November 1, 2012Comments Off on "Pool Nation" Finds Its Sovereign Groove
There are dozens, nay, tons of billiard-based video games out there, each one just as similar as the last. Developer CherryPop Games, on the other hand, has taken a somewhat different approach to the home of the 8-ball in Pool Nation, simply by giving players a chance to challenge themselves just a little bit more.
In Pool Nation players have the chance to go hands-on with eight types of billiard games, ranging from the usual games of 8 or 9 ball and Golf to some unique variations of the game in Speed and Killer. In Single Player mode gamers can go against AI characters in eight tournaments in 8 or 9 ball (four per each), or go the extra mile in Endurance mode. You can even learn some tips and tricks in Tutorial to add a tiny bit more of an advantage when playing against friends or computer opponents.
August 3, 2012Comments Off on "Kinect Sports" Sequel Gets The Competition Going
Okay kiddies, Kinect Sports: Season Two is pretty sweet. It’s definitely a great game to be playing with the hellions, er, young kids in your family. It’s an awesome little set up where it puts you through the activities of the sports with multiple aspects between the sports.
From the video you can see we have baseball, football, golf, skiing, darts, and tennis. Each game has its own fun dynamic. You’re probably asking yourself, “Why Darts? How is that a sports?!” It’s sad to say that this back alley bar game has become a sport; not by Olympic standards, but a sport nonetheless. It is a challenging game they bring to the table, where you have to score 500 points before the other player/computer beats you to the punch. Sadly, I had bought a dart board for my game room recently and it seems almost pointless, but playing the real darts compared to the game is so different from one another. If some one plays the game of darts and they do really good at it they will think there a master, but if they go and play the real thing they will probably suck. (I would know this now due to the countless people who have come over and played darts, missed my dart board, and hit the wall.)
GAMEPLAY:
I’ll take a few moments to explain how to play, because you don’t got all day to really get into it! We will start with America’s past time sport: baseball! This game is interesting because it gives you the chance to both bat and pitch. When you’re at bat you put your arms up and stand at whatever side your comfortable with, and when the pitch is tossed at you take a swing. Easy enough, right? BUT if you don’t crack a home run every time, you have to run in place to get your character to first base. Believe me: if you have carpet then you’re lucky, but if you have tile floors like I do running in place is painful. Baseball will do a number on your body, so prepare to sweat and want to sit down. For the pitching its setup has you step forward into the pitch with your opposite leg (which kind of confused me) to get a fastball. Coming across with your arm a certain way will also get you a curveball. This part of the game it self is great, along with Home Run Derby.
One of my favorite sports that I have been playing since I was in diapers (as if you wanted to know this) is golf. Comparing this to Wii Sports Resort with the added Motion Plus to the controller, I feel that Kinect Sports has it beat for the maneuverability aspect of the game. With the Wii you have to hold the controller and hope the band on it doesn’t break as you swing it into your TV. With the Kinect you stand in front of it to the side you’re comfortable with, setting up your shot by moving side-to-side to where you want the character to shoot it. Then as easy as 1-2-3 you swing, and you basically put the ball where you want it. I’m not saying I don’t like a good challenge, but this game simplifies the movement and makes it a bit more fun than when I’ve had dealing with those trees in Wii Sports Resort.
The last one I’m going to explain is, of course, football. Not football as in soccer, but the weird looking pigskin American football. They designed the game in the sense that you are the quarterback, and you have to toss it to the receiver, and not only that when that receiver catches the ball you have to run in place and make movements to get past the other team. The kicker on this is that its setup has you trying to score a touchdown in four downs. There is no getting past the usual ten yards, which makes the game that much more challenging. For the other team what it does is represent what the other team would do if they got a touchdown, field goal, or stopped. When you play the game make sure you get a field goal or touchdown, because that will effect the outcome for the other team scoring. One problem that I had was my damn couch behind me, to kick a field goal it has to register when you bring your leg back then kick through. In my sense I had to go for it all the time, so no field goal kicking for me. All in all, though, it is very very fun.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
All together Kinect Sports: Season 2 is another great family-oriented game. It has great multiple applications from all the sports, along with the add-on now of basketball for about 400 XBL points. It seems that this game does have great competition against the Wii Sports series, and the reason for this is that the Kinect isn’t all up to spec yet of taking care of the motion capture, whereas the Wii remote has more of the sensitivity towards the game. The Kinect is still working its way up to the full movement, but it needs to also create a better setup with the distance you have to be at for the sensor to read you. That all aside, Kinect Sports: Season 2 in my book is a great.
PROS:
Great to play with the family
All the sports are very likable
Darts is always a good drinking game with friends
CONS:
Kinect still doesn’t read all the movements
Not happy on the price for the Basketball add-on
GAME:Kinect Sports: Season 2 DEVELOPER: Microsoft Studios, Rareware PLATFORM:Xbox 360 FINAL GRADE: 8.8 (out of ten)
July 27, 2012Comments Off on "MotionSports" Gets "Adrenaline" Going…For The Most Part
This fat boy just got a Kinect, and I had to get my hands on MotionSports Adrenaline. These are the types of things that I want to do in real life, but never get to because I’m a bit on the big side. I can tell you one thing: this can give your fat arse a workout!
This game is adrenaline at its best, while standing in front of your TV and doing extreme sports. MotionSports is a very physical game, and does need adequate room for the Kinect to read you properly. So if you are a fat lazy bastard like myself, you may need to take a break due to the fact your arms and legs will get tired from movement. With that said, this game is freakin’ awesome! I have always wanted to know how it feels to jump off a cliff with a wing suit, besides watching all those extreme videos of cliff divers or other things within the realm of extreme.
The setup of MotionSports is pretty easy with movements, although the bloody Kinect doesn’t pick up all the movements that you need to do at the time. I am dealing with a room that’s 12′ by 12′, and I do have a 57″ Sony HD TV. However I also have a three-seater couch on the other side of the TV, and that seems to also hinder the movements of what I do in the game. Of course, this is what I call the second stage in motion capture technology. (I remember back in the day when I played Sega Genesis, where a special golf game that has the little platform and a laser connected to it so you could play golf on the TV.) Now you have multiple options between the systems to play different sports, which I have to say is a beautiful thing. Unfortunately they have yet to perfect everything, and I’m at the point where technology shouldn’t have us fighting to make the games work properly.
The gameplay for MotionSports Adrenaline gives you the capability of playing wing suit, downhill biking, kite surfing, extreme skiing, kayaking, and rock climbing. The order I put them in is from the most liked to most dislike. Wing suit cliff diving has been one of my dreams to go and actually do, but I would have to first jump out of a plane a few hundred times and be able to pull a shoot cord by myself until I can hop in a wing suit. This game skips all that, tosses you right into the wing suit, and pushes you right off a cliff. The issues I found with wing suit diving was when a certain pose came up to do, I did it exactly how it showed on the screen, and then it yelled at me saying I didn’t do it. Sometimes I could’ve gone faster at points, but the little mix up got me to go slower.
Downhill racing is another sport I have always wanted to do, but never had the money for the high-end bikes to hold my arse up. (Recently I got a bike that is a 29-incher, and can hold my fat ass for this kind of stuff.) With this style of movement all you had to do is put your hands near one another as if you’re riding a bicycle. It pedals for you, but your movement is what makes the character go faster. Be careful of the tight turns and other obstacles they put in the way, because crashing out isn’t so much fun.
Kite surfing has you being dragged around on a wakeboard and performing a couple jumps just by wind-power alone. It’s almost set up like biking, but you have to control the kite to get you where you need to go. I have to give it to them on the ramp configurations and the grinding they have set up here. I know you’re asking how is kite surfing extreme, so all you have to do is watch it on TV or YouTube to see how extreme it is. They have kites that are rated from 200-300+ pounds so when the wind takes it, it can lift that weight with ease. When you’re at the beach seeing someone getting dragged along on a wakeboard by one of those, then you’ll know why.
Myself being a snowboarder, I’ve never really been interested in extreme skiing. From the X Games I can see that there are more possibilities with the skiing aspect. The extreme skiing here deals with a hell of a downhill setup configured with coins and jumps to complete in order to go faster down the hill on the speed demon games. This is a tough game, and does a lot to get your body moving.
For the kayaking and rock climbing, these two didn’t seem to be easy to do. Rock climbing dealt with arm movements and jumping, which would be good for someone in physical therapy if their shoulder is messed up. Kayaking, on the other hand, just seemed useless, because the movements are for sitting down, but you have to stand up to kayak. I understand that there’s stand-up paddle boarding, but not on a raging river!!!
FINAL THOUGHTS:
If you get MotionSports Adrenaline you will be able to enjoy about 75% of this game. The game itself isn’t complete, as they have the add-on for 400 XBL points, which I’m not sure is worth it right now. I’m thinking of buying it for the aspect of the add-on wing suit and the downhill racing levels. The game it self is good, but the Kinect seems to be off on some of the game. It’s a shame that the technology hasn’t gotten to where it should be. I wish I could rate it higher, but this game doesn’t have the whole setup that could’ve brought it to it’s full potential.
PROS:
Wingsuit cliff diving is so much fun!
Music is a very good attribute, gets you amped up
May want you to give sports a try in real life
CONS:
Kinect doesn’t read all your movements
Game can do a number on your body, may cause sweating
July 10, 2012Comments Off on Demo Roundup: July 1-7, 2012
For Xbox Live Arcade trials last week there were Bellator: MMA Onslaught and Spelunky. Could be worse, but I’ve been wrong before…
Bellator‘s short teaser trailer shows how much it sucks, and I have to say that I tried my best to give this game a real chance. I really did people. I kept going with being on the verge of rage quitting (which I did, as my head hangs low). Although this is the demo, the actual gameplay may be different. That said the A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) is really bad.
I’m always up for a challenge, but if you have had your ass handed to you every time — even switching the fighters they provided to you and lose to both guys — that tells you they made it impossible for the actual player to beat the other guy. The one thing I can maybe give to them is they designed a “rope a dope” setup in the game, yet they really did turn this into MMA Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter game that deals with a health bar. Yes I said it, they have a freakin’ health bar for the fighters. To add on to that they have a fatigue bar, where the amount of hits you put on the opposition will tire out your character. Not only that, when your fighter gets tired he turns red. When he is red, one punch, one kick, basically if the opponent sneezes on your fighter, it’s an automatic knockout.
The controls are somewhat simple, yet they are complicated when it comes to the aspect of grappling. In some parts of the movement of the fighter I was able to get out of grapples and ground & pound situations no problem. With the other fighter shooting in for a takedown I found it very hard to counter, and it would end up going from the ground back to a stand up match.
The two fighters they give you for the trial are Michael Chandler and Pat Curran. When they introduce the fighters, it seems that they didn’t even want to bother with the announcer to say the full entrance for the person. The voice of the announcer goes from “Fighting out of the red corner… Michael Chandler,” with a rare change in tone of voice. The music overlay is nothing too impressive, as they did a fair job on that. The graphics as you can see from the photos are also pretty nice.
After cooling down from the rage quitting, I went to the game again and changed the difficulty to easy. This is hard for me to say because I like playing the hell out of my games on Normal and Advanced settings, but this game is so damn fast. The other fighter you’re going against don’t have to remember the damn setups just to throw a punch, kick, block, grapple, etc. It’s just one of those things where this game if you don’t want to tear your freakin’ hair out, you’ll have to play on easy for a long amount of time. Otherwise prepare to have your ass handed to you on a silver platter.
Another thing that pisses me off is at the end of the match they give you a grading system. I’m sorry, but I got out of high school and college to stop being graded on everything I do. Hell, the match I finally won on this game due to turning the option to easy gave me a B+. It’s like what the hell! I gave most strikes, most damage delt in a one round that had three minutes in it, and I get a freakin’ B+. That is unacceptable in my terms of MMA! This brings me to a point: if you have OCD, and you like MMA games this one is probably not for you. However if you like getting your ass handed to you on a daily basis this game is right up your alley.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The trial for Bellator: MMA Onslaught is just a rude awakening for you to ask, “Am I up to the challenge of taking on a superior A.I. at a normal level that can drop you worse than taking a firey number two in the bathroom?” I look at this sucker and see that above the trial button it says it’s going for 1200 Arcade Points. I’m sorry, but that’s a bit too high. Hell even if it was 800 Xbox Live Points I still would find it to be too high. I want to say the 400-600 range would be more than adequate for this game. However I put you up to the challenge to make this decision on your own. Download the trial, and see what you feel about it. With the rating on this game it will have to be a low one. I hereby rate Bellator: MMA Onslaught a 1.2 out of 5 (or in the game’s rating style a D- or F at best).
GAME: Bellator: MMA Onslaught SYSTEM: XBLA, PSN DEVELOPER: Spike Games
Between downloading this and Bellator: MMA Onslaught, I will give Spelunky Download of the Week. The definition of spelunking is “the hobby/practice of exploring caves,” what Spelunky is all about. Apparently I didn’t hear about this game from back when it came out in 2008 and won some awards on the PC. Now they are working on widening their field of players for their game with an update on the graphics and adding a multiplayer aspect to the game. The thing about me is I haven’t been into many games dealing with 2D side-scrolling since I stopped playing Sega Genesis, but my fellow writer and member of B3 introduced me to Terraria, which also reminded me a bit of Spelunky.
The game starts off with you picking your character. (Of course I picked the hunter wearing the blue hat.) You get to this treasure chest, and change into this other character Yang that tells you how to play the game. I do have to say Spelunky has a long setup to teach you how to move about the game, from jumping, run jumping, using your whip, how to cling on to the edges of walls, etc. The main thing with me is with a game like this I kind of want to get to the point. I do like the concept that I have to go and do the certain activity to learn how to use weapons and do movements, but they could of incorporated this into the game with the character you’ve selected (like in ‘Splosion Man where you kind of learn as you go along). Suggestion: don’t kick the ass of the store owner in the final tutorial, as you’ll get your ass whooped.
So after playing the three tutorials you can see the name of the game is grabbing the people and the golden skulls, and getting them to the end without taking too much damage from whatever enemies and traps that may be around. This game keeps you on your toes. When you have rocks around the area, make sure to pick them up and toss them in certain areas that may be booby-trapped. It may save your character’s life and your aggravation. With the completion of the tutorial you finally get to start the mines section and start to see what the game is really about. It’s interesting, as I wanted to see what happened when you die. So I got killed doing something stupid, then ended up going back into the map and it changed everything. This is pretty interesting because they actually regenerate new maps every time. Now that’s a true challenge!
On a side note the music sounds something from 8-bit to 32-bit games. Not only that Spelunky made me paranoid for a second. I put I on pause, and there is a faint voice in the background that says, “Help!” which is the girl in distress. That scared the hell out of me! I thought there was a little kid or a cat outside my air conditioner, but this is what happens when you have a great surround system. It puts you into the game.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
As a trial Spelunky gives you a fair amount of gameplay, but also asks you along the way if you want to purchase the sucker. I feel this game may be worth further going into, and this is also coming from a person who doesn’t usually find these games too attractive. This one is also priced at 1200 Xbox Live Points, which I believe may be a bit too high. (I could say 800 to 1000 points may be more adequate.) I do give it to them on the concept of changing the maps each time, as it keeps you way more alert. You really have to pay attention to your surroundings. I have to suggest when you die keep pressing the X button. It will bring you back into the map instead of dropping you all the way to the entrance of the cave. (I found myself doing that a lot.) To give this sucker a grade, I’ll give it a respectful 3.8 out 5. It’s a game that certain people will like because of its maze aspect. It also makes you feel like Indiana Jones, especially when saving the girl and getting the golden skull. Beware: that big boulder will be around to get you when you grab the skull, so all I can say is RUN BITCH RUN!!!
July 6, 2012Comments Off on "Trials" Sequel Lives Up To Its "Evolution" Namesake
Oooohhhh yeaaahhh!!! It’s a beautiful thing when you can conquer a world with only two wheels, especially after Redlynx upped the graphics and the level of difficulty in the latest incarnation of the Trials series.
MAIN GAME:
As it says in the video above Trials Evolution features a “massive single player,” which is a largely correct statement. The levels range from beginner to extreme, making this game as ultimate as it can get for a third-person/side-scrolling motocross game. The regular levels give you a ton of different options from dirt tracks and planks of wood to metal and everything else you can find under the sun (or a junkyard). They tossed in everything from racing the clock mode to what they call the Skill Game Circus.
Racing the clock deals with getting four different licenses ranging from D through A. Each License Test teaches you how to take care of the certain parts on the maps after obtaining the licenses. The levels then go from Walk in the Park, Fuel for the Flames, Terminal Velocity, Collateral Damage, Cutting Edge, Death Valley, Flatliner, and Tournaments, with the difficulty going from beginner to the extremely hard. I have to say that you can enjoy the game from Walk in the Park up to about Cutting Edge, but once you get to Death Valley and Flatliner, you get to the point where you OCD on the level or you rage quit and toss your controller through the TV because it’s so incredible hard. It’s like the saying goes: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” where it’s just one of those things where you think you’ve made it to the end and then suddenly the character makes a move and falls off his bike. Trials Evolution can and will make you very very angry!!!
The Skill Game Circus features many mini-game challenges. The first is Gas Problem, where you got to see how far you can go when your bike is running low on gas. Next is Freestyler, in which you hit the slopes on skis and see how long you can go before crashing. Icarus Factor has you launching yourself off the motorcycle and flying high with boards tied to your character’s arms. S.P.H.E.R.E. (Super Powered High-Speed Electoballistic Rolling Experience) puts you in a big shiny ball and into a maze of obstacles in vein of Ninja Warrior. One interesting one is UFO, where your motocross bike is hooked up to a UFO and you have to fly it onto specific spots and get to the end in the shortest amount of time.
Balance of Power will have you use your throttle to balance yourself on the obstacles without leaning, so if you touch the stick on your controller you fall off. Cruise Control takes your brakes away as you try to see how long you can last before crashing. Ball of Steel deals with your bike carrying a big shiny metal ball, creating a balance act from hell as you go through the level’s obstacles. Mr. Vertigo lets your character revisit his childhood days of swinging on monkey bars, except these ones are hugs and are attached to a swinging point that launches you even further. Last, but not least, is Exploding Man, made in honor of the video game ‘Spolsion Man, where you explode your character off the bike and have to get him through these tightly-knit places while bouncing off the walls and avoiding water and buzz saws.
The controls in this game have gotten better since Trials HD. They are a bit more responsive, and it makes the game a bit easier to play. I do have to say I have had issue where I have landed down properly in certain points, and it seemed to grave the wheel of the bike and flip it over. However I think they have been able to fix the issues like that by now with their recent updates. The game itself is a great challenge, but I swear if you OCD this may not be the title for you. If you’re dealing with friends that have played it you could be trying to beat their best score on the map, and all you see is a dot with their name on it fly by you if you’re not fast enough. It’s awesome that they added this to the game to make it more challenging.
For your garage they have many great ways to customize your bike (along with your rider) to make him your own. The bikes you have are the Rattler 125 cc, Piranha 250 cc, Scorpion 450 cc, and Phoenix Evo 250 cc. They also brought back the very small and hilarious Micro Donkey 60 cc, which really can only be used in the beginning and a few of the easy maps. You can only unlock if you have obtained the Unyielding Achievement in Trials HD. For the regular bikes you have the lower-end ones for beginner and easy levels (Rattler and Piranha). They have low horsepower, so they can’t get you anywhere on the extreme. When you get to the Scorpion it’s like Heaven on earth, where it gives you the proper power to get through the courses. With the Phoenix you wonder why it has a 250 cc. That’s because the design of the bike is for trials riding, where it has a longer, sleeker frame that contours to the objects that you have to jump across. This also makes this game strategic for using which motocross bike where.
Track Central is absolutely amazing. You can create your own tracks, and then share them online for other people to play. Doing this is great for community play of this game. It’s the way games should be done, where your creativity can run rampant!
MULTIPLAYER:
The multiplayer aspect gives you three options. The first is Super Cross, a fast side-by-side race where you have to score points from several tracks and heats to win the match. Trials is a fast single-lane ghost bike race on the easier tracks, in which you score points from several tracks to win the match. Finally there’s Hardcore Trials. You have the single-land trials but in the hardcore tracks, scoring points from the several tracks to win the match. If you’re up for the challenge, go right ahead and do the Hardcore mode. I have been on it, and there are some douchebags out there wanting to make your life miserable. Believe me: they will make fun of you if you can’t get up certain things that they can get up in two seconds. That’s how to really rage quit: hearing someone on the other end saying you suck!
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Trials Evolution is a great game to play and compete with your friends. I’m not saying there is a lot of replay value, but if you’re hooked on the OCD concept of trying to beat the clock or your friends, you can play this game till your blue in the face or dead. The graphics are a great improvement from the last game, and the physics of the game are done very well. However the music is one of the biggest drawbacks of the game because there is maybe two official songs, along with the weird ones that change at the startup of every game. You can always set up a music list on Windows Media Player and just play it off your Xbox that way. All in all Redlynx did a job well-done, and I can’t wait for the next installment of Trials!
PROS:
Massive single player!!!
Great mixture of tracks (especially the roller coaster-styled ones)
Play against your friends on the track when they are not even on it
When you reach the end, and your character dies hilariously
CONS:
Music can be repetitive
Ground mechanics after landing might cause frustration
Douchebags on the multiplayer
Game may cause rage quitting and Tourette’s
FINAL GRADE: 9.3 (out of ten)
GAME:Trials Evolution DEVELOPER: RedLynx PLATFORM:Xbox Live Arcade
June 19, 2012Comments Off on Episode CXLIV: A Beer Bottle To The Back Of The Head Solves All The Problems!
This episode features a lot of military jazz hands!
This week the King tries to get a little political for a woman who was kicked off the Michigan’s House floor for uttering a “v-word,” the B3 crew look at the new Adam Sandler movie That’s My Boy, and Anvil gives his weekly sports report. Blueonic and Anvil share their thoughts on Lollipop Chainsaw, KBD tells about his trials and errors with the game Babel Rising, and Blueonic goes into detail about the new EA Sports NCAA Football 13. Finally the Hives’ new album Lex Hives is looked at.
June 12, 2012Comments Off on Episode CXLIII: The E3 Texas Hold ‘Em
The King returns from LA…
This week the B3 crew gather around for another edition of “Guess Who Died This Week?” and Chapter 63 of the MBTA “Oh, For Fuck’s Sake!” KBD shares his thoughts and favorites about this year’s E3, Anvil gives his weekly sports report, and another discussion about the movie Goon is raised.
May 29, 2012Comments Off on Episode CXLII: Now Serving Dumbass Pie!
If you just take a look at this Neuralyzer here, you’ll find the answers to the questions best left unknown.
After countless weeks of untimely deaths the B3 crew try to figure out who’s gonna kick the bucket next. The trio then look at Men In Black 3 (may contain spoilers!!!), followed by Anvil’s weekly sports report. Finally Blueonic shares his thoughts on Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, and the demos for Ridge Racer: Unbounded and Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor are put to the test.
May 22, 2012Comments Off on Episode CXLI: Operation: Chicken Burrito
Can you sink the Bastards’ battleship? Statistics say…no.
This week the B3 crew mourn the impending death of Boston’s last alternative rock radio station, and how it will be a grim day for music lovers everywhere. King Baby Duck and Blueonic review the new film Battleship, the games Max Payne 3 and Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode II are examined, and Anvil gives his weekly sports report.
May 15, 2012Comments Off on Episode CXL: Damn, That Alice Cooper’s An Ugly Woman!
It is with most regret that the Bastards have to indulge themselves with some, as they say, fresh blood.
This week the B3 crew gripe about how their childhood heroes are all dropping like flies, then jump into their thoughts on the Merrimack Repertory Theatre’s production of Ghost-Writer. The week in sports is discussed, the demos for Spec Ops: The Line, Kinect Star Wars, and Minecraft are played, and Tim Burton’s remake of Dark Shadows is reviewed.
