Well, it’s been a bit, but I’m back again with a crap-ton of reviews of games for your favorite consoles. We’ve got games based on kids’ movies, and, of course, zombies. Strap yourselves in, friends, we’ve got a lot to cover as Game On! makes it official move from Fridays to Saturdays with this week’s column. Let’s dig in…
NOT-SO-BIG BULLY
The first of our two movie licensed games this week is THE ANT BULLY for PS2, Gamecube and Game Boy Advance, based on the film of the same name (ironically enough). Here you take on the role of Lucas “The Destroyerâ€, a kid who’s been taking out anthills with a garden hose, only to have been shrunk down to ant-size and taught a lesson by the very antennae-bearing creatures he sought to wash out of his backyard. Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it?
Gameplay consists of taking Lucas through his various tasks around the colony; picking up larvae, stopping parasite bugs and the like. The main game area is a hub-based world where Lucas travels back and forth to different members of the colony as they give him tasks to complete. Completing each one brings him closer to becoming an ant (as part of the colony) and redeeming himself, and thereby giving them reason to release him back to normal size.
Sadly, when completing the tasks, the control fluctuates from simplistic to maddening. While the combat is fairly easy to complete with players mashing on the attack button to swat critters off the legs of caterpillars or to shoot webbing at intruders, the roll evade is unnecessarily placed, especially considering a jump button should have been included. As it stands, if Lucas wants to jump, you just press the controller in the direction of the cliff’s edge (or raised platform) and he climbs or hurls himself appropriately…though usually, it takes a few tries to get him to figure out that’s what he’s supposed to be doing. Not to mention the animation jump from falling to climbing is a bit jarring to watch.Still, the gameplay is passable, and tasks are short to complete once one gets the hang of things. The real crime, however, is that you really won’t be influenced enough to see these tasks through to the end. The missions can get a bit repetitive, and repeating missions with sloppy controls on hinder the experience. Throw on top of that a mishmash of sloppy sound effects and voice work and you’ve got a slapdash tie-in.
It’s not all bad, and what does work works well, but for the most part, unless you were crazy in love with the film, the game won’t offer much excitement for you or your little one to play through. The control gets grating, the sound (misplaced or even lack of) gets annoying, and there’s just not enough to warrant even on play through, let alone multiple.
One Gamer’s Opinion:
WERE YOU BORN IN A BARN?
Thankfully, the same cannot be said for BARNYARD, out now also for PS2, Gamecube and GBA, and also based on its titular movie. This time around you’re taking on the role of a new cow (male or female, though, for some odd reason, they both shoot milk…don’t ask) to the barnyard where you’re set loose to wreak havoc, earn some coin, or even design your own nightclub. What’s even more odd is that it’s actually loads of fun. Yeah, I’m serious.
The gameplay here centers around a free roaming “do anything†aesthetic, much like SIMPSONS: HIT AND RUN or even, dare we say, GTA. You can roam the barnyard completing tasks and collecting items, or just run around doing various side missions like making an apple pie or competing in mini games like gopher golf or a weird slot machine coin dash.
The control is fairly straight forward, with a kick move to break open boxes and bails of hay to find items and coins, which can be traded just about anywhere in the barnyard for anything else. Coins are mainly used for sprucing up the main barn, which at night is turned into a Nightclub, complete with (eventually) a jukebox and dance floor, snooker table and more. This opens up even more mini games, and the gameplay flows from matching items for recipes for “Mocktails†to attacking critters round the farm by squirting milk at them…which only is allowed once you’re disguised with sunglasses. Yeah, I don’t get it either, but hey, it’s fun.
The game isn’t perfect, but it certainly does a good job at what it does. It makes the license it’s based on fun and deep (surprisingly deep, actually…there’s a crap load to do around the farm and surrounding countryside) and the rewards for playing are just as fun as the characters. It’d be nice if there was a bit more voice work, however. Even though most of the actors from the film voice their characters, they only say about two or three lines each, which are repeated ad nauseum. The main story is told mostly through text. And while the graphics are decent and represent the movie well, they’re starting to show this generation’s age.
As movie licenses go, you could do worse. As it stands, the game play is fun, it’s not really irritating control-wise, and there’s literally so much to do that one would be seriously tasked to get a 100% completion in the game. It’s fun, it’s frivolous, and actually…it’s pretty funny too. Not bad at all for a game that defies the biological make up of male cows.
One Gamer’s Opinion:
LET SLIP THE HOUNDS OF WAR
On the next-gen side of things, things are decidedly more violent. In CHROMEHOUNDS, out now for Xbox 360, in a distopian not-too-distant alternate future, wars are waged with gigantic mechs and battles play out across barren lands between warring countries aligned with factions each out for the advancement of their own personal ideal of peace. Kind of sound familiar…all but that “gigantic mechs†part.
Players can select between six different hound types; scout, defender, soldier, heavy gunner, commander and sniper, and the single player campaign takes you through a series of story missions for each type. Each hound is fully customizable, and depending on how well you do with each mission determines what kind of upgrades you get. The upgrades and customization are probably the best part of the game, as you can literally make just about any type of mech formation you desire. Want a spindly scout with six legs that can quickly evade fire? Sure. Need a heavy gunner with a badass array of cannons and missile launchers? Check. Just keep the weight restrictions and slot loadout limitations in check and you’re good to go.
Sadly, the single player missions tend to be a bit stale as far as story goes. That’s ok, though, as they’re really there more as an elaborate “training mode†to set you up for the real meat and potatoes of the game: online combat. Here you choose which country you’ll align yourself with (!) and tackle battles online, setting up which hound type you’ll ideally wish to battle as.
The online game sort of plays like a giant robot version of GHSOT RECON, and is really where the game shines. With the customization combined with the unique and diverse online options offered here, there’s some serious addictive nature happening with this title. Sadly, for the best parts, you still have to play through the single player, but there are a variety of missions online that offer even more bits and pieces to customize with as well.Sure, it’s not a game that everyone will like. In fact, most with feel that the game takes a slow, plodding feel as the hounds don’t really move fast, even the quick ones, and the missions tend to take a good God Damned long time to complete. And while the mechs themselves look sweet and shiny, and the explosions are all sorts of buckets of cool, the backgrounds are bland and dull, though honestly, that’s not really that big a deal after all.
For customization nuts and the mecha freaks alike, this is a good starting point for what’s possible on next-gen. Combine this with a next-gen version of STEEL BATALLION (complete with a new 40-button controller) and the fanboys will be changing their shorts round the clock. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.
One Gamer’s Opinion:
BAD MOON RISING
For anyone who knows me, they know that I love me some zombies. Zombie movies, zombie games…hell, I’ve been told more often than I can count like that I look like Simon Pegg (of SHAUN OF THE DEAD fame):
Regardless, there’s nothing I love more than a good zombie film. Well, unless it’s a good zombie GAME. And DEAD RISING, out now for the Xbox 360 is just that. Taking a cue from DAWN OF THE DEAD (though not authorized, sanctioned or intentionally ripping of George A. Romero, as the disclaimer on the cover would have you believe) drops you into a mall during an outbreak of undead shoppers and crazed psychopaths all out for their own ultimate survival. As Frank West, photojournalist, you have 72 hours to cover the story and make it out alive, just about everything at hand can be used to get make sure you make it out alive, making for some really fun gameplay.At first glance, one could simply cast off this game as STATE OF EMERGENCY with zombies. And sure, I can see that, but let me make a distinction. Where as that game was a full-scale riot, full of chaos and clunky combat and missions that were a chore, this one has you free to do just about whatever you choose within the mall. Beating down the undead, following leads on your story, or just rescuing all the hapless survivors stuck in the same situation as you are all the orders of the day, though none are necessary for the completion of the game (though some help with the better endings).
Probably the main appeal of this title is the fact that just about anything Frank can get his hands on can be used as a weapon. Potted plants, park benches, and signs as well as billy clubs, baseball bats and even katanas and guns are all used to bring down the walking dead. As Frank progresses through the mall, scoops will come up from Otis, one of the security guards in the mall, who’s watching over the mall on it’s close-circuit camera system. He’ll let you know of survivors in trouble, or of weird occurrences that you should check out. Snapping pictures of survivors, or getting folks to follow you as you lead them to safety gain you Prestige Points. Build up of these points levels Frank up and allows him to have more health, learn new attacks, and even expands his item slots, allowing for him to carry even more weapons of zombie destruction.
The main story, however, is built around the outbreak and what caused it. As it stands, these are the parts of the game that truly run on the 72 hour time limit. Making sure Frank is in the right place at the right time can be a trouble, and if you miss part of the story, the rest may be lost forever, causing gamers to restart. While this may be annoying (especially considering the game only utilizes one save slot) choosing “save and quit†may be beneficial if this occurs, as you can carry over your stats from your last playthrough to the next game. So, if you miss a story mission and wish to start over from the beginning, and you happened to be at level 15 when you stopped, you’ll begin again at level 15, with all the stats you ended with. It’s not much, but it helps. Also helpful is a waypoint marker, to guide you to your eventual destination for each story “case†or scoop that comes along.
Getting survivors to follow you can be annoying, though, and keeping them alive is even more difficult. Most can be handed weapons, which will allow them to take care of themselves for the most part, but their AI isn’t the best, and they will often call to Frank for help, or even get stuck behind immovable objects, causing you to double back to get them to follow. Many can be picked up and carried, however, which makes for an easy trip, and the zombies tend to not grab you when you’re carting around an injured survivor. Even when holding someone’s hand (which is also possible for a few) they tend to let go easy and get eaten…carrying is the only sure way to have them survive, so it should have been an option for each person you come across, but sadly it is not. Making things even more difficult, though, are not the zombies themselves but the psychopaths; humans who have been driven crazy by the outbreak of the undead, and are only looking out for their own survival. Usually barricaded inside a store with items that you need or surrounded by weapons, you must take these folks out in order to get many survivors save passage to the end of the game.
If you manage to survive the 72 hours yourself, you’ll unlock Overtime mode, which adds another day to your clock and even more story to the main game. Beat this with the best ending and there’s Infinity Mode. Here, it’s the ultimate in survival, as the health items and weapons have been randomized around the mall and you have constantly depleting health as you try to see just how long you can survive the onslaught of the unholy walking legions.
It’s no surprise here that I love this game. Combat and control is fantastic, the audio and cut scenes are gorgeous, and there are literally hundreds of zombies on screen at one time with nary a hiccup or slowdown (unless you happen to be wielding a rather large weapon at a big group of them). While the AI of the folks you’re trying to rescue is a bit on the stupid side, it’s a total blast to smash your way through hordes of the rotting reanimated. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
One Gamer’s Opinion:
Well, that’s all I can stand this week, kids. I was going to review SUPER DRAGOIN BALL Z and FINAL FANTASY VII: DIRGE OF CEREBUS, but I may need more time with them (and a bit more sleep). See you next week (I swear!) with those and more. Don’t forget, we’re switching to Saturdays now. Til then… Game On!
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