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World of Goo is the first game from Indie Game Studio, 2D Boy. Founded by Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel, 2D Boy's goal (according to their website) is to "make games that everyone can play, with gameplay nobody has seen before." Well, they have certainly met this goal with World of Goo. World of Goo is hard to pigeon hole into one game genre, but I guess if I had to label it I would describe it as a goo-construction physics puzzle action game. Basically, you drag and drop goo balls to build towers, bridges etc. towards a vacuum pipe that sucks up all the remaining goos. The game is definitely out there and utterly unique, but it's also incredibly sublime.
Gameplay: 10/10 Pros: The gameplay is unlike any other game out there. It's sort of like building with K'nex...except their goo balls with little personalities. Each level poses a brand new challenge and the game controls are pretty basic (drag & click). The game introduces new goos at a great pace which helps keep the puzzles and goo building fresh. There's sort of a story and its interestingly told. Cons: The game is over too fast, but great games always are. Large goo structures can be tricky to build and frustrating tip over...but the limited level skips are always enough to keep you moving along the campaign.
Graphics: 10/10 Pros: The art style is probably the best thing about the game. It is very odd...especially the cutscenes and some of the level pieces (Girl Goo Heads, Wacky Hands, Creepy Robot Heads, etc) but utterly charming. The game's first chapter is very clean and colorful...but as the game progresses the art style starts permeating through and gets weirder and weirder along with the wacky story. All this oddity is a good thing though. The visuals never get boring and the presentation and execution is excellent.
Sound/Music: 10/10 Pros: The music perfectly fits the art style and mood, but what really makes the games auditory experience so excellent are the sound effects. Goo giggles, mumbles gibberish, inflates, etc. and the People of World of Goo speak emphatic gibberish as well...but all along the way convey emotion. That coupled with the sheer humor of the it all makes it incredibly enjoyable.
Lasting Appeal: 8/10 Pros: There are 5 Chapters and an Epilogue, with each world having a decent number of levels (~10) but when a game is this enjoyable and completely lacks tedium you alwasy want more. The Global Ranking score system add replayability and the meta game of using extra goo to build the tallest tower also adds longevity to the title. Cons: Ultimately the game can be beaten over a weekend and every level played.
Average: 95.00% Tilt: +2.00%
What it comes down to is that World of Goo is one of the finest and most original games I have played in recent years. It may not be the longest experience, but much like XBLA's Braid, Goo maintains an interest and high quality throughout every level of the game. The game is a fantastic experience that will be thoroughly enjoyed, but then you can move on. This approach to indie games is excellent because ultimately and indie studio cannot compete with the longevity of a commercial studio game. This is what they do best - Wow you with originality, art stlye and uniqueness and offer you a fantastic experience for the fraction of the price of a full scale commercial title. World of Goo is an exceptional game at an exceptional price. There's really no excuse not to experience the creativity, art, and fun that permeates this game.
World of Goo is coming out October 13th on PC and the Wii. Lucky for me, I preordered it and will be playing it a whole week early. Look for a review on the game next Monday and support 2dboy - a fantastic indie developer.
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Review Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is the highly anticipated sequel to Pandemic's Mercenaries. Too bad, Mercenaries 2 disappoints in a big way. In fact, I was left wondering if Mercs 1 was really as good as I remembered it.
Gameplay: 7/10 Pros: The much touted destructable environment is pretty sweet. The controls are good, blasting things are fun, and the new hijacking minigames are cool. Cons: So Repetitive! Idiotic AI and missions that are way too spread out.
Graphics: 8/10 Pros: The graphics are pretty good with lush jungle environments, and good detail. The draw distance is also very good and blowing up buildings looks fantastic. Framerate holds steady. Cons: The cutscenes look horrendous. Animations can be stiff and the character models are subpar.
Sound: 7/10 Pros: The sound effects are all good and standard issue. Voice acting of the 3 main mercs is good. Cons: Forgettable music, repetitive voice work kill anything that would differentiate the music in this game from any other military game out there.
Lasting Appeal: 7/10 Pros: Online Co Op is a good edition and there's a lot of missions and ground to cover... Cons: It's just that its all repetitive and the Co-Op is limiting (players have to stay withing proximity of one another)
Average: 72.50% Tilt: -2.50%
I was really looking forward to this game and it really let me down (I'm thankful I rented it first). The destructible environments are great, but ultimately open world games come down to the diversity of things to do in missions and sidequests... a whole game built around gunning down enemies and blowing up buildings needs to at least offer competent enemies. The game is a top-notch destructible playground, but I need more for my $60.
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Castle Crashers XBLA Review Castle Crashers finally arrived in late August and has been surrounded by controversy. First, there was the alleged rumored price of $22.50 that caused the internet to erupt in outrage...no worries though, the game is only $15. Then there were the 2 heinous bugs that caused the Behemoth's devlog and Castle Crashers site to crash. I have actually suffered both bugs.... 1 bug being that I cannot play online at all and the other being that my Level 28 knight, unlockables, and save file were erased on me right when I got to the Marsh level. Despite these bugs, I'm still a huge fan of Castle Crashers and have happily surpassed the point of first game erasure.
Castle Crashers exudes tremendous personality. Dan Paladin's hand drawn graphics are superb and there is a ton of humor and extra animation work that create mostly great moments (thief washing scrubbing clothes in the river, Ice/Barbarian Boss taking the time to laugh at you, Barbarian punching knocked down gray knight) and some not so funny ones (Thieves Forest animal crapping is just too much...Owl ok...deer & bear excessive). The sheer amount of work, animations, characters, levels, etc that went into this game is incredibly commendable.
Let's get to the particulars. I've already talked about the great graphics and animations, the story is thin... 4 knights have their 4 chicks stolen, but all the animated sequences (there's no dialogue) put together an interesting, if shallow story. The music is very catchy especially the shop theme and suits the eccentricity and theme of the title very well. The gameplay recreates the arcade co-op beat-em-up gameplay perfectly. It's instantly playable, and the leveling system gives the game depth. Leveling up unlocks deeper combos and magic abilities. There's also an immense amount of content to unlock from weapons, animal orbs, secret characters, etc.
It is a very big letdown that Online has been completely unplayable (I got about 30 secs of all you can quaff online once) but the Behemoth has assured its fans that a title update and downloadable content is on the way. I have played the game splitscreen and it is way more fun with a friend, even if a little less challenging. The major negatives for me have been the bugs (erasing my save was especially infuriating) and the annoying enemies that stand off the stage and shoot projectiles at you. All in all though this game is superb, utterly unique, and a must buy on XBLA. Hopefully, the online issues will be fixed and we'll all be questing online in the coming weeks.
Average: 93.75% Tilt: -0.75% (sorry gotta take some off for the bugs)
Verdict: 93%
Braid Review Braid is a very commendable and entralling independent game by Jonathan Blow. First let me start off by saying that screenshots do not do this game justice. While the game is not pushing the graphical power of the Xbox, David Hellman's art for the game is simply fantastic. The game has a unique water color look to it and the swirling colors and especially the parralax backgrounds can astonish and fit perfectly into this surreal sort of fairy tale. The story of braid is interesting and has a pretty good twist of an ending. It's certainly one of the best XBLA stories out there. Since it's all presented in text form, it does lose something that other full priced games have. Let's get to it though, the best thing about Braid is the gameplay. It is a puzzle platform game revolving around time manipulation. This time manipulation reduces frustration (since if you die, you just rewind) and changes in each world keeping things very fresh.
Braid is doing everything right so far, but it does stumble. Braid is incredibly short and has little in the way of replay value (a speed achievement). While the shortness is refreshing (I really like that I've beaten the game, enjoyed it, experienced it and can now move on), 1 more world of puzzles with 1 more mechanic would have gone a long way to flesh out the package. The game is about $5 more expensive than a lot of the other XBLA games out there, but let's be honest, this game deserves to have you $15 and was made by an indie studio rather than Capcom or some other uber developer. Still, I can see people's complaints about price (as spoiled as they are) especially with the brevity of the game. My only other complaint about the game is the lack of different enemies/hazards (c'mon 2 enemies?) and a lack of graphical diversity (the opening stage looks to cool! why are all the levels sprawling green hills?).
Bottom line is that this game is not for everybody, but is a very delightful and engaging little title. It is a very unique game that is definitely worth your time and money. I downloaded the trial game and unlocked the full version before I was even finished with the trial. Give it a try, support an indie game developer, and discover the clever story twist.
Soul Calibur 4 Review Soul Calibur IV is the 4th installment in Namco's (superior) fighting series. The differences betweent the Xbox 360 and PS3 revolve around the Star Wars Characters present. Xbox is good and has Yoda and apparently the Playstation is evil and has Darth Vader. The PS3 wins in the end because it has the ability to install the game on the hard drive which VASTLY reduces (as in almost eliminates) load times. Supposedly, the Xbox will get this at a later date so don't fret.
Gameplay: 8.5/10 Pros: The game has approachable controls, and good pick up and play appeal. The combat system is robust and deep, tons of characters to learn, great single player modes, amazing create a character mode, and excellent online Cons: Many characters have been greatly altered. I find the combos to feel stiff and overly complex...it reduces button mashing yes, but it feels robotic. The fluidity of sword strikes/combos is somewhat lost.
Graphics: 9/10 Pros: The graphics, particle effects, animation and characters are all top-notch. Online plays extremely well with no noticeable lag in animations, movement, etc. Cons: The arenas look great, but are small and boring (almost always square/rectangular). Perhaps DOA has set expectations for arenas and interactivity too high. The graphics aren't pushing the PS3's power.
Sound/Music: 9/10 Pros: During a match the sound effects and music is perfect and all AAA. Most character voices are good with decent sayings. Cons: The narrator is very similar to past titles and can be a little much sometimes. It's more the script and some of the ridiculous introductions to battles than his performance.
Lasting Appeal: 8.5/10 Pros: Fighting fans will have very little to complain about and plenty to keep them busy. The character creator mode is incredibly versatile and there are pics all over the net of classic fighting game characters (M. Bison being particularly spot-on) placed into Soul Calibur 4 by using the creator's versatility. The online multiplayer is fantastic and the single player gives you plenty to do. Cons: I found the amount of characters and stiff new fighting mechanics a little daunting. With all the multiplayer games out there, simple 1 on 1 fighting games don't offer the same appeal of the higher player count multiplayer games out there.
Average: 87.5% tilt: -0.05%
There's nothing I can definitively point at fault in SCIV, but I haven't been compelled to play it in a few weeks. There's something to be said for that.
"This is a welcome brain-stretching exercise for all TIM fans, and ideal for parents looking to stretch their children - no violence, bright and cheerful, encouraging logical thought... and it might inspire them to tidy their rooms, but I can't promise anything in that direction! Now I'm off to try setting up a domino rally... "
The full version patch can be downloaded here if you have already purchased the game. If you purchase the game now, you should have the latest version.
Version 1.01 Changes: Fixed Total Game Time glitch where statistic increased too quickly Graphically changed the title screen to make it easier to navigate New Buy Now Screen (for Demo) Fixed a Bug where Testing a Level without saving it caused an inescapable loop Demo game setup no longer leaves start menu folder empty Setup files and download size reduced/compressed
".... the game is accessible, intuitive, and unimposing, presenting a colorful world full of amusing toys and an extremely basic premise and goal."
"Parents needn’t worry about their kids running this game, nor playing it — nothing even remotely objectionable can be found in The Magic Toy Chest, whose sole plot point is “The house is a mess. Clean it up.”"
"The new ingredients it does add to the formula, though, are all clever enough to interest experienced puzzle gamers."
"The Magic Toy Chest is a fun game, it’s true. It’s quick to learn and has a good amount of variety to its puzzles, and its cheerful motif will put a little smile on your face. Parents looking to amuse their young gamer progeny would do well to consider this title."
