Secret of Mana

Well, I said I would review this one next and it's time! I have also beaten Uncharted 1 since my last post so that will probably be the review after this one. I played Secret of Mana co-op which I believe was a positive experience, it probably wouldn't have been as fun single player (though I would have gotten through it faster).

Secret of Mana

Overall:

Secret of Mana is an old action RPG for the SNES that I believe has gotten a re-release on the Wii virtual console (probably easier/cheaper to get it there then to find it for the SNES). I'm reviewing the SNES version, I don't know if there are any significant changes between the two. Anyway. You play as The Boy, he has no default name to my knowledge and neither do the Girl or the Sprite. You're going about your business in your village one day when you hear a voice and fall into this weird little pond of waist deep water that you can't climb out of for some reason. While trying to find the exit you come across a rusty sword and use it to fight off wild life. When you get back to the village you find out it's the famous Mana Sword and taking it is a huge taboo. They kick you out of the village but let you keep the sword. From there you kinda wonder around until you find the Girl and the Sprite and get wrapped up in a quest that involves the fate of the world. The Girl acts as a white mage and the Sprite as a black mage though both can still do melee damage decently (though not quite as well as the Boy). The game was made by Squaresoft in 1993.

Pros:

The game's strongest point and probably the one most people think of is that it's cooperative and you can get your friend over to take control of one of the other characters (+1.00). A big deal back then and still pretty sweet today this makes the game a lot more fun when you have someone else to help you. Not sure if you can multi-tap to get someone to control the 3rd character.

The game is an action RPG with an interesting melee mechanic where you have to wait for your stamina or whatever to recharge after each swing so you can't just swing constantly, you have to time your attacks (+0.25). You also soon get the ability to upgrade your weapons and can charge up for a stronger attack (+0.25). Again, do you wait and charge up to a high level for a powerful single attack or do you hit them as soon as your stamina is back (Hitting them before your stamina is back isn't really an option as you'll do like 1/10 the damage if that)?

The game does give you a good number of different weapons to use and they do work somewhat differently so you get a bit of variety. You need certain ones in certain areas like the whip to cross chasms or the sword or axe to cut down certain obstacles. They do it enough that you'll have to change weapons sometimes, but just shy of getting annoying about it (+0.25).

I do like the leveling system for the magic, the more you use it, the better it gets. This isn't completely positive such as when you end up being forced to use a magic you hadn't leveled enough but since leveling it isn't terribly hard this usually means you go kill some wild life with the magic till you get it up a level or two (+0.25).

+2.00

Cons:

The storyline is pretty nonsensical. I don't know if the Japanese version is like this too or they just sorta half-assed the translation (-0.50). I think it might be the latter as I often get the gist of what a character is trying to say, but it's still sorta rushed and vague. Jema appears out of nowhere to help you (with advice and never in combat) and all you get is some story about mana fading and having to go to water mana temple place. It's usually just enough to point you to the next destination without telling you really why you're going there.

Your ally's computer AI is a bit lacking. You can set it to various settings, but it doesn't seem like it has a huge difference. They still seem way too timid in approaching any enemy that you aren't engaging, but when you want to run past enemies they'll want to stop and fight the ones near you. Not a huge problem except in areas with winding passages (like most of the last dungeon) where they'll stop long enough that you go around a bend and then when they realize they need to move on they're stuck and can't figure out how to reach you (-0.25).

Late in the game there is a sudden and unexplained jump in the level and equipment they expect you to have (-0.25). When you have to go to the Pure Land everything there is suddenly able to kill you in 2 hits or so, the boss in one. Unless you know to go back to the previous area and look behind the pyramid to find the armor salesmen selling stuff that literally doubles your stats, you're pretty much screwed. If he wasn't hidden it wouldn't be so bad as you go there right after you beat it to talk to Jema.

Part ways through the game you get a means to fly and quickly visit all the previous areas. It's sorta odd as until this time you never saw the world map (except briefly when using the canons) and they really fumble here. You can't locate cities by name and since you've never seen them from a world map perspective you have no idea where they are or what they even look like. You can look at a 2D map but that doesn't even show towns on it, just geographical features. This does end up providing a lot of frustration when you spend 20 minutes trying to find the most recent town you were just in so that you can buy new stuff or advance the plot (-0.50).

The side plot with the 2 stooges and the chick in charge of them was sorta random and never ended up going anywhere (-0.25). They just showed up to send a monster after you when the game designers felt you needed a break from the main bad guy. I don't think they worked for the main bad guy, their motivations never really came to light other then they were vaguely bad and pulled monsters out of their ass for you to fight.

-1.75

Overall Rating:7.25/10

Assassin's Creed 2

I recently beat Assassin's Creed 2 for the 360 and thus figured a review was in order. I also beat Secret of Mana (finally) so my next review should be for that. Yes, the SNES game, shut up.

Assassin's Creed 2

Overall:

Assassin's Creed 2 is the sequel to Assassin's Creed (who would have suspected that?). You follow Desmond Miles a regular guy living in the near future who is living out parts of his ancestor's lives via a machine called the Animus. This would be rather boring if his ancestors were bakers or tailors or whatever and we're fortunate enough that his ancestors happen to have been assassins who were involved in a secret ongoing war against the Knights Templar which are still around and into the whole world domination bit. In the first game you were captured by modern day Templars and put into the Animus so they could find where your ancestor had hidden a powerful ancient artifact. This time you escape and are helping the modern day assassins to discover where other pieces of Eden are as well as find out some historical information. You control a different ancestor this time, Ezio Auditore, in Renaissance Italy. Ezio is trying to unravel a conspiracy that involved his family (I'm being vague here to avoid plot spoilers) and in the process discovers his family has a proud assassin heritage that he must take up in order right wrongs.

Pros:

This game fixed a lot of the repetitiveness that was the biggest complaint against the first game (+0.75). You no longer have to gather intel on your target via the same handful of mini games, you find out who your targets are as part of the story and the mini games are gone.

They've added a lot of new options to combat as well (+0.50). You still have a knife, a sword, throwing knives, and your hidden blades but you get a second hidden blade for double assassinations, a gun for powerful ranged kills, poison for killing a person without them even knowing, smoke bombs to escape (overpowered like crazy, you get 20 seconds to kill everyone around you), and even throwing sand in your opponents eyes when unarmed. Like much of AC2 they kept the general mechanic from AC1 and refined it and gave you some more options.



As far as sneaking around goes you get a few new options. You can now blend in with more then just the traveling monks or their equivalent in a Muslim controlled city. Any crowd of people can allow you to blend in (assuming the guards aren't actively chasing you with line of sight) (+0.25). In addition you can hire prostitutes to distract guards that guard key areas (but not to have sex with), thieves to mess with the guards which causes them to chase after the thieves and effectively does the same thing as the whores, or mercenaries who you can tell to engage targets which makes a fight a lot easier since if you go up an enemy engaged to one of your mercenaries you can stab him in the back for an instant kill (+0.50).

You can also throw money to distract low level guards and citizens which will cause them to flock to the area (+0.25). I assume this would be good if you're trying to escape and wanted to slow down guards but I usually made a run for the rooftops and tried to lose them there.

They have a handful of extra little optional side missions you can try to accomplish for money such as races or assassination contracts from Lorenzo de Medici (+0.25). These bring in money that you'll be spending on inventory upgrades allowing you to carry more throwing knives/poison/etc. and on healing yourself at nearby doctors as well as on your Villa.

The Villa is a neat little project you get to work on throughout the game (+0.50). It serves as your home base but you can upgrade parts of it such as certain stores by paying money. Upgrading stores gives you a discount on them but the real advantage is that you start making money based on how much your Villa is worth which depends on how much you've upgraded it. Also every weapon or armor you buy adds to the Villa's worth as they are on display (where you go to change weapons/armor) as well as the collectible feathers you can find throughout the game. In fact most everything you buy that doesn't get used up like smoke bombs counts towards making your villa better. You see your town start looking better as you upgrade it too. Granted you'll end the game with more money then you know what to do with, but this isn't really a problem.

The assassin tombs are a cool little sidequest (+0.25). You have to do the first one, but after that in every major city you go to you can find one or two and upon finding the entrance you're tasked with a slightly more challenging puzzle/platforming section then usual and rewarded with some money and an assassin seal. If you get all six you unlock the best armor in the game that turns you a cool shade of black (much like Zero's armor).

I also liked the hidden chests that would be marked on your map if you bought a treasure map (+0.25). Good source of money but you still had to track them down. Reward for effort that made you work for it, but not to a ridiculous degree.

The puzzle involving the 20 glyphs founds throughout the world. "Subject 16" the guy before Desmond left clues to some secret hidden truth. You find these glyphs and have to solve a few ciphers or where's waldo type puzzles and you're given a half second clip of a video and usually some background information on the Templar's actions throughout history (+0.50).

Fist fight with the pope (+0.25). Enough said.

+4.25

Cons:

I miss the lengthy scenes when you assassinate a story character (-0.50). It still cuts to you talking to your target in limbo, but they say like one line and you tell them to rest in piece and it's over. I also sorta miss the lead up, they still have it a bit, but it feels less epic when you go to kill one of the conspirators, less of them put up a fight and just sorta run which is less satisfying (-0.50), and the ones that do fight aren't very tough to kill (-0.25). Granted an old man shouldn't be super hard to kill, but even some of the young physically fit ones just sorta go down without much fanfare.

Also they made the years fly by, like over the course of the game ten years go by (and then another ten near a time jump at the end) but if they didn't tell you the year at the beginning of each memory sequence (aka chapter) you'd assume the game happens in approximately 6 months to a year (-0.25). They do it so the events and deaths of the characters that exist in history match up to when they actually died and I don't know why it bothers me. I guess it just feels weird when Ezio knows where the next guy he needs to kill is and waits two years to do it (-0.25).

The feathers are the new flags from the first game. This time there are 100 spread throughout the game. They're just as much a pain in the ass to find as the flags were (-0.25). You apparently get a reward at 50 and all 100 but I ended up with maybe 36 or so and had zero interest in getting the rest. Not a huge complaint since it's entirely optional. I'm hesitant to dock points for a feature that is completely optional but here the problem was they missed the opportunity to do what they did with the hidden treasure chests and mark them on your map once you had bought a map (-0.25). I would have been much more willing to look for them if they marked them on your map or even just had a small circle showing which part of the map they were in.

-2.25

Overall Rating:9.0/10

Lame Game Tropes

I figured I was long overdue to write a little side entry on some aspect of gaming instead of just reviewing games. I'll probably come back to this again, but what I'm doing is basically "Stupid crap you see in games that I find annoying". This could range from a mission type, to a type of level theme, a kind of enemy, or anything else that I feel is too common in games. Now of course there are always exceptions to the rule but these are problems that are usually annoying the majority of the time they pop up. These again, are things that bug ME, so if you like some of these things I'm not saying that you have to hate them too.

1.) Escort Missions:

Along with timed missions this is one of the first thing gamers think of when it comes to mission types that suck. The idea behind it is simple, generally keep some character or characters alive that you don't control as you move from one point to another. The problem comes in due to bad AI in the escortee as they will often run into combat (Remember that battle in FFT where you have to protect that chick on top of Riovenes Castle?), get stuck on some object in the environment and leave themselves vulnerable, and generally suck at protecting themselves assuming they have any ability to do so whatsoever. Escort Missions are the worst.

2.) Timed Missions:

No list like this would be complete without timed missions. These often come in two types- the ones where you have so much time to complete them that the timer might as well not be there (End of Metal Gear Solid for example), and the ones where you will pull your hair out trying to do every part of the level just perfect so that this can be completed in time (Any of the rooftop races in Crackdown). A bad camera or shoddy controls can make these excruciating. Also bonus annoyance points if there is no way to start over if you screw up in the beginning and have to wait out the clock before you can try again.

3.) Underwater Levels:

Underwater missions or levels or anything really usually are pretty terrible or unusually difficult. This stems from the fact that generally a game won't be made with these types of game play in mind and someone comes up with the brilliant idea to tack one on. Kingdom Hearts had an awkward example of this in the first game. Most Zelda water temples are thought of as a pain in the ass. Underwater levels give the user a new dimension to move in that they're not used to while also slowing down movement, both can be annoying especially when they could have spent their time making a decent regular level. Also that sonic drowning noise will haunt me forever, and I never even really played much Sonic.

4.) Defend an area for X amount of time:

Similar in nature to escort missions you have to protect something for a certain amount of time. In this case it's usually a building, a computer terminal, etc. that is doing something important. Maybe a character is hacking a computer and you have to defend her and the computer (like in Goldeneye) or maybe reinforcements are coming to save YOU and you have to hold out until they get there. These aren't usually quite as bad as escort missions as you don't have to worry about some bullshit jumping out at you and in RTS games you could build units and defenses around it in some cases so that you're basically defending your base like usual. But otherwise they suffer from some of the same problems. Additionally in cases like this you have to face an infinite number of guys til time runs out, you can't kill them all.

The World Ends With You

I'm say this straight out, Ben, you're not gonna like this review because I generally liked the game and I know you hated it.

Anyway, I recently finished The World Ends With You ( often referred to as TWEWY from here on out) for the DS and thought I'd give it a review. It was actually an early Christmas present from my friend Adam, so props to him for getting me the game. It actually sorta reminded me in a few ways of that Contact game Chris had. You get stickers (though they give your partner a static bonus and you don't use them in combat) and eat and digest food and use the stylus in combat a lot. It's sorta like Contact and Kingdom Hearts mixed up and edgier and with more J-Pop.

The World Ends With You

Overall:

TWEWY is a RPG made by Square-Enix, in fact the team that worked on Kingdom Hearts worked on this game and it shows in the style, characters, and the dialogue. You play as Neku, a youth in Shibuya Tokyo who is a loner and one day wakes up to find himself not where he last remembers being. He is quickly attacked by "Noise" and flees, eventually running into a girl who informs him that he is playing The Game (no, seriously, The Game) and to win he and his partner have to survive for all seven days or they'll be erased. Neku and the girl (Shiki) partner up and tackle a specific challenge each day. Along the way they meet other players and "Reapers" who run and maintain the game. The game is an action RPG and your available attacks depend on the pins you have equipped with each one working differently and often involving touch commands. Your partner is on the top screen and fights by using the D-Pad to follow arrows that end in different finishers. While you can try to juggle both, I recommend letting the computer take care of the top screen and focusing on Neku over whom you have more control.

Pros:

The game has a neat little battle system that uses the stylus to move Neku and activate his pins(+0.75). To attack you might touch an enemy, touch empty space, rapidly tap an enemy, yell into the mic, slash an enemy, slash Neku, press and hold the stylus on Neku or an enemy, touch the pin in question, or a variety of other things. Now some pins sorta overlap so you can set some pins to only activate when you press L or R which lets you have multiple pins whose activating feature might overlap (touch empty space and draw a circle in empty space overlap as it automatically assumes you're touching empty space)(+0.25). Now to keep you from spamming one or two pins they can only be used so much until they have to recharge (reboot) so you need a couple of different pins and can't rely solely on one good ability.

Another nice feature is that there are no random battles (+0.50) (except for a day or two near the end and they only trigger when you move to different areas) and you fight enemies by scanning for them and picking the group or groups you want to fight. You can fight up to four battles in a row with the advantage of the enemy's drop rates going up considerably depending on how many fights you string together in addition to if you handicap yourself by lowering your level(+0.25). Since level only determines your HP you could cut your level in half and still be ok if you're decent at dodging enemy attacks (attack and defense are determined by the clothing and accessories you wear as well as a few other things).

The game also has all kinds of things for you to collect. Besides the different pins (which can evolve to better pins in a pokemon-like fashion) there are all kinds of cloths to get with different attack, defense, and HP bonuses in addition to each article of clothing having a special ability that you unlock by becoming friendly with that store's salesman (+0.75). So the game gives you a lot you can work towards at any given time and I ended up being overpowered due to always fighting extra battles cause a pin was close to evolving, I was close to leveling, I needed just a little more money for better equipment, ect.

The game also lets you change the difficulty on the fly which is good for getting enemies to drop different things and they're kind enough to give you a little guide that shows you what each enemy drops on each difficulty once you've gotten it once (it also shows what the percent chance of them dropping it is: both default and taking into account the improved chance with your level if you've lowered it)(+0.25).



There were also a couple of times you noticed the translators had a little fun and threw in things making fun of themselves like Neku wishing he had more zippers(+0.25).

They throw in a new game plus+ type deal. Instead of starting over, you can warp to any day in the game and play from there with all your items and pins intact. They even have some "secret reports" you can find if you complete certain objectives post game that tie up a few loose ends(+0.50).

The game has a little mini-game called Tin Pin slammer you can play for a few rare pins. It's decent and a nice distraction sometimes but nothing to write home about (+0.25).

+3.75

Cons:

The game does suffer from anime and RPG cliches and dialogue (as seen in Kingdom Hearts) though no more then most JRPG fans are used to (though I'm sure Mr. Hood would disagree)(-0.25). The fact that some pins are triggered by the same command can be annoying and while you have the sub slots to get around that a bit, you can have up to 6 pins at a time by the end of the game and having 3 pins that activate in the same or a similar manner is not unheard of(-0.25).

While I like the pins leveling up and evolving, there are three ways they can earn pp or pin points (battling, "mingling", or "shut down pp") and most pins require you get a majority of pp from a certain method or it won't evolve (and once it maxs out, it can't later evolve)(-0.25). That's sorta annoying but worse is that they don't tell you which pins require what or even how to evolve your pins at all(-0.50). I ended up looking it up on GameFAQs. It's not game breaking but it sort of is a pain in the ass.

Some of the enemies have really low drop rates, so anyone trying to 100% the game will find it a big pain in the ass (one enemy has by default a 0.05% chance of dropping its item on normal mode)(-0.25).

Some of the pins are sorta worthless or just are hard to activate. Granted with the number of pins in the game it's hard to make them all kick ass, but a few of them really do just straight out suck (-0.25) (most of the "repeatedly scratch an enemy" ones since the enemies move around too much for this to work easily).

Lastly the game sorta expects that you can easily control the character on the top screen and bottom screen at the same time when this just isn't feasible. This would be a huge problem if there was no setting for the AI to handle the top screen or the AI sucked but since that isn't the case this problem is fairly minor though occasionally your partner will get you in trouble since they can't dodge easily (-0.25).

-2.00

Overall Rating:8.75/10

Kirby's Adventure

Yes, I am still alive. Time does seem to fly sometimes. I'm always amazed how long it's been since I updated when I go to look at my last entry. Anyway today I wanted to do a NES game since I don't think I've reviewed one yet. I picked Kirby's Adventure since it seemed pretty solid. It was my introduction in the Kirby Series and until a year or two ago when I played that DS remake of Kirby Super Star the only real experience I had with it beyond Super Smash Brothers which obviously doesn't count.

Kirby's Adventure

Overall:

Kirby's Adventure is the second Kirby game and the only NES entry in the series. Kirby's Adventure came out near the end of the NES's life and looks pretty polished compared to other games the system is known for. Actually going back and looking at console release dates this game came out AFTER the SNES had so this was even further along the NES's life then I had thought. The basic plot is that King Dedede has broken the Star Rod up and given pieces to his minions and it's up to you to defeat them and King Dedede to get the parts back and restore the Star Rod so that everyone in Dream Land can dream again. The game actually has a plot twist beyond "The Princess is in another castle" which is sorta notable for a NES game. The game is a platformer and like pretty much all Kirby games the gameplay hinges on you eating enemies to get their powers as well as flying around for brief periods of time. The game also includes some pretty fun mini games that still hold up to today's standards.

Pros:

This is a fun game that reminds you why platformers were once king before the RPG and later FPS genres were(+0.75). The gameplay is simple but manages to stay fun and never gets dull even when all you have is a D-Pad and two buttons and the limited abilities that those enable you. The game isn't very hard but never gets brain-dead easy.

Like I mentioned earlier, the mini games you find spread through each world are really fun such as the crane game or the egg launcher game(+0.50). They have little benefits in the form of extra lives so finding them on the world map is always a treat. The little trampoline cloud thing at the end of each stage is also another enjoyable mini-game they threw in for the players.

The graphics are clean and bright and look nearly like they should be on a SNES so I have no complaints in that department(+0.25). The music is catchy and does a good job of staying with the bright happy atmosphere that generally accompanies Kirby games(+0.25).

The wide variety of abilities you can take from enemies was pretty impressive and though there were a few powers that most people would consider crappy, the developers did a good job of giving the player options for tackling the levels and bosses (+1.00). The little museums where you could go and get a power or two between levels was also helpful if you knew you can a boss coming up or the enemies in a level were giving you lame powers (+0.25). This really made the Kirby games what they were and if you only had the default breath exhale for a weapon the game would be much less enjoyable.

+3.00

Cons:

There were a few levels that you could mostly just sorta fly over completely as if you had a SMB3 P-Wing. While this wasn't true with all the levels, sometimes the game sorta let you cheap out by just flying over most/all of the enemies(-0.50). The limited flying time of later Kirby games fixed this.

Some of the bosses were really really super easy if you had a decent ability equipped and felt like they were normal enemies almost. Later games had this problem as well to a certain extent(-0.50).

-1.00

Overall Rating:9/10

xkcd

I was gonna review Secret of Mana cause I was really close to beating that, but every time Adam came over we'd just play magic the gathering until it was late and he needed to go. So that should be coming soon but I don't know exactly when.

I probably should have done another game in it's place and I would have, but I'm finding myself getting bored just reviewing games with this blog. I always turn to the blog late at night and it takes me a while to write a full game review so I think I need something else.

As you might know I like a decent number of web comics out there and I recently went and read through xkcd and added it to my list of webcomics I read. It's actually sort of a love/hate relationship really. Sometimes he(Randall Munroe) has funny stuff, sometimes he has cool stuff, and sometimes it just sorta feels like he's using the comic as a platform to boast about a bunch of obscure math and programming knowledge he has. Sometimes it's a combination of this. Apparently the guy has a huge boner for talking about the following:

*Firefly
*Perl
*DRM
*Summer Glau
*Python
*Love
*Math Formulas
*Word Play
*Geohashing

So if you like a decent number of those things or math/programming/literary/language jokes xkcd is for you. There are about 600 or 700 comics in the archive, thought the first 50-100 are kinda... eh. A lot of the early stuff is just sorta a place where he put random sketches he made that aren't supposed to be funny. It's kinda funny to say this about a stick figure comic but the art actually has improved from the really early stuff, the early characters sometimes look a little squiggly or smudged.

I had been linked to it a couple times but never read more then the specific comic I was being shown until a topic on Luelinks pointed to a xkcd comic about Ski-Free and how you apparently CAN out run the yeti monster by pressing "f" to go faster contrary to childhood wisdom. For some reason that mindfuck caused me to start reading the archive (backwards as I didn't really intend to read the whole thing until I had read 50 or so and then said hell with it and kept going).

It seems to update daily (that I've seen) so maybe give it a shot if you like feeling smart by occasionally getting an obscure reference. He also mentions "Geohashing" a bit, a system the author invented for meeting people near where you live (http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/Main_Page).

Well, it was sorta nice to review something in a laid back manner, might do again when I feel like taking a break.

Dead Space

Like I promised last time I'm reviewing Dead Space so let's get started.

Dead Space

Overall:

Dead Space is a 2008 third person over the shoulder survival horror game that has a higher focus on combat and action then most survival horror games. It released on the Xbox 360, the PS3, and the PC. I played the 360 version but to my knowledge there are few differences between the different versions. You play as Issac Clarke, an engineer, in the 26th century who is tasked to repair a large mining ship called the Ishimura (a planet cracker that literally breaks aparts planets to get at the minerals and ore) that sent out distress signals during a routine operation (and also coincidentally has your girlfriend on it). You'll quickly find that this is no ordinary mission and along with a handful of others sent with you to fix the ship and get you there you'll have to figure out what the hell is going on and more importantly survive as the crew aren't completely dead. The game was published by EA and developed by Visceral Games.

Pros:

The game is designed to be very atmospheric and it does it well. I was reminded of Bioshock in some ways in regards to how well done (and creepy) the location, scenery, and enemies were (+0.75). Even audio wise you can hear the necromorphs (the name for the reanimated mutations that you fight) slithering in the ventilation shafts above you and hear unsettling whispers that are just quiet enough to keep you from completely understanding what they're saying but loud enough to make you know they're there (+0.25). The game did a good job on the mood of the game and you never know when something is gonna jump out and attack you, which is exactly how the developers want you to feel. The audio, video, and text logs you find throughout the game give you additional backstory and give you hints of what you'll face later (+0.25).

The limb severing mechanic was also well implemented (+0.25). Most games with zombie-like creatures have you aim for the head, here the exact opposite is true, you want to aim for their limbs and cut them off. Many of your weapons fire in a horizontal or vertical plane and depending on the type of necromorph you are facing and which limb you're trying to remove, different weapons should be used. Once you cut off their legs or arms they develop new fighting strategies to use against you so even cutting their legs off doesn't mean you can relax.

Speaking of weapons, many of them (though not all) are useful and fairly unique compared the guns you normally see (+0.50). The flamethrower and pulse rifle aren't new to sci-fi games but the line gun, the ripper, the plasma cutter, and the force gun are all pretty neat. The Contact beam is basically a Spartan Laser from Halo 3 but it's still pretty cool. All of the guns have a secondary fire to give you some more options in a fight (+0.25) and you get to carry four around which lets you have some variety while not giving you every gun at the same time (+0.25). Ammo is often scarce enough that you never feel completely secure in how much you have left but plentiful enough that as long as you don't fire wildly or use the wrong weapons in a certain situation you should make it through (+0.25).

Another positive aspect of the game is the upgrade system. Every gun and your suit (as well as your stasis and kinetic abilities that I'll go into below) can be upgraded with power nodes that you find or buy at the stores located throughout the game (+0.50). Each item basically has a tiny little sphere grid like in FFX and you use the power nodes to unlock and upgrade your equipment to hold more ammo, do more damage, ect. It's all a big balancing act as you might need the money for ammo or health kits as well as purchasing the weapons and new suits (the upgrades to the suit stay when you get a new one) in addition to buying power nodes. I managed to find most of the ammo and health I needed in chests and dropped from enemies but there were a lot of times when I came damn close to running out so keeping some money on hand to buy what you need is a good idea.



The game has a kinetic and stasis module you get that give you some extra abilities in-game. Kinesis is basically the gravity gun in Half Life 2 and you can do it as much as you want. You will use it for a handful of simple puzzles (if you could even call them that) and to pick up explosive canisters and saw blades to shoot at the enemies (+0.25). It isn't as powerful as the gravity gun of HL2 fame so I didn't rely on it too much but it's a nice touch. The stasis ability is limited to so many uses but can be recharged for free at different stations throughout the ship. It allows you to slow down enemies or parts of your environment and is used to greater effect in combat and for puzzles where you have to slow down moving machinery to get something done (+0.50). Both add a little zazz to the game and increase your combat options.

Another neat little feature are the Zero gravity segments. First introduced in a special room inside the ship and then used more often when you go outside the ship, there are parts where you have to fight in or solve puzzles in zero-gravity (+0.25). You have some kind of special charge boots that keep you magnetically attached to the ship surface but you can jump across vast expanses in zero gee to other parts of the room or ship, and even walk around upside down on the ceiling or walls. You have to be a little careful though cause if you jump and there is nothing to land on but space you'll float away and net yourself a game over. You fight enemies in zero gravity as well and that is a bit of a thrill and a challenge since you can't hear them and they can attack you from any direction (+0.25).

The game features a New Game + that lets you keep all your money, weapons, upgrades, and items and I'm almost always a fan of New Game + though it is especially nice here since you can't upgrade everything on your first play through and if you want to see what all your weapons can do maxed out you'll need to play it a second time (+0.25). The experience doesn't seem to be much different but they do give you a couple of long logs giving you some extra back story if you want it (+0.25).

The game also makes an effort to get rid of any menus that your character isn't seeing himself, all your health and stasis energy is displayed on your suit and you ammo is displayed on the gun. The menu opens up a holographic image thing your character looks at, but it's done in real time and you can be attacked while looking at it. Not exactly a "pro" or a "con" just something sorta neat I noticed.

There are two mini games you find late in the game and they're neat to try a couple of times for extra ammo and items but nothing to write home about. Well, there is a part where you take control of a turret that would sort of count as a mini game and actually that was better then the other two so if you count that (and you do it twice) then the mini game department isn't doing too bad (+0.25).

+5.25

Cons:

The game does in its early chapters tend to have a "Oh no this broke, go fix it Isaac." to the point where I wondered if the coffee machine or their oven was going to be the next thing I had to fix. They need a reason to introduce you to the various areas of the ship and most of the stuff you fix would need to be fixed to help keep you alive so this is a small gripe but if they could have had more of the plot stuff happen a little earlier and distribute the "Fix a critical part of the ship" chapters more evenly it would have helped (-0.50).

The bosses you do fight are huge and impressive and look awesome but there are only 3 of them and one of them isn't a traditional fight really and more of a mini game. There are things that could qualify as mid-bosses perhaps but real boss fights are far and few between (-0.50).

Some of the weapons are sorta useless or notably underpowered. The flamethrower for example is just so incredibly crappy you have to wonder if it's a glitch (-0.25). Since the ammo you find is based on the weapons you're carrying, carrying the flamethrower with you means some of the ammo you'll find is flamethrower ammo, but since it's so weak and you'll use 50-75 units of fuel (you find them 25 at a time) to kill an enemy carrying it around will mean hurt you in the ammo department. The pulse rifle is also sorta weak, but not at bad as the flamethrower is (-0.25). The other weapons are fine, just those two seem to not be worth the ammo. You have a melee attack as well, but it is also pretty weak and if you don't kill an enemy when you hit them they'll probably hit you a couple of times so melee is best used as a last resort if you're out of ammo and nothing can be thrown at them (-0.25).

Another problem I have with the game is that you can't go back to previous areas unless the story calls for it. You use a tram to move to different areas of the ship but for some reason can't go back even when the chapter doesn't have you having to do something cause the ship is in danger of falling to the planet or whatever. Granted if the enemies respawned you could farm items and money and get too powerful or have enough ammo to not make things scary and if they didn't respawn it would be boring, but sometimes there are rooms you missed or you couldn't hold all the stuff and had to leave stuff behind. Again I can sort of see why they did it so this is a fairly small concern (-0.25).

I don't want to spoil anything, but the way they set up a possible sequel didn't really make much sense (though it did scare the shit out of me) (-0.50).

Lastly, they have segments where the "gravity panels" have been broken and some parts of the floor will send you violently into the ceiling and kill you. They're clearly marked, but that is just a dumb concept. They have a centrifuge thingie you have to fix at one point for gravitation stuff, why do they have "gravity panels"? Just feels like a random gimmick they threw in at the last minute (-0.25).

-2.75

Overall Rating: 9.5/10