No matter how you look at it, movie license games have a nasty history of being some the worst game ever released. But there are a few rare exceptions. Does the new Tron game fall into the former or ladder? Read on and find out.
As always, starting with the story, Tron Evolution takes place between the original movie and the newest film, bridging the gap between both stories. Kevin Flynn is putting his focus into building a new computer system from the inside and has inputted some new systems to make it easier. You play as one of those new system. You play as a system monitor, a cop in other words, and you are put in to assist the lead monitor, or sherriff, Tron. But as you are "on patrol" a virus suddenly appears and begins infecting and killing the other "people". The system admin takes the infection as an excuse to take control of the system. So your are caught in the middle of trying to survive the take over, kill the virus and find out what is happening to the system. Now for a movie based game, this story works. Its simple and establishes enough of itself to still be entertaining, despite the fact that anyone who has seen the newest film will already know what happens.
Tron Evolution is a third person action platformer. I say platformer cause you will spend most of your time running on walls and jumping from point to point as apossed to fighting. Also when I say running on walls, I mean that literally, not just to travel but also in combat. But wall tricks aren't required to fight, but it is encouraged. Tron rewards you with extra damage to your attacks when you fight "fancy". You also get plenty on chances to be fancy as well. In order to recharge your health the player must wall run across a glowing strip of light and that recharges your life. You also jump across glowing barrels in order to recharge your weapon ammo. So a skilled player can easily run across one of these two items and attack on the way down dealing massive damage. Tron also has access to two different vehicles; the famous light cycle, and a tank. Both happening at fixed points within the game. Now the problem with vehicles, particularly the light cycle is the player never gets the chance to do the famous light cycle duels against other enemies. All cycle rides are only for travel from point to point. The same could be said for the tank points, but you get alot more action from the tank cause your shooting your way through various objects and enemies.
Trons sound area is rather impressive. Basicly the entire score of the new film is included within Evolution, even Daft Punk's new single "Derezzed" makes an appearence within Evolution, and during a very cool part if I might add. Voice acting is mixed. The main player is a faceless, voiceless figure so nothing there. And only two actors take up their characters roles. Olivia Wilde takes her role as Quorra, while Bruce Boxleitner plays his part as Tron. The Flynn character is a sound alike and does ok, so I won't complain.
Now the single players is rather short. A skilled player can go through this in about 6-8 hours give or take. But there is a multiplayer mode to play, and all your stats your earn in single player carry over to multiplayer and vise versa. Also multiplayer is where the player gets to do the famous duels on light cycles. Now the problem is, thats what you end up doing 90% of the time. Now you can get off the cycle and attack on foot, but you'll mostly get run over by a biker. Tanks can be used, but they have to be unlocked first. Also there is no match making ability of any kind. So almost every match is won by who ever has the highest stats. All in all, multiplayer isn't very well thought out.
Tron Evolution has its points, and fans of the series will want to play this for the story points. But once they are done, the multiplayer is too shallow to keep them playing. For a movie license game, Tron Evolution is not bad but could have been alot better. Only the fans will want to play this, and its a rental at most. Tron Evolution earns a final score of 5 out of 10, just plain average.
See you guys on the next posting of GameFawx.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
GameFawx Reviews: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
There have been many games over the years that have made the change from 2D to 3D, and there are many in that set that didn't make the change very well. The Castlevania series was amoung that list, it did 3D so badly that it went back to 2D, until now. LoS is the first 3D Castlevania in over a decade and they have finally gotten the formula right.
LoS is an action adventure that focuses on the action part of those two. The story takes place in 1047 and you play a man named Gabriel Belmont. This man is on a quest to find a means to revive his wife, who has just been murdered. He learns he must journey through the lands of darkness and defeat 3 lords of shadow in order to collect 3 items that will bring his wife back when combined.
Now the important thing about this story that people need to know is that this has absolutely no impact with any pre-existing Castlevania game. LoS is the first in its own series, so if you've never played a Castlevania game before, this is a perfect place to start.
The controls for the game are simple to pick up on, but difficult to master. You'll have three forms of attack; a straight forward attack that does more damage but is limited to a single target, a wide angle strike thats hits all around you but does lower damage, and a set of sub weapons that has various uses depending on the situation. Like with most actions based games, you have to link these attacks together in different combos in order the defeat your enemies. Now there is also a magic system in the game that lets you add one of two effects to your attacks. One lets you heal yourself with each successful attack, and one that doubles your damage. Now coming from a person who doesn't play these type of games very often, this control setup works out very well. There wasn't a single time when I was fighting the controls in order to do what I wanted.
Where LoS has its weakness however is the camera. You are limited to a fixed camera throughout the entire game. These days, players can't stand that but personally I've played other games with camera views like that so I was already used to it. However, I will admit that there were two times that I died from the camera, but in both cases the path to go was towards the screen and out of view. The trick to fixed cameras is when the angle changes, stop moving for a split second to allow the control to reset. Now the reason for the fixed camera is there are alot of hidden paths and secrets in LoS and they are much harder to find when the camera isn't pointing straight at them. And I know item hunting completionists will want to explore every nook and cranny. Bottomline, camera isn't perfect, but its not a game breaker either.
The sounds of LoS were very good. Voice acting was top notch with all people really getting into their characters. Robert Carlye plays the voice of Gabriel and he is joined by Patrick Stewart who takes on a second character named Zobek and also doubles as the narrator for each levels intro. And I must say, Patrick Stewart can read a book. There were many times I finished reading the intro before Stewart got done, and I still let it continue because Stewart just nailed the atmosphere of every level. It's a pity he wasn't nominated for best voice actor in any game of the year awards.
Now sad to say, the music was a let down. It wasn't bad don't get me wrong, but nothing was really memorable either. There wasn't any points in the game where the music really stuck in my head and there even times when I didn't even hear any music which is not something I'm used to in a Castlevania game. It's minor, but I was hoping for a tune to get stuck in my head while playing.
Now since LoS is a single player game, it keeps the player going with a long and slightly difficult campaign, which is a reason this review took so long. An average player will get at least 16 hours worth of play time into this game, if not more. I had many of my friends ask me if I was done with that game yet as I was playing it. And I've recently read that new levels will be released soon as downloads, so it is well worth the money. Now I say slightly difficult because there are parts where LoS just simply get brutal on you with the combat, but this was mostly on the bosses. They have their patterns and weaknesses, but you will die a few times as you figure out what to do. Good news is, there are plenty of checkpoints in the game so you'll always start back close if not right at where you died.
Lords of Shadow turned out to be alot of fun, and alot of challenge. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants to play a action game with a good story behind it. One needs to play this game just to see the ending by itself, I promise your jaw will hit the floor when your watching it. And I don't mean watching it on YouTube, you don't get anywhere near the same effect that way. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow earns a final score of an 8 out of 10, and a good buy.
Next time on GameFawx, grab your disks, and rev up your light cycles. We're going to the game grid of Tron: Evolution.
See you on the next posting of GameFawx.
LoS is an action adventure that focuses on the action part of those two. The story takes place in 1047 and you play a man named Gabriel Belmont. This man is on a quest to find a means to revive his wife, who has just been murdered. He learns he must journey through the lands of darkness and defeat 3 lords of shadow in order to collect 3 items that will bring his wife back when combined.
Now the important thing about this story that people need to know is that this has absolutely no impact with any pre-existing Castlevania game. LoS is the first in its own series, so if you've never played a Castlevania game before, this is a perfect place to start.
The controls for the game are simple to pick up on, but difficult to master. You'll have three forms of attack; a straight forward attack that does more damage but is limited to a single target, a wide angle strike thats hits all around you but does lower damage, and a set of sub weapons that has various uses depending on the situation. Like with most actions based games, you have to link these attacks together in different combos in order the defeat your enemies. Now there is also a magic system in the game that lets you add one of two effects to your attacks. One lets you heal yourself with each successful attack, and one that doubles your damage. Now coming from a person who doesn't play these type of games very often, this control setup works out very well. There wasn't a single time when I was fighting the controls in order to do what I wanted.
Where LoS has its weakness however is the camera. You are limited to a fixed camera throughout the entire game. These days, players can't stand that but personally I've played other games with camera views like that so I was already used to it. However, I will admit that there were two times that I died from the camera, but in both cases the path to go was towards the screen and out of view. The trick to fixed cameras is when the angle changes, stop moving for a split second to allow the control to reset. Now the reason for the fixed camera is there are alot of hidden paths and secrets in LoS and they are much harder to find when the camera isn't pointing straight at them. And I know item hunting completionists will want to explore every nook and cranny. Bottomline, camera isn't perfect, but its not a game breaker either.
The sounds of LoS were very good. Voice acting was top notch with all people really getting into their characters. Robert Carlye plays the voice of Gabriel and he is joined by Patrick Stewart who takes on a second character named Zobek and also doubles as the narrator for each levels intro. And I must say, Patrick Stewart can read a book. There were many times I finished reading the intro before Stewart got done, and I still let it continue because Stewart just nailed the atmosphere of every level. It's a pity he wasn't nominated for best voice actor in any game of the year awards.
Now sad to say, the music was a let down. It wasn't bad don't get me wrong, but nothing was really memorable either. There wasn't any points in the game where the music really stuck in my head and there even times when I didn't even hear any music which is not something I'm used to in a Castlevania game. It's minor, but I was hoping for a tune to get stuck in my head while playing.
Now since LoS is a single player game, it keeps the player going with a long and slightly difficult campaign, which is a reason this review took so long. An average player will get at least 16 hours worth of play time into this game, if not more. I had many of my friends ask me if I was done with that game yet as I was playing it. And I've recently read that new levels will be released soon as downloads, so it is well worth the money. Now I say slightly difficult because there are parts where LoS just simply get brutal on you with the combat, but this was mostly on the bosses. They have their patterns and weaknesses, but you will die a few times as you figure out what to do. Good news is, there are plenty of checkpoints in the game so you'll always start back close if not right at where you died.
Lords of Shadow turned out to be alot of fun, and alot of challenge. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants to play a action game with a good story behind it. One needs to play this game just to see the ending by itself, I promise your jaw will hit the floor when your watching it. And I don't mean watching it on YouTube, you don't get anywhere near the same effect that way. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow earns a final score of an 8 out of 10, and a good buy.
Next time on GameFawx, grab your disks, and rev up your light cycles. We're going to the game grid of Tron: Evolution.
See you on the next posting of GameFawx.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Holiday Update
Well, today is Christmas and I hope you all have a happy one. I made out pretty good this year in terms of games, I walked out with 4. So be sure to keep an eye out for my reviews of the following titles; Tron: Evolution, Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, and on my new Kinect I have Kinect Adventures.
But thats not all, I also recieved some new video editing software for my computer. So after I learn the basics of it, I can start posting video reviews. I'll post an update when those are ready to go, as well as where you can see them.
Merry Christmas, and I'll see you on the next posting of GameFawx.
PS: My next review should be up by tommorow, the game was a little longer then expected and I've had some computers problems as well.
But thats not all, I also recieved some new video editing software for my computer. So after I learn the basics of it, I can start posting video reviews. I'll post an update when those are ready to go, as well as where you can see them.
Merry Christmas, and I'll see you on the next posting of GameFawx.
PS: My next review should be up by tommorow, the game was a little longer then expected and I've had some computers problems as well.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
GameFawx Previews: Spike TV's Video Game Awards
In recent years Spike TV’s Video game award show has come under flak for being inaccurate and borderline rigged. After looking at the list for this year’s nominees, it might only confirm that again this year. After looking over the entire list of categories, the biggest thing that jumps out is the lack of Wii games, besides the best Wii game section. In the entire list, I only saw 2 Wii games make any kind of nomination. Now I know the Wii isn’t the most popular gaming machine, but it has had its fair share of games to come out this year, and they have been unfairly overshadowed by the big franchises that have been released on or about the same time.
I’ve also noticed a lot of games are in lists that they really don’t belong to. The biggest stand out is Mario in the Best Action-Adventure list. Mario has not and never will be an Action game, never. Mario is a platformer, always has been. And to see Mario get in that list and something like Castlevania: Lords of Shadow not make it in; yeah it’s not even listed, sets off a few red flags. I also saw Fable 3 in the RPG list. The Fable series are Adventure, not RPG. That series doesn’t come anywhere close to meeting RPG standards. Speaking of RPG’s that don’t belong, Final Fantasy 13 is also on the list. Now RPG’s are my favorite series, I can’t get enough of them, and FF 13 doesn’t belong on the “Best RPG” list in any way. I’d review it, but I’d have to force myself to play it in order to finish it.
Moving on to another list, in Best Graphics; ugh, I hate this list; the red flag is Kirby’s Epic Yarn. Really? Ok, I’ve been reading that Sonic Colors has been claimed to be the best looking Wii game this year, some have even said to date, or even a game like Monster Hunter Tri isn’t listed. And yet Epic Yarn gets on the list? Who picked this list, its yarn and it doesn’t belong on a best graphic list. I’ll get more into my thoughts on Games and Graphics in another post, so look forward to that one.
Now here’s a set of lists that need to be compressed into one big list. Best Music Game and Best Soundtrack. I say this because both lists are full of rhythm games. Things like Guitar Hero, DJ hero, Rock Band. The lists are so similar I don’t see the point in splitting it up like this. Chances are whoever wins one will win the other.
I couldn’t help but notice that this year one list is missing. Where is Best Fighter? There have been plenty of fighters released this year: Street Fighter 4, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom just to name two. Why is this list not even mentioned?
Let’s move on to the list that is currently dominating the market: Best Shooter. The Red Flag in this list is BioShock 2. I haven’t played it, but from my understanding, that’s anything but a shooter. The multiplayer might be a shooter, but not the single player. If that’s the reason, then a whole new list needs to be made for that. Split up the Single player shooters and the multiplayer shooters.
I also have to address the best Wii game list. How is Donkey Kong Country Returns on the list? The game hasn’t been out 48 hours at the time of this posting. Less than 24 at the time the lists went up. How can a game get nominated when it’s not even out yet? And yet again, Sonic Colors which is getting great reviews isn’t even mentioned.
Speaking of best games on console, the list for the Best on PS3 is flawed. Best game on a console needs to be exclusives, not multiplatform and Red Dead Redemption had the best PS3 list. How can it do that when it’s also on the Xbox 360?
That’s my thoughts on the individual lists, but there is still the voting method. To my knowledge, voting is completely up to an online poll. This leads to seriously flawed votes. With open polls like that, you get fanboys voting for nothing but their favorites and people voting for the current “Hot Trending” game and not something that might actually deserve the title of “Best of”.
If this award show intends to take itself as a serious award show for games, then the people behind it need to seriously rethink some of its policies. And I’m not the only one who believes this. The current biggest voice in this debate is AngryJoe and his online show AngryJoeShow. He goes into a lot more detail then I have, check him out he’s really good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmsUk9nmIuc
I’ll see you guys on the next posting of GameFawx.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
GameFawx Reviews: Sonic Colors
I was going to do this review around Christmas, but I've been hearing/reading alot of controversy regardings this game, so I decided to bump up my schedule and do it now.
Sonic Colors is the 4th game with Sonic's name on it to come out this year, the second game to use the Hedgehog game engine, and the first 3D adventure since last years Sonic Unleashed. Now in recent years 3D and Sonic has never been a good mix, however this time I have to say the two mix great this time.
Now lets start with my favorite part of any game, the story. In past Sonic games, its been the same: The Doctor, I call him that to avoid the whole Eggman/Robotnik debate, attempts to collect the 7 chaos emerald in enact a plan to, you guessed it, take over the world, (Of Course). This time to my surprise, thats not the case, kinda. The emerald aren't even mentioned this time around and instead the Doctor is capturing little aliens to use as a fuel source. Kinda the same idea, and kinda simple, but I've heard alot worse.
Now the biggest issue I've heard people complain about are the controls. Some have said the control are clunky and broken. After playing and finishing the game using the Wiimote and chuck, I have to say who ever said that had no skill. I only encounterd one time where the controls caused me any trouble, and its was minor. My biggest gripe with the controls however is the jump precision. When your trying to land on a narrow platform, it can be rather hard to aim but thankfully this kind of situation happens about 3 times in the entire game.
The gameplay is set between a side view 2D and a straight view 3D aspect. Switching between the two is very seamless. Now some people have said Sonic has been about nothing but speed, I disagree but in this case your getting plenty of it. Every level is very fast paced and full of action, with very few points where you have to slow down or stop. But in order to keep Colors from being a straight running game, this time little creature are put in as powerups. When ever you collect one your granted a quicky use of a special power. These range from speed dash to drilling through the ground, to my personal favorite shooting across the stage in a laser beam. But I have to address the bosses of the game. They are far to easy to be called bosses. In all the bosses I faced, only one gave me any trouble because I took to long learning the patterns and this wasn't the final boss either.
Speaking of difficulty, Sonic Colors is not a gmae you will shoot through on your first try. You will die a few times, you might even see the "Game Over" screen once or twice. Thats called a challenge and there is nothing wrong with that. But to keep it from being too hard, special pop up icons have been put in to give you at least some kind of warning of whats ahead of you.
Moving on to the sound. The only time you hear any kind of vocals in the music is during the credits, both sets. Other then that, Sonic Colors goes back to stage focused instrumental music, and it fits just fine. I caught myself bobbing my head to a few tunes, but sadly nothing really stuck. Also I need to add, that this is the first Sonic game in a few years that my ears don't bleed when Sonic, or Tails talks. Sega has dumped the group known as the 4Kids team and recast every character, except for the Doctor. And of the three characters I've heard, I'm not complaining one bit.
Believe it or not, there are plenty of reason to keep coming back to Sonic Colors as well. Completionist will find several branching paths in every level, and hidden red rings that unlock various things as collected. There is also a multi player mode that lets up to two players play through several specially designed levels. Finally there is also a challenge mode where you attempt to beat scores on your levels.
Sonic has faced some hard times over the years and has a long road to go if Sega ever wants to get Sonic back in the spotlight. But I have to say Sonic Colors is the best 3D Sonic game I have ever played. Is it perfect? No, but its everything fans have been looking for in a 3D Sonic game, Earning a final verdict of a 8 out of 10. Go buy this, you wont regret it.
See you on the next posting of GameFawx.
Sonic Colors is the 4th game with Sonic's name on it to come out this year, the second game to use the Hedgehog game engine, and the first 3D adventure since last years Sonic Unleashed. Now in recent years 3D and Sonic has never been a good mix, however this time I have to say the two mix great this time.
Now lets start with my favorite part of any game, the story. In past Sonic games, its been the same: The Doctor, I call him that to avoid the whole Eggman/Robotnik debate, attempts to collect the 7 chaos emerald in enact a plan to, you guessed it, take over the world, (Of Course). This time to my surprise, thats not the case, kinda. The emerald aren't even mentioned this time around and instead the Doctor is capturing little aliens to use as a fuel source. Kinda the same idea, and kinda simple, but I've heard alot worse.
Now the biggest issue I've heard people complain about are the controls. Some have said the control are clunky and broken. After playing and finishing the game using the Wiimote and chuck, I have to say who ever said that had no skill. I only encounterd one time where the controls caused me any trouble, and its was minor. My biggest gripe with the controls however is the jump precision. When your trying to land on a narrow platform, it can be rather hard to aim but thankfully this kind of situation happens about 3 times in the entire game.
The gameplay is set between a side view 2D and a straight view 3D aspect. Switching between the two is very seamless. Now some people have said Sonic has been about nothing but speed, I disagree but in this case your getting plenty of it. Every level is very fast paced and full of action, with very few points where you have to slow down or stop. But in order to keep Colors from being a straight running game, this time little creature are put in as powerups. When ever you collect one your granted a quicky use of a special power. These range from speed dash to drilling through the ground, to my personal favorite shooting across the stage in a laser beam. But I have to address the bosses of the game. They are far to easy to be called bosses. In all the bosses I faced, only one gave me any trouble because I took to long learning the patterns and this wasn't the final boss either.
Speaking of difficulty, Sonic Colors is not a gmae you will shoot through on your first try. You will die a few times, you might even see the "Game Over" screen once or twice. Thats called a challenge and there is nothing wrong with that. But to keep it from being too hard, special pop up icons have been put in to give you at least some kind of warning of whats ahead of you.
Moving on to the sound. The only time you hear any kind of vocals in the music is during the credits, both sets. Other then that, Sonic Colors goes back to stage focused instrumental music, and it fits just fine. I caught myself bobbing my head to a few tunes, but sadly nothing really stuck. Also I need to add, that this is the first Sonic game in a few years that my ears don't bleed when Sonic, or Tails talks. Sega has dumped the group known as the 4Kids team and recast every character, except for the Doctor. And of the three characters I've heard, I'm not complaining one bit.
Believe it or not, there are plenty of reason to keep coming back to Sonic Colors as well. Completionist will find several branching paths in every level, and hidden red rings that unlock various things as collected. There is also a multi player mode that lets up to two players play through several specially designed levels. Finally there is also a challenge mode where you attempt to beat scores on your levels.
Sonic has faced some hard times over the years and has a long road to go if Sega ever wants to get Sonic back in the spotlight. But I have to say Sonic Colors is the best 3D Sonic game I have ever played. Is it perfect? No, but its everything fans have been looking for in a 3D Sonic game, Earning a final verdict of a 8 out of 10. Go buy this, you wont regret it.
See you on the next posting of GameFawx.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
GameFawx Reviews: Star Wars: Force Unleashed 2
The world of Star Wars is a world we all know of today. I myself am a huge fan of the entire series, I even liked the prequels. So I was very excited when I heard a sequel was being made to 2008s Force Unleashed. After actually playing TFU 2, I am very disappointed.
TFU 2 starts off shortly after the light side events of its predecessor with Darth Vader going to the clone labs to find the main character, "StarKiller", still alive and in shackles. You are informed you are a clone, and a failed one as well. You quickly break out of the lab and the game begins. This is a good setup for a story, a quest to find your missing friends and find out if you are a clone or if you were lied to. Sadly, this is as far as it goes with the plot. As you play the game, none of those questions are awnsered. Just when I had gotten to a point where I thought the game was about to go into detail of the story and really take off, the credits began to roll. I was so shocked at the sudden stop, I felt like the game wasn't finished. Now it's a pity that this idea wasn't expanded upon, considering how TFU 1 ended, and how 2 began I would have liked to get at least some kind of awnser to how the character survived, but again throughout the entire game you get nothing. Some people might argue this is a setup for a part 3, but this is the third time I've played a game where it just suddenly stopped and the reaction has never been good.
Now the gameplay hasn't changed much from the last one. Controls and camera are the same, so no problems there. To change things up this time, your given a second lightsaber and a ability to enter a "Rage Mode" where your power is doubled and you unlock more advanced attacks. This however is brought down by the lack of enemies in the game. Your first encounters with each types can be a little rough, but once you learn the patterns, its becomes routine and rather boring. Even on hard mode, I was having very little trouble with the enemies this time around. I must say, I like the addition of realistic lightsabers this time, with limbs and parts getting sliced off with each cut. This feature hasn't been seen since 1994's Jedi Outcast.
Now I have to talk about the levels, in TFU 1, each level was easily labeled with the changing of the players clothing. Most players will use the same base when identifing the levels in TFU 2, and using that base there are only 4 levels, and one is so short, it might as well have been a cutscene. However, there are move levels then that since each one is broken into sub-sections, each ending with some kind of boss battle. Now thankfully there isn't any boss fights like the second boss in TFU 1, but trouble is, there aren't any fights like the second boss in TFU 1. There were virtually no challenge to any of these bosses in the game what-so-ever. Only one gives a headache, but thats only because you spend 3/4 of the time dodging attacks. Also like I mentioned above, there is one level that is beyond short: the Degobah level. It lasts all of 5 minutes, at most. Now some people have argued that there isn't anything to do on Degabah and thats why its so short. My reply to that is, 1993's Super Empire Strikes Back for the SNES had more then this level.
Speaking of length, this is what caught by surprise the most. I finished the game in just under 6 hours, on hard. I'm guessing easy can be done in about 4 hours for a skilled player. This is the biggest let down of the whole game. TFU 1 was at least twice as long, and the harder modes really tested your skill as a player. In todays market, paying 60+ dollars for a game that short is unacceptable. Anything under 5 and most people dont even bother with it, ever.
All in all, Force Unleahsed 2 feels like one step forward and two steps back. They added alot of stuff to make it different from TFU 1, but took out alot of stuff to really appeal to the more hardcore players. Which is why, on my scale, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 rates a 4 out of 10. Just below average. Not a bad game, but could have been better. This is a weekend rental at most, and thats IF your not playing something else that came out on the same day.
I'll see you on the next posting of GameFawx.
TFU 2 starts off shortly after the light side events of its predecessor with Darth Vader going to the clone labs to find the main character, "StarKiller", still alive and in shackles. You are informed you are a clone, and a failed one as well. You quickly break out of the lab and the game begins. This is a good setup for a story, a quest to find your missing friends and find out if you are a clone or if you were lied to. Sadly, this is as far as it goes with the plot. As you play the game, none of those questions are awnsered. Just when I had gotten to a point where I thought the game was about to go into detail of the story and really take off, the credits began to roll. I was so shocked at the sudden stop, I felt like the game wasn't finished. Now it's a pity that this idea wasn't expanded upon, considering how TFU 1 ended, and how 2 began I would have liked to get at least some kind of awnser to how the character survived, but again throughout the entire game you get nothing. Some people might argue this is a setup for a part 3, but this is the third time I've played a game where it just suddenly stopped and the reaction has never been good.
Now the gameplay hasn't changed much from the last one. Controls and camera are the same, so no problems there. To change things up this time, your given a second lightsaber and a ability to enter a "Rage Mode" where your power is doubled and you unlock more advanced attacks. This however is brought down by the lack of enemies in the game. Your first encounters with each types can be a little rough, but once you learn the patterns, its becomes routine and rather boring. Even on hard mode, I was having very little trouble with the enemies this time around. I must say, I like the addition of realistic lightsabers this time, with limbs and parts getting sliced off with each cut. This feature hasn't been seen since 1994's Jedi Outcast.
Now I have to talk about the levels, in TFU 1, each level was easily labeled with the changing of the players clothing. Most players will use the same base when identifing the levels in TFU 2, and using that base there are only 4 levels, and one is so short, it might as well have been a cutscene. However, there are move levels then that since each one is broken into sub-sections, each ending with some kind of boss battle. Now thankfully there isn't any boss fights like the second boss in TFU 1, but trouble is, there aren't any fights like the second boss in TFU 1. There were virtually no challenge to any of these bosses in the game what-so-ever. Only one gives a headache, but thats only because you spend 3/4 of the time dodging attacks. Also like I mentioned above, there is one level that is beyond short: the Degobah level. It lasts all of 5 minutes, at most. Now some people have argued that there isn't anything to do on Degabah and thats why its so short. My reply to that is, 1993's Super Empire Strikes Back for the SNES had more then this level.
Speaking of length, this is what caught by surprise the most. I finished the game in just under 6 hours, on hard. I'm guessing easy can be done in about 4 hours for a skilled player. This is the biggest let down of the whole game. TFU 1 was at least twice as long, and the harder modes really tested your skill as a player. In todays market, paying 60+ dollars for a game that short is unacceptable. Anything under 5 and most people dont even bother with it, ever.
All in all, Force Unleahsed 2 feels like one step forward and two steps back. They added alot of stuff to make it different from TFU 1, but took out alot of stuff to really appeal to the more hardcore players. Which is why, on my scale, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 rates a 4 out of 10. Just below average. Not a bad game, but could have been better. This is a weekend rental at most, and thats IF your not playing something else that came out on the same day.
I'll see you on the next posting of GameFawx.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Welcome to GameFawx
Greetings and welcome to my new blog, GameFawx. A place where people can come to hear information on various games and game content from an average player. Over the years I've noticed alot of websites and magazines have been "losing credit" when it comes to the content that they add, so I've decided to try and provide a place where information can be given from someone who isn't getting paid to say things. Now please keep in mind, I can only post opinions and reviews on games I have and played, so if I don't get to a favorite, sorry. I also entend to do my reviews in a way no one does: no comparisons to existing games. Every game I review will be reviewed in and of itself, allowing for a fair and honest view.
Now I won't just be doing game reviews, I'll also be sharing various views and ideas I've had in my years of gaming. Things I've noticed have happened to the gaming world that should really be addressed.
Thanks for coming, hope you enjoy my thoughts, and I'll see you on the next posting of GameFawx.
Now I won't just be doing game reviews, I'll also be sharing various views and ideas I've had in my years of gaming. Things I've noticed have happened to the gaming world that should really be addressed.
Thanks for coming, hope you enjoy my thoughts, and I'll see you on the next posting of GameFawx.
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