Review #85: Eve of Extinction

 Ten times as good as the cover would lead you to believe.

 Eve of Extinction is a very ambitious 3D beat'em up game developed by Yuke. As with nearly every Beat'em up, the objective is to beat up everything and everyone that stands in your path, to aid you, you'll gain access to a huge amount of weapons that Josh will find throughout his quest.
 Josh used to work for Wisdom, a shady organization that wanted to mix souls with a metal called Orichalcum in order to produce Legacy, incredibly powerful weapons, he used to work for them until they bound Eliel, his girlfriend, into Oricalchum, Bionic Commando anyone? The story is just a means to an end, characters are pretty much as shallow as they get, the writing is cheesy and straight to the point, and the plot never pulls twists or turns, and that's alright. The game doesn't aim to create an "emotional experience", this isn't a modern game after all, so if you want a deep narrative, avoid it at all costs.

 Gameplay is as basic as it gets, a Jump button and Weak and Strong Attacks. There's also an Action button that varies with every weapon, but it's usually a dodge. Now for the fun part, there's a ton of weapons, and you get at least one new weapon per stage, and you can switch between weapons at any time, whenever you want, even mid combo, which makes Josh end the combo with a special attack with the newly selected weapon. Each Weapon also gets a Special Move that consumes half of the Energy Bar, which can be recharged at various spots throughout each level or from enemy drops. Now for the not so good part... Combat isn't very deep, while each weapon has different combos, they mostly feel the same. Some attack faster, some have longer combos and what have you, but it's not like certain situations need for a certain weapon, you can do just fine using the same weapon for the entire duration of the game. This also means that combat can get pretty repetitive pretty fast, but surprisingly, it doesn't, I found myself having way more fun that I knew I should be having. Lastly, the more you use a weapon, the more experience it gets, most weapons start at level 1, with a single hit "combo", but as you level them up, they gain longer combos(Up to five hits, depends on the weapons).
 The game also places a couple of puzzles per stage, usually you have to use one of the few weapons that have an Action that isn't a dodge. The Rod, for example, can be used to perform a high jump, and then in mid-air, you have to switch to Unarmed in order to be able to hang from a ledge. Or maybe, switch to the Chain Sword in order to hook to the wall on the other end and cross the gap. They are not very complicated, and they are a nice change of pace. There's another feature which I loathed, QTEs, at any time a cut-scene may start that requires you to press a button in order to avoid taking damage. These are far more frequent than what I would've liked, to be fair the way they are presented make it feel as if you were playing an arcade game, pretty cool, but I'm not a fan of QTEs...

 The camera is another annoyance, you have little control over it besides the R2 button that places it behind you, and sometimes it won't work, usually when you are next to a wall. It gets specially annoying during boss battles, luckily you get a Mini-map and can somehow pinpoint where the boss is despite not being able to see him. Something that I felt was a major flaw is locking-on. Holding the L2 button locks on to your target... but the camera doesn't follow it, so you also have to hold the R2 button, plus, holding the L2 button is how you block, and it turns your movement into quick-steps, which are only useful against proyectile shooting enemies. In the end I just used L2 to block and ignored Locking On completely.
 Confusingly enough, some levels are very wide and open, with plenty of places to jump on to, but there's nothing to find. Actually, there are three minigames(Survival, Boss Rush, 3 Minute Battle), but there's nothing else, no health packs nor energy recharges(These two are enemy drops, actually), there's nothing for you to find. The game has 7 stages in all, of varying length, and the game can be completed in about 4 hours. Clearing the game unlocks a new, overpowered, weapon and not much more, but it's a very replayable game, so it's no biggie.

 Graphics are pretty alright, characters are not very detailed, common enemies are downright generic men-in-suits, but they look pretty alright. Bonus points for the weapons, they all look pretty different and have a unique color to them. Each stage has a different theme, but there's not much to interact with. The music is very bland, and at times grating to the ears, voice acting is on the cheesy side( The writing doesn't help!) but it's pretty serviceable, and as cheesy as it is, there's no "So bad it's bad" or "So bad it's good" moments, so that's a plus.
 Eve of Extinction is a very ambitious game thanks to it's large amount of weapons, it's a shame the combat wasn't as deep as it could've. It's also pretty repetitive, but it's so short that it ends before you get bored. I had fun with E.O.E., it's pretty decent at what it does, it just needed a bit more ironing.
 6.5 out of 10.

Now Playing: Eve of Extinction

 Can I do it? Can I finish it before New Year's Eve?!

 Back when I owned Eve of Extinction, I didn't particularly care about it, but this year I had an urge to play it, so I bought it. Watching videos, and reading things about it, I prepared for the worst... It's actually really friggin' decent! I remember the game having a ton of weapons, and evidently every boss is going to leave a weapon behind... yet, combat is incredibly repetitive and a bit bland. Still, it's kinda maybe sorta fun, graphics are pretty friggin' decent, Music is alright, Voice acting is cheesy but passable, the plot is a prequel to Bionic Commando(PS3) and the gameplay is borderline dull... however, the game is more than a sum of it's parts. So far, I can tell that a lot of effort and thought went into the game, there's great ideas even if the execution is a bit iffy.
 Bottom Line? It's good. It's not awesome, but it's really good.

Review #84: Minority Report: Everybody Runs

 It could've been so much worse.

 Minority Report is based on the movie that goes by the same name, that tells you everything and anything you need to know about this game. The game is your standard,  if a bit generic, 3D brawler. You goal is to move from area to area while pummeling dozens upon dozens on enemies ad nauseam.
 The story pits you as John Anderton, a member of a futuristic Agency called "Precrime". Precrime, as the name implies, are to prevent future crimes from taking place, this is done by relying on Precogs, psychics that can see crimes before they are to be committed. Unluckily for John, the Precogs predict him killing someone, so John must find a way to clear his name, while avoiding Precrime from turning him in. The game is somewhat faithful to the movie, there were a couple of changes here and then, namely the fact that during gameplay you will kill people, Precrime officers above all, but the game won't make mention of it. Gameplay-and-Storyline segregation at it's finest, ladies and gentlemen.

 John has access to punches and kicks in order to get the job done, different three-button sequences of these two produce various different combos. You can also block, which feels useless as most enemies and every boss have unblockable attacks, and by using the same button near a dizzied or fallen enemy, you can grab them and then throw them, or pummel them for good measure. Still, the most invaluable technique of all is the slide, when enemies group together, just use and abuse the slide and it'll be alright. You can also use guns, these aim automatically at the closest enemy, or you can use the right analog stick to switch between targets. As a whole, combat feels a bit spotty, hit detection is alright but at times it feels stiff, it doesn't flow just quite right.
 Hidden throughout each level is money, which you can use in order to buy new combos, temporary power ups(Strength Boost, Armor), Permanent power ups(Just clip size and total health) or weapons. You can buy anything at any time by pausing the game, but you need to be careful, as supplies are limited, you really don't want to waste those Armor power ups until the last level! Another cool feature is that you can interact with almost anything, punch bottles and they shatter, punch glass and it will shatter too, kick silverware and it will scatter. They also applied ragdoll physics to John and the enemies, which looks hilarious most of the time. These two gimmicks, as cool as the interactivity is, take a heavy toll on the framerate. It will chug at almost every time, and while it doesn't get in the way of the gameplay, it's hard not to notice it.

 The game is not too hard, even if the last boss is needlessly annoying. The AI is, initially, pretty dumb, but in the latter levels they learn to block and jump over low attacks, still, the game attempts to bring you down in numbers, it will throw large amount of enemies at the player, with a couple of armed enemies, the most dangerous, for good measure. Still, if you master the art of the slide, it's pretty easy to cheese your way through. Enemy variety is a bit lacking, there's about 4 different Precrime Officer type( Color coded for your convenience), a couple of bystanders that only turn aggressive if attacked and the robots(That are immune to the slide). There's also a couple of stages in which you are given a jetpack, which even though it's not too easy to handle, it's fun to use. For what it's worth, the game is pretty lengthy and there's a nice amount of unlockables, from the challenging Pain Arenas to different skins for John.
 As cool as it is how you can interact with almost everything in every stage, the overall graphical presentation is pretty lacking. Characters are pretty ugly, especially bystanders, and some of the animations look pretty stiff. Music is used very sparingly and when they finally play music, it's really bland, and sometimes it doesn't even fit the game. Voice acting is lame, John being at least serviceable, and the audio effects are just as bad, landing blows doesn't feel right!

 Minority Report is not a bad game. It's not good either, but it could've been so much worse! What's more, I had fun with it. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the game, it's very by-the-numbers, but it's not broken. Minority Report is a rental on a boring weekday, a game to keep you occupied for a little while during the week, you don't expect much of it and you don't get much in return.
 5.5 out of 10.

Review #83: Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate

 This game...

 Fighting games are not known for their tasteful portrayal of women, in fact, Dead or Alive is quite infamous for it. Dead or Alive 5 does NOTHING to help it's cause. There's no other game that let's you choose from four different types of "Breast Motion" at the Options menu, that's how silly it gets. Luckily, one of those four options is to turn it off, which I did, because "Natural" and "DOA" are downright silly while the unlockable "OMG" is just ridiculous. This is Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, a game that panders to the lowest common denominator, and don't you even dare suggest that the reason people don't take the game seriously is it's sexual pandering, else you'll be called a feminist(Do they even know what that is?) or a conservative prude. As for the game itself, Ultimate is not a sequel to 5, it's just an expansion that was released only in retail. Is it worth it? Yes and no...
 As far as Modes, this game has every feature that Dead or Alive 5 had, namely: Story Mode(Which is silly and presented in a disjointed and confusing way, not worth it), Fight(It consists in Versus, Arcade Mode, Time Attack, Survival and Team Battle any can be played in both Single Player and Multiplayer variety) and Training(Tutorial, Normal Training Mode and Command Training, in which you are to complete a character's movelist).  The only new Mode is Combo Challenge, where each character has a set number of combos that you are to clear. There's a decent amount, but there's not a whole lot to it. There's also a really neat feature called "Exhibition Mode" that unlocks every costume for Multiplayer play, but disables stat tracking and trophies, pretty neat if you take the game to a friend's.

 The basic gameplay remains unchanged save for the obligatory balancing done to each character's moveset. Each character received at least one new move called "Power Launcher", which behaves exactly like a Power Blow(You can only use one of them in a given round). The Power Launcher deals less damage than the Power Blow, but leaves the enemy in a juggle state, leaving them open for a full un-counterable combo. New options include the previously mentioned Breasts Motion(Sigh...) and the ability to simulate lag during normal single player gameplay, pretty cool.
 The game adds a total of 5 new characters: Leon, who was considered a Bayman clone by many and probably the reason it was missing in the first place, Ein, often times considered a Hitomi clone(Although Ein came before, and they are not that similar) and is Hayate with a different Moveset, Jacky from Virtua Fighter and Momiji and Rachel from Ninja Gaiden. The new characters come with new movesets, and everyone but Bayman is quite fun to use. Some may want to count Ein among the "Bland new movesets", since he shares moves with Hitomi and Hayate, but he was my favorite character from the DoA series, so I can't complain. Momiji, Rachel and Jacky have totally unique movesets and they are very fun to use, specially Momiji with all of her aerial attacks.

 There's also a couple of new stages, and they are not too bad. Dead or Alive 5 had a pitiful amount of costumes, taking into account the massive costume lists characters had in previous installments. In Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, every character saw his/her wardrobe doubled. This also means that most guys have 8 costumes at most, while gals get about 12, Team Ninja's priorities are quite clear. Oh, and the 5 new characters only have 3 to 4 costumes each. Almost, if not every, new costume was DLC from the previous game, and what's worse, not every piece of previously released DLC was included, still, what they left out were the Swimsuit DLC as it's probably what earns them the most money, the DoA average fan is amazing. Most of the costumes aim at some demographic, you get the "sexy cop", the "sexy nurse" and so on, and they even had the gall to have many costumes shared among characters, which makes the amount of costumes less impressive.
 Is Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate worth it? If you don't own Dead or Alive 5, very much so. As stupid as the sexual pandering is, Dead or Alive is a very easy to pick up and play game, you can just mash buttons and make stuff happen, and if you delve deeper you can find actual depth. And hey, now you can turn off the breasts jiggling, it's a start! If you own DoA 5, however, it's a harder sell. The new movesets are pretty fun, and at least 3 of them are very different from the rest of the cast, and quite fun to use, but there's not enough new content to justify buying it again if you don't really care about fighting games. All in all, Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate is what Dead or Alive 5 should've been from the start, but there's no real incentive to buy the same game again.
 7.0 out of 10.

Now Playing: Minority Report : Everybody Runs

 I will finish it before New Year's eve, that I swear.

 I liked this game as a kid, I don't know why, but I liked it. So of course, I had to get it, and get it I did. So far so mediocre. It's not bad, I mean, there are a couple of thingies that really irk me about the combat, but it's serviceable. The game as a whole is serviceable. I'm up to level 6, if I'm not mistaken, and it's not awful. It's not good, but it's not awful.
 Combat is alright, but it feels a bit floaty, and I'm not totally sold on the hit detection. It doesn't help that punches don't pack any, well, punch, combat is not satisfying. Grabbing people and throwing them towards stuff, or even endless pits, is fun as hell though. This game was experimenting with ragdoll physics, and you can tell that it's experimenting, as they are incredibly funny. I love it. It's not a bad game. It can get infuriating, but it's not bad.

Review #82: Okage: Shadow King

 Consider my childhood satisfied.

 Okage: Shadow King is quirky JRPG, a bit reminiscent of Earthbound, it doesn't take itself too seriously, it's set in a very mundane world with NPC that are as weird and odd as they get. It also happens to have been criminally forgotten, is this how people reward uniqueness?
 In Okage, you play the role of Ari, your average run-of-the-mill teenager who lives with his quirky family on the outskirts of the village of Tennel. Ari is, as the people refer to him, a very "overshadowed" person. Everyone downright ignores him and walks all over him, if he wasn't there, people probably wouldn't notice. Soon, his sister gets afflicted with a Pig-Latin curse, and their only hope is the Evil Shadow King Stan, who cures her in exchange of making Ari his slave and becoming his shadow. Ari's sister ends up with a pink shadow as well. Now Ari, slave to Stan, must aid Stan in defeating all the other Evil Kings in order to regain his former power and rule the world. Because that's what an Evil King is supposed to do. Evidently, the game doesn't take itself seriously at all. The game is fairly humorous too, many times Ari will be allowed to choose between three answers, the third one usually being hilarious, but everyone ignores him and his answer doesn't affect anything, funnily enough, it is a conscious design decision, as it becomes a major plot device in Chapter 5.

 The world of Okage is just as interesting. NPCs have very odd and surreal designs and their dialogues are just as weird, in a funny and engaging way. Enemies too are quite interesting to look at, chances are you there's more than a couple you haven't seen before in any other game. The cities themselves are very different from each other and have their own styles, the cities ooze creativity everywhere. Buildings look really weird, in a good way, and their insides are just as unique. There's one house, in Madril the town of Metal, that has giant cogs as tables and giant screws as chairs! Dungeons however... Every dungeon but the last one look exactly the same, same tileset, same objectives(Destroy the Urns. Sometimes you have to step on switches too, but you still have to destroy the Urns). Saddest part is that they are as bland as they are generic, quite perplexing since the rest of the game is so unique. They can get quite confusing too, specially the last one.
 As unique as the setting is, the gameplay is your standard turn-based JRPG. During the course of the game, you'll go from town to town in search for clues as to where to go next. Sadly, a couple times the game isn't very clear on where you should go next, so you'll have to try everywhere and every NPC, which isn't much fun. As you travel outside cities, ghosts will try to swarm Ari, if you touch any of them, battle ensues. There's really not a whole lot to it though, you have basic attacks and spells, you can also defend use items or run. What sets it apart, is that MP is shared among your three characters, some characters may be really strong or get great spells, but they might add a insignificant amount of LP to the pool. You can also set party members to "wait" and then combine your attack on a single enemy for major damage. A very odd design choice is that you can select what enemy to target, you can only target "packs" of enemies, but you'll quickly get used to it. One thing to keep in mind, is that if Ari dies, even if your other two party members are standing, it's game over. It kinda makes sense, Ari is so hard to notice that they probably forget about him, poor Ari.

 The game is not too hard, except a couple of bosses early on. Heck, some bosses sometimes feel very much luck-based, the... third or fourth boss in particular, I had to pray that the lesser enemies alongside the boss wouldn't gang up on Ari, otherwise they would kill him instantly. And I was overleveled for that part of the game! The last boss is also pretty tough, having a higher damage output and total hitpoints that any other boss in the game(The last boss has 10.000 HP, the second to last one has around 2000), so be ready! One of the biggest annoyances was the camera. You can turn it around(The axis is inverted, and you can't change it. WHO DOES THAT!?) but it just loves to get stuck on buildings or objects, often times it feels as if you were wrestling with it.
 As I mentioned previously, graphically, it's very unique. The game came out pretty early during the PS2's lifespan, and it shows. As unique as the whole game looks, the animations are very stiff and awkward, admittedly, it does add up to the overall quirky charm of the game. Music is downright fantastic. Tunes are usually pretty upbeat, but when it wants to get somber, it gets somber. They are also very catchy, few are the times I actually care about the music in a game, this is one of those times.
 Okage: Shadow King is a pretty different game from the norm. Half of it is really unique, the half that has to do with the presentation, the rest of the game, meaning the gameplay, is very basic and sometimes even bland. I always say that gameplay comes first, and since the gameplay is serviceable, I'd it's very much worth it to give this game a whirl just to experience the oddity that is Okage.
 7.0 out of 10.

First Impressions: Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z

 COLOR EDIT!!!

 Dragon Ball Legends is one of my favorite Dragon Ball game ever, second only to Super Dragon Ball Z. Ever since I laid my eyes on Battle of Z I've been incredibly hyped about it, as it seems to be a spiritual successor of sorts. The demo just hit PSN, and I just had to try it, specially since I'm gonna buy it on day one.
 First impressions after the first missions? "It's alright, nothing special, a bit disappointing". But I soldiered on. And after I discovered color edit? Sweet Jesus almighty, the fun I was having with the demo just got multiplied by three. Yes, color edit means that much to me. As for the gameplay, it eventually grew on me, I actually like it. The whole X/Square to ascend descend it's alright, but both buttons acting as a dash is a bit iffy, y'see, if you want to descend you either have to be standing still or double-tap the button, otherwise you'll just dash. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually.
 The one thing I disliked is that CPU allies seem to be dumb. On the Piccolo fight I didn't really keep track of them, but on the previous mission I gave Krillin "Full power" orders and he'd just run around the enemies without attacking. One of the things I liked the most about Legends was watching your allies fighting around you... hopefully, on larger fights they won't act so dumb, since I'm pretty sure that they were kinda-somewhat useful against the Piccolo clones.
 Final Word? January 28th can't come soon enough.... and two days later, Gundam Extreme VS Full Boost gets released, sequel to my second favorite Last Gen game, Gundam Extreme VS. Who knows, Full Boost might be able to dethrone Tekken Tag 2.