Review Roundup: L4D, Skate 2, and much more

If there’s one thing this holiday season proved, it’s that even a recession can’t stop gamers hunger for new ways to play. Here we present (with some help from Seth) a roundup of reviews of games that may have fallen through the cracks, especially during these last two months’ non-stop flow of games.

Guitar Hero World Tour
PS3/Xbox360/Wii
Reviewed By: Lucas Siegel
Hmmm, this seems oddly familiar... I can’t quite place it... Almost like I’ve played this before... Yes, this game bears more than a passing similarity with its chief competitor, Rock Band, though there are some new things infused. The drum set is bigger and has cymbals now, which is both fun and gives a slightly more realistic experience for wannabe-drummers. There is a song creation mode that allows users to make their own tunes and upload them for play by friends and strangers alike. This is interesting and can be fun with a bit of dedication, but casual gamers won’t really get into it. Song selection is decent and pretty varied, but shares a lot of songs with Rock Band 2; with the year head start on DLC that RB has, though, Guitar Hero has some massive catching up to do. The vocals are insanely difficult; while a decent singer who knows the songs can consistently score in the low nineties, you pretty much can’t get 100% and actually sing the words; for a perfect you have to just sing “ah” constantly at the right pitches. Aside from these small issues, the game is a lot of fun, works great for parties, and keeps a familiar formula strong and fun. Your RB set of instruments will work fine with GHWT on both systems, and vice versa on 360. Unfortunately, the drums from GHWT won’t work on RB1 or 2 on the PS3, something the blame has been passed around for and will hopefully be fixed soon. Still, this is a great party game, and even pretty fun to play on your own.

Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades
Nintendo DS
Reviewed By: Lucas Siegel
Do you love Guitar Hero so much you have trouble pulling yourself away from it? Wish you could just take it with you on the go? Well, that’s what the On Tour series for the Nintendo DS is for. The games (this is the second of the series) come with a guitar grip that plugs into the GBA slot on the DS and DS Lite. Bear that in mind if you plan on getting a DSi when it comes to your country, as the DSi does not have a GBA port any longer. At any rate, if you’ve played any Guitar Hero this will be pretty familiar to you. In this case, you strum on the touch screen with the included guitar pick stylus while pressing the combinations of four buttons on the included grip. This is a great facsimile of the GH experience for when you’re on the go, or if you just don’t want to get out of bed to play. The set list has 28 songs, 10 from the early 2000s and last couple of years, 5 from each of the last 3 decades, plus 3 unlockable extras. Queen, R.E.M., Linkin Park, Journey, and many more are represented in a surprisingly diverse catalog. This is really the perfect traveling experience of GH and worth the buy for any rhythm game fanatic.

Need for Speed Underground
PS3/Xbox360
Reviewed By: Lucas Siegel
So, I put in the latest Need For Speed, having not played one...zzzzzzzz... Whoops, sorry about that. I started playing the game after a very pretty opening cinematic and got into my first Nissan...zzzzzzzz... OK, flat out, this is the most boring driving game I have played in years. There is a notable lack of sense of speed for a game with the word in the title. The courses were unexciting, there was far too much emphasis on “story” for a racing game, and the controls were perhaps a bit too realistic for my taste. I literally dozed off, not while watching one of the cinematics, but while playing the game. When the absolutely stellar Burnout Paradise, delivered also from EA, is out there at a now discount price of $19.99 with tons of free DLC, there just doesn’t seem to be a reason to play this game, unless you need a good nap.

Tomb Raider Underworld
PS3/Xbox360/PC
Reviewed By: Lucas Siegel
Well, I can definitely say this was a pleasant surprise. This game plays and feels like a “best of” the previous installments in the franchise. Now, the series is not as dominant in the Adventure/Exploration genre as it once was, thanks to contenders like the Prince of Persia series and the PS3 exclusive Uncharted games. However, this is easily one of Lara’s best adventures since the very beginning. A large portion of the game takes place in caves and water locales, beautifully rendered, especially in HD. Honestly, the sightseeing is almost reason enough to play this game if you have even a passing interest in adventure games. The controls still aren’t perfect, but they’re in good enough shape to get through the game without getting frustrated (likewise with the camera). This is a very fun adventure game, with great ambience and an emphasis on exploration. If you’ve liked any of Lara’s previous journeys, you should love this one.

FarCry 2
PS3/Xbox360/PC
Reviewed By: Seth Robison
Ubisoft Montreal’s open-world FPS Far Cry 2 combines dangers of both the man-made and natural variety in a game that’s one part National Geographic and one part Last King of Scotland.

Abandoning everything that has anything to do with its predecessor, Far Cry 2 instead lets you select from an assortment of pre-made player characters, identical in all ways except appearance and name, and drops you in the middle of an unnamed African Republic’s civil war.  Your mission is to kill the arms dealer fueling the conflict, but to get to him you’ll have to play homicidal errand boy, Grand Theft Auto style, for both sides. Far Cry 2 includes an interesting take on the old ‘buddy system.’ Your buddy will offer you an alternate, and more difficult, manner to complete any of the main story missions by subverting, while not circumventing, the goals of the mission giver, and if you’re dealt a fatal blow, he’ll come to your rescue and continue the fight alongside you.

The game is combat heavy, almost to the point of frustration. Nearly every crossroads you’ll pass going to and from (thanks to quick respawning) a mission is manned with hostile gunmen, who, like all opponents in the game, are terrific shots from great distances and are completely tenacious in pursuit if you decide that you’re not in the condition for another firefight.   There are many different types of weapons available to that end. However, each is only narrowly differentiated within its subclass, especially in the early going. Far Cry 2 is a beautiful looking game, with every African climate and ecological zone possible well represented, and the game provides a very natural feeling hand-held map/GPS combo helps you find your way without much trouble.  
 
Multiplayer mode features the most noticeable hold out from the previous game, a robust map editor.  The actual multiplayer mode suffers from a narrow choice of four game types: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, a theme appropriate Capture the Diamond, and Uprising, a variation on conquest where only the team’s commander can capture a control point. With the map editor, a long single player campaign, the first set of downloadable content ready to go, and the promise of more to come, Far Cry 2 is perfect for gamers looking for a game with lasting value for their money.


Sonic Unleashed
PS3/Xbox360
Reviewed By: Lucas Siegel
Oh Sonic, how far you have fallen. In another attempt to match the 3D success of Dreamcast’s Sonic Adventure, Sega throws Sonic through insane, ridiculously fast environments, careening head first into danger. Then they turn him into a “Were-hog.”

The speedy parts are honestly not much better. I found the combination of speed (and this is speed) and the 3D environments to be hard to follow. In fact, if you asked me to describe any of the regular Sonic levels, I wouldn’t be able to tell you much more than “Then there was a loop, and a jump, a couple springs, some spikes, ummm, a loop...” There has to be a balance, and while this got closer to that balance than any of the last several Sonic games, it still didn’t hit it.

The Were-hog sections are passable. The controls are tight, and it is fairly standard platform and bashing gameplay (with stretchy Were-hog arm action!). The problem is, this is in a SONIC THE HEDGEHOG GAME. It is so vastly out of place, with the gameplay switching so drastically, I didn’t ever even get used to one style or the other, and it made both that much more annoying.

I really feel Sega could benefit from a Capcom-style approach to a Sonic game. Just take the ideas applied to the 2D classics that the majority of fans long for, and make a 2D platformer with current technology (similar to the updated Bionic Commando: Rearmed) or even make an old-school 16-bit looking one (like Mega Man 9). Please, Sega? I have such fond memories of Sonic, and they continue to fade further into the background.

Madagascar Escape 2 Africa
Xbox360/PS3/Wii/PS2/PC/DS
Reviewed By: Lucas Siegel
Popular animated movie? Check. Relatively easy puzzle-based platforming? Check. Minigames to fill in the extra time? Check. Voices and cutscenes from the film? Check. Holy crap, we have a solid and entertaining game based on a movie here! Now, this game is absolutely geared to the younger set, and specifically to fans of the movie. However, the humor and easy pick-up-and-play style to the minigames make it entertaining for adults as well. Throughout the game, you play in every major locale from the film, controlling every major character as well. Each has their own specific ability to showcase and use as you collect, jump, and fight your way through the straight-from-the-movie environments. Kids will love it and adults will more than tolerate it. This is an easy recommendation to anyone with fans of the movie in the family.

Guinness Book of World Records
Wii/DS
Reviewed By: Lucas Siegel
There are surely no shortages of minigame collections for the Nintendo Wii. The term “shovelware” is thrown around a lot in regards to the poorly made, derivative games that come out for the most popular system of this generation. Luckily, this Warner Bros. Interactive game stands out from the pack with some very entertaining games and the glorious sense of competition.

The games range from real record-based events like building the tallest building, to the absolutely absurd, like eating an airplane. They are all explained in the simplest of terms at the start of the event (hint, most include waving the Wiimote and Nunchuck in various directions, often to a specific rhythm), and the grand majority are quite fun. What really sets this all-ages game apart from the pack, however, is the online leader boards. At all times, provided your Wii is connected to the internet, you are competing against Regional, National, and International players for the real in-game records (as well as records stored on your console for a little face-to-face bragging). This takes the games from “fun” to “insanely addictive” as you strive to conquer other peoples’ records. I was thrilled when I became the best in New York at bashing Watermelons with my head, though my record was beat a few days later.

This really had the potential to be more of the same, and instead showcased how a little innovation can go an absurdly long way. This is a great family party game, and appropriate for truly all ages.

Command and Conquer Red Alert 3
Xbox360/PC (expanded edition coming to PS3 in March)
Reviewed By: Seth Robison
Electronic Arts’ bestselling alternate history Real Time Strategy franchise is back on the XBOX 360, PS3 and Windows with Red Alert 3.  More manipulations of the timeline have resulted in the rise of a third faction to challenge the Allies and the Soviets for global domination, the Empire of the Rising Sun. The infusion of the Empire’s walking giant mecha, transforming tanks and psychic schoolgirl commandos takes a franchise already known for bizarre armaments, like attack dolphins and man-cannons, to fun new heights (and yes, there are ninjas).   

For gamers with friends Red Alert 3 is the first RTS to have its storyline campaign designed with co-op play in mind.  Single players are assigned an AI to command, while duos, over their various networks, can share resources and plan attacks.  Unfortunately, for console owners, the perfect RTS experience remains outside their grasp. The need for multi-tasking, quick decisions and precise troop movements, despite many recent advances in the number of controller buttons available, calls out for the keyboard and mouse combo that has made the series and the genre a PC staple and a console snipe hunt.

The game sounds great in both its effects and with its remixes of classic Red Alert themes. Visually the game is very colorful, although the limited zoom capability makes it hard to select a single unit in a formation of allies.  Finally, with the series’ commitment to the use of fun, post-ironic full motion video cut-scenes, Red Alert 3, while not perfect, will be at least the only title where you can see Randy Couture, Tim Curry and George Takei in the same place.

Left 4 Dead
Xbox 360/PC
Reviewed By: Lucas Siegel
The Zombie Horde has been destroying the world for days. You are amongst three other survivors. You have guns, and you have to get from place to place. These zombies don’t just sit and groan while ambling slowly, no, they run at you, they spit zombie-attracting mucous on you, they leap and tear at your face, they loop their mutated tongue around your neck and choke you as they pull you closer. That’s all without describing the Tank and the Witch, easily the most terrifying of enemies in the game. This game is constant excitement, constant startling, constant scray, and it is also constant awesome.

Where this game really excels is when played the way it was designed, with three other human players over LIVE. Here you each take control of one of the survivors, and have to work together to make sure everyone survives. Everyone is shouting over their headsets, frantically shooting (sometimes resulting in Friendly Fire), and when you pass one of the 5 campaigns, each of which take around an hour on Normal difficulty, you feel one of the strongest senses of group accomplishment fostered by video games. Sure, you can play the campaigns alone, but there’s nothing quite as thrilling as having that virtual high five after surviving an attack by the horde.

If you’ve mastered all the campaigns on Expert (HA! Good luck!) or just want something a little different, you can also step into the shoes of one of the special types of zombies like the belching Boomer or the leaping Hunter. This opens up another style of gameplay that can be equally as exciting, and makes for great fun over LIVE as well.

This game shows off perfectly why Online gaming and specifically co-operative gaming has become so popular. It is an absolute must buy for all 360 owners, and a clear source of envy for PS3-only gamers.

Skate 2
PS3/Xbox360
Reviewed By: Lucas Siegel
This is a more recent game, having just come out this month. The first Skate brought interesting and tight controls, a fun career mode, and some great skating environments to a gaming community that was finding the Tony Hawk franchise a little stale. This game builds upon that, without making too many changes, which was probably the right move for this young franchise.

The two-thumbstick controls are very easy to get used to, and a handy tutorial takes you through all the basics quite nicely. The publicity and rep-based missions are fun, and they’re open enough that if you just want to go skate around the city you can. There are security guards that hassle you sometimes, but pulling off a sweet trick right in front of one then skating away is a nice thrill. Now, I’m prone to mess up and have some pretty serious wipeouts when playing these skating games, and this one actually rewards me for it. When you have a nice, massive, epic FAIL, you get entered into the “Hall of Meat,” and are rewarded for how badly hurt you are. This can become dangerously addictive, as you start looking for ever-higher spots to jump off of, flipping a little too short and crunch. It’s a nice touch, and saves you from getting frustrated during the learning phases.

You can also hop off your board and run to that better rail or higher ledge now. You can even move just about anything that isn’t nailed down to get extra lift or string together your combos for some extra bonus. This makes the entire city skate-able. Add in an extremely detailed character creation system, a great skate park creation system, and solid jump-in/jump-out online play, and you’ve got about as good of a skating game as you can make. This is a true crossover skating game, as it will be fun for both fans of skateboarding and those who would never hop on one of these little four-wheeled death machines. Skate 2 is a ton of fun, and helps cement the series’ position in the lead, waiting on the top of the mountain for the next Tony Hawk.