, and in some ways it is a compliment to the rest of the game in that the vast majority of the experience was so flawlessly produced and delivered.

- The platforming sections (though they don’t really happen too often) are just not best-in-class.  The development team has made a conscious and deliberate choice to take camera control away from the player (as they have in previous God of War games).  For what it’s worth, I think this was the correct choice for this game, and it delivered moments of direction (and therefore storytelling) that you just wouldn’t get with a player-controlled camera.  What it means, however, is that sometimes you’ll have a fairly awkward perspective when jumping from one ledge to the next, and in some cases, it will result in your holistically unnecessary demise.  The moments are none-too-frequent as I mentioned, and the generous checkpoint system soothes the frustration.

All in all, I can’t say this enough: this is an amazing game for this generation, and one that deserves to be played.  If you’re not a PS3 owner, go cozy up with your favorite PS3-toting buddy and give this game a play-through; you will NOT be sorry.

One of my favorite games of LAST generation has unequivocally got to be God of War 2.  I have not owned a single Sony console in my life, but I did borrow a PS2 from The DLB and worked my way through the entire game, a full two years after the launch of the Xbox 360.  While the God of War series isn’t really a poster child for subtlety and restraint, the execution of the action, the breathtaking boss battles, and the ever-changing-but-always-well-delivered set pieces made me feel like we had actually moved the ball forward to the endzone known as True Cinematic Gaming™.

You can imagine, then, that I had (perhaps unreasonably) high hopes for Dante’s Inferno.  A combination of God of War-style gameplay and a studio that created one of this generation’s coolest games?  Instant win, yes?I regret to inform you that this isn’t the perfect game.  I also regret to inform you that it’s not even close to that.  A few of the high points first:

- If you’ve played God of War, you’ll be very at home here.  The combat system, the power-up system, even how you acquire health, experience and mana, are painfully and shamelessly ripped from Kratos’ world.  God of War IS genius, though, so if you’re going to copy something, make it the best.  (I am reminded of Uncharted’s “homage” to the Gears of War-style stop and pop style of gameplay, a system that they recognized as genius for the type of game they were creating and ran with it to wonderful effect).

- The presentation elements surrounding the game are pretty wonderful.  The cutscenes are a mix of pre-rendered CG movies and in-game interchanges, but they take advantage of the extra fidelity during the CG portions by blending high-quality renderings and a disturbingly effective hand-drawn animation style (this is sold to you through the era-appropriate tapestry artwork that starts moving from time-to-time).  None of it ever felt forced, and it was usually quite chilling, which a game of this subject matter should achieve.

As for the other shoe:

- It’s wonderful that the game is running at 60fps at all times (especially during the more stunning moments such as the church falling apart around you), but I can’t help feeling like we could’ve used just a bit more in the lighting/texture work/animation department and trade that in for something closer to 30fps. (while inconclusive, DigitalFoundry is banking on God of War 3 being 720p/30fps, and everything we’ve seen so far is nothing short of stunning in comparison to Dante’s Inferno).  There are definitely “seams” in the presentation that feel a bit like a step backward in terms of the generational leap we’ve been experiencing in game engines over the past few years.  Levels feel very “geometric”, animations of enemies are synchronized like a robotic dance squad, and the lack of some now fairly common special effects (depth of field in particular comes to mind), all scream last-gen.  There are some AMAZING moments of high-quality texture work, though: the fire effect used for your “you can’t move forward until you beat up these guys” wall, the lightning storm outside the church, and a few other moments of note all pop off the screen.

- The voice acting is a little bit on the suspect side.  For such a narrative-heavy game, I really do wish they landed this part.

- Shock value is great, but sometimes the showing of breasts without any real meaningful context feels more juvenile then perhaps originally intended (of course, it’s looking like we won’t be stopping at naked boobs…).  The violence portion of the game isn’t really a huge deal for me in a game where you FIGHT through hell, but the nudity just didn’t come off as serving any purpose outside of getting people to talk about the game.  Congratulations guys, you win.

If the demo is the sole basis one should use in considering this game, I currently am going to classify it as a rental.  As is typical for most demos, there is a sizzle reel of upcoming moments in the full game (which I had already seen once before), and after playing through the demo and peeling back the mask of the quick cuts and explosive musical score, I found myself a little less excited for Dante’s trip through Hell.

What did you think?

So, not really for the kiddies…keep THAT in mind when you think about downloading/playing it.

There is a basic tutorial mode in the beginning that demonstrates what a badass bitch you are in the game.  After that, they dump you into the most intensely confusing and difficult 3 minutes of gameplay you’ll ever play.  I played it twice and nearly turned the demo off because I was SURE this was not a game for me.

It is totally worth it to play through, though.  The game then pulls that, “Well wasn’t that trippy?!  Now let’s start back at the beginning of our story” sort of bit (albeit with a different narrative trick), and then the actual demo starts.  The demo material that follows is MUCH easier on you, and actually lets you figure out how to apply those tricks from the tutorial in the beginning.  Without spoiling the moments, I actually didn’t want the demo to end, and considering how I almost deleted it from the first “mission”, that’s a pretty amazing feat.

The game is exceptionally weird, with the full Japanese womanizing erotica and absolutely strange mashups of different genre pieces (angels, fairies, and torture devices?  Ooooo…K?), but it was dealt with so confidently (especially when you are introduced to new enemies…weird but clever “journal entries” are presented referencing them) that somehow it all “works”, at least as well as this sort of quirky Japanese actioner can work.

The graphics are pretty nice, ranging from “meh” to “wow, that is actually an enormous hair monster eating a mini-boss”.  Nothing that is advancing the state of the art, but very confidently delivered and it runs smooth as butter even when craziness is at its peak.

It’s definitely something that sticks with you, and not necessarily in a bad way.  In a sea of gaming experiences, that’s saying something.

Yes I am aware that AH was a lovely April fools joke, but with the launch of Guitar hero and its hipper brother Rock Band there has been talk of other offshoots (can we say DJ Hero?). It made me think about all of the other possibilities that could come out for video game fools.

Didgeridoo Hero: Get in touch with your inner aboriginal native with this version of the musical game. Comes complete with an authentic plastic replica of the ancient musical tool. You’ll be a rebreathing superstar in no time!

Marching Band: Relive your awkward High School years with this offshoot of the Rock Band franchise. Comes complete with Brass, Woodwind and percussion. Soon you will have “Band Camp” flashbacks.. and we ALL know what you did in band camp. (Soon to follow the “color guard” expansion pack, decorate your own flag and rifle!)

Harp Hero: Ahh the Harp, such an under-appreciated and under used instrument. It isn’t for classy establishments anymore! Get good at that and you can move on to…

Celtic Band: Because you are usually drunk playing it anyway, you may as well use it to your advantage. Sing songs of drunken fights and dead ancestors. You’ll be wearing kilts in no time!

Beatbox Hero: to use with DJ Hero, this spit proof mic is good when doing your Biz Mark E jam.

Of course, I would LOVE to see Accordion Hero become a reality. Nothing better than jamming with Weird Al on your console.

You reading this Activision and Harmonix???? Get to work! And if you are looking for a game developer, just drop me a reply..;)

Here are my impressions for the Big Three:

Nintendo: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.  I was absolutely taken aback by the fact that they completely didn’t show up.  Nothing was revolutionary or interesting; the games were a rehash of older titles, and their nods to the “core gamer” were three titles they had already announced and a new Metroid game.  Oh, and there is the Wii Vitality Sensor: a finger clip that senses your pulse in conjunction with hold your waggle remote in one hand, having a nunchuck in the other, and standing on your Wii Fit board.  No new features for the console at all (no firmware updates).  I’m sure none of it matters and they will continue to sell, but easily the worst press briefing.

Sony: Very well-constructed press conference.  They bookended the presentation with Uncharted 2 at the beginning and God of War 3 at the end (clearly the most impressive games for the PS3).  The structure was great in hindsight, but it didn’t serve the “middle” very well.  Tony and I disagree about MAG (their 256-player online game), but seeing the terrible graphics of MAG after seeing the insane physics and animation of Uncharted 2 (MAG was shown right after Uncharted 2) didn’t work very well as a strategy.  Modnation Racer looks really fun, a Mario-Kart style game with the Far Cry 2 level editor baked in; I didn’t realize this until yesterday, but the Play-Create-Share brand started with LittleBigPlanet and it is their “community” brand for games that will have community features like level/content creation and distribution.  Cool idea to have those in a specific bucket.

Sony’s motion controller did not impress me for a few reasons:  First off, it is a Wii-killer, but only that (no real innovation, just doing it better).  You’ll need to have both the camera and the wands to make it work, which will add to the total price.  And on top of those things, there just wasn’t anything outside of some engineering demos, so who knows how well it will work in games.  This last part isn’t a knock against the product, just the demo of it.  It really just showed the fact that both Microsoft and Sony’s shareholders told them to either make a motion controller or we’ll find someone who will.  Microsoft obviously was told much earlier since their motion camera was much more a part of their presentation (and much further along come demo-time), and Sony probably stuffed that in at the last minute so as not to be the last kids to the motion controller party.

TOO MUCH PSP STUFF!  I know they are really trying to love and pimp the PSP, but they spent way too much time on this.  Way too many game/feature announcements for it, as well as the PSP Go! launch.  More than anything, this part just wasn’t my bag, baby.  One interesting point, ALL UMD titles going forward will be launched on the Playstation Network.  I’m sure Gamestop loves that.

The continual “it’s not just only on Playstation, it’s only possible on Playstation” was getting a little old (Microsoft had a different super-corny bullshit marketing line), especially since they said it 30,000 times during the 90 minute conference, and because they kept saying the exact same line last year in the E3 2008 press conference.  It felt rehashed and embarrassing; the stellar games speak for themselves (although they don’t really say “that” to a gamer that plays more than one console), it just reeks of “trying too hard”.

Microsoft: Definitely had the most “even burn” of the three conferences, although the they had some real duds, the worst of which was the Tony Hawk presentation (I can’t imagine caring less about that game).  Thankfully that and the total throwaway announcement about the Beatles Rock Band games were at the top of the presentation.

Microsoft’s uber-corny catch phrase was “showing, not telling”, and it also got very irritating; what else would you do with the three ultra-huge LCD screens behind you?  Also, I now know where my $50 a year for Xbox Live goes to: Sir Paul McCarty, Ringo Starr, and Steven Spielberg all showed up to tell us how awesome these announcements were.  ‘Cuz, you know…I really trust those three when it comes to my gaming purchases.

Things picked up quite a bit, with excellent showings of the new Splinter Cell and Alan Wake (both incredibly beautiful games), and some breakneck announcements of Crackdown 2, Left for Dead 2, and Microsoft’s own Mario Kart clone, Joyride (which will be free and supported only by DLC purchases of tracks and cars beyond what it ships with).  Forza 3 was also shown, and looks friggin’ incredible, but I’ll never ever play it.

The “fall update” (I’m calling it that since every damned thing is apparently coming in the fall – come on, guys, Sony gave out the Uncharted 2 Multiplayer beta Tuesday night; where’s our love?) has a whole slew of things coming:

- the Video Marketplace will now be Zune Video, and we’re getting instant-streaming 1080p video with 5.1 surround sound (instead of waiting for an 8GB file to download).  It looks like it’ll function much like the Move Player on ABC.COM, where it instantly starts you out at a lower bit rate and ramps it up; there will be a little indicator at the bottom lefthand corner that shows what “level” you are streaming at (1,2,3,HD).  To get the HD level, you will need a minimum of 8Mbps on your download speeds.

- Free Twitter/Facebook integration with both the dashboard and in the development kits (meaning programmers can add a “Post My Stats On Facebook!” button to their games.  Mostly yawn, although I’m sure there are folks out there who will love this.

- Free Last.FM integration.  You’ll now be able to stream your custom Last.FM stations (and set up new ones!) to the dashboard.  No word on whether you’ll be able to do this in-game, but I’m doubtful since the bandwidth to play multiplayer games takes precedence over downloads from Marketplace.  Rich and I have lots of questions about whether or not you can have your music scrobbled (think Pandora so that your custom stations will be more personalized to the things you like) on the Xbox, so I’ll just reserve judgment on how nice this integration will be until we get some concrete details.  Not having Zune Pass integration sucks, though.

- Full Games On Demand.  Great addition; needs to be competitive pricing with retail of course, and newer titles not older.

The motion controller (Project Natal) was the coolest addition so far.  Not so much for the actual motion games, but for the incredible tech baked into it.  If you haven’t seen the videos, you must hit the web and check them out.  My favorite implementations so far are the facial recognition (you walk in front of your Xbox and it logs you in), the Minority Report surfing of the dashboard (we’re there folks), and the ability to have a multi-array microphone that A) uses voice recognition for quiz games on the couch and B) allows multiple people in the room to chat without having headsets and Xbox Live Gold accounts.  The demos they showed were very far along and amazing in their own rights.  The Peter Molyneaux (Fable creator) demo video was hysterical for it’s Molyneaux-ness and amazing for what he is suggesting is actually happening; must see.

Overall, tie between M$ and Sony, and Nintendo’s show was a complete bust.