It's difficult to come up with a fault for Batman, but he does have one noticeable chink in his armor: he's not funny. His utility belt has a knack for supplying the perfect gadget to save him from imminent danger, but a batarang isn't much help in coming up with a knock-knock joke. Thankfully, Batman doesn't have to worry about stand-up material in his latest adventure. The Brave and the Bold pushes humor to the forefront, but it's the cast of supporting characters who supply the laughs. Robin and Blue Beetle are always ready with a quip during dry moments, and even the often ridiculed Aquaman is able to lighten the mood, often at his own expense. This happy-go-lucky atmosphere meshes beautifully with the simple combat, which is just varied enough to stave off a feeling of repetition. A lack of difficulty does hold this back from delivering the satisfying thrill of victory most good beat-'em-ups are known for, and it limits the long-term value in the process. But the simple pleasures in The Brave and the Bold make this a fun and charming brawler. There are four self-contained episodes in The Brave and the Bold. The stories are what you would expect from a cartoon superhero caper--gorillas running amok, and statues coming to life--but it's the manner in which these tales are told that gives this game personality. Villains interject their dastardly thoughts and cunning insults throughout the levels, and their repartee gives this game a goofy charm. Each episode teams Batman up with a different sidekick, but these second bananas don't stay meekly out of the spotlight. Robin takes offense to every perceived slight; Blue Beetle makes fun of the preposterous situations; Hawkman won't stop talking about how old and wise he is; and Guy Gardner is a pompous jerk even after he messes everything up. But the jokes aren't limited to the cutscenes. Blue Beetle muses about superhero/supervillain relationships in the middle of a hectic fight; Robin continually argues that a catlike person has to be Catwoman; and Batman offers a few objections while everyone prattles on around him. It's a great dynamic that makes this game immediately engaging and accessible, even for people who don't know their Batman from their Man-Bat.
The cute and adorable Disney characters from the past games will be once again seen in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. Iconic characters such as Cinderella, Snow White, Stitch, Peter Pan, and Hercules are some of the Disney characters that you can expect to see. For a PSP game, Birth by Sleep manages to look even better than it PS2 predecessors. The character models and the environment are detailed nicely and sports some very vibrant colour palettes. Plenty of cutscenes will feature prominently in the game with an awesome voice cast. Players are expected to see once again the different worlds of our beloved Disney characters such as the Disney Town where players can meet characters such as Minnie Mouse and Goofy. Most of the Disney characters in the game are voiced by the same actors from their original feature films, which will be good news to anyone who grew up watching the films.Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep takes place before the events of the first game. Three young heroes; Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, have aspired to hold the title of the Keyblade Master and they are trained by the Master of Light: Master Eraqus. Their training will eventually lead to a much bigger plot that will tie up the loose ends of the first game. The source of Light and Darkness must always come together as a whole but an unknown force is trying to take all of the light and engulf the world in total Darkness. Our three heroes must set on their own adventures and try to figure out who is behind of the spreading of Darkness in other worlds. Players will have the chance to play each of the characters individually and learn their part of the overall story. The origins of the Princesses of the Hearts of the first game will finally be revealed.
I was never compelled to play a Duke Nukem game. I just found the character and content to be too mature, so I never bothered. I also failed to mention too much about Duke Nukem Forever. It happens that the guys at 3D Realms noticed my lack of interest and sent me a copy of Duke Nukem Forever in a concealed package that only I was allowed to open. I was blown away, literally. Also note that due to the fact that the game is so eye-blindingly incredible, I couldn't take screenshots. Instead, I drew them. So, here is my review of Duke Nukem Forever.
The initial problem I had with the game was the fact that it blew up my Wii, which was quite uncalled for. Only then did I notice that a letter was inside the package telling me that the only console that was capable was a Sega CD and 32X combined, which explained why a cartridge came with the game. Why a Sega CD and 32X? I clearly don’t know. So after hunting for a Sega CD and 32X on eBay, I discovered that I also got a controller in the package as well, stating that it is the only controller compatible with the game. It was called the Duke Controller (not to be confused with the Xbox controller), which has 65 buttons and 12 analog sticks to run the game. There was also a kick pedal that came, which I never understood why I needed until I played the game. I was also told that I required the controller to access the online play, which was indeed surprising.
What does it take to be a sporting champion? Along with physical prowess you must show grit, dedication and determination. You must be willing to make sacrifices and stay focused. On top of all this you must be a stupidly hot woman or hilariously ugly man, and display at least three characteristics stereotypically ascribed to people of your race or nationality.
At least, that's the case if you want to be the kind of sporting champion featured in Sports Champions. But more of that later - let's start with the good news. Sports Champions, despite being yet another compilation of mini-games played by waving a motion controller about as if you're playing a real sport really badly, is actually quite good. The reasons for this boil down to two simple factors. First, PlayStation Move works. It enables you to aim, hit, throw and do all sorts of other sports-related things easily and accurately. Unlike with so many Wii games, reticules don't wibble, bats don't jiggle and attempts to put spin on balls aren't misinterpreted. There's rarely any perceptible lag and objects almost always behave just as you'd expect them to.Second, while there's not a huge selection of mini-games in Sports Champions, the ones on offer are generally of a high quality. They have depth and offer challenge. The best ones accurately recreate the experience of playing the sport they're based on, while featuring the kind of fun elements you could only ever find in a videogame. Take the Archery game, for example. This is played by pointing the Move controller to aim and releasing the trigger button to shoot. If you have two controllers you can draw the other one back like a bow, which enhances the sense of realism but also adds an extra layer of complication you might decide you'd rather do without. In any case, reaching back to pull an arrow from your virtual quiver, taking aim and watching the arrow fly according to accurately recreated laws of physics is deeply satisfying.
The indie scene is exploding, and with it the two main indie genres: platformers and shoot 'em ups. Razor 2 falls squarely into the second category, with all the trappings of classic shmups: plenty of enemies and bullets, Japanese text, and a vertical perspective. However, Razor2 falls short in nearly every department, rendering the game a playable, but disappointing mess. With a ton more polish and some changes to the design, it would be fantastic, but as is it is inferior to any decent indie shmup.Razor2's issues begin right at the start. Trying to skip past the introductory cinematics using the normal method (Escape) immediately boots you out of the game, which is jarring. Assuming you skip past all the tediousness and actually get into the game, you are presented with menus with no clue as to how they function and no real interest in learning how. In this sense, Razor2 completely fails to engage as soon as you boot it up, which is only a sign of further troubles. It almost seems petty, but it's not so bad when you consider how the rest of the game is. It may also be worth mentioning that Razor2 has nothing remotely resembling an interesting plot, unless throwaway words are considered a plot. While shmups are hardly the best games to tell a story, plenty (DoDonPachi, Giga Wing, Ikaruga) have told interesting stories without issue.Presentation. It is the key to drawing in the player, and Razor2 lost the key in a bedroom drawer. The only decent part of the entire game is the orchestrated soundtrack, which is still inferior to other comparable soundtracks. The graphics look like something you would expect from the N64/PSX generation, thanks to incredibly blocky models and poor texture quality. The sound effects are grating and cheesy, and never get better.
The question everyone asks about DLC is invariably, "Is it worth the extra money?" As modern gamers, you've spent your hard-earned dollars to buy some really expensive hours of gaming up front, so if you're going to pay more for what are essentially additional episodes of the same game, they need to be a bargain. And for the hours of fresh gameplay that it offers, the Borderlands: Double Game Add-On Pack at $20 is just that. This pack features two of the three currently released expansions to the world of Pandora, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned and Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, and each brings some great ideas from other games and incorporates them into the Borderlands universe uniquely.
The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned opens a darker, zombie-infested section of Pandora that offers around 6-8 hours of undead-blasting action that feels very similar to Left 4 Dead in a lot of ways, whereas Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot is a lengthy Coliseum/Horde-mode expansion that will appeal to gamers who just want to get their fight on, wave after wave. Combined, you are likely to get a solid 22-25 hours of gameplay out of these expansions, assuming you play through the entirety of the Underdome missions. However, while the zombie-hunting expansion maintains a solid pace sprinkled with moments of real intensity, the Underdome can get monotonous simply because of the nature of its repeating wave formula. Think of it more as another game type than a mission-driven add-on.
Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is kind of difficult to judge. While it is a standalone title, it's not really a full game per se. It is, essentially, DLC for a game that hasn't been released yet, an extension of Dead Rising 2. Of course, no one has had that experience yet, meaning that Case Zero serves double duty as a demo as well. It's an interesting experiment for Capcom and for the industry in general; thankfully for Dead Rising fans, it pays off.Case Zero takes place three years before the events of Dead Rising 2, in a town called Still Creek a few dozen miles from Las Vegas. It's here that renowned motocross star Chuck Greene and his daughter, Katie, are stranded in the wake of a zombie outbreak and, making things worse, someone made off with Chuck's truck during the panic. Now Chuck has to repair a broken down motorcycle and find a way to keep his undead-bitten daughter from turning.
Luckily, as Chuck tells Katie, "Daddy can fix anything," so all he needs is to find the right parts. The parts, naturally, are scattered all over town, meaning Chuck has to wade through a sea of zombies -- and bring each part back through said sea -- all within a single in-game day. In other words, apart from a slightly different storyline and shorter time limit, the overall thrust of Case Zero is the same as its retail big brother: Kill zombies with makeshift weapons, find Zombrex -- an anti-zombification drug -- for Katie, save other civilians and find a way out of town before the military arrives.