Developer:

RENT

Last year publisher Koei and developers Omega Force released Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage.  The game is a spin-off of the Warriors series based on the manga by the same name. The story of the game happens during a nuclear war where the world is left in violence and despair.  The strong took over and slaughtered the weak for supplies. Humanity never gave up hope and held on to the ideal that someone would come to the rescue in their time of misery. In the middle of that, a hero emerges by the name of Kenshiro.

Kenshiros story:

The successor of Hokuto Shinken and the youngest of the four Hokuto Brothers, Ken wanders the land in search of his love, Yuria, who had been kidnapped by his nemesis, Shin.  After a great battle, Kenshiro defeats Shin, but is unable to find Yuria.  However, with his companions, Rin, Bat and Rei, Kenshiro matures as the heir to Hokuto Sinken.  Together they battle against the other Hokuto Brothers and Nanto Masters.  Ultimately, they triumph over their greatest enemy, Raoh the eldest Hokuto Brother.

The game is a simple “beat them up” game.  The screen has all the information divided into sections.  Your common spirit/spirit reserve, focus, armor, block and life gauge; hyper signature move markers, karma points, boss life gauge (if you are fighting one), mission bonuses, and a mini map to tell you where you are.  This makes it very simple to just start the game and fight. The game feels extremely on rails, you can’t roam freely through the narrow hallways they send you through.  At times this  is extremely frustrating, as you are trying to get from point A to point B, but the game has you going through A.2, A.3, A.4, etc.  You find yourself in an area where pillars start to crumble down and you are trying to get away.  Of course it is not that simple, so they tossed in a mob of bad guys to fight as well.  Kenshiro, with his unnerving rippling muscles and veiny body, cracks his knuckles to get the fight started.  At this point I thought the game would play more like N3.  Leave the brain at the door, gear up, and just watch the combos rack up as you push buttons without rhyme or reason.  I pressed the first button and I was amazed at the fact that I was wrong.  There is no combo to rack up, there is no fluid combat, but instead I was forced to watch Kenshiro punch the air, over and over again, because his punch combo animation was not done.  The enemy standing on the sidelines was perhaps wondering the same thing I was, “When is Kenshiro going to punch him?”  “Hello? Kenshiro we are over here!” I thought to myself, imagining what the enemy would say if they could talk.

Speaking of the enemy, apparently in Fist of the North Star, after a nuclear war, inbreeding and/or mutation happens rapidly where every enemy looked exactly the same.  Some would have a helmet or a Mohawk, some didn’t, but I am 99.9% sure they were all related.  Sadly this highlights the lack of creativity when it came to character design for the guys you are going to see more often.  The bosses were one thing, but the mob of enemies you have to fight over and over again got extremely repetitive and weary to the eye.  I wish I could say that this only plagued the character design, but it did not.  The levels also suffered from the same amount of repetitiveness.  So much so, that on one wall made out of 8 panels, it only had 2 textures: almost broken and broken wall.  This made navigating the map even more difficult, since everything looked the same, no matter what turn you took.  At one point I clicked the mini map off by accident and I was so lost, that it felt I was just walking in circles.  When I found how to activate the mini map again [by pressing the select button], I confirmed my initial thought… I was running in circles.  You would think that a game that is heavily on rails would make it nearly impossible to get lost, but somehow Fist of the North Star manages to do both very well.

The music of the game was repetitive, annoying and felt out of character.  It was some sort of heavy rock that only had, perhaps, 5 notes total in a loop.  I went through the menu and disabled the music right away.  It was in here where I found one good thing about the game:  I am a fan of Asian games based on manga and anime that allows you to use the original soundtrack and voice track.  Most games are able to get the original actors of the anime to do the voice for the game.  For example, I could not stand the Naruto fighting games because, “You better believe it!” was going to cause me to turn green and go “HULK SMASH” against my Gamecube.  So when Naruto adventure games came out and you could switch to the original voice track, my Xbox sighed in relief and the Gamecube came out of its hiding place.   Fist of the North Star was about to suffer the same fate and I could see my 360 shake in fear.  With the original voice track, the repetitive taunting, was not annoying.  It also made Kenshiro more manly and less boy like, which was unsettling since he is such a big dude.  “Hulk Smash” disaster was happily adverted.

The game also suffered from really slow loading times between the chapters: once the game was loaded, no other section lagged or needed to load; so that was a benefit, but one that only matters if you are a complete explorer of a zone.  I did not try to install the game to my hard drive to see if the speed would improve, since I did not have a measure of how long it was taking the game to load from the disk.  All other games I played that night, loaded without a problem, this particular one had a major delay.  Objects in the game could be destroyed, but only a few.  This was also irritating since there were tons of burned out cars that if allowed to punch them, they would give you karma points.  Some items in the world could be punched and they would reveal +life, + spirit, + health items or Karma points.  So what is the point to load up your maps with items that can’t be destroyed?  I wish I had an answer for that one, besides that they possibly did it because it looked cooler or the area was less bare.

I did find something amusing about this game.  Kenshiro, at the end of a boss fight, would enter into a sequence of punches and animation, heavily on a button combination from your part. It was entertaining to watch.  Very much a la Goku from Dragon Ball Z, they were elaborate but ultimately satisfying.  Kenshiro’s move, “Hokuto Fist of Penitence”, is guaranteed to make you laugh, depending on where it lands on a boss.  Not all bosses are the same size, but they did not adjust for this, so some landed on their heads, some on their chest and some on their stomach.

Fist of the North Star allows you, once you have played enough chapters, to play as any other characters. The more you play the story, the more of them you’ll open.  Different styles of fighting and powers to try and finish the same section you had already cover with Kenshiro.  The game allows you to change your gore settings, and in my opinions it needs it cranked up to 11, ala MadWorld style.

This game felt flat on is back.  It comes from a very rich world fill with manga and from a story that is actually fun and entertaining, yet the game only brings back key moments.  So if you are a fan of the manga/anime, you might like playing this game to relive those moments, but only if you are a diehard fan of the series.  Otherwise, rent it for the achievements points.  You can get a good portion in a short period of time.

Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain took home three awards, however – the BAFTAs for Original Music, Technical Innovation and Story.

The only publicly-voted award of the night, the GAME Award, went to Call of Duty: Black Ops. This marks the third consecutive Call of Duty win in this category.

Other winners include Kinect Sports, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and a ton(ne) more. See the complete list at the BAFTAs site.

Rating:

DEMO

When I first read about the concept of MicroBot I was intrigued.  It’s an Asteroids type game where you get to travel throughout a human body as a microbot ship to destroy an infestation. Great concept, but I was quickly frustrated with the game.

To begin, you’re given a small tutorial by way of prompts (and a 5 point achievement for leaving the syringe) which help you to get the general idea of how the game controls work. They’re very simplistic and most anyone would be able to get the hang of them rather quickly. The left thumbstick moves the ship, the right thumbstick fires your weapons. You also have the right and left bumpers to show the map which overlays nicely onto the screen, as well as holding right trigger to launch other special weapons like a harpoon as you pick them up. But the thing that got me really frustrated was the way the weapons fire. You have to wait for the two arms in which the guns (or whatever weapon you have on there) move from facing sideways to in front of you. Now this wouldn’t be too bad except when you move quickly, the guns will move to face behind you leaving you open to attack. I died several times when I was in a highly populated area of enemies because of this.

On the plus side the game environments themselves are beautifully done. I actually never thought I’d say that regarding the insides of the human body. As you move about through the bloodstream you not only see various veins and tubes where the blood platelets are moving through, you also have to deal with the current of the bloodstream, bacteria that isn’t taken over by the bad microbots and even white blood cells. You even have points where you see cilia that coat the walls of the arteries. Now I’m sure it’s not a fully accurate depiction of the innards of the human body, but it’s been done well. I also like the fact that if you destroy the bacteria you can make friends with a white blood cell who will follow you and attack enemies.

You are also given small atoms to collect, which unfortunately can be hard to see at times since they are red and yellow in color and can blend into the background quite well. These can restore the health of your microbot and help you accumulate points in order to upgrade items on your bot like weapons, defense, and propulsion. Some enemies will also drop technology which you can then add to your ship when you reach a point that allows you to upgrade and add items. This system is done quite well and there are a lot of options for you to customize and improve your ship.

Sadly I did not make it too far into this game as the controls frustrated me horribly. I probably would have enjoyed the game more if the controls were similar to those of other games in the same vein (har har). I’m sure other people might be okay with the controls but they just made me unhappy. I recommend trying out the demo for the game before buying it so you can just get a general idea of how the game works.

The adventure builds from Privet Drive to the Triwizard Tournament in an interactive journey that takes players through some of the most detailed and expansive environments ever created for a LEGO game.  Playing as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley™ and Hermione Granger™, as well as more than 100 other favorite characters, fans will have the opportunity to attend lessons, cast spells, mix potions, fly on broomsticks and complete tasks to earn rewards.

The game is available for the iPad, iPod and iPhone, and retails for $4.99. iTunes.

Publisher, PlayFirst has released Hotel Dash to the Apple Apps Store. Hotel Dash joins Diner Dash, Cooking Dash and Wedding Dash. Hotel Dash promises vertical twist to the patented DASH gameplay mechanic. Quinn and Flo open and renovate a series of hotels and attend to the guests via an elevator. Players jump into a time management puzzle that sends them on an up and down adventure through three uniquely themed hotels. Players deliver luggage, drop off room service, intercept sleepwalkers to earn stars. The challenge is intensified with the addition of demanding guests like honeymooners, celebrities and fashitas. Happy guests equal bigger tips, so players must provide 5-star service to gain the funds needed to upgrade their hotels.

“We’ve had amazing success on Apple devices with the DASH franchise,” said Chris Williams, General Manager of Mobile for PlayFirst. “Our first game for iPhone and iPod touch, Diner Dash, has resided among the top 100 paid apps for more than 700 consecutive days – and counting. The success of DASH on these devices is a testament to our approach of designing games specifically for these platforms, as well as the strength of the DASH brand.”

Hotel Dash is now available on the Apple Apps Store for $2.99 for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Well, prepare to have those brute thoughts quashed, dear readers – the robots just got cuddly.

Platform: PC
ESRB: E (Everyone)
Genre: Puzzle
Number of Players: 1
Developer: Wadjet Eye Games
Release Date: May 2010

BUY

Puzzle Bots is an adventure puzzle game (that’s right – it is a genre that is not just populated by early Zelda titles!) that takes place in Dr. Hugo’s Factory for Making Robots. You control 5 different robots, and each of the robots that you “unlock” during the game will aid with a different ability in order to solve puzzles in the game. The title of this game is not deceptive at all. That is where the enjoyment begins.

Everything about this game screams simplicity. The animation consists of simple lines that are easy on the eye, and makes this game approachable from the beginning. The abilities are also quite rudimentary – one robot to lift something, another to tow things through water, another to use a flamethrower. In order to understand each robot’s unique abilities, you are permitted three introductory levels that act as your tutorials. Thankfully, these tutorials are integrated throughout the game, not just lumped at the beginning. As this is a PC game, it is not so much about learning the controls (it is point and click) – rather, learning about how you can use your robots’ abilities in different ways. The easy mechanics and atmosphere allow the developers to focus more on the creative use of the objects in the game, rather than the memorisation of controls and abilities.

The seamless, interwoven nature is also supported by the narrative. Sure, the unresolved romantic tension between Yuriko and Zander seems quite inconsequential to the continuation of the game itself. And it is quite irrelevant to the little robots that Viktor hates his job and will do anything to jeopardise himself. But these human moments provide an interlude as well as a nice context. It has allowed Wadjet Eye Games to create a game that laughs at itself, encouraging the player to have a little bit of a giggle too.

All of these elements contribute to the sense of progression. When you complete an objective, you know you are going to learn more about the story. You have a purpose, as do the little robots that you are guiding into the big bad world.

Many gamers would see these elements as threatening. The cute emotive personalities of humans and robots alike can seem rather sugar-coated. Equally, the amount of guidance and support (even the inclusion of a “hint” button! How blasphemous!) negates the many years of prior gaming experience of many entertainment enthusiasts. Real gamers should be able to figure these things out, right? Well, yes they should.

However, I ask this question of those critics who want challenge and brutal reminders of their expertise: Have you ever woken up one morning, and decided to start the day like you were four years old? When was the last time that you got out of bed without hitting the snooze button, counted the number of things that are blue, and truly enjoyed the bright day ahead?

If you haven’t, or can’t remember the last time that you did. then you need to get a copy of Puzzle Bots, and experience it. Now.

I think it is wonderful that Wadjet Eye is not taking the road of ruthless killing machines and extra kudos to them for saying to their audience, “We’re not sorry to disappoint you”. And I am not sorry either.

Review product was provided by Wadjet Eye Games, and does not affect the outcome of this review.

The tap and slide controls seem like a great way to take advantage of the iPhone/ iPod Touch touch screen. For more adorable undead fun, check out www.skelanimals.com.

Hardcore 3D Wireless and Flying Penguin are bringing Skelanimals to the Apps Store this summer. We look forward to bring you more details soon!

Through the years we have seen Google celebrate a number of thing with their logo on their opening  search page. Different holidays,sporting events such as the Olympics, and ever random events that you would only know about because they are an image on the Google opening page. Now, Google and Namco have joined together to celebrate Pac Man’s 30th Anniversary.  The great thing about this logo is you can play it.  You get three lives and run Mr. Pac Man around the Google logo.  I won’t lie, I have been paying with it while writing this article.  All you have to is click on logo use your arrow keys to move around. Enjoy!

http://www.google.com

Makes you happy at the thought, right?

( Yes, Angels. That question mark is meant to be there. )

It was probably one of the most entertaining summer films with a comic book hero in quite awhile. Well, at least for me, not a lot compared to RDJr’s undeniable charm as Tony Stark. We saw the film, we were ecstatic for the teaser trailer of the sequel and everyone is pleased as punch that the movie is coming out today.

Let’s ask the video game community though how excited they are about the tandem-released title and you won’t find many even remotely muttering about it let alone excited. Why is that? The Iron Man franchise had the beauty and brains of a cheerleader with a promise ring from her jock boyfriend when it came to film — but when it came to the video game title? Well, that was the slow kid under the bleachers that everyone felt bad for, but nobody wanted to talk about. It was wretched. This video-game ate it’s own boogers and started secret clubs where everyone dressed up as superheroes. It was just that bad. Why? A lot of people can speculate what happened with the title and many of them accuse the short release time to make sure they were kept in sync with the production of the film. Games are widely known to take longer than films to perfect and the best games out there have been in production for years where the average production for a film is a year from pre-production to post. What does this mean?

It means that usually film ports of films are terrible. Awful. Absolute trash and nobody wants to touch them. When Iron Man 2 was announced, Sega had the depressing task of being the team that had to fix the flaws of the Father and make the Son all that more charming. Could they do it? I listened in with Dean Martinetti and Mike McHale as they explained to all of us that they knew the title went viciously wrong the first time around. They made their excuses and swore that Iron Man 2 would repent for Iron Man and what happened? Most of us sat there with our eyebrow perpetually raised in questioning.

What happens if it’s NOT any good? Iron Man 2 has already promised us absolutely nothing in terms of online multiplayer, absolutely no co-op, local or online and unspoken DLC. While they introduce War Machine, which SHOULD mean Co-Op — there’s nothing. We’ve got no reasons why either, because Dean and Mike were stating that the game was meant to tell a story and that’s that.

I’m not ready to cast Iron Man 2 to the shadows, but from the details included there are few things I’m even interested in seeing. While they know we’re interested in customizing our own suits and we can’t wait to be involved in Tony Stark’s day to day — will that be enough to keep us? A summer blockbuster film is meant to enjoy with your friends but then after the film, we sit and play alone with our matching game? A ton of questions that I doubt even JARVIS could explain, but I’m certainly willing to wait and find out.

Sync-Ball promises a challenging game with intuitive gameplay. “The learning curve is pretty gentle,” says Tozai Games President, Sheila Boughten. “We tested Sync-Ball with gamers and non-gamers. And everyone seemed to get it within just a few moves.”

Sync-Ball was designed by Brett Ballow who also designed last year’s Lode Runner for Xbox LIVE Arcade. Ballow describes Sync-Ball as “a stress-free challenge, because there’s no time limit or penalty for restarting a level as often as you want. On the other hand, as you progress to later levels and contend with three then four balls at a time, the challenge really picks up. And with eight stages and 80 levels in the game, there are plenty of times when even the best puzzle players will be stumped…at least for a little while, I hope.”

Sync-Ball is currently available from the Apple Apps Store for $.99.