Review
Played on: Xbox 360
Released: 2011
Released: 2011
The concept of Deus Ex Human Revolution are the three different approaches available to completing your tasks. Either go guns blazing, stealthy or hack your way through systems. Of course, combining all three like I did was perhaps the most enjoyable, but large gun fights are indeed very avoidable if you prefer. Deus Ex: Human Revolution continues in other words the franchises games formula in a great fashion.
What I really liked about DE: HR is it's atmospheric design. Right from the beginning you get the impression the developers have used time in getting the futuristic setting looking very special. It's yellow tinted urban environments remind you of classic movies like Blade Runner or Ghost in the Shell, even from a gaming point of view it echoes atmosphere from games like Halo: ODST.
What I really liked about DE: HR is it's atmospheric design. Right from the beginning you get the impression the developers have used time in getting the futuristic setting looking very special. It's yellow tinted urban environments remind you of classic movies like Blade Runner or Ghost in the Shell, even from a gaming point of view it echoes atmosphere from games like Halo: ODST.
I really enjoyed how the game further in opened up into a more free world where you could take sub-missions to earn XP and money to upgrade your character. I also liked how they would send you on flights to other areas for missions located elsewhere than the main city.
The level design in DEHR is quite unique. It makes way for multiple paths to enter buildings and taking out enemies, to suit the play style you prefer. The levels are very three dimensional, I know that sounds stupid, but there's a lot of thought gone into the caring for the various entry points and non-linear layout. It doesn't feel at all like the terrible "walk from A to B levels" so many modern games of these times have.
You'll be hard challenged in DEHR, perhaps one of the hardest games this generation. I found the learning curve to be extremely unforgiving and felt they maybe should have added a longer "warm-up" level before throwing you straight in. Suffice to say, this game is not for casuals. The difficulty level gives you a sense of reward though, and brings back the old feeling of actually being good at the gameplay to complete missions, rather than simply wait for an achievement or trophy to unlock. I miss those days...once and a while.
The level design in DEHR is quite unique. It makes way for multiple paths to enter buildings and taking out enemies, to suit the play style you prefer. The levels are very three dimensional, I know that sounds stupid, but there's a lot of thought gone into the caring for the various entry points and non-linear layout. It doesn't feel at all like the terrible "walk from A to B levels" so many modern games of these times have.
You'll be hard challenged in DEHR, perhaps one of the hardest games this generation. I found the learning curve to be extremely unforgiving and felt they maybe should have added a longer "warm-up" level before throwing you straight in. Suffice to say, this game is not for casuals. The difficulty level gives you a sense of reward though, and brings back the old feeling of actually being good at the gameplay to complete missions, rather than simply wait for an achievement or trophy to unlock. I miss those days...once and a while.
Luckily you'll be glad to know that the much talked about boss fights, have an easy option weapon if you find the learning curve taking a massive jump against bosses. Call it cheating, fact is to enjoy the game from beginning to end, and if this is a way for you to do so when stuck on a boss level, well then be it. They're still not easy in anyway though!
The storytelling, characters and well designed structure on each level gives it a unique feeling and I warmly recommend people looking for a deeper and more engaging action adventure to play it. I would have preferred a slightly easier learning curve, even more free roaming and perhaps more engaging cutscenes. The gunplay is also kind of stiff and could have been smoother, especially considering the unforgiving nature of checkpoints and the extremely high difficulty level, covering and advancing slowly is key.
Those with patience through the tough learning curve and difficult battles will be rewarded with one of the most atmospheric and well designed games of later years. It definitely is a game for those who miss the more traditional difficulty and challenges of old-school PC games, while at the same time offers a unique atmosphere and believable futuristic world to sink in to.
The storytelling, characters and well designed structure on each level gives it a unique feeling and I warmly recommend people looking for a deeper and more engaging action adventure to play it. I would have preferred a slightly easier learning curve, even more free roaming and perhaps more engaging cutscenes. The gunplay is also kind of stiff and could have been smoother, especially considering the unforgiving nature of checkpoints and the extremely high difficulty level, covering and advancing slowly is key.
Those with patience through the tough learning curve and difficult battles will be rewarded with one of the most atmospheric and well designed games of later years. It definitely is a game for those who miss the more traditional difficulty and challenges of old-school PC games, while at the same time offers a unique atmosphere and believable futuristic world to sink in to.
Review
Played on: Xbox 360
Released: 2012
Released: 2012
This game is strange, so strange in fact, that anybody passing by while you're playing it will probably utter the words "what the fuck?!". Multiple times. But they will laugh and they will find the chainsawing of zombies fun once they try it. In a sense that's how Lollipop Chainsaw, in all it's simplicity, wins you over.
LC revolves around a high school girl, called Juliet, arriving late for school and realising it has been infected by zombies. After slaying a good number of zombies violently she sees her boyfriend bitten by zombies and has to decapitate him and keep his head in her belt. As one would.
Mind you, the boyfriend still lives on through this and constantly states his sarcasm towards Juliets completely naive and bimbo-like view of the world with some hilarious comments. The dialogue between these two absurd characters, yet so clearly stereotyped, is what really drives the story and is very funny. It also uses great voiceovers for the English version.
The game plays like a typical 3D hack and slash game. You have some ordinary kicking moves to knock out the zombies and then a batch of various chainsaw attacks to kill them, or should I say completely dismember them? More attacks can be bought for gold coins you get for killing zombies. It's all about chaining multiple zombie kills and keeping the combos going.
What's really entertaining is the fact that the brutal violence is sort of covered up by this naive, pink coloured and glittering world of the main character. It looks ridiculous, yet so violent it makes you almost laugh each time you get a combo kill and Juliet shouts out "Yay!" in her typical naive fashion and does a little dance. The gameplay is simple, but gets quite tricky to master the special moves and gives room for constantly improving your high scores and earning the more difficult platinum coins. Addictive for sure and begs for replays after completion.
There are of course some downsides. The environments are really simple, and the geometry is on a PS2 game level. It mostly relies on being a corridor and seldom gives you big areas to roam. This is kind of unacceptable considering the game uses the Unreal Engine 3. It really could have done with looking far better and more exploration minded in the environments.
The game is also just too short for it's own good, it does however compensate a lot of this with it sheer variation in stuff you are doing and really entertaining mini-games. Complete with an actually very good soundtrack ranging from 80's hits, all the way to current music like Skrillex.
Of all the complaints I've expressed about Japanese gaming lagging behind, having incoherent stories and cliche anime-styled main characters, Lollipop actually understands comedy. It delivers a wacky plot, yet it somehow comes together well, regardless of Juliet's design.
It depicts some truly insane characters, but they're voiced well and have a ton of funny lines. It's a statement that weird games with great gameplay and humour can work if you appeal to more western audiences and still maintain the absurdity of Japanese pop culture.
Now imagine playing as Juliet in a Dead Rising setting, without the time limits, but with combo and violent chainsaw attacks....that would've been a truly amazing game!
Review
Played on: Xbox 360
Released: 2011
Released: 2011
Origins is without doubt a beautiful hand drawn 2D platformer, showing it's glory in 1080p with the smoothness of 60fps. It shows that even old genres of games can benefit from modern technical advancement and HD graphics. Just like New Super Mario Bros. Rayman Origins lets you and three of your friends get to together to traverse varied and exciting levels contained in worlds with various scenery settings.
Rayman Origins lends a lot of ideas from NSMB and benefits from following that formula. It looks far more stylish and pretty than it's modern Nintendo genre brother, and equally offers the same amount of environmental variation. Origins perhaps surpasses the competition when it comes to gameplay variation and abilities you gain along the way.
Collecting all the gems in the game proves to become a collection nightmare and something I just didn't have the patience to do. I like the variation added with some of the running levels, they are fun and very hard, but feel rewarding once completed.
Rayman Origins is definitely something for 2D platform fans to check out and feels more of a breath of fresh air when compared to the 2D efforts of Nintendo with their NSMB releases.
