Cam's Eye View: 3 Game Special part 3: Alice: Madness Returns for the PS3 and 360

I have been playing a lot of unique games this year, with Portal 2 and L.A. Noire being the two big hitters for me. Sadly, I think I just hit the wall with unique games to play for a while. I say this since this next game is American McGee’s Alice: Madness Returns for the PC, PS3, and 360. I know this is a bit sudden for me to announce the game I am reviewing, but I have kind of had enough of playing unique games for now due to this game. I have a love-hate relationship with it. I love it for specific reasons, but I really hate it for technical and other specific reasons. I don’t like to scream and rave and rant about a game so early in the review, but that is how I feel about this game. Alice Madness Returns is a flawed, but interesting experience brought by American McGee to the gaming world. So, let’s dive into the madness of Alice: Madness Returns. Before I continue I just want to say this is my opinion and if you don’t like it, that is fine, just make your own review of it.

The story starts off with Alice, still a little crazy and living in a somewhat orphanage/asylum for kids who are not right in the head. While exploring the city, the world of Wonderland and the real world start to merge and Alice is back in Wonderland. The Cheshire cat tells Alice about an unknown train that is causing mass chaos and destruction all over Wonderland. It is up to Alice to find out why the fantasyland is corrupted and learn more about her past. The story has some interesting parts, but it can overall be pretty silly. While the game is trying to be dark and twisted, it comes off as silly, and well, Alice isn’t the most interesting lead character in a game.

The gameplay in Alice: Madness Returns plays a lot like Darksiders and the 3D Zelda titles where you backtrack through huge areas, solving puzzles and using a target-like system to take care of enemies. Alice has 4 weapons she finds throughout the game, not counting the DLC you can get for more outfits and some new weapons. The first weapon is the Vorpal Blade, which is for fast and quick combos. The second weapon is the Pepper Grinder, which is used like a gattling gun for quick and rapid shots. The Hobby Horse acts very much like the Barbarian Hammer from God of War 2 or the Ball and Chain from Twilight Princess, with it being your heavy hitting, but slow weapon. The final weapon is the Teapot Cannon, which is helpful in taking care of the harder enemies and wiping out waves of smaller enemies. You could go into battle with any weapon and take out the enemy just fine, but it’s easier to know what weapon to use against what enemy, which make battles go by faster and easier since each weapon is matched to a face button. If your health gets too low Alice can activate a super mode, where she can kill enemies, while being invincible, and regain some health. Alice also has the ability to shrink down in size to either dodge enemies or find hidden clues and see hidden platforms, which is necessary to get past some areas. There are also hidden rooms where you can complete challenges to gain health upgrades. Alice also has a helpful triple jump ability and the ability to glide to reach far away areas. The game is filled with side games, like a 2D shooter, puzzles, a side-scrolling level, and on one occasion, a Guitar Hero like mini-game. Some of these can be skipped since they can get pretty tedious from time to time.

The one area that Alice: Madness Returns does well is its presentation area. Every world is very creative and unique. so it doesn’t look like you’re going through the same area over and over again. The enemies are well-designed and creative, with enemies like crabs with a cannon in one arm smoking a cigar, samurai wasps, baby doll parts mixed with oil, and many other creatures that roam the lands of Wonderland. The music is also nice and creepy when it needs to be, but isn’t very memorable. The voice acting is also very good with secondary characters with memorable personalities and all the charm American McGee’s games have.

However, it is time to talk about what the heck is wrong with this title. The first thing I noticed is that the graphical look, while nice, can be pretty hit-and-miss, with some graphical flickering that I have seen throughout the real world section of the game. The second thing is that the platforming is sloppy. A lot of times you think you’re going to make your jump, but you don’t make it because Alice has no grab- the-ledge action. It’s annoying as heck, and this happens A LOT during the game. Even though the worlds themselves are creative, they all have the same dang puzzles. It’s always the same puzzle and there aren’t exclusive puzzles to each world. Battles also get repetitious since you fight the same corrupt enemies alongside the same world exclusive enemies. The nail in the coffin for me is that there are NO boss fights. I mean, yes, there is a boss fight, but only at the very end of the game. What was American McGee thinking?! The last game had more bosses, heck, even the first Devil May Cry had more bosses in it, and that game reused bosses! Alice Madness Returns turns into a boring time-wasting slugfest without a boss in each world. You could count those giant corrupt oil-like enemies as bosses, but that is just lazy. American McGee, you are a hack! I mean seriously, when I want to play an action game, I expect more from this game since it takes ideas from other games, but it’s just sloppy and isn’t fully polished. Alice also isn’t that interesting of a character. I never felt fully pulled into the story because of her. It just made me realize I was playing a terrible action game with only ONE FREAKING BOSS IN THE ENTIRE GAME!

Overall, I can’t say this is a bad game since it does have some simple, but somewhat fun-at-first combat, interesting characters, and amazing looking worlds, but it isn’t a very good game either. The whole game feels half-finished, and it really shows that this game wasn’t tested enough. The fighting and puzzles get boring and repetitious, Alice is a borefest, the presentation is hit-and-miss, and there is only ONE BOSS! I seriously am surprised Spicy Horse, the company who developed this game didn’t lose money to this waste-of-time game. If you really want to play a good new action game, play Darksiders and Bayonetta. Heck, you can pick up the God of War Collection for only half as much as Alice: Madness returns costs. This game is terrible and I can only recommend it as a weary rental since it isn’t a competently made game. It doesn’t deserve a 7 out of 10 that some reviewers are giving it. It is just a rough ride going down the rabbit hole this time.

This game deserves a 4 out of 10

Cam's Eye View: Mass Effect 2 for the PS3 and 360 review

You are all in for a treat! This is a game that at first I had decided never to review because I never saw what was so special about it. The other reason was that it was on the 360. Now, it’s 2011, and it was released a few months back in January for the PS3. This is also a surprise to me since it is now one of my top 25 favorite games of all time. I won’t delay the tension any longer, here is my special review of Mass Effect 2! I was seriously surprised at how deep and great this game is. I kind of blew it off ignorantly due to the fact that it was a space shooter. However, it is from the critically acclaimed studio, Bioware, and winner of multiple Game of the Year Awards from many publications. It is definitely a game that is worth the money and time if you’re old enough. Let’s dive into this wonderful game simply known as Mass Effect 2.

The game takes place weeks after the ending of the first game as the ship “Normandy” is on the look for a remaining Geth ship. When they actually find one, they are then attacked by a Collector’s ship and, as a result, get heavily damaged. As Commander Shepard is getting everyone out of the ship, he then is forced to help the pilot of the ship, Joker, escape. After he gets Joker into an escape pod, Shepard is sadly blasted into space by the Collector’s ship. Two years later, Shepard wakes up in a bed in a medical ward on a Cerberus ship.  Shepard is now working for Cerberus and is assigned to get a team of soldiers to take care of the Collectors who are planning something mysterious. This game has a really great story with deep and complex themes of politics and the different alien races, as well as the characters’ philosophies on life. This is a sign that this sci-fi shooter would be good, since it actually has a really good story that isn’t bland or something we have seen before. It just shows how good Bioware is at their job.

There is a lot to cover in this section of the review so let’s get to the gameplay. The gameplay is in the form of a third person sci-fi shooter with a mix of RPG, team-based shooters, and free-roaming elements. You take control of Commander Shepard and have a good array of weapons to use, like the normal machine gun, pistol, and shotgun. The weapon variety is basically the same, but you can always find better versions of those guns, or upgrade the default weapons you get. Each character can carry about two guns, with the exception being you, of course. You can get preset armor from preorders and DLC, but you can also find customized armor to give you more speed, defense, headshot percentage, and melee attack power. When you begin the game you can actually upload the data from the last game if you have the Xbox360 version. In the PS3 version, you just start from scratch. You can also choose what class of soldier you want to be in, like Warrior, which gives you better strength in fighting. Each class gives you specific abilities that are pretty fun to use in the game. When you go to different planets, you get sent down with two other teammates. This is where the squad-based shooter mechanics come into play. You can move your two comrades to different areas on the field and can use their specific abilities in battle. Each character has an array of moves, like a strong power shot, using their cybernetic enhancements to toss enemies around, using those enhancements to blow people away, doing a stealth kill, summoning an AI assistant, and many others. You also get multiple abilities, like I said, depending on what your class is. Of course, this wouldn’t be a Bioware game without having multiple endings and multiple paths that you can take throughout the game, by what your actions are. When you talk to ANYONE, you can choose different options on what to say, kind of like that bad game, Alpha Protocol. However, in this game, it’s done a lot better. Even coming down to the final level, where you need to decide who does what, will alter the ending of the game. There are also personal missions you can take on with your teammates that will make them even closer teammates and will show more character development. It’s nice since in a lot of games I see, they have a bunch of characters, but you only really care about a few of them. In this game however, I listened and cared for every teammate I had, and did all of their personal missions just so I could hear them talk and develop as characters. You can even fall in love and have a romance with one of the many female teammates. Just be careful what you say.

The graphics in the game are top notch since I played the PS3 version, which has the new game engine that the sequel, Mass Effect 3, is going to use. All the characters have amazing detail and great animations, even if you don’t see them move around a lot. The voice work is top-notch with great voice actors and some that may surprise you if you haven’t played the Mass Effect franchise. For example, the voice actor for Shepard is Mark Meer, who has used his voice acting talents in a lot of the games Bioware has made. Let’s get to the other voice actors that really impressed me, and just to spoil it, I loved a lot of the characters’ voice actors: Ali Hillis, Brandon Keener, Liz Sroka, Lazarre-White, Keythe Farley, Steve Blum, Courtenay Taylor, Michael Beattie, Maggie Baird, D.C Douglas, Kym Lane, and Robin Sachs. That is just a little bit of the voice work here if you only count the playable team members. The one that surprised me the most is the voice actor who played Joker, Seth Green. This was a shock to me since, well, I only know Seth Green from Family Guy and Robot Chicken. He does an amazing job here, and I think he could do well in this kind of genre of voice work. The music is also amazing with a lot of great tracks composed by Jack Wall and three other composers. Jack Wall is mostly famous for The Mark of Kri, Vigilance, Myst 3 and 4, and Jade Empire. This is definitely one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard. I also love how the branching paths give this game so many possibilities and so many endings. It just makes me think how long it took Bioware to fully complete this tiny bit of the game.

            This game is almost perfect, with great gameplay, great graphics, great voice work, great music, an amazingly compelling story, but it just has a few technical issues that makes me pissed off about modern games. The text is so hard to read in this game. I have gotten lost so many times in the shopping planets because I couldn’t find where the store was that I needed to go to. It was as annoying as it could be. This is why I hate modern games, the text can be unreadable at times, and it is even worse if the color of the text is the same as the background. I mean, seriously developers, STOP IT! I also don’t like how harsh some of the choices are, like when you are trying to find a woman to romance. If you do something wrong near the end of the game with them, they will ignore you for the rest of the game and they will repeat the same thing over and over again. I went through three girls because I screwed up with them, but I ultimately got Tali who is a fan favorite amongst the Mass Effect Community. The other thing I didn’t like was the freaking planet scanning. I know everyone hates this because it’s really tedious to upgrade my items and ship. I have to scan multiple planets of their resources instead of just getting all the resources at once. I probably spent around 5 or so hours out of the 25-30 hours I spent on this game scanning planets for resources.

            Even with these minor flaws, Mass Effect 2 is one of the best games I have ever played, and is rightfully the winner of multiple Game of the Year Awards from 2010. It is one of my favorite games and I know Mass Effect 3 will be even better and will topple the second over by a landslide. I would highly recommend getting the game for either platform since it is well worth the money and is one of the best shooters I have ever played.

This game gets a 9 out of 10

Heavy Metal Gamer: 007 Racing Review

Heavy Metal Gamer: 007 Racing Review:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVwaL1cFn-s

Brand new review of a pretty descent game, Hope you enjoy the new review, and thanks for watching

Thanksgiving Day Special - Game Review: SimCity

Thanksgiving Day Special - Game Review: SimCity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofRg2mXsl7E

Brand new review, and its the Thanksgiving Day Special. So if your celebrating Thanksgiving, I hope you have a awesome and safe one. Hope you enjoy the review. Thanks for watching

Cam's Eye View: DLC Domination part 1: Shank for the PSN and XboxLive

To be honest, I am not that much into downloadable games. I don’t know how to explain it since I love to download old video games through PSN and the VC, but for some reason, I don’t download a lot of downloadable games. Maybe it’s because the price can be a little odd and intimidating to me. However, I have warmed up to them recently with stuff like Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD and Splosion Man. I do plan on reviewing more downloadable games since there are actually a good handful of great games to download. So, to kick these downloadable games off, I decided to do a game that I have actually been waiting to download and play. So, what could this game be? What game could possibly start a new section of my blog simply known as Download Domination? Shank! Now, this is what you get if you combine Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez films into a video game, and mix it with 2 barrels of blood and violence. Since we also have the new film Machete to go see, I decided to do this game first. Over the top violence, a great grindhouse story, amazing 2D graphics, and fun gameplay. Let’s cut our way through, and review Shank!

The main story of Shank is about an ex-mercenary named, umm… Shank. He is after a crime leader for killing his girlfriend and is out for revenge. There is a back-story to Shank in the co-op mode where we get to know him and his ex partner in crime, Falcon, where they would do services for the main villain of the game. However, the story as a whole, is pure grindhouse-style, so I wouldn’t really take it seriously, and would just have fun with it.

The gameplay featured in Shank is of course bloody 2D side-scrolling hack-and-slash. You basically go through levels, hacking and slashing minor enemies that range from normal henchmen, to army soldiers, dogs, big buff guys, and guys with huge weapons. At the end of each level, you fight a unique boss that usually has a pattern that you need to find out and master, or else you are boned. Luckily for you, Shank has a huge array of moves to take down legions of henchmen. You, of course, have your two shanking knives as your default weapon. During the game, you also gain a chain saw, two pistols, a shotgun, two machetes, chained gloves, an uzi, and a katana. Shank can pull off multiple kinds of combos that look pretty dang awesome and fit in films like Kill Bill and Machete. You can also grab enemies and stuff a grenade down their mouth and watch half or all of their health go in one big boom! One of Shank’s main features though is his ability to lunge at an opponent like Wolverine and basically hack its face off. In the two-player co-op mode, Falcon basically plays the same as Shank, and has even more unique boss fights that are only in the co-op mode. Shank can also pick up a flamethrower and a chain gun, but you can’t take them with you through the levels.

The game’s 2D style graphics are amazing. Everything looks really good with great character design and wonderful animation. The voice acting is passable, but then again, Shank plays much like a cartoon grindhouse film so I didn’t expect it to be top notch. I think this is a situation where I go in using a complex known as the “commando complex”. This is where I play a game that has a story that isn’t the best, but is overall fun. I think a lot more reviewers should do that and not be so uptight about this game. The music is also well done with great guitar music playing in the background. I also like the unique level designs from a train level, a slaughterhouse, a strip bar, to an Old Spaniard church-like building. It’s an overall game that has a good amount of variety to the package. Oh, by the way, the story is written by the guy who did the God of War series. That is cool on its own merit!

However, it seems like the people at Klei Entertainment made some major game design 101 flaws. Don’t get me wrong; what they did well is really good. The game can sometimes be overly difficult! I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever played through such difficult levels due to design flaws. Sometimes, it’s just not fun going through the level because of those flaws. This also is an issue with boss fights. Some bosses are easier than previous ones, and that is an issue when one boss fight is like two tries before beating, and the next one takes one attempt. The final boss is also a good example of a final boss that just isn’t fun to fight. He is overly difficult, and the fight wears on when it doesn’t need to. I also think there are some minor control issues like the right analog stick for some reason not being the dodge command. It sometimes just makes dodging in a game like this so much harder than it needs to be.  I also am a bit surprised there isn’t a full game co-op mode. I think it would be a great thing as DLC since on the menu it has an area for downloadable content. If you do DLC Klei Entertainment, here is a small list of DLC/patches you can do.

3. A DLC patch to make the full game co-op since it’s much more fun hacking and slashing through enemies with a friend.

2. Make a patch to where the right analog stick is the dodge command. It would make the game much easier to go through.

1. Make a patch for the difficulty. Look through each review and find out what areas were really tedious to get through and make a patch so they are not so difficult.

All and all though, Shank is a fun hack-and-slash downloadable title for the PS3 and 360, and I recommend downloading it for either console, since you can get it on both. I think this game does have potential for a sequel, and it definitely deserves one since it is one of the best downloadable games you can get on the market right now. I say download it and have some hack-and-slash grindhouse film fun.

This game gets a solid 7 out of 10