Put Your Hands Up Here Comes My DJ!

In an industry that has been said to be over saturated with peripherals for rhythm games do we really need a plastic turntable? People that don’t enjoy the gentle musings of Children of Bodom and Metallica would have to say: Yes!

Activision and FreeStyleGame’s DJ Hero is a game that still has you making coloured circles disappear much like previous Guitar Hero games but adds in the new functionality of scratching and cross-fader manipulation. Does DJ Hero have the replay value and fun factor to have it stand beside Guitar Hero though? In the words of Flava Flav, “CHECK THIS OUT!”

The Controller

DJ Hero’s controller consists of a spinning record with three buttons on it, a cross-fader that has slight resistance/click in the middle, an effects knob, an euphoria button (DJ Hero’s star power), and of course the standard native system controls shielded by a hinged compartment.

The controller works great from the hours I’ve put into it,  though I think that the effects knob and the euphoria button should be swapped as I find my hand knocks the cross-fader around while twisting. The disc itself spins very easily, sometimes on complicated scratching sections this can be bothersome as the buttons sometimes slip away from me. Being a right handed guitar hero player, complicated button patterns can be quite daunting as the hand positioning is awkward at first and having to press and scratch with my strumming hand can be quite tiresome.

You cannot play this game without the turntable peripheral which forces the $130.00 package on you. Or, if you are an Eminem/Jay-Z fan, the $230.00 package for The Renegade Edition.

Gameplay

DJ Hero’s learning curve is interesting. You cannot start the game without playing the tutorial which ensures the player knows the basics of the game. The only way to bypass the tutorial is with the unlock all code which disables all achievements. After the tutorial narrated by Grandmaster Flash you get to play 3 of the easiest songs in the game. The next tier however is significantly more difficult, I still haven’t gotten 5*s on some of those songs and it only gets harder from there.

DJ Hero compensates for this increased level of difficulty by making the game all about getting points, there is no way to fail (you can only fail yourself). Once you unlock later set lists such as The Scratch Perverts or Daft Punk’s Record Bag you’ll understand why.

DJ Hero’s set up is fairly simple and when watching a video of it you might find it appears to be very easy compare to the 5 lanes in Guitar Hero you’ve come to know.

The green track (left) represents record one, The red track (middle) are your samples, and blue (right) is record two. Using the cross-fader you have 3 positions you can be in: Left, Middle, and Right. On earlier difficulties scratching is non-dependent on what direction you move but on Expert not following the pattern of up or down will cause you to break combo.

Some things that set aside DJ Hero’s gameplay mechanics from Guitar Hero’s is the new concept of rewinding. Rewinds occur when you reach a 60 note streak and allow you to go back to a section of the song you’ve already played. How far you go back depends on how fast you spin the turntable backwards (as far as I can tell). Rewinds should be used as soon as you get them as you cannot store more than one.

The second feature of DJ Hero is the effects knob which can be used on sections with an orange bridge over the track. The faster you twist the knob, the more points you get. If you are familiar with the club scene you might like to slowly twist the knob for an interesting effect reminiscent of a real mixer setup with less points awarded.

Euphoria works like the star power in guitar hero however you can activate it after only one phrase is collected. Activating Euphoria auto-cross-fades allowing you to focus on button taps and scratching. However, if euphoria runs out and your cross-fader is not aligned properly you will break combo instantly.

While providing a challenge, DJ Hero’s game play is quite fun!

Who would’ve thought that scratching a complicated section would feel as cool as hitting a crazy solo in Guitar Hero!

Graphics

DJ Hero is a game about the club scene, so it features scantily clad female dancers, flashing lights, and of course DJs!

The Graphics are good for what they are, which is essentially Guitar Hero 5 but in the Club. Though, I doubt you will be paying attention to them much given the fact you’ll be concentrated on looking at the notes. One thing that could be improved is sometimes the DJ on screen doesn’t exactly do what you are doing with your peripheral. Maybe DJ Hero 2?

One thing to note however. is the great job they did on the Celebrity DJs. DJ AM (RIP), DJ Shadow, Z-Trip, and yes even Daft Punk all look fantastic.

Sound

This game sounds great! Even artists I previously hated (Black Eyed Peas, The Killers) have mixes I enjoy.

I especially enjoy playing the mixes involving KRS-One’s Jack of Spades and Daft Punk. It also should be mentioned that I have never been a fan of Jay-Z yet I keep coming back to his set list for more.

One downside however is the lack of electronica/dance music but the David Guetta DLC pack coming out on Tuesday (November 24th, 2009) will fix that.

DJ Hero boasts 93 original mixes so there is bound to be something you’ll like!

Multiplayer

Here is the downside of DJ Hero.

In my opinion it is a very anti-social game, when it comes to actually playing. While the Guitar/DJ Mixes can be enjoyable there are only 10 of them and the scroll speed difference seems to make playing them quite tiresome. This could however be corrected with the Hyperdeck code which for some reason nobody can figure out.

Online Multiplayer is a total wash since there is no ranked matches or indication of any reason to try to win against people besides an achievement/trophy.

One amazing thing though about online is that your score achieved in a pro face off match is transferred to your career- a feature that should definitely show up in future Guitar Hero games.

Given the fact there is no stand-alone turntable available I see no real reason to even consider playing anything but the single player campaign in this game- maybe a future DJ Hero game will address this.

The Interface

One thing that has to be said about DJ Hero, is the whole set up of  “Make a Setlist” is very confusing at first. You have to add mixes to play a setlist with the blue button rather than with green as we’d come to expect. As well there is no way to sort the setlist by title. You can only sort by mix author, intensity, high score, and stars needed. This makes finding one song out of 93 quite annoying. Also DJ Hero erases your lower scores even if they were on a higher difficulty than the one you achieved a higher one on.

Your best way of going about making a set list is going to quick list rather than using the “Custom DJ Set list 1/2″

Final Thoughts

DJ Hero is off to slow start much like the original Guitar Hero. Nobody would have thought a game where you play plastic guitar would get as big as it is now, yet many people scoff at the idea that anyone would want to play DJ Hero.

I say to you, try the game before you dismiss it! It’s one of the most refreshing, unique, and difficult titles North American rhythm gaming has ever seen.

DJ Hero is also a game that can be as difficult as the mix authors want it to be, they don’t need to depend on whether a band has a guitarist that can shred for hours for the song to be difficult- and if the final songs are any indication of what FreeStyleGames/Activision can come up with, expert players should be very scared for what’s to come.

Gameplay: 4.5/5

Graphics: 4.5/5

Sound: 5/5

Replay: 4.5/5

Codes for DJ Hero

DJHero.com

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The pig skin never looked so good

I’ve never been a huge fan of football (American football for those reading overseas). I never enjoyed playing it in the real world, I never enjoyed watching it. But playing it digitally was always a blast. My first Madden experience was on my original Gameboy in 1996, and would you believe it spoke? Like real audible words!

Now, before I dive into the game, I wanted to point something out. Madden 10 is not for someone who doesn’t understand the finer details of football. You can get by with basic knowledge, and with the help of the Madden quiz, practice, and the virtual trainer included in the title, you can pick it up very quickly. Just don’t expect to buy the game, read the manual and kick ass online.

As the game evolved with technological advances and thanks to EA’s talented abilities, the graphics grew astronomically. From legs jittering, yards moving by slowly and other players moving frame by frame towards you to full motion captured pretty movements from all over the field, Madden 10’s attention to detail were just astronomical. The fluid movement in each player as they hurl forward, deke in a hundred different ways, and look around for openings give players an eerie feeling that they are actually controlling real people in some alternate universe of god-like power. The texture of grass, fans chompin hotdogs and tossing towels, and even the detail of each stadium; from the biggest effects like weather to the smallest details like seat arrangement. Madden 10 raised the bar yet again for graphical quality in a football game. Just as long as you don’t mind seeing freakishly odd shaped facial features of the players up close. My favourite graphical aspect? The shakey cam as players run for a touchdown. What I didn’t like graphically? The sponsored replays, granted it does make things more realistic, but for the amount I’m paying for a game I don’t want sponsored ads in my face. What’s next to increase the realism, commercials in between plays?

Sound wise, while Madden 10 boasts Hammond and Collinsworth’s commentary. I understand it’s hard to have good commentary in a game people will play for hours on end, over and over again. I just wasn’t feeling it. They tried, I feel the effort is there, but otherwise it just seemed a little unpolished, especially compared to the graphics. Again, the commentary at times sounds like it was just random words pieced together after the fact, not smooth and realistic in the forms of speaking to say the least. While the commentary is varied and often times customized and useful, after a while you begin to hear the same phrases and comments time and time again. In terms of the sound track, I would have to admit that while I first expected many frat anthems, after playing through and taking a look at what the game had to offer, I think this may have very well been my favourite sound track in a sporting video game. Music from 2Pac, Alice in Chains,Beastie Boys, Mastodon, System of a Down, and Nirvana, just to give fans out there a feel for what’s available. As always otherwise the smashes, tackles, and whistles all sound realistic and well done. EA is good with these kinds of noises by now.

In terms of gameplay, there is just so much depth and detail to every aspect of Madden 10 that I would be here for months writing about it all, and you for weeks reading and soaking it all in.  For the sake of both time and sanity I’ll just provide you with a rundown of ALL the modes of play and the feel of gameplay itself, and trust me, there’s a lot to discuss. To start off, let’s talk about what’s new and all the talk about Madden 10 over Madden ‘09; Online franchise mode allows up and coming NFL manager types to take the franchise mode they loved, and play it online, much in the same way one could play it offline in ‘09, this is again souped up with things like The Extra Point a little segment that summarizes what had happened in the week before. As well, aspects throughout the game have been somewhat tweaked (some times well, sometimes not so well) as the passing system and feel have been improved to new levels as well as the tackle system which provides gamers with new and more innovative ways to bring the pain to their competition. Other aspects new to the game also include more realistic gameplay including pile-ons, fumbles, and a somewhat slower – less arcade like speed to simulate real life. My favourite new feature in Madden 10 may have to be the small details they added in, like Superbowl patches to the jerseys during, well… The Superbowl. Actually playing the game gives a lot of power to the player, being able to tweak nearly every aspect of Madden and having access to so many plays, variables, and being able to alter all of these gives fans nearly endless possibilities… That is, IF you know what you are doing, which takes time, research, and practice for those new to the Madden world. For those that are new to the game, again, there are methods to get you up to speed, but for those who are seasoned pros – the difficulty levels are there for them. Personally, I found Madden 10 to be challenging, hard even, on the easy difficulty… But then again, I found NHL 10 to be just as hard, and I’m a bigger hockey fan than football. The control layout for Madden 10 has been perfected year after year, and from what I can remember from last year’s title, they have remained the same, an aspect myself (and I hope many others) appreciate. The controls are set up perfectly for this football romp and from controlling the QB to audibles, the flick of a joystick or click of a button is all that is needed to score that hail mary touchdown. Like I said before, there are A LOT of game modes and options; for an overall feel, check out our Madden ‘09 review which can be found here, otherwise just play the game and see for yourself, I think you’d like it – especially if your a football fan.

Overall like most sports titles, lasting appeal is never an issue. You can play against computers over and over again, play against your friends until you go blue in the face. If you get too good for the game you can always up the difficulty, choose teams with lower stats, or play with one hand tied behind your back. Beat everyone you know, all the computer settings and used every team out there? Madden 10 boasts one of the best online modes available from single games to leagues to online franchise mode. While I enjoyed playing (and getting beaten severely) playing online, I did experience quite some lag while playing my opponent, both of us located in Canada, and both with broadband connections.

Madden 10 is exactly what you would expect from the leading football developers who launch a new title every year. Some new features, some improvements, some aspects that still need work (but mostly all improvements in themselves). If you’re a football fan you owe it to yourself to pick up Madden 10, if however you are on a budget and can’t afford a new title, Madden ‘09 can still do what you need it to do and enjoy on a regular basis. You just won’t get the best of what’s available without Madden 10.

Graphics: 4.0 / 5.0
Gameplay 4.0 / 5.0
Sound 3.5 / 5.0
Lasting appeal 4.5 / 5.0

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More. That’s the key word when discussing Naughty Dog’s PS3 exclusive hit sequel Uncharted: Among Thieves.

He definitely works hard for his money!

They have given us more of everything we loved from Uncharted: Drake’s fortune. More witty commentary, more weapons, more items, more actions, more explosions, more girls, more modes of play, more… well, you get the idea.

Recently, this writer had eye surgery, and as such, I have had a hard time staring at screens for long periods of time while my eyes healed. Let me tell you, this title was so much fun to play and so hard to put down, that I very well could have destined myself blind in the future from eye strain, especially at a time when my eyes are at their weakest.

Normally I would choose my Xbox 360 over the PS3 due to control preference and number of friends online, however, Sony comes out with amazing exclusive titles from time to time that bring me back to the PS3 powerhouse. Titles like Uncharted: Drake’s fortune, Metal Gear Solid 4, Little Big Planet, and now, Uncharted: Among Thieves.

Among Thieves takes you behind the eyes of brilliant and ridiculously lucky treasure hunter Nathan Drake as he searches for the elusive lost fleet of Marco Polo and the Cintimani Stone, a giant sapphire said to be worth billions. Of course if you’ve played the first uncharted title, you know better to think this is all that is being searched for and all that you will find, but in order to not spoil the game for you all, I’ll leave it at that. Along the way you run into old friends like Victor Goddamned Sullivan and Elena Fisher as well as new characters who had a past with Nathan such as Harry Flynn and Chloe Frazer. Before I go any further in this review, the reason I point out characters so quickly is that Among Thieves has something so many other games lack, extremely detailed and relevant character depth. By the end of the game, nay, within the first hour of play, you feel like you personally know each character and have a strong emotional connection with them. When one gets hurt or goes missing, you feel for them, you share the same emotion Drake does. I will even admit that my eyes teared up and I was actually worried for a specific character at one point in the game, heaving a large sigh of relief when the dust settled.

Yes, the game is that beautiful. Those are in game graphics here!

Before we dive into the technical aspects of this review, I wanted to continue on the line of character and emotion. Among Thieves has almost every basis covered for being both a great game AND a great movie. Just like Drake’s Fortune did for me in the past, while playing you get so enthralled in the story that you actually wish it were a movie, everything from the great story filled with countless plot twists, to the witty commentary between characters with intelligent use of vocabulary as ‘Jerkweed’ and ‘Asswipe’ slipping from Drake’s educated lips. He even says on many accounts what I would be thinking at that exact moment at points where he is climbing high mountains he might utter, ‘Oh man, I am so tired of climbing sh*t’, or while in a pool he would shout out, ‘Marco… fish out of the water?’, or at moments where I would think how lucky Drake is as he is about the be crushed by flying train debris only to be saved by the first and only tunnel you spot for hundreds of miles, a comment would be made about it. The story itself is bigger and more epic than any other somewhat realistic (as in, not space or fantasy) story I have ever played, read, or even saw in a movie, even the scene swipes remind me of Indiana Jones and Star Wars.

I could go on and on about the story and character design, but then we would never get into the meat of the game’s mechanics, so if you want to go beyond what I have discussed so far, my only recommendation is to just go out and try the game yourself, I don’t think you’d be disappointed.

Graphically this could very well be the most beautiful game I have ever played. Sure, I may have said that with the first Uncharted title, but like I said at the beginning of this review, Naughty Dog has given us more of everything! Detail has reached an all new high with hair movements, clothing wrinkles and the amount of detail found in the environments. Not only do run down streets of Nepal have the most minuscule detail present (pictures of families in buildings as they collapse) but the sheer size of these environments are just amazing. Huge Tibetan temples as far as the eye can see encrusted in jewels and scripture kept me playing the game for at least an extra hour or two just because I was so blown away by what I saw that I had to explore every corner of every space provided. Weapon and item detail have also been boosted as you can see every gear and bolt of every gun being used in the flash of an eye. It goes beyond detail for Among Thieves, the lighting effects in terms of shadows, sun, and explosions are also top notch. There are so many examples I would love to share right now, but I feel like anything I say will ruin the plot, something I would never want to do to fans of Uncharted. So again, I will cut off my critique of graphics here by saying, play the game. Your eyes will thank you.

Audibly this is arguably the best sounding game I have ever played as well. Not only do the scores match the environment and mood extremely well, but they have also been improved in terms of how they were implemented versus Drake’s Fortune (In the first title, you would know when a gun fight would be coming up due to the score change). Often a good game’s mood can be dampened by the choice of music, and rarely does this reviewer find there to not be a single hiccup in musical tastes as Among Thieves hits each point perfectly. It’s not only the music that brings you deeper into the title but also the voice acting. With multiple languages available for both subtitles and dubbing, each character looks like their voices were made for their in game counterparts. Even though there are many different accents and dialects being used throughout the game, none of them seem outlandish or unrealistic. Heck, even the Australian voices sound authentic! Beyond the voice acting we are also given such details in how we hear our fan favourites speak depending on the scenario: on a train, it sounds like they’re on a train; in a cavern, you hear a slight echo; my personal favourite is at one point when Drake is holding a pen cap in his mouth, the muffles and whistles sound as if you were doing the exact same thing, extremely detailed and realistic. When my eyes were hurting from playing too much, it didn’t faze me too much to have to close my eyes and relax a little because the audical experience was more than enough to keep me thinking about this title through and through.

Now THAT was a rockin' party.

An issue with the first Uncharted title was that it seemed much too planned out. You would climb a little, then walk into a much more open area with plenty of cover and ammo. Here you knew there was going to be a gun fight, rinse and repeat. In Among Thieves they did a much better job of not only making everything less obvious in terms of what would be happening next (they did a great job in this aspect), but they also changed up the types of gameplay as well, with more running scenarios (away from trucks, tanks, helicopters, falling buildings), boss fights, and now a very expanded stealth mode of play (hanging from ledges, hiding behind cover and so on). Add on new items such as shields and propane tanks, and you have a whole new level of gameplay to enjoy. Again, more of everything. If you though Drake’s Fortune had some epic battles, try fighting a helicopter from a building as it collapses… with you inside the building! More explosions, more near death experiences, more more more. Get the idea?

In terms of lasting appeal, Uncharted: Among Thieves has increased their offering drastically from the first title. With plenty of treasures to find in the oddest places (who leaves priceless artifacts on the back of a caboose?) and multiple difficulty levels, you already have more reasons to replay this great game. Add on the ability to buy special effects like sepia colour, fast forward mode, new skins, and special cheats and weapons give you even more replay value. Add on a nifty little Twitter feature to tell all your friends how good you are at this game and even more to play with. But after all this, I still feel like it’s all a little sliver of replay value compared to the newly introduced online multiplayer modes. oh, I didn’t mention that Uncharted 2: Among Thieves had a fully featured multiplayer option? And no, this isn’t just some slapped together death match mode we’re talking about here; Among Thieves provides a unique mash up of all the best multiplayer options in a set that will have you addicted to playing over and over again. The way character progression works in multiplayer is great, you earn money for each other player you kill, for each objective you accomplish, and for each award you are given (you get awards for killing people with your fists, throwing people off of ledges, killing people in a row, killing people who are killing people in a row, etc). and with this money, you can buy new skins, skills, taunts, and abilities – but only if your character is at a high enough level to unlock the ability to buy these options in the first place. So as a gamer you obviously want the best of the best (which can be abilities called boosts like better accuracy with a handgun, quicker reloads, extra grenades and so on); because of this, when you get to a certain level you want to play that little extra bit to get to the next milestone. This leads to MANY late nights playing online.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves provides two main forms of multiplayer action, competitive and cooperative. Competitive gives players 5 on 5 battles with game modes like your standard death match, elimination, plunder, turf war, king of the hill and chain reaction pitting heroes against villains. As well there are co-operative modes of play in which you work with a partner to play modes such as survival, gold rush, and standard co-op mode. Along with these online modes of play you have the choice and variety of 8 maps from the sanctuary, ice cave, lost city, train wreck, temple, village, plaza, and finally a blank stage mode to test out different aspects of the game. This multiplayer mode is definitely something that will bring you back to Uncharted time and time again.

Multiplayer mayhem, fast paced, high action, and not a lick of slow-down.

Overall Uncharted 2 was by far one of the best PlayStation 3 titles I have ever played, even one of the best video games I ever got to enjoy period, however there were a few negatives I had with the title. Nothing overly major, however they should be mentioned. First off a small annoyance is that random priceless treasures can be found in the most random places: The roof of a train, in the middle of a road, on the top ledge of a cavern that supposedly has never been seen by man before. Things like that just irk me. The second issue I had came with the multiplayer modes, yes I praised them continuously above, however, after playing for hours upon hours I grew stale with the few maps available; I figure this was done purposely so that new maps could be released in the future for further markup… or free! Finally the biggest problem I had throughout the game were glitches. While this was by far one of the most technical titles I have ever played and the vast majority of the game was glitch free; I did get frustrated when Drake would jump towards a ledge, glitch out and fall only to try again a moment later. Or getting stuck in a wall or snow bank while running for your life. While these only happened a few times throughout the game, I did notice them to occur more later on in the title as if the ending bit was rushed; more or less from the beginning of the Nepalese snowy mountains to right before the last area in the game is where I found most glitches. On a side note, not really a glitch but something I wish Naughty Dog and Sony included in Uncharted 2, a self play mode so that once you finished the game, you could just sit back and watch it as though it were a movie… because we all know it would be a fabulous movie!

Summary:

If you only buy one PS3 game this holiday season, I highly recommend you make it Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. It has everything you could want, great controls, great gameplay, replay-ability, great story, great dialog, great sound, great graphics, a long lasting single player mode, an ever expanding and fantastic multiplayer mode… jeeze, I can’t think of any reason not to play such an amazing game. Go out and buy it. If you don’t have a PS3, go buy it for a friend that does… and move in with them. This has been one of the most polished and impressive games I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying.

Gameplay: 5/5

Graphics: 5/5

Sound: 4/5

Replay Value: 5/5

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Who the hell do you think I am? I'm the goddamn Batman.

Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?  It’s something I ask of all my readers… I just like the sound of it.

And with that not-so-obscure reference, we begin our review of Batman: Arkham Asylum, which is the best game of 2009.  Yes, I am saying that in October.

I have been drooling over this game for months now, and anxiously anticipating doing this review.  Now, as much as I would like to give an unbiased and honest review of Batman: Arkham Asylum, that is impossible.  I am a huge Batman fanboy (Batboy?) and although this will be a fair and balanced review, I am obviously biased in some respects.  I mean, I am literally wearing a Batman T-shirt right now, and not even for the purpose of this review.  Just ‘cause, suckers.

But I digress.  This game is set over the course of one night on Arkham Island.  Batman has apprehended the Joker, and hauls him back to the asylum.  Joker doesn’t really mind though, and proceeds to take over the asylum and release the inmates.  Great. Now Bats has to pick up all the pieces.

Quite possibly the coolest feature of this game is the nature of the gameplay itself.  You don’t just run into rooms to find a group of baddies and subsequently dispatch them.  Okay, you do – but not all the time.  You don’t just prowl from room to room in the shadows, sneaking up behind guys and taking them out without a sound.  Okay, you do – but not all the time.  You don’t just solve puzzles and riddles.  Okay, you get the point.

I'm totally going to win that giant stuffed gorilla.

The seamless transition from the gangbang combats to invisible predator rooms to the riddles and whatnot in between really make this game flow exceptionally well.  That’s actually the primary element of this game -flow. The combat is actually called Freeflow Combat – using your various attacks to open up a can of Bat-Whoop-Ass on the various miscreants you encounter throughout the game by seamlessly landing blow after blow on opponent after opponent rather than one at a time.   You can even mix in attacks from the various gadgets you acquire over the course of the game – the Batarang, Batclaw and Shark-Repellant Bat-Spray.  Okay, not that last one.

There are some games out there that have alternative modes of play that are not exactly the greatest thing to ever happen to gaming.  Arkham Asylum is not one of these games.  The challenge modes are amazing – each of which is basically one of the different combat rooms you will encounter throughout the game.  This allows you to pick up Arkham Asylum anytime, and run through as much or as little of the different facets of this game at your leisure – which I have done ad nauseum.  Even more awesome – there is downloadable content that allows you to go on a murderous rampage as none other than the one and only Clown Prince of Crime – the Joker, however, only on the PlayStation 3.  The lack of grappling hook and gliding is made up for with the awesomeness of walking around the challenge rooms dispatching guards with kicks to the nuts, exploding-chattering teeth, kicks to the nuts and a legit gun.  Yes, Joker straight-up murders people with a gun.  Also, he kicks them in the nuts – did I mention that?

In this reviewer’s not-so-humble opinion, the pinnacle of the gameplay is the Invisible Predator mode.  When I think of Batman, I think of moments like the scene in Batman Begins where the criminals are being picked off one by one, growing ever more terrified as their numbers dwindle.  This is the epitome of Batman and also the core element of the Invisible Predator style of gameplay.  For me, it just doesn’t get any better than grappling from gargoyle to gargoyle in the shadows, gliding down behind a gun-wielding psychopath and choking him into unconsciousness, then hanging upside-down in the shadows and grabbing his buddy when he comes to help.  If the criminals are terrified, then bonus – more on that later.

Hello, my name is Joker. And this is my friend, Obscenely Large Revolver.

The Detective Mode is more likely than not the mode you will view the majority of the game in. Although sacrificing the gorgeous graphics somewhat, you can see everything that is pertinent to the mission at hand and more, from vent covers that can be removed and entered, to lingering bad breath or tobacco traces in the air.  While reducing the challenging element of problem solving, it doesn’t really matter – the game remains moderately challenging puzzle-wise with the ever-narcissistic Riddler hitting you with clues to the hundreds of enigmas and brain-teasers throughout Arkham Island.  Detective Mode also allows you to view enemies through walls, and examine their armament and status – status meaning whether they are Calm, Nervous, Terrified or Crazed.  Try to keep the enemies Terrified – they start shooting at noises in the darkness, and basically turn into whiny 8-year old girls.

As I mentioned earlier, the graphics in Arkham Asylum are gorgeous.  Simply gorgeous.  The dark, gothic atmosphere of Gotham and Arkham (hey, did you ever notice those are spelled similarly?) are captured perfectly.   The environment almost has a personality – brooding, dark and malicious. The animations on the enemies are smooth and functional at worst, disturbing and frenetic at best – exactly what you would expect from the psychos and maniacs stalking the halls of the asylum.  However, they tend to fall limp in unrealistic ways when you knock them out, but it’s a minor issue. The animations on the main characters are even better.  By main characters of course, I mean Batman – and his cape.  The cloak is almost a character unto itself, flowing behind you when you run, snapping out into a wing-like profile when you glide, and gradually becoming more tattered and ripped as Batman’s night gets worse.

Where the hell did I park the car?

The sounds of Arkham are also very conducive to the mood – the only way the soundtrack could be better would be if it had a bit more variety to it – low strings and baritone throughout – or if Danny Elfman just did the score.  Speaking of nostalgia, the voice acting is superb, with the quintessential voices from the DC Animated universe coming on board – Kevin Conroy as the Dark Knight, and the amazing Mark Hamill as the Joker.  Heath Ledger, step aside – for this incarnation of the Joker, the Force is strong with this one.

I thoroughly enjoyed Batman: Arkham Asylum.  It combines all the elements of an exceptional game – graphics, solid and intuitive gameplay that isn’t oversimplified or overly complex, and an atmosphere and story that draws in the gamer allowing them to fully appreciate all the other elements of the game.  All these elements come together to stomp more face than a professional face stomper – wearing stompin’ boots.

You didn’t think really I’d end my review of a Batman game without mentioning face-stomping, did you?

Cheers.

Gameplay – 5/5

Graphics – 5/5

Sound – 5/5

Replay Value – 5/5

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Just when you thought you knew exactly what to buy this holiday, Sony announces a new model of their slim PS3.

The slimmer PS3 has been a runaway hit since its launch in September and has sold more than a million units world wide in a matter of three weeks. The new model is identical to the current slims save for the fact that now it has a larger hard disc drive (HDD).
With 250 GB and a retail price of $349.99 you are getting one sweet deal.
The added hard drive space is quite a nice touch as these days download content has taken off drastically.

I say shell out that extra 50 bucks and get the 250GB it’s totally worth it.

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Welcome to GWAR into your home this October with Guitar Hero 5!

No tricks here folks just treats as Guitar Hero rolls out a fine month of DLC for Guitar Hero 5.

It all starts with a Queens Of The Stone Age Pack featuring three tracks from their debut album, with Dave Grohl being featured on Avon you know it’s going to be a blast on drums. The week after that we get three tracks from Billy Squier with “The Stroke” which funny enough was the first Guitar Hero custom ever! Coming up next is Mike Patton’s favourite band Wolfmother featuring three tracks from their forthcoming album  Cosmic Egg.

The second most exciting pack of DLC in October would have to be The Classic Rock 2 Track Pack featuring another epic from Peter Frampton with  “Show Me The Way (live)”. Canadian rockers Triumph make their debut on plastic instruments with their hit “Lay It On The Line” which is sure to give guitarists a run for their money. Finishing it all off is a track from The J. Geils Band “Freezeframe” which is sure to make you go “Oh YEAH! That song.”

The most exciting announcement however is The All Hallows’ Eve track pack with the debut of GWAR’s “GOR GOR” so make sure you don’t wear your Sunday’s best when you sit down to play with all the blood and umm “GWAR juice” coming out of your screen. Adding to the Halloween spirit Marilyn Manson submits his smash hit “The Beautiful People” and we finally get an authentic horror-punk band with The Misfits “Astro Zombies” (let’s hope it’s the original with Danzig).

Downloadable Content – October 1

Queens Of The Stone Age Track Pack

* “Mexicola”
* “Avon”
* “How to Handle a Rope”

Downloadable Content – October 8

Billy Squier Track Pack

* “The Stroke”
* “Everybody Wants You”
* “When She Comes To Me”

Downloadable Content – October 15

Wolfmother Track Pack

* “Pilgrim”
* “California Queen”
* “Cosmic Egg”

Downloadable Content – October 22

Classic Rock 2 Track Pack

* The J. Geils Band – “Freeze Frame”
* Peter Frampton – “Show Me The Way (Live)”
* Triumph – “Lay It On The Line”

Downloadable Content – October 29

All Hallows’ Eve Track Pack

* GWAR – “Gor Gor”
* Marilyn Manson – “Beautiful People”
* The Misfits – “Astro Zombies”

http://guitarhero.com

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There are two things I have never done. 1) I have never gotten so into a sporting event that I yelled for (or at) a team or player. 2) I have never gotten so into a video game that I jumped up, yelled at the screen, and swore. NHL 10 for the Xbox 360 made me do both, and I have to admit, I liked it.

I’ve never been an emotional gamer, and I’ve never been that much into sports (then again, as a Canadian, I feel there’s a default certain level of national pride we all share with hockey), but when playing as the Toronto Maple leafs and winning 2-1 on game seven against Ottawa for the Stanley Cup and with less than 1 minute left in the third period you can’t help but get a little into it when Ottawa scores the tying goal with seconds left on the clock. Yes, I jumped up, yes my voice got loud and shrill, and yes I did say some things that would make a sailor blush. I think this was the most rewarding aspect of NHL 10, that after 17 past NHL titles, EA still has what it takes to make a casual hockey fan into a raving sports fanatic, and I didn’t see it coming.

Basically what’s new from last year to this beyond some new features such as playing the boards, first person fighting, and last ditch attempts at shots is the focus of the game, which now has a much stronger scope on the intensity and fierceness of playoffs and winning the Stanley cup.

For those new to video games, NHL 10 is a hockey simulator (more so than a game as each year passes) in which you are presented with a myriad of gaming options beyond just playing a game of hockey (oh Blades of Steel, how I miss you). How many game modes you ask? well there’s: Battle for the Cup Now Mode in which you are sent straight to the finals of the playoffs, Playoff Mode where you can take part in any type of post-season play from any of the leagues available (NHL, OHL and more), Season Mode in which you choose a league type customize your season preferences and decide if you want to take part in a fantasy draft with all new full roster control mode. We are also given one of my favourite features, Be A Pro Mode in which you create your own character and control only that player as he is drafted, trained and even sent back to the minors based on your personal performance. I found this mode to be extremely interesting as it seemed to be the most realistic, heck, if you get a penalty you have to sit in the box and watch from the side as you feel shame (Slapshots reference anyone?). Performance Tracker Mode shows off your hockey cards (bonuses and achievements… kind of), stats, and milestones related to your profile career. Tournament mode allows for 8 or 16 teams in a world tournament to see what country is the best, and apparently the Montreal Canadiens Centennial team is the one to beat. Create a Play mode allows you too… well, create a play, Practice mode gives you a minimal tutorial (sure it shows you how to play, but no matter how much I practice, I still suck at the game). Online play mode allows for multiple online variations of the game including league play, My NHL 10 mode allows you to create your own custom player, manage rosters, deal with media via the media hub, and more. My Pro mode allows you to go into the hockey shop and buy new equipment, track your performance, and edit attributes. Finally my favourite mode in the game, Be a GM Mode.

Rock'em Sock'em Hockey!

Now, as you can see, there are ALOT of ways to play NHL 10, and as my favourite is the new Be a GM Mode I guess you can decipher that I’m just not that good at the actual hockey playing. I can hold my own (in rookie mode), but for the life of me I rarely ever score goals. In comparison to other sports GM modes however, I found NHL 10’s to be lacking, aside from making trades with your Blackberries (the higher your rank, the more Blackberries you get to use) and drafting there really isn’t much more else involved, you can increase your employee stats but from what I found in the 5 years of being a GM, it doesn’t really make a difference. The good news though, is that if I become the GM of the Maple Leafs, they will win the Stanley Cup in 2014!

We’re not here to read all about the different modes and what I thought of them though, we’re here for hockey! so lets talk about how it actually plays out. The default controls are intuitive, left stick controls your skates, right controls your stick for easy deking and aiming shots. If it gets a little complicated there are many other control schemes to choose from, my alternative favourite being NHL ‘94 mode with the only buttons being B to shoot (or check) and A to pass (or switch players), simple. Now otherwise the only other control schemes I think worth talking about in this review would be the wall play and fighting. Wall play if you have the puck and are near the wall push Y and you brace yourself against the wall so that you may kick the puck to a teammate. Alternatively if you are near someone doing just that, you can force a player onto the walls and steal the puck from them. Now fighting is by far my favourite part of actually playing the hockey game, first person fighting, after the whistle action, instigation, it’s all improved in such a way that you can fight almost whenever you want. When fighting you’re brought into first person mode: left stick moves your body, right stick aims your fists of fury; as well you can tug on your opponent’s jersey, perform upper cuts and if you want to chicken out, you can pull both shoulder buttons and turtle.

Graphically NHL 10 is superior to NHL ‘09, but then again, isn’t that always the case? Smooth animations, motion captured skaters, reflections and now especially crowd interactions (banging on the windows, swinging team colours around during playoffs and whatnot). This is EA Sports, the annual NHL title, it’s got to be the best of the best, the most polished out there and as such it has a lot to live up to. I’m here to tell you that it does live up to it’s expectations, amazing realistic graphics and not a single glitch to be found.

Dragon Force just screams hockey anthem, doesn't it?

Music is another story. While NHL 10 has a number of big songs from the likes of Green Day, CKY, and Dragon Force; and they’re all great songs, I found they didn’t really mesh with the game. Especially when playing in non-hockey modes like Be a GM the heavy strong songs just keep playing over and over and while I enjoy the tunes, songs that pump you up for a game, kind of confuse you when negotiating a trade. Grunts and whistles are standard fair but what I feel most players are interested in would be the voice commentary? Is it annoying? Does it repeat often? Luckily the answer to both is no. As Gary Thorne and Bill Clement come back from NHL ‘09, NHL 10 has similar banter from great voices in hockey and there are enough specific commentary calls to keep players interested in what they have to say time and time again.

Overall if your a fan of hockey games, you probably already own NHL 10, however, if you’re like me and haven’t really gotten into a hockey title since NHL ‘99, this year is as good as any to dive back in due to the many options in terms of difficulty and control. However, I have to warn you, there is quite a steep learning curve for those new to the title, trust me, I’ve been playing for a while now and I still suck (yes, I guess it could be that I just overall suck but… let’s not go there). With a plethora of options, game modes, and online play (I was just invited to an online team for online league play) this title will keep you busy for a long long time… or at least until NHL 11 comes out. Hopefully then the GM mode will expand to something more in depth, more in line with other GM modes like Madden and other GM specific titles.

Gameplay: 5/5

Graphics: 5/5

Sound: 4/5

Replay Value: 5/5

P.S. I’ve never given a game Editor’s Choice before, congrats EA Sports!

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I still remember the summer when Guitar Hero 2 came out.  It was a summer not unlike this one.  The sun was hot and the air was clear, but I did not go outside.  I stayed in and worked my way through career mode on medium, then hard, and then expert.  Would you believe, I started impressing girls with my button-shredding abilities?

Video game fans, take my advice.  Stay in this season and hone your fake guitar skills with Activision’s Guitar Hero: Smash Hits.  Some may scoff at this newest entry, a compilation of the greatest hits from previous guitar hero releases, but the core gameplay remains tight and challenging as ever.  The tracks have been taken from Guitar Heroes 1, 2 and 3, with entries from Rock the 80’s and Aerosmith.  All of the tracks are now playable by the whole band – guitar, bass, vocals and drums – just as in Guitar Hero World Tour.  The selection features lots of reliable favourites, but like the rest of the series there’s a heavy weighting on classic rock and metal.

GH has always separated itself from Rock Band by playing up the competitive aspect of the game.  Where Rock Band 2 added favourites like Psycho Killer by the Talking Heads and Eye of the Tiger by Survivor, Guitar Hero 3 saw soul-crushing entries like Raining Blood by Slayer and Through the Fire and the Flames by Dragonforce.  As a devoted Guitar Hero player since the series started, I could simply not get through either of the latter songs, even on hard mode.  Guitar Hero: Smash Hits has remedied the problem by smoothing out the gap between difficulty modes.  It took me lots of work to beat Raining Blood on Hard in GH3, but the song has been rejigged to make it less complicated this time around.  The difficulty definitely ramps up in Expert mode – but even Through the Fire and the Flames lets you play most of the song on the slider bar without worrying about strumming.  On the other hand, it means that the note layouts on your favourite song have probably changed.  If you had almost memorized The Sword’s Freya, for example, you might be as bothered as I was to have to learn the song again.

As the music genre slowly evolves, gamers are becoming more familiar with plastic instruments.  Guitar Hero: Smash Hits doesn’t quite offer anything new in the way of gameplay that a previous entry hadn’t already done.  Guitar Hero: Metallica brought us Expert+ mode on drums – and it’s back.  Some really tough songs have a skull and crossbones icon, meaning you can attach a second bass pedal to your drum kit and blast your way through Lamb of God’s Laid to Rest, among others.  The bass has recently been improved with an open note, where no buttons are pressed, and this makes songs like Rush’s YYZ all the more dynamic and enjoyable.

Despite these subtle changes I have described, this is still a Guitar Hero game, and you have definitely played this before.  The game runs on the same engine as World Tour, and features many of the same options including customizable avatars, guitars and tattoos.  Activision has recently announced a downloadable licensing patch that will make Guitar Hero 5 backwards compatible with most of the tracks on the Smash Hits disc.  This will certainly give the GH franchise some legs, as it jostles to dethrone Rock Band 2 as the reigning rhythm game.

Guitar Hero: Smash Hits has the same visual style as its predecessors.  There is a cartoony feel to the characters on screen matched by realistic motion capturing.  The venues are exotic this time around, everything from the pyramids in Egypt to the strangely-chosen final level in Quebec City.  The sound is generally pretty good in this game, but there are some slight discrepancies between the tracks as they appear here and their original recordings.  No One Knows by Queens of the Stone Age suffers from this – the bass is way too quiet in the game mix.  Audience effects are pretty minor here, and I’m fondly reminded of Rock Band here; nothing sounds as exhilarating as when the audience sings along with your song.

Ultimately, the gaming enthusiast has two distinct choices on the console.  Rock Band is known for its lengthy list of downloadable tracks.  Lots of popular genres are represented, including simpler tracks that demand less skill to play.  This can make it boring for extended play sessions.  Guitar Hero, on the other hand, has always curated a list of challenging songs.  Sure, the series features I Love Rock and Roll and other ultra-basic tracks, but the difficulty ramps up fast.  The career mode of Guitar Hero: Smash Hits is where it’s at.  Practice with this game, and you will be a fret-shredder in no time.

Gameplay: 5/5

Graphics: 4/5

Sound: 4/5

Replay Value: 4.5/5

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That’s right folks, Scene It? is coming out with it’s third foray into the video game world with Scene It? Bright Lights! Big Screen!

Not only will Scene It? be making it’s way back to the Xbox 360, but this time around it’s making the debut on both the Wii and PS3!

Offering more up to date movie trivia (as well as classic movie trivia of course), Bright Lights! Big Screen! will also feature a new and improved single player mode as well as new, unique mini-games.

Better bone up on your movie knowledge before Scene It? drops this holiday season.

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wait.. that princess sure looks familiar

Let Them Eat Cake!

This has been the year of downloadable games/content.  With tons of gems available and consoles finally becoming more network and online oriented, I challenge you to find anyone who has either a 360 or PS3 (maybe even select Wii owners) who has not splurged on any sort of downloadable game.  With full fledged disc based games now coming to your PSN or Live store (look up Burnout Paradise, Warhawk, or 360 games on demand service) the future is definitely download friendly!
One of these gems that I will review today is Titan Studios, Fat Princess exclusively for the PlayStation Network. It takes aspects of Tower defense and capture the flag/zones and feeds it a big piece of cake.

Gameplay
I will be very upfront about this, Fat Princess is a PSN game designed with online multiplayer in mind. That is not to say the game cannot be enjoyed single player-wise but the actual mechanics make sense and shine online. You have selections from your standard grunt, mage, priest, worker, and scout. Now you are in full control of one person and once you die you are re-spawned. You can get AI buddies to follow you and help you but let me stress this: you’re in control of your character only and offline that means tons of AI NPC s going about their business. These guys are helpful but no way near as if you had your friends by your side.

Often times controling the choke points in a map are key

Becoming any class is handled by picking up any hat outside the respected class’s barrack. Want to be a mage after storming your enemy castle? Find a mage hat and put it on, it’s honestly that simple and thus a much faster paced game.

To start things off you can design your base characters avatar, unlocking more as you progress with single player and multiplayer matches. This base avatar is among many that can pick up any hat within your fortress and become a certain class of warrior. Each of these classes can be upgraded in the course of a match and once proper combinations are used can create the strategy you need to win the match. You have eight sprawling maps to wreak havoc in, each with its own theme and music, a gladiator area to practice your combat in and a decent single player adventure that serves the purpose of outlining each mode of the game and showcasing its depth in strategy.

There are plenty of game modes as well, ranging from the standard invasion, death match, capture the princess, and a variation of hold the briefcase. These modes are self explanatory and with the exception of death match and invasion revolve around your Princess and the enemy princess. The goal is simple: lock the enemy princess in the dungeon and rescue yours so she can take her throne. In the process you are collecting resources via workers and pouring them into your outposts so you can upgrade your classes and other items.  Death match and invasion take the same resource and class building systems but give away any princess objective. Instead you have a re-spawn counter for death match and a counter for outposts taken for invasion. An odd mode thrown into the mix is soccer, which is basically a game of soccer using your class characters. This mode seems like an afterthought and though it is fun to try out lost its charm after a couple of matches.

The Pirate theme might just be hinting at something..

In the end, it’s the small touches this game adds that make such a tremendous difference. A good example is the potion that sits within your fortress ready to be unleashed at a swarm of enemy soldiers and can have a tide changing effect. Then there are the small innovations your worker can build, stuff like catapults for you to skip over great distances, ladders to infiltrate the enemy fortress, and small trampolines to take you to higher ground. These small invention hotspots are scattered across the map and placed ideally to make things easier. And believe me that’s not a bad thing, often times consoles get shafted with these smart strategy games however I found that Fat Princess is a good take on strategy style games since Battalion Wars 2 for Wii. By utilizing and simplifying things such as resource management and building zones, we are given a more core focus on combat strategy and territorial control.

Of course not all of these innovations are offensive, some smart defensive aspects such as feeding cake that’s scattered around the land to your opponents Princess which results in having her gain weight and thus taking more people and effort to carry her out of your dungeon.  So suddenly a lone infiltration mission may result in a hasty death.

In terms of classes you can choose from, the worker I found was the most essential in the beginning of each respective match. Solely responsible for all of the games upgrades and building some cool inventions. This class is more important to the game than you believe. The other respective classes to pick from include the warrior- spartan esq character with short range powerful attacks and the ability to use a shield, the mage-a wizard who can conjure up elemental spells of fire and icewhich in turn can either freeze enemies in their tracks or send them running aflamed, the priest -a..priest who can heal your team mates or deal out a large radius of charged holy damage, and the scout – the archer who is best suited for long range attacks and essential for retreats. Each class has its alternative attack that can be switched with the triangle button and can attack with the square. The carrying of items is handled with the circle button and jumping is as easy as pressing X. Besides that, small lock-on opportunities (for the worker only) are handled via the bumpers. It’s all so simple yet believe me, overwhelming and time consuming to get the desired strategy and plan that fits you.
For example you can have a couple of archers clear the way and gain control of a map choke point then send in a couple of warriors and workers to the front lines. Now you can have your warrior buddies fight off the hoards while your workers create ladders and trampolines; send in the mages to do heavy damage at the enemy gates and with the help of the priests and scouts make for a hasty retreat with the princess in possession. There is essentially no limitations to the amount of tactical strategy that is created with these classes working in tandem.

My only gripe is that the tutorial has one too many chapters that don’t fully connect and explain the relative actions that are available to you. Since it’s a download only, there are no instruction manuals to refer to. Thus, you sadly have to really play all the tutorials to get a basic understanding.
This is not the type of game you can just jump into if you haven’t seen how its foundations work but I would say play a couple of the single player campaign missions and you should have a good grasp on things. Overall it’s a tried and true game play with variations that make things interesting and defiantly fresh.

Graphics
The game retains a cell shaded design with tons of vibrant colors popping at you. Surprisingly, this is a T rated game and that is evident, the second you attack someone you are treated to some blood. The blood is cartoony but does create a visceral look as it’s spattered realistically across the map. This cutesy design choice is somewhat reminiscent of cartoons like Happy Tree Friends only less gory. It’s charming enough to get the mature gamers attention. The game runs smoothly with little to no hiccups (though depending on your online connection that could vary) and you’re treated to a pleasurable visual treat of great weapon effects and tons of carnage on screen.
The stylistic choice was a good move for Titan Studios since having 30 plus people online and going on a full fledged cartoony war feels so right.

Small touches like having support barriers and bolts rise up to create upgrade barracks of each class are going to make you smile. Add in some subtle water and foliage effects that don’t distract from the overall design and you have a game that as a total package is at first simple but both fresh and visually pleasing.

Cute stills tell a silly yet funny story

Sound
The sound design is fairly well done, with some good narrative voice work that sounds like John Cleese. This narrator will inform you of things like your castle being raided, outpost being conquered and other important information. Sure hearing someone saying “upgrade complete” a couple of times may get on your nerves, but the voice isn’t annoying enough to be muted. Your characters sound like little chipmunks with a warrior’s heart; it has its charm and is very appropriate. The sound work may get repetitive but it isn’t poorly done.  The music for each map is very appropriate too and often time creates the perfect vibe for a match. It’s not intense nor is it laid back, but a good orchestral arrangement that compliments the maps theme. My only gripe is the title music, which for some reason sounds like a sad haunting ballad that I believed just was the wrong choice.  With sword slashes, gun blasting, and explosions really taking advantage of your sub woofer, you’ll love some of the more intense battles sounds.

Replay
This is a downloadable game and as such, its replay is going to be judged by how much content and support is available. For its price Fat Princess already serves as a fine multiplayer and okay single player action. With unlockable sets for your avatars and other small bonuses, you have something tangible to unlock and are always rewarded along the progression of your game.  Trophy sets add to the achievement hoarders dream and with recent rumors of more downloadable content in the form of levels and skins, things are looking good. In the end all this replay means nothing if you plan on playing the game alone, you need friends to fully experience this game.

Verdict
To summarize, we have a fine PSN game that should make any castle crasher fan envious. It’s a great game and tons of fun. One word of caution though, since PSN owners rarely have any headsets it’s best recommended you and your friends do. I mean at this point, playing online without a headset is ridiculous but it’s been a huge problem on the PSN, despite the fact that the freedom to choose your own headset and connect it seems like such a great option. With more people buying and playing this game online we hope to see more people take advantage of the strategy that can be executed when you all are communicating with each other. Despite some learning spikes and lackluster singleplayer it is a solid effort, don’t let this title pass you by.

Gameplay     4/5
Graphics       3/5
Sound            3/5
Replay          4/5

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