Late to the Party Video Game Review: Borderlands The Pre-Sequel

                The Borderlands franchise is probably my second favorite game franchise (right next to Mass Effect).  Naturally, when The Pre-Sequel came out, knowing that it was going to most likely be the final Borderlands game for this console generation, I had to pick it up.  The first Borderlands was great, the second was one of the single best games I have ever played.  The best thing about the franchise has to be the fact that you get so much for your money when it comes to content.  Not only are there multiple characters to choose from, making replaying the game fully justified every time, but the simple fact that the length of the game itself, even before the DLC is factored in, is massive makes it one of the best values in gaming.

                Naturally, I was hoping for more of the same with The Pre-Sequel.  To ensure the maximum amount of content available, I even obtained the “season pass” to ensure that I would have the DLC as soon as it was released.  In the past, this was never a waste of money and I was convinced that it would not be this time.  In terms of DLC, two of the season pass offerings are the “Handsome Jack Doppleganger Pack” and Sir Hammerlock's Sister, which are both playable characters.  While this is all well and good, I do not purchase a DLC pack with the thought that it will contain characters.  I want content.  I want to purchase missions, and levels and more things to play with, not just a new character when there are already four playable characters available.  There are also two "missions" that revolve around shooting wave after wave of bad guy in hopes of leveling up.  This is just a cop-out.  I don't pay extra money, basically the cost of another game, in order to have these bogus "missions".  There is one story mission that was released revolving around Claptrap, everyone's favorite hunk of junk robot, but upon downloading it recently, I was informed that I needed to update the game to play it, and was never offered the opportunity to update the game, making it a waste.  Believe me, if I knew that this was what the Season Pass would have entailed, I would have left that on the rack.  

                Okay, now on to the game itself.  Everything you have come to love about Borderlands, the design, the humor, it is all there.  There is less of it as this game is decidedly shorter than its counterparts, but it’s there.  The writing is very good and does a great job of fitting in between the two previous games (this game takes place before Borderlands Two, hence the Pre-Sequel).  There are quite a few nods to things that happen in Borderlands Two, and how they got that way.  My favorite has to be the scientist that shoots a Thresher (a worm-like creature that was the bane of my existence in Borderlands Two) from Elpis, the setting of this game, to the planet below, all so they can terrorize me in the future (past).  Those little in-jokes to the longtime players are what kept me going through a lot of stale missions. 

                That is one thing that I can honestly say I was not impressed by compared to the previous games.  The missions were boring.  I am the kind of guy, especially when it comes to Borderlands games, that likes to complete every side mission, to level up as much as possible before I head in to the finale.  This game was no different, but more often than not I found myself not wanting to complete a mission because I just couldn’t be bothered to go on another “fetch quest”, or to think that I had completed a mission only to be told that something else had broken in a machine I was supposed to fix so I need to go back out for yet another part.  It was like going grocery shopping with someone with ADHD.  It got to the point where, when I completed a goal, and it actually finished the mission, it surprised the hell out of me.  I didn’t even finish all of the side missions as I could not bring myself to do all of the driving missions.  I have always hated the timed, or driving missions in Borderlands games, and this was no different.  Instead of struggling through them, I just skipped those missions altogether this time around.

                The mechanics are all the same as you would remember in a Borderlands game.  The only new thing is the lack of gravity in certain areas, which leads to your jumps taking you further and giving you the ability to butt-slam.  I played the entire game and butt-slammed once, it’s no big deal as far as I’m concerned.  Being on the moon also leads to a lack of oxygen when you’re outside, but given the abundance of oxygen vents and air canisters, I was rarely lacking oxygen anyway.  The only other innovation was the inclusion of laser weapons, which, I honestly only used when necessary.  I beat the game with a shotgun, that’s about it.  I will say that the bosses were a lot more difficult this time around than they were in the last two games, but that could be because of the fact that I failed to complete all of the side missions this time around.

                Overall, the game was fun, but it failed to live up to its predecessors.  I wanted more than anything for this to be Borderlands Two,  but it wound up feeling like a bunch of DLC missions put out between the two games to further the story.  I hope that a second playthrough does more to instill confidence in me, but if this is the last Borderlands game I play (I do not own, nor will I purchase a next-gen console) I am severely unimpressed.

Late to the Party Video Game Review: Captain Toad, Treasure Tracker

                I have never played Super Mario 3D World, the game where Captain Toad got its start, but I can understand the idea behind making this a game all its own.  Captain Toad is incredibly addicting.  The graphics are great, the gameplay mechanics are relatively easy, though having to rotate the world you are on while trying to walk can be difficult at times, and the difficulty level is perfect.  This is a great puzzle game with short enough levels that you can start and stop whenever you want.  I continuously find myself say “okay, one more level, okay, just one more” and on and on. 

                The premise behind the game is simple, you collect stars to advance in the storybook (each page is a new level) until you reach the end and rescue your companion (Toad or Toadette, depending on which book you’re in).  There are also other collectibles in each level, such as the three diamonds you need to gather to advance in the book (certain pages are only accessible when you have gathered the requisite number of diamonds – kind of like the stars in Super Mario Galaxy).  There are also coins to be collected, and the always illusive Gold Mushroom.  The game starts off simply enough, and honestly, the first book, where you’re Toad rescuing Toadette, is fairly simple.  As you go along though, the difficulty ratchets up, not just in the gathering of collectibles, but the completion of the stages themselves.  This makes for a better experience because, while I was able to breeze through the first book, the second book (where you play as Toadette) and the third book (where you play as both) push the difficulty up quite a few notches.  There is a fourth "bonus book" which includes missions that you can unlock by gathering the gems that are hidden throughout the main levels, just to keep the replayability, which is already fairly high, at a maximum rate.

                This is a great game if you love the Mario Bros. Franchise but are a little tired of the side-scrolling, jump on Goombas and save the Princess kind of adventure.  It’s a nice change of pace, much like the Luigi’s Mansion games, a new twist on a popular character.  I hope to see more of this kind of stuff from Nintendo in the future instead of the same old rehashing of a tired plot and gameplay mechanic that has become many of their Mario games of late.

Late to the Party Video Game Review: Super Smash Bros. WiiU

                I’m old enough to remember the first iteration of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 64, and while I am no connoisseur of fighting games, I enjoyed seeing Mario versus Donkey Kong, etc.  Personally, I thought Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii was the perfect fighting game.  It had great characters, the fighting game aspect was everything you remembered and loved about the series and the sidescrolling adventure that mixed in classic gameplay with bouts of fighting was the perfect addition to make it a fun game for the single player.

                Nintendo smartly decided to create a new Smash Bros. for the WiiU, adding more characters and beautiful graphics to go along with their new system.  Unfortunately, they replaced the sidescrolling adventure mode with a Mario Party-esque digital board game.  I played it, and I have to admit, for 90% of it I had no idea what was going on, until it was time to fight.  That was the biggest let down of the game, because at that point, there’s not much left to the game for the single player.  Is it fun to fight against your friends (or in my case, my son, who always has to be Little Mac for some reason)?  Of course it is.  Beyond that though…there’s not much to keep me there.  It’s fun to pick up every once in awhile and try out a new character, play through the game with a new set of moves, maybe even try to master the Duck Hunt Dog or Wii Fit Trainer, but beyond that, it doesn’t hold a lot of replay value.

                The graphics are great, as expected, the controls are relatively easy (though easier with the WiiU pad than the stick controller) and the amount of and variance of characters is awesome.  Unfortunately, as fighting games are expanding to add longevity to their “shelf life” Super Smash Bros. U to a step back.  Even Mortal Kombat added different modes of play to keep things interesting. 

                One final word about the Amiibos, Nintendo’s “Toys to Life” game companions:  they are completely and utterly useless.  In Skylanders, you can play as the toys you collect, in Disney Infinity, you can play with the toys you collect, with Amiibos, you bring them in to the game to earn experience…and that’s it.  There have no utility in the game itself.  You can fight against them, sure, but why would I go out and buy a Donkey Kong Amiibo only to fight against it?  I want him on my team!  This, plus hearing that any progress made with the Amiibos in Smash Bros. needs to be erased before you can use them in the upcoming Marioparty 10 makes me wonder what the hell Nintendo is thinking.  The sculpts are great, they all look beautiful, for the most part, but where Skylanders seems to have perfected the genre from the get-go, Nintendo seemed like it threw something together to avoid being left in the dust.

                All in all, Super Smash Bros. WiiU is about what you’d expect from a fighting game, but not enough to make it a good next-gen fighting game.  I still love kicking ass and taking names as Bowser, but it’s nothing I would do with any real regularity.

Late to the Party Video Game Review: South Park The Stick of Truth

                I have had South Park since it was released but have avoided it while I finished up other games, hoping to play it through without stopping and starting like I did for many of the other games on this list.  Having some free space in my gaming schedule, I decided to pick up South Park and give it a shot.  Not being a huge fan of turn-based role playing games a la Final Fantasy, I was a little worried, but hoped that the writing and familiar characters would help me overcome that distaste.

                What I got was a game that, while it was still a turn-based RPG, it did not make those turns as painful as I remember them being from old Nintendo games of yore.  The action was fast paced and interesting, the looting was epic, there is literally (that’s a pun) garbage all over for you to rummage through and turn in to the various vendors out there in South Park.  There were also plenty of collectables to gather in this game, from Chinpokomon, to Facebook friends, to all of the weapons, armor and enhancements scattered throughout the town (including the forest, farm and Canada – yes, Canada).  Searching for all of the collectables takes up a good amount of your time itself, but the bulk is obviously devoted to the missions. 

Being that this is an RPG, the missions are broken up into both story missions and side missions that don’t require you to beat them but that offer plenty of incentive to do so.  Not only do you acquire experience points by completing side missions (an important thing to do during an RPG, even if you are capped at level 15, a level I achieved long before the final stage, let alone the final battle) but you also get better loot and even summon abilities (Jesus, Mr. Hanky and the owner of City Wok to name a few) which provide a powerful ally that basically kills anyone you are fighting (except bosses).  The kicker with the summon buddies is that you can only use their ability once per “day” (there are three days in the game). 

The writing is exactly what you would expect from a South Park game that is unrestricted by censors of any kind.  While the unfettered cursing and suggestive items are funny enough, the nudity for nudity’s sake (even if it’s cut-paper animated nudity) seems a little ridiculous.  I could have done without those instances, but overall the majority of the interactions involve the usual gang of kids from South Park and in that respect it is just like an episode of the show.  Everything fits together quite nicely between the quests, the cut scenes and the battles and it all works well within the general framework of the game, which basically pits two factions against one another who then need to come together to fight a common enemy at the end.  While that is a traditional comic book/fantasy trope, it is wholly believable here because these kids are all friends and we know that going in. 

Trey Parker and Matt Stone do an incredible job of creating the town of South Park within the game and getting us to care about the town we live in.  The only problem I have is that we do not spend enough time in the town.  Even completing all of the side quests and finding probably 75% of the collectables, I was still able to finish the game in roughly 12-15 hours.  The last part of the game was a cakewalk as I had already reached my max level and had powered up my weapons with add-ons that basically made the fights incredibly one-sided.  While I’m not too mad about that last part, I put in the time to get to that level after all, the fact that one slow, lonely day could provide me with enough time to beat the game feels like a bit of a ripoff in this day and age of 50-60 hour game completion times. 

Beyond the painfully short play time, this game was everything I was hoping it would be when I heard that it was coming out.  I’m glad I picked it up and will definitely be doing so if they ever get around to making a sequel.  Even if you are not a fan of turn-based RPGs, I would advise you check this out. 

Late to the Party Video Game Review – Darksiders II

                I was a huge fan of Joe Madureira when I was growing up, as were most people interested in comics in the ‘90s.  When he left to work in video games, it was a dark day indeed, but luckily we only had to wait damn near forever for the first Darksiders game to come out.  The game itself was a lot of fun, very Legend of Zelda with a darker and more mature tone to it.  The character designs were obviously stunning as well.  Being that the game was about the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and the first game only featured one of the horsemen, you would expect there to be at least one sequel.  Thankfully we did not have to wait nearly as long for Darksiders II.

                Darksiders II features a new cast of characters (you play as Death, War’s brother this time around) yet they still have the same “Joe Mad” design sense that makes them instantly appealing and a visual treat.  The game mechanics in the sequel are a little different as War was a bruiser while death is a bit quicker and lighter on his feet.  You can still equip slower weapons like maces and clubs, but who would want to?  Death also has the ability to run along walls (much more so than War did in the first game) making the puzzles a bit more interesting this time around. 

                This game definitely feels like a sequel to the first game as it is very similar in terms of its approach.  It definitely still falls under the hack/slash mold of video games where you kill a bunch of enemies and then move forward until you approach more enemies to kill, with a few puzzles thrown in for good measure.  The sequel does add in a bit more in the way of RPG elements in terms of giving Death different weapons or armor to enhance stats that the first game just did not offer.  While this adds a fun bit of customization to your character (and god-bless the animators as whatever armor you place on death shows up in the subsequent cutscenes) and you definitely get to play around with a multitude of different weapons (there are many different scythes to try and your secondary weapon can be anything from claws to maces) it doesn’t do a whole lot besides provide you with the loot to load up on health and wrath potions to get you through boss-fights (something I didn’t bother doing until later in the game).

                The world is very open while still directing you where you need to go and the collectables are plentiful (if that’s your thing).  The enemies can be a little intense at times, they either are incredibly powerful or there are so many that they tend to swarm you, but it is nothing but a momentary blip on the radar if you use your special abilities (the zombies are particularly effective even though they are quite the wrath-drain).  The majority of the bosses are difficult but not impossible, with most requiring that you do something with your most recently acquired gadget (a la Legend of Zelda) in order to defeat them.  While the bosses were generally challenging, especially figuring out that little “trick” that would help you defeat them, the final two bosses, who were straight-up hack and slash until they’re dead were incredibly easy.  For a point of reference, the scribe, the level boss right before you face the final two bosses was so difficult that I had to turn the difficulty from “normal” to “easy” (I know, I’m a pussy) after continually dying (I put it back after beating him).  While the final two bosses, I believe that I may have died once, if at all between the two.  The respite was nice, but I kind of expected more to finish off the game.

                All in all, this was a solid game, one I wish I had played a little more consistently when I bought it instead of letting it sit and coming back to it, but I had a lot of fun with it.  I’m sure it’s really cheap now so I would advise checking it out.  The stages have been set and I’ve heard rumblings of a third installment, so if we all cross our fingers it won’t happen too late for the 360 console generation (because there’s no way I’m spending the money on an xbox one)

Late to the Party Video Game Review: New Super Mario Bros. U

                I would venture a guess that 95% of people that have ever played video games have played Super Mario Brothers in some iteration.  This is not a bad thing, the Mario Brothers games are awesome and were many child’s “gateway drug” to video games.  They are incredibly fun to play, with enough of a challenge to keep even a serious gamer busy (and frustrated at times).  The main problem is that once you play one Super Mario Bros. game, you’ve pretty much played them all.  Don’t let Nintendo try to tell you any different either, because their definition of a different Mario experience apparently consists of new suits that do the same things as before (seriously, a leaf, a feather, an acorn, they all make you float).

                I do understand Nintendo releasing a new Mario game with each new system, obviously you want to keep your flagship character relevant.  What I have an issue with is the fact that I have played this game before, and not just a game like this one, but this exact game.  Pretty much every side-scrolling Mario game is the exact same since the unheralded success of Super Mario Bros. 3, and while sticking to a formula is never a bad thing, making the exact same game with better graphics is.  This is not to take away from the fun of the game, it was a good time, but it offered nothing new at all. 

                The game starts off easy enough and gets progressively more difficult as the “worlds” progress.  The individual stages are what is difficult though, not the bosses, those are still incredibly easy, jump on their head three times and they’re dead.  It does seem like this version of the game took a page out of the book of New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS and made the acquisition of 1ups and extra lives that much easier (and boy do you need it in certain spots).  I was damn-near ready to give up at one point after dying multiple times in a row and getting stuck on a random stage for a good forty minutes.  My perseverance paid off though and I made it to the next tough stage before eventually beating Bowser and saving the princess (yet again). 

                The graphics in this game are downright beautiful, fully utilizing the HD capability of the WiiU.  The controls are still the same as they ever were, except the jump button and the “run” button have a strange configuration (to me at least) which led to a few painful deaths.  The controls are easy to get used to, especially if this isn’t your first Mario game, and do not really take away from the game at all.  The addition of Yoshi, even though it is few and far between, is nice as well.  The “worlds” you have to traverse are similar as well: traditional, desert, ice, water (ugh, water), giant, cloud, Koopa castle, etc., and while they are fun in their own right, are way too similar to anything else we’ve played over the past twenty years when it comes to this series. 

                In short, if this is your first Mario game, or your first in a while, you’ll be happily surprised that this franchise has stayed exactly the same.  If you are not new to the series, don’t waste your money (it’s still nearly $50) when you can just download Super Mario Bros. 3 from the Eshop for $10. 

Late to the Party Video Game Review – Pikmin 3

                The WiiU is pretty sparse when it comes to titles in general, especially titles created specifically for that platform.  Pikmin 3 is one of the only non-Mario WiiU exclusives out there that has received any kind of acclaim.  Was it worth it, or was it just like any girl at the Kubert School…pretty by default.  Let’s see.

                First of all, even though the characters themselves are cartoony in nature, the backgrounds are completely realistically realized, and they are stunning.  In fact, the backgrounds look even more realistic because they are populated by cartoony monsters and characters.  The fruit that you need to collect is completely realistic as well and everything environmental effects abound.  When it rains, everything looks wet.  While that may sound like a “no shit, Sherlock” statement, the fact that no stone is left unturned in that respect is incredible.  The designers could have easily made it so that the ground looked wet, or there was some “water” on the screen so you got the impression of rain, but no.  I actually feel wet while playing it, it looks that real. 

                The story itself is a pretty basic one.  You are pretty much on one giant “fetch-quest”.  Something that would take up only a small part of a larger game like Skyrim or Dragon-Age is the entire game here.  That could be why the game itself is fairly short.  You mission is to find fruit for your home planet because (social commentary alert) your home planet mis-managed their resources.  A good amount of your days are spent finding and harvesting fruit, while you also look for the other two members of your party.   Once you have all of your party together, you turn your attention to finding Olimar (who I believe was the star of the first few Pikmin games, right? I never played them) as well as your cosmic drive key so that you can actually take the fruit back home.  All of this is done in fifteen minute “days”.  At the end of each day (literally from sunup to sundown in the game) you retreat back to your ship with the Pikmin you have amassed, only to pick back up where you left off the next day.  Each day, you drink one bottle of juice (regardless of whether you have one, two or three people in your party) so you need to make sure you have enough juice, and have thereby found enough fruit in your daily travels.  This makes a big part of your day revolve around resource management.  Do I advance the story?  Do I stock up on fruit and/or Pikmin?  You have to make that decision almost on a daily basis.  Completists may want to get all of the fruit, but you can’t always access the fruit locations until later in the game, and *spoiler alert* once you’ve beaten the game, you’re done.  The game is so tied in to the story that once you have beaten the final boss, rescued Olimar and gotten your key back, that’s it.  Game over.  If you thought (like I did) that you would do all that and then be able to go back through and collect the fruit you were unable to get before (because it was underwater and you didn’t have blue PIkmin, or it was behind an electrified fence and you didn’t have yellow Pikmin) you are sadly mistaken, that is unless you want to beat the final boss again (you don’t, he’s a pain in the ass). 

                That is the one drawback to Pikmin 3.  I loved the graphics, the gameplay worked pretty well, I could have done without the gibberish that  they speak, but that’s just me, and even the length of the game was adequate, short but adequate (though if I had actually paid full price for the game I would have been a little pissed – luckily this was the Mario Kart 8 add-on).  Being handcuffed to the story and completely sabotaging the replayability of the game because of it left a sour taste in my mouth though.  I liked everything else about it so much that I looked forward to going back through and collecting the fruit I had neglected during the initial playthrough.  Now, not so much.  Will I pick the game up again at some point?  Maybe.  But a good game, with good replayability wouldn’t even leave me that choice.  I would be drawn to play the game again after beating it, like Pikmin 3 was on the way to doing until the twist ending came along. 

                The final verdict for Pikmin 3 is, like many Nintendo games unfortunately: It’s good but not something I would willingly pay full price for.  Pikmin 3 is a fun game, one that may not be suitable for kids based solely on the game mechanics, but is fun to play nonetheless.

Late to the Party Video Game Review: Mario Kart 8

                Generally I wait until I have beaten a game to give you the review, which is why you have yet to hear anything about Darksiders 2 and Wonderful 101 (I’m working on them, I promise).  With Mario Kart 8, I feel like I have played enough of it, despite just recently purchasing it, to do the game justice with a review.

                I love Mario Kart, my kids love Mario Kart, and while I wanted this game from the moment it was announced, sixty dollars is a steep price to pay.  Luckily, my brother brought to my attention that if you bought Mario Kart 8 and registered it on Club Nintendo by July 31, you got a free game (a $50 value!).  This was something that I found hard to pass up.  Not to mention the fact that I was able to knock twenty-five dollars off the price by cashing in some of my Gamestop points, and I was sold.  Two WiiU games for thirty-five dollars?  I doubt I’ll ever see Mario Kart for that much, much less two games (I chose Pikmin 3, that’s on the list for review as well).  I jumped at the opportunity.

                I went home and fired up the game and it was like an old friend greeted me.  I had Mario Kart for the Wii, though that was stolen from me along with the system last year, and I have the 3DS version as well (one of Logan’s favorite games).  Hell, I remember when I was younger, Mario Kart on the SNES was the only game my father would play with us, so to say that Mario Kart and I have quite the history would be an understatement.  Nintendo games in general and Mario games specifically are the kinds of games that are perfect for families, perfect games to share with your children, and because of that I would have recommended this game before I even started playing it.

                Now that I have played through a good portion of it (six different “cups” totaling twenty-four races) I can easily state that this is some of the most fun I have had playing the WiiU.  Now, I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t played the WiiU much, and I sure as shit haven’t explored much in the way of its full capabilities yet either, but Mario Kart 8 might just wake me up in that respect.  I have only played New Super Mario Brothers WiiU and Wonderful 101 on the system and while both were nice games, they didn’t really overwhelm me in any way.  Mario Kart 8 did that in spades though.  I was blown away from my very first race in terms of the graphics and the gameplay.  The graphics were beautiful, taking full advantage of the WiiU’s HD graphics to make every bit of the scenery as vibrant and breathtaking as possible.  The controls are easy to use and respond well regardless of whether you are using the traditional joystick method or the motion sensor (both options available on the gamepad). 

                The major difference (selling point?) of Mario Kart 8 is the inclusion of “hover craft” mode.  Unfortunately I didn’t see this utilized to any great degree within the races I participated in.  There are some instances where you can drive along the walls, usually collecting coins or speed bursts along the way, but more often than not, that mechanic is utilized along the general track, and because you are looking at the race from the perspective of being behind the racer, it doesn’t change much.  The initial view of the racetrack is impressive, seeing the track go from horizontal to vertical and back again, but beyond that it doesn’t give you a different feel when you’re actually racing.

                The courses in Mario Kart 8 are interesting and inventive.  They feel similar to other Mario Kart courses but only because of the amount of tracks I have raced on since the inception of the series.  The construction and slight nuances in the new courses are wonderful to behold (I’ve run into more than one wall while marveling at my surroundings).  As in every newer Mario Kart, the tracks are split between brand new tracks and old tracks, reimagined for the new system.  This is one of the first times I have seen those tracks completely reimagined.  Usually it’s just a matter of updating the graphics and making things a bit smoother for the new system.  With this edition of the game it looks like Nintendo upped their game and recreated the standard tracks, using the same premise as the old tracks but completely reinventing them so they feel brand new.

                Mario Kart 8, like all of the Mario Kart games is chock full of replayability.  Beyond just the standard of there being no real end to the game, no end boss or something of that nature, Nintendo gave you goals, things to unlock as you progress within the game.  The inclusion of coins on the track give you ways to unlock parts for your carts (as well as giving you a speed boost on the track itself) making the customization of your ride a constant thing.  In order to see how this customization effects the attributes of your kart, just hit the + button.  The ability to unlock other characters is fun as well.  My wife and I, even if we didn’t want to race the next race, couldn’t wait to see who we unlocked by beating the previous “cup”. 

                I’ll have to admit, the best part of this game was that I was able to bring it home, pop it in the system, give a controller to my wife and five minutes later, after choosing our characters and some cart customization we were literally off to the races.  We played for a good sixty to ninety minutes and had a great time doing it.  She even won a couple races!

                Whether you have kids or not, Mario Kart 8 is a perfect addition to your WiiU collection.  If you don’t have a WiiU yet, this is the game you were waiting for, trust me.

Late to the Party Video Game Review: Diablo III

                A month or so ago, I posted a review for Legend of Zelda A Link Between Worlds, in which I stated how nostalgia mixed with gameplay to create an admirable experience for anyone that entered Hyrule on a quest to save  the princess.  Diablo III has higher stakes than Zelda (save the world, not just a princess), but the nostalgia factor is just as high.  This could be due to the fact that Diablo I and II were released when I was still in high school and we’ve been eagerly awaiting not only a new Diablo, but one that could be played on a console for years.  Imitators have come and gone in that time (Dragon Age, Kingdoms of Amalur, pretty much anything with sword/sorcery and an inventory system) but anyone that has played the original PC Diablo games have held out hope that they would be able to revisit that world with updated graphics and gameplay.

                We got our wish, and with Nik’s review of the first few hours of gameplay (one of the first articles on this site), it looked like a wish fulfilled to the highest power.  Nik picked up the PC version of Diablo III when it first came out, I decided to wait and grab the console version (360) as I’m not much of PC gamer.  I have to admit, I couldn’t wait for this game, holding off for as long as I could to let the price go down a little first (I still find it hard to stomach $60 for a game) and eventually grabbed it around the beginning of the year.  I jumped right into it with both feet and soon found myself covered in waves of nostalgia.  I remembered the gameplay, I recognized the surroundings (to an extent) and the prospect of fighting Diablo again had me raring to go.  Unfortunately that excitement turned into tedium as the hours of gameplay grew.  I forgot just how much of a grind the original two games were, or how linear everything was.  I am not a huge, open-world game fan (for examples of that just look at anything Rockstar puts out), but this game was incredibly linear, as in, turn the viewing angle slightly and it would feel like Super Mario Brothers.  Even the exploring that you did do, in a clearing or a large room in a castle was completely unnecessary as you really wouldn’t gain anything from the experience.

                One of the major downfalls of this game (and it was apparently only in the console version) is that the inventory system was reduced to the generic list of items that we see in any of the other fantasy-genre games.  One of the things I loved about the first two games was the innovative inventory system.  You had a grid that represented your “backpack” and you could only carry weapons/items to the point where that backpack was full.  You could move things around to maximize space but it often came down to “do I want to spend an extra six squares on a shield or three squares on a sword and three potions.”  That system had a very table-top RPG element to it that I loved at the time and couldn’t wait to get into with this iteration.  To see that removed for the console version seemed to take away what little originality was left in the game.

                This is not a terrible game, despite the issues I had with it.  The graphics are great, with the cutscene graphics being exceptional, and the gameplay is solid.  The characters are interesting, and the choices are incredibly varied beyond just a different name and weapon-set.  I chose to be the Witch-Doctor and thoroughly enjoyed it.  He definitely seems like the kind of character that would be good for beginners as you can stay back and let all of your summoned minions take the brunt of the damage, but he was fun to play with nonetheless. 

                As I finished the game, I was overcome with a sense of accomplishment that this game I had slogged through for quite a while was finally done.  I was, however, also overcome with a feeling of “that’s it?”  The final boss, Diablo, was incredibly easy, one of the easiest of the game, to be honest.  It’s not like I was maxed out in terms of my level either as I had just crossed level 30 (with the cap being 50 I believe).  However, after dying multiple times with the other bosses, I was able to dispatch Diablo fairly quickly and easily. 

                Co-Op multiplayer in this game is relatively fun but not overwhelmingly so.  It is nice to play with someone (in this case, my son Jake) who is seeing this terrain for the first time, to go back and forth with him sitting next to me on the couch as we slog through dungeons and fight hordes of enemies, but multiplayer on its own doesn’t bring much more to the table, and honestly, if it wasn’t for Jake I probably wouldn’t pick the game back up.

                Where nostalgia in Legend of Zelda helped ease me back into Hyrule, nostalgia in Diablo III made it feel like a game built for 1998 that was just delayed for sixteen years in its release.  If you can find the game at a cheap price, scoop it up for the experience, but at this point, games like Dragon Age, or The Elder Scrolls have long since passed Diablo by.

Late to the Party Video Game Review: The Legend of Zelda A Link Between Worlds

                Nostalgia is a funny thing.  It can either transport you back to o a time and place and enhance your experience with whatever media is doing the transporting, or it can transport you back in time and make you think “why the hell was I so enamored with that?”  Recently I have played two video games on either side of that coin.  A Link Between Worlds falls so far on the positive side of that spectrum that I cannot recommend it with any more vigor if I was being paid by Nintendo themselves.  (The second game will be getting its own “Late to the Party Video Game Review” in the upcoming months when I finish it).

                I have long enjoyed the Legend of Zelda games, my favorite being the original Game Boy offering Link’s Awakening.  All of my favorite Zelda games though followed the same formula: a top-down camera angle, multiple dungeons and tons of items to enhance my experience.  The stories have always been good, if not relatively formulaic, but they were just a vehicle to get me to the dungeons.  Hell, at least Zelda tried to have a different story each time, unlike Mario games which are still doing the whole “Koopa steals the princess, go rescue her by beating up all his kids” thing.  I loved Hyrule, how it was an open world game, but not really.  You had a direction and if you wanted to follow it you absolutely could, but if you wanted to explore on your own, that’s cool too.  Side-quests were not a part of the game (they were more like mini-games that had no real bearing on your completion of the game aside from maybe giving you a piece of a heart).  You could find all of the heart containers and be well equipped to fight Ganon at the end, or you could get the bare minimum and still complete the game, no biggie.  Many games have tried to replicate this feel, but Zelda has always done it best.

                This brings us to A Link Between Worlds, the most recent offering in the Legend of Zelda franchise and the first game to utilize the classic top-down camera angle since 2005’s Game Boy Advance offering The Minish Cap.  I fell out of touch with the Zelda series for quite some time as I didn’t really play a lot of Nintendo games for much of my late high school and college years.  When I got back into Nintendo games, the Zelda series had morphed into the over-the-shoulder camera view that I couldn’t really attribute to the series, it never felt the same (though two people who’s video game opinions I trust implicitly, my brother Nik, and good friend from high school Ian, have both implored me to give them a shot).  When I heard that there would be a new Zelda game that utilized the mechanic that I assumed was long since forgotten I was overjoyed.  When I heard that it was going to be set in the same world as A Link to the Past (the lone Super Nintendo Zelda game) my excitement grew even more. 

                I picked up the game many months after its release (unfortunately in the real world, a mortgage trumps a return to Hyrule every time) and was blown away from the opening screen.  It took me back to 1992, providing that same sense of excitement and wonder that I felt seeing A Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening for the first time.  The best part was that I was a more seasoned gamer this time around so I wasn’t as frustrated by the difficulty of the Legend of Zelda series.  The game played just as I expected and just as I hoped it would.  It had everything that I was looking for in a Zelda game, from the multiple dungeons, items and characters that I remembered from earlier games.  I found the fact that you could only rent items at first to be kind of strange, I was used to finding them in the dungeons and keeping them, but this mechanic did put more of an onus on doing everything possible to avoid dying (when you die all of your rented items go back to the shop) and forced you to strategize a bit.  Do you rent all of the items you can and then try and go as far as you can or do you rent them piecemeal and do a little bit at a time (a lot of it has to do with how confident you are in not dying). 

                The fact that you can eventually buy the items is a welcome sight, and it makes sense because the rupees in this game are plentiful.  Of course it also helps that your bombs and arrows are supplied by magic powder and not their own inventory like those previous Zelda games.  That way, you don’t have to hope you find the item refills, you just wait until your magic-meter replenishes itself.  This does take a bit of strategy out of the game in terms of conserving said items as you’ll never run out, but I actually didn’t mind it.  The graphics are similar to A Link to the Past but updated for the 3DS.  The only problem I have is that aside from Link and Zelda, most of the human characters look like someone took the WiiU’s Mii-Maker and just threw a bunch of random characters together.  The generic-ness of those secondary and tertiary characters takes away from how well everything else was realized in this game. 

                The dungeons are not as frustrating as I remember A Link to the Past’s dungeons to be, but again, that may be because it has been many years and many video game hours since I last played that game.  Regardless, there is some thought that needs to go into the puzzles here, it’s not always flip a switch and you’re done (with the tornado rod cave being the one that gave both me and my girlfriend the most difficulty).  Regardless, the difficulty is not insurmountable and it actually adds to the fun of the game.  If I was able to breeze through the game in a manner of hours, I would feel cheated (especially since a Zelda game will never be sold for much less than its initial sale price).  Because the game provides a challenge, and hours of entertainment on top of that, it is well worth the price of admission. 

The new mechanic is that Link can travel between “worlds” (Hyrule and Lorule) through cracks in walls by turning himself to a two-dimensional painting of himself.  I was curious as to how this would work when I first heard about it, but the mechanic is basically the same as A Link to the Past’s magic mirror, you can only use it in certain areas that have the cracks, that’s all.  The ability does come in handy for boss fights as well as to complete some of the puzzles in the dungeons, so it’s nice to see that the game designers really tried to utilize the 2D aspect for more than just travelling between worlds.

                While this game is phenomenal in its own right, it is equally as frustrating because of what it is.  This is return to form for the Zelda series, one that could, and should, be capitalized on by Nintendo as their own titles for their systems (especially the WiiU) are few and far between.  Just picture A Link Between Worlds on your television at home.  Instead of looking at a tiny screen on your 3DS, you could be controlling Link on the big screen, enjoying all the care and detail that the designers put into this game at an enhanced size.  The 3D function on the DS does not need to be used for this game (and I didn’t use it more than a few times just to test it) so that would not be a huge deal.  Hell, make a brand new top-down Zelda game.  Even if you want to release a regular over-the-shoulder Zelda game every two years or so, release a top-down nostalgic game in the interim years.  People will buy it, people will buy it the day it comes out and play the shit out of it.  Instead of releasing another Mario game with the same tired premise and gameplay, let’s release something everyone really wants.  If Nintendo really wants to reinvigorate its brand and become a player in the video game wars then they should start to think about their brands, the ones they won’t let anyone else touch, and really crank up production on those titles.

                In short, A Link Between Worlds is one of the best games I have played in a long time and uses the nostalgia factor in the best way possible.  If you like old Nintendo games, hell, if you like good video games in general, this is the game for you.  I could not give it a higher recommendation.

Video Game Review: Lego Marvel Super Heroes

                 Okay, we all knew that if you combined a Lego game (already known for having an incredibly high quality gaming experience) along with Marvel Super Heroes (on an unbelievable high in terms of popularity right now) you would get a quality product, right?  The real question pertains more to whether the parts complement each other enough to make a superior product, or whether it’s just good because it’s a Lego game, or because it contains Marvel characters.

                The short answer is yes, it works with some slight exceptions.  If I was going to stick with short answers though I would be more active on Twitter.  Here’s why it works, and it’s not entirely why you think.  I love the addition of Marvel characters to the Lego video game mythos, and the amount of characters that they pack into this game is phenomenal, but this is not a perfect game and it gets less and less perfect the more you unlock.  First of all, while I like the amount of characters included, there are some glaring exceptions (no Namor, Adam Warlock or Quicksilver, and how can you have a cavalcade of Marvel villains and include The Wizard but not Apocalypse?).  I can live with that though as the characters that are there are generally fun to utilize and of the gigantic cast I can always find someone that I want to use. 

                Unfortunately, that is a minor gripe when there are more major ones to be had.  As with the past two Lego games (Lego Batman 2 and Lego Lord of the Rings) the game is buggy.  It’s not as bad as Lego Batman 2, but it’s still a pain, and something you would think would be fixed by now.  The fighting mechanic is also subpar as once a button is pushed it seems to start a succession of punches, not just one per button push, so you usually see your character swinging at air halfway through a fight.  There are also instances within the fight itself where the character, instead of just swinging at a bad guy with their arms or legs will go into a convoluted animation, like a grab and throw, out of nowhere.  This is time consuming and gets old after awhile, which is why most of the characters (the ones without projectiles of some sort) are virtually useless except for their assigned tasks (telekinesis, super strength, etc.) and even then you can usually find a projectile-wielding character that has one of those other qualities if you have enough time and Lego studs.  I like the fact that if you “kill” en bad guys in a row you get to multiply the studs collected by ten for a few seconds, but getting to that point is a pain in the ass (especially since your ai character(s) rarely defeat bad guys by themselves). 

                The flying mechanic is also hard to control, which wouldn’t be that big of a pain if it wasn’t for the fact that a lot of the bonus content (the gold bricks) are won by racing through the sky.  I’ve tried many of the different races and have not won one yet.  I have a feeling once I unlock all the rest of the content I will just have to go back through and keep trying.  It shouldn’t be that hard though, especially if it’s something that is so closely tied to the overall completion of the game. 

                The campaign itself is relatively enjoyable.  The levels are lengthy, but with multiple checkpoints you can stop and be assured that your progress is saved (unless a bug hits and you freeze halfway through).  The way that the story interweaves all of the Marvel heroes together (something it did not do until the final few missions of Lego Batman 2) is equal parts interesting and admirable.  I wish the real Marvel crossovers were written this well.  The characters are pretty spot on in terms of the way they act and interact and I enjoy the traditional Lego humor that is added to the game.  The post-credits scene once you beat the game (reflecting the same trait that all of the Marvel movies harbor) is a great touch as well.  Of course, the real fun of the Lego games are not the campaigns in their truest form, but instead the “freeplay” aspect.  This is not only the running (or flying) around New York City, collecting all of the gold bricks and character/vehicle tokens, but also going back through the levels and using whatever character you want to complete the task at hand. 

The replayability of this game is through the roof as I beat the campaign well over a week ago but still find myself firing it up to go back  through the levels and finding everything necessary to accomplish 100% completion.  In fact, once I beat the initial storyline (and found a few extra bricks/tokens along the way) I had only completed around twenty-five percent of the game.  That left seventy-five percent of extra shit to find and do!  Needless to say, I still have a ways to go.  In addition to going back through the levels, there are smaller levels open and available once you beat the game.  These “Hubs” as they’re called, are usually one room and the more gold bricks you get, the more open up.  You can beat them and then go back through them in free play to get all of the things you missed out on the first time, much like a regular level.  Here, you get the super powerful red bricks (called Deadpool Bricks here) that allow you to do things like multiply your studs times upwards of ten, or it will provide markers to show you where all of the minikits, gold bricks or tokens are.    

Most of the fun of this game will be when my son finally gets to play it and he can fly around New York City as Iron Man or Thor, or whoever.  His love of superheroes is on par with my own and the joy on his face when he blows me up with an errant Iron Man laser blast will be well worth the price.  If you have kids, or are a kid at heart, I suggest that you invest not only your money but also your time in this title.

Video Game Review: Skylanders Swap Force

                You did it again, Activision, you got me to drop a good chunk of change on a game and its accessories.  My boys have had quite the fondness for all things Skylanders since the first game came out two years ago, so it was a no-brainer that I was going to pick this one up.  How does it hold up though?  Is it as good as the last two games in the series, and does it warrant the money necessary to complete it?  Let’s find out.

                The game itself is reasonably fun and in the same vein as the previous two releases.  My favorite thing about this game (and all of the Skylanders games for that matter) is the characters.  The amount of detail and creativity in the sculpts themselves make this game stand out from all others.  I like to reward creativity, and Skylanders is a game that takes that creativity to a new level.  We all have our favorite characters in a video game that features options, be it Blanka or Ryu from Street Fighter, Sub-Zero or Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, etc. but here we get to hold our favorite characters in our hand, to study their sculpts, and better yet, to level up that character to make him the best that he can be.   There is a level of personal commitment to this game (as well as the obvious financial one) that is unmatched anywhere else.  It’s like Pokemon, yes, but you don’t get to take your individual pokemon with you when you catch them.  Sure, they’re in your game, but you never get to hold them in your hand, and the individual pokemon, in my mind anyway, do not even come close to the detail and individuality of the various characters in any of the Skylanders games.  

 

The main upgrade in terms of gameplay has to be the ability to jump within the console game (you always could with the DS releases).  You may think this is a silly thing to make a big deal out of, but it was something that was severely lacking in the first few games.  Toys for Bob, the developer of Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders: Giants did an admirable job of compensating for the lack of that particular ability, but it always felt like something was missing in those games.  Now, with the ability to jump, the game does feel more complete, and this actually helps to make Swap Force feel less repetitive than it could have been.  It was a good, but short, game with a generic and overused plot.

                Let’s call this what it is though, a money-making venture by Activision.  That is the only way to explain the annual offerings, the constant collectible characters (many of them reposes of characters from earlier versions) as well as the new gimmick with each successive game.  This is not a bad thing as long as the games don’t get stale and dip in quality, as long as the game is worth the substantial financial investment.  Is this game worth that investment?  Not really, and here’s why.

                The main problem with the Skylanders franchise has always been the release cycle of the toys associated with it.  Some of the toys are hard to find, with a few not released until six months after the release of the game.  While an inconvenience, it is not really an issue because the game can be completed to nearly 100% with the day one releases.  Swap Force, however does not have that kind of luck.  Sure, the basic story can be completed with a regular character, one you get from the starter pack, or one you have on hand from the previous games will do the trick.  The thing that makes Swap Force unique is the swappable characters, the characters that have their tops and bottoms held together by magnets and you can switch them around to create new, interesting combinations.  They have absolutely no bearing on the game itself, but they are part of the Skylanders mythology and are therefore important to collectors.  What the Swappers offer is access to minigames and in-game collectibles that go towards achieving 100% completion on each level.  Unfortunately, the game came out nearly two months ago and in waves one and two, a complete set of Swappers (ones that could access all of the areas in the levels) have not yet been released.  By the time wave three is released (in a few weeks from what I hear) those that have already bought the game for anything other than a Christmas present will have played through it, and, when they are faced with the fact that they cannot access certain areas, may get fed up with the game, not bothering to go back to it, and possibly not picking up the next waves of characters.  Will collectors do so?  Of course.  Will people that have yet to open the game before Christmas morning do so?  Probably.  Will everyone else?  That’s highly debatable and a big risk to take.

                The other issue is one of oversaturation.  A new release every year along with a metric ton of new action figures to buy will most likely cause people to burn out on the series (along with continuing to raise the prices of the individual characters with each new installment – a dick move if I ever saw one).  Just like Guitar Hero, Activision is going to drown consumers in product until they say “to hell with it” and find something new.  Personally, I am almost at that point myself.  If these companies want to continue to take my money, they should at least offer a better product in return.  

Video Game Review: Transformers Prime

            My son’s love of all things Transformers is well documented on this site.  It therefore absolutely made his day when he received the Transformers Prime video game just after Christmas (thank God for post-Christmas deals at Gamestop).  Transformers Prime comes in four versions; DS, 3DS, WiiU and Wii.  I cannot use the Wii controls because of my hand condition and Goose is not particularly adept at the Wii controls aside from Mario Kart, so that one was out (as was the WiiU because we do not own the system).  The choice came down to DS or 3DS.  Since I don’t let him use the 3D function on the 3DS as it hurts his eyes, the logical (and more cost effective choice) was to go for the DS version.  While I do not have anything to compare it to in terms of the other versions, I am sure that this was the worst of the four. 

            First, let’s talk about graphics.  When you are used to seeing the characters come to life in the excellent 3D animation from the cartoon, you expect a bit more quality than what was delivered here.  I know that they will not be exact in terms of how they look compared to the cartoon, but damn.  The characters here are incredibly flat, looking like sprites from early Mega Man games instead of characters in more modern games, much less the fully realized 3D models from the cartoon itself. 

            The fact that the camera cannot be controlled and you are left up to the whim of the game in terms of camera movement is terrible.  In an age where independent camera movement, or at least the ability for a camera to follow you better, seems pretty standard, taking such a step backward is sad to see. 

            The gameplay itself is relatively boring.  Walk forward.  Shoot until you defeat all the enemies and a door opens.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  There are a couple driving sequences and one or two instances where you have to beat the clock to get somewhere, but the gameplay is neither challenging nor rewarding in any way.  The replayability for anyone used to playing modern videogames is nonexistent.  I have beaten the game and have no desire to touch it again. 

            There is one part of one level that is challenging, and that has more to do with the mechanics of the game itself than anything else.  Other than that, the game is very easy.  It is also incredibly short.  I was surprised that it ended when it did, and only part of my surprise was derived from the fact that the final boss was not Megatron.  Really?  You have a Transformers game and you don’t fight Megatron in the end, regardless of the fact that you match off with him a couple times throughout. 

            That being said, Goose likes it.  It features his favorite characters in his favorite iteration of said characters in a game that he can play.  Hell, we were on the same level for a while and at this point he is up to the final boss already.  He is five years old and he has basically mastered this game.  Sure, he may go back and play it again after he is done, and for what I paid for it, it’s not terrible, especially if it brings him so much joy.  If you do not have kids, or you are just expecting a quality video game experience, stick to the High Moon Transformers titles or even the Transformers Animated game for the DS that came out a few years ago.

Videogame Review – Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

            Goose loves Transformers.  I mean, borderline obsession.  When asked what he wanted to be for Halloween, he only had one response, “Optimus Prime”.  So guess who gets to dress up as Transformers this year?  That’s right, all three of us.  I’ll show you pictures later.  What we are really here for is to review what might be his favorite game of all time: Transformers: Fall of Cybertron.

            First things first, this is a sequel.  The first game, War for Cybertron came out awhile back and was a pretty good game, even though it mostly felt like Gears of War with robots.  I know that you could play as different Transformers in the various campaigns that they provided you with, but everything was a little too similar for my taste in that game to really make it stand out.  In Fall of Cybertron you do not have the choice of which character you get to be in each mission.  However each mission allows you to be someone else, oftentimes making the transition without going to a load screen, basically prompting you to push a button to complete the transition.  The best part is that each character has their own skill set that makes them not only unique from the other playable characters, but keeps the game itself fresh.

            You need that, trust me, because the game is basically go through and shoot stuff, blow stuff up and keep walking/flying/driving until you reach your goal.  There are little diversions along the way, and exploring rewards you with audio recordings that flesh out the story or blueprints so that you can purchase weapon upgrades in the game.  Those are pretty cool add-ons, but nowhere near necessary to enjoy the game. 

            The graphics themselves are beautiful, and the storyline is actually really good.  The action is fairly well paced, especially in the sections that put you in one of the brawler-esqe characters, and the difficulty is pretty high.  I started on the “normal” setting but knocked it down to “easy” about halfway through to finish quicker, besides, Goose wasn’t watching the game to see me die, he actually wanted to see the robots.

            And there are robots aplenty my friend.  Autobot or Decepticon, it doesn't matter who you favor because they are all there.  Some as playable characters like Optimus, Jazz and Cliffjumper, or in support roles like Ratchet and Warpath, they are all there.  Actually, in the end there is a great montage where you get to play as little cameos of multiple characters, both good and bad.  In the end you get to choose whether you want to be Optimus or his nemesis Megatron for the final battle.  I am not sure what the Megatron ending was as Goose wouldn't dare to let me play as anyone but Optimus if given the chance, but the Optimus ending was pretty generic so I have a feeling there was not much difference. 

            Oh, you want to know the best part about the game though?  Fucking Dinobots.  Seriously.  How cool is that!?  You only get to play as Grimlock, and it comes quite a ways into the game, so the anticipation is ramped up, but that’s all you need.  The rest of the Dinobots are there in supportive roles, except for Sludge, who was apparently killed by the Decepticons.  Grimlock does not actually carry a gun, and is slow and lumbering in nature, but he is fun to play as, as you get to slice things up with your sword and stomp on the much smaller Decepticons.  Oh, wait, did I also forget to mention that he turns into a fucking Tyrannosaurus!?  The best part is getting Grimlock all raged up and transforming into a T-Rex.  There is an actual cut-scene for this transformation, unlike the other transformations.  The cut-scene is incredible and shows exactly how Grimlock transforms.  The love and care for the property itself shows through in moments like this, so kudos to High Moon studios for not only creating a great game, but one that does a hell of a job making the Transformers themselves accurate representations of the robots we knew and loved in our youth. 

            While the game is good, the two-player mode is only available on Xbox live (with no actual co-op mode available like we saw in the first game), which I do not have, so that is a bummer, and the game itself seemed a bit on the short side.  I definitely would have played it for longer, and will probably go back and play it again for the Goose in the future, but it could have been a tad longer, with more of the quick-change robot sequences like in the last part.  If you like the Transformers franchise or you have a kid that does, get this game. 

Seriously.

Fucking Dinobots.

Video Game Review - New Super Mario Brothers 2

                At this point in the careers of the probably unemployed plumbers Mario and Luigi Mario (seriously, how can they keep a business going if they are constantly saving the princess), you pretty much know what you are going to get.  The princess is going to get captured, you are going to jump, run and semi-fly through upwards of eight different worlds with various themes (desert, water, snow) as well as fighting a Koopa kid at the end of each of those worlds.  The game will climax with a big fight against Bowser himself and you will undoubtedly rescue the princess again (until the next console release when you will do it all over again (much like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day).  The big thing is trying to mix things up a little bit with each new release, coming up with a new wrinkle to keep people interested and coming back for more.  To be perfectly honest, I have a feeling that gimmicks are no longer needed, especially given the fact that many of the other games that do not feature a major Nintendo character for any of their systems, handheld and console, are sub-par at best.  Each new Mario game is treated with the fanfare that it deserves, even though they can get a little stale after awhile. 

Correction, it’s not that they necessarily feel stale, just that they feel like one large game, broken up into multiple releases.  The latest addition to the Mario pantheon does not feel like a natural sequel to the first Super Mario Brothers game for the 3DS, just because of the differing format as this one goes back to the traditional, side-scrolling 2D.  2D, 3D it doesn’t matter as the storyline is the same; it is just the dimensions that are different this time around.  In my opinion, the traditional, side-scrolling adventures are more fun than the 3D format that is more prevalent in most of the current Mario titles (Mario 64, Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 et. al.).   It is not even the fact that the side-scrollers fall into line more with what we have been conditioned to expect from Mario (for those of us old enough to remember his adventures on the original NES and it’s subsequent systems).  For me at least, it just comes down to the fact that it is so much easier to jump from platform to platform when you are going from left to right than it is from front to back on a slight angle.  This may be just my personal preference though, what do you think?  2D, 3D?  It does seem like the Mario games tend to pack more in to the 3D adventures (Super Mario Galaxy was expansive, and that’s not even counting the second one which was basically an extension of the first), but the side scrolling Mario games just bring a certain nostalgia and comfort to them that can’t be beat by adding an extra dimension.   

This game actually feels like the next step after the New Super Mario Brothers Wii game that came out a few years ago.  The only change (aside from the different system) is that this game has instituted a coin collecting mode.  Not only are there more coins in each level, but the total amount of coins are saved at the conclusion of the level.  The coins do not carry over into subsequent levels (* correction, they do carry over, I just checked last night to be sure.  Also, in case you couldn't figure it out, Bowser is pretty damn hard in this one) but there is a tally so that you are now aware of your grand total.  This increase in the number of coins is definitely helpful in the amount of lives that can be quickly accumulated (I was up past 120 last I checked) but there is no real tangible benefit to the coin accumulation.  Maybe it is used for bragging rights in the online community, and I will admit that I am a few levels from completing the game so there may be a payoff at the very end, but at this point the inclusion of this additional feature doesn’t really distinguish itself from the other Mario games at all.  The only feature that really stands out is the inclusion of the gold fireflower.  Instead of shooting fireballs that simply kill the oncoming Goomba or Koopa Trooper, the gold fireflower allows Mario to gather five coins for each successful hit on a target as well as transforming regular bricks into gold coins with a well-placed fireball.  Sure, it’s not revolutionary but it adds to the coin collecting motif and gives the player something else to do.  Plus, the power doesn’t run out after a few seconds like you would expect it to.  If you equip the gold fireflower it stays with you until you are injured, just like any of the other powers Mario gets from random vegetation along the way.

The three large coins in each level are still included but are not as vital as they were in the past (for those of you that are still stuck on Mario Galaxy, the large coins are similar to the stars that you use to unlock new worlds).  The large coins (or the stars) were used to actually further the story, basically necessitating that one complete certain parts of the game and gain a certain amount of stars before moving on, but that aspect has been removed in this game.  Yes, as I said, the coins are still there, but they are now used as keys to the various Toad Houses that pop up throughout each map (and you do not keep accumulating them as you go, you have to actually spend the coins to unlock the houses).  While these are helpful, they are not vitally important and therefore you could breeze right through the game without even visiting them if you so desired.  Like many other Mario games though, exploration is rewarded as there are levels in each world, and even whole worlds themselves, that cannot be accessed without finding secret exits.  I found one in the ghost house in the first world completely by accident, and of course by trying to locate them, the secret exits have eluded me ever since.  So even if the initial game is relatively short in length (especially for people that are used to time-sinks such as Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur), the replay value is relatively high.  The levels are not terribly long and puzzle-filled either so they do not get old and tiresome after a few playthroughs.

This is by no means an easy game to beat.  Hell, I don’t think there has really been an easy game in the Mario franchise (except maybe Mario 2 for the NES, especially if you just pick the Princess and float through the levels).  That being said, the aforementioned ability to accumulate lives lessens the fear of the dreaded “game over” but does nothing to help you dodge the fireballs that pop out of the river of lava, or swim any faster away from those damn fish (water levels in Mario games are the bane of my existence).  The graphics are great and the gameplay is as solid as ever though, so if you are looking to continue on the same Mario adventure that you have probably been through for years and years, pick it up and give it a whirl.  While it doesn’t necessarily bring anything new to the table, it is still fun nonetheless.  Hell, it’s not like the 3DS is brimming with quality titles right now anyway.   

8/10 – You might as well pick it up, and for forty dollars it’s not a bad value.  

Diablo III - The first eight hours

Have you played Diablo III yet?  Spoiler Alert - It's apparently pretty good.  But you don't have to take my word for it, just read Nik's review for yourself.

            Nothing could have been more convenient than the fact that I had Tuesday, May 15th off from work, and Diablo III was released that Tuesday. Raven and I prepared ourselves. We bought the game from Blizzard early. We downloaded and installed as soon as we could. The download was an easy two hours the week earlier, the actual install we were able to do Monday afternoon. We were so ready for midnight to roll around so that we could instantly hop on and pull an all nighter. No dice.

            We forgot, Blizzard is based in California. That means, sure, they launch the servers at midnight. Midnight PDT. Meaning us New Yorkians had to wait for the 3am launch. We had a serious debate on our hands. Do we stay up until 3? I played Rage on the xbox until about 11. At that point Raven and I looked at each other, damn near asleep. We had two options: go to sleep, or go to the diner and drink coffee until 3. But, at 11pm, we still had four more hours. We opted just to sleep. There was no guarantee that the servers would be up and smooth for us at 3 on the nose anyway. So rather than be exhausted all day, we decided on getting up early the next morning.

            We were up and ready to go by 8am, which is actually sleeping in for us, anyway. We had already discussed what classes we'd create, so we dove right in. Raven created a female Demon Hunter (think a cooler version of the Amazon from previous Diablo incarnations), and I made a rickety old Witch Doctor (slightly similar to Diablo II's expansion character, the Necromancer). We started it up and were immediately blown away by our first cinematic.

            Before the game came out, we never went out of our way to see much of the game (to the point where I chose not to participate in the beta even after I was chosen), we wanted to be awed as we experienced it for the first time. We watched the occasional class video, but not much more. The cut scenes and cinematics in this game are absolutely stunning. They are by far the best in computer graphics that I've seen to date. I mean, the detail just on the character's faces alone is remarkable.Regardless, again, the cut scenes are crisp and beautiful.

            The game starts essentially as any other Diablo. You start in town, talking to the various townsfolk, learning about the storyline. I'm not going to get into specifics here, because it's still so fresh, and frankly, you should be playing this game. But, the story that they have so far is quite good. I know that I and II had stories, but I never felt invested in any of the characters or the story. Blizzard has remedied that, and I care for NPCs and my character as well. Along the same lines, the more immersive story has made questing far less of the grind I've grown accustomed to from previous games. It's no longer "breeze through quest exposition - go kill something - pick up whatever - bring it back - start over". I'm actually paying attention to how the quests fit into the story, and while scooting into dungeons and killing things is still similar, the delivery and execution make it far less monotonous.

            The in-game graphics are up to par with the cinematics. Being a dungeon crawler, there's nothing so close up as you would be seeing in a first person shooter, but you still get detail. The environments are stunning. The depths present in some of the dungeons, the cliff drops and even the towns are something I've never really seen in video game graphics before. It's clear that Blizzard spent as much time on the stuff that's literally in the background as that on which we were meant to focus. The monsters and the characters are all crisp and clear, with a great deal of realism mixed with just the tiniest bit of cartoon feeling to it. The cartoony, I think, stems from the vivid popping color, which makes the graphics better; that is certainly not a complaint. Now, when I say cartoony, don't think Blizzard's other top-seller, World of Warcraft. It's nowhere near as toony.

            The mechanics are a refreshing update while still playing to the originals. There is a lot of point and click, slash-shoot-stab-kill. But, this is a dungeon crawler. That's what we expect. It's the leveling and skills that offer a very interesting, new and exciting game play. Say goodbye to skill trees and point allocation every time you level. Instead, you unlock a handful of abilities each time you level. You are limited with the number of usable skills throughout the game. You have a left click, a right click, and eventually hotkeys 1-4 open up to you as well. But that's it. Six skills to use at any one time, tops. Each slot has four or five skills that become available to you over time, and each skill has a variety of runes that open up as well, as you level. For example, as the witch doctor, for my left click, I start with a Poison Dart. In a few levels I open Spider Jar, and then a few more has gotten me Poison Toads. So I get to choose from the list what I want my right click to be. In between these levels, I've unlocked a rune for Poison Dart that allows me to shoot four darts at a time; or another that I can choose which slows down the target. There are still three more runes to unlock for the darts, and plenty of others for all of my other skills. So, even though you're slightly limited with your skill selection compared to prior Diablos (there are no quick hotkeys to jump between nine separate skills (i.e. the F keys in II) the varieties and the options available are quite extensive, leaving each individual player the option to really customize what he or she thinks is the most effective/most fun.

            Now, the complaints. The first is really just a statement of fact. I'm not going to complain about the game, or Blizzard in general, that they had to take the servers down a few times during the day. It's launch day. As far as I'm concerned, there will never be a perfect launch for a game that requires an online server. Never. So when people flood Twitter bitching about it dropping or not connecting or not flowing as smoothly as they'd like, they need to get the hell (Diablo pun?) over themselves. Shit's gonna happen. Get off your ass and go breathe some fresh air until the server's back up.

            The complaint that stems from that, however: after they did the reset, Raven and I lost all of our achievements. Even though we were at the same place in the game, at the same level that we stopped, when we started it back up, we had a blank slate for achievements. Now, I don't really care that much, honestly. But I know there are a ton of achievement hounds out there who were probably very upset about it. It's just slightly frustrating to see that some of things that you got credit for were gone.

            Now, this could be considered a spoiler, so be warned. It has nothing to do with story, but gameplay mechanics. There are some things that got only partially carried over from the originals.

            Scroll of Town Portal: no scrolls anymore. You just know the spell. And there's no cooldown on it at all. No cost. You can use it, return, then go right back to town over and over if you want. Even though Waypoints are still readily available (maybe even moreso than in Diablo II), the infinite TP makes them really quite unneeded.

            Scroll of Identify: absent. The very rare times that you do find something that requires identification, you just right click on it, it takes three seconds and then it's identified. You don't even bring it to someone in town to pay to ID. So why bother having things to identify in the first place?

            Environment: There is so much that is smashable and crashable in this game. Raven and I spend as much time questing as we spend just breaking shit. There is even some cool stuff that you can hit in the surrounding environment that triggers stuff to fall onto enemies, stunning or hurting them. My biggest complaint? Players can casually walk right through it. No consequences. There's even a spot with tripwires set up by the Goatmen (yes, they return!), that trigger what look like some pretty nasty traps. But when the spiked logs fall on you, they pass right through. Nothing more. No damage. Now, I'm all for not being killed in a video game, but this could be a great touch to make it as much a help as a hindrance.

            At the start up screen, when you choose your character, there's a little timer telling you how long you've played. Rae and I clocked in at just over 8 hours of play on Tuesday with Rallah the Demon Hunter and Ugzugg the Witch Doctor (we chose our own names). In that time, we got about half-way through level 16 and had just finished Act I. There are plenty of levels, quests, Acts and adventures waiting for us when we pick it up again in the coming days. I'm super excited to see the rest of the story and even experience the other classes. If anything crazy pops up, I'm sure I'll tell you about it. And who knows, I'll probably do a final review once Raven and I beat it.