The War Of The Worlds Review (XBLA)

Game Review: The War of the Worlds (XBLA)
Release: October 21, 2011
Genre: Side Scroller
Developer: Other Ocean
Available Platforms: Xbox 360 (Ps3 later)
Players: 1
MSRP: 800 MS points ($10 US)
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and up)
Website: www.waroftheworldsgame.com

It is only appropriate that our review of “The War of the Worlds” should post at Halloween time, the anniversary of the historic 1938 radio broadcast, which like this game, was an adaptation of the 1898 H. G. Wells book of the same name. This re-imagining is quite different from the radio broadcast or the popular movies, all set in New Jersey or California. Staying far truer to the book, this telling is set in London. For those who are unfamiliar, the story is about an invasion of Earth by Martians who are hell-bent on eradicating the human species.

“The War of the Worlds is a dark and breathtaking new vision of the classic H.G. Wells novel, retold as a single player side-scrolling action-adventure, narrated by the acclaimed and distinguished actor, Patrick Stewart. Set in London, the gameplay narrative parallels the timeline and events from the 1953 movie adaptation, but introduces a new story arc, characters, locations, and sub-plots. With gameplay paying homage to classic cinematic platformers such as Flashback, Out of This World and Prince of Persia, the game follows the exploits of an unknown everyman struggling to escape the Martian invasion of London and rescue his family. Forced to think through insurmountable odds, players will outsmart an army of alien tripods, spiders and drones as they make their way through a landscape of total devastation.” – Other Ocean

The game focuses on the survival efforts of Arthur Clarke as he searches for his family while the World crashes down around him. Our first glimpse of the invasion is in the background at he rides on a passenger train during the opening title sequence. Brightly lit meteors streak down from the sky, one finding the tracks ahead, derailing the train, and so our journey begins as we climb from the wreckage.

Even though the overall arc of the game is to find Clarke‘s family, the main focus is on trying to survive from moment to moment. You will leap from car to car, hide behind walls, dodge heat rays and outsmart alien probes in traditional side-scroller style. What is not so traditional is the level of difficulty that this game quickly ramps up to, and sustains after the first few chapters. As the story progresses it is obvious that our protagonist is not nearly as agile as the level designers had hoped, making him feel heavy, clumsy, and slow to respond.

One could not hope for a better narrator than Patrick Stewart whose theatre trained voice breathes life into the classic words of this tale. The story is told over top of the action as it happens, much like an audio book in sync with the events of the game. The artwork is dark and dreary composed of mainly black and white artwork with colored highlights. At first glance the game looks and feels much like Limbo due to the layered animation with out of focus action in the foreground, but the game mechanics set it far apart from the accessible likes of Limbo.

With such a widely loved intellectual property such as The War of the Worlds combined with the worldly voice talent of Patrick Stewart, it would seem that this game should be aimed at a rather broad audience. Unfortunately, poor controls and highly frustrating level design that calls for more accuracy than the main character can provide breaks this game completely. Add to this a useless checkpoint system that causes you to repeat long sequences of tedious maneuvers over and over again and you have a potential candidate for worst game of the year.

Be aware, downloading and playing the demo will give you a sense of the beautiful artwork in the game but fails to expose you to the any of the difficulty since the first couple chapters are there to establish the story and acclimate you to the controls. Just past the end of the demo the difficulty scales up ruthlessly.

Although The War of the Worlds is seductive; It’s wonderful to listen to and beautiful to look at, and the demo seems completely reasonable, this game is not fun at all. Casual gamers should steer completely clear of this game which must have been forged in the pits of hell for only the most masochistic of gamers with a consuming need to achieve the impossible. For the few extreme hardcore gamers that like this sort of thing, this game will provide you with hours of joy and mental anguish. For the rest of you, do yourself a favor; satisfy your craving for The War of the Worlds with the free book from Project Gutenburg  or the public domain audio book at LibraVox.

• Classy artistic presentation
• Perfect narration by Patrick Stewart
• Impossibly difficult chapters
• Frustrating lack of checkpoints
• Sluggish controls
• Satan approved – 100% fun free

Final Score: 2 out of 10

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SkyDrift Review (XBLA)

Game Review: SkyDrift (XBLA)
Release: September 7, 2011 (PC TBA)
Genre: Arcade Racing / Flight Simulation
Developer: Digital Reality
Available Platforms:  Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Players: 1 – 8 Online Multiplayer
MSRP: 1200 MS Points / $14.99 US
ESRB Rating:  E (10+)
Website: www.SkyDriftGame.com

Racing fans that are tired of driving cars will be thrilled with this new plane racing experience.  Ever wanted to fly an X-wing fighter through the trenches of the Death Star?  This is the next best thing.  SkyDrift puts you in control of 8 distinctively different racing planes to fly in thirty-three different racing events where you will race through industrial structures, caves and valleys in some of the fastest and smoothest flying machines I’ve ever controlled.

The game begins with a single plane available to you; additional planes are unlocked by completing events.  Each plane also has its own distinct characteristics for speed, agility and armor as well as four paint schemes to unlock, similar to the boats in Hydro Thunder.

SkyDrift’s racing events fall into three categories: Speed Races, Power Races and Survivor Races.

Speed Races as the name states are all about speed.  Along the race course there are boost rings that give you a speed boost when you fly through them.  The object is to hit as many rings as possible to maintain top speed.

Power Races have the usual group of power-ups scattered throughout the course that include missiles, machine guns, EMP bursts, mines and shields.  A nice touch in SkyDrift is that picking up a second power-up of the same type makes that particular weapon of shield more powerful.  Also, any unwanted power-ups can be converted into boost at any time to give you an extra push when needed.  Boost is also earned by performing stunts and flying low to the ground.  Overall this mode feels much like Blur in airplanes.

Survivor Races are eliminator style races with a timer that ticks down, and when the time runs out, whoever is in last place is eliminated,  All of the features of the Power Races apply here also, so if you can’t pass your opponents, just shoot ‘em down.

The courses are beautifully designed and rendered making them worthy of a slow, losing fly through just to take them all in.  Some events use the same courses, but in reverse, helping to keep the environment familiar but the courses fresh.  Three difficulty levels keep the game accessible to flyers of all ages even though it is rated for 10+; my four-year old loves flying in SkyDrift.

The best thing about SkyDrift is the controls.  They are not standard “flight simulator” controls, as these are simpler and very intuitive, making control of the planes an absolute joy.  The left stick controls up, down, left and right while the right stick controls the orientation of the plane.  For example, to make a sharp right turn, just push both sticks to the right and the plane executes a knife-edge turn through a narrow gap in the canyon.  This keeps the turns fast, exciting and fun to execute.  The third person view from behind the plane, as opposed to a cockpit view, is key to making the controls feel so smooth, because the controls are always relative to your view (the horizon) and not the plane, so up is always up, even if your plane is inverted.

The online multi-player allows up to eight to race at once and I did not notice any lag when compared to playing the single player campaign.  The only difference is that real players are a little easier to beat than the AI racers in the later levels.  My only wish is that it had a local split-screen multi-player mode.

The only thing I found irritating is that when I would stray a little off course, the game would “nudge” me back onto the course as if I were flying in an invisible tunnel.  Many time this would “nudge” me directly into an obstacle I was trying to fly around.  As I got better at following the intended course of each race, this problem went away.

My final word is to go buy this game.  It is a gorgeous, fresh take on the familiar power-up racing genre that is fast and fun without frustration.

• Well designed controls
• Exciting courses and flight paths
• Up to eight players online
• No local co-op

Final Score: 9 out of 10

You can follow SkyDrift here on Facebook and Twitter.

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DeathSpank: The Baconing Review (Xbox 360)

Game Review: The Baconing
Release: August 31, 2011
Genre: Action Adventure RPG
Developer: Hothead Games
Available Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, Windows PC, Mac
Players: 1 – 2 Local Only
MSRP:  1200 MS Points / $14.99
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
Website: www.thebaconing.com

DeathSpank is back in a sort of new stand alone adventure based on a true(ish) story, which is really the third installment of the life and times of DeathSpank, hero to the downtrodden.  The Baconing picks up where we left off at the end of DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue.  DeathSpank has collected all of the Thongs which were each imbued with special powers, and is now tasked with destroying each of them, as they tend to corrupt the wearer with their power.  Each thong must be taken to a special location where there is Bacon Fire and flung (or shot) into the flames, because as we all know, this is the only true way to destroy a magically imbued thong.

Yes, it’s all very silly, and very fun.

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Stick ‘Em Up 2: Paper Adventures Review (XBLA)

Game Review: Stick ‘Em Up 2: Paper Adventures
Release: June 30, 2011
Genre: 2D Side Scrolling Retro Platformer
Developer: Never Don’t Play
Available Platforms: Xbox 360 (XBLA)
Players: 1-4 Local Vs. and Co-op
MSRP: 240 MS Points ($3.00 US)
ESRB Rating: N/A
Website: www.NeverDontPlay.com

A few times a year I get an urge to go Indie game shopping in the Xbox Live Marketplace.  I’ll take ten or fifteen dollars and pick up a bunch of games ranging in price from a few bucks down to a dollar each.  Many of the games are poorly done, but there are some gems to be had, and I enjoy panning for gold in the Indie game store while supporting some up and coming developers.  Stick ‘Em Up 2: Paper Adventures has turned out to be the latest sparkle in my pan.

Never Don’t Play, the game’s creator, has very little to says about the game on their website.

“Stick ‘Em Up 2: Paper Adventures is a run’n’gun / platform game of stick figure characters fighting through beautiful paper and card levels using everything from spears to a rocket launcher equipped helicopter.  4 players can play through the campaign together, or go against each other in VS and team VS modes.”

Actually, that about covers it.  There’s no story-line to speak of; just stick-men running and gunning though a variety of environments.  Sometimes, that’s all you need.

If you played the original Stick ‘Em Up, you will notice the look for the sequel has been revamped.  All of the environments look like they have been constructed from paper and card stock.  It’s a welcome change that gives the environments a bit of that “South Park” charm.

The controls are a combination of common platform controls and those of a two stick shooter.  The left stick controls movement combined with the left trigger used for jumping.  Aiming the various weapons is accomplished with the right stick and firing or throwing is done with the right trigger.

Even though the controls are slightly different from level to level (for example, the longer the trigger is held, the further the spears are thrown) Stick ‘Em Up 2 remains a simple, pick-it-up-and-play game that can be enjoyed even in short bursts.  It’s a game that you can play for five minutes at a time, or for several hours.

There are six included levels – with a promise of more coming in an update later in Summer 2011.  When is the last time you purchased an Indie game – or any game – for three bucks, knowing there would be more content added to it for free in the future?  The wide variety in level themes makes me wonder what the update will include – because it could be just about anything.

Here is an overview of the included campaign levels.

Shred bad guys in Japan with your Stick-Ninja's throwing stars.

Skyline (Tutorial) – Armed with both a machine gun and a rocket launcher, your stick-man leaps from rooftop to rooftop taking out bad guys.  Once reaching the helicopter, you fly to the finish, clearing the way with the chopper’s rocket launcher.

Japan – This level focuses on platforming.  Use trees and clouds to make your way to the bad guys and whack them with an onslaught on throwing stars.  Watch out behind you though; some baddies don’t come out until you have passed the edge of a building.

Apollo – Falling stars are not so beautiful when there are hundreds of them trying to crush you.  This foot race puts you on the surface of the moon where you must avoid, or shoot hundreds of falling stars.  If you move fast you may be able to stay ahead of the avalanche.

Leap from ship to ship as a Stick-Pirate, manning the canons along the way. Arrr!

Pirates – Armed with only your trusty sword, you must make your way from ship to ship while taking out the crew of each ship. Make sure you do not pass up the opportunity to use the cannons to attack nearby ships.

Space Race – Jump in and go!  Here you race over the surface of the moon in Apollo era moon buggies.  With the light gravity, it’s easy to end up with your vehicle overturned.

Treetops – This level has more vertical platforming than the others, but the use of spears for weapons sets this apart from the others.  To throw a spear you pull the right trigger which displays a trajectory path on the screen.  The longer the trigger is pulled, the more powerful the throw and releasing the trigger launches the spear.

In addition to the campaign levels, which all can be played coop with up to four players locally, there is also a Player Vs. Player mode with overly simple maze-like levels that lack the charm of the campaign.  The highlight is the marriage of stick-men and cartoonish physics that make for many laugh-out-loud moments during the campaign multi-player races.

Driving the moon-cars is a multi-player hoot in Space Race.

The game is not completely without problems though.  During the campaign levels, the reminders that pop up telling you how to use the controls get annoying – especially since after the first run-through, the controls are easy to remember. (Trust me, you will be replaying the levels over and over!)  I just want a way to turn them off.  There are also some jumpy camera movement issues in the Treetops, but word is that the update will take care of that – they are noticeable, but not a game stopper by any measure.

The most challenging level is Treetops due to the choice of weapon: spears.

In the end, I am left looking forward to the update; not for the bug fixes, but for more levels.  Stick ‘Em Up 2: Paper Adventures leaves me wanting more – and that’s a good thing.  Go grab the demo (click here to add it to your Xbox 360 Download Queue) and check it out.  I think you’re going to like it.  Also – if you would like to be notified of updates for this game, just follow Never Don’t Play on Twitter, like them on Facebook or subscribe to their newsletter.

• Great variety in level design
• Fun and easy to play
• More levels coming soon
• Only costs 240 MS Points
• Pesky control assist messages

Final Score: 8 out of 10

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Game Review: The Adventures of Shuggy
Release: June 15, 2011
Genre: Action & Adventure, 2D Platformer
Developer:  Smudged Cat Games / Valcon Games
Available Platforms: Xbox 360 via XBLM
Players: 1-2 (Offline and Online)
MSRP: 800 MS Points ($10)
ESRB Rating: 12+
Website: http://www.smudgedcat.com/shuggy.html

Shuggy has just inherited a mansion where many things just don’t seem right.  It is haunted by a wide array of creatures and cluttered with traps and hazards that lie in wait for Shuggy as he explores his new home.  This on-going narrative is presented through comic book style cut-scenes that play as introductions to each area of the mansion.

With roots grounded in classic 2D gaming, The Adventures of Shuggy encapsulates a huge variety of platform puzzling.  There are several areas (Dungeon, Boiler, Clocktower, Gallery, and Graveyard) that serve as level selection menus that contain doors to over 100 rooms.  As each room is completed, additional doors are unlocked, and once all the levels in an area are completed, the door to a new area is unlocked.  This progression is how Shuggy explores the mansion and how the player is exposed to new gaming mechanics gradually.

Where Shuggy really shines is in the level design.  Each and every level brings something new to the game, be it sideways gravity, moving platforms, rope for repelling, switches, gears… the variety is immense and brilliantly distributed throughout the game.  The design of each level is expertly tailored to be challenging but not frustrating, which is a difficult balancing act to pull off.  Some of the levels are pure evil and involve ghosts of yourself following you 45 seconds behind, and if you run into yourself, you start over.  Once you have five or six copies of yourself running around a maze, it takes some pre-planning and a good memory to make it back through the maze to the beginning while avoiding all the other Shuggies.

Continue to my complete review, video and screenshots on Platform Nation