PROS:

It’s black, gray, and amazing. This game has like every shade of gray known to man.  Even without colors, it’s amazing to look at.  They kept it simple.

There’s no soundtrack, and it’s amazing. Just the ambience of the forest and the occasional dull tone make this game deceptively creepy.  Once again:  simple.

The puzzles are pretty great. While not as difficult as Braid’s puzzles, you’ll still have to think.  Upon watching multiple people play the game, some players get stuck where others get it right off the bat.  As I observed the Goblin himself, he instantly solved things that took me a while and vice-versa.

It’s one of those interpretive stories. You know, the ones where the developers don’t actually have to create a story, just throw in some mysterious imagery and what-not.  They then sit back and watch the forums buzz with endless theories of what actually happens.  I like that occasionally.

The achievements are easy in addition to other things. After beating the game, chapter select opens.  You can then jump to whatever achievements you missed.  Besides this, there’s also a leaderboard.  It tracks what percentage you’ve beaten the game, which can go up to 111%. Past the 100% mark is even more super secret things to find, as well as beating the game in one sitting without dying once.

CONS:

It can be divided into sections pretty easily. It would’ve been nice to see a mix up of the puzzles, instead of all of the same type in one area.

The second two-thirds of the game feels less personal. Things are aggressively attacking you toward the beginning, but after a certain point that all stops.  The rest is just puzzles and dying is something you bring upon yourself from then on.

The above thing gets rid of the creepiness, too. You’re on edge a lot at the beginning, but then it slowly dies down as you realize that you aren’t in as much immediate danger anymore.  With your nerves no longer being frazzled, puzzles become frustrating as arguing with inanimate objects becomes anger at yourself.

It’s pretty short. It’s about 4 hours long, but that’s if you don’t get stuck too often.  You might wanna play it again, so that’ll extend it some.

That story thing again. Some people actually hate when things don’t explain themselves outright and are up to interpretation.  If one of these people is you, then it’ll detract some from how much you like it.

Limbo is worth $15 because it’s an experience.  If all of this sounds good, but you don’t have $15, then get Braid.  It might be discounted by now.  I don’t know.  Come back to this in a couple of months and it might be less then.

I’ve been a long time fan of the Metroid series. Getting Super Metroid for my birthday is probably one of my fondest memories, and that game remains to this day as my favorite video game of all time. Naturally, I was excited when I learned about Metroid: Other M. The game itself is fairly solid, but it definitely suffers from some flaws.

(Game Play)

The game play in Other M is definitely its’ strongest point. The controls, while initially awkward, are solid and seamless. You control Samus in a 3^rd person perspective that plays very much like a 3d versions of the classic Metroid platformers. By pointing the Wii-mote at the screen you’ll switch to a stationary 1^st person perspective (like Metroid Prime) where you can shoot missiles and do other effects. Flipping between the two modes is fast and easy. The action in the game is very fast paced and exhilarating, and none of the power ups feel gimmicky or shoehorned, unlike certain items in the Prime series (screw attack for example). You also have the ability to dodge attacks by tapping the control pad just prior to being hit, and can recharge missiles and even energy. The ability to dodge, while powerful, is not the be all end all as it can be difficult at times. Recharging your energy is nice, but you have to be at low health to use it and it’s so slow you often won’t be able to pull it off during a boss fight, which keeps the game from feeling easy. Other M also displays a little higher level of difficulty over earlier Metroid titles since the only way to recover energy is to either recharge at low health (which as I said can be difficult) or at a save point because monsters no longer drop energy refills. The level design in the game is pretty good, leading to several interesting environments and many hidden items. The game will point some items to you during play, but many remain very cleverly hidden and are only revealed to you during the Epilogue segment.

Unfortunately the game play does suffer in some areas. The most glaring problem is the forced 1^st person moments where the game wants you to either browse the environment for something to scan, or fight off some monsters. The first can be highly annoying because the object it wants you to scan almost never stands out, leading to a highly frustrating search that many people are calling ‘find the pixel’. The later can be equally annoying due to the difficulty of trying to lock on to things that pass rapidly in and out of your view. These points don’t happen too often, but when they do it’s very aggravating. The second problem is that while none of the power ups feel stupid, some come to late in the game to matter. You don’t gain the classic power bomb until the final boss fight (which you aren’t told about either, you just have to figure it out before you die), meaning it’s only really useable during the very short Epilogue segment. The gravity suit, while it does up your defense, only gets to use its primary effect of gravity/water negation for a very small number of rooms. The final failing aspect of the game play is the overall length of the game. Other M can easily be completed in 8 – 12 hours of play. While the levels are interested and well designed, there are too few of them and they are all fairly small compared to previous games. This leads to little diversity and the shorter length of the game. Like Metroid Fusion, exploring is limited and you are often forced down certain paths.

While the game play suffers from some flaws, I feel the strength of the game and its mechanics easily out-way the negatives. To that affect, I give the Game Play – 4/5 stars.

(Sound and Graphics)

The Sound in the game is good. All of the effects sound right from damage to laser shots to explosions. The voices are clear and easy to understand, and the music (when present) sounds good and is non-obtrusive. Unfortunately the sound track has few memorable pieces. The best tracks are easily the remixes of older songs, and the ending credits track (which is a sweeping orchestral piece that sounds more at home in star fox than it does in Metroid).

The Graphics for Other M are probably some of the best produced for the Wii. All of the game environments are gorgeous, the character models move very well and are excellently rendered, and the special effects are beautiful displays of color and light. The cut scenes are magnificently rendered with great character models, good facial displays, and wonderful backgrounds. The opening movie depicting the ending of Super Metroid is simply fantastic.

The sound, while crisp and clean, is often nothing memorable, but the graphics as a visual spectacle are easily some of the best that has been produced for the Nintendo Wii. To That affect, I give the Sound and Graphics – 4/5 stars.

(Story and Acting)

Metroid has often been known for its lack of story. Other M has attempted to break that mold by delving into Samus’s character and back-story. The overall premise of the story for Other M is solid. Samus is shaken by the events of Super Metroid, and now acting on a distress signal she received, she is exploring a mysterious research ship and encounters her old C.O. from her days as a Galactic Federation Marine. All of these things play together to make what could have been a very good story. Unfortunately the implementation is very poor. The biggest tragedy is Samus’s characterization. In all previous Metroid games she has been presented as a very heroic figure. She is a woman of strength, integrity, and honor. In Other M she is portrayed as subservient, docile, weak, overly emotional, and in some cases downright incompetent. The worst moment is when Samus faces off against Ridley for the seventh time (count em, Metroid Zero mission twice, and then once in Prime 1, 2, and 3, and Super Metroid) and suffers from a bout of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder where she freezes in place, de-spawns her power suit, and whimpers like a child. This would make sense if it was the first time she fought Ridley, since the guy killed her parents, but not when she’s already killed him and robots of him six times before. For the actual story, the plot is rushed at the ending, and a plot line focusing on a betraying Galactic Federation marine is completely forgotten about halfway through the game. The power ups you receive through the game are actually all currently possessed by Samus, but she refuses to use them until Adam authorizes it. This makes sense to a point, since Samus feels guilty and views Adam as a father figure. However it stops making sense when Samus goes trudging through lava, slowly burning to death, just because Adam hasn’t authorized basic life saving protection. Lastly, there is a TON of narration to the game. Samus will take the time to tell you everything about what’s happening, whether you want her to or not. The dialogue between the characters is not particularly well written either. Parallels are often forced down your throat as well. Primary culprit is the hatchling from Metroid 2 and Super Metroid now being called ‘The Baby’, Samus receiving a distress message called ‘the baby’s cry’ and then flying to a research center called ‘The Bottle Ship’. Gee, I wonder what they’re going for there.

Finally, the acting in this game is horrendous. Samus’s voice actress is easily the worst part. While her voice sounds good for the role of Samus, she gives such a deadpan performance that it just doesn’t matter anymore. A few characters managed to give a decent performance, but often you can tell these are unattached people reading from a script, and not the characters you’re watching on the screen.

While I still think the basic premise of the story is good, the overall implementation coupled with the terrible acting and Samus’s awful characterization ruins the entire thing and brings the game down. To that affect, I give the Story and Acting – 1/5 stars.

(Replay Value and Achievements)

Many Metroid games will feature some incentive to play through again, such as multiple endings, hidden endings, speed challenges, or unlockable objects. Other M is no different, although it offers much less. There are no hidden endings in the game, only an Epilogue sequence, and the only thing you gain for beating the game with 100% completion is a hard mode which lets you play through the game without any collectible power ups.

While hard mode is a nice touch, there isn’t a whole here except for simply enjoying the game again. To that affect, I give Replay Value and Achievements – 3/5 stars

(Overall)

Metroid: Other M is a really great game with solid game play and some fun ideas that are sadly brought down by its length and poor story. While the music is nothing to write home about, the graphics are beautiful and manage to make the terribly scripted cut scenes at least entertaining to watch. For Metroid fans and those interested in a really solid platformer, then I recommend this game, but for others I would suggest renting before buying. Metroid: Other M Overall Rating – 3/5 stars.

See You Next Mission.

Now, upon scouring the internet I have found that some games I chose to skip over are now $20 or under (like Spirit Tracks *gasp*). Therefore, I got Lego Rock Band.

PROS:

There are the occasional songs that should’ve been done before now. Songs like We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions, Ghostbusters, Two Princes, Final Countdown, and even Kung Fu Fighting are featured here and are the only place to find them on Rock Band.

There’s a ton of unlockable things. Since it’s a Lego game, there are many unlockable pieces for your character and even pieces of furniture you can buy for your Rock Den.

The gems look like Legos! The colorful gems falling down the highway that cross the strike line (music game terms meaning the notes that come down) are now shaped like legos. Kinda like how in The Beatles: Rock Band the gems are saturated colors.

There are bosses to fight, kinda. They’ll just tell you something like, “The harder you rock the more you blow up this building” and that’s what you do. It shows the building blowing up in the background while you play.

Rock Band DLC that the game finds “family-friendly” enough is playable automatically. I have mostly metal and stuff (so those songs weren’t in there), but some of my dlc and some of the Rock Band 1 songs were there to break up the monotony of some of the setlists.

CONS:

The overall song list isn’t that great. Some of these songs you’ll get tired of really fast, sometimes to the point of frustration.

It gets repetitive in the worst places. You’ll see a new song in the new venue you’ve unlocked and will say, “Cool!” Then the next gig will be a one song setlist with a “random” song. Guess what? It’ll probably be the song you JUST PLAYED.

With the characters being made of Legos, it kinda gets rid of the “I’m a cool rockstar” feel. It feels unrealistic… mainly because it is.

A lot of the different options and modes aren’t explained very well. At one point I was unable to progress any further in the “story” until I did… something. I just played every gig that had been unlocked that I hadn’t played yet for about 2 or 3 more hours until finally I could progress.

There’s no Endless Setlist. One of my favorite things about Rock Band 1 and 2 is the gig that makes you play every song in the game in a row. For the first game that particular gig was over 4 hours long, and for the second game it was over 8. This “Endless Setlist” is just 30 random songs, including your DLC, not in order of increasing difficulty. Argh.

This game is worth $20 but just barely. I’m glad I didn’t buy it last year.

As with all Team Ninja games, the DOA series is known for its heightened difficulty. I believe the game mechanics of the Dead or Alive Xtreme series to be one of the most complex of all time, almost as complicated as real-live-action-life women themselves. A game about playing volleyball and giving women swimsuits being complicated is a crazy idea, and I love Team Ninja (well, Tomonobu Itagaki) for creating it. Itagaki, the creator of the Dead or Alive series and every game related to it has since left the company, so let’s see how things have changed.

PROS:

Finally, a new DOAX series game has arrived. I need more of this series in my life. Maybe the next iteration will be in 3-D or have motion control. >:D

It’s portable! Finally one can take the experience anywhere. I plan to play it on board a cruise ship. It’s theme appropriate, after all.

There’s a 10th girl! Rio, some reference to some other game, is now playable once you unlock her.

Virtual Pictorial is way easier to unlock. In fact, it seems like most of the game is based around this feature. It doesn’t take 30+ hours to unlock this time around and finally keeps track of which gravure videos you’ve watched and which you haven’t.

No Hilary Duff! Unlike the soundtracks on the first two games, this one is mostly filled with actual Japanese music. The others were terrible pop and reggae-style beach-themed tracks (Reel Big Fish was nice, though). You can still provide your own music by putting mp3s on yourmemory stick.

CONS:

There’s less of everything. You know when you get the ‘Lite’ version of something, there’s less of something and it usually isn’t as good. That’s this game. It’s DOAX Lite, and the only thing added is the aforementioned extra character.

The difficulty has been removed. I guess Itagaki was the only person making the games difficult, because now it isn’t difficult at all. So far no suit has been rejected. Before this game I would’ve said that this would be a good thing, but now I’m not so sure.

The environment textures are terrible. I know I’ve been playing a lot of ridiculously good looking games lately, but this is like Pre-PS2 stuff. The models’ textures are as good as Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (the first game), but the rest of the environment is not.

There’s less control while playing volleyball. Your partner is controlled completely by the right thumbstick on the console versions. The PSP has no right thumbstick, so therefore you can’t control your partner.

There’s less clothing… I know that usually this is a good thing, but in this I mean that there are fewer varieties to choose from. From a female clothing fanatic’s point of view, this is not a good thing. Now you know that about me.

Well, wasn’t that fun? Next week I’ll have a review for you about a little known game called Super Mario Galaxy 2… or something like that.

Enjoy, ingrates. :)

He’s got the songs for sale on itunes, go forth and give him the credit he’s earned.

Before I start the review, I must say that the idea of viewing video games as an art and a medium through which to provide riveting storytelling is becoming more and more accepted by people that actually try to see games as such.  There are a number who still live in the past, as my own mother thinks that I should not be playing games (“Adults don’t play with toys”), but the populace used to think that motion pictures couldn’t tell stories or be considered as artistic either.

In this “Gaming Renaissance” there have been great ideas that have created a new outlook on the way gaming has evolved.  For instance, Valve created both the Gravity Gun from Half-Life 2 and the Portal Gun from Portal.  Both of these guns made developers begin to really use physics creatively and… “start thinking with Portals.”  Shadow of the Colossus had the idea to just let the character roam free, with no overworld enemies except for 16 huge puzzles.  It proved that a developer doesn’t have to cram a game with content to make it amazing.  The God of War series introduced ridiculously-sized bosses combined with over-the-top violence and “quick-time events” to really feel the weight of what you were accomplishing in such a foreign setting as ancient Greece.  There are more, such as Chrono Trigger and Prince of Persia’s time manipulation and Bioshock’s completely unique underwater FPS environmental setting, but the main point is that these games usually shift the industry in a fresh, exciting way.

I particularly use these examples because I plan on reviewing Left 4 Dead 1-2 for the new DLC, Bioshock 2, God of War 3, The Last Guardian (Shadow’s maybe sequel), the new Prince of Persia, and hopefully Half-Life 2: Episode 3 if they happen to surprise us and release it this year.  …Also because more Chrono Trigger would be a good thing, but let’s move on.

This is to introduce the next great idea in gaming that the Mass Effect series is pulling off quite amazingly.

PROS:

Great Gaming Idea #1:  The Suicide Mission. As with awesome action games, Mass Effect 2 (ME2) will culminate in a final mission/boss/etc.  Unless you’re Halo 2 (Finnish teh fite lololol).  This is obvious, so no spoilers.  The entire game/advertisements/etc. call this as such, so you pretty much know this.  The amazing part is that almost everything you do factors into this final mission.  Who you do or don’t recruit, whose special missions you do, how much you talk to your squad mates, what upgrades you buy, what morality decisions you make, and what you choose to do for the about 7 or 8 choices that take place during the final mission is all put into a series of equations that determine who lives and dies.  Your character can even die and then cannot be imported into Mass Effect 3.  Peter Molyneux (the Fable series) should pay attention to Bioware.

Great Gaming Idea #2:  It’s a… wait for it… Mass Effect 1 explained that all major and minor choices you made will affect ME2, and it’s true.  Assuming you imported your ME1 character, every choice, even the ones you made during side quests, are brought up in this one.  Most of the choices you can further influence when you come upon them again.  Combine with this the fact that there are more new choices in this one than the first and both games will affect the third game.  OMG.  Do you realize how many branches this can have?  It’s almost like a… Mass Affect!  You can tell in ME2 when you make decisions that these will be brought up majorly in the third one, in almost an epic Lord of the Rings-style encounter.

The story is great. I’ve previously mentioned in the Assassin’s Creed II review that this is one of my favorite plotlines.  This is still true.  The world building is so fleshed out it’s unbelievable.  Every race has little quirks and special customs and you know each one by heart by the time it’s done.  The continuation of the story just makes everything so engrossing.  I say again… you must experience this series.

As with the trend of late… it is much improved from the sequel.  I have listened to interviews with Bioware.  They actually read message boards all over the internet, made lists, and corrected most of the flaws of the first game.  Finally a developer listens to their fanbase.  Driving a vehicle over the same terrain is gone.  Seeing the same 3 types of rooms over and over is gone.

Also, they removed the inventory system. It makes it slightly less of an RPG, but it’s OK.  It feels so much more natural to play this way, and you’ll realize this while playing.

CONS:

There are the occasional twins. Some NPCs look the same as other ones.  You can tell the main male NPC model after you see him over and over.  This isn’t too often, though.

One of the hacking mini-games is difficult for the color-blind. I know this because I watched a color-blind person play the game.  They eventually used the shape instead of the color to complete it correctly every time.

There are some dialog overrides. If you’re listening to dialog and then get close to another NPC who has dialog, it’ll change over to that NPC.  Just stay still if you are invested in a conversation.

Team mates need help to find cover. This isn’t very noticeable on anything other than high difficulties, but your squad mates might need to be told where to take cover or they’ll just stand in the open and die in two seconds flat.

There is (*gasp*) a hidden “Point of No Return”. This is probably my only big qualm with the game.  A “Point of No Return” in an RPG is basically a point where there is no saving until after the credits.  This isn’t the same thing, technically.  There is a main mission where, should you do it, the game will then decide for you when you should do the Suicide Mission at some undetermined point later.  At that undetermined future point it gives you the choice to wait (a Point of No Return), basically making it a second Point of No Return.  The problem is that if and when the game decides to make you do it you choose to wait, there are consequences.  I won’t spoil you on the consequences, but just know that they are there.  No spoilers, but basically you should do most everything you want to do before doing the IFF mission.  You’ll know what that is when you come to it. There are more missions after the IFF mission, but at that point the invisible clock has started counting down.

Sorry this was so long, but I really can’t put in enough words how much you should play this series.  Next week will be my review of Bioshock 2.