Now with a strange name like Dustforce one must wonder: Exactly what is this game about?.For those of you who have played platformers like Super Meat Boy, or the iOS version of Mirrors Edge , this has the same basic concept, which is getting form point A to point B as quickly as possible. What makes this game stand out however, is the way you go about it.  Your main objective lies in covering these two bases; First is Finesse, because minding how fast you complete a level affects your score (and combo meter), and the second lies in how thorough you are. Called Completionism, the second rating is based on the number of enemies you’ve defeated along with just how much of the level you’ve cleaned up. Now, I know the concept of cleaning dirt seems like a bad idea in a game, but it’s the way that the levels are situated that the magix lies, as some of the more challenging spots to clean need skill and perfectly timed jumps to reach.

The game has over 50 levels varying between two types, the first being basic exploration types to see what the worlds and the music sound like without any stress. The other types are meant to test your determination and and to see how fast you can get to the end of the world.  Once the world is beaten, your time is recorded and so is your score, and a scoreboard appears with others from around the world. This is great because it not only shows the times that other players have had, but even includes replays to see how they completed the course, which adds to the replay value after you’ve picked up a strategy ot two. There are 4 areas that make up the world, the Forest, the City, an Old Mansion and a Lab. Each one is unique and could easily stand on their own as a individual game. f(For a more detailed account of the 4 playable characters, check out this video, as they each have special talent, and a different means of attacking the creatures.)

This seems to be the online version of the multi-player, though if you’ve already conquered the levels packaged in, Hitbox Team has promised that there is a level creator soon to be released. Not that you’ll need it now, since to just get access to the really hard levels, one must be able to get the highest score which is a double S, and once achieved you end up with a key, either Silver or Gold, for unlocking purposes. There is also a local multi-player, but if you aren’t willing to share a keyboard, it is a great game for LAN which is something that has seemed to disappear in this age of online play.

The very last part of the game that I truly enjoyed was the music. Reminiscent of the older days of gaming with a very chiptune, almost 16-bit but with a modern flavor, the music manages to be subtle but very prominent at the same time. Any one who enjoyed the Cave Storysoundtrack will love this sound track as well.

In conclusion, Dustforce is an amazing game to have fun for you, your friends, and I say you have no excuse to not pick it up on Steam for $10.00. Aside from a small gripe that begs for update with some controller support for easier local multi, I have to give it a 9 out of 10.

Rating: 9.0

For more info, check out Dustforce by Hitbox Team.

But, all things aside I finished in the top 20 (tied 17th) which is not bad at all. My other two highest finishes were when I placed 4th at NJIT, and 3rd at an admittedly low-turnout King of the Couch in Morristown. I can confidently say that my play has improved from last year. I don’t wake up unsafely as much I used to. I still have my issues with defense (I get grabbed easily and my blocking isn’t fully solid yet) however I have gotten better at avoiding some situations. On the other side of the coin, my offense has experienced the same growth. I am trying to make the transition from being a brawler to a more refined fighter. Yes, it’s a slow one with no real metric in which to measure your success, but I’ve noticed I have been winning a bit more in ranked matches online.

I finally made a return to Next Level for the big Two tournament series. I get there, I’m excited to play, but then, just my luck, I get to play a Spam ‘Rog and his cheap El Fuerte on stream . Overall, I didn’t do too bad, but I see that the potential here. I looked way better here than I did at Apex, but I’m still too inconsistent. I missed a few key punishes but I reacted well in some situations. If you’re wondering how I did in the overall tournament, I was blown up I haven’t gone 0-2 in a while so it was refreshing to be put down for once. That means I still have work to do, but just where do I get started?

Fortunately for me, Shoryuken has many posts on how to level up your game. I have been following them when I am in the lab, however I’ve just been playing online more to see what people are doing and get a feel of what I should be doing with my character. I just don’t feel that I have enough experience versus some characters or situations. Top players have been in some fight situations over and over again, and they just know what to do without wasting time to think about it. Me? I have to think. I’m also not able to accurately manage my meters without looking constantly. I still find myself peeking when I’m mid fight. I feel that if I can get better, more intuitive with my H.U.D. management then I can do things like make better reads on my opponent by looking at his life bar, super meter or even time with ease. I’ll also be able to mentally access my situations a bit better. I think the only cure for that is experience, so I have resolved to try and make it out to more local tournaments.

I think with more practice, I’ll build up the muscle memory required to not drop combos too often. I’ve made some progress, I just need to work out the kinks. I do not easily spook under pressure, it doesn’t affect me much, so I know that isn’t the problem. I however need to be able to take my comfortable, casual state of high-level play to tournaments. The transition seems to be giving me a hard time and I think that leads to my erratic play sometimes. I’ll keep working at it!

In any case, like always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on getting better. Tweet to me guys!

Role Optional Alerts and the Team Buff

Two of the exciting features we’re rolling out for Game Update 9 are Role Optional Alerts and the Team Buff. We have metrics that show us who is queuing for what, how long they’re waiting, and a number of other really useful things. As I’m sure you know when you queue for a Duo, you tend to get in and are able to start playing right away. Alerts are a different story, especially for those of you queuing for the damage role.

It has nothing to do with Duos only requiring two people. It’s that they require any two people. As is common in a lot of MMOs, there is a population disparity between the different roles. There are as many players queuing for Damage as there are all the other roles combined. Healers are the least common, followed by Tanks, and finally Controllers. So the end result is Healers don’t wait long at all, but Damage tends to wait much longer.

All Alerts are now role optional. Generally it shouldn’t take much more than a few minutes for an Alert queue to pop regardless of your role, assuming there are enough people willing to play that Alert. When the matchmaking system tries to form a group out of the pool of queued players it tries to form a balanced group first. As minutes pass, the system becomes increasingly less picky about finding a specific role for a given group slot.

The Role Optional Alert feature is made possible by the Team Buff. Any time three or more players are grouped together, within range, and in line of sight of one another, they gain a bonus to compensate for roles missing from their group.

If your group is missing a Tank, every group member gains additional damage mitigation.
If you’re missing a Healer, group members gain a small amount of Health regeneration when they begin to take damage and gain a further health regeneration boost while holding the block button when health is at critical levels.
If your group is missing a Controller you will gain a small amount of additional power regeneration when your power begins dipping low.

The buffs are by no means a replacement for having the actual role in your group. But with some self reliance, it will provide you with enough of a boost to allow you to complete the Alert successfully. The Team Buff is not applied in PvP arenas, during Legends matches, nor will it function during Duels.

The end result of this is that wait times to get into an Alert should be dramatically decreased. Provided players are queued, you should be able to get into an instance in a matter of minutes, no matter your role.

Novice Raids

In an effort to let more players experience more of the game, we’re launching Novice Raid modes for Game Update 9. Novice Raids are far less demanding than the Expert Raids. They are intended to allow more casual players and random pickup groups a chance to experience some of our best content they might not otherwise be able to experience.

The combat rating requirement is just a little bit lower for Novice Raids so you can hit them a little sooner than you can the Expert version. The content, play flow, and boss fights are identical but the fights themselves are much more forgiving. That’s not to say they will be a complete cake walk! You’ll still need to learn and execute properly on the mechanics of the boss fights if you want to succeed. Some may find Novice Raids are a great way to get some practice in while they are gearing up for the Expert versions.

Novice Raids do drop loot, however the loot will be of a lower item level. They also award the same badges, but you earn fewer of them. Novice Raids share the same lockout timer as Expert Raids, so you can’t earn loot and badges in both during the same week.

Some existing feats can be completed in either the Novice or Expert version of a Raid. However others such as the speed feats can only be completed in Expert mode. Finally we’ve also added new feats for completing the Expert version of a raid.

New Soder Colas plans available!

Plans for Soder Cola Prime and Soder Cola Max are now available for purchase from Research and Development vendors. These recover more Health and Power than a Soder Cola Extreme but provide no additional buff effect and require no Exobytes to make.

“The Bandwagon Effect is a well documented form of groupthink in behavioral science and has many applications. The general rule is that conduct or beliefs spread among people, as fads and trends clearly do, with “the probability of any individual adopting it increasing with the proportion who have already done so”.As more people come to believe in something, others also “hop on the bandwagon” regardless of the underlying evidence. The tendency to follow the actions or beliefs of others can occur because individuals directly prefer to conform, or because individuals derive information from others. Both explanations have been used for evidence of conformity in psychological experiments. For example, social pressure has been used to explain Asch’s conformity experiments, and information has been used to explain Sherif’s autokinetic experiment.

When individuals make rational choices based on the information they receive from others, economists have proposed that information cascades can quickly form in which people decide to ignore their personal information signals and follow the behavior of others. Cascades explain why behavior is fragile—people understand that they are based on very limited information. As a result, fads form easily but are also easily dislodged. Such informational effects have been used to explain political bandwagons.”

Thanks Wikipedia <3

Note the first sign.

We’ve all seen this in action so many times before. When a team catches a hot streak at the right time everyone suddenly a fan of said team. Stadiums are full and once cheap tickets are now super expensive. If you want to see it in everyday life look at all the ‘new’ Yankees or Giants fans (sorry, I’ve never been a big football guy, but I did like the Chargers in the Junior Seau days) that pop up whenever the team is competing for the c’hip (or championship). For the purposes of this article, I’ll use three really good examples: The Miami Heat once they signed Chris Bosh and Lebron, The L.A. Clippers once they got Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups and the Golden State Warriors when they made that incredible play off run that produced highlights such as this.

After that dunk, Warriors tickets became the new thing for everyone. The Clippers are currently going through the same thing. This phenomenon is not just limited to sports, or politics, it also extends into the gaming world. Allow me to give you some background before I rage the hell out.

In fighting games picking a character is a much like picking a tool box. There are different tools in each of them for different situations, but they all serve the purpose of winning the match for your character. In most competitive games (especially fighters) people tend to pick their characters, teams, weapons, etc in usually one of three ways.

The first type of player picks by character loyalty. This means they simply like the character design so much that they play as that fighter/race/whatever for that reason alone. These people will usually use the same character over the course of multiple installments of a game. It’s like those die hard sports fans who like their team even if they’re horrible or someone who likes a band that everyone thinks is terrible. The second type of people pick their character based on whether the character-in-question’s play style fits in with their current skill level. For example, in my early Street Fighter IV days, starting off with a complex character like C.Viper wasn’t a good idea because at the time I didn’t have the execution required to play her effectively. This skill-based approach to choosing also leads them to experiment with other characters after they get to a certain level of proficiency with their main character. The third and final type are the people who pick characters because they are easier to win with, or ‘high tier’ ones, meaning they have attributes that outrank a considerable number of characters in the roster. While this may seem shameless, it is in fact a valid strategy. In the end, the game is about winning, so you pick whoever gives you the best chance of winning.

Teaching them early, huh pal?

With that said, you’d think things would be pretty cut and dry, right? No, they aren’t. In fact, there is a fourth shadow group no one wants to admit they are a part of. The assholes are called the bandwagoners. These are the people who I despise the most. “But Phire”, you ask, “Why all the hate towards the bandwagon?” Simply put, for the fact that these are the same people who, to use a fighter as an example, will talk about how bad your character is, how weak/low-tier they are and how you need to switch them. However, if something changes or new tech is found, they’ll jump on that character too and talk about how good they are with everyone else. Of course, if you confront them, they will deny they ever said anything negative about them and claim that they had “played them before”. Come on. It’s like they just saw the ugly girl from High School hit her stride, become hot and they’re the first in line, claiming they always had a crush on her.

No one was there for these days in Vanilla 4 or Super Turbo.

Why am I bringing this up now? Well since I started playing the SFIV series I’ve watched my Cammy develop from an ’0-2 and out’ champion to something actually kind of dangerous. With the new 2012 patch, Cammy is no longer nerfed to hell. I remember in the original Arcade Edition when they took her dive kick I was about to commit seppuku and find a new main (had my mind set on Yun at the time) but I decided to stick it out with her, and my patience paid off becuase now, I like the way she plays. But now I’m seeing Cammy players popping up EVERYWHERE claiming to have a good one, which 90% of the time they really don’t. They lose to characters that they should be beating, and when fighting against Cammy they lose horribly. Playing online, I tend to win the mirror matches because 80% of the time I know what I’m looking for, what to watch out for, I’m not doing anything stupid, because I know how she works. This is the main problem with bandwagoners, because they really don’t understand the character they’re choosing. They will see videos, or watch some matches and say “Oh man that’s so cheap, I want to do that too!”. So they practice that set of moves, go out to try, then lose to high level players who know their bandwagon character is fraudulent or they lose via being counter-picked because they have NO match up experience.

Even he wasn't safe from Bandwagon fans after death.

Having beaten several ‘Cammy’ players far worse than I should have, in situations that wouldn’t have happened (like misjudging her drill distance) if these people actually knew her well enough to call their play style ‘unique’(which most bandwagoners do by default) we wouldn’t have this problem. I personally feel that people should just pick either what they like, or what they are most comfortable with and just play the game. I think it would make for a better game overall because we’d have more diversity rather than cookie cutter clones of a particular character and play style. Newsflash: This ultimately serves you and the community no purpose, because you aren’t choosing a character you’re invested in, you’re just trending. However, this may be part of a larger problem as a whole with players who aren’t willing to do any work to win popping up in large numbers. I’ll examine that next time.

In January of 2012 I found a game on Steam called Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon by Vicious Cycle Software. One of my friends previously owned the game on console and was raving about it nonstop, so I thought I would give it a try. Well, after trying it out for myself, let me say that I am both surprised and disappointed. What surprised me the most was how good the combat actually was. Honestly, I was really expecting nothing more than another rehashed modern day arcade shooter. Instead, what I received was a 3rd-person shooter that allowed me the unexpected freedom to navigate and shoot in a limited open-world environment. Another great thing about the game is the way the story was presented. In terms of atmosphere, one of the best things about this game was the fact that It made me feel like I was in the middle of a Science Fiction B-movie from the 60′s.

Another thing I definitely I liked about the game was the fact that it wasn’t a hallway shooter filled with 5 minutes of game play broken up by cutscenes after each objective. Each level in EDF:IA is huge, fully destructible, and open ended enough that I was able to change and go through different routes to accomplish the same goal. These three factors add more to the game in terms of tactics than any other modern shooter, making this game more than just a ‘simple’ arcade shooter.Customization with each of the classes was another thing I enjoyed. There are 4 classes to choose from: Jet Armor, Tactical Armor, Trooper Armor, and Battle Armor. Each class has their own upgrade system and weapons that can be used, with a ton of weapons for each that you can unlock by two methods: Playing the game and leveling up, or by earning credits that can be spent to unlock more weapons. Like any game with classes, each has pros and cons, so choosing the right weapon for the job is not only crucial, but the differences between them adds replay value. That plus the endless amount of color pallets and weapon combinations add so much variety that each time you play through the game, you can without looking the same way twice.

But, for each good thing the game does, there are a few equally bad things that take away from it.

As much as I enjoyed it, one thing I found disappointing was the overall length of the game. At 3 chapters long, I was done with the entire game in 5 hours and it left me wanting more, especially since the game is a bit light on the story. To the average player, 5 hours might not seem long enough, but one play through of a level takes about 10-20 minutes depending on how good you are at the game and the difficulty chosen. These missions have no checkpoints to speak of and rely on your lives, so as long as at least one partner is alive you can revive each other endlessly. If all team members are dead, that is Game Over and you have to start from the beginning of the mission. On top of that, reload times tend to take a bit longer (even with the fast reload option) so if a weapon you are using has only 5 shots, then you need to make sure you can find some cover or dodge long enough to reload and start firing again.

Some people may consider the AI of the enemies to be too easy, but it’s the sheer amount of them (numbering in hundreds) that makes them a daunting enemy. Another disappointment from the game is the online play, and while you can read what ExpertPenguin thought about the console version, I am not sure how populated it is at this moment. I do know that right now, it is difficult to find a game online, and with some games having cross platform play, it makes you wonder why the creators didn’t consider it an option. Starting a co-op game from scratch, I was able to make it through the entire first chapter without running into anyone else. Perhaps having the option to search for other players on the 360/PS3 can make its way into the sequel?

All in all, Earth Defense Force : Insect Armageddon is a fun fast paced 3rd person shooter that brings a bunch of new ideas to the table in the shooter genre. It has a ton of action, high replay value, and is one of those games you can play with several friends in local or online multiplayer, as long as you have a spare pad laying around, or were lucky enough to bump into a few soldiers online. Happy gaming!

Rating: 7.0

I played the first EDF and I lamented at how weak the mulitplayer was in that version. It supported no online play of any kind, but as a local split-screen game, it was just the type of simple, arcade fun that you would need between days of grinding out combos in Street Fighter, or just from dealing with any other similarly complex titles. My first look at this game was during PAX East and I was instantly excited for its release. I instantly fell in love with the new Heavy armor class, as large machine guns and explosives are a fast way to win my undying love, and the new online multiplayer, supporting not just two, but up to four players at the same time Most of the details about the game have been covered in the previous review, so with no further ado we’ll jump right into my thoughts on the multiplayer experience!

Seeing how I received this game pretty late in its cycle, a couple of my CL teammates already had the game and were up for blasting some bugs with me. This is great, as the game seems to come alive when you’re not dealing with some AI drones. When you can instead coordinate attacks and focus your combined firepower on the same target things become a million times easier. The only thing I don’t like is having multiple players use the same suit in battle. I feel having two battle suits walking around detracts a little bit from the overall experience because the armors share a similar control scheme, but have different play styles that can be useful on their own. It creates a situation where you’ll have two players playing the same way, with the same weapons, and with no real new techniques being shown off. The weapon balance is spread between the classes like this on purpose to encourage variety, and sharing the same weaknesses makes some stages a bit harder to complete than others. If there’s any problem I really had with this system, it’s like Geekboi mentioned earlier, that the checkpointing system is a bit unforgiving. Most of these levels take 20-30 minutes to finish, and if all players are dead, it requires a start to the very beginning of the stage. If anyone on your team is ill equipped, it can make the levels feel tedious at best and an endless grind at worst.

The net code seems solid for the job as well. As my team and I ran through the campaign, we weren’t thrown off by any slow down, and there were no hiccups to speak of. Survival mode is where we started to encounter problems though, and with 3 players in the room, things became a little bit dicey as the screen filled with enemies. we experienced some slowdown as things got hectic, but other than that? They hammered themselves out just fine.I also experienced a strange bug regarding how the game saves itself. I have backed out to the loadout screen from the pause menu more than only to have all my progress lost. It happened even when I quit to the main menu as well. I don’t know if this was a glitch they’re planning to patch or what, but going solo through 5 levels in this game tough enough. To lose it and start all over again is needlessly frustrating.

Overall, I give this game an 8 out of 10. The save hiccups were annoying and there were some slowdown issues, but it wasn’t enough to make the game unplayable, or any less fun. This is definitely worth a playthrough.

Rating:8.0

Let’s look at the “from scratch” build. Let’s say we have six hundred dollars to spend. These are the components that you will need:
-CPU
-Motherboard
-Ram
-GPU
-PSU
-Hard drive
-Case

Let’s start with the case. There are three sizes we can choose from as well as over hundreds of brands. Sizes include small tower, which are normally benchmark computers and media servers; mid-tower cases, which are what we’re normally used to as they are the standard; and full tower cases, which are huge and are for servers or heavy PC building and gaming. For our purposes, we’ll be using the mid-tower case.

Mid-tower cases usually range between $20 to $100 depending on the make and the quality. We will be using a case from Gigabyte as it is a clean, simple set up, and has a top mounted PSU slot. Most computers have this kind of set up, and this one is only $20.

Now that we have the case we must look for the components. The first up is the normally the the most expensive part the CPU. Now we have a choice between Intel or AMD I personally like them both, they are both great companies and tend to update at a nice rate. The thing that should be noted here though is that Intel chip sets update much more frequently than AMD and tend to run a bit more pricey. For this build we are deciding to run with a AMD CPU. Now AMD just released a new chip set as well as discontinued the old Phenom2 chip sets. So for AMD we shall go with the FX – 6100 Zambezi 3.3 Ghx six core processor. Its socket type is AM3+. It goes for $150.00 and you get 15 dollar gift card. One of the best parts about this CPU is the fact that it has integrated graphics so you cans run games on it with out a graphics card.

We have now chosen the CPU we now need the appropriate mother board that can fit the CPU Socket. The socket is listed as the AM3+ this is the type of board socket it will fit into. So we will go for the Asus M5A78L-M Micro ATX motherboard. This board costs only $59.99 and has everything we need to run our computer, just as a side note for the next step it takes 1333/1066 ram speed.

Speaking of Ram its time to choose it, the ram we need should be minimum 4GBm but since ram sticks come in sets of two normally I have chosen 8GB total from Kingston. This ram is speed 1066 and is only 42.99 and will fit in our build nicely.

We still need the GPU, hard drive and the PSU. For the PSU I would go with Coolermaster or a NZXT model. For this build a 500 watt PSU is enough to run everything comfortably and its from Coolermaster for $45.99

For the hard drive we shall go with a Western Digital 500 gb drive. This hard drive has enough space and even comes with a free CD-rom drive to install the OS of your choice. This is priced at $109.99.

Lastly is the GPU which is one of the most expensive parts but we found one that is current and up to date mid range graphic card by Gigabyte and the architecture by AMD. It is a 1GB card cross fire ready supported 6770.

For a grand total of $567.93 we have a computer that run current generation games at a high setting, with out breaking the bank. For people who already have a computer from about 1 to 2 years back I suggest you go over what is inside your computer and see if you have room to upgrade the memory and graphics card. Most motherboards can handle intense gaming but remember to make sure that everything can play nice with each other. Happy building!

As with last year, I’m going to take this time to reveal what my personal favorites were for 2011. It was a rather challenging ordeal though, as there were quite a few that I absolutely adored yet didn’t feel like they should make my list, and there were a good number I have yet to get my hands on (most notably Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.) I won’t categorize anything either, so iOS titles, XBLA titles and console retail builds will all be considered equally. Again, this is a personal reflection and not a collaborative effort with the rest of the Chocolate Lemon staff.

Honorable Mentions:

Homefront (not reviewed) – While it had its share of flaws, I still feel that the story was legitimately worth being invested in, outside of the ending. The multiplayer portion was shockingly addictive as well, and gave a more gratifying sense of accomplishment with each kill. I wholeheartedly recommend this to FPS enthusiasts more than Modern Warfare 3 or even Battlefield 3 (seriously.)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Rating: 9.5) – What I still feel as the first true reason to purchase a Nintendo 3DS, Ocarina of Time 3D didn’t try to cram in anything unnecessary gameplay wise (the gyroscope archery aiming was actually a brilliant addition), but simply put a fresh coat of paint on the visuals to help give the 3D effect a more glorious and appealing sheen. It was the highest rating I gave a game this year, though I feel it just barely misses my top five. Plus, I’d rather keep the list to new releases and not so much a re-release, regardless of how fantastic it was. An honorary mention would suffice.

#5

Orcs Must Die (Rating: 8.5)

The only reason I ever knew about Orcs Must Die was based off of the PAX East preview that ForteWally provided us. My fascination for the tower defense genre had started to pick up quite a bit of steam, and the notion of third person gameplay thrown into the mix had me anticipating this one for quite a while.When I finally did get my hands on it, was I ever enthralled by the trap setting mayhem that I had unleashed on the legion of orcs. Orcs Must Die excelled at creativity, where setting up combos with your traps produced not only a better reward on a currency manner, but in a satisfaction sense as well. With each level conquered, a new skill or trap is revealed, and with each level completed gives a rating, which is another form of currency that can be used to purchase a one time upgrade for each skill or trap. With a modest number of levels to complete, a difficulty that steadily grows with each passing level, and the myriad of methods to dispatch the incoming horde of enemies, Orcs Must Die is not only my fifth favorite game this year, but just passes Bastion as my favorite downloadable game of the year.

#4

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Rating: 9.0)

For a series that last saw a sequel back in 2003, Deus Ex: Human Revolution made quite an impact on its return to the scene. Definitely for the more patient of players, anyone going into this one with a “run and gun” kind of mentality will be quickly taken down, as the stealth approach will almost always net the best results. The amount of customization allowed through leveling up helps players stave off the strictly stealth approaches as the game goes on, though sticking to the shadows and picking off a guard always feels like the more exhilarating choice of action. Though it had a number of annoying blemishes (excessive load times, emotionless protagonist voice acting, overbearing difficulty early on, the laughably easy last boss) the experience, stealth and story overall were more than worth the price of admission. Even if you turn your nose at any game that contains a predominant amount of stealth to its gameplay, I still recommend Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Have a bit of patience with its blemishes, level Adam Jensen accordingly, and the game becomes quite exciting.

 #3

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Rating: 9.0)

Skyward Sword didn’t reach every plateau that I was hoping the next big Zelda release would, but it nailed an aspect that helps immerse player into the franchise like never before – just about full control over Link’s sword. A radical departure from the industry standards of “press the attack button to hack and slash away”, motion controls gave a more profound sense of life to Link, enabling players to slash where they wanted, with little restrictions. on top of that, the narrative manages to suck you in from the very beginning, giving the story, while still as cliche as possible, more heart and presence. If Nintendo’s stubbornness ceases on the fully vocalized portion of the audio, removing the inane grunts, moans and “duh!” sounds, Skyward Sword could have made an even more significant impact in a year of solid gaming. It may not have been my favorite game this year (even after anticipating it for years before its release) but it’s still constructed in a way that has it superseding most every other release in general.

#2

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Rating: 9.0)

Truth be told, this was an easy selection for number one. A gigantic game world filled with life (eventually you’ll see more of it a few dozen hours into your adventures), numerous quests, sights, sounds and everything in-between. It’s just a shame that my actual number one selection was released just over a month later, or else The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim would have ran away with it all. That doesn’t diminish the fact that its addictive nature and much more refined gameplay, inventory system, skills and so on, are just a small fraction of why it’s nearly impossible to put the game down. In terms of console releases, Bethesda probably released the single best title in this young decade, with more incentives to march forward than any other game released since January 1st of 2010. If you haven’t got your hands on this hot seller yet, check out my review and then go out and get lost in the world of Skyrim for the foreseeable future.

Star Wars: The Old Republic (not reviewed)

I’ll be the first to say that this is the latest release I’ve played into a year, and the first that ever impressed me so profoundly. While the review is still some weeks away (I’m not going to throw out a review two days after launch like some people), I have spotted some flaws with The Old Republic, but they are not enough for me to bump it behind The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Bioware managed to do something that no other MMORPG has ever done in such a successful manner – provide a storyline that will grip players in and make them remember their adventures as much as they remembered their trek through the first two Knights of the Old Republic titles. Many of the MMO nuances have been simplified or streamlined some, though never feel excessively dumb down and borderline skewed to preteen casuals. As of this writing, it remains to be seen what kind of end game material will be available (I’m a level 46 Sith Juggernaut) but the journey thus far has kept me hooked harder than any other MMORPG that I’ve played since the one of the grandfathers of the genre, Everquest. While Imperial classes will intertwine in terms of content and side missions, as the Republic side does the same, just following the main storyline and finding out what happens next is gripping enough. The Sith Warrior > Juggernaut plot takes predictable turns here and there, yet they come about at unexpected times. From engaging combat to an engaging soundtrack, the complete package thus far of Star Wars: The Old Republic manages to peep its head above a plethora of high caliber releases that gamers have seen this year. For a game released midway through the final month of a year, that’s quite a spectacular feat.

In any case, I will be doing the best I possibly can to get a piece out each weekday in some kind of format. I may keep the coverage going well past the day(s) that my review is released, or I may shorten the frequency of reports. No matter what the final decisions will be, tune in to Chocolate Lemon from early access launch and right on through to the new year and find out whether Star Wars: The Old Republic will be the new watermark for the MMORPG genre, or possibly another botched effort, like Final Fantasy XIV. You can also follow me on Twitter where I’ll be sure to leave a few thoughts (as well as some inane wrestling banter.)

Right off the bat I was told I had too many characters for my rate (premium since I paid full price and almost paid the monthly fee.) I had to delete characters until I about 6 which is more than enough for this game (legendary gets 16 which is nuts). The servers were compressed into two types: PVE (player versus everything/one) and PVP (player versus player). The main difference is that heroes and villains can just attack you flat out on the PvP server regardless of what you’re doing. The server selection screen looks terrible. It seems like it was just a last minute add and hasn’t been properly done to support HD. Oh well, on to the character creation.

This hasn’t changed too much. You’re offered more body types and sizes which is a huge change from the previous version. I’m sure these were added at some patch point but since I haven’t played in forever it feels like a bonus. There is a new power set unlocked which you have to purchase which are the powers of the Green Lantern/Sinestro Corps for about 10 bucks but you can play with out them which is pretty good. I actually lost to to a Lantern in PVP only because I didn’t know what his powers did nor have I played recently so I forgot those cheap combos I used to know.

What has changed in the actual game, a lot has actually. The menu system got a complete overhaul and it’s very easy to navigate. The mail system got a bit of a buff as well. The chat function is really easy to manage and it isn’t intrusive. As I said earlier, I’m sure most of this stuff was fixed in a patch that was probably administered after the free month period was up. Since all of the servers of one type (PVP or PVE) were merged into one super server there’s a chance you will have to rename your character (I lucked out and Wild Phire was not taken). You also get some goodies based on you signing back in and using your PSN account after the hack.

Up for a bad romance?

It seems like things can go back to the way they were right? Wrong. Just like your ex, there’s a reason why they are still your ex and you’re not dating them no matter how much they’ve changed. The wait time to get one is still long. The best times of day to play where there isn’t much of a wait are still mid-day during the week or super late at night. You could get away with mornings depending on where you are. Want to play during afternoon through prime time with your friends? So do a few million people too, get in line. If you do happen to get in during those golden hours, remember the problems of textures loading in late, lag that makes heroes and villains just appear in front of you kicking your ass before you have a chance to defend yourself. The game still sometimes chugs when you’re not on a mission map and things just sometimes pop up.

All that aside the game is still fun and now that it’s free I can overlook those problems because well I’m not paying for it. There is way less of a burning need to grind levels because you’re not forced to play due to you not paying and trying to get your money’s worth. I recommend people who own this game to pick it up again just know that the download size is going to be huge. If you’ve never played this I suggest you give it a look you may like what you see.

Let’s start from the beginning, the story of Saints Row picks up after the events of two and all its DLC. The Saints become media stars and filthy rich in addition to their gang banging (giggity) activities. During a ‘publicity stunt’ (a bank job) the Saints leader (you), Johnny Gat, and Shaundi get themselves into a sticky situation and wind up in jail. They find themselves at the mercy of Syndicate in a different town known as Steelport. Johnny Gat sacrifices himself for you and Shaundi to escape. The events following that are similar to the previous two games. You do various missions and activities to build up the Saints in Steelport. Very simple and stays tried and true to the formula. Interestingly enough the data from the second game doesn’t load so you have to make your character all over again, so you can make a new character or just try to remember what you looked like. I basically made myself, again and just started playing.

The game allows players now to share their create a character online with the community which is an nice,but not necessary add. I can only guess that they are trig to build up the the community more. However the create-a-feature is good but it’s not very robust. There are some options that were available in the previous game that are not available here in this version. This also applies to clothing, jewelery, tattoos,etc. it seems as if they simplified it so the game did not have too much to load, especially since you can play through the campaign in co-op mode.

So what could you do to improve on a design on a game that is the crazy slutty sister of Grand Theft Auto? Improve the graphics for one. The game looks leaps and bounds better than the first two, while not as graphically impressive as GTAV it has it’s charm. While there have been some improvements there have also been some back steps. As I mentioned earlier the character creation suffered for the graphical improvements. Also the lighting in some points tend to make characters faces look a little bit weird. Facial expressions are practically non existent in this game, not that their needed but it is very noticeable around hour two.

Steelport looks amazing as a city, it has a grittier feel to it versus the west coast sort of feel that Stillwater had in the second game. It rains a lot in that town but it is a bit less pronounced. You’ll hear the rain and see the water effects on the car and tires but not see the rain. Speaking of water, the water looks and behaves pretty well. The lighting has improved and at night Steelport looks beautiful. The fire effects have gotten a slight improvement not as good as Alone in the Dark (best fire effects ever) but not too shabby either.

Controlling this game is pretty simple they did not change up too much from the previous control schemes, if it’s not broke.. They added some new moves that can be performed while sprinting each with it’s own merits plus aiming down sights helps line up shots faster. Driving in this game is always a pleasure. Every vehicle handles different and has a unique feel. They simplified flying to make it a better experience so you can focus on more important things like carnage.

The music in this game is a point of contention for me. While the original score for some parts of the game is really good. The radio song choices don’t sit that well with me. There are some good songs I discovered playing this game such this one:

Grum – Heartbeats from Brian McBlade on Vimeo.

However a lot of the hip hop rap and rock tracks I wasn’t feeling too much. They included a few tracks from Adult Swim such as the venture bros theme song,stuff from Tim and Eric, and the Aqua Teen Hunger Force theme song. While none of this is bad it just didn’t move me in the way that they probably hoped/expected. I think it’s because I am an old fart. What I do give them credit for is picking amazing songs to line up with some key events in the game. The scene when you storm the penthouse is just impeccably done for instance. It feels as if they modeled this and other scenarios after the songs once they got the license for them.

The voice acting for this game is good. Some moderately sized to big names were brought in for this and it really gives the game some flair. Having Hulk Hogan break down the Luchador code for you to having Sasha Grey complain about her outfits ups the ante. The mayor (spoiler) being himself was absolutely amazing, I had no idea that was going to happen. I was going to initially complain about the main character voice but in light of beating the game and doing some co-op I think the voices work considering.

The game offers a bit but not too much in terms of length. In theory you can finish this game in one or two sittings. The diversion activities do not have that many levels and you can predict where you can find gang activities to break up to complete the areas that you take over. The co-op is fun and I think is best played between two people who have not played the game before. You can help a person out with your beefed up Saint but it feels a bit too easy at times. There is a horde mode(which is practically standard in almost every game now) called Whored mode where you take out various waves of enemies. It’s a horde mode so if you’re into that sort of thing then this maybe up your alley. I did about 20 waves and I was done with it. There are multiple endings and you can make different choices within the game which affects what you end up with in your arsenal, who is in your crew and how you make your money. So it is worth another play through to see the difference. For the achievement hunters in one playthrough I’ve unlocked thirty seven of the fifty achievements in the game. The game is not to difficult on Hardcore just a bit cheap (everyone seemingly has SMGs and shotguns) but this is ok because you can hide in the stores that you own, call off notoriety and become invincible to most forms of damage with the proper levels to counteract this. I personally felt that some of the upgrades held your hand while you played and didn’t buy them. You may need them so the devs put them in the game.

Overall this game is fun. It is satire plain and simple. It knows it’s a video game and doesn’t try to be anything it’s not. It pokes fun at other genres and pays homage to them as well. The crew of this game is obviously into the culture and tried to include as much of that knowledge as they can. However there are some issues with this game. It buggy and sometimes randomly die doing actions that you normally wouldn’t die for. The AI is absolutely terrible at driving, finding paths to get to you and just not walking in the line of your fire. Sometimes if there are too many vehicles or things on screen your Y button becomes your enemy. You’ll have a hard time trying to get into a car or taking people hostage, others you’ll answer your cellphone when you want to open a door or get into your car. There’s also the fact this game may offend some people because its super sexual nature, rough language and some of the stereotypes.

The Breakdown

Control: 9
There are some issues with the Y button when there are too many Y sensitiveness objects on screen. You may accidentally take people hostage if they are too close to your car otherwise the formula they have for this game works

Sound: 10
Aside from my beef with the music choice the voice acting and sound track are great. Three words make this game great aurally, Auto-Tuned Pimp.

Gameplay: 9
You’ve played this before there’s not much to it, very easy to pick up and play, I think they realized the side missions could be repetitive so there aren’t that many of them kudos for that. The game isn’t that hard overall just a little cheap at times.

Graphics: 9
Game looks good but there are some bugs here and there. stuff falling through the game, some wonky lighting effects and some funny glitches.

Replay: 6
If you’re an achievement hunter, you’ll have it all in 1.5 play-throughs. And you’ll have no real reason to pick up the game again until DLC or just to help out your friends. Story isn’t that long but there are some choices and cut scenes you may want to see again so there’s that. But once you’re done you’re done.

It’s like GTA‘s younger sister. She’s pretty and super fun but not like her older more sophisticated sister. They have their own two distinct styles but you can’t help but compare them. This game is an improvement on the other two but there’s still some work that could be done. The game has bugs that happen often however they aren’t world ending. The game is worth a play through, the game has more positives than negatives . I would say pick it up at a slightly lower price point or ask for it as a gift. I don’t say get it used because you lose your online pass (which I’m very disappointed with THQ for going down that path).

Rating: 8.5