(Nearly) Final Arkham Asylum Thoughts

After a hellish couple of weeks working far more than desirable, I carved out some time on Sunday to sit down and experience more Arkham Asylum. The pacing continued to be fantastic, and I really enjoyed the fact that, if I wanted to, I could meander through the environments after clearing them to search for the Riddler challenges. The combat, while at times aggravating if I lost my timing, was a lot of fun when I got the rhythm down, countering at the right time and keeping long combo chains alive. It was easy to appreciate the way the developers doled out the story and kept me interested in what was happening throughout the game. Overall, I can say, I've truly enjoyed it.

There is one particular aspect of the game that I wanted to highlight, and that's the sequences involving Scarecrow. Even though they were quite similar in mechanic, I enjoyed the buildup to each one (through the use of hallucinations on Batman's part), and the maneuvering through strange dreamscapes while avoiding the giant Scarecrow's gaze provided a nice break from the rest of the game's scenery and strategy. I particularly enjoyed the fake 'system glitch' and subsequent reimagining of part of the game's original intro sequence; I found it to be clever and well-done. For some reason, even though these sections of the game used the same movement mechanics as the rest of the game, I found them to be more entertaining than some of the other sections. It could be that they were just more bright and colorful than the rest of the environments, and just the aesthetic changed my perception. Regardless, I count these sections as some of my favorites...

Now, I can't say this is a game without flaws. While the Killer Croc lair section of the game was inventive and mildly entertaining, it felt a bit too strung out and overly long, and it is one of the very few areas of the entire game that felt, well, gamey to me. If Croc really is an amphibious beast, and just as comfortable under the water as above it, why did he have such a hard time finding me? I mean, I'm no part crocodile, part human homicidal maniac, but I certainly feel that I would have zeroed in on Batman a lot faster than he did, especially after getting hit in the face by batarangs every time I popped out of the water. I would have made damn sure that I was close enough to Batman to just reach up and rip his arms off before he could throw anything at me. In this game though, Croc kept popping up just far enough away to get knocked off the floating platforms by a batarang. The whole segment felt a bit too contrived and didn't fit in very well with the rest of the experience. This observation could also be clouded by the fact that the final portion of this area was incredibly anticlimatic. Maybe Batman wouldn't have stood a chance in pitched battle with Croc, but at least make it more interactive and less sudden than what does occur.

The relative lack of variety in the boss battles was also disappointing. I don't have the total count of boss battles in front of me, but it felt like the vast majority of them involved one or two Bane-type characters with or without waves of extra normal thugs to muddy the waters. Don't get me wrong, the first experiences with them were challenging and fun, but after dealing with them several times, it became rather rote and uninspiring. I haven't yet tackled the game's truly final encounter, although there is a twin Titan battle just before it, but it appears to be more of the same with possibly some slight variation.

My last criticism of the game, and I may be the only one to have this criticism, is that it really irked me how none of the game's iconic villains actually died in this game. It seemed a bit too obvious that the developers were making sure that any and all of these supervillains could (and probably will) make an appearance in the future. It aggravated me on the same level that a movie does, when it clearly wants to leave the story open for a sequel, in case the movie makes enough money to warrant one. Overly dramatic 'death' sequences abound in this title, where Batman never really sees any of his named villains perish. At first, it seemed obvious to me that because there was no real resolution with these villains that they would appear later, but after several super baddies were defeated but not eliminated it was clear that this was the order of the day. Granted, it's good to keep options open for future titles, and most likely DC didn't give the developer license to kill a major villain, but still...After the first 3 or 4 of these, it felt incredibly contrived.

Again, even with these criticisms, Arkham Asylum is the frontrunner for 'Game of the Year' right now in my book. It is a great package of action, exploration, collection and story. I may pop in with any leftover observations after I finish the last boss battle, but for all intents and purposes, I'm nearly done with Batman for a bit. I'll probably try a few of the challenge levels, just to get a feel for them, but they're not really calling out to me. I'm not good enough at the game's combat to excel at the combat sequences, and probably not resourceful enough to be able to quickly dispatch enemies in the predator levels, so the appeal isn't there, but I'll try them nonetheless.

And with that, it's off to finish my lunch and get my head back into work. Leave a comment if you have thoughts on Arkham Asylum, as I'd love to hear them.

Monkey Island Final Thoughts

I'd love to be here, professing my undying love for Monkey Island, pining away for LucasArts to greenlight a remake of the second game. This reaction feels right, considering the outpouring of support the game has received from the enthusiast press, and how much the game is revered by those who played it when it was originally released. I want to fall in line with these people, who've forgotten more about games than I'll ever know...

But I can't. While the writing was spot on, even laugh out loud funny at times, and the voice acting in the remake was perfect for the script, the adventure game mechanic just didn't do it for me. This has the feel of a medium that overcame technical limitations back in the early '90s, which doesn't fly as readily here in twenty-aught-nine, when we can have 3D spectacles like Crysis and Bioshock, or 2.5D fare such as Shadow Complex. Take a script such as this, package it with game mechanics and an experience that utilizes today's tech, and...you have Brutal Legend. Maybe. That's the buzz going around, and Tim Schaefer, who worked on Monkey Island, penned Brutal Legend as well. Here's to hoping.

Anyway, in the eyes of video game snobs, I'm now one to be shunned, because I don't hold what clearly is a classic in the same regard as they do. However, I feel this is yet another example of how strongly nostalgia can impact one's opinion of things. We all have these feelings about something, whether it be a book, a movie, an experience, something. Our strong feelings that we experienced years ago continue to color our perception of the thing, long after everyone else has moved on.

But hey, that's why the retro game market continues to flourish, right? If you have an opinion on this, I'd love to hear it.

Weekend Movie Reviews (short version)

Made of Honor - Fairly entertaining, wouldn't have watched it if I wasn't married.

Next - Absolutely abysmal, stopped watching it around 40 minutes in. Lamenting the fact that I can't ever get those 40 minutes back.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Pretty decent, but I didn't appreciate the added plot just for the sake of the movie. Would have been better if it were 30-45 minutes shorter.

As you can see, having kids delays movie watching by 6-8 months, minimum.

Repost from MTG: Handheld Gaming and the New Dad

If you'll indulge yet another session of navel-gazing on my part, this is (what is shaping up to be) my last post on the old blog. It erupted from an evening of way too many rum and cokes, and the desire to get some of the things I'd been doing out of my head and into a readable form. The finished product wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and I repost it here for my own amusement. I can tell you that it was difficult to get to work the next day (I believe I wrote this over the course of a late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning), something I hope not to repeat too often. :)

Has it really been nearly 7 months since I last posted here? Looking at the calendar…Yes, it really has. I have a good reason, two of them, to explain why I haven’t been here, and they’re both teething a lot and keeping us up at night. Since I last posted here, my wife and I have been blessed with the arrival of twins. On January 25th, Nicholas and Isabelle joined the fray and I can truly say that my life hasn’t been the same, nor will it ever be again.

That’s not to say that I’ve completely reformed my game-playing ways. No sir! I still sneak in gaming when I can, it’s just changed forms. Prior to the kids’ arrival, I wisely invested in both a PSP and a DS, which now look far better than they did at the time. The 360 is no longer, residing with my brother back home. He’s in college, which basically means he has all the time in the world to get use out of it. My gaming is now accomplished in fits and starts, usually just before I fall asleep, because that means the kids are down too. Even though my gaming time and means have changed, I have had some opportunity to mess around with a pretty varied assortment of titles, which I’ll run down (by system), including my impressions of each one. Most of these were acquired by trading in other games that I didn’t want or play anymore, aided with some fortuitous Gamestop promos (like get 50% extra on our trade-ins, get 20% off used games, things of that sort), and some were downloaded from the Playstation Store on the web. In another post I’ll document the DS experiences I’ve had. But for now, without further ado, check out the list of PSP titles I’ve dabbled with (in no particular order) after the jump.

(My version of editor’s note: As I am writing this entry, I am indulging in, for me at least, a copious amount of beverages of the adult variety, so I feel the need to include a disclaimer that if anything seems badly worded or just sounds stupid, blame it on the Caribbean rum and cokes I’m consuming, not on my general grasp of the English language. It just so happens that I’ve been given the night off from child duty, so I’m taking the opportunity to indulge. It doesn’t happen often, so the alcohol affects me more than it used to. You have been warned.)

PSP

Echochrome (demo)

The first demo I downloaded from the Playstation Store for the PSP was Echochrome. This game was interesting, as it evoked the artwork of M.C. Escher (I don’t know who Escher is, I will admit, as I found this out reading another review of the game), and the protagonist is essentially a mannequin. The point of the game is to change the perspective of the object that the mannequin is walking on to create pathways for the mannequin to reach other stationary mannequins. The premise is unique, the game controls well, there appears to be some mind-bending challenges in there…it just wasn’t for me. I made it through the 4 or 5 levels in the demo, shrugged and moved on. I would love to be more articulate and wordy about this game, but I can’t bring myself to do so.

Patapon (demo)

I will admit that I was really excited about this demo, because the game reviewed really well. The game’s controls are based on rhythmically tapping the buttons in certain patterns to make your little characters on the screen do different things. As a drum-beating ‘god’, apparently, you control the little dudes and have them go to battle, move forward and backward, and so on. You can amass an army of different units, collect loot to better equip your army, and battle monsters to save the world, or something like that. I tried to like the demo, but whether it be that I can’t play the game very loudly (for fear of waking the kids) or maybe I don’t have any rhythm, I just couldn’t get the hang of the controls. The demo failed to grab me in the 15 or so minutes I played it, so as with Echochrome, I just moved on.

Ape Quest (demo)

As with Patapon, this was a demo I psyched myself up for as I waited for it to download onto my PSP (I’d love to rant about why we need to have the PSP connected to the PC so we can download directly to it, instead of being able to download to the PC and then transfer to the PSP at my leisure, but that’s another entry entirely). The premise of this game was unique: you take control of the inept son of the Ape King, ready to go off into the world and try to prove he’s not an idiot, as everyone believes. As an ape, the son of the king loves bananas, and that’s what gets him in trouble. Apparently not far from the palace, there are three statues of evil beings who many years ago were imprisoned as statues and are now held in place by a magical…banana. You can probably see where this is leading. You eat the banana, the evil beings are released, and now it falls to you to save the kingdom.

The whole premise aside, the game does have some promise. There is the whole RPG-aspect of gaining levels and collecting loot, improving your equipment and learning new skills. My problem with the game was that some of the random encounters were turn-based battles (fine by me) and some were completely inane mini-games that were counter-intuitive and not fun at all to deal with. I enjoyed the battles, even though the animations were a bit slow and the interface seems a bit clunky. Even with some of the good points that the game had, I couldn’t get past the mini-games, so it went the way of Echochrome and Patapon.

Lego Indiana Jones

Being a fan of Lego Star Wars, I was looking forward to Lego Indiana Jones. I went to Gamestop on release day and picked it up, along with 4 UMD movies (Joe Dirt, Starship Troopers, The Dark Crystal and The Fifth Element, all $4.99 each). Sadly the Lego magic, at least in a video game sense, was sadly gone. I played through the first level or two of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and just couldn’t bring myself to go on. I’m not quite sure why, since I completed the first Lego Star Wars, and had a good time with the second. Maybe it was the simplistic play, maybe it was the fact that the view felt a bit cramped on the PSP, maybe it was that I was just past the hook of the Lego games, whatever it was I just couldn’t get into this installment in the Lego franchise. It has since been returned for other games.

(On a side note, my parents have begun the tradition of getting me a Lego set for my birthday and Christmas. Since I’m 32 and the father of twins, that might seem a bit childish, and maybe it is, but I can’t begin to tell you the fun I have putting those things together. So far (the tradition is only a year old), I have a ship from the Star Wars prequels and the Temple set from Raiders of the Lost Ark. If I only had more disposable income, I would buy the Millenium Falcon and Death Star sets that are currently out, at a price of $499 and $399, respectively.)

Secret Agent Clank (demo)

I’ve downloaded this demo and played it for about 5 minutes. I don’t believe I’ve given it a fair shake, and plan on going back to it and trying once more to see what I think about it. It sounds strange, but I hope I like this one, because from all I’ve read, it’s obviously similar in playstyle, perspective, etc. to the Ratchet and Clank installment on the PSP (Size Matters). For some reason, I’d really like to play this game, because of some of the game mechanics it contains. Unfortunately, I’ve read mixed reviews on that game, which is why I’m holding off at this time. Oops, I digress. This isn’t a wish list of games I’d like to play (another blog entry as well), so let’s move on…

Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles

Strangely enough, this was one of the games that I purchased the PSP for in the first place. I was drawn to the fact that it was a Castlevania game that included not only a remake of the Rondo of Blood title (not released in the US until now), but also had the original Rondo of Blood game as well as one of my top 5 games of all time on the UMD, Symphony of the Night! The Rondo remake (the Dracula X in the title, as far as I know) proves to be as hard as billed, and I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to get through it. Since one of my main motivations in buying the game was to get access to Symphony on the PSP, I finally broke down and read an FAQ on how to unlock that game. The process to do this involved taking a path through the game that was previously unknown to me, because in Dracula X, there are the main stages (known as 1, 2 3, 4, etc.) and alternate paths (designated as 2’, 3’, 4’, and so on). As it goes, I had been following the main path, while the item to unlock Symphony lay on the alternate path, so back I went, to get the object of my affection. After some time in figuring out what I had to do, it was in my grasp. I excitedly exited to the main screen, and fired up Symphony of the Night…

To say I find the version on the UMD disappointing is an understatement. To maintain the original aspect ratio, the game plays in a window that’s smaller than the PSP screen, which is small to begin with. Squinting to see what I’m doing takes a fair amount of the enjoyment out of the experience. Also it seems that they’ve redone the voice acting from the original, which doesn’t make sense to me, because the horribly bad voice acting was part of the charm of the original. These two issues combined are making me consider downloading the $10 PS1 version available at the Playstation Store, which I may do if and when I get confirmation of how it’s rendered on the PSP screen and if the original voice acting is retained. If those two aspects meet my (relatively0 strict standards, Sony may get more of my money.

(Just to shed some light on this: I’ve played through Symphony at least 8 times, between the original PS1 version and the Live Arcade version available last year. It seems I have a sad obsession with this game that has yet to be resolved. Oh well…)

God of War: Chains of Olympus (demo and full game)

I have a confession to make. Before playing the Chains of Olympus demo, I had never played a God of War game. That is an admission I’m not proud to make, but I feel it important to do so. For some reason, I have never owned a PS2, which has shut me out of many, many great games of the previous generation. Because I’m horrible at twitch-based games (when I play Halo 2 or 3 with co-workers, I’m basically out there to pad kill stats for everyone else on the opposing team, while I scream obscenities at my plasma TV), I never thought I’d be good at this series. Then, on a whim (and the fact that it was free), I downloaded the Chains demo from the Playstation Store, and gave it a shot. I’m not having any delusions of grandeur that I’m good at it, but I had a great time playing through the demo that was available, so much so that I ended up ordering the full version from Toys R’ Us (utilizing a glitch I discovered on the Cheap Ass Gamer forums, I got both Chains and Crisis Core, the next game I’ll talk about, for the price of one, woohoo!) the next day.

Once the game arrived, I played through the demo section, and was surprised to find the three-way mini-game had been omitted from the demo (I know, shocker, huh?). Since I hadn’t played any of the other games, it came as a bit of a surprise to me, and was rather amused to complete it. It really is segments like that which clearly show what demographic this and most games on the market are aimed toward. Of course, I didn’t give up until I successfully completed it. :)

Anyway, the graphics on this game are incredible for a PSP game. They appear to be comparable to the PS2 games, albeit in a smaller package. I’ve found the gameplay to be a lot of fun, even though I’ve only made it through the first level or so (I’ve been distracted by another game, but will get back to this game in due time). In the short amount of game I have played, I’ve really enjoyed how smooth the controls work, and am amazed at how much I can enjoy eviscerating the incredible amount of enemies the game throws at me. As you can see, I’m thoroughly impressed with this game, and hope that we see more and more games of this caliber on the PSP. If nothing else, I want to justify the money I spent to acquire it (which I did on a whim, as always).

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

I can honestly say that I haven’t followed the Final Fantasy series for a long time. The last game in the series that I played (this is going to be heresy for some people, so please be prepared) was Final Fantasy III on the SNES (in my mostly inebriated state, I can’t even begin to translate that to its Japanese counterpart), but I thoroughly enjoyed those games. Just to keep score, that means I missed the transcendent Final Fantasy VII, although I watched my roommate in college, Jason, play a fair amount of it. So when I got the urge to purchase the Crisis Core game, it was from reading reviews of how it was a fun game, one that fit well in the handheld world with its bite-size missions and decent storyline. Because of my family commitments (which I’m thoroughly shirking tonight, at the detriment of sleep), I don’t get a whole lot of contiguous time to play games, so anything that can honestly boast about meaningful bite-sized missions that improve character advancement will gain points in my eyes.

As with Chains of Olympus, this is a visually stunning game. The rendered cutscenes are of a quality that I wouldn’t have expected from the PSP, and the in-game graphics are excellent as well. According to the game clock, I’ve played about 3 ½ hours now, and I’m only 5% completed on the game, so I have a really long way to go, but so far my impressions of the game are positive. The story has some depth (so far, my character’s best friend has seemingly betrayed our cause and aligned himself with the enemy, and murdered his mom in the process), and the missions, both main story and side-quests, provide adequate distraction and enjoyment.

The battle system takes some getting used to (I’ll admit I haven’t looked at the game manual in depth, so I’m not sure if I’m utilizing some of the game features the way I should), but it’s engaging and fun. It’s taken some time getting used to cycling through the available combat options using the R and L buttons and then executing using the X button, but I’m getting more and more used to it. As someone who doesn’t have a lot of time to invest at this point, I appreciate some of the simplicity the game affords (4 materia slots, 2 accessory slots). So far, the ‘Materia Fusion’ option remains grayed out on my menu, so I’m not sure what other avenues that will open, but I look forward to finding out.

Overall, this is the game I’ve spent the most time with in the past week or so, but I tend to bounce around between games and systems (at this time, between the PSP and DS), so who knows what next week will bring?

So this concludes my trials and tribulations on the PSP. My next installment will cover my experiences on the DS. Until then, thanks for reading and I’ll see you all soon!

(Yet another feeble attempt at an Editor’s Note: During the execution of this blog entry and while sufficiently inebriated, I downloaded the Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 Beginner demo, the Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow demo, which were both free, and the full game fLOw to the PSP. Subconsciously, I’m obviously creating more to talk about for a future blog entry. On a related note, since I need to be saving money for my kids’ college fund, I clearly need to avoid drinking and spending time on the computer. This time, it’s an $8 downloadable game. Next time, I might not be so lucky and I’ll impulse-buy a car. That is all.)

(One final Editor’s Note: I know I’m not using the editor’s note tag correctly, but it’s amusing me, so I guess you’ll have to deal with it. I just tried fLOw, and it’s really quite a trippy game, especially in my state. It’s clearly going to involve some serious thought or simply letting go and allowing the game to just show me the way. Either way, I’m impressed so far.)

Just to clarify, fLOw is a trippy game whether you're drunk or not. I've played it since and I still get that feeling of an acid trip that you can control with an analog stick.

Repost from MTG: Justice, the Crackdown Way

One more nugget of gaming prose that I put together some time ago for my old blog. In this case, it was my attempt to write a video game review in a structured way. Just browsing through, I find it a bit too similar to many of the reviews you see throughout the enthusiast press. However, in the spirit of allowing me to look back and try to improve my writing style, I put it up here for consumption...

Since my last post, I've been spending hours in Pacific City, ridding the world of evildoers in Crackdown. In an earlier post, I talked about the demo and how much I enjoyed playing it, which spurred on my purchase of the title the day after it was released. Just as a guess, I've probably spent 20-25 hours on the game since then, just reveling in the game mechanics, blowing up gang members, wreaking havoc on unsuspecting civilian motorists...You know, just a normal day for a genetically enhanced freak of nature given free reign in a city overrun with crime, a boatload of weapons, explosives, cars and a license to kill. Without further ado, here's my review of Crackdown.

Story: Probably the weakest point of the game. You are a genetically-enhanced prototype, created by the Agency, to bring down the gangs of Pacific City. Your goal is to kill each of the six lieutenants, and then the kingpin, of three gangs, each controlling a distinct section of the city (for a total of 21 'bosses'). By killing the lieutenants, you weaken a specific aspect of the gang, such as recruiting, weaponry, explosives, vehicles and driving, etc. Your chances of killing the kingpin of each gang goes up as you kill the lieutenants, because the kingpin and his bodyguards are not as strong, have worse weapons at their disposal, etc. as you knock off the bosses who control those aspects of the gang. Theoretically you could kill the kingpin first, but it would be extremely difficult. After you destroy all the bosses for a particular gang, that gang disappears. The section of the city they once controlled no longer has gang members in it, and you are free to roam without fear of attack (useful for searching for agility and mystery orbs, which I'll touch on later).

Once you defeat all of the lieutenants and kingpins of all the gangs, you're finished. There are no side-quests, no mysteries to solve, nothing of the sort. While all the killing holds its own perverse satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment, it would be nice to have the ability to foil a robbery in progress if you happened to stumble upon it, or maybe you would get a mission to go eliminate a safehouse that stores gang drugs or weapons. Something of that nature might help to flesh out a very shallow storyline. I will say that the final lines spoken by your Agent contact after defeating the final kingpin were very intriguing, and clearly lay the groundwork for something in the future, but you really have to hear them to understand the impact, as it relates to the game and what story does exist. It's worth the time to hear them, in my opinion, and gives me hope for the next installment (which you can bet your bottom dollar there will be one) in this franchise.

Gameplay and Controls: You wreak havoc on the gangs of Pacific city from a third-person perspective, with the left analog stick controlling your movement, and the right analog stick controlling your view. The right trigger fires your weapon, and the left triggers targets the enemy (while holding the left trigger, you can move the right analog stick to target different points on the gang member/vehicle, such as legs, torso, arms, head, tires, gas tank, or body). You jump with the A button, execute a melee attack (mostly kicks, since you have a weapon in your hand) by pressing B, switch weapons with X, reload your current weapon with the left bumper, and throw grenades with the right bumper. You can pick up objects (if you are strong enough) by pressing and holding the B button when near the object. This can be really amusing later on in the game, when you can become strong enough to pick up buses and other vehicles.

One of the true joys of this game is the aspect of jumping and climbing. You start out with the ability to jump higher than a normal human at the beginning of the game (and let's face it, the game would be boring if you couldn't), and you can enhance that as the game progresses. Your character is also good at climbing, being able to grab onto window ledges, edges of landings, balconies, etc. and using these to further your ascent up the building in question. When you fall in the game, as you will very often, if you have the time to steer your character to one of these edges, he will catch them and stop your descent. Once you reach the top of the building, you will find some rooftops filled with gang members, or you'll find green orbs that enhance your agility. You can leap from rooftop to rooftop, and cover the entire city (almost) without ever having to set foot on the pavement below.

There exists within the game a decent array of weapons, ranging from pistols, rifles, automatic weapons, sniper rifles, grenade and rocket launchers, and hand tossed grenades. As is to be expected, the stronger enemies carry the stronger weapons, so you won't see all the weapon types in the Los Muertos area (generally considered the beginning area of the game). There is an interesting system in place to gain access to the weapons you acquire during the game. As you come across new weapons, by relieving enemies of them, you have access to that weapon immediately. If you want to have access to that weapon at later times as well, you are required to take this weapon to a Supply Point, areas scattered throughout the city where you can regain health and reload your ammo, and select what weapons you want to carry out there into the fray. Once you take a previously uncaptured weapon to a Supply Point, you can then access that weapon from any Supply Point. This mechanic creates a mini-collection quest for players (like myself) who like to have everything. I had a great time finding a new weapon and then being able to experment with it to find out its strengths and weaknesses. In the end, for my primary weapon I settled on the HMG machine gun, as it had an 80-shot clip, with the ability to carry 800 rounds at a time, as well as being relatively powerful and accurate. For my explosive weapon (you're allowed to carry two weapons and one type of grenade at any one time, so I decided to carry a firearm and explosive, to maximize efficiency), the clear choice was the Firefly rocket launcher, mainly based on its heat-seeking ability, but it also had the advantage of a 5-round clip and 15 round total carrying capacity. Feel free to mix and match, to find your optimum combination.

I can't truly comment on the driving aspect of the game, having spent little time with the vehicles. Every once in a while, during a particularly evil streak of reigning hellfire down upon the gangs of Pacific City, I would hop into one of their rides and try to mow them down. Because my driving is so weak, compared to the rest of my abilities, the task of running down moving gang members was basically fruitless, as they were intelligent enough to avoid me most of the time. Since the game allows you to continue to roam the area after all the gangs have been eliminated, I will go back and experiment more with the feature, to get a more accurate understanding of its potential.

Character Advancement: The portion of the game that seems to be drawing the masses into the game experience, the character advancement is a rudimentary implementation of RPG-type elements into a third person shooter. The last statement makes it sound as if this is a negative, but to the contrary, it very much adds to the game, and creates rewards for using your different abilities. If you shoot down a gang member with a gun, you get firearms experience. If you blow up gang members with a grenade or rocket, you get explosives experience. If you beat a gang member senseless with your bare hands or a thrown item (trash can, staging, cinder block, car, etc.), you gain strength experience. If you eliminate gang members by running them over with a vehicle, you get driving experience. If you make it your mission to gather the agility orbs scattered throughout the city on rooftops, you gain agility experience.

There are also rooftop races and driving races scattered about the city (12 of each) that, upon successful completion, add to the pertinent experience pool. The rooftop races consist of traveling to a waypoints that pop up throughout the area in a certain time frame. Unfortunately, I can't comment at this time on the driving races, more for the simple fact that I found jumping and running through the city was more convenient than trying to drive. I promise try these in the future, to give all of the game features its just due.

Overall, this advancement system really does create a risk/reward experience that adds a lot to the game, because there's nothing more gratifying to blow up a rooftop full of baddies, and then watching the explosive experience flow into you. It's instant feedback for players, and creates goals separate from the main storyline. The dynamic seemed to keep me captivated in the game, working toward higher and higher levels of experience, to see what the effects would be on my explosives, jumping, etc. and most likely kept me playing far longer than if there were no advancement system in place.

Graphics: The graphics were pretty good in Crackdown, mixing some cel-shading aspects with attempts at realistic environmental aspects. Your character, the gang members, and civilians all look as if they had jumped out of a comic book frame, in a good way. It's a unique take on, and adds a cartoony feel, which to be honest took the edge off the massive amounts of violence doled out, both by myself and by the gangs (at times). The environment is well-done, and really does give the feel of a city on the edge of despair. One of the things I found very impressive is that the clipping plane seemed infinite, as I could see tall buildings from great distances, and they actually had substance, as I could launch a rocket at the Agency tower from the furthest point in the city, and watch as it impacted, some 10 seconds after the initial launch. There's a lot of variety in the locations within the city, from nightclubs to office buildings to oil refineries, and all are rendered (from the outside) with excellent detail.

Sound: The sound was very well done, with the exception of the fact that there was no background music. In most games, there is at least some music playing, but unless you're driving around in a vehicle, there's only the ambient game sounds to occupy your ears. With that being said, the ambient sound effects were great. When you walked at street level, there was a din of a busy city, from overheard conversations, to vehicle noise, to the occasional sound of distant gunfire (hey, it happens even in real cities). The citizens of Pacific City will wish you luck, run in fear, and even curse at you, if you happen to accidentally fall on them from above or something. The gang members are constantly chattering about how they're going to kill you, and often have some comment while they die ("I can't...feel my...feet", or "It's so...cold"). The vehicle sounds, from engines, squealing tires, to the screeching of twisted metal when they crash, are outstanding.

Fun Factor: Even though the game's story is very shallow, this does not take away from the fun of the game itself. Running around the city, skirmishing with the small groups of gang members you run across, searching for agility and mystery orbs, assaulting the boss locations, character development....I could go on and on about the things I've seen in the game (I caused a massive pile up on one of the city's main highways, simply by crossing the highway on foot, and watched in astonishment as car after car rammed into the pile, even running over hapless victims who had managed to climb out of the wreckage), but it's up to each player to sculpt their game experience. The game's developer, Realtime Worlds, made a conscious effort to create a true 'sandbox' game experience, and this does not disappoint. In my opinion, this game will be what the player makes of it, because you can very quickly work your way through the gangs, and be finished in probably an afternoon of play. If you take the time to play around with the game mechanics, explore the city, and just wreak havoc with the gangs whenever and where-ever possible, you can extend the game experience far longer.

Final Judgment: On a scale of 1-10, with 5 being an average game and 10 being the best of the best, I would have to give this game a score of 8. The lack of depth to the story really knocks the score down for me, because I found the game mechanics, character advancement, controls, visual effects, and overall feel to be great. If only the game were deeper and had more side quests, it would be worthy of a 9 or higher. Due to the lack of depth, this may not be a purchase title (although the inclusion of access to the Halo 3 beta later this spring will make it so for many people), I will definitely say this is a title that you owe it to yourself to rent.

Thanks for reading my first structured game review. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. In the future, look for more reviews of this type, as well as some less-structured impressions I have for games that I don't deem it worthy to fully play through. Once again, thanks for reading and keep gaming!

Well, it was a good try, anyway. Now I'm hopefully on to bigger and better things.