As I sat down in a closed room this past February at the New York Comic Con, Raven Software lead developers set out and gave us the bold claim that “This is a Wolverine game that will not suck”. With it being based on the movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it’s only loosely so, with nods to the characters comic book background. Raven Software looks to deliver an action game that is all you need to become the relentless Wolverine, and is it possible to consider this title about as fun as Spiderman 2 was back in the last generation? It comes close, but let’s take a look and see what exactly makes X-Men Origins: Wolverine worth your time.

Gameplay

Graphics

Sound

Plasma Factor

Conclusion

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare exploded onto the scene in 2007, absolutely overwhelming gamers with its expansive multi-player and a refreshing modern-day setting. However, Activision worked with Treyarch this time around and brought us back to the all too familiar war that many of us have learned about from the umpteen-thousand shooters that have come from it.

Gameplay

World at War follows two separate plot-lines that focus on the battles in the Pacific involving the United States and the Japanese Empire, as well as in Eastern Europe with Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. You'll control Private Miller and Private Petrenko as you hop back and forth between their respective campaigns while war is waged around the world.

If you've played any of the other games in this franchise and/or if you're familiar with first person shooters at all, you know what to expect. In most of the scenarios, you will be on foot, advancing through fields, bunkers, trenches, blown out buildings and the entire WWII ilk. You'll have to lead your squad towards the all too familiar checkpoint marker and be given fairly generic objectives. I don't know how many times we are expected to take out AA turrets, machine gunners, and heed the obligatory “USE THE PANZERSHRECK!” commands that Call of Duty fans have been subjected to since the first game was released in 2003.

In a couple of scenarios you'll find yourself piloting a tank, taking out other tanks, which we have also done many times before. Normally I might complain about this monotony, but this is a World War II game. This is what happened, unless Treyarch wanted to fabricate history and add alien technology subplots. This is the same old war, but it’s still just so damn satisfying to shoot Nazis in their big heads.

All in all, there is nothing exceptionally new here, World at War is simply a very well executed first person shooter with almost no flaws in the game play. The default controls are very well laid out, but of course being on the PC, everything is customizable. With my Razer Lachesis, I mapped zoom, reload, grenade, special grenade and melee to a different button on my mouse. Most of this is just out of religious habit, but also I found that trying to mash “V” while being ambushed by a Japanese soldier proved unreliable, as I would often hit “C” which is used to crouch. I don't have to tell you what happened if I chose to crouch while being stabbed.

World at War also takes on almost exactly the same gameplay style as Modern Warfare. You will create an online profile and earn points by killing, capturing points and activating recon planes and unleashing air strikes upon your enemies. New in this release is the ability to unleash a pack of bloodthirsty dogs to locate, and often kill, your enemies. They are truly terrifying to hear run up behind you because it’s one bite, one kill for these pups.

All the familiar modes are here; Free for All, Team Deathmatch, War, Capture the Flag, Headquarters, Domination and Sabotage, where you will work with your team to try and bomb your enemy's objective. Back are the perks that you will earn as you gain experience points for your player profile. Camouflage will make you invisible to enemy radar which is one of the most useful ones in my opinion, as well as Stopping Power which will increase the damage your bullets do by 40%.

Call of Duty 4's multi player mode is largely the reason it was such a huge success, and World at War is no different. The maps are well designed with tons of places to hide, offering very wide open spaces to sprint across, and tight quarters where you will no doubt fear the Trench Gun. Earning points to level up RPG style will make you want to play a little longer each time you log in. You can also create several different customizable load-outs to adjust to your playing style on the different maps. It’s simply an addicting aspect of World at War's multi player mode.

Graphics

One word came to mind over and over again while playing World at War; polish. No, not relating to Poland. Like car polish. The visuals in this game are absolutely stunning, provided you have a decent rig to play it on. With a GeForce 8800 GT, Intel Core 2 Duo at 3.29Ghz and 4 gigabytes of ram, this game never choked while running at my monitor's 1080p native resolution. Your men's faces have the shine of sweaty, grizzly faced warriors, explosions glow red and orange with scorching flames and red embers will fall from the sky while you're duking it out amidst burning rubble.

The graphics engine used in World at War is the same as the one used in Modern Warfare. At this point, Treyarch seems to have optimized it to near perfection. The visuals are very attractive to look at, and while not as insanely detailed as Far Cry 2, there were instances where I thought the scenery looked a lot more attractive due to the gruesome, macabre nature of World War 2.

Sound

We've come to expect an amazing sound from the Call of Duty franchise and World at War does not disappoint. There are so many different sounds in the mix when you're in the middle of a fire fight and there are bomb shells exploding and tanks rumbling around you. This game should set a standard for this genre in terms of authentic and engrossing sound, and having a surround sound set-up only makes it better.
With the Americans, you'll hear Kiefer Sutherland narrate as Gary Oldman narrates the Soviet campaign in a convincing Russian accent. You can expect very professional and spot on voice-acting from these Hollywood heavyweights as well from the rest of the cast in World at War.

The music in this game takes the intensity of war to a new level. Every piece of music, from a classy, somber orchestration to intense, driving electronic sounds amplifies your senses. World War 2 never sounded better.

Plasma Factor

Most people would jump right in to World at War's multiplayer mode because of its robustness and customization, and that’s something we've come to expect, but the game's single player mode surprised me the most. It is a true work of art from start to finish. The level of immersion in this game is unparalleled. You'll spend about as much time on this as you did with the single player mode in Modern Warfare, which I feel is a little short, but you can never have too much of a great thing.

Conclusion

Treyarch managed to perfect the WWII shooter here, focusing on less popular battles and providing some top notch narration to pull you through the trenches and bombed out buildings in Eastern Europe, and through the islands in the Pacific. Not only is the single player mode satisfying, but Call of Duty 4's multiplayer mode is back and is only getting better. This is without a doubt, one of the best multiplayer first person shooters that has been produced in a long time and will keep you glued to your computer screen for quite a while.

Obulis, a puzzle game from IonFX Studios and Meridian4, promises gamers a fun time as they attempt to solve various puzzles. Explore different locales as you attempt your way though the many levels the game has to offer. The most pertinent question is: does Obulis drag you into its gameplay or make you pull your hair out in frustration?

Gameplay

Obulis has gamers chart their course as they make their way through a variety of game worlds. There are over 150 levels that master require mastering, complete with several “overworld” maps through which gamers must make their way. To advance through the various paths that are available on each map, gamers must solve a variety of puzzles that breakdown to simply placing a colored ball into its correspondingly colored container.

Obulis can best be described as a puzzle game that involves correct processes. Differing from other games that follow this formula, Obulis takes it a step further and accounts for momentum. This adds difficulty and thought as players attempt to place the correct ball in their proper places.

The basic method of solving a puzzle in Obulis involves dropping the properly colored ball in it's corresponding container. This can be done through a variety of methods. Don’t expect just a basic game of pinball as you attempt to drop the ball in its proper place, instead, gamers are met with a wide variety of in-game devices that further complicate the puzzles.

Obulis places a lot of emphasis on timing. Whether you are on a simple puzzle or one of it's more difficult brethren, expect to find yourself attempting to properly time a shot from a crossbow, catapult or even a cannon. On top of properly timing the shot of one of these devices, you must also take into account the momentum of the objects as you release a chain to drop the ball. While all of this may sound very basic, you may find yourself very frustrated.

While the easier difficulty levels of Obulis can be solved without much difficulty, expect to lose sleep over the more expert puzzles. Even if you should get the proper order solved, timing and momentum will also play a large factor in solving a puzzle. This can be especially frustrating as you attempt to place multiple balls in a variety of containers throughout the playing area.

Graphics

The artwork in Obulis is a force to be reckoned with and can be appreciated by any avid puzzle gamer. Each stage is beautifully drawn and contains vivid colors across a variety of environments that will keep you captivated until the end. If only the same could be said about the lackluster game map, then IonFX Studios would have certainly set a new standard.

Sound

From the clink of the balls to the firing of a cannon, Obulis has provided crisp, clear sounds that will keep your ears busy as you attempt to solve each puzzle. While there could have been more variety in music, it is not very noticeable as you are concentrating on solving the puzzles.

PlasmaFactor

For some gamers, the high level of difficulty in Obulis can add another layer on top of an already interesting puzzle game. If you find yourself easily solving most puzzle games, then having to account for momentum will be sure to keep you going at a puzzle until the end. For other gamers, however, this added difficulty may be too harsh and could even lead them to skip some of the more difficult maps.

While best known for their casual gem-swapping game Bejeweled, PopCap Games, will undoubtedly gain notoriety for their new “tower defense” style game, Plants vs. Zombies.

Gameplay

The idea behind Plants vs. Zombies is simple: protect your house from an invading horde of zombies by planting a variety of plants to stop them. While simple at first, conquering each level in adventure mode will unlock a new plant which will assist in the slaughtering of the new breeds of zombies introduced after every round. The further you progress in adventure mode will unlock the mini-games, puzzle mode, survival mode and the zen garden.

If you've played tower defense, or even if you haven't, getting a handle on the gameplay is simple. You have six rows in your yard in which zombies will invade while you must sow a variety of plants to stop them. You'll start out with a limited crop early on, but that is all you need when you encounter an un-diversified beginning horde.

Players (or Planters) will most likely find themselves not losing their home to the enemy until several levels in. The learning curve is extremely low, even for someone (me) who has not played a tower defense before. Even if you struggle keeping the zombies away, you have a huge line of defense waiting in the back if you're fauna end up falling: lawnmowers! Lawnmowers will eliminate an entire remaining row of zombies which most players won’t find out until the latter levels because of the game’s generous learning curve.

After a fairly effortless introduction with the game's first couple of levels, you'll soon have to amp up your tactics as more challenging elements are introduced. Night falls and you'll no longer be able to use the sun loving plants to which you're accustom, and you'll no longer be able to collect falling sunshine. Mushrooms are introduced into the fray and as you progress further, zombies will start to invade your swimming pool and you'll have yet another avenue to defend. You'll come across gravestones and fog which make your fight more difficult, but you'll be rewarded with new plants to combat these new elements. However, your limited number of seed slots hampers your tower selection, adding another degree of difficulty.

After you’re bored with adventure mode, you can try your green thumb at the mini-games. You'll be able to bowl a selection of walnuts to fight off the zombies, play a slot-style game in which you're gambling for different plants with which to do combat, and even access a mode in which the zombies themselves have pea-shooters for heads so they can have a long range battle with you!

While it is quite fun zipping through the levels, one can't help but grow tired of the reward system in adventure mode. You'll earn a new seed to plant to combat the one new enemy type that is thrown at you, and the process simply repeats after every level. There are honestly several seed types that you will never have to, or want to plant. Sooner or later, you may find yourself yawning with adventure mode, with no real desire to complete the game.

Graphics

With clean, simple and cute graphics, you won't find anything particularly ugly about this game, nor will you find anything outstanding. The colors are solid and sprites are well drawn. You won't find any gruesome Resident Evil or Left 4 Dead style zombies here, this is more of a game that wouldn't offend your 70-year-old religious grandmother. The visuals in Plants vs. Zombies definitely serve their purpose, although they really could have benefited from some high definition production a `la Alien Hominid. In this day and age there really is no excuse for having an 800x600 native resolution. I understand that PopCap Games probably wanted this to be available on a wide range of hardware, but the year is 2009, and the resolution is 1920x1080. This game would have looked great in 16:9.

Sound

The only notable thing in the sound department that may strike your nerves is that it sounds like PopCap ripped the Facebook chat pop sound to use as the seed popping noises that are all over this game. You're going to find yourself Alt-Tabbing back to your browser the first few times you play this game if you are a frequent user of the social network site. Other than that, the sound effects are simple and clean. The grunting and growling of the zombies as they approach are, well...cute. You'll get a snippet of Michael Jackson's “Thriller” as a familiar dancing zombie dances toward your house with his crew. The music is very unassuming but does not get repetitive despite the limited selection.

PlasmaFactor

PopCap Games managed to produce a simple and addictive game that won't take up too much of anyone's time. Not only that, but being priced at $9.99 doesn't hurt either. Value is the keyword here, and if you're like me, you'd need a break from all the FarCrys, Halos, WoWs, and Call of Dutys that take up so much of our time. Simply having a game that you can jump on for 5 minutes before work is a pleasure in the world of more complex and time consuming epics.

Conclusion

Plants vs. Zombies is a very fun, mildly addictive strategy game that is well worth the price of going to the movies these days. Don't expect a game with the depth of Portal because it isn't here. However, if you're tired of that life leeching MMORPG that you're playing, Plants vs. Zombies might be your refresher.

Open world games seem to be popping up more and more these days. In the development world, they are probably the most exciting things to create. No matter what kind of world you find yourself in, it’s always fun to explore it and that’s what every gamer does when they first throw in an open world game, you explore it and climb to the highest building in the area like you own the world. That’s the case with Prototype, the newest open world game from Radical Entertainment. In many ways, some compare it to Sucker Punch’s, inFamous, which is an interesting topic for conversation but not one we’ll delve into much here. We’re here to talk about Prototype a completely new IP in the industry and something that actually manages to do things differently for once. Let’s take a look.

Gameplay

In the case of Prototype, a viral outbreak has the city running rapid. The military is doing its best to control the situation but things just get out of hand before they get better. The game opens up on Day 18 of the viral outbreak with 100% of the population infected; however that’s not where you actually begin the game. This is where the game fails before it even begins.

You play as Alex Mercer as he tells the story of the events of the breakout as it happened 18 days ago. He is a man with no memory and wakes up in a morgue wondering what the hell is going on. You find yourself holding a power that you have not yet realized the potential of. Alex is unfortunately at a loss as to how he got these powers. His mission? Find anyone who had an involvement in creating the monster that he is. The game teases you into thinking you’re beginning as this powerful antihero on a revenge plot to find out what and who you are. You are dropped into the game with all of you’re powers in tact giving you the chance to mess around in the world before taking them away like taking candy from a baby, cliché phrase but it’s literally how the game works.

If you manage to get a hold of the Xbox 360 version of the game, you will be mighty pleased by the controls and how easy it is to control Mercer. In the beginning it’s easy to control your character because you only have so few moves to learn and remember. However, as the game moves on and you start to upgrade and purchase new abilities the list just keeps getting bigger and bigger and it becomes more of a challenge to keep up. The game, however doesn’t force you to remember every move, this is why the radial sub-menu is there to help you select which move is the right one for you and the mission you have on hand.

New moves are earned from using experience to purchase them and upgrade your abilities. If brought up, a radial menu by pressing the right bumper; slows the game down allowing you to make your next decision on which move you’re going to use next. Outside of using your own abilities to wreck havoc you can use conventional weapons like machine guns and rocket launchers dropped by enemies as well as eventually hijacking helicopters and vehicles for even more damage points.

The biggest selling point of the game has to be Alex’s ability to “consume” or absorb anything in his path. By pressing a specific button combination you can easily regain your health and the memories of unsuspecting victims to give you the advantage in your mission. You’ll be doing a lot of this as you reach deeper into the game and find yourself in an overwhelming position. There are times where the difficulty is sneakily bumped up a bit to keep you on your toes once you start fighting more and more infected enemies. Consuming also has its benefits by allowing you to take the disguise of the person you just consumed. This will help as you sneak into military bases and try to uncover the secrets of the viral outbreak and where you’ll need to head next.

Another big thing that you’ll notice about the game is your detection-meter. You are obviously a target that the military is trying to search for and kill. If you get anywhere near a military presence, your meter will turn yellow and if you do things that get their attention the meter will build up and if it hits red be prepared to be pummeled with gun fire and rocket launchers from every possible angle. The only way to escape it is to run away as fast as possible until the meter drops and you’ll hear on the radio that military has lost track of you. The game certainly doesn’t get any easier as time passes, and the city starts to become a rather perilous place to be.

The game is described as an open world title; it isn’t exactly as open world as you might think. Manhattan has about 200 orbs flowing around specific landmarks that will end up unlocking an achievement if you manage to collect them all. The city unfortunately ends up looking the same everywhere you go, and outside of those landmarks nothing else looks very desirable. Outside of that there are optional side quests like timed missions allowing for races on top of buildings or consuming a certain number of pedestrians before the time runs out. The game isn’t shy about exposing its “Mature” rating, the language and blood throughout the game is quite pleasing and something that harkens back to Gears of War.

It will take around a good 10 hours or so to complete the core story for Prototype. After the ending credits, however, the fun doesn’t stop there. You can easily return to Manhattan with all of your upgrades and abilities in tact. You can either play through the main story again or stick with the side missions and optional objectives. Mercer is a nicely designed character that manages to take to the parkour adventure of the game and it feels good. The game surprisingly manages to hold up pretty well framerate wise with all the crowd’s enemies running around onscreen. Crowds and enemy animations don’t collide much with each other. Enemy AI is ok for the most part and despite jumping up in difficulty a few times on certain boss battles.

Graphics

Prototype is a hard game to judge on the graphics front. It isn’t exactly astounding or a graphically powerful game to look at. Manhattan itself is nicely designed and all the landmarks are there and replicated with much detail. The city itself is pretty detailed as well and although it doesn’t differ much as you explore, you probably wouldn’t care to take a gander at anything once you get your glide ability and find yourself literally surfing around the city. The game has its own style and because of that you get a feel for the viral outbreak that’s going on and why the art direction is the way it is.

The game’s physics engine is something I would scratch my head at. If you watch a building collapse for the first time, you would notice that it practically looks like your playing on the Playstation 2. A little more effort could have gone into making things a bit more realistic at least for a game that has you destroying everything in its path.

Sound

You’ll manage to hear everything as usual here. Voice work is rather bland and doesn’t exactly capture your mind if you’re looking for something mind blowing. There isn’t much emotion other then the fact that you know you’re in it for revenge and pretty much the script sticks to a one string emotion that carries throughout the rest of the game. Radio chatter lets you listen in to what the military is doing and lets you keep track of when they’re calling in for a strike team and you’ll have to remember to kill the person calling in before it happens. Mercer himself is nicely done but again a rather bland character that doesn’t make you feel involved in the storyline.

Plasma Factor

The bonus for the game? The ability to consume your victims, the fact that you are stuck with being the bad guy helps in this situation. Consuming anything in your path allows for health regeneration and memory regeneration essentially. It’s what keeps the game moving and what hopefully keeps you happy.

Unfortunately, combat ends up feeling like a button mash contest to see where you’ll end up in the end of it all. As you learn new abilities you’re going to be learning new button combinations once the situation presents itself. This is where the feeling of being overwhelmed comes in after being attacked by waves and waves of enemies before you can manage to run away from them. The military certainly doesn’t make any qualms about hunting and killing you.

Conclusion

Prototype manages to keep one word in mind, satisfying. While it will manage to annoy some at times, especially when the difficulty ramps up, the option to just explore the world will ease your mind from the trials and errors of the main campaign. You will die a lot, especially once you start getting overwhelmed and have no idea what you’re doing. Prototype has enough unique abilities and missions that it’ll keep you busy and interested for the time being while waiting for something else to pop up. In the long run, Prototype is an interesting new IP and is certainly welcomed in an industry that always seems to lavish in the sequel realm.

When Battlefield Bad Company released it sparked new interest in the series particularly because of its new engine, the Frostbite engine, created by the developers at DICE. The game garnered a lot of attention thanks to its characters and story that pulled you in and kept you around waiting for you to blow everything up. The series itself has been known for its multiplayer offerings and has been delivering on that front for many years. In Battlefield 1943, the game pits Imperial Japanese forces against the might of the American military. You’ll be fighting in the Pacific jumping from island to island capturing as many villages as you can to declare victory for your team.

Gameplay

There isn’t much of a learning curve when it comes to the Battlefield series. Basic control functions are easy enough to figure out and you should be fighting for your life in no time. Most of the features in the game will feel at home to Battlefield veterans, there is a reinforcement bar at the top of the screen based on the amount of players in the game. As you die and respawn the bar goes down and when the bar is depleted the game ends. Each game is decided by player count or by your team capturing all the flags on the island. Every map has 5 capture points and you and your squad mates have to work together to capture all of them while defending them at the same time from the enemy. To make things interesting there are 3 different skill sets you can choose from before you spawn in the match. You have Riflemen, Infantrymen and the Scout and this works for both teams.

The Riflemen carries your standard rifle with a grenade launcher equipped and several grenades. Your Infantrymen carries a small submachine gun with rocket-propelled grenades as well as a wrench to fix broken vehicles. The scout is equipped with a sniper-rifle, pistol, sword and remote explosives. Though you’ll have access to an unlimited amount of ammo you still have to reload your weapon based on the amount of ammo you have on you. You can spawn near your friendly capture points which shift the action constantly. You have to think on your feet quickly otherwise you’ll be killed almost instantly. The bonus to the game is the ability to fly planes and take off from either your base on land or off the battleship which is not too far off shore. Controlling the planes is rather an interesting experience. The planes take advantage of both control sticks and it should be noted that you are better off switching to third-person view when you’re in the air. With the planes, you can drop bombs on your unsuspecting enemies and even dogfight for control of the air. Be careful, anti-aircraft weapons are on the ground and your enemies will be taking advantage of them so don’t be surprised if you get shot down. Make sure you get enough practice with those planes, otherwise you’ll find yourself scrutinized by your teammates.

The options looking at the grander scheme of things are limited. You don’t have a single-player campaign to introduce you to anything and only two multiplayer modes. 1943 is a pure downloadable multiplayer experience. The game supports up to 24 players and if you are able to gather 16 of your friends you can easily form up a private match. Outside of that you’re only option is to jump into the public matches. The game doesn’t exactly shuffle its options for you and with 3 maps, you’ll likely be seeing the same map during the next round. When you’re inside the maps, players can join up into squads of up to 4 to help in battle. What this also helps with is the ability to spawn with your squad mates in battle and receive special bonuses for helping out fallen friends. You can even select certain objectives for you and your team to make a run for. Achievements are limited but the game does have its own reward system and ranks you based on experience as you level up. The ranking system, however, doesn’t exactly provide any advantages or bonuses.

During the first 3 days of launch, the game was greatly hindered by server issues. Though, thanks to care from the developers, those have been fixed and you should be able to find a room quick enough instead of having to wait for an hour before getting into a match. Also amazingly, during the first week, the game surmised a kill count of 43 million unlocking a special 4th aerial map with unique variants making for a dog fighting special event. Each map has an air-raid bunker that allows you to call in for an air-raid to drop bombs and give for massive damage on the enemy and even eliminating an entire village leaving to being a pile full of flaming rubble. You should know that your main bases can’t be captured so you’ll always have at least one spawning point and it’s just a matter of fighting for control of the others. It’s easily safe for novices to take in the game considering its regenerative health, though that is balanced out by how easy it is to get killed with no help thanks to the long reloading times.

Marking players with red or blue icons on the top of your head makes it hard to coordinate ambushes and park yourself in a sniping position. Though it does help when you’re on the crowded battlefield just running in guns blazing. Outside of its problems, Battlefield 1943 is an easy game to get addicted to and you’ll find yourself wondering where the time went at the end of it all.

Graphics

Battlefield 1943 runs on a modified Frostbite engine, and comes with all the sights and sounds you would expect from the year 1943. There are some dazzling sights like the ocean floor if you’re in the air, as well as, the explosions on the ground floor just after an air raid. All the maps are fairly detailed with structures and environments surviving well in a heavily server loaded environment. There doesn’t seem to be much drawback and when you find yourself inside a 24 player match, there is little texture pop in outside of walking a long distance and coming up on your destination, but that’s to be expected. Explosions are nicely rendered and pop in and out as they’re supposed to and realistically.

Sound

Everything sounds as it should, explosions go off and you’ll hear them in all their glory. The most hilarious part of it all seems to be the louder then life screams when someone dies. Air-raid sirens are clearly heard for all so you’ll want to make sure you run for cover so you don’t die in the process. The only music you’ll hear throughout the game is the main title sequence which can get tiring after while considering you’ll be hearing a lot of it while you’re waiting to jump in a game. Outside of that everything seems to be pretty much in order and you won’t have any problem getting sucked into the experience before realizing a few hours have passed by.

Plasma Factor

Battlefield 1943 should be an easy buy at $14.99 and offers just enough content that you’ll be coming back for more. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was downloadable content in the pipeline for a future release. More maps would certainly be more desirable at this point as many of you have probably exhausted them by now. The planes are a considerable bonus to the gameplay and while tricky at first, are satisfying in the long run as you drop bombs on your nearby enemy capture point. There are many ways to play the game and if you manage to be in a squad with your friends it makes thing much easier to fight and not get killed so easily.

Conclusion

Battlefield 1943 manages to capture your attention and keep you around for a while. Despite its flaws there is still that good feeling inside when you manage to have a successful dogfight protecting the skies and protecting your team for the win. Don’t let any harsh criticism of the game push you away from trying it out at least once. The game lacks content, but it certainly doesn’t lack heart.

Between the movie and video game, you can’t ever really tell which one is right. Terminator Salvation's developer, Grin, decided to take Terminator Salvation of the same name and set the game 2 years before the events of the movie. A risky move considering the plot ramifications it could have if people play the game before the seeing the movie. Terminator Salvation the movie is more of a new take on the series with an interesting plot twist, although not much is added to the overall plotline. Terminator Salvation tries to take the same witty and explosive content that the movies so well orchestrated and present you with a video game that has you playing as John Connor and helping the Resistance fight through the constant realms of the Terminators. How does the game hold up by itself?

Gameplay

Terminator Salvation is a relatively easy game to follow with the plot being so easily constructed. The game is set in 2016 Los Angeles and the Resistance is continuing its fight against the Terminators. You play as John Connor, the man who has yet to become the infamous commander that is his future ahead of him. After ignoring orders to return to base, he sets out on his own mission to rescue a group of comrades behind enemy lines letting his pride and ego run its own mission. In the process, Connor amasses a large group of friends to help along the way. The plotline ends up being too simple and straightforward bridging nothing in the Terminator plot and with no connection between you and the humanoid terminators.

Taking literally less then 4 hours to complete, you’ll be swinging back to the store asking for your 60 dollars back before the night is over. The game is broken up into chapters like an open book waiting to be read. You have to complete a set number of objectives in the story before moving onto the next chapter. These objectives take about 10 minutes each to complete and doesn’t even give you a chance to really delve into the gameplay. You are constantly interrupted by a poorly animated cinematic or the long drawn out loading screens that have you staring into the eyes of a Terminator.

Fighting off the Terminators is one thing, but with the AI as bad as it is in this game, you’ll find it more frustrating than fulfilling when you finally take down one of them. You have to really work in tandem with your teammates otherwise you’ll be pummeled with gunfire and find yourself starting the objective all over again for the 10th time. This brings me to your teammate AI, which is fairly substandard; they are either way too ahead of you in the map or far enough behind you that you have to scramble back to get them to move along. They’ll scream out comments to you based on enemy positions and congratulating you on good shots, but that’s about it when it comes to conversation aside from the cinematics. The game gets tiring as you keep on seeing the same two or three enemies throughout each level.

Terminator Salvation focuses on third-person action to bring you into the world of John Connor. The action is broken up by vehicle rail sections but those are few and far between. The cover system is nicely done making it fluid and essential throughout the gameplay which is a shame because it’s the only thing that holds the game together. You are limited to two weapons at a time, there are extra weapons scattered around the map if you find yourself running low during the battle. There isn’t much variety to choose from other then the standard shotguns, assault rifles and rocket launchers. What’s weird is that you aren’t allowed to salvage any weapons from the Terminator’s themselves which is quite disappointing. You are also given grenades and pipe bombs to help but the controller mapping for them is not fully utilized. There isn’t any help to guide the grenade in a certain direction and you’ll find yourself blindly throwing them and hoping you get a hit. You’ll have to bring up the weapons menu every time you need one as it stops you from using your main weapons.

The surprising part about the game aside from its 4 hour length is that there are a grand total of 11 achievements in the game based on the Xbox 360 version of which this review is coming from. There is a co-op mode which unfortunately makes the game go by even faster and the only other added challenge is beating the game on the higher difficulties. And if you are looking for a reason to head back to the game, you won’t find anything as there isn’t even an online multiplayer. From the looks of it, developers at Grin looked to only cash in on the movie of the same name as this entry into the Terminator plotline is completely overpriced. You’ll be doing yourself a favor by renting or waiting for a big price drop before even touching Terminator Salvation.

Graphics

Stiff animations, bland graphics and uninspired environments don’t give much credit to Terminator Salvation being a real Terminator game. It’s a shame that the franchise itself has suffered much in its video game adaptations. The Terminators themselves don’t look as though they evoke fear or make you scurry away trying to defend yourself. There are only about 2 to 3 different kinds of enemies aside from the motorcycle Terminators found in the vehicle rail section. Facial expressions don’t give much credit to the voice acting either as it’s either off the mark or just plain awkward. The worse part about the game is it’s drawn out loading screens which is a bit perplexing because the game doesn’t have a lot of action going on-screen anyway that it would need such an event.

Sound

The voice acting in Terminator Salvation is rather bland and it doesn’t keep up much with the facial animations on all of the characters. You don’t feel like you’re actually in that world with them. The music in the game is barely noticeable and while hearing the Terminator theme song every now and again is nice, it gets too tiring after you complete every objective. The game lacks the ability to draw you into the world of the Resistance both by graphics and sound.

Plasma Factor

Is it right to price a game that lacks a considerable amount of content, the full 60 dollar price tag? A game like Terminator Salvation deserves to be priced somewhere around the $39.99 price range but even that’s pushing it. Without a distinct multiplayer mode, or even an interesting co-op mode, the game suffers from fulfilling any Terminator’s fan enjoyment. The game lacks the effort and love for the franchise to make this movie adaptation more worthwhile. Considering it was based on the first film, it was disappointing to see not even an ounce of blood drawn whenever someone was killed. Granted it was a Teen rating, but even Teen rated games at least have some sort of censored blood.

Conclusion

Terminator Salvation is far from being an average game; it’s just a bad game. For lacking content that even the most average third-person shooters have just puts this game on the wrong track. Also, being priced at the retail 60 dollar price tag doesn’t help consumers at all. I don’t think anyone can get over the fact that the game only takes 4 hours to complete and has you capable of earning all achievements in one night, I know I certainly can’t. The verdict on this title? Skip it, you’ll be glad you did unless you’re looking for a quick fix on achievement hunting and have 60 bucks to kill.

The first Transformers Official Video Game didn’t exactly do well and thankfully Activision realized this and started from scratch. I will admit that I didn’t purchase the previous game based on the first Transformers movie. With so much bad press about it, why would anyone? Movie tie in games have not succeeded in recent years, although May saw the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine that really set the bar for future movie-released games to come, and coincidentally was also published by Activision. So, with this new sequel release, is it possible for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen to even hold a candle to X-Men Origins: Wolverine in terms of production? Yes and no, read on to find out.

Gameplay

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the latest sequel in the Transformers franchise being brought to the big screen in live-action glory and directed by Michael Bay. As you would expect, publisher Activision took the opportunity to build from scratch after the poor reception of the first release of Transformers: The Video Game. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is what we are given, with developer Luxoflux brought on board to save the franchise.

The game loosely follows the plot of the movie, taking its own liberties and filling in its own parts when it can, as shown in the Decepticon plotline for instance. The Decepticons returned to Cybertron to regroup and made their way back to Earth to cause more havoc and bring Megatron back to life. You can play as either the Autobots or Decepticons, with both storylines not being very different from each other. If you didn’t see the movie, well be prepared to be confused along the way. The story is told through pre-rendered cut scenes and satellite imagery for mission briefings. The game is a lot easier to follow, narrative wise if you see the movie, though not particularly required if you’re itching to just battle as your favorite Transformer. The game isn’t exactly linear which a good thing is as you’ll be fighting on open world maps, giving you the ability to roam where you want too for the ensuing battles. Though you end up being restricted once you find yourself escorting allies or have a strict objective in front of you.

Both campaigns are lengthy providing you with 23 missions for both the Autobots and Decepticons which are spread across 14 different locations. The mission objective for both sides is pretty similar, and is surprising considering it would’ve been nice to see some variety for each side. The biggest part of every mission is fighting off waves and waves of robots until you trigger the next objective or you’re entry into the boss fight. After every mission you get bonus energon to upgrade your abilities depending on how fast it takes you to complete the mission or special objectives. After about the first mission the game becomes pretty repetitive, getting boring fast and not leaving room for much enjoyment in the long run.

On the multiplayer side of things, it’s much more satisfying when playing against real people. Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and variants of the modes are all present and accounted for. One mode that is especially interesting is One Shall Stand; here one player is randomly chosen to be Optimus Prime or Megatron with the other players standing in as the other Transformers. You’ll have to battle it out and destroy the team’s leader before they do the same. Keeping your leader alive as long as possible helps your allies respawn as much as possible, though if he’s dead then your teammates stay dead. The other modes in multiplayer don’t exactly fill the void of a break between the solo campaigns considering the 8 player limit is a little disappointing.

After getting used to them, the controls in Revenge of the Fallen become common practice as you’ll be running, gunning and transforming all in one shot. Depending on which transformer you are using, you could be anything from a helicopter, jet plane or car. If you’re using a car, there is a little extra boost with a super jump to get you where you need to go faster. For Ariel transformers, you could pull off moves to dodge attacks or transform to Robot mode and blast away enemies one by one. Unfortunately it will take a while for you to master the basics to pull off the advanced moves. This is where Revenge of the Fallen suffers a bit because it’s where the combat is more rewarding and satisfying. It may feel useless in the games solo campaign, but when you take the right online you’ll certainly be proud you took the time to learn it all.

Graphics

Sticking consistent in art direction, the Transformers in Revenge of the Fallen continue to stick close to Michael Bay’s visual style from the movies. So, if you liked them from the movie, you shouldn’t have a problem appreciating them in the game despite the fact they look a little off putting. Transformations are probably the coolest thing about your characters and manage to run fluidly without much hiccup. Environments are nicely structured and thankfully varied. Destruction is the name of the game here and with the gameplay engine being used here, we are grateful that this is at least one thing the game has going for it.

Sound

There isn’t much to the sound here; production lends itself to the quality of the movie. The Transformers are voiced fine, though it’s the humans that come up falling way short. Shia Labeof and Megan Fox voice their characters from the movie but come up bland and un-interesting. At times during cut scenes you may notice a fade in and out of characters and if you have the volume turned up, watch out when Optimus Speaks as his voice seems to be the only one taken with care.

Plasma Factor

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen as I mentioned before has the only bonus being the multiplayer. The combat controls take some time getting used to, so if you have the time to invest in the game then you’ll find it more rewarding in the long run. Playing against real people manages to bring more challenge then the brain dead enemy AI that is just there to fill up the screen during each mission.

Another plus is the Transformations that have been given an overhaul and run smoothly. It doesn’t take much other then the press of the right trigger to switch between your two modes. Just make sure you know what you’re doing before you are easily overwhelmed by the enemies in front of you.

Conclusion