Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Review

It turns out plumbers can not only save princesses, but also be Ghostbusters.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon for the 3DS is a sequel to the original Luigi’s Mansion from the Gamecube back in 2001 on the Gamecube as a launch title. The game starts off with the brilliant, and perhaps crazy, Professor E. Gadd who is studying paranormal activity in Evershade Valley. He studies with a group of friendly ghosts, until they start to go hostile. It’s soon discovered that their change is linked to the Dark Moon than hangs over the valley,  that was broken into shards by an unknown perpetrator. Professor E. Gadd once again employees the help of Luigi to pick up a flashlight and ghost-sucking- vacuum once more to discover the mystery of Evershade Valley and return the Dark Moon to normal. And by employ I mean take Luigi from his nice safe house to his lab via television portal.

This action/adventure game has a simple set up. The player controls Mario’s brother, Luigi, as he travels through five haunted mansion defeating ghosts and solving puzzles to progress. In order to capture ghosts, Luigi has to stun the ghosts with his flashlight, and then use the vacuum to suck them up. Players have to move in the opposite direction of the ghost trying to escape the ghost sucking vaccum in order to bring down their health. Every single type of ghost is different leading to all kinds of different strategies to fighting ghosts. For example, some ghosts will show up with sunglasses, making it impossible to stun then. Therefore Luigi has to suck the sunglasses off before he can stun them. Other ghosts can attempt to attack Luigi, and only after evading an attack and they become tired out are the open to being sucked in. Along the way to traverse through each room, Luigi will have to solve a number of puzzles to unlock rooms as well discover clues to what he searching for.

Progression in the game departs from the formula of the original game. There are five mansions instead of just one large one. Each mansion is also divided up into a series of missions. Each mission provides a different goal as each mission slowly opens more parts of each mansion. It breaks up gameplay, and the game automatically saves only once upon completing a mission. This is very different compared to the original where the player wandered around a very large mansion filled with rooms having to go back and forth continuously with Toads scattered through the mansion that would save the game for you. While the player will collect cash just like in the original, in “Dark Moon” the player receives upgrades when reaching certain amounts of money, which gives much more incentive for gathering up cash as quick as possible.

The exploration of each mansion is just good fun as each one has a different theme leading to all kinds of exploration. From the icy underground caverns of one mansion, to the sandy relics of an old factory. Each new room offers new ways to explore as well as new items and upgrades to help along the way.

However one problem that stood out at first where the controls. Several times it’s easy to get X mixed up with Y, and often times you’ll perform the wrong action causing you to lose a ghost or get hurt doing do. However the largest flaw at times can be the vacuum control. Once the vaccum starts sucking up ghosts, Luigi has to change direction based on where the ghost is traveling so he can rope them in faster. However it is nearly impossible to rotate Luigi, only move him. This gets very annoying when locked within close corridors, which happens very often. So it’s very important to figure out one’s surroundings before going after the ghosts.

If anything gets major points though, it’s the boss battles that happen within the game. Each one is unique and creative. At most times it brings in a completely new element of catching ghosts making the player think on their feet which is a very fun challenge. While at times its funny causing the player to laugh, it’s also knowing that the game is presenting a challenge. So it’s very safe to say that the game keeps you on your toes. 

An interesting addition to the game is multiplayer. The multiplayer is called ScareScraper where players connect over the internet and challenge others to a series of levels in a tower with different modes. One mode is just simply clear all of the ghosts off every floor as quick as possible. However gets the most points, wins. A different mode has players chase after a Polterpup (a ghost dog) that players will have to scan floors for clues to its whereabouts.  While it is impossible to verbal communicate to players over the 3DS, with the directional buttons players can select a few phrases Luigi to talk to teammates such as “Help! Help!” or “Good Job!” With a variety of modes and difficulty levels, ScareScraper is something that can be played over and over again and not get bored of.

Playing “Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon” has been a fun and rewarding experience. At times the puzzles can be a little more than challenging, and several different varieties of ghosts keep up the intensity. However if players want they can simply go back and replay previous missions. This allows them to find more cash or possibly find hidden secrets. There is a hidden Boo in every mission in the game, and once finding every boo in a mansion, a new secret mission unlocks. It’s satisfying to see a game in the original idea that to get new levels, players have to earn their way to get it instead of having to put out some cash for DLC.

Total Rating: 92/100

How Good is the new Evil Dead Movie?

Next time you find a book that’s wrapped up in barbed wire, has warnings in blood, and can’t be burned, here’s a little hint: DON’T READ IT!

“Evil Dead” hit theaters bringing back the series since its original release in 1981. The original film was about five people staying the night in a cabin in the middle of the woods when they discover something horrifying. They find a book that is bound in human flesh and inked in blood that speaks of demons that seek to take human’s souls known as the Book of the Dead. An audio recording of an archeologist who had found the book says an incantation, which causes everything to go horrible. On by one, the people are killed and taken over by the demons until one remains named Ash Williams, played by Bruce Campbell. The original “Evil Dead” went on to have two more sequels that started to become more action with one-liners while still focused on horror.

The re-boot does the series justice and more with many similarities. Five people still go out in the woods and the Book of the Dead is found in the basement. However it is a group of different characters with the main two are David and Mia, who are brother and sister. The group has gathered to help stop Mia from her drug addiction. Of course Mia tries to explain the horror that begins to happen after one from the group reads the incantation, they blame it her drug withdrawal. It’s only when she becomes possessed by the dead when things start to get really bad.

The big kick about this movie is that there is gore and blood. A lot of gore and blood. The part that makes the film stand out the most in this film is that all the effects are practical done effects. CGI only was used for a touch up here and there giving a true realistic look of things happening in the film. That being said this could be one of the most gore-filled films ever, and it will have viewers grimacing and being disgusted by some of the effects due to the realistic nature of them. The original rating was NC-17 for the film, and it barely made it down to an R rating with a few edits. And that’s saying a lot.

But the big decision is will fans of the original “Evil Dead” enjoy this film? Absolutely. There’s a number of references to the original film, as well as most of the sequences and shots being the same.  The one thing the film lacks is some of the little bits of humor from the original, but this new film does have its moments.  A lot of familiar horror themes exist in the film, but viewers will be surprised when some will be broken and affect the plot greatly.

Overall if you are a fan of horror and the Evil Dead series, you owe it to yourself to watch this. If you are not a fan of either it is in your best interests to steer clear of this film if you don’t want nightmares.

4/5 Stars

New Tomb Raider is worth it!

Originally written in mid March 2013.

Lara Croft is back in possibly her most intense journey yet.

“Tomb Raider” is a reboot of the series going back to a new beginning of the main character, Lara Croft. Being recognized as one of the most recognized video game character since appearing on the Playstation in 1996. In this new adventure explores Lara as she is on an expedition to find an ancient civilization with a team. Being a recent graduate she hopes that this discovery will put her on the map. However as they approach an island, an intense storm approaches and destroys the ship. Waking up injured and alone after the shipwreck, Lara has to learn how to survive and find her friends. Lara has to survive the dangerous terrain, as well avoid being killed by a cult group on the island that has kidnapped one of her friends. 

Tomb Raider is an action adventure game that puts players to the test in order to survive trials on the mysterious island. The beginning of the game is focused on basic survival tests on staying warm by making a fire to hunting in order not to starve. It only lasts for a short before gameplay goes from only having a bow for hunting to using a handgun to take down those who are trying to kill the character for simply being an outsider of the island. It’s a bit of a quick transition in game play. 

The nice part of moving around the island is that is a semi-open world. You can go back to any previous parts of the game by resting at a camp and using fast travel to camps you have visited before. In order to traverse areas the player has to climb rocks surfaces with a climbing tool and use a rope with a bow and arrow to create ways to traverse gaps. While also resting at camps the player can increase or add skills using experience they have gained. They can also take salvage parts to make modifications and improvements to their weapons leaving a lot of choices in the player’s hands. While traversing the land there are all kinds of side missions of collecting series of collectables that build experience as well as give background information about the mysterious island and the cult that lives there. 

There are also a series of optional tombs that the player can access which sadly should have been a larger part of the game. The player has to traverse a room or two of puzzles that really makes the player think on how they need to travel. While it fun to jump around area to area and take down bad guys, it seems it focuses more on that than going through tombs and discovering secrets. But then again this is a re-boot, and no game in the past of the series has explored the beginning of the character. The game progress from someone to who is alone and scared to a hardened woman who will do what it takes to save her friends.

The only true negative portion of this game is a multiplayer mode that players can play with others online. It is sadly one of the worst examples of online multiplayer and was obviously added quickly at the end. Without a doubt though one can ignore the multiplayer and still have a fantastic time enjoying the game. While the story is dark at times, it’s a story with a young Lara who hasn’t been exposed to desperate situations before. The story shines showing the progress of a character overcoming an extreme amount of challenges. “Tomb Raider” is action packed game filled with hours of fun. If more games like this come out the only thing that needs to happen is an increased amount of tomb exploration, but it’s a start of something great.

Stars: 4/5

 

Metal Gear Rising Revengence Review

Review originally written in Early March 2013.

It’s probably the first time there’s a video game with a cyborg ninja and a robot wolf as the main characters.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a spin off title from the Metal Gear Solid series in which the player controls Raiden. Raiden currently is a cyborg ninja that works for a Private military group that focuses on preserving peace and creating defense for developing countries. The game instantly lunches into a fight with a cyborg terrorist group bent on creating war everywhere for the pure purpose of boosting the war economy. Raiden goes after group learning the group is also kidnapping children for military experiments to which begins revenge as he was raised in a military life. He seeks to stop the group so that no child experiences what he had to go through.

The game play is that of a hack and slash game. The player controls Raiden running fast through levels slicing his sword through cyborgs and robots with a series of attacks and combos. It’s a very far off difference from the Metal Gear Solid series which is heavily stealth based on sneaking past enemies and not be noticed.  While there are moments in the game where can choose to use stealth, it’s not as prominent.

One large aspect of the game is Blade Mode. This is when the player stops moving and uses the right control stick to make slices in whatever directions they want to slice enemies into a million pieces. While you need a large amount of cyborg fuel to activate this mode so enemies go into slow motion, you can easily go back to full health and fuel by performing finishing moves on enemies.

There are two major problems with game that can interrupt game play. The camera control is hard to manage as the camera sometimes wants to move in a certain direction, and can through off your direction and leave you open to enemy attacks. The other is blocking enemy attacks. In order to block an enemy attack, the player must press the light attack button and move the left analog stick in the direction of the oncoming attack. When three enemies are surrounding you at once you will block one attack only to be hit over and over without recovery time. It’s especially troublesome with a large number of enemies where it is essential to block before you can attack an enemy.

However overall the progressing game play is amazing. Most hack and slash games can get boring at a point as a player will find themselves doing the same thing over and over again. Revengeance makes it fun, fast, and throws something new in at almost every turn. It’s a game you can’t get bored of, especially when fighting the giant robot you jump across each missile flying at to reach it and slice it in half. Enemies come in a number different fashions and the bosses are all unique and present good challenges. It’s been a while that a game presents a good challenge while not being ridiculously difficult. 

So in the end “Revengeance” is kind of a toss up. If you like hack and slash and/or like the Metal Gear Solid series, this is a definite play, even if Solid Snake doesn’t appear. If you’re more of a stealth player, you may want to skip this once. It’s a solid action game and has probably one of the best stories for a hack and slash recently. 

3.5/5 Stars

SINCE THEN: I still stand where I am about Metal Gear Rising: Revengence (turns out that's a real word) that while the controls can be troublesome, it's still great fun. Not to mention the end boss fight was on such a large scale and so fun to play. If the game was longer and had more fights like that, I would highly recomemend the game to anyone, but it doesn't have that. Since release some DLC has come out for players to control Jet Stream Sam and the robot wolf. While they just take existing maps and change the direction and enemies fought, they do have their own cutscenes and stories, which is actually very nice giving background information on the plot and characters. If they were a part of the game instead of DLC it would have also increased the ratting, but it is a seperate purpose.

However if you're looking for some fun action that's fast paces and has some amazing boss fights, I would still say pick this game up.

Dead Space 3 Review

This review was originally written in late Feburary 2013.

Horror video games are a genre that over time have been disappearing over time. As Resident Evil became more and more action oriented and Silent Hill’s quality began to reduce, it seemed that a good horror game would be hard to find. That is until the first Dead Space game came out in 2008 bringing a new kind of horror gameplay. But has it prevailed through the series in the latest installment?

Dead Space 3 continues its story with its main character Isaac Clarke, the engineer with all the bad luck in the world. Isaac tries to keep himself alive discovering the humans turning into creatures known as Necromorphs after they die. In the past two games he has travelled destroying two Markers, alien artifacts causing the changes, and suffering through dementia the Marker caused nearly driving him insane. It didn’t help that there were also Necromorphs around every single corner trying to kill him waiting in the dark. In Dead Space 3, Isaac reluctantly heads with what is left of the government of earth to go to an unknown ice planet where supposedly all the Markers could be destroyed therefore ending all the madness he has gone through.

The gameplay is similar of the to the past and will keep a player on the edge of their seat as they walk through dark corridors with their weapon pointed down not knowing if danger awaits. Using all the controls players can either aim, fire, change weapons, move heavy objects with a small kinetic module, or put things into slow motion with a Stasis module. Gameplay is fun as always, while a little difficult to get at first, it’s easy to get a hang of. 

A number of changes have been in the title separating it from the past ones in the series. Spare parts are collected to create upgrades and weapons instead of gathering cash to a shop. Speaking of weapons, they are numerous options leaving the choice in the players hand on how to upgrade or create what they want, making it easily the best new part of the game. There are endless combinations such as shotguns with bayonets that are charged with electricity to flamethrowers that sling saw blades. Another option is the ability to play co-op with a friend as new character, John Carver, to take down the horror together. While it is fun to traverse through the multiple environments with a friend, there is one major flaw in this is that you can only play multiplayer online. It is impossible to play with a friend on a couch which makes an extreme disappointment.

The overall campaign is a good long one of 19 chapters plus a number of side missions, making gameplay last a long time and also offers a large amount of replay value. While Dead Space 3 is a fun game and enjoyable, it seems to have lost some of its horror charm. No longer do you experience dementia (unless you are player two on side missions only for two players), wondering if everything around you is real or not. No longer does something grab you and try to drag you to your death to which you have to react quickly to press the right buttons. While there are still moments where you might jump and grip your controller hoping you survive, the main feeling of isolation and truly being alone in vastness of space no longer seems to be an impact. 

4/5 Stars.

SINCE THEN: My view on Dead Space 3 still stands. It's unkown at this point if the series will continue based on how it ended, but I'm guessing it will as there are a number of questions unanswered. The game is more horror cinematic effects rather then keeping the player on their feet. There are plenty of jump scares still, but it's nowhere the same as the first where walking down the hallways in the first game.