Hammerfight Review

Platform(s): PC

Developer(s): Konstantin Koshutin (aka Gkosh)
Publisher(s): Kranx Production
Genre: Action/Combat/Hack-and-Slash

I recently discovered one of the most addicting and deep games I’ve ever played for Mac and PC; and it seems to have a genre all of its own. In my best words, it’s a 2D Physics-based, Hack and Slash fighting game, with RPG elements. On top of that, 80% of the controls is in the way you move the mouse.

As you can see…this game is insane. You’re constantly swinging a huge weapon, around a flying machine that you pilot around the screen with your mouse. It sounds easy, and learning the controls is simple, but to master the physics of the vast array of weapons (whether it be a Hammer, Chain Mace, Pickaxe, Scimitar, etc.) takes a lot of experience. Once you land your first “Crushing blow” to an opponent’s pod, you’ll have a hard time quitting.

The main storyline takes place about a thousand years ago in a made up Egyptian-themed land. You start off as a guard in a small village. In the first few levels you smash your way through several waves of attackers with a limited variety of cheaply forged weaponry. You are then captured by a rich warlord and enslaved to fight in an arena for glory and for a shot at freedom. You fight intense one on one battles with single more skillful foe, capturing the opponent’s weapon upon certain victories. After you gain your freedom you are sent on several and they differ vastly: from slicing your way through massive flying worms and hornets, to raiding a village and breaking down walls and structures with the movement of your mouse.

Once you play a few levels of each different type of challenge, you unlock an arena version of each game mode. So, if you prefer quick thinking and dodging, there is the 1 on 1 arena battle. You can play arena mode from the game menu and fight a tougher opponent every time you win and earn coins to be spent on your character’s machine.

As you play, you can lead a path for honor and glory: showing mercy on other fighters that beg for their lives, or trashed their machine’s health to a point where it can’t fly... or you can ignore their pleas and smash the disabled machine anyway, resulting in more loot, but less honor from the crowd. As your honor goes up you gain access to new weapons and armor and you gain new flags for your machine with each title you are given. As I mentioned, this game is very dynamic.

Personally my favorite part about Hammerfight is the range of combat skill that you can potentially reach and how many different weapons you can become skilled at using. Swinging a fixed Iron hammer at an opponent is pretty easy to learn, and with practice, you can get a deadly good whack at the opponent every time.

And if using one weapon at a time doesn’t satisfy your hunger for destruction, you can combine two different swords together; all of a sudden you’re Kratos. S winging two fixed swords around your character scrapping up every beast and opponent around you. It’s not an easy fighting style to play, but when mastered your offensive and defensive abilities are dangerous.

Complete with legendary weapons, gem sockets for weapons, throwing knives, mortars, poison, and several different game modes, it’s shocking that Hammerfight hasn’t made it to consoles yet. No fear though, if you want to play against a friend, plug in up to 4 mice on your computer for a battle royal.

I give this game 4 stars out of 5, only because it demands you have a mouse with a right click and scroll wheel to enjoy the full range of controls. I highly recommend it.

Here’s a link to start playing Hammerfight. Supported on Mac and PC.

http://www.koshutin.com/

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Review

Platform(s): XBOX 360, Playstation 3

Developer(s): Square Enix Production Development Division w/ Tri-Ace

Publisher(s): Square Enix

Genre: Role-playing game

As you may have realized already, Final Fantasy haven’t had a lot of luck with sequels with their mainstream games since Final Fantasy X-2 having an unneeded storyline and Final Fantasy XII attempting to create a RTS with a Final Fantasy feel to it. So, I was a little bit skeptical about getting Final Fantasy XIII-2, especially since they was bringing back the theories of the space/time continuum – a topic that's always interesting to explore but notoriously difficult to execute. Luckily, Final Fantasy XIII-2 does bring back the space/time continuum with some touches and innovative play style.

Story-wise, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is lacking a little bit but it still makes a heavy impact. It follows the events of its predecessor: Lighting was written out of history for disrupting the flow of time by “achieving the impossible” in defeating Orphan and saving Cocoon. Presumed to be dead, everybody moved on and began their life on Gran Pulse believing that Lighting gave her life up to the common good except for Serah, her sister, who believes that her sister is still alive because of her dreams. Along the way, you run into familiar faces and learn the reason for the paradoxes and problems in time. The story does make interesting theories regarding time/space continuum as well as give more depth to the story and events in the world of Final Fantasy 13. Especially since, as a Final Fantasy first, you are granted the ability to time travel from the beginning of the game. The game introduces a variety of side-quests and multiple endings that more than compensate for the short story that can be achieved through various criteria.

When it comes down to actual in-game content, Final Fantasy XIII-2 has revamped their gameplay style, bringing back the paradigms roles and adding cinematic triggers to the various battles to add more of an action element to the game, while maintaining the graphics that the original game is known for. The game brought back some favorite such gaining gil after battle, random encounters, exploring town, Moogles, and, which was a shock for everybody, the Beastmaster class. This feature in the game allows the player to capture and raise various monsters, each with their role and assign them to your party. To take it a step further, different monsters can also be absorbed by another monster to obtain passive abilities and/or learn new abilities.

PRO: Unlike its predecessor, Final Fantasy XIII-2 focus more of adventure than the main storyline on the game giving more freedom with great side quests to complete and various endings to see which adds to its re-playability. It also took combined the traditional elements of Final Fantasy with the gameplay style of Final Fantasy XIII. Of course, the graphics are breathtaking, especially when it comes down to its their cutscenes. Finally, the return of the Beastmaster class was a welcome addition to the game allowing the player to add their trained monster to their party, even if you can only add three at a time.

CON: Final Fantasy XIII-2 does have a few flaws. For instance, the game is pretty short for a Final Fantasy game. The other thing that can be a nuisance is the low odds of monster crystal being dropped but there are workarounds. All and all, the flaws can be overcome.

OVERALL: Final Fantasy XIII-2, in my opinion, has finally broken the curse of sequels of the Final Fantasy mainstream games providing a sensible story and unbelievable gameplay features. The story may be a little short but it will keep you hooked from beginning to end.

Overall Score: Final Fantasy XIII-2 gets a 4 out of 5.

Justin P.

Bleach: Soul Resurrection Review

Platform(s): Playstation 3

Developer(s): SCE Japan Studio
Publisher(s): Sony Computer Entertainment
Genre: Action



Captain Kyoraku getting ready for war.



Bleach: Soul Resurreccion is an action game based on the popular anime and manga. The game starts out with Ichigo and company heading to Huecho Mundo to rescue their friend Orihime who has been taken to ex-Soul Reaper Captain Soske Aizen. You fight your way through waves of Hollows of various types including the giant Menos Grande to save Orihime from Aizen. All your favorite Bleach characters are present in the game each with their own chapter in the game's story. Soul Resurreccion's graphics nearly match the anime much in the way of the Naruto games. Side mission's provide action-packed areas to build your character's stats. The missions are pretty straight forward--defeat all the Hollows to complete the mission. This is a good way to build any character who is lacking in skills and abilities especially those who are aquired late in the game. Character development is done through a Final Fantasy type grid. Each character has their own section on the grid. Abilities and attributes such as life, soul energy, etc. are upgraded by spending Soul Points gathered during gameplay. Like in recent Final Fantasy releases, characters are not limited to their section on the grid. You can guide them to other sections to gain more abilities and attributes.





PRO: Bleach: Soul Ressureccion is impressive with graphics that closely match the anime. The game keeps everyone's powers and special abilities intact from the series. The cool thing is that Ichigo as well as some of the other characters start off already in the Bankai stages so there's no need to develop from scratch. The game is fast-paced like the series with sword swinging action and powerful enemies, some of which can finish off a character in just a few hits. Navigating the stages is not too difficult. You can run through it normally or dash your way to the end in a matter of moments. Combat is simple. You can slash away at the Hollows with your character's main weapon or use their special attacks which are limited in use by the Soul Gauge. But not to worry, the Soul Gauge recovers over time and is ready for use before you even know it. Another amazing feature is the Ignitioin Gauge which, when triggered, brings out your charater's most devastating attacks taken straight from the series.

CON: Soul Resurreccion isn't that bad of a game and there are a couple of drawbacks. For starters, the Hollow enemies aren't too difficult to defeat. You'll wipe out a large number of them before they can even cause damage. Even the larger Hollows pose no real threat. Their attacks take a good chunk out of your life bar but they go down easily once you figure outr their pattern which isn't that difficult. Boss battles are usually intense in games of this type but here not so much. Sure, as the game progresses bosses do get tougher and you will die. However, the strategy is easy to figure out and you can take out your foe with minimal effort. My biggest gripe is blocking and dodging. There's too much lagtime when executing either one. Plus I really couldn't cancel an attack to perform them smoothly. I was able to once I stopped slashing my sword but not during.

OVERALL: Bleach: Soul Resurreccion is a good action game that didn't miss on adapting from the series. Fans will enjoy this game as well as those new to the series. It may not be up to par with the Naruto games but it is definately a step from the previous entry. The action goes by fast but its side missions and hidden unlockables will keep you engaged. Bleach: Soul Resurreccion is a fun game that is a worthy entry for anime adapted games.

Overall Score: Bleach: Soul Resurrection gets a 3.5 out of 5

See you on the next level,

Brian M.

Catherine Review

Platform(s): Playstation 3, X-Box 360
Developer(s): Atlus Persona Team
Publisher(s): Atlus
Genre: Puzzle-platformer/Survival-Horror/ Adult-Adventure
Rating: M for Mature
Price: $59.99

A man told me once that there are three things that are certain in life: death, drama and taxes. The first will happen regardless, the last whenever money is involved, and the second – drama – will happen at any given moment. And Catherine, the survival-horror puzzle game developed by Atlus is chock-full of drama from the moment you turn the game on. But does the drama – and the insanely challenging puzzles – breathe life into this game or condemns it to an early death?

The Story

Vincent Brooks (age 32) is trapped in a nightmare, facing a choice of marrying his longtime girlfriend Katherine or moving on to the incredible blonde he just woke up next to – named Catherine. The worst part is, if he makes the wrong choice, he could end up dead.

The Pros

So…I’m gonna try to be unbiased with this game. First of all, the graphics of this game are nice. A mix between crisp 2D and 3D Japanese-style animation, the presentation of the game is good. It makes the game seem like you’re playing through an anime storyline, which caught my eye at first.

Secondly, the puzzles are a personal pro to me. The goal of the puzzles is for you to reach the top of the tower by rearranging blocks for you to climb. It’s challenging and slightly mind-boggling, requiring you to think on your feet a bit because spending too long on one area will have the ground fall out from underneath your feet. Thankfully, if you find yourself stuck, you can undo a move with the push of a button.

Finally, the story was a personal pro in my opinion. Although the pacing of the story was a bit…expected at times (like the repetitive drinking Vincent does at his favorite bar only to find himself waking up with the other girl), it doesn’t get too overloaded with drama to make it seem like a bad Jerry Springer episode.

The Cons

Okay…so what’s exactly bad about this game, you ask? Well, for starters, the price of Catherine is the first con that hit me when getting this game. Honestly, as good as I think the game is, it’s not worth the $60 that you have to put out for it. $40, yes, even $50 would be somewhat acceptable, but not $60.

Secondly, the difficulty of the puzzles is something that can be listed as a con as well. Now I wrote it as a pro because I enjoy some challenging puzzle games but there are points in the game where you wonder why they made the puzzles that difficult. In fact, the difficulty of the puzzles was something that the developers of Catherine had to create a patch for due to people’s reaction. Of course, that was the Japanese version of the game, however if even the Japanese have an issue with it, then you know that the game isn’t going to be a breeze.



Finally, the game’s overall presentation was something that fell into a bit of a con. When you first look at the game, either through advertisements or first glance, you get the feeling that it’s like Heavy Rain, only with puzzles to add a bit of variety in it. And unless you’ve followed the game like a few friends I know, you find yourself disappointed with the fact that you spent $60 on a drama-filled puzzle game that probably let down your expectations.

Overall

If you’re a fan of mind-boggling puzzle games with a somewhat interactive storyline, then I suggest you get this game. If you’re an anime fan, then you may want to pick this game up and add it to your collection. The storyline, puzzles, and the overall feel of the game will have you either addicted or enjoying yourself.

Outside of that…I suggest that you not get the game. Catherine screams of a cult-favorite, simply for its puzzles and nothing more. Honestly, it’s a hit-or-miss like most games but I have the feeling that it would be a miss for the average video game player.

Final Score: 3/5