RENT

The sequel to Earth Defense Force 2017, Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon takes place on an Earth that is once again devastated and infested by giant alien insects. Naturally, only Earth Defense Force can stop them. it’s up to you and your team, Strike Force Lightning, to defend the city of New Detroit against the otherwordly invasion by deestroying the hordes any way you can (even if that means using a building to crush them into an alien insect version of crunchy peanut butter).

 I’ll be honest: I’ve never even heard of the  Earth Defense Force series of games so I didn’t have any expectations when I loaded this up on my Steam account. The game is a third-person shooter, and you can play through a Campaign, Survival  or Co-op mode, each consisting of your generic military dude working his way through wave after wave of alien insects. As Pvt. Hudson would say, it’s  a straight up bug hunt and that’s it. There isn’t much in the way of character customization, there isn’t much in the way of story, but there is a lot in the way of killing big alien bugs. A lot. It was super boring after about ten minutes.

Now, my finding this game boring could be due to a few factors. First, I mainly stuck to Survival Mode because I didn’t have any Steam friends to play Co-op with and I got tired of there being no checkpoints in Campaign (you die, you start the entire mission from the start). Second, because there isn’t a story this is mainly a game where you repeat the same thing over and over again, horde after horde of gigantic alien bugs you have to make your way through. Grinding, in the video game sense, is not my forte and it makes me very sleepy very quickly. Third and finally, I had issues with trying to control the camera and my PC on a massive scale. This one I’m willing to take on as user error since I’m not the most expereinced computer gamer beyond the point and click story games. I feel like I would have had less issues (and less motion sickness) if I were playing it on a console istead, but like I said that’s definitely a personal issue and not a game issue specifically.

The good points of the game were that, before it got old hash, mowing down huge bugs was just good old fashion fun, especially in a destructible environment. All the vehicles scattered about the city streets could blow up, all the buildings could crumble to the ground, and both could damage anything around them in the process. Again though, playing single instead of multiple player made the process of destruction seem to drag on forever (the entire game itself isn’t very long - three chapters, each consisting of five missions), and I feel like if I had friends to destroy stuff with I would have been left with a more enthusiastic attitude toward this game. If you’re a lonely bug hunt like myself, you’ll be left with the feeling that you’re destined to repeat Groundhog’s Day until you reach that final mission. If you have it in you to reach that final mission.

Rating: E for Everyone

PASS (PC) / BUY(XBLA)

@CandiceHatesYou and @violetzombie team up for a joint review of the new Puzzle Quest game, now available for the PC (via Steam), Xbox 360 (via Xbox Live), and the Nintendo DS.

Puzzle Quest 2: PC – Manda

Ultimately, the PC version is completely unplayable. After installing this bad-boy on two systems, its glitches and freezes made it impossible to do little more than sit idly on the screen and twiddle ones thumbs until the badness went away. I got three battles into the game before giving up entirely.

Glitchiness aside, the lush graphics and improved game-play were certainly something to call home about. I really enjoyed the fact that I could play mini-games to loot rooms, bust down doors, and put out fires. This game feels like a real RPG with puzzle elements instead of a puzzler with RPG elements (unlike the first Puzzle Quest).

I did get much, much farther in the Xbox 360 version of this game but, y’know, Candice has got that covered.

Puzzle Quest 2: Xbox 360 – Candice

Admittedly, I was never a puzzle girl. sure. I rocked out some Tetris and of course, I would play the odd amount of puzzlers whenever I was bored — but did I seek them out? No. Not once did I ever think; “Man, I really want to get on some Bejeweled right now!” and that was because none of them got me as engaged as Puzzle Quest 2 did. True, I played the first title and I enjoyed it, but it didn’t make me feel like it was half-puzzle and half-RPG like this one did. Admittedly, I was coaxed into this due to shiny colors and mindless entertainment — but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was more than that.

The first Puzzle Quest had flaws that I could go on for hours about, how it felt less like a roleplaying game and more like, well, just a puzzler. You never got to actually see enough of your character other than staged art and you weren’t guided through the process in a way that made it fluid to the seasoned RPG gamer. If you went into it thinking it was a mixture of both, Puzzle Quest 1 certainly didn’t help you continue that train of thought. It was just too chaotically thrown together and I worried that notes weren’t listened to or taken into consideration this time around. I was wrong though and happily, I got to create my character and take my Barbarian through a town, kill me some rats and go seeking through an ice cave for a huge Troll. New to Puzzle Quest 2 are the actual close-up shots of your character moving through the maps of town and the world. You’re no longer left to imagine what your character looks like or even the people he’s speaking to. It’s no longer just wipe-screens where inanimate characters are drawn into a background resembling where you just went to. It’s actually… gasp, like an RPG.

Going through the puzzles is not just about killing enemies, but also things like looting boxes, bashing through doors and many other scenarios. The fact is, you never feel like the game talks down to you or even wants to trick you into thinking it’s not a puzzle game. It surely wants you to feel like you’re involved in a puzzle, but it gives you enough of an RPG feel that you keep wanting to get to the next town, the next boss and the next level.

Personally, I dug it. As someone who generally only plays puzzle games when I’m bored — I found myself happy to put this on and give it a go. I may not be far, but let me tell you, my Barbarian is going to bring the pain to the next Troll that gets in her way.

D3 Publisher announced today that Astro Boy: The Video Game which is based on the upcoming CG-animated movie, will feature voice talents from the movie. Freddie Highmore and Kristen Bell will be lending their voices for Astro Boy (Highmore) and Cora (Bell).

“We’re pleased to work with both Freddie Highmore and Kristen Bell on ASTRO BOY: THE VIDEO GAME,” said Alison Quirion, vice president of marketing, D3Publisher. “Their participation adds an even greater level of authenticity to the video game and further immerses players in the Astro Boy universe.”

AstroBoy : The Video Game will be available for the Wii, Nintendo DS, Playstation 2, PSP on October 20, 2009. The movie will be out on October 23, 2009.