Monday, August 25, 2008

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 (Xbox360)

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was one of the premier games for the Xbox 360 launch. It established low-cost downloadable games as a worthy alternative to full-priced, big-budget fare and made leaderboard races between friends a reason to keep playing through the night. But with such a simple mechanic, the idea of a full-fledged sequel being able to capture the same addictive nature of the original seemed like a pipe dream, especially after the subsequent sequels came and went without causing a stir. More than two years after Retro Evolved ushered in the next generation of gaming, developer Bizzare Creations has devised a game that doesn't just top the original, it blows it away. With five new modes that require unique strategies and cutthroat multiplayer competition that is among the best for any XBLA game, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 is the new standard for frantic downloadable games.

From a gameplay perspective, the biggest difference between Retro Evolved 2 and the original is the addition of geoms. These tiny green gems are the key to racking up ridiculous scores. Instead of raising your multiplier by shooting enemies, you have to collect the goodies that they drop. The original game put a 10x cap on your multiplier, but in the sequel you're limited only by your reckless desire to collect more geoms. Your multiplier will no longer reset when you die, so your best efforts from the XBLA original will seem like puny nothings now. Furthermore, you no longer need to worry about being stuck with the shoddy weapon while being surrounded by those dastardly snake creatures; there are no weapon upgrades, and your standard gun is more than enough to keep those evil shapes at bay.

The most divergent of the five new modes introduced in Retro Evolved 2 is Pacifism. As the name implies, you won't actually be shooting enemies. Instead, the level is loaded with slalom-type gates that explode when you fly through the center. However, if you accidentally bump into the orange edges that hold this contraption together, you will be the one who explodes. The idea of playing Geometry Wars without a gun may seem impossible, but you face off against lemming-like blue diamonds that dutifully follow as you lead them down death's trail. It is incredibly satisfying to get a huge fleet of these troopers to follow you as you burst through multiple gates, destroying the platoon in a massive explosion.

Other new modes don't stray quite as far from the standard GeoWars formula, but they are every bit as engaging. Waves returns from its stint as a Project Gotham Racing 4 unlockable. A wall of orange missiles will emerge from one of the four sides every few seconds, making you constantly watch your back as another massive fleet closes in on you. King mode places three circular safe zones around the map that are the only places from which you can fire. Since these havens will disappear soon after you enter them, you'll have to constantly swoop around the battlefield, collecting geoms while you desperately try to find a new home where you can hide and safely destroy enemies again. Sequence is the only mode that has an actual ending, but only expert players will ever be able to reach it. Here you'll blast through 20 levels that have the same enemy placement every time. Memory won't be enough to ensure victory because the rooms are near to bursting with enemies, which makes survival seem like a crazy fantasy. It's exhausting but extremely rewarding, even if you never make it to the end.

The remaining two modes are tweaked versions of the traditional free-for-all. Though Evolved mode is structurally the same as the original, the addition of geoms changes the strategy of battle. You'll have to constantly circle back on enemies that you've destroyed if you want to extend your multiplier, which makes the risk/reward dynamic all the more satisfying. Deadline limits the carnage to just three minutes, which makes collecting geoms your number-one priority. Both of these modes should satisfy Evolved veterans looking for more traditional shooting action.

Retro Evolved 2's visuals are definitely a step up from those in the first game. The screen is bursting with even more colors now, and every explosion fills half the screen with gorgeous lights. The enemies are much more distinct, too, and their brighter colors make it easier to identify them and work out a contingency plan. The sound is also much improved from the original. Every mode has its own music track, which gives each the tone that it needs. Pacifist offers a much more subdued feel, whereas Waves is just bursting with chaos. The explosions are extremely sharp and punctuate the music with bursts of energy.

The multiplayer mode takes the whole experience to another level of crazy fun. You can quadruple your firepower with cooperative mode, though it doesn't make the game any easier because keeping track of everything onscreen adds another layer of depth in an already frantic game. Copilot is utterly ridiculous: In this mode, one player steers while another shoots, so you place your fate in your friend's hands. Competitive mode is even tastier. Fighting for geoms while trying to stay alive longer than your friends is a teeth-baring treat that should keep you coming back for more. There are even scattered power-ups here that upgrade your weapon, freeze your friends, or turn you into a geom magnet, among other things. It's a shame that this mode is offline only, but it serves to make an already great game almost impossible to put down.

Retro Evolved 2 is a shockingly good sequel. The only problem is the lack of an online multiplayer mode. Everything else on display here is a drastic improvement over the original. Every new mode is extremely fun to play and requires a totally different play style to master. The geoms put upgrading fully in your hands; you have to decide if you want to risk your life for a couple of green gems or if you want to focus on staying alive. Even little tweaks--such as including your closest friend's highest score in the upper right corner of your screen to constantly give you a new goal to strive for--raise the addiction level. At only 800 MS points ($10), this is not only a great value but also one of the best games on XBLA.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Soulcalibur IV (Xbox360)

When Soul Calibur was released for the Dreamcast in 1999, it set a new standard for fighting games on home consoles. Subsequent entries in the series have changed very little as far as the weapon-based fighting mechanics are concerned, and have introduced new features and gameplay modes with varying success. Soulcalibur IV is no different in that respect; the series-first online play is a great addition, but though the visuals have improved and the gameplay has undoubtedly evolved, it still feels very familiar. And that's no bad thing.

The majority of the characters on Soulcalibur IV's roster will also be familiar if you're a fan of the series, though only around half of the 30-plus combatants are available at the outset, including Yoda on the Xbox 360 and Darth Vader on the PlayStation 3. Others are unlocked by defeating them in the single-player Story and Arcade modes, and by purchasing them with the gold that you're awarded for winning fights. There's more than enough variety on the roster to ensure that you can enjoy playing as at least a handful of different characters, and a robust customization system gives you the freedom both to edit their appearances and to create your own fighters from scratch.

Regardless of who you play as, Soulcalibur IV is accessible enough that even first-time players will have no trouble performing some powerful and great-looking moves. Rather than memorizing lengthy combo attacks and knowing how to attack your opponent, the challenge here comes from knowing when to attack, when to block, and when to sidestep around the arena. That's not to say that the combatants in Soulcalibur IV don't have impressively large repertoires of moves, because they do, it's just that very few of them are tough to pull off.

Your goal in Soulcalibur IV, of course, is to defeat your opponent by depleting his or her health bar. Alternately, you can win by knocking your opponent out of the "ring," which is possible in almost all of the game's beautifully realized arenas. New to the series--though reminiscent of a feature in 1997's Soul Blade--is the soul-gauge system, which appears alongside the health bar and changes color if you spend too much of your time blocking attacks and not retaliating with your own. When the gauge turns red and your health bar starts flashing, you're just an attack or two away from entering a defenseless "soul crush" state, at which point your opponent can perform a one-hit-kill critical-finish move. It takes a long time for that to happen, so the soul gauge isn't always an effective deterrent as far as overly defensive players are concerned, but it at least discourages online players from trying to score cheap victories simply by landing a couple of blows and then blocking until the time runs out.

Online play is where Soulcalibur IV really shines, though there aren't many different modes of play available. The action is fast-paced and free of lag for the most part, though if you have a slow Internet connection, you might find that your character takes a split-second longer to respond to your inputs than you're used to, which can prove fatal against a skilled opponent. You can choose to play ranked battles online against random opponents or join up to three other players in an unranked lobby, in which the winner of each round gets to stay in the fight as spectators get their turn in the ring. Both Arcade and Special modes of play are available online, the difference being that in Special mode all of the characters' move lists are augmented by special skills bestowed on them in part by weapon and clothing choices. Disappointingly absent from Soulcalibur IV, both online and offline, is an option to pit teams of fighters against one another. Team battles have appeared in the series previously, and given that the tagging mechanic is present in the single-player Tower of Lost Souls mode, its omission is baffling.

Considering that Arcade mode does nothing new and Story mode is really short and text-heavy, the new Tower of Lost Souls mode is where you'll find the majority of Soulcalibur IV's compelling single-player content. Taking control of one to three fighters, you must ascend (and later descend) the tower one floor at a time by defeating multiple groups of enemies without ever having your health replenished. Variety comes courtesy of opponents with carefully tailored skill sets, as well as battle-specific challenges that can be completed to unlock treasure chests containing new armor and weapons. For example, you might have to defeat three fighters who all have the ability to leech health from you, or who are impossible to force out of the ring. Optional challenges during these fights can be completed by meeting very specific conditions, such as landing the final blow as the timer ticks down to zero, performing four or more counter hits, or for defeating all opponents by knocking them out of the ring. As you ascend the tower, the difficulty level can ramp up pretty quickly, and you might find that you have to revisit the character-customization mode to prepare your chosen combatant for certain challenges.

How you go about customizing or creating a character for Soulcalibur IV depends on the use that you have in mind for the character. For Arcade mode, the only thing you need to concern yourself with is how your character looks, and you'll find that the number of armor pieces and weapons available for you to choose from increases quite dramatically as you spend time playing. For other modes, you'll have to consider the pros and cons of everything that you equip, even if that means ending up with a character who looks like he or she has just stepped out of a medieval thrift store. That's because just about every item has an impact, not only on your basic attack, defense, and health attributes, but also on the distribution of skill points, which fall into five distinct categories labeled power, impact, boost, gauge, and special. For example, equipping an executioner's breastplate will give you 30 power skill points to spend and will boost your attack and defense attributes, but at the expense of health points. There are dozens of items to choose from, and they're balanced so that it's possible for you to make more specialized fighters but not to gain an unfair advantage. Even skills such as temporary invisibility, unblockable attacks, and health recovery--which on paper sound like they'd break the game--are kept in check because to get any real benefit from them you have to forgo spending skill points in other areas. It's worth mentioning that more powerful (and costly) skills can be used only if you've played your character enough to reach a certain "style level," but reaching the level-nine cap doesn't take very long.

Style is something that Soulcalibur IV certainly has no shortage of. The nicely detailed character models look even better when the flamboyant animation kicks in, and the sheer variety that's on show in the arena locales can't fail to impress. The orchestral soundtrack ends up feeling a little too epic for its own good in places, but that's largely because it's paired with cheesy character dialog and an announcer who delivers his melodramatic lines without even a hint of irony. Fortunately, this isn't a game that's ever in danger of taking itself too seriously, as evidenced by the presence of Star Wars characters, animal costumes, novelty weapons, and plenty of amusing arena details.

Perhaps the most amusing, or at least laughable feature of Soulcalibur IV is that Yoda, Vader, and The Apprentice from LucasArts' upcoming Force Unleashed game all have stories that attempt to explain their sudden presence in the Soulcalibur universe. In terms of gameplay, none of the aforementioned fighters from a galaxy far, far away are a great fit with the rest of the roster, but they're certainly not so far removed that they ruin the game or anything like that. Some Force powers aside, Vader actually isn't radically different from some of the other members of the cast. The Apprentice uses the force a lot more liberally and, at least until you figure out how to fight against him, he can feel like a really cheap opponent when he throws lightning bolts and even his lightsaber across the screen at you. Given his diminutive stature, it's no surprise that Yoda feels very different from any other character in the game. He's impossible to throw and, considering that he spends most of his time jumping around very acrobatically, he can also be tough to hit. He doesn't use the Force a lot, though, and he moves around the arena relatively slowly, so he's not so much overpowered as just tricky.

The fact that Yoda and Vader are exclusive to the 360 and the PS3 respectively is easily the most pronounced difference between the two versions, but given that both games have an empty box on the Star Wars row of the character-select screen, it seems reasonable to assume that it'll no longer be an issue once downloadable content starts coming. The only other noteworthy difference between the two games is that the PS3 version offers an optional install to make the load times between fights shorter. Depending on how seriously you take your fighting games, the controllers that you use to play Soulcalibur IV might also be a consideration The PS3 controller's D pad is superior to the Xbox 360's on this occasion, but the latter's analog sticks fare a lot better. The question, then, isn't whether or not you should play Soulcalibur IV, it's which version you should play.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (Xbox360)

Ever since its inception in the early 1990s, Sid Meier's critically acclaimed Civilization series has challenged players to "build an empire to stand the test of time." Civilization Revolution is the newest scion of the series, and like its predecessors, it's a turn-based strategy game in which you take charge of a notable historical civilization and lead them from humble beginnings to world domination. Faced with the great challenge of preserving the strategic breadth of the series while streamlining the experience for consoles, developer Firaxis games has succeeded admirably. The result is a distilled version of Civilization that will please series veterans and newcomers alike.

Before the game begins, you must make an important choice: Which of the 16 civilizations will you command? Each has a starting bonus and four era bonuses that you'll gain as you progress through the ages, bonuses that will aid you in some way on your path to victory. There are four types of victory in Civilization Revolution: cultural, economic, technology, and domination. Each has particular victory conditions, and civilization-specific bonuses are a good way to start down the road toward meeting those conditions. Those seeking a cultural victory will appreciate that the Egyptians start with an ancient wonder, whereas military-minded players might choose the Germans and their veteran warriors. Trying the different civilizations on for size is great fun, as you adapt your unique strengths to grow your empire and deal with your opponents.

Once you've chosen your civilization, the game begins in earnest. As you set down your first city, you'll see icons on the surrounding squares indicating how much food, production, or trade each produces. Food grows your population, production builds units and buildings, and trade furthers scientific research or fills your coffers with gold. Being aware of these resources is the key to your civilization's prosperity. As your city grows larger and encompasses more squares, you'll have the option of telling your workers to prioritize one resource over the others, or to work certain squares instead of others. Unlike in previous Civilization games, individual squares cannot be improved, and workers now exist only within the confines of the city menu screen. Despite the worker's reduced role, the bulk of its strategic relevance has been preserved. Now certain buildings and technologies will increase your resource yield, so the challenge lies in choosing what to research and what to build to optimize your city's production. This interweaving of strategic considerations is engrossing and spurs you to constantly refine the myriad facets of your grand plan.

With your first city up and running, you begin to go about the business of expanding your realm. You build warriors to defend your city and explore the surrounding area. Barbarians will threaten you early on, and destroying them will grant you gold, or perhaps a bonus unit. There are also friendly villages that will offer similar bonuses, and sometimes even grant you a new technology. Discovering impressive natural wonders, such as a great forest or a vast desert, will also garner you a gold bonus and the gratifying right to stamp a name on it that will last throughout history. There are also a few ancient artifacts, such as the Lost City of Atlantis, that grant substantial boons to the civilization that discovers them. Although it's already a thrill to explore uncharted lands, these bonus incentives add more urgency to your wanderings and encourage you to keep up a brisk pace.

As you explore, create units, and settle new cities, you'll soon discover that you're not alone. Leaders of other civilizations will contact you with offers of peace, but don't expect these truces to last. Depending on your difficulty level, you may have a few leaders asking to trade techs, or they all may try to bully you out of hearth and home. You can do some bullying of your own from the diplomacy panel, as well as make peace, trade techs, or even pay a leader to wage war on another civilization. However, long-term trade agreements are gone, and previously marketable resources like wine, iron, and silk now merely provide resource bonuses to nearby cities. Degrees of peace, like non-agression pacts and open borders, are also gone, the latter of which is particularly missed during online games, when passing through an ally's territory will cause a declaration of war. The controls for navigating diplomacy are easy, but it does feel a bit limited.

If you refuse another civilization's demands for tribute, or want to pursue a domination victory, you'll declare war on your enemies and march your legions off to battle. Every combat unit has a separate attack and defense rating, and it's important to play to their strengths. For example, in the early going, archers are twice as powerful on defense than offense, so leaving them to defend your cities while your more powerful attackers advance to the front may be a good move. Positioning yourself advantageously is rewarding, not only because of terrain bonuses, but also because of the satisfaction you get from winning a carefully executed encounter. Cutting through your opponent's forces and taking their cities is immensely gratifying, though large invasion forces can get cumbersome since you can no longer combine diverse units into a manageable stack.

Actual combat is merely a matter of sending your unit onto an enemy unit's square and seeing how things play out. Victorious units will gain experience and can earn special abilities, such as improved city defense. Combat has been streamlined, too, and the number of units available throughout the ages has been pared down. Ships can no longer bombard land squares, but positioning them on the coast adjacent to your warring armies will give your land troops a boost in combat. Without square improvements to destroy, siege warfare is limited to parking your forces on squares to prevent a city from working them. Furthermore, even the smallest ship can transport a huge number of units, so sending armies by sea is feasible in any age. Thankfully, these changes don't feel like omissions because the strategies that the lost elements supported are still present and can make or break your martial campaigns.

There's a lot of information to take into account when playing Civilization Revolution, and fortunately there are a number of built-in tools to help you. You have a cadre of advisors who pop up to consult you in the city and tech screens, and they, like the leaders of other civilizations, are large, animated characters who react to your decisions and push each other out of the way amusingly as you switch your focus. They do make some repetitive noises and their gibberish speak can get annoying, but they are quite helpful in the early going and once you're in the rhythm of the game, you'll likely tune them out. Other audio effects and background music are more appropriate, and the dramatic flourishes of victory or wonder creation are quite invigorating.

One of the highlights of the game is the robust civilopedia, which is accessible from almost any screen with the press of a button. All of the pertinent game information is here, as well as a wealth of multimedia knowledge for those curious to know the biographies of the great people who appear in their cities, or to see a video clip of a galley at sea. It's a fantastic addition that you'll find yourself consulting often as you refine your game strategy. Though it does take a few seconds to load, it's well worth it to make sure that you choose the right wonder to build or tech to research.

Tying it all together is the vivid, clean presentation and simple control scheme. You can scroll around the map with either analog stick, though the right one is required to issue movement commands. Cycling through units with the directional pad is a breeze. The left trigger zooms out, though not as far as you might like, and the right trigger gives you a quick look at your tech, culture, and treasury growth. City and diplomacy menus are a mere click away. This accessibility is complemented by the vibrant unit designs and animations, as well as the eye-catching city representations. The ocean looks lovely as waves lap at the shore and fish frolic in the clear water, and mountains, forests, and rivers are equally beautiful. Scroll around a busy map and you'll experience some choppiness, but not so much that it's detrimental to the gameplay.

Single-player games are rich and varied, but you can mix things up further by playing the included scenarios or taking on the Game of the Week and seeing how you rank against other Civ players. You can also test your skills head-to-head online. Each match has five civilizations but a max of four human players. You can face off one-on-one, join up with a teammate against human or AI players, or cut loose in a free-for-all. A headset lets you conspire with your fellow players, but be careful to use the private chat feature lest you alert your enemies to your plan. Be sure to block out a few hours for these matches, which can sometimes last quite a while. You can limit the turn time to speed things up, but with four human players and one AI civilization, there's a lot to do. Online matches do have a strange pace to them that's not quite a sequential flow, and they move more slowly than solo games. Nevertheless, if you've got the patience, there's nothing quite like matching wits with another human player.

Played against human or AI opponents, Civilization Revolution is an excellent game that will let you plumb different strategic depths each time you play. It's incredibly easy to get engrossed in the rhythm of expansion and evolution, and you can happily lose hours and hours at a time. Sid Meier and Firaxis Games have done a fantastic job of streamlining many of the key game mechanics, and they've cut out some of the micromanagement without gutting the strategic options. If you enjoyed Civilization on the PC and are worried that this version might feel stripped down, fear not. Although it does seem simpler at first, you'll soon realize that it's the same signature gameplay you know and love. If you haven't played a Civilization game before, you should get your hands on this worthy new entry in the Civilization canon.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Devil May Cry 4 (PC)

If you play Devil May Cry 4 on the PC, you should expect all of the same visceral carnage featured in the console versions, but there's a caveat: You'll need a gamepad. If you're a glutton for punishment, you can try using the game's keyboard control scheme, but it's awkward and frustrating. However, assuming that you have a decent controller, you'll find that this excellent sequel is Capcom's finest PC release in years.

It's a challenging experience, though its smoother difficulty curve makes it far more accessible than Devil May Cry 3. In this vein, you're given an excellent number of gameplay choices that help you tailor the challenge to your preferences. You can initially choose one of two difficulties (and if you want to cry like a little kid, you can unlock several more), and you can even choose whether you want the game to perform some combos for you automatically. No, you aren't apt to find Devil May Cry 4 to be excessively tough on your first play-through, although it is no walk in the park, either. Nevertheless, it is generally excessive, and that isn't a bad thing. Stylish action, terrific boss fights, and beautiful, melodramatic cutscenes will inspire you to push forward, and they serve as an appropriate reward for a well-played sequence of demon slaying.

It isn't surprising that a game featuring the charmingly insane Dante would be so over the top, though the series' famed antihero is not the real star this time around. Don't worry; you'll still get to play as Dante, and he brings with him a good selection of weapons and fighting styles, just as Devil May Cry fans would expect. But you'll spend the majority of the game as newcomer Nero, who has a selection of impressive and elegant moves of his own. Nero is an excellent character, capable of delivering a few wisecracks, a brooding glance, and a heartfelt plea of love to his beloved Kyrie in a few moments' time. He's clearly cut from the same cloth as Dante, and it's a bit disappointing that the game doesn't explore this connection in more detail. Regardless, you'll want to follow Nero's exploits as he struggles to learn the truth about his own religious organization, The Order of the Sword, and Dante's apparent murder of its leader.

The story doesn't offer up a whole lot of surprises, but it embraces a certain attitude of self-indulgence. Cutscenes are overwrought, visually stunning affairs, and are among the best you are likely to see in any game in recent years. The theatrical dialogue, impossibly athletic animations, and swooping camerawork make for quite the spectacle, but somehow it's a spectacle that manages to stay on just the right side of cheesy. Devil May Cry 4 takes itself seriously, but not too seriously, so for every shocking, bloody cutaway, there's an equally funny quip that helps keep the narrative in check. There are a couple of cringe-worthy exceptions, such as one scene in which Dante decides he's a tango dancer (don't quit your day job!), but overall, you're apt to find the scenes to be gorgeous, thought-provoking, and emotionally stirring.

Nero's claim to fame is his demonic arm, better known as the devil bringer. With it, you can grab on to distant enemies and pull them in, pick them up, and slam them around for some excellent combos, plus deliver a few other surprises. These mechanics are easy to pull off, and they represent a general shift from the defensive gameplay of Devil May Cry 3 to a more aggressive approach. As you play, you can pull off some incredibly satisfying moves, both in the air and on the ground, and the most violent of these are accompanied by slick, bloody animations and appropriately gory-sounding thwacks and slashes. Timing these various moves can be tricky, but like in the previous games, eventually the subtleties of your combos will click, and in time you'll be pulling enemies toward you, slashing them into bite-size pieces, and smashing them into one another with glee.

The devil-bringer moves go a long way, which is probably a good thing, given that Nero has neither as varied an arsenal as Dante nor access to multiple fighting styles. However, he does have his standard sword, the red queen, and a revolver known as blue rose, and later on he earns another weapon that franchise fans will enjoy seeing in action. As you progress, you will earn proud souls based on your performance in any given mission, and with them, you can purchase new combos and upgrade existing ones. And you'll need them to handle droves of demons that get progressively tougher--and which are awesome to look at, to boot. You can choose these new moves individually, or you can let the game autoselect them for you based on how varied you want your array of attacks to be. It's worth noting that you can't really make a mistake here; if you don't like the move, or if there is a more powerful upgrade available to you, you can unlearn what you have purchased for a full refund and use the souls for something else.

You'll also encounter a number of secret missions scattered around, and you'll no doubt find them to be the most challenging aspect of the game. In some cases, you have to execute a certain move a set number of times in a row, or dispatch every demon within the allotted time. Although those missions are challenging, others require you to have purchased a particular move before you can manage it. If at first it seems that some of these missions are simply unbeatable, have faith and return to it later. There's a good chance that you were simply missing a piece of the puzzle. You aren't required to do these missions, but the orb fragment that you earn is a perfectly fine reward, and accomplishing these difficult tasks is incredibly gratifying.

About halfway through the game, you'll take control of Dante, and you'll likely go through a period of adjustment while you get used to the change in gameplay techniques. Frankly, the devil bringer is a great mechanic, and losing it is a bit of a disappointment, considering that it's likely to be the center of your fighting style. Instead, you'll have a new set of actions and combos to get used to, new weapons, and four (eventually five) fighting styles. Yet once your arsenal of melee weapons and guns expands (Pandora's Box is a favorite), you'll enjoy their cheerful boldness. There's a lot more variety here than with Nero, and it's a lot of fun to switch styles and weapons on the fly, just to find more interesting and flashy ways of crushing demons to a pulp.

In addition to the dazzling action, you'll work your way through some light puzzles and platforming sequences. The puzzles aren't tough, but they do require you to roam around a bit from time to time, bashing on some switches, using a special device to slow down time, and accomplishing some other odds and ends. They help break up the pace, but all too often these breaks result in lulls that last a bit too long, making you long for another crazy demon attack. Some of the platform sequences are fine, requiring you to use the devil bringer as a grappling hook to fling yourself around, though some of the more standard sequences suffer from bad camera angles and an annoying tendency for the camera to change positions in midjump.

Don't let the variety of weaponry and special moves lull you into believing that the rest of Devil May Cry 4's design is similarly diverse. In fact, the many different ways of killing enemies is quite a stark contrast to the repetition at the heart of the experience. It's true that backtracking and repeated environments have been a problem in past games in the series, but the newest entry takes these issues to an even higher level of monotony. Many successive levels take place in the same castle hallways and forest meadows, and when you switch to Dante, you visit them all over again. Granted, most of these areas are easy on the eyes due to their gorgeous architecture and grand outdoor vistas. Yet when you see them over and over again, and when some of the simple puzzles have you traipsing back and forth, you will wish for new sights. It has the effect of making a seemingly grand adventure feel oddly limited.

That repetition even makes its way into the admittedly spectacular boss fights. These battles are easily the shining star of Devil May Cry 4, and each boss is wildly different from the last, requiring split-second timing and good control over your reflexes. From a giant toad to a hulking stone behemoth, these bosses are cleverly designed and a good deal of fun. Yet as Dante in the second half of the game, you'll face all of the same bosses that you fought as Nero. Although the game could have benefitted from some new blood during these missions, the differences in styles between the two at least lend some diversity to the repeated bosses and test the newest additions to your arsenal. However, amazingly (and irritatingly), Capcom brings most of them out for a third time in the game's padded and plodding penultimate mission. Yes, these fights are fun, but forcing most of them on you three times is overkill.

On consoles, Devil May Cry 4 is beautiful; on the PC, it positively dazzles. The game includes DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 modes, and both look spectacular and run beautifully. Both Nero and Dante are fluid in motion, and they showcase a good deal of flair and subtlety in their movements. The more damage a move does, the more astonishing it looks onscreen, and few games can approach the pure razzle-dazzle of Nero jumping into the air, his cape flying and the glowing devil bringer tossing lumbering demons around with matchless grace. From an environmental design standpoint, the visuals can be gorgeous to behold, and moments like your first glimpse of Gran Album Bridge are bound to take your breath away.

The sound design, like the storytelling, is merrily over the top. The vibrant brutality of your most impressive moves is accompanied by equally squeamish and powerful sound effects. Fortunately, the talented voice cast never hams it up, even when delivering the most melodramatic lines. As Nero, Johnny Yong Bosch can be both remarkably sincere and sneeringly sarcastic, and his superb acting makes for one of the most appealing new game characters to be introduced in some time. But you may not find the music as universally appealing. This is the one area where Devil May Cry 4 feels too clichéd; it relies on the standard heavy-metal grinds that accompany most demon-inspired games and films, and replays the same couple of tunes during combat ad nauseam. Luckily, it never gets in the way, so though it may not stand out, it doesn't stick out, either.

The PC version doesn't support online leaderboards, but it includes two excellent additions: Legendary Dark Knight mode and turbo speed. LDK mode fills the screen with insane numbers of demons at a time and delivers plenty of excitement without becoming unfairly difficult. You can turn on turbo speed before heading into a mission, which hastens the tempo and makes for a great thumb workout. All told, Devil May Cry 4 is a great game, and it delivers a lot of quality action that will please fans without alienating those new to the series. If you liked previous entries, you'll find what you're looking for here; and if you were turned off by Devil May Cry 3's insane challenge, then you'll feel a lot more comfortable this time around.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 (DS)

Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 is the sequel to 2005's Under the Knife, which introduced the world to the amazing Dr. Derek Stiles and a deadly infection concocted by a crazed terrorist group hell-bent on destroying humanity. Many puzzle fans couldn't put the game down despite its outrageous plot and painful difficulty, and the sequel is just as addictive. Though you'll still spend time fighting fictional diseases spread by bioterrorism, Under the Knife 2 is such an exceptional medical-themed puzzler that you'll forget the game's absurdity as you're sucked in by its consuming gameplay.

The game recasts you as Derek Stiles and opens in Costigar, a fictional African state attempting to recover from decades of brutal civil war. It has been three years since the eradication of GUILT, the man-made infection crafted by terrorists, and though it has been successfully treated worldwide, it seems that those who had previously suffered from the disease have developed new symptoms, prompting Derek to return to the United States to contend with new strains.

Gameplay in Under the Knife 2 proceeds in much the same fashion as in the original, and operations play out in chapter episodes after a cutscene provides the appropriate backdrop. Before each operation, you're given a patient briefing and a surgical objective by your assistant, after which the standard five-minute time limit appears and the patient's life is in your hopefully very steady hands. You work externally to internally, making incisions with the scalpel, removing foreign objects with the forceps, and coating the patient's wounds in the strongest antibacterial gel ever created. You complete an operation by fixing whatever ails the patient and are awarded a rank according to how quickly and effectively you work.

Though it sounds simple enough, operations in Under the Knife 2 quickly intensify because the fast-paced procedures require you to tackle multiple tasks simultaneously; the difficulty comes not in any one procedure's complexity but in the speed with which you need to perform it as you struggle to stabilize a patient's vitals while feverishly sucking out pools of pus and zapping tumors. This hectic push for speed is the game's high point and significantly increases an operation's difficulty--since the slightest slip of the hand damages a patient's vitals. Fortunately Derek has a healing touch ability, which appears to slow time as he moves faster than an infection can progress. You'll also receive clear verbal cues about your next procedure from your assistant, which is a blessing when a patient's condition is spiraling out of control and you're clueless as to what to do next.

If you've spent any time at all with the Trauma Center series, then the game's standard tool offering won't surprise you; in fact, most of the tools are identical to those in the original game and function similarly, with the exception of the defibrillator, which comes in handy when patients go into cardiac arrest. You drain disgusting bodily fluids by drawing the stylus up from the target pool, stitch up gaping wounds by zigzagging the stylus across them, and make clean incisions with the scalpel by following the dotted line. Any sloppy suturing isn't likely to get you chastised, but Under the Knife 2 is more of a fast-paced puzzler than a straight medical simulation, and the mixture of both elements makes the game incredibly fun and addictive. The surprising amount of operation variety is also refreshing considering the plot's heavy focus on the new GUILT; you'll do an organ transplant, extract fragmented bones in the dark, inject color-coded serum into bacteria, and even play laser tag with giant moving tumors.

Atlus took Under the Knife's strongest criticism to heart when designing its sequel, forgoing a single punishing difficulty level for three difficulty modes. You can adjust these for individual chapters, which should make the game accessible to anyone intimidated by the original game's insane difficulty. You'll still end up repeating a fair number of operations, even on normal mode, but the additional settings make it possible for you to do so without pulling your hair out, which is a welcome improvement.

The game's presentation is similar to its predecessor's; the instructions, time limit, and stage score are displayed on the top screen, and the operation field is on the bottom. Patient models are in 3D and feature comparatively more-realistic organs and wounds, while the game's 2D anime style has been toned down a bit so that characters look less comical. With that said, their dialogue is still ridiculously melodramatic at times, complete with "I'm a doctor!" and "Pull yourself together!" lines. The music is very quick and upbeat, with great tunes supplied during key operations that are sure to get your blood pumping. Minimal voice work is also provided to emphasize important plot segments.

Under the Knife 2's only flaw is that it feels a bit light on content, offering only 38 operations that take a few minutes each to play through. You won't necessarily complete them all first time, of course, but even allowing for failed attempts and lengthy cutscenes it shouldn't take you more 15 hours or so to beat the game. Finishing the game does grant you access to "confidential" operations, but these are set on extreme difficulty, leaving those who shied away from the hard setting woefully unprepared for the challenges ahead. Even with these bonus operations the game still feels padded, containing entire episodes without operations that amount to little more than lengthy dialogue filler. There's some replay value at least, since the ranking system encourages you to repeat past surgeries to increase your score. All in all, Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 successfully blends a creative medical theme with bizarre but fun puzzle gameplay to create an addictive treat.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Final Fantasy IV (DS)

More than 15 years ago, SquareSoft shocked the world with its masterpiece Final Fantasy II (which was actually the fourth game in the series but only the second released in North America). For the first time, console role-players weren't given a few generic heroes and charged with stopping the evil wizard and saving the world; instead, they were introduced to a wide assortment of realistic characters who struggled with complex adult issues such as love, hate, honor, duty, betrayal, and redemption. Now, this epic saga has been entirely remade in 3D on the Nintendo DS, and whether Cecil, Kain, and Rosa are new faces or old friends, this is one adventure that you shouldn't miss.

Cecil is a man with a dilemma. Though bound by his duty as the lord captain of the Red Wings of Baron to serve his king and country, his conscience is heavy with the sins that he is committing in their name. The formerly loving and caring king who took Cecil in as a child and taught him the ways of the dark sword has become a sinister and greedy tyrant who covets the sacred crystals of the world for reasons unknown. Upon returning from a mission to Baron's friendly neighbor Mysidia, in which Cecil and his men were forced to steal one of the crystals like common thugs, he finally dares to question his king's motives. For his insubordination, Cecil is stripped of his rank and sent on an errand north to the village of Mist, where his destiny is revealed to him and his journey of atonement begins.

Throughout his quest, Cecil is joined by a number of intriguing characters: Kain, his best friend and a dragoon of considerable skill; Rosa, his lady love, who became a white mage to support him on the frontlines; Rydia, a summoner capable of calling the legendary Eidolons (referred to as summon monsters in other games) to her aid; Tellah, a revenge-driven sage who's forgotten more than most have learned; and many more. Together, they represent some of the most diverse and thoroughly fleshed-out characters in the long history of the Final Fantasy series. Standing on the other end of the spectrum across a sea of monsters is the sinister Golbez, a larger-than-life mastermind of evil clad in full body armor as black as night. His lieutenants, the four elemental archfiends, are equally memorable, particularly the urbane Rubicante, who insists on healing your wounds before doing battle with you so that you can fight him with all your might.

Golbez and his goons may have most of the cards, but that doesn't mean that Cecil and his pals don't have an ace or two up their sleeves. Each of the characters that make up your party have a set class that they grow more powerful in as they gain levels. Each class has its own unique abilities, such as the dark knight's darkness, which casts a self-buff that doubles damage for a few turns at the price of the wielder's own HP, or the sage's recall, which randomly casts an otherwise unavailable high-level spell. Though class-specific abilities aren't anything new, in this DS remake you now have the power to customize your characters by giving them additional abilities called augments. Augments can be found throughout the world, given to you by leaving party members, or even stolen from certain enemies, and they can do everything from passively increasing stats such as HP and MP to granting class-specific abilities like darkness or recall to normally nonqualifying characters. If you look hard enough, you may even be able to learn the abilities of the elemental archfiends, such as Cagnazzo's tsunami attack.

If you're willing to put the time into experimenting with augments, you will uncover a slew of powerful combinations that just may give you the edge you need--and you'll need all the help you can get because the difficulty in this iteration of Final Fantasy IV has been increased tremendously. A majority of the bosses require very specific strategies to defeat, and the uninformed will likely perish several times in these encounters before they grasp how to claim victory. Even if you're a seasoned veteran who knows all of the tricks, don't expect things to be simple; some bosses have changed just enough to throw you off of your game, and all of them are a lot tougher than you remember. By the end of the game, even the normal monsters found in random battles are tough enough to wipe the floor with a superpowered party of heroes if they're unprepared.

Besides the radical addition of the ability to customize your party, several other minor gameplay tweaks have been made. The characters in your party now share their thoughts with you on the menu screen, offering personal anecdotes and potentially helpful advice about the current situation. An entirely new quest line featuring Namingway--a moogle-like wanderer who in the original version was satisfied with renaming your characters when asked to--has been added, in which Namingway renames himself as he tries out a number of different professions with humorous results. Finally, Rydia receives a unique new Eidolon named Whyt that can be completely customized by conversing with Fat Chocobo, who fans will likely remember as a bank for extra-item storage (that service is no longer necessary because the item cap has been removed). Through Fat Chocobo, you can customize Whyt's appearance, assign him an assortment of attacks, level up his various stats by participating in touch-screen-heavy minigames, and even battle your friend's incarnations of Whyt in one-on-one matches via local DS wireless.

However, outside of Whyt's minigames, there isn't much going on with the touch screen. When not in battle, the bottom screen is occupied by an area map that automatically fills as you explore dungeons, and it's possible to navigate your party around the world by manipulating the stylus. At most other times, the touch screen is nonfunctional. Thankfully, the button controls are very effective, and so it's generally best to not even try to mess around with your stylus.

Final Fantasy IV is easily among the best-looking 3D games on the Nintendo DS. The heavily stylized characters are impressively expressive, from the manner in which Cecil broods as he reflects on his guilt to the way that Rydia hops up and down and waves her hands to get your attention at a shop when you find something that she can equip. Now that dungeons are rendered in three dimensions, there is a vast sense of size and depth (particularly in the final dungeon) that wasn't previously there, and it makes your journey seem that much more awe-inspiring and epic. As part of the new graphical update, key moments of the game are shown off in cinematic-style cutscenes, many of which are accompanied by full voice acting for the characters. Unfortunately, as excited as series fans may be to finally hear Cecil speak, the voice acting is actually the game's weakest point. Some voices seem completely out of character or introduce unnecessary melodrama.

Although it has been rereleased several times throughout the years, this full remake of one of the most celebrated stories in video game history is in many ways more poignant and impressive than it was all those years ago, despite minor irks with the voice acting. With a cast of memorable characters and villains, a more accurate and authentic translation, a new skill-customization system, and a few important new story elements that help to better explain key plot points, this is the definitive version of Final Fantasy IV that everyone should experience.

Top Spin 3 (Xbox360)

Top Spin has always been one of the more realistic tennis games on the market, and Pam Development has worked hard to keep up that tradition with Top Spin 3. While the game's challenging style may alienate casual players, it will keep dedicated ones occupied beyond this season and for a long time to come.

Despite being initially unforgiving, the controls feel responsive and straight-forward once you've got the hang of them. Face buttons perform flat, top spin, slice, and lob/drop shots, the triggers perform risky or power shots, and the shoulder buttons help you dash to the baseline or net. However, the timing of button presses has been substantially altered, and failing to release the button on time will result in a missed shot. Depending on your position to the ball, you might unleash a weak shot, a wild swing that misses the ball altogether, or an overpowered attempt that sends the ball beyond the baseline. The AI players rarely make clumsy shots either, forcing you to refine your technique--particularly when it comes to volleying--before mastering the game.

There are plenty of game modes, from the usual exhibition, career, tournament, and tutorial options, to online and offline multiplayer. If you're new to the Top Spin series, it's highly advisable to head to the school before taking to the courts, as the AI will punish novices even on medium difficulty settings. Doing so will give you a headstart on hitting those aces and returning every shot that comes your way. The game eschews traditional in-game meters and gauges, and instead requires you to use intuition, reflexes, and good, old-fashioned timing to nail your shots. The only onscreen displays are the score and a heart rate monitor, which gives you an idea of how your stamina is holding up. The higher your heart rate, the tougher it is to hit those hard-to-reach shots between the lines.

The career mode takes you through five stages: amateur, challenger, junior, pro, and legend. Throughout your career, winning matches will earn you experience points and unlock other points which you can use to increase your skills and buy new merchandise such as outfits, shoes, accessories and racquets. They're a nice addition to have, but will have no bearing on your performance. New skills include forehand, backhand, service, return, volley, power, speed, and stamina, and you can purchase dozens of different outfits, racquets, and accessories. The career mode matches Top Spin's serious approach to tennis, but it does mean the game lacks the variety and mini-games of other tennis games.

Beating three opponents in the game's career mode will advance you from amateur to challenger rank. Winning a tournament in this mode will then propel you to the lofty rank of junior. Junior--and the subsequent pro rank--lets you play through a regular season, choosing tournaments as you see fit with the aim of finishing the season with the highest rank. Do all that and you'll get a crack at the grand slams, and eternal tennis glory in the legend rank. Needless to say the competitors get harder as you progress, but as long as you keep earning experience points and using them to increase your skills you should have a fighting chance of making it at the highest level.

The roster of licensed players in Top Spin 3 is sizable with 40-odd players available, including Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Justine Henin, Andy Roddick, Amelie Mauresmo, James Blake, Andy Murray, and Gael Monfils. There's also a roster of classic players for good measure, including Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg, and Monica Seles, as well as a number of ficticious players. It's pretty cool to be able to face off current champions against those of yesteryear in a "what if" scenario. Recent French Open winner Rafael Nadal appears exclusively in the PlayStation 3 version (the only major difference between the two versions), so if you want a player even vaguely resembling him on the Xbox 360 you'll have to master the comprehensive create-a-player feature. This will no doubt come as a big disappointment for Xbox 360 tennis fans who can't play as the current world number two simply due to contractual obligations.

Top Spin 3's solid player-creation tool lets you make your mark on the tennis world without relying on licensed players. You can tweak dozens of settings for your chosen model including a range of settings for your face, body, outfit, and more, including tattoos, headwear, and even a desired grunt style and frequency. Some of the settings are a bit arcane, however, with eye colour being set via a numerical range rather than being labelled as something that actually makes sense--like, say, the actual colour of the eyes.

Top Spin 3 includes a wide range of famous licensed tournaments, including the French Open, the US Open, and the Australian Open. Wimbledon is an unfortunate exception, but the game does present you with the chance to play in more exotic and far-flung locations such as Seoul, Casablanca, and Buenos Aires, with more than 40 in total on offer. It will take you a long time to get sick of the variety of courts on offer, which are all recreated in fine detail including crowds that almost look life-like--normally unheard of in sports games and something other developers should take note of.

The game's multiplayer mode allows singles and doubles matches between human and AI opponents both locally and online. You can play a quick match, or compete in the World Tour mode's ranked matches either in individual matches or nine different pre-selected tournaments. We found the overall online experience to be lag free and there weren't any problems finding players to face off against in individual matches, or tournaments, and was much the same as playing against a friend sitting next to you. Online leaderboards will help you track your skill against the rest of the world.

Top Spin 3 is a great-looking game, and is technically and artistically the best example of the genre. The re-creation of famous stadiums looks spot-on, even down to detailed crowd shots and authentic tournament advertising. On the technical side, we didn't experience any issues with chuggy framerates except for when the camera was introducing us to venues while loading--for some reason every one suffered from this. Characters have realistic movements, their clothes move and sway as you'd expect, and their faces have detailed expressions and animations. Winning a grand slam feels that much better when your character looks and sounds like the real deal.

Top Spin 3 is a serious tennis game for serious tennis fans, and it's incredibly true to the series' simulation roots. If you're looking for a deep, challenging experience, this should keep you busy for some time to come; but if you prefer the occasional arcade match, or like the variety of minigames that some of Top Spin's competitors offer, you'll want to look elsewhere. Despite a few minor complaints the game looks and sounds great, and it feels almost as authentic as having front-row seats to a real-life grand slam.