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Gaming Week 21: Bayonetta (360)
Her dress is made from her hair, how cool is that?

Oh Bayonetta, I’ve been meaning to play you for years but never found the time to fit your into my schedule. I’ve owned you since you first was released onto the world, and my oh my how I was a fool to disregard you for so long.

As you can probably tell from my little burst above, I enjoyed every minute of Bayonetta, and not just because of the main character. Everything from game play, to the style, to the music entranced me to my very core, making sure I constantly progressed until I had taken in all Bayonetta had to offer.

So firstly: the game play. Bayonetta is a action game, if you’ve ever laid your hands on a Devil May Cry title in the past then you already know how this game will go, the difference you’ll find is the execution. In Devil May Cry games, or even God of War for that matter, you find a very serious plot and the action enhances the seriousness, deepening the urgency of what Dante or Kratos is doing at the moment in time; for Kratos it expands the goriness, Dante the emotion. In Bayonetta on the other hand, the action is an extension of the fun and mischief Bayonetta takes in her stride. Every action, every move, every attack all seeks to enhance the richness of this world in which angels and witches constantly fight, and Bayonetta just wants to have fun, even when things get serious. She twists and turns around the battlefield like a pole dancer, being majestic, but with a slight sense of sexiness. To put this in perspective, it speaks volumes to the fact Bayonettas dress is made out of her own hair, so when she does powerful witch spells to defeat opponents she has to go naked in order to summon her demons. It’s tongue in cheek action, but it’s stylishly done.

The story leaves some to be desired, but overall does the job to integrate all the characters into one solid narrative, even if it is slightly confusing and doesn’t really explain/introduce key characters until the last 2 chapters. it’s still a story though, and that counts for something right?

The combat system is spot on, making it fantastic to land massive combos, and the game really makes sure you can dodge attacks at any moment, drilling it into your head from the get go, and actually pushing it further by making puzzle sequences use the dodge mechanic too. Each fight sequence is given a ranking, to let you know how well you took on a group of enemies, this is mostly determined by how much health/items you used, but also takes into consideration your combo count. It is certainly addictive, and will get the hardcore players coming back time and time again to try and get a platinum on every level.

One thing I will say about Bayonetta that I need to say with all the talk about sexism in the games industry at the moment: Bayonetta in my opinion is not sexist. The marketing/promotion of the game may be sexist, but the character and the game that centres around Bayonetta are not sexist at all. Bayonetta is a strong, independent woman who in fact belittles the few men she does encounter in the game, making me jealous and even respect how strong she is as a character. It speaks volumes to how Sega have made sure to walk a very fine line between marketing her to the biggest demographic, whilst also maintaining the characters main strengths, ensuring she doesn’t become a mere sex icon to be added to the games industry. I hope those people who also play Bayonetta feel the same way, and I’d be happy to discuss others opinions on the matter.

Pros:
- Fantastic level design
- Combat is fast, reactive and addictive
- Very high replay-ability
Cons:
- Story isn’t very clear, could do with a lot more explanation
Although Bayonetta may be old, if you haven’t given it a go this generation, I’d recommend you do. It is the pinnacle of what a action game can amount to when the developer has one specific goal in mind, and it has definitely left a lasting impression on myself.

4/5
24/05/2013
Gaming Week 20: Dust, an Elysian Tale (XBLA)
Dust looks pretty cool here

Dust is a very unique game in its ability to portray very serious topics, whilst looking like something a kid would play with its art style. This isn’t a bad thing by any stretch, in fact it adds to Dust’s ability to get your pre-conceived notions and turn them on their head. So although this may look like a game about furries, overlook that and you’ll be transported into a very deep and troubling world where it’s realities aren’t too far from our own.

You start Dust as a person (fox?) that’s just been caught by a tiny flying fox stealing a sword. Turns out that the sword talks, and explains that it can only be welded by it’s true owner, therefore it hasn’t been stollen. You’ll come to know these characters as Dust (your main protagonist and playable character) Fidget (the flying little fox that’s the swords guardian) and the blade of ahrah (Dust’s sentient sword). It may sound like a strange set up, but the characters are very likeable and with Dust being a blank slate that doesn’t remember anything about his past, it makes for a good set up to a long adventure.

One of the many places Dust shines amongst other platformers is in it’s action, which is stunning both visually and technically. It’s fantastic when you pull of a huge combo, without being hit by any enemies, and whilst knowing it took a bit of skill to pull it off. The combat is very fast and precise, making sure that you’re always on the ball, whilst also being welcoming for new players and casual alike. You have your basic attacks (X to swing sword, and B to spin sword extremely fast.) and a magic attack, courtesy of Fidget, (the Y button.) but where these mix to become a unique action game is the combination of magic and standard attacks. If you press Y to make fidget cast some fireballs, you can then press B to whirlwind these fireballs into many more, attacking and homing in on enemies all over the screen. This makes for massive combos and helps to keep the player experimenting with different attack methods for different enemy encounters. It’s a fantastic take on traditional platforming action, and one I certainly enjoyed playing with.

Dust’ art style is fantastic, all hand drawn and beautifully crafted to make sure the land of Falana is as majestic and dynamic as the gameplay itself. Characters are drawn with exceptional detail, whilst levels look like something out of a painting. To top this, the action maintains a stunning 60fps, ensuring the whole game, from aesthetics to action, are beautifully crafted.

Quests are given during the campaign, and every level (except one at the end of the game) can be returned to and played as many times as you like. It makes sure that you return to areas time and time again, to not only complete quests, but to find hidden items, play hidden dungeons, and level up from defeating many enemies. All of these side missions make for some light-hearted adventure, but its in the story that you’ll see Dust shine through on some very serious topics. Racism, murder, family and culture are all big topics in the main campaign, but not once does it feel out of place. Every thing is explained and broken down, and you can always point parallels to our own world we live in, making for a surreal but enlightening experience.

Pros:
- Fantastic art style really brings the world of Falana alive
- Great characters with very deep backgrounds and stories
- Stylised combat makes for great gameplay
Cons:
- Combat can be challenging at times, with no direction of what to do
Dust: An Elysian Tail will be coming to Steam/Windows in the coming months, (reports were stating April, but that’s come and past with nothing to show) so I think as soon as it comes out, you should grab yourself a copy. Dean Dodrill took 3 and a half years making this, and it shines through in every aspect.

4/5
17/05/2013
Gaming Week 19: Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon (XBLA)
How badass is this?

Far Cry 3 was a fantastic release last winter, combining a gorgeous open world with a solid story, it made for a very fun and addictive game. Fast forward 6 months and we have the release of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, a stand alone expansion that doesn’t require the original game to work. So the question is, what is Blood Dragon? The answer isn’t as straight forward as you may think.

Blood Dragon is Far Cry 3, except, it technically isn’t. The main setting and plot for Blood Dragon centres around an alternate universe in which the world has undergone 2 apocalypses (I shit you not) and the 80’s are here to stay. At face value, this is basically a few reskins of the original Far Cry 3 whilst also messing things up for comedic value, but some of the changes really are hooking, and make for a unique gaming experience in its own right. If you want to see how far they went with the 80’s theme, here’s the announcement trailer, it may damn well blow your mind:

Combat is the same as Far Cry 3; you walk around a big island which gives you a wealth of different options to which you can kill people, including the new animals, the Blood Dragons. These beasts are huge, terrifying, and can fire lasers from their eyes! They’re certainly a force to be reckoned with, but can also be used to your advantage. (They can’t see very far, and love to eat cyber hearts, chuck a cyber heart into a enemy base and watch the mayhem unfold.) All these mechanics help to give you freedom over the island, whether you want to be a stealthy ninja, or a rambo in the making is completely up to your play style. You’ll be rewarded more for assassinating people without being seen, but be destructive enough and you won’t notice the difference in XP bonuses.

Character progression has slightly changed from Far Cry 3, which makes it easier to progress, but not necessarily for the best . Where as before you could choose what new skills you wish to learn, allowing you to pursue any specific traits you want, (be it stealth, health or damage) you now have a straight path with no deviation. Your character can level up to 30, by which time he’s acquired all the skills available in the game. It’s not a bad skill tree by any means, it just takes away some of your freedom of how you want play the game.

Enemies in Blood Dragon are the same as they’ve been in Far Cry 3; you get normal humans, which can be split into different types, as well as animals. There are your traditional types of human classes, some are heavy and take a lot to bring down, others are lightening fast, nimble, and quick to kill. Then theres the animals, which are pretty easy to hunt and kill, and don’t offer any rewards for killing. This is massive change from the crafting system of Far Cry 3, and a feature I missed quite a lot. With the crafting system, you took the game at your own pace, something that is missing in Blood Dragon. Overall, not much has changed since the original, the biggest innovation being the Blood Dragons themselves, whose presence is overwhelming at times, and certainly adds a new dynamic to the game.

Pros:
- Fantastic value for 1200MSP (£9.99)
- Great addition to the Far Cry series
- Addictive gameplay ensures you’ll 100% the game in no time
Cons:
- Short to complete 100% (5 hours 50 minutes to 100% all collectibles, side missions and main campaign, nothing left to do but a empty island)
Overall, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a great buy for those of you who didn’t quite get their fill of free roaming a new island in the original Far Cry 3. It does fall short on content, but is genuinely quite original in an increasingly over-saturated market.

4/5
10/05/2013
Gaming Week 17: Gears of War: Judgement (360)
They all look so cool!

(This review won’t touch multiplayer, just the main campaign.)

Gears of War judgement starts as it means to go on: A mediocre GoW game that can’t quite reach the highs of the previous instalments. New ways of playing don’t help to make the game anymore immersive, and it all just ends up leaving a player deflated once finished.

So the premise for GoW: Judgement is that it’s a prequel, based around Damon Baird, Augustus Cole, Sofia Hendrik and Garron Paduk, just months after emergence day. Baird and his band of merry men, are put on trial for activating a light mass bomb that could of been used for other purposes, and against orders not to. Most of the campaign missions follow Baird and his crew through recollections of what happened up to the point of activating the bomb, and slightly after. It’s quite a good story telling mechanic, and allows for some interesting new ways to play. One of these is to activate a declassified mission at the start of each level; with this, Baird (or whoever is telling the story at the time) add’s some every details to their account of what happened, to which you then have to play out. It certainly added some variety to the combat, making players use only a shield in some levels, or adding fog to a field to reduce visibility. It’s a new mechanic that I’d love to see in other games in the future. Overall the story of GoW: Judgement doesn’t really add anything to the overall universe of Gears. Maybe I’m a vocal minority when I say this, but It feels pointless, and not needed at all.

Gameplay is the same as old games, with only 1 new enemy to spice things up. The environments are things we’ve all seen before, which is a shame, because People Can Fly and Epic had the chance to explore some really nice locations that maybe weren’t touched by the locusts yet or were in the process of being destroyed by the locust horde.

The look and feel of GoW Judgement hasn’t changed since the original many years ago, it’s just been refined to the point of no longer having any advantages. Controller layout has changed, which caused some confusion early on, but I’m sure was made to streamline the Gears experience and bring it up to par with the rest of the industry at the moment. Combat takes place like any other game in the franchise, with enemies popping up from a hole, whilst you duck and cover behind anything in the vicinity. I think one reviewer made the point of cover systems feeling like space invaders many years ago with the original Gears, and to some extent that comparison still holds true. There’s not much you can do with a genre when you’re forced to sacrifice game play for realism, and the Gears series have definitely backed themselves into a corner when it comes to innovation.

Pros:
- Solid narration leads to new interesting game play
- As addictive as previous Gears of War games
Cons:
- Boring and non-essential story
- Short levels make it feel more like a set of side missions than a main campaign (Some levels can be finished in 3 minutes)
Overall, GoW: Judgement was a short game that didn’t bring anything new to the table in the third person shooter category of games. It may be a must have for die hard Gears fans, but it certainly can be skipped by the mass of consumers.

2/5
26/04/2013
Gaming Week 13: I am Alive (360)
He certainly is

I am Alive is the survival game from Ubisoft set in the future, after a catastrophic event has fallen mankind, and left only a few survivors on earth. A few people may remember the original trailer from 2008:

If you count yourself as one of those people, then prepare to be disappointed, as Ubisoft changed majority of the formula from what they was showing in the original trailer, and instead made a fairly action orientated third person adventure game. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing mind you, but I think majority of the gaming community would agree that the original trailer showed a lot of promise and originality in an otherwise over-saturated market.

The game centres around a unnamed protagonist who is searching for his wife and daughter in his hometown of Haventon, after a year of walking across the states to reach there. We are greeted with a view of the decaying city, with no access except across a broken bridge. It’s here that the game introduces you to the concept of stamina, and by god you better get used to it.

Stamina is one of the main game mechanics you have to use in I am alive, effecting everything, from climbing a mountain, to literally just breathing. In theory, stamina fits perfectly in this post-apocalyptic world, ensuring that a player thinks about every action before he or she goes ahead. In reality though, this mechanic just becomes a frustrating barrier to you actually enjoying the world of Haventon. So many times I would just want to explore and see the inhabitants of this desolate town, but it’s broken up every few seconds with climbing, just to make sure you can breath again before running down the same flag pole to go down the same street you were just walking down. It’s frustrating, and genuinely detracts from the game.

Characters in I am Alive are very believable, to the point I actually really felt attached to the little girl called Mei that you have to carry around and care for. The artists should be proud of what they’ve done with the people, showing true human nature in a world without morales.

Action sequences follow a scripted pattern of aiming your gun at someone until they either decide to surrender, or shoot them on the spot. This is interesting at first, but leads to a routine later on in the game, meaning enemy encounters just aren’t that great, and leave a lot to be desired.

Pros:
- Great characters
- Ok climbing mechanics
Cons:
- Stamina is too frustrating
- Save points too far apart (leading me to lose an hours worth of gameplay at one point)
Overall I am Alive just felt underwhelming. There was some challenge in the way it set the mechanics, but really, it all felt like these challenges were just there to mask the terrible game underneath, with all of its many flaws.

3/5
29/03/2013