andPOP » video game

DJ Hero Video Game Song List Revealed

Sara Harowitz — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:01:33 +0000

Move aside, guitar, there’s a new Hero taking over the video game world: the turntable.

Video game creator Activision has released the much-anticipated massive set list for the DJ Hero video game, which comes out on Oct. 27, according to CHARTattack.

The game features 93 exclusive mixes by some of the industry’s top DJs, including Cut Chemist, DJ Shadow, and the late DJ AM. On the game these DJs slice up songs by artists such as Daft Punk, The Killers, Jay-Z, Public Enemies, and the Beastie Boys.

DJ Hero aims to expand on the technology used in video games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The game will use a turntable controller to help immerse players into DJ culture. It will give aspiring DJs the chance to learn DJ techniques including sampling, crossfading, and scratching.

DJ Hero is being marketed as a game to be played in groups. Activision is hoping the game will do for house parties what Guitar Hero did for guitars. Unlike other games of its kind, DJ Hero actively encourages players put their own artistic input onto the tracks, as there is room for creative expression on all mixes.

The Renegade Edition of the game, featuring Eminem and Jay-Z, includes a copy of the game, a premium controller, and a hard-shell turntable carrying case that converts to a performance-ready DJ stand. The special edition also contains an exclusive Eminem and Jay-Z two-CD pack including some new and unreleased material.

Here is the full DJ Hero set list:

2Pac – “All Eyez On Me” vs. The Aranbee Pop Orchestra — “Bittersweet Symphony (Instrumental)”
50 Cent – “Disco Inferno” vs. David Bowie — “Let’s Dance”
50 Cent – “Disco Inferno” vs. InDeep — “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life”
Afrika Bambaataa – “Zulu Nation Throwdown” vs. Freedom Express — “Get Down”
Beastie Boys – “Here’s A Little Somethin’ For Ya” vs. DJ Shadow — “The Number Song (2009 Version)” (Produced and mixed by DJ Shadow)
Beastie Boys – “Intergalactic” vs. Blondie — “Rapture”
Beastie Boys – “Lee Majors Come Again” vs. Daft Punk — “Da Funk” (Produced and mixed by Cut Chemist)
Beck – “Where It’s At” vs. DJ Shadow — “Six Days (Remix ft. Mos Def)”
Bell Biv DeVoe — “Poison” Beat Juggle
Bell Biv DeVoe – “Poison” vs. Beastie Boys — “Intergalactic” (Produced and mixed by DJ AM)
Bell Biv DeVoe – “Poison” vs. Cameo — “Word Up!”
Benny Benassi – “Satisfaction” vs. Tiësto — “Elements Of Life”
Billy Squier – “The Big Beat” vs. N.E.R.D. — “Lapdance” (DJ-Guitar mix)
Black Eyed Peas – “Boom Boom Pow” vs. Benny Benassi — “Satisfaction”
Bobby “Blue” Bland – “Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City” vs. 2Pac — “How Do You Want It”
Bobby “Blue” Bland – “Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City” vs. Connie Price & The Keystones — “Fuzz And Them”
Boogie Down Productions – “Jack Of Spades” vs. David Bowie — “Let’s Dance” (Produced and mixed by DJ Shadow)
Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers — “Bustin’ Loose” vs. The Zombies — “Time Of The Season” (Produced and mixed by DJ Shadow)
Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers —”Bustin’ Loose” vs. Young MC — “Bust A Move”
Common – “Universal Mind Control (U.M.C.)” vs. Masta Ace — “Jeep A** Gutter (Aaron LaCrate & Debonair Samir RMX)” (Produced and mixed by The Scratch Perverts)
Cypress Hill – “Insane In The Brain” vs. Classics IV — “Spooky”
Cypress Hill – “Insane In The Brain” vs. David Axelrod — “The Edge”
Daft Punk – “Around The World” vs. Young MC — “Bust A Move”
Daft Punk – “Da Funk” vs. N.A.S.A. — “Strange Enough ft. Karen O, ODB & Fatlip”
Daft Punk — “Megamix 1″
Daft Punk — “Megamix 2″
Daft Punk — “Robot Rock” vs. Hashim – “Al Naafyish (The Soul)” (Produced and mixed by The Scratch Perverts)
Daft Punk — “Robot Rock” vs. Queen – “We Will Rock You”
Daft Punk — “Short Circuit” vs. Boogie Down Productions – “Jack Of Spades”
Daft Punk — “Technologic” vs. Gary Numan – “Cars”
Daft Punk — “Television Rules the Nation” vs. No Doubt – “Hella Good”
David Axelrod — “The Edge” vs. Eric B. & Rakim – “Eric B. Is President”
Dizzee Rascal — “Fix Up, Look Sharp” vs. DJ Shadow – “Organ Donor (Extended Overhaul)”
Dizzee Rascal — “Fix Up, Look Sharp” vs. Justice – “Genesis”
DJ Shadow — “Six Days (Remix ft. Mos Def)” vs. D-Code – “Annie’s Horn”
Eminem — “My Name Is” vs. Beck – “Loser”
Fedde Le Grand — “Put Your Hands Up For Detroit” vs. Sandy Rivera and David Penn — “I Can’t Stop (David Penn Remix)”
Foo Fighters — “Monkey Wrench” vs. Beastie Boys — “Sabotage” (DJ-Guitar mix)
Foreigner — “Juke Box Hero” vs. DJ Z-Trip ft. Murs — “DJ Hero” (Produced and mixed by DJ Z-Trip)
Foreigner — “Juke Box Hero” vs. DJ Z-Trip ft. Murs — “DJ Hero” (DJ-Guitar mix, produced and mixed by DJ Z-Trip)
Gang Starr — “Just To Get A Rep” vs. Mobb Deep — “Shook Ones, Pt 2″ (Produced and mixed by J. Period)
Gorillaz — “Feel Good Inc.” vs. Blondie — “Atomic”
Grandmaster Flash’s — “Boom” vs. “Tap” (Produced and mixed by Grandmaster Flash)
Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool, DJ Demo — “Here Comes My DJ” vs. Gary Numan – “Cars” (Produced and mixed by Grandmaster Flash)
Gwen Stefani — “Hollaback Girl” vs. Gorillaz – “Feel Good Inc.”
Gwen Stefani — “Hollaback Girl” vs. InDeep “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life” (Produced and mixed by DJ AM)
Gwen Stefani — “Hollaback Girl” vs. Rick James — “Give It To Me”
Herbie Hancock — “Rockit” Beat Juggle
Herbie Hancock – “Rockit” vs. N.E.R.D. – “Lapdance” (Produced and mixed by Grandmaster Flash)
InDeep — “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life” vs. Cameo — “Word Up!”
Jackson 5 — “I Want You Back” vs. Gang Starr — “Just To Get A Rep” (Produced and mixed by DJ Yoda)
Jackson 5 — “I Want You Back” vs. Third Eye Blind — “Semi-Charmed Life” (DJ-Guitar mix)
Jackson 5 — “I Want You Back” vs. Third Eye Blind — “Semi-Charmed Life”
JAY-Z feat. Pharrell — “Change Clothes” vs. 2Pac — “All Eyez on Me”
JAY-Z — “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” vs. Eminem — “My Name Is”
JAY-Z — “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” vs. Jackson 5 — “I Want You Back”
JAY-Z — “Excuse Me Miss” vs. Rick James — “Give It To Me”
Jean Knight — “Mr. Big Stuff” vs. Masta Ace — “Born To Roll”
Jurassic 5 — “Jayou” vs. Billy Squier — “The Big Beat”
Jurassic 5 — “Jayou” vs. Herbie Hancock — “Rockit”
Kid Cudi — “Day ‘N’ Nite” vs. Black Eyed Peas — “Boom Boom Pow”
Kool Moe Dee — “How Ya Like Me Now” vs. Reel 2 Real featuring The Mad Stuntman — “I Like To Move It”
Little Richard — “Tutti Frutti” vs. Shlomo — “Beats” (Produced and mixed by DJ Yoda)
M.I.A. — “Paper Planes” vs. Eric B. & Rakim — “Eric B. Is President” (Produced and mixed by The Scratch Perverts)
M.I.A. — “Paper Planes” vs. Wale — “Lookin’ At Me”
Marvin Gaye — “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” vs. David Bowie — “Let’s Dance”
Marvin Gaye — “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” vs. Gorillaz — “Feel Good Inc.”
Motörhead — “Ace Of Spades” vs. Noisia — “Groundhog” (DJ—Guitar mix)
N.A.S.A. — “Strange Enough ft. Karen O, ODB & Fatlip” vs. Isaac Hayes — “Theme From Shaft”
Noisia — “Groundhog” Beat Juggle (Produced and mixed by The Scratch Perverts)
Paul van Dyk — “Nothing But You” vs. Sandy Rivera and David Penn — “I Can’t Stop (David Penn Remix)”
Public Enemy — “Shut ‘Em Down” vs. Beck — “Where It’s At”
Public Enemy ft. Zakk Wylde — “Bring The Noise 20XX” vs. Justice — “Genesis” (Produced and mixed by DJ Z—Trip)
Public Enemy featuring Zakk Wylde — “Bring The Noise 20XX” (DJ—Guitar mix)
Q—Tip — “Good Thang” vs. Billy Squier — “The Big Beat” (Produced and mixed by J. Period)
Queen — “Another One Bites The Dust” vs. Beastie Boys — “Brass Monkey” (Produced and mixed by DJ Z—Trip)
Queen — “Another One Bites The Dust” vs. Daft Punk — “Da Funk”
Rihanna — “Disturbia” vs. Kid Sister — “Control”
Rihanna — “Disturbia” vs. The Killers — “Somebody Told Me” (DJ—Guitar mix)
Rihanna — “Disturbia” vs. The Trammps — “Disco Inferno”
Shlomo — “Beats” vs. Billy Squier — “The Big Beat”
Street Sweeper Social Club — “Fight! Smash! Win!” vs. Beastie Boys — “Intergalactic” (DJ—Guitar mix)
Tears For Fears — “Shout” vs. DJ Shadow — “Six Days (Remix ft. Mos Def)”
Tears For Fears — “Shout” vs. Eric B. & Rakim — “Eric B. Is President” (Produced and mixed by DJ Jazzy Jeff)
Tears For Fears — “Shout” vs. Eric Prydz — “Pjanoo”
The Aranbee Pop Orchestra — “Bittersweet Symphony (Instrumental)” vs. LL Cool J — “Rock The Bells” (Produced and mixed by DJ Jazzy Jeff)
The Scratch Perverts Beats and Pieces (Produced and mixed by The Scratch Perverts)
The Killers — “Somebody Told Me” vs. Eric Prydz — “Pjanoo”
Vanilla Ice — “Ice Ice Baby” vs. MC Hammer — “U Can’t Touch This”
Vanilla Ice — “Ice Ice Baby” vs. Paula Abdul — “Straight Up”
Wale — “Lookin’ At Me” vs. Black Eyed Peas ft. Tippa Irie — “Hey Mama”
Weezer — “Beverly Hills” vs. Evidence, The Alchemist, Aceyalone, Rakaa & 88 Keys — “Fresh Rhymes And Videotape” (DJ—Guitar mix)
Wild Cherry — “Play That Funky Music” vs. Gang Starr — “Just To Get A Rep” (DJ— Guitar mix)

Sneak Preview – EA NHL 10

Josh Salem — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:07:11 +0000

andPOP was given a special opportunity to have a look at EA NHL 10 which comes out very shortly. Jordan and Josh spoke with Patrick Kane and John Tavares about being on the cover, and also had a quick play of the game. What we can say is it’s the best EA NHL game yet!

Gamer’s Mind Blog: Game Ranting

Josh Salem — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:01:17 +0000

This week’s topic: Top five video game clichés

Hey readers,

For this week’s rant, I thought I would take a page out of the Brett blog and do a top five list. Not to steal his thunder, but a topic like this has been nagging in my head for a good long while now. This week, I’m going to take a look at the top five clichés that annoy me but often pop up in video games. Perhaps because it works well in that specific title, perhaps because the story writers or coders or someone along the supply chain was lazy, perhaps we will never know but until that point, at least you, the viewers will know how I feel about them.

He does it for his country. He does it for freedom.

5) Fighting for a noble cause

Whether you are fighting through the video game story to save the one you love, the princess, or the entire world nearly every video game out there has you doing something extraordinary for someone else. Call me a little selfish, but I think I would overly enjoy a video game where people kill thousands of monsters / aliens / other people for no other reason than for personal wealth and power. Mario’s saving the princess, Sonic’s saving the forest critters, Master Chief / Marcus Fenix / Commander Shepard are fighting for the human race; hell even Nikko Belic starts fighting to save his cousin. I want to see Snake put an end to all threats on America… then start taking assignments from anyone in the world with enough cash to cover his expenses.

4) Regenerating health

He'll be ok, he just needs to sit down for a minute.

I’ve been playing a lot of Gears of War 2 since the All Fronts Collection DLC came out and one thing that always bugged me is that if you get shot to hell then sit around for a couple of seconds, you’re good to go as if you had never been hit. Not only that but the computer bad guys in these games don’t usually have these same luxuries. I feel like if I got shot at point blank with a shot gun then sat on the couch during the length of a commercial I would still most likely still be pretty upset about the wound… and bleeding… a lot. Somewhat related to this point is how food can give you your health back. Sure, you may be hungry, but that melon won’t seal up the cuts and replace the lost blood. I figure if you’re hurt, chances are you were hit. Deal with it, go visit a hospital lose a week or two in the game and move on.

This lazy bugger's supposed to save the planet?

3) Less than heroic heroes

In my book there are only a few average every day heroes. Firemen, Policemen, anyone really that puts their lives on the line on a daily basis for the greater good. Why haven’t they made an action game that depicts this? Hell, I’d even take an action game where a fireman just by chance gets warped into another dimension and has to use his skills to save an alien planet! What really annoys me is the cliché where you start off as just a kid, or even worse, a dork that gets picked on; who ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets thrown into a world saving position. Not only that but he grows into the role of this amazing hero throughout the game and by the end he’s fighting an amazingly strong monster that the professional warriors could not vanquish, he’s gained massive amounts of gold and magic, and gets the disgustingly hot princess. Then after the war is won with the world saved and everyone oblivious to their near doom, you go home and not mention a single word to anyone and have the high school bullies pick on you again as well as your mother not appreciating you. Jeeze man, tell your mother! Maybe then she’ll be proud enough to talk about you to her friends at the salon… that and you won’t have to hide your gorgeous princess in the closet anymore. On a side note, I would imagine that if some kid all of a sudden got thrown into an adventure that he would surely be killed by the first threat he encountered.

2) Final boss battles

I’m not a huge history buff or anything like that; but from the classes I’ve taken and movies I’ve seen on war it seems to me that more often than not, those leading wars and battles often are strategizers rather than fighters. Brains controlling the brawn. So why is it that in (almost) every video game, the final boss is a super strong mutant, or a giant monster, or Bowser? There are really only two video games I can think of where the boss is actually a person smart enough to organize, strategize, and pull of an invasion / war / plague. The first game that popped into my mind was Sonic the Hedgehog. Dr. Eggman is well… a genius. First off he’s a doctor, he had to go through years of evil education to get that title so I suppose he earned it and learnt a lot on the way. Secondly, all of Sonic’s biggest battles seem to be with the bad doctor’s robots and machines (the evil robot Sonic from Sonic CD and the giant Eggman robot come to mind here). After being beaten by Sonic time after time you would think Eggman would have figured out a way to either slow sonic down or speed himself up; ever think of sticky floors Eggman?

That little goldfish is the boss... not the super strong cat-monster.

The second title made me giggle as I thought about it because I thoroughly enjoyed the idea behind it. I’m talking about Earthworm Jim. Falling into the ‘less than heroic heroes’ cliché, Earthworm Jim was just that, a worm who was lucky enough to have a super powered space suit fall on his head. In Jim’s game, he faces a boss (in all 3 of his console games actually) beyond comprehension. The sheer atrocities this monster has unleashed on the world time and time again has put Jim to the test as this beast had to be stopped at all costs. The boss I speak of is none other than Bob the Killer Goldfish. In Earthworm Jim (the original game), you go through one of the hardest levels in the game only to walk up to Bob, a simple goldfish sitting in a small bowl on a table. He was smart enough to create all these defensive machines and traps… but in the end, he’s just a fish and can’t really put up a good fight. Jim just knocks over his bowl.

If you ask me, the best final bosses should be really simple while the minions directly below them be the super strong, super tough monsters that drive us wild. If anything, the final boss should even be a very graphic enticing cut scene at the end of the game. Now imagine if game creators could make a final boss that was strong AND smart… impossible.

This should be the only reason to drown in a video game.

1) Water

You’re going on a quest where you will face dangers beyond imagination, death around every corner, and in general mean bad stuff. How will you prepare? Work the muscles? Do some weapons training? No matter how much you prepare for your quest ahead you will meet with water at some point and apparently, it will kill you upon contact. This I think is the most frustrating cliché in video games. Sure in Mario games he can swim, he’s a plumber, in fact Mario can swim for days not needing to breath as he traverse the great depths of the sea (with great music in the background). Even Sonic was able to swim (but had to steal air bubbles to survive). What really hurts my brain is when super soldiers, bad ass fighters, even freakin Frogger die the moment they come in contact with natures abundant H2O. Even if you can’t swim why not bring a flotation device and keep it in your inventory. Falling into a puddle should not make me have to backtrack for a half hour and try again with one less life.

Honourable mention: Barrels and boxes

Why are some boxes perfect for cover while others are meant to be broken and hold weaponry in the middle of the street or fully cooked pork roasts? How does our hero know which boxes to dive behind in a gun fight and which to smash to find a secret item? Just once I’d like to see these two mix together and have you hide behind a crate only to have it fall apart when shot at.

And while we’re on the topic, why are all red barrels and boxes explosive? Why are there so many explosive barrels in video games? Have you yourself ever seen a highly flammable barrel in real life that was red? I feel like if I ever saw one I would hide behind a nearby crate (hopefully not one holding a lead pipe) and throw rocks at the barrel until it blew up.

Well, there you have it, my first list-organized rant on andPOP. I hope you enjoyed it and if you have any other clichés you think should have made the list feel free to post a comment below. Heck, if you thought my rant was lame, let me know too! I’m always open to constructive criticism. Except if you tell me that these clichés are or are not in specific games, these are good fun filled generalizations here for your entertainment.

Game Review: Tak and the Guardians of Gross.

sarge-ak47 — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:03:07 +0000

JUJU MAKE ME GO CRAZY.
Alright lets get one thing out of the way, I enjoy video games regardless of the age and gender they are created for. If it is a good game then I will classify it as a good game. In my books there is no such thing as a ” I guess for a kids game this is alright.” You wanna know why? Because even simple kids games have to abide by some sort of standard. And don’t get me started on those pre-preschooler games… at that young age you shouldn’t be playing games in the first place. I played Super Mario Land for the Gameboy when I was 6, it was challenging, immersible, and got me to love games ever since.

Now that’s not to say Tak and the guardians of gross is a game designed for kids, I honestly wish that were not the case but tons of things within the game lead me to believe the only person to get some mild joy out of the title would be someone around that age.

The game is the third story iteration in Tak series and after a long hiatus now returns to the Wii. Developed by Blitz games and published by THQ this game sports the nickelodeon splat right on the box letting us know that this is a fine game based on the cartoon based on the game.. In fact one of the special extras on the disc is an episode of the cartoon.

So on to the game, this third story driven iteration now finds Tak on his way to clean the temple, where upon he tries to do it the easy way and what should have been as easy as sweeping dust under the rug turns out unleashing four GIGANTIC monsters that embody everything gross. Tak tasks himself to once again seal these monsters via the help of some new JUJU masters. Each new master offers him a new magic and the motivation to take the monsters down. from there on in its about a 6 hour journey (even faster if you avoid the non-checkpoint fights and run past the baddies) through some cool looking environments and some interesting design choices. Players are generally going to be doing a lot of platforming, light fighting and a couple of aiming and driving missions. It’s key to note that most of the crucial cinematics are cartoony CGI with in-game cut-scenes every now and then. Despite the horrendous witting the voice work is passable. It’s sad and a bit unfortunate that we get to hear so little of the awesome Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld’s David Putty), the man’s voice is always welcomed and I was surprised to hear him in the game..seeing as I don’t watch the cartoon he voices.

Presentation wise things are pretty clean and simple. The Graphics are some what ho-hum, granted the Wii is not a powerful machine and this isn’t a triple A title- still we could use something that does not look like a PSP port. Honestly some areas of the game sport such dated texture work and effects that its hard to understand that this came out recently. But there is something really cool about the game, and that lies in the design of most of the levels. Some of the later stages are pitted on the actual gigantic monsters themselves, and some of the sights are truly unique and cool. The environment design gets kudos as well for picking gross themes like trash, slime, melted cheese, and what could be best described as a gassy jungle. Whats even more cool is that its apparent right away that these touches are so akin to titles like God of War (remember getting Pandora’s box?) and Shadow of the Colossus. So what at first seems like dated visuals gets a notch up in terms of creativity and some truly cool scenes in the game.

Sound wise things couldn’t be worse. I’ve mentioned how I only loved the voice work of David putty.. besides that everyone sports a passive delivery of the horrible lines. It’s an audio assault to hear Tak yammer on about how he can use his wall running skills.. or how he can hit that.. or how he is afraid of heights. The music on the other hand is a surprise, with noticeable ambient sounds and subtle music that kicks in at the right moments. In fact one of the tracks seems so familiar to what I’ve heard in God of War. The soundtrack is a definite plus and probably the most polished thing about this game.

Game play is a mix of light linear platforming – with the occasional cool element that is oddly placed once every hour. The combat is light, very light, in fact you don’t even have to utilize the very few moves at your disposal. I found myself just bashing B over and over until the guys dropped. Occasionally I ended up using an area clearing supermove which is charged by the orbs of fallen enemies. Sure there is a vault move.. a charging tackle.. but really all you gotta do is bash B for the majority of encounters. There are some cool context sensitive take downs that result in some very God of War moments (they really love that game from the looks of things) that just scream excitement, but they’re few and far in between. The boss fights are as linear as the levels with only a couple of places that had me scratching my head- then I realized it was the fact that I could not see that ledge due to the games poor camera. Wii platform games are running into a lot of problems. Aside of Mario Galaxy, no one has seemed to nailed down the camera, and it’s rather sad since we all know how intuitive and hassle free galaxy’s camera was. But the camera will cause a lot of frustrations by positioning you in odd perspectives that will make your jumps seem like leaps of faith and moments were your next objective is not visible due to a poor vantage point. I should note that the simplicity of the game and it’s linear nature make it ideal for young kids, but they deserve better camera and gameplay if you ask me. And God forbid should any of those young ones pick up Tak and his annoying phrases, that alone would be disastrous.. that’s assuming they are not fans of the cartoon. If they are, they will love the game and it’s farty sense of humor.

This is a wii game and controls are very important. Granted I have given up on finding new and innovative control solutions via most third party devs, I still wont knock on a control scheme that isn’t broken. In Tak the controls are relatively simple. You run via standard nunchuck and press A and B for jump and attack. the Z button is mapped for vaulting over enemies, context sensitive actions, and wall running ala Prince of Persia. The only gripe I have is that the magic button is mapped to C on the nunchuck. It gets a bit tricky when you have a context sensitive action followed by a magic display. But besides that the controls work well and don’t require intense use of gestures and awkward motions. There are a few minigames that take advantage of the IR sensor and one that requires you to shake your Wii-mote, but things are relatively cool.

There isn’t much here in terms of replay, the game gets you a solid 6 hour session with mini games for a multiplayer session, the mini games are a bit shallow and ridiculous, but there are one or two out of the handful that might make you smile. There is a standard challenge mode designed to revisit some of the games areas, some cool picture mini games that are used to unlock and view the games concept art and as I mentioned before, an episode of the show.

Ultimately Tak is a game that leaves one confused. Can kids really like stuff like this? Well it’s worth a rental to the die hard fan of the show or previous games, defiantly worth a try to see some cool colossi monsters moving as you scale them, but in the end the series has refused to evolve and fix some of the problems of the original. The game feels dated and at times really lacks any of the depth of modern and classic platform titles. Go play Mario Galaxy, try out Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, the Jak and Daxter series and then if your really bored or if your young sibling/cousin/child has played them all and loves them TAK cartoons.. rent this one for them.

Game play    2/5
Graphics    2/5
Sound          3/5
Replay         2/5

BMW M3 GT2 Shifts onto Cover of NFS SHIFT

David Barmak — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 21:55:18 +0000

Fans of the Need for Speed franchise may have to wait until fall to get Need for Speed SHIFT, EA’s latest entry in the 15 year franchise. But they may rejoice with the knowledge that the BMW M3 GT2 will be featured on the cover of the newest game. EA had the game on showcase at E3 this week, where gamers got their hands on it for the first time.

Players will have 65 cars to choose from. The game boasts a diverse selection ranging from the classic 1972 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R to the exotic 2007 Lamborghini Reventón. The tracks will include newly designed circuits and actual locations like the legendary 20km Nordschleife in Nürburg, Germany.

NFS fans should already know what to expect. “Need for Speed SHIFT is about the intense power and emotion of being behind the wheel,” said Patrick Soderlund, senior vice president, EA Games Europe. The game is being developed for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC by Slightly Mad Studios in London, England. EA’s Bright Light Studio is developing a version for the PSP. Need for Speed SHIFT ships on September 22, 2009 in North America.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Downloadable Content Now Available

Josh Salem — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:29:21 +0000

Just a heads up for those loving the new X-Men Origins: Wolverine game by Activision (or those who have grown tired of the story mode already). We now have the ability to download the Weapon X arena, yes, the very same arena DLC that came with a Wolverine pre-order is now available to the masses on both Xbox 360 for 800 Microsoft points, and Playstation 3 for $9.99.

The Arena is comprised of four combat simulators for your gory enjoyment. In the Custom Combat arena, Logan potentials can ‘grow’ and combination of enemies (big or small) to fight, creating your ultimate brawl dreams including Sentinel Prototypes, Machine Gunners, Machete Men and more! As well, the Ladder Challenge mode gives those that have fought ever enemy in the game the ability to fight through an onslaught of preconfigured challenges, starting weak and easy and growing gradually until the room fills with the hardest battles imaginable; there are 50 ‘levels’ to plough through in this mode. The Environmental Simulator gives you the ability to utilize all the environmental weapons throughout the game, things like broken tree branches, electric panels and all the fun stuff you can throw enemies into are all here for your Canadian chucking pleasure. Finally the Weapon X Arena provides an extra bonus room that has heightened enemy reaction effects.

So you heard it here folks, those Wolverine fans that didn’t get the pre-order no longer have to wallow in self pity that they don’t have access to this arena because now for 800 MS points or $10 bucks, you too can have hours of mutilating mutation entertainment!

Game Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Uncaged Edition

Josh Salem — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:58:53 +0000

Logan, Weapon X, James, Jimmy, Wolverine. Whatever you want to call him, there’s no denying he’s one of the biggest names in super-hero history. Then why has he been so hard to franchise for? Could it be that it’s hard to market a children’s video game where the main character is a raging animal? Could it be that with such a deep story line a game could never encompass everything that wolverine is? Could it be that it’s hard to have a game where players can die, when the character himself has survived bullets in the brain, being ripped in half, AND walking directly into the sun? For these reasons and more I feel there has never been a video game that has done wolverine justice… that is, until now.

With the increasing level of quality connected to licensed games (Spiderman: Web of Shadows and Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Athena come to mind), X-Men: Origins: Wolverine raises the bar with this exceptional title. It could be because in the past only children played games, but as those children grew up, they required more adult oriented action. Enter Wolverine. This is by far one of the bloodiest, gruesome-ist, and most stylized carnage I have ever had the pleasure of controlling, and after the lack of blood found in the X-Men: Origins: Wolverine movie, I felt this was much needed.

Origins, like any other game based on a movie, follows the main character, Wolverine, as he progresses through the story, based on the movie, based on the comic. However, where the movie would zig, the game would zag, including much more action, fighting, character depth, super powered villains and dismemberment than the movie had. While I enjoyed the movie as both a comic geek and an action enthusiast, I feel it would have been a lot more enjoyable had it tied closer to what this game represented. As a single player story title, Origins is most comparable to the God of War franchise, same graphical style, same amount of gore (although I feel Origins wins out here a little), and same perspective. You control Wolverine, beginning in a jungle fighting off tribal locals you quickly understand why he’s ‘the best there is at what he does, and what he does isn’t very nice’. Utilizing your fighting knowledge, claws, mutant powers such as berserker mode, feral sense and other manoeuvres (such as combos similar to God of War) you make your way through the game, more or less along the same path as the movie.

Now, there are a couple of mechanics I feel must be explained before we go into the graphical aspect, feral sense is a little odd, the screen will go black and white for a little while in which time you will see explosive objects in red, environmental objects in green, and other objects of interest in orange allowing you to see exactly what is around you easily. As well, feral sense can help you figure out where you need to head to progress through the game via a weird Donny Darko style wormhole coming out of you (or by following footprints during specific parts of the game). There are mutagens spread throughout the game as well that can be upgraded three levels and give you various bonuses such as increased health, increased reflex learning and so on, you can also unlock three separate mutagens to use at the same time to make your perfect killing machine. Continuing on with reflexes, based on the different types of bad guys you fight (robots, gunner, knife wielders, etc) you gain experience from killing these people and begin to learn how to kill them much more efficiently, through reflexes, after killing enough of them, you ‘gain a level’ against those specific bad guys and can improve this up to three levels as well. For those who have tried the older Punisher game from a few years back will also be reminiscent of environmental kills. Throughout the game Wolverine has the ability to perform gruesome one hit kills by impaling bad guys on tree stumps, throwing them into electric grids and so on. Horrific and efficient. You gain experience much like God of War, and throughout the game you find special soldier corpses that hold dog tags, collect these tags for extra experience and achievement bonuses as well.

Throughout the game you will also find, hidden (of course) a number of action figures, collect enough and you can unlock one of three extra costumes from Wolverine’s history. So to recap the collectables throughout the game, we have dog tags for experience, mutagens to increase abilities, action figures to unlock costumes, and as well, there are health increase items to find. Finally the last aspect unique to Wolverine is that he’s nearly indestructible, adamantium skeleton and mutant healing means he takes a beating and keeps on going. So how did they fix this issue in game? By introducing two different health bars, the first is kind of like Wolverine’s mutant healing, your standard health bar, but if you don’t get a hit for a while, it heals up fairly quickly. The second is a circle with a heart in it, this essentially shows his vital organ status. After taking enough damage and having the first bar depleted, Wolverine’s REAL health starts to lessen and takes a longer time to replenish. Once both health bars are gone, Wolverine is ‘captured’ or his mission ‘fails’ and you have to restart from the last checkpoint, never once do they ever say he died, because well… if he was able to die so quickly, chances are he would have long ago.

Graphically I truly enjoyed Origins, there was a high level of detail to be found in every varying level (from jungle, to snowy lake for example) and while some games go over the edge to a point where it’s hard to see anything, Wolverine’s feral sense takes care by simplifying your view. Blood splatters, grainy sand and destroyable environments (as well as destructive environments) means you’ll always be able to appreciate your surroundings when taking a break to heal or relax. Wolverine’s visualization was by far one of my favourite aspects of the game. Any damage he takes is shown on his person. Bullets hit him, bullet wounds appear, shotgun to the chest, hole in chest until it heals up. And his tank top keeps getting torn apart. As realistic as an X-Men game can be! Animation styling is also high up there, as Wolverine gets smashed into the ground by a big bad guy or thrown across the room by Sabretooth, you see limbs flail and even want to flinch at the pain inflicted upon him, but you don’t, instead you smile and keep on playing.

Wolverine sounds like Hugh Jackman in the game, and Liev Schrieber sounds like Victor Creed in the game. How could they get such good voice actors for a video game based on a movie? Well the answer is simple, because the voices you hear in game are in fact, Hugh Jackman and and Liev Schrieber! Unlike most other video game movies in the past, they hired on most of the same people to voice their virtual counterparts throughout the entire game, making the production value for this title that much more prestigious. As well, when Logan pops radio headsets into his ear and you hear the surrounding chatter, it gives a little bit of an edge, having a little knowledge of what will pop out based on what the bad guys are saying. Otherwise your standard fare of screams, growls, artillery and metal scraping on metal balance out the rest of the audio entertainment in this game.

Over all I was surprised by two things in this title. First, I was surprised that I actually found it good! After the Iron Man game, I feared the worst, but this title was actually full of value and entertaining! The second surprise was that since it seemed like a lot of repetitive slashing and maiming, I thought I would bore quickly of this game, but really, I played it for a good long time before beating it and even after that I wanted to play again on hard mode! Not many games make me want to do that. As well, apparently if you pre-ordered this title, you received a code to download the Origins arena which (I’m told) gives you access to hours of impaling bad guys or cutting off limbs… not sure what else it offers. As well, watch out which version you get for X-Men: Origins: Wolverine as the PS3 and Xbox 360 have the un-caged edition (meaning you fight humans and there is a lot of blood) vs. the normal edition for PS2, Wii, DS, and PSP. These versions lack blood or humans to chop up… and in the end, that’s what makes this title so much better!

Gameplay: 5/5
Graphics: 4.5/5
Sound: 4/5
Replay Value: 4/5

Vin Diesel To Star In Wheelman Movie

Eva Lam — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:00:32 +0000

“Fast and Furious” star Vin Diesel is getting ready to break all sorts of road rules again as the star of Paramount Pictures’ “The Wheelman.”

According to Variety, the movie is a live-action adaptation of the Diesel-produced Ubisoft videogame “Wheelman,” which hit store shelves last month.

The game features the voice and visage of Diesel himself as the main character, an expert driver who emerges from retirement to help a woman from his past. His mission takes him to Barcelona, where he gets tangled up in the middle of a gang war.

John Singleton, who directed the “2 Fast 2 Furious” sequel,” is attached to helm the movie version.

A production start date has yet to be announced.

Game Review: The Chronicles Of Riddick – Assault On Dark Athena

Josh Salem — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:15:31 +0000

Testosterone, check. Darkness, check. Funky glasses, check. You ARE Vin Diesel. The sequel, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, released 5 years after Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay puts everyone’s favourite night seeing, space flying protagonist from the motion picture Pitch Black in yet another action packed sci-fi. Yes, that’s right, this IS a movie licensed video game, but wait, don’t leave, don’t click that close button because Dark Athena isn’t all that bad!

Still with me? Good! Dark Athena takes place shortly after Escape from Butcher Bay ends, as such (I don’t want to spoil anything, but the game came out 5 years ago!) you begin with yourself and Johns in stasis on a ship, your stasis short circuited and you woke early. The benefit of this coincidence is that you get to see your ship being reeled in like a trout by one of the scariest looking ships I have ever seen, the Dark Athena. The mercenaries (or space pirates, whatever you want to call them) board your ship with just enough time for you to hide in the darkness (a recurring theme in this game) and watch as they break your ship and capture Johns, who spends a lot of time sleeping throughout the game. It’s up to you, Riddick, Vin Diesel, the only chance of getting the other prisoners off the ship and the only one capable of pulling off the feat, to kick some ass.

Dark Athena is a first person action game, with elements of stealth, platforming, and melee combat. For the first few hours you have nothing more to defend yourself with but a hairpin and your trust Ulaks (a pair of odd shaped knives). During this point, the shadows are your friend as you stealthily take down drone after drone. The stealth aspect is key for a number of reasons, when you enter stealth mode the screen will turn a blue hue to show that you are in the dark, at this time, unless a bad guy saw you wander into the shadows, you’re nearly impossible to find. The second reason is due to Riddick’s unique ability of Eyeshine, when you turn this feature on, it gives you limited night vision, as this is one of the darkest games I have ever played, Eyeshine will be your best friend as you venture throughout the ship. As you are just one person caught unprepared, Riddick lacks any real weapons for a long time or any sort of motion detector or radar found in most other games, BUT, he does have the ability to lean, peering above crates or around corners is his only means of scouting out the areas ahead.

Graphically, Dark Athena’s a mixed bag, some of the rendering looks amazing, and textures used are extremely detailed. One thing that bothered me however was the quality of detail on Riddick vs. the rest of the characters in the game. It makes sense that they would spend the most time on the main character, but the comparison between him and anyone else is almost the difference between night and day. Blood is also plentiful as this is by far one of the more gruesome games I have ever played. Utilizing a hair pin, you may sneak up on a drone and stab him through the neck, or depending on timing, direction and weapon, there are many MANY horrible-to-watch-but-cant-look-away deaths to enjoy. Now onto the bad, Riddick’s Eyeshine is good and all, however, at times it doesn’t actually work, or do that much to help you as you can be blinded by flashlights. As well, when climbing boxes or shimmying along poles, Dark Athena switches from a first person perspective to third. While it would be nearly impossible to do these feats in first person, it totally takes the player out of the story and if it’s at an extremely intense moment, can pull you out of the story line faster than… well… faster than something I shouldn’t say on this website. Overall, the game is extremely cinematic, with pacing, plot, dialog and intense cut scenes, almost as though Universal wanted to continue the Riddick story but felt that movies would be the wrong approach.

Listening to Dark Athena was surprisingly pleasant. One would think with Vin Diesel voicing a character that looked just like him would be annoying for the average gamer. One would also think that the logical choice would be to voice the character by the actor portraying it… so I guess it makes sense. The game is filled with characters chatter, ambient noises, dramatic music (which changes when bad guys have spotted you, another helping mechanic), and Diesel monologues. The monologues started out feeling really weird, but as you progress through the game, these asides become deeper, darker, and feel more like a movie narrator then Vin saying he is the darkness. One thing I must point out though is that this game is EXTREMELY expletive. There are so many F-bombs that my mother, one who knows profanity extremely well, was offended by the cursing she heard come from the TV. The commentary from every day drones gets a little repetitive however, for example, whenever you use a tranquilizer gun on a controlled drone, each and every time they say the exact same line, “F-ck I’m losing my feed man” considering the amount of time it takes between getting the tranq gun and a real gun, I must have heard this line at least 50 times.

For the most part, Dark Athena plays pretty well, there are a few cumbersome glitches that I would have hoped to be found through game testing (try attacking and then quickly blocking, or turning off Eyeshine with any option involving the ‘y’ button being offered), there are some really cool aspects (such as the extremely gruesome one hit kills and controlling a drone yourself), and there are some really creepy aspects (expanding your health involved getting stabbed multiple times by the scariest machine I have ever seen), but the real treat of this game is what you get for the price of admission. Not only do you get access to Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena, but you also gain access to online multiplayer mayhem… but wait, there’s more! Packaged on the same disc is a graphically enhanced version of the Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, the 2004 prequel to Dark Athena! Two games for the price of one!

The online multiplayer aspect is your general fair, simple, nothing overly special, very quake like. The multiplayer is extremely quick: quick to kill, quick to die, quick to respawn. Really it’s mostly just that whoever shoots first, kills the other player then dies from the next battle encounter. Rinse and Repeat. While there are plenty of modes, weapons, and maps to choose from, two were extra interesting in my mind. Butcher Bay riot mode has guards, prisoners, and mercs playing three way capture the flag where as Pitch Black mode has you hunting down Riddick in the pitch black with nothing but a gun and flashlight, and whoever kills him, becomes him. These online modes would be extra fun if two things were available: 1) there wasn’t such a lag issue, and 2) if there were actually enough people to play online with. Butcher Bay has the same design, controls, graphics, and mechanics as Dark Athena, so for all intensive purposes, You’re basically getting two full campaigns for the price of one, add on all the (albeit lame) unlockables from both campaigns and this might be the FPS to tie you over during the spring gaming drought.

Overall, if you were a fan of Butcher Bay, you owe it to yourself (and Vin) to pick up this title, if you’re a fan of Doom type games (which this, I feel, is a step beyond) pick this title up, if you like two for one deals, why not pick this game up? However, if you’re looking for a good multiplayer title, you might want to pass on Dark Athena. If Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is the future of licensed gaming, I welcome more cross-platform synergies. Hopefully this is a trend starter and not just a one shot deal, I don’t think I can handle any more games like Iron Man.

Gameplay: 4/5

Graphics: 4.5/5

Sound: 4/5

Replay Value: 4.5/5

Game Review: Pokemon Platinum

Josh Salem — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:58:28 +0000

I was the very best, like no one ever was. I caught them all, as my real test, I trained them as my cause. I had travelled across the land, I searched far and wide. Each Pokémon I did understand, the power that’s inside. The question is, since I already did this with Pokémon Red, Pokémon Gold, and Pokémon Diamond, is it really worth it to go another round with Pokémon Platinum? As it turns out, maybe not as much as I think. If you were to compare this newest addition to the over 5 series of Pokémon titles out there, Pokémon Diamond to Pokémon Platinum would be the same comparison to Pokémon Red to Pokémon Yellow. What I mean by this is that it is the same game, same characters, and same story line but with a few new additions and changes. For this reason I won’t go too deep into the game but rather discuss all there is to do (and believe me, there is A LOT to do) and the new additions to this title.

Developed by Game Freaks and published by Nintendo, you play the role of a young boy or girl (with different clothing than in Pokémon Diamond) in the world of Sinnoh, you and your friend decide to go get some Pokémon (which by the way are a variety of almost 500 little monsters you capture, befriend and train to battle for you), when you are stopped by a Pokémon researcher, he gives both of you a choice of three starting Pokémon and your off on your very own adventure of growth and life lessons.

As I mentioned before, this game is big, aside from the actual story, there is so much to do from collecting all the Pokémon (some which only come out at night, some only on certain days, some only when you cover a tree in honey, trade with another player, trade with another player while your Pokémon holds a specific item, while fishing, while running through a forest, underground, by hatching eggs, and so on…) to cooking to breeding. Utilizing your Pokémon’s specific attack set, and type, players compete in this strategy / RPG video games.

Graphically the game looks like a cleaned up super Nintendo title, with small pixilated images that move and higher quality statics graphics during battles and ‘cut-scenes’. Essentially the graphics haven’t changed all that drastically since the first Pokémon title on the original game boy. Audio-wise we’re looking at the same deal. With the catchy (but sometimes annoying) Pokémon jingle, different sounds for each Pokémon (to simulate their communication skills) and sounds for each action, it can again be considered only a slight improvement over the original.

So if this is a redux of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, then what’s new? Essentially a new dimension has appeared, the mysterious new Distortion World (no saving for creativity in the name). Within this Distortion World new forms of Pokémon ‘beyond time and space’ exist, most notably Giratina Origin Forme (that weird spider looking monster on the cover). As well, three new online Wi-Fi minigames and an up to 20-person Wi-Fi plaza to take part in parades and see fireworks shows. New additions such as a vs. recorder also allow players to show off their victories, or rub it in their friends faces again and again, as well as connectivity with older Pokémon titles all the way down to Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. The most notable and useful addition however are the new characters and story tweaks to keep collectors that have played Diamond and Pearl interested.

All in all, if you’re a Pokefreak that has to collect them all, or just a fan and wanting to relive the Pokémon feeling again, I suggest picking up Platinum to hold and enjoy as your very own. Otherwise the similarities between this and the last set don’t necessarily warrant a new purchase. If you haven’t picked up the title since Red Blue or Yellow, you might want to see how widely the galaxy of Pokémon has expanded. But be warned, it may seem a little overwhelming comparative to what you first knew of Pokémon.

Gameplay: 4/5

Graphics: 3/5

Sound: 3/5

Replay Value: 3/5