First Impressions: Brink (360)

Future Tech: Non-stick low-friction pants. Classy.

First impressions are usually easy to write. You just put a new game in, play for a few hours, and then write what you feel. With Brink, however, it was a little trickier to get a bead on things.

After my first day with the title, Brink still has me a bit conflicted. Developer Splash Damage managed to pull of some amazing things with this game.They also managed to ship the game with some fairly major flaws. I can walk away from one play session and feel completely satisfied. Then the next time I head into the game I walk away frustrated and annoyed. 

Review: Mortal Kombat (360)

If you’ve read our ‘First Impressions’ on the game, you already know that my first look at NetherRealm’s newest  Mortal Kombat was a positive one. After spending more time with the game, all I can say is that the quality and experience that I enjoyed so much from the onset has only been reinforced by repeated and prolonged play.

It’s very easy to get bored of a fighting game. I’ve mentioned many-a-time that I’m not particularly fond of the genre in general. Part of that stems from my fat, slow fingers and the fact that I’m horrible at them. The other issue I have with fighters is that they tend to be extremely repetitive. There’s very little room for variation in game play aside from a usual assortment of gimmicks and “mini games” that hardly ever feel welcome.

Even when I made up my mind to buy Mortal Kombat I knew that whatever excitement I had for the game probably wouldn’t last. I was just hopeful that the game would be fun and that it would bring back fond memories of staying up all night with a few friends as we tried to experience every fatality, babality, stage-specific death, and ‘toasty’ secret level.

Even if the new game was able to do those things, I thought that after a few dozens fights I’d get bored. I still wanted to give it a try, but I wasn’t expecting the game to become one of the favorites in my collection. What a nice surprise it’s been! I’m not ready to change direction and call myself a fighting-game fan, but Mortal Kombat has easily been one the most fun games I’ve played in the last year.

Red Faction: Armageddon Demo Dated For Xbox, PSN

He's not running from the blast. The porta-pot is finally unoccupied.

THQ has announced that a demo for their upcoming space-mining-alien-infested-shooter, Red Faction: Armageddon will hit on May 3rd for XBox Live and PSN . . . assuming the later is back up by then (which current indications say is likely.)

 Red Faction: Armageddon is scheduled for release on May 31st, so this should provide an excellent opportunity to check it out ahead of time.

Moon Diver will Hit 360 On Star Wars Day

To be honest, I wasn’t really aware of ‘Star Wars Day’, though I should be considering how much I love a horrible pun. (Ahem, “May the Fourth be with you.”)

Anyway, Square Enix has announced that the popular side-scrolling uber-action title Moon Diver, will be available on Xbox Live starting May 4th. The game is already available via the PSN.

Moon Diver is a fast-paced old-school’ish side-scroller with killer graphics, up to four player co-op, and includes a character leveling system. Looks crazy, but in a good way.

First Impressions: Forza 3 (360)

Okay, yesterday I noted that I would be writing a new ‘First Impressions’ on a game that was particularly awful, and that I was eager to break out my mean side. Are you ready for it? Well, sorry, this is not the one.

I had never intended to play Forza Motorsports 3. I always say I’m not a fan of racing games. I’m not a car person, and I often find racing games to be monotonous. Sure, there’s some arcade racers I like; I spent hours upon hours playing Crazy Taxi (that’s right, on Dreamcast baby.) Who doesn’t like Burnout? I would probably like Blur if I had played it for more than five minutes.

But real, honest-to-goodness racing sims aren’t something that normally appeal to me. I did play Gran Turismo (1 and 2), but considered that part of my gaming past and not part of my current gaming likes.

Wide lanes with ample opportunity to pass are for sissies.

Long story slightly less long, a discussion over on another forum turned to racing games and so I had been thinking about it for the last few days. Forza 3 was specifically mentioned. I knew the game had been out for some time, and that the next installment was due out this fall. That usually puts the price of a used copy in the “sweet-spot.” Add to it the fact that I had a $5 off coupon and I thought, “What the hell? What better chance will I have to give the genre another look?”

Best stupid decision I’ve ever made. I’ll explain the ‘stupid’ part first — as I noted yesterday, between trying to maintain regular and interesting updates to this site, working my actual nine-to-five, working on development of an Xbox indie title, and trying to actually live some life in between it all . . . well, days are dreadfully too short as is.

Dragon Age 2 Review (360)

2011 seems to be a year jam packed with highly anticipated blockbuster releases. And with the explosion of the indie scene, there’s no shortage of must-have small-budget games either. Quite frankly, it’s insane. As a big fan of Bioware’s acclaimed Mass Effect series and Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2 stood atop my personal list of most anticipated titles. Fortunately, it was also one of the titles slated for earlier in the year. Last week, I finally got my hands on the full game.

Those who missed out on the first installment need not fear; while Dragon Age 2 is closely related to the events of Origins, the two stories are also fairly independent of each other. The darksawn blight that finds Hawke and family fleeing from their beseiged home city of Lothering comes from the first game, but you don’t really need to know that. Some of Origins’ characters do crop up, so you’ll be missing out on those ties, but the story will still make sense.

Gears of War 3 Confirmed for Sept 20th Launch

Microsoft has announced that Gears of War 3 will hit store shelves on September 20th of this year. They also announce that there will be a four-player co-op mode, a five-on-five competitive mode, and a new multiplayer ‘Beast’ mode that puts players in control of the Locust.

The Xbox-exclusive Gears of War 3 will be the conclusion to the saga (and since no company has ever gone back and worked the spin-off, prequel, or conclusion-to-the-conclusion angle on a profitable franchise, I believe that.) I’ve yet to play the first two, but they’re on my GameFly que. Hopefully I can get to them before September; but my queue is bursting with “games to play before their 2011 sequels come out” titles, so wish me luck.

(Source: Edge)

Bulletstorm Demo Impressions (360)

I didn’t plan on writing this tonight. You see, I only downloaded the demo last night, and didn’t get a chance to fire it up until I got home from work tonight. I thought I’d need some more time with this before I could form my impressions.

The demo lets you try out the ‘Echo’ game play mode. Basically, you run through a level with the goal of gaining the highest score you can. The demo level is short (the target time for completion is six minutes.) When it’s complete, you try again. And again. As much or as little as you want.

I’ll admit; after my first run through I thought “That’s it? I guess I’ll give it another go, since I want to do a write up.”

And I should probably mention that ‘Bulletstorm’ hasn’t exactly been on my ‘most anticipated’ list. Nothing against it, but I just never thought it would be a game that I would really find appealing.

Well, after my second run through I figured I’d give it another go. What the hell, there was still about 20 minutes before the hockey game started anyway. I had nothing better to do.

I probably ended up running through the level seven or eight times. I was surprised at my desire to try new kills and my need to top my previous scores.

I did find that things were starting to get repetitive. Part of the problem is that I’m not particularly creative. Leash and shoot. Kick and shoot. I found I was using the same tactics on the same enemies each run through. But in my defense, a lot of the encounters are set up to promote using the same tactics over and over again.

Game play was fast and frantic, as I had expected it to be. Controls are pretty good most of the time (as a first person shooter, there’s really no excuse for bad controls in this day and age.) I did find the lack of a dedicated jump button to be a bit of a distraction. Instead, you press a context-sensitive action button (‘A’ on Xbox) when you approach a low object you need to jump over. There were more than a few times, however, when my player failed to jump, instead finding myself twitching and sliding along the obstacle while enemies pumped bullets into my face.

Also, because much of the action happens close up (you’ll find yourself kicking or sliding into enemies to start combos), there’s many times where you’ll miss an enemy and have to flail awkwardly to try to spin around and find where they ended up. Keep in mind, I tend to be clumsier than most with console FPS controls. I’m an old school PC keys-and-mouse guy. I can’t help it — it’s how I was raised.

In the end, the demo confirmed what I thought. There’s some fun to be had, but it won’t be something that’s on my personal “must play” list. It’s creative, edgy, and full of personality, so I’m sure it will have it’s rabid fans. If it’s the kind of game you’re in to, you’ll probably love it.

Of course, what the single player story has to offer, and what the multiplayer has to offer, is yet to be seen. Set to hit shelves in just under a week, we won’t have to wait long to find out.

First Impressions – Batman: Arkham Asylum (360)

Okay, I knew I really shouldn’t buy another game. There are more important things to spend money on. Like feeding myself for the next two weeks. But I’ve been wanting to play Arkham Asylum for a while now, and since I was out anyway, I figured I might as well stop by the game shop. Right?

I spent the better part of the day playing Asylum. Holy crap is this game awesome.

And it’s damn addicting. I saw half the super bowl this year. The second and third quarters were preempted by more Asylum. It’s just so much fun kicking everyone’s ass as Batman. Aerial take-downs. Fast and fluid combos. Brutal counters. Batarangs. Batrope. Grappling hooks. Batvision. Need I go on?

The combat feels brilliant. It flows so smoothly and brutally that you really feel like a super hero as you flatten hordes of psychotic minions. Yet the various enemy types and the lethality of armed enemies also means you really have to pay attention to what you’re doing. No fight is a garunteed success. Okay, so maybe a lot of them are. But only because you have all the caped-crusader’s cunning . . . and more importantly, his gadgets.

The real show pieces of the game, the boss fights, are amazing. These encounters are as varied as the enemies themselves. The Bane fight has been my favorite so far, though the Scarecrow segments are a very nice touch too. And there’s some encounters that I know are coming, and I’m already psyched about them.

My only ‘problem’ with the game is that you can only save a pre-determined check-points. Which is fine, unless you need to quit playing but haven’t had a checkpoint in a while. But hell, that’s just an excuse to keep playing, right?

I’m already anxious to finish work tomorrow so I can get home and play more, and look forward to writing a full review.

Finally, a Swimming Simulator! Phelps to Arrive on Kinect

After years of non-swimming games, and games that only somewhat provide a realistic swimming experience, Michael Phelps: Push the Limit is set to debut this June. The XBox 360 Kinect-exclusive title is sure to make a splash among swimming enthusiasts and speedo-fanboys alike.

You can check out the “Cool for a trailer about swimming” trailer, or even pre-order the game, from their website (here.)

Maybe I’m being unfair, and I’ve certainly been known to have tastes that differ from the general population at large (‘Heros’ was a good show? Really? . . . Really?), but I don’t foresee this topping the 2011 sales charts. Of course, watching your friends flail their arms wildly as they try to out swim each other might be worth it.