With many adventure games, there is always a secondary character that rises up as a shining star to overshadow the main protagonist. Then there are others who through their own bumbling manage to carve an unforgettable niche into the series and become that comedic crutch that supports the plot. Like the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, you know they’re just around the corner and while enjoying said confectionery treat you wonder how long you’ll have to wait to meet them. Monkey Island has one such character: he goes by the name of Stan and is no longer a stranger as we find him in Tales of Monkey Island 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood.

Over the series, Stan has held many titles dating back to his first appearance as a shady used ship salesman. What cemented him as a go-to character was his shady salesman speeches; his vibrant and annoying attire; and, his constantly flailing arms. And all of these pieces are proudly thrown in your face as he takes the stand in his first role directly opposed to Guybrush as the prosecuting lawyer. Seems that your little pirate tirade in the first episode was frowned upon by the other pirates and now you must prove your innocence.

Overall, this episode maintains the high level of production found in the last iteration. One of the main aggravations lies in controls that were sketchy at times. I prefer to play the game using the keyboard to control Guybrush, since the click and swirl mouse lent itself to accidental clicking of objects, which was even more frustrating. So the use of the arrow keys is nice touch to maneuver The Might Pirate. However, the use of the shift key, which allows for fast, almost run-like, speed movement stopped working almost after every scenery change which really dragged the speed of the game down since there was a lot of land traversal in this episode.

The episode starting off on a high note, with a great puzzle that had me confused how to start. Unfortunately, like the cliff hanger plot twist at the end of the episode, the play time of the episode left me hanging. If you recall the previous review, I mentioned that it felt shorter than the previous outings. This fourth attempt was definitely the shortest of all them thus far, which is a shame since I’m loving the world and story that Telltale has weaved. The other item that irked me was a solitary interaction that relied on the movement of the character and not clicking on something. In a breakaway from the standard form of click-to-interact, this puzzle left me hanging as I knew exactly what I wanted to do but could not perform it since clicking was futile. While its nice to see new ways of addressing the old problem, at least some prior mentioning of it would have been preferred.

As with previous chapters, this one comes recommended but be forewarned that while it will whet your appetite for more of Guybrush’s misadventures, you will be waiting a while longer to come full circle. Just like a certain rug, it’s the episode that really ties the series together, and gets 4 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.

Check out Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood and other PC reviews at Test Freaks.

Tim Shafer has always created great games that are normally critically acclaimed, yet never have any amount of commercial success.  Brutal Legend went through a tumultuous sequence of events on its way to release, but throughout the process, looked to be a solid experience.  However, some game design elements and repetition seem to take a lot of the fun out of an otherwise, incredible open world experience.

Starting into Brutal Legend, I was poised for a great hack and slash experience, as all of the demos and presentations gamers have received for the game have showed Eddie Riggs, our main protagonist, tearing up beasts.  He would do combat with an axe and with the blazing hot strings of his guitar, but never would I have thought I would be playing Command and Conquer lite in Brutal Legend.  If you cannot piece together that analogy, it basically means that you will be doing less hacking/slashing and far more building units and commanding them into battle.  It is not a flawed system, but it is not what gamers were prepared for walking into this title.

While I was a little perplexed with the design decision for Brutal Legend, I can say that the story that backs the gameplay is rather solid, and was one of the main items that kept me from giving up on Brutal Legend at the half way point.  The writing is top notch, taking something that could be clichéd and making it into something rather memorable.  You have Eddie Riggs, a standard roadie, that never wants fame and fortune, killed in a stage accident, and then transported to a fantasy world, filled with all of the images you could possibly remember from early 80’s heavy metal album covers.  You end up with Riggs helping the native populace rise up from oppression to fight the evil leader of this world, Lord Diviculous.  Of course, there are some great turns and twists, including some great deception in your own party that adds to the intrigue of the story.  However, most may never see the end of the story, because the gameplay just kills any kind of rhythm or atmosphere that is created by the writers.

Yes, you will spend most of your time in RTS battles.  The combat starts with your side building a stage, and from there, you are tasked with two directives: capture green geysers that hold the “fans” that will help you generate more troops and upgrades and the other directive is to destroy the enemy’s stage.  Commanding your troops is rather easy, with a press to the D-pad choosing their actions.  They can attack, defend and rally, and that is about it.  Later, you gain the ability to set a simple waypoint, but nothing that will tax an RTS veteran.  There are huge flaws in the RTS gameplay, with troops that really never seem to have any intelligence.  More than once, I had my troops collect at one point and watch another troop in the distance get mauled.  It should have been in their line of sight, but they did nothing to help.  The other issue comes from repetition, because after one or two of these battles, you will just want to get them done as fast as possible, due to the tedium of finishing them.

Side quests are also available, and they do add some variance to the RTS stage battles, but after awhile, even these start to get repetitive.  You do have five or six different type of missions to fight, but they seem tacked on to the game.  Each comes with about six lines of canned dialog that will vary each time you start a mission.  They are also rather easy, and none ever really struck up a challenge.  I started off the game completing most of these missions in the first area of the map, but after awhile, I just wanted to finish the game, and the side quests never got touched after that fact.

The sad thing, after all of these criticisms, is that Brutal Legend is at its best when you are just driving around, experiencing the world.  I loved just checking out the different landscapes and little in-jokes that you would find just observing the world.  One thing that Tim Shafer has always done right in his games is creating a world that is unique and fun to experience, and in Brutal Legend, that is absolutely true, to a fault.  Whether it is looking at huge stone swords, sign of the devil hand statues or even just the creatures that inhabit the world, you can just get mesmerized by the scenery.  Even your character, Eddie, makes great little quips about things he sees while you are cruising, just making the world more enjoyable.

I also enjoyed a lot of the voice over work from everyone involved with Brutal Legend.  I normally abhor anything that Jack Black is associated with, but his voice work for Eddie Riggs is actually amazing.  I loved every little line from his character, because it was done with such gusto and polish.  Normally, big actors tend to phone in their performances on a video game (David Duchovny in XIII anyone) but you can tell that Jack Black really enjoyed his time with Eddie Riggs.  Cameos also abound in the game, including Lita Ford, Rob Halford, Lemmy, Tim Curry and even Ozzy Ozbourne.  Ozzy is especially of note, because his character absolutely steals the show.  He has a surprising amount of dialog, and all of it is funny to listen to, and it is genuinely funny.  This is “I can understand you” Ozzy, not “stammering like an idiot” Ozzy.

One thing of note is also how the game handles language and violence.  My eight-year-old son had watched some of the trailers for this title and was a bit upset when he found out it was going to be a Mature rated title.  But Double Fine has built into the game, a censor system that removes the violence and swearing, in any combination.  You can have swearing and no violence, or vice versa.  So my son was able to start a game with the no violence and no swearing options selected and it was a great experience for him.  It also does some great stuff, by putting big parental advisory stickers on anything that is questionable, remembering back to the Tipper Gore days of early 80’s controversy with obscene lyrics in music.  I was extremely happy for this option in the game, and it would be great to see more developers jump on the bandwagon.

And this is where I am completely perplexed for a score on Brutal Legend.  On one hand, the action is repetitive, side quests dull, and overall fun is lacking, and yet, I could come back and just enjoy driving around and experience the well conceptualized world.  The whole reason this review was delayed for so long, was because I was trying to find a score that would fit what I played.  In the end, I felt that Brutal Legend was a great game to experience, but after getting through the first few hours of the game, boredom and tedium step in and ruin a great, visually stunning world.  Brutal Legend gets a 2 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.
Check out Brutal Legend and other Xbox 360 reviews at Test Freaks.

It’s hard to believe that this game can be that good. The gaming press have been all over it, wet-dreaming their way through 10/10s and perfect scores, so when I hit the floor at the Eurogamer Expo in London last week (did I mention how great it was, btw? If you live in the UK and didn’t go this year, you missed out. Seriously), I made a beeline for the dark, tall, hair-clad witch we know and love as Bayonetta to put her through her paces myself as we searched to regain her lost memories and powers …

What struck me first and foremost was that Bayonetta hits the ground running. With an intuitive yet simple combat system, beautiful landscapes, great soundtrack and, of course, our not unappealing heroine, anyone can pick up a controller and get stuck right in – and I do mean anyone. Whilst there’s plenty of combos to be recited, learned and memorised – something you can try whilst hanging around in the loading screen – you can still kick-ass with nonsensical, button-mashing frenzy, too. Other reviews will tell you that there seems to be an infinite amount of combos to discover, and I’m not going to tell you anything different – there is no way the combat system is ever going get old. Add in the extra quick and slow time elements, and you know that no one chapter, no matter how often you replay it, is ever going to give you the same battle twice. The magical elements and special attacks are interesting, engaging and varied. Plentiful enemies keep battles entertaining and spontaneous, and the better you fight, the higher the score, and the better your subsequent rewards. Simple, no?

It’s easy to let the pretty backgrounds and colourful butterflies lull you into a false sense of security but trust me – Bayonetta is bad ass. She fights well and truly for the dark side, slaying angels not demons, and she wilfully cashes in on their blood-soaked halos in exchange for new weapons and techniques. The battles are suitably gory and bloody, but while we’re told that her darkness is deliberately at odds with her unashamed femininity, it does occasionally jar and I’m still not convinced of the contradictory aspects of the butterflies and her blood-lust. But as that is possibly explored later in the game, I’ll keep an open mind for now.

Down points? Yes, there are some. I spent half an hour with this game and was still grappling with the unwieldy camera when I left. Slow time doesn’t add much to the gameplay – at least, not from where I was sitting – but admittedly it doesn’t detract from it, either, and I found the patently non-interactive world to be a bit of a let-down. Whilst I didn’t get remotely bored during my time with Bayonetta, I could sense that the battles themselves could get a tad repetitive after awhile, even if the fighting/combos within them did not. But it remains to be seen how the chapters vary further on in the game.

Although my date with Bayonetta was criminally short, the half hour or so I had to sample her wares was enough, quite honestly. And while there’s certainly no such thing as the perfect game, Bayonetta comes pretty freakin’ close – close enough that it’s currently sitting aloft on my 2010 Must Buy list.

Bayonetta is scheduled for release on the XBox 360 and PS3 in early 2010 in both Europe and the US.

The Long and Winding Road

If you’re not familiar with Harmonix’s work on the Guitar Hero franchise and its various branchings, here’s a quick primer. Harmonix had a runaway hit with their Guitar Hero rhythm game which featured a special guitar controller, and it made Activision a great deal of money. The software was made by the rhythm game masters at Harmonix, the guitar was made by peripheral masters RedOctane, and the Guitar Hero brand was owned by publishing master Activision. MTV decided to get in on the action, so they bought Harmonix. In what looked at the time like a panic, Activision bought RedOctane. Most of us wondered what would happen next, now that RedOctane, Harmonix, and Guitar Hero could no longer work together. What happened was Rock Band.

I Should Have Known Better

When Neversoft took over developing the Guitar Hero games for Activision, there were some ups and downs. Harmonix never made a Guitar Hero game (or anything else) on a Nintendo platform, so those of us squarely in the Nintendo camp had no great love for that developer. With Activision’s backing, the skilled programmers at Neversoft made Guitar Hero III for every console, and I was there on day one. Most people will agree that Guitar Hero III was OK, but its surprising difficulty made the game more frustrating for me than fun, even on medium difficulty. I eventually ended up unloading the game, and decided I was done with such games.

There’s a reason I’m providing all this background, and it’s because this conflict, this great musical struggle between publishing titans Activision and EA, has really driven the genre in some fascinating directions. Neversoft eventually got a solid grip on Guitar Hero with Guitar Hero 5, which is, reportedly, very good. Harmonix refined their already impressive skill set with Rock Band 2. Capitalism is like that, but if we take a step back and have a look at what this has done for the consumer, we may not be pleased with what we find.

Don’t Let Me Down

A good portion of this wrestling match has been over licensing of music. Now that it’s a standard for all the music in these games to be played by the original artists, exclusives with the more desirable names could theoretically mean big sales. When it was announced that the Rock Band name would connect to The Beatles name, everyone was excited. Tired of not being good at playing toy guitars that only hurt my hands, I had moved on to singing along with music videos in Sony’s SingStar games. Beatles: Rock Band still caught my eye, but my real excitement was when I heard mention of SingStar The Beatles, a game that never existed and likely never will. I responded with anger over this licensing exclusivity, because I wanted to play SingStar The Beatles. I softened up a bit when it became clear that I could get the game and play it with my SingStar microphones. So I asked the people behind the game for a copy.

The Beatles: Rock Band is a stunning, stirring, and at times beautiful yet shallow guided tour through The Beatles’ career. SingStar: The Beatles this is not. In fact, there are a lot of things that The Beatles: Rock Band isn’t.

And Your Bird Can Sing

When I received my review copy of Beatles Rock Band, all they sent me was the standalone disc, which was fine. I had planned to review the game as a SingStar title, since there have been bundles shown of the game with the SingStar microphones for PS3. When I started the game up, it was ready to go as just a singing game, but I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that the game doesn’t stand up as a direct competitor to SingStar. The singing experience is much more refined, and above all much, much more challenging in SingStar. On medium difficulty, you can miss notes while singing and still score 100% in BRB. If I could do that in SingStar, I’d have a SingStar (90%+) rating on every song by now. I don’t.

Beyond the challenge, there are a number of features BRB doesn’t have that we enjoy in SingStar. This includes the original music videos, as all the performances in BRB are constructed using surprisingly distinctive, but somewhat stylized 3D Beatle character models in rendered environments. An option to watch videos of the real people would have been pretty great, and I think I would have seriously preferred it to what’s here now, even if the picture quality had been poor. There’s also no ability to record and share audio and video in the game, which is something I’ve become very used to in SingStar.

Perhaps it’s more fair, though, to compare this game to Rock Band 2. There are roughly half as many songs in it, there’s no character creation or tour mode, and absolutely nothing in the game can be personalized. In SingStar, as in Rock Band 2, each player has a name and avatar and all their records are kept by the game. In BRB, everyone on your system has the same name, and it’s the name of your system profile. You can still play it online, and leaderboards will show you how your score on a song compares to that of your friends, which is nice.

Getting Better

There are things here I wish SingStar would adopt, too, like a pitch meter and the scrolling lyrics option. In SingStar, you are given very little indication of where your voice is relative to where it’s supposed to be in many cases, and the lyrics of a song are invisible until it’s time to sing them, so it’s easy to screw up if you’re not ready for what’s coming. Get right on that, Sony.

Harmony is handled differently in BRB than it is in SingStar. When more than one person is singing, if you choose to do harmony, BRB doesn’t distinguish the voices by player. What that means is, one of you can sing the low harmony while the other sings the melody or high harmony, and then you can switch within the same song. The game doesn’t seem to care whether you’re singing the right Beatle’s part throughout the song, and it really kind of feels more lazy than forgiving. I’ve read that the original Rock Band had much less forgiving vocals even than Rock Band 2, so this may instead be a concession to the audience.

Come Together

While I intended to approach the game from the perspective of a hard core SingStar fan, I was given more opportunities when just days after BRB arrived, I received a set of Rock Band 2 instruments to play with the game. I got to work assembling everything and was pleasantly surprised at their construction, as I had heard such bad things about the Rock Band 1 instruments that I expected the worst. Armed with a set of instruments, I set about discovering that BRB is not about the singing at all, but rather about the whole band experience. For me, in fact, it seems to be all about the guitar, because it turns out I can’t drum my way out of a wet paper bag.

I tried some online Quick Play and found the experience to be reasonably tight. There’s no online play in SingStar, but BRB lets you link up with other players and play through the songs on the disc however you like. An online community to share and rate audio and video, as in SingStar, would be nice for BRB.

Yer Blues

Both games have downloadable content, but Beatles Rock Band only works with Beatles DLC, and vice versa. So you can’t play any of your existing Rock Band DLC in Beatles Rock Band and you can’t play any of your Beatles Rock Band DLC in Rock Band or Rock Band 2. This stands in stark contrast to SingStar, because even while playing SingStar Queen, you can play any of your DLC, and you can swap to your SingStar Queen disc from any other SingStar PS3 game and play those songs in that environment without issue. Even Rock Band players got to bring their Rock Band songs into Rock Band 2 if they had a code and five dollars. Beatles buyers don’t.

Further, you can’t mix and match your Beatles or their venues. While progressing through the Story mode in the game, you play sets of Beatles songs in controlled venues. The Beatles change over time through their career. John grows long hair, Paul grows a beard, they change costumes, things like that. There is no way in the game to take the suited, bowl cut Beatles and have them sing Yellow Submarine on a rooftop. Every time you sing a particular song, it will be the same set of four Beatles, and they’ll be in the same venue.

Naturally, it’s not exactly the same thing. Every time you sing one of the songs off SingStar Queen, you’re going to have exactly the same experience. It’s the same song, with the same video. The difference here is that this is a standard for SingStar, but it’s not for Rock Band. It’s clear that such restrictions must be a concession to Apple Corp, the publisher behind The Beatles’ music. I expect that concession to such demands is why we’re seeing Beatles: Rock Band rather than Guitar Hero: The Beatles. One has only to look at the legal struggles between Kurt Cobain’s estate, No Doubt, and Activision to understand what happens when such agreements are not tied up with very solid legal language.

Tell Me Why

That’s what it all comes down to, though. Beatles: Rock Band gives us the general Rock Band mechanic with Beatles music, which is great. I don’t expect people will say the game should never have been made, and honestly whenever you bring out something as influential as The Beatles, not everyone is going to be happy with the result. The key problems with the game are the limitations on what you can do with the music, characters and venues, as well as a short song list (just 44 tracks) out of the box. All these issues would have been much more acceptable at a lower price point, than the $60 we’re looking at right now.

Would we have preferred a song list twice this length, with all the existing limitations, at an $80 price point, or even $100? It’s hard to say. Is it reasonable for us to let EA, MTV, Harmonix, and Apple Corps off the hook on this one? As consumers, we see $60 as a maximum this generation. Rock Band 2 came out with 80+ songs from a multitude of artists and publishers at $60 and everyone got paid enough. How is it that a short compilation of one artist’s music, when tied to their likenesses and carefully assembled venues, warrants the same price point?

Think For Yourself

It’s indisputable that there is nothing in musical history quite like The Beatles. It is my opinion that even with the limitations imposed by Apple Corps, the game still provides plenty of enjoyment for those who love this music, and my wife and I are crazy about the music. I can’t stop playing “Here Comes the Sun,” even though the guitar work kicks my ass. What’s here looks and sounds great. It’s fun playing through Story mode and watching the Beatles evolve over time. It’s exciting to think that, eventually, we might be able to play any Beatles song we want, Rock Band style, even if we have little control over the circumstances.

Your enjoyment of Beatles: Rock Band will come down to just a handful of things. How troubling are the limitations to you? How much money is the software worth? If you accept the limitations and feel that the music is worth it anyway, go for it. It seems to me that those who have the most trouble with this game are those who expected more out of it due to having played Rock Band and Rock Band 2. The best thing to do is learn as much you can about what the game is, and what it isn’t, and make a decision from there.

The End

If you’re looking for SingStar The Beatles, you haven’t found it. If you’re looking for a The Beatles track pack for Rock Band, you haven’t found that either. Still, it’s Rock Band, so the mechanics are solid. The songs are great, they’re fun to play, and a lot of care has gone into what little is in the design. I find the game very enjoyable, and I think most Beatles fans will, even if they might prefer the price come down a little before they take the plunge. I give the game 3.5 out of 5.

Tell Me What You See

Since so many of us on Aeropause have been playing The Beatles: Rock Band, we decided to collaborate on this review. This is especially important because I have next to no background with Rock Band before this. To that end, here are the opinions of some of the other writers on the site.

Joe Fourhman says:

The game over-promised and under-delivered. When Harmonix first announced a Beatles game, they were deliberately cagey about what the game would be. I seem to recall them promising something totally different from Rock Band, which, in the end, seems to have been a red herring designed to make us not expect interoperability across all Rock Band versions. And then the game just ends up as the absolute nicest version of Guitar Hero Aerosmith that you could imagine!

I know there’s a lot of defense talk that says the game is best-loved and perhaps even intended for NEW gamers, not established Rock Band fans. I say nuts to that. Even if you just walk in having never played one of these before, when you compare the features of Rock Band 2 for $60 to the features of Beatles: Rock Band for $60, BRB comes up short. Way short. You’d have to be a Beatles superfan to not see the disparity. At the least, Beatles should have arrived at $50. Unless the Beatles is your most favorite group ever, you’re not getting as much for your $60 as with RB2, and the hooks plainly aren’t there to keep the game viable in the long term. Sure, tons of people love the Beatles, but will they love the career-spanning setlist that includes some truly left-of-center song choices? There are so many well-loved tracks that could have been included to get that list up to a number more in line with other games, and instead Harmonix chose to gimp the list and ding us for DLC (which is arriving at a glacial pace.)

Which brings up another point: whose fault is it? All fingers point to Apple Corps. Not being able to change venues, not being able to use the whammy, not being able to trade songs and DLC back and forth. BRB suffers from upper-level management syndrome, and Harmonix had to bow because, well, it’s the Beatles. I’d let them off the hook for the whammy bar and a few other misses, but taken in total, the game has far too many petty restrictions on it.

One of the world’s greatest bands should have received one of the world’s greatest games. I’m glad that the bonus photographs/movies, character animations and cutscenes are so well done, because if those had sucked, you’d be looking at one giant Beatles cash-in turd.

I asked what the game needed to improve things, and he added:

Swappable DLC is a given. The Beatles songs should have been exportable to RB2, even for another $10 fee. Future Beatles DLC should have been compatible with all Rock Band releases. Should have had at least 60 songs (RB2 had like 80).

The lack of whammy and drum fills is minor, but seems like a petty concession to Apple Corps. Really, the Beatles are the one band in the world that we dare not improvise over?

DLC songs do not appear in the career mode. So all those Trophies that are based on career mode can only ever be accomplished by playing the same 40 songs over and over again, no matter how many new songs you buy.

I would have liked the ability to mix and match the Beatles avatars and venues. I think the bizarre psychadelic stew of Young Paul and Guru George and TV Ringo and Hairy John would have fit right in with the dreamscape angle. Why on earth am I forbidden to play Sgt Pepper on the Ed Sullivan stage? Again, the slavish adherence to the actual Beatles career just ends up dropping features that we take for granted in other games. George and Ringo at least were big Monty Python fans… and prankster absurdity was a big part of the Beatles vibe. So why does this game play it so safe?

Speaking of the vaunted dreamscapes, most of them are just cheesy video effects. Not enough are full blown videos. The dreamscapes were pitched as something that would help justify the game’s loss of standard Rock Band features… and only a handful are truly cool and well-thought-out productions. Same deal with the supposedly “never before heard” audio snippets that play between tracks during the Abbey Road sections. Boy, what a joy to hear a reel rewinding and John mumbling something.

Although the animated open and close is just unbelievably beautiful. Even the animation industry veterans over at CartoonBrew.com were drooling over it. And I do like the photo galleries and unlockable rare videos. So those bits held up their end of the bargain.

Joe Haygood says:

After  I played through The Beatles: Rock Band, I was in conflict.  On the one hand, we had a game that featured some of the best tracks from one of the greatest bands ever, all in one place.  But with all of that, I felt a bit hollow inside.  The Beatles: Rock Band is a solid game, but it was, in my opinion, marketed to the wrong audience.  This is a title that ends up being a great starting point for anyone that has not been involved in the Rock Band series of games.  But if you are like myself, that has amassed a couple hundred DLC titles over time, you will feel that the game ends a bit too quickly, and gives you an “okay, now what” feel.

Good Points:

I did appreciate the look of the game.  Gone are the stylized cartoony figures that were there in the two Rock Band titles.  Instead we get rather good models of the Fab Four.  Throughout the game, all four Beatles fit their historical time period, either with or without beards, moustaches and mop tops.  There is some posturing from the characters that sticks with out as well.  I missed it on the first playthrough, but now I see the little mannerisms that add so much to the personality of the on-screen avatars.  Very good character sequences.

Most of the song selection is top notch.  Normally, a Rock Band or Guitar Hero title will have a huge list of songs, but you only want to actually play about a dozen of those songs.  There are 45 tracks available here, and most are really good, and solid hits in their own right.  Sure there are a few duds, but the hits outweigh the B-sides here.

Harmonies are pretty fun to play, if you get a group that is willing to harmonize.  We had a game night, and it was a ton of fun when we harmonized properly, and it helped our score.  It is the first game to really try to pull this off, and it works fairly well.  For that matter, all of the instruments play well, and the game does get rather challenging on some of the harder difficulties.  I for one thought this would be a cakewalk on Expert, but it was actually very challenging.

Bad Points:

The game is woefully short.  While there are 45 songs, this is the era of musical rhythm games one upping themselves on number of tracks.  It also does not help that a lot of the early songs are short in length, and repetitive.  This is not a fault of the game necessarily, but just that songs in the early 60’s were not usually long in length.

Some of the hyped special features were really let downs in the long run.  Remember all of those great “inside the studio recordings” we were going to get access to in The Beatles: Rock Band.  Well they ended up being very small segments in the beginning of a set list, while the list was loading.  Not exactly what it was made out to be.  There is probably ten to twelve seconds of audio before we are prompted to play.  Also, while there were some great pictures of the band, it was nothing to write home about at times.
In comparison to Rock Band it just ends up falling short.  At my house, we played it for a game night after I bought it in a store, but people never asked to play it at the next two game nights.  When I asked about it, I was told that Rock Band was more entertaining.

DLC links into game rather haphazardly.  I can only attest to this via the one DLC song that was available while I was playing the game.  DLC does not link into the campaign, which means these tracks can only be played in quickplay mode.  It would have been nice to see work done to implement them into the main storyline somehow.

The Beatles Rock Band is a good game.  It can be a fun game for the right audience, but in no way, shape or form, is it a great title.  That still sticks with Rock Band 2.  Casual players that have never got into Rock Band will love this game, as will hardcore beatles fans.  Others might want to look the other way.

If I was scoring it – 3 out of 5.

Vikki says:

I should start out by admitting that I am a Beatles fan. Big time. I grew up with Beatles music, was completely immersed in it, and when I found out about this title I just about lost bladder control with my excitement. As much as my tastes have changed as I’ve grown and as much as I enjoy the eclecticism of the GH and RB franchises, I’ve always been frustrated by setlists that, whilst expansive, had me playing the same dozen songs over and over again. And whilst we’ve been treated to act-specific titles before – Van Halen, Aerosmith etc. – well, those titles could hardly be called ‘treats’ for me. Personally speaking, I’d rather be skinning my ass with a cheese grater than playing nothing but Aerosmith songs. Harsh but very true, unfortunately.

But then the B:RB was announced and I was suddenly a happy girl. Trailers and sneak-peek setlists hit the web and I once again lost control of my bladder. The game looked slick and sexy and whilst I didn’t like all that I was hearing, I was prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt. After all, we’re talking about the Beatles, dude.

On the OhNineOhNineOhNine the game hit my doormat and I took the morning off work to put it through its paces. I needn’t have bothered. A few hours would’ve sufficed.

It is unequivocally and undeniably short. It is TOO short. And with a back catalogue as glorious as that of the Fab Four, there is absolutely no excuse for the game to be touting such a short play-through time. It’s frustrating – and painfully obvious – that the Higher-Ups held back a load of additional tracks to generate more cash by way of DLC, but even taking that into account, it still doesn’t excuse such a short set. We could’ve been treated to double the number of tracks and there still would’ve been a healthy choice of DLC to play with. Not cool, Harmonix/Apple Corps – not cool at all.

Shortness aside, what is offered up to play is spectacular. Along with the obvious choices – A Hard Day’s Night, Can’t Buy Me Love, Ticket to Ride, I Want To Hold Your Hand etc. – there’s a delicious selection of album tracks – Helter Skelter, And Your Bird Can Sing, Dear Prudence etc.- that are a delight for die-hard fans. But we’re missing classics (where is Yesterday? Eleanor Rigby? Hey Jude? Let It Be?) and I don’t think anyone’s yet satisfactorily explained why they’re missing, leaving us to surmise that they too will be dumped into the cash cow that is DLC.

That said, the graphics are beautiful, stylish and unobtrusive, and it’s wonderful to see how the guys change as their career progresses and the unique mannerisms we know so well captured so perfectly. I do agree, however, that Harmonix missed a trick by not including the option to run the original videos in the background, and the ‘studio exclusives’ were craptastic to say the least. The lack of DLC crossover doesn’t bother me; when I play B:RB I’m interested in the Beatles and pretty much nothing else, so the fact I can’t play Can’t Buy Me Love whilst RB 1 is fired up is irrelevant to me.

I think the problem here was the imbalance of hype over substance. Had the gears of the publicity machine not been so thoroughly up its own backside, and had press hyperbole and gamer anticipation not been greased so liberally, this game could’ve come out and knocked us dead. As it was, a great game has been sullied by over-expectation.

For me, it’s a 4 out of 5. But if it hadn’t have been the Beatles, I think it would’ve been an a-ok 3.

What is it?

The Powermat is an electronic appliance that you set on a surface and plug into the wall, then use to charge your small electronic devices. I spent a lot of time thinking about what to compare it to, and I think I’ve got it: it’s a power strip. Imagine a power strip that doesn’t have any holes in it, but is capable of charging up to four of your devices simultaneously without using their charging cables.

That’s right, it doesn’t use the charging cables. This sucker is wireless. Well, sort of. There’s the wire that plugs it into the wall, of course. And if you don’t pick up a custom receiver for each of your devices, you’re still going to need to connect the universal receiver (called a Powercube) that comes with the Mat to your non Powermat-enabled device, using one of the many adapter tips, to the device using a wire. The reasons you’d do it this way are pretty compelling, and I’ll get to that.

Powermat sent along two of their Powermat devices and three of their dedicated receivers for me to try out, so I’m going to take you through exactly what these are and why you might consider picking them up.

Powermat Home and Office Mat

This is the flagship Powermat device. It looks like a surfboard, really. Smaller than a surfboard, though, so maybe a Smurfboard. There’s a port on the back for the power cable and a USB port that you could use to charge devices that charge using a USB cable. I guess that’s another wire. There are three connection zones on top of the Powermat, each marked with a small circle in the center.

The Powermat comes with a universal receiver called a Powercube, which is a little white square with a wire on it with a mini USB port on the end. Also provided is a selection of adapter tips, which plug into that mini USB port and allow you to connect just about anything. The only things in my home I could find that wouldn’t connect was my DualShock 3 (despite its having a connection that fit) and my Game Boy Advance SP. I don’t know why the DualShock 3 won’t charge, but it’s hard to give them a hard time for not charging my GBA SP. I mean, my Sega Game Gear won’t connect either. No, I don’t have a Game Gear.

To charge a PSP, you find the adapter tip marked “Sony” and connect it to the wire on the Powercube, then connect it to the PSP’s power connection, then place the receiver on one of the three connection zones. You need to put this together in that order, or it won’t activate, because the system “handshakes” with the receiver when the physical connection is made between the receiver and mat. When you bring the receiver near the mat, you can feel a magnetic tug which guides it into the right position. If you don’t feel the tug, you’re not in the right area. If you have your eyes open and the lights are on, it’s pretty easy to get it in the right place. It might take a few seconds if it’s 2am and you can’t see because you’ve been playing PSP for three hours straight. Why did I feel so strange saying those last few sentences?

In addition to this magnetic pull, you can get audio and visual feedback from the Powermat, or you can turn those off by pressing buttons on the back. A high-tech sounding chirp, ascending when it starts to charge and descending when it’s finished, can be set to low or high volume or off. A white light, which comes from under the mat’s forward edge, can also be enabled or disabled. When I first charged my phone using the Powermat, it kept chirping and flashing at me every couple of minutes. I found that the issue was caused by my phone, which has given me trouble with power management for months. By turning off the phone before charging, I was able to fix the problem, but if I didn’t want to do that I could have turned off the sound and lights.

The Powercube is what I use to charge my PSP and cell phone. The Samsung adapter in the kit fits my Samsung Gravity, and the Sony one fits my PSP 2000. There’s an Apple adapter for iPods and iPhones (but don’t set these directly on your magnetic Powermat, folks) as well as several other tips to cover DSi, DS Lite, LG, and Micro USB. Just about anything else should be covered by the USB port on the back, or even the MiniUSB port that’s on the Powercube when you don’t put a tip on. It’s not a bad range of compatibility. The kit even includes a little case to hold some of your tips in (though they won’t all fit, so I put the ones I didn’t need back in the original box), which looks like the Powercube, and it even clings magnetically to the surface of the Powermat, which is cute.

Now, the real advantages of the Powermat, considering that without a dedicated receiver, you are using a wire to connect everything anyway, may not be immediately clear, so let me cover a few of those. First of all, I went from a power strip with six plugs in it to a single plug going straight into the wall. I have a pile of chargers that are no longer sucking power from the wall 24 hours a day regardless of whether something’s plugged in. When the Powermat finishes charging a device, it turns off and the device stops drawing power. This makes it far more efficient than any of the cheap power adapters that came with your device. The documentation claims that there are devices that will charge faster with the Powermat because of its more efficient power management, and I believe that. Using the Samsung charger that came with my phone, I tend to find my battery nearly dead by the end of the day. The first time I charged it with the Powermat, it charged in less time and then stayed almost fully charged all day, which caught me completely by surprise. It did the same thing every day thereafter.

The rest of the advantages are completely cosmetic. There’s no arguing that a Powermat looks a hell of a lot cooler than a power strip, which makes you happy to move that task from the floor to the night stand. The Powermat for Home and Office retails for $99, and comes with the Mat, AC adapter, the Powercube with eight adapter tips and tip storage box. You can find it here.

Powermat Portable Mat

The portable model of the Powermat functions the same way the home and office model does, including all the same components, such as the Powercube universal receiver. They key difference is the form factor. Rather than being a Smurfboard, it’s built more like a chain. Broken into three segments with 180º hinges between, the portable Mat folds into a small space, and can even be used while folded up if you’re only charging one device. It comes with a carrying case, complete with magnetic clasp, which holds both the Mat and its AC adapter, which is really very cool. It’s clear these people are very fond of magnets, and who isn’t? This model doesn’t look as nice as the other, but its portability, and the fact that it comes with a case, is nothing to dismiss.

The Powermat Portable Mat comes with everything the Home and Office model does, plus the carrying case as shown, for $99. You can find it here.

I give both Powermats, the Home and Office and Portable models, a four out of five. These are really fun, cool, fascinating technology. They work very well and it’s remarkable how much attention to detail went into not only their design, but even their packaging. The manuals go into great detail, quantifying the advantages of the efficient tech, particularly to the environment. Despite all this, The Powermat by itself, without any of the receivers that are sold separately, lacks the hook that the Powermat promises on in its ads. You can’t charge devices simply by setting them on the Mat, and you won’t be able to unless the manufacturers start including the receiver tech in their devices.

Powermat Receiver Back for Nintendo DSi and DS Lite

Now, you’re probably thinking the same thing I was thinking when I saw the first Powermat commercial on TV. It’s something along the lines of, “how the heck is this thing even possible?” Well, the way it works is with magnetism. I don’t understand the nuts and bolts of the technology, but the pad and the receiver communicate, determining the proper way to charge the attached device, and then do so.

Powermat will only work with Powermat enabled devices. That means they either need to be connected to the Powercube (which would be a Powermat enabled device) or you need to buy an additional receiver that is custom made for your device. Powermat makes these receivers for four flavors of Blackberry (with more on the way), two kinds of Nintendo DS, and three options for Apple iPod and iPhone, with a 3GS on the way. The Blackberry receivers are battery doors, while the DS receivers slide unobtrusively onto the back of your DS. Your Apple choices vary as well, as there’s a dock as well as cases that fit over an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Having a dedicated receiver on your device lets the Powermat reach its full potential. Leave it on your device all the time, and all you need to do is set it down on the Powermat to charge. Your device doesn’t need to be turned on, but if you want it to be, you can do that, which is great for those of us who tend to suspend our games by closing our DS. Of course, I expect if you did this, the battery would eventually fail, because once it reaches full charge, it won’t start charging again unless you lift it up and set it back down again.

The Receiver Back for DSi is great. It’s large enough to get a solid grip on the DSi without dramatically increasing the weight. If you have a soft case with some give to it, as I do, the system will still fit inside with the receiver on it. The receiver back doesn’t get in your way while you’re playing, either. Unfortunately, the wrap-around design on both the DS Lite and DSi receivers tends to obstruct some things. On the DS Lite, it makes it hard to get at the power switch for turning on and off. The DSi’s power button in on the face, but the volume control buttons become a little bit of a challenge to get at. It’s not really a problem as much as something to get used to, but the receiver is right up against the power switch on the DS Lite, which makes operating the switch a pain.

Powermat’s Receiver Backs for DSi and DS Lite are $29 each. I’ll give the DSi and DS Lite Receiver Backs a 4.5 out of 5. Combined with a Powermat, this is really neat technology that it genuinely convenient and, perhaps as important, it looks great doing it. Unfortunately, that obstruction to the power switch on the Lite model is really bothersome. You can find the Lite model here, and the DSi model here.

Powermat Receiver Dock for iPod and iPhone

Powermat’s Dock for iPod and iPhone is a small white square with the familiar iPod connector on top and an adjustable support to keep the device standing upright. This support is necessary because iPods have come in all shapes and sizes over the years, so one size certainly wouldn’t fit all. Be aware that this won’t work with iPod Shuffle. This effectively futureproofs the dock as well, unless of course Apple suddenly decides to discard their connector style as they did years ago when they abandoned the firewire port on iPods. It’s a very simple, lightweight design. As with other receivers, you connect your device to the dock and then set the dock onto the Powermat.

Powermat’s Receiver Dock for iPod and iPhone is $39. I rate the Receiver Dock a 4 out of 5. It works well and the sliding support is a very smart idea, but the price point of $39 seems a bit high when compared to the value of the DS Receivers, which seem physically like much more solid peripherals. You can find it here.

After playing through Dreamkiller, I spent a week trying to put together the review for the game.  It is not like I hated the game, or overly liked the game, but it was more about me trying to place the game in a proper context.  Some will enjoy it, and some will hate it, but it does carve out a niche of its own, but only if you look at it as a throwback title to the FPS games of 5-10 years ago.

In Dreamkiller, you play as brooding psychotherapist Alice Drake, who has a unique ability to treat her patients’ phobias by entering their subconscious state, and battle their demons on their own plane of existence.  Each mission is presented with a diagnosis briefing that explains the type of phobia the person suffers from, and it does give you a few clues as to what you might end up battling in the dream world.  The story is a bit flimsy at best, as it serves more of a purpose to shift the player from one case to the next, but it does grab on to some real fears that affect many a gamer.  I mean, starting the game with a person that has a strong fear of spiders, or arachnophobia, is a realistic fear that many suffer from.

As I said, the story is just a way to get players from one battle plane to the next, and Dreamkiller makes no bones about being a throwback FPS title.  After playing through the first title, I found myself thinking of playing through titles like Quake, or closer in comparison, Serious Sam.  You will be bombarded with enemies from all angles, and the enemies are relentless.  And enemies do show a sense of intelligence, by sneaking up behind you, or flanking you while you get focused on a single enemy.  You will normally have three to five different enemies per level, and they all have a unique design to each level.  I found the creatures to be interesting, if only having rather generic textures.  I mean, one level has you battling in an office setting, and you are attacked by spiders, but they are made of paperclips, a great way to work a common enemy into a new setting.

Each level allows Alice to carry a melee attack and a ranged attack weapon.  Up close, I was using her power to shoot flame from her hands, while the range weapons will change up from a chain gun type weapon, to others, like a shotgun typed weapon.  The weapons have fancy names, and look different than their real world counterparts, but they are at heart, things like a chain gun or a shotgun.   The weapons seem a bit underpowered at times, especially when you get into some rooms where you get completely overwhelmed by enemies.

Visually, Dreamkiller is nothing to write home about.  It carries a dark, and washed out color palette, which I assume is done to represent being in someone’s dreams, but it just looks dull and uninspired.  I found a lot of the creature design varied and unique, but they all used rather dull textures, removing any sense of their cool design features.  The drab visuals does allow the game to run extremely nice on most PC’s, which could have been what the developer was looking for, but it seems like the world could have been made to look so much better.

Dreamkiller is being marketed as a budget title on the PC, and as such, does suffer from some big bugs and glitches.  I had one desktop crash while playing, the first day for an hour and a half.  Luckily this did not happen again, but there were moments where it seemed like the AI got confused, or just stopped working.  I had one level where I could have sworn I finished the section, but the door never opened.  I reloaded the level, and it worked fine.  Dreamkiller could have used a bit more time in the lab tightening all the screws before it was released.  It also does not help that Dreamkiller is being released in the middle of a very crowded release schedule, and with so much out there, the title will probably get overlooked by a lot of people.

Dreamkiller is an unapologetic throwback to the shooters of several years ago.  It is fast and furious, and you will be tested at every point in the game.  It can be a lot of fun when things are firing on all cylinders, but with the average visuals and nagging bugs, your frustration level will rise.  At the end of the day, Dreamkiller just plays out as an average shooter, and therefore, gets a 2.5 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.

But that’s not to say that there’s no good games among all the $1 farting apps and weird ports of Pac-Man.

For more than a few weeks I’ve been playing a pre-release review copy of bitFLIP. The fact that I have been coming back to it every couple days – another iPhone puzzle game in an endless sea of iPhone puzzle games – means I like what I see.

bitFLIP is more or less an amped up Panel de Pon. You have a playfield with 25 circular “BITS” in multiple colors and shape icons. You have to swipe with your finger to line up three in a row, using a two-BIT cursor that should look familiar to Tetris Attack players. When three or more BITS line up, they pop into points. More BITS fall down onto the grid, creating stacks that must be cleared out before they get too high. Depending on your game mode, you can play for three minutes or you can run an endless game that can last for weeks and generate a truly ludicrous high score (which is mainly what I have been doing.)

Rather than just cloning Panel de Pon, Chicago-based developer Metamoorephosis Games has added tweaks and bonuses that update the classic video game puzzler concept. The most obvious twist is that you can flip the BITS as well as swap them. Each BIT is two-sided, maintaining specific color pairs. For example, if you flip an orange BIT, it turns blue. Swapping uses a sliding motion on the touchscreen while flipping requires a quick double-tap on the cursor. Your path to clear the grid will have you sliding and tapping like nuts… and happily, the game keeps pace with you. bitFLIP doggedly animates that cursor flying around to whatever you touch, in the order in which you touch it, and I have never seen it skip or take shortcuts when I hit a mad tapping spree.

Black BITS will occasionally appear that are easily cleared out with a tap. Most of these have distinctive icons, but some come with an obnoxiously invasive TAP ME! inscribed on them. Clearing out black circles fills up a blue meter at the top of the screen. When that meter is ready, you tap it to activate a power-up. My favorite power-up is Bubble Pop, which spins random BITS for you to eliminate with a single tap.

Other power-ups initiate an impressive rendering trick by tilting the entire grid to one side in 3D space. Generally these bonuses add a little gravity to the mix, allowing BITS to fall in one direction and clear themselves out should three or more happen to line up. But I still like Bubble Pop way better. The tilt scenes are the only time when I felt like the game would occasionally mis-read my taps… and I imagine that’s largely due to the tappable screen size getting necessarily smaller as the board tilts backward. And my huge fingers.

As the game progresses, it adds in more color combinations. Then, to make things really tricky, you start getting BITS in the same color but with different matchable shapes. Now you’ll find that you’ll have plenty of unmatched BITS left over as you clear the grid, and suddenly the threat of the stacks getting too high becomes worryingly real. You can adjust the difficulty in the settings menu, and you can even start with a 7×7 grid!

Incidentally, there is a separate icon that shows up onscreen that helpfully and obviously illustrates when you have a dangerously tall stack. You do not have to rely on counting the layers of circles in the grid itself.

At times, I found it unclear what was going on in terms of advancement through the levels. Like, why would one session let me clear out the grid while another kept it continually filled? In the end, it hardly matters. But I did feel some confusion over specifics as I picked through the various modes.

The only real sticking point with the gameplay is that, power-ups aside, bitFLIP does not automatically clear out matching lines when they occur naturally as the grid fills itself. This never fails to throw me off because I instinctively expect it to do that, based on a lifetime of playing similar puzzle games.

One very hip addition is an Achievements/Trophies system that bitFLIP calls iComplishments. Make one hundred matches and a cute iComplishment message appears onscreen. Plus, you get a bonus to the current game’s score! Unlike the way Achievements are handled on the 360 and PS3, many of these iComps can be triggered every time you meet the requirements. This gives iComplishments an even greater purpose than the usual Gamerscore saber-rattling, because they can be used to repeatedly buff your score. The little “TM” behind the iComplishments logo tells me the developer has plans to include the concept in other releases. It would be nice to be able to publish an iComp announcement to Facebook.

The iComplishment list even has a few hidden items, just like on the consoles. The whole thing suggests that Metamoorephosis has roots in the modern gaming scene… and that they aren’t just an iPhone Flash-porting house with no gaming experience, out to crap up the Store with Sudoku clones for grandmothers.

Something I absolutely must point out is the crazy-cool spinning effect that signals a transition to a new challenge threshold. The screen will tell you that you’re graduating from level 2-1 to 2-2 or whatever, and the entire grid will quickly rotate 360 degrees several times. At first I just sat back, enjoyed the spin, and figured this was just a fancy-pants visual into a new level. But then I realized that the board is still playable during the few seconds of the spin. Tapping and sliding is still in effect! So don’t pass this opportunity to keep the score climbing! I’m fairly dazzled by this.

Speaking of the visuals, bitFLIP’s backgrounds remind me a lot of indie darling Everyday Shooter. In a good way. It’s a slick retro look that oscillates from 8-bit to vector lines and back again. (Oddly, the title screen eschews this style for a paint splotchy vibe that doesn’t match up with the rest of the game. I also do not like the barebones lower-case text on the menu buttons, which looks like my first HyperCard creation back in the early 1990s.)

To go along with the imagery is a surprisingly deep set of mellow techno tracks by musician Robert Clouth. bitFLIP – again, as in games such as Everyday Shooter and Flower – adds in little game noises that complement whatever music is playing.

In the end, what I really like about bitFLIP is how it evolves a familiar concept. Just because a game is simple enough to fit on an SNES cart, that doesn’t mean it has to look like it fell out of a time warp. The soundtrack, gameplay visuals and iComplishments prove that bitFLIP is far from a no-frills iPhone puzzle game. I give it a 4 out of 5… and just for framing’s sake since I know we don’t offer a ton of iPhone reviews around here, I’d place Metal Gear Solid Touch for iPhone at a 2, Tower Bloxx Deluxe 3D at 3, and We Love Katamari at 3.5.

For well-choreographed, inventive puzzle action, but with occasional mode confusion and some bad font choices… bitFLIP on iPhone gets 4 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.

bitFLIP was released October 2009 on iPhone App Store. The game is 36 MB and currently sells for $3. This 1.0 review used an iPhone 3GS.

Check out the iPhone and other game reviews at Test Freaks.

Defense Grid: The Awakening Review (Xbox 360 Arcade)

It seems like Tower Defense games are all the rage these days, and it is hard to separate one game from the next, unless you get a solid hook for your game.  Defense Grid: The Awakening looks to change things up a bit by giving you a vast arsenal to defend your base, while tweaking the formula and location for a fun experience.

In Defense Grid: The Awakening, you are tasked with protecting power orbs which are placed at the end of a winding path.  Along the path, you have several spots where you can set up defenses to take out the incoming enemy, which looks to be robotic in nature.  One has to wonder why no one has asked a civil engineer to disconnect the orbs central location from the main road into your base, but that is not your concern.  You just need to make sure to kill the incoming enemies.

Each level is a new layout, complete with elevation and line of sight issues, and selecting the proper defense mechanisms for each level can be a tricky proposition.  And you have plenty of weapons at your disposal to protect your base.  There are gun towers, flamethrower towers, stasis towers and so much more.  Half of the fun is analyzing the map and figuring out the best pattern of defenses to protect your base.

Defense Grid starts off fairly simple, and I finished the first few levels without losing a single orb.  I felt like the master of my own domain, until I started to get into new sets of enemies, and slowly but surely, the difficulty ramps up, sucking you in to the point where you are frantically constructing and tearing down defenses.  The game is crafty with its ramped up learning curve, and keeps you pushing to finish one more level.

With 20 maps available, and the story mode along taking up several hours of play time, you will have your hands full with Defense Grid: The Awakening.  Add in somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred or so challenges, you are sure to get your 800 MS Points worth out of the title.

I came into Defense Grid: The Awakening rather new to the whole Tower Defense genre, and found it to be highly addictive and enjoyable.  If you have played a lot of titles in this genre, you might decide to skip it, but that would be a shame, as there is a lot of polish and enjoyment to be found in this game.  Defense Grid: The Awakening gets 4 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.
Check out Defense Grid: The Awakening and other Xbox Live Arcade reviews at Test Freaks.

Since its inception, the Monkey Island series garnered cult classic status through its pop culture poking, satire of adventure games, and written-while-intoxicated-on-grog storylines. Mixed into this are secrets, curses, pirates, ghosts, and a dash of Caribbean voodoo. And for a garnish, a sprinkling of humor is added that is just a shade below PG-13. This time Telltale Games is the head chef and has managed to brew up a delicious concoction.

As a continuation to their episodic expedition, this third entry by Telltale truly feels like a refinement of their previously devised recipe. While it does feel like a high-class presentation, it carries with it the same stigma as those entrees: sophisticated, yet short. The 3D, cartoon-like visuals were virtually flawless until the ending sequences; and, the voice acting finally matched their on-screen counterparts. The previous two outings did have short-comings in both those areas with graphical glitches, hissy audio for the vocal tracks, and some character voices that were like rubbing a cheese grater on one’s face.

Continuing the plot set forth, we now find our heroes trapped in the belly of a large sea-faring beast while trying to track down the La Esponja Grande. As this episode’s story plays out, it seems that Telltale had some of the original essence found in the earlier Monkey Island titles stashed away in their cupboard, and stirred in a few droplets to truly capture that original Monkey Island taste. Complete with throwbacks to the previous games in the series; the same running gags; and, even a ‘fight’ sequence that requires you to learn ‘moves’ from other characters; Lair of the Leviathan captures the Monkey Island magic.

Unfortunately, as fabulous as the meal may be, the feeling of brevity leaves the player yearning for more. Maybe the puzzles are easier. Maybe the player has accustomed to the odd-ball thinking for the solutions. Maybe it’s the revisiting of a trite adventure game lengthening puzzle. Maybe it’s the smaller playing world. Whatever the reason, the play time felt more like a large appetizer than a full dish. While it may have been shorter, the quality of the time is much preferred over a long, bland and repetitious.

At the end of the day, Telltale can wipe the sweat from their brow, toss the towel on their shoulder, and know that their hard work has pleased the players. Now that their secret recipe has been carefully tweaked, here’s hoping that at the next visit, the same dish is served in a slightly larger portion.

Check out Tales of Monkey Island Episode 3: The Lair of the Leviathan and other PC reviews at Test Freaks.

The thing that bothers me the most about video games today is that most of the time the parts you want to play are in the cut scenes. Sure they look good, but damn-it I want to play the game not watch it! I am tired of putting down my controller to watch a cool action scene that I have no control over whatsoever. So why am I complaining? Because Uncharted 2 gets as close to letting you play those over the top moments as any game ever has. It blends a good story with some amazing over the top action, which you actually get to play through!

Graphics

The best way I can describe the Graphics in Uncharted 2 is to say…damn! This is an awesome looking game. The level of polish put into this is extraordinary. It doesn’t raise the bar in terms of detail, but it just does every graphic nuance right. The lighting is spot on, textures are great, character models are clean, and the art direction is top notch. I did run into a few issues here and there. In the last 2 chapters of the game whole buildings would disappear while I was climbing in them. It only happened a few times so hopefully this is not a common bug. Other then that there is not much you can criticize this game for when it comes to visuals. It’s bright and colorful with a brilliant art direction. Probably the best overall mix of visuals and art design since Bioshock.

Story

When you have a game like Uncharted you must have a good story, and for the most part it delivers. The narrative is woven into the game very nicely with cinematics that are very entertaining, and don’t wear out there welcome. Too many games have over thought out movies that drag on forever while you cry out in agony…JUST LET ME PLAY THE FREAKING GAME ALREADY! Uncharted 2’s cinematics are fun and broken up so that they never feel long or winded.

While the story is nice and moves you along briskly, there are some issues I have with it. The first 3 chapters of the game are fairly boring when compared to the rest of the game. At first you might be a little disappointed because you thought this was fast paced game. Luckily there are over 20 chapters to the game, and about 90% of them are really well paced and loads of fun. The game is not very long, I finished in about 9 hours, but I guess its not that short either. It seems about the perfect length for this type of game.

If I had to nit pick I would say that there are a few moments in the game that have plot holes, but being a video game you have to suspend disbelief a little, even though it can be hard sometimes. I also thought the ending could have been better. The game does a great job of building up the story and suspense of what is going to happen, but once you get to the end I felt like it didn’t live up to the rest of the game. It was a better ending then a lot of games I have played, but I just thought such a good game deserved a great  ending, but in reality we get a predictable ending with a fairly boring boss fight.

Gameplay

To be honest I am not much of a fan when it comes to this type of game. I have hated every Tomb Raider game which I have played, and I only played a small portion of the first Uncharted. I liked the first game, but the controls were not up to snuff so I just could not continue on. Fortunately there is no such issue when it comes to Uncharted 2. Gunplay has improved quite a bit, which now makes the fight segments much more enjoyable. There are still some issues with the cover system and overall controls, but they are not deal breakers. Just be prepared to die a few times because the controls would not let you take cover.

The one thing that shocked me was how challenging this game could be at times, even when set on Normal difficulty. The A.I. in the game really tries to kick your ass. Staying in cover for too long is never a good idea since the enemy is really adept at putting grenades at your feet. They will also flank you quite effectively if you don’t keep moving and adapting. This fast paced gameplay really makes the game much better, as in the first game I found the firefights way to easy. This time around you actually feel as if you are in real danger all the time.

The second part of the gameplay dynamic in Uncharted is the platforming. Why we love to climb ledges and overhangs is something I will never understand. But we like it, and Uncharted does it with gusto. If you played Assassins Creed then Uncharted 2 will feel very familiar. The climbing and jumping feels very similar. Uncharted 2 is not quite as smooth as AC, but it has a little more weight to it, more of a feeling of peril. The only thing that bothered me about the platforming was that it felt rather easy. In previous games similar to this there were more challenging elements to the platforming. Don’t get me wrong, it was a lot of fun, but it just lacked any kind of challenge. Overall the gameplay in Uncharted 2 is great. The cover system could have used some more work, but its still better then many other games.

Multiplayer

The only part of Uncharted 2 that did not hook me was the Multiplayer. While the technical side of the MP is well done, I just never found myself having much fun playing it. The controls just did not lend themselves online play and there were no original game types that made me want to stay around and play more. I am sure that many people will like the online in this game, its definitely not bad by any means. I just personally found it to be boring. I would encourage another member of our writing team to do a full review of the Multiplayer component, as I just could not get into it enough.

Conclusion

Uncharted 2 is am amazing game no doubt. It takes a genre that I never enjoyed and nails it in almost every area. If you own a PS3 this game is a must have. Even though I found the Multiplayer to be a waste of time I still think the single player campaign is worth the price of admission alone.

Uncharted 2, Among Thieves gets 4.5 out of 5