Dead or Alive is a fighting series that I’ve heard a lot about, but I’ve never gotten to play any of the games. Unfortunately, most of them have lost their original fighting purpose or have become a little too graphic. Luckily, this one fit the bill and the game is definitely a fun one that I would recommend.

Each of the characters get their own mini story mode so I’ll briefly discuss each of them except for Bayman since he never got to appear in Story Mode. All I can say is that he doesn’t seem very impressive from his moveset. Ein is one of the big characters of the game as everyone keeps calling him Hayate. Is that really his name!? Ein is having trouble with his memories so he can’t really be sure. He seems like a pretty good character and one could be tricked into thinking that he was the main character!

Leon is a military person and he’s not one of the better characters. He’s all right I suppose, but a little bland at this point. We don’t really get to learn that much about him and his story wasn’t very interesting. Helena has one of the deeper stories as her mother is defeated by an unknown assassin. Helena goes on a quest to find this person and it’s definitely a lot more epic than most of the other stories. Helena is one of the better characters alongside Hayate.

Leifang reminds me of Xiaoyu from Tekken. They’re both pretty similar and Leifang is a decent character. As with Leon, she doesn’t really get that much development, but at least she’s a tough fighter. Her fighting style is quick and that’s always a good thing. Bass Armstrong is another character and despite the epic name, he’s the worst character! He’s really proud of how epic his daughter has become, but he can get a little too intense and he brings shame to the name. He’s a really slow fighter and the game could have definitely kicked him out!

Ryu Hayabusa is epic as always. He seems to be one of the only professionals in the game and he definitely proves his skills. His fighting style is nice and complex and he’s definitely a cut above the rest. As with Ayane, he’s a skilled ninja. Ayane is possibly more sinister than I had thought as they hint that she is basically a villain in this game. She seems like a good villain, but it’ll be interesting to see whether she is guilty or not.

Kasumi is known as the main character for the series and she’s decently cool. I mostly know her from the Dead Fantasy series, but that’s really enough to tell that she is an excellent fighter. She naturally gets one of the biggest plot twists of the game! We’ve also got an American in the game who calls himself Zack. Zack isn’t that great, but he does have an epic line. “Check yourself before you wreck yourself!” is his catchphrase as he tosses a mirror at his opponent. That was probably the best line in the game and it earns him some epicness points.

Jann Lee probably has the least development from all of the characters. I really have no idea what he’s doing here, but if he’s having fun…then that’s the important thing. He basically represents the average joe and he’s a decent fighter. He’s pretty cool, but I don’t have much to base that off from for now. We’ve also got Tina Armstrong. She has a heavy accent, but there’s not really much else to say about her. She seems like a decent character as well and she gets to enter a fashion show, but her storyline didn’t have much of a plot. Gen Fu is the final big character, but he’s basically the generic old person that’s actually really powerful. We’ve seen guys like him appear in fighting games so many times that it’s scary. His ending is actually one of the darkest and most intense ones.

The ultimate villain in the game is known as Tengu. Everything is apparently his delusion and he makes sure to say this every time you fight him. He seems to have some mind manipulation powers through his dancing. I can’t say that he’s a very good character and he’s pretty full of himself despite his unimpressive abilities. As far as final bosses go, Dead or Alive can definitely do better!

The actual gameplay for Dead or Alive feels pretty unique. It’s very fast paced and the movement makes you feel like you’re back at the arcade. You’ll definitely be trying some button mashing at first, but learning the combos can make all the difference. The critical element in this game’s style is the countering system. It’s pretty critical and it makes you double think all of your attacks. Each of them can easily turn against you. Your health bar can go down very quickly so this is the type of game that makes you want to have a lot of rematches. One thing that I can definitely say for it is that the game definitely has replay value.

The graphics are pretty good and this is definitely one of the better looking PS2 games. You really get to appreciate the animation when you blow up an object. The stages are pretty interactable so you can throw someone off a building and then follow them to the next stage. The stages themselves were really fun and that helped the overall experience. The soundtrack is pretty generic. I can’t really say that there are any exceptional tunes to be heard in this game. Still, the songs aren’t bad…I just don’t remember any of them.

A negative would be the fact that story mode and vs mode are pretty much the only things to do. The game could have earned an 8 if it had just added a few more characters or a longer story mode. Still, this is a fighting game so I wouldn’t expect much more. There are under 15 characters so you really need to hope that you like one of the available ones. That shouldn’t be a problem as they all have pretty different move sets. I became comfortable with most of them, but I’m not a fan of any of the slow characters. It’s unfortunate that this game series became distracted by spinoffs and stopped making good games. Hopefully we could get a nice DOA fighting game for the PS4 at some point.

Overall, this was a pretty fun fighting game despite the empty cover. There may not be a lot of extras and the characters are limited, but it succeeds as a fighting game thanks to the incredible gameplay. That’s the important part and the fact that it has a story mode for everyone is pretty good. It’s deeper than the average Arcade Mode and the stage selection is pretty fun. Dead or Alive can easily hold its own against the big fighting series like Tekken or Street Fighter and it would likely be a household name if all of its games were this good. I definitely recommend this game to all fighting game fans and it won’t disappoint you.

Overall 7/10

It’s a decent time to review the new Xmen game since the film is coming out soon. I’ve had my eye on the game for a long time, but it always got stepped on by the other big titles. (Shattered Dimensions, Iron Man 2) Still, I finally managed to buy it and I can safely say that it does manage to look unimpressive, but it’s a decent game anyway.

I have to say that I barely got the game. The first time I bought it for my Birthday…it did not work. Shaken and confused, but not out for the count; I went to Gamestop and exchanged it for another copy. The game worked this time……for a while. Luckily, it worked long enough for me to complete it. Upon my second playthrough, it started to freeze a little more and the sound got a little sketchy. You may wonder why I decided to complete Story Mode twice right? Well, I was aiming for the Platinum and I actually succeeded this time! Number 8 for me and I won’t be forgetting it. Anyway, that’s enough of a prelude…time for the actual game commentary.

You choose which character to play as during the very beginning of the game. They’re all made up, but I quickly went for the guy who had a sinister past. His father was against mutants and he’s not very fond of them either. Will this guy manage to change his ways or will he succumb to the darkness? Admittedly, I also chose him because he’s a long range fighter. I really like close combat, but you don’t get quite as many opportunities to go long range so I didn’t want to miss the opportunity.

The game has 8 levels, but to spice things up, we’ve also been given some choices. Throughout the game, you can decide to be a hero or a villain depending on the choices that you make. It’s an interesting idea in theory, but the sad truth is that it doesn’t make a difference. No matter what you do, you’ll be doing the exact same things. There may be a minor difference here and there, but it’s extremely minor. It’s made very clear once you’ve played the game both times. Ah well….maybe there wasn’t enough budget to make extra levels.

Back to the plot! A group of anti mutant guys have begun attacking mutants and the actual mutants are being framed by persons unknown. We also have Mr. Hodge, a man who wants to help the mutants out. Cyclops wants to find the villains and put an end to the madness while Magneto wants the same thing…but he will use permanent means. The hero is forced to make the tough choices as things get intense!

The graphics are admittedly sub par, but the cover probably gave you some advanced warning on that. Seriously, since when does a company not even bother to make the cover look good? The in game graphics are basically PS2 level and they aren’t impressive at all. Unfortunately, the game also can’t handle too much action at once so there is a high chance that you can start counting the pixels once you use your ultimate attack. Anytime there are too many fighters onscreen, you can count on some lag in the gameplay. I’m pretty sure that is also why the game has a tendency to freeze. It can’t be coincidence that both of my copies ultimately started to freeze.

The actual gameplay is decent. It’s as generic as third person action games get, but it’s a formula that definitely works. The gameplay is basically the same as a Spider Man installment, but with less variety. You’ll likely spend the game spamming the same attack over and over and over at least 1000 times. The gameplay is extremely repetitious and if I were not such a fan, I probably would have needed to turn the game off a few times. Each character gets 4 different superpowers to use, but odds are that you will only use two of them. The giant laser came in handy and the final smash was great, but I completely ignored the other two super attacks. The super attacks are also incredibly overpowered and they are capable of taking down almost any boss in a single blow. The developers likely noticed this in the final stages of development so you can notice a quick fix. The bosses get a quick moment of invincibility when their health drops below a certain point. This just prolongs everything, but it had to be done right?

This review is turning out to be pretty negative right? No worries, I’m getting to the positives…but first let’s look at some more negatives! I didn’t fully appreciate this until my second playthrough…but you cannot skip cutscenes. That’s terrible! If you lose a fight, you’ll have to keep watching the cutscenes over and over again. I haven’t seen a game do this in a long time. Skipping cutscenes should really be mandatory at this point. This is why I’m glad that I ended up playing the game twice as I almost didn’t realize this the first time. (I don’t skip cutscenes on the first playthrough and I only lost once, but there was no cutscene at that point)

Let’s talk about the character portrayals for a second. Cyclops is the heroic leader….but he’s shown to be very weak. Magneto easily defeats him twice in the span of one level. It’s also a little fishy seeing Cyclops let this new recruit (who can’t be trusted) do all of the missions on his own while the Xmen evacuate civilians. The Xmen help at times…but not very often. Wolverine and Northstar look terrible because they fall under the mind control very easily. Gambit is actually a villain in this game, which was unexpected,

Don’t worry, the heroes aren’t the only ones who look bad! Quicksilver is consistently humiliated throughout the game. He talks tough, but then he gets captured by the anti mutant group…twice. He also gets one shotted by one of the bosses. Magneto also seems to be a little gullible as he actually believes that Cyclops shot down one of the helicopters, which resulted in a mutant perishing. (I do have to say that I was surprised at that scene. One of the big Xmen characters actually dies!) It wouldn’t have been completely unreasonable to think that if Magneto had not been framed a few levels earlier…

Still, aside from those issues, the characters looked decently accurate. Colossus trying to shred the forcefields with his teeth seemed a little out of character, but it happens. Either way you’ll likely forget what the characters are saying as soon as you walk away from them. You’re just waiting to beat up on the hundreds of look alike minions.

The soundtrack is decent. I actually remember a few of the tunes, which is an improvement from the average superhero game. It’s definitely not a 5 Star soundtrack, but I would give it a 3 for effort. The themes are catchy and the best one is the Sentinel boss theme. Another positive is the trophies that you can get for the PS3. None of them are outragous or essentially impossible and they add to the replay value.

Replay Value is one of the few positives for the game. It’s not nearly as extensive as Bleach Soul Resurreccion, but you can play this game for a while. There are 15 challenges to complete and a lot of X-Genes to find. I almost beat the game with 100% during a normal playthrough, but I imagine that the final objects will be tough to find. Also, any game that has trophies automatically has replay value…as long as the trophies are fun. The 8 levels will likely take you around 4-6 hours overall. Then you just need to endure the long credits!

I believe that I’ve basically covered all of the bases. Overall, this game barely manages to stay in the good category thanks to the gameplay, soundtrack, and replay value. The main reason why it did not reach a 7 was due to the short length of the game, the animation, and the fact that you cannot skip cutscenes. This is a good game to rent, but I can’t say that I’d highly recommend buying it. For 10-15 dollars I would recommend picking it up, but if it’s any higher then you should wait a while. Go and pick up Spiderman Shattered Dimensions instead!

Overall 6/10

DBZ is pretty huge and it is easily one of the greatest  franchises out there.  The anime was revolutionary, the manga was excellent, and the movies were intense. Despite those successes, DBZ is especially known to have incredible fighting games. I dare say that the games surpass the anime in epicness. This game got a lot of hype as the next Budokai Tenkaichi or Raging Blast. That’s a lot of hype to have on it’s back, but if anyone can do it…it is DBZ.

Well, I will start out with the biggest factor that was hyped for this game. 4 player fighting action! The battle scenes can get really chaotic and that’s in a good way. You have 4 fighters on each side which makes for a fun environment. Now, its time to get into the negative side of this. The game put so much emphasis into this that it destroyed the game’s chances of reaching Raging Blast or Budokai Tenkaichi level. The best part of DBZ is playing with friends and really testing your limits. Unfortunately, Battle of Z only has two real modes. Story Mode and Online Battle Mode. That is the crushing negative which keeps on coming. Not having any extra modes like Survival, Local Vs Mode, and Time Attack Mode is basically unheard of. Unfortunately, local multiplayer is starting to get rare as more and more games head to the world of online gaming. I love playing online, but its no excuse eliminate the local aspect.

One consequence of this is the fact that the game doesn’t have much in the way of replay value. Once you beat the game, that’s basically it! The online battle system is a little like Brawl’s. There’s not as much stakes or depth as in War For Cybertron or Tron. It’s fun, but not something that you’ll be playing a whole lot. You’re essentially done with the game at that point and it’s time to go and play the old ones. Hmmmm…

As far as the graphics are concerned, the game is decent. They had to limit them to an extent because of how much action is on the screen. I’d say that it’s harsh to compare them to PS2 games because the graphics are still good. It may not be the best PS3 game in this area, but it’s definitely good enough to be considered solid. The energy attacks can definitely be fun to see from afar as it strikes an opponent.

The soundtrack is a little on the repetitious side. There aren’t a large variety of tunes, but the ones that we do get are pretty good. The themes are typically suitable for this game and you’ll hear them unless a lot of action is currently happening on the field.

The actual gameplay can be a little hit or miss. There are a lot less combos and attacks in this one than the usual installments. Each character really has one finishing string of attacks, but you can change it up by using a power attack or an energy blast. The fighting can get a little repetitive as you’ll find yourself using the same combo a few hundred times through the course of the game. That’s the miss part that may deter many.

I’m pretty fine with it because I’m a repetitious player. I’m the type of guy that will use the same combos in advanced games like Tekken and Marvel Vs Capcom. Once I find a combo that I like, I make sure to keep on using it. I may have to disguise it by starting off with other combos and chain attacks, but I’ll make sure to get back to it. I mainly stuck to playing as Goku and Sage Mode Goku. Sage Mode Goku has a really good power attack that I would spam over and over again. I did a lot of KOing in wifi battles.

Ultimate attacks aren’t really a factor as you’ll never be able to use it in a real fight. It takes about 3-5 minutes to charge up the attack and you’re completely vulnerable to attack. The Ultimate technique instantly destroys all enemies on the field and the battle is over, but it’s not worth it. The move is riskier than Exodia and the chances aren’t very good for your success. Only a handful of characters have an Ultimate Attack anyway so you may not come across it. (Aside from a mandatory Story Mode battle)

Beyond that, you’ll typically have enough energy to throw in a Kamehameha or two. So, the battles are pretty fun. The gameplay may not be the greatest out there, but it’s still DBZ and that’s enough to make anyone want to play. We’ve got a good amount of characters to use and they can also be customized. Increased attack, defense, etc.

PS3 trophies can’t really be a negative since they’re optional, but I can’t say that I’m a fan of some of them. A few trophies require that online strangers agree to help you as you form a specific group. Without boosting, it’s very hard to get this. You can ask them through the microphone and hope for success…but you still have to win the round. Those kind of trophies should not be in the game! Still, this doesn’t affect the overall score.

The story mode now covers the complete DBZ saga while also including many of the movies. This includes the new Battle of Gods film that came out recently. It’s a pretty difficult mission since you have to defeat those two fighters after defeating a few movie villains and Hirudegarn. Unfortunately, story mode covers a lot…and yet it doesn’t do it very clearly. You will know what is happening from the manga, anime, and other video games, but you may get lost from this one. You’ll understand the basic plot, but they skip a whole lot and include scenes that don’t really make sense. You just know that the villains are evil and that they will do anything to realize their ambitions.

A positive for the game can be the fact that it can get pretty difficult towards the end. Unless you’ve customized well, you’ll find that defeating the Bills level is nearly impossible. Tough DBZ games can be nearly impossible traditionally, but this battle style helps to make that a reality through team deaths.

Ally deaths is a feature that I skimmed over so I’ll go into it now. Instead of dying when your health bar fades, you just have a number of lives like a Mario game. How many lives your team gets depends on who your partners are. For example, Broly may have one retry while Krillin would get three. To make up for this, Krillin is a lot weaker than Broly, but it’s effectively 4 fighters against two. In this case, Krillin may be the way to go. So, during a battle you’ll want to protect your allies as you fight. There will be a timer that will give you a few seconds to save your partner before your team loses a life.

I may not have listed a lot of positives, but the game still gets a solid 8/10. You may wonder why the game would get such a high rating. Well, in part it’s because of the franchise. The fact that the game is about DBZ and that we get to relive the storylines is always fun. The gameplay may not be 5 star material, but it’s pretty great. When looking at it without comparisons; I can definitely say that it’s a good way to play. The game may have its holes, but it doesn’t take away from the good aspects of it. If I’d never played the other DBZ games, then who knows…maybe this could have gotten a 9. It’s one of those hypotheticals that is interesting to think about.

Overall, DBZ definitely experimented with the formula a lot in this game. Like Ultimate Tenkaichi, this game would be a disappointment if one thought of it as the next BT game. The new style of gameplay and lack of replay value were not good ideas. Story Mode was watered down and I’m not a huge fan of the online gameplay. I do like the idea of a 4 player battle royale, but without a console like the Gamecube where we had 4 slots right off the bat, it’s tough to really make use of this feature. Still, the first game is usually the trial version so I’m sure that a sequel would work out many of these issues. This is still DBZ and I recommend it if you like a good action game. Maybe not at the standard retail price. Wait until the price goes down and then snap it up! You won’t regret getting the next big DBZ title! I don’t have the platinum for it yet, but I got most of the trophies and in a way, that helps to fix the lack or replay value.

Overall 8/10

Star Wars is a pretty big franchise and just about everyone has heard of it. As a result, we’ve gotten many video games for just about every console. Most of them are action games, but this one decided to take a sharp turn and ended up being about racing. It’s a bold move and it’s time to see if it worked out!

The game has a plot, which involves a racer’s….revenge! The title suddenly becomes clear eh? Sebulba never forgave Anakin for humiliating him in their original race so he has decided to race him once again! I’ll admit that the thought of racing someone like Sebulba may scare many gamers, but I wasn’t one of them! In fact, many of you may not have a chance to feel that fear because you’ll have no idea that there is a plot unless you looked it up. The game has an opening and ending cutscene, but that’s it as far as the in game story goes.

The two main modes are tournament mode and free play. Free play is always fun and tournament mode is basically a must have for any racing game. There are around 15 races in tournament mode and it will definitely test your abilities as a racer and as a Jedi! In all seriousness, the tournament mode was pretty fun. A little short, but the final levels are decently challenging. You should be able to clear them all within 5 tries per race and maybe with fewer. One thing that makes the races easier is the upgrades that you earn. Once you’ve maxed out your speed and power, you’re pretty much set to go. You won’t be able to max out everything in one playthrough, but you’ll be at around 80%. A few more stages would be enough to finish things off once and for all.

This game has a decent amount of replay value through unlocking characters and maxing them out. It takes a little over a playthrough to max out one character and you can try doing that for the 20+ racers. I decided not to do this…..but it’s a fun way to pass the time. Unlocking characters can be difficult as you have to break the records on each stage. There are three records per stage so that’s a lot of record smashing on the menu! You’ll likely get some of them broken during the normal playthrough, but the car smashing is usually something that you will need to aim for.

It barely even needs to be said that free play will give you a lot of replay value as well. Call someone up and then race them on the dangerous tracks! This may have been before the age of wifi, but you’ll probably find some people who still enjoy the game. It’s easy to pick up and the learning curve isn’t too high. It’s classic racing fun at its finest in perfect retro style!

That being said, the game can’t really compete with the big racing titles like Need for Speed and Mario Kart. (I would mention how it stacks up against M&M Racing, but I haven’t gotten around to playing that one yet!) The problem is that you can move at incredible speeds, but it just isn’t as engaging as the other racing titles. The stages are big, but they don’t feel very inspired. You may find yourself trapped a few times as you scramble for the goal.

The soundtrack is not bad, but it can be a little repetitious. You won’t be singing the tunes as you head back to sleep, but you won’t be cringing either. The animation is decent. It may not be the next Kingdom Hearts, but the graphics could be worse. They remind me of the N64 days since the characters are a little blocky, but you don’t typically see them anyway. The cars is what we’re after and they definitely perform well.

Overall, this is a decent Star Wars game. It may not be an exaggeration to say that it is their weakest home console release, but I need to check out the other racing title they came out with first! After that, I can make a better comparison. After all, can you really compare the thrills and chills of fighting with a light saber to floating in a car? I didn’t think so! The graphics and soundtrack are good enough to satisfy me and there is enough replay value to validate the purchase. I think that the game could have benefited from more of a story, but we can’t have it all right? I recommend this game to serious racing fans and lightly to Star Wars fans. That being said, you may just want to wait for the legendary Mario Kart 8 to grace us with its arrival.

Overall 6/10

Terminator is a pretty solid movie franchise and it should be noted that the Terminators are still some of the greatest film antagonists out there. That being said, could the video game really match up to the films? In theory, it should be easy to make an incredibly awesome game based off of the films, but not everything is as good as it should be. I guess you’re about to find out!

The game’s plot is pretty simple. The resistance has been fighting the Terminators for a very long time and both sides are weakened. The planet is running out of resources which has heavily affected both sides. We decide that it’s time to finish things once and for all and quickly head to the main base to finish things. Unfortunately, the master A.I. has the same thought and begins his final plan. Things quickly heat up as we’re met with drama, betrayal, and epicness!

Now, there are only 10 levels in the game which can be a cause for panic. That’s not usually a very filling amount of time and you may figure that the game won’t last for long right? Well, the levels are decently long and while they’re not as long as Shattered Dimensions or something like that, they’re all right. It is still a negative since the game can definitely be beaten quickly. Luckily, the rest of the game is still good enough to warrant a purchase. 10 levels is the bare minimum of what I would consider legitimate and not an unfinished game, but it is still cutting the whole thing a little too close for comfort.

There are only two big negatives that I would really care to mention and they are pretty unique. One is the fact that the camera can be supremely annoying. It will shift at the worst times and sometimes moving from one door to another can be pretty time consuming. There’s just no stopping the camera and it seems to have a mind of its own! It doesn’t go around switching the opponent that you’re locked on too by itself like Armored Core 2, but it definitely moves around way too much. That can definitely get a little tedious during big boss fights where a slip up can mean instant death via infinite (and unavoidable) grenade attacks.

The other negative would be the poor lighting. If you play the game with a high setting for brightness, then you’ll be okay. Otherwise, it can get really hard to tell what is happening and you could get lost since the map is not helpful at all. This isn’t the first game to suffer from lighting problems and Indiana Jones is the main one that comes to mind. I’ve only come across this on the PS2, but I personally just blame it on the games. The PS2 is too awesome to be at fault.

The actual gameplay is still really great and it should be the main selling point for you. It’s basically a 3D Shooting game that plays our like Freedom Fighter, but with much cooler opponents. You’ll quickly get spoiled on the rockets, but the laser blasters are fun as well. After the last few games that I’ve played, it was fun to have such intense action. This is definitely my kind of gameplay and it essentially guaranteed that the game would at least get a 7/10 rating. This gameplay is not found in a whole lot of games and I’m always happy to run into one of them. The boss fight in level 7 was extremely intense and did a good job of making you feel the danger and suspense.

The Soundtrack is easily 5 stars and it was a lot better than I ever could have imagined. Nearly every theme used is fast paced rock music and it really puts you into the game. I doubt that I would have enjoyed the game quite so much if the soundtrack was not present. I dare say that it’s one of the best soundtracks for an American game. I definitely won’t be forgetting the themes anytime soon!

You play as different characters as you go through the levels. We’ve got the main character who is equipped with a good ole gun and some other standard weapons. We’ve got the Captain, who comes with all of that plus a rocket launcher. Finally, we’ve also got the lady who is likely the sub commander and she has the same weapons as the main character. For the final level, you get a cool ray weapon which does massive damage to the enemies. It’s pretty fun, but you won’t have much of a chance to really use it. I would go more into the characters and say how cool they are like with most reviews, but this just isn’t one of those. It’s like the Prince Caspian game. If a game is totally based off of a movie then it may not need character bios, but there can be exceptions. On the other hand, if a game is as short as this one and the characters don’t really get much character….then I won’t really talk about it either. The only names that you’ll walk away remembering are Reese and John Connor. Needless to say, they were decent characters at best.

I nearly forgot to mention that there is also a level up system. You can upgrade health, ammo, etc. Upon beating the game, I’m not even close to upgrading everything. It would probably take quite a few playthroughs for that so I have to wonder what the actual point of it is. I just don’t think that it was really balanced enough. Sometimes, you can go a whole level without getting any upgrade points. Perhaps you get more if you play on the higher difficulty levels, which would make sense. Still, it was an interesting thing to add and I definitely went for upping my health. That never hurts after all!

Overall, this was a great game! It may look like a cash in at first and maybe it could be called that. Still, once you start playing it, you will realize how much fun it can be. It just doesn’t get much better than this and it has only helped me to become an even bigger Terminator fan. The ending is pretty great (Although, not fighting in the past as the final boss was a missed opportunity) and while you will be expecting it, it doesn’t take away from the coolness factor. I know that there is another Terminator game for the PS3 and I plan on getting it soon, but it’s going to be tough to match up against this one. This is definitely one of my shortest reviews in a while, but there’s really not much more to say about this game. I highly recommend it and you should enjoy the game as long as you like shooters. There isn’t really any replay value though and if you don’t like shooters, then you don’t really have a reason to play this one. Still, how can you go wrong with such a low price? (Got it from Best Buy for 5!)

Overall 7/10

Narnia is immensely popular and I finally got around to reading the book series a while back. Prince Caspian was a decent book and the film adaption was intense since it had more action than the other titles. That being said, I doubt many people had high hopes for the game. It’s a movie tie in and the production values didn’t look very good. The Narnia game for Gamecube wasn’t that good and when a Gamecube game isn’t very good…you’re usually doomed. This game was about what I expected and maybe slightly better…maybe.

All right, the plot is pretty tricky through the game, but I’m sure that you’ll get it as you watch the cutscenes. Prince Caspian is told to flee his castle because the villains want to destroy him so that he won’t be the heir to the throne. Caspian escapes, but things aren’t looking good for Narnia. Before he is quickly knocked out, Caspian uses the legendary Horn to summon the 4 Kings of Old. Peter, Susan, Lucy, and Edmund. They may just be 4 kids, but they are ready to defend the kingdom. The time to rise is now!

A solid plot on paper, but the video game doesn’t really do it justice. For one thing, let’s talk about the graphics. They’re laughably bad and possibly the worst that I’ve seen on the PS3. Some of the cutscenes are actually scenes taken from the movie…and the movie was live action. So, you’ll have a live action segment and then back to the animated features. The Narnia game for GC did this as well, so I was not greatly surprised. That being said, I don’t consider this to be a good method. It’s essentially the easy way out, since they don’t have to worry about the animation. The actual animation just doesn’t feel like a PS3 game and you’ll feel like it’s a really old Playstation 1 game.

The soundtrack is incredibly generic and it feels like they probably just ripped it from the film as well or just opted for public domain music. It just doesn’t seem like they put any effort into any part of the game. The camera can be difficult since you can’t really move it, which limits your field of vision. You can walk all the way around an object to fix the camera or just shoot blindly. The latter saves time and usually works, so I recommend that method.

Usually I would have started talking about the characters by now, but there’s really nothing to say. Their only character is from the live action segments or the few cutscenes where they actually talk. None of the characters are likable and it’s just hard to root for them. They really don’t seem to know what they’re doing and are way over their heads. 4 kids can’t take down an army and the villains are just too numerous. Caspian’s accent is a little thick and he seems to have a very weak will and nearly jeopardized everything because he forgot how to move! The kids don’t believe Lucy even though you would have thought that they’d have wised up by now. Lucy’s response is to ditch them and find Aslan on her own.

I should also mention that the game only contains 6 levels. Not quite as long as you might have expected eh? 10 levels is really the minimum amount of levels that you can really afford to have in a game. That is still short, but at least you’ve cracked double digits. Having just 6 levels can be a little insulting. If I had bought this game at its original price, I would have felt cheated. I got it for 10 dollars, but that’s still pretty short. There are bonus levels and things to unlock, but why bother? I like to complete things myself, but there’s just not much incentive to finish everything in this game. I would do it if there was nothing better to do, but there will always be something better.

The gameplay is just as underwhelming as the rest of the game. If the gameplay had been more fun, I can guarantee that the score would have been higher. How do you mess up a generic hack and slash gameplay? Well, this game pulls out all of the stops in that regard. We’ve got infinite lives to take away all of the danger. There are a lot of puzzles that are easy to solve, but very time consuming. Finally, we’ve got a decently large amount of glitches. There’s nothing worse than having to start a boss fight all over again because the enemies forgot to appear and start the cutscene. (Similar thing happened to me in Star Trek the other day)

For combat, you really only have two buttons with the sword. Just keep hitting the square button and you’ll beat everyone. Arrows are also good to use and you can beat just about everyone very easily. There aren’t any real bosses until the final pair of levels, but they’re easy enough. Slash and dodge, rinse and repeat. There are a lot of enemies, so it can feel like a beat em up at times. That would be fun if it weren’t so easy. Plus, the fight scenes are pretty scarce and we don’t have almost any for the first half of the game.

Not being in combat can get pretty dull at times. The characters don’t run very quickly and there are a lot of things to do. Usually you’ll be putting wheels together or turning spindles. You just operate the devices and move on. You keep on doing that dozens and dozens of times until you’re finally set. Sound tedious? Trust me, it gets very tedious. The loading times for the game can also be pretty long so don’t look for that to save you!

As mentioned earlier, there are only 6 levels. One thing that I should mention is that the levels are longer than the average one. I don’t want you to think that I’m trying to masque that fact. Each level can take you around an hour or more, so this can still be considered as a 6+ hour game. That being said, I would rather 10 short levels than 6 extremely long ones. The game auto saves for you, but you’re never even sure when you’ve beaten a level unless you exit and check. The way that they made the game just wasn’t that good.

For “Replay Value” there are chests that are scattered through the levels. They aren’t really hidden and you may actually find them all as you are going to the end. You open them with keys that you find and they unlock things. That being said, I ended the game while holding 91 keys because I just didn’t care enough to go and open a lot of them. Going to open one would take precious seconds and those seconds add up. The game just feels long while you are playing it and perhaps I would go back and open the chests at a later time. If I ever replay the game, that it what I would do. If the chests part intrigues you, that can make the game more enjoyable.

Overall, what more can I say about the game? It’s not a bad game per say, but they did a bad job of handling it. Technically, it should have been a good game. The battle style has potential and the plot could be interesting. They just didn’t put any effort into making the characters likable and there’s really no excuse for such animation. The soundtrack isn’t exactly a good one and the game is far too short. I don’t really recommend this game since there are literally hundreds of games that are better, but get it if you are a big Narnia fan. You will need to be, if you want to enjoy the game. I think that the developers also stopped caring the ending is extremely abrupt. One second, the heroes are chasing after a villain. The next second, they’re being thanked and then the game ends. It just hits you in an instant and the game is over. Personally, I’m just going to go ahead and play a Terminator game and just forget this one for a while. It will go into the vault of many games…destined to be forgotten! For a true war game, I recommend checking out Dynasty Warriors Gundam!

Overall 5/10

Ratchet and Clank is easily one of Sony’s best game series and I have to admit that it does defeat the other two big ones. (Sly and Jak) Don’t get me wrong, Sly and Jak are solid gaming series, but Ratchet and Clank is just so much fun. I love the whole weapon leveling up system and the plot is always a lot of fun. This game was also on the PSP so it’s a lot shorter than the average game in the series, but was it still able to live up to the older games?

The plot is pretty simple as a little girl asks Ratchet to do “Heroic stuff” so that she can take pics and show them to her friends. It’s such a noble request that Ratchet takes her up on it and he takes on a lot of robots. Unfortunately, the little girl isn’t actually human and she is prepared to take over the world with an army. Ratchet and Clank must embark on their most dangerous quest yet as they quickly go into action. It’s too bad for Ratchet since he had been enjoying such a nice vacation. Captain Quark also has a subplot where he wants to find out the truth about his parents! Get ready for an “I’m your FATHER!” plot twist coming up!

The game is very easy to get into and you’ll find yourself hooked immediately. I ended up playing it for much longer than I had planned when I first played the game because I could not tear myself away. (I had received other games and wanted to beat some of them first which is why I didn’t have time for this one) Even if you have not played a Ratchet and Clank game for a while, you will quickly remember how epic Ratchet can be. He’s still one of the better main characters out there.

He starts out the game in an epic fashion as he is relaxing on the beach. He quickly goes into hero mode when the little girl appears and he proves that he hasn’t lost any of his skill. He has a “Rage” moment once he finds out that he’s been cloned and the scene is pretty epic. It reminded me of Jak’s big change from game 1 to game 2. Ratchet goes back to his lighthearted nature again, but the moment is not something that he will forget. Ratchet doesn’t seem to mind “Crossing the line” as much as other protagonists, but perhaps he is kidding at times. He definitely loves to mess with Captain Quark and his methods usually lead to the galaxy being saved.

Of course, Ratchet does have help from Clank. I’ve always found Clank to be a much better sidekick than Daxter, but Bentley may still be the best. Clank has his cool mecha titan mode which enables him to fight some pretty tough customers. His boss battle on land is fun because it definitely has a Godzilla feeling to it. He always speaks in a monotone voice which makes Clank easy to root for and he always gives the job his best. He may have had an epic fail moment when he short circuited due to a virus, but he looks pretty good beyond that scene. He’s a good companion for Ratchet on his adventures.

Captain Quark is the third main character and while he is not playable, he has a big impact on the game. The plot twist about who is parents were may be pretty emotional for fans and you almost feel bad for him as he keeps on falling for the villain’s tricks. His character design also makes his scenes pretty funny and he’s definitely one of the better characters in the franchise. I dare say that this may have been his best appearance yet.

I won’t go too in depth about the little girl because her plot twist is intriguing. Ratchet takes a shot at her when she first shows her true colors, but beyond that..she seemed to have the edge. In a true fight, Ratchet would definitely win, but they never get to have that match. The true main villain shows up at the very end and he’s intense. He can be a little generic, but he admits this and doesn’t try to hide it. He just wants to beat people up and take names. Soon, he will conquer the galaxy!

One of the big positives of the Ratchet and Clank series is how original it can be. In one level, we get to go into Ratchet’s dream world and it’s very intense. Captain Quark’s have buzz saws and they aren’t afraid to use them. We also see a flower that grows Quark’s head and you can use it as a bomb. The whole level is very trippy and also very awesome. The whole game could have been on that level and it still would have been awesome.

Now, let’s not mistake gimmicks for talent. The levels may have had their quirks, but they were not a walk in the park. The game shouldn’t be too challenging because you have a solid array of weapons and gadgets at one’s disposal, but the final boss’s final phase is pretty tricky. He has a barrier that protects him for about half of his life bar and it keeps on regenerating after you break it. That’s why the first half of the fight is a lot tougher than the second half. During the second half, he has no barriers so you can just keep on firing at him. The main reason why the boss fight can be tricky is the fact that you’ll definitely run out of ammo. I tried to keep on refilling it, but that costs a lot of money for the rockets and laser tracer so I just had to keep on upgrading and leveling up until I could win. The boss battle took me several tries and a lot of play time. I would have beaten the game at least 1-2 hours sooner if not for that fight. Still, it is great to see the game make a tough final boss. Final bosses should always be challenging so that you can truly feel at peace when you defeat it.

The animation holds up pretty well on the PS2. It may not be spectacular, but it’s very good and will suffice. Captain Quark is awesome to behold with the animation and they did a great job on the dream sequence. I definitely give the animation a thumbs up and it does not hold the game back.

The array of weapons may be pretty small in this game, but they are fun to use. I obtained 9 of them and they were mostly cool. The Laser Blaster is my favorite weapon and while it does not deal a great amount of damage, it’s really fun to spam. The Incinerator is also a solid weapon and easily one of the most deadly. The Shock Rockets are a lot of fun since they home in on the enemy and also deal a lot of damage. The Suck Cannon lives up to its name and it’s the worst weapon in the game. There’s no point to it and I definitely wouldn’t use it. The Stealth Scope Gun (Close to the name anyway) is good, but hard to use in actual combat. There’s a long range cannon that is good once you have fully upgraded it, but the damage output is pretty low. The Laser weapon is pretty good, but also hard to use in a fight and you get it right before the end of the game so you won’t have much time to use it. One weapon lets you send out mini Clanks to get the opponent, but I didn’t find those to be very useful. There is also an Acid Grenade attack, but I don’t see why you would use it. All in all, the weapons are solid for the most part and I highly recommend the Laser Blasters and the Rockets!

Overall, this was a very good addition to the Ratchet and Clank series. It may not have been quite a match for Deadlocked, but it’s still an incredible game. The fact that you can beat it in a few hours may be a little disappointing, but these games always have a substantial amount of replay value. Collecting weapons, skill points, gadgets, etc. There will be plenty for you to do after Story Mode. There is also a very solid multiplayer mode where you can fight others with the incredible battle style. It’s like playing Star Fox Assault. You are definitely getting a lot of bang for your buck! Ratchet was portrayed perfectly and he also made sure to mention the R.Y.N.O. when the villain claimed that nothing could beat intelligence. Ratchet sure showed him eh? Nothing can stop the R.Y.N.O.! I look forward to playing the next game in the series and finally starting its PS3 run. I highly recommend this game and you will greatly enjoy it. There aren’t any real flaws in this game.

Overall 8/10