Homefront Review (XBOX 360 Version)

It is the year 2027. The United States of America has seen years of major economic downturn and is now dealing with its greatest threat yet: occupation by the Greater Korean Republic. Major American cities have come under strong Korean control, meaning that it's up to small civilian groups to form together to try to take out this occupation. The fate of the United States of America and her future depend on your success or failure. Will you sit idly by and let the occupation continue, watching all of your countrymen suffer under the Korean hand? Or, will you fight for your freedom?

Homefront, a first-person shooter from developer Kaos Studios and publisher THQ, uses the aforementioned plot (written by Apocalypse Now and Red Dawn writer John Milius) as its scary backdrop. Players control a former pilot (and resident of Montrose, Colorado, where the game begins) named Jacobs. After being captured by the Koreans and sent on his way towards a labor camp where he will surely have his mind manipulated, Jacobs is saved by a small band of civilian resistance fighters and quickly joins their cause. This aforementioned cause is just step one in the planned large scale battle, but it's imperative that you and your allies are able to steal and safely transport a convoy of fuel trucks to San Francisco. The incredibly important fuel will help power helicopters that will assist in the effort to re-take San Francisco and its iconic Golden Gate Bridge.

The game's single player only campaign is split up into seven separate missions, which span the distance between Montrose, Colorado and San Francisco, California. There is quite a bit of variety to be found, which is a plus, as you spend time as a rifleman, sniper, helicopter pilot and stealth assassin. However, the campaign is quite brief - clocking in at between three and four hours on lower difficulties. I played through it twice: once on guerilla (its hardest difficulty) and then a second time on easy, in order to unlock the achievements for beating each mission without being taken out. Guerilla was quite difficult and added quite a bit of length to the experience, but it was also very frustrating at times due to several issues. The fact that you're always being led along and yelled at by your allies to move on amidst heavy opposing fire will also annoy some people.

Despite featuring an interesting storyline (with several shocking set pieces,) and a good amount of variety, the game's campaign is unfortunately generic. The game never steps out of its comfort zone and plays a lot like almost every other shooter on the market, never feeling unique in its design. I felt that it relied too much on its premise and shock value than great game design, which is unfortunate. That's not to say it's a bad campaign by any means, but it's mediocre at best. In addition to being generic, the game currently features a lot of bugs that marred my experience, especially on its guerilla difficulty. During that first playthrough, I became frustrated by moments where I was shot through cover (something that never happened on easy) as well as a checkpoint that reloaded twice with a grenade in front of me. The latter glitch was weird because I wasn't taken out by a grenade the first time. These are just a couple of the glitches that I experienced, as there were others such as visual glitches, A.I. issues and cheap A.I. I only noticed minimal framerate hiccups which was nice.

Throughout my life, I've generally been more interested in the single player portions of games than multiplayer modes. However, there are the odd games that blow me away with their competitive offerings and keep me coming back for more. Call of Duty is a franchise that, despite its issues, has hooked me, whereas Halo doesn't interest me. Homefront's multiplayer component captured my attention. It's a well-made mode that is very competitive and quite a bit of fun. I was especially impressed with how well-balanced everything was, as well as its spawn system. Each of its several maps are incredibly large, allowing for up to 32 players to battle it out (in specific modes.) The map sizes work well with the game's design, creating constant tension as you never know where an enemy is going to emerge from (or shoot you from.) With their large scale, the game's maps are able to feature different spawn points, providing the game with a chance to alter them if one team invades the other one's spawn point. This works as well as (or possibly better than) any other multiplayer game I've played.

There are two main modes available for competitive online warfare, including Ground Control and traditional Team Deathmatch. Ground Control pits two teams of up to sixteen players each against each other, with the common objective being to control three objective points (A, B and C,) for as long as possible. Points are earned by the team who holds at least two of the three, with the points leader winning once they hit a certain point plateau or if time expires. It's a fun and competitive mode that plays similar to Battlefield: Bad Company and its objective-based control mode. One of the most impressive features of this mode is the fact that it doesn't feature any loading screens between each of its three rounds. Once one round is up, the game immediately alters the locations of its control points and the next round begins. I really liked that because it keeps you in the game and is quite impressive from a technical standpoint.

Additionally, the game features a mode known as Ground Commander, which is a deviation setting that alters the way the two modes play. In keeping with its name, the mode features an artificial intelligence commander on each side. What it does is mark important targets, such as players who have large killstreaks, awarding large amount of points if you can take them out. It is the only mode that features the general system, which awards players general ranks based on killstreaks, up to the rank of five-star general. It is very difficult to get to this plateau though, because you are usually marked on the opponents' radar once you reach 1-star general status. I got lucky and became a four star general once, before someone took me out with an air strike. Though traditional Ground Control is quite fun, this mode steps it up a notch and I preferred it.

Instead of being an arcade run and gun experience, similar to Call of Duty, Homefront's multiplayer is a much more tactical experience. You need to be smart with how you proceed throughout each map, making sure to be aware of your surroundings at all times. Melee kills are available, but they're not nearly as prevalent or easy to pull off as they are in Call of Duty. Though, their scoring systems are somewhat similar. One of the other major differences between the two is the Battle Points (BP) system that is employed in Homefront, allowing players to spend their earned experience points towards secondary weapons (like a rocket launcher,) drones, a flak jacket, or vehicles. Other items are unlocked as you progress through the game's leveling system. The aforementioned vehicles and drones can really help turn the tide of a battle and I was impressed with how they were incorporated into the experience. Vehicles are not always available though, as some of the more confined maps do not have room for them. Battle Points are limited to the match you earn them in.

When it comes to the game's overall presentation, there are some major pros and cons. The campaign begins with a bang, featuring a great opening cinematic that starts with Hillary Clinton advising the American people about last year's attack by the North Koreans against their South Korean neighbours. It then cuts to animated sequences and news footage, showing North Korea's nuclear missile program. I was quite impressed as it really set the tone for the game, but it was unfortunately the only good cutscene in the game. Most of the game's storyline is told through in-game dialogue between its colourful mix of characters, with 61 hidden newspaper collectibles used to tell the rest. I liked the fact that the developers tried to tell a very intense story, but I found the newspapers to be more of a hindrance to the game than anything, as they took me out of the game too often. Since there are so many of them, you're constantly finding flashing papers everywhere, which cut to a black screen with a white text overlay (usually over three separate screens, or pages.) In order to find out every last detail about the story, you must find every paper, because the news articles cover a sixteen year period from 2011 to 2027. Unfortunately, though they're well-written, they're sometimes hard to follow because they aren't found in succession - instead, you'll find a 2016 newspaper and then a 2026 paper close to each other.

With Homefront's visual style, Kaos Studios went with a realistic and detailed approach. I was impressed with the amount of detail in some of the environments and the variety of textures, but the overall look of the game was underwhelming with several visual glitches. From far away, things looked a lot better than they did up-close, as some environmental items seemed to be at a lower resolution than others when I approached them. There were also quite a few jaggies. The first time I went through the game, the only major visual glitch I noticed was a handicapped parking spot sign (painted on the asphalt) that would disappear when I went close to it. Though, during my easy playthrough, I encountered a glitch that persisted through multiple level playthroughs, where some shanty-town shacks showed blue edges. What I mean by this is that rooftop edges that were supposed to be brown were glitching into broken blue lines (both light and dark blue,) which looked like Christmas lights. Overall, the visuals are a mixed bag due to these issues and a lack of variety within the enemy designs. Multiplayer actually looked a bit better in some ways, as it didn't have many visual glitches. Though it did freeze on me twice.

The game's audio is much stronger than its visuals. I really liked its haunting and melodic original score, which featured some very eerie piano pieces that really fit the game well. Sound effects are also present in full force, and they sound quite well. There are a ton of weapons in the game which feature some nice sounding effects to go along with detailed designs. Additionally, the game's voice cast does a pretty good job overall, with the inclusion of the narrator who does voice overs during the game's loading screens. The sound designers did a good job and their hard work is noticeable.

Overall, Homefront is a game that strives to create a unique and engrossing experience, but only achieves mixed results. Though its multiplayer is impressive and happens to be much better than most multiplayer components available, its single player experience is mediocre overall. Its issues are much more prevalent on its hardest difficulty, where the opposing forces are sometimes more cheap than fair and seem to have perfect aim, resulting in some frustrating moments. I also felt that some sections of the game (featuring unlimited amounts of respawning enemies) were based more on luck than skill. Despite its issues and generic gameplay, the game's story shines through and it's still worth checking out. Though I don't recommend a blind purchase.

Rating: 6/10

Homefront was released on March 15th, 2011. It is now available for three platforms: XBOX 360, PS3 and PC. It features an online pass, but online multiplayer is still available for those who do not purchase a new copy of the game to get a code. Though, without the pass, gamers are limited to a level cap of 5.

Battle: Los Angeles Review (XBOX Live Arcade Version)

On a peaceful March day in the year 2011, all Hell breaks loose around the globe. As unidentified pods crash land into the water around Los Angeles, its citizens begin to dawn upon the fact that their city, and their country, are under attack by an unknown enemy. This war between humanity and an unknown alien entity is the backdrop for all sorts of first-person shooting in Konami's XBOX Live Arcade/PSN release, Battle: Los Angeles. A companion to the recently-released blockbuster film of the same name, the game pits you into the role of one of the military heroes tasked with fighting back against the alien invaders, in an attempt to save the City of Angels from impending destruction.

The plot that is shared between the two entertainment mediums tries to provide a very personal story of courage, amongst the grand backdrop of a large scale battle. This is done by focusing solely on a small group of several marines and their personal experiences. The aforementioned group is made up of several marines, with a commander who was forced out of retirement by the attack. Players take control of a young rookie who fights alongside this heroic group, as they fight their way through the city to try to find the root of the attack. People who have watched the film will recognize the fellow marines in the unit, as they're taken straight from the film with recognizable likenesses.

After a brief tutorial, the game quickly gets into the action and never really lets up throughout the course of its brief campaign. Structured into three separate missions, the game's campaign only takes about an hour to complete on its hardest difficulty. However, despite its brevity, I had some fun with it. The game features a decent amount of variety, pitting players into the different roles of a traditional marine, protective sniper, airship destroyer and turret gunner. Each mission is broken up into different segments with differing types of gameplay, but each is full of near-constant action. You're almost always in the thick of it, which keeps you invested in the experience without many lulls.

Though the campaign is fun, it's far from perfect. In addition to being very brief (I beat it on all three difficulties within a 2 hour period,) the gameplay is very generic and basic, and the overall design is lacking. Playing through Battle: Los Angeles feels like you're playing through a B-movie, which has its pros and cons. I get the feeling that the developers (Live Action Studios) knew that when they developed the game, based on how it plays as well as the fact that they included leaderboards that compare your completion time and accuracy against others. It seems like it was developed as a short burst experience which would hopefully keep players coming back over and over again to try to best their top times. This is something that will most-likely turn a lot of gamers off, but others will enjoy this type of design.

In order to entice gamers to play through the game more than once, the developers included a ton of difficulty-specific unlockables. In order to unlock the achievement for unlocking everything, you must play through the game on each of its three difficulties. There are no hidden collectibles, so all of the unlockables based upon making it to the game's end credits. There are different types to unlock including making of videos, posters, and cheats. In addition, the game's achievement list has achievements for completing the game on each difficulty, which do not stack. This means that, if you beat it on hard, you will not get the achievements for beating the game on easy and normal as well.

Controlling your character will be second nature for anyone gamer who has played a first-person shooter in the past, as the game features a control scheme similar to that of Call of Duty. Three control schemes are available for customization, which was nice to see, because this was one of the first games where I actually wanted to alter the basic scheme. I just wish that the game featured fully customizable controls because, despite being able to find a scheme that suited me more than the default one, I would have appreciated the ability to change a couple of the button commands to create my ideal control scheme. That is a very small complaint though. Generally, though the controls felt a bit sluggish, they worked quite well. The sniper rifle had a decent amount of feedback recoil, though I didn't feel the same way about the machine gun, which didn't feel very immersive due to a lack of full recoil.

Presentation is a mixed bag when it comes to Battle: Los Angeles. Its visuals are quite colourful and feature some basic destruction with decent effects. However, they can be a bit blurry at times. There is some nice detail on the weapons, though there are only three weapons available to you (a sniper rifle, assault rifle and rocket launcher.) It looks okay for an Arcade game, apart from the enemy animations, which are very stiff and limited. Most of the time, the aliens will stand in a similar pose, with their gun outstretched, moving in a very stilted manner when they do alter their position. It was impressive to see that the developers went an extra step to include some alien blood into the visual design, because it adds to the game's immersion. The game also features support for 3D TVs but I was unable to test this feature.

The majority of the game's story is told through the use of animated comic panels, as opposed to computer generated cutscenes. These animated comics include a lot of detail and look pretty good, though they feature very limited amounts of animation. An introductory cutscene is shown as the game loads, featuring a narrator who is discussing how human beings felt invincible before the attack, as archival footage from wars in years past show on the screen. The narrator does a good job of setting up the game, though it's definitely the best voice acting in the game. Each character features his or her own dialogue, but most of the voice acting is mediocre at best, unfortunately. I do not believe they employed the use of the film's cast for the game's voice work, which is too bad.

In addition to the inclusion of some voice acting, the game also features several different sound effects and an original score. Most of the sound effects sound alright and do a decent job of representing what is happening in the game world, though there are some that don't sound as good as others. Most of the time, these sound effects (gunfire specifically) drown out any other sounds around you, which is to be expected, though this also means that it's hard to hear the game's rock-heavy score. What I heard of it (at a low volume during most of the game's combat-heavy sections) sounded decent but generic.

In conclusion, Battle: Los Angeles is an interesting experience and has become somewhat of an anomaly in my mind. Its design is very generic and it features one of the shortest campaigns I've ever played, but I still had some fun with it. Though its brief campaign and lack of any sort of multiplayer will turn some people off, those who enjoy to challenge their friends' completion times will perhaps enjoy the experience the most. I recommend giving the trial a chance first and proceeding if you really enjoy it. Overall, Battle: Los Angeles is a generic and brief experience that lacks a lot of content, but there's something compelling about it.

Rating: 4.5/10

Battle: Los Angeles is available now on the XBOX 360's Marketplace and PlayStation Network. It retails for 800 Microsoft Points or ten American dollars.

Slam Bolt Scrappers (PlayStation Network) Review LINK

My second review for Video Game Talk is now live on their website. It's a review of the recently-released PlayStation Network game, Slam Bolt Scrappers - an interesting mixture of a puzzle game and a beat 'em up.

Here is a link to the full review: LINK

Thanks for reading.

Twin Blades Review (PlayStation Portable/PS3 Mini)

Originally released on Apple's iOS devices and Windows Phone 7, Press Start Studio's Twin Blades has just recently been released on the PlayStation Network as a Mini. Compatible with both the PS3 and PSP devices, it pits players into the role of a zombie killing nun named Angelika, who is trying to save her female lover from the grasp of evil. Aid her in her quest by taking out the zombie hordes (and heinous boss creatures) that are threatening the safety of her town, Lacombe. Fulfill this task by the use of a trusty blade (scythe) or the use of several different types of firearms. You're the last defense against the evil onslaught that is threatening your once peaceful town and monastery.

At its core, Twin Blades is a side-scrolling hack n' slash game with ranged weapon elements added in. Angelika's movement is limited to walking and jumping, with the potential for an upgraded aerial attack which sees her slam her scythe down towards the ground, attacking any enemies in its way. As you move from left to right (and sometimes right to left,) zombies will shamble towards you from ahead and behind. Using a combination of your scythe and whichever weapons you have equipped, you must annihilate all of the zombies in each level in order to progress.

Its campaign takes place over 12 levels - 3 of which are boss battles. These levels' varied environments range from a market and the woods outside town to the interior of a butcher's shop. A day/night cycle is included into the game to give it some more length, making you return to completed levels after sundown to clear them out again (usually with more zombies involved at night.) Additionally, players can visit Father Riciardio at his monastery whenever need be, in order to purchase (or upgrade) new types of firearms. Angelika can also be upgraded at the monastery, allowing for increase This is done through use of the game's currency - zombie hearts.

In addition to the campaign, there is a secondary mode called Survival Mode. Instead of working your way through different levels, this mode presents a continuous cycle of days where you must try to survive against hordes of zombie foes. With each new day, the horde becomes larger and gets tougher to fight. Players are scored based on how long they last within this game type. Unfortunately, there is no online leaderboard support.

Despite having a unique premise, Twin Blades' gameplay unfortunately falls flat. I tried to get into the game, but never really could. There are some good ideas implemented into the experience, but they aren't developed or polished enough, leading to a very basic experience which I found dull. Most of the time you're just fighting the same slow zombies who never seem to change and aren't very scary at all. Though I did like the variety found within the weapons (such as an ice gun, a holy gun and more traditional weapons such as a pistol, machine gun and flamethrower.) The game's basic design also had potential, though its difficulty ramps up very quickly.

Controlling Angelika doesn't require a lot of basic combos or anything. As with almost all games these days, the left joystick controls movement. All of Angelika's moves are pulled off with the face buttons, with X being the jump button, square acting as your melee combat button and triangle being used as the firearm button. The R1 and L1 buttons cycle through the guns that you have purchased. For the most part, this control scheme works quite well, although Angelika's jumps are quite floaty. That becomes problematic at times because you sometimes require a precise jump to get away from a pack of zombies. If you land on a zombie, he's sure to bite you.

The best aspect of Twin Blades is its manga-inspired visual style. The game looks a lot like a moving piece of anime. All of the characters and environments look hand-drawn and are extremely colourful. It's an interesting and creative look that looks decent and works pretty well. The incredibly colourful visuals provide an interesting contrast to all of the blood and carnage that is unleashed within. I was especially impressed with the variety and design of the backdrops for each level. However, the animations are quite stiff at times, and there is little variety within the zombies' movement animations. Throughout the game, you see the same zombies over and over again, which can become tedious, but there are some special zombies with protection, which are harder to take out. Additionally, the bosses look pretty interesting.

Twin Blades' sound design is very basic, which is something that I found disappointing, especially when its visual presentation was relatively strong. Its original score is very simplistic and upbeat, which is something that I don't think worked well with the game's action/horror theme and ultra-violent gameplay. Said score has the potential to become grating after a while. In addition, the game features some basic sound effects, but the same ones are repeated over and over again for Angelika's attacks and the zombies' guttural cries. Those sound effects and their simplicity would have been much less noticeable if they weren't constantly being used during each level. I wish they would have toned them down a bit, or added more variety, so that there was less of a chance of players becoming annoyed and turning the game down. No voice acting is included, as all of the game's story is told through text-based dialogue.

Though I tried to like Twin Blades, its repetitive and overly difficult gameplay left me sour and uninterested. It's unfortunate because there is potential behind its premise and some of the ideas that the developers tried to implement. The main issue at hand is the fact that the game never alters or evolves, remaining very repetitive. Casual gamers may find some interest in it, but its difficulty is something that may turn them off. For four dollars and fifty cents, there is a bit of fun to be had, but it's a game that I find hard to recommend. It's too bad because I expected to enjoy it going in.

Rating: 3.5/10

Twin Blades was released in mid February 2011, for the PlayStation Portable and PS3.

Pix'n Love Rush Review (PlayStation Portable/PS3 Minis)

In an homage to classic platform games, developer Pasta Games and publisher Sanuk Games have teamed up to bring Pix'n Love Rush to the PlayStation Store as a PSP/PS3 compatible Mini. Retailing for a mere $2.50 (and previously released for free for PlayStation Plus members,) Pix'n Love Rush is a fast-paced platformer in the classic sense. Like the games it pays respect to, this Mini does a good job of taking a simple gameplay design element and turning it into a creative game that is quite addicting despite its simplicity. In my honest opinion, I think that is one of the most impressive forms of game design. Though I was really curious to see how this popular iOS game would fare with a physical controller.

Playing as a pixelated character who is trying to earn enough money to buy some cake, players get the chance to try their hand at three fun and challenging game types, which all utilize very classic platforming gameplay tropes throughout 125 unique levels. These game types include:

- Classic Rush: This is the first game type, which can be played with a five minute limit or in unlimited rush mode - the difference being that unlimited ends when your health runs out and not at a predetermined time. Your task is simple, requiring you to move along through each random level (of varying unique design,) trying to collect as many plus symbols as possible. Each one you earn adds to your score and your potential multiplier (which can be activated at intervals of 2, 5 and 10.) Pink bats and minus signs are also spread throughout the levels - reducing your score, eliminating your multiplier and/or taking your life force if you touch them (though bats can be shot with projectiles that can also damage you if you're not careful.) Yellow angels also appear and can be jumped through - just be careful not to hit them with projectiles or you'll lose points. It's a very simple design, but it's extremely fun and addicting.

- Cursed Rush: Taking a cue from some of the popular iPhone games which see you playing as a character who is in a rush, this mode makes you try to stay above-ground for as long as possible. Only the jump button is required as your character runs from left to right, attempting to land on a myriad of platforms of varying sizes and types (some will crumble if you're on them for too long.) If you fall, it's game over and your score is judged based on the length of the level that you have covered. It's challenging, but you feel like you've done a good job if you make it far, especially on the hardest difficulties. The comical difficulty lists starts at hard and ends at harderest, with varying degrees of hard in-between. This means that, as you up the difficulty, the platforms become less stable and much smaller.

- On-Off Rush: In this day/night cycled mode, you're tasked with picking up the correct icons at the right time of day. Instead of having plus/minus icons, Puzzle Rush features sun and mood icons that you must pick up. Each stage starts at daytime and you get a chance to pick up as many suns as you can as you rush from right to left. Once you hit the wall on the other side, it toggles to nighttime where you must avoid the suns and try to collect the moon icons. It sounds easy, but it can get pretty challenging. The basic version of this game mode only gives you one chance at both daytime and nighttime before it progresses to the next level, whereas the secondary mode doesn't change levels until you've collected everything, but adds a timer to the mix.

Only two buttons and a joystick are used throughout the experience (one for each required task: jumping, shooting and moving,) making it very easy to just jump into without a tutorial or any previous gaming experience. What impressed me the most about this basic control scheme was how well it worked. The game requires precision jumping (especially during Cursed Rush mode) and the controls allow for that. When I fell, I knew it was something I did wrong, as opposed to the game not being as intuitive as it needed to be. This really reminded me of the precision required in the Super Mario Bros. games, which is good company for a game to be linked to. The shooting mechanic takes a little while to get used to, but it also works well. You just need to make sure to watch out for falling projectiles because you're not invincible against your own ammunition.

In keeping with the retro gameplay, Pasta Games decided to create a very retro-inspired aesthetic for the game. Every inch of its presentation screams retro gaming, which I liked. Every level, character and icon in the game is made up of visible pixels, with skins that alter based on your multiplier. For example, a times two multiplier will change the background skin to a haunted house, whereas the times five multiplier will change the design to black and white (in some ways resembling the look of a Game 'n Watch system.) A times ten multiplier is the best of all because it makes it look like you're playing on a green radar screen in an air traffic control office, or within an on-going game of Battleship. There are a total of seven different visual skins. This isn't to mention the fact that each game type has its own unique visual aesthetic, in keeping with the same pixelated theme. I played it on the PS3 and was blown away by how great it looked on a larger screen in high-definition. Colour me impressed.

One of the things that retro games are most revered for are their 'chip tunes' soundtracks. Fans of those simplistic yet incredible musical scores will love the music in Pix'n Love Rush, as it follows the same style. Its sound design is great, featuring interesting music (that didn't get annoying,) which ramps its tempo up based on your multiplier, since hitting one enemy or minus sign will take it away from you. I was especially impressed with the classical music chip tunes rendition that accompanies the times ten multiplier and its visual overlay. The audio alterations feel like a reward, as I thought that the music improved when I did well. Wanting to hear the great music that accompanied high multipliers made me want to do better.

Overall, Pix'n Love Rush is an excellent game that does a great job of paying homage to classic platforming games. It's a very simple, but well-designed and engaging experience, which can easily become addicting. I had high expectations going into the game and I must say that my expectations were exceeded by its quality, charm and fun. The only negative is that it doesn't seem to feature online leaderboard stat tracking on PSN. For two dollars and fifty cents, you really cannot go wrong. Even though your attempts at each mode will only last up to several minutes each (if you're lucky,) it's a game that will keep you coming back for more. I highly recommend this game to any fans of retro gaming, classic platformers and/or good video games. It's a game that pays homage to classic gaming, that has become a classic in my eyes.

Rating: 9/10

Pix'n Love Rush is now available on the PlayStation Network Store, for both the PS3 and PSP. It costs two dollars and fifty cents. This game is also available on Apple's iOS operating system.

De Blob 2: The Underground Review (XBOX 360 Version)

The Inkies have eliminated all traces of colour from the world. It is your responsibility to restore the environment back to its original beauty and put an end to the Inkies once and for all. That is the premise within THQ's De Blob 2: The Underground - a sequel to 2008's Wii exclusive puzzle-platformer, De Blob. Developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment, the game sees the lovable paint blob hero and his friends reunite for another attack against the drab inkblot oppression, and it's something that fans of unique games and the platforming genre are sure to be impressed with. Just make sure you use the right colours.

Despite the oppression, a colour underground has formed, and is ready to revolt against the Inkies' oppression. They've developed a plan to regain control of their world and hope to be able to stop the brainwashing that has been done to their fellow citizens, who were formerly very colourful and vibrant. These citizens have been changed from their normally colourful selves to drab, white bores, who live their daily lives without any sort of personality. Along the way, you will meet new members of the underground, who will aid you in your goals. They teach you new abilities, open new environmental areas and give you new tasks to complete. Each new citizen that you bring back to life (per se,) adds a new member to the revolution.

In the midst of the oppression, the Inkies (General) leader is trying to influence the voting process in Prisma City to make voters choose him as their next general leader. De Blob and his friends spend most of the game chasing this madman throughout the world, eventually leading to a confrontation in outer space. Though the General doesn't speak much, he's a major part of the storyline and works well as an antagonist. This political aspect of the storyline may be lost on kids, however, but adults will understand it and be able to identify with aspects of it.

At its core, De Blob 2 is a platforming game, but it also features plenty of puzzle elements. Players control De Blob, the game's titular hero. He's a gigantic blob of paint, which is capable of changing his colour at any time, just by touching a new paint colour. Its gameplay revolves around using this ability to absorb different colours of paint in order to paint buildings, citizens and the environment, in order to complete challenges. Painting is easily done; De Blob can spread his colour to neighbouring buildings or elements just by touching them, though each painted item decreases the amount of paint that he contains. This absorption amount is shown in the top right-hand corner of the screen and sort of works as your health. Everything you paint reduces it, as does attacking enemies or destroying their creates. If you're small and get hit by an enemy inkblot, you risk the chance of death (as the game also features a life system, allowing for you to have up to five at one time.) This means that you're quite often having to look for sources of paint (pools or 'paintbots') to replenish your absorption.

There are several different types of colours available to be used, and certain ones are required for certain tasks (such as painting buildings which need to be a specific colour.) The three primary colours you absorb are red, yellow and blue. They can be combined together to create secondary colours, which become a more prevalent task requirement later on in the game. Available for creation are green, purple, orange and brown, which is made by mixing all three of the primary colours together. Though, if you are orange (for example,) you can revert to red just by touching a red paintbot. Water plays a major role in the experience as, if you touch one drop of it, you lose your colour. However, water is at a premium in the new world because the Inkies have replaced it with ink in a lot of instances. When De Blob touches this ink, it hurts him and eliminates any colour from things that he touches. The only way to get rid of it is by touching water.

In order to complete certain tasks, De Blob is faced with the opportunity to enter certain buildings, after meeting a certain colour and absorption requirement. Once you enter an indoor environment, the game shifts from its large-scale 3D platformer design to a design resembling a 2D platformer. This design reminded me of Splatterhouse, with its perspective altering from three dimensions to two at certain points. These portions of the game require you to hit different colour switches, defeat all of the enemies inside and/or save imprisoned citizens. Though it's easier said than done considering there's always something in your way that must be accounted for, such as a pool or stream or water, ink, moving platforms and a limited amount of paint. I enjoyed these sections of the game as they added a good amount of variety into the experience. Though I found that they were over-used at points, such as one level that primarily consists of having you take over buildings.

Natural progression throughout the game's twelve lengthy environments allows for the debut of many different types of enemies. These enemy types range from basic minions to enemies with guns, helicopters, tanks and ink mortars. It is only possible to take some of these foes out in a specific manner, such as using the dash ability to avoid their spiked heads or by slamming onto them when you're a certain colour. It is generally pretty easy to take most of them out, as long as you have the required amount of absorption strength. A lot of the time, you'll need to take out a specific amount of them to complete a main story challenge or one of the secondary goals that present themselves after you've finished the level's main requirements. Just be careful because their ink can be quite damaging.

Where De Blob 2: The Underground really shines is in its puzzle design and its ease of use. This is a game that can be played by young children (though they'd need a lot of help with some sections,) families and even core gamers. Due to that broad target market range, the developers were tasked with creating puzzles that were complex and varied, but were able to be completed without much frustration. I think they did a very good job of this. Though having to paint buildings certain colours became somewhat repetitive after a while, I was impressed with the gravity puzzles and the other indoor puzzles that they introduced as I progressed into the later portion of the experience. Though I wish there would have been a couple more different types of puzzles instead of so many buildings to paint, there was at least a decent amount of variety within. Their design was almost always impressive though.

Upon completion of a level's main objectives, you are given the opportunity to either leave the area (to progress onwards) or stay and complete secondary objectives which have been unlocked. Enlightenment awards (in the shape of lightbulbs) are hidden throughout the environments as collectibles and are also awarded for completion of these tasks. They are used as currency within the game's upgrade menu, but they are not the only collectibles within the game, which is something that annoyed me. This game simply has too many collectibles to find. So many different hidden gallery photos, enlightenment awards, patterns (which add a pattern onto buildings you paint,) billboards, trees and crates. It's a collectible overload, which can become quite taxing.

The amount of collectibles and secondary objectives (which lead to awards) and a scoring menu after each level, which grades you based on your score, makes some levels take longer than an hour to complete. It adds a lot of length to the game, especially since each level invokes a time limit system. You can earn more time by saving citizens, defeating groups of enemies or reaching checkpoints. However, your first crack at a level is streamlined by this limit, meaning that you generally have to wait until you've completed all of a level's main tasks before you can look for collectibles. If you run out of time, you have to restart from your last checkpoint. To be honest, I didn't find the time limit to be a good design choice. I found that it was more frustrating than necessary, as it didn't really have a purpose other than adding stress and streamlining your playthrough to add length to the experience. In a tranquil/relaxing game like this, a time limit kind of defeats the purpose.

De Blob 2 not only features a lengthy single player campaign, but it also incorporates multiplayer in two different ways. In the campaign, a second player can join in as Pinky (a companion/tutorial giver) to help player one by shooting enemies and crates, with a limited amount of ammo. It's not something that would interest many people though. The other mode (Blob Party) is a bit more interesting, allowing players to work together to try to finish time-based objective challenges, while fighting to earn more points than their teammate. Unfortunately, neither mode features online matchmaking.

Controlling De Blob is a simple and easy task, which is streamlined to appeal to any audience. Basic movement and camera controls are mapped to the two thumbsticks, with the left shoulder button utilized for centering the camera behind De Blob. Targeting enemies, paintbots and entry ways is completed by just pressing the left trigger in, allowing you to easily jump to and/or smoosh them by pressing the right trigger. Also, as usual, basic jumping mechanics are mapped to the A button, which is also used in rapid succession, to evade enemies who try to put you into a trance (and then lead you to an ink well.) This is a control scheme that doesn't require a lot of gaming skill to get used to, so it works well in a game like this, which is predominantly appealing to families.

De Blob 2 looks great in high-def on the 360. When you begin each level, you're met with a white canvas, where De Blob is the only hint of colour. He really pops, as does each element of colour that you introduce. I personally found the game to be stunning, making it a contender for one of the best looking games I've played. Its art style is also really well-done, with some decent variety as you progress through different types of environments (such as a university campus, senate, beach and outer space) in the campaign. The animations are also quite well-done, though there isn't a grand amount of them. If you're looking for something that will blow you away in a visceral sense, then I recommend checking this game out.

Its audio is also something worth mentioning. The game's original soundtrack is great, and it really works well with the game. At the beginning of each level, players can select their mood, which translates into the type of music that is played. Each new type of paint also has its own signature instrument sound, which plays whenever you paint something. Additionally, the game features a ton of varied sound effects, which sound great. I was impressed with the game's presentation to say the least, despite encountering one sound bug.

The game's storyline is told through the use of comic panels (during load screens,) text dialogue and quite a few computer generated cutscenes. There is a great sense of humor that runs rampant throughout the cutscenes, as each cutscene shows the Inkies getting into humourous trouble, which is reminiscent of Ubisoft's Raving Rabbids franchise. Despite this overzealous homage, I quite enjoyed these storytelling moments, as the humour was great. In fact, one of the first cutscenes was one of the better cutscenes I've ever seen. Several others would rank up there as well.

Generally speaking, the game is extremely well-made. I was impressed with the amount of polish that it featured, as well as the fact that I didn't really encounter many glitches other than a short sound bug (which eliminated one sound effect) and a couple brief frame rate hiccups. With that being said, I must admit that I was bored a few times while playing the game. When I first started playing it, I didn't like it very much, but it grew on me. So much so that I ended up enjoying playing it as I progressed. This is a well-made experience, but it's not something I recommend playing for hours on end, especially if you're a core gamer. It never evolves from its basic premise, always remaining in a basic comfort zone. Sure, there are new elements which are established in each new level, but the game gets very repetitive at times, because it never undergoes a major change from start to finish. With a 15-20 hour campaign, that can become a bit dull at times.

Overall, De Blob 2: The Underground is pretty good game. It features some great elements and annoying issues, such as repetition. It's a game that is sure to impress people who don't play games much, with its beauty, but it's not a game that will keep you interested for hours on end. Though short bursts can be quite enjoyable and relaxing, this is a game that will be appreciated most by a younger audience. If you're looking for something different, this is certainly a candidate.

Rating: 7.5/10

De Blob 2 was released for the XBOX 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS on February 22, 2011. The 360 and PS3 versions sell at a suggested retail price of $49.99. It will be released on the Nintendo 3DS later this year.

Torchlight Review (XBOX Live Arcade)

Released in October of 2009, Runic Games' Torchlight is a popular dungeon-crawling action role-playing game, which is being released on XBOX Live Arcade this week. It is one of the major releases in Microsoft's XBOX Live Arcade House Party promotion, and they are acting as the publisher for this outing. I know that many people were very happy when this version of the game was announced, as it's been speculated since the PC version was originally released - I know I was. Is this version worth its fifteen dollar price tag after being ported from the confines of the computer gaming world?

The game takes place within a mythical world, in a popular mining town known as Torchlight. The mines below the town are full of a highly popular material known as ember, which has attracted many adventurers to the town, who are seeking fame and fortune. The character you play as has been invited to the town, where he has been enlisted as help by a mage known as Syl, whose master Alric has disappeared into the mine's depths. After his disappearance, her peer Brink went in to look for their master and has yet to come back from his dangerous quest. You see, the mines within Torchlight are not only full of ember, but they're also full of dangerous monsters.

As it turns out, the highly sought after ember is not just popular - it's also dangerous in an elemental fashion. Its effects are the reason why past civilizations fell and its allure is what has driven Master Alric into the mines, as he is in search of something that will make him more powerful - something that will allow him to rule with his dark master. Said dark master is hidden on the thirty-fifth floor of the mine, where he has been slumbering for many years. It is your responsibility to try to stop the master from making his return to the world of humans, by defeating all of the heinous creatures that stand in your way. It's you and your pet against the horde.

At the beginning of the experience, players are asked to choose the class of adventurer that best suits their play style and personality. The choices include: the Destroyer (a warrior, skilled in melee combat and the summoning of ancestral spirits,) the Alchemist (a mage, who is fluent in using magical elements for combat such as electricity,) and the Vanquisher (an elite city guard, who uses her knowledge of traps and ranged weapons to her advantage.) Each class allows for a new take on combat specialties, abilities and the overall style of gameplay. Since I've always been someone who enjoys hacking and slashing my way through enemies with melee weapons in video games, I opted for the trusty Destroyer. He served me well and fit my play style perfectly.

It is at this time that you also get to choose a pet, which will be your ally, extra storage and potential spellcaster throughout the game. There are three preset pet types, including a dog, cat and dinosaur. I chose the cat. This pet helped me out a lot during my experience in the dank, dark dungeons underneath Torchlight, in many ways. Not only did he constantly rush into battle with vigor, but he also learned spells which helped maintain both of our health and assisted him in combat against the dungeon lurkers. The best part about having a pet in this game however, is the fact that he can store your unwanted items, with the ability to make a run to town for you to make sales, whenever need be. Granted, there's a short wait of about a minute and a half and some limitations are levied upon this ability, such as the fact that he can't be sent out while you're in certain sub-portals. Those limitations are rarely ever levied upon you though. Fishing holes are available in some locations, allowing you to catch different types of the slippery creatures, which can then be fed to your pet to alter its appearance, skills, and weaknesses. Who doesn't want to temporarily have a huge spider or a flaming beast as an ally? At least, within the confines of a virtual environment.

For those who are still wondering, Torchlight is a single player only experience on the 360, just like it was when it was released for PC and Mac. The campaign is a very solitary experience, but I found that that dynamic lent itself well to the game's story and campaign. I didn't pine for another adventurer at my side, although I'm sure it would've been fun. Perhaps we'll see that in Torchlight 2, which has been rumored to be in development. I know that a lot of people have been asking about this, so I wanted to make sure I made mention of it. Runic Games did incorporate a new gifting ability into the game, which allows you to send a gift message to a friend, granting them with a spell that will let them re-assign skill points. You can earn it for your own character, by sending the message out. This is exclusive to this XBOX Live Arcade port of the game.

As your chosen character, you must fight your way through the dungeons using either melee combat, spells, traps or ranged attacks. Hundreds of times throughout the campaign, you will come across different weapons, armor, jewelery and gems, which can be used to add elemental skills or stat-related bonuses to your equipped items. If I must say so myself, Torchlight is a loot-lover's dream. Each item you find can be equipped or sold, with visual changes appearing to your character when you upgrade or change his equipment. Sometimes you will be faced with a tough decision as to whether you keep a lower ranked weapon with great elemental enchantments/skills or whether you go with a more basic, but higher ranked item. There are a lot of options which allow players to customize their characters through their equipment. You spend a lot of time in the game's menus, but they were quite easy to navigate for the most part, so I didn't find that to be much of a problem.

Each new floor of the game's deep, thirty-five level mine/dungeon presents new puzzles, enemies and tasks for you to concur - not to mention the occasional big boss battle. The game is constantly introducing new baddies into its randomly generated dungeons for you to slaughter with your blades, staffs, guns or spells. This helps keep the experience fresh, as each enemy has a different weakness and its own set of abilities. Runic took it upon themselves to not only name each of these creatures, but to add a list of these skills under each one's health bar, which I thought was a nice touch. That way, you always know what you're up against in each encounter. Although, even though you know the enemies' abilities, it doesn't make you invincible against them.

Although the dungeon's depths are all randomly generated, the game does a great job of creating its content. Reason being is that it has a lot of variety to work with. After every few floors, the look of the dungeon and its environments change drastically, ranging from a traditional gray mine, to a library, jungle, prison and what looks like the inside of Hell itself. Each of the aforementioned environments adds subtle changes to the experience, such as user-controlled bridges (which usually lead to secret stashes of gold) or portals that will send you to a brand new section of the floor. This variety was welcomed.

As I previously mentioned, Runic did a great job by throwing everything but the kitchen sink into this game, when it comes to enemy designs. There are so many different enemies and variations that it's hard to even make a list of them all. Some of my favourites included large dragon spawn, spiders of varying sizes and little demons. Almost every enemy featured its own unique identity and skillset, but there were several different incarnations of some types. These different incarnations of enemy types would always look different on each of the different floors however. For example, some of the little demon henchmen on the jungle floors wore loin cloths and had spears. As I progressed further and further into the abyss, I discovered tougher enemies who would even kamikaze me. Unfortunately, despite the creative boss designs, their mechanics were quite similar and they didn't require a lot of skill or added technique to take down.

The town of Torchlight serves as the game's main hub. Within its confines are many different vendors, such as those who specialize in certain things, gamblers (who charge for unknown weapons,) and an enchanter who will place magical spells on your weapons to grant them new abilities...for a high price, of course. Additionally, this is where you go to find villagers who are offering side quests. These quests range from separate portals containing a specific desired item, a robot who wants to blog about the mini-bosses you've slain and a couple of townsfolk who need specific types of jewels. These side quests add variety to the campaign, allowing for some extra content, exploration and rewards. Although they don't change the core dynamic of the game very much.

Once you've completed a section of the game's main dungeon, you will be presented with a waypoint portal that will send you back to the main town hub. These portals act as checkpoints, and can always be used from the main portal within the town of Torchlight. You are not able to pick exact floor numbers, but these checkpoints are spread out well throughout the cave. There are several of them, in fact. However, being able to warp back to town is never a problem, as it is easy to find town portal scrolls (whether they're dropped by enemies you've slain, found on tables or discovered in chests,) which will allow you to create a travel vortex at any point during your travels. You can return to the exact same location via that portal, once you're finished in town.

This is a game that constantly rewards players for their efforts - primarily through loot, but also through experience and fame. You always feel like you're accomplishing something when you play this game. Exploration is rewarded by hidden troves of gold and treasure chests (although you must beware the mimic chests which are actually strong enemies.) On the other hand, combat is rewarded handsomely with experience points, new skill points to award through your discretion and fame points. Like with all role-playing games, you level up at certain experience intervals.

Torchlight allows you to direct the skill points you've earned (several per each new level) into the categories that best suit your play style. Additionally, this port features all of the skills that were available in the original version, allowing you to choose which ones you would like to assign points to and/or use. Some of them have been tweaked a bit from their original designs to improve their effects. The aforementioned fame points correspond to a long list of fame levels, which show how popular you are as an adventurer within Torchlight and its surrounding area. You earn different amounts of XP based on the difficulty level that you choose - ranging from very easy to very hard, and also including a hardcore mode where death is permanent (instead of the ability to respawn in town, at the start of your current floor or at the section where you died. You can lose gold, fame and experience based on where you choose.)

In order to optimize the experience for console gamers, developer Runic Games changed the on-screen hub design for this version of the game. Instead of your health and mana being shown at the bottom of the screen in a large menu, each one is triggered to a shoulder button and shown in one corner. Health is in the top left-hand corner of the screen (mapped to LB for potion use,) and mana is in the top right-hand corner of the screen, mapped to RB for its potion use. In comparison to the PC version's hub, I found this one to be a lot better and easier to use. It was much easier to see how high or low my health and mana were, and it was simple to use a potion at the press of a button. The developers also went a step further in allowing spells and abilities to be mapped to four buttons: Y, B, and both trigger buttons. This made it very easy to use them as well. The left joystick controls movement, whereas the right joystick allows you to zoom the camera in and out. Additionally, the X button controls all of your combat. Overall, I was very impressed with how they optimized this port for console players' enjoyment.

Although I was quite impressed with this game, it was not without problems. Through its Diablo-like structure, Torchlight's gameplay was repetitive in its basic structure. Fans of dungeon crawlers and loot will feel right at home with this game, but it may not be for the more traditional gamer. I'm somewhat new to this type of game, having only played Diablo a bit in the past, but I enjoyed it quite a bit despite its repetition. Runic included a lot of variety and content to combat this well-known issue within the game's sub-genre. If you're not sure about this type of game, then just give the trial a chance.

The main issue with the game is its frame rate. When a lot of different enemies are on the screen, it can slow down quite a bit - sometimes even to a crawl. This seemed to happen the most when a few larger spider enemies were on the screen with their individual legs moving, or when enemies used varying elemental attacks at once. During periods of intense frame rate slowdown, the game was made difficult to play because it became tough to know which enemy I was attacking and/or exactly where I was if I was crowded around by large enemies. Things would be fine when I was fighting a large group of basic enemies, but the more complex character models (such as the large eight-legged freaks) required more from the game's engine and thus seemed to be the cause of a lot of the slowdown. I was impressed with how many enemies they could fit on the screen at once, but it's too bad that it suffered from these occasional frame rate hiccups. Granted, they weren't very prevalent.

Torchlight is never a game that will blow you away with its shiny graphics, but the game does look quite good. The art design is very well-done and the game features a great variety within its visuals. Its art style isn't as serious as other RPGs, but the art department did a good job creating a unique visual style for the game that is a nice mix between realism and a more colourful and surreal style. Its texture work looks pretty good and its enemy designs deserve to be commended. I was also quite impressed with how the look of my character changed as I switched his armor and weapons. It's just too bad that the game doesn't run as well as it looks, at all times.

In terms of audio, I was impressed for the most part, but there were some cons. The game's soundtrack (which was composed by Diablo composer and audio designer, Matt Uelman,) was subtle but powerful and worked well with the game's dark and gritty tone. The inherent sound effects were also pretty well-done, with some nice variety. However, I wasn't as impressed with the game's limited voice acting. Some characters sounded okay, but I found that their audio interpretations of what the characters sounded like were somewhat stereotypical and uninspired. Since the game doesn't feature any cutscenes, the entire storyline is told through dialogue, whether it's scrolling text shown before a major event or within a discussion with an A.I. Torchlight inhabitant. While most of the dialogue was pretty well-written, the story was quite basic and wasn't as developed as I would have hoped.

In conclusion, I must say that Torchlight lived up to some high expectations I had going into the experience. I had heard a lot of good things about it in the past, so I was glad that it lived up to that hype. Although it's somewhat repetitive in its design and has some small issues, Torchlight is an impressive game that is sure to impress those who give it a chance - granted they like this type of dungeon crawling RPG. Its wealth of content and loot is sure to impress, with hours of gameplay through its main campaign, plus the ability to continue on after completion in its never-ending dungeon or through side-quests. I played through the campaign on normal, which took several hours, but should have started on hard to make it more of a challenge and a longer experience. The new game plus mode allows you to gift one of your high-level items to a new character, which is sure to please fans of the genre. If what I wrote interests you at all, I definitely recommend giving it a chance (at least the trial version.) Torchlight is a well-made game that does a good job crafting its own identity in a genre that Diablo has made famous. It's a good deal at $15 and can provide hours of enjoyment, especially if you love collecting loot.

Rating: 8/10

Torchlight will be released on XBOX Live Arcade on March 9, 2011. It will be available for 1200 Microsoft Points, which equals out to fifteen American dollars.