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Game Corner [Bat-Month]: Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate: Deluxe Edition (Xbox 360)

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In the decades since his first dramatic appearance in Detective Comics, Bruce Wayne/Batman has become a pop culture icon. The brainchild of writer Bob Kane, Batman was brought to life by artist Bill Finger and has been a popular staple of DC Comics over the years. Accordingly, September celebrates “Batman Day”, the perfect excuse to celebrate comic’s grim and broody vigilante.

Released: 1 April 2014
Originally Released: 25 October 2013
Developer: Armature Studio
Also Available For: Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii U, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita

The Background:
Batman’s “troublesome” relationship with videogames was changed for the better when Eidos Interactive, Rocksteady Studios, and celebrated Batman writer Paul Dini collaborated on the critical and commercial success Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios, 2009). This was followed by a bigger and better sequel, Batman: Arkham City (ibid, 2011), that was even more lauded, an achievement Rocksteady Studios didn’t take lately. Eager to capitalise, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment turned to WB Games Montréal to develop a prequel while Rocksteady worked on a third game. Although it received a fair amount of praise, Batman: Arkham Origins (2013) was largely seen as mediocre and derivative. Yet, Warner Bros. doubled down on their desire to cash in on the Arkham franchise and outsourced the development of a portable spin-off title to many of those behind the Metroid Prime trilogy (2002 to 2007). Armature Studio collaborated with WB Games Montréal to ensure continuity between their titles, and the portable versions were developed to be unique for each system, though reception was mixed regarding the downgrade to portable hardware. Indeed, considering reviews criticised the bland prison setting and clunky combat, it’s surprising that the game was re-engineered to run on home consoles, though with updated visuals, controls, and maps, to deliver this slightly better received Deluxe Edition of the game.

The Plot:
Three months after apprehending the maniacal Joker, Batman is forced into an unlikely alliance with Selina Kyle/Catwoman to quell a prison riot at the Blackgate Penitentiary, which has been taken over by the Joker, Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin, and Roman Sionis/Black Mask. 

Gameplay:
Unlike other entries in the Batman: Arkham series, Arkham Origins Blackgate is a 2.5D “Metroidvania” style title that restricts Batman to a self-contained, largely linear series of environments explored and expanded by acquiring additional gadgets. While the 3DS version divided the gameplay to the top screen and the map to the lower screen, the Deluxe Edition emulates the Batman: Arkham style but on 2 2.5D plane. Therefore, players must press the ‘Back’ button to bring up a janky 3D wireframe map and check their objectives and collectibles, and use the Left Bumper to enable the trademark Detective Mode rather than tapping on the bottom screen. Similarly, LB allows you to scan the environment, pinpointing crates to open, clues to solve cases, and interactive elements in the environment (that, strangely, need to be scanned every time before use). Otherwise, the controls should be relatively familiar for anyone who’s played a Batman: Arkham game before. Holding A allows Batman to sprint and double tapping it sees him to hop over enemies to attack from behind or roll past spiked hazards. B stuns enemies with a swipe of your cape, allowing you to pummel armoured foes, while X sees Batman attack with strikes, building combos for fancier moves and additional damage. Tapping Y when the icon appears over his head counters incoming attacks, while the Right Trigger is used to crouch and enter vents. Batman’s various gadgets are selected with the directional pad, aimed with LT, and used with RT, allowing him to toss Batarangs or quickly grapple to higher ground as needed.

The game tries to emulate its main console counterparts by recreating Batman’s abilities,

Given the 2.5D restrictions, you won’t be battling large waves of enemies and foes tend to come in manageable groups and only swarm from the background and foreground sporadically. There is no level-up system like in other Batman: Arkham games so you can often bypass enemies rather than fighting them, which is sometimes preferable given that the combat feels much clunkier than in the other games. Countering, in particular, can be a bit hit and miss at times. Knife-wielding thugs and those with stun batons cut through your defences surprisingly easily and Batman seems much weaker this time around. This means electrical currents and poisonous gas drain your health extremely quickly and Batman cannot withstand even a short burst of sustained gunfire. Although Batman doesn’t have to worry about gaining experience points and levelling-up, he can still improve his suit and gadgets by finding WayneTech crates. Similarly, you upgrade Batman’s “Rush” ability (something I struggled to understand but seems to do additional damage as his combo increases) or obtain gauntlets to increase your regular damage. There are numerous helpful autosave points and you can skip cutscenes when reloading, which is even better, but it can be very frustrating to fail again and again because you were spotted and got caught in a crossfire. Arkham Origins Blackgate tries to recreate the “Predator” sections of its bigger, better counterparts but these are both painfully limited and needlessly frustrating. Detective Mode highlight enemies and objects to distract them, and Batman can toss a snare to tangle goons when up high, but there are few options to avoid being spotted. Batman can still hop into floor grates, shimmy along ledges, or sneak behind enemies to take them down or can just dive kick them. Still, you’ll mostly rely on distracting enemies or take them out by dropping hazards into them or destroying the ground beneath them.

You can explore new areas with Batman’s different gadgets and abilities.

Blackgate Prison is split into three main areas: the Cell Block, the Industrial Area, and the Administration Offices. Each has sub areas, such as a sewer system, a dock and lighthouse, and the maximum-security Arkham Wing and you’ll be going back and forth between these areas many times. In many ways the game has more in common with Batman: Arkham Asylum than the other open-world titles, meaning you’ll inevitably reach an obstacle and be forced to explore elsewhere to acquire a different gadget or a key card for your Cryptographic Sequencer. Each area has different entrances and exits and there are shortcuts you can take, but it would’ve helped speed things up to be able to return to the main map from the pause screen. Once there, you can jump to different areas, which is helpful, but it’s not always clear where you need to go or what you need to do no matter how helpful the map thinks it’s being. To be fair, if you haven’t acquired the Line Launcher then you obviously can’t cross gaps and if you don’t have the right key card you can’t open new paths. However, the game is structured to allow you to tackle the main bosses in any order provided you don’t mind backtracking. The puzzles are pretty simple and familiar and largely centred around the Cryptographic Sequencer, which launches you into a number matching/finding mini game, but you’ll also be activating consoles, grappling to switches, and using your various gadgets to access new paths scanned with your Detective Vision. Batman starts with his Batarang and grapnel gun but soon acquires the Batclaw to rip down grate covers and certain walls, the Line Launcher to cross gaps, and explosive glue to explode floors. These can also be upgraded as the story progresses, providing a shock upgrade for the Batarang to create an electrical current to activate doors and machinery, the ability to walk on your line like a tightrope and clumsily ascend up shafts, and glue gel to temporarily jam gears and mechanisms.

Presentation:  
As you might expect, given that it’s a conversion of a 3DS game, Arkham Origins Blackgate isn’t anywhere near as impressive as its main console counterparts but, for the most part, it looks and runs quite well. Batman’s character model fittingly gets the most attention, though he won’t show battle damage and he’s obviously limited in his animations and movements because of the perspective shift and lesser game engine. Combat is a little sluggish, unfortunately, and nowhere near as slick and satisfying as in the other games, which makes one of the franchise’s most enjoyable aspects a chore. Thankfully, much of the gameplay is focused on exploration, simple puzzle solving, and backtracking and Batman controls much better in this regard. Catwoman will help him on the comms, presenting a unique dialogue dynamic compared to talking with Batman’s usual allies. Thugs still engage in some amusing and distracting banter as you wait in the shadows, but the visuals let the game down a bit, appearing more akin to a late-PlayStation 2 or PlayStation Portable title.

Blackgate fails to impress with its drab visuals, however ambitious they may be at times.

Much like Batman: Arkham Asylum, the game is awash in drab, uninspired, grey locations. It’s all very dull and clinical whenever Batman’s indoors, with the only things separating one area from another being one might have some elevators while another has more office equipment, one will be a gothic almost steampunk sewer and the other will have more advanced cells for inmates, but none of it is very visually appealing. The lighthouse and docks are a notable exception, but I was glad to venture into the sewers (generally one of the more visually uninspiring videogame locations) just to mix things up. When I played through the 3DS version, I chose not to engage the 3D function; while it offers a decent sense of depth, the game’s too visually dull to make the most of it. As many environmental puzzles and collectibles are hidden, this means it’s usually better to play with Detective Mode activated so you don’t miss anything and can see during blackouts. The game’s cutscenes largely use a motion comic style reminiscent of Tim Sale’s artwork and they’re fully voiced. You’re gameplay is also often interrupted by cutscenes showing Amanda Waller observing and commenting on your progress, though cutscenes using the in-game engine are restricted to a few short sequences.

Enemies and Bosses:
Blackgate Prison houses some of Gotham City’s most violent criminals, but they’re not the most colourful. Most of the common thugs return from the bigger Batman: Arkham games, with no new additions or interesting wrinkles added. You’ll get into fist fights with enemies, some of whom wield blunt instruments like baseball bats, but those with knives will slash at you mercilessly unless you stun them with a swipe of your cape and beat them down and those with stun batons must be hopped over and attacked from behind. You won’t have to worry about thugs using car doors as shields or coming at you with swords, or any brutish goons, but anyone with a gun should be avoided at all costs. In these instances, you’ll need to use stealth to take them down as it won’t take much to alert them to your presence and see you riddled with bullets, but easily one of the worst dangers in the game is the annoying abundance of spiked hazards lining the floors!

Bosses can be ridiculously simplistic or ridiculously frustrating, with little middle ground.

As Batman progresses further into the prison, or to facilitate this progression, he must face some of his most memorable rogues…and also Benjamin Turner/Bronze Tiger and Floyd Lawton/Deadshot…in boss battles that range from simplistic to ridiculously frustrating. First, you’ll chase Catwoman across the city’s rooftops to a construction site, then you must tap Y to evade her claw swipes and press B to stun her with your cape when prompted. If you try to attack any other time, she’ll slap or whip you away and you’ll need to be quick with your counters for the final hit as she swipes at you three times in slow-motion before going down and offering to help you out. As you explore the cell blocks, you’ll end up in a specially constructed electrified arena made for the Penguin’s amusement where you fight Bronze Tiger in a battle that’s functionally very similar to the one against Catwoman. You’ll initially need to counter Bronze Tiger’s attacks, stun him with your cape, and hit a quick combo but he also has a leaping attack that you must dodge to smack him up, and you can deal a fancy finish if your combo hits him into the electrified cage. As much as I mock him, Deadshot at least mixed up the challenge for his boss battle. Initially, you control Batman from the perspective of Deadshot’s sniper rifle, using cover to avoid being shot and making your way around the area. Then, he switches to a machine gun and will cut you down in seconds if you don’t duck down, meaning the timing to hit a nearby spotlight and blind him is very tight, but at least it wasn’t just counter/stun/attack/repeat.

These three bosses had me tearing my hair out during each encounter.

Down in the sewers, you randomly fight Cyrus Gold/Solomon Grundy, the game’s solo gigantic foe. Accordingly, he’s immune to your standard attacks and you must use Batman’s explosive gel and Batarangs to activate electrical cables to shock him when he charges over puddles. It’s probably just me but this wasn’t immediately clear and I struggled to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do but, once you figure it out and get the timing right, it’s not too difficult. This frustration continued into the fight with Black Mask. As he’s not a physical match for the Batman, Sionis sends in his goons, tosses grenades, and blasts away with his machine gun. He’s also very slippery and forces you to disable three generators in a time-consuming puzzle before waiting to gun you down the moment he spots you. You need to distract him with the nearby alarms, take out an overhead light, and use the floor grates to lure him into position to take him down, all of which was far more aggravating than it had any right to be. Easily the most difficult of the regular bosses, for me, was the Penquin. Cobblepott is flanked by armed goons who cannot be defeated without disarming them, which is extremely difficult to do. Instead, it’s better to distract them so you can drop onto the Penguin and avoid being shot to death in seconds by his shotgun. As the battle progresses, more goons and even an overhead drone makes things harder, though thankfully there is a checkpoint for the final stage.

Your greatest challenge will come, surprisingly, from the Joker and Catwoman.

In a change of pace for this series, you go one-on-one with the Joker in Arkham Origins Blackgate, to a degree. You fight him in a small, enclosed space where his minions toss grenades and the Joker races around a central obstacle, smacking you with an electrical baton whenever you get close. Accordingly, you must run in the opposite direction and time your Line Launcher to fly in and land a combo, but he’ll also take shots with his pistol, floods the arena with poisonous gas, and has the largest health bar of any boss so far. However, he’s a walk in the park compared to the final boss, initially teased as another tedious fight against Bane but which turns out to be an infuriating three-stage fight against Catwoman, of all people. Before you fight her, you’re forced to search all over finding and defusing bombs before you battle her in the same format as in the first encounter, except she’s added Bronze Tiger’s leap to her arsenal and trying to counter her claw swipes is even more difficult. After this, she blinds Batman and strikes from the darkness; your only cue to when she’ll attack is the brief glow of her goggles and a little jingle, meaning it’s way too easy to miss-time your counter and get hit. Survive this phase and she appears to duplicate, with her doubles feigning attacks and the true Catwoman striking so quickly and so awkwardly that it’s near impossible to correctly time your counters as you need to press Y slightly before the indicator appears. Oh, and you need to repeat this last phase three times, with the fakes and attacks increasing each time, making for the most irritating boss battle in the franchise since that God-awful fight with Slade Wilson/Deathstroke!

Additional Features:
There are thirty Achievements on offer in the Deluxe Edition of the game, with one being awarded each time you defeat a boss or hit a continuous combo (up to 100). You’ll also get Achievements for solving detective cases, destroying Joker teeth, explosive bird cages, and replica black masks (which also unlock extras in the game’s gallery), and locating armour and full costume sets. Interestingly, there are some creative Achievements available too, such as dying from the Joker’s laughing gas, facing a different final boss each time, and defeating Grundy with the shock Batarang. While there are no Riddler Trophies, you can find and scan various clues to different criminal cases; some are hidden and others require your gadgets to uncover. What you really want, though, are the WayneTech crates containing the different Batsuit parts. Find all five of each to apply a new skin to the Dark Knight and be afforded additional perks, such as increasing your resistance to damage or just making you invincible! Although there are no Achievements tied to it, the Deluxe Edition offers “Normal” and “Hard” difficulties and you unlock “New Game Plus” after clearing the game, which carries over any Batsuits, clues, and unlocks you’ve earned but will overwrite your save data, take away your gadget upgrades, and present you with re-ordered boss battles and some new items.

The Summary:
I knew that Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate wouldn’t be as expansive or as impressive as its home console counterparts, but I held out hope that the game would make the most of its new format and genre to deliver a fun and engaging Metroidvania. In many ways, Batman suits this genre perfectly; it really opens a lot of avenues for exploration, unique use of Batman’s gadgets and abilities, and speaks to his reputation as the World’s Greatest Detective. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to its potential, the standards set by its bigger cousins, and to meet the expectations of its genre. The combat is slow, sluggish, and unreliable; you’ll try and counter an attack only to get hit and this makes fighting, especially boss battles, extremely aggravating. The Predator sequences are far too limited; I think it might’ve been better to switch to a different presentation for these sections, perhaps a little more zoomed out or isometric perspective but, as it stands, they’re just too finnicky to be anything other than a chore. Some aspects are interesting, like tracking the Penguin’s blood trail or rescuing hostage or even defusing the bombs in the game’s finale, but it’s so difficult to navigate that it’s easy to get turned around or exit an area before you’ve completed your objective. I appreciate it when a game doesn’t hold your hand but, normally, the Batman: Arkham games give you a little more direction than here, where you can just fail constantly trying to figure out how you’re supposed to take out Solomon Grundy and the Penguin or get to where the map’s directing you. I’m not really sure what makes this version so “deluxe” compared to the 3DS title as it barely improves upon the limited 3DS version. As a budget title that offers a taste of Batman’s bigger adventures, it’s not bad but, as an entry in the lauded Batman: Arkham series, it’s a clear disappointment.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

What did you think to Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate? Do you agree that it fails to make the most of its new format and genre? Did you also find the game world difficult to navigate or were you able to find your way without much problem? What did you think to the game’s bosses? Did you struggle against Black Mask, the Penguin, and Catwoman? Would you like to see the Arkham Origins games given more spotlight? How are you celebrating Batman Day and what is your favourite Batman videogame? Whatever you think about Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, or Batman in general, please leave a comment below and check out my other reviews of the Batman: Arkham series.

Game Corner [K-Month]: Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (Xbox 360)

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In the absolutely bonkers science-fiction film Pacific Rim (del Toro, 2013), the monstrous Kaiju first attacked humanity on 10th August 2013, which was subsequently branded “K-DAY”. To celebrate this event, and giant monster movies, I dedicated every Sunday in August to one of cinema’s most prolific monsters: King Kong!

Released: 22 November 2005
Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Also Available For: Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Mobile, Nintendo DS, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox

The Background:
Considering his status as one of the titans of the monster movie genre, it’s kind of surprising that King Kong hasn’t featured in more videogames. Between his debut in 1933 and the release of Peter Jackson’s blockbuster remake of the influential original, King Kong had only featured in three videogames and was perhaps best represented by unsubtle knock-offs like Donkey Kong and the Rampage series (Various, 1986 to 2018). After a long period of dormancy following a slew of questionable sequels and the impressive 1976 remake, King Kong returned with a bang when life-long King Kong fan Peter Jackson reimagined the original into a critical success. Though plans for a sequel were scrapped in favour of a later reboot, the 2005 King Kong was accompanied by this videogame, whose Xbox 360 drew initial criticism for being unsuitable for standard-definition televisions. Heralded as an innovative title due to its cinematic presentation and minimal use of onscreen text, Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie allowed players to explore Skull Island as a first-person shooter or as the titular ape, though the visuals were criticised compared to the elaborate environments. A commercial success, the game was praised for being ahead of its time and one of the rare, more competent tie-in games, though the simplistic gameplay was noted.

The Plot:
In 1933, film director Carl Denham coerces playwright Jack Driscoll and struggling actress Ann Darrow into accompanying him to Skull Island, a treacherous, forgotten land populated by dinosaurs, savage natives, and a gigantic ape who becomes besotted by Ann and the focus of Carl’s excursion.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (which I’ll simply be referring to as King Kong going forward because that is a ridiculously long and convoluted title) is a hybrid first-person shooter (FPS) and action game based, obviously, on the big-budget, long-winded remake of the same name. The game is split into a number of chapters that vary in length and primarily takes place entirely on Skull Island, with the bulk of the action seeing you controlling screenwriter Jack Driscoll, who turns out to be very handy with a variety of firearms (though he can always rely on his fists or one of the many spears). You get a pistol, a shotgun, a sniper rifle, and a Thompson machine gun, with this latter being the best weapon in my opinion. When playing as Jack, you’ll use the Left Trigger to aim your weapon, the Right Trigger to shoot, and (oddly) the Left Bumper to reload. RT also allows you to grab new weapons, swapping out your current one (Jack can only hold one firearm and one torch at a time), “repel” with a melee attack, or use levers. Y drops any spears you’re carrying, B checks your ammo (which is simply Jack commenting on how many rounds or magazines he has left), A lets you talk to nearby non-playable characters (NPCs), and X does nothing. Jack can crouch when you press in the left stick (though I found minimal use for this), zoom in by pressing in the right stick, and can bash open wooden barricades and push rotating locks with RT. If he runs out of ammo, Jack can use his fists or any spears nearby, or can smash ammo crates that drop from planes or even grab more ammo or a weapon from helpful NPCs. He can also light spears using any fire sources to solve puzzles or burn down thorny bushes to clear a path. Fire can deal additional damage, and take out some of the game’s smaller enemies, but don’t get too close as it’ll quickly sap your health, too.

Kong uses his size and strength to make short work of the monstrous enemies that prey on Jack,

Neither Jack or Kong need to worry about grabbing health kits as they’ll automatically regenerate health if you avoid damage for a bit, but there are also no power-ups to find beyond ammo crates and Kong’s “Fury Mode”, meaning there’s no real incentive to explore beyond trying to find a lever. If you’re hoping for some fun King Kong action, then you’ll be left disappointed. The titular ape is only playable a few times, and each is little more than chasing and mindless combat sequences that somewhat break up the monotony of the FPS sections. Kong is a massive, lumbering beast able to swing from branches and leap to handholds, cliffs, and vine-encrusted walls to chase his quarry. These actions are performed with X and see Kong rampage through the jungle and primitive settlements like a heavy, unstoppable beast. Kong can also push enemies, bite them or enter “Fury Mode” if you rapidly tap Y. This slows time and seems to empower Kong to easily dispatch the island’s biggest predators. He does this with A, which sees Kong hit enemies with clubbing blows or simply break their jaw if you tap the button like a madman. Kong can also grab Ann with B to carry her or put her down, and Ann will helpfully open doors or burn down obstacles so Kong to progress, though you’ll need to protect her by fending off any incoming attacks. Kong can also muscle obstacles out of the way, bash down doors, and clamber up buildings in downtown New York. However, he’s as vulnerable to harm as Jack. Both automatically regain health if you avoid danger for a short time, but Kong tends to jump from perfectly fine to near death with just a few attacks, meaning you’re best off activating Fury Mode before you tackle the game’s larger, more aggressive enemies. When in the city streets at the end of the game, Kong must avoid the military’s heavy cannons and take out spotlights on rooftops as artillery fire will quickly cut him down. He can also grab and pound the island’s monstrous inhabitants with relatively ease but you’ll be more concerned about being hit mid-jump and plummeting to your death.

Jack’s gameplay loop is sadly as repetitive as Kong’s, with little variety on offer.

Just as the movie plodded along and quickly outstayed its welcome, so too does King Kong very quickly fall into a repetitive series of simple tasks and annoying hazards. The gimmick of having no or very minimal information onscreen is interesting, but hardly anything game-changing and actually makes it more annoying to navigate or locate levers and keep track of your ammo. Jack repeats the same basic puzzles again and again, blasting monstrous creatures, finding levers, and pushing doors with NPCs. Sometimes you must defend Ann and your other allies (and you’ll be met with failure if they die); others, you must carefully cross narrow wooden platforms that collapse under your feet. One of the most common tasks is using fire to burn thorns to uncover new areas, find levers, or reach a goal. You can do this either by lighting your spear or breaking flaming skull symbols around the environment, and you must light multiple torches, with one enjoyable moment seeing you avoiding a herd of Brontosaurus’. Occasionally, you’ll be chased by the ravenous Vastatosaurus rex or King Kong himself and must  use flaming spears, stone buildings for cover, and distract the beasts util doorways open. One key way of achieving this is using the game’s “food chain” system, where enemies are distracted by your kills or various bait (large worms and flies) to allow you to escape or ambush them, which is essential for clearing spiders from levers. As for Kong, he has an even simpler gameplay loop; you just swing and jump and chase Ann as she’s carried away, and battle V. rexes and the bat-like Terapusmordax obscenus. It is fun playing as Kong, but his sections are far too brief. However, I did enjoy ploughing through the native’s village, clambering about avoiding a lava pit, and the parts where Kong’s massive hands and face burst through the scenery as he follows Ann when she’s rescued by Jack.

Presentation:
King Kong uses clips and footage from the movie its based on very sparingly. So sparingly, in fact, that they only really appear in the game’s opening, which tells an incredibly truncated version of the events that bring these characters to Skull Island. I don’t necessarily mind this as the movie spent what felt like an age set on the Venture, but there were plenty of times where film footage could’ve been used as cutscenes or to bolster the in-game action, but the game chooses to use its in-game graphics instead. Luckily, these aren’t too bad…for the most part. While characters have the voices and likenesses of their movie actors, they resemble marionettes more than anything; however, they are a little more lively than regular NPCs. Carl will continuously stop to bust out his camera and chastise you for obstructing his shot, Ann is actually very helpful and will burn thorns or open paths, and NPCs are always gifting you weapons or chiming in on the bizarre events around them. The game’s environments are quite impressive, too. While it gets repetitive exploring the thick jungle of Skull Island, rain and thunderstorm effects are used very effectively and the island is very alive thanks to the food chain system and a great deal of care has been put into creating the aesthetic of the movie, it’s just a shame there’s no collectibles or interesting Easter Eggs to find.

Although it faithfully echoes the movie, the game is quite bland and visually uninspired at times.

While the game runs fairly smoothly, I noticed some graphical pop-up, slow down, and fogging that’s used to obscure more complex models (however appropriate the fog is to the setting). You’ll venture into a number of dank, dark caves, so you might want to turn up the brightness settings. I’d also advise saving often as I had a few instances where the game wouldn’t load in a scripted sequence, forcing me to reload and do the section again to progress. There are some fun moments that break up the gameplay, such as when you’re forced onto makeshift rafts in tumultuous rapids or when Kong or the V. rex are chasing you, and it’s quite exhilarating playing as Kong. Kong feels large and sluggish but also nimble and powerful, exactly as I expect he would, and there are some impressive sections involving him, such as when you creep through his bone-littered lair to rescue Ann or when he first appears as you’re tied to a stake. Kong also hounds you, dropping you into a cave filled with giant insects, and there are times when you can set large parts of the jungle ablaze and explore some interesting ruins, but these are merely stop-gaps in the endless gameplay cycle. The finale sees Kong rampaging through downtown New York City, which should be an epic and thrilling experience but it’s actually quite claustrophobic and restrictive. The game doesn’t immediately tell you to clamber up buildings to use the rooftops, meaning you’re left wandering around and getting shot at, and it’s really more of an extended, interactive cutscene as there’s nothing to do except plough through obstructions and climb the Empire State Building.

Enemies and Bosses:
Jack and Kong will be set upon by the numerous prehistoric creatures that inhabit Skull Island, from giant bats and insects to more formidable dinosaurs. Even the island’s natives get in on the action, hurling spears and causing the environment to catch fire as they either chase you or desperately fend off your rampage. Typically, you’ll contend with giant insects and giant bats, which slither from every dark corner and swamp the skies at times but are easily put down with your basic pistol. If you don’t have any ammo, a spear will do the trick, or you can distract them using the food chain system, which is true of all the game’s enemies. Although Jack can’t kill or even damage to V. rex, he can put down the smaller Venatosaurs, which regularly attack in voracious packs. He also has to contend with scorpion-like creatures, blast at lizard-like beasties when his allies are crossing banks of water, and make sure that he’s keeping his friends alive whenever hordes of creatures close in. While Jack is limited in his means of fending these off, King is not. He doesn’t have to worry about ammo, only the game’s janky camera, his inability to lock-on to a target, and his inconsistent durability.

While Jack is spared fighting the bigger dinosaurs, Kong must wrestle them alongside the controls.

Kong simply pummels enemies that Jack has to pick off either strategically or in a frenzy. Kong can grab Megapedes and pound them into the dirt or toss them about, swat Terapusmordaxes out of the air, and flatten the natives, and offers players a fighting chance against the larger Queen Terapusmordaxes and the V. rexes. These are essentially the game’s boss battes; while Jack has to run and hide from these creatures, Kong tackles them head-on, to varying degrees of enjoyability. The Queen Terapusmordax is flanked by any of her smaller minions; she’ll dive at you, whereupon the game prompts you to hit X and A together to tackle her out of the sky, which can be tricky to master. When battling the V. rexes, you must avoid their tail swipes, bites, and claw attacks. The V. rexes will try and bite Kong’s neck, so you must mash buttons to escape, and you’ll often fight two or three at once. Your best bet when faced with Kong’s monstrous enemies is to quickly enter Fury Mode and swipe at them a few times. This quickly allows Kong to perform his jaw snap finishing move, allowing you to make short work of them, which is preferable as these can be frustrating sections. In the finale, Kong swats at biplanes from atop the Empire State Building, but there’s obviously no way to win this fight as Kong simply plummets to his death as always.

Additional Features:
If there’s one benefit to King Kong it’s that the game is short and the Achievements are simple to attain. Just play through the game and all nine Achievements will pop as you complete each chapter. It’s good in the sense you can rush through for an easy 1000G but disappointing that there aren’t any fun Achievements here. There are no collectibles to find, no Easter Eggs that net you extra Achievements, and not even basic stuff like “Kill 100 Enemies” or “Clear a Chapter Without Taking Damage”. Some extra content unlocks in the game’s gallery as you play, but it’s nothing but images and videos and such. There is no two-player mode where you and a friend work together as Jack and Hayes (or one of the other NPCs), no battle mode where you fight as Kong against the game’s bosses, no skins, and no real incentive to play the game again once you’ve beaten it as its so unremarkable and easy. There are push-button codes that’ll grant you unlimited spears, questionable invincibility (you have to enter the cheat every chapter and I found it often didn’t work), or gift you specific weapons but the game’s so easy that you shouldn’t need them and they don’t exactly make it more fun anyway.

The Summary:
Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie tries to go for a unique, cinematic presentation to stand out from the many terrible videogame adaptations and, in some ways, it achieves this. The game lovingly and faithfully recreates the visual aesthetic and atmosphere of Jackson’s overblown remake and you definitely feel immersed when exploring the dense jungles and ruins of Skull Island. It’s interesting incorporating a food chain system and giving Jack such limited ammunition to increase the tension felt when enemies attack, but the repetitive gameplay cycle soon wears thin. While King Kong should offer some entertaining alternatives to this system, he doesn’t feature enough for it to be anything other than a glorified mini game and a boss battle system. I definitely would’ve preferred to see Kong’s gameplay fleshed out more, perhaps telling a prequel to the film’s events and then showing his perspective on what happens in the game. Rather than switching between characters, you could’ve had two story modes: one with ten longer, more unique missions as Jack and one with ten, more action-packed missions as Kong. Instead, we get an overall bland experience that suffers from pacing issues. Some chapters are over in a minute or so, others drag on needlessly, and none of them offer any variations on the gameplay beyond mixing up the enemies you fight. Ultimately, this is a game only worth playing to quickly add 1000G to your Gamer Score and is far from the definitive, immersive King Kong videogame I’d like to see.

My Rating:

Rating: 1 out of 5.

Terrible

What did you think to Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie? Were you disappointed by how repetitive it became and the odd pacing of the chapters? Did you enjoy utilising the food chain system? What did you think to Kong’s gameplay, and would you have liked to see him included more? What’s your favourite videogame featuring giant monsters? Would you like to see a new King Kong videogame someday? Whatever you think, comment below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other King Kong content.

Game Corner [00-Heaven]: GoldenEye 007: Reloaded (Xbox 360)

Dr. K1 Comment

To celebrate the release of Dr. No (Young, 1962), the first of the James Bond movies (Various, 1962 to present), October 5th is known as “Global James Bond Day”. This year, I’ve been spending every Saturday commemorating cinema’s longest-running franchise, and one up of the most recognised and popular movie icons.

Released: 1 November 2011
Originally Released: 2 November 2010
Developer: Eurocom
Also Available For: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii (Original Release); PlayStation 3 (Reloaded)

The Background:
Like many gamers back in the day, much of my social gaming was spent playing GoldenEye 007 (Rare, 1997), a best-selling title for the Nintendo 64 that began development as a simple rail-shooter before bucking the trend of videogame tie-ins by being universally praised as one of the greatest first-person shooters (FPS) and multiplayer experiences. Unfortunately, Rare lost the James Bond license and fans had to make do with spiritual successors like Perfect Dark (Rare, 2000), and other Bond titles, and blatant attempts to cash-in on GoldenEye 007’s popularity, like the shameless and mediocre GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (EA Los Angeles, 2004). In 2006 and 2008, both Nintendo and Microsoft expressed interest in releasing a port of the game on the Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade platforms but rights issues led to Activision charging Eurocom with developing a reimagining of the classic shooter for the Nintendo Wii. Built around the same gameplay and mechanics as 007: Quantum of Solace (Treyarch/Various, 2008), this new GoldenEye 007 saw Daniel Craig reprise his Bond role and many reviewers comparing it to the Call of Duty franchise (Infinity Ward/Various, 2003 to present). Despite some positive reviews GoldenEye 007 was mostly met with a mixed response that painted it as a lacklustre title. This didn’t stop Activision from releasing this high-definition port of the game to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 a year later, though critics remained as unimpressed as before. Thankfully, after numerous leaks, the original GoldenEye 007 was finally released on the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One so that a new generation of players could experience it and this middling reimagining was left mostly forgotten.

The Plot:
Renowned super spy James Bond/007 in drawn into a globe-trotting adventure as he races to stop a rogue 00 agent Alec Trevelyan (now a terrorist known as “Janus”) from causing a global financial meltdown with a satellite weapon known as “GoldenEye”.

Gameplay:
GoldenEye 007: Reloaded is a first-person shooter in which players assume the role of James Bond, now sporting Daniel Craig’s likeness and voice rather than Pierce Brosnan’s, and journey through reimagined maps and locations that are loosely based on the original videogame and movie. There’s a reason why GoldenEye 007: Reloaded has been referred to as “Bond of Duty”; if you’ve played any of the Call of Duty games, the controls, mechanics, and overall “feel” of the game will be very familiar to you, for better or worse. The game is therefore very much a modern reimagining of the classic Nintendo 64 FPS rather than a true, high-definition remake of the original game. This is first reflected in the game’s control scheme, which a helpful MI6 tutorial walks you through. Bond can climb and vault over downed objects (desks, trees, rocks, and the like), crouch with B to sneak up on enemies undetected for a stealth take down with the right analogue stick, manually reload his current weapon by pressing X and activate certain consoles or pick up new weapons by holding X, and switch weapons with Y. Holding the Left Trigger lets you aim down the sights of Bond’s gun and tapping it enables a helpful auto lock-on to the nearest target, if enabled. The Right Trigger is used to fire, and Bond can throw primary and secondary grenades and similar explosives with the Right and Left Bumpers, respectively. Finally, you can briefly sprint by holding down the left analogue stick, melee attack enemies up close by pressing in the right analogue stick, and apply a number of gadgets (such as a silencer or night vision goggles) with the directional pad (D-pad).

Use stealth, Bond’s phone, or go all-out in a tank in this mediocre shooter.

Your main gadget throughout the game isn’t a fancy watch or bizarre invention of Q and is, instead, disappointingly, your phone. Gameplay is invariably interrupted by phone calls from M and Bill Tanner that update your objectives or add some nuance to this re-told story, and you’ll be using your phone to scan partygoers to find your contact, investigate the environment to find and photograph objects of interest (like weapons caches and such), make recordings, activate remote explosives, and hack into terminals and drone guns. It’s a bit of a shame that so many of the game’s objectives require the use of the phone as it’s not that interesting to use and completely halts the action, though it’s relatively versatile and it can be fun to hack drone guns and gun down large groups of goons. Bond can also crawl through vents as a shortcut and to get behind groups of enemies, shoot fire extinguishers, explosive panels and barrels, and other parts of the environment to take down groups, and utilise his stealth and subdue skills to keep enemies from calling in reinforcements. Sometimes, you’ll be asked to press the right stick rather than hold X to open doors. This causes a “breach” that slows down time so you can dispatch armed foes and rescue hostages, like those on the frigate and Bond’s ally, Natalya Simonova. You’ll also be taking out security cameras to keep reinforcements at bay, activating surface-to-air missile launchers to take out choppers, acquiring and planting explosive charges, and even ploughing through the streets of Russia in a heavily armed tank! This chase mission is far more involved this time around, with Bond firing a chain gun, the main cannon, and even a homing shot, though the controls can be a bit clunky, and you can’t dawdle too long or you’ll lose General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov. Another prominent feature in the game are quick-time event (QTE) sections. These pop up when Bond needs to pull apart doors by mashing LT and RT together, in first-person cutscenes where you need to activate explosives, and during bosses battles against turncoat Trevelyan and his right-hand assassin, Xenia Onatopp.

The locations are large but the objectives and requirements are sadly lacking.

QTEs rear their ugly heads at the worst possible moments, such as when Bond is racing after a plane down an airstrip. You need to fend off the pursuing troops and then leap to the plane with LT and RT, with failure returning you to the last checkpoint. Speaking of which, checkpoints are relatively generous here, allowing you to reload if you get spotted or are caught in a crossfire. GoldenEye 007: Reloaded has four difficulty settings (“Operative”, “Agent”, “007”, and “007 Classic”), with the enemy AI and objectives increasing for each setting. If you’re playing on “007 Classic”, you’ll be relying on body armour to replenish your health similar to the original game; otherwise, Bond will automatically regenerate health while taking cover, just like in the Call of Duty games. You’ll need to do this quite often, or at least be stealthy and smart about how you play, as Bond is surprisingly weak here. Enemy fire (and, especially, explosives) will end your mission in a split second and you always need to be aware of snipers and even sheer drops off cliffs! Thankfully, an onscreen radar highlights nearby enemies, allowing you to better anticipate their movements. This also points you in the direction of your main objective, with a phone icon altering you to any additional objectives in the nearby area. Unfortunately, Bond is far more limited here than in the original game. You can only hold two additional weapons alongside your standard issue pistol for three in total, though you can retrieve dropped weapons if you wish and the game is pretty good about providing you with helpful or necessary weapons (like sniper rifles or rocket launchers) in key areas. While the game is far more linear than the original version, you have a few options available to you (taking vents, lifts, and vaulting through windows, for example) to explore. You’ll need to pull apart rocks to progress, race through burning environments, fend of guards as they rappel through windows, and yes even defend Natalia as she sabotages the GoldenEye satellite. I actually found this a lot easier this time around (on “Agent” difficulty, at least). It didn’t seem like Natalia could be killed and it was much easier to target enemies, despite having to rush about between different consoles.

Graphics and Sound:  
Technically speaking, GoldenEye 007: Reloaded looks and plays perfectly fine. Many of the environments recreate and update the familiar stages of the original game, including the same sweeping camera cuts and décor choices. These are most prominent in the “Dam”, “Facility”, and “Archives” stages, which take the original map, apply updated textures and mechanics to them, and greatly expand upon them. “Dam” now takes place at night and in the pouring rain, for example. Bond and 006 commandeer an enemy truck to progress further towards their objective, there’s a helicopter pad, and the entire area is transformed from a relatively short and simple experience into a more nuanced opening stage. However, many of the returning stages are so different that they’re basically unrecognisable. It’s as though the developers were told the general concept of GoldenEye 007 and given free rein to imagine that however they like. “Frigate”, for example, is now comprised of a lengthy section where Bond must fight his way on to the ship. There are barely any hostages to rescue this time and you’re mainly disabling the ship’s systems to plant a tracker on the EMP-hardened helicopter as it takes off. Similarly, the “Surface” and “Bunker” levels are now far more detailed and basically entirely new stages. Bond must take cover within the wreckage of wooden huts and make his way through the burning wreckage of the Severnaya facility, and the “Depot” and “Train” stages are entirely reimagined, with the “Train” section being just a short run through a few wrecked carriages and a lacklustre escape where you need to shoot open a panel rather than use Bond’s watch.

Mostly, the game looks dark, bleak, and terrible and doesn’t do much with the Bond license.

Technically, I don’t really mind this. It makes sense that stages are expanded and changed using the new engine and mechanics, but any nostalgia you might feel creeping through the vents of “Facility” or stealthily taking out Janus goons in “Statue” is completely lost when you realise just how different and unrecognisable these environments are. “Statue” is a great example as the stage now takes place in a memorial park and museum. The confusing, maze-like layout is replaced with a dark and dreary covert mission past giant statues and stone trappings, using the sewers and silent takedowns to dispatch Janus’s men. The game also omits entire stages, like “Silo” and “Control”, replacing them with a nightclub stage full of raving partygoers where Bond meets a heavily altered version of Valentin Zukovsky. In fact, every character has had their likenesses completely remodelled with the exception of M, who’s still played by Judi Dench. Obviously Bond is Daniel Craig and that’s fine but the guy they got for Trevelyan is no Sean Bean and doesn’t even sport any facial scars to go with his Janus moniker! It’s almost a blessing, then, that much of the game’s story is conveyed through voice over and cheap MI6 briefings where all we see is digital information rather than character models. However, I think I preferred the text dossiers from the original game as at least that wasn’t doing the Nintendo 64’s graphical abilities a disservice like here. This translates to certain aspects of the gameplay, too. I noticed a few instances of graphical pop-ups and texture warping in the “Jungle” and “Surface” stages, enemies and gunfire often clipped through solid walls, and the game can get so dark and chaotic that it’s easy to get confused and frustratingly picked off before you even have a chance to react. One aspect I did like was that  “Dam” transitioned into an all-new title sequence, with Nicole Scherzinger performing an okay cover version of “GoldenEye” to give the game a cinematic flair that’s sadly missing in its otherwise muted, clinical, and bleak presentation. This is reflected in Craig’s delivery, which is decidedly lackadaisical, and juxtaposed by the vibrant “Jungle” stage and the high-tech “Cradle” finale, where blasts of blinding light cause gantries to collapse under your feet and goons to riddle you with bullets in the confusion.

Enemies and Bosses:
An endless supply of goons, guards, and soldiers will be patrolling every location in the game. If you follow them while crouched, you’ll get to listen in on some fun banter and discussions between them that might have you feeling a little remorse when you execute them with a headshot and you can see enemies going through certain motions, like patrolling back and forth, resting against barriers and walls, attaching charges to walls, and ransacking the environment. This opens a few options to you, such as sneaking up to subdue them, silently nailing a headshot, or going in all guns blazing, though the latter action is not always recommended as it’ll alert all nearby guards and cause tougher goons to come swarming in until the enemies are dealt with. Enemies are generally armed with an array of machine guns, but some also pack rocket launchers, take the high ground with sniper rifles, and you’ll have a fair few grenades lobbed at your head if you camp out in one area. Enemies can take cover (overturning tables and dramatically sliding behind walls) to fire at you, and have their hats shot off. They also busy themselves at computer terminals, vending machines, and in toilets but their gunfire is just as likely to ignite fuel tanks to cause explosive damage as yours so be sure to mind your surroundings at all times. Bosses aren’t really a thing in GoldenEye 007: Reloaded. Most stages end when you’ve completed your objectives, entered a facility, and either evaded capture or been captured. Sometimes you’ll need to hold off against waves of enemies as you wait for a lift to arrive. Other times, you’ll be switching to night vision to take out goons in darkened tunnels

Sadly, the game’s few boss encounters boil down to pressing the right buttons at the right time.

You will also be tasked with finding efficient ways of dispatching rooms or areas full of guards without raising too much of an alarm, and others you’ll be contending with helicopter attacks. This is fine when you’re in your tank but, when on foot, you’ll need to dodge between cover and activate a surface-to-air missile to down the chopper, with the one in “Jungle” unloading a missile barrage that limits your options in this regard. When in the tank, you’ll come up against a fighter jet near the end of the stage that takes a few more hits from your cannon to down, alongside loads of RPG-wielding soldiers, choppers, and trucks in the road but this is closest you get to battling Ourumov as he’s simply executed in a cutscene by Xenia. Xenia is fought as a boss, but this time it’s purely a QTE. Simply tap the buttons as they appear onscreen and Bond will dodge and parry her wild kicks until the sequence ends with her death. As in the original game, GoldenEye 007: Reloaded culminates in a showdown with traitor Alec Trevelyan, revealed as the terrorist Janus, in his antenna control facility. After overcoming the aggravation of getting past the dangerous gantry area, you’ll have another QTE-ladened fight with Trevelyan where the hardest thing about it is realising you need to mash LT and RT together rather than one after to other to avoid having your face burned off. After this, you’ll face one of the game’s toughest and most annoying challenges: a shootout with Trevelyan where he’s protected by a bulletproof vest and calls in goons and even a chopper to help him out. After failing multiple times, I realised that the best option is to shoot him with your unsilenced pistol (which oddly does more damage) and then head outside to the far left. The chopper won’t move around the building to fire at you so you can simply fend off the goons and shoot at Trevelyan until he runs off. Then you simply need to win one final QTE sequence that culminates in a fatal shot to the treasonous agent, and you’ll have achieved a final, if unremarkably hollow, victory.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Since you’ll only be picking up body armour on the “007 Classic” difficulty, the closest thing you’ll find to power-ups here are the various guns and gadgets you’ll find throughout your adventure. Bond can use a silencer to muffle his shots and remain undetected and can use night vision goggles in areas with low lighting to take out enemies (thought they don’t seem nearly as handicapped by the darkness), and of course use his trusty phone to hack drone guns. Otherwise, you’ll grab a fair amount of different guns, though barely any of them resemble their counterparts from the original game. You’ve got Bond’s regular pistol but there are other hand guns on offer, including one with a nifty aiming laser and one that fires in bursts. You can snipe from afar with sniper rifles (and some machine guns also make use of a scope or targeting attachment) or blow enemies away using a rocket launcher or a grenade launcher feature to one rifle, and blast goons in the face with powerful magnums and shotguns. My favourite weapon was the Masterson M557, a kind of high-powered, rapid rife shotgun! Classic Bond weapons like the one-hit kill Golden Gun and Moonraker laser also appear in the game’s multiplayer alongside grenades, though I never encountered either of these in the single player campaign. Honestly, I was a little disappointed by the weapon selection. You’ll come across locked crates and cabinets that can be smashed or shot open to grab new weapons, but they all seemed to be variations of machine guns and submachine guns, so I struggled a bit to tell them apart or favour one over the other, generally relying on whatever had the most ammo in the immediate area.

Additional Features:
There are fifty Achievements up for grabs in GoldenEye 007: Reloaded, four of which are awarded for completing every objective on every mission for each of the game’s difficulty levels (though these do stack up, so you can snag multiple in one playthrough). Many of the game’s stages contain the opportunity to earn an additional Achievement, such as getting forty kills with the Wolfe .44 magnum in “Nightclub” and twenty kills with hacked drone guns in “Jungle”, or require you to finish missions quickly or without reinforcements being called in. Five Janus emblems are hidden in every stage, and you’ll get Achievements for destroying one, twenty, and fifty of them, as well as for finishing any mission without taking damage of any “007 Classic” mission without any body armour. Outside of the main story, you can also take part in “MI6 Ops” missions for extra Achievements. These charge you with revisiting locations from the main game and eliminating enemies as quickly as possible, using stealth tactics, or defending three consoles and you’ll earn star rankings based on how well you perform. A good chunk of the game’s Achievements are also tied to the game’s multiplayer component. This can be played on- and offline and sees you again selecting from a roster of characters (including classic characters like Jaws and Oddjob) that you can now select different weapon and gadget loadouts. There are ten different maps to choose from and a variety of familiar game modifiers, such as melee only, team conflict, and a race for the Golden Gun. There are also some new modes here, too, such as “Escalation” (where killstreaks grant you better weapons), “Bomb Defuse” (like a “Capture the Flag” mode except you need to retrieve and defuse a bomb), and “Detonator Agent” (where you’re carrying a bomb and can either pass it to someone else or rack up a greater kill streak). While you don’t unlock fun cheat codes through gameplay like before, you can input some off websites to unlock some extra features for the multiplayer component, though not for the main campaign, which is limited to simply replaying missions on higher difficulties.

The Summary:
I played GoldenEye 007: Reloaded years ago on the PlayStation 3, around the same time as I played through the equally lacklustre Quantum of Solace game, and remember it being a largely uninspired FPS experience. Like many who bought the game, I was excited at the prospect and compelled by nostalgia to pick it up and it’s that same nostalgia that drove me to re-acquire it for my Xbox 360 library. Sadly, time and my experience with the Call of Duty franchise hasn’t made this game any better. While a lot of it visually resembles the original GoldenEye 007, so much has been changed and awkwardly shoe-horned into this samey, uninspired game engine that it may as well be an entirely different game. Indeed, I do wonder if it might’ve been better to tweak the concept a little to simply be a distant homage to GoldenEye 007 rather than an actual, explicit remake but that wouldn’t be anywhere near as interesting or profitable, would it? The gameplay is okay, but even on the “Agent” difficulty things can get very frustrating, boring, and repetitive very quickly. I found myself burning through weapons since they’re all so interchangeable, getting annoyed with how linear and obtuse the stages could be, and being unimpressed by the cutscenes, story, and voice acting. The QTEs were also annoying as they felt very out of place against the shooting gameplay. I disliked how much waiting and faffing around with the phone was involved, and the stealth mechanics were poorly implemented. When the game recalls and provides an updated twist on the original, it’s okay, but the rest of the time it’s just another painfully generic shooter where all you have to do is hide behind a wall until your health regenerates and then push a little further forward. It’s a shame as it could’ve been so much more, but GoldenEye 007: Reloaded was probably doomed from the moment it even thought about trying to cash-in on the original’s success and ends up offering nothing new for either Bond or FPS fans.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Have you ever played GoldenEye 007: Reloaded? If so, did you like it? Do you think it lived up to the standards of the original game? How do you think it holds up compared to other Bond games of this era? What did you think to the recreations and changes featured in the game? Were you annoyed by the QTEs and overreliance on the phone gimmick too? How did you find the game’s multiplayer and additional modes? What’s your favourite James Bond game that isn’t GoldenEye 007? Whatever you think about GoldenEye 007, please share your thoughts in the comments  and be sure to check out my other James Bond content across the site!

Game Corner: Dead Space 3 (Xbox 360)

Dr. K1 Comment

Released: 5 February 2013
Developer: Visceral Games
Also Available For: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X (Backwards Compatible)

The Plot:
Three years after narrowly surviving a Necromorph outbreak on Saturn’s moon, Titan, former engineer Isaac Clarke and his allies explore the frozen planet Tau Volantis to discover the origins of the Necromorphs and oppose the fanatical Unitologists, who wish to “cleanse” humanity through the Necromorphs.

The Background:
Taking its cue from seminal survivor/horror franchises like Silent Hill (Konami/Various, 1999 to 2012) and Resident Evil (Capcom/Various, 1996 to present), Glen Schofield and his small (but committed team) shook up the genre with Dead Space (EA Redwood Shores, 2008). Highly praised and selling over one million copies, a sequel was greenlit almost immediately. The team worked hard to improve and refine Isaac’s gameplay and character, which was reflected in Dead Space 2’s (Visceral Games, 2011) equally positive reviews. Unfortunately poor sales meant that development of Dead Space 3 was almost cancelled, so the team scrambled to up the focus on action to appeal to a more mainstream audience and increase sales. Halfway into production, the decision was made to incorporate a co-op mode, which required an adjustment of the mechanics and enemy AI to allow for simultaneously two player gameplay. Environments in Dead Space 3 were bigger than ever, resulting in larger locations, new ways to play, and the inclusion of a rappel system to take advantage of the bigger play area. In anticipation of Dead Space 3 being the final game, the developers sought to wrap up Isaac’s story, expanding on both his character and the lore behind the Markers, while also using the new, frozen setting to tweak and refine the Necromorph designs. Consistent with its predecessors, Dead Space 3 released to generally positive reviews; reviews praised the action-orientated gameplay, co-op mode, and use of horror. Although sales started strong and the game was bolstered by some downloadable content, Dead Space 3 failed to meet EA’s expectations and tentative ideas for a fourth game were scrapped. Largely considered the worst of the trilogy, Dead Space 3 was criticised for its length and repetitive gameplay, and it is generally regarded as a fall from grace for a once-promising franchise.

Gameplay:
Like its predecessors, Dead Space 3 is a third-person survival/horror game set in the vastness of the cosmos many hundreds of years into the future. You’re once again placed into the role of Isaac Clarke, a former engineer now turned disgraced nobody thanks to the traumatic events of the last two games. This time around, you have a few control options available: you can pick from three control schemes or, if you’re feeling very fancy (or very stupid), you can use the Kinect to play! Obviously, I didn’t do this and went with the default control scheme, which sees you aiming with the Left Trigger, firing or bludgeoning enemies with a melee attack with the Right Trigger, and reloading with X. You can press and hold the Left Bumper to run or tap it for a handy (if occasionally clunky) dodge roll, tap the Right Bumper to stomp on enemies or crates or use your weapon’s secondary fire mode when aiming, and drop a temporary waypoint marker towards your next objective or destination by pressing in the left stick. Pressing in the right stick sees you crouch, which is somewhat handy when you engage in firefights with Unitologist leader Jacob Danik’s forces, and you can quickly replenish your health or stasis meter by pressing B and Y, respectively (as long as you have the associated items in your inventory). A is your action button, used to pick up items, open doors and interact with panels, switches, and such. You also press the left stick to take off and land when in zero gravity environments, where you’ll speed about using the bumpers but must collect air cannisters to avoid suffocating. Eventually, you’ll reacquire the use of your telekinetic abilities: while aiming with LT, you press B to interact with certain doors or objects and move them about, blast them with RB (skewering enemies with their own limbs in the process), or press Y to temporarily freeze enemies or hazards (such as large cogs or crushing weights) so you can pass them or easily decimate them.

Between the co-op and rappel sections, there are glimpses of a fun horror adventure here.

So, overall, the gameplay and controls are as you’d expect from Dead Space. Where Dead Space 3 primarily differs, though, is in the inclusion of a two-player co-op mode. Playing with a friend will require to you switch discs at a certain point, but you can play alone and avoid this option and also won’t have the benefit (or handicap) of an AI-controlled partner to worry about (John Carver appears in cutscenes but not alongside you like in other co-op games). While the option to play online is probably disabled now, you can still play in couch co-op, but I’m not sure how much this impacts the gameplay. There’s a certain hacking puzzle where each player guides a circuit to a certain point and presses A but that’s it, and it’s easily bypassed in single player by using both analogue sticks. There are no other areas where two players need to press switches or activate doors so I barely even noticed it as a function, though a late game objective would benefit from two players as you’d be able to split up and cover more ground. The co-op mode may also explain the abundance of Necromorphs (Feeders are especially abundant and annoying in single-player mode) and resources to be found. Another new aspect is a rappel mechanic where you and your partner zip down (or up) walls, shafts, and inclines, hopping across chasms, avoiding debris and hazards, and picking off Necromorphs. It was an okay mechanic but wore out its welcome pretty quickly and became more aggravating by the third of fourth time I endured it. Zero gravity sections are few and far between this time around, replaced by more open-ended sections set in the vast bleakness of space. You’ll float and fly about retrieving key items and activating doors in these sections, but they’re not as prominent in the previous games. One cool section sees you guiding a shuttle towards a planet as it crashes. You need to stay in the pre-set guidelines, blast at space debris, and even repair the ship’s engines to stay on course, which was quite fun.

Puzzles and space-faring sections are short breaks between all the gunplay and gore.

While some familiar Dead Space puzzles return here, they’re also far less prominent than in the previous games. You’ll still be hacking open doors by rotating a cone of light and pressing A on the blue sections, moving batteries to power up lifts and doors, and freezing hazards so you can slip past, but the focus is much more on seemingly never-ending, bloody combat this time around. You’ll make more use of your telekinetic abilities to power up generators and open certain doors, and there are a few puzzles where you use it to move plates into the correct order or awkwardly bend and twist alien architecture to match hieroglyphics or turn large structures to activate power nodes. However, the trickiest parts about these sections are the waves of enemies that’ll burst in the spoil your concentration. Later in the game, you must pay attention to film reels, onscreen prompts, and blood smeared around to activate alien translator devices, and take shuttles to new and previous destinations to explore other areas or take on optional side missions for new loot. You will also frantically tap A or make movements with the analogue sticks to succeed at quick-time events (either during dramatic cutscenes or when enemies grapple with you), and occasionally be forced to explore without your handy compass. Opportunities to use stasis and kinesis in interesting ways are few and far between here; you won’t be freezing bridges or moving about the environment to create new paths all that often. Instead, you search for key items to cobble together at workbenches and insert into something else, diverting power from one system to another to power up lifts or allow you to burn away the Necromorph infestation with a volatile gas, and blasting about through high-speed teleportation tunnels. You can pick from four difficulty modes, each of which increases the aggression of the enemies, and you can use the resources you find from crates, lying about the environments, or pick up from bodies to upgrade your suit and weapons, but you can only carry two weapons at a time and this time you need to craft new ones. I found this to be very aggravating; I wasn’t always able to create new weapons as the resource cost is so high, so I ended up playing most of the game with an upgraded version of the default Plasma Cutter. Furthermore, while it’s fun seeing flares scattered about and revisiting different areas to find new enemies and challenges there, I quickly became frustrated by how often the game simply throws a barrage of enemies at you in place of more intimate encounters and meaningful puzzles.

Graphics and Sound:
Graphically, Dead Space 3 may be the most ambitious of the entire trilogy. While human character models suffer from the same issues that dogged most games of this generation (namely, appearing to be little more than action figures or oddly-rendered puppets pretending to be flesh and blood), the environments, scope, and lighting effects are better than ever. You see this right from the beginning where, in a first for the series, you’re stuck on a frozen ice world and bombarded by snow and limited visibility before running through a gritty, futuristic city that’s ripped right out of Blade Runner (Scott, 1982). Although environments remain cramped and claustrophobic, there’s a grander sense of scale on offer, especially in the zero gravity sections. Far from being confined to scuttled spaceships, you can now blast through the openness of space using your suit’s thrusters and rocket along at blinding speeds thanks to alien technology. The writing and character interactions are also far more dramatic this time around; Isaac is at his lowest, estranged from his love, Ellie Langford, and constantly butting heads with her new lover, Robert Norton. Twists and turns are abundant as the Unitologists infiltrate and brainwash people to their cause, adding greater stakes to the gameplay as you race to rescue or protect Ellie and the other disposable side characters are killed off for dramatic emphasis. I still don’t really like that Isaac is so chatty now, but he’s given a little more weight and characterisation here. He’s not only still struggling with the traumatic influence of the Markers and the previous games, he also has intense rivalries with Norton and Danik and builds a rapport with new character John Carver that makes their poignant decision to stay behind and give their lives to save Elli (and the world) all the more impactful.

Drama, gore, and ominous alien architecture is at the forefront here.

All of this is merely window dressing for what I consider to be the strength of this franchise, and that’s the unsettling, ominous environments you explore. Blood, bodies, and flickering lights all add to the tension, as do the randomly falling grates and corpses, crucified torsos, non-playable characters who commit suicide or are reanimated before your eyes, and the many ominous messages written in blood over the walls and floors. Enemies burst from vents, crawl up through snow, explode to shambling life when infested with parasites, and clamber around walls and over railings to get to you. If you can’t fight them off or get pummelled too much, you’ll be treated to a gory death scene, and body parts will be sent splattered around as you target the Necromorph’s limbs to dispatch them. As ever, Isaac’s meters and ammo are displayed on his suit and weapons rather than a traditional heads-up display, though you can still bring up a live inventory, map, and objective screen and Isaac receives regular incoming video and voice messages from enemies and allies to clog up the screen space. Environments are similar to before, but noticeably different in same areas. You’ve still got dark, confined corridors, barracks, and other areas on spaceships and space stations, but you’ll be in steampunk-like facilities, genetic labs, and Necromorph infested outposts, too. Much of the game is set on a frozen planet, where snow and ice are naturally abundant, and you’re buffeted by snowstorms and crossing crumbling ice caverns. Perhaps the most visually interesting location comes in the final stretch of the game where you’re exploring an alien city, caverns filled with Markers, and a degenerating moon home to a gigantic eldritch abomination that really ups the ante for the finale.

Enemies and Bosses:
Many familiar Necromorphs return in Dead Space 3. As ever, no matter their appearance or attack pattern, your best bet is to target their limbs, severing their blade-like arms and their legs to slow them down and reduce their threat, though many are more than capable of attacking even without a head or reanimating if you don’t pick off the spider-like parasites infesting them so don’t forget to freeze them with Stasis when in a tight spot. “Slash” Necromorphs burst up from corpses, out of vents, and around corners without warning, leaping at you, slashing, and grabbing you to try and rip your face off, so be sure to keep your distance wherever possible. Only a handful of Necromorphs can fire projectiles, but these can be the trickiest to hit. Small variants scuttle about on walls and ceilings firing from their lashing tentacles, “Pukers” cough up acidic bile to slow you down, and the fatter variants spawn tiny parasites that’ll quickly consume you if you’re not careful. Spider-like parasites can infect corpses, making them zombies who shamble after you with wrenches and frantically blast you with assault rifles. The odd wall-mounted Necromorph also reappears, and you’ll again have the “joys” of encountering “Regenerator” variants who can only be slowed and fled from as there’s no dramatic way of putting them down this time. Mine-like cysts will blow you off your feet, large tentacles will block your path, and the aforementioned “Feeder” variants will swarm all around you from overhead vents. In addition, you’ll also get into firefights with Danik’s troops. These guys take cover, fire assault rifles and laser-guided rockets, and can even toss grenades at you that you can throw back using your Kinesis ability. Luckily, if Necromorphs are about, you can hang back and let the two groups battle it out, thinning their numbers to make your life a lot easier.

Despite some horrific Necromorphs, the game suffers from a lack of boss battles.

One aspect of Dead Space 3 I was quite disappointed by is the lack of bosses. Bosses have always been a bit of a weak spot in the franchise and Dead Space 3 noticeably suffers from a lack of tangible boss moments. Some Necromorph enemies can be analogous to bosses, such as the ever-annoying Velociraptor-like “Stalkers” who hide behind crates and rocks and charge at you from out of the blue and the large, skeletal Alien Necromorphs that gore you like a rhino. Easily the most persistent boss in the game is the crab-like “Snow Beast”, a gigantic crustacean you’ll battle in three separate locations, with the main strategy repeating each time but with less options for cover and resource replenishment. The Snow Beast lunges at you and tries to squish you with its spiked legs, only being vulnerable after you sever the whipping tentacles on its back and blast at its exposed mouth/underside. Stasis is useful for keeping it at bay but you’ll need to time your dodge roll well to avoid its lumbering attacks. Eventually, you drive it away but it pops back up again later, this time with crates in the way and no opportunities to recharge your meter, and a third time in the middle of a snowstorm where it’s joined by regular Necromorphs. This time, you use Kinesis to activate two generators and then lure it into the path of two harpoon guns that finally tear it apart. Far more visually interesting is the gigantic, Lovecraftian “Nexus” creature. This squid-like thing tries to crush you with its tentacles limbs, spits up Feeders, and tries to suck you into its maw. You must dodge and dispatch these annoyances and blast its tumour-like growths before targeting more globules inside its digestive tract! Finally, you battle the Tau Volantis Moon itself! The very surface crumbles and changes around you as an eldritch nightmare looms overhead, throwing rocks and depositing Necromorphs onto an unstable circular platform. Luckily, there’s a glowing circle here that will super charge your Kinesis and Stasis abilities, allowing you to slow and dismember enemies and launch large blue rocks into the thing’s eyes. Blast its tentacles when it tries to suck you in and repeat this three times, then succeed at a simple quick-time vent and you’ve won the day.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
It’s hard from me to talk about Dead Space 3’s weapons as I struggled with the system. This time, you start with the standard Plasma Cutter and can add attachments and circuits to increase its stats (damage, reload time, clip size and such), which is fine, but you also use these same resources (alongside blueprints found scattered throughout the game) to craft new weapons. While many can be pre-made from these blueprints(providing you have the resources), others are cobbled together to give a sense of customisation. Unfortunately, the cost to create and upgrade weapons is so high that I often found myself relying on the standard Plasma Cutter. I created a rapid-fire submachine gun and a shotgun variant, but they were so weak that I rarely used them. A flamethrower proved much more reliable but you can also craft weapons that shoot lightning or acid rounds, darts, and explosives. I was pretty disappointed that I didn’t get to experience much of this, however. One of the appeals to games like this is naturally acquiring new weapons, but I found it difficult to craft new ones and their benefits lacklustre compared to upgrading the Plasma Cutter. A big reason for this is that the same resources are used to upgrade your suit. While Isaac gains new suits as the story progresses, you can spend resources upgrading your maximum health and armour, extending the range and recharge time of your kinesis meter, and improving your oxygen supply. It seems to be much more stripped down and barebones this time around, but these benefits are useful as you have limited inventory space for things like health and ammo. When you reach a workbench, you can store items in a safe for later use, which is useful, and this is also where you scavenger bot will deposit more resources after you deploy it. It’s worth taking the time to smash enemy bodies, crates, and explore your surroundings for pick-ups as they’ll frequently drop ammo, health, and resources to upgrade and craft your equipment. Recharge points for your abilities are also common and you can occasionally make use of environmental hazards (drops, explosive barrels, and laser traps) to dispatch enemies.

Additional Features:
There are fifty Achievements to aim for in Dead Space 3, many of which you’ll get from a simple playthrough. You get Achievements for beating the various difficulty levels, for example, dispatching the Snow Beast, crafting a weapon, and retrieving resources from a scavenger bot, all things you’d do without even trying. Some are a bit more obscure, such as shooting a deer head in an office, using the gas to destroy five Cysts, and not taking damage in certain sections. Others are a little more grindy: there are audio and text logs and alien artifacts to be found, blueprints and weapons to collect, and limbs that need to be severed if you want to tick off all the game’s Achievements. You’ll also need to play in co-op mode, use different weapons and melee attacks, and complete all optional missions to get the full 1000G associated with the game. Finishing Dead Space 3 on any difficulty unlocks “New Game”, which allows you to restart with all the upgrades and weapons and such from your last playthrough, access a new suit, and acquire better upgrade parts. If you have a save file from Dead Space 2, you get access to the “Planet Cracker” Plasma Cutter. Finally, if you managed to download the game’s additional content, you can play an epilogue story that comes with eight additional Achievements and sees Isaac and Carver escaping Tau Volantis, battling Dik’s cultists, and learning of an impending Necromorph invasion of Earth!

The Summary:
I’d heard that Dead Space 3 was the weakest of the original trilogy. Nothing specific comes to mind regarding that statement, just a general consensus that it’s not as strong as the first two games. I went into it with this in mind but expecting more of the same and, in many ways, that’s true. Dead Space 3 doesn’t stray too far from the previous formula of exploration, puzzle solving, and Necromorph slicing, but it adds a few wrinkles and changes things around just enough to drag it down a little bit. The crafting system, for one, was a major headache for me. I really didn’t like that I couldn’t swap to different weapons to break up the action as I lacked the resources to craft and/or properly refine the other weapons. It also took a lot of the fun out of the exploration when all you’re rewarded with are parts to cobble together weapons rather than an actual gun. The puzzles were extremely stripped down, and nowhere near as prominent. Sure, sometimes you have less time to hack a console or need to craft something to open a door, but ultimately the game failed to utilise the Stasis and Kinesis abilities in interesting ways compared to the last two games. It’s the same for the zero gravity sections. Yeah, it’s fun flying through space but these are merely distractions from the main gameplay rather than being standout sequences since the game would rather waste your time on frustrating rappel sequences. The lack (and recycling) of bosses hurts the game, too. I like fighting big, monstrous creatures but these encounters were few and far between. It’s also weird to me that you don’t get an AI partner in single-player and the game didn’t lean more into the co-op aspect. I honestly forget John Carver was even there as he only appears in cutscenes and scripted sequences, making you wonder why they bothered with the co-op function at all. Ultimately, there was a lot to like here – the game is as horrific and nerve-shredding as ever – but I can’t help but feel as though something was lacking. The soul, perhaps? I can’t quite put my finger on it but it was definitely a far less enjoyable and much more aggravating experience compared to the first two, which is a shame considering the core gameplay and mechanics are just as appealing.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy Dead Space 3? How do you think it compares to the previous two games? What did you think to the co-op mechanics and the new rappel gimmick? Were you also disappointed by the lack of boss battles and frustrated by the increased enemy swarms? Were you able to craft some decent weapons or did you also struggle with this system? Did you ever find all those artifacts? Which game in the franchise is your favourite? What horror-theme videogames are you playing this October in anticipation of Halloween? Whatever your thoughts on Dead Space 3, drop a comment below.

Game Corner: Terminator Salvation (Xbox 360)

Dr. K3 Comments

Released: 19 May 2009
Developer: Grin
Also Available For: Mobile, PC, and PlayStation 3

The Background:
The Terminator franchise (Various, 1984 to 2019) has quite the history with videogame adaptations. Every film in the franchise has been adapted to at least one videogame over the years and the murderous cyborg even matched wits with RoboCop (Verhoeven, 1987) back in the day. Despite the mixed reviews that accompanied Terminator Salvation (McG, 2009), the Halcyon Company turned to developers Grin to produce a tie-in videogame, one whose in-game assets and engine were used to produce a prequel miniseries. Much like the movie upon which it was based, Terminator Salvation was met with mixed reviews that criticised the repetitive combat and lack of replay value and the game was generally seen as a disappointment considering the vast potential offered by its cover-based shooting mechanics.

The Plot:
Years after Judgment Day, John Connor leads Resistance soldiers on a dangerous rescue mission that sees them storming one of Skynet’s main bases and encountering their most dangerous creations: The Terminators!

Gameplay:
Terminator Salvation is a third-person shooter that can be played alone or alongside another player in co-op. When playing alone, AI-controlled allies will provide cover fire and even a bit of ammo every now and then to help fend off the machines, though you’re unable to issue them with orders or change your playable character. The game’s controls are similar to many other similar shooters of the time, and even now: the Left Trigger lets you aim or peek out from cover, the Right Trigger fires your current weapon, and the Right Bumper tosses a grenade or pipe bomb. You can switch weapons with B; holding the button gives you access to a limited weapon wheel where you can switch to different firearms and bombs, but you can only carry two guns at a time. You can pick up new weapons Y, which also focuses the camera on certain objectives or points of interest and gives you control of nearby turrets. X lets you reload, you can review your objectives by pressing the ‘Back’ button, and you can snap to, from, or dash between cover using A and the left stick. Anything from cars, columns, partial walls, and metal barriers can be used as effective cover. You can quite efficiently fire blindly from behind cover and dash between cover to avoid incoming fire, but some enemies can simply come around whatever you’re hiding behind and murder you on the spot.

Use cover and your partners to take on Skynet’s repetitive forces with some mediocre weapons.

The game’s narrative is told over nine chapters, each of which sees you navigating the war-torn remnants of downtown Los Angeles, various dilapidated buildings and sewers, and infiltrating the ominous factories of Skynet. However, your mission objectives and the basic structure of each chapter is painfully tedious and predictable: you’ll explore a path so linear that there’s no onscreen map required, following your allies to open or enclosed areas where you’ll be ambushed by T-7-T machines and drone-like Aerostats (referred to as “Spiders” and “Wasps”, respectively). You’ll be forced to take cover, or go up stairs to take the high ground, and clear out waves of these enemies, flanking the Spiders to target the battery packs on their backs and opening fire when your aiming reticule turns red so you know you’re dealing maximum damage. Unlike many games where you’re accompanied by AI partners, Terminator Salvation’s AI is almost too good; there were many times when I simply stayed behind cover and waited out the fracas as my AI companions destroyed all nearby enemies. This was surprisingly effective, though not the most enjoyable gameplay experience; it’s great that your partners can’t be killed and will so helpfully destroy incoming enemies, but it can make you superfluous or leave you sitting and waiting for battles to end as you’re out of ammo or close to death. Your health will only be refilled after a battle has been won, but you can recover a bit of health if you avoid incoming fire for a time; unfortunately unlike other third-person shooters with this mechanic, this can take a long time. I don’t know if this was because I was playing on “Hard”, but my health would take ages to recover in these situations, meaning it was usually better just to let myself be killed so I could try again. In co-op mode, you can revive and be revived by your partner to continue the fight, but this doesn’t happen when playing solo. However, there are a decent number of checkpoints in the game, which can be helpful, though it quickly becomes tedious having to go through the same fights again and again with little reward. Occasionally, you’ll be tasked with protecting Barnes as he sets explosive charges but there isn’t actually any danger of him being killed so this is just another case of battling against waves of machines. Similarly, there’s a cool section near the end where you have to pass through a suburban area on the way to Skynet’s control centre. T-600s and “Skin Jobs” patrol the buildings and grounds, which seems to encourage a stealthy approach but, no, you just take cover behind cars and walls and blast at them until they explode and disappear into the ground like always.

A few rail-shooting and first-person sequences break up the gameplay, but can be frustrating.

Thankfully, it’s not all cover and shooting in Terminator Salvation. In addition to being pinned down, caught in crossfires, or being relentlessly hounded by the T-600s, you can man turrets to blast Spiders and Wasps (though you need to be good with your accuracy as this leaves you completely vulnerable), must run away from pursuing T-600s, and your objectives generally include reaching evacuation sites, finding survivors in the wastelands, and fending off attacks from the machines in open and enclosed areas alongside allies and with weapon caches nearby. Gameplay is broken up further by a handful of rail-shooting stages; in these, you’ll man a gun on the back of a truck or wield a rocket launcher with infinite ammo on the back of a speeding subway train and fire at incoming Wasps, Moto-Terminators, and Hunter-Killers (HKs). Sometimes you’ll need to protect an ally in a truck or a school bus but, while these sections aren’t very long, they can be extremely frustrating and are far from enjoyable. You have no options for cover and no way to regain your health, and enemies can be tough to hit since they’re very small and nimble. Your AI companion is also far less useful in these sections, and you have to endure the annoyance of your gun overheating if you hold the trigger down for too long. Thankfully, these sections aren’t very long and they can be fun when you’re just blasting at HKs, but they were one of the most aggravating parts of the game. Later, you’ll control a gigantic HK Tank; here, the game switches to a first-person perspective and employs the red Terminator vision as you automatically stomp across the devastated landscape using LT and RT and RB and LB to fire your gatling guns and missiles at machines and anti-aircraft turrets. Unfortunately, this is also quite a clunky and frustrating section; checkpoints are plentiful, and your health will refill, but the weapon charge time is a joke and you have no way to avoid being blasted by enemies since you can’t move or dodge, so you need to fire quickly and accurately to get past each section without being blown to pieces.

Graphics and Sound:  
Terminator Salvation is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of presentation. On the one hand, the environments look pretty good; I liked how the streets are littered with cars, debris, burning planes, and the fallout of all-out nuclear war. Buildings are partially destroyed and full of disused furniture; they’re overgrown with vegetation, and everything has a very bleak and ominous feel to it. Like the source material, much of Terminator Salvation’s action takes place in the daytime; if you stop and think about it, it doesn’t make much sense for the world to be in this state considering it was subjected to nuclear war and there’s a disappointing lack of skulls and bodies strewn about the place, but the general presentation works pretty well. When you’re inside, things become suitably claustrophobic and you’ll have to endure stages set inside dilapidated buildings, sewers, and subway tunnels; nothing massively out of the ordinary, but still in keeping with the Terminator theme. The subway actually makes for a really fun and depressing location; the survivors huddled there have built a pitiable shelter from abandoned subway cars and it really speaks to the desperation felt by the rag-tag survivors. The game’s final stage takes place in one of Skynet’s facilities, an industrial factory where they build their machines. These sections more accurately evoke the dark, desolate Future War seen in the first two movies, and there’s even a cool part when John sets of an electromagnetic pulse and you dash past incapacitated T-600 endoskeletons.

The machines and environments are better than the character models, but it’s a very basic presentation.

While the in-game music generally isn’t anything to shout about, it impresses when the classic Terminator theme kicks in when you complete objectives or to bolster bigger, tougher battles. The T-600 encounters are often accompanied by the ominous T-1000 theme, which I really enjoyed, and the machines themselves are a particular highlight of the game’s presentation. While their intelligence is often questionable (they’re either laughably incompetent or annoyingly relentless), the machines impress when they appear. Spiders scuttle through the ruins, T-600s burst through walls and doors guns blazing, there’s a definite sense of dread every time a HK flies overhead (even if they’re pretty easy to take down with your rockets), and there’s even a few genuinely tense moments as you frantically flee from the gigantic Harvester or from a persistent T-600. It’s a shame, then, that the human character models don’t impress anywhere near as well; John lacks Christian Bale’s voice and likeness and it is just a general Jarhead as a result, though Common and Moon Bloodgood do lend their voices and likenesses to their characters. Sadly, they’re stilted, puppet-like imitations of themselves; as there are very few pre-rendered cutscenes, you’ll have to endure these marionette-like soldiers flailing and yapping about and it’s genuinely laughable seeing them (and their vehicles) being pounded about in the game over sequences. The story itself is actually pretty serviceable and works as a prequel, of sorts, to the movie, but I did notice some instances where the game lagged when too much was happening at once. Some glitches, like enemy fire passing through your cover and the AI just running in place aimlessly or dropping through the ground (both of which were actually very beneficial!) also appeared.

Enemies and Bosses:
As you might expect, you’ll be battling Skynet’s forces throughout Terminator Salvation; unfortunately, the malicious AI doesn’t exactly favour variety and simply sends the same handful of enemies at you over and over again, without even any colour or weapon changes, which makes the game very tiresome very quickly. Drone-like Aerostats sweep across the sky raining fire at you and can be annoying to hit as they’re small and nimble; similarly, the Moto-Terminators can be difficult to destroy as they’re very fast and you’re stuck on a set path that can mess up your shot. The most common enemy you’ll face at the T-7-Ts, large mechanical spiders that scurry about firing incessantly once they spot you or your allies. The only way to destroy them is to get around behind them and target their battery pack, which either you can do, or you can distract them so your partners can take them out, but this becomes extremely aggravating in close quarters situations and when the Spiders are flanked by Wasps and T-600s. The T-600s are easily the game’s toughest enemies; wielding gatling guns and shrugging off your bullets, they relentlessly fire at and pursue you and the only way to defeat them is to lob pipe bombs at them or unload all your ammo into their chests from a safe position.

The game is a non-stop barrage of battles against the same machines over and over again.

The T-600s are initially presented as mini bosses of sorts; at first, all you can do is run away, luring them into traps to try and bury them under rubble, but soon you and your allies are cornered by three of them and you need to dash to a table to pick up pipe bombs to take them out. This is where the game really takes a sharp difficulty spike; the crossfire here is unreal and you only have a limited number of pipe bombs, plus it’s super tough to get close to the T-600s so I actually found it easier to stay under cover, rely on my AI companions, and fire the way overpowered shotgun at the Terminator’s chests to dispatch them. Later encounters are much easier, even when you’re again forced into a tight corridor, as you have better weapons to help you out, like the rocket launcher or a turret. You’ll also encounter “Skin Jobs”, T-600s in rubber skin, which I actually found weaker than their endoskeleton cousins, and these Terminators soon start to appear out in the open and alongside Spiders and Wasps as the game progresses and things ramp up. While you must run for cover when the Harvester makes its single appearance and never get to engage with it, you’ll be taking on a fair amount of HKs. These are some of the best sections as the massive ships linger outside buildings firing plasma blasts and unleashing Wasps to weed you out. You need to grab the nearby rocket launchers to bring these huge ships down, which is a lot more fun than when you’re steaming along in a vehicle or even in that massive tank as you can actually use cover and aim your shots more effectively. Sadly, there’s not really any big, climactic final battle in Terminator Salvation; the entire game is a series of shoot-outs or tense moments against the same enemies over and over, and the finale is much of the same. Sure, there are more T-600s and it can be really difficult juggling between the different enemies, dashing between cover and using the heavier explosives at the right time, but it would’ve been nice to have a big final boss battle, perhaps against a prototype T-800 or even the Harvester. Instead, you simply blast through the machines until John disables them with an EMP in a cutscene, and then just run to the evacuation chopper to end the story.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
As disappointing as the enemy variety is in Terminator Salvation, the weapon selection isn’t much better. You’ve got an assault rifle, a shotgun, a heavier machine gun, a rocket launcher, and a grenade launcher, alongside standard tossable grenades and pipe bombs. You can only carry two guns at a time, they don’t hold much ammo, and you can’t upgrade or customise them or your character’s abilities in any way. Turrets and vehicles are also on offer, but they’re painfully limited by their cooldown and reload times, and there are sadly no laser rifles to be found here; you can’t even use the T-600’s gatling gun, for God’s sake! However, if you’re going to use any weapon, make sure it’s the shotgun; this thing is ridiculously overpowered and works amazingly well even at long range and against the T-600s, so be sure to keep it in your inventory.

Additional Features:
There are eleven Achievements on offer in Terminator Salvation, with nine being awarded for completing each chapter. You’ll gain an additional two Achievements for beating the game on Medium and Hard, but these Achievements stack and the game really isn’t all that difficult (beyond a couple of really frustrating parts) so you’re better off just playing all the way through on Hard and snagging every Achievement in one playthrough. This is all very disappointing; the game has a co-op mode but there are no Achievements for playing with a friend, there are no items or collectibles to find or unlock, no audio logs or concept art, no additional skins or modes (like deathmatches or anything), and no downloadable content on offer. It really is a disappointingly cheap and barebones presentation; you can replay any chapter after completing the game, but what’s the point when you can sweep all the Achievements in one go and there’s nothing to go back for?

The Summary:
Terminator Salvation is a pretty poor rip-off of the Gears of War games of the time (Epic Games, 2006; 2008); it lacks none of the pulse-pounding action, satisfying weapon combat, or macho bravado of those games and instead distils the gameplay down to a tedious cover-based shooter where you could probably set your controller down at a few key points and let the AI take care of things without your involvement. It’s such a shame as there are some tense and enjoyable moments here; I love how the T-600s and larger machines are portrayed as a real threat and the ominous and desperate atmosphere that accompanies these encounters. Sadly, the enemy AI is absolutely bonkers and easily exploited; even when you’re literally pinned down in a corner and will be cut to ribbons the moment you move, you can still win the day with bucketloads of patience and some well-timed explosives. These sections are incredibly frustrating, though, and result in an uneven pace to the game; even on the hardest difficulty, some chapters and sections will be a breeze (annoying and boring, but not exactly hard) but then others are like running into a brick wall! The rail-shooting sections, especially, are very aggravating due to the lack of cover and small margin for error afforded to you, yet you can be cornered by waves of machines and easily take them all out with no problem at other times simply because you have cover and heavier weapons and competent allies nearby. The lack of real bosses is also an issue; I liked the encounters with the T-600s and HKs, but there could’ve been so much more here, like a showdown with the Harvester or more enjoyable use of the HK Tank. The absolute worst thing, though, is the lack of replayability, collectibles, and unlockables; once you’ve beaten the game and gotten all the Achievements, there’s no reason to play it again over, say, Terminator: Resistance (Teyon, 2019) or any of the Gears of War titles this game so shamelessly apes. There as a bit of an effort made here, but then the developers just kind of gave up. It’s just another videogame tie-in that’s really not worth your effort unless you have nothing else to do and want to earn some quick Achievements, though I’ll give it an extra point for having some decent visuals and moments amidst all the mediocrity.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Have you ever played Terminator Salvation? What did you think to it and how do you think it compares to other Terminator videogames, and the movie it’s based on? Were you a fan of the cover-based shooting and repetitive combat or did you grow bored by the gameplay? What did you think to the T-600s and the rail-shooting sections? Did you ever beat this game with a friend? What’s your favourite Terminator videogame and how are you celebrating Judgement Day this year? No matter what you think about Terminator Salvation and the Terminator franchise, feel free to leave a reply down below or drop a comment on my social media, and go check out my other Terminator reviews!

Game Corner [Sonic Month]: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (Xbox 360)

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Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on this day back in 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon and, in keeping with tradition, I have been dedicating the entire month to celebrating SEGA’s supersonic mascot.

Released: 7 October 2010; 15 May 2012
Developer: Dimps / Sonic Team
Also Available For: Mobile, Nintendo Wii, Ouya, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Shield, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X

The Background:
In 1991, after much development and strategic planning to create a mascot iconic enough to rival Super Mario, SEGA introduced gamers to Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic’s initial success (thanks, largely, his debut game being bundled with the Mega Drive) exploded into mainstream popularity with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1992) and, from there, the sky seemed to be the limit. So big was Sonic’s blockbuster third outing that it was split into two parts to save costs and meet deadlines; nevertheless, Sonic 3 & Knuckles (ibid, 1994) is widely regarded as one of the best of the classic 2D Sonic games, though SEGA strangely followed this success with several lacklustre spin-offs before transitioning to 3D in 1999. By 2010, Sonic had appeared in around sixty titles, with SEGA outsourcing their supersonic mascot to Dimps for the Sonic Advance series (2001 to 2004), which seemed to be the closest fans could hope for a Sonic 4. Conscious of the demand for a classic Sonic experience, SEGA again teamed with Dimps for a secret project originally codenamed “Project Needlemouse” in a nod to Sonic’s origins. Sonic 4 was conceived of as a throwback title, one that would mix modern elements with the classic formula, and incorporate gyroscope functions for mobile players. Episode I released to mixed reviews; despite criticisms of the poor physics, the game was a commercial success and development began on Episode II, with the specific intention to introduce new elements. With the digital re-release of the celebrated Sonic the Hedgehog CD (SEGA, 1993) looming, Episode II was developed to tie up loose threads from that game, as well as introducing team-based mechanics by including Sonic’s sidekick, Miles “Tails” Prower. Episode II was also met with mixed reviews; while largely seen as an improvement over Episode I, the boss battles and level designs drew criticism. Although players could access a side story with both titles, Episode Metal, plans for a third entry were mysteriously abandoned and the game has largely been discarded by all, especially after more fitting throwbacks to the classic era were later released.

The Plot:
Doctor Eggman is back, having refined some of his past creations and seeking to conquer new lands with the Chaos Emeralds. When Sonic inevitably arrives to stop him, Dr. Eggman calls in Metal Sonic to hold off his foe while he again works to harness the power of Little Planet.  

Gameplay:
In the tradition of the classic Sonic titles, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is a 2.5D, sidescrolling action platformer in which players blast through ten levels (known as “Zones”), with most having three stages (or “Acts”) each, culminating in a boss battle against Dr. Eggman or Metal Sonic. Fundamentally, the basic controls are as familiar as ever; players can pick up speed to blast through Acts, spinning to crash through Badniks, walls, and acquire power-ups with the A or B button, or charge up a Spin Dash by pressing down and either A or B. Oddly, the Spin Dash is actually quite nerfed and doesn’t give you the usual speed boost you’d expect compared to simply running, and Sonic uncurls when flying off curves and springs, leaving him vulnerable to attack. However, this is somewhat explained by the incorporation of the Homing Attack; by pressing A or B after a jump, Sonic will fly towards the nearest target (“helpfully” indicated by an onscreen reticule and targeting sound), which is all-but required as you chain together Homing Attacks to cross gaps. In Episode II, the controls are slightly expanded; here, Tails constantly follows you around, snagging Golden Rings and bopping Badniks, and can be called to your side at any time by pressing the Right Trigger or performing one of the three new Tag Actions with X. Sonic and Tails can either curl up into a massive ball to break through walls with the Rolling Combo or Tails can indefinitely swim Sonic around underwater with the Submarine Combo or briefly carry him with his helicopter tails with the Copter Combo. Each has different strengths and weaknesses; the Rolling Combo is quite fast and unwieldy, the Submarine Combo can be a bit slippery to control, and the Copter Combo only allows for a short burst of flight, though it’s very handy to use to save you from one of Episode II’s many bottomless pits. 

Episode I poorly apes the original classics, marrying bad physics with wonky mechanics.

The basic gameplay mechanics are also very familiar; players must collect Golden Rings to stave off death, with the Rings scattering when you’re hit so you can snag them to protect yourself, in addition to swallowing air bubbles to keep from drowning. Acts are played against a ten minute time limit, after which players will lose a life, though you can earn extra lives by racking up points, collecting 100 Rings, or breaking open 1-up monitors. The more points you acquire, and the faster you finish Acts, the more likely it is you’ll earn continues to carry on playing after you’ve exhausted your lives, and you can respawn from checkpoints by running past Star Posts. Zones are filled with robotic enemies and cheap obstacles to sap your Rings and lives, however, from spikes jutting out of floors, walls, and ceilings, to bottomless pits, crushing hazards, and a massive wall-like drill machine that relentlessly chases you down. In Episode I, you’ll play through Zones heavily inspired by the classic Sonic games, meaning you’ll run through loops, mobius strips, jump to moving or temporary platforms, press switches to open doors, and ricochet all over the place on bumpers, springs, bouncers, and steam vents. A few new gimmicks are also present, though; Sonic can swing from vines and zip lines in Splash Hill Zone, ride playing card bridges and cross flipping cards in Casino Street Zone, awkwardly run on giant cogs in Mad Gear Zone to cross tracks, and light dynamite and ride mine carts in Lost Labyrinth Zone. It’s this latter Zone that has some of the most frustrating elements of Episode I, however; not only is it full of water that threatens your life and slows you down and all the same gimmicks as Labyrinth Zone, but you must also run across giant balls in Act 1, carry a flaming torch to light the way in Act 2 (including an annoying light puzzle that can easily cause you to time out if you don’t light the torches in the right order), and struggle with an underwater maze and some bizarre tilting mechanics in Act 3. Indeed, Episode I suffers greatly by its reliance on the original games, especially the first two, and its obnoxious use of Homing Attack chains; every Zone is simply a remix of those seen in Sonic 1 and 2, with a few things shuffled about and some sluggish, clunky physics thrown in to sour the experience. 

Episode II expands the gameplay to include tag-based mechanics and fun flying sections.

Episode II addresses many of the issues with Episode I, providing more unique gimmicks and reimagining of old gameplay mechanics along with new elements that can be both enjoyable and frustrating. The Spin Dash pads from Marble Garden Zone are back, for example, and there are now warning signs alerting you to bottomless pits; tilt mechanics are gone, replaced by platforms you can hit with the Homing Attack to make horizontal or springs, and there’s less reliance on Homing Attack chains and more emphasis placed on the Tag Actions. This is especially true in White Park Zone, where you’ll need to make ample use of the Submarine Combo to navigate the ice-cold waters, and Sky Fortress Zone, where you’ll have to expertly use both the Homing Attack and carefully-planned execution of the Copter Combo to cross gaps and avoid spiked ceilings. This Zone also sees the return of the Tornado in a very Sky Chase-inspired sequence; Sonic can now perform the Homing Attack from the Tornado’s wings and you can barrel through obstacles with X, though this’ll leave Tails dizzy for a few seconds. This was a fun autoscrolling section that focused more on avoiding Metal Sonic’s attacks and minions and trying to not get crushed by hazards but, like much of Episode II, it does go on for some time. Zones are much bigger with more varied paths, which is a good thing, and give you lots of options to use the Tag Combo or roll snowballs or take oil slides to different areas, but things can get quite aggravating due to their length and the eventual number of cheap instant deaths. Some Zones uses their gimmicks in interesting ways; Oil Desert Zone, for example, mixes together elements of Oil Ocean and Sandopolis Zone, including quicksand, rising sand you must outrun, and the aforementioned oil slicks but you’ll also lose traction on oily surfaces and these can even briefly be set alight! Sky Fortress Zone makes liberal use of propellers and wind to blow you about, rocket boosters to fry you, and chain-link fences littered with explosives for you to run across. White Park doesn’t just see you swimming through icy water, ploughing through snowdrifts, or snowboarding on avalanches but also includes a rollercoaster aesthetic, which sees you racing along at high speeds and springing to the foreground and background in a fun (if, at times, disorientating) mechanic, while Sylvania Castle Zone makes use of destructible ruins, water, springs, rotating platforms, and shortcuts across the water’s surface like in Hydrocity Zone. 

Graphics and Sound:
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 opts to ditch the classic sprite art (except, bizarrely, for loading screens and certain icons) and go for a sleek, plasticine aesthetic that seems to be trying to bridge the gap between the classics and the then-modern games but ultimately ends up being quite an unsightly, unnecessarily shiny, and cluttered mess of colours, especially in Episode I. Sonic takes far too long to get to top speed here and looks daft when he does; every movement feels like you’re underwater and the screen is zoomed in a little too close, making it difficult to see what’s ahead of you. Sonic has his usual idle poses and looks up cheerfully enough, but this is also slow and doesn’t even scroll the screen; the sound effect of his Spin Dash is also wrong, with the “release” sound used for the ”wind up” and vice versa, and all of the game’s story is told through the in-game manual and a couple of simple, pantomime-like cutscenes that are just ripped off from the first game. Although many of the same sound effects are recycled for the in-game action and menus, the soundtrack is actually pretty good; it’s stronger in Episode II, but even Episode I has some catchy tunes going on, especially the boss theme. Each Act also has slightly different gimmicks and colour palettes to mix things up, and there’s even a world map where you can freely choose which Zone and Act to play, though I disliked that the game automatically returns you to this screen after you clear an Act unless you press Y to play the next Act. 

Episode I can be quite cluttered and fundamentally cripples Sonic’s momentum.

Episode I is, however, an unsightly mishmash of conflicting effects and colours. There is a lot going on in the foregrounds and backgrounds, especially in Mad Gear Zone, which takes Metropolis Zone and ups the ante to eleven, with pistons and gears and steam vents and moving parts cluttering up the screen and making it difficult to see enemies, hazards, and even the way forward. It’s a shame as I quite like the redesign given to classic Zones like Green Hill and Labyrinth Zone, with a greater level of detail and lighting applied to make them pop and feel “busier” than before with the inclusion of waterfalls and crumbling effects. However, that doesn’t change the fact that it looks and feels like you’re playing with toys or plasticine; everything is unnecessarily busy and lacks the charm of traditional sprite art, meaning there’s no “weight” to anything. This isn’t helped by the dreadful physics; Sonic is constantly struggling against gravity, loses all momentum when hitting the ground after flying through the air, and can easily walk up slopes and loops without fear of falling. If you play fast and hard, you can avoid much of this, but Zones like Lost Labyrinth force you to slow down, and Casino Street Zone’s curved surfaces lose all their appeal when you can just trot up them without curling into a ball or using the Spin Dash. The Homing Attack is also finicky, stuttering when multiple targets are onscreen and sometimes causing you to drop to your death with it fails to lock-on. Finally, Episode I just feels like a cheap and thrown together knockoff; five Zones and one playable character, with no two-player options and very few new gameplay options, make it feel less like a continuation of the classics and more like a reimagining for the mobile generation (indeed, I argued at the time – and even now – that the game might’ve been better served being titled Sonic the Hedgehog HD). 

Episode II is visually far more interesting and unique, and handles far better.

Episode II is, technically, a vast improvement over its predecessor; the menu screens are more detailed and lively, the physics are far more polished (Sonic doesn’t always uncurl off a ramp and no longer feels floaty and heavy), and the soundtrack is even better, boasting catchy tunes and a remixed boss theme that kept me invested even at the game’s most frustrating sections. The world map has been cleverly expanded, Sonic’s running animation is far better, and the addition of Tails really adds to the gameplay. Unfortunately, Zones are still quite cluttered; White Park Zone, especially, can be very busy with all the foreground and background elements overlapping, but I enjoyed how they retained different times of day and the looming presence of the mechanised Little Planet or Metal Sonic in the background of many Acts. In fact, every Act has something interesting happening in the background; you can see the rollercoaster and theme park in the background of White Park Zone: Act 1, drilling platforms and machinery at work in the background of Oil Desert Zone, and holographic screens and foreboding machinery all over the gravity-skewing Death Egg mk. II Zone. Episode II incorporates far more cutscenes, with them being similar to those of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, but to the game’s detriment; you’ll have to sit through numerous unskippable scenes of Sonic and Tails being taunted by Metal Sonic or Dr. Eggman getting his newest mech ready to battle you, which can make replaying these sections after failing a real chore. However, I really liked the way Episode II presented far more unique Zones; yes, there are influences and borrowings from previous mechanics here, but it feels like some actual effort went into giving the new Zones distinct identities rather than being rip-offs of previous efforts, and the gameplay experience was far more enjoyable here, even if the difficulty has spiked somewhat as a payoff. Indeed, hazard and enemy placement and Zone construction seems to take a leaf out of Sonic CD’s playbook, with many high-speed paths running you head-first into danger and awkward platforms, though it’s nowhere near as slapdash as in Sonic CD and seems like a balanced marriage of all five of the classic 2D Sonic titles. 

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
If you’ve ever played a Sonic game before, you’ll know exactly what’s on offer here. In addition to the life-preserving (and granting) Golden Rings, you can break open monitors to earn an extra ten Rings, grab a bubble that will protect you from one hit, a temporary speed up, and a briefly period of invincibility, as well as the odd extra life monitor. Sadly, none of the elemental shields appear here, neither does Sonic’s insta-shield, and there are no new or returning additional power-ups with the exception of Episode II’s “Special Combination” item box. These are pretty rare (I only found two throughout my entire playthrough) but see Sonic and Tails bounce across the screen, racking up points and destroying all onscreen enemies as you tap A and being showered with Rings, not unlike the “Team Blast” function of Sonic Heroes (Sonic Team USA, 2003). Episode II’s Special Stages also include the new “Combination Dash” pickup, which tethers Sonic and Tails together to allow them to pickup more Rings, a clunky mechanic that relies on momentum as much as your current speed.  

Enemies and Bosses:
When playing Episode I, you may be equal parts excited and disappointed, depending on your nostalgia for the classics and desire for fresh Sonic content, by the enemy selection on offer. Every Badnik encountered is ripped straight from Sonic 1 and 2, with only the Batbot and Bubbles returning from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. This means you’ll be bopping Motobugs, smashing Buzzers, dodging spiked balls thrown by Orbinauts, and cursing with frustration when you run head-first into Shellcracker’s clawed fist or Slicer’s annoying bladed projectiles. Episode II continues this recycling of classic Badniks, primarily focusing on enemies encountered in the old Wing Fortress Zone, but also includes a bunch of brand-new Badniks for you to go up against. Some of these are intimidating in their size; Snowy the massive mechanical polar bear is almost akin to a mini boss as it takes a couple of hits to destroy while giant robotic Sandworms will burst from the sand in a surprise attack. Others, however, are more aggravating: Flamers can set fire to Oil Desert Zone’s oil slicks, the dung-beetle-like Scarabesque always seem to sap your Rings with their explosive balls, and the seal-like Steelions will be the bane of your life in White Park Zone’s waters as they flash-freeze the nearby area and cause you to drown. Each Badnik you destroy releases a furry woodland critter, with a whole bunch being freed after boss encounters, nets you some points, and can be used to cross gaps with your Homing Attack but don’t get too cocky as some will sprout spikes to ruin your chain and send you plummeting to your death. 

Episode I recycles classic bosses, adding new attack patterns and strategies to them to mix things up.

After clearing each Act of every Zone, you’ll have to do battle with Dr. Eggman (and/or, in Episode II, Metal Sonic). In Episode I, there are five boss encounters, with all of them being recycled battles from Sonic 1 and 2 but with a new coat of paint and an extra “pinch” mode after you deal enough damage. First up, you’ll once again battle Dr. Eggman in his classic (and overused) Egg Wrecker; as before, you need to attack Dr. Eggman’s craft while avoiding his massive wrecking ball, which is a lot easier now that you have the Homing Attack and a higher rebound after landing a hit, meaning it’s simple to put him down even when he spins around and tries to crush you with the ball. Casino Street Zone revisits the Egg Claw boss; again, you need to run up the pinball table-like arena or use the bouncers to attack Dr. Eggman, this time while avoiding a claw-like appendage and an electrical shield that will damage you on contact. In Lost Labyrinth, you’ll again have to chase after Dr. Eggman’s Eggmobile, avoiding spikes and drowning, until he locks you in an enclosed arena. Here, he summons a series of horizontal and vertical columns that will crush you if you’re not careful, forcing you to quickly hop up and target him as he hides in a safe corner for easily the most aggravating boss of the game. Finally, in Mad Gear Zone, Dr. Eggman busts out a new version of the Egg Bouncer; as in Sonic 2, you’ll need to watch out for the mini Dr. Eggman bubbles that detach from his craft, which become a deadly hazard in the second phase. In this section. The game takes a page out of the Sonic Advance 2 (Dimps/Sonic Team, 2002) bosses and forces you to run at Dr. Eggman, avoiding spiked balls and his erratic duplicates to land hits. As if that isn’t bad enough, you’ll have to battle all four bosses in their “pinch” phases again in the secret final Zone, E.G.G. Station, in a boss rush. Luckily, there are Rings and checkpoints between each bout, though they’ve also got added hazards thrown in, such as moving platforms in the Egg Wrecker section and additional projectiles in the Egg Bouncer section. 

Episode II‘s bosses are larger and more complex but long-winded and tedious at times.

Episode II is once again a double-edged sword when it comes to bosses; while they’re largely far more unique and offer more of a challenge, they’re long, tedious, and involve a lot of waiting around. Episode II takes inspiration from Sonic CD for its bosses, giving them complex attack patterns and more visually interesting and tricky pinch phases, which is either a good or a bad thing depending on how patient you are. In Episode II, you’ll battle Dr. Eggman twice; in Sylvania Castle Zone, he pilots the Egg Serpentleaf, a massive plant-like mech that tries to swat you with its many tentacles and shields him behind a spiked bud. You’ll need to use the Copter Combo to avoid being smacked and land a few hits on Dr. Eggman, which will eventually cause more tentacles to appear and the mad scientist to blast the arena with a massive cannon. You’ll next encounter him in Oil Desert Zone in an even more irritating boss battle; Dr. Eggman assembles a massive mech out of scrap metal and you must pursue him up a garbage disposal, dodging his buzzsaws and the crates he drops (which thankfully aren’t instant-kill hazards but can contain spikes or bombs) and smacking his cockpit when he appears. When you reach the surface, the Egg Scrap Mech rapidly jumps between the foreground and background before trying to crush you; you’ll need to hit its feet with the Rolling Combo to stun it and finish off this pain in the ass boss. The other two boss battles are against Metal Sonic; like Sonic CD and Sonic Advance 2, these are auto-runners and autoscrollers. In White Park Zone, you must race towards Metal Sonic and attack him, then dodge his charge attack (either by jumping or springing to the foreground or background) and hop over the electrical traps he lays for you. After a few hits, he’ll start destroying the rollercoaster track so you’ll have to take care not to fall when attacking him. In Sky Fortress Zone, Metal Sonic pesters you in his Metal Carrier and then battles you directly, blasting electrical bolts that you need to dodge to smack his cockpit. He’ll then face you head-on, firing energy beams that you need to avoid and then jettisoning booster rockets that can crush you if you’re not careful. This can be a very annoying boss battle if you fail as there’s a lot of downtime at the start and between phases; while you can easily amass 100 Rings for an extra life, it doesn’t help with the frustration that can build in this encounter. 

Sonic’s return to the Death Egg is either overly familiar or erratically tough, but always an uphill battle.

Once you’ve cleared every Zone and bested Dr. Eggman’s boss rush in Episode I, you’ll face a final confrontation with the mad scientist in a refurbished Death Egg Robot. This is easily the most tedious and frustrating boss battle of Episode I as the Death Egg Robot takes nearly thirty hits to destroy and the battle involves a lot of waiting around. To start with, it’s exactly the same as in Sonic 2 but easier thanks to you having Rings and the Homing Attack; simply stay away from the mech, attacking its torso and avoiding its rocket arms, until it starts to malfunction. In this phase, the Death Egg Robot cannot be directly attacked; you need to quickly dash under it as it hops about and then use the Homing Attack to blast one of its rocket arms back at it, avoiding the sporadic laser blasts as you go, to land a few precious hits. Once you’ve done this enough, Dr. Eggman will try one last attack, forcing you to quickly dodge out of the way and land the finishing blow before you’re dropped to your death. In Episode II, you’ll rush at Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic aboard the Death Egg mk. II; you need to get past the invulnerable Dr. Eggman and ram Metal Sonic a few times, avoiding the giant energy balls unleashed, before racing against your robotic doppelgänger like in Stardust Speedway, only this time with more doors to bash through. Finally, you’ll battle Dr. Eggman’s Egg Heart at the heart of the mechanised Little Planet; this battle is fought on constantly rotating mechanical rings that will burst with electricity, forcing you to quickly hop between them and ram Dr. Eggman’s cockpit. The more damage you do, the more erratic the rings move and the more dangerous the hazards become; Dr. Eggman even erects an energy shield that you’ll need to break with a Rolling Combo, making for a far more unique but equally frustrating final boss encounter. 

Additional Features:
There are twenty-four Achievements to earn in Sonic 4, twelve for each Episode, and they’re pretty basic, for the most part. You’ll get an Achievement for clearing the first Act of each game’s first Zone, one for clearing each game, one for completing first Act of each game’s first Zone in a strict time limit, and one for collecting first one and then all the Chaos Emeralds. In Episode I, you’ll get an Achievement for defeating 1000 enemies and accumulating 99 extra lives, while in Episode II you’ll add to your Gamer Score by playing as Tails fifty times and performing the Rolling Combo. Each Act in Episode II also hides a Red Star Ring; collect them all and finish the game for another Achievement, and upload your best scores in each Episode for another. I mentioned Chaos Emeralds just now and, as you’d expect, the seven gems are collectible in each Episode. You’ll earn them by beating Special Stages, which are accessed by finishing Act 1 to 3 with fifty Rings and entering a Big Ring, but the Special Stages vary drastically between each Episode. In Episode 1, they’re based on Sonic 1’s Special Stages, featuring a floating maze filled with Rings, bumpers, and exit pads; you need to collect Rings to lower barriers and reach the Chaos Emerald before the time runs out, collecting time bonuses and making use of the ‘Retry’ option in the pause menu if you’re sensing failure. As bad as Sonic 1’s Special Stages were, these are far worse; you rotate the maze here, not Sonic, which is extremely awkward and disorientating. Sonic can also jump but all this does is shake the screen in a nauseating way and, while you can replay the Special Stages from the world map, you can only retry those you’ve beaten and you must enter a Special Stage from a different Act to get a different Chaos Emerald. 

Conquer the aggravating Special Stages or take on a harder challenge in Episode Metal.

In Episode II, the Special Stages are redesigned and now influenced by the half-pipe stages from Sonic 2. Here, Sonic and Tails must collect a set number of Rings to progress, dodging bombs and electrical hazards and making use of the awkward tether mechanic in the final two Special Stages. While these are a lot more enjoyable and it’s much easier to retry if you’re struggling, they can get really annoying as the difficulty increases; you’ll need pixel-perfect timing and to make good use of the boost and momentum to snag all the Rings and the Chaos Emeralds here. In both Episodes, collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds allows you to transform into Super Sonic once you collect fifty Rings and double press A or B. this makes you super fast and completely invincible unless you’re crushed or drop down a pit, though it only lasts for as long as you hold Rings. Unlike Episode I, Episode II also features a multiplayer component; you and a friend can play the game in co-op like in Sonic 2, either locally or online, though this is strangely the only way you can play as Tails alone. Finally, completing Episode II unlocks Episode Metal, a side story in which you play as Metal Sonic and work your way backwards through remixed versions of Episode I’s Zones with all new cutscenes setting the stage for Metal Sonic’s return. Despite some new animations and sound effects, Metal Sonic is simply a reskin of Sonic and doesn’t have any new attacks; he also has to smash Badniks as well, which is a bit odd but I guess speaks to his superiority complex. There are no Achievements tied to Episode Metal, which is significantly harder then either Episode I or II; enemies, hazards, instant-death traps, and Act layouts have all be increased, altered, and made far more challenging, though there are sadly no bosses to contend with here, meaning this is more of a distraction for players who have mastered the base games. 

The Summary:
Honestly, calling any title Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was going to be asking for trouble; Sonic the Hedgehog HD or Sonic Returns or Sonic Redux would’ve been far more appropriate titles and would’ve tempered expectations for these sadly unfinished titles. It just baffles me how SEGA thought it was acceptable to go from the sprawling, multi-character epic that was Sonic 3 & Knuckles to this tame, cheap, stripped down bastardisation of the first two games. Playing Episode I alone is a joke; the game is functionally playable but visually a mess, with wonky physics, a lack of replay value, and too many recycled gimmicks and elements from Sonic 1 and 2. Thank God for Episode II, which fixes many of these issues; Sonic controls a lot better, the Zones are far more visually interesting and unique, and the bosses have more effort put into them. The team-based mechanics were fun; they could’ve easily been overused but they were enjoyable when you weren’t being asked to fly over bottomless pits, though I’m confused as to why there’s no option to play as Tails in the lead. The inclusion of Episode Metal was also a nice touch, though I think more could’ve been done with this. At least give Metal Sonic his electrical boost or some new gameplay mechanic, or have him face off against Sonic, rather than just being relegated to a hard mode add-on. Truthfully, I am sad we never got the planned Episode III as it’s possible that more unique elements would’ve been added in, including a playable Knuckles the Echidna and other more engaging elements, but sadly we’ll never know. As a complete package, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is widely inconsistent; in addressing errors from Episode I, the game just feels like a disjointed mess, even when it’s doing something new and enjoyable. It’s obvious the developers tried to address these issues in Episode II, providing a more challenging and versatile gameplay experience, but at the cost of upping the difficulty in some areas and making it equally as frustrating as Episode I but in different ways. Ultimately, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is a disappointment; it not only fails to live up to its title, but also fails to match the quality of Sonic’s Game Boy Advance titles. I can understand why SEGA distanced themselves from it (though not its hefty price tag), though luckily these mistakes were atoned for in the years to come with better, more enjoyable throwbacks to Sonic’s heyday being released. 

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Are you a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog 4? Which Episode did you prefer and what did you think to the presentation and stripped down mechanics? Were you disappointed by how much Episode I drew from the original games and the poor selection of Zones and modes? What did you think to the team up moves in Episode II and the return of Metal Sonic? Which of the game’s bosses and Zones was your favourite, and would you have liked to see an Episode III tie everything up? How are you celebrating Sonic’s anniversary this year, and what are some of your favourite Sonic games? Whatever you think, leave a comment below or on my social media and go check out my other Sonic content across the site!

Game Corner [Turtle Tuesday]: TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan (Xbox 360)

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The first issue of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) was published in May of 1984. Since then, the TMNT have gone on to achieve worldwide mainstream success thanks not only to their original comics run but also a number of influential cartoons, videogames, and wave-upon-wave of action figures. Even now, the TMNT continue to be an influential and popular commodity, proving that some fads don’t die out…they just get stronger!

Released: 24 May 2016
Developer: PlatinumGames
Also Available For: PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X

The Background:
Kids were mental for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back in the late-eighties and early-nineties. Though the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon (1987 to 1996) was a drastically toned down version of the original Mirage Comics, it was a veritable merchandise machine that saw the Heroes in a Half-Shell expand out to live-action movies of varying quality, further comic books, a fantastic line of action figures, and a whole host of videogames. At the time, Konami’s arcade efforts set the standard for TMNT videogames and, with few exceptions, most subsequent videogame adaptations would be brawlers of some variety. By 2016, the TMNT weren’t the dominating juggernaut that had been back in the day, but they were still very popular. A new, slightly darker cartoon ran between 2003 and 2009 before giving way to a much lighter, all-CG animated series from 2012 to 2017, and the franchise saw a resurgence in IDW’s popular comic book series. These comics became the primary inspiration behind PlatinumGames’ newest Ninja Turtles videogame. However, the developers also wanted to pay homage to the ever-changing nature of the franchise despite featuring an original story and sought to create an action-orientated, co-operative experience built on flashy moves and signature abilities. The result, however, was a mediocre brawler that failed to impress critics; reviews almost unanimously agreed that Mutants in Manhattan was a let-down that would prove to be a disappointment to even die-hard franchise fans, with very few redeeming qualities being highlighted in reviews.

The Plot:
When Oroku Saki/The Shredder and Krang once again join forces and swarm the streets with their mutant lieutenants and Foot Clan soldiers, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles leap into action. Aided by their ally, April O’Neil, they respond to various crimes and disturbances before confronting the Shredder in an epic showdown.

Gameplay:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan is a mission-based, quasi-open-world hack-and-slash brawler in which one to four players take control of the iconic TMNT and battle against some of their most memorable foes across nine different stages. The game offers four control schemes, though the default settings were perfectly fine for me: X and Y perform light and heavy attacks, respectively, using the TMNT’s signature weapons. You can string button inputs to pull off various combos, but as ever you’ll have to consider the range of your chosen character when fighting as Raphael favours close-quarters combat compared to, say, Donatello, who has a longer reach. A sees you jumping and pressing A in mid-air pulls off a double jump and holding it lets you glide on a shell-themed parachute, and B is used for actions, such as picking up or riding objects or mounting turrets. The Left Bumper puts you into an over the shoulder aim mode so you can toss unlimited shuriken with the Right Bumper and the Right Trigger is used for dodging and blocking; pressing RT at the right time will execute a back attack and counters, but mindlessly mashing it can leave you dizzy and vulnerable.

Utilise the TMNT’s diverse combat, gadgets, and abilities to stop incursions and safeguard the city.

You can switch to any character at any time by holding the Left Trigger and pressing a direction on the directional pad; when playing alone, you can use the ‘Back’ button to issue various commands to your AI-controlled partners, such as asking them to wait or to protect you, or communicate with other players using limited options. If you choose the “Go All Out” option, the AI will respond accordingly; while I spotted some instances where the AI got a little stuck, most of the time it was super aggressive, tackling enemies without hesitation and always running over to revive me when my health was drained. Sometimes, you’ll need to press B or mash A as a team to open large manholes or shutters to progress, and you’ll also make copious use of the TMNT’s ability to clamber up walls and grind on rails and wires to speedily reach your objectives. You can review these and get a layout of the environment at any time by pressing in the right stick to activate the Turtle Glass (T-Glass); this enables a digital overlay of the screen to pinpoint enemies and interactive objects, not unlike the Detective Vision from the Batman: Arkham games (Rocksteady Studios/Various, 2009 to 2016). The comparisons continue as, while in this mode, you can sneak up behind unsuspecting enemies and take them down with X or Y for a quick victory, and you’ll be in constant communication with April and the other TMNT to identify objectives, secrets, and incoming waves of enemies.

Each Turtle has a variety of special attacks and can be revived by scarfing down pizza.

As is often the case with a TMNT game, combat is at the heart of Mutants in Manhattan; while combos are simple and satisfying to pull off, each Turtle has their own “Ninjutsu” powers, activated by holding the Left Trigger and pressing one of the face buttons. You can customise, acquire, and upgrade each of these attacks using the Battle Points (BP) and loot you acquire from combat and gameplay and there are a range on offer, from tossing a larger shuriken to creating a healing circle, to teaming up with another Turtle for a shell shock attack or unleashing a powerful flurry. Each carries a different cooldown time that automatically refills to avoid you spamming them, but you can conceivably execute them and then quickly switch to another Turtle to keep the chain going. You can also pick up and throw or set off explosive barrels to take out large groups of enemies, lock on to an enemy with the right stick to focus your attacks, and take control of gun turrets to bring down helicopters and other airborne threats. Between stages, you can customise each Turtle’s moves but you can also return to the lair using one of the many manholes scattered around each location. This is also where you purchase health, power-ups, and items if you’re running low but these are so commonplace in normal play that I never had much need to stock up. Each Turtle also has their own life bar and can be revived with a press of B when required. If you fail to be revived, you’ll be dumped into the TMNT’s sewer lair and be forced to mash A to eat pizza and refill your health. Be warned, though, as the pizza can get very hot and if all four TMNT are defeated at the same time, the mission will end, and you’ll need to use a continue to jump in from your last checkpoint.

Various random and predetermined missions advance the plot and earn you rewards.

Each stage sees you embarking on various missions; depending on the stage, some of these might be randomised, but generally you’ll be fending off waves of different enemies in different situations. April may direct you to an enemy hideout, for example, or waves of enemies and reinforcements may appear on the map that need to be taken out in order to progress the story. Other times, you’ll need to protect something, like a pizza stand or a power generator, from enemy attacks, or you’ll need to disarm bombs or download data from terminals while fending off waves of enemies. When in the city, enemies may hijack cars that need to be stopped or rob banks; in these instances, you’ll need to roll bags of cash to a set point on the map or carry large gold bars to the same goal to complete the mission. Later, Krang’s Krangdroids launch an all-out assault on New York City and you’ll need to take them out, something made all the easier when you commandeer one of them for yourself! You’ll be travelling to different subway stations, taking out spherical lasers, riding the waves down in the sewers, avoiding sticky slime and lightning strikes, carrying Krang’s bombs to safe zones using beams of electrical energy, avoiding enemy scouts and helicopters (or taking them out entirely), bouncing from nets across the rooftops of the skyscraper distract, and surviving an assortment of enemies in enclosed arenas, all within a time limit that determines the rewards you receive. It can get a little annoying as the game is constantly interrupted by April banging on about the latest emergency, but it’s just varied and random enough to keep things from growing stale, the time limits are pretty generous, and the combat is fluid and deep enough to keep things enjoyable.

Graphics and Sound:  
Mutants in Manhattan opts for a cel-shaded style that mimics both the IDW comics and the original Mirage Comics at times. The TMNT look really good; I enjoyed their characterisations, banter, and animations, though I was a bit put off by the bizarre decision to give them noses. While they don’t have very interesting idle animations, their weapons come out as they run along and you can command them to strike a pose or start dancing, which is fun. Everything runs really smoothly and I had no instances of slowdown or major glitches; the controls are responsive and attacks hit with a meaty impact that is very satisfying. Even better, the game uses the in-game models, with some upscaling, for its cutscenes, which are fully animated and voiced, though the game opts for a sound-a-like rap/rock soundtrack rather than recreating the classic TMNT theme. The plot might not be the most original TMNT story in the world and there was some obvious assumptions on the player’s familiarity with TMNT lore, especially from the IDW comics, but I enjoyed it and like the characterisation of the TMNT. It also helped that April and Splinter appear in the cutscenes and throughout to offer advice and upgrade your gear, and that the bosses you encounter are large, detailed, and varied even if the regular goons aren’t much to shout about.

The cel-shaded style really works for the game and its appealing characterisations of the TMNT.

Equally, the game’s environments aren’t anything you haven’t seen in basically every other TMNT videogame; you’ll battle on the city streets and rooftops, traverse the somewhat maze-like sewers, and end up in the Shredder’s futuristic, neon-filled lair, but the presentation benefits from the cel-shaded visuals. Stages also mix things up by using different times of day, switching to different areas (you’ll be downtown in one mission and then up high on skyscrapers later on), and even depicting the city under attack and on fire from Krang’s assault! The sewers were surprisingly engaging; you’ll have to open shutters, dive down manholes, and avoid toxic gunk that turns you into a mindless zombie on contact. When battling Slash, the arena is in near total darkness, giving it a horror edge, though you can activate a light switch to see things better. You’ll also descend into the subway, where you’ll take out various colourful gangs and have to avoid speeding trains that can hit with devastating force. While opposing Karai and Wingnut, you’ll need to bounce and glide between skyscrapers, avoid lightning strikes, and ride wind currents to traverse the skyline, and even briefly battle enemies on top of a speeding subway train! For the most part, stages are just big enough where it’s fun to explore to find optional missions or collectibles but not so big as to be intimidating or outstay their welcome.

Enemies and Bosses:
Mutants in Manhattan doesn’t exactly deviate from the usual TMNT formula when it comes to its enemies. You’ll be pummelling the Foot Clan, punk-like Purple Dragons, robotic Mousers, and formidable Rock Soldiers throughout each level, with the enemies being so interchangeable that they’re rarely referred to be name and simply called “the enemy” whenever they spawn in. The Foot can appear in a puff of smoke and sometimes wield bags of explosives (which you can use to your advantage) or briefly tie you up using thrown bola-like chains; “elite” versions of the Foot are also present and are more proficient in swordplay, requiring better use of your blocking and dodging. Enemy helicopters and scouts often pop into the area and will increase the aggression of the enemies if you’re spotted; you’ll also have to watch out for Utroms in little UFOs that fire beams at you that mess up your controls or encase you in a bouncy bubble, amongst other negative effects (though these can also affect enemies, too). Mousers aren’t really a bother, though they will explode in your face if you don’t dispatch them first, meaning the game’s most formidable enemies are the Rock Soldiers. These guys absorb attacks like a sponge and their larger, hammer-wielding elites can be a serious headache thanks to constantly causing shockwaves with their attacks, and you’ll also battle nine iconic TMNT antagonists. As is often the case, the first two bosses you’ll come up against are Bebop and Rocksteady; in fact, Bebop has a random chance or appearing during Rocksteady’s boss battle and the two exhibit attacks and capabilities not unlike their arcade counterparts. Bebop, for example, is fought in a claustrophobic bank vault; he’ll hop about a bit, swipe at you with his chainsaw, and blast at you with a futuristic laser pistol.

After enduring four monstrous mutants, your skills will be tested by the agile Karai.

Rocksteady is fought in the subway so you’ll need to be just as mindful of any speeding trains as you are his sledgehammer attacks, grenade launcher, and the grenades both mutant monsters rain into the arena. Neither are much of a bother if you stay locked onto them, though, and make use of your Ninjutsu attacks and the dodge mechanics. Even when they team up, they’re not too tough and you can even make use of the trains to deal additional damage. The third boss is a bit more formidable; you’ll fight the rampaging Slash in a dark area of the sewers, avoiding his manic claw swipes, rolling attack, and charges. He’s definitely a bit more aggressive than the previous bosses and it can be difficult to see him if you don’t flick on the lights; he can also be joined by another boss, Armaggon, to increase the challenge on offer. After defusing her bombs and taking out her goons, you’ll battle Karai in the girders of a skyscraper. Unlike the other bosses fought in the game, Karai is swift and agile, easily leaping out of harm’s way, attacking with a sword dash, and sending you flying with a tornado spin. She’s also the only boss who sends her minions after you during the battle, meaning you have to employ a little more skill than with the other bosses. After that, you’ll face Armaggon in the submerged sewers; Armaggon pops out of the toxic goo surrounding a circular platform and attacks with frantic chomps of his ravenous jaws, an impressive cartwheel tail swipe, and even spits purple goo at you to leave you disorientated.

The endgame bosses prove a greater challenge and there are even secret, even tougher versions to face!

One of the most diverse bosses is Wingnut; this mutated bat initially attacks in a large UFO, from which he fires missiles and lasers, though you can make use of the handy-dandy nearby turrets to bring him down. Although he’s relieved of his fancy toy in the second phase, he’s by no means less dangerous; in fact, Wingnut was the toughest boss I’d faced up to that point and actually caused me to use a continue to best him. He hovers above you swiping with his talons and sending out a spread of lasers and a larger, far more devastating laser blast from the orbs that circle him. Wingnut covers a large portion of the arena with a big spin attack; though this leaves him dizzy, it can deal big damage to you and your allies, making him a surprisingly formidable opponent considering how comical he is. When you infiltrate the Techno Cosmic Research Institute (T.C.R.I.), you’ll have the joys of battling all of these bosses once again with hallways filled with power-ups, enemies, and security cameras placed between each bout, though nothing has changed from any of the fights except the environment and that Wingnut no longer attacks in his UFO. Once you beat them all again, you’ll reach the control room and battle Krang in his oddly-designed android body. Although Krang sports an intimidating arsenal, from homing missiles to explosive bolts and a massive laser attack, he’s very slow and can get temporarily stuck in the floor when he executes his melee attacks. The next stage sees you battling Mega Krang, however, and he’s absolutely nothing to sniff at. Here, you’re best off making use of the Krangdroids to fire lasers, missiles, and charged punches because this gigantic version of Krang can temporarily destroy the buildings you’re standing on, send huge orbs of energy at you, and fire missiles and lasers from his hands. He’s a massive target, though, and his attacks are easy to avoid and telegraph; he also briefly collapses after you deal enough damage, allowing you to pummel his big holographic, brain-like head, but he’s definitely the toughest boss in the game. After you defeat him, you’ll finally confront the Shredder on a rotating helipad platform high above the city. Like Karai, the Shredder is more agile and swift in his attacks; he slashes at you, delivers martial arts kicks, tosses out barbed traps, and even sends pieces of rock flying at you. He sports a charging dash, a tornado spin, and the longest health bar of any boss in the game, and there’s also an even tougher secret version of the Shredder you can battle as well!

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Every stage features a number of green and red orbs floating about the place; while you can just touch the green orbs to collect them, the red ones will need to be broken with your shuriken and each will offer a different item for you to use in battle. These range from a slice to a full pizza to restore your health, drinks to temporarily buff your speed, power, or defence, and more offensive weaponry such as fireworks, bombs, turrets, and freezing blocks. You can purchase more of these from the TMNT’s lair using the manhole covers and you’ll also gain them from defeating enemies, and they can be really useful against large groups of enemies and in boss battles. You’ll also earn BP that you can use to acquire new Ninjutsu abilities and upgrade them, alongside loot, when modifying your characters. You can also equip up to three Charms (depending on what difficulty you’re playing on) to each Turtle; these can also be upgraded (or dismantled for new loot) to be more effective and provide buffs such as inflicting poison on enemies, reducing cooldown times, earning you a discount on items, and increasing the drop rate of items. If you accomplish certain feats in battle, such as using takedowns or defeating certain numbers of enemies and such, you’ll also earn Emblems you can equip to each Turtle, though this doesn’t seem to serve a useful in-game function. Each Turtle also levels up from battle, which doesn’t increase their stats or anything but instead allows you to purchase new Ninjutsu moves to use, effectively functioning as a means to purchase new abilities from a skill tree, of sorts.

Additional Features:
There are fifty Achievements up for grabs in Mutants in Manhattan and, surprisingly, they actually require a bit of effort to earn. Rather than simply being awarded an Achievement for beating each boss, you’ll need to travel a certain distance, both on foot and on rails, detonate explosive barrels, take out security cameras and devices, and complete a set number of missions to earn your G. Achievements are also dished out for playing online, battling secret bosses, and being in specific situations during the snapshots that play whenever a boss is defeated. It’s advised to play alongside friends in order to better sync up your chances of earning some of these Achievements, and a fair few of them depend on luck and replaying stages over and over to spawn in specific missions. There are three difficulty settings to choose from, with a fourth being unlockable, and numerous collectibles to find, including comic book covers and movies but, sadly, no additional characters or skins to unlock (you’ll need to have been lucky enough to get the downloadable content to access those).

The Summary:
I was actually presently surprised by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan. I’d heard that it was a bit of a disappointment, so I wasn’t exactly expecting too much from it, but it turned out to be a pretty good brawler. At first, I was worried it was going to be too open-world, and then I was a bit frustrated by the mission-based structure of it, but it quickly became an enjoyable romp with just enough depth to be interesting but not too much stuff happening that it becomes confusing and full of grinding and micromanagement. The TMNT were fun to play as and brought to life really well; the AI system was ridiculously competent (almost too competent in some instances, especially when I was trying for Achievements) and the stages are just the right length and have just enough variety to not get boring. Things are very linear but there’s a degree of randomness to certain events; exploration is limited but usually rewarding; and it’s fun to experiment with different Ninjutsu combinations and Charm effects. The highlight of the game for me were the boss battles; large, intimidating, challenging, and recognisable TMNT villains act as the focal point of each stage and they were really enjoyable to battle against, with each one being just different enough to not be boring or aggravating, and I honestly didn’t even really mind the forced boss rush in the endgame since they were so much fun to fight. I imagine the game is even more fun to play with a friend and this was the closest I’ve seen a 3D TMNT videogame come to emulating the pick-up-and-play arcade-style action of the games I enjoyed so much as a kid. It’s not perfect by any means and is maybe a little too short and too lacking in content, but it’s certainly more appealing than some TMNT videogames and I definitely wouldn’t say no to jumping back in and trying to grind out some more of those Achievements.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Have you ever played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan? What did you think to the combat and abilities of the TMNT? Which of the bosses was your favourite to battle and what did you think to the forced boss rush? Did you struggle with any of the missions on offer? What did you think to the BP and Ninjutsu system? Did you ever experience all the secret bosses and earn all of the Achievements? How did you celebrate the TMNT’s debut this month? Whatever your thoughts on Mutants in Manhattan, leave a comment down below or on my social media and check out my other TMNT content across the site.

Game Corner [Turtle Tuesday]: TMNT (Xbox 360)

Dr. K2 Comments

The first issue of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) was published in May of 1984. Since then, the TMNT have gone on to achieve worldwide mainstream success thanks not only to their original comics run but also a number of influential cartoons, videogames, and wave-upon-wave of action figures. Even now, the TMNT continue to be an influential and popular commodity, proving that some fads don’t die out…they just get stronger!

Released: 20 March 2007
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Also Available For: GameCube, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable (PSP)

The Background:
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (known as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles here in the United Kingdom) dominated playgrounds during my youth thanks to the super popular cartoon and toys, but the impact of their videogames cannot be understated. Konami’s original arcade title was one of the defining titles of the beat-‘em-up genre, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) title all-but defined what it meant to be “NES Hard”, and the Heroes in a Half-Shell saw success in a variety of genres. Although the critical and commercial mauling of their much-lambasted third live-action venture meant it took the better part of fifteen years for them to return to cinema screens, new TMNT videogames, cartoons, and toys continued to be produced. With TMNT (Munroe, 2007) set to be the franchise’s big return to cinema, one that would encompass different aspects of the franchise, it was only natural that it was accompanied by a videogame adaptation; this was the style of the time, after all. At this point, the licensing rights were owned by Ubisoft and the developers sought to take the family-orientated nature of the TMNT and translate it into a brawler for unique gameplay mechanics. Unfortunately, TMNT was met with mixed reviews that criticised its simplicity, repetitive combat, and lack of content. Direct comparisons were made to the arcade games of yesteryear and the reviews felt as though TMNT failed to measure up to these standards as, despite capturing the visual style of the movie, the focus on platforming and mind-numbing gameplay failed to excite compared to what had come before.

The Plot:
Following the defeat of Oroku Saki/The Shredder, the TMNT have drifted apart; leader Leonardo is off training in Central America and hot-headed Raphael is secretly busting heads as a masked vigilante known as the Nightwatcher. However, the brothers come together again when mythical creatures rampage through New York City as part of an ancient ritual.

Gameplay:
TMNT falls into the rare and frankly bonkers category of being a TMNT videogame that is focused solely on a single player experience, despite the fact that many levels see you not only switching between the four brothers but also pulling off team-up attacks! Instead, the game is framed as the TMNT reminiscing about their newest big-screen adventure alongside their master and father-figure, Splinter. The player controls each of the Turtles individually, and eventually gets access to all four of them, across sixteen story-based levels heavily inspired by locations and events from the movie and focused heavily on combat and, surprisingly, a great deal of platforming. The player can jump with A (executing a double jump if A is pressed again in mid-air), use Y to knock enemies flying with a spin attack (or hold the button for a flurry of attacks), strike hard and fast with their signature weapons by pressing B (holding it for an overpowered dash attack that sees you automatically zip towards any nearby enemies or mashing the button to string together basic combos), and switch characters, when available, with X. The player can also use the shoulder buttons to dodge and block when in combat, though I had no need for this for the most part, and holding one of these shoulder triggers in conjunction with X pulls off co-operative attacks, such as tossing your Turtle across large gaps or at enemies.

While the TMNT have their own signature styles, repetitive combat and platforming runs rampant.

As you’d expect from a TMNT videogame, the four mutants all look and play very similar and are separated by their slightly different voices and quirky personalities and their signature weapons. The very nature of these weapons means that characters like Leonardo and Donatello have greater reach than Raphael and Michelangelo and, for the most part, TMNT doesn’t get more complicated than categorising Leo as the “balanced” character and having Mikey focus more on executing a flurry of melee attacks. However, they do have distinctive special abilities that can be pulled off by holding the Right Bumper and pressing X or B: Leo can phase through bars, Don can “bo vault” across large gaps, Mikey spins his nunchakus like helicopter blades to float for a short period of time, and Raph can climb certain walls (as indicated by glowing red rectangles and dialogue prompts) with his sais. The player will also get to control Raph’s armoured alter ego, the Nightwatcher, at various points. Although he plays very similar to Raph and the others, he builds up an additional “Rage Meter” that, when full, allows him to pull off an area blast with RB and B or gives him a power boost when only partially full. Success in combat awards you stars and builds your “Family Bond Meter”, allowing you to pull off the aforementioned team attacks and a screen-clearing “Mega Attack”, and you can execute a ground punch to get some breathing room by pressing B in mid-air. You also have a decent variety of traversal options in the game’s platforming sections. The TMNT can grab ledges to shimmy across gaps or simply run along walls for a short period. They can also scale vertical walls using handholds, swing from poles, and, if you stand completely still, your Turtle will meditate and slowly regain health (though the Nightwatcher seems exempt from this).

The game offers little challenge or variety, featuring simple platforming and button mashing.

There’s no real incentive to do this, however, as you’re not only penalised with a lower grade if you take too long to complete stages but you can simply mash the A button when your health is drained to return to the fight, with no danger of failure at any time. Each stage is incredibly linear and filled with checkpoints, allowing you to easily respawn if you miss a jump or plunge to your doom, and you can simply mash A if you get stuck in toxic waste. Stages demand very little from you other than to follow a set path, hopping across rooftops, fences, and from platform to platform in a shameless aping of Frogger (Konami, 1981) as you traverse the game’s limited and repetitive environments. Occasionally, you’ll encounter various hurdles to break up the monotony: the Foot Clan will have placed trip wires that activate arrow hazards, the game switches to a 2.5D perspective a few times as you scale the outside of buildings, you’ll hop to temporary or moving platforms, and at one point have to quickly scale a shaft, battling with the stubborn camera, to avoid regular laser blasts. A couple of other times, you’ll have to race towards the camera Crash Bandicoot-style (Naughty Dog, 1996) as the environment crumbles around you, avoid bursts of flame, electrified hazards, and laser traps, run through a super simplistic hedge maze, and cross the New York skyline using parade balloons but it all gets very samey very quickly. Combat is much of the same; each combat encounter takes place in a pre-set area, meaning a variety of goons come at you at specific points and you’re forced to fend them off to progress. I had very little use for the block or dodge mechanics and found it much easier to simply knock the enemies away, charge up an attack, and then pummel them with simple weapon combos in order to move on as quickly as possible.

Graphics and Sound:  
Graphically, TMNT is a bit of a mixed bag; the four Turtles look really good, emulating their big-screen counterparts and even their voice actors reprise their roles. Depending on the story chapter you’re playing, the TMNT will slightly change up their looks; Leo sports a cloak when in the jungle, for example, and Mikey’s first stage sees him garbed in his “Cowabunga Carl” costume, though there are no options to unlock these as permanent skins. As you play, the TMNT will offer the usual commentary praising your fighting skills but also chime in to advance the story with the benefit of hindsight. Unfortunately, the music is incredibly generic and, like the movie, opts for more of a sound-a-like than anything resembling the classic TMNT theme song. The goons you fight aren’t very visually interesting either, and the game’s cutscenes have a serious case of identity crisis. For the most part, the story progresses using barely-animated comic book panels that are visually inconsistent with the source material. In-game cutscenes are few and far between, with only a handful occurring near the end of the game, and, most surprisingly of all, TMNT features very little film footage, and what is there is grainy and oddly placed.

The game’s visuals are all over the place, though the Nightwatcher’s noir-style stages stand out.

Most disappointing of all is the level variety. New York City has never looked more blocky and deserted in a TMNT videogame; you’ll constantly be running and jumping across rooftops and alleyways that all look and feel very similar, despite the time of day changing or tossing in parts of Chinatown and recognisable landmarks in the background. When you’re not on the streets or rooftops, you’re in the sewers, hopping to platforms or running along the tunnel walls, or in Max Winters’ high-tech building riding elevators and avoiding lasers. There is a part where you enter a Chinese-style temple full of lily pads and ornate decorations, which was kind of interesting, and you’ll have to traverse water wheels and a steel mill full of molten lava in order to progress, too. Generally, the game runs okay but I did experience odd periods of slowdown and it’s all very bland and by-the-numbers and feels very padded out, but things do get visually interesting when playing as the Nightwatcher. Not only is Raph’s vigilante persona chunkier and a little different to control but his levels all take place in a black and white filter that emulates the original Mirage Comics and helps to break up the visual repetition of the game. There’s also a point where Leo confronts the Nightwatcher and chases him across the city; when Leo is ambushed, the player switches to controlling an unmasked Nightwatcher and backtracking to help their brother, which did mix things up but these cutscenes were let down by the rigidity of the in-game models and the reliance of pop-in character portraits rather than mouth animations.

Enemies and Bosses:
There are a few different factions of enemies that will oppose you throughout TMNT, none of them being all that interesting conceptually, visually, or as enemies. In the jungles, you’ll encounter machete- and gun-wielding mercenaries; street punks come at you with blunt weapons and bravado; and you’ll occasionally encounter more tech-orientated goons in the sewer who jab at you with electrified sticks. Naturally, you’ll also battle the Foot Clan on more than one occasion; these black-clad ninjas attack with swords and arrows but aren’t much of a threat, despite their numbers. Other enemies may toss projectiles, such as acid beakers, and you’ll generally face far more goons as the Nightwatcher in order to build up his rage meter faster, but there aren’t any of the classic TMNT enemies to find here, like Mousers or the Stone Warriors, most likely because they didn’t feature in the movie and the developers were hyper-focused on bombarding you with 3D platforming sections.

Of the thirteen ancient monsters, you’ll only fight four and they’ll flee before you can finish them off!

Considering the source material revolves around thirteen mythical beasts rampaging through New York City, you’d think that TMNT would include a decent variety of boss battles but, sadly, you’d be mistaken. You’ll encounter seven bosses throughout the game; four of those are fought on two separate occasions, which is already pretty cheap, but you also won’t even defeat a boss until your reach the boss gauntlet at the end of the game. The first boss you encounter is General Gato, who hops around a circular arena tossing spines at you, lunging at you with blade swipes, or charging up a spray of projectiles in the middle of the arena. Simply dodge and jump over his projectiles and deliver a beatdown when he comes close and you’ll soon have him on the run. Next, you encounter the Yeti crashing his way through buildings before settling in a construction site. This ape-like brute throws slow, powerful haymakers, delivers a ground slam, and goes absolutely mental after you drain enough of his health but, again, flees before you can deliver a decisive blow. General Mono is easily the worst of the bosses; this hulking brute wields a massive hammer that he constantly smashes to the ground to create shockwaves; he also leaps into the air to come crashing down on you and is easily able to tank your combos. The fourth mystical creature you battle is Serpientei, easily the most agile and versatile of the group thanks to her ability to teleport, spit acid, race at you with a dashing strike, and unleash a charged strike. Halfway through the fight, Serpientei spews acid on Raph and the other TMNT will arrive to help, allowing you to make full use of your Mega Attacks to finish her off.

Besting Shredder and the final boss is much easier with your team-up attacks.

All four of these bosses reappear in a boss rush at the end of the game and are fought one after the other, with checkpoints and a barrage of lightning to avoid between each one. This time, you fight them in a circular arena that, if you fall out of, will see you instantly fail and have to retry from the last checkpoint, something which is incredibly frustrating when battling General Mono again. Of the four bosses, this guy easily poses the biggest problem as he absorbs your attacks like a sponge and unleashes a massive explosive hammer slam that will instantly KO you off the arena unless you interrupt his attack by tossing a Turtle at him. Despite only briefly appearing in the movie, you’ll also battle the TMNT’s archenemy, the Shredder, courtesy of a flashback; much like Shredder battles from the TMNT’s arcade games, Saki summons duplicates of himself and tosses kunai, but he’s not a very intimidating foe and is easily dispatched without much trouble. Finally, after defeating the Shredder and dealing with the four mystical creatures once again, you’ll battle General Augila, who immediately reduces the size of the boss arena and proves invulnerable to conventional attack. General Augila will attack with a spread of laser beams, tossing out multiple arrows, raining fireballs, and firing energy waves at you while spinning his sword; he also constantly floats around the arena between attacks, making him a difficult target, and can restore his health. However, you’ll notice that each of his attacks is colour-coded and this is your key to victory; simply switch to the appropriate Turtle and unleash your Mega Attack to damage him and he goes down without much fuss (certainly easier for me than the second battle with General Mono!)

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Strangely, unlike pretty much every single TMNT videogame, there aren’t any power-ups or pick-ups in TMNT. As the Turtles restore their health through meditation and there is no life system, you won’t be picking up pizzas or extra lives and there are no temporary power-ups to find; you simply need to pummel enemies to build your meters and that’s it. There are no fire hydrants to attack, no additional weapons to pick up, no explosive barrels, or anything like that, making it a bit of a step back compared to its arcade predecessors.

Additional Features:
There are twenty-three Achievements to grab here, and you should have no trouble earning all of them in no time at all. Sixteen of them are awarded simply for completing each of the game’s stages; you’ll get another four for using each of the TMNT’s special moves, one for finishing a level without taking damage, one for doing a co-op attack, and one for collecting your first Gold Coin. There are no difficulty settings here so you don’t have to worry about finishing the game on harder modes and, while you do get a rank at the end of every stage, there are no Achievements tied to getting any of these, making these Achievements a breeze to get. Every level contains a number of Silver Coins; collecting these adds to your rank and allows you to purchase “goodies” from the main menu. Sadly, rather than these unlocking new skins or characters (April O’Neil and Casey Jones are nowhere to be found here), you simply unlock big head mode and daft weapons and sound effects. Clearing a level allows you to replay it and grab a Gold Coin for more points and that Achievement and also unlocks a virtual reality Challenge Map, where you must complete a wireframe obstacle course in a time limit (though, again, there’s nothing to gain from this).

The Summary:
I have a certain expectation when it comes to TMNT videogames; it’s not exactly a high standard or anything, I just expect them to be fun, colourful, arcade-style brawlers and not much else. In this respect, I was fully expecting to still enjoy TMNT despite it having the stigma of being a videogame adaptation, but this game really misses the mark. As much as I enjoy the movie it’s based on, I can’t say the same for the game, which pads out its playtime with an overabundance of visually boring platforming sections and repetitive combat. It’s not long before you’ve seen everything TMNT has to offer and the level of challenge here is so low that you’ll quickly become bored by it all. There’s no skill to the game, no new moves or power-ups to earn, and you can’t even play it with a friend, which has to be some kind of cardinal sin for a TMNT videogame at this point. Bland environments and a stubborn unwillingness to expand or deviate from the source material clashes with a disjointed visual style and a lack of content from the movie, making the whole experience very basic and slapped together. The game controls well and, at times, does look pretty good, but the lack of options, disappointing bosses, frustrating camera and finicky controls, and mediocre challenge on offer make it only really worth playing to bump up your gamer score. If you can find it cheap, I’d say it’s worth snapping up for this reason alone and to make you appreciate the TMNT’s 2D adventures all the more, but the lack of playable characters and lacklustre Achievements and gameplay modes mean this game is easily forgettable and little more than a barebones brawler/platformer designed to cash-in on a popular franchise.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Have you ever played TMNT? If so, what did you think to it, especially compared to other TMNT videogames? What did you think to the presentation of the game and its focus on 3D platforming and repetitive combat? Which of the TMNT was your favourite to play as? Were you also disappointed by the lack of content and challenge on offer here? Which of the bosses was the most frustrating for you? Did you ever clear all the Challenge Maps? What are some of your most, or least, favourite videogame adaptations and how are you celebrating the TMNT’s debut this month? Whatever your thoughts on the TMNT, leave a comment down below.

Game Corner [F4iday]: Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Xbox 360)

Dr. K2 Comments

In November 1961, Marvel Comics readers witnessed four intrepid explorers be forever changed by mysterious cosmic rays. Marvel’s “First Family” of superheroes were the first of many colourful superheroes for Marvel Comics and are more than deserving of some attention today.

Released: 15 June 2007
Developer: Visual Concepts
Also Available For: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3

The Background:
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s family of dysfunctional superheroes finally made it to the big screen in 2005 after a chaotic journey; their 1994 movie was never released, but Fantastic 4 (Story, 2005) was a modest box office success despite mixed reviews and earned itself a sequel in 2007. Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (ibid, 2007) was also a somewhat lacklustre critical and commercial release that led to a disastrous reboot some eight years later, but it did result in another rare standalone Fantastic Four videogame being released. This was, of course, at the peak of the time when every single cinema release was accompanied by a hastily created videogame tie-in, but the Fantastic Four have had a couple of videogame adaptations in the past, the first being an obscure and obtuse text-and-image based adventure and the second being a universally derided brawler. While the Fantastic 4 videogame tie-in was published by Activision and received slightly-above-average reviews, Rise of the Silver Surfer was published by 2K Games, with this version being developed by Visual Concepts, a studio more known for their sports tie-ins, and its marketing was built around the four-player co-op, destructible environments, and “Fusion Attack System”. Sadly, the best this adaptation could hope for was mixed reviews, if that; the game was widely regarded as being another disappointingly cheap, repetitive, tie-in that failed to offer anything engaging or unique for gamers to get to grips with.

The Plot:
World-renowned superheroes and scientists the Fantastic Four find their lives interrupted when an extraterrestrial dubbed the “Silver Surfer” causes havoc with their powers and revives their old nemesis, Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom, all while preparing the world for consumption by a cosmic being known only as “Galactus”.

Gameplay:
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer is a third-person, team-based brawler in which players pick from each member of the titular team (Doctor Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Doctor Susan Storm/The Invisible Girl, Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, and Ben Grimm/The Thing) and battle through six distinct levels ripped both from the movie the game is based on and the original source material. The game supports up to four players in simultaneous co-operative play, and players can jump in at any time to assume control a character, but a single player is more than capable of playing through the game without any difficulties thanks to a relatively competent partner A.I. and the ability to switch between the characters using the directional pad. While each character has their own superpowers that give them slightly different playstyles, they share the same basic control commands: A and X allow pull off weak and strong attacks, respectively, and you can string these button inputs together to perform simple combo attacks, Y allows you to jump (and you can do jumping attacks, naturally), while B unleashes an “area attack” or is used to grab and use objects. The Left Bumper allows you to block incoming attacks, while the Right Bumper lets you change your team’s tactics; tapping it will cycle through commands like aggressive and defensive and holding it will see your teammates form up on your current position.

Each member of the team has different attacks and special moves according to their powers.

Not only does each character have different attack animations (with the Thing favouring slow, strong punches and the Invisible Girl pulling off roundhouse kicks and spinning attacks, for example), they also have their own unique superpowers that slightly change how they play and affords them different capabilities in combat or puzzle solving. You can perform these by holding the Right Trigger and pressing A, B, X, or Y but doing so will drain your “Cosmic Meter” and you’ll need to either give this a few seconds to refill or collect “Cosmic Orbs” from downed enemies or smashed crates. Reed Richards is elastic, giving him decent reach by default but this also allows him to perform a “Periscope Punch” to hit switches or control boxes that are high up on walls or ceilings, slip through laser traps with his stretchy evade, slingshot enemies across the arena, or toss a grenade to send enemies flying. Sue can fade from sight, allowing her to temporarily slip past enemies and security cameras undetected, but she can also (oddly) use “telekinesis” to move and hurl enemies and certain objects, toss energy discs for a ranged attack, erect a shield that protects her and anyone in it, and can redirect light beams to melt crystals and solve puzzles. Johnny is the Human Torch, so naturally he bursts into flame whenever he uses his powers; this allows him to fly over energy barriers (effectively making him the only character with a double jump), toss fireballs, scorch enemies with a flamethrower attack, and protect himself with a wall of flame. The Thing just loves to fight, so he gets a super useful ground pound (seriously, I spammed this move over and over), a powerful shoulder charge, can cover himself in a temporary protective aura, and can pick up objects the others can’t (like cars and lampposts) and swing or hurl them at enemies. There are times when a specific character’s ability is required to progress, such as using the Thing to smash through boulders or Mr. Fantastic to deactivate switches, and these are marked by a silver 4 symbol and you’ll often find yourself needing to switch between a few different characters to lower barriers and open doors so you can progress.

Combine the Four’s powers or use their unique abilities to get past barriers and other obstacles.

All these super powers, in addition to some other basic, overall stats, can be upgraded at the cost of the coins dropped by enemies or found when smashing the environment, and the Fantastic Four can also combine attacks by holding down the Left Trigger and pressing the corresponding face button when close by to pull off a super-powerful, super draining “Fusion Attack” that allows for fun combinations of their abilities, like filling up Sue’s forcefield with fire to effectively create a bomb and tossing Reed’s rubbery body at enemies. While you’ll need to collect health orbs to restore your health, characters will only be temporarily knocked out if their health is completely drained; you can’t revive them, but they’ll recover after a few seconds and re-join the fight, but it is easy to get overwhelmed and see some, or all, of your team mates knocked out, leaving you frantically running around avoiding damage until they spawn back in. The game is pretty generous with its checkpoints, but that’s probably because its levels are soooo long; levels stretch on forever and consist of multiple areas, separated by lifts and doors and barriers or other obstacles you either have to activate, ride, or break through with the Fantastic Four’s powers. It’s not long before you’ve seen most of what the game has to offer, however; cave-ins need clearing with the Thing, barriers need flying over or passing through with the Human Torch and the Invisible Girl, respectively, and laser traps need stretching through with Mr. Fantastic. Often, you’ll need to activate consoles to lower lifts or open doors, or smash control boxes to disable turrets; sometimes, you’ll need to power up generators using Johnny’s fireballs, use Sue’s telekinesis to bring floating transports closer, or avoid getting too trigger happy and risk taking damage from explosive barrels.

Occasionally, you’ll need to use a solo hero to progress past obstacles or chase down the Silver Surfer.

Easily the most frustrating puzzles are found in the Himalayas, where you’ll need to smack around spherical rocks or move weird crystals to redirect light and open new ways to progress. It can be tricky figuring out which crystals to move and to where, and you’ll often have to use Sue’s shield to bounce light beams to crystals, all to ring bells so you can move on to the next area. Occasionally, you’ll control a character for a solo mission; Reed must use his evade to get through laser traps on a Russian space station, taking out turrets and enemies as he goes, while Ben gets locked into a fighting arena for a brief period. Johnny gets the majority of these sections, however, as he’s tasked with flying down rock tunnels, through the city streets and underground, blasting enemies or pursuing the Silver Surfer. These can be quite fun as you boost along with A and toss fireballs with X, dodging traffic and other hazards, but both of these abilities are tied to your Cosmic Meter, which can severely hamper you, though it’s not exactly difficult to keep up with the Surfer and pass the mission successfully. By far the worst section of all of these, and the entire game, was guiding Sue through a heavily guarded military base. This means using your invisibility to slip past security cameras and trigger-happy robots, while also destroying turrets and awkwardly using her telekinesis to smash control panels to lower barriers. There are no checkpoints in this poor attempt at a stealth section so it can be extremely frustrating to slip past the robots and turrets (which absolutely barrage you with laser fire if they spot you) and finally reach the control panel, only to fail right before the exit because you were surprised by another robot or ran out of juice for your superpowers.

Graphics and Sound:
To be fair, the in-game graphics of Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer aren’t all that bad. Bland as all hell, for sure, but not that bad. Each character is modelled pretty closely to their live-action counterparts and feels very different to control, with the Thing being slower and heavier and the Human Torch being slipperier and more agile. When left idle, they’ll offer commentary and, honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by their banter and voice work; so often these tie-in games feature stilted, phoned-in performances, but there’s actually a lot of fun and fitting dialogue here that’s sometimes more interesting than what we saw in the movies. Sadly, this praise doesn’t extend to the pre-rendered cutscenes, which are a plasticy, ugly mess that continues this generation’s tendency to render characters as though they were action figures. The music is equally not much to shout about, being comprised of generic tunes and samples from the film’s soundtrack. The game also has very little to do with the move it’s based on; the Silver Surfer barely shows up, Galactus is mentioned but never seen, and the focus is more on enemies from the group’s comic books and Dr. Doom.

While the dialogue is okay and character models work well, environments can be a bit bland.

On the one hand, this means we get to explore far more diverse locations than we ever saw in the live-action movies; you’ll venture into a lava-filled cavern where the shapeshifting Skrulls have taken root and onto a very dark, steampunk-like Russian space station to battle against Doctor Ivan Kragoff/The Red Ghost and his genetically enhanced Super-Apes. The game does recreate some locations from the movie as well, however, specifically Sue and Reed’s rooftop wedding venue, the streets of New York City, and the military base where the Silver Surfer is held captive (although it’s vastly different from the film version, featuring electrical barriers and robotic sentries). The game also takes the team to the crystal caves and misty clifftops of the Himalayas where they have to fight off rock monsters and to the streets of Shanghai for a final showdown with Dr. Doom, and every environment features a lot of destructible elements for you to smash your way through. Unfortunately, they’re also painfully linear, so much so that the game doesn’t even provide you with a mini map or radar; despite this, it can be easy to get a little turned around as some locations are so dark and similar that it’s easy to get lost and the game gives you no indication when you’re heading in the wrong direction or where you need to go if you miss that an elevator lowered just offscreen or a door opened one screen back. Compounding matters is just how long levels are; they just go on and on, making each section a chore to play through and really stunting your motivation to tackle the game’s harder “Fantastic” mode.

Enemies and Bosses:
The Fantastic Four will wade through a number of nameless, faceless, disposable grunts as they race to track down the Silver Surfer. However, while the enemies you face in each location are visually distinct, they share many traits that quickly make them very dull and predictable, no matter how fantastical or faithful they are to the source material. You’ll fight off Skrulls, weird silvery alien…things, chicken-like robots and hovering drones, Doombots, rock monsters, and Super-Apes, many of whom can block your attacks, attack up close or from afar with pistols or missiles, or who come in larger variants that can tank your attacks. Many enemies can be picked up and thrown, and you’ll often get to hurl them off bridges or cliff edges to their immediate death, so I recommend doing this whenever possible to help with crowd control. The larger Skrull variant swings a large pillar at you while a gaggle of annoying, regular Skrulls swarm around you, but it can be useful to pummel him with Johnny’s fireballs from a safe distance. Larger rock monsters also dog your progress in the crystal caves, but the Thing is more than capable of smashing them and their smaller cousins to pieces, especially if you’ve upgraded his ground pound attack. You’ll first encounter the massively annoying turrets when on the Red Ghost’s space station; these can be destroyed with your attacks if you can get close to them, but it’s generally easier, faster, and safer to disable them by activating or destroying a nearby control box. Finally, heavily armed robots and Doombots await you in the military base and the streets of Shanghai; these are much tougher than other enemies and sport cheap long-ranged attacks, so it’s advisable to have upgraded some of your stats and abilities to help even the playing field.

Until you face Cosmic Doom, most bosses follow a simple rinse-and-repeat strategy.

When you eventually make it to the end of each location, you’ll generally have to face off with a boss. The first is Kl’rt/The Super-Skrull who sports the Fantastic Four’s powers, allowing him to perform a ground pound like the Thing and disappear from the battlefield like the Invisible Girl. Protected by an endless swam of regular Skrulls, the only way to damage the Super-Skrull is by throwing enemies or your projectiles into the huge spherical shield generator in the centre of the room; once it’s overloaded, the Super-Skrull will be stunned and be left open to your attacks, and you’ll need to repeat this tactic over and over, tediously waiting for him to reappear while fending off the endless enemies. After fighting through the strangely deserted streets of New York City, you’ll come across a large, spiked alien craft that sucks up cars and launches them at you while sending you flying with its annoying laser beam. You can throw cars back at it, and your other projectiles, to damage it, but it’s easy to get stun-locked into an annoying cycle from its projectiles. You won’t actually fight the Red Ghost, however; instead, you simply pursue him down a hallway, fending off his Super-Apes and turrets, making for a decidedly anticlimactic ending to a largely frustrating level. Similarly, you won’t battle the Silver Surfer; instead, you fight off his minions and chase after him as Johnny, first through a subway tunnel and then through an underpass, avoiding trains, traffic, and low-hanging signs and his energy-draining trail. You will, however, battle another of Galactus’s heralds, Terrax the Tamer, in the Himalayas; this massive rock-like being tosses his huge axe across the arena, which is really difficult to avoid and can leave you knocked on your ass for some time. Even worse is the fact that you have to contend with a never-ending gaggle of rock monsters and complete those annoying light puzzles to stun him so you can damage him, making this easily the most annoying and tedious boss battle in the game. Larger mechs (very much akin to All-Terrain Scout Transport (AT-ST) walkers) await in the military base, but they’re easily bypassed with your upgraded abilities, though Dr. Doom is a far more aggravating enemy. Having stolen the Silver Surfer’s near-limitless Power Cosmic, Dr. Doom flies about raining energy bolts down and the only way to damage him is to activate a nearby power generator and blast him out of the sky but, even then he can absorb and dish out a great deal of punishment, to say nothing of his massive electrical area attack, shield, and ability to shrug off your attacks. Your best bet here (and in all of these boss battles) is to quickly cycle between each character and spam your Fusion Attack, retreating to safety, when necessary, until he finally goes down.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Unfortunately, there aren’t any temporary power-ups to find in Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Smash all the crates and boulders and what-not you like and all you’ll uncover are health and energy restoring orbs, coins, and the odd collectible. You should still smash everything you see, however, and let those coins fly into you as you’ll need them to power-up the characters and their superpowers; everything from their attack, defence, recovery and meter regeneration time to the cost, range, and impact of their individual abilities can be upgraded at the cost of these coins. Unfortunately, the cost increases as you spend, meaning you’ll need to farm and replay areas to collect all the coins you need, so you can either power characters up a little bit to make things easier to save them all up and blow them on fully upgrading a single character…or put yourself through the agony of a second playthrough.

Additional Features:
There are nineteen Achievements to earn in Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, with nine poppin simply for clearing each level and defeating their bosses. Oddly, there are no Achievements for playing with other players or anything fun (like, I dunno…destroying Reed and Sue’s wedding venue) or tedious (like defeating 100+ enemies). You’ll get an Achievement for beating the game on both “Normal” and the harder “Fantastic” mode, one for performing a single Fusion Attack, one for upgrading every character, and three more for finding every collectible and unlocking all the bonus content. Bonus content is unlocked by finding Fantastic 4 symbols and destroying Dr. Doom’s tiny, barely noticeable spybots; doing so will unlock cinematics, comic covers, concept art, and four alternative costumes that come with extra perks (like increasing your attack or defence by default), which is a nice touch. Once you beat the game, you can access a level select and the game restarts with all your upgrades intact, but I suspect you have to start a whole new game from the ground up if you choose a different difficulty mode. As I had no desire to play this game once I’d finished it and unlocked as many Achievements as I could, I can’t speak to that, but you could try playing with a friend or two to see if that helps improve the experience.

The Summary:
I had low expectations for Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer; I’d not really heard much about it except the usual vague chatter about how it was another tedious, cheap tie-in to a big budget movie and, unfortunately, I can’t argue with that. Fundamentally, it’s not really that insulting; the titular foursome are all represented pretty well, even if I favoured the Human Torch and the Thing (but that’s just personal preference on my part), with some fun superpowers to experiment with using the Fusion System. I get why you’d tie this to a regenerating meter, but it drains so quickly that you’ll be relying on the lacklustre combo strings more than anything. The dialogue and expansion on the movie’s story are also quite enjoyable and the game tries to show some new and visually interesting areas, but it never quite capitalises on any of the mechanics it includes beyond the bog-standard brawling. It’s fun chasing around as the Human Torch, but these sections are very brief and don’t ask much of you than to spam A or X as often as possible and avoid obstacles, and don’t even get me started on Sue’s God-awful “stealth” section. What really drags this game down, though, is just how long and boring the levels are and the lack of replayability; the unlockable costumes are pretty good (and it’s nice to see more than one included for a change) but I really don’t think anyone will be excited to slog through this on the harder difficulty or grind to upgrade and unlock everything as it’s such a time-consuming and monotonous experience. The bosses are also a massive let down and the game misses opportunities to have you recreate scenes from the film; like, why not shorten a couple of the levels and put in a forest mission where you need to activate those generators to bring down the Silver Surfer? Or, better yet, why not include a Silver Surfer auto-racer/shooter for the climax where you fend off Galactus’s attack? Instead, we get a very rushed and cobbled together, uninspiring brawler that’s only worth a playthrough to increase your Gamer Score with some relatively simple Achievements.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

What did you think to Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer? Did you enjoy the Fusion Attacks and the variety of superpowers on offer? What did you think to the levels and boss battles, and were there any elements from the movie you felt were missing from the game? Did you ever unlock everything in this game? Would you like to see another, better Fantastic Four videogame some day? How have you been celebrating the debut of Marvel’s First Family this month? Whatever you think, sign up to share your thoughts on Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer in the comments below.

Game Corner: Dead Space 2 (Xbox 360)

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Released: 25 January 2011
Developer: Visceral Games
Also Available For: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X (Backwards Compatible)

The Plot:
Three years after his nightmarish encounter on the USG Ishimura, former engineer Isaac Clarke arrives on the Sprawl, a civilian space station built on the remains of Saturn’s moon, Titan, only to find that a new Necromorph outbreak has been unleashed.

The Background:
Inspired by survivor/horror franchises like Silent Hill (Konami/Various, 1999 to 2012) and Resident Evil (Capcom/Various, 1996 to present), Dead Space (EA Redwood Shores, 2008) was the brainchild of Glen Schofield and a small but committed team of developers determined to shake up the genre’s gameplay mechanics. Highly praised and having sold over one million copies, development of a sequel began immediately following the first game’s release. In that time, Electronic Arts’ Redwood Shores rebranded to Visceral Games, who gave the game makers a great deal of autonomy over the project after all the good will they’d built up on the first game. Pushing themselves to improve and refine Dead Space’s unique presentation, concept, and mechanics, the developers sought to expand Isaac’s movement and combat options, incorporate destructible environments to be used as weapons, and tone down the difficulty of the game’s puzzles to fit this new action-orientated approach. His personality was also greatly expanded, with him evolving from a silent character to a speaking one, and the grotesque Necromorphs were greatly expanded upon to better fit the game’s bigger and more varied environments. Like its predecessor, Dead Space 2 was very well received; critics praised its foreboding atmosphere, the deeper dive into Isaac’s fractured mind, and the focus on gory, fast-paced action shooting. There were some concerns about repetitive sections, the abundance of dialogue sections, and the downloadable content (DLC) but, overall, Dead Space 2 is regarded as one of the best entries in the franchise and a top title in the survival/horror genre.

Gameplay:
Dead Space 2 is a science-fiction survival/horror title in which players once again assume the role of engineer Isaac Clarke, a psychologically damaged individual who must cut through swarms of monstrous undead in a bid to prevent the Necromorph outbreak spreading further. If you’ve played the first Dead Space or other third-person action shooters then the control scheme will be very familiar to you: A lets you interact with the environment, open doors and crates and pick up resources and such, B and Y lets you quickly use any Med Packs or Stasis Packs stored in your inventory, and X lets you manually reload your weapon. To aim and fire your weapon, hold down the Left Trigger and press the Right Trigger; when not aiming, RT allows you to deliver a close-range melee attack. Holding down the Left Bumper sees you run without fear of a stamina meter, while the Right Bumper triggers your weapon’s alternative fire mode when aiming or sees you stomping on crates or crawling enemies outside of aiming. You can quickly switch weapons on the fly using the directional pad and bring up your inventory screen with the ‘Back’ button; here, you can use or drop items in your inventory and review your mission objectives but be careful as enemies can still attack you in this state. Finally, you can press in the right stick to briefly be shown the way with a glowing waypoint marker and trigger a zero gravity jump by pressing in the left stick.

In between chopping up Necromorphs and floating around in zero g, you’ll be hacking a lot of panels…

As before, Dead Space 2 kind of goes against usual conventions; normally, you’d expect to aim for the head or torso to take out zombies and demonic monsters but, instead, you’ll stand a much better chance if you target the limbs of your Necromorph enemies. Luckily, Isaac is well equipped to handle this; even his default Plasma Cutter is extremely effective but, just like before, he has a couple of extra abilities on hand to help. When aiming, you can press Y to unleash a “Stasis” blast; this will temporarily freeze any enemies it touches, allowing you to target their weak spots to sever their limbs, but is also necessary to freeze obstacles in your path. You’ll need to use it to slow down fan blades, crushing pistons, and similar hazards in order to progress and solve puzzles. If you press B while aiming, you’ll grab nearby objects, ammo and collectibles, and even limbs and bodies with your “Kinesis” ability. These can then be flung at enemies or other objects with RT and this ability is how you’ll be solving most puzzles as you’ll need to move power cells, explosive canisters, and even dead bodies in order to restore power, move heavy doors and obstacles, or get past biometric security doors. Kinesis is also used to move platforms, slot gears and batteries in place, and to remove panels from walls to allow you to hack them. This hacking mini game crops up quite a bit and sees you rotating a cone of light on a display scene and pressing A whenever it goes blue; press A when it’s red or take too long and you’ll receive a shock of electricity, though you don’t have to worry about any gun turret sections this time around.

Isaac’s abilities and your steady hand and button mashing are needed to solve the game’s puzzles.

As mentioned, there are once again many times when you’re forced to float around in zero gravity, usually to get from one section of the space station to another but sometimes you will be out in the void of space, battling giant Necromorph tentacles and solving puzzles with Kinesis. Zero gravity doesn’t seem to show up as much as before and isn’t as frustrating as I remember from the last game; you press the left stick in to take off or land, floating around is easy enough and you can orientate yourself at the press of a bumper, and you don’t encounter that many enemies in these sections this time, either. Instead, you’ll mostly be floating to platforms, moving large objects by attacking explosive cannisters to them, or inserting or removing power cells, perhaps dodging the odd flame burst or instant death hazard as you go. Again, you’ll also find yourself in a vacuum, often in these zero gravity sections; here, you need to keep an eye on your rapidly depleting oxygen meter, topping it up at refuelling stations as you complete puzzles and boost past hazards with LB, but it’s nowhere near as aggravating as some of the sections from the first game were. You do have to be careful when fighting Necromorphs, though; a stray shot or explosion will shatter the protective glass and see you sucked out to your death, so be sure to quickly shoot the switch to save yourself from a grisly demise. There seems to be a greater emphasis on button mashing, too; you’ll need to tap A whenever Necromorphs pounce or swarm over you or when Isaac’s hallucinations get out of control, which can be tricky as you really have to mash the button to shake them off. Occasionally, you’ll need to fire at laser traps, dodge incoming fire from gunships, and fend off hordes of Necromorphs as your allies work to restore power but easily the most memorable section of the game comes near the end when you need to hold down A when the reticule is blue to successfully pierce Isaac right through this pupil! Finally, while you’ll no longer be travelling between train stations in obvious segmented sections, the game’s story is still split into chapters and you’ll be making use of vents and elevators to progress from one area to the next, often with minimal chances to backtrack past a certain point.

Graphics and Sound:  
Dead Space 2 certainly ups the ante with its visuals. Like the first game, every environment has a decidedly “lived-in” feel to it, with much of the sci-fi aesthetic drawing upon films like Alien (Scott, 1979) and especially Event Horizon (Anderson, 1997). The Sprawl has been absolutely desecrated by the Necromorphs; blood, bodies, and debris are everywhere, turning bright and cheery elementary schools and once-bustling social areas into ominous hellscapes. Messages are scrawled on the walls in blood, power and lights are out all over the facility, dead bodies drop from above and non-playable characters (NPCs) are offed (or kill themselves) with gory malice, all while the endless dark void looms outside of every window. In zero gravity environments, debris floats around aimlessly; water becomes as bubbles and even fire billows around with impressive effect. If you breach a window, you must fight against the pull of gravity, which sucks everything in the vicinity outside, and there are all kinds of different locations found throughout the Sprawl. You’ll visit an ornate and elaborate church, a cyro lab, and the fuel processing facility, all while passing through areas done up more like something out of Doom (id Software, 1993) with their foreboding candles and flickering lights. Dead Space 2 is so much bigger than the first that it’s spread over two discs; during the second part, you’ll return to the Ishimura from the first game and revisit several key areas, now stripped back to the insulation and under repair as part of a salvage operation, which was both really cool to see and where Isaac’s mental instability really escalates.

The game explores Isaac’s fractured mind as much as it does its new and old locations.

All throughout the game, Isaac’s bombarded by nightmarish visions of Nicole and his experiences from Dead Space, which cause the environment to burst to life or enemies to suddenly attack you, only for it to be revealed to all be in Isaac’s head. As he ventures deeper into the mines and closer to the Marker, these visions only escalate, to the point where he’s forced to literally confront his ghosts head on. It’s because of this greater narrative focus on Isaac and his mental state that he now has a voice; he’s constantly talking with his hallucinations or relaying information back to one of his many allies, allowing for a deeper insight into the previously mute character but also interrupting the atmosphere with these blatant loading times. While the character models skew towards being marionettes at times, the gory deaths and the twisted, unsettling appearance of the Necromorphs more than makes up for it. Isaac’s intimidating suit is also a highlight, and still displays his health and other stats build into it to keep you immersed in the dread of your surroundings, and there were some interesting set pieces to engage with. It was fun floating around outside, realigning the solar panels; I also enjoyed fending off waves of Necromorphs on the back of a giant drilling machine, and every area has some kind of horrific visual to throw at you and keep you on edge. This tension is aided by the fact that the Necromorphs can literally spring from anywhere; they clamber over walls, up from below, drop through grates, and even burst to life from dead bodies, meaning you constantly have to be on your toes and wary of even the slightest sound as it could indicate oncoming danger.

Enemies and Bosses:
As before, the primary enemy you’ll be facing here are the Necromorphs; these disgusting, unsettling alien lifeforms have overtaken human hosts both alive and dead and attack through a variety of means. Capable of scuttling about using vents and walls alike, they primarily attack with bladed, scythe-like appendages and can pin you down if you’re not careful. Some will spit acid-like vomit at you from afar which dramatically slows you down; others are smaller, firing projectiles from a distance or crawling at you like babies to explode on contact. A flying variant will latch onto dead bodies to spawn new enemies and tries to suck your face off if it gets too close; gangly ones burst into tiny Facehugger-like variants; and the more obese ones simply explode in a shower of gets. There are Necromorphs with a huge, explosive club-like arm, ones growing out of walls who’ll rip your head off if you get too close, and really annoying, fleet-footed ones that dash about behind cargo containers to distract you so another member of the pack can catch you off-guard. In most instances, your best bet is to keep your distance and sever their limbs but be warned as Necromorphs are more than capable of scurrying along the floor with half a torso and attack in swarms this time around, turning even simple sections into a bit of a gauntlet at times.

Larger, tougher enemies often take on a boss role, with the Marker itself being your final trial.

This appears to be the game’s way of making up for the fact that there really aren’t too many boss battles, in the traditional sense. Some of the larger Necromorphs substitute for bosses, and then will reoccur as larger obstacles you need to bypass. Large, plant-like Necromorph growths spit explosive projectiles at you when you’re in space, for example, and you’ll again have to battle large, ape-like brutes who charge at you wildly and need a taste of your Static to slow them down so you can target the weak points in their armour. A recurring larger Necromorph is the tripod variant; at one point, a whole bunch of these attack you as you’re riding an elevator, requiring you to blast at their joints to fend them off. You’ll also venture into their nest, where a gigantic, Lovecraftian mess of muscle needs to be blown apart using nearby fuel cannisters as the beasts attack you in an arena of sorts. One of the most memorable boss encounters is against the gigantic, spider-like Tormentor; you’ll need to blast its joints to free yourself from its grip before frantically running from it down a narrow corridor. When you get blasted out into space, quickly target the fuel cannisters surrounding it to finish it off before it pops you like a balloon! In the final section of the game, one of Dead Space’s most annoying enemies, the Regenerator Necromorph, reappears to pursue you; although you can slow and freeze it, this thing constantly regenerates anew to be a pain in the ass and there’s no way to destroy it permanently this time, so you’re better off dismembering it, freezing it, and running away. In the finale, you incur the wrath of Director Hans Tiedemann as the massive Marker goes haywire around you; simply mash A to wrench the arrows he shoots out of your body and then fire his gun back at him to finish him off. The final boss itself is more of a metaphysical battle between Isaac and his memories of Nicole; when she warps you to a grainy hellscape, she’ll one-shot you if you get too close and send glitchy Necromorphs to swarm you. However, concentrate your fire on her and she’ll vanish, exposing the Marker’s core for you to shoot; repeat this a couple of times and the game will be won in somewhat anti-climactic fashion, especially as you appear to have infinite ammo for this final challenge.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Although all Isaac’s abilities from the first game return here, you’ll need to pick them up as you explore and fight through Dead Space 2’s morbid environments. You begin the game unarmed, strapped into a straightjacket, and must acquire a flashlight, your trusty Plasma Cutter, and the ability to use Kinesis and Static once again all in the opening moments of the game. From there, you’ll find ammo, credits, Med Packs, and more in crates and dropped by defeated Necromorphs. Credits, ammo, weapons, and coloured items can be sold at the various shops scattered throughout the game, often near save points. Here, you can shuffle your inventory, moving items out of your active inventory and unlock new suits and weapons to use by exchanging the schematics you find on your adventure. Each suit increases your armour, offers a discount, or reduces the cost of your abilities, but you can also upgrade these elements at the benches you’ll also come across. Here, you can spend Power Nodes on upgrading the capacity, reload speed, and damage output of your weapons, adding a special element to them (such as shots setting enemies on fire), and on increasing your health, air, and the duration of your abilities. Power Nodes can also be used to open special doors to areas filled with rare loot, and you can buy them at the shop as well if necessary. Isaac has an array of weapons available to him, each with an alternative fire mode, such as the arrow-firing javelin gun, the flamethrower, the detonator (which fires out proximity mines), the ripper (which spits out a spinning buzzsaw for gory up-close dismemberment), and the intense power of the contact beam.

Additional Features:
There are fifty Achievements up for grabs in Dead Space 2, with about sixteen being easily acquired simply by playing through the story. You’ll get Achievements for buying suits, scoring a kill with every weapon in the game, upgrading one and then all the available weapons, severing 2,500 limbs, and killing fifty Necromorphs while they’re frozen. There are some oddly specific ones, such as impaling a Necromorph to a wall, cutting up a statue, and making use of the decompression mechanic to suck enemies into space, and other more predictable ones, such as beating the game on harder difficulty settings. At the start, there are four difficulty modes available, with even the easiest setting being a bit of a challenge at times; a fifth is unlocked after completing the game, as are a couple of new suits and a “New Game+” mode that carries over your progress to a new save. There are a bunch of audio logs to be found that flesh out the story, a specific piece of treasure to nab for an Achievement, and the game can be expanded through DLC packs that add eight extra Achievements in addition to a multiplayer component to the game. Finally, if you have a save file from Dead Space on your profile, you’ll gain access to a more powerful Plasma Cutter, for free, at the first shop you go to.

The Summary:
I put off Dead Space 2 for way longer than I wanted to; I really enjoyed the first one thanks to its dark, gory, and oppressive atmosphere but life and my backlog meant it took some time to get to the sequel. However, I easily slipped back into this gritty and macabre world and was still able to appreciate the return to familiar, but changed environments from the first game. Conceptually, Dead Space 2 is definitely bigger; there are more locations available to you, ones that are more visually diverse than the first game and which continue to impress with their fantastic use of lighting and blood to make every area akin to a slaughterhouse. I wasn’t massively impressed by Isaac’s chatterbox demeanour but I do think it was necessary for the progression of his character and the story. Seeing him struggle with his mind, memories, and the influence of the Marker made for some effective jump scares and really helped to keep the atmosphere oppressive and dangerous at all times. The combat and Necromorphs continue to be a highlight; you get just enough resources to survive each encounter but it doesn’t take much to leave you relying on those survival/horror instincts as you regroup and reload what little ammo you have left. It seems as though a lot of the more frustrating elements from the first game have been removed or refined; the zero gravity and vacuum sections are far less aggravating, though the hacking mini games and abundance of vents got old pretty quickly. I was also a bit disappointed by the apparent lack of new enemy variants or big, gross boss battles but the abundance of enemies and the variety offered by most encountered meant that the difficult stayed at a fair but challenging level even on the easiest setting. In the end, Dead Space 2 offered more of the same, expanding on the first game visually and in the refinement of mechanics and combat, while delivering the same level of scares and mounting dread as you explore, solve puzzles, and slice up those screwed up zombie monsters.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

What did you think to Dead Space 2? How do you think it compares to the first game and do you think it still holds up today? What did you think to the focus on Isaac’s mental instability and the use of jump scares? Were you also a bit disappointed by the weapon and enemy variety on offer? What did you think to the visuals of the game and the increased focus on gore? Which Dead Space game is your favourite, and would you like to see more from the franchise? What horror-theme videogames are you playing this October in anticipation of Halloween? Whatever your thoughts on Dead Space 2, drop them below or comment on my social media.