Reviews

[2 Minute Review] Terminator Salvation

June 30, 2009 by Will 4 Comments

If you liked the movie, then you’ll probably like the game.

Play as John Connor as he and his companions try to save a group of Resistance fighters that are trapped in a Skynet facility.

DO: Take cover, flank the enemy, shoot the enemy. Get out of cover, walk to the next fight. Occasionally shoot from a vehicle. Repeat until the credits scroll.

TYPE: 3rd Person Cover-Based Shooter

PLATFORM: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PlayStation 3, Windows DVD-ROM

MEAT: Terminator Salvation takes many cues from both Gears of War games. Each of the game’s chapters are broken up into little theaters – areas in which you are pinned down and must fight through waves of enemies until they are all defeated. Each theater is easily identified by objects that are randomly strewn about, acting as cover for you and your teammates. Your survival is dependant on taking cover as you will not be able to survive under the heavy automated fire of the machines.

As you play through Terminator Salvation’s nine chapters, you will fight the same four enemies when Connor is on-foot: Aerostats (small flying machines aka “Wasps”), T7-Ts (four-legged machines aka “Spiders”), Hunter Killers (large flying machines aka “HKs”) and T-600s (endoskeletons, sometimes called “skin jobs”). The on-rails segments feature the motorcycle-shaped Terminators and mounted turrets in one segment.

The graphics and voice work are adequate, and the controls work for the game. I found myself frustrated with the lack of a roadie run; on a few occasions I could not use the cover system to get me from one spot to the other, so I had to take a leisurely stroll through enemy fire. Since your health does not replenish until all enemy waves have been eliminated, this was very dangerous, but necessary, action to take.

PERKS: The cover system works well. The on-rails segments are entertaining and are a much-needed break from the standard gameplay. The inclusion of Moon Bloodgood’s and Common’s likenesses and voices help to tie the game closer to the movie it is based on. The achievements are easy to get; simply playing through the 6 hour campaign on Hard mode will net you 1000 points. Cooperative play through the campaign is available both in offline splitscreen and over Xbox LIVE.

SCREAMS: For more than the six enemy types you will encounter, a longer playthrough time, more reasons to play through the game more than once (like collectibles, online multiplayer or multiple paths through the campaign) and a roadie run.

VERDICT: Rent. The game’s short length and few achievements will give Gamerscore addicts a reason to play through this game once. Fans of Gear of War will appreciate playing through a similar experience.

[2 Minute Review] Red Faction: Guerilla

June 24, 2009 by Jason O 8 Comments

rfg_logo_wide

We’re gonna have a revolution, yeah

DO: Blow up every building nearly brick-by-brick and stick it to “The Man”!

TYPE:Third Person Sandbox

PLATFORM: XBox 360 (Reviewed), PS3, and PC (in August)

PRICE: $60

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MEAT: Oddly enough, the more “sandbox” games that have come on the market, the more restrictive they seem to be. What I loved the most about Grand Theft Auto III was the freedom that it gave you. While there is a definite progression in Red Faction: Guerilla, you are free to go pretty much anywhere you want in-between tackling the story missions. Also, you can level every building in the game piece-by-piece.

This is not an exaggeration at all. You start the game with a humble sledgehammer and remote detonated explosives. While the game gives players many options, from conventional assault rifles and pistols to building leveling singularity bombs, the tools you start out with are useful throughout. The game instantly found a place in my heart when an enemy trooper was hiding behind a wall and I was able to strike through the wall with my hammer and take him out. I could not begin to list the number of games that have frustrated me by having an enemy soldier hiding behind the most invincible piece of plywood they could find. The game often rewards players for ingenuity rather than forcing them to follow a strict path or sequence of actions.

There is a story contained within, but it’s a familiar trope that is one part Bolshevik Revolution and one part Total Recall. I suppose there might be some lip service to the previous Red Faction games, but if you’re not familiar with the background materials it doesn’t really matter. Gamers familiar with traditional sandbox games will find the basic gameplay familiar. You have the main story missions to progress the plot and plenty of different side missions to keep you occupied. Side missions include standard defend, raid, demolitions, and escort (Ugh!) with other familiar elements like tracking down convoys or tailing couriers. Despite the harsh Martian landscape there is plenty to do. My initial concern was that this game would be like Just Cause, where everything was too sparse and spread out to keep the game interesting.

Saving the best for last, there is a small cadre of robots you can take control of throughout the game. They are available for specific story missions and some side missions, but you will occassionally find them scattered around the map. These “walkers” are almost overpowered, but so much fun to use that I don’t really care.

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PERKS: Literally every structure in the game can be destroyed. If your idea of entertainment is to blow things up, this game was tailor made for you. Unlike other games that let you play with high explosives, bringing down a building is not done simply by applying the correct number of explosives. There are actual physics involved. Land a giant robot on the roof and you may go crashing into the building. Need a quick path somewhere? Run through walls using your sledgehammer.

The vehicles are somewhat generic, but the controls are great. Vehicular combat is somewhat disappointing in anything other than tanks though. Most vehicles are much better for soaking up enemy fire while you recuperate than having any real offensive capabilities, even if they have mounted weapons. On the other hand, it is very satisfying to literally drive a dump truck into an enemy barracks to start an assault.

The enemy AI is noteworthy as well. They will retreat, take cover, and evade attacks, even on the easiest difficulty. They are not obnoxiously difficult, but it is a nice touch that they don’t stand around letting you blow them away. They do tend to be braver in greater numbers, so you may find yourself massacring quite a few before they remember to play smart. Overall though, the AI is solid.

SCREAMS: Past Red Faction games were more about deformable terrain, in this game the terrain is impervious. The game is also difficult even on the easiest difficulty. Most of this difficulty is the swarm of enemies you can be up against. Furthermore, as solid as the enemy AI is, your allies are next to worthless other than providing a temporary distraction. In the early stages this doesn’t seem so bad, but towards the end you are fighting dozens of troops with air support, vehicles, and possibly armor. This means they can overwhelm you with sheer numbers and they seem to come out of nowhere, making it difficult to find a place to hole up for those few precious seconds you need your health to recuperate.

Vehicles cannot be stored or brought up on demand and the quick travel system is limited to safehouses only. Furthermore, buildings will not regenerate until you beat the game and if you destroy special garages you may not be able to use some of the more spectacular vehicles and robots later in the game.

VERDICT: This is definitely a BUY. I rarely purchase games at full price and feel like I have to wring my $60 out of them. Red Faction: Guerilla was worth every penny. I won’t claim it is a perfect game, but it is packed with tons of fun.

[2 Minute Review] Sacred 2: Fallen Angel

June 21, 2009 by James 4 Comments

DO: Play like Diablo but with better graphics.

TYPE: RPG (Diablo with a splash of Baldur’s Gate)

PLATFORM: Xbox 360 (reviewed here), PS3 and PC

PRICE: $60

MEAT: You choose one out of six character classes. Of which the strangest class would have to be the temple guardian,”A Temple Guardian is not fully flesh or mechanical, it is a mixture, half human and half machine.” The temple guardian kind of looks like the egyptian god Horus (kind of) if you choose to go evil or Anubis if you choose to go good.

With all of the different items you come across and all of the different ways you can shape your character there is a good chance you will have a really unique character. I went with an Inquisitor that dual wielded a burning dagger and an ice shortsword. What’s cool about the game is you can choose to use any weapon you want as long as it’s not class specific.

The big let down with Sacred 2 is the parts in between quests which turns into the same thing over and over again. You get quest A and on your way to the location to finish the quest you encounter a plentiful amount of monsters on the main road the whole way there. There is a copious amount of side quests that can lead you away from the main quest which will add playtime to your total playtime. The time spent traveling can be cut down by either using a mount (different kinds of horses or class specific ones like a demon or a sabertooth tiger) or the warp gates which are scattered around the map that are usually near important locales like a town or city.

The multiplayer aspect of the game is where I think that game will shine. Having only played the game hotseat co-op for a limited amount of time I really enjoyed it with another player along for the ride, even though we had to share a screen and couldn’t seperate. Playing online multiplayer will allow the players to be in the same world while being able to roam wherever they want. This gives the game more of an open world feel.

PERKS: Having quite a bit of room to customize your character. My personal pet peeve in video games is when you equip and awesome new sword or piece of armor and then it doesn’t show up on your character, they just have the same sword/armor the whole game through. Sacred 2 did this part of the game right, everything you equip on your character shows up so I had a burning dagger hanging on my back while I rode my horse. Also if your into being into a game for the long haul then this is right up your alley. I’m not even sure how long long you could devote your time to the game but it seems like it could suck you in for a while. The world is pretty huge so the words, “NEVER ENDING!” come to mind. One of the very first things I noticed was how expansive the world was. After searching around for a few minutes in the game world I looked at the the map and only a tiny bit of the map had been lit up showing where I had explored. The world looks great from the grass blowing in the wind to the lush landscapes Ancaria looks good.

SCREAMS: LOADING! The worst time I had with loading was in a town where within 10 seconds the game had to stop the screen from progressing to load the next section of town five times. Now if you install it on the hard drive I’m sure it will help immensely with the loading issues but the game shouldn’t have that many to begin with. How about a boss fight that isn’t just some monster with a long health bar?

Give me a story to care about. The only thing that stands out storywise for the game is that they were able to get the EPIC band Blind Guardian to be apart of it. To have better detail after you zoom out, having the camera zoomed in can give you some great detail with nice graphics but zoom out to where you can actually see whats going on and you won’t be able to tell if it’s the same game. That was a major let down in playing Sacred 2, not being able to enjoy the good graphics the whole time.

VERDICT: Buy. I think you’ll definitely get your $’s worth out of this game. You can play it until you’ve discovered everything in Ancaria which will take you a long time or just go straight through the games main quests. Regardless of whether you’ll be playing the game by yourself or with a friend the enjoyment you’ll get should be the same. If your on the fence about this game I would suggest a rental and you’ll be able to get a feel for the game and whether you want to buy the game or not. I had a good time in Ancaria and I’m pretty sure you will too!

[2 Minute Review] The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

June 19, 2009 by Tony 2 Comments

Does hope really begin in the dark?

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DO: You are Riddick, a man with a very high opinion of himself. For some reason, however, he keeps getting caught. He likes the shadows and is willing to stab the occasional obstacle in the head.

TYPE: Stealth/Shooter hybrid

PLATFORM: Xbox 360 (reviewed here), PS3 and PC

PRICE: $60

MEAT: There are essentially two games here. First, there’s a remake of the popular Xbox One game, Escape from Butcher Bay, where you control Riddick as he tries to break out of prison. Having broken out of prison, he finds himself a prisoner of sorts on the Dark Athena, a mammoth space ship. The second game chronicles your attempt to escape once again.

Escape from Butcher Bay concentrates on more of the stealth aspects of the game while Dark Athena is shooter heavy. Butcher Bay has some almost-RPG elements as you can complete missions for fellow prisoners (which basically boils down to punching people in the face) as you try to figure out a way to escape. The hand-to-hand combat is quite satisfying. The sneaking around has its issues and the shooting isn’t perfect. But for the most part, when it’s sticking to one or the other, it’s a heck of a game.

Both games have their problems, I’m not going to gloss over them. As I said, stealth isn’t perfect. If I’m hidden, let me stay hidden. If I’m caught, but can get away, let me have the freedom to move around without being spotted from across the room. The PITCH BLACK room. There are swear-off-gaming-forever moments of frustration. There are also exhilarating did-I-just-do-that? moments that make you forget the aforementioned downers.

It’s a balancing act, but in the end I enjoyed Riddick.

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PERKS: Stealth kills are crunchy and will bring a smile to your face, whether you’re beating someone down with the “Peacemaker” or your stabbing them in the head with a screwdriver, it never gets old.

SCREAMS: That it would make up its mind! Either be a shooter or a stealth game, but don’t force me to do a shooter set-piece when all I want to do is hide until the badmen go away. The shooting is well done and fun. So is the stealth. But the whole is not greater than the sum of the parts. Stick to one thing and do it well.

VERDICT: Buy. I struggled with this one. After some of the frustrating moments, I would have said “Rent”. I would have said that it’s not worth the effort. Even after beating the final enemy, I wasn’t convinced. But looking back, taken all together, there is a really fun game here. It’s not a strong, 100% Buy recommendation, but I still feel confident that most buttonmashers will enjoy it.

[2 Minute Review] Peggle: Dual Shot

May 9, 2009 by Brock 5 Comments

Just when you thought it was safe to turn on your DS…

Peggle DS Logo

The ultimate digital crack is now portable.

DO: Clear all of the orange pegs.

TYPE: Pachinko Simulator

PLATFORM: Nintendo DS

PRICE: $19.99

MEAT: It’s Peggle on the DS with a smattering of extras and tweaks. For the uninitiated, Peggle is essentially pachinko (or Plinko from The Price Is Right) in digital form. You have a board full of blue, purple and orange pegs and blocks and the goal is to launch your ball from the top of the screen and clear all of the orange blocks. It’s an incredibly simple concept that Popcap has been able to tweak into something that rivals the addictiveness of a Vegas slot machine.

Add to this a variety of characters who each have their own special power-ups, ranging from multi-balls to having the computer calculate the best angle of attack, and a slew of challenge boards, bonus modes and extra point modifiers and you have a game that will sink its claws into you for hours on end. Peggle DS has also added a Peggle Underground mode that lets you rack up even greater point totals by going into a bonus screen if you hit the new gold peg (which appears after clearing 5 purple bonus point pegs). Another interesting feature of Peggle DS is that you need only to hold your stylus on the screen for a few seconds and it will zoom in on the target area, giving you the ability to fine-tune your shots.

PERKS: New modes; contains both Peggle & Peggle Nights; Ode To Joy is still as satisfying as ever.

SCREAMS: For slightly crisper graphics… That’s about it.

VERDICT: Buy. It’s only $19.99 at most places (sometimes cheaper) and it’s one of the best cost-to-value purchases you can make. And this is coming from someone who already owns Peggle on the PC and XBLA.

[2 Minute Review] Lux Pain

April 25, 2009 by Brock 3 Comments

The first rule of Text Club: Don’t talk about Text Club.

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The second rule of Text Club: Don’t skimp on localization costs.

DO: Step into the shoes of a secret agent with telepathic powers tasked with unravelling a mysterious rash of suicides, assaults and other unsavoury behaviour in a sleepy seaside town.

TYPE: Interactive Visual Novel/Adventure

PLATFORM: NDS

PRICE: $29

MEAT: Lux Pain is a visual novel/adventure kind of game much like the Ace Attorney (aka Phoenix Wright) games. The story is a mostly linear affair and ‘gameplay’ consists almost entirely of reading text. That said, Lux Pain has a lot more of what is considered proper gameplay than most games of this nature, as you will have to use the DS stylus to scratch away the surface of the scene you are investigating at various times to try to find ‘worms’ that have infected the characters and environments. There is even a quasi-RPG element to the game, as faster you are at finding the worms, the more XP you will gain, which in turn gives you a bump up in a few different stats.

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The art style is fantastic, with a very anime feel to most of the visuals and characters that is quite reminiscent of Persona’s aesthetics. The characters who populate the town are quite well rounded, with unique personalities that are hard to forget and the intricate storylines that weave a web between most of the population help to keep you interested in the ultimate fate of every character. The music is also very well done, with a variety of themes that recur throughout the game but never wear out their welcome. There are even fully voiced and animated cutscenes sprinkled throughout the game that show that the production values on Lux Pain are definitely a step above the usual for a DS game.

Unfortunately, all of the promise of an intricate plot involving high school social life, teenage suicide, animal cruelty and the deep-seated emotional turmoil of a repressed society is severely hampered by the incredibly slip-shod translation and localization effort that the game received. There are a tonne of spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and just plain manglings of the English language throughout the game. It never quite reaches the level of becoming unintelligible, but it comes pretty close at times. Add to this the fact that the English voice-overs rarely match the text bubbles on the screen and you’ve got a very jarring narrative unfolding. In a simple action game, this kind of oversight would have been forgivable but in a game that is almost exclusively based on reading and parsing out text-based clues, it can break the game for many people. There are also a few instances where new game mechanics or time limits are introduced but there is no indication that you could be a click away from a game-over screen until after the fact. Again, this is something that should have been addressed in the localization.

PERKS: A rich, dark, mature (in the true sense of the word) storyline; great characters; one of the best fake BBS message-boards ever to grace a game; a pile of interesting extras to unlock; about 20-22 hours of gameplay; the way that the shinen (thoughts) of the characters is displayed is fascinating; a meaty manual that explains the world of Lux Pain.

SCREAMS: For a translation and localization effort on par with that of similar games like the Ace Attorney series or the more recent Atlus USA localizations; better explanation of some of the game mechanics; resolution to a few of the plot threads that are left dangling at the end of the game.

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VERDICT: RENT. This was a very difficult game for me to give a final verdict to. It could have been on of those games that I’d be singing the praises for years from now due to its fascinating exploration of a lot of taboo subjects and the very quirky Japanese setting and feel of the game and would have easily given it a buy rating. Unfortunately, this is a genre that tends to be niche at best and most people won’t be willing to look past the mangled text to get to the delicious meat of the story. For the absolute fumbling of the fundamental portion of the gameplay, I feel that the game would deserve a pass. A rental would be the best way to decide if the good qualities of Lux Pain outweigh the bad.

[2 Minute Review] Persona 4

April 19, 2009 by Brock 1 Comment

High school sim or epic quest?

Persona 4 summon

You’ll have to put aside about 100 hours to find out!

DO: You are a transfer student from the big city, sent to a small town in rural Japan. While you deal with the struggles and pitfalls of being the new kid at the local high school, you also find yourself involved in the quest to solve a series of murders in town.

TYPE: JRPG

PLATFORM: PS2

PRICE: $39

MEAT: The Persona games are a subset of the Shin Megami Tensei series, as detailed here. Set in the sleepy town of Inaba (a drastic change of pace from the usual hustle and bustle of most SMT games), you play a transfer student who needs to navigate the social While slow to start, Persona 4 hits the ground running by about the 3 hour mark and never lets up for the next hundred hours. Unlike most JRPGs that are set in some mythical fantasy land or sci-fi setting, the modern-day setting is one of the many breaths of fresh air that help to keep the game fresh. Unlike Persona 3’s evokers (which basically emulated your party shooting themselves in the head on a regular basis), Persona 4 backs away from the more controversial imagery and uses the television and tarot cards as the main method of breaking away from the reality of every day life.

During your travels, you will gain a cast of characters who initially come across as anime stereotypes but as you spend time with them, you’ll see that there are many facets to their personalities that make you care about what happens to them. In fact, the social aspect of the game is the strongest portion of the game, in my opinion. I would be perfectly happy playing a game that entirely revolved around the various social portions of the game.

There is a robust turn-based combat engine in the game for those times you need to dive into the TV and help clear out the dreamworlds of the various characters you encounter in the game. The variety of ‘dungeons’ found in the TV world is a welcome improvement over the rather repetitive tower of Tartarus from Persona 3, as each kidnapped victim of the serial killer has a particular fantasy that you must explore and rescue them from before it’s too late. From steamy bathhouses to high-tech secret labs to a retro-style game, you’ll always have a unique environment to explore.

Add to all of this already rich gameplay the Persona collection and fusion aspect, which is like a deeper, darker version of Pokémon, and you have something that will keep you fiddling around for that perfect monster ally to the wee hours of the night.

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PERKS: A wonderful cast of characters; 100+ hours of questing; gorgeous graphics (given that it’s a PS2 title!); a compelling storyline; fantastic voice acting; one of the best localizations I’ve ever experienced (it keeps a lot of the Japanese charm and culture but makes it very accessible for a North American audience).

SCREAMS: For more gameplay during the first 2-3 hours of the game. One of the unfortunately quirks of the last few Persona games is that the initial 3 hours is almost like a glorified cutscene. That said, those first 3 hours are there for a reason and really help establish the world you will be mucking about in for the next 100 hours; for a ‘next-gen’ installment that renders the pop-art visuals in HD; less repetitive dungeon-crawling and even more of an emphasis on the social aspects of the game; the ability to revive the main character if he is killed in battle instead of having that be an instant trip to the Game Over screen.

VERDICT: Buy! Especially if you are a fan of Japanese culture or JRPGs and want to play something fresh that isn’t the typical swords & sorcery, save the world rut that the genre tends to get stuck in.

[2 Minute Review] Demigod

April 16, 2009 by Nat 8 Comments

NOTE: Originally this game had a rating of “Rent.” However, that’s being changed to “Buy.” The reason should be obvious in the comments below. However, my stance on the tutorial still stands. Stardock is an exemplary company, and I’m sure they may address that as well (they have with other releases). I stand corrected. The original review text has remained unchanged.

A god has fallen. Will you fight to take his place?

That depends if you’re willing to accept the title as a complete game, and if you’re willing to teach yourself how to be a demigod.

DO: You are a demigod assassin (just you) or general (you and minions) who is competing to fill a vacancy in heaven middle-management. (This is more detail than the game gives.)

TYPE: RTS/RPG hybrid

PLATFORM: PC—Windows (Impulse and retail)

PRICE: $40

MEAT: Playing on Team Fortress style maps, you learn on your own to control your demigod to capture flags, spawn points, control points, and to attack and defend enemy units. Basically, it’s an RTS where you play one character. Throughout the battle, you can level up, upgrade your demigod’s skills, and add status effects. Earning experience, favor points, and “gold” garner you currency for upgrades. What you earn in the single-player game does not cross over to the multiplayer game and vice versa. However, this does not really matter. Apparently , you paid for a part of a game you cannot play. Good luck getting a multiplayer game to work. Oh, did I mention that multiplayer is the apparently main focus of the title?

The game has nothing in the way of story and campaign. You play in AI controlled tournaments of which there are eight rounds. Think Unreal Tournament. Winning gets you the chance to…play it again. There is a skirmish mode, but with most RTS games that’s a given.

PERKS: controlling a demigod is satisfying; excellent presentation and design; each one of the eight demigods is fun and unique; deep RPG elements for the demigod teams and the demigod itself; interesting sound effects; no DRM;

SCREAMS: TUTORIAL! Where is it? (see my final comments below); for multiplayer to, you know, work; for a campaign; to be a Windows Live title instead of a “new” tech; for more than eight arenas;

VERDICT: Buy. I cannot recommend enough how enjoyable this game is. My onnly wish is that it showed you the game mechanics and it’s a shame that the potential on an interesting single-player campaign is wasted.Rent. Before you get all antsy, I know you cannot rent a PC game. I’m saying this because I think it’s an excellent game—just not out of the box. Granted, the street date was broken by a day or two, and Stardock is working on the multiplayer issues, but c’mon. I’m not giving any slack for launch issues to anybody anymore. Also, if it’s a Games for Windows title, why not use Live? Instead we get a “new” peer-to-peer Impulse technology. I was not able to play a multiplayer game at all. Once all these issues are addressed, I think this would be an “Buy” title.

I was able to play a single-player tournament in under ten hours. Most of that time was spent learning how to play and what does what. The real kicker is that the upgrading and leveling takes some reading to learn what it does. The game runs in the background while this is happening. Yep, I replayed a lot. Also, here’s a quote out of the included guide:

WALKTHROUGH
Let’s face it, the two most annoying ways to learn how to play a game are the user manual and an in-game tutorial. Anyone who has ever introduced a group of friends to a strategy game has probably not told them to take a scholarly review of the manual or had them played through some hackneyed in-game tutorial mission.

…and then the guide proceeds to tell you how to play by basically describing the key commands. Gas Powered Games and Star Dock are assuming too much. It doesn’t help that they contradict the quote above either by making me give the guide a “scholarly review” to see how to play.

[2 Minute Review] Star Wars The Clone Wars Lightsaber Duels

March 24, 2009 by Nat Leave a Comment

Is this the lightsaber game we’ve all been hoping for?

No—unless you’re six.

DO: You are a Jedi from the Clone Wars era.

TYPE: Fighter.

PLATFORM: Wii

PRICE: $50

MEAT: There’s isn’t much to chew on. Using the motion controls of the Wii, one buttonm—er, wagglemashes the controller to defeat your foes. Most matches can be won by swinging your arms like mad. The game is over in two hours. It’s dangerous to play with two people in close proximity. My six-year-old son beat it in two sittings.

PERKS: it’s like animating your own cartoon; accessible for anyone who can move a Wii controller; some unlockables in characters; Obi-wan in his clone armor

SCREAMS: for more depth; to have a sense of saber immersion—lack of actual feedback hurts it; the title, really? that long? You’re kidding; to be about $20-30 cheaper; to not be a cash-in by Lucas—hey, it’s what he does now; the lame saber clash sound in the remote gets old.

VERDICT: Pass…unless you have a young kid and need for them to burn some energy. My kid loves it.

Having a true Wii lightsaber game is a pipedream. Why? There’s no sense of feedback. You’re just cutting air. Hate to destroy fanboys hopes, but it’s not gonna happen like you fantasize.

Easy, Breezy, Beautiful

February 14, 2009 by Brock 4 Comments

No, I’m not talking about Cover Girl. I’m talking about Flower, the latest game to hit the PSN and a true contender for most beautiful game of the year.

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If you’ve ever had a debate with anyone about whether games are art, thatgamecompany’s latest offering should help put that arguement to rest. If you have $10 to spend on a game this weekend, spend it on Flower.

Flower is one of the latest in a slowly growing field of games often referred to as ‘chill’ games. Pixeljunk Eden, A Kingdom For Keflings and flOw are other examples of this kind of game, where the focus isn’t so much on conflict and violence as it is on relaxing and exploring a world with few boundaries.

In the case of Flower, you blow a flower petal across a variety of fields, touching other flowers which open up and add their petals to your breeze. As you collect more and more petals, your ‘tail’ grows longer and longer, which can add some interesting effects and often helps you open up new areas of the world.

Flower uses the Sixaxis controls exclusively and is one of the only games I can think of that actually uses that technology effectively. thatgamecompany should be hired out to teach other studios how to harness the Sixaxis as they’ve obviously got a handle on how it works.

While some might complain about the length of the game (it can be completed in about 3-4 hours) or that it is essentially a gussied up tech demo, for those willing to approach it in the proper frame of mind, it is an utterly rewarding and relaxing experience. There are some twists later in the game that I won’t spoil and I have to say that level 4 is probably the high point of the game, artistically. There are also loads of trophies to unlock and lots of hidden things to go back and search out.

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Enjoy!

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