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Mirror’s Edge Catalyst Review

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I never played the original Mirror’s Edge, but seeing as how Cayalyst is a reboot of sorts, I may as well go with the updated version. The game takes some time to start building up the universe around it, but unless there is a sequel, you’ll ultimately wonder what the point of it was. I suppose that it’s admirable to build up such a universe even if there is no sequel as you can decide how it will end on your own, but that will probably vary from person to person. It’s a fun enough game although it is a little on the short side.

Faith is a runner who was captured by the government and thrown into prison. The world is currently a dictatorship with the government being quite corrupt as always. They have come out with a new nanite virus which can control people once it is installed. They aim to set off the signal across the entire city and someday the world. If this happens, then they will be able to physically control everyone. Faith decides that she can’t let this happen, but unfortunately the leader of the resistance thinks it is too risky to actually…resist. He just wants to talk tough on smaller matters, but believes that they shouldn’t actually attack the government. Well…looks like Faith is on her own!

This is a first person game, but it’s actually not a shooter. As you’re a Runner in this title, you can imagine that running is what you’ll be doing most of the time. You typically have to run from point A to point B while performing some athletics and occasionally fighting with the authorities. As you play through the game you will acquire gadgets that will help you out like gliding between buildings or using a rope to pull yourself up. You even acquire an EMP weapon, which is very handy to have when you are surrounded by enemies. For combat, you can use the weak or strong attacks on your opponents. You’ll want to mix them up or the opponents will counter attack. Personally I found that the best way to beat them was to always jump off of something or just jump into them as the A.I. can never react to such an attack. Beating the enemies is pretty easy provided that you don’t try to rush it by running towards them. You will want to use strategy here.

The gameplay is pretty smooth, but occasionally you’ll find yourself at a jump where the camera angles make it difficult. I died quite a few times during the mission where you had to climb a 4 sided tower to deactivate a cannon. There are also a time where I jumped a little too high and found myself on a roof. It was very difficult to get down from there since I wasn’t supposed to be that high in the first place. Luckily, I managed at some point. That was rare though and on the whole the controls were easy to learn and proved to be intuitive.

Unfortunately, there is no final boss in the game so you don’t get to really show off your skills. True, you get to fight some minions towards the end of the game, but I wouldn’t call them a “final boss” to be honest. We did get a nice cutscene which had a fight between Faith and Kat which was neat though. I wasn’t expecting any fighting considering that the game was just about over by that point and it was a good action scene. Faith’s a solid hand to hand fighter even if she does tend to get a little distracted from time to time.

Graphically the game looks good. I wouldn’t call it great though and I think that a PS4 title can do better, but it’s not bad either. You still wouldn’t go and mistake this for an older generation like the PS2. The game opts for a very realistic style which is likely what hampers the graphics a bit. Just look at a game like Super Smash Bros and then at the latest Metal Gear. Metal Gear looks good, but Smash Bros looks a lot more vibrant and modern. Embracing the fantasy elements of a video game can certainly make it look a lot better in the long run. By the way, the cover of this game does sort of spoil the ending design from one of Faith’s choices though so prepare yourself!

As far as the soundtrack goes, Mirror’s Edge is okay. There aren’t really any standout themes, but they were fairly decent while playing through. I just can’t remember any of them at the moment so that’s a little bit of a strike against it. While the main campaign is pretty short, there is a lot of post game content to help the replay value. There are 50 trophies in the game. You’ll get around 20 of them by beating the game and then the other 30 are related to finding a lot of switches and completing many side missions. I’d say that doing all of that should definitely triple your overall play time or maybe even go a little beyond that. There seems to be some kind of multiplayer mode here as well. I’m not sure what that’s all about, but it could be a fun thing to try out if you have PS+.

Faith is a decent main character I guess as she is less annoying than the others, but I wouldn’t call her a great character either. She is the “tough” character of the group who isn’t afraid to break the rules and defy the government. Pretty much all of her lines are meant to remind you of this. The problem is that she shows moments of weakness quite regularly to the point where it destroys this image and she doesn’t seem to have a clear idea of what she even wants to do. Of course, it doesn’t help that she is surrounded by cowards and villains though. She’s the best character, but the bar is set rather low and I’d like to see her decide to fight the villains on her own at some point.

Icarus is the new member of the resistance who talks tough and doesn’t get along with Faith. By the end of the game he is basically the damsel in distress though and loses all of his confidence. No worries, Faith is here to help him out. This guy was annoying from the get go and while it seems like he could be a better character now (He better not become a love interest) I will probably find it difficult to like him. He’s better than Faith’s original boss though. That guy was afraid to make any waves and was scared of the villains. I don’t know how he became the leader of the resistance, but he was holding the group back whenever he appeared.

Then there’s the leader of the more extreme resistance, but she’s also a villain by the end. She wants to destroy everyone who leads privileged lives so they can know how she feels. Faith doesn’t like the government, but the world wouldn’t be any better under this resistance movement either which presents her with a dilemma. It’s one that she doesn’t really worry about though and she is still rather indecisive by the end so it’ll be intriguing to see which side she ultimately goes with. It’s lightly implied that the government may not be as corrupt anymore as a new leader has been elected, but it could very easily just be a political front.

Along the way we are also introduced to a computer genius who helps Faith out a lot. Her gimmick is that she takes everything literally and constantly insults everyone. It’s a decent gimmick I suppose, but one that can get a little tiring. There’s also a guy who Faith owes a lot of credits due to being in jail for so long. They have a rather weird dynamic as he’ll be insulting and threatening her one moment to giving her a pep talk the next. I definitely wouldn’t trust him if I was Faith since he seems a little unhinged. He seems to be the leader of the black market or something like that. I’m sure that we would meet other characters through the side missions as well, but those were the main ones. There’s also a lighthearted runner who asks you to do things for him once in a while, but he never becomes an important character.

Naturally, we can’t forget the main villains either. The main villain can actually fight a little which is cool, but he’s your average evil scientist aside from that. I’ll give him some credit for actually being fairly interesting though. I actually didn’t mind rooting for him a little since he’s actually more likable than 90% of the heroes. It’s just too bad that he left the cure that could stop his big plans in the middle of a room on the top floor with absolutely no security. I guess being overconfident didn’t pay off for him this time.

His right hand woman also gets a bit role and delves into Captain America:Winter Soldier issues. She murders quite a few people and even tortures one or two of them before putting them out of their misery. She’s completely evil, but then a plot twist happens. As Marvel would say “No, she’s not a clone or being mind controller. This is really her!” She should be held accountable right? Well, not really according to Faith. This whole thing is very personal and stopping the resistance from murdering her is one thing, but this lady still needs to be locked up for life at least. Even if she turned over a new leaf, she’s got to pay for the crimes. Faith seemed to completely forget everything that the lady did and it was a little iffy. If we got a sequel, it would be interesting to see if Faith tried to keep on convincing this lady to join her or not. Everyone seems to have gotten over the murders and such though so maybe Faith did as well.

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Overall, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is a good game. The story could have used a little work though. Essentially, it feels like you’re thrown into a world which is established around you, but then you’re taken out just as quickly. You got to see a glimpse of a whole new world, but there was no ending. Hopefully a sequel could work on that a little as the ending certainly doesn’t feel like anything has changed. The gameplay is solid though and trying to get the Platinum Trophy will help with the short length. The game does well on technical merits as well and ultimately gameplay will always trump the story for me as long as the story isn’t terrible, which this one certainly was not. I just wish that we had gotten some more likable characters and maybe a boss fight or two. Also, did anyone else miss the cool secret agent who was murdered so quickly by the right hand woman? He had the potential to be awesome, but so much for that. He didn’t even get a plot twist to himself. I recommend checking out this title, but maybe you should wait until the price goes down. I don’t think it will take too long for that to happen as price reductions happen all the time now. Now, it’s back to working on Final Fantasy VII for a while longer. I’m about halfway so just like 20 hours left until I wreck Sephiroth!

Overall 7/10

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan Stats and Records

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Stats time!

16/99 Charms
Level 15
11/51 PS3 Trophies

Stage Stats

Level 1 A Rank 3503
Level 2 S Rank 7130
Level 3 S Rank 6624
Level 4 S Rank 4969
Level 5 S Rank 5569
Level 6 S Rank 2520
Level 7 A Rank 4276
Level 8 S Rank 17834
Level 9 A Rank 4265

Attack Stats

Stealth Mode Level 3
Combo Attack Level 3
Warp Dash Level 2
Shell Crusher Level 1
Super Shruiken Level max
Spin Attack Level 1
Shruiken Rain Level 1
Super Sumo Slap Level 1
Ninja Drop Kick Level 1
Spin Slash Level 1
Flying Piledriver Level 1
Healing Circle Level 3
Turbo Mode Level 2
Decoy Level 1
High Jump Level 1
Barrier Level 1
Invincibility Level 1
Rain of Fire Level 1
Homerun Swing Level 1
Slash Roll Level 1
Teleport Attack Level 1
Shark Attack Level 1
UFO Attack Level 1
Beam Cannon Level 1
Giant Hologram Level 1
Ground Pound Level 1

Knack Review

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It’s time to review one of the big PS4 launch titles. Knack was meant to be the next Mario, Crash, or Spyro. He was going to change the gaming world and become a whole franchise. Unfortunately, just like PS All Stars Battle Royale, it was not meant to be. People were not overly thrilled with Knack and a lot of them said that it was repetitive and simply not as engaging as it could have been. Both are complaints that I can agree with to an extent, but Knack’s a fun enough game. I’d buy a sequel at some point although I admit that it wouldn’t be the most interesting series out there.

The Professor builds Knack (Mostly anyway. He doesn’t seem to fully comprehend Knack’s abilities and sentience so maybe he had some help and that’ll be a plot twist. I forgot if he ever gets a name either, but the Professor works just fine. Human cities have been attacked by Goblins and the army has started to get overwhelmed. The Professor decides to step in along with Knack. Together they crush the Goblins easily and decide to go to their home base to put an end to this. The situation gets more complicated than that when Vicktor and his army of robots decide that they want Knack. They need Knack to open up a tomb that leads to powerful Relics (Source of energy and power in this world) that could last them a life time. They also may have The Professor’s wife held hostage and if that’s the case….The Professor’s agenda may have just changed!

After playing a game like De Blob 2, I really can’t call Knack boring in the slightest. For the most part, it is a fun adventure. However, there are times where the plot will slow to a stand still as you rummage through a forest to grab relics or just walk around for a while. There are 13 chapters and each chapter has 3-5 levels in it. The game’s is of decent length. It isn’t too short, but I wouldn’t call it a long game either. If you play it for 2-3 hours a day then you’ll have it beat in about 3 shots. The plot does start right away so that’s good, but it keeps on changing direction because the Professor’s a little confused about what to do. He has to stop the Goblins, but he also has to stop the Robot army and he needs to free his wife as well. Plus, he wants the Relics for himself. As a result, the characters are constantly running from area to area without actually accomplishing their missions for a while. As an example, we decided to go stop the goblins in Chapter 3, but don’t get around to doing so until around Chapter 11.

I almost forgot to mention the Gameplay! It’s a 3D beat em up although it plays more like an action platformer. You can use standard punches to attack enemies or a jumping homing attack/dashing attack. Those are your only options so prepare to see the same punches thrown for the whole game. Once you’ve built up enough sun meter, you can also turn into a whirlwind or make a mini earthquake to startle the villains. Gaining relics in a level will fill up your health and Sunstone Crystals will fill up your energy. The minions can be a little tricky at times so just make sure that you wait and weigh your options before deciding to fight them.

The levels will have treasure chests scattered throughout them. They are always behind a fake wall so if you see something with cracks in it, give it a good punch. These chests have rare stones or parts in them. Once you collect them all (And there are quite a lot) you can unlock new forms for Knack and gadgets that will help you play through the game like a combo meter that increases your power and a secret radar. This is where the Knack’s Quest app will come in handy as it can at least earn you a few parts to save some time. Unfortunately, I don’t like how the Treasure Chests system is handled. For starters, you cannot find them through Chapter Select. The only way to grab the chests is to play the game over again and unfortunately, it seems like you can get old jewels after a while. This means that you may have to play the game several times until you finally get all of the pieces. Not a very appealing thought is it?

Despite that, the trophies seem fairly reasonable. There are a few speed challenges in there, but mostly it is about collecting everything and completing the game on all difficulties. It’s nothing that should be too difficult so much as it is just a little tedious. This does help the replay value though as it wouldn’t otherwise have any. There’s no multiplayer so the replay value is still a little sub-standard, but trophy hunters will still have their money’s worth. Not to mention that the price has gone down quite a bit since it first came out and that makes a big difference.

The soundtrack is not all that noticeable. It doesn’t really stick out I’m afraid and comes across as generic. As for the graphics, I don’t think that they did a great job of showing off the PS4’s power. The character designs are comically bad to the point where the cutscenes are more humorous than anything else. The characters keep walking towards each other only for the tables to turn so they all keep walking in circles. The character proportions are really off for some and for others the designs are just really cartoony. The in game graphics are solid though. It may have just been the artistic style that didn’t work very well for Knack.

The Professor was an okay lead and I actually agreed with his decision to go grab the relics. Sure it would be dangerous for the rest of the world, but unlimited energy is also a great positive. I typically sided with him over Lucas in their various debates. Lucas was very annoying from start to finish. He was always blowing up at the Professor and just being an ingrate in general. Seriously, the Professor could do no right as far as Lucas was concerned. Everything had to be done his way or the highway. Lucas always feels like he is right even when he isn’t. He never develops into a good character. As the main villain Vicktor is all right, but you have to like the more political villains. He does seem a little more emotional as he actually gets visibly upset when Katrina is seemingly destroyed. The way that he goes out was pretty great even if it is a little anti climactic for his fans. Katrina was a good rival for Knack although I still have to question how they were rivals in the first place. It’s seriously a mismatch no matter how you look at it. It was impressive to see her dodging his blows though and getting a robot suit towards the end was a good idea.

Ryder is an Indiana Jones parody and easily the best character in the game. He makes the hero call and never leaves a man or woman behind even when the stakes are high. The Professor and Lucas couldn’t care less about saving the villains, but Ryder makes the right calls. I’d definitely want him to be in the sequel. Gundahar is the leader of the goblins so you’d think that he has a big role, but he actually doesn’t do all that much in the game. I also can’t take him seriously thanks to his design. Charlotte’s The Professor’s wife and she is a very bad character. She is nursing a grudge with the Professor for not finding her soon enough and she builds the weapons for the goblins, yet doesn’t show a lot of remorse for it. Her character arc is incredibly rushed and aside from the Professor, nobody should be thrilled about having her back at this point.

As for Knack himself, he’s an okay character, but he’s not that engaging or charismatic like most leads. He even admits that he doesn’t do the thinking, just the execution. Main characters don’t have to be smart, but the classic “Strong, but not smart” character is typically the side character for a reason. It’ll get old if the character is in the lead since you can expect the same jokes time after time. Knack doesn’t really make jokes, but the game constantly goes in slow motion to dramatically show how hard he hits the ground every time he jumps. We get it..Knack’s strong! His design also isn’t all that great. He reminds me of Hellboy if Hellboy was made of rock and had an evil looking grin. Knack shows signs of potential like when he gets overconfident or brags, but the sequel will have to give him a lot of development to say the least.

Overall, Knack’s a fun enough game, but it does start to be affected by repetition towards the end of its run. After all, you’ll be using the same attacks on the same enemies for quite a while by the end. Luckily, I did enjoy the gameplay quite a bit, but that’s why it is important to have a lot of different attacks so you can defeat enemies in various ways. The story is decent and it was funny at least so that’s good. The heroes did make a lot of questionable calls throughout though so hopefully they’ll be better in a possible sequel. I recommend this game. Even if you’re not a huge fan of it by the end, it’ll be fun for you to compare it to other titles like Crash and Mario. I haven’t played Crash yet so I can’t really comment on whether or not it beats that title at the moment.

Overall 7/10

Tornado Outbreak Review

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Before Star Fox Zero arrives in the mail later I decided to go through one more game. This one had trophies, was on the backburner for a while, and it was a short title. That made it super qualified for this role. It’s a fun game although they definitely could have done more with the overall concept. The game really is over before you know it. The actual campaign only lasted a few hours and was certainly less than I had heard. Ironically it is about as long as Star Fox Zero. This review was originally going to come out before Zero’s, but when the game arrived, it naturally took top priority. No worries though, this game is short, but it is definitely fun.

The story revolves around a guy named Zephyr. He is a living tornado and he is the prince/leader of the Wind Warriors. His mentor is one of the wisest guys ever and reminds Zephyr that they must defeat all of the fire spirits before the Earth is destroyed. Zephyr is glad to help even if he has no real regard for the safety of Earth’s citizens. Still, he is going to have to move fast since the villains are everywhere and the tornadoes are really starting to weaken the Earth’s defenses. Also, Zephyr isn’t being lied too right? That would be too sinister even for the villains…uh oh!

There are 8 worlds like your average Mario game and each one has 3 zones. The first two revolve around the Tornado gimmick that I actually liked quite a bit. You start out as a really weak wind that can only hurl away small objects. The more objects that you absorb, the stronger you become. Eventually you become a rank 10-11 Tornado that can whip away everything in sight. You can then find the Fire Spirits and return to your portal before the time limit is up. Rinse and repeat for Zone 2. In Zone 3, you have to quickly win a Ring Race and then destroy the evil Totem Poles that have been placed in the center. You have to avoid the spotlights as you do this.

I like the concept of gradually getting stronger in a level until you accomplish everything within that level. The only game that I’ve played with a very similar concept would be De Blob, which I also enjoyed quite a bit. There’s something about this style that is simply a blast to play through. Both titles are fairly short so maybe there is some reason why that is the case. Perhaps it is tough to program a lot of levels for this style of the developers thought it could potentially get repetitive. I suppose that would happen if it was too long.

The plot isn’t all that engaging, but I did like the style of the cinematic. It felt very similar to the Sly games to the point where I would consider this a homage. Even the main character’s voice was like Sly’s. The plot may have even been a bit better than Sly’s since plot was never Sly’s strong suit when compared to his two rivals. (Ratchet and Jak) I think they could have done a lot more with Tornado Outbreak’s story though. It is very short, but aside from that the character cast is very small so there isn’t a whole lot of banter. In fact, you end up feeling a little bad for Zephyr’s men.

Sure, they doubt him a lot, but Sly’s always rather short with them. They constantly try to make one liners only to have Zephyr quickly take them back to the mission or tactfully insult them. The mentor tries to talk tough, but he can be a bit annoying and cryptic as well. The main villain was decently cool although he could barely talk and by the end he became your average giant villain who could no longer fight. The Rock and Water allies were all right. Basically, what I’m getting at is that the gameplay should be the selling point of this game rather than the plot even if the actual premise is fairly good.

One issue that is never really brought up in the game is how the Wind Warriors, the heroes of the story, seem to do just as much harm as good. The villains are rocking the planet to its core and will destroy it if they are not stopped, but the heroes should still be careful of how they save the planet. Zephyr and his men essentially raze the countries to the ground as they destroy whole neighborhoods and landmarks. They also destroy all of the animals and humans on board depending on how you look at it. I guess you could say that they are just flinging them away and that they’re all okay thanks to Toon Force, but is that what really happened here? Zephyr mentions in one cutscene that they should all try to help rebuild at some points, but then he’s distracted by the villains and it is never mentioned again. I dunno, it is hard to see Zephyr as an actual hero here and he is more of a lone vigilante than anything else. If not for how “Toon Force” everything is, the whole animal thing would have decimated the score. For the sake of the game and my experience, I’ll say that the tornado did gently throw them all away. Zephyr claims to be a hero so it is the least that he could do.

There is a decent amount of replay value to be found here. I wouldn’t call it a super large amount, but enough to make this game a decently long experience. Once you beat the game, you can go and replay all of the older levels with your new power ups so you can free the Rock Golems and the Water Spirits. There are currently no real collectible guides out there so you’ll have to use trial and error as you explore the levels for that shiny Platinum trophy. I can’t say that this game is high on my list to Platinum since it seems rather tricky, but I got a decent amount of trophies so I’m pretty satisfied.

I can’t say that I was very impressed with the soundtrack. It was a little lackluster, but not outright bad either. It was just pretty nonexistent the whole time and typically got drowned out by the actual gameplay. It is satisfying to just swallow up everything on the stage though. The graphics look nice. The cutscenes seemed to be hand drawn and the character models in the levels were good. Nothing awe inspiring, but certainly good enough.

Overall, Tornado Outbreak is a solid game. It’s a little shorter than you would expect, but unlike Star Fox Zero, the game is only about 10 dollars or less. It is certainly worth the price and this is a good game to add to your collection. The gameplay is quite unique in a world where many games are very similar at this point. It is hard to come up with new gameplay styles that work, but Outbreak pulls it off. A sequel to this game would be fun, but if not, maybe he’ll be in PS All Stars 2..heh heh.

Overall 7/10

Transformers Dark of The Moon Review

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Transformers definitely has a very solid track record when it comes to video games. Although the same could be said for shows and comics, the video games are really something else as they all typically grab 8/10s. This one is no exception and while Dark of The Moon may not have quite as much depth as War For Cybertron, the gameplay is still great like always. The game doesn’t play like a movie tie in and it’s good to see the developers still give this game their best shot.

So…the plot. Well…you can beat the game while barely recognizing that there is one. Things are happening and the government calls in the Autobots to help out, but what is the grand scheme? Well, it leads to Megatron activating Shockwave at any rate and he makes for a pretty tricky boss. Interestingly enough, Megatron isn’t the final boss and I don’t think you even get to fight him. You do fight Optimus Prime while playing as Megatron though so I suppose that can count to an extent. It was an odd choice, but it was a curve ball so I can appreciate that. There is even a big cliffhanger left in the ending since the Decepticons are now stronger than ever. Who knows, maybe the movie tie ins will diverge even more than we thought or things will tie up nicely. (Shockwave being in Transformers IV suddenly makes sense.

Graphically, you probably could not tell the difference between this one and War For Cybertron. If anything, Cybertron probably looks a little more impressive as all of the levels are futuristic and high tech. At the same time, I do love the city/forest levels in this game so its certainly not a big loss there. The designs are bland if anything and that’s because it is based on the films. I still think the robots could have been a lot more unique and it was a big missed opportunity, but that’s on the films once again. The soundtrack is pretty nonexistent when I try to think about it, but I’m sure that there were some decent tunes while I was playing through. They just escape me at the moment, which is the price of being generic.

Now let’s talk about the gameplay. It is a 3D shooter, which is the norm for Transformers. You can also engage in fisticuffs or turn into a vehicle to throw the opponents off. I don’t recommend close quarters combat..ever, unless you are trying to get a trophy. It simply puts you at a disadvantage as far as I am concerned. Turning into a car is great though and you should do that a lot. I’d say that the game did a terrific job with this mode and the occasional driving level is much appreciated. It brings in a whole new element to the game. (Not the franchise tho) Towards the end of the campaign it will start to be less helpful, but it’s always fun. Normal shooting mode is slightly sketchier than usual as the aim can be a bit off and there is no good lock on as far as I am aware. I think the game mentioned one, but if I did use it, It definitely was not helpful.

The game is reasonably difficult so you can expect a bit of a challenge. There are also a lot of checkpoints which is good since nothing is worse than having to redo a large section from the very beginning. Watch out for large enemy hordes since they can take down your full health bar in seconds. Those guys will give you more of a challenge than the bosses in this game (Which are pretty easy since there are check points at various points so you can enter the fight midway with full health if you lose) and it may take a few shots to beat some of the minion hordes. Strength in numbers and all.

It is worth mentioning that each character has a special ability. I would say that the Machine Gun is the best one, but Invisibility can be quite handy as well. Just use your abilities wisely and you will be okay. They all have their uses and I don’t believe that there were any bad ones, which is good. As far as replay value goes, this game does all right. There are collectibles to grab and a lot of trophies to earn. Considering that the online is basically dead, it will be extremely hard to platinum this title so you’re just earning trophies for the fun of it. If you’re really serious about this, you can probably find some people to help you boost the trophy as well. I collect em, but I’ve never done the whole boosting thing. I’m not quite that into it and I want to earn the online trophies the standard way, with skills and brawn! This will definitely extend your play time in the game, but in the end a multiplayer mode would have been even better.

Overall, Dark of The Moon is pretty fun. It is easy to see why the online died quickly however, since you may as well stick with War For Cybertron. The multiplayer feels more epic and Team Deathmatch is still a blast. While the game may lose out to War For Cybertron, that does not mean you should completely take a pass on the title. The action and enjoyable gameplay still makes this a pretty complete game and you’ll enjoy it a lot even if the plot is very forgettable. We did have some good banter between one of the Autobots and the government in one level though. The Autobot talked tough for a while, but once he started to get pounded by the Decepticons, he knew who to call. I do wish that we could have gotten a game for the 4th film. Ah well, maybe the 5th film will get a title. If not, another stand alone title like Devastation will fit the bill.

Overall 8/10

Men In Black Alien Crisis Review

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Looks like it’s time to take a look at Alien Crisis. This is the first Men In Black game that I’ve played and one of the only ones to have ever come out. It’s a pretty fun game and you could tell that some effort was put into it, but at the same time you can also see how the developers were a little lazy at times. There are parts of the game where there is no real explanation on how to handle a boss and that can make it last a lot longer than it really should. One boss took me nearly an hour until I realized that the game was actually showing me the wrong weak spot. That wasn’t very helpful.

The game revolves around a guy named Peter. He’s a thief who used to be a respected archeologiest until he started having theories about aliens living among us. He was discredited so he decided to get back at society by stealing things. He gets in a little over his head when aliens show up, but he dispatches them with his gun skills. The Men In Black organization is intrigued so they blackmail him into helping them, but as the journey goes on, Peter starts to realize that being a hero may not be such a bad thing. It may be a brief realization though since the Earth may not be around for much longer!

Unfortunately, Peter’s not a good character. He’s modeled after James Bond in a sense so while he makes a lot of good puns and one liners while in imminent danger, he also gets his undesired traits like constantly flirting and most of his lines are about that. It’s too bad that we can’t get a character who’s super confident and everything without being a flirt. Wait a minute The main heroine is the hardened agent who blackmailed Peter into joining. She’s no nonsense and keeps reminding Peter that he’s not ready for this line of work. I could have sworn that she has the same voice actor as Black Widow. She’s a good character and by default, she’s basically the best in the game. As you may expect, she’s naturally possessed at the end so the rookie (Peter) can save the day, but I guess she takes it well. If we ever get a sequel, their dynamic will hopefully be more like the duo from the original Men in Black films since Peter will have some more experience. The dog makes some cameos here and there, but his role is not as big as it could have been. There’s also a professor who tried to outwit Peter and the MIB a lot, but he always fails in the end. One thing you’ll have to think about though is whether you should be rooting for MIB or not. After all, they did destroy a guy who came to Earth for an arranged marriage as part of a truce between races, right before they murdered his partner. Well, you know what they say..Don’t Mess with Earth!

The gameplay is your standard shooter, but it’s not totally first person like you would expect. You can still see your character and to an extent it can almost be called a third person shooter. I wouldn’t really call it that because you can never move forwards or backwards, but sideways is always an option. You can choose to hide behind a wall and strike out at the enemies or you can just stand tall and keep on blasting them. Either way, you should have the edge here as the enemies can’t stop you so easily. One health pack is enough to get you back to around full health although I imagine that this will change on higher difficulty modes.

You have around 6 different guns and they’re all pretty useful. I really like the machine gun, but the others have their uses. The two weakest ones have unlimited ammo so you’ll go to them when you’re desperate or in a tough spot. Those two situations are almost identical though. You also have a few gadgets to help you out like anti gravity grenades that send enemies into the air and a freeze ray that can really come through in the clutch. There’s also a barrier, which I highly recommend using as it can block all enemy fire and will never shatter. If you’re low on health then there’s no reason not to use it and it recharges very quickly as well.

I’m going to give this game some props for the fact that it didn’t stop at just making one gameplay style. There are several levels where you have to play in a different way in order to win. For example, there are 2-3 car chase levels where you’re flying through the city and blasting away at the aliens who are chasing you. You have to be careful not to his civilians or cars as you do and it makes for a fun level. There are also the sneaky levels which are all about strategy and silently taking down your foes. I’m always up for a stealth game even if I admit that they can be a little more irritating at times. Carmen Sandiego did this style best with Shattered Dimensions being a close second. Men In Black pulled it off quite well and would probably make it at number 3 here. The Batman games ironically get wrecked in this department.

The soundtrack is a little limited, but the tune for the main menu is catchy. The other themes are mostly non existent, but it’s your usual action fare. I wouldn’t say that the themes are bad and they’re fun to listen to in the heat of battle. The audio is interesting though as some characters sound robotic at times even if they’re trying to be charismatic. Ah well, I appreciate the effort at the very least. It can be annoying to hear the dialogue sometimes though since it is set to always replay if you lost in a level. I lost to the final boss several times before finally winning and to have to hear the same lines over and over again can get really old really fast. As for the graphics, they’re perfectly acceptable. It has that cash-in vibe, but the blasts are nice and colorful. I also like the designs of the enemies. The game did a good job of adding many different species unlike Battleship and the Iron Man inspired villain was also pretty hype.

I can’t say that there’s a whole lot of replay value to be found here. I read that the average completion time for this game is 2 and a half hours. I guess if you skip cutscenes and take out all of the enemies without a problem this can be true, but personally I’d expect the campaign to take you closer to 4 hours the first time. After that, you should have most of the trophies as well. The only things left to do are get the rest of them and maybe play around with the challenges a little if you really want too. I would say that the game is worth the current price although if you spent 60 on it (Not sure if this ever was 60 though. I personally doubt it) then you probably got ripped off.

The only real negative that I have with the game are the boss fights. As I mentioned earlier, the game really leaves you to your own devices, which means that you need to put on your detective hat and figure out what’s happening. Unfortunately, since the moments where the boss is actually vulnerable are few and far between, it can take a while. I lost to one of the bosses over 10 times before defeating her and I still don’t know what the problem was the first time. I basically just got lucky. As for the final boss, I did figure out that I was shooting the wrong target, but man did it take a while! The bosses were certainly the weakest part of the game, but they could have been worse.

Overall, Men In Black Alien Crisis is a pretty fun shooter. I found the actual gameplay to be better than Battleship, James Bond, and several other shooters. I even preferred it to Metroid Prime although that game naturally did have a better plot and more of an epic vibe. The story mode here did feel like a decent movie though and the snappy dialogue made for a believable main character. If you didn’t know any better, you could have easily thought that the movie probably had the same plot as the game although they are completely different. The writers thought it through and made a full on story mode so props to that. This may be a bit of a cash-in, but there was clearly more effort put in than usual. I’d recommend checking this title out.

Overall 8/10

Shovel Knight Review

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I haven’t played a whole lot of indie games over the years. Typically, most of them don’t get a physical release, which essentially means Game Over as I don’t step into the digital realm very often. Shovel Knight certainly got very popular though so it’s not too surprising that it got such a wide release. For a while there, people were completely convinced that he was going to be playable in Super Smash Bros. That may not have ultimately happened, but it did help his popularity soar to even greater heights. The game is fun and it’s a call back to the classic Mega Man games from the good ole days. Those were always a lot of fun and ditto for Shovel Knight. There’s quite a lot of replay value contained within to back up the short story.

You play as a Knight who wields a shovel and whose teammate was seemingly destroyed. He decided to retire to a land of peace for a while, but eventually realizes that it’s time to avenge Shield Knight. Shovel Knight sets out, but the rest of the Knights from the round table intend to stop him along with the mysterious Black Knight. Will Shovel Knight’s determination be enough for him to vanquish all of his foes or will he ultimately have to use a tactical retreat?

Shovel Knight is a hero through and through so he doesn’t destroy the opponents that he defeats. On the contrary, he simply lets them think about their follies while on the ground and he moves onto the next area. Towards the end, he’s had just about enough of his “friends” and leaves them hanging from a castle. They eventually get up, but Shovel Knight couldn’t be bothered to stop and help. These guys are rather ungrateful and not reasonable so you can understand why Shovel Knight decided to use the extra minutes to stop the villain. The Knights can take care of themselves.

Let’s talk more about the gameplay. Instead of a Mega Buster, you’ve got a Shovel that you can whack opponents with. As you progress through the game, you’ll get magic spells like a fire blast or a super punch. You can also upgrade the shovel so that it can fire mini shockwaves and power slashes by holding the slash button. Watch out for enemy attacks though because like the old Mega Man games they will put you in hit stun for a while and during that time you are certainly very vurlable to pits. I died quite a few times that way. You can also obtain different armors and each one has strengths and weaknesses so you have to decide which one to ultimately use. I decided to use the economically friendly one to save on gold. When you die, you drop gold and that gold can really come in handy.

It should be noted that you can’t really die here. When you die, you’re taken to the last check point and you can seemingly keep trying until you eventually succeed. That did come in handy at the end of the game since I lost to the final form of the final boss and beating the first form again would have been a little iffy. It’s not a super long boss like some of the other games that I’ve played over the years, but saving some time and just throwing me back into the final form is definitely great. Not being able to really die can be an issue for some, but you do lose gold so there are still some consequences and the game isn’t super easy or anything like that. I expect you to definitely die a few times during your initial play through. Probably more than just “a few” times as well.

The graphics are solid. The game did a fine job of emulating the retro games as you can see above. The character designs are solid and the models look clear in the game. Black Knight is definitely the most interesting character visually although the final boss looks epic as well. I’d also give a nice thumbs up to the soundtrack for going the extra mile here. There were many themes present in the game and each one was suitable for the stages and the combat. Each theme was quick and you know how I don’t care for soft/quiet songs quite as much.

The ending would definitely have been super tragic if not for the after credits scene so make sure that you stick around for it. I’d say that it’s definitely a good thing that they added it since the first ending was unexpected, but also just a little sad for both of the Knights. That would have been a pretty big failure for them. Still, it didn’t happen so they did good. I would have liked to have seen some more of the “wanderers” though. The characters seemed pretty neat. They were all fairly mysterious and we only have a vague sense of their ambitions and goals. At the very least, we know that they are all good fighters.

There’s certainly already quite a bit of lore in the game. I don’t mind if they don’t end up exploring a lot of this, but those mystery characters need to return. After that, I guess we’ll need some new villains so I’m wondering who will show up. I’m assuming that we will probably get a sequel at some point and if the series is still going strong in a few years, Shovel Knight really could make his debut into the Super Smash universe.

This is one of those games that is very easy to quickly plug and play. You can get into the gameplay very easily and earning Gold is always a lot of fun since you have good things to spend it on. Of course, that won’t be a factor soon since I only have one armor left, but it was always a blast going for the jewels. As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of replay value here. You’ll want to go back and get all of the music notes, which should take quite a long while. Talking to everyone in all of the villages will help you get trophies and naturally the Platinum in and of itself will take quite a long time. Some trophies are incredibly difficult like beating the game in under 90 minutes or beating it without dying. The company went all out for this Platinum and it’s definitely all but unachieveable for me. Eventually you could get all of the trophies, but it would take many hours.

Meanwhile, the game also brings the DLC pack along with it where you play as another Knight and do Story Mode again, but it’s decently changed from the first time around. The level designs have been altered and seeing everything from another perspective is interesting, but I would have liked something a bit more like adding in more items or something. I haven’t embarked on this DLC yet and will probably do it someday, but not in the near future. I beat the game in one nice long batch, but I imagine that doing it a second time would be a lot harder depending on how good or bad Plague Knight is.

Overall, I’d recommend giving Shovel Knight a purchase. If you enjoyed those old Nintendo classics or the Mega Man games, then this is right up your ally. The developers even went the extra mile and provided an actual plot through the word bubbles. You certainly didn’t see that in the oldest games from back in the day and it’s a good way of quickly using some modern elements without messing up the vibe of the title. With good graphics and a solid soundtrack as well, there are no real negatives to be found here. A mild issue could be that the game is a little on the short side, but as always, that does typically work out well for me. The game certainly doesn’t drag this way and most of the old games were very short like this one. Shield Knight still got a big team up with Shovel Knight to end it all and that was pretty climactic. The dream fights were also pretty intense. You better make that catch!

Overall 7/10

Battleship Review

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Have you ever had someone yell at you, “I sunk your Battleship!” before? Well if not, I’m afraid that this isn’t said in the actual game. I remember enjoying the film to a decent extent so I was pleased to start Battleship to see if the game would still be really solid. Alex Hopper would not be returning this time, but that’s fine since the plot is fairly minimal in this title anyway. The gameplay needs to be the selling point here. Battleship’s a first person shooter and while I like the gameplay style nowadays, it’s definitely not one that I tend to excel in. Normal mode provides me with a considerable level of difficulty so beating it on hard mode would be verrrry tough.

Aliens have invaded the planet so the marines are Earth’s best chance to stop them. It’ll be tricky and it’ll be dicey, but the main character has to pull this off. I forgot the name of the hero and I forgot the location (Hawaii islands I think) almost immediately but that’s all right. As I mentioned earlier, the plot simply isn’t that important. The whole game is filled with your boss talking about the communicator about the current situation and what you have to do, but it’s all fairly generic. You know that you have to take down the aliens and save the world. Don’t need to know much more than that to have a good time right?

The important part of the game is the gameplay of course and I’d say that Battleship succeeds in this area. It’s hard to really describe a first person shooter since it’s very self-explanatory. Point and shoot at the aliens, you don’t really need to know much more than that. FPS fans claim that the game is ultra easy and you can beat it on Hard Mode right off the bat. Don’t listen to them unless you are good at this genre. I’m not so normal mode made for a very good challenge and some levels took me well over an hour to finally complete. It was very satisfying to finally clear the level though. So, the game succeeded quite well with the core gameplay.

I do think that a cursor should always be on though since it makes shooting so much easier. It’s pretty sad to be firing at an alien with point blank range..only to keep on missing the shots. That just doesn’t seem right and you could tell that this wouldn’t happen in Call of Duty. Your jumping skills in the game are terrible and I forgot that I could jump for most of the game, but it’s not really a negative since jumping is never really necessary. Crouching was really handy and I highly recommend performing that action when engaged in a battle. Hiding behind rocks a lot of the time is also a good thing to do and it’ll make you feel like you’re in a classic Star Trek episode. If you’re feeling particularly bold, it’s fun to run into a group of enemies with your machine guns, but sometimes you’ll just end up dying right away.

The part of the gameplay that wasn’t so good was the actual Battleship mode. While fighting the enemies on the ground, you have battleships, which are fighting the enemy cruisers. They can’t do much without you so you have to enter the Battleship view and direct the Battleships on where to go and who to fight. It can get a little tedious with the loading times and sometimes you can control a Battleship with an item to really land some damage. It’s easy to beat the enemies, but…too easy. The final boss just involves you jumping into the Battleship and firing some of your lasers until it goes down. You don’t need to move, just spam L2, R2, and L1. It’s how you attack and moving is not necessary. It’s just not as fun as it should have been and that part of the game could have easily been cut out. Actually controlling the ship in a mode with more free roam could have been awesome.

I can’t say that the graphics are groundbreaking and they just aren’t very good. They’re not that bad and the game is fairly new so we’re not talking FFVII here, but it’s telling that the aliens actually look like humans throughout the whole game. It’s very easy to be striking one of your allies instead of an alien when the going gets tough. This isn’t a huge issue since your allies are typically knocked off as soon as possible, but the aliens should have had a better design and the graphics should have been able to make them stand out more. The enemies also sorta bleed when you blow them up, which is intriguing since the game officially has no blood. Contradictions like that have shown up in other games though and I’m guessing it wasn’t listed since it’s fairly mild and it’s basically monster blood. Still, it’s an area that the ESRB doesn’t have a lot of consistency with.

Battleship’s soundtrack is mostly nonexistent for large chunks of time, but it can be quite enjoyable. I remember that the beginning of the game was pretty epic although the soundtrack only played a small part in that. It’s not bad, but the themes also aren’t memorable so you will forget all about them in a very short period of time. I can’t say that I expected an all star selection of musical themes though so I was not disappointed.

Between the soundtrack and the graphics, Battleship did manage to be pretty epic though. The first level is actually very thrilling and tense as the game throws you into the action and the aliens begin their conquest of Earth. You would not suspect that the game was a movie cash in at first and you can easily get invested into the mission of stopping the aliens. The graphics and gameplay will eventually tip you off to the fact that this game isn’t exactly AAA, but it did put up a good front. The game loses its intrigue and mystery after the first level, but it was a great way to start off the game.

Each level should take you 30-60 minutes and some can last for even longer periods of time if you keep on dying. Luckily, some enemies tend to stay dead even after you die, which can help quite a bit. Just remember to take it slow sometimes and to pick off the opposing forces one at a time. There are around 8 levels, so the game length is decent. That being said, there’s not a whole lot of replay value to be found here unless you are planning to get the Platinum trophy. That will buy you some time, not a whole lot, but it will double the game’s length at the very least.

Overall, Battleship is a fun game and it’s definitely an FPS that I would recommend. It’s naturally not as polished as some of the other FPS titles, but it holds its own and who doesn’t want to go up against the big bad aliens? Beating the game on hard mode would certainly be a little impressive and I definitely wouldn’t mind a sequel for this game. It’d be a blast and hopefully the price would also go down pretty quickly as this one definitely goes for a bargain price nowadays. You can always find something good in the bargain bin!

Overall 7/10

Madden 2015 Review

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I’ve always been a big fan of Madden and it’s one of the only game series that can hold a candle to Super Smash Bros. No worries, Super Smash still is the greatest series of all time and it shall never be surpassed, but Madden would probably be my second favorite series. Madden 13 was phenomenal and while Madden 2004 is still my favorite, 13 was a close second. Unfortunately, Madden 2015 is not quite as good, but it’s still an excellent game and one that I can recommend to anyone without hesitation. There are more things to learn as the Madden games get more and more technical, but you’ll be glad that you entered this new world of fun.

One thing to notice is the fact that I got Madden 2015 for the PS4. It’s much cheaper to do so, but since I don’t have PS+, it also means that I can’t spend my evenings pounding away at the opposing team against real players. That’s probably for the best though since it can be quite time consuming. Recently, Sony gave everyone free PS+ for the weekend so I took advantage of that to play a few online games. I did quite well and went 4-1 if I recall correctly. The exact number should be on my stats and records page if I made an error here. I guess my Madden 13 skills have helped me get used to this one rather quickly.

Madden still has the issue that I mention for all of the newer titles and that’s the fact that it’s really hard to go for the deep ball. It’ll only work if your player has a massive lead over the defender because the usual gap isn’t enough. If the receiver got 2 steps on the cornerback, you can still be sure that the cornerback will spin around and pull off an incredible jump to snag the ball away. The problem is that the receivers never fight for the ball so it will get picked off every time. Slant routes are typically a little safer, but again, your receiver better have a nice lead. Otherwise, the defender will make a leaping interception. I’m not sure what the game can do about this, but I’m sure that the code can be tweaked for future installments to make the receiver good once again. Just play Madden 2004 for a moment and you’ll see what I mean.

The good thing is that this does force you to consider the running game once again. In fact, I run in Madden 15 far more than I did for any of the other titles. It’s finally a very viable option here and maybe even a little overpowered. I played as the Cowboys for all of my matches and I could afford to run the same straight run over and over again. No matter how quickly the defenders would hit me, I’d have already grabbed 2-3 yards and typically that number was more like 7-8. Defenses simply could not stop Murray. It didn’t matter if I was playing CPUs or human opponents, my running attack was unstoppable!

This also set up the play action pass and I uncorked it once for a nice, deep slant route. It was a blast to see this actually work since play action plays typically fail miserably in Madden because your offensive line cannot hold out that long. Another play that I love to run is a random Hail Mary towards the start of the game. A lot of times the defense will be completely unprepared to deal with that so you can get an easy completion. Make sure to have your running back run a swing route to the left to cover your options though. If even he is covered, then you’ll have enough room to easily scramble for a nice gain. It’s really the perfect passing play if you ask me.

It should come as no surprise to you that the game’s graphics are top notch. EA spends a lot of cash to ensure that you are getting top of the line visuals during the game. It is definitely impressive to see how life like the field and the players are at this point. It’s not quite ready to pass Super Smash Bros for Wii U in terms of how awesome the game looks, but Madden is easily one of the leaders in the graphics field all the same. I can’t say much about the soundtrack because I’m just too into the game to notice such things at that point. The themes are typically fast, but you’ll barely notice as you start racking up the wins.

Aside from playing games or entering into the Connected Career where you can play dozens of games in multiple seasons, there is also a drills mode. It’s basically a tutorial that walks you through many techniques. It’s actually a lot trickier than the average tutorial mode and I can guarantee that you will learn something. It’s worth playing through each section here to make you a better overall player. Another mode lets you relive great moments in NFL history as you try to make a great comeback or stop other teams from scoring. This mode’s nice and challenging as well.

If you do have PS+, then that opens the door for you to play some online battles against the best of the best. Once you play against real life opponents online, it’s hard to go back. It’s just so fun and exhilarating! There’s also a MUT mode, which is where you can form a team of solid players from the present and the past to become the greatest of all time. You can enter leagues and it’s a blast, but keep in mind that you’ll probably be doomed at first as your quarterback may be Weeden while the opponent has Joe Montana or Troy Aikman. Eventually, you’ll be able to unlock those guys or you can just buy them, but I don’t recommend buying the DLC unless you’re seriously going to be playing the game for a long while.

The actual gameplay has been made to be very realistic and it works well for the game. My one problem is that it can be hard to change directions. I suppose that you can’t go 0-60 when turning in real life, but it’s always sad to watch your player to a little stutter step as they try to turn and then you get nailed. It cost me a safety in the game that I lost, which was most unfortunate. Still, it’s a fairly small complaint and you’ll just have a blast playing the games over and over again because the gameplay is simply that fun.

Madden continues to add more and more commentary as well as the occasional ad slogan to also make the game super realistic. There’s even a ticker showing the NFL game scores in real life that are completely updated. That’s very impressive. I usually skip the intro to the games because I don’t have time, but it is neat that the game will actually focus on the players and start to have a serious discussion as a pre game simulation. I feel like EA puts a lot of effort into these games even with a lot of complaints which would disagree with my statement.

Overall, Madden 2015 is a terrific game and it continues to hold the Madden legacy up in a positive light. It may be similar to older titles, but that will not change and I wouldn’t want it too. I’m very comfortable with Madden and I wouldn’t want there to be any drastic gameplay overhauls or anything of the sort. It just wouldn’t feel right if you ask me. If you haven’t played a Madden game before, don’t worry. It’s tough, but it won’t take an extremely long amount of time to get good. A lot of the game is just about outsmarting your opponent so you always want to think outside the box. I aim to get Madden 16 in about a year or so when it inevitably drops to around 10 dollars, then it’ll be time to snag it!

Overall 9/10