That Gamer Hub

Cross Border Gaming #119: …and Hitman Loves You Too

2012-08-21T02:14:05Z

Harold & Frank talk about Ouya, setlists for Just Dance 4 & Rock Band Blitz, legal woes for Activision & Zynga, Alf, Jack Black, Guile hooks up with Cammy (sort of), Spongebob in GTA 4, Sony makes a bunch of announcements at GamesCom, & more.

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On This Week’s Episode:

Hey! Sony was at Gamescon?
PSAS:BR delayed
Final Fantasy III heading to Ouya
Take Two Investors: “Where’s our Effing GTA V?!”
Zynga execs & investors facing insider trading lawsuit

Alternate show titles that didn’t make it: “How Does That Even Work?, ” No, I Kicked Them In the Ass”, ” Spongebob or Batman”

Subscribe:

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[Stitcher] Subscribe to us on Stitcher
[RSS] Add the Cross Border Gaming feed to your RSS aggregator.

Contact:

[Email] Have your questions, comments, and rants read on the air every episode.
[Twitter] Send a tweet to @CBGPodcast to have it read on the show.
[Facebook] Become a fan on Facebook to receive our latest shows and updates.

Hosts:

Harold (@usfhbomb) & Frank (@EMaster1980) with Special Guest Aaron (@ind1fference)

Audioboo: Hbomb (Harold), E*Master (Frank)

Music:

Intro Song: The CBG Theme by E*Master
Played during the show: Various
Outro: Pitfall TV Commercial Featuring a young Jack Black!

The Walking Dead – Episode 1 | Review (iOS)

2012-08-06T14:36:19Z

When I got the opportunity to review The Walking Dead - Episode 1 on the iOS platform, I have to admit I wasn’t overly excited. I was worried that playing a game that was made for the PC and consoles wasn’t going to be a very good leap over to iOS platforms. But I am happy to report that I was dead wrong. Aside from a few hiccups here and there, The Walking Dead – Episode 1 is one of the best games available for iOS.

If you’re not familiar with The Walking Dead, you are either living under a rock, or you just don’t care about entertainment. The game closely follows the comic series and gives the user the opportunity to make deciding choices throughout the game. These choices ultimately will decide your fate, and others throughout the course of the game. If you’ve played the Back To The Future games, then you’ll be pretty familiar with these action sequences in the game. Decisions on situations and items can be made with just a tap of your iPad or iPhone’s screen. TellTale Games states that these decisions are remembered throughout all five episodes so you have to make your decision wisely. Seems easy, but when you’re under the stress of a zombie coming at you, or any other kind of life making decision, you only have a few moments to make your decision. This truly makes the game more “human” as it makes you think what you, yourself would do in a situation like this. It’s like prep for the zombie apocalypse.

What really stands out in The Walking Dead – Episode 1 is the storyline. As soon as you begin your game with Lee, you are hooked with his character, his interactions with characters such as Clementine a young first grade girl who is as smart as they come, and of course life and death situations around every faucet of the game. It really keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. You really get engaged with Lee’s character, the relationships he encounters, and the overall storyline of the game. It also helps that the voice acting is superb. This helps make the characters more real, and life-like.

The artwork in The Walking Dead – Episode 1 is superb as well. Playing through the game is like a gigantic comic book. It’s really well done. Performance aside from a few frames clipping here and there transitioning between load sequences, is nicely done as well. You’ll find yourself playing this game and forget that it is a game, and not the television show or series. It’s that well done. The combination of the voice acting, animation/artwork, and the gameplay really give this game the over the top feel that it needs.

Choose your responses wisely...

Although the first episode is rather short (I finished in about 2 or 3 hours) it made me thirsty for more and I can’t wait to play the second episode. But with that said, the game as a whole has a ton of replay value. Because your decisions are remembered throughout the game, you can feel free to start over with a new save and make the choices you didn’t want to make, or intended to make the second playthrough. The slightest answer or move can change the entire course of the game. With that in mind I’m sure I’ll have plenty of decisions to make within the game before the next episode comes out.

Kill, or be killed..

The Walking Dead – Episode 1 is a really great game. It’s ported over nearly flawlessly for the iOS and will help those casual gamers that don’t have a console get tied into the series just as well. It has it’s limitations with some clipping every once in awhile and moving around can get just a little tricky without an analog stick and controller, but these limitations don’t stop the game from being great. I enjoyed this game very much, and I cannot wait until Episode 2 is released for iOS so I can continue my story to see what zombie lies around the corner. The Walking Dead – Episode 1 is available on iOS now for $4.99 and is of course available as well on XBLA, PC, and PSN. Episodes 1 & 2 are already available on consoles and PC, and of course to be followed on iOS.

Cross Border Gaming #118: Like LJN!

2012-08-04T02:11:05Z

Harold & Frank are joined by Aaron of GameEnthus, as they talk E3 staying in LA, Final Fantasy XIV (yes, it is still a thing), PC gaming (yes, that is also a thing), Umbrella umbrellas, Playstation All-Stars leaks, Zynga under investigation, a special edition of You Don’t Know Jack, Best Buy sales, Robin Sparkles, The Wreckateer, Wario Land (it’s about damn time!) & more. We also discuss whether or not games are as good as they used to be.

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On This Week’s Episode:

Zynga getting into real money gambling in 2013
PSASBR roster & stages leak
Gabe Newell proclaims that Windows 8 is “a catastrophe”
Microsoft wants to make a Wii Music Like game for Kinect (please don’t)
Oh Look, Harold got his Wario Land

Alternate show titles that didn’t make it: “There’s Your F***ing Wario Land”, “This Time, It’s For Money”, “Umbrella for Nerds”

Subscribe:

[iTunes] Subscribe to Cross Border Gaming in iTunes.
[Stitcher] Subscribe to us on Stitcher
[RSS] Add the Cross Border Gaming feed to your RSS aggregator.

Contact:

[Email] Have your questions, comments, and rants read on the air every episode.
[Twitter] Send a tweet to @CBGPodcast to have it read on the show.
[Facebook] Become a fan on Facebook to receive our latest shows and updates.

Hosts:

Harold (@usfhbomb) & Frank (@EMaster1980) with Special Guest Aaron (@ind1fference)

Audioboo: Hbomb (Harold), E*Master (Frank)

Music:

Intro Song: The CBG Theme by E*Master
Played during the show: Various
Outro: It Is Such a Good Night – Charlie Steinmann Orchestra

LittleBigPlanet Karting Beta | First Impressions (PS3)

2012-08-01T02:14:09Z

It seems as though Sackboy always has a trick or two up his sleeves, even if he doesn’t actually have sleeves. From costumes to frowning faces, he has never failed to entertain. His latest trick, however, breaks away from the typical 2D (ish) platformer known as LittleBigPlanet and takes him to a whole new level of mobility. Sackboy got a kart, and he has a whole new racing adventure coming this fall! LittleBigPlanet Karting was announced earlier this year with a release date speculated to be around October 2012, but developer Media Molecule wanted to collect some first impressions of the gameplay before it’s released. Thus the LBP Karting beta was born, and I was one of the lucky folks who hopped into the action. Here’s what I found out.

I haven’t played a kart racing game since Crash Team Racing on the original Playstation, but the tutorial level quickly brought me up to speed. I even had the ability to choose my control scheme. For the record, I prefer the old school X button to accelerate and shoulder buttons to slide, but you can also use the right trigger for the gas. The sliding feels absolutely perfect, and I had no trouble navigating around tight turns while drifting. There’s also a boost that kicks in while sliding after a certain amount of time, and if you time the slide button release just right, the boost is even more powerful. When in the air, the shoulder buttons adjust your landing trajectory slightly, but if you want to really turn, you can hold down one of the trigger buttons and turn with the left analog stick. If you manage to spin at least 360 degrees, you’ll get a boost when you land. The controls aren’t anything new, but they’re done very well.

But what would a karting game be without a few weapons? The weapon pickups are scattered along the tracks, and once picked up, can be held onto and fired whenever you please. A few are defensive (like mines or explosive boxes), others are offensive (like missiles and bombs), and some give you a speed boost to catch up with the pack. A feature that I particularly liked was the ability to use any weapon you’re holding defensively if you’re being attacked by another racer. If a weapon has locked onto you, a small red icon pops up to warn you, but if you have a weapon, at the last second the red icon turns into a shield, and that’s when you can launch your weapon to block the attack. So if you’re ahead of the pack and have a missile, you can just hold onto it in case someone tries to take away your lead.

As with the rest of the LittleBigPlanet series, creativity plays a huge part in level design. Each of the levels the developers made and included with the beta were unique. There were a few circuit races and battle arenas, as you would expect in any karting game, but there was also a strange level where you race around to pick up eggs and take them to a targeted area. But the real highlight of my experience in the beta was the community designed levels. With the outstanding toolkit included with the game, players have already made some incredible tracks that rival what the developers made. I can tell that the community is going to give this game infinite replay ability, since there will probably be some new content every time you load the game.

I began my playthrough of the beta in single player mode, just to get a feel for the layout of the game. The first thing that I noticed in my first race was the difficulty of the AI. There was an option to choose difficulty, but there were only two choices: casual and normal. The casual mode advertised that everybody wins, so I went with normal difficulty. I believe a more apt description of that level would be legendary, because I was never able to beat the AI. Of course, I wasn’t much better at beating other humans either, but still, the AI was VERY good at racing. What’s great about the weapons in the game is that they’re designed to change the tide of the race in an instant. There were a few times I was in first place, but a well-placed missile ended it rather quickly. In the same fashion, I was able to move up from 8th to 3rd thanks to a few bombs. Unless you really screw up while driving, you always have a shot at winning the race.

The single player is fun and all, but LittleBigPlanet really shines in its multiplayer aspect, so I felt obligated to try it out. ThatGamerHub’s own Albert Perkins was also playing the beta, so we decided to see if we could join each other in a race. It was a little dicey trying to connect at first, and Albert actually ended up with a black screen and a kart, but no level! But once he restarted the game, he was able to join the track I was on, and from there we raced through several other levels after that. We even had a few other online players join us, and we had a blast in some battle arenas, frantically racing around and trying to blow each other up! Given the choice of offline and online play, it’s clear that online is the winner when it comes to this karting game. Plus, if you’re not online, you can’t access all the great community content, which is what makes this game truly unique.

All in all, I had a blast playing this beta, and I will be picking this game up when it’s released this fall. It combines what I love about karting games and LittleBigPlanet, and it works so well. The controls are well-designed, the karts are responsive and easy to drive, the weapons are a blast to use, and the ability to race with your friends is always a plus. There is already a preorder available on Amazon, but there isn’t an official release date. But when it is released, I guarantee I’ll be online and racing, day one!

Gang Wars | Review (PS Mini)

2012-07-31T14:43:54Z

Gang Wars was first released in 1989 developed by Alpha Denshi and published by SNK. It was (and still is) your average 2D beat ‘em up arcade game. It’s set in New York City, you play as someone who resembles Jackie Chan almost enough for a lawsuit, and you can even play with a friend with 2 player Co-op! But what makes this relevant to this day and age? Well for one, SNK just re-released Gang Wars and a PS mini for PS3, PSP, and PS Vita! Now you can relive the magic of almost being the Chan man himself on your preferred Sony console!

The question is…do you really want to?

Even back then there was nothing really special about Gang Wars, but to be honest, there wasn’t really much to offer when it came to games like these. You are a fighter, there is an antagonist who has a gang of minions at his disposal, and before you can kick his ass, you must beat all of them. You walk, you fight, win, move on, and repeat, pretty solid and simple gameplay, but even still, very entertaining. It was in a away, the perfect way to describe most action movies. There’s walking, there’s fighting, and there are bits of story line to bring it all together.

Gamplay translates quite easily on to the Playstation controls; X to punch, O to kick, Triangle adds lives and Square to jump. You move with the D pad or Analog stick. What kind of separates Gang Wars from the rest old the 2D beat em up arcade world is that unlike many of them this game includes weaponry (Assult Riffles, Flamethrowers), and has a customization system in which you can upgrade 3 different attributes (Power, Speed and Guard) as you wish.

All in all, the best part about this release is the nostalgia you may feel while playing it, as it takes you back to the days of late 80′s video games. You may smell the sweat of other teenage youth, spending their days in front of arcade machines. You may feel the dozens of quarters you would eventually spend instead of using them for laundry. Everything was so simple, so honest back then. Eventually you’ll snap back to reality and realize beat ‘em ups won’t entertain you for more than an hour or two; but for $2.99 on PSN? That’s affordable enough to download and keep those memories in the palm of your hand. You’ll probably save a lot of quarters, too.

Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy | Review (3DS)

2012-07-31T14:50:45Z

With the exception of Rhythm Thief & the Emporer’s Treasure coming out a couple of weeks later, there weren’t a lot of rhythm games to go around that didn’t involve plastic instruments, microphones, or making yourself look like a complete goof in front of your TV screen, let alone one you can take on the road. It was only a few years ago where I was putting a ton of playtime into Elite Beat Agents, Nintendo’s American answer to Osu! Tatake! Ouendan! Since then, aside from a couple of rhythm based games that didn’t really take off, nothing really came about aside from fan remakes of these games.

For the 25th anniversary of the Final Fantasy franchise, Square Enix decided it was time to do something special. Enter Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy, a rhythm game based on music spanning the mothership games, from the NES original that kept Squaresoft in business all the way up to the 13th. But does it end up being a masterpiece?

Theatrhythm is, as already put, a rhythm game based on all Final Fantasy music. Each of the mainstream games up to Final Fantasy XIII (excluding X-2) have one song to start for each category: field, event and battle. Songs in each of these categories pretty much play the same way; You’ll tap, swipe, and hold your way through each song trying to get to the end. What makes the three types different are how notes are presented, leaving the challenge not only to your rhythmic ability but also how well you can read each of the three types. Field music stages become pretty straightforward with notes coming at you in a single line, though some hold notes have some up-and-down movement. Battle music stages present notes across four “lanes” that will sometimes switch lanes quickly. Event music stages can sometimes be tricky, as you’re following a marker around a screen, tapping and swiping as it goes over each note, but this marker can suddenly change direction and speed to try to throw you off.

Series mode is where most players will start their Theatrhythm experience. This mode will take you through all three songs in a specific game, along with opening and ending themes that don’t really serve any purpose other than a boring way to gain some extra rhythmia at the beginning and end of each series. (Both the opening and ending can be skipped.) Once a game in series mode is clear, its songs are unlocked in challenge mode, where each song can be played by itself at harder difficulties. (Harder difficulties can also be unlocked in series mode by clearing all three songs for that game in challenge mode at those harder difficulties) Probably the greatest challenge in the game though comes down to chaos shrine mode, which will not only challenge your Theatrhythm skills but also how well you’ve built your party. “Dark notes” that are played in this mode come in two song sets, with the goal of defeating one of the dark note’s three bosses. If you successfully beat one, you can gain shards which will allow you to unlock new characters when you collect enough of one color.

Theatrhythm still doesn’t forget where it came from, and it shows that by having a robust customisation system. Characters in your party gain EXP as you finish stages, which will level them up to increase their stats in a traditional RPG-like fashion. These stats will come into play mainly to try to get items, as well as collectable character cards known as CollectaCards. (What an original name, folks!) You will also have the option of equipping abilities on your characters, which can further raise your party stats, trigger powerful magic spells if you’re doing well, or heal a part of your HP bar if you’re close to failing a stage. Though these stats come into play in various forms throughout the game, your party’s stats and abilities play a major factor in your success in chaos shrine mode, where not only is clearing the song vital, but also having a strong and well-built party that can take down bosses in time within the harder dark notes.

There’s no shortage of collectable items in Theatrhythm. People looking to get every card, character and song will be playing this game for a very long time. Though CollectaCards can be earned easily, filling out your museum’s music player, video player, as well as unlocking new songs, all comes down to earning rhythmia at the end of every stage. Though new songs and options are unlocked every 500 rhythmia, (and you can usually earn anywhere between 50-200 in any given stage) there’s a ton of things that need to be unlocked and it can become very tiring. Probably the most notorious part of this is the method of unlocking characters. Unlocking characters requires 8 of a certain color shard from dark notes, which can be very cumbersome unless you have a very powerful party that can defeat a boss that drops that color shard multiple times in the same playthrough. With around 20 characters to unlock, it just becomes too much work.

Square Enix has a reputation about making their games look amazing, and Theatrhythm again is proof of that. Though not of the art style we’re all used to by now, the cartoony, storybook-like aspects of the game give it character and fit the nature of the game well. Excluding DLC, only one on-card song is not in its original form, and they all sound crisp and clear through headphones.

Square Enix took two of my favorite genres and slapped them into one commemorative game that I will likely be playing for a very, very long time. Aside from unlocking characters being a time sink, Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy should be a must-buy for every fan of the series, as well for anyone who enjoys rhythm games like I do.

Time Soldiers (PS3) | Review

2012-07-31T01:10:53Z

In 1987, SNK released a top-down arcade shoot-em-up game in Japan called Battle Field. At its release, it was praised for its advanced graphics and its difficulty, and it was subsequently ported to several other systems (with a name change to Time Soldiers), such as the Amiga, Commodore 64, and Sega Master System. If you’re familiar with older arcade titles, then you’ll find it very similar to Ikari Warriors. The original controls in the arcade cabinet used a rotary joystick, which allowed the player to change the direction he was facing while shooting at the same time. Recently, SNK has been bringing back its classic arcade games to the modern era in the form of Playstation Minis, the latest of which is Time Soldiers. While some of these retro titles translate well onto a modern console, Time Soldiers suffers from not having a rotary joystick to use on the PS3 controller. What used to be a difficult but manageable title becomes almost impossible to play without a lot of time dedicated to getting used to the new control scheme.

The premise of the game is about what you’d expect from a late 80s arcade game. The player’s comrades have been kidnapped by an evil villain, so he must travel through time to find them. It basically amounts to running through each level, shooting everything that moves, and defeating a boss at the end. The game’s difficulty comes from the sheer number of bullets flying at you at any given time. There’s usually a minimum of three enemies trying to kill you, but most of the time you’re dodging ten to fifteen of them. Some shoot rockets, others shoot bullets, but all of them have the sole purpose of killing you. And they usually do a pretty good job of it, especially since you don’t have the use of a rotary joystick.

For those of you that didn’t game it up in the arcades back in the day, a rotary joystick works exactly like a standard joystick, with one exception. The knob of the joystick also rotates, which can give you much better control for a top down shooter. You can be moving in one direction and turn in a completely different direction, all while mashing the fire button with your other hand. The modern day equivalent would be twin-stick shooters, which use one analog stick to move and the other to rotate and fire. When I first saw Time Soldiers, that’s what I assumed the controls would be mapped to. But as soon as I started playing, I realized that I had no idea how to turn my character. My feeble mind couldn’t comprehend that there might be a game that didn’t use the other analog stick to turn. This wasn’t a problem for the first few minutes of the game. The enemies were gracious enough to stay in front of me, and I made it through without too much difficulty. But then it began to get worse. Since the screen scrolls along at a decent clip, the enemies began to flank me. As soon as they did that, I needed to turn. And I couldn’t, at least not until I realized that the L1 and R1 buttons are mapped to turning. And this is my only complaint with the game. I enjoy difficult, retro games, and I enjoy top down shooters, but I hate bad control schemes. The turning is hard to precisely control, and I found that I had to focus so much on turning exactly where I wanted to that I’d lose track of all the enemies and their bullets, causing me to die.

: No, I don’t need a shirt to kill all of you.

If it weren’t for the turning issue, this game would be just as fun as it was in the arcade. For a quick gaming session, you can’t beat a top-down shooter. Even if you die a lot, you still get as many continues as you need. SNK even mapped inserting a coin to the triangle button, and you have unlimited coins! It takes constant monitoring of the situation to successfully navigate through each level, since each enemy requires a different strategy. Some shoot rockets instead of bullets, and rockets are much more difficult to dodge (although you can shoot them to blow them up). Other enemies have much more health, so it can be a good strategy to save them for later, and concentrate on the enemies that die in one shot.

If you’re willing to work with the awful turning controls for a while, chances are you can master them and play through the game successfully. After all, the rotary joystick also had a learning curve. I’d argue that the joystick is a bit more of an intuitive control for turning, though. But overall, it’s great that SNK is taking the time to dust off these classic games and introduce them to a new generation of gamers. Time Soldiers isn’t the only game they’ve brought back, so make sure to check them all out on the Playstation Network.

Cross Border Gaming #117: Didn’t We Have a War About That?

2012-07-27T15:15:59Z

Harold & Frank are joined by TGH’s own Matt Hunter as they discuss Dance Central 3, Heavy Rain, Mole Mania, Final Fantasy, “Manos: The Hands of Fate”, World of Warcraft, Scrillex, Rare, video games being good for kids, the Madden settlement, Zynga’s crash, Vita getting hot (literally), Toejam & Earl, and more.

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On This Week’s Episode:

Stuff Iwata Says Part 2
Rumor- Nintendo trying to reacquire Rare
Vita Units are Hot, Hot, Hot! (literally)
Rock Band iOS games being pulled 7/31
Zynga stock suddenly drops 41%

Alternate show titles that didn’t make it: “I Also Apologize to the Swedish”, “Banjo X Conker (Rated M For Mature)”, “All You Need Is Rare”

Subscribe:

[iTunes] Subscribe to Cross Border Gaming in iTunes.
[Stitcher] Subscribe to us on Stitcher
[RSS] Add the Cross Border Gaming feed to your RSS aggregator.

Contact:

[Email] Have your questions, comments, and rants read on the air every episode.
[Twitter] Send a tweet to @CBGPodcast to have it read on the show.
[Facebook] Become a fan on Facebook to receive our latest shows and updates.

Hosts:

Harold (@usfhbomb) & Frank (@EMaster1980) with Special Guest Matt(@iamradiox)

Audioboo: Hbomb (Harold), E*Master (Frank)

Music:

Intro Song: The CBG Theme by E*Master
Played during the show: Various
Outro: Gerudo Valley Dubstep Remix – Ephixa

Astro A50 Headset | Review

2012-07-23T19:30:20Z

After a fairly long hiatus, ASTRO Gaming has finally released their latest concoction. The A50 headset is the first fully wireless headset that ASTRO has ever released, and it utilizes some of the latest wireless audio technology to make it one of the best sounding gaming headsets on the market. Everything that made the A40 headset a favorite of competitive gamers is still there, but ASTRO has taken it to a whole new level. However, at $300, this headset is not for everyone. The price tag may be a little steep, but this is a case where you get what you pay for. The quality of the A50s is unmatched by any other competitor.

After unboxing the headset, connecting it to the system of your choice (PS3, Xbox 360, or PC) is quite simple. Connect the optical cable and the USB cable to the transmitter and the console, and you’re ready to go. Setup is the same across all three platforms (except for the additional chat cable for Xbox 360). The transmitter also has optical pass-through to send the audio to an additional source, and it has a 3.5mm audio jack to connect another source to the headset. This can be used to listen to some music on an MP3 player while playing a game on your console.

: Astro A50 Headset with included stand and transmitter

The sound quality is on par with any pair of wired headphones that I’ve ever used in this price range. The headset comes with three EQ settings that can be switched at any time via a small sliding switch on the headset. The first setting is designated for gaming, and it allows you to precisely hear every sound effect. This feature would be most useful for competitive multiplayer FPS gaming, but since I don’t play games like Call of Duty or Battlefield, I tested this setting on my favorite cooperative FPS of all time, Borderlands (on both PC and PS3). As soon as I loaded the game, I began to hear all the tiny details that sometimes get washed out when listening through speakers or a cheap headset. Every shot, every footstep, and every shout from an enemy was crystal clear. Even though this setting accentuates the higher frequencies, there is still a good amount of bass to go with it, but not too much as to drown out other sound effects.

The other two profiles are for movies/music and standard Dolby Digital surround sound. I used the music profile to listen to audio CDs on the PS3 and streaming music on the PC, and in both cases, it sounded wonderful. ASTRO has managed to successfully wirelessly transmit a full range of frequencies to the headset, from the thumping of an intense bass track to the high frequencies of a great vocal performance. The third profile is there for anyone who doesn’t want the hardware to interfere with the standard Dolby Digital output, but I found the other two settings to sound much better. ASTRO Gaming clearly knows what they’re doing when it comes to virtual surround sound.

: Breakdown of the ASTRO A50 Headset

Besides sounding great, the A50 headset also feels great while perched on your head. The cushioned headband on top keeps the closed ear cups from putting too much pressure on your ears. The controls are located in positions that make it easy to adjust volume or change the EQ setting without taking the headset off. One great feature that ASTRO has always included with their Mix-amps is the game-to-voice balancer. Since they’ve gone fully wireless, this is no longer a knob on a separate Mix-amp. Instead, the right ear cup has a click button that allows you to adjust between the game audio and chat audio. Again, I tested this feature with Borderlands, and it works perfectly. I was able to quickly and easily find the perfect balance so that I could chat with my buddy and still hear what was going on in the game. Although I didn’t get to hear what the audio that the microphone picked up sounded like, my friend certainly did when we were playing Borderlands. He said that it was a huge improvement over my previous headset, and that my voice was crystal clear. The microphone is positioned well on the headset, and also features a positional mute switch. When the microphone is rotated all the way up, the mic is muted, and when it is moved down, it is unmuted. The A50s may not be the first headset to implement this feature, but I’ve always found this method to be preferable to a separate switch. Of course, this means that, unlike the A40s, the microphone is permanently attached and cannot be removed. That’s a small price to pay for a fully wireless headset, I suppose.

My only complaint with the A50 headset is the range. It uses Kleernet 5.8 GHz technology, which claims to have less interference and more range. I never had any interference issues (although my house isn’t the most extensive test of that), but I found myself to be limited to the same room as the wireless transmitter. As soon as there was a wall in the way, audio began to cut out until it dropped completely. I got better range from my 4 year old Creative HS-1200, which used 2.4 GHz RF signals. It could at least get a signal through a couple walls. Fortunately, I only need to use this headset in the same room that I’m gaming in, so this limitation doesn’t bother me. But don’t get the A50s and expect to walk all around the house listening to music or chatting with your friends on Skype.

Overall, the quality of the ASTRO A50 headset matches the price tag. Although many people would balk at spending so much on just one accessory, I think it’s absolutely worth it. Some might be upset at the lack of speaker tags (strong magnets don’t work that well with wireless!) and the lack of a removable microphone, but the A50s make up for it by being ASTRO’s first fully wireless headset. If you want to lose the wires but keep the great sound, then look no further than the A50s. This is the finest wireless headset on the market.

Cross Border Gaming #116: Wombat Was Right!

2012-07-20T18:26:04Z

Harold & Frank discuss Ouya, Felicia Day, Iwata hate, Sony buying Gaikai, Seth Killian’s new gig, Stepto’s new gig, Wayforward on Wii U, Hello Kitty, Rock Band Blitz’s price & release date, death by gaming binge, Rammstein, PAX in Texas, The Walking Dead, the digital future, & more.

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On This Week’s Episode:

Stuff Iwata Says
Penny Arcade’s Kickstarter
Ouya? What’s-it-to-ya?
EA: Going 100% digital inevitable
Former Rare composer: “Microsoft Completely Ruined Rare”
Teen dies from 40-hour Diablo binge

Alternate show titles that didn’t make it: “Iwata Makes No Promises”, “3D Boobs Are All Right”, “Rusty Enterprise”, “All My PAXes Live in Texas”, “Somewhere Ben & Brandon Are Drooling”, “Pay Us!”

Subscribe:

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Hosts:

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Audioboo: Hbomb (Harold), E*Master (Frank)

Music:

Intro Song: The CBG Theme by E*Master
Played during the show: Various
Outro: Buenos Aires – Nick Warren

Resident Evil 6 Demo Impressions

2012-07-17T14:35:15Z

The Resident Evil franchise has gone under many major changes in the last decade. From the change from fixed-cameras perspective to third-person shooting and from a focus on atmosphere to a focus on gunning action, gamers have come to expect constant changes from title to title with this series (for better or worse). While some people welcomed the faster pace of the few recent games, old fans have demanded back the series’ survival-horror gameplay and intense atmosphere. Resident Evil 6 is just around the bend and an early demo was released just a few days ago. I was lucky to get my hands on it (thanks to @CurtMcD) and got to play each of the game’s three different campaigns.

Yes, you read this correctly: three different campaigns. Or should I say three co-op campaigns since each have two playable characters. Each of them can be played either alone (with the AI controlling your partner) or in co-op (both locally or online). Better yet: each story has a distinct atmosphere, plays differently, and has different playable characters. The main characters in this game are Leon Kennedy (from Resident Evil 2 and 4), Chris Redfield (from Resident Evil 1, Code Veronica, and 5), and newcomer Jake Muller (who is the son of Albert Wesker, renowned villain from other titles in the franchise).

The first campaign stars Leon Kennedy who is on a mission to save the President of the United States. However, things turn out bad as a zombie outbreak spreads everywhere in town, eventually turning the president himself into a zombie. The gameplay of this campaign is the closest you will get to the old Resident Evil games: tense atmosphere with a focus on survival. You only have a pistol, carry a very low amount of ammo, the environment is poorly lit… you get the idea. Oh, and did I mention that zombies are back in this episode? I’m not talking about zombies-mutants-so-quick-they-could-win-a-marathon. No, I’m talking about old Resident Evil games’ zombies. It feels somewhat weird to have such slow enemies considering the gameplay is much faster than the previous games, but you still feel overwhelmed enough so that it does not feel too easy. All I can say is that I’m very happy with what I saw in Leon’s story, even more so because it even made me jump at some points.

The second campaign stars Chris Redfield, who is on the run in China and demoralized because of a tragic accident that killed most of his soldier unit. Found by men from the BSAA, Chris is brought back to reason and must face a new evolved mutant type. This campaign is more or less the opposite of what Leon’s part was all about: action. If you did not like Resident Evil 5 since it had too many explosions and run-and-gun, you will be disappointed here because that is all this section is about. From the very beginning of his demo, Chris shoots numerous bad-guys and runs across rooftops (for which a special “momentum” gameplay mechanic was created). Just like Resident Evil 5, there are some sections that will require you to cover your teammate as he takes a separate route. While I am not a big fan of this whole “action” style in Resident Evil games, I must admit that I REALLY liked how the enemies evolve as you shoot them. Think Dead Space but even crazier. Yes, that’s how cool it is.

The third story stars Jake Muller, the son of the villain of the Resident Evil franchise. Since Jake has more strength than your average human (due to his father), he is able to take on enemies in hand-to-hand combat as well as take more of a beating than the other playable characters in the game. In addition, the demo focuses a lot on the concept that the major element of his campaign is a Nemesis-like monster. Unlike the famous enemy from Resident Evil 3, this new monster has multiple metallic claws and spikes attached that can pierce humans to death. Even worse, the creature can capture people and put one of them in a steel cage attached to its back. This demo part is the shortest one but certainly the most intense due to this beast. From what I have played, I believe that this campaign is the odd addition to the game.

Aside from the different campaigns available, Resident Evil 6 is different for other reasons too. First and foremost, players can now walk and shoot at the same time. While I never thought this was such a big deal with previous titles in the series, this new addition does help to keep the action flowing nicely. Second, the friendly AI has been highly revamped for the better, making the single-player mode actually playable, unlike Resident Evil 5. The camera has also been changed so that it is not fixed behind your character anymore. That enables you to run towards the camera while looking at what is coming behind you (such as a horde of zombies). Also, the items menu has been streamlined, for the most part, while still keeping all the deep combination options the older games had for those who still want them. Furthermore, there is a lot of emphasis on the cutscenes in this game, which is quite different from the other games. In fact, Capcom announced that the full game would feature more than four hours of cutscenes and cinematics, pushing toward the Metal Gear Solid movie-like type of storytelling experience. Finally, the only thing I think needs solid improvement before the game is released is the running speed the characters have. It feels like the game is way too fast for the small environments you are put into, which causes many problems (running into walls constantly, having trouble seeing where the enemies are, etc.).

Overall, I don’t really know if I like Resident Evil 6. I am a huge fan of the franchise and was really hoping that this title would go back to the old focus-on-scares gameplay that was brought back in the Lost in Nightmares DLC for Resident Evil 5 (which was great). Leon’s part certainly managed to do just that, but I am not so pleased with what I have played from Chris’s campaign or even Jake’s campaign, although I preferred the latter for the overwhelming factor the new creature brought to the game. If you are a big Resident Evil fan, you should still keep an eye out for this game when it hits stores on October 2^nd. If you still need more to make up your mind, the demo you just read about will be available to PSN and Xbox LIVE users on September 5^th.

Musings of a Compulsive Game Buyer

2012-07-16T01:06:48Z

I never used to buy collector’s or limited editions of games. That changed this week. I never used to pre-order games either. That policy went out the door last fall. It used to be that I waited months after a game was released before I bought it, possibly with all the DLC bundled with it. So what changed? Several things. For starters, sequels make up a large portion of new releases and, if I liked the first game, chances are I immediately want the second one. This would explain why I have preorders in for Darksiders II and Borderlands 2. This doesn’t explain the collector’s editions, though. It turns out that I like to have neat looking things sitting on my desk. Collector’s editions usually have neat things in them. But are they actually worth it?

My gut says no, they’re not. The Uncharted 3 Collector’s Edition marked the first time I ever got my hands on the pricier version of a game, but that purchase was due to a sale at Best Buy, which resulted in the collector’s edition being cheaper than the standard version of the game. My Borderlands 2 pre-order, on the other hand, was a hefty $150, but I couldn’t resist the Ultimate Loot Edition when I saw it had an actual loot chest!!! I still feel kind of guilty for pre-ordering that, but my love for the original compelled me to do it. I’m rather surprised that I even managed to snag one, since they sold out in four days. It probably wouldn’t have been the worst thing to happen if I didn’t get one, though.

Last fall saw a huge number of epic titles released and I fell victim to my compulsion like never before. By August 2011, I was anxiously awaiting SEVEN games that I had already pre-ordered (Skyrim, Serious Sam 3, Arkham City, Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Saints Row the Third, and RAGE, if you’re the curious type). I mentioned this to a friend after I had pre-ordered the seventh and he was kind enough not to call me an idiot to my face, although he was surely thinking it. And looking back at it all, I was an idiot. Of those games, I’ve actually completed only four of them. The other three I’ve barely touched. At this point, I could buy them all for about a sixth of the cost. Was it really worth it to play these games as soon as they were released? Although I wouldn’t have admitted it at the time, the answer is no. I paid $60 for each of those games (except Serious Sam, that was $30). If I had waited, I could have saved at least $30 on each one. It takes one glance at the sales Steam has had this year to realize that. Deus Ex has consistently gone on sale for $8 multiple times. Arkham City is down to $30 and I’ve seen it drop to around $10. RAGE bombed badly enough that it can usually be found for $5 – 10. If I had waited for a few months, I could have gotten 20 new games for the price I paid for those six. That’s not very economical at all, is it? (**Note that the prices I’m quoting here are for PC versions of all these games)

And this doesn’t even take into account the DLC that accompanies most games these days. Saints Row the Third has more silly little content add-on packs then I have fingers, and at some point, a new edition of the game will probably be released that bundles all DLC with the game, priced lower than my pre-order for the base game. So with all this evidence that says pre-orders are a bad idea, why are people still doing it? There are incentives with most pre-orders these days and that may be enough for someone to be enticed into the purchase. Although I say purchase, it’s also worth noting that many pre-orders don’t require any payment until the order is actually shipped. Sequels certainly come into play when an existing IP has the fan base necessary to ensure millions of pre-orders. And then there are people like me who enjoy the feeling of buying something new, whether it’s a pre-order or a first day purchase. It looks like that’s enough to overcome a potentially bad economic decision since pre-orders are only becoming more and more common.

The collector’s and limited editions of games put those pre-order prices to shame, though. After my Uncharted 3 purchase, I looked on Amazon.com and found the same product for $85. This made me curious about other collector’s editions, so I began to browse. My favorite was a Fallout 3 Amazon exclusive edition available for $10,000! I hope that bobble head is worth it! Even for games that have been out for over a year, prices consistently remain between $80 and $100. After splurging on the Borderlands 2 Ultimate Loot Edition, I think I’ll be sticking with my $60 pre-orders, thank you very much. My Nathan Drake statue will keep my desk awesome enough.

This post was submitted by Mike Fugate.

NCAA Football 13′ | Full Review (PS3)

2012-07-10T12:47:11Z

With college football right around the corner, there is no doubt in the minds of many college football fans this is their time to celebrate. And what a better way to celebrate the tradition of college football with the release of NCAA Football 13‘ right? Well, actually there’s a catch to that. If you haven’t played a college football game in quite sometime, this is one you’re not going to want to miss. However, if you purchased last year’s game, you’re really not missing much. Something that is unfortunately all too familiar with EA Sports football games.

Don’t get me wrong NCAA Football 13‘ is a fantastic football game. It’s as real as you’re going to get in accordance to tradition, rivalries, and school spirit. There isn’t anything like it in the industry today. The crowd getting fired up, the marching bands on the football field prior to kickoff, the pre game traditions before taking the football field, the in stadium chants – it’s all there in NCAA Football 13‘. It’s the little things like this that make NCAA Football 13‘ an enjoyable college football game. EA Sports surely knows how to capture it’s audience when it comes to that.

There are multiple new modes of play with NCAA Football 13‘. With this year being the 20th anniversary of the game (wow I am really getting old if the first game came out in 1992) EA Sports added the Heisman Mode. Basically, this gives you the opportunity to control a player from the past who won the coveted trophy and take them to any college football team in the game. For example ever wish Barry Sanders would have chosen Oklahoma over Oklahoma State? Done. How about Desmond Howard playing for The Ohio State Buckeyes? Sold. Or Robert Griffin III playing for Alabama (as if they need another superstar on their squad) no problem. I thought this was a really cool feature to be added in this year’s game as it also gives you a history lesson of that player’s journey throughout his college career, highlights, and more.

In terms of graphics, NCAA Football 13‘ has not changed much over the years; which well, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The animations are the same but where EA Sports seemed to really improve upon was the time lapse during the duration of the football game itself. You’ll find yourself playing a game during the late afternoon and by the fourth quarter the stadium lights will begin to turn on as the sun sets over the stadium. It’s a really nice touch.

Recruiting in NCAA Football 13‘ in Dynasty Mode still has the usual recruitment map but some AI improvements were made. For example if a player is interested in attending your school, if you do not recruit him, he will gladly choose another school. In the past, usually if the player had your school ranked in the top 3 with your school having the most prestige it was a shoe in and you didn’t have to devote nearly as much time to that player. This time, around though, you have to do your homework and make sure you follow through with the recruit or you might find yourself having headaches because he’s lacing up against your rival in the same conference.

Perhaps the best addition to the game this year was the in game updates. Reese Davis provides in game updates during your game in dynasty mode as if the game is live on television. It made the game feel a lot more real in terms of presentation and I welcomed this addition with open arms. Transitions are flawless between the in game updates and your game as if you’re watching an ESPN television broadcast. Another nice touch – the ESPN Bottom Line. It updates as if there are live games going on just like an ESPN broadcast. It’s really superb.

NCAA Football 13′ Video Review

Outside of that however, there really isn’t much that has changed with NCAA Football 13‘. In fact, a lot of people might think it’s the same exact game. I had a close friend of mine watch me finish up a game in the fourth quarter and he mistakenly thought I was playing the previous year’s game. This is a testament of how EA Sports tends to stay with the, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality. With that said in conclusion, NCAA Football 13‘ is a fantastic game, but I would only recommend it if you’re a hardcore college football fan, or if you haven’t played the previous year’s game. There’s a lot that is offered in this year’s game but there is also too much of the same as well. But all in all, a solid college football game. NCAA Football 13‘ is out today, July 10th 2012, for Xbox 360, and Playstation 3.

Dark Scavenger | Review (PC)

2012-07-09T16:07:18Z

For me to have any interest in playing a basic, point-and-click adventure game, it has to do everything right. If the writing is poor or the environment is bland, I quickly lose interest and move on to something else. Over the past week I’ve played Dark Scavenger each night before I went to bed for about an hour or two, and the fact that I’m still playing it means they did everything right. Here’s how they did it. The premise of the game is simple. You have been picked up by a group of aliens who need fuel for their ship. They are lazy and lack basic fighting skills, so they send you down to a planet to get some fuel. The gameplay consists of exploring rooms, fighting enemies, and crafting. While the clicking of highlighted areas in a room is interesting, the crafting is where Dark Scavenger really shines. Instead of combining items to make something new (like most RPGs out there), you give the items you scavenge to one of the aliens on the ship, who makes a weapon, item, or ally. The names and descriptions of the equipment these guys create are one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game. As much as I looked forward to the next room to explore, I anticipated crafting some ridiculous new weapon or item even more. Fighting enemies seems simple on the surface, but as you progress and acquire more weapons, items, and allies, the strategies are seemingly endless. Items can be used to bolster a weapon’s power, weaken an enemy, or even detect awesomeness (I still haven’t really figured that one out yet…). Each item has a certain number of uses, and when you completely use up an item, it is unavailable for the rest of that chapter.

All attacks are turn based, but there are certain items that allow you to attack more than one enemy or make an enemy lose his turn. The art in Dark Scavenger is almost as amusing as the story line. The enemies that pop up on screen in each room can cause anything from a slight chuckle to a hearty guffaw. The bright color palette of the enemies’ garments combined with the drab undertones of the environment allows the imagination to fill in the action that isn’t animated on screen. Going through the action sequences that require precise player choices to successfully not die were just as entertaining as a fight scene in a AAA title. Good art, however, does not necessarily make a good game. Good art and good writing, however, do make a good game. The dialogue between the main character and the friends and enemies he meets through the five chapters is absolutely brilliant. The dark humor embedded in the difficult choices faced in every room is some of the best I’ve seen in quite some time. Every room requires a different strategy, and it seems like each strategy has a different outcome. Of course, oftentimes that outcome is death. There are enough choices and hidden secrets throughout the entire game that I found myself ready for a second play through as soon as I finished my first. Fortunately, Dark Scavenger accommodates this need wonderfully. After completing the game and returning to the main menu, you’ll see a new option called New Game+. This does exactly what you would expect and lets you return to the beginning of the game with all your equipment from your first play through. Since you will find the same loot in the same places as before, the game indicates what you previously crafted (and therefore already have in your inventory) so you can craft different items instead. One of my (very few) complaints about Dark Scavenger is related to the loot finding in the second play through. I understand that key items needed to progress in the game should remain, but it would have been more interesting if the loot was randomly generated. That way, when I defeated enemies or opened containers scattered throughout the environment, it would be even more exciting to find some new loot and figure out what to craft with it. The random loot could potentially convince me to play a third time, since my favorite part of the game is crafting.

There is no difficulty slider, and for a few of the boss battles, I found myself overwhelmed and lacking the weapons and items I really needed to defeat the enemy. In order to prevent the player from becoming stuck at a certain area, the developers decided to use a retry system. If you die, you can either retry the specific battle you’re stuck on, or you can retry the entire room. By retrying the battle, you gain all of your weapons, items, and allies back (that you may have used previously), but you might start at a certain checkpoint in the boss fight, rather than at the very start. With this method, I was never stuck at any point in the game for a long period of time. At first glance, this seems like a cheap game mechanic designed so that players can never fail, but it really is necessary. Since some enemies have different weaknesses and strengths, running out of the proper weapons or items can mean certain failure. There would be no other way to progress in the game. Yes, some games thrive on an inherent difficulty like this, but Dark Scavenger is focused on quality writing, and to start over completely would be detrimental to the game, potentially driving customers away. This retry system is a brilliant way of getting around that.

However, the difficulty did seem to jump all over the place as I moved through the rooms. Many fights seemed way too easy, but somehow I still felt under prepared to face the bosses at the end of each chapter. I’m all for difficult and challenging games, and I think Dark Scavenger could have benefited from more challenging enemy encounters to match with the challenging bosses. But this didn’t really detract from the overall experience, since the most enjoyable part of the game is the writing. With all the games to choose from today, it can be easy to overlook a hidden gem like Dark Scavenger. By sticking to very basic gameplay and doing it right, Psydra Games has created an immersive and challenging world. I couldn’t believe how tense I was trying to decide whether to have my character duck or jump! A game that can cause that much investment in a character without using state-of-the-art graphics (or controls other than point-and-click) is something very rare and unique in today’s gaming world. Dark Scavenger has brought my focus back on a genre that I’ve paid little attention to in the past several years, and I look forward to what the team of developers behind it will bring us next.

This post was submitted by Mike Fugate.

Cross Border Gaming #115: *** With Friends! (by Zynga)

2012-06-29T19:17:26Z

Harold and Frank are joined by TGH’s own Adam as they talk about the 3DS XL, Miyamoto’s credibility (or lack thereof), more Reggie hate, fecal precipitation, Montana, Nintendo’s 8-bit Summer (There’s my f***ing Wario Land!), the lack of any Animal Crossing news for North America, IKEA, more 38 Studios fallout, Skylanders invading Frito Lay chips, Need for Speed news, pinball, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rainslick Precipice of Darkness, the summer of 1994, bad songs & more.

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On This Week’s Episode:

Nintendo Announces the 3DS XL……. AFTER E3!!!!
Reggie calls gamers “insatiable”
Squenix says that FF7 is not getting remade unless its outsold by another FF
NEWSFLASH: Physical games don’t make you lose weight
Sony wishes it gave more space to Vita at E3

Alternate show titles that didn’t make it: “Butt, Montana”, “Just ‘Cause”, “”, “⅛ of an Ass”, “My Body is Ready”

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[iTunes] Subscribe to Cross Border Gaming in iTunes.
[Stitcher] Subscribe to us on Stitcher
[RSS] Add the Cross Border Gaming feed to your RSS aggregator.

Contact:

[Email] Have your questions, comments, and rants read on the air every episode.
[Twitter] Send a tweet to @CBGPodcast to have it read on the show.
[Facebook] Become a fan on Facebook to receive our latest shows and updates.

Hosts:

Harold (@usfhbomb) & Frank (@EMaster1980) with Special Guest Adam (@musicman2059)

Audioboo: Hbomb (Harold), E*Master (Frank)

Music:

Intro Song: The CBG Theme by E*Master
Played during the show: Various
Outro: I Touch Myself – Divinyls

So You Need a Reason to Return to Just Cause 2…

2012-06-25T18:58:22Z

Do you remember your first trip to the island of Panau? Back in 2010, Avalanche Studios created a game called Just Cause 2, and it was unlike anything we had ever seen. Sure, there had been open world games before, but this was the first one to let you attach a soldier to a helicopter and fly away. It was a hit, and soon garnered a huge fan base, although probably not for its voice acting, which sounded like a Hispanic faking an American faking a German accent. But there was one thing that the fans wanted more than anything: multiplayer. Imagine if you and your friends could run around Panau at the same time!

That’s what the creators of the Just Cause 2 multiplayer mod intend to allow. The project was started shortly after the game was released, but because of some unspecified obstacles, development was delayed and the team went dark. However, just recently a video was released showing not one, not two, but FIVE Rico’s causing chaos in the same world space! Apparently, over the past month or so, the developers of the mod have been overcoming obstacles and writing some awesome code to bring this project back to life. They have a few sparse details at their website, http://jc-mp.com/, and more information on their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/jc2mp. They’re also tweeting some progress, and you can follow them @jc2mpdev.

To prepare for this mod, I’ve composed a list of things to try with a friend.
1. Attach car to helicopter. Have friend get in car. Fly friend in car around island.
2. Have friend hover over you in helicopter. Attach enemies to helicopter. Chaos.
3. Attach friend to gas canister. Shoot gas canister. Laugh.
4. Get attached to gas canister. Friend shoots canister. Cry…no, laugh. It’s still funny.
5. Synchronized skydiving. Film it. Put it on YouTube. $$$

Yes, I just saved your life with that list. You’re welcome.

And as a sad reminder, this is only available for you folks with Just Cause 2 on PC (which is especially sad considering that one of the free games on Playstation Plus this month is Just Cause 2).

This post was submitted by Mike Fugate.

Lollipop Chainsaw | Review (Xbox 360)

2012-06-25T16:50:22Z

Just a year after bringing us the highly entertaining Shadows of the Damned, Suda51 is back with a brand-new original games. Taking a break from demons (sort of), the crazy Japanese game designer puts us in a world infested with zombies and… cheerleading? As weird as it may seem, that’s what Lollipop Chainsaw is about. Even weirder: these two elements work rather well together. Here are my thoughts about the game.

Lollipop Chainsaw tells the story of Juliet Starling, a young zombie hunting cheerleader celebrating her 18^th birthday. Sadly for her, things go wrong as a teenage antisocial Satanist unleashes a zombie apocalypse in the poor girl’s high school. Even worse, her boyfriend gets bit by a zombie and she is forced to cut his head off to keep him alive as her sidekick that she keeps attached to her. Juliet then goes on a quest to stop the evil forces from destroying her hometown, equipped with a cute heart-decorated chainsaw. While all of this might look weird, the game’s strange setting and dialogues are such a blast to hear and see that it’s almost a good thing that most of the game’s cutscenes are not skippable on the first play through. You will laugh at the ridiculousness of the game and come back to it to hear it over and over again.

Lollipop Chainsaw’s gameplay is rather simple and very linear: execute crazy chainsaw moves against waves of zombies to proceed to the next area and repeat. The gameplay feels like a slowed down version of Devil May Cry, but with “stiffer” controls. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing but more fluidity in Juliet’s moves would have been better. It is also possible to upgrade Juliet’s stats and abilities using the game’s store, as well as buying alternate costumes, songs, and concept art pieces. In addition to this, there are also some rather original gameplay sections like any other Suda51 games. You will get to fight enemies on a Pong arena (having to dodge the bouncing ball as you are fighting enemies), collecting keys in a Pac-Man level (while avoiding Pac-Man-like enemies that want to eat your character), and many others.

As it is the case with all Suda51 games, the boss battles are an important and great aspect of the game. Without spoiling much of the surprise, Lollipop Chainsaw’s bosses are totally ridiculous. Not in the way that they are insanely hard to beat or anything like that. They are simply over-the-top stereotyped characters which will make you laugh quite a lot and will definitely keep you coming back for more of their awesomeness. Each of the game’s bosses represents a specific music genre, making them even more special and distinct from one another.

Graphically, the game is not all that impressive performance wise. It definitely is up to recent game standards but it does not crush any expectations you might have from today’s video games. However, the game does shine through its explosion of colors it brings to the zombie games universe. Gone are the brown and dark colors: the game is all about bright colors, pink, sparkles and glitter. While some gamers might be alienated by this strange mix of colors and monsters, it brings a wind of fresh air on the zombie genre that has been rather predictable over the five past years.

The audio front is quite good too. The game’s soundtrack was handled by Akira Yamaoka who previously worked on No More Heroes 2, Shadows of the Damned, and most notably the Silent Hill series. As for the boss battle theme, Little Jimmy Urine (from Mindless Self Indulgence, also voicing a punk boss in the game) was brought on the team with an excellent result of explosive tunes that heavily support the intense combats you have to engage yourself in. Like if that was not already enough, the game’s soundtrack also features some licensed songs including Joan Jett’s Cherry Bomb, Children of Bodom’s Needled 24/7, and even Skrillex’s Rock and Roll (Will Take You To The Mountain).

The game does suffer from some problems unfortunately. The most notable element is that the gameplay is very stiff like I mentioned earlier. You never really feel like you can attack enemies exactly like you would really want to, making it hard to chain combos together easily. Also, the game is very, VERY linear with basically no alternate path letting you play the game how you want. This is usually not a bad thing in some games but it does get repetitive and less motivating at some point. Finally, the game has very low replay value, giving you almost no reason to go through it after you are done with the game’s single player.

Despite that it is not what I would call a AAA title, Lollipop Chainsaw is a very entertaining game. If you are looking for a change from the modern shooters, the prince-saving-the-princess, and all the other predictable video game stories, this game is definitely for you. I would highly suggest you rent it at least, and to buy it if you are a big Suda51 fan. Lollipop Chainsaw is not the designer’s best effort but it sure is not one you should pass on.

Positives

- Original and over-the-top story
- Incredibly great soundtrack
- Great boss battles
- Humorous non-politically correct dialogues

Negatives:

- Very “stiff” gameplay
- Rather short game with low replay value

Game experience at time of redaction: Game cleared on Normal difficulty.

Lollipop Chainsaw is available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 for $59,99.

Cross Border Gaming #114: Your Princess Is In Another Castle

2012-06-22T17:43:22Z

Harold and Frank are joined by Philip Wesley as they talk 38 Studios, Draw Something: The Series, Watch Dogs: The Movie, strip clubs, Harmonix, THQ in trouble, a whole bunch of Nintendo news, the Supreme Court vs. used games, Willem Dafoe, avatars taking an arrow to the knee, the end of Hbomb’s e-Shop boycott & more.

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On This Week’s Episode:

38 Studios shady business dealings exposed in open letter
Xbox 720 rumors GALORE
No dual Wiipads at launch
No PS4 until “significant leap” can be shown

Alternate show titles that didn’t make it: “Decent”, “That’s a Talented Finger”, “They’ll Be Dooming Themselves All The Way to the Bank” & “Super Sexy Princesses”

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[Email] Have your questions, comments, and rants read on the air every episode.
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[Facebook] Become a fan on Facebook to receive our latest shows and updates.

Hosts:

Harold (@usfhbomb) & Frank (@EMaster1980) with Special Guest Philip Wesley (@dmgice)

Audioboo: Hbomb (Harold), E*Master (Frank)

Music:

Intro Song: The CBG Theme by E*Master
Played during the show: Various
Outro:

Gratuitous Tank Battles | Review (PC)

2012-06-21T20:15:40Z

Imagine if you will, an alternative reality where, one hundred years from now, World War I is still raging on. The opposing side remain the same, but the weapons have become deadlier. Oh, and all warfare has become one giant tower defense game. That’s exactly the world Positech Games has created in Gratuitous Tank Battles. Many people might be familiar with Gratuitous battle games if they’ve ever come in contact with the similarly named Gratuitous Space Battles. Now we’ve all played tower defense games before, thousands of them flood the internet, our smartphones, and out tablet; but one thing’s for sure. GTB is not for the faint of heart.

Gratuitous Tank Battles is an EXTREMELY customizable tower defense game in which you both defend yourself and attack your enemies using a mix of tanks (of course), mechs, infantry units, and of course turrets. Oh the ever beloved turrets that we know so well. Starting the game up for the first time, I found myself staying on it the entire night, and most of that time was spent just on customizing my tanks! There are so many options available that you can literally lose yourself in it. Making choices about what weapons to use, what armor, what colors (all my tanks are pink and blue because I can), and right when you’re about to hit save, you second guess all your decisions and start over. There are some negatives to this, however. Most of the time you will spend customizing at first, will be just figuring out what the the difference is between all the weapons and armor. You’ll stare at the screen scratching your head, trying to figure out the difference between Laser Cannon 1, and Plasma cannon 2.

Visually GTB looks fairly decent. I especially like zooming in to see the action up close, and to hear the sounds of my troops fighting to the death. The visuals do start to feel bland the more you play the game, as most of the maps use the same color schemes. I guess you can forgive that only because that is exactly how I picture the world to look after 200 years of war, bland, grey, and lacking in all hope and faith (and they’d probably be rationing all the twinkies in the world, what a sad thought). The units are pretty bland looking as well, adding to the gloomy hopelessness that is WWI in the year 2114. While I wish there were a bigger variety of colors and terrain and things of the like, you can’t really expect a game of this nature to look any other way.

The gameplay, as it should, is the real strong point to Gratuitous Tank Battles. Attacking or defending, the AI will put your real time war skills to the test as it will keep adapting to how you are playing the game. Making a lot of infantry? AI will start using more troops that are strong against them. the constant adjusting means you can’t do the old “let’s just spam a whole bunch of units and eventually they will make it” routine. The hardest part about this, just as when it comes to customizing your tanks, comes from remembering which weapon type is good against which unit. You have to always be aware which units your opponent starts making and adapt to stay in the game. Multiplayer is an even better experience, human competition makes it more fun and challenging, and you can easily play this game for hours before ever even thinking of stepping away from your PC.

I love playing tower defense games, I’ve said this before I’m sure. I’ll also be honest and admit that many tower defense games are very bad, especially ones that try to incorporate actually attacking your enemy’s back. They usually fall short for one reason or another. This is where Gratuitous Tank Battles rises above the rest of pile and really shines. Yes, it’s difficult, and may take some getting used to, but that is what makes it all worthwhile and all the more rewarding. This is one of those games that I’ll just keep coming back to, and it reminds me of why I’m so strangely in love with games in this genre. I want to see what their next endeavor into Gratuitous Battles will be. I mean, think of all the wars that could have maybe, possibly, never ended? What if the American Revolution never ended?! (Assassins Creed III would end up being 400 years long).

Max Payne 3 | Review (Xbox 360)

2012-06-18T15:06:21Z

I stared back at the vile grimace from the man on the cover. This wretched, self-loathing and depressed pile of garbage was to entertain me for at least six hours. The controller shook and the credits rolled. Leaning back into my chair, I felt a sense of exhaustion and thoughts riddled my mind like Max’s bullet riddled body. Had Rockstar done what they set out to do? Or had their weird style gotten the better of themselves, leaving Max Payne 3 in a void, spiraling down into decisiveness?

Max has found himself at the bottom of the barrel, he’s left the NYPD and taken up odd jobs – mostly being a bodyguard and that line of work – to fuel his addiction to booze and painkillers. Of course, he’s wound up with another job and we’re whisked away from dreary New York to the equally depressing San Paulo, Brazil. Predictably with Max Payne, things go from “bad” – the people he’s protecting getting kidnapped – to “horrendous” (which I’m sure you can figure out, it’s not pretty).

How Rockstar handled Max through the game bothered me immensely. It’s probably been said before, but why alcohol? You have this character who is only kept alive from the amount of painkillers inside him, churning his black, rusty gears. The reason this entire story arc rubbed me the wrong way is because they’ve got this theme running with the gameplay, where Max is older, unhealthier and not the spindly little scallywag he used to be. This affects the gameplay, he’s much slower on his feet, diving looks like it’s almost crippling him and getting up from a dive takes forever, you sort of just want to have Passos (let’s say the semi-Mona Sax of this game) to reach down and lend him a hand to get him up quicker. So if Rockstar is running with this theme, Max is just imploding on himself, why can’t we see a story arc with the painkillers? If we’re going to have context from the story leap over into the gameplay and have an effect on it, why haven’t you gone all the way? To be honest, I think those with the ‘nostalgia’ or knowledge of the Max Payne games would love to see how Max would cope without downing a bottle of pills.

Max as a character isn’t the vengeful spirit he once was, instead we get to see a different side to him. The side that’s the after effects of years of grief and awfulness. He’s cracked and we can definitely tell; lounging around, smoking and drinking. He’s given up and the only thing that drives him through the day is the job, mostly because it results in free drinks and payment, for more booze. Being a big fan of the first two games, it’s kind of upsetting to see Max in this awful state at first, but eventually he just becomes annoying. We get it, Rockstar, he hates himself. An incredible amount of the monologues that he recites come across as a man trying to break the world record for most self-loathing. He’s also become a bit of an asshole, but then again, I can relate to this side; he despises the people who he’s forced to protect. Those extravagant people who have nothing in between their ears. (Actually, I think he even says something along those lines at some point about a character called Marcello).

To be honest, the story isn’t fantastic. I saw a comment that said it feels like “The Princess is in another castle” scenario and it really does, but in addition, you are taken to a hefty amount of places, from the rich people’s towers, the slums and flashbacks in New York are genuine thrill to play through, mostly because they hit that old Max Payne feeling.

Rockstar has done away with the comic book aesthetic and theme, leaving the monologues from Max in this limbo of “these sound neat, but damn, they’re out of place!” It just feels incredibly weird to hear him talk like this without the backing of a ridiculous comic book where this would fit in, not this attempt at a hard boiled and gritty crime film. While the noir is there, I would have liked to see Rockstar go all out with their way, step on all the egg shells, crush them and just rewrite the monologues as if they were in this crime movie, because they sound hokey and outright daft at times.

Max Payne 3’s aesthetic reminds me a lot of Kane & Lynch 2, that awful grot and complete lack of care to any of the areas you’re actually in. The weird camera filters also just scream it and while Kane & Lynch 2 wasn’t fantastic to look at, Max Payne excels at just looking brilliant. Brazil is flushed with this sickening sepia hue and the flashbacks to New York are as grimy and give me the sense of that 90’s or early 2000’s take on comic book NY. Although the game is set in Brazil, the areas depicted and the places you’ll go all match up to what makes a Max Payne game, it’s just everything surrounding it feels like it didn’t hit the mark.

Like the gameplay, for instance. It just feels sluggish and probably due to the ‘modernization’ of the series, with cover and holding the left trigger to zoom in. Welcome editions, sure, but the addition of cover slows down the combat situations, which in Max Payne 1 or 2, might have been dealt with in a couple minutes, seem to drag on and on.

But even though Rockstar have implemented these new modern things, why don’t we have regenerating health? I don’t mean on the scale of say, Gears of War or other AAA shooters, I mean just when we’re dawdling around trying to scrounge every last corner for the potential for more health (which isn’t around a lot, but they combat this by supplying you painkillers if you die three times in a row). Also it wouldn’t heal all the way, similar to what’s already in place when the
white silhouette is fully red and trickles down.

On the subject of health and life, you die way too quickly. Absurdly quickly. I guess it keeps in with the original Max Payne games, that break neck action that will surprise you with a thug just blowing you away, but they haven’t improved on this aspect. I don’t know if I’m getting hit, Max doesn’t grunt or squirm, he just soldiers on through until I have sit through the three panels showing the way Max rag-dolled this time. It’s kind of weird that the only time Max looks in pain is when he’s been frozen in a grey storyboard-like panel and has this grimace on his face.

Combat has this rather nice flow to it and Max flows really nicely. He’ll aim backwards while shooting and moving in the same direction you intend to go or when he gets into cover, you’ll watch him slide or roll in, avoiding bullets as he goes. It’s a shame the dive has taken a backseat, with no real opportunity to use it properly; mostly due to the fact that Max takes a year to get up and even then, will probably have been either dropped to the floor again or died. The only time I found it of any use is during the very few sections in which you have the element of surprise and when it did work? Oh, we were living the glory days, Max and I. Him flinging himself backwards as I took aim and blasted a few fools away.

I’d have to say the best moment when I used the dive was during a bit where you’re above the enemy and they’re searching around. Having failed this bit a couple times, I popped in the complementary painkiller and took the leap, decimating the majority of the folks below and remaining prone in slow motion, wiping out the couple guys left. Once the other thugs from inside the area they were searching heard, I got up and killed them too, all in this rapid and supremely exciting succession.

It’s moments like this I was expecting to have more of and it’s just a damned shame that Rockstar didn’t design their game for this to happen more often. Instead, they once again decided that story must take over the gameplay and it harms the fluidity that Max Payne had set up. When I’m trapped behind cover and having to use the slow motion I just got in a spectacular way, it feels more akin to Red Dead Redemption or GTA, whereas Rockstar should have moved themselves as far away as they possibly could. I even used the Free Aim option, just because I wanted that freedom to aim where I wanted and how I wanted.

Quickly returning back to health, there’s a mechanic that if you happen to have a painkiller spare, you’ll drop to the floor in slow motion and given the chance at life – if you can kill the person who brought you down. It’s not a hard thing to pull off, the camera and the reticle pulls straight to them, but you can drop at some really awkward moments. Like, I was on a boat or yacht, dropped to the floor and had to sit for at least two minutes until the game had decided enough was enough, because I couldn’t get to him and he couldn’t get to me.

Rockstar have decided to throw in a multiplayer component and the clan system that’s heavily featured will make it’s way into GTAV in some capacity (most likely the clans’ members will just transfer over). The actual multiplayer is a little boring, if I’m honest. It’s just a cover based shooter and it feels stiff and lifeless. Sure, the way they handle bullet-time (everyone in the camera’s view is affected by being slowed down for an advantageous or disadvantageous effect) and it could last you quite a bit – with unlockables and that lark – but really, it’s the weakest of the multiplayer bits in recent Rockstar games.

There’s also some ‘Arcade modes’, where you finish levels in the quickest time possible or rack up seconds from killing enemies to add to a pool of time. In New York Minute, you start with a minute and the goal is to finish before that minute is up, but also racking up more and more time. So in the leaderboards, you’ve got me with one minute thirty (roughly), while the top of the leaderboard managed to rack nearly five minutes in total. These modes require you to keep moving, but with the sluggishness, it just comes down to how quickly can you slow down time and manage to take out all the bad guys and whether you know EXACTLY what they’re going to do or where they’ll be.

The soundtrack is phenomenal. It might be Rockstar’s best action to this game as whole, it builds up and it lowers for those ‘quieter’ moments. There’s a particular scene in which that song plays and the ever slow addition of each component of the song as you progress forward in this shootout is fantastic to play through or even watch.

On a quick side note, this game is gory as all hell. I don’t mind ultra-violence and that lark, but there were some points where even I threw the controller on the desk and threw my arms up in the air in a state of “OH NO, THAT GUY! OH NO!” It’s brutal, even in combat. Max is constantly punctured with bullet wounds all the way through, when he dies or the last enemy dies, instead of just a red mist and the slow motion like in 2, you get spurts and just mutilation all over. It’s grim and like I said, sometimes it goes way too far.

Max Payne 3 is a bizarre game. I really, really enjoyed my time with and some moments were outstanding, but the game is just filled with issues that pushed me too far and soured a good portion of the game for me. The out of place Max Payne story tropes and monologues, the fact that the comic book theme is completely lost and Rockstar didn’t do enough to warrant the crime film feeling of this game, also combined with a story filled with so many conveniences and the fact they haven’t even fixed the long running issue of shitty boss design in these games. Max Payne 3 is like the drunk that stumbles into the bar every night. Are you going to have a grand old time or are you going to put a bullet in his brain for the annoyances?