Clive Barker's Jericho [PROMOTIONAL]

I know we've all probably heard a lot about / read an awful lot about Jericho recently in almost every magazine or other media outlet you've picked up on over the past while and I just want to assure you that you're not alone in wondering -- what's the big deal about? The big deal is that Clive Barker, the resident horror expert, is about to release a new game! The last game with his name printed on it, which would be Clive Barker's Undying, was an undeniably superb game that received much less attention than it should have.

And now hopefully things will change with the release of Undying. Lord knows that it's receiving enough press this time around (which can never, in principle, be a bad thing!)


I may as well jump on the bandwagon and help promote this awesome-looking title as well! I have high hopes for this one and can't wait to get my hands on it!

Check out the official introduction below!



The demo's also up on the XBOX Live marketplace! Grab it now!
The tentative release date for all the platforms it's hitting (PC, XB360, & PS3) has been penned for October 23rd! Don't miss it!

--Reaper

Vampire Rain -- The Exclusive Review, Courtesy of M80

Oh Vampire Rain, Vampire Rain,
What beautiful box art you show,
Oh Vampire Rain, Vampire Rain,
What torture I had to undergo.

Well, I do suppose it would be pretty harsh to critique an entire game based on that short, poetic verse. Actually, that little verse doesn't do the entire game that is Vampire Rain justice. Why didn't I make the verse longer and more accurate, then, you might ask? Well, in a nutshell, when my mind strains to naturally rhyme "show" with "undergo", I think it's time for me to give it up.

Anyhow, we're gonna move on.

By now I'm sure that my unnecessary Microsoft Paint! bar graph is no longer needed to show you that the higher the number, the larger the space is to fill, right? Or rather, in this case, the higher the number = the better the score. In any case, I can't move on until I fill you in on the categories as well -- since I'm not showing you the bar graph, I guess I'll just have to elaborate on the categories, now, won't I?

+Gameplay -> Simply enough, this is how the game plays. Is it fun? Are the controls intuitive? Are the controls, especially for combined actions, in places that are easily accessible and prevent me from snapping my wrist in the process? If you said "yes" or "I hope so" to all of the above questions, then the game in question will probably receive a pretty high score.

+Storyline -> Are we feeding unicorns so that they can proceed on with their plans of global domination or are we sneaking about a military submarine in search of answers as to why these fish-people have crawled up out of the sea? I'll be judging how effective, interesting, and entertaining the plot is and tally up the results in this category.

+Graphics -> Next-gen or last-gen? Winner or loser? Does your character look like he's floating or do the weapons look so realistic that you had to pick your jaw up off the ground once you were done gaping at it ... and, in the meantime, getting killed? It's up to me to decide.

+Sound -> Is the sound effect for that one ghost a simple "Boo!" or a ghoulish squeal of agony? Does the rifle sound like it's firing bullets or something less bullet-sounding? Let's find out!

+Value -> Frankly, all "value" means is whether this game is worthy of your time. Much like gameplay, is it fun to play? And, on top of all that, is the subject matter interesting and fun? What audience is the game geared towards? Am I asking far too many questions?

+Multiplayer -> Is it "haha, I killed you, you n00b!" or "check this out! I just got stuck in this wall!"? Let's find out together. I will brave the dark abyss that is XBOX Live and report what I can on the stability of playing with others. Sometimes it's worth it -- other times it's not.

+Bonus -> Is there just something (good OR bad) that doesn't fit into any of the other categories and seems to pop out, having a life of its own? I'll mention it here to the best of my ability.

Phew. Now that we've got the formalities out of the way, let's check out just how interesting it really is to play as a guy as part of a larger team that has to quell a Nightwalker (vampire) uprising in the course of one night. Are you up to the task, soldier?

Gameplay

Much like any other Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid clone, this game plays out in the same way. Except not as good. The general concept of Splinter Cell: Vampire Edition may sound cool at first, but when you decide to peel open the book and read its contents -- 'not so cool. Something that every stealth game must have (this game reaffirming my belief) is some sort of stealth meter. Generally, you're taking a stab in the dark as to how loud your footsteps are when attempting to sneak around a Nightwalker. This wasn't as much as a problem to me as it was for my friend but, then again, shouldn't it be accessible to all?

Another thing I didn't seem to get about the overall layout of Vampire Rain is why you have to document each and every Nightwalker with your "necrovision" before their vision cones appear on your radar. If the government isn't taking this threat serious enough to do some emergency robotic search-and-gather intel for you before you're sent in there, why are you heading in there in the first place?

Enough of the things at the top of my mind. Let's start from the beginning.

You start off figuring out that the entire Single Play setup is played through three different categories: Stages, Tutorials, and Trials. Stages are the main story-developing assets of the entire Single Play campaign, Tutorials teach you the basics and only appear sprinkled throughout the beginning of the campaign, and the Trials are some of those well-known "accomplish this objective as fast as you can or you fail." With 24 different stages that range in between a difficulty of 10 - 20 minutes on normal mode if you're trying to go for a very high ranking, it's quite a sight to behold. The main problem is that later levels simply reverse earlier levels and send you back through them backwards.

... what?

You have your standard weapons-fare here as well. You have your silenced pistol, your silenced assault rifle (I haven't even heard of one of these in quite some time), your shotgun, your silenced sniper rifle, miscellaneous other weapons, and the unbelievably cool UV knife. 'You get it? UV? Vampires? Sunlight? 'Cracked me up the first time I heard. Unbelievably enough, though, this cool weapon is also completely destroyed because, you guessed it, it runs on ammo. You heard me right.

The knife needs ammunition.

And speaking of weapon shortfalls, each and every one of your weapons disappears at the end of the level. You heard me right that time as well -- even though the game takes place in the course of one night, yet you lose every single weapon you've gotten (well, except occasionally your pistol and Neolite assault rifle) at the end of each and every stage. For the sake of consistency, let's just say that the main character of yours (Lloyd) dumps each and every one of his weapons in a gutter before jumping into the van and proceeding to their next location within the city. And, just to humor myself with an explanation, let's just say that Lloyd dumps his weapons because those extra weapons he could carry with him weigh down the van too much.

Every single upside has its downside in this game. Even though it's pretty hard for these vamps to spot you and, thankfully enough, you even get the flashing-ghostly-creepy-face on your screen when they're about to spot you, the vampires are near superhuman lest you have your boomstick at the ready or are keen at getting headshots on them with the sniper rifle while they're running their way to you. Shamble is more the word, really, but then why is their "shambling" faster than your running?

Ah, I see I failed to mention that, though every other weapon has a silencer, your shotgun doesn't. This pretty much means that once you use it on one Nightwalker, 5 other ones near you will hear you and come charging. No matter what the case, this is never a pretty situation. Especially when your other "teammates" are talking to you one moment in a cutscene standing right with you. Cut to a fadeout. Come back in and you're all alone?

... what? They couldn't just let me come along with them? If you're almost useless solo, what's the point in having your two other teammates travel together and you travel alone? It makes absolutely no sense!

Much like Tenchu-Z, there are multiple ratings for a level, S being the highest, followed by A, then B, and so on and so forth. In order to achieve the S ranking, however, you must recover all of the pickups (miniscule blips that occasionally show up on your radar when you appear to be on the same elevation as the item), take no damage (don't accidentally jump off that 14 foot tall rooftop! And don't step in that acidic goop that fallen vamps leave behind!), keep your ammunition expenditure to a bare minimum (that's right. Got your shotgun and sniper rifle? Apparently it pays off more for you not to use them anyhow), and don't use any continues. That's right. Did you mess up on one of the above things even once? Make sure to hit restart and not continue if you're expecting that grand ol' "S"-ranking!

Though I gripe and moan, I do have a soft spot for these kind of games and, if you really get into methodically scanning the level for the best path through, it can be really, really entertaining to play a few Stages a time. Then again, once you play a few you'll probably have spent so many hours that you're so absolutely sick and angry at the thing that you'll turn it off, fume awhile, and come back to it later. Plenty of "what?!?" moments in that thing, I assure you. Through all of Vampire Rain's failures and [minimal] successes, I give it a 5 out of 10. Hey, at least it tried ... right?

Storyline

Though you switch roles often, you'll mainly be planning as Lloyd, a guy who is part of a Special Forces squad sent into Los Angeles to take out a dirty Nightwalker threat that has just recently risen. In addition to defusing the vampire threat, you'll also have to rescue a kidnapped professor from their lair and, in addition to that, figure out how in the heck this plague even came to the city. The main thing left unexplained is why the vampires decided to kidnap the professor and not kill him on sight, as appears to be the case with everybody else -- including yourself.

In this fashion, it's much Splinter Cell and no originality. You sneak. Don't engage the vampires. Make your way to the objective. Collect all items.

Blah.
Blah.
Blah.

Like I've mentioned before, the vampires "shamble" towards you so fast that it's almost pointless to defend yourself in the earlier parts of the game. Generally, this is where the Metal Gear Solid element comes in -- you're sneaking around and paying attention to patrol patterns before you can safely arrive to your destination / reach your objective.

And from there on out it's pretty much standard cookie-cutter fair in the matter here, unlike how MGS pulled it off. For Vampire Rain's valiant attempt at an original story, though, I'll give it a generous 6 out of 10.

Graphics

The graphics do look pretty good. Not, perhaps, up to par with something like Gears of War, they're pretty detailed and don't suffer from over usage like many other games of its kind. The one thing that caught my eye, however, was the rain effect. It was absolutely phenomenal, from the way it glistened on your characters stealth-suit *cough*SolidSnake's+SamFisher's*cough* to the way it splashed against the rooftops. The intro and cutscenes are pretty well done -- up there with Metal Gear Solid's cinematic-wise, but not quite. The streets, environments, and rain -- it all pretty much pushes the 360 to the max.

There's not much else of notice in this department and, because of that, I'll be granting Vampire Rain a 7 out of 10 in the graphics department.

Sound

Voice acting = painful. Really. Although this may not be considered a sound flaw, the lip-syncing isn't even with the English words for the majority of the cutscenes! The voices sound so bland and depressing -- not really what's required with the premise of rain, vampires, and Los Angeles baring down upon you.

The weapons-sound was good from what I could gather, but, really, it was pretty hard to tell what with the silencers and lack of usage.

... the rain sounded great though!
Vampire Rain + sound = 6 out of 10.

Value

I don't see much of a reason to play through the game multiple times unless you clearly didn't get the "S"-ranking the first time around. Once you're done with getting an "S" on every Stage / Tutorial / Trial, then I guess it's time to punish yourself and move onto Hard and do the exact same thing. Most of the levels are pretty easy to memorize, so replaying it right away isn't much of a hassle. You can run about wherever you want to since you already know where all the vamps are already lurking about, making your second playthrough a lot easier on you than your first.

Or so I assume. I don't feel I'll be torturing myself that far.

Otherwise, there's not much reason to play through the missions again and again unless you come back to Vampire Rain time and time again for the multiplayer. Really, though, there's not a lot of innovation to see here, either.

Move along. Vampire Rain + value = 6 out of 10.

Multiplayer

Here you have quite a few different modes to choose from, but nothing much different than you've already expected or already seen before. You're got such modes a Team Deathmatch, Deathmatch, Death or Nightwalkers, Capture the Flame, and Destroy. Capture the Flame particularly caught my eye because I thought it amusing that Artoon decided to change the usual flag format and swap it for a ball of fire. It makes the flag carrier much easier to see when he's a living, breathing bonfire.

I suppose I have to give them credit there.

Then there's the Death or Nightwalkers mode which, unbalanced as it may seem, is merely okay in multiplayer. When you're killed by a Nightwalker, you become a Nightwalker and therefore receive all of their abilities from the Single Play mode. Yes, that includes the super strength, expert leaping, and sonic speed. The key thing here, though, is that the humans get weapons to use from long-range and the Nightwalkers are restricted to short-range melee attacks.

It's still never fun to be killed by one of those things, though, be it in multiplayer or Single Play. I guess I'll grant Vampire Rain a 7 out of 10 in the multiplayer department.

Bonus

There's nothing much of notice, really. Artoon tries and fails to mix the best elements from MGS and the Splinter Cell series and dually mix in their own elements that seems to amount to a failure. There is a small cult following, though, and at times you can be pretty fond of the game. It isn't completely worthless, but far from perfect.

Overall, Vampire Rain has scored a 6.2. You might want to try this game if you're a hardcore fan of the stealth genre, but not until the price for this game hits the bargain bin.

And, once again, there you have it! Massive thanks to Nico + Ann from M80 Teams for lettin' me review this ... while it might be far from the best thing I've ever reviewed, it's one more thing to add to my ever-expanding collection.

Well, I guess I'm off to work on those achievements ... seeing as how the majority of the achievements center around (for some odd reason) the multiplayer, you'll know where you can find me.

... bang!

--Reaper

Tenchu Z -- The Exclusive Review, Courtesy of M80

Ah, back again? So soon? Just for little old me? I'm flattered, and it just so happens that you've arrived just in time to see my next review! For those newcomers, I'm going to introduce my scoring system. The scoring grid is as follows:

And now I introduce to you the seven following categories that I will rate from 1-to-10, a 1 representing the lowest bowels of hell and 10 representing the most divine light of the heavens. These categories range as follows:

Gameplay
Storyline
Graphics
Sound
Value
Multiplayer (if applicable)
Bonus (in case I feel it incorporates something that just doesn't fit in with the above categories)

So, with that out of the way, I feel it best for us to move on and discover what I found in the cruel underworld of assassins and greedy merchants in the depths of feudal-era Japan. Don't let me hold you up, though -- we've got some ninja'ing to discuss!

Gameplay

"His breathing heavy, the cloaked figure held his katana at the ready. A ninja was always prepared for what might be on the other side of that paper wall, or shoji. Peering inside, he watched as his mark paced along the back of the room, gazing out of the window closest toward the moon and stars in the night sky above. Without hesitation, the ninja pried the door open and stepped silently to his target. Before the monk could even turn around and gasp, the ninja had grabbed him with his free arm, holding the sword to his throat. Gasping for air, the monk clawed helplessly at the black cloth arms restricting him. A simple word muttered into his ear was the last the monk had heard before crimson splashed across the wooden divider to his side, his lifeless body sliding to the floor. The ninja cleaned his weapon on the monk's clothing before sheathing it and starting back off into the night as if he had never even been there."

My small stab at fiction sums up the game pretty well. To start off, you have the tutorial. Fair enough. You follow it through and learn how to roll, shoot your grappling hook, how to survive melee combat, and, most importantly, how to perform silent kills, or "SKs" for short, possibly your most important skill in the entire game. The silent kill requires you to sneak up behind an enemy (there are many possibilities -- behind, crouched behind, either side, from the front [if you're lucky enough], whilst hanging from a ledge, death from above [a personal favorite of mine], and many more) and execute your attack without alerting your enemy. Sometimes this is harder than it really sounds and sometimes it's a lot easier. Most of the time, it's just the luck of the draw.

After the tutorial, you are then brought to a main village where you have two buildings to choose from between every mission you embark on -- one building houses your fellow ninja whom you talk to in order to start on your next mission, the other a safehouse for you to equip and purchase skills, abilities, items, and clothing with the gold you earn from successfully completing missions. The more gold you earn, the more you can buy. But, in order to earn gold the most efficiently, you need to play on a harder difficulty and, most definitely, earn a "Ninja 5" ranking. A "Ninja 5" ranking is the highest ranking in a series of 5 that you can receive depending on how many guards you've stealthily killed, how many alerts you've set off, and, in total, your points from that mission.

There are over 50 missions to choose from, but most of them seem monotonous once you actually get into playing the game as a whole. Many textures are used over and over again, making the environment seem so abysmally bland ... but I'll discuss more of that in the graphics section of this review. Each of these missions, in turn, have a certain type of objective -- assassinate the boss, capture all the bombs, eliminate all enemies, speak to the informant, et cetera. Since most of the maps are used repeatedly with only minor guard-path variations, it seems more like a repeat of a previous type than anything innovative.

The artificial intelligence is the only thing that had me writhing on the ground with a heart attack while dually laughing at its stupidity. Sometimes you get a mixed bag with that AI -- their vision can be so limited that you're clearly sticking out of the bushes just in front of them, yet they still can't locate you. Set off an alarm? No problem! Run around the side of the building and, three-quarters of the time, the guard won't even think to look there! 'Think you're safe hiding atop that tall wall? Not so fast! Some of the guards have such enhanced perceptions that they can spot you even, you guessed it, way up there!

In theory, everything sounds well and good, but it's just not varied enough. Sure, there are 50 missions to play through, but the storyline, graphics, and all-around gameplay are too weak to actually make any of the 50 missions useful. If you can wrap your head around the concept of being a ninja, I'm sure you can have a lot of fun with this (as I did,) but there doesn't seem to be enough variation for the moderately-entranced gamers to mess around with. Because of it's great design but flawed execution, I'll have to give the gameplay portion of Tenchu Z a 7 out of 10.

Storyline

Oh, don't you just love these fun little games that pretend to have a storyline but is so loosely bound together that you feel you'd have more fun trying to understand with a bottle of tequila ... no, make that two bottles? Then this game is clearly for you! Tenchu Z pretends to have a storyline -- you make two characters at the start of the game; one is the ninja you'll play as, and the other ... you only run into during select cutscenes? Who is (in my case) she? What is she doing there? Her presence is never explained. Ever.

The basic storyline is that you're a ninja trying to defend your region from these smugglers threatening to destroy it. Not such a bad storyline, actually. Nothing drastic, but acceptable. The only issue is that there are no twists, no anything -- just 50 missions-worth of "kill this, collect that, and restore order to your region." For actually having a storyline this game gets some merit, but it's not tied together well enough to actually qualify as one that is worthy enough to note. Problem is, you can play Tenchu without even knowing the storyline. This makes it quite accessible, but is also its own potential downfall. Tenchu Z receives another 7 out of 10 in the storyline department.

Graphics

I usually don't go extremely hard on graphics in games -- it's the gameplay and storyline that matters the most. If neither of those work so well, then, hell ... I'll call it on its innovation. ... wait, this game doesn't work in any of those departments outstandingly so far? So let's check the graphics, hmh? Sorry, folks -- nothing too special to see here. Most of the textures are far, far overused from level to level, the poly counts are so low on the guards (and they're used repeatedly over and over again) that they're almost not worth noting. The only guys that appear to get temporary visual upgrades are the bosses -- what a shame that it doesn't really matter much since, if you accomplish what you're sent in the mission to do, he'll/she'll wind up on the floor with a new hole somewhere in their body ripped by your trusty blade.

Animations are okay, but clipping is far too bad. Did you flip a body near a building as you were performing your SK? Oh, his leg's halfway through the wall, you say?

And that's not all. In addition to the poly count, all around this game has the graphics-intensity of a late-generation original XBOX game. The only reason I even stopped to ask whether this was for the XBOX 360 or not was its pre-rendered cutscenes, not in-engine ones. How can you tell, you say? Well, if it isn't obvious enough already, the pre-rendered ones are beautiful; the in-engine ones are not. Period. In the visuals department, I give Tenchu Z a 5 out of 10. Hey, at least it tried.

Sound

Now here's something I can talk about on an intellectual level. The music in the game can sometimes become repetitive, but its traditional Japanese-sounding rhythm and instruments allow you to dismiss some of that. The non-Japanese sounding music isn't bad, either, and the music that's sort of a mix (intro? outro?) isn't too shabby, either. The sound effects are pretty good, as well. The swish of the blade, the ruffle of the grass, the wind blowing, the screaming of the guards as you ruthlessly stab them in the-- ...

... oh, the screaming! That reminds me! Did I fail to mention as of yet that no part of the game is in English? The entire game is in Japanese with English subtitles. That's right -- haven't seen one of those in awhile, have you? This didn't really bother me much, since I'm such the cultural fanatic that I'm usually watching / playing something in another language that requires subtitles to begin with. In my opinion? It's no big deal. If anything, it adds to the authentic fedual-era Japanese environment. In the sound department, I've gotta give Tenchu Z its well-deserved 9 out of 10. Bravo, bravo!!

Value

Oh, wow. Here we go -- the tough one. This game can actually last quite awhile ... as long as you have the patience for it. There are indeed 50 missions -- quite a feat in itself, especially if you're trying to get Ninja 5 on everything. And if you do it on a higher level, it doesn't count on the lower levels. That's where it gets challenging. 150 levels to get Ninja 5 on? Talk about a big chunk out of my week. All-in-all, and if nothing else, just trying to get to all the achievements might last you anywhere from a few weeks to a month. Not too bad, and an especially good filler for the summertime game-drought. In the value department, I give Tenchu a 9 out of 10.

Multiplayer

Talk about needing teamwork! Wow ... if you're playing over Live, make sure to weed out the good teammates from the bad right off the bat. Here are some tips in determining whether your teammate is beneficial or if he simply drags you down.

1) Does he have such a bad connection that he lags not only himself, but you as well?
2) Does he steal your kills?
3) Is your partner never around to help you until you've had to deal with the problem yourself?
4) Does he not know the value of SKs? Does he prefer straight-up action instead?

Don't get my wrong, because multiplayer's pretty fun. You've just got to get a good partner is all. In the multiplayer department, I give Tenchu an 8 out of 10.

Bonus

I can't help it. I've got to point this out.
Do you know what this game has?
Do you?
Pirates.
That's right. You're a ninja. That gets to kill freakin' pirates!
How wicked is that, right?
On that alone, I'm giving it a 10 out of 10. =P

Overall, Tenchu Z has scored a pretty average 7.9, a game that you might to rent and see if it's all that you're expecting of it before you run out there and blindly put all your faith into it.

And, once again, there you have it! One more review down, hopefully some more to come! As seems to be customary along with a witty ending response, I have to thank Nico for fueling this addiction of mine once more, along with all the folks over there at M80 Teams.

And that's all I have for now!
I'll see ya out there, you ninjas, you!

... swish-swish, sucka!

--Reaper

Forza Motorsport 2 -- The Exclusive Review, Courtesy of M80

I have a feeling that this is going to be a pretty exciting review, for you guys as well as myself. But, since it is only polite, I’ll be introducing my scoring system and categories I’m rating on once again. Could we please launch the scoring grid?

Ah, wonderful. And now for each of the seven categories I will be granting a 1-to-10 rating basis on, 1 being the most foul and 10 being the most brilliant. These go as follows:

Gameplay
Storyline
Graphics
Sound
Value
Multiplayer (if applicable)
Bonus (in case I feel it incorporates something that just doesn’t fit in with the above categories)

So, just for you guys, I’ve raced against many opponents down the fierce tracks and raceways behind many-a-stickshift cars in Forza Motorsport 2 just to bring you the following review, courtesy of hours upon hours of my own personal playtime as well as (yet again) M80’s kind donation.

So let’s get on with the review, shall we?

Gameplay

Right off the bat, I have no reason to hide the fact that racing simulations are far, far from my cup of tea. But, when I was offered the chance to playtest it, I decided to go ahead and give it a shot – and, surprisingly, was in for quite a shock. While other racing games I’ve experienced, be it import racers, NASCAR sims, or et cetera, never quite captivated me and just seemed like just another long, boring clone of all the other hundreds of racing games that came before the one I had played, zipping around an ovular or sometimes wickedly-shaped racetrack, asphalt or dirt, for 100 to 200 laps just for “fun”, Forza Motorsport was quite different.

I don’t even know if I could even properly catalogue how many hours I’ve spent playing that thing and how many nights of spent up till 4 in the morning with the XBOX 360 controller in hand (along with a cup of nice n’ hot cappuccino) just telling myself “beat this last, final circuit!” Hell, I haven’t been this addicted to a game since, perhaps, Neverwinter Nights 2 or World of Warcraft, because, in case you couldn’t tell, I’m usually much fonder of the occasionally well-written shooter or classically-presented RPG. So far, I’ve reached Driver Level 27 and, I must say, while the tracks can get repetitive after awhile, using different cars to race on them is always a new and challenging experience.

For the rookies who aren’t used to a good racing simulation (such as myself,) there’s the braking line that shows you where to break in corners and when the appropriate time to accelerate out of that corner might be. Don’t get confused: this isn’t like Burnout or some other mindless racing sim you’ve played – you can’t just skid around corners, drift around turns, and slam into other cars. There’s actually some mind-twisting thought put into this game. You gun it too soon, you’re out in the sandtraps. You sit there and don’t hit the gas fast enough, your opponents come up from behind you and grant you a pretty rude awakening. It’s intense. Trust me.

The gameplay’s amazingly pleasing and keeps you entertained for hours … so many hours, in fact, that you’ll forget what time it is and end up playing until morning much like I did. Trust me; I guess it happens to the best of us. I give Forza Motorsport 2 a 10 out of 10 in the gameplay category.

Storyline

This category can become quite confusing to explain in any sort of racing game that doesn’t have some official racing league’s brand stamped across it (i.e. NASCAR & Indy), but it is doable. From what I can gather, you start off as a driver that chooses one of three regions to start off from, choosing what the more native cars to your area will be – do you prefer the Asia-regional cars, the Ferraris and sportcars of Europe, or the down-home classics of North America? Choose one and dive right in: choose your starting car and get racing!

The more races you beat, the more credits you earn and the more cars you can earn. You can buy more cars or even buy some new upgrades. Do what you like. This freedom and customization is what sets this game apart from others out there.

Not to mention there are the driver levels, which grant you certain discounts (and even some carmakers send you sample / test cars! [Porsches, even!!]) and the car levels, which produce certain discounts pertaining to that type of car or similar models n’ makes.

And that’s what you do. Race until you can race no longer.

Since there technically isn’t really a storyline, I suppose I’ll have to wind up making this category void. The rating system for this section is void.

Graphics

Only one major gripe here: the cars look completely amazing. Authentic, even. They are detailed in such high resolution that you’ll sometimes question whether the cars are rendered or real. The problem that arises is the backgrounds – the bystanders, buildings, and other off-road models (perhaps even spots of the ground you’re racing on in some parts) could’ve probably used some touching up. This isn’t much of an issue, though, for if you’re racing as fast as you should be, the backgrounds are a blur anyway and don’t detract from the experience.

Besides, if you’re getting so close to the sandtraps and grass off the track to realize that they’re not rendered in quite as high detail as the car you’re driving, I think the problem might be more your driving and less the poly-count of the models of the tirewall you’re piledriving into.

In the graphics department, I grant Forza Motorsport 2 a 9 out of 10.

Value

There isn’t quite so much replay value in this game as there is the longevity of just a single playthrough. You have the auction house, where you can buy, sell, and trade cars with other players over XBOX Live, all the cars to unlock through all of the track playthroughs, and many driver and car levels to master and expert.

And that’s only career mode.

Then you have arcade mode. Plus all the achievements. That’s so much of a task that I doubt it’s even possible to do a speedrun of. Based on the longevity of the game alone, Forza passes the value test with flying colors and emerges with a perfect 10 out of 10.

Multiplayer

To tell you the truth, the first thing I did was grab a friend and tackle a quick few games of split-screen multiplayer before I even began to delve into the depths of its career mode. And, to tell you the truth, I was enthralled by the beginning – the way that the splitscreen mode was presented gave both players an equal chance at experiencing the track the same way … and, since it was our first time playing (for either of us), it also raised some pretty interesting conversations.

“What the hell do those red arrows do?”
“How the hell should I know?”
*crash into a tirewall*

XBOX Live also ran without a hitch for me. Which made me quite happy. Speechless, really. Flawless.

For having such outstanding multiplayer value, I grant FM2 a near-perfect 9 out of 10.

Bonus

The primary bonus of this game is simply the astounding length of the entire thing. And, since I’ve unfortunately already discussed the length of the game and referenced it in the sections above, it wouldn’t be fair for me to add it again to the bonus. So, for the first time ever, there is no bonus for this game.

Overall, Forza Motorsport 2 has scored a near-perfect score of 9.5, proudly claiming its victory as the Gears of War for the racing universe, not just for the XB360 but across all platforms.

Whoo! And that’s that, once again. Yet another review I can tuck under my belt as experience. I had an extremely fun time and, much like a crack fiend and his crack dealer, I must give many thanks to Nico of M80 Teams for fueling my addiction even once more!

Hoo-rah!

I’d definitely recommend this game to a fan of any videogame genre anywhere. Even if you don’t think you like racing games, definitely give this one a try. It’s worth it. Bigtime.

And with that I’m off to do some more racing!!

… zoom-zoom, sucka!

--Reaper

Creativity Sparks Compassion ...

... y'know it's true.

Anyhow, first off -- I'm proud to announce that, as of this upcoming Thursday, my now-year-old role-play, Fated Souls, is going to be celebrated with a party at my place. I'm kidding, for it's geographically impossible with people in the role-play being across the country / world and whatnot. ... but we'll still conjure up the virtual champagne, I kid you not!!!

Secondly, I ran across this and found it somewhat funny. Sony? What in the hell were you thinking when you thought of blackballing Kotaku? That's somewhat ... low for even you!

Link to the article here.

Excerpt here:

"The Playstation Home, we reported, would be an intriguing blending of the Mii and achievements, allowing gamers to create a virtual world for customized avatars and then decorate that space with items unlocked through game play.

What readers couldn't have known was the great lengths we went to to try and pin down the veracity of the rumor before publishing and, when finally deciding to go live with the rumor, to make sure we put it in the correct context.

In so doing, Sony asked us not to publish the story, first nicely, then not so much. Sony Computer Entertainment of American representatives reminded us that the story was a rumor and then went on to say that publishing it could harm our professional relationship with them.

When I responded that we were going forward with the story and that sometimes news doesn't come from official sources I was told that if we published we would likely be blackballed by the company.

Specifically, they said we would be asked to return our debug PS3, uninvited from all meetings scheduled with Sony at GDC, including one on blogger relations and a one-on-one with Phil Harrison, and that they would no longer deal with us.

Knowing that, we went forward with the story, choosing not to point out the threats.

Shortly after the story ran, and I forwarded it to Dave Karraker, the senior director of corporate communications for Sony Computer Entertainment of America, to point out we did decide to run it."

All-in-all, though, Dave and Brian were able to resolve their differences like big boys and I believe Kotaku and Sony have long made amends.

Thirdly, I thought this was pretty sweet. Actually, I'd've bought one ... had they been on sale. Best I can make is probably something that looks like utter sh*t compared to this:


Don't let it discourage you from trying to create your own, though! Buy your own paints and such he suggests from his webpage and order your very own Munny for almost $25 here!

I wish you the best of luck!

Lastly, before I leave, I'd like to make the recommendation that you run out and by the [now-fairly-old] Three Days Grace album by the title of One-X. It's pretty kickass.

And with that, the Reaper has paid his dues and is leaving ... !

--REAPER

Lost Planet -- The Exclusive Review, Courtesy of M80

Ah, it's just that time again. I've officially waded my way through and have come to spread n' share the knowledge I have gained. ... alright, well, perhaps not quite that noble, but it's all-the-same another review. Of course, I will be using the same rating system as last time on a scale much like this:


... followed by each one of these 1 through 10 rankings in each of the many splendid categories such as these:

Gameplay
Storyline
Graphics
Sound
Value
Multiplayer (if applicable)
Bonus (in case I feel it incorporates something not falling under the above categories)

For my readers I have braved the harsh terrain and battled the ruthless Akrid in Lost Planet: Extreme Condition to bring you this following review, courtesy of my hours of playtime and M80's donation.

Drumroll, please?

Gameplay

Capcom doesn't draw the short straw in this category, especially what you'd expect from them. They're known for incorporating some intriguing boss battles and levels and, much like Resident Evil 4, don't stray from the die-hard equation that has equaled success for them in the past. For anyone who's played (and enjoyed) God of War, much like myself, the complex control system, especially switching between running on foot, to VS's, to the many other things in the game, controlling your character in Lost Planet should be an utter cinch. To quite a few others, it may be a slight struggle at first but, as soon as you actually get into the game, you should be able to master these controls in no time.

You can easily knock this game out in only a few hours if you play as I did ... but it would take considerably longer if you try to hunt down the multiple targets embedded within different locations on the three difficulties throughout every mission of the game. I, obviously on my very first playthrough, didn't accomplish gathering them all yet came quite close. All-in-all, there's plenty of Akrid to shoot at and rarely any downtime in the single-player campaign. Though there are a couple of puzzles (I, stupidly enough, tried to sneak by all the probes Metal Gear-style later on when, really, just a couple of wellplaced shots could take them out and away forever.)

Then there are some bad aspects ... I, for one, had trouble reading the mini-map plus PDA that traveled with Wayne as he explored the planet and I found it saddening that I had to die a couple times in the process of finding exactly where the game wanted me to go next. Of course, then, there's the thought that raced through my head after I found it of 'why didn't you find that earlier yourself?!?'

Though, the gameplay's quite pleasing, a gentle-enough mix to put you in the mood of the game quite quickly, allowing you to shoot almost everything you come across and deactivate the puzzle-solving regions of your brain for quite some time. For some quality gameplay, I give Lost Planet an 9 out of 10 in the gameplay category.

Storyline

From the beginning, Wayne, his father (Gail), and some other [later dubbed-]"snow pirates" are heading through a facility to help in the colonization of this abnormally frozen planet known as E.D.N. III, creating mechanized machines known as "Vital Suits" that help aid in the process of traversing the planet ... and also help when mounted with weapons to fight the opposing insects who don't like your presence on their planet, also known as the Akrid. In short, Wayne's father, Gail, dies and Wayne himself barely escapes.

Fast-forward a bit and he's saved by a band of snow pirates that take him in, unthaw him, and greedily accept him as one of their own, sending him on missions and raids against the Akrid as well as the force attempting to colonize the planet ... a force that's hiding a deadly secret. I won't spoil the many twists for you, though, just because I'm that kind of guy. And then we come to the plot twists. Twists galore. 'Lucky this game has an insane amount of action and maneuverability because, if it hadn't, the hard-to-follow general storyline as well as the weak characters would've dragged it down ... but since the game is extremely awesome in the way it presents itself, Lost Planet doesn't lose any points there.

If you can keep up with the unique storyline and the not-so-fleshed-out characters, then this would come out to be a well-deserving 9 out of 10, yet again.

Graphics

Some people seem to be discrediting this games graphics, but I can't see why. At all. The graphics in this game are wicked and while they meay not rival the ones featured in Gears of War, that's an exception to the rule. I doubt I'll be seeing any games that looks as exceptional as GoW does in quite some time, so why hold it against all of the other games? The way the weather creates such an intense atmosphere to the battle scars down on the VS's throughout the entire game, Lost Planet features some unbelievable graphics. There are some graphic distortion and clipping errors if you look close enough, but not enough to discredit the game very much.

They'll simply leave you in awe, whether it be the outdoor or indoor environments. Period. And, for this, Lost Planet receives its 8 out of 10.

Sound

I personally felt deeply enthralled by the soundtrack Lost Planet uses ... it ranged from very dramatic, to very movie action-esque and never disappointed at all ... though I did have some beef with the voiceovers. I think they could've hired some better actors for some of the characters. I couldn't believe Rick's or Yuri's voices at first and really, really disappointed me. But, hey; what can you do, right? They served their purpose and, though they might not be up to par with my standards, don't bog down the gameplay quite so much either and, for that, Lost Planet earns its 9 out of 10.

Value

I see some insane replay value in Lost Planet, mainly because of the targets you can snipe through each of the 11 missions. The length of the game was rather short but you can't really blame that on Capcom; it appears that's becoming a trend throughout the entire video game genre. During my first time through the game, I didn't even BEGIN to see them until I really began looking for them ... and that's when the side-line fun began.

Each of the targets form words, and, since I never completed an entire word, I never got a reward, but it looks like it's supposed to be pretty damn entertaining. This, as well as the multiplayer, appears to grant some serious replay value for months and months to the owner.

Value-wise, I grant Lost Planet it's extremely worthy 10 out of 10.

Multiplayer

I've tested out the multiplayer and have, in fact, been pretty proud of it. It was much better than I expected it to be, with a numerous amount of options and fun to be had. XBOX Live (though, really, when does it ever?) doesn't pair you up with people nearby ... which means that you can actually end up playing against other Lost Planet fans in South America or Japan. While I see where this could affect team communication, there wasn't really much to communicate about at the time and never really hindered the gameplay. There isn't much that stands out, but nothing that hinders it.

Another thing that some people seem to gripe about in Lost Planet's multiplayer mode is its lag. For those people, I suggest getting a better connection because I never (or rarely ever) had dots of lag anywhere, nowhere near what I've heard other people complain about periodically over the Internet and such.

They, obviously, are just using it as a cover-up for their lack of multiplayer skill.

For Lost Planet's multiplayer, I give it an 8 out of 10.

Bonus

Correct me if anybody sees something wrong with this, but I see a serious relation between this and Resident Evil 4, character-wise and cinematic-wise. The way it carried itself made me feel this was Resident Evil 4 in the future ... in space. That connection never really slowed me down, so it didn't really bother me.

But then I noticed something else about the cutscenes (especially about the faceoff Wayne has with [insert 2nd-to-last boss's name here] where they're speaking before they hop into their VS's) were extremely reminescent of Metal Gear Solid. Because of that, I think I played differently than if I hadn't seen the connection.

These aren't bad things, however, for I am a personal fan of the Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid series. I actually though these nice little cameos actually helped enhance the game severely and, because of that, I'll be granting Lost Planet an 8 out of 10 in the bonus department.

Overall, Lost Planet has scored an average of 8.7, an extremely unique game definitely worth your time and money, especially if you're a fan of such a genre.

And that's that! Another review stored in my records. I had an extremely fun time and, of course, it wouldn't be a review without the usual thanks to Nico from M80 Teams fame. Without him, I wouldn't've had such a great game to review.

Three cheers!

I'd definitely recommend this game to any fan of action or sci-fi, just because this game is so hardcore that a fan of such can't miss out on it. I guarantee you'll have a good time, if not better, than I did when I first played it. Enjoy.

Yet again, wish me luck -- I'm off to finish off those other Achievements and get my head into some multiplayer! This is Reaper, signing off!!

--Reaper

Lost Planet -- First Impressions

Yes, the copy I am to review of Lost Planet has arrived in the mail today. And, yet again, this has arrived from none other than my best friend in the world right now, Nico of M80 fame. Unfortunate to say, I haven't been able to test out the game and it is, in fact, still in its original plastic coating.

But don't let that affect your view of my diagnosis.

I am, of course, an avid WoW fan if you haven't caught on and, since Burning Crusade has just released, I've-- ... well, let me cut it short; I finally hit level 61. That was my weekend goal. Whihc means I have two complete days to dive into Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions and see how much goodness Capcom could pack onto their XBOX 360 disc and, of course, tell all of you about it as well.

I have played the single-player demo and, I must say, am quite amazed. I am knowledgable about Capcom's earlier works as well as their newer (Resident Evil 4, per se), but this game seemed ... seemed different. It had that hook-value that just drew you in and, once you completed both branches of the SP demo's campaign mode made you cry out in agony that it was over so soon.

Will this be the Resident Evil 4 killer? Will it potentially rival my Gears of War review?

You'll have to wait and find all this out and more ... within the coming 48 hours. Let the clock begin.

--Reaper