Author - Judgeman

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition – A Review (PC)

2013/09/10

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Almost three years ago, Konami released their reboot to the Castlevania franchise, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, for both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 platforms. PC fans finally can now get their hands on this reboot with the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow “Ultimate Edition”. Casltevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition comes loaded up with the original game in enhanced 1080p HD graphics, a trophy system through Steam, and both DLC packs: Reverie and Resurrection. If you have been waiting to play the reboot of the Castlevania series on the PC, this is your chance to grab everything in one purchase.

Story

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is set in Southern Europe during the year 1047 AD. A shadowy council called the Lords of Shadow has cast a dark spell on the land, preventing the dead from leaving this plane of existence and causing evil creatures to roam the land. You play as Gabriel Belmont, a member of the elite knighthood called the Brotherhood of Light, who is on a mission to save the soul of his murdered wife and to find a way to bring her back to life while combating the Lords of Shadow. It is revealed that Gabriel is a knight of prophecy and destined to defeat the Lords of Shadow and to find the God Mask to help revive his lost wife.

The story for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition does a very good job in setting the tone for a beleagured world that is beset by evil and feels forsaken by the forces of good. Gabriel Belmont, however, feels like a one dimensional hero that is very typical of these types of games. He is of a singular focus, rarely deviating from his one true goal and does not really progress as a person through the story. From our introduction of him, Gabriel is pretty much just here to do two things, and that is to kill evil and mourn his dead wife.

Ultimately, the story for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow delivers on what other Castlevania games of the past had; a solid story about the epic battle between good and evil. The story progresses very well, and introduces interesting characters along the way that helps to move the story along in the desired path. The characters are also fairly one dimensional and their desires and objectives are transparent from the moment they are introduced. Overall, I feel that the story for this game is a decent enough story for this type of game, but it is not cannon to the Castlevania universe.

Gameplay

While the story for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition feels very similar to past Castlevania games, the game play is decidedly not inline with what we have come to expect from the Castlevania franchise. In the past, Castlevania games have given the player a vast world to explore at the player’s whim. However, Lords of Shadow is very linear in its level design, almost completely removing the ability to explore, save for backtracking to previous levels once you have upgraded your abilities. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition has more in common with God of War then any past Castlevania game, so be prepared for that. That comparison isn’t necessarily a bad thing to make, but for fans of the series it is one you must know before purchasing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

Combat in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is, again, very similar to God of War in that Gabriel fights by using various combinations of button mashing to defeat the enemies and to perform various moves. Gabriel does have a variety of weaponry to utilize, but it is his trusty chain cross that will be the workhorse throughout the game. You will encounter some fantastic looking and very large bosses, which are fantastic to look at but many of these fights will be reduced to quick time events. There just isn’t anything new here that we haven’t seen before. What is here in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is solid and well done, but tends to become repetitive over time.

There are some puzzles and climbing sections in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition that helps break up the monotony of the combat. The puzzles are simple action genre fair, and the climbing sections do a great job of making Gabriel feel like a distant cousin to Altair. The major problem with these sections is that they are few and only serve to break up the fights, not really add any depth to the overall game play.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition makes its biggest departure from the past in the game play department. While I could at least pretend that the story was Casltevania-like, the game play and lack of exploration really hit me hard. The game play isn’t bad at all, not by a long shot, but it isn’t what we have come to expect from a Castlevania game. That will ultimately be the decision you will have to make. Are you willing to play a Castlevania game that feels more at home in the God of War bin instead of something that feels like Symphony of the Night?

Aesthetics

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition is a beautiful game – the set design and the overall aesthetic of the game feels suitably dark, mysterious and otherworldly while still feeling familiar. The 1080p high definition visuals look fantastic, and Konami has been able to fix the frame rate for the PC as long as you are running it at the recommended specifications. The console editions had a tendency to slow down during the action and pretty much was at the 30 fps, while the PC edition has doubled that frame rate to 60 fps and is not affected by the drop during heavy combat as much.

The voice acting for Castlevania is full of big name actors, including Robert Carlyle and Patrick Stewart. The actors deliver their lines well and brings the characters alive for the player. Carlyle does a good job in delivering his lines for Gabriel, but I feel that the character himself was just flat for the actor to do anything better than what we got. The music for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition was what I would expect from a game like this, suitably dark and moody. The music does a fantastic job in really promoting the feeling of darkness and despair that is seen throughout the game.

Final Thoughts

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition is a very good game – it just isn’t a very good Castlevania game. The locations and story feel apocalyptic in nature and does bring the forces of good and evil together for an epic fight – however, the game play itself departs greatly from what we have come to love from the Castlevania franchise. Borrowing more from God of War than Symphony of the Night, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition is very linear in progression with very little exploration to go around, and is ladened-down with quick time events. This sounds much more negative than I really want it to, because Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition is really a good, solid game to play, just don’t expect too much from the Castlevania name that is attached to. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition is available now through Steam.

[easyreview title=”Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3″ ]

ROCCAT Lua Gaming Mouse Review

2013/09/01

Judgeman

News, Peripheral Review, Peripherals News, Reviews

ROCCAT Studios has sent us a new mouse to drag through the ringer that is my weekly gaming schedule. The ROCCAT Lua is a traditional three-button mouse that is designed to be ROCCAT’s entry level gaming mouse. Sporting some nice features and a comfortable feel, the ROCCAT Lua comes in at a inexpensive $29.99.

Description

The ROCCAT Lua has a very nice and comfortable design to it. The Lua is ambidextrous, and feels just as natural in the left hand as it does in the right. The plastic that covers the mouse is textured and slip proof, providing a nice surface that is easy to grip without feeling like sandpaper.

The three-button design is configured in a typical format with the left, right and center buttons within easy grasp of each other. Technically, the ROCCAT Lua has a fourth button, just under the mouse wheel, but this button only controls the DPI. By hitting this button, you can switch between a series of DPI settings on the fly. By using the control panel for the Lua, you can also configure the settings you use most, instead of having to cycle through all of the presets.

The mouse measures 1.4 inches (height) by 2.5 inches (width) by 4.6 inches (length) and weighs 3.5 ounces (including cable).. These dimensions gives the ROCCAT Lua a smaller profile than most mice that I have used in the past. The Lua just felt tiny in my hands and that gave me the perception that the Lua was a fragile mouse. While the mouse proved to be more durable than I first expected, the lower profile and lighter weight never allowed the Lua to feel completely right in my hands.

The design for the Lua is basic, but not dull by any means of the word. The ROCCAT logo on Lua lights up in a nice blue that matches my Black Widow Ultimate keyboard quite nicely. The light in the logo can be set to a few options, including a breathing mode that fades the light in the logo in and out. Unfortunately, the color isn’t customizable but still looks slick on the desk.

[wpcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””]Features

Pro Optic (R2) Sensor
Ambidextrous V-shape
Arctic Blue LED Lighting
ROCCAT Driver
DPI Change
No-Sweat Side Grips
Ultra-Precise 2D Wheel
Highest Quality Components

[/wpcol_1half] [wpcol_1half_end id=”” class=”” style=””]Technical Specifications

2000 DPI Optical Sensor
60 IPS Maximum Speed
20 Gs of Acceleration
1000 Hz Polling Rate
1.8 m USB Cable

[/wpcol_1half_end]

Performance

Whenever I test out a mouse for a review, I try to play games from several different genres to see how the mouse will react to different play styles. This week, I tested the ROCCAT Lua in Hearthstone, Knights of the Old Republic, Team Fortress 2, and through my daily tasks of web browsing and writing.

My first impression is one that lasted with me all the way through the testing, this mouse is small in my hands! At 1.4 inches tall, the ROCCAT Lua is small enough that it bothered me during game play. I am coming from just using the Razer Spectre mouse, so part of it may be that I am used to a larger, heavier mouse. Besides the height and overall size of the Lua, the mouse was extremely comfortable in my hands and the buttons were extremely responsive.

The driver that can be installed through the ROCCAT website contains a full control panel, that allows you to customize your settings. I was able to remove some of the slower DPI settings from the button switch, so i can change my settings quickly between the ones that I use the most. You are also able to switch the lighting style, polling rate, button assignments, and pointer speed through this window.

For Hearthstone, Knights of the Old Republic, and my daily tasks, the ROCCAT Lua did the job just fine. These games and tasks have a lighter demand on mice in general, and besides missing the feature to be able to program the mouse for KOTOR, the Lua did just fine. For Team Fortress 2, the ability to switch DPI settings on the fly really came in handy and I can feel that this type of game is what the Lua was designed for.

Final Thoughts

The ROCCAT Lua is a great entry level gaming mouse with a very nice price tag of $29.99. The ROCCAT Studios driver allows you to change your settings to match your need, though the Lua is missing some of the features that gamers really love, like programmable macros. The Lua is a very slick looking mouse, with the light up ROCCAT logo in blue, but is quite small for my hands. Coming in at 1.4 inches tall and weighing 3.5 ounces, the Lua is a lightweight compared to other mice on the market, but has a very comfortable feel. Personally, I like my mice with a little more weight and height to fit my larger hands. The only other downside to the Lua is the lack of a braided USB cord, but it is understandable when taking the price into consideration. The ROCCAT Lua is a great way to get into the world of gaming mice for a very small start up cost.

[easyreview title=”ROCCAT Lua Gaming Mouse Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]

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Mortal Kombat Komplete Kollection Review (PC)

2013/08/18

Judgeman

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

NetherRealm Studios has finally brought the big hit, Mortal Kombat, to the PC. Mortal Kombat Komplete Kollection (my spell-checker is going to hate this review) contains everything the Mortal Kombat fan needs for the PC; the original game, the four downloadable characters, and the bonus skins that were available with pre-orders. Mortal Kombat 9 was a return to glory for the franchise and NetherRealm Studios, with a fantastic story line, great game play mechanics, the return to 2D fighting, and, of course, fatalities. Originally released in April of 2011, PC owners had to wait this long for a Mortal Kombat release. The big question we are here to answer is “is it worth the wait?” The short answer is, yes it is. The long answer starts in the next paragraph.

Story

Most fighting games have very little story to tell, and usually only tell it with bookend cut scenes. The Mortal Kombat franchise has been unique in the fact that NetherRealm Studios has built a massive, and often convoluted, mythology around their series of games. With Mortal Kombat 9, the franchise gets a huge reboot. The game begins with every character that has ever appeared in a Mortal Kombat game lying dismembered and dead around a pyramid as Shao Khan and Raiden have the final battle for all of reality. During the battle, Raiden realizes that he is outclassed and will loose this fight, so he sends warning back in time, to himself at the start of the Mortal Kombat Tournament, essentially what occurred in the very first Mortal Kombat. The single player campaign then follows the various combatants through the events of the Mortal Kombat Tournament, as Raiden tries to alter the future and prevent Shao Khan from achieving total domination.

The story for Mortal Kombat 9 is well written and is paced really well, for a fighting game. This story will not move you to tears, or be overly memorable months from now, but you will have a great time playing the game and the story really adds to the journey. You will play as most of the characters on the roster during the single player campaign. Each character will have set fights that they will need to win to progress the story, and have smaller cut scenes that will bridge each fight. I have played every game in the Mortal Kombat franchise, and feel that this is truly NeterRealm’s best story yet.

Game Play

Let me get this right out of the way first, buy a game pad for this game. Do not play Mortal Kombat Komplete Kollection just by using a keyboard, it is nearly impossible to hit your combos with any type of regularity. With a game pad, the game is much more responsive and plays just like a console. Mortal Kombat is a 2D fighting game using 3D characters and backgrounds. This gives the game a very modern and beautiful look, while preserving the classic fighting style of Mortal Kombats 1, 2, and 3. Characters are controlled using the movement stick or arrow keys, while combat takes place by using four fighting buttons, two punches and two kicks. There is also a block button that is needed to try to keep up your defense.

Combos are really hit or miss with Mortal Kombat. If you use one of your characters pre-set combinations, then the combo fires off quickly and looks great. Trying to set up your own combos will be met with a slight delay between chaining hits together that usually don’t get chained together. So it is best to use the combos that are already set up for your character. Characters also have a power bar that will fill up as the fight rages on. This power bar will unlock more moves for each character, and enhance your special moves by using the energy in the bar. Once the bar is filled to the maximum, you are able to pull off an Xray Move. The Xray Move is a series of hits that are landed in quick succession, but all seen as if the screen was turned into an xray machine. You will see bones break, kidneys pop, and lungs burst as you pummel your opponent with the Xray Move. Veterans will be able to chain huge combinations of moves together, by starting up a four hit juggle combo, then launching a ten hit Xray Move to really put the hurt on.

Then there are the fatalities, this wouldn’t be a Mortal Kombat game without them. Most characters have two fatalities to learn, with some having up to three. Then there are stage fatalities for certain stages that will really put an end to your opponent. And finally, babalities return to humiliate your opponent and make them cry like a baby. There are the original 27 combatants plus the 4 downloadable characters to choose from to perform all of these brutal fatalities with. With the Komplete Kollection, the skins are all unlocked at the onset, and the game even contains the pre order Mortal Kombat 3 skins that were offered back in 2011.

Mortal Kombat Komplete Kollection has tons of game play modes to keep you entertained. In addition to the single player campaign, there is a challenge mode, training mode, mini games such as Test Your Might, and online versus mode. I did experience some major connectivity issues in some, not all, of my online games. I never could seem to get the lag to reproduce in a consistent manner, so I am not sure as to the source of it. Just be aware that others I have talked to have experience some sort of lag during online play. Couple of other issues that I experienced is that the PC version still has Xbox 360 button layouts on some of the screens for the mini games. The graphics will show you how to complete the mini game by showing you the corresponding Xbox 360 buttons, which I felt was rather lax of the developers. Oh, and Shao Khan is still a cheap bastard. Really, that guy sucks.

Aesthetics

Mortal Kombat Komplete Kollection just drips with style and gore. The art direction for this game really hit home and made the game feel like a combination of the Mortal Kombats of the past, while bringing about a new look for a new generation. Many of the characters costumes have been simplified and hearken back to original designs, like Sub-Zero’s ninja style costume. Other characters, such as Smoke, have a much newer look to their costumes. The graphics looked solid, even on my aging card, and flowed quite nicely through most of my matches. With the exception of the lag online, I only suffered a frame rate drop during the Shao Khan fight, as the game took screenshots of Shao Khan pretty much handing me various parts of my body. That fight is hard enough as it is, I don’t need the game slowing down as it takes pictures of my butt whoopin’.

Final Thoughts

Mortal Kombat 9 is a fantastic game and a must have, in my opinion. I have played every Mortal Kombat game ever made, and this is by far the best one to come out since Mortal Kombat 2. PC owners can now own the Komplete Kollection with every fighter, 31 in all, and every costume ready to go right when you begin. Even with the occasional lag and frame rate issues during game play, Mortal Kombat Komplete Kollection is a must have if you do not already own the game for a console. It’s really a shame that it took this long to get this game to the PC, it really is. And, seriously, do yourself a favor, buy a game pad if you plan on getting this game. You will thank me later. Mortal Kombat Komplete Kollection is available now.

[easyreview title=”Mortal Kombat Komplete Kollection Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]
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Divinity: Dragon Commander Review (PC)

2013/08/14

Judgeman

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Here’s a phrase that I’m sure will get you grinning: “Dragons, with jet packs”. Sounds like something I would have drawn in the margins of my math homework back in junior high, but the developers over at Larian Studios have indeed put dragons with jet packs into their newest release. Divinity: Dragon Commander is a combination real time strategy, role playing, and action game that centers around the squabbling of a group of siblings as they fight over their deceased father’s former empire. Divinity: Dragon Commander showcases a brilliant story where every decision you make has real consequences on the world around you, which helps cover up the game’s downfall in the real time strategy battles that don’t quite live up to the higher standards set by StarCraft II. Divinity: Dragon Commander is still a must buy for anyone on the market for a solid RTS/RP game.

Story

Divinity: Dragon Commander begins with a world in utter turmoil as the offspring of the Emperor battle each other for control of the deceased monarch’s lands. You come into the fight as a bastard offspring of the Emperor, born out of wedlock, the result of a union of your father and a dragon wearing the disguise of a human. You are half human and half dragon, bastardized twice and belonging to neither race. This hits you in the face immediately as the game begins, when you begin talking to your generals. The army that you lead does not trust you, nor do they even believe you are the rightful heir to the throne, but being half dragon they believe you to be in the lead to come out on top and win the crown. It is your job to win over your army, develop alliances and conquer your siblings to earn the title of Emperor.

The story in Divinity: Dragon Commander progresses quite nicely and at a fantastic pace. The story is told through role playing elements that allow you to choose your dialogue options and to make decisions on what you feel will benefit your people the best. Ambassadors will visit you, your generals will advice you, and your people will either love or hate you based on your decisions. Every decision you make will have story and game play consequences. Depending on how you interact with the Elven ambassador will effect your relationship with that kingdom. The story for Divinity: Dragon Commander is a top notch production, told through interesting conversations and events during game play.

Game Play

The game play for Divinity: Dragon Commander changes depending on what aspect of the game you are playing at a particular time. During the strategy phase, you move your forces across a map to reinforce regiments, invade enemy territories, or take over neutral countries to earn resources. You have to build troops and transports to carry your men across the oceans, and can see where your enemies are focusing their strengths. You also can explore your command ship and talk to your crew to develop weapons and troops through research. Ambassadors will visit you and attempt to forge alliances or enter into war against you, depending on how you interact with them. When you invade another territory, you can have the computer simulate that combat and award the winner with the spoils, or enter into combat directly.

Whenever you choose to enter combat directly, Divinity: Dragon Commander then switches gears and moves into the real time strategy portion of the game. This phase plays out exactly as any other typical rts game would. You begin the game with the forces you had from the map, but can then build and reinforce your unites using the resources on the map. The good news for people like me that cannot micromanage every unit is that there are no resources to gather, you simply earn resources and then get to spend these on units and buildings. The more land you conquer, the faster your resources will build. At any point during the combat, you can directly enter combat as a dragon with a jet pack. When the dragon enters combat, you actually get to control the dragon from a third person point of view and get to fly the dragon around the map, blasting apart enemy units and buildings. I personally loved this feature, and mostly because I have never been a true rts fan so the dragon got me more involved into the combat the way I like to play it.

Divinity: Dragon Commander does a lot of things in this game, and it does them all well. My biggest complaint with the game play of Divinity: Dragon Commander is the controls during the rts phase of the game. I felt that the controls were very clunky and not very intuitive, especially with how you move the camera around using the arrow keys. I believe I just got too used to how Blizzard controls their rts games that it took me a little longer to learn how to control the camera and units in Divinity: Dragon Commander. Everything else in Divinity: Dragon Commander works flawlessly, or nearly so.

Aesthetics

I really liked the direction that Larian Studios chose to go with the aesthetics of Divinity: Dragon Commander. The visuals center themselves somewhere between fantasy and steam punk, using typical fantasy races with technology you would usually see in a steam punk comic. The graphics were crisp and clean looking, even on my aging graphics card. I never once ran into any frame rate issues during combat. My only complaint is that the rts section of the game feels like it was painted using a decidedly smaller pallet of colors then the rest of the game. The designers chose to use simple, primary colors to represent the rts phase, which seems out of place with the nice art design of the rest of the world.

The sound direction and voice acting for Divinity: Dragon Commander are also well done. The voice acting was well done and not over the top, nor were the accents harsh and forced. Like most games on the market, the developers chose to use accents from the United Kingdom to give their characters a more distinguished feel, but since the game focuses on monarchies and rivalries for the crown, the UK accents seem to fit right at home.

Final Thoughts

Larian Studios has released a very, very good game with Divinity: Dragon Commander. Combining elements of various different genres, Divinity: Dragon Commander gives the player the total experience in trying to wrestle the remnants of an empire from your estranged siblings. The story line is interesting and changes depending on the decisions you make during game play. These decisions also carry significant consequences as to the changing world around you. Enacting laws that only effect one race under your rule will cause them to act out accordingly. The rts game play of Divinity: Dragon Commander works well enough, though pales in comparison to Starcraft II. However, Divinity: Dragon Commander gives you choices and more varied game play then Starcraft II ever offered. Oh, and Divinity: Dragon Commander has dragons, with jet packs. ‘Nuff Said.

Divinity: Dragon Commander is available now for the PC through Steam.

[easyreview title=”Divinity: Dragon Commander Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]
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The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief Review (PC)

2013/08/05

Judgeman

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Nordic Games has just released their newest point and click adventure game in The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief. Part one of a three part story, The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief takes much of its inspiration from novels by Agatha Christie – even beginning the story aboard the Orient Express. Using the tried and true methods of the point and click adventure game genre, The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief tries to tell a story of burglary and intrigue, but ultimately fails to be an immersive experience and ends up being mediocre at best.

Story

The story of The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief is by far the game’s strongest point. Set during the 1960’s, the game begins aboard the Orient Express as three law officers are transporting a gem towards its final destination in Cairo. The law officers are laying a trap for a burglar who just recently had stolen the gems counterpart from the London Museum. This burglar is the heir apparent to the legendary master thief, the Raven, who was shot and killed a few years back. You play as Constable Zellner of the Swiss Police, assisting Inspector Legrand from Paris and Constable Oliver from London in their baiting of this trap aboard the train. Having been told by Legrand that your help is not wanted in baiting this trap, Zellner spends the rest of his time on the Orient Express making his own investigations into the problems of the other passengers, while keeping a sharp eye out for the Raven.

Like many of Nordic Games releases, The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief has a ton of very interesting characters to meet along your journey to Cairo. The biggest issue is, that the main character Constable Zellner, isn’t one of them. Zellner is an aging Constable who continues time and time again to try to impress Inspector Legrand with his skills in deduction, despite Legrand’s insistence that Zellner’s help is neither wanted nor needed. Instead of just heading back to Switzerland, Zellner continues to get involved in the case and blunders his way on through to Venice, then to Cairo.

The overall story is intriguing enough and has a very exotic feel to it, similar to the stories that The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief tries to emulate. I love the locales that the designers chose to tell the story through. Beginning on the Orient Express was a fantastic way to begin the game, and continuing that story on a slow boat to Cairo was the right decision. The biggest issue with the game is not with the story line, its with how the game play mechanics allows the player to interact with the story.

Game Play

Game play for The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief is as basic of a point and click adventure game mechanic can get. You progress through the story by interacting with objects and people around the scenery, and discovering what items or clues you need before moving the story along. The game has an inventory screen in which to interact with objects you have collected, a hint system that allows you to spend points that you have earned to see items you can interact with by pressing the space bar, and conversation choices that allows you to talk to people about different topics. All of these mechanics are solid and does the job they are designed to do, however, it’s not enough to make this game great.

With the story being about detective work and criminal intrigue, I would have hoped for more game mechanics that allows the player to do actual detective work. Instead of just using scissors to get graphite powder, then using the powder to discover some finger prints on a window, I would have rather seen and actual mechanic to allow us to dust for finger prints and being able to analyze the prints to find the match. Throughout the entire game, I just wanted more immersion into the world of The Raven. A standard point and click game mechanic just didn’t do it for me, and ultimately left the game feeling boring and mediocre, even though the story was well written and paced just right.

Aesthetics

I found the aesthetics for The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief to fit the story line very well. The visuals tend to be a little more realistic then some of the other releases from Nordic Games, but still have a very animated feel to them. The lighting effects were wonderful and really help to set the tone during some of the scenes. The environments were also well designed to be exotic in feel, to bring that Agatha Christie feel to the entire game.

Voice acting was also well done, and utilizes accents from around the world. English, German, French, Swiss, Italian, and American characters are all represented and voiced well in The Raven. The score is also creates the mood for the story, by being suitable dark and mysterious when the need arises. The audio and the visuals do a fantastic job in bringing the world of The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief alive to the player and makes the world feel interesting and real.

Final Thoughts

The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief is a decent point and click adventure game that could have been a great game if the designers had utilized different mechanics to draw the player deeper into the world of The Raven. Using standard point and click mechanics, The Raven never gets too hard or too easy with its puzzles, but these mechanics don’t generate any intrigue or excitement that the story line keeps trying to present. The story is well written and designed, but the central character, Constable Zellner, falls a little flat for my tastes and isn’t as interesting to play as I want him to be. The game is a great looking and sounding game, with a very international feel to all of the characters. Ultimately, The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief just ends up being decent because the game play mechanics do not do enough to bring the story to life. The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief is available now through Steam.

[easyreview title=”The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3″ ]
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The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot Closed Beta Preview

2013/07/15

Judgeman

News, Previews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Preview

Ubisoft has given us the opportunity to take a preview look at their upcoming free to play ~~loot-fest~~ title, The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, during its closed beta phase. The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot is a very interesting game that has two distinct game play mechanics: attack and defense. The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot combines the combat ideas of Diablo and Torchlight, with the tower defense game play of a game like Plants vs. Zombies, then sprinkles in a little city creation game play a la SimCity. While the game works on many different levels, one cannot escape the feeling that The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot is just missing something to really make this good game great.

The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot is set in the Kingdom of Opulencia, a kingdom so overrun with theft that the rich inhabitants used magic to lift all of their castles up into the sky for better defense. This has not quelled the constant conflict between each castle, however, nor has it stopped the inhabitants of Opulencia from continuing their quest for epic loot. You, as the player, get to choose one of three character classes to start your adventure. The three classes currently available are the Mage, the Knight, and the Archer. You are then given a castle in the Kingdom of Opulencia to use as a base of operations as you set out to invade the surrounding castles, plundering their riches.

The game play of The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot is set into two distinct elements: attack and defense. When you attack another castle, the game is played in the same way that a hack and slash title like Diablo or Torchlight is played. Using your mouse and keyboard, you invade the castle, decimating their defenses to reach the castle’s heart within a set time limit to receive an additional bonus. As you are killing the creatures that inhabit the castle, you will pick up loot that will help make your character stronger. You will also collect gold and life points, which helps you purchase upgrades for your own castle’s defense.

When you switch over to defense mode, you get an overview of what your castle currently looks like. Within your castle, you set up work areas that help upgrade your defenses and helps your character by creating more loot for their attack runs. You also get to assign and setup the traps and minions that will defend your castle from the other players who might invade it. The sections have set limits to how many creatures and traps can be set within them, so you will need to think strategically and build additional sections to your castle to get the most out of it. You will receive notifications when other players successfully raid your castle and just how much gold and life they were able to rob you of. You can even watch their replay to see exactly how they beat your defenses. This was a particularly neat feature, because I can see the behavior of my invaders and use that to try to stop the next batch.

Characters in The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot start off adventuring in their pajamas. As you find loot, your characters look will change to match the items that they are equipping. Raiding castles will also earn you experience points, that will be used to level up your characters. As characters reach higher levels, new talents and abilities become unlocked to use in your raids. These are assigned to the first four numbers keys, and to the mouse buttons, just like other games of this type.

The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot is feeling like a fairly solid contender for some of your free time in the future. The visual aesthetics of the game are very cartoonish and stylized, and work great for the quirky nature of how the story is presented. The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot does not take itself too seriously, as the name suggests, and sets the tone of the game off right away. One of the main drawbacks that I found during my time with the game was that the world never felt as “epic” as other games on the market, simply because most of the time you are raiding castles and not exploring the surrounding world. Compared to games like Diablo or Torchlight that are focused on the same type of loot grinding, The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot just feels empty and incomplete since you have no opportunity to explore larger areas outside of the level you are in. Still, The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot is shaping up to be an interesting game and worth your time, even if it is just to experience some of the humor injected into the title by the developers.

*This preview was of a game in closed beta status and not necessarily indicative of its final product

Element4L – A Review (PC)

2013/07/08

Judgeman

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Indie game developer, I-Illusions, has come up with a very charming action platform game with Element4L. With a very easy control scheme, Element4L is a great example of a game that is easy to pick up, but hard to master. Element4L also has an aesthetic that is simply gorgeous to both the eye and the ear. I was drawn to the look and the sound of the game from the very beginning, and the game play helped make my time with Element4L extremely enjoyable.

Story

I-Illusions did something special for the story of Element4L, they left it up to interpretation. There is a story here, but it is seen through cut scenes, quotes, and small messages. Many games live or die on their story elements, like character development or plot, but Element4L gives you a little bit of a story just to keep things interesting and relies solely on the game play and aesthetic to give you a great gaming experience. There is an ending to Element4L, but it is just as cryptic and up for interpretation as the rest of the game.

Being a reviewer that feels that writing and story are just as important as game play, Element4L fights that preconceived notion with solid game play and beautiful aesthetics to make me forget that there isn’t character development or plot progression going on here. Element4L’s story is based on the idea of how life began on this planet. The player is represented by all four elements: fire, ice, earth and air. As you progress through the levels, you will discover collectibles called “soul parts” to help bring about life. If you are looking for a fantastic story line, keep looking. Playing Element4L is like looking at a Vincent van Gogh masterpiece, you understand the premise of what the art is about, but the details are all up to you to feel and fill in.

Game Play

In game design, simple does not always equate to easy and Element4L is a perfect example of this. You begin the game using only one element, air, that is controlled by pressing the up arrow key to inflate yourself to higher levels. Around your air bubble, there is a ring of energy that depletes every time you inflate yourself, once that ring is exhausted then you cannot inflate anymore. As the levels progress, you gain the ability to change into the other three elements by using the arrow keys: fire, ice, and earth. Each of these elements have uses and specific characteristics. The ice element slides on the ground, earth can fall faster to generate momentum, and fire can launch itself forward. Using these four combinations, you are tasked with reaching the end of each level. If you touch the ground as a certain element, or fall into the hazards then you will restart from the check point of the level to try again.

What makes Element4L challenging is using this simple control scheme of the four elements to solve the level without dying. The developers made some truly wicked sections of the levels that will require the player to think outside the box in order to complete that section. Some just utilize the elements in a different way, like turning into ice to hit a lava patch to become water and trickle through a smaller hole in the floor. Others will require button combinations and timing to pass. The game does a good job in showing the player some of these combinations to help them understand what is needed, but the actual execution is much harder in reality. Half the time I would forget, in my haste, what button actually turned me into what element. I would expect to turn into ice, hit the wrong button and be absolutely surprised to be turned into fire as I hit the ground in a shower of sparks.

Depth of game play is also not connected to complexity of control schemes. I’ve had many discussions lately about table top gaming and depth versus complexity, and feel that Element4L is the perfect example of a simple control scheme that leads to deep game play.

Aesthetics

This is where Element4l first drew me in: Its visuals and its soundtrack. This game is simply gorgeous. Element4L’s visuals are reminiscent of Limbo, but instead of being a world that is terrifying, it is a world of beauty and nature. The negative elements that you are trying to avoid, like the ground or ceiling, are shown in pure black to set itself apart from the soft glow of the background color, which changes for each level. The developers chose to use softer tones and blended edges to give the entire game a dream like feel. The visual aesthetic really speaks to me, and I feel that Element4L has one of the best looking aesthetics in any game that I’ve played this year.

The soundtrack for Element4L is just as superb as the visuals. The music is appropriate and really adds to the serene feeling that one gets from playing this game. You may feel the frustration rising in the back of your throat from dying ten times trying to pass a certain section of the level, but just sit and listen to the music and you will feel that frustration begin to sit down again. There isn’t any voice acting in Element4L, nor should there be. The entire sound aesthetic rides on the soundtrack of the game, and that is just a perfect fit with the visuals. Both of these elements combined make Element4L a must play game.

Final Thoughts

Element4L is a must-buy game for anyone that is looking for a challenge that is gorgeous to look at. For $10 on Steam, Element4L is easily worth every penny. The only critique I can hand Element4L is that the game itself is a little short, but for the price tag you get a great value. Element4L is a great example of how a simple mechanic can lead to deep game play through creative game design. Using only the arrow keys to turn yourself into the four elements, players must use combinations to make it through each level to progress to the next. Element4L is also the best looking and sounding game that I have played this year. The aesthetics create such a serene gaming experience, it actually makes the game feel much more tolerable when the difficulty curve ramps up. I highly recommend Element4L for those of you that are willing to play a beautiful game that has no enemies or guns. Element4L is available now on Steam.

[easyreview title=”Element4L Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]
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Jack Keane 2: The Fire Within Review (PC)

2013/07/03

Judgeman

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Every time I hear someone in my vicinity claim that the point and click adventure game genre is dead, I chuckle. Within the last year or so, I have played at least a dozen point and click adventure games, most of which have been at least above average. This leads me to my second point and click adventure game review within the last month, as Deck13 has released a sequel to their 2007 game, Jack Keane. Set during the turn of the 19th Century in Shanghai, Jack Keane 2: The Fire Within is a solid and fun to play point and click adventure game. Unfortunately, it also had the poor timing to come out after Night of the Rabbit. While a solid point and click adventure game in its own right, Jack Keane 2: The Fire Within does not quite reach the same heights that Night of the Rabbit does.

Story

Jack Keane 2: The Fire Within is centered around the exploits of Jack Keane. Jack is an adventurer in the same vein of an Indiana Jones or a Doc Savage, that finds himself in horrendous situations, mostly due to his own lack of planning. The game begins in Shanghai in 1899, with our hero Jack in a Chinese prison, looking for clues to lead him to another fabled pile of gold. Unfortunately, getting into the prison was easier then getting out. After Jack has gotten pieces of the information he was after from a fellow prisoner, he must escape from the prison with the aid of his companion, Amanda. Unknown to either Jack or Amanda, they have a rival that is also in pursuit of the fabled lost gold in Professor Umbati. The rest of the story becomes a race to find all the pieces to an amulet and to discover the final location of the treasure.

The story progresses quite nicely through various locals around the world. Jack will also pick up other characters along the way, including a woman named Eve. Eve becomes a rival for Amanda for Jack’s attention, and adds a little love triangle to the story line. The story-telling itself is solid and the characters stay interesting, but the overall plot is a little too generic for my taste. The story feels borrowed from many different sources that told the same style of story better then what Deck13 is doing in this game. Even the beginning of the game feels like it was borrowed too heavily from “Pirates of the Caribbean 2” with the prison sequence. Ultimately, Jack Keane 2: The Fire Within is a solid game that feels just a bit too generic because of where the developers pulled their story ideas from.

Game Play

This game falls squarely into the generic point and click adventure model, with nothing much new to make the experience feel different from other games on the market. The player uses the mouse to hover around the screen, looking for clues and pieces to interact with to progress the story further. The heads up display/UI is very minimal and shows just a few icons, one of which will help identify what items you can pick up on the screen. There is not a separate inventory screen in the game, which is an odd choice. Instead, items you pick up will appear at the top of your screen. You can just click and drag the items onto the screen to interact with your environment, or right click them for a closer view.

The puzzles are fairly standard fare for a point and click adventure game. Most of your time will be spent hunting down the right item and using it on the right environment piece. Most of these puzzles are straight forward and logical, but take some time to get used to not having a separate inventory screen. For example, it took me a good five minutes in the beginning to realize that my rifle icon was at the top before I could figure out how to shoot out the barrels to escape the gunmen on the ship. Once you get used to the locations of these icons, then the game becomes much easier to interact with.

The game does everything it needs to in order to work as a point and click adventure game, but that is not enough these days. In conjunction with a solid, but generic story line, the game play does nothing to raise Jack Keane 2: The Fire Within above the other generic point and click adventure games on the market.

Aesthetics

Definitely the strongest feature of the game, its overall visual style and the character’s voice acting bring life to an otherwise generic experience. The game’s visual style is slightly cartoonish, reminiscent of The Secrets of Monkey Island. The environments are interesting to look at as you progress through the game, and I love the color palette that the developers chose to use. The colors help to increase the cartoon feel of the game, making the environments stand out and makes the world of Jack Keane a place you feel like you want to explore.

The sound and voice acting also do a great job in making this world come alive. The voice acting lends itself to rounding out the characters quite well. I never played the first Jack Keane game, so I was fairly surprised when Jack came across as a little more whiny and weak in his speech then I was expecting. This choice of voice acting, though, changed the character of Jack Keane from a typical pulp hero to someone who gets in way over his head more times then not.

The game’s visual and aural experience is enough to make it interesting and fun to play, but not enough to really set it aside from other games of the same genre. While I love the color palette that the developers chose to use and feel that the environments are very interesting to look at, I feel that it just isn’t enough to raise it above other games, such as Night of the Rabbit or last year’s Sam and Max series.

Final Thoughts

Jack Keane 2: The Fire Within by Deck13 is a solid and fun point and click adventure game to play. While the story line and game play mechanics feel rather generic and used, the visuals and voice acting help deliver that story line in an interesting way. This game, unfortunately, cannot compare to the other point and click adventure games on the market in terms of story and game play, and ultimately ends up being a fairly average and mediocre point and click adventure game. If you played the first Jack Keane game, then the second one would be worth checking out. However, if you are searching for a new point and click adventure game to play, I would highly recommend checking out Night of the Rabbit instead of Jack Keane 2: The Fire Within for its original story and different game play mechanics.

[easyreview title=”Jack Keane 2: The Fire Within Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3″ ]
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Magrunner: Dark Pulse Review (PC)

2013/06/27

Judgeman

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

GLaDOS Fhtagn! Here’s a question for you that I thought I would never ask, “What would happen if the world of Portal existed within the Lovecraftian Cthulu Mythos?” Well, the developers over at Frogwares must have had that same question floating around in their heads, because Magrunner: Dark Pulse attempts to answer it. What is essentially a Portal clone, Magrunner: Dark Pulse uses magnetism instead of portals to solve the game’s various puzzle levels, all the while hinting that the Cthulu cult is alive and well. While it is an obvious Portal knock-off, Magrunner: Dark Pulse has a lot of good things going for it that quickly rescues the game from being dismissed as just another clone.

Story

In Magrunner: Dark Pulse, you play as Dax Ward, a young man who is equal parts cocky athlete and super-genius. You are one of the elite few individuals that have been given the chance to compete for the honor of becoming one of the first “Magrunners”, a new breed of space explorers. Being one of the entrants that does not have massive corporate backing, you are immediately seen as an underdog, especially since you had to build your own magnetic glove. All things are going well, until you begin to hear the whispers, mentioning phrases such as “Cthulu Fhtagn” and places such as “R’lyeh”. Then, the shiny and new world of Magrunner: Dark Pulse begins to sink slowly into the depths of the mythos created by H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth.

Story progression occurs through the holographic imagines that can be seen either through your glove or between levels in the elevator. Magrunner: Dark Pulse has a decidedly more serious tone than Portal, and without the character GLaDOS chastising you the entire way through the game, you will quickly realize that there is something missing. Frogwares tries to fill the void of not having a GLaDOS type character, by bringing in the heavy hitter that is the Great Cthulu. Cthulu, for those of you that don’t know, is a creation of the writer H.P. Lovecraft and is a giant Elder God that is destined to destroy the Earth.

While the inclusion of the Cthulu Mythos is a huge plus for Magrunner: Dark Pulse, I feel that the developers missed what made that mythos so special and chilling in the first place. What makes the Cthulu Mythos unnerving is that it is always that evil just beyond the sight of the human race. We only catch glimpses of it, and that makes it more terrifying. Think of this in terms of Alien versus Aliens. Even though we never get more then a glimpse into the world of Cthulu in Magrunner: Dark Pulse, it never quite reaches the correct atmosphere that most Cthulu games should have.

Gameplay

Magrunner: Dark Pulse takes its game play straight out of Portal, except that it switches the portal device with a magnetic glove. Dax has to use his magnetic glove to create positive and negative magnetic fields to solve the various puzzles to exit each chamber. This type of game play will feel very familiar with those of us that played both Portal and Portal 2, but will be different enough to force you to see the puzzles in a different way. In order to reach your objective, you will have to charge certain objects around the room to either make them magnetically attract to each other, or repulse from each other. You can turn on and off a visual indicator that shows you the magnetic fields within the room, which really helps in seeing if two objects are close enough to each other to be affected by the magnetic fields.

While the game play of Magrunner: Dark Pulse feels right and is a decent amount of fun, the one thing that it does do is limit the ways you can solve the puzzles of the game. What made Portal so brilliant is that a player could solve a puzzle a variety of different ways, even in some ways that the developers never thought of. This gave Portal a much more deep game play experience for the player. With Magrunner: Dark Pulse, you are only able to magnetize certain objects, so this really only allows you to solve the puzzles in a few certain ways. Some players might not notice this lack of variety in puzzle solving, but those of us that played Portal multiple times will be able to see it almost immediately.

Besides the lack of variety in solving Magrunner: Dark Pulse’s puzzles, the game does everything that Portal did, but with less polish and character. The game play here is solid and works very well, but will always remind you of the better puzzle solving game that is out on the market. The magnetic mechanic works well for this game, but it does limit the amount of items that the player can interact with and the ways that puzzles can be solved. The game play really just made me wish I had my portal gun in my hands again.

Aesthetics

The aesthetics for Magrunner: Dark Pulse are as generic as it can get. When I first saw the art for Dax Ward, I couldn’t help but be reminded of character designs for games from the 1990s. In some press releases, Dax even has a baseball hat on in reverse, just offset enough to complete the look of someones idea of a cool guy from fifteen years ago. The rest of the game’s aesthetic are much more in line with what I would expect form a Portal clone: Clean, sterile-looking chambers that soon give away to the dirty and rusted behind the scenes backdrop. I feel that the developers also missed the boat when it comes to designing the aesthetic around the Cthulu Mythos. Magrunner: Dark Pulse never truly looks like a game set in the Cthulu World, instead it feels like a game that has Cthulu in it to help drive sales up. Being a fan of the Lovcraftian Mythos myself, I feel that the game just misses out on that particular aesthetic.

Voice acting and sound design here do the job and do it in an average way. Nothing particularly spectacular about how the actors deliver their lines, but nothing horrendous about it either. The characters end up feeling a bit two dimensional because of this, and the Cthulu Cultist hiding out in the corporate world of Magrunner: Dark Pulse will be pretty easily discovered early on. Again, I feel that the developers missed some opportunities to mess with the players’ minds by having distorted audio ques throughout the game, foreshadowing the coming of Cthulu. The entire premise of the Cthulu Mythos is the slow, spiraling decent into insanity, and the developers could have played with the minds of the players much more by using visual and auditory ques more then they did.

Final Thoughts

When it comes down to it, the biggest problem that Magrunner: Dark Pulse faces is its comparison to Portal – arguably one of the greatest games of all time. Too many times during game play, my mind would drift off to the good times I had playing Portal while GLaDOS tortured and ridiculed me. Frogwares tries to supplant GLaDOS by bringing in the heavy hitter, the Great Cthulu, in order to draw in fans of H.P. Lovecraft and his Elder Gods. As a fan of the Cthulu Mythos, I feel that the developers just didn’t quite get what makes Cthulu so interesting to begin with, and missed the boat when it came to designing the visual and the audio for the game. Insanity has always been one of the main themes to the world of Cthulu, and it is absolutely missing in Magrunner: Dark Pulse. The game is still a good time to play, and the magnetic mechanics work well, but you will end up missing your trusty portal gun the further you delve deeper into Magrunner: Dark Pulse.

[easyreview title=”Magrunner: Dark Pulse Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3″ ]
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Rush Bros. Review (PC)

2013/06/20

Judgeman

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

XYLA Entertainment has just released an interesting platform game through Steam Greenlight, named Rush Bros. What appears to be a generic platform game at first glance, Rush Bros. takes on a different appearance once you point the game towards your MP3 collection of music. While this feature was interesting at first, it isn’t enough to save Rush Bros. from being just another generic platform game that tries to do what other games have done better.

Story

I’m not going to spend much time here on Rush Bros. story line, because it is almost non-existent. Rush Bros. is about two DJs that have decided to split apart to chase solo careers. However, instead of just creating more music individually, they decide to race each other through various levels of obstacles, traps, and jumps. There is no character development, no twists in the story, and really nothing else to discuss in this department for Rush Bros. What you see is what you get and the entire game will live or die by its game play.

Game Play

Rush Bros. is the type of game that makes me really wish I had a game pad for my PC. While the controls using the keyboard and mouse are very solid, using a game pad will get you the most control and enjoyment out of the game. Rush Bros. is a platform game, you will run through each level and try to reach the end within the time limit while avoiding the various hazards that are in your way. You have all the skills available to you that you would normally have in a typical platform game like sliding, double jumping and wall jumping. As you progress through each level, you will run across power ups that will increase your speed or jump distance to help you finish the level faster.

What XYLA Entertainment tried to do to separate Rush Bros. from the crowd was to allow a custom soundtrack that would alter the game’s level design. However, what it really only alters is the background and the tempo of the hazards within the game, while the actual design of the levels stay the same. If you choose to listen to Reverend Horton Heat, the tempo of the level’s hazards will fall inline to the beat of the music, which will be much different if you selected someone like Slayer to listen to. While this is an interesting game play mechanic, it just doesn’t really save Rush Bros. from being overly generic and not as good as a game like Super Meat Boy.

Aesthetics

The overall visual look of Rush Bros. is very cool and is the game’s shining feature. The visuals are cell-shaded and interesting to look at as they pulse and move to the beat of the music you choose to play. Most of the visuals are reminiscent of Tron, black forms with colorful highlights and outlines. I thought the look of Rush Bros. was interesting and engaging, I just wish the game play was as interesting.

In terms of sound and music, Rush Bros. again scores high marks. The soundtrack that comes with the game is very solid, as well as the sound design. There is no voice acting, but I didn’t expect any once I saw how much effort was put into the story line for Rush Bros. It is the ability to allow custom soundtracks that really helps Rush Bros. from being on the low end of platform games. If you choose to use the custom soundtracks, then the music design is up to you.

Final Thoughts

Rush Bros. is an interesting concept that is made mediocre by not really having anything other then custom soundtracks to separate it from the pack. XYLA Entertainment has something strong here, but it will need some more refinement to really make Rush Bros. a must play. The game’s visual style is strong and interesting to look at, but the actual game play is generic and mediocre at best. What saves Rush Bros. from being forgettable is the use of custom soundtracks to change the beat and tempo of the game’s traps and backgrounds. However, even that isn’t enough to keep Rush Bros. from being just mediocre. Rush Bros. is available now through Steam Greenlight.

[easyreview title=”Rush Bros. Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”2″ ]
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