Psychonauts (Xbox)Tim Schaeffer never fails to amaze me. This guy has been responsible for some of the most humorous, innovative and just plain fun adventure games out there. Psychonauts is no different and fits so well within his body of work that it should come as no surprise that this game is highly creative and expertly designed.
The game is very story-driven with some of the most ingenious game mechanics I’ve seen in quite some time. Much of the early part of the game takes place in a camp to train future Psychonauts, people with extrasensory powers who are put through the ringer to render them capable of battling fiendish psychoses and mind-boggling (quite literally) nemeses. You play as Raz, a wannabe Psychonaut, who sneaks into the camp against his parents’ wishes in order to fulfill his destiny of mastering his psychic abilities. You then get pulled into a sinister plot involving a deranged doctor who wants to steal the psychic cadets’ brains to power a crazy super tank. You of course must rescue kids’ brains and stop the mad doctor with a few twists along the way.
The first thing to point out is that this is one of the funniest games I’ve played in a long time. From a level built around an extended Godzilla parody to a boss fight with an Ultraman mockery who shouts out literally what he’s doing before attacking to ridiculous luchadors to all sorts of crazies walled away in an asylum, the humor is highly diverse, ensuring that it could appeal to a wide range of people.
Even if all the game had going for it was the comedy, it would still be a great game. Fortunately though, the game also features some masterful level design with some incredibly epic (and sometimes frustratingly difficult) platforming. From the multi-layered, multi-scaled stages mixed with strategic board game of the Napoleon level to the gnarled, twisted platforming of the upper floors of the asylum to the crazy meat circus as you near the finale, the game never grows stale and always leaves you wondering what crazy imaginative world will come next.
If you haven’t guessed by now, I whole-heartedly recommend this criminally underplayed game unless of course you hate yourself. And if that’s the case, then you should probably go play Cabela’s Big Game Hunter.
Lego Rock Band (Xbox 360)It seems like every time I’ve brought up Lego Rock Band people get confused. Why would they make a Rock Band game with Legos? Is it just the same Rock Band with Legos?
To answer the first question, they did to reach a more kid/family-friendly audience. Who doesn’t like Legos, right? Along with the cute and wacky Legos characters and storyline they’ve put in the game, the developers have also put together a family-friendly setlist to accompany it (for the most part…I’ll discuss this later).
To address the second question, it’s still basically Rock Band. Have they added any new or interesting features? Yes, in a couple of different ways. Some have been added to make the game a little more kid-friendly (are you seeing a theme yet?) and some have been added to flesh out the story mode a little more to bring out the humor that we’ve come to expect from a Lego game. One key thing they’ve changed to make this more family-oriented is that when you fail in a song, the song doesn’t stop. You just lose some points and keep going from where you failed. They’ve also added a Very Easy difficulty that basically has so few notes that it was thrown in to cater to very small children who just like to hold instruments and do whatever they want on them without worrying about creating havoc for the other players. To flesh out the story mode, they’ve added challenges that feature such ridiculous scenarios as requiring your band to rock so hard they demolish a building that the construction crew was having difficulty with or thawing out a ship that had been frozen over in the arctic, not to mention the whole alien finale. It’s also great to see some of the bands in the setlist represented as Lego characters like Queen, David Bowie, Iggy Pop and the mighty Spinal Tap.
Speaking of the aforementioned bands, and I had alluded to this earlier, is the questionable nature of the setlist for families. Why songs like Iggy Pop’s The Passenger or Spinal Tap’s Short & Sweet were included are beyond me. Do children listen to Iggy Pop? Maybe they associate him with the guy from Snow Day. Who knows? Then there are things like Ride A White Swan by T. Rex and Make Me Smile by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel that I have to wonder if anyone will recognize. It seems like they are trying to please both the families and the Rock Band die-hards and I’m afraid they may end up losing some of both. I also had an unrelated qualm with the number of songs in this game comparing to previous Rock Band games. The setlist is about half of what it is normally. On the positive side of things, there are some great songs that families will love to play over and over again such as Ghostbusters and Kung Fu Fighting. One other question might be running through your head if you’re a long-term Rock Band fan. Will previous download content work with this game? The answer is sometimes. Harmonix has gone through all the previous download content and flagged it as family friendly if appropriate to Lego Rock Band. Sometimes the decision is questionable (Smash It Up by The Damned is family friendly?), but overall it makes sense why they would do this. Lego Rock Band is for the kids and Rock Band 2 is for the grownups.
You may have noticed I haven’t really discussed the core mechanics of the game much. This is because it plays exactly the same as previous Rock Band/Guitar Hero games and if you don’t know how those work, then you probably don’t have a video game console anyway because you live in a hole two miles below the surface of the earth.
Overall, it’s a little hard to determine whether I can completely recommend this game. But given its family friendly nature and enough songs to appeal to the core Rock Band fan with the ability to export them to your hard drive, I think I could safely suggest trying it out, particularly if the price point drops further.
Guitar Hero: Van Halen (Xbox 360)Neversoft and co. have never shied away from spin-off games in the Guitar Hero series. With entire games for Aerosmith and Metallica as well as games such as Smash Hits and Band Hero that utilize the same formula, it becomes difficult to keep track of all the Guitar Hero games being churned out on what seems like a bi-monthly basis. So what sets GH:VH apart from other titles in the series other than just having a lot of Van Halen songs? Unfortunately not much. The formula is the same and they’ve even seemed to take a step back from GH: Metallica. Rather than having a fully fleshed out story mode like the previous game, in GH:VH you just get a list of songs to play with the actual Van Halen songs being portrayed in a live concert.
Front and center in this game is the massive ego of Eddie Van Halen. The opening cut scene even features Eddie coming out on stage and playing the song-length guitar solo Eruption as a spotlight focuses exclusively on him. This sets the tone of the game right from the start. As perhaps a peace offering to David Lee Roth, the game features no songs from any other singers. No Hagar. No Cherone (not to say were clamoring for him… sorry Gary but you just suck). Given than Van Hagar had a couple of pretty big hits, especially Right Now, I think a lot of people will call foul on this. An additional thing to note is that the other artists in the game, hand-picked by Van Halen apparently, seem at first to be highly at odds with the actual Van Halen music (Blink 182? Yellowcard?). But then it dawns on you. None of the hand-picked songs are anywhere close to as technically proficient on guitar as Eddie. The songs were basically picked to further feed Eddie’s ego.
So are the songs themselves fun to play? If you are a guitarist, then you will be in heaven on the actual Van Halen songs and be bored with most of the others. If you play bass or drums, you will probably start seeing a lot of the same patterns repeated throughout the songs. It’s telling that some of the hardest drum songs in the game aren’t Van Halen’s except “Hot For Teacher” (which is just as crazy here as it was in GH: World Tour) and a couple of others. The vocals are David Lee Roth. You will know immediately if this is your cup of tea, so I won’t spend any time on it.
Overall, this feels like much more of a slapped together effort than the previous Guitar Hero: Metallica with limited input from the band other than picking the song list. If you are a guitarist and want a fiendish challenge, this might be worth picking up especially if it gets cheaper or if you took advantage of the offer to get it free with the purchase of Guitar Hero 5 when it first came out. Otherwise, you may want to steer clear.
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (GameCube)Reboots of old series can be a tricky beast. Sometimes they succeed such as in the case of Metroid: Prime and others fail miserably like Golden Axe and Rygar. The best reboots take what made the original unique and fun to place and incorporates those traits into a complete makeover that breaks new ground of its own. Prince of Persia: SOT is such a game. The original PoP implemented a finely crafted, challenging and deliberately paced platform puzzle game which influenced other games such as Out of this World and Blackthorne. There are quite a few cell phone games using the same basic mechanic as well.
So what could a reboot of Prince of Persia bring to the table? Naturally it would be 3D rather than 2D like the original with excellent graphics for this generation. But many 3D games have attempted to capture the spirit of 2D games and fallen flat. What could SoT do to keep the spirit of the original while remaining an engaging and original game in its own right? Fluidity is a key part of this successful re-imagining. The original game was praised for the fluid movement of the prince and how gracefully he leapt through all manner of traps and pits. SoT does it one better. The platforming elements are incredibly fluid and feel almost effortless for how impressive the movements are. But that same fluidity has also been worked into the combat sequences. Using graceful, sweeping attacks that involve flipping, leaping off walls and gallantly slashing, the combat in SoT is a sight to behold as well as play. You will find yourself looking forward to the combat sequences just to see the prince in action.
So ok, the fluid movement looks cool and the controls respond well. What else? Honestly the game could have done this and probably still succeeded in what it set to out to accomplish. But rather than be content with a few really cool ideas, the developers also included a great new feature implemented exceedingly well: the ability to rewind time using the titular Sands of Time. By activating the sand, it allows you to rewind time a few seconds to before you made perhaps a misconceived leap or failed to block a blow from an enemy properly. Does this make the game too easy? I don’t think so. I felt the game had an excellent blend of challenge versus fun. I rarely found myself getting really frustrated with the game, but I also never got bored.
I haven’t really mentioned the storyline much because honestly it isn’t terribly substantial. It involves a bad guy trying to get his hands on the sands of time and an imperiled princess. But the story isn’t really the star here. I think people who like platforming and third person action games will love this game, particularly if they are the sort who likes platform-based action games but finds a lot of the actual platforming to be tedious or frustratingly difficult. I give this game a hearty recommendation to anyone that enjoys the sheer act of playing a video game. As a final word of warning though, I haven’t played the following PoP games, but I’ve read that the difficulty in them increases significantly. So be aware of that.
Mike Tyson’s Punch Out (NES)You know what’s awesome? Punching people in the face. This is the first video game I recall playing that truly captured the satisfaction of punching someone in the face. Originally an arcade game and expertly ported to the NES, Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, and later Punch Out after Tyson got all bite-y, was packed full of wacky characters with incredibly satisfying and addictive gameplay.
In many respects Punch Out is less a boxing simulator and more an early rhythm game. The actual strategy of boxing mattered very little in Punch Out beyond using uppercuts and gut shots appropriately. Rather, the game focused more on memorizing patterns and reacting quickly and precisely to the enemies’ attacks. Watching someone stabbing buttons on the controller in Punch Out is not unlike watching the furious feet of a hardcore Dance Dance Revolution addict in the midst of some throbbing techno beat.
Another thing to note is that Little Mac was reduced in size from the arcade version due to the technical limitations of the NES, but it ended up working in the favor of the game. Watching Little Mac take on these massive boxers twice his size made the victories all the more satisfying whether it be the flamboyant Don Flamenco, the grossly obese King Hippo or the belligerently burly Bald Bull.
Is there even a question as to whether I would recommend this game? Of course not. It’s one of the most solidly entertaining games for the 8-bit generation, or any other generation for that matter. Play it and enjoy.
SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millenium (NGPC)
Ever heard of the Neo Geo Pocket Color? Are you a fighting game fan? If the answer to those two questions is No then Yes, then you sir or madam have done a grave disservice to yourself. The NGPC not only had one of the most solid lineups of fighting games for any console, greatly in part due to SNK’s direct involvement in the launch of the handheld, but it also featured quite possibly the best D-pad I have ever used, designed specifically to be used in fighting games. The biggest negative to the system in my eyes was the lack of back-lighting, which given its competition with the GBA and little marketing muscle behind it ensured a quick demise.
So I talked about the handheld a little. How about the games? Well, due to the lack of success for the handheld the library is not huge, but if you were to look at the % of quality games released, this little guy would be near the top. And SNK vs. Capcom: MotM is probably the best fighting game for the system, which is pretty high praise considering the sheer number of good to great fighting games released for it.
Like its home console brethren, SvC:MotM features a solid and diverse lineup of characters from all manner of SNK and Capcom fighting games. Despite having to scale back on the graphics for a handheld, presenting the fighters as sort of chibi figures, the graphics are crisp and clear with a solid frame rate and no slowdown that I ever noticed. And as any fighting game fan knows, these are critical components of a well-balanced fighter, balance being a key word here. This is I feel one of the most balanced fighters I’ve played in a long time with each character having distinct strengths and weaknesses that never seem too exploitive. At no point did I use a fighter that I felt was significantly more powerful than the others.
In closing, I suggest that you immediately hit up your favorite online auction site and snatch up a Neo Geo Pocket Color and as many fighting games as you can, especially this one.
Clash at Demonhead (NES)Ah, the days of the NES… The days when even a mediocre platformer could stand out amongst the wretched dreck populating the system in its hayday, which brings us to Clash at Demonhead. Point #1 working in its favor is that it begins with an overhead map akin to that of Mario 3 or Bionic Commando with multiple branching paths in places that allow you to choose the direction you wish to play. Once selecting a level, it changes to your typical side-scrolling platformer. The game also features upgrade-able weapons, not too common in this era. Point #2 in its favor is the responsive controls. In an era where many platformers featured imprecise, slippery or unresponsive controls, CaD manages to create controls that feel natural and intuitive.
Point #1 against it is that the graphics are rather bland. The game lacks a lot of the detail of the great platformers of the NES such as the Mario series, Kirby’s Adventure and the like. Point #2 against it is that the actual platform levels tend to be rather repetitive and not particularly inventive in any way. The enemies likewise are somewhat uninspired as well.
So it sounds like it about breaks even, right? Like I alluded to at the beginning, here’s a classic example of a mediocre platformer that does just enough to set it apart from the throngs of terrible games inundating the NES. Whether or not it’s worth playing is entirely up to how much you enjoy platformers. I say, why not? It could be worse.
James Bond Jr. (SNES)Does anyone remember this cartoon/merchandising blitz from the early 90’s? No? I can’t say I’m surprised. It featured basically the “nephew” of the exotic super agent 007 (I personally suspect him of being a bastard child from one of Bond’s hundreds of conquests… I mean, why the Jr.?) setting out to thwart the evil organization S.C.U.M. in their various nefarious plots.
Of course, this is completely irrelevant to the SNES game of the same name as it gives you even less plot to go off of than the TV series did. The first level consists of mediocre platforming, delivering bland gameplay even for a licensed title on the SNES. Then for some random reason, it switches to a side-scrolling shooter where you pilot a helicopter shooting down planes and bombing tanks. I don’t recall Jr. bombing tanks in the cartoon… This section is somewhat enjoyable at first but quickly becomes tedious as it goes on for far too long.
I don’t want to penalize a game for trying to mix things up and implement different sorts of gameplay, but when all of them are done poorly, that’s when I take umbrage. I think there might be a 3D driving section also, but honestly I got so bored I stopped playing after the helicopter level. I say, just don’t bother.
Ninja Warriors (SNES)Most little known games for the SNES are rightly left forgotten. Donald Trump could build a tower with the cartridges of terrible games for this system. But sometimes, we come across a hidden gem, an unheralded game with fun gameplay and great graphics that somehow slipped through the cracks and never achieved the success it deserved. Ninja Warriors is such a game. With the actual cartridges now relegated to rare status, fetching pretty high prices on eBay, most will discover this game through the use of emulators. I was lucky enough to snag an original copy in a pawn shop, but regardless of where you get this game, I guarantee you will have a good time with it.
Ninja Warriors is a beat-em-up similar in gameplay to Final Fight and the like but in 2D rather than having a slightly isometric perspective. Where it excels is in its tight controls, richly textured graphics, and fun beat-em-up action. You can choose from three different fighters, each with different abilities to aid you in your fight. One thing this game does right over many other games of its ilk is in variety. You are always coming across new locations and enemies to traverse and fight respectively. No longer do you have to deal with killing the same drably dressed street thug over and over again with a slightly different name.
The plot? One of the most awesome things I’ve ever heard. Here’s a synopsis coutesy of Wikipedia detailing the plot of the arcade original from which this is based:
The game is based in a dystopian future where the Bangler, the President of the United States in 1993, issues martial law on the nation, with the military having total control over the law - but not the ninjas. A group of anarchist scientists decide that it is time to revolt against the government. Knowing full well that approaching the military themselves could be considered an all out suicide mission, the scientists create two prototype cybernetic ninjas that can sustain various forms of damage in order to do the mission for them. These ninjas, code named "Ninja" and "Kunoichi", are sent by the scientists in order to assail Bangler and end his tyranny once and for all.I have no real negative comments for this game. You need to play it. C’mon, man… Ninjas… I promise it’s better than Wrath of the Black Manta.
