Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Iron Man: Flight Test (PC) - Review


That's right, GameStache!! is the type of game blog that bothers to review weird little flash games from Marvel Kids. Is this going to be a problem for anyone?

Iron Man: Flight Test is a 2D side-scrolling shooter flash game that's free from Marvel. The graphics are about as pleasant as most DS games, and Iron Man himself looks pretty nice. I say "side-scrolling" but except for the endless rock outcroppings in the background, there's not a great sense of movement (besides the fact that enemies are coming towards you). The backgrounds don't vary much, giving the sense of a Hanna-Barbara cartoon where the same objects repeat ad infinitum.

Little robot doohickeys fly at you, and you shoot them down with your repulsor blasts. You can aim in every direction via the mouse, though Iron Man looks a little wonky when he rotates his arm around to shoot behind him (yup, enemies attack from the rear as well) without even turning his head. Sophisticated armor of tomorrow or not, that little move would twist his shoulder out of its socket.

The game claims to have 10 levels, but there's no change from one level to another, except an increase in bad guys. There's no level bosses or anything, and in fact there's not even a pause, just a little pop-up that says "Level 6" or whatever. The bad guys mostly fly around and try to collide with you, though as you progress through the game some will shoot lasers. You have a fairly generous life bar, and there's so many life power-ups, you'll never really feel like you're in any danger.

That is, until the end. After taking on wave after wave of brainless slow-moving droids, you'll be wholly unprepared for the giant robot that is the final (and only) boss. Three times your size, a massive life bar, and with only one weak spot, you'll very likely be caught so off-guard you'll just die. If only the whole game had been this challenging, it might be a more engrossing experience.

Still, for a free flash game, especially one coinciding with a movie release, it's fairly well-done and occasionally entertaining. Why bother reading my review when you could simply play it yourself?

Grade: C+

Monday, March 31, 2008

The Lost Crown (PC) - Review


New review posted on AdventureGamers.com

As a work of art created by a single dedicated developer, it's easy to be mightily impressed by this game, but as a product competing for your entertainment dollar, it doesn’t matter if it was created by one person or a hundred. Is the game fun or isn’t it?
Continue reading my review for The Lost Crown...

Friday, March 21, 2008

Heavenly Sword (PS3) - Review


Heavenly Sword
Developed by
Ninja Theory
Published by SCEE
Released September 2007
For PS3

Six months ago, you couldn't find much love out there for the PlayStation 3. Between the high price, the lingering resentment over Sony's arrogant pre-release marketing, the uncertain future of the Blu-Ray format, and the lack of high quality first party titles, bashing on the PS3 was the en vogue thing to do. Sony loyalists awaited Heavenly Sword with a high level of anticipation, hoping it would be the system's saving grace and prove the PS3 could offer a unique experience in an already crowded marketplace. Perhaps it was that same anticipation that caused a certain level of backlash against Heavenly Sword. It's too short, it's just God of War-lite, it's boring, there's too many cutscenes, etc. In the objective light of March 2008, I'm here to offer another point of view: Heavenly Sword is an absolute blast.

A clan of warriors has long guarded a massive blade known as the Heavenly Sword. None but a God could wield it without sacrificing his life to its powers. A prophecy foretold of the day when a man would be born who was strong enough to reclaim it and bring peace to all the lands. Nariko was supposed to be that man. She was still raised a warrior, but none in the clan could hide their disappointment, and many believed Nariko would bring about their doom. But when a warmonger named King Bohan attacks looking to steal the Heavenly Sword for his trophy room, it will fall on Nariko to take the Sword away and, in time, use it herself to stand against him and his armies.


Heavenly Sword does, in fact, control very similarly to God of War. Nariko tears through hordes of enemies, spinning, jumping, and slashing them to pieces. You can vary your stance via the shoulder buttons from normal to strong to long range, with each one color-coded to show you which stance you must be in to block an enemy's attack. There are also button-prompt action sequences (e.g. Nariko running up the side of a cliff or putting the finishing touch on a boss). Heavenly Sword isn't the first game to borrow from the God of War playbook, but by maintaining a high level of action and excitement, it pushes those comparisons to the back of your mind while you let loose and have fun.


The biggest gameplay addition is in the distance attack levels. Nariko has an adopted sister named Kai, and though Kai has the mentality of a small child, she's an expert with a crossbow (or "twing twang" as she calls it). Using the Sixaxis motion controls, you can slow down time after each shot, zoom in on the arrow's perspective (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves style) and physically steer the arrow to its target. It takes a few tries to get used to it, but soon becomes instinctual. Anyone who's ever bowled has felt the urge to lean left or right as if you could somehow affect the ball's trajectory, but in Heavenly Sword, "body english" actually works.

But Kai's not the only one with the supernatural ability to steer projectiles mid-flight. In a few sequences, Nariko has to fire a giant cannon at Bohan's invading army, and the cannon balls can also be steered where you need them to go. If you have a big enough battlefield, you can even pick up discarded objects--like swords, shields, or dead soldiers--at any time and throw them at your opponents. It's not an easy shot, but tossing a dude into another dude, when it works, is pretty damn sweet. Finally, there are a few "puzzles" that involve tossing shields at markers so they bounce off each other, Captain America-style, that require a little Sixaxis leaning to pull off.


The plot itself may not pave any new ground as far as revenge-driven epics go, but the story is still a large part of the game's appeal. There are quite a few cutscenes, after all. But the graphics are so sharp, and the voice acting so well-done, that the cutscenes add much more to the gameplay than they detract. A particular boss fight comes to mind (the second time you face Flying Fox) as being a much more viscerally satisfying experience because of the masterful acting and storytelling than it otherwise would've been. They've somehow managed make the characters look hyper-detailed and expressive while still avoiding any Uncanny Valley creepiness. I'd go as far as to say I don't think I've ever seen more effective CG character models outside a Pixar movie.

At around 5 - 6 hours of gameplay, Heavenly Sword is a very short game. And yes, in many ways, it is essentially God of War-lite. But until God of War 3 comes out, this is the best current generation game in the GOW play style you're going to find (sorry Conan and Shrek the Third). With amazing graphics and acting, shockingly fun uses for the Sixaxis controller, and tried-and-true hack-and-slash gameplay, Heavenly Sword is one of the best exclusive titles for the PS3 and is well-worth playing for any action game fan.

Grade: A-

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Wii) - Review


Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
Developed by Capcom
Published by Capcom
Released October 2007
For Wii

Batten down the hatches! Hoist the main sails! Grab that golden helicopter monkey and ring him like a bell! There's puzzles to be solved and treasure chests to be raided in Capcom's Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure for the Nintendo Wii. You play as Zack, a mute and excitable young boy who dreams of being a pirate. Your best friend is Wiki, the aforementioned magical monkey. As the newest member of pirate crew the Sea Rabbits, you're being escorted by pilot and all around cool guy Johnny Style to your new hideout, when suddenly you're knocked out of the sky by Captain Rose and the Rose Rock Pirates and crash land on an island.

There you discover the golden talking head of the legendary Captain Barbaros, who promises he'll lead you to the famous Treasure Island and give you his flying pirate ship if you can find and restore all the missing parts of his body. For whatever reason, he was transformed into treasure and hidden in over a dozen well-guarded chests. The only way to recover these priceless chunks of his body is to solve lots and lots of puzzles in a variety of locations, like a jungle, a haunted mansion, and of course the obligatory fire world and ice world.


Though many have called Zack & Wiki an adventure game, it's almost purely a puzzle game. With almost no dialogue, and very little story, it owes more to Coktel Vision's Gobliiins series than it does to King's Quest or the Secret of Monkey Island. Each level is a large screen, usually with a clearly visible chest blocked by some obstacle like a monster or a locked door. From there, various objects in your environment can be manipulated, usually with some waggling of the Wiimote. For instance if you want to drop a vase on a bad guy's head, you don't just pick up the vase, click it on the hole in the floor, and watch it happen. You pick up the vase, click it on the hole in the floor, then turn the Wiimote on its side and "drop" it at the right time. You can also open doors, tip over beakers, saw down trees, and even swing a tennis racket at an oncoming fireball.

But it's Wiki who proves to be your most valuable tool. As your magical flying monkey bell, you just need to grab him by the tail and ring him near an animal (or even one of Captain Rose's goons) and a special transformation will be triggered. A frog turns into a bomb, a bat into an umbrella, and so on. Virtually every living thing you find can be turned into some sort of useful tool. They don't necessarily make logical sense, but that's the method to Zack & Wiki's madness. Only by implementing the strangest circumlocutions of reasoning can you do anything resembling planning ahead, and most levels will consist of you clicking on everything you can find until, near the end, you go "Oh, I get it, if I put the centipede into the Frankenstein machine, he'll turn into a flavored soda! Then I can make an invisibility potion."


As the game progresses, the reasoning doesn't get too much more complex, but the levels get longer, and the things that can kill you pop up more frequently. After each death, you can either restart from the beginning for free, or revive from a few moments before the fatal event occurred by spending a platinum ticket. Both platinum tickets and oracle dolls (for buying in-level hints) are for sale back at the hideout, using coins found during play. If you'd rather not replay the same 10 or 15 minutes over and over again, stock up on those platinum tickets. The oracle dolls may be useful on occasion, but the first time you get a hint like "You need to get the treasure chest from the dragon" (yes, thank you, I knew that) you'll want to throw the oracle dolls in the trash and use an online FAQ instead.

Wiki may have his limitations (though he's a flying monkey, he'll never fetch you anything out of reach nor grab your arms and fly you from danger), but two heads are still better than one. This is a great game to play with a friend or spouse. Though only one person can steer Zack at a time, another set of eyes can be invaluable for spotting puzzle solutions. While you're getting frustrated trying to catch a mole so you can whack him with a hammer, your clear-headed partner may notice a puzzle-based workaround.


The hard part may be convincing said friend or spouse to play with you in the first place, considering the game's aesthetic. Everything, from Wiki's inane musings to Zack's boyish appearance and perpetual candy bar munching, screams this is a game for children. Even the name itself is about as kiddie as they come. Of course, the puzzles are way too difficult for children (and, in parts, most adults), which is the same dichotomy that killed Xbox 360's super-cute and super-complicated sim Viva Pinata. So if adults find it cloying and kids can't make it past level two, who is this game for anyway? Kidults, of course! Grown-ups who enjoy doing "youthful" things. If you're over 21, childless, and own a Wii, you probably are one. It's okay, you're among friends here.

If you enjoy puzzles, and especially bizarre ones, this is the game for you. Even when you think you've clicked on everything and you're calling upon a FAQ for the tenth time, you'll read the solution and think, "Yeah, I probably should've thought of that." But a little bit of hyper-wackiness goes a long way, and if you play more than two levels in a row, you'll be ready to grab Wiki by the tail and swing him into a tree, especially since it'll take 12-15 hours to make it through the whole thing. The final few levels of the game also raise the reflex and timing quotients by quite a lot, so if you've gotten used to a methodical style of play, you're likely to get frustrated. Still, in the end Zack & Wiki is probably one of the best 3rd party games available for the Wii. It's remarkably well-designed, with fun uses for the Wiimote, and lots of opportunity for happy "ah ha!" moments, either alone or with a partner.

Grade: B

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

The Experiment (PC) - Review

New review posted on AdventureGamers.com

Imagine yourself having somehow hacked into EDEHN’s intranet from the comfort and safety of your living room, and that everything to follow is real, and you’ll have some idea of the immersion effect the developers have managed to achieve.

Continue reading my review for The Experiment...

Saturday, March 1, 2008

GameStache!! Reviews


Iron Man: Flight Test (PC) ..... C+
April 23, 2008

The Lost Crown (PC) ..... B
March 31, 2008

Heavenly Sword (PS3) ..... A-
March 21, 2008

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Wii) ..... B
March 15, 2008

The Experiment (PC) ..... B-
March 3, 2008

Space Quest I: The Sarien Encounter (PC) ..... B
January 4, 2008

Codename: ICEMAN (PC) ..... C-
October 19, 2007

Duckman (PC) ..... B-
September 7, 2007