Limbo (Xbox Live Arcade)

25 08 2010

Some horror games attempt to dazzle you with graphical intensity and multi layered soundtracks and as such come across like your Hollywood blockbuster movie. They’re full of loud noises and enemies bigger than skyscrapers. Limbo rejects that idea, it doesn’t want force ideas onto you. Instead of your big screen extravaganza, Limbo is a ghost story told around the campfire. It’s designed to be unsettling rather than outright scary.

If games are all about story then Limbo strips it right back to the basics, you play a small boy trying to find his sister. This isn’t set up in some elaborate cut scene and it remains the only piece of information you’re given about why you’re wandering this desolate landscape that has been seemingly drained of all colour. The black and white contrast on Limbo’s art style means that there’s plenty of dark corners for nightmarish things to hide in. The screen fades in and out casting shadows over what lies ahead. There’s a constant feeling of being on edge whilst playing Limbo, a complete sense of dread. Limbo will be taken apart and put back together by those who will want to finds out its secrets. There are already plenty of theories about what the game is actually about available to read online and this can only be a good thing. Limbo has depth that many other games of its size lack and it’ll live longer in the memory as a result.

This isn’t to say that Limbo doesn’t have a sense of humour about itself, in fact some of the funniest moments during game play are when the boy meets a grizzly demise. Heads roll, flesh is burnt from his bones and his arms flail whilst drowning but you’ll raise a slight smile every time it happens. Key to you appreciating these jokes is the fact that Limbo is extremely generous with restart points, often placing you right next to where you died in most circumstances. Limbo’s developers could have made you do it the hard way and forced you to start from further back but, if they’re going to make a joke out of death, then it’s probably a good idea for them to have the joke with you rather than at you. Something that could have been frustrating in the extreme is instead a catalyst for that ‘one more go’ feeling.

Death is something you’ll get used to both seeing and experiencing in Limbo. It might be eaten by a giant spider, sliced by a buzz saw or mangled by a bear trap but meeting your maker is just around the corner in Limbo. There is a definite element of trial and error as you approach each puzzle along the way and sometimes getting through each set piece is a mixture of skill and problem solving. At no point does Limbo feel like it’s conspiring against you.

There’s hardly any soundtrack to Limbo either, at least not in the traditional sense of having a layer of music over the top. Limbo’s sound is much more ambient than that with only the occasional scraping of steel to be heard. It’s effective though and another tool in the game’s arsenal of tools designed to freak you out at a moment’s notice. It’s very strange at first to not hear anything as the first stages kick in but it’s something you’ll get used to and it’s something you’ll relish later.

Xbox Live Arcade games and other downloadable content are often given a bad press for somehow being throwaway and not as much of an experience as something disc based. Limbo, whilst short at around 4 hours, shows up that idea by being good at what it has at it’s disposal. Limbo isn’t trying to deafen you with a hard rock soundtrack and nor is it encouraging you to have millisecond reactions in order to be good at it. It’s just wants you to enjoy it for what it is, a game that let’s you enjoy the darkness.


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“ARMAGEDDON!”

22 08 2010

Here we are again, listeners. It’s that time… Episode 9 of the Brake for Frogger podcast is here for your aural delectation!

Packed to the brim with nonsense, we give to you… :

Brake for Frogger – Season One, Episode Nine – Flaming Projectile Rodentia

In this month’s episode:

A message from beyond the grave; the all-important ‘What You Playin’?’ section; Reverend Euan Taylor returns with his regular ‘Pause Screen’ feature; ‘Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem’ is this month’s Game Exchange; Our resident Geordie discusses the history of the WWF/WWE franchise in ‘Geordie Al’s Retro Games Emporium’; Jim from ‘Gamewank’ guests in this month’s ‘SoapBox’ section; The campaign to save ‘Games Connection’ begins and we go from Mass Effect 2 to Jet Set Radio Future; finally, the ‘On the Blog’ section.

Listening methods are as usual:

- Stream from the small media player above;

- Click this here link (if you have Quicktime or Windows Media Player installed) to stream the podcast;

- Right-click the above link, and click the dialog that says “Save target as…”, “Save link as…” or something similar (dependent on your browser) to download the .mp3 file to your computer in order to use it on your iPods or other personal mp3 players.

- From episode two onwards, we’re also on iTunes. You can find us by running a search for ‘Brake For Frogger’ in the iTunes Store, and clicking subscribe…

NB: This is only the second episode recorded with a properly established mic. set-up and non-experimental editing procedure. Should you have any problems with audio quality or volume, drop a tweet to @RunawayBomber or @CripleH or send an email to us!

FYI: The bizarre “Armageddon!” in-joke going on may confuse. Click here to go to Youtube and listen to it’s inspiration for full effect!


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Categories : Podcasts

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge (Special Edition) (XBLA)

15 08 2010

Following the release of last year’s ‘Secret of Monkey Island (Special Edition)’ HD remake release, Lucas Arts have come back this summer with the equivalent release of the sequel to the original game.

I’ve always thought fondly of the Monkey Island series of games as they formed a large part of my gaming experience as I was growing up. The first Monkey Island game was one that I always observed my parents playing whereas ‘Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge’ was the first point-and-click adventure title that I ever played and kick-started an affair with the genre that never really stopped.

Try explaining this situation to your beloved...

Playing this Special Edition is almost likely playing an entirely different game to the original version. Not in a bad way, of course, but it creates such a contrast between the original subtitled, pixellated version of the game. My own personal experience of ‘LeChuck’s Revenge’ was on the Amiga 32 with the game spaced across numerous floppy disks. What the remake does, at least for those who experienced the original, is to enhance and improve a thorough plot and storyline, with memorable characters and make it accessible again in a way that the original version has difficulty with.

For newcomers to the series or to the genre, this game has a lot to offer. Lucas Arts have implemented a new control system for this game too. It allows you to have manual control of Guybrush Threepwood (the game’s protagonist) using the left analogue stick and gives you control of the point-and-click style cursor using the controller’s right stick.

I can see how this would appeal to people who have never played a classic adventure game like this before and would probably work for them, but I found it very confusing and almost irritating to use and found myself quickly switching back to the standard cursor-based click-to-move control system.

...Conspiring much?

As with last year’s remake, it was fun to be given the opportunity to be able to switch back and forth between the original, especially for those who are already familiar with it. For people like me, it gave me a giggle every now and then wondering how on earth I was able to figure out how to use/interact with certain items given how they occasionally didn’t resemble what they were supposed to be.

It could be, however, that my opinion is merely a symptom of the HD-gaming age and a certain accustomisation to clearly defined graphics.

The two original Monkey Island games fit clearly into an obscure 80s/90s Lucas Arts niche: the Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer-led humour of certain titles lent itself to obscure puzzle solutions and random storyline arcs that, to a mind this is unfamiliar to them, can come across as completely unintelligible.

*...hack-cough-splutter...*

Cameron broached this issue in a review of last year’s remake of the original Monkey Island game. He essentially explained that because he had not been a fan of the games in the first instance, it was difficult to slip into a school of thought that allowed you, for example, to use a rubber chicken with a pulley inserted to cross a zip-wire over a river or to use some flowers found in the local woods to poison the governess’ pet guard-poodles. This relative obscurity could serve to alienate some people who already bought the game but find themselves unable to follow the Gilbert/Schafer train of thought and make blatantly bizarre and illogical decisions in order to progress. The sequel is equally bizarre and completely random in places, with moments like peg-leg polishing and spitting competitions to look forward to.

Luckily (and the same was true for last year’s game too), when you find yourself completely stuck, you no longer have to balance your finances and re-mortgage the house before ringing the official hint-line for the game and be drip fed minor clues by a 50p per minute glorified answering machine. The hints system is now built into the game and you just hold down the X button to be given a clue relevant to the next stage in the progression of Guybrush’s story. (Be aware, however, that there are achievements on offer for using minimal hints and tips as you play through the game). Sometimes the hints can be quite cryptic themselves and leave you none the wiser as to what your next step should be – although that could just be my own personal experience as there were a few moments during my play-through where I was left still feeling pretty stupid even after asking the game for some help.

It stands to reason that essentially this remake of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge was really only going to ‘do it’ for those that played it when it originally came out or those who have had it recommended to them by those who originally played it. It may be controversial to say but it believe that the market no longer truly exists for the point-and-click game except in a retrospective, reminiscent sense that Lucas Arts is currently appealing to. LeChuck’s revenge is a great game; as good as it was when it was originally released back in the early 1990s.

Try figuring this one out. :'/

I’d gladly recommend it to people who remember it as fondly as I do, as it’s a brilliant update to a classic title. Here’s hoping for more indulgent remakes of classic Lucas Arts games heading our way in the future. Preferably ‘Day of the Tentacle’ and ‘LOOM’ please…


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E4 – EveryExtendExtraExtreme (XBLA): A Retrospective

1 08 2010

EveryExtendExtraExtreme – from here known simply as “E4″ to save my fingers - is exactly the kind of exuberant, joyous and undeniably compelling gaming experience you would expect from Tetsuya Mizugichi, the man behind classics such as REZ, Sega Rally Championship(Arcade and Saturn versions), Space Channel 5 and, more recently,  Lumines. It’s the kind of original concept the shooting genre was crying out for, simply a merger of shooter and puzzle for high scores and even a little rhythm action thrown in.

For a new title, in a similar vein to Geometry Wars : Retro Evolved, it’s visuals are distinctly 80′s style and visually striking, like a kind of HD digital firework display.  There is no plot.  You control a ship, a sort of star-shaped reticule, the sole purpose of which is simple, blow stuff up, but – and here’s the clever part – you blow stuff up by starting a chain reaction with yourself, Kamikaze style!  So, here’s the rundown of 10 seconds of playing E4.

You appear on screen, and a 4 second timer starts ticking down indicating your invulnerability while the space around you fills with various enemy craft or shapes.  They start off simple enough, nothing more than instant and unsavoury death if touched sans protection (the best kind), but they become more aggressive, rocketing about firing shots at you and fading in to the action right into your path.  So, dodging and setting yourself up in that sweet spot becomes increasingly tougher to perform.  You hastily manoeuvre to the best place to explode to start your chain, wait for it. Wait for it?!  BOOM!! You suicide yourself into oblivion sending out a shockwave that - depending on how close you “hit it” on the beat is larger or smaller - causes enemies to explode sending their own shock waves pulsing into others!  Thus is the essence of E4.  You watch for power ups to drop from shapes, like the “quicken” that, as name suggests,  speed up the pace (or BPM) of the tech-synth beats, as your neon-drenched chain explosion fizzles and cracks across and around the screen, and “shield”, which upon re-spawn, should you collect enough in time will give you more time to wait for that sweet spot of chain effectiveness, and then you go hunting for “time extend” in order to keep that clock at bay long enough to keep that multiplier soaring.  10 seconds over.

It’s very simple, but hard to master.  And when I say multiplier,  I don’t mean the score multiplies into millions, or even billions.  I myself have scored over 40 trillion points on this game… and it took me 3 hours on one stage!  The bigger the chains, the higher the multiplier and the higher the electric eye candy and noise, it’s hypnotic. The music is catchy but you can also put your own soundtrack to the title in the Wiz Ur Muzik mode.

It’s definitely a score junkie’s game…

The strange part about E4 is that, while a chain is destroying the screen with radiant and colourful expressions of visual music and light, you’re basically left admiring your score rising up into the multi-trillions.  Oddly satisfying,  which it really shouldn’t be.

The whole thing, in action, is madness really.  The backgrounds pulse and pound with hypnotic, strangely relaxing shapes and particle effects mixed with neon and fluorescent signals that tell you how Brilliant, Awesome and Extreme you are, is really the reason I sing this games praises.  The way the package is presented in-game is fabulous.  It really does have that ” just one more go” compulsion just clawing you back to the 360 before you switch off.

I don’t believe I’ve ever been so disheartened whilst playing a video game before, mind you. Upon hitting the zenith of my personal high score, I immediately crashed into the first flower shaped drone that wandered into my path. The trance like beat slows and the screen fades from brilliance to black.  Here, you start again.  And watch as the Billions you were handing in a few seconds ago dwindle down to hundreds.  So, you go again, and start the process of raking in the points as before, but wonder about what your score “may have been”.  As I’ve said, compelling.

The official term the creator coined for this kind of game is Synesthesia.  Not really meant to be played as a regular game, but more like a trance inducing chill out session with high scores.

E4 has 5 different game modes.  The best way to find out your preference is to simply explore the title and go from there as the game play changes quite drastically depending on which one you choose.  I prefer the game unlimited mode, as described, you play against the clock.  Although, the revenge mode is a fun alternative in that it turns the title into a more traditional kind of shooter.  E4 also has, as is pretty staple for the online community, world-wide High scores tables to show what the best can achieve, and online multiplayer. The online multiplayer is essentially the single player game, but you try to get the better chain explosions than your rival, not quite SSF4, but not bad either.

While it’s appreciated that E4 may not be to everyone’s taste by the very fact that it’s so different, I urge you to at least give the demo a try to see if you could enjoy it.  After all, it really is quite unique in what it is, and what it does.  If that’s not worth a go on the demo, I don’t know what is?  I find it mesmerizing.  You may think it’s tosh.  Try it and see.

I thoroughly believe E4 is best enjoyed with a couple of mates and a few beers.  It’s the kind of game to play after a night “on the piss”.

And, just so you know, Tetsuya Mizugichi is now working on the recently announced “Child of Eden” for 360 and PS3.  Fair play, It looks astounding! Look up the trailer.


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Categories : Article, Reviews

“If you push them against a cliff…”

28 07 2010

Greeting readers and listeners! The new episode of the Brake for Frogger podcast has been released into the wild!

Action-packed as ever, with more foul-mouthed ramblings from our resident geordie and the first edition of a brand new regular segment, we hope you enjoy:

Brake for Frogger – Season One, Episode Eight – Seth’s Real Ale

Covered in this months episode:

Geordie Al has his first go at an intro.; the customary ‘What ya playin’?’ section; standing in for the SoapBox, the first episode of Reverend Euan Taylor’s ‘Pause Screen’; California Games to the Mass Effect series in ‘Game Connection’; Al and Tom debate their feelings about Mirror’s Edge in ‘Games Exchange’; Geordie Al gets all excited over those heroes in a half-shell in ‘Geordie Al’s Retro Games Emporium’; and the On The Blog/round-up section where we discuss our new writer, Paolo Raimondo, lament over the loss of a friend (so to speak) as World’s Wildest Dudes upload their final podcast and talk about the on-going ‘Brake for Fragger’ challenge.

Listening methods are as usual:

- Stream from the small media player above;

- Click this here link (if you have Quicktime or Windows Media Player installed) to stream the podcast;

- Right-click the above link, and click the dialog that says “Save target as…”, “Save link as…” or something similar (dependent on your browser) to download the .mp3 file to your computer in order to use it on your iPods or other personal mp3 players.

- From episode two onwards, we’re also on iTunes. You can find us by running a search for ‘Brake For Frogger’ in the iTunes Store, and clicking subscribe…

NB: This is the first episode recorded with a properly established mic. set-up and non-experimental editing procedure. Should you have any problems with audio quality or volume, drop a tweet to @RunawayBomber or @CripleH or send an email to us!


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Categories : Podcasts

How To Lose Money And Influence Nobody.

18 07 2010

Is it possible, thought the collective members of Brake For Frogger one day, for a videogame to earn you the money you’ve spent on it back? The World Cup was in full swing, we had a copy of the FIFA South Africa 2010 game to hand, we put the two together. In the week of the semi finals and final we put £10 into the Brake For Frogger betting fund, simmed the matches beforehand with the exact line ups they would have in real life and bet on the results the game gave us. This would surely lead to our fortune and subsequent retirement.

Note- Brake For Frogger would always encourage those who are going to gamble to do so in a responsible manner. Never bet more than you can afford. Always search for the best odds. Never run with scissors. Food straight out of the oven is hot and should be handled with care. Don’t eat the green parts of crisps.

1st Semi Final
Tuesday July 6th
Holland vs Uruguay.

Our simmed match was a tight affair as Cavani scored for the South Americans in the first half but, having spent most of the match knocking on the door, van Persie equalised for Holland in the 86th minute. All of this is despite the fact that Mark van Bommell had been sent off in the first half for gaining two yellow cards. Extra time cannot break the deadlock so we go to a penalty shoot out. Both sides were terrible in the shoot out but it was Uruguay who bottled it and a ten man Dutch side went through 2-1.

With all that in mind Brake For Frogger get online and place their bets-

£1 on Mark van Bommell being the first player to receive a card at 9/1.
£1 on there to be a red card in the game at 9/4.
£1 on the score to be 1-1 after 90 mins and Cavani to score first at 45/1.

In reality the game may have been close but it had far more goals. Holland ended up winning 3-2 with van Bronckhorst setting them on the way with an absolute bullet from miles out. Nobody gets sent off, not even when there’s a few scuffles at the end and Sneijder ends up getting booted in the face. Never before has Brake For Frogger wanted a knife fight to break out during a game of international football.

We are down to £7 in the kitty.

At Least They're Happy.

Semi Final
Wednesday 7th July
Spain vs Germany.

In the simmed match Spain simply could not handle the organised German side. It was pretty straight forward as Joachim Loew’s men got the 2-0 victory in 90 minutes with Kessling scoring first. Podolski end up with a yellow but that’s really the only blemish on Germany’s advance to the final.

Brake For Frogger bets-

£1 on Germany to win 2-0 with Kessling to score first at 100/1.
£1 on Podolski to get a yellow card
£1 on Germany to lead at half time and full time.

In reality the short passing game of Spain means Germany cannot get the ball. Spain hold on for the vast bulk of the game until Carlos Puyol’s stunning header takes them to the final at the expense of the favourites. Kessling doesn’t even get off the bench.

We are down to £4

We Had Exactly The Same Look On Our Faces.

Final
11th July
Holland vs Spain

Having made sweet F.A thus far Brake For Frogger know they must go all out on the final. We gather together, beers in hand, to sim the final half an hour before it’s played in real life. The simmed match is a completely one-sided affair as the Dutch play some wonderful football to outclass the Spanish in every department and walk it 4-0. Dirk Kuyt plays an absolute blinder by scoring the first and setting up two others. Spain throw Fernando Torres on in the second half and his first action is to miss a penalty that may have brought his team back into the game to a degree. Holland crush those memories of the 70′s when they lost two finals in a row and finally lift the World Cup.

Brake For Frogger bets-
£1 on Holland to win 4-0 with Kuyt to score first at 400/1.
£1 on a penalty to be missed in the 90 minutes at 9/1.
£2 on Holland to win at 13/8.

In reality Holland forgot about any notion of playing good football and instead decide to break bones in an attempt to cripple the Spanish to such a degree that they’ll be in the hospital rather than lifting to trophy. English referee Howard Webb has a hard time trying to keep the game alive as Nigel de Jong tries to embed his studs in Alonso’s ribs, a ‘tackle’ which should have seen him red carded straight away. Dirk Kuyt is subbed in the second half and takes Brake For Frogger’s possible £400 winnings with him. The game goes into extra time and, when the whole world thinks we’re heading for a shoot out, Iniesta provides the only true footballing moment by converting a move started by Fabregas. Torres comes on, his first action being to tear a muscle after a 45 minute warm up.

The Moment Video Games Didn't See Coming.

Brake For Frogger go bust as a result of this. The moral is this tale is to never let video games influence your natural betting instincts and never listen to me when I come up with this stupid idea for an article. On the plus side, the game had Fernando Torres’ pitiful World Cup experience pretty much down exactly.


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Split Second (Xbox 360, PS3)

16 07 2010

There’s something oddly familiar when you first load up Split Second. It’s a faster than hell arcade racer that also has one eye on smashing up your opponents as much as possible. It’s probably, judging by your first few races, fair to say that Black Rock Games have played Burnout a few times in their lives. This isn’t to say that Split Second is some kind of cheap Burnout knock off. It is to say that it recaptures some of the intense action seen in Burnout Takedown and Revenge that was completely lost in Paradise and builds on it.

One main difference is that whilst the Burnout series saw you attempting to collide with other cars and send them crashing into the nearest wall Split Second lets you manipulate the track itself using the great power of explosives. It might sound a little bit gimmicky on paper but the ‘Michael Bay directs NASCAR’ approach leads to some wonderful and epic moments in each race. Your ability to set off these explosions is via a meter charged below your car which builds by drifting and tailgating. Once halfway you’ll activate the first stage of Power Plays meaning trucks will back out in front of those ahead or cranes will swing across the next corner. Build up a full meter though and you’ll be onto the destructive force of the second level. During the strongest of Power Plays you’ll find airplanes coming in to land right on top of you and boats in dry docks launched into the water below taking whatever cars and in their way with them. Some of the larger Power Plays will alter the track layout from one lap to the next so races are ever changing. A bridge that was there on lap one will possibly be completely destroyed by lap two.

Split Second is based on some solid foundations. Black Rock Studios released the ATV racer ‘Pure’ a couple of years back which, whilst being a fairly good example of the stunt/race genre, didn’t really gain mass popularity. Split Second at least allows for something a bit more recognisable to a mass audience as more people will probably want to drive an American muscle car than a 4 wheel drive bike. Being themed around a fictional TV show also means that Split Second has slick presentation, each episode is introduced by a suitably deep voice gent detailing the next race track the producers have deemed fit to rig with semtex.

If Split Second had nothing more than falling bridges and crumbling roads then it certainly would be much cop but thankfully the fast and to the point action to be had here is of a very high quality. Races are intense affairs with the AI never really letting you gather much of a lead. It’s this that gives rise to one of Split Second’s main divisive features, it’s impossible to use Power Plays if you lead the race. Getting in front changes the game to one of using all your driving skill to weave through the airborne wreckage and avoid having a steel girder come crashing through your windscreen. That tight knit pack feeling will probably get you in the end as Split Second seems designed to take you down eventually. Races are pretty hard going at the best of times as you attempt to fill your Power Play meter as much as possible. This leads, strangely enough, to Split Second’s main flaw. The meter will only usually fill up to any great degree when drifting around corners. Whilst there’s nothing wrong with the drift mechanic in the game (think a toned down Ridge Racer) it does leave you wide open for another three cars to overtake you in the inside. It often boils down to ignoring your meter completely and trying to get a lead away from the main body of the race or spending a little bit of time further back and then blasting everything in the latter stages. It’s not very often you can combine both tactics together.

Split Second lends itself to multiplayer quite well though as you and your mates can swop explosions throughout. The game does try to mix it up as much as possible which means taking away the basic race and doing something else. The best example of this is probably the event in which trucks are placed before you dumping flaming barrels out of the back, the idea being to overtake them as quickly as possible. It’s like the storm drain sequence in Terminator 2 without the future leader of the human resistance in the passenger seat and it also leads to many examples of cursing at your opponent over a headset.

It seems unfair to harp on about Burnout Paradise as a comparison but it’s obvious a lot of inspiration was taken from Criterion’s series. Whilst EA’s racer tried to go open world leaving you wandering around a fairly empty space looking for something to do, Split Second has the sense to get to the point and let you race. It doesn’t hold itself down with complex driving techniques and is happy to let you put pedal to metal and get on with it. There’s a lot of fun to be had here as you work your way through each episode on the series. The explosive side of the game soon shows itself to be far more than a one shot gimmick as it makes races take on an epic scale. Essentially Split Second is what arcade racing should be unfussy, uncomplicated and direct.


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Categories : Reviews

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai (XBLA) – Retrospective

14 07 2010


Two words to describe The Dishwasher – Dead Samurai (1200 Microsoft points)…:

Brutal.

Brilliant.

What we have with this game is, quite possibly, the best indie developed game on the Arcade.

Why do I believe this?  Because, quite frankly, it is. Every polished swipe, every high counting combo, every chain attack, all the sinew and gore filled splashes of crimson that encapsulate the show. Some of the best replay value on the market. The screen rocks and shudders under the brutality of the dervish that is the Dead Samurai. Swift, agile, and incredibly versatile, he’d quite rightly stand alongside any Capcom or Konami hero. I think he’d “have” Dante… or Nero at least. The controls are just pitch perfect. Everything feels tight and responsive. Though on times, early on, it can feel loose, but you haven’t learned anything yet!

In a nut-shell, the Dead Samurai is, as the title suggests… A dishwasher. An undead Dishwasher,  whose mundane and thankless existence has pushed our hero to take up the sword and fight off the evils of the impending apocalypse. So far, so good, simple… and yet compelling, in a crazy anime kinda way.

Crazy s**t!

Our hero is left to fight a wicked and terribly insane variety of villains that take the form of jet-pack wearing hovering sods with grenades, Ed-209-alikes with cannons, Agent Smith-alikes, zombies (after all, there HAS to be zombies!),  horse-men of death, ogres and more fiendish and devilishly tough bosses and trash to thrash …or to thrash you. It’s just insane. Imagine, Bayonetta or DMC in 2D with Viewtiful Joe style action and a heavy (metal) mix of  gothic and grotesque… all fused in a Metroidvania mish-mash. It’s marvellous!

You can tell that every ounce of the ‘Indie’ talent is in this game. From the level design – which is sometimes a little confusing but ultimately rewarding as you seek out greater power, skill and weapons to thwart your bad ass foes with your bad ass self – to the combat, gory finishers and flashing “Y” and “B” prompts that signal the demise of an unlucky enemy and more health, gore and action for you… Brutal, sticky fun!

It’s the combat that get’s another nod from me as the reason to own this title. Initially it’s all very simple and enemies are somewhat impossible. Button bash a little bit and wobble the sticks frantically searching for a meagre victory, you learn the rope and muscle. You won’t find a babyish easy mode here. Easy is just another word for making you feel weak when it beats you.

Hardcore is the term,  and hardcore it is. And hardcore you’ll need to be to not feel the urge to hurl your pad through the TV when you hit a brick wall. There are combos and throws and weapons to switch on the fly as in Bayonetta and Devil May Cry 4, and like those titles, TD:DS is better for it. It can stand with these games on a combat level. Its not as refined as them, but just as rewarding and full as say… God of War.

The clever part comes in the form of replaying earlier levels and defying gravity with some showy flips, jumps, wall runs and swipes that obliterate earlier levels and gives you just enough of a chance to push further into the game. With every new weapon, comes another new treat, but to counter that treat is always another painful enemy to overcome. That said, if you’re like me and revel in a challenge, the you’ll take all this in your stride and really delve into the title’s eccentricities. The term “hardcore” was made for games like this, but it hardly ever feels unfair. It’s almost always something you’ve brought upon yourself… which is as it should be in this kind of game.

There’s more to this tale, mind you. More to this title than the highly polished and professional release that it is.  Oh yes, XBLA gamer:

If a fiendishly challenging story mode wasn’t enough to keep you grounded, there’s also the score attack  option of the challenge mode. As solid as the story mode is, challenge mode can be brutal. Thumbs will be sore, but if you’re afraid of sore thumbs, you’re probably better off with a ‘Wii Fit’ or some tea and biscuits with Nanna and some lovely relaxing Wii sports, rather than playing the Dead Samurai. Just remember, you can’t gain skill through sitting and thinking about playing these games. You really just have to jump in!

Least impressive about this game are the rather crazy and abstract achievements,  though there is 200G just waiting for you to actually earn them here (as well as a few sneaky hidden ones for true TD:DS masters!)

Dig out your plectrum.

There are some stand out moments like the Guitar Hero rhythm action-style mini games that just beg you to give it another go. YES, you can use the GH peripheral to play it! That brings me nicely to the sound and score. It’s all very ‘RAWK’ and, in that way, it suits it perfectly. I get flashes of Eric Draven and Van Halen when I play TD:DS. It’s certainly loud. Turned up to “11″ you might say, and if I hear “FIRE IN THE HOLE!!” again… well, you’ll find out!

GORE!

The graphics in TD:DS are just what you need.  2D, dark, red, and full of character and animated, pixelated life… Life that’s just waiting to be killed and torn to pieces by the single most brutal character since Kratos took up being a rage-monger and inflicting his own brand of revenge on the gods… I really think the young Dishwasher would have a good go at him too!

Though, I’m sure Bayonetta could take them all down together.


[This is the first of the reviews/articles by our new writer, Paolo Raimondo. He'll be covering XBLA games for us, and writing reviews/retrospectives of classic titles and new titles with retro. links... Welcome Paolo!]


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“3-Hit Combo!”

29 06 2010

Sunday 27th June, mere moments after the World Cup defeat of a shambolic England football team, saw the recording of Brake for Frogger’s World Cup special.

Debates ensued as always, interspersed with a soapbox from Will Lockhart of World’s Wildest Dudes/Sonic’s Ring and Geordie Al’s Retro Games Emporium, amongst other things. Tangents occured, but we aimed to stick to all things (video game) football related.

This is…:

Brake for Frogger – Season One, Episode Seven – 3-Hit Combo

Standard Edit:

Volume-levelled and increased (LOUDER!):

Things covered in this episode:

The standard “What ya playin’?” section; Treasure Island Dizzy to California Games in ‘Game Connection’; Tom is forced to purchase ‘World Cup 2010′ for this month’s ‘Game Exchange’; ‘A history of Football games in ‘Geordie Al’s Retro Games Emporium’; Will Lockhart provides this month’s SoapBox about the good old days; We discuss the SoapBox topic; and the usual rounding up odds and ends, inc. ConCon 3 and the Brake for Fragger challenge with World’s Wildest Dudes amongst other things.

Listening methods are as usual:

- Stream from the small media player above;

- Click this here link (standard version) or this link (LOUDER version) (if you have Quicktime or Windows Media Player installed) to stream the podcast;

- Right-click the above link, and click the dialog that says “Save target as…”, “Save link as…” or something similar (dependent on your browser) to download the .mp3 file to your computer in order to use it on your iPods or other personal mp3 players.

- From episode two onwards, we’re also on iTunes. You can find us by running a search for ‘Brake For Frogger’ in the iTunes Store, and clicking subscribe…

Hope you enjoy and we’ll be back to standard fayre next month – No tennis special, we promise!


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Categories : Podcasts

Sonic’s Clear Wank 3 – The Wankening…

26 06 2010

…or something similar!

In spirit as well as name, although not strictly accurate, Sonic’s Clear Wank 3 – ‘The Wankening’ is an E3-centric podcast and a group effort between Brake for Frogger (Cam and Tom), Sonic’s Ring (Dave ‘Midi’ Whitelaw and Will Lockhart) and World’s Wildest Dudes (Ally Lockhart and …erm… Will Lockhart!).

Coming the morning after the night that was the EPIC party ‘ConCon 3‘, we dredge up details about the previous weeks’ E3 press conferences from our aching brains and attempt to perform some sort of (apparently tenuous) critique on the (so-called) PR hype from the Los Angeles based event!

Likely to be pretty sweary but hopefully this will not disappoint!

Hope you enjoy, folks!!!

As usual, listening methods, as follows!:

- Stream from the small media player above;

- Click this here link (if you have Quicktime or Windows Media Player installed) to stream the podcast;

- Right-click the above link, and click the dialog that says “Save target as…”, “Save link as…” or something similar (dependent on your browser) to download the .mp3 file to your computer in order to use it on your iPods or other personal mp3 players.

- From episode two onwards, we’re also on iTunes. You can find us by running a search for ‘Brake For Frogger’ in the iTunes Store, and clicking subscribe…


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Categories : Podcasts

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