Thank you for all your loyal reading, come visit me at ‘The Happy Colour ‘ sometime!

I’d like to get every ones attention I have a very important announcement to make. It is official EA has made a good game!!!! This is big news people, and should be especially significant as EA has only been successful with sport games in the past! Usually when I saw a good game idea I figured the best way to screw it up would be to give it to EA. I mean its EA….. EA made a good game that wasn’t sports based…. it’s madness!! However, perhaps this madness was an attempt to go with the theme of Dead Space itself.

Dead Space is a third person survival horror game in which crazyness seems to be the norm. If you are a fan of John Carpenters ‘The Thing’ Dead Space is a must play, as you can tell it must have had a lot of inspiration from the movie. The story follows a group of people sent to assist the USG Ishimura, a giant mining ship known as a planet cracker. You play as an Engineer named Issac Clark which is tested beyond his limits on the ship. The game for me was very story driven and as so I don’t feel it would be wise to disclose anymore specifics.

The game itself was a stressful playing experience for me in a good way. Although the game is not constantly throwing enemies at you it has balanced it well enough to keep you highly paranoid throughout the duration of it. Suspense, in my opinion, is the most nerve racking horror as Alfred Hitchcock would agree. Dead Space has applied this better than any other game I have ever played (although Call Of Cthullu for Xbox comes in a close second). The combat is really fun and never gets boring as there are a great variety of enemies and situations you’re placed in requiring different strategies (be it using the Mine Cutter to take out an individual enemy’s legs before removing an arm to finish the job, or freezing multiple enemies in stasis and then laying a timed mine at their feet with the Line Gun before turning your attention on a different horde). You will find that it is necessary to apply different solutions to different situations.

The game sits at a length of around 12 hours when you take your time, and is enjoyable enough to replay on a harder difficulty for a different type of experience. Because it is a story based game, however, your replays will be focused on killing in different ways rather than more insight into the story. Fortunately the games combat is good enough to make this an enjoyable experience.

Dead Space does everything well and has a ton of strengths, they follow.

Strengths:

• Sound: Great use of sound (when there is sound you’re scared when there isn’t you’re paranoid)
• Flow: The game moves with a purpose; you’ll never feel weighed down or burdened by pointless tasks and/or long loading screens.
• Combat: Varied amount of weapons with different specialties and purposes; fundamentally this makes every weapon a different experience.
• Scare: Good use of horror tactics, perhaps the best game ever at utilizing suspense.
• Customization: Fun customization system in which you need to allocate points strategically in order to upgrade equipments and weapons speed, capacity, width, damage, reload, and duration (to name a few).
• Story: Engrossing story makes you crave more information in the form of audio and text logs, as well keeps you focused on all the in game plot twists.

I have very few complaints about the game.
Weaknesses:

• Combat Discrepancies: Occasionally if an enemy is right up close to you you will shoot through them (I noticed this happen alot with the bigger guns and stasis).

Dead Space is simply a great game which really showcases the next generation of horror based games. If you are interested in a great survival horror action game make sure to pick it up!
My rating: Buy this game.

Love: The Plasma Rifle….. oh yes!! Finally a game that makes an assault rifle a precision weapon rather then a spray and pray type.

Detest: I disliked one part of the story, I choose not to disclose it for spoilers sake.

Bonus: There is a 6 part animated comic book for free on Xbox Live; download it and watch it after you beat the game. It is a very interesting prequel to it.

There is a conflict when reviewing Armoured Core games that must be acknowledged at the immediacy. Armoured Core has been around since the days of ‘Playstation One’ as so if you are new to the series, as I imagine many players are, you must plan on not being as connected to the franchise as many of its fans, such as myself, are. If you are a new player the game will be the equivalent in emotional content to entering the LOTR series on the final book; sure it’s cool but without your impressions and memories from the past its hardly engaging. With this in mind to be fair this review needs to take two perspectives; the perspective of the Armoured Core initiate, and the perspective of the Armoured Core elder.

Armoured Core: For Answer is a third person action game in which you play as a NEXT (mecha) mercenary that adopts various contracts from different companies in order to earn credits ($). The setting is a post apocalyptic world in which giant corporations call the shots. You, being a mercenary, are just trying to earn a buck while becoming a more recognized and thereby desired mercenary. If you acknowledge the premise that making money is good and there is no fundamental moral black and white you’ll fit right into this universe.

Throughout the game you will have various mission choices that will effect the availability of certain other missions in the future and in finality the end outcome of the game. As you progress through missions you will have the ability to replay them at any moment for extra money and to attempt to boost your overall rank. Beside the main flow of story you will as well be able to participate in arena matches in which you earn money for one on one NEXT combat.

This game truly is about the NEXT’s however. With all the nonsensical storylines and plot twists aside if you are playing Armoured Core you are playing because you want to make badass Mechas. Armoured Core: For Answer does not dissapoint in this regard. Not only can you customize the appearance and ability of your NEXT but you are also able to tune it which adds alot of depth to the game. This was feautured in the last appearance of the game as well, however seems to be much more flushed out in this version. In the last reiterment you’d be tuning to add 10 extra kilometers now you’ll be tuning to add 100! On top of this the game added alot of new parts that make it more playable for different playing styles. For example, in the last game equiping your NEXT with blades and flying around trying to chop people was nigh improbable, however in For Answer the addition of side equpiment which ups your boosting ability makes the improbable more probable. This was an addition that was greatly appreciated by myself.

Strengths:

• Great Customisation: Not so much the quantity of parts that is important but more so the type of parts and the abilities they gave them equates to lots of freedom and loads of fun.
• Replayability: Hard Mode literally changes elements of the missions rather than just adjust difficulty, and the multiple story branches ensures alot of replayability in this game.
• New Additions to the Universe: Alot of very cool new ideas such as a VTOL booster (a giant rocket strapped to your NEXT that allows you to infilitrate battles at rapid speeds), a Super Saiyan ‘esk power up that causes a gigantic explosion around you, and Battle Fortresses (gigantic bosses that you need to fight strategically with akill and purpose).
• Holy Crazyness Batman: AC4 was fast, this is much faster. More weapons, More life, More Damage, and More Speed equate to much more crazyness.

Weaknesses:

• More of a Tweak: Similar to old AC progress of evolution this version feels like more of an expansion pack then a new game.
• Short Missions: The missions are ridiculously short (I’ve finished many in less than a minute)
• Conduluted Storyline: Whats going on??? What’d he say??? Who was that??? equates to ‘Who cares?!?’

Overall Armoured Core: For Answer is a good step in the right direction; it takes AC4 puts it on speed and lets it go crazy! However it still feels like an expansion pack rather than a new game. If you are an Armoured Core fanatic and for some reason didn’t purchase AC4 this game is worth purchasing, however if you did buy the previous installment it will seem like to much of the same game to warrant a full purchase. If you are new to the franchise and are curious about the game there is a good chance you will not find as much value in it, as so its a rental for you to test the water, if you like this one the next game will more then likely be worth purchasing. There are alot of new additions but the similarity is still shocking

My ratings: Armoured Core Elder: If you own AC4 rent AC: For Answer, however if you haven’t purchased an AC for a next gen yet make sure to buy Armoured Core: For Answer. Armoured Core Initiate: Rent this game; test the water.

Loved: Alot of new cool parts which allow for more flexibility in playing style and creativity.

Detest: The missions are way to short!

Bonus: My ultimate AC4 control scheme (not for the faint of heart): LS-Quickboost, LT-Boost, LB-Overboost, RS-Fire Right Weapon, RT-Fire Left Weapon, RB-Fire Shoulder Weapon, X-Change Left Weapon, A-Change Right Weapon, Y-Lock-On, B-Reset View.

I believe it is important to ask ourselves when we play games that our story driven why we play them. It is an important consideration to address and evaluate. Myself, I feel the objective of a story driven game is to simply experience a good story. This is an element SW:TFU truly had, a true reason to experience the game. But unfortunately it made, in my eyes, a fatal blunder by, in essence, corrupting its strong story element with a multiple ending.

This may seem silly to more then a few, however allow me to explain my objection before you blanket your mind with disagreement.

My argument is simple. If you play a game that is story driven, and in my opinion that is truly the only element SW:TFU has, it is only sensible to expect a sense of closure as you would find in a good story. Think about it, what differentiates a good story from a bad story? There are many factors of course but one of the main ones is closure. Yet what happens when you play a story driven game with multiple endings; do you think you get double the closure or none? In my belief you get none.

Let’s ask ourselves what SW:TFU really has accomplished for its universe by choosing to provide multiple endings. Is it more story? Perhaps more content? Maybe it adds inventiveness? None of this seems sensible, the simple reality is all it accomplished was adding more speculation to the universe.

Think about it: Which ending was real? Which ending was false? Depending on how you answer this question, you have the possibility of completely squandering the amazing story content that the game attempted to accomplish. Not only are the multiple endings of SW:TFU a huge blunder in my eyes but as well a cop-out. The last thing that the Star Wars universe needs is more speculation! Fill the gaps between the movies already, give the fans something with substance so they can reach true satisfaction with the story. As it now stands such an ending is similar to providing crack to an addict, after the addiction is fed it will soon once again return to overtake the addict. Lack of clear truth and substance simply leads to unfullfilled desires, and thus lack of closure.

But why did this happen? More then likely this happened as the franchise is afraid to commit to an ending that would construe such meaningful events to the series. As this substance would provide closure, as such limiting possible other story lines in the future. Anyone who has played an MMORPG knows that closure isn’t looked upon as a good thing by sources interested in milking you. And frankly I feel like thats all their trying to do! From my own experience all the multiple endings did for me was disrupt my emotional connection to the characters, while at the same time leave me with nothing but doubt.

As I see it, their attempted side step truly resulted in the game SW:TFU discarding its most valuable asset. Simply, if your game is story driven tell a story free from the speculation caused by possible endings. Not only will this make your franchise move forward by adding substance and depth to it, but as well will ensure that the player has the truly emotionally engaging experience you have been striving to achieve through your story.

Without a confirmed ending, a story is incomplete; and thus, any story driven game that does such fails in its apparent task.

I finished Star Wars the Force Unleashed, and much to my discontent my early impression was correct. The force unleashed is in no way a good game, although it has lovable elements they are quickly buried by a vast amount of game faults. Before I get into the nitty-gritty however, let me explain a little bit about the game.

Star Wars the Force Unleashed is a 3d third person action game in which you play Darth Vader’s secret apprentice. The game takes place on a variety of planets set in the Star Wars universe. If you’re a Star Wars fan this game will be sure to please you at least with the amount of genuine Star Wars characters they included in it (Leia, Vader, The Emperour etc…). Through out the game you will find yourself slicing and ‘forcing‘ your way through hordes of enemies as you progress through 10 levels (the game will take from 6-10 hours to beat).

As you progress through the levels your character will gain experience causing him to level up. The leveling up process allows you to allocate points to three different categories of stats; Powers (teaches and strengthens your characters force abilities), Combos (teaches your character new combos), and Talents (various stat effects such as defense, health, force recharge, etc).  Although leveling is required to make a playable character as you play through the game you needn’t be concerned with grinding. In my own experience I created the type of character I wanted with ease, such ease that by the end of the game I had started allocating points to things that I didn’t want just to use my extra points up.

The game is most comparable, in my own recollection, to Devil May Cry in terms of play style (you go around and kill things, get abilities, go kill more things, rinse and repeat…).

Okay now on to the veggies and dip of the review.

“I am digging the story so far. Too bad about the game though.” Jwac

This sentiment mirrors mine exactly. This is exactly what I was thinking when I was playing through the game. “I’m interested in the story but man this game is bad”, and although the story is good one of the reasons it is so good is because its Star Wars and I’m honestly bias towards it. By acknowledging this right off the bat, if you’re not interested in the Star Wars universe this game will lose its most appealing aspect.

I’m just going to come straight out and explain the weaknesses of the game first (end with positive :D)! As there are so many, in order to save reading time, I’m just going to list them with a brief description.

Weaknesses:

• Camera: Its simply nonsense, it moves too slow and has a limited range of motion, making it very difficult to look around in tight corridors and during heated combat. Often when you’re fighting you’ll find it focusing on completely irrelevant things for the duration of the battle. When you need it to be far away its often close, and when you need it close its often far away. Overall the feeling you’ll get is that you are constantly trying to pry the camera to observe your surroundings.
• Combat Problems:
  • Lock on problems: Lock on simply doesn’t function. Sometimes your lock on will just cancel for no reason, as well it constantly misbehaves locking onto the most irrelevant objects. It is very common that even on a one on one battle when there is nothing else to lock on, you’ll attempt it and it will lock onto nothing rather then the enemy.
  • Lagged input: The game feels slow and delayed. Often you’ll input a command and find yourself double inputting because you didn’t think the move registered just to do the full input a moment later.
  • Slow speed: You’ll find that there is frequent stopping in combat, often certain moves will cause you to stop unable to move, block, or attack for a second. The lightsaber combos as well move at a snails pace. If the game was played at 1.5 speed it would be much more exhilarating.
  • Knockdown: Certain attacks will stun or knock you down. Often you’ll get knocked down and stunned into a series of attacks in which your entire life bar will be depleted. This is as your character can take a full 3 seconds to get up.
  • Attack Guidance: Your attacks are crazy, as they seem to have a mind of their own (a mind heavily under the influence at that). I have experienced many moments when all a sudden my character decided to strike in a different direction to either who I was locking on to or who I was charging at out of lock on.
  • Delayed Damage Response: Sometimes it will take a second or two for your damage to register. What this means is you’ll land a combo that should have killed the enemy you are attacking, rather then die immediately they will go on as if nothing has happened before momentarily dropping dead.
• Finisher Sequences: The sequences feel surreal and out of place, this is as other enemies will not appear in the foreground or background when you’re attempting them. As so you’ll be surrounded by enemies in an intense battle, however once you initiate the finisher all of a sudden the battlefield is tranquil as you destroy your one enemy (don’t worry the enemies are still there, they’ll magically pop right back in after the finisher)!
• Graphical Hitches: There are various graphical problems such as texture pop in, as well as light and sound effects getting stuck (your lightsaber glows like its being thrown while it rests in your hand, as the sound effect continues on until your next use).
• Get Stuck: Quite often you’ll find that your character will get stuck on small ridges and sometimes ‘invisible’ objects. This makes the combat more frustrating, as you will often get stuck interrupting the forward movement of your combos and or dashes.
• Cinematics:
  • All Your Customization For Naught: Your chosen costume and lightsaber colour do not appear in cinematics.
  • Am I Having A Seizure?: Often the cuts to the cinematics are abrupt pulling you away from the gaming experience and reality (you’ll be sliding down something jedi/sith style when all of a sudden a loading screen flashes abruptly in front of you. A moment later it flashes back to your stunt double and onward to the cinematic).
  • Did I Just See That?: You will often be flashed a quick image of your character standing in the same spot they were before the cinematic, before a loading screen quickly covers the obvious blunder.
• Presentation & Organization: The menus are horrible. Although the game has a reasonable amount of content it doesn’t present it in a suitable manner making even the menu navigation experience awkward.
• Loading:
  • Slow Down: In game slow down is relatively common.
  • Too Much For Too Little: The loading within the menus is ridiculous, especially in light of what the game is loading (this is most noticeable when customizing your character as well as when doing training simulations).
• Little Sense of Exploration: You’re guided. Constantly when you attempt to peek around a corner or jump around what looks like a hidden edge you’ll die, and are left frustrated and unrewarded.
• Limited Lightsaber Customization: There are only eight crystals that modify its abilities/stats, and only seven different colour variations. In comparison to games like KOTOR this is a joke.
• Randomness:
  • Stuff Blows Up: Sometimes stuff just blows up and breaks for no apparent reason.
  • People Die: Stress seemingly is a leading killer of storm troopers, people will just drop over dead for no reason.

Despite all these weaknesses, it didn’t do all bad though.

Strengths:

• Story: This is a great addition to the Star Wars universe.
• Good Checkpoints: The game is glitchy and you’re bound to die a lot, but be happy knowing that there is always a nearby checkpoint to respawn at. As well you keep your experience from your failed attempt. This makes the bad game play seem slightly more bearable (I sense an MMORPG element).
• Broken Glass: The glass just looks so pretty to me!
• Costumes: There is a new costume for every level, as well as various costumes you can unlock depending on how you complete the game.

Overall, if you can tell, the game wasn’t the best experience. As a matter of fact the game really was, to me at least, a waste of time. However saying this, it would truly be a lie to say that this game had no good experiences. There are definitely some cool elements that a Star Wars fan would enjoy (such as the story), and a layperson could appreciate (pretty broken glass and chaotic explosions). I think in general this game will truly be enjoyed by hardcore Star Wars fans, but this says little about the game and more about the fans. I myself love star wars, but find this game only worth owning out of a misplaced desire of needing to complete the universe. The developers really failed in making what they promised and what I believe they initially intended to.

There is one huge blunder however I believe this game has made. Although because it is strictly personal preference (and perhaps philosophically) based I will not include it in this review, and rather include it in a separate post tomorrow. Remember to come back and check it out!

Rating: Play at a friends house.

Star Wars Fanperson Rating: Rent it (or ideally watch the cutscenes on youtube).

Love: I really did enjoy skewering people with my lightsaber and then chucking them away. You can throw them sooo sooooo far!

Detest: Getting hitched on things, it happens too often. Very frustrating!

Bonus: Do you hate Jar Jar Binks? That’s a crazy question who doesn’t really! Anyhow in the game you eventually enter a room in which there are a variety of animal trophies displayed, in one of the corners you can find a Gungan frozen in carbonite (sweet sweet silence).

In all honesty so far I am very disappointed and am having very little fun. There is one word that I believe can sum up the game best ‘Clunky’. Everything is clunky from the loading, to menus, to combat. Let me give three descriptions to clarify:

1. Its hard to be a sith. In the middle of battle all of a sudden your character will trip up on an invisible barrier preventing him from moving forward as the enemy escapes gleefully. Perhaps this invisible barrier is the life force  of the ancient jedi penetrating the universe in some attempt to stop the sith ‘virus’ from spreading, but more than likely its simply small glitches in the level design. I mean there is nothing worse then busting out a combo in front of an enemy only to be stopped and held in place as the combo finishes.

2. Another very common negative experience is you’ll get knocked around trying to block or roll or do something to get out of the situation you’re in. Your character instead of responding to your command will simply get beaten to death. The controls just don’t work. This is a problem beyond scheme, the scheme is allright it just doesn’t input correctly seemingly.

3. As well the lock on feature sucks. There is no other word that can describe it so well, it is simply horrible! I have locked onto a barrel beside my enemy rather then the enemy when I was trying to melee him. I mean I was looking at the enemy and wanted the ability to side roll and yet it wasn’t possible I guess. I’ve even ran towards an enemy out of lock on attacked forward and for some strange reason I’ve attacked backwards giving the enemy who was distant behind me enough time to approach me and bap me as the enemy in front continued assaulting me. UGH!!!!

Ok…. so I’ve commited to beating this game but only because I’m interested in the story (which is definetely the best element so far although this isn’t saying much). I’m dropping the difficulty so I can fly through it as the combat is just not good enough to try and take seriously.

So far my criticisms:

• The combat is clunky and glitchy
• The control scheme isn’t responsive enough
• Linear (no mystery or substance, you’re always running forward)
• Horrible Camera
• Huge slowdown

So far what I like:

• Interesting Characters
• It looks like their are a variety of costumes
• Although the leveling is very very simple, it is enjoyable due to its ease.

I predict that I’m going to rate this game ‘play at a freinds house’ or if you’re a huge star wars fan ‘rent it’. But I’ll finish it and we’ll see, after all I have only completed the first three stages so far.

Ill update with the review soon once I finish the game, as I stand now however DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!

Front Mission DS is a turn based tactical strategy game that is a remake of the game Front Mission for Super Nintendo released in 1995. In the game you’re in charge of a squad of mechs that are taking part in something entitled ‘The Huffman Conflict’, the story of the game can be experienced from two different sides (that of the UCS or the OCU the two warring factions).

The game play pretty much involves you fighting on various fields with the intent to either destroy all your opponents or defend a certain friendly wanzer (mecha). Off the battlefield you’ll be doing one of two things fighting in the arena to gain money and experience or going to the shop and upgrading your wanzer.

The game is played from a top down perspective and can be visualized most easily by imagining a chess set with mecha, and a pretty yet variable shaped board. When you engage an enemy in combat (ie attack them in your turn, or be attacked in yours) the top screen of the DS will showcase an action battle sequence between the two units. While not on a mission you can partake in the arena, this is a one on one battle in which the entire battle is shown in the action battle sequence forma.

I enjoyed the game but overall was disappointed due to my high expectations of it. The fact is this is an old Super Nintendo game, and it feels aged like one. I was simply hoping for more! I really expected a strategy game in which lot of thought was required, and found myself hopelessly disappointed. Following is my assessment.

Strengths:

• Good Customization (there are a lot of parts and a diverse amount of weapons)
• Varied Level Design (you’ll be fighting in urban landscapes to jungles, all with varied geographic elevation which effects strategy greatly)
• Two Story Lines (you get to see two perspectives of the same conflict)

Weaknesses:

• Simplistic (strategy not required just load up your wanzers and go)
• Ending? (the main story is still shrouded in darkness upon completion)
• Balance (chain guns easily outclass all other weapons)
• Clunky (the controls at times just feel not user friendly)

From the get go it is very clear that there is a ‘best’ of everything in the game. You don’t need to strategize and make different style units for different purposes, you simply need to put the most money down to get the best unit with the best guns. For example, after completing the first storyline I realized that chain guns were amazing, and on playing the harder difficulty I used them exclusively which removed all elements of strategy and difficulty from the game.

Outside of the main combat the arena was one element of the game that needed huge improvement, the difficulty is either to hard or to easy. And eventually when you become more advanced in levels there is no suitable competition in the arena for your players, making it an element that has limited use in the length of the game.

In terms of story content the writing of the game was simple, filled with very one sided characters whom it was difficult to attach to. However once again in its defense it is a slightly modified and ported Super Nintendo game, as so expecting the best writing would be silly.

At the time this game initially came out it must have been amazing, but now it simply seems poorly aged. The people that worked on it simply didn’t do enough to make it enjoyable today, in order to make it a more worth while experience I believe they would have had to re-make the game fully. Although it has some good elements it is way to simple for a strategy game, although if you’re new to strategy games or just horrible at them you may like this.

If, however, you are looking for a simple flashback to old school gaming then Front Mission is close to the success, I believe, the porters intended it to be. Once again it is a Super Nintendo game, if they wanted to change anything they would have made a new Front Mission. With this in mind my rating follows.

Rating: Rent this game.

Love: Although simple the story has enjoyable moments.

Detest: Lack of thought required. I like to think in strategy games, thinking was rarely necessary in Front Mission DS.

Bonus: Chain guns are amazingly effective, too effective. Not only do they do a load of damage, but because their attacks hit multiple parts it results in you getting more experience per kill. This means your units level up much faster while doing much more damage, thereby making them do more damage in the future.

I recently got a chance to play and beat Castle Crashers for Xbox Live Arcade.

The game reminded me most of the old school Golden Axe series. When I was younger I had quite alot of fun with friends trying to slash my way through the game, which I never did accomplish due to its absurd old school difficulty!

Castle Crashers is good as it achieves what it strived to accomplish I believe. Its strongest element is that it never takes itself to seriously. The game has a very comical aspect to it that will make the endless violence much more enjoyable for the average person.

Although reminiscent of the old school Golden Axe style game, Castle Crashers has much more depth in light of its more complicated stat element and combat system.

In Castle Crashers you are able to level up your characters through combat (allowing you to put points toward 4 stats; Magic, Defense, Attack, Agility), equip various weapons that effect your stats (from Axes to Sausages), and ‘equip’ pets that as well effect your stats or give you new abilities (from Chickens to Eyeball-Monster-Thingies).

The game moves through a diverse amount of locations in which you fight varied enemies with different abilities and move lists. Its a challenging game in which you’ll find yourself re-playing old levels just to get that miniscule useful stat boost. Your character will slowly learn a few more combos that will help you juggle various enemies as you level up. As well you’ll get a few more spell abilities if you decide to focus on putting points towards your magic skill. However how you play will be variable on how you want to play to a certain extent.

I personally value speed more than anything else. I focused on my agility stat which made me very weak but very fast and strong with arrows. Whereas the person I played with focused on creating a well rounded character. Safe to say when we were forced to combat each other Double Dragon style over a princess’s kiss after defeating select bosses, the combat involved me running and shooting from far away as my partner chased frantically after me attempting to lop my head off. Ill be honest, most of the time I got my head lopped off.

I feel that the game had quite a few distinct strengths, they follow:

Strengths:

• Comical: A quirky sense of humour that flows consistently through the entire game.
• Content: If you’re a perfectionist you’ll have a ton of content to fly through.
• Friend Value: Very addictive coop game play.

Despite its strengths the game is not unscathed, its weaknesses follow:

Weaknesses:

• Variable Value: Value heavily dependent on coop factor, not a game for individual players.
• It’s Over Already: The story is straightforward and short.

Overall I find Castle Crashers, despite various reported online problems, to be what the developers had in mind when making it. This makes it a good success in my eyes. Its a great addition to a classic genre that is nigh untouched as of recently.

The price of 1200 MC points is a little steep I feel, but if you have many online friends or many local friends you’ll be sure to get your value. Obviously the opposite holds true, if you aren’t going to play the game with anyone it won’t be worth the current price. With this in mind, my rating:

Rating: Buy this game.

Love: Sense of humour, one level distinctly that involved the constant ridiculous defecation of animals.

Detest: Lack of item sharing can be problematic at times, a coop game should have such a function.

Bonus: In the games pet house, where you store your various discovered pets, there is a locked door at the back of the room. Eventually you’ll stumble upon a weapon that is literally a giant golden key, by using this to attack the door you can unlock it revealing a dark closet in which a secret pet is hidden.

What I wanted to write about was what I felt was the best part of the tournament; the respectful gamers that it was made up of. Everyone I played complimented the other player’s ability and played in a respecting manner. It was highly enjoyable, all because of the people. Which leads me to a point about community.

Community is one of the single most important things about gaming these days. If your community is poor the game soon becomes so. As a gamer you have a responsibility to play respectfully in order to maintain your community, being disrespectful simply leads to eventual self imposed destruction.

It is very common to disassociate yourself when playing video games, to look and act differently online then you do in reality. Despite the commonness of this, I really think this is a dangerous act. There are always consequences to your actions even if your actions are as seemingly trivial as being rude online. Being rude online changes you and it changes others, it makes you ruder as it makes others aggravated and prone to rudeness. Just as you change the community through negative actions you change yourself.

To quote a buddhist saying:

‘Do not think lightly of evil, thinking it will pass you by. For just as a water pitcher fills up with every fall of a water drop, an unwise person accumulates evil, little by little. Do not think lightly of goodness, thinking it will pass you by. For just as a water pitcher fills up with every fall of a water drop, a wise person accumulates goodness, little by little.’

Don’t be a bully, or one day you may slip in person and get slapped (by yourself or another).

Be positive and polite; don’t drop out of sessions you’re losing, don’t kick random people from rooms, and use your mic to communicate your good intentions to other players. People naturally get frustrated if you beat them, being polite is one way to make them still be comfortable playing with you. After all how hard is it really to say ‘Good game’?

I give kudos to those who apply positive real life attitudes to gaming, these are the type of people I enjoy playing with. And in the long run these people are one of the main reasons I continue to view gaming as a constructive hobby.

Creating a community in which you’re comfortable to play, express ideas, or pursue friendships is the make or break factor not only of a games online element, but as well as your degree of enjoyment of that game. Be happy, and make your community happy with you.

I wanted to thank Last Gamer Standing for holding the tournament, and ShadowTSI for being such a great host. They really went the extra mile in hosting a great event for the Soul Caliber community, and even providing prizes. Hopefully we can see, partake in, and support more tournaments of theirs in the future.

To learn more about Last Gamer Standing, you can find their website here.

Let’s mention some examples first. Three immediately come to mind:

1. Rainbow Six Vegas 2: In Rainbow Six Vegas 2 I believe there were random product placement such as Ford, and Pepsi (if I remember correctly).
2. Yaris (the video game): This was a free download on Xbox Live Arcade. It’s a game in which you drive a Yaris through a tube and avoid crazy things like giant robot crabs.
3. Insider Moves: On Xbox Live Market Place’s news feed there are often helpful videos and game tips. No, evidently, there sponsored by Hamlet 2!

Which of these is acceptable to you as a gamer?

I, myself, find that both 1 and 2 are acceptable forms of advertising, whereas 3 just goes too far.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2

I feel that in the example of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 the advertising is done in a tasteful manner. As so it actually adds to the realism of the game’s setting. After all the game is set in Vegas and there exists a ton of advertising there. If there was no advertising, the setting wouldn’t feel nearly as real. However this doesn’t go to say that it would be acceptable to have ‘Pepsi ave’ with various Pepsi billboards placed in very viewable locations.

Realism is the key point. If the advertising adds to the atmosphere of the game its great, but if it takes away from the gaming experience its clearly unacceptable.

Yaris the Video Game 

In the example of the Yaris video game the gamer has accepted that they are playing a game about the Yaris. The reality is you are playing an advertisement game, as so you accept that the game is about the Toyota Yaris and that its going to be advertised. In such a manner no reality is lost through advertisement, as a matter of fact reality is created through the advertisements.

This concept isn’t that ridiculous. Often brands want to showcase a personality that can be associated with their product. A good example of this is the MAC vs PC commercials. Creating a story for your product is a clever idea, just advertise it as such rather than try to slip it into something it shouldn’t be a part of.

Insider Moves’ Product Placement

The third example, on the other hand, I feel is completely unacceptable. Simply my objection stems from the advertising being out of place. What does Hamlet 2 have to do with Insider Moves 360 videos? Or even better what relevence does that movie have to the gamers that have purchased a 360? One of the nice things about Insider Moves is it advertises through useful means by displaying tips and tricks about 360 titles. This inclusion of ‘Brought to you by Hamlet 2′ is not only obnoxious but just plain greedy. The news feed of 360 is suppose to be full of announcments relevant to the xbox 360 and the gaming community.

A huge problem with this form of advertising is it discredits the reliability of the source it is placed in. Of course when I say this I realize that without the ‘brought to you by Hamlet 2′ Insider Moves is still an elaborate advertisement, but at least it is an advertisemnt we have accepted and showcased relevant interest in by owning a 360. I know for one I will be checking my newsfeed not nearly as commonly as I used to since this advertisement.

My Conclusion

Simply, advertising is acceptable if:

• It doesn’t distill the element of reality in the game.
• It doesn’t betray the interests of the gamer.

How does this feel to you?