Games of Christmas: Arkham City
Batman listens to our Podcast. Do you?
So we got behind on Podcasts for a bit there. Here’s our solution: Between now and Christmas we’ll be releasing several Podcasts each about one game released this Q4. Kicking off with Arkham City right here. Heber and Stephen discuss Arkham City and eventually Batman in general for well over an hour. This Podcast goes into heavy spoilers after about 15 minutes but well warn you. Also don’t forget to check out Heber’s weird Bad Photoshop blog thing, Stephen thinks the Harry Potter one is good. Follow Stephen and Heber on Twitter as well.
The Chronic Reload Podcast is our podcast for Irish Gaming News and is released every two weeks. In the weeks between these we talk about everything and anything in The Chronic Rant Podcast. Don’t forget you can subscribe to both podcasts in iTunes here.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (67.0MB)
Continue →Sega Dreamcast Collection
The Dreamcast had only Four Games... Right?
Remember the Dream cast!? Of course you do. My memories of Sega’s last venture into the console market are tainted with guilt. I can still picture my Aunty asking me whether she should get my uncle a Playstation or a Dreamcast for his birthday. Quick as a flash I shouted ‘Dreamcast, the graphics are amaaaazing.’ Oh how naïve I was. History has taught me that graphics are not the be-all-end-all of gaming, and that particular Dreamcast is still sitting in an attic gathering dust with a handful of games in a plastic Dunne’s bag.
Continue →Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes Review
Might & Magic: Clash Hero’s represents a near perfect match of puzzle mechanics and RPG elements which I’m a complete sucker for. It was originally a Nintendo DS game, which as a hand held is the perfect platform for puzzle games but I’m glad Ubisoft have now made it available to download on Xbox 360 as its such a genuinely unique and well thought out game.
The plot follows five young adventurers who have been thrown together in order to stop demons from taking over the world. Its set in the Might & Magic universe but don’t worry, you really don’t have to know anything about it. Its a stand alone story featuring wizards, elves, knights and dark forces. That is all you need.
Continue →Torchlight XBLA – Review
Torchlight arrived on the PC’s way back in 2009 and to be a huge hit. No-one expected much but once it was played, word of mouth and some crazy price drops, propelled it into stardom. Since the new XBLA console iteration was announced, the lazy part of me was really looking forward to being able to lay back on the couch and play a ‘living-room’ version of the PC game which I had sunk countless of hours into.
If you aren’t familiar with Torchlight, you can choose to play as one of three characters, either an Alchemist, Destroyer or Vanquisher, each with different abilities and weapon classes. You’ll explore the mines beneath the town of Torchlight killing monsters picking up gold and grabbing tonnes of loot, as you collect weapon sets, craft items, and feed your pet items to turn them into different types of creatures to fight by your side.
When launched, Torchlight was a PC game through and through. Players would use their mouse to click their way down through the levels, on enemies and practically everything. So would the game be able to translate well from PC to Xbox? Thankfully Runic Games have done a great job at utilizing the Xbox controller with the character movement on the controllers analogue stick being particularly smooth and the navigation thorough a plethora of menus without a mouse or keyboard was not a bad as I thought it might be. Spells and items are mapped to different buttons on the controller and I soon got used it, possibly even preferring it to the PC.
The games retains the highly stylised characters and environments from its PC predecessor and it still looks excellent. There are a few bonus features that Xbox fans will be given including new armour sets, new quests, and a new pet called a Chakawary. I chose him to see what he was like and the best way to describe him would be to compare him to the dinosaur in Jurassic Park that spits in the fat guys face, then eats him.
With a new console friendly streamlined version of Torchlight, I think Runic Games are going to see their biggest success to-date. It has everything, eye-popping environments and character models, great voice work and a sweeping musical score. Couple this with a variety of difficulty settings to appease all levels of gamers and a mountain of different loot items, you’re probably going to come back to the game quite a few times.
The story is somewhat lacking, but for me wasn’t really important when tracking down quests and taking on the beastly minions. All to easily I lost track of time whilst exploring the depths of the mines, which was great for the gamer in me, but bad for the real life priorities like eating and leaving the house. If you’ve enjoyed similar Dungeon crawler games on the PC such as the Diablo series, you will love this, if you haven’t played this style of game before I’d still recommend picking it up. Its has something for everyone, its deep enough to satisfy even the hardiest of loot hoarders but also approachable for novices to the genre. A must have.
Continue →
Review: Bulletstorm
Let me just get this off my chest: I wanted to hate Bulletstorm. I really did. And from the moment the game’s relatively short campaign mode began right up until it’s disappointing ending, I felt like Bulletstorm wanted me to hate it too. In fairness, there really is so much to dislike: it’s crass, obnoxious and altogether pretty derivative. So why the hell do I like it so much?
The answer, unfortunately, is not immediately clear. As Bulletstorm’s relatively brief campaign begins to unfold; we’re treated to perhaps the weakest opening hour of any game in recent memory. An overly long tutorial sequence, laced with unskippable in-game cut-scenes and pointless quick-time events, dominates any first impressions the game might leave. This, coupled with an extremely slow progession of weapon unlocks means one could easily mistake Bulletstorm for a terrible, terrible game.
Then, suddenly, everything falls into place. The game’s “kill with skill” mechanic is introduced - albeit justified with some seriously contrived logic – and everything begins to make sense. Though it presents itself as some generic, run-and-gun first person shooter, Bulletstorm really is anything but.
Continue →Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 – Review
In 2008 Capcom published an updated re-make of the NES classic Bionic Commando. It came with a fantastic chip-tune soundtrack and was a great looking version of a twenty year old game but crucially still retained the unique swinging mechanics and lack of ability to jump which made it more tactical, and led it to stand out among other platform games.
With Bionic Commando Rearmed 2, I felt none of that charm. The best way to describe it is to compare it to a straight to video sequel of a more popular original film – its now a Home Alone 4 to the classic Home Alone – if you forgive the analogy. That being said, you still can have some fun with the game.
The biggest change that Capcom touted was that the main character, Spencer, could now jump in order to vault over barrels, cross small gaps and perform you new Death from Above attack. Its really not that big of a game changer as for the most part I just used it to climb over barrels or barriers which often proved an annoyance in the first game. The swinging mechanic is just as good as it always was.
The game play is still fun to play around with. Like its predecessor, BCR2 retains some great boss fights to figure out and swinging about collecting power ups for your claw-arm-grapplehook is still enjoyable but it has to be said the normal enemies are still pretty much useless and offer up little resistance as you unleash hell on them.
Since the first game was released, downloadable games have gotten better and better, both visually and technically. Rearmed 2 feels like it is a two year old game and although it looks decent, it really lacks the polish of other downloadable titles coming out at the minute. Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 is not a bad game but its lost its individual charm, now making it just another mediocre platformer among hundreds of others.
Continue →Dead Space 2 Review
It’s strange to think that it’s been almost 3 years since the last Dead Space was released and yet here we are in 2011 being served up another dish of severed limbs, blood spattered hallways and homage-so-close-to-the-original-it-could-be-copyright-infringement. But does this highly hyped and heavily advertised sequel live up to its critically acclaimed predecessor? The short answer is no.
The original Dead Space was a highly enjoyable affair altogether, it was tense and atmospheric (never quite hit the scary button), had tight controls and was a hell of a lot of fun. Now Dead Space borrowed heavily from games like Resident Evil, Silent Hill and the Half Life Series. It also borrowed from films like Event Horizon, Sunshine and 2001: A Space Odyssey but still managed to feel fresh and original. This is not a surprise however as Dead Space was merely a genre piece and obviously had elements indicative of that genre. If you look at its influences, they also have borrowed heavily. Sunshine from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Silent Hill from Resident Evil. It was using these elements in a way that didn’t feel stale or uninteresting that was the challenge and one I believe Dead Space rose up to and even superseded. (more…)
Continue →Review: Super Meat Boy
For a while now I’ve been worrying more and more about the movement of the games industry towards the casual market. The existence of this trend is pretty much indisputable nowadays, with the introduction of the Kinect and the Move lending themselves all too well to that family-friendly genre of “casual” games. Gone are the days when games were too difficult, too inaccessible to merit a broad appeal. For a growing number of gamers, the opposite is in fact the case: games are becoming too easy.
It’s perhaps as a direct result of this phenomenon that I instantly loved Super Meat Boy. Compared with the current norms of playability and accessibility, SMB stands alone as a tremendously, brilliantly, sublimely hard game. There’s no hand-holding, no “auto-steer”, no checkpoints and definitely no Kinect support; there’s just you, the controller and a whole load of excellently-designed platforming levels to play through.
Super Meat Boy’s premise is a simple one: you play as the lovable-though-slightly-grotesque Meat Boy, as he tries to rescue his girlfriend Bandage Girl (who, as the game’s own blurb helpfully describes, happens to be made of bandages). Her kidnapper is the nefarious Dr Fetus, a character for whom the word “prick” was undoubtedly invented. The game sees Meat Boy navigating through levels filled with rotating blades, homing missile launchers, plenty of lava and many unidentifiable monsters. The levels are short, and you can expect to die many, many times before finishing some of the tougher ones. Despite its difficulty, the game is fun, satisfying and above all completely fair.
This is, believe it or not, one of the easier levels of Super Meat Boy
The game’s graphics are basic. Its cutscenes are low on animation, but still succeed in conveying both hilarious and touching moments with ease. It should be clear by now, but this is a game that depends more on its pure gameplay than flashy visuals or beautifully rendered cutscenes. At times, Super Meat Boy apes the visual style of retro platforms, and this it does perfectly.
Super Meat Boy’s soundtrack is particularly noteworthy. Each world is distinctly themed, and the in-game music plays an integral role in shaping this theme. The music is a brilliantly intense mix of metal, funk, rock and some retro midi stuff. I’d almost say the game is worth buying for the soundtrack alone, with such tracks as the forest boss theme and the cotton alley theme adding so much to an already well-realised game world.
The core conceit of SMB’s gameplay mechanic lives or dies by its controls. In order for a game to rely so heavily on pinpoint-accurate jumps and moment-perfect timing, it needs to have a control scheme that is both intuitive and tighter than tight. Luckily, Super Meat Boy delivers both in spades. I died literally thousands of times playing this game, and not once did I ever feel that my death was the “game’s fault”. The controls are among the best I’ve ever encountered.
As a whole, the gameplay is devilishly addictive. All levels must be completed in a single life, and after you die you’re instantly brought back to the start of the level for another go. When you eventually do complete a level, you’re presented with a replay of all of your attempts played together at once. This is a nice touch that only adds to the immense rush of satisfaction gained from completing any of the games toughest levels.
Dr Fetus lays down the law
The game boasts a huge level of replayability, with “dark world” versions of each level adding an even more difficult challenge to those who complete the main story. User-created levels are being added to both the PC and Xbox versions as time goes on, and owners of the PC version will soon be able to create and share their own levels with the new level creator and portal. Add to this the many unlockable characters (each with their own unique abilities) as well as the collectable bandages hidden across the game world, and you’re left with a game that wont get old any time soon.
So maybe Super Meat Boy isn’t for everyone. The game requires a level of dexterity (not to mention patience) that probably wont be found in plentiful supply in casual gamers. Let’s be honest though, they were never the target market here. If you’re looking for a family-friendly, pick-up-and-play, “hey grandma you should try this” type of game, avoid SMB at all costs. However, if you’re looking for a fun, funny, challenging and infinitely rewarding experience, look no further than Super Meat Boy.
Super Meat Boy is available now to download on PC and Xbox 360
Continue →Halo Reach: Noble Map Pack
So this is Christmas and what have you learned? Well if you’re a gamer, you’ve probably learned that so many titles came out in the last month or two that you really cant decide which title you want to devote your time too. Currently the big game online is Call of Duty: Black Ops, but not so long ago it if your memory hasn’t been wiped by continuous air strikes, attack dogs, and remote controlled explosives, it was Halo Reach.
The folks over at Bungie definitely haven’t forgotten this; they’ve made a damn good game and they want to make sure that people keep playing it and getting the most value out of its online offerings. With this in mind, on the 30th of November Bungie released the first new map pack for Halo Reach.
The map pack entitled the “Noble Map pack” costs 800 Microsoft Points (roughly €9.30) and if you’re a fan of the series, and can’t get enough of your Halo, is well worth the bang for your buck. The pack itself is comprised of three separate maps, two large scale maps for 8-16 players and one smaller scale map for 2-8 players (for when you just cant find enough people to play with or your connection speed doesn’t deal so well with large battles).
The smaller scale map is called “Anchor 9” and is set within a low orbit-dry dock it is made up of narrow hallways with a central open hangar bay (perfect for good old fashioned close combat).
The two larger maps are called “Tempest” and “Breakpoint”. Tempest is set on a snowy mountain tops with a number of crevices and bridges surrounding the peak and contains a number of tunnels and lab buildings for shelter; it’s perfect for those big team battles.“Breakpoint” is set on a rocky piece of terrain bordered by the sea. If you’re a fan of the Halo series, think of it as Halo 3’s classic Valhalla map with a scenic ocean view. This map has all you need for a big team assault.
So there you have it, three maps for 800 Microsoft Points, if you’ve bought these kind of packs before it’s a pretty standard offering, however to sweeten the deal Bungie have thrown in a couple of little extras. Firstly, you can take these maps into Forge and edit them to create your own versions and game modes which you can then share with the Halo Reach Community. Secondly, for all you point obsessed perfectionists Bungie has included an additional bunch of achievements worth 250 gamerscore points for you to unlock.
I’ve been playing reach for quite some time and was finding the included existing maps to get worn, if you enjoy reach and are looking to add some freshness back into the online game play then I’d highly recommend investing in this add-on.
Continue →Review: Fable 3
Fable III is the latest in Peter Molynuex’s series of choose your own destiny, action, swordy, good or evil bang bang, magic fantasy based games. Once again Molynuex has spent a long time harping on about how this game “will do what has never been done before!” And once again what he actually means is “there’s even more bars that slide from good to evil!” Fable III enthralled me in some places and confused me in others. So let’s start with the enthralling bit.
Fable III is all about revolution, Albion has moved on to the industrial age. You play as the son or daughter of Fable II’s Hero, however your older sibling has become a corrupt tyrant. After fleeing the castle with John Cleese and Theóden, it’s time to gain the support and trust of an army of English Celebrities in order to take the throne and do things your way. Albion is a land with a wonderfully British sense of humour, it’s not quite Terry Prachett but it does the job. The world looks lovely and it’s art style and design is spot on. Each village has its own luck and feel, the gloom of industrial Bowerstone contrasts against the glimmering villages outside it. You’ll spend most of your time in villages and towns but when out on the road your character can only walk on the path. Though sometimes you may be looking at a beautiful vista, it’s like being in a zoo, you can’t interact with it. You will however spend plenty of time interacting with characters who have their own silly little quirks. None shows this more than one delightful mission where the player is transported by three “Game Designers” into a “Game Realm” that they have designed. This excellent parody features the three bickering over game design principles, including an important lever which has about fifteen arrows pointing to it and how perhaps they should throw in a standard enemy encounter. Moments like these remain Fable III’s strong point and distinguish it from other games far more than it’s other much touted revolutionary features.
Ugly Bowerstone
Pretty Caves
Fable III attempts to completely remove the standard RPG menu system. Instead of a pause menu from which you can equip items, the player is transported to “The Sanctuary” where they are welcomed by the same John Cleese voice clip every single time… The Sanctuary acts as a Batcave where all weapons and clothes are kept on display, to change items walk up to one and pick it up. Likewise leveling up has been replaced with “The Road to Rule” which can be accessed from the Sanctuary to spend exp. Once on the road you walk up to chests that say things like “Swordplay Chest” or “Landlord Chest” which you then spend exp on to open. It’s a brave move and an interesting one but, in the long run, it’s an inconvenience. Let’s say I want to look at the map, instead of pausing and selecting the map, I teleport to the sanctuary, listen to John Cleese say “ welcome to the Sanctuary, walk to the map, select the map. Really what’s happened is a two step process has been turned into a much longer one. The Sanctuary is an attempt to increase immersion by working the menus into the world of the game but after a while nothing kicks you out of a game than the ability to teleport out of a battle mid fight, change your shoes, then instantly warp back in. The road to rule charts your characters changes and growth in the form of statues as you move along it but aside from this it’s just a big road what you have to run along instead of being able to look at all your choices at once and plan a character. All in all though these Menu replacements are interesting and never really seen before but the advantages of a standard menu system out weight their novelty.
One of Mr Molyneux’s better ideas comes in the form of evolving weapons, as you play your weapon mutates to match your style so by the end my sword had become an arcane, golden rapier because I used loads of fire magic, favoured offense and made money fast. This personalised touch is a rare example of one of Peter’s much talked about ideas actually reaching its potential. My Sword certainly felt like my sword rather than the sword with the highest hit points. Combat itself is adequate, combining swordplay, gun play and magic is fun but as the game goes on its only way to increase the challenge is to add more enemies that can take more hits.
Fancy Fights
If it worked I wouldn’t really have much to say about the dog that follows you throughout your adventures but I feel like whoever was in charge of him must have missed several meetings. The Dog is clearly broken, it’s constantly too close to your character, or getting in the way of you and another character, rather than scrapping it or fixing the problem they seem to have just allowed the dog to no-clip through the player. This happens literally constantly throughout the game to the point that it makes the game feel glitchy all the time. Why the dog wasn’t axed is baffling to me, honestly about 10% of the time you’ll spend looking at the game that dog is glitching up in some way.
Again Fable III is all about choices, will you be a good ruler or a bad one. Again, however, it suffers from these choices being as Black and White as possible. In the second half of the game these choices become so annoyingly super good or super evil that the game begins to force you down one path or the other. As Yahtzee once put it, “it’s always Mother Theresa or Baby Eating”. These extreme choices reach the height of their annoyance when several situations clearly have thousands of shades of grey in the middle but you can only choose one extreme or the other. This is the problem with Molonuex’s hype, he might say “The Expressions system offers an ingenious new Dynamic Touch feature that allows your hero to reach out and embrace a loved one.” Then the game comes out and it turns out “Expressions System” means you sort of play The Sims for a minute and then everyone likes you. I learned one expression, “dance,” and it worked on everyone I needed it to. The Dynamic Touch system lets you take a character by the hand and bring them places, it’s required during the main quest maybe four times and though you could technically use it anytime, you won’t.
"The Expressions System" also known as "The Sims"
"Dynamic Touch" in Use (I did this once)
Fable III entertained me with its wonderful world and characters but it limits my interaction with them to the point that I left annoyed. As the game comes to a close its insistence that I be Jesus or Hitler reached extreme levels. Fable III’s first half is enjoyable for the same reasons Fable and Fable II were but it’s second half utterly fails to convey what you as the player have to do to succeed. I won’t give the context to avoid spoilers but be warned, you’re given a countdown timer and basically told to play SimCity for a while. However the timer isn’t really a timer. It randomly jumps forward by months making it impossible to predict how long you have to do what has been asked of you. Suddenly D-Day arrives unannounced to you, if you did have a grand plan you aren’t even given the chance to put it into effect. When the end credits rolled I had no interest in even checking in on Albion, I could only think about how much time I had wasted planning because I had been asked to plan, only to never be given the chance to put my plan into effect.
Fable III’s inflated opinion of itself unfortunately only takes away from the experience. Behind the funny jokes, A-List cast and good vs evil slidey bars it’s an average game with interesting ideas. Sorry Pete.
7.5 Moral Choices out of 10
Note: Co-Op Play was unavailable at the time of review and as such was not taken into account in this review.
If you’ve any questions or comments about Fable III stick them in the comments and I’ll answer them on tonight’s podcast, where I’ll be discussing the game in more detail.
Fable III is available October 29 in Europe on Xbox 360. Standard Edition £44.99/€64.99, Limited Collector’s Edition £59.99/€84.99. A Windows version should appear before Christmas
// Chronic Authors
Stephen Colfer (141)
Neil Fitzpatrick (13)
Chris Slack (10)
Ruairi Burns (6)
Paddy Dunne (6)
// Latest Comments