Gamesugar

June 20, 2011

Review – Infamous 2

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , — Brad Johnson @ 8:42 am

Infamous 2
Like its predecessor before it, Infamous 2 is a game that teeters on the edge of greatness; it may not be quite there yet, but it surmounts its flaws with solid core gameplay and a consistently satisfying experience.

The player once again controls Cole MacGrath, the gravely-voiced electro-kinetic who must choose to follow a path of light or dark to defeat his enemies. As detailed at length across the internets, Cole is a little bit different from before; he’s no longer afflicted by an Infinite Scowl, and a new actor provides a slightly more human voice. Both alterations serve to make Cole more comfortable and relatable, though some of the changes to his design squander cool elements of his look from the first game.

Like most heavy-hitting franchises in the industry (Call of Duty, Gears of War) the plot of Infamous 2 is characterized by a solid concept and weak execution. Core concepts aren’t satisfactorily developed, competent voice actors are given very little worth saying, the emotional story is lazy and the core threat never really materializes the way the plot promises.

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June 14, 2011

Review – Arcana Heart 3

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , — Nathan White @ 12:39 pm

Review Arcana Heart 3
Button-mashing has come a long way. Over the years I’ve button-mashed my way through the best of them; why just two weeks ago I button-mashed my way to several near victories on a Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter cabinet at a local arcade. I’ve also recently purchased the HD version of Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 for my PS3, and still occasionally pick it up and aimlessly thrash at the controller until my wrists get tired.

Being a casual veteran of the Arcana Heart series (Atlus’ PlayStation 2 port, anyway) I somewhat knew what to expect coming into the recently released 3rd entry in the fighting series; lots of cute anime girls based on a vast array of moe archetypes, all wearing skimpy and/or adorable outfits, and devastating each other with seizure inducing color bursts, which ignite the screen like cotton candy fireworks.

Is this what I got when I sat down to play Arcana Heart 3? Yes.

Is that a bad thing? Well, it is and it isn’t.

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May 25, 2011

Review – Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes HD

Might and Magic Clash of Heroes
Though the Great Fall of the PSN has much delayed us, that service’s howling, furious resurrection has finally allowed Team Sugar to report on the matter of Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes, the HD upgrade of 2009’s DS original.

Clash of Heroes exists in some infinite limbo between puzzle game and turn-based strategy. The goal of each battle is to deplete the enemy’s health by firing attacks into his endzone—which is carefully protected by his army of units. Units can be organized to form attack formations or defensive wall formations. Additionally, specialized hero units can be purchased and employed for devastating attacks.

The primary task here is to maximize the number of actions that can be performed in one turn. The player has a limited number of moves, and while certain actions may grant additional moves, one must be mindful of the most efficient, useful maneuvers on the field. Combat, accordingly, is as much a puzzle as a strategy game.

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May 14, 2011

Review – Section 8: Prejudice

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , — Brad Johnson @ 9:00 am

Section 8 Prejudice
Section 8: Prejudice straddles an interesting zone between downloadable budget title and full-fledged retail release. Though it isn’t quite comparable to similar on-disc titles, it provides a comprehensive multiplayer mode and a campaign of near-retail length, providing decidedly more value than the standard downloadable experience.

Prejudice is, however, chiefly a multiplayer product. The competitive mode is where players will spend most of their time and contains the most replay value. The strength of it comes from Section 8’s intriguing core combat mechanic, which may appear deceptively simple, but employs a number of unique features to change the face of the battle.

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May 3, 2011

Review – Portal 2

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Brad Johnson @ 8:53 am

Portal 2
I think it’s fair to say that probably every game is made, at least in part, by committee. The results can be fairly obvious; it’s easy to see when some executive has made the decision to pursue a Call of Duty or a Gears of War.

Valve, by contrast, produces perhaps the purest product available on the current market; the games where it’s clear that most decisions have been made in the interest of making the best videogame possible.

Portal 2 exemplifies this condition; it is pure game, straight through, with each facet specifically calibrated to produce what, undoubtedly, becomes an instant classic the moment the disc enters the tray.

The sequel returns the player to the life of Chell, unknown Aperture test subject, as she awakes hundreds of years after the events of the original game, once again trapped in the Aperture facility. If this change of circumstance is somewhat mystifying, then I recommend reviewing the updated ending to Portal (dispensed via Valve-patch), or better yet, reading the online comic bridging the events of the two games.

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May 2, 2011

Review – Conduit 2

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Brad Johnson @ 9:03 pm

Conduit 2
Conduit 2 is a strange, mysterious product—much like the preposterous conspiracy story it attempts to tell. A mix of ideas from other games, painted with a brush of humor and absurdity and featuring a hero who recalls Duke Nukem more so than the grim soldiers of more recent games, it’s software that strains against the limitations of its platform and manages to come out only as satisfying as it is frustrating.

The protagonist is Michael Ford, former secret service agent on a quest to defeat some sort of alien bad guy who’s out to do stuff, I guess. I can’t tell you much more than that, because the game didn’t see fit to tell me much more than that. The story provides no context for the events, which I imagine is fine if you played the previous game—but I did not. I suppose I now understand how new players feel when picking up Halo 2 or 3.

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April 30, 2011

Review – Outland

Outland
A simulated wind raised the orchestral tension as I ran along the back of a flying serpent, dodging falling explosives while waiting for the chance to strike at the key points that beast ferociously sought to protect. This was around the time it occurred to me that anyone who yearns for developers to be given the time and freedom to create memorable and compelling gaming experiences, will undoubtedly fall in love with Outland, perhaps as severely as I have for the girl I immediately yearned to show that same sequence to.

The play of that boss encounter reminded me of Ico, and there is certainly a much longer list of titles that came to mind throughout the experience – few of which need to be named given the way Outland doesn’t simply patch together a quilt of influences, rather taking inspiration into its own folds to weave a game worthy of the player’s investment.

The lingering importance of citing those influences is that Outland shines with the energy of a game designed by people who don’t just enjoy games on some theoretical level, but enjoy playing games. In fact, Outland will convince you that the team at Housemarque grew up loving the same games you did, assuming you burned candles late into the night playing through the same who’s-hot list of 2D titles old-school gamers look back on today with teary-eyed nostalgia.

The only game that can’t escape mentioning is Treasure’s Ikaruga, the light and dark trickery of which gives Outland the means to teach a few new tricks of its own, giving the mechanics of the shooter strange but stable new legs to walk upon the land with.

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