Assassin's Creed Revelations DLC: The Lost Archive Review

Wait, This Isn't Portal

LASERS!

Though I had purchased it beforehand, I didn't play "The Lost Archives" DLC for Assassin's Creed: Revelations until I was already midway through Assassin's Creed III. I had every intention to, but ACIII arrived the day I was done with Dishonored, and I was too excited. The impetus for me finally playing it was a sort of spoiler tweet I had read about a major character from the series, so I wanted to find out firsthand how all that gets revealed.

Assuming you've played through the main game, "The Lost Archives" is similar to Desmond's revelatory missions when you take a break from Ezio's quest. In those missions, the camera switches to a first-person perspective, and you are tasked with navigating abstract environments to passively receive more background. The DLC is no different except instead of Demond's mind, you're perusing Subject 16's. It makes sense that on your fourth game of being aware of his existence, you should be granted the luxury of finding out what happened to him and why he's mildly insane when you meet him.

There are a lot of right angles to consider.

The environments are mostly composed of monolithic slabs with varying textures to mimic specific environments from Subject 16's memories. There are added details to make your location very clear, and sometimes, the abstract ways the DLC conveys actual events are creative. For example, there's a gridded texture that "kills" you if you touch it (i.e., sets you back to a checkpoint). There's a point where Abstergo security is chasing you, but instead of showing actual figures coming after you, many red gridded blocks begin to form and multiply, pushing you to move quickly and leave the area. Scenarios like that are a nice touch due to their applied approach, but like the Demond missions from the main game, you can't help but wonder how exciting this could've been if you just played something representational like the core campaign. There is never an explained reason why things have to look like this given the Animus' capabilities, but I can't deny that the look is somewhat compelling.

Oh, the blocks are slanted now. I get it.

Platforming is sadly unlike the assassins' abilities you control the majority of the time. You can't run up walls and ledges; you can't run at all actually. Movement is restricted to a power walking pace, and you are given a weak jump to bridge tiny gaps as they arise. Navigation is instead tied to blocks you can generate at will (for reasons unknown). You can prestidigitate long rectangular blocks or sloped triangular blocks right in front of you, though after three blocks, the game removes the oldest one you created. New to the DLC is a springy block that allows you to perform a remarkable jump to higher places or farther reaches. It is definitely necessary in some parts, but landing is extremely unwieldy, and you will find yourself frustrated more often than note when you need to cross large areas with them.

Instead of enemies to kill or chase you, there are mostly just hazards. The aforementioned gridded texture acts as the "lava," and there are also lasers to avoid for the same progress-stunting reasons. New to the DLC is a yellow laser, which can be blocked by your blocks for a limited time. Initially, this is introduced via some simple puzzles, but later on, there are areas where you have to avoid those yellow lasers and craftily place your blocks all while the blocks are moving. Many of these scenarios await as you get closer to the final sequence, and they sadly become frustrating the worse they get. Granted, I did not find any one scenario insurmountable, and only a few of them required quicker reflexes than normal. What's unfortunate is that aside from receiving the spring block, you do not get more powerful or capable. You are expected to navigate a 2 - 4 hour game with the same set of skills you were given from the get go, contrary to the main game, which continually enables you.

Well, this looks peaceful.

Along with these qualms, the effect of the narrative is dichotomous. As I said, you passively receive information about what happened. As you enter specific rooms, you can hear dialogue from Subject 16's past that reveal small tidbits about how he ended up in his predicament. However, you never participate in the telling of the story, making the DLC almost a museum. I did appreciate the areas where it is obvious you are accomplishing a certain task in the game's abstract way, but in the end there is one way through every area, so you can stumble upon the same story pieces anyone else would in the same order. To its credit, the narrative is rather interesting, and there's a rather big reveal that makes some things make more sense. (This reveal is also sort of addressed in Assassin's Creed III, but this is the only way to find out the background behind it to answer your questions.) It is just a shame that it all couldn't be delivered in a more engaging manner.

All in all, it is hard to justify the $9.99 (or equivalent points) price tag for something you actually know could've been so much more. The narrative is interesting, but its delivery and the gameplay behind getting it are just obviously subpar. I should note that it comes with some extras for the main campaign, including a secret area and armor, and three new multiplayer characters, none of which I have touched yet. Still, I would argue that since none of those things contribute to the main story like the labyrinthine missions do, and you were probably already done with the main game and its multiplayer by the time this came out, they are not of additional value. I would also warn that if you want to suss out your time's and money's worth of value, you should pursue the hidden collectibles in each area. Otherwise, you'll be more disappointed. So...buy it if you're curious!

Images obtained from The Assassin's Creed Wiki.

I Had a (Fever) Dream

Wherein Advil Cold & Sinus Develops a Game

Last week, I was granted the misfortune of being sick. It was one of those couple's colds where you sit around blaming each other and reconsider living in close quarters. However, on the worst night of my cold, I actually had a rather amazing dream.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a game where you do...stuff.

Let me preface this by saying I've been playing Assassin's Creed III lately, and right before that, I finished two playthroughs of Dishonored. My dream starts off in a dank sewer or some underground space. There are a few people near me as well. I already have a vague knowledge of what I need to do, though. It seems this sewer connects to a nearby headquarters for some business, and I'm tasked with killing the president/founder/what-have-you. I know he is arguably evil, but I'm never given the full rundown as to why. (I assume if I want that, I should purchase the full dream for $49.99 on Steam.) I also know there are a number of ways to get up to my target's office and a number of ways to get through each of these points. You see, I can't just walk straight through and murder him, but unlike a lot of games involving assassination, the area I'm infiltrating is not solely filled with soldiers waiting to kill me. There are office workers, too, who may not recognize me, but they also don't know me from Mike on the third floor in Accounting, who tells really boring stories about his kids in the lunchroom. So I know I'll be safe to walk around in some areas as long as I don't arouse suspicion.

All of this seems pretty par for the course, but here's where it gets interesting (to me at least). First, I am made well aware that my target is free to walk around and that he knows I might be coming. Thus, I need to use resources around to figure out where he may be at any given time, but I also need to make sure he doesn't catch me unaware. Next, to breach certain areas, those people around me in the sewer also come into play. They each possess some knowledge or skill set that can get me through certain areas of the building, and I'm given the option of going completely solo or accepting their help. However, they all want something, and they also don't all like each other. Their motives are sadly never revealed to me, but it is apparent that asking for assistance and returning the favor to one will piss off another. Pissing off another person around may close off an entire area of the building due to that person's influence over people there; I assume they work for the company or have close friends there. The other risk is that the people I anger may actually try to surprise me later on by alerting security or even making an attempt on my life.

Assassin's Creed is also a franchise where you can do...stuff.

The rest of the dream is pretty hazy. I know that I "played" a few times with varying levels of success. A few times I got really far, and other times I was ambushed. I honestly cannot remember if I ever killed the target, but I do remember that he caught me off guard a couple of times. For some odd reason, he was wearing a posh red smoking jacket, but I assume that was Dishonored's influence on me. I definitely found the whole scenario interesting. While poorly implemented in my dream (none of my dreams ever reach full credibility), it was cool just how much choice I was given. Multiple pathways, peculiar relationship system, and of course, the regular choices of stealth/confrontation and kill/subdue were looming around. There was definitely a more futuristic aspect to it, which was reminiscent of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Still, if developed exquisitely, I'd buy my game.

It just needs a much better writer.

Images obtained from Game Informer.

Dishonored Review

A Watercolor Painting of Revenge

Behold! The beautiful, but troubled city of Dunwall.

Your name is Corvo Attano. You are returning from a trip back to your home of Dunwall, where you serve as the protector to the Empress, who dispatched you to find aid to cure a plague that has beleaguered her citizens. However, shortly after your return, magical assassins infiltrate the tower and murder the Empress before your eyes. Before you can recover from the shock, her daughter is kidnapped, as well. To make matters worse, you were (conveniently) alone when this happened, so as soon as the assassins disappear from existence, the guards are there to accuse you of murder. So begins Arkane Studios' new game, Dishonored. From there, you begin a tale of conspiracy and revenge as you try to find the Empress' daughter, Emily, and right what's been wronged.

The first noticeable feature of the game is the design and the amount of thought put into it. Although for the most part, objects are rendered realistically, there's a layer of cel-shading, creating a beautiful watercolor effect over the environment. Body forms are exaggerated to have overly broad shoulders and large hands on men and skinny legs and long necks on women. The effect enhances the fantasy but also creates an internal dilemma between the violent actions you're asked to perform and the actual impact that killing caricatures could possibly have. Still, the game is a marvel to look at, and all elements of the design serve each other well. After the opening moments, Dunwall becomes something of a military state, mostly defending the rich from the diseased poor who wander the streets like zombies. During the course of the 15 to 20 hours the game could take you to finish, you will see both plague and opulence juxtaposed in colorful glory next to the military machinations and decorations of the ruling party.

He's thinking, "I'm a knife, knifing around. Cut cut cut cut cut cut..."

As with any game featuring open environments, you will also see some technical errors - characters stuck in geometry, disappearing bodies, dancing corpses, the sudden inability to move forward, and the like - but none of these happen often enough to detract from the experience that much. The worst offender would be overused character models and spoken lines. Encountering two identical guards in combat in a world with such character is kind of a let down. Similarly, after playing the game twice, I'll be happy if I never hear one guard ask another guard if he thinks he'll get that promotion. Here's a hint: he won't.

Gameplay seems most akin to Deus Ex: Human Revolution in terms of the options set before you. You become an assassin like those who wronged you, so you're mostly expected to lurk in the shadows. However, compared to it's half-brother, Dishonored leaves you better prepared to handle enemies when they are alerted to your presence or, at the very least, prepared to disappear from their view and lay low. After completing an introductory level (Sneaking 101) and some exposition, the game gives you a magical ability, Blink. This is granted courtesy of The Outsider, a character who is much like Satan in the Book of Job in the way that he opts to meddle in human affairs from the sidelines. Blink allows you to teleport to a location in view and ultimately becomes the most useful traversal ability in your possession. As you progress, you can find runes to gain more abilities or upgrade existing ones, both active and passive, and there are bone charms to discover which provide buffs to combat and magic as you equip them. Like receiving a treasure map, The Outsider also gives Corvo a standalone beating heart which can point out where to find these collectibles. It is strange, to say the least, and the voice inside it is never clearly explained.

No, nothing seems right about this at all.

In terms of navigation, I'd say Corvo is the most capable first-person platformer since Faith from Mirror's Edge, only the feats you're expected to perform are much simpler to execute given the slower pace. The most noticeable convenience is the automatic climbing mechanic. While you can't run up walls like Assassin's Creed, pressing the jump button near a climbable object (read: nearly everything) results in a very quick but fully animated hop onto the top of it. If you encounter a ledge, holding jump makes Corvo surmount it. Thus, there is little jumping distance or height estimation involved. Automation takes the height while Blink takes the distance. Beyond this amazing but obvious leap in platforming, Corvo has capable running and sneaking modes when needed.

Stealth itself is handled gracefully, and I encountered no omniscient AI. For those who are interested, I was playing on Easy mode, so it is possible the NPCs are all-seeing gods on the harder difficulty settings. Although a first-person perspective makes it troublesome to know when you are out of view, the game makes it simple - if you can't see an enemy, he can't see you. This is made fallibly untrue when using the lean mechanic, though, which allows you to peer around objects without being seen even though your head would technically be sticking out. I won't deny its use, of course, and I can only assume it makes up for your ability to see around the protagonist in games played from a third-person perspective. Other abilities also help out stealth, such as Dark Vision, which lets you see people through walls along with their cones of vision, and Bend Time, which lets you slow down (or stop with an upgrade) time to navigate around obstacles quickly. Another rule set clear is that stealth mode mutes your footsteps while it reduces your speed and vision height. All of these things work to make first-person stealth very satisfying while maintaining the challenge of remaining unseen. Another compensatory gift Dishonored offers is an extended reaching distance, both for grabbing items and dispatching foes when sneaking up on them. The reduced guess work is a great bonus.

A beautiful shot from my favorite mission in the game.

The choice between being stealthy or blatant isn't the only one presented to you. Choice is the shining light of the game. First, many of the environments present multiple pathways to your objectives. Getting from point A to point B could mean navigating back alleys, carefully crawling along exposed ventilation shafts up high, or finding an unaccounted-for rat tunnel between two buildings. Next, completing your objectives typically involves a layer of player choice. Despite being an assassin by trade, you are able to lay the no-fail choke hold on NPCs to make them unconscious. The game even has achievements based on the number of people you kill or don't kill for those enthusiasts. [I'd like to note that there is a known bug regarding receiving the Ghost and Clean Hands achievements. I won't be specific because spoilers, but you can find out about it on internet forums out there. To the developer's credit, Harvey Smith, the co-director of the game, said they are presently looking into it. This does not affect gameplay or overall enjoyment of the game, only two specific achievements.]

Furthermore, if not suggested to you by a primary character, Corvo will typically come across additional side quests. Some of these have multiple tracked steps while others are a matter of being in the right place at the right time, for example, to stop an over-zealous guard from killing a civilian for a health elixir. The rewards for completing these tasks range from safe combinations to runes to newly revealed ways to reach and complete your objectives. I talked to every NPC I came across on one mission, and that resulted in finding a man willing take my target away instead of performing the kill. All of these are nice touches, which encourage exploration and reward completionists for their extra efforts while not penalizing those who opt for the quick and dirty. The game is essentially yours to shape. While not a negative, the amount of abilities you unlock along with the weapons you find will outnumber the amount of either that a typical player will use during a given play session. Mission structures are fluid enough that no one ability or weapon is required to move on. As a designer, I would be disappointed to create a neat ability only to see someone ignore it, but it also speaks volumes about these designers that they are willing to let players arm themselves as they see fit. I can't think of a single moment where I was funneled into doing something specific to finish what I was doing.

Speaking of shaping the game, your actions do have a binary set of consequences, though. Killing your targets alone will not have much of an effect, but going on killing sprees increases the chaos level of the game. This results in a larger level of armed guards and plagued citizens as Corvo reaches the final hours of his efforts. Reaching the last level of the game is vastly different depending on whether the overall chaos level is considered low or high, and your objectives will be satisfyingly altered to compensate. While I won't speak to the specific details, I would like to note that the ending to the game is clearly biased towards the low chaos approach, resulting in a more rewarding though equally brief cinematic at the end. In contrast to the slew of trailers and demos Arkane Studios provided demonstrating the multitude of fun and fulfilling ways to dispatch your enemies, the game ends up admonishing you for doing so. My personal suggestion is to try for a no or low kill playthrough first for the achievements, the challenge, and the "good" ending and then follow it up with as relieving a slaughter as you can muster. Dishonored does warrant multiple playthroughs if only to exercise more choice and change your overall approach.

While there is so much to enjoy about Dishonored, I wish the story was on par with the gameplay and the presentation. I do appreciate a game that puts more of itself in my hands, but many of the explanations for your environment and even your abilities come from books and notes you can find along the way to your objectives. Of course, many of those are in the optional areas, so someone just flying through the game is not presented with much depth to this fully-realized world the developers have created. The game then becomes a list of targets to remove from the world somehow with an exciting twist somewhere along the line. The biggest failing is that Corvo is a silent protagonist in a story that practically demands his input. He's the one who's been framed for murder, and he's the character who should be most motivated for revenge, especially given some later revealed facts (if one stops to read them). However, because of his silence, he becomes the least invested in his own actions. None of your mission objectives are choices made on your own; they are all assigned, and that's unfortunate for a game that boasts, "Revenge solves everything." It isn't revenge if you're assigned the people to exact the revenge on. Though I take little umbrage with the silent protagonist in games in general, it acts as a glaring omission in this narrative.

However, don't let this rather specific problem sway you from playing an immensely satisfying game. The amount of choice it affords you is better than other games that force the player into trial-and-error situations until he or she discovers the developer's intent. Here, every way you get there is the right way, and every action you perform is rewarding somehow. There's nothing like playing a game that is adept at both conflict and stealth and keeping them fun.

Go for the beautiful kill (or don't)!

Trolling Needs to Stop

A Big and Unfocused TL;DR about Hurricane Sandy and Loss

On Monday, around 7 PM, the power to my apartment went out entirely. I had just finished Dishonored (review coming) earlier that day and was just perusing around the internet. This power outage, sadly, was no coincidence. It was the result of the infamous Hurricane Sandy, which tore its way through the northeast. Notably, it left millions of homes and businesses in my home state, New Jersey, without power. Worse, it devastated the Jersey shore, destroying homes, tearing up boardwalks, and leaving entire towns covered in water and sand. The photos are heartbreaking, and though I am an indoors kind of guy, I feel severely dismayed about what has passed through my state.

As of 11:50 AM yesterday, power returned to my apartment following a 15-minute fake out the previous day. Since then, I have been able to enjoy heat, hot water, and internet unfettered. I am lucky, however you wish to interpret the word. Many people in New Jersey and New York City are still without power, and many are still evacuated from their homes, living in hotels or with family if they managed to escape the hurricane in the first place. Although my home has been returned to normalcy, the fact is that the area around me still has not. Supermarket stock is being wiped out as soon as it is put on the shelves because of people's empty refrigerators at home. Gas stations that manage to get power have lines going down highways within five minutes of reopening, and many are reporting that they have run out of gas due to their supply being overtaxed. For lack of a better word, it is chaos out there.

By now, you are probably wondering why I am talking about this on my video game blog. Aside from a single game reference, this largely seems irrelevant. Here's the truth, and it is a truth I shared with a lot of gamers out there. It was not long before I missed my video games in a bad way. During the week, I work full time, and I miss playing. Work also requires me to travel, which means even less gaming. But the fact that it's there when I get home along with my partner and two cats is comforting. Even when I'm home doing something else, I know I can power on my PC or PS3 and escape into the fantasy world some video game developer has envisioned. Whatever psychological reading one can make from it, I do use video games and their environments as an escape from the day-to-day grind. For nearly three full days, I had no escape. I lived minute to minute completely confronted with darkness, cold, and boredom.

This isn't about me, though. I feel so close to my video game hobby that the thought there are others out there presently deprived of their passion upsets me. Video games can be seen as juvenile by the ignorant public, but they mean a lot to a lot of people. Also, if you're purely a console or computer player like I am, it's not as portable a hobby. You can't leave your home with a game in hand and expect that, like a DVD, your family member or hotel has something to play it. For those who have lost their homes entirely, they have also lost hundreds to thousands of dollars worth of their prime source of joy. And along with books or DVDs, when it comes to rebuilding, these objects - these escapes - will not be the first items they purchase to return to normalcy. Seeking warmth and food is the primary objective for a lot of families right now, and no amount of I Am Alive or Red Dead Redemption playing has prepared any one of us to deal with constantly trying to survive. The comfort of video games, too, is that we are not personally dealing with the protagonists' problems.

Maybe this is a surprise, but this isn't about those people either. The fact is that daily, gamers around the world act privileged to a disturbing degree, and it's because they don't deal with real loss. The internet has become a hot bed of disturbing trends in behavior mostly enabled by the anonymity it provides. When a game reviewer gives a big-budget game an 8 out of 10, there are those who feel entitled to attack that reviewer personally, threatening his life and his family. Two points higher, and people go on long diatribes about how the reviewer was bought and exerting effort to discredit him, knowing nothing about the actual truth or his personal financial situation, which I'm pretty sure is only slightly above that of a retail worker's. If a woman wants to engage the gaming world in an open discussion about the disservice video games do to women, it is unnervingly OK to unload threats of rape and violence that would make most prison inmates blush. Lastly, when a trusted developer releases a subpar (not necessarily awful) game, cries of execution and public shaming begin to surface.

You know, it's fine to complain. Don't let anyone tell you that you don't have a right to complain. It is impossible to spend every minute of every day deciding whether the problem you're experiencing right now is as big as a starving child in Africa or a cancer patient in Haiti. When your game freezes or your hero unheroically falls through the floor he was standing on, you have every right to feel bothered. It is by a reasonable set of standards that developers can create gaming experiences which successfully act as escapes for us, the gamers. However, complaining and wishing loss on anyone for any reason are two seriously different actions. Do not lose sight of the fact that you are physically able to complain. You have a body that functions as you desire it to do so, not strapped to a wheelchair and blinking to communicate. Don't forget that whatever goes wrong in the game, you can reset and keep playing because you have a home, electricity, and a system to play it on. There are others who wish that your problems were the only ones they had to worry about, but more importantly, they wouldn't wish their experience on someone. Someone whose spouse and son drowned in a flooding basement during a hurricane would not threaten pain or loss of life to someone else who wants to talk about redefining gender expectations.

Here is the TL;DR for those of you who just want the point:
Keep complaining, and try offering constructive criticism to make gaming continuously better. But, until a game developer, publisher, journalist, or even player causes you or your family significant loss of wealth (bankruptcy), shelter (home destroyed by tide), or livelihood (more games with female or gay protagonists do not threaten this category), and sometimes even then, you have no right to threaten that person or company violently or sadistically. That is called harassment, and it is destructive and sickening. Moreover, it does not serve the gaming world, including yourself. Things will not get better because of your threats and insults.

I don't have a huge readership here, and maybe I never will, but if this post nets me a label as a "White Knight Fag" or some such, then I will embrace it. There is a whole army of White Knight Fags ready to clean up this goddamn kingdom.

Borderlands 2 Review: Episode II

That, My Friends, Was a Good Game

Lava! Environment effects! Purple!

It is probably about time that we address the elephant left in the room since the first part of my review. There may have been a particularly important feature of Borderlands 2 I completely neglected to mention. The game features cooperative play with up to four players at once. Oops. Now, we will talk about it, and you will learn more about me. The previous game also featured co-op, but getting it to work was often a mess. First, you had to sign up for and log into GameSpy. Then, you couldn't just join a friend's game, no. They had to invite you and vice-versa if you wanted a friend to tag along. Sometimes those invitations didn't work, even as recently as right before Borderlands 2 was released. (I was finishing up the DLC, so I could mentally move on.) It was cumbersome, especially for someone who would rather play games alone.

That's right. As I've discussed before, I like playing a lot of games solo, and I even play some games with fully-featured multiplayer modes solely in single-player mode. Borderlands 2 may be one of the most obvious games to play with your friends, but I'm happy to let all my solo-and-loving-it brethren that there is no loss of enjoyment playing this game by yourself. The entire experience still remains captivating, and while some parts feel a little too tough for a single person to tackle, I rarely pined for another human being to join my game. That said, I did test out the co-op, and it works so much better. I really could gush all day about how much better it is. You literally just have to launch the game, and all your friends are displayed right on the home screen. Not only that, your buddy list displays what levels they are, what story missions they are on, and whether the game thinks that you will make a good fit for each other based on the previous two criteria. To join the game, one must simply click on the person, verify that he or she wishes to join that game, and the home screen is reloaded showing all present players. I also thought it was cute that the person hosting the game gets a little crown on his or her username.

I know what you're thinking. Bandits can't spell.

When playing co-op, everyone is actually free to meander about in any given area, but the group has to travel together to get to new areas. The host controls what mission everyone is trying to complete, too. If everyone is around the same point in the story, completing these missions together means completing them in your own game, which is great because you don't have to backtrack. If your host friend is significantly ahead of you in story, the game will prompt you to skip a mission when you are faced with it later on. Coupled with a brand new but really obvious mini-map, it's also easier to find your friends if you join in the middle of whatever they're up to. Borderlands 2 also recognizes there are more players and appropriately increases the number of enemies in any given encounter. It can sometimes feel insane, but it's a great way to gain more experience if you're particularly good at beating up bad guys. Experience and items other than currency are not shared. When everyone is done fighting for who gets to grab a weapon or shield, if someone is charitable enough to give a weapon to a teammate, the game has a sharing menu to transfer items between each other. I found it a little wonky to use, but it is better than dropping the item on the ground for your friend to pick up. Other than being less cruel, the game also exaggerates item dropping, and a nice gesture could turn into a friend chasing after a flying shotgun.

Aside from my problem with object edges mentioned in the last part, I had a few game-breaking issues, which are worth mentioning. At one point, I was climbing up a long ladder and hit the reload key, and I was no longer able to move on or leave the ladder. I couldn't bring up any in-game menus except the one to escape. A friend was actually playing with me, and I had to leave him in the dust while I backed out. That was annoying because we already cleared out the gauntlets of enemies, and I was trying to finish this one mission before going to bed. I was faced with returning and running through throngs of baddies just so I could sleep soon. At another time, I went to an area as dictated by a story mission, but I picked up four additional side missions while I was there. I like to finish all the side missions in an area before I leave to turn them in, and this became my downfall. The game froze on three separate occasions. Given that there is no manual or quick save feature, I would force the game to quit and return only to find myself with all my side missions incomplete (and unique loot lost). I don't know what was special about the place, but I ended up quitting after finishing each mission just to ensure the game was saved appropriately. Finally, I was tackling a round in Fink's Slaughterhouse when I killed the last enemy shown on the minimap only to have absolutely nothing happen. I had to quit the game to make the entire multi-wave mission reset. I could've melted metal with my anger on that one.

This was my prettiest gun, and the game makes it easy for me to show you my weapon.

Moving on, I did finish the game last night, and it was much better than the first one by far. In general, more happens in one story mission than happened in the entire first game, or at least, that's how it comes off. The game goes to more lengths to show you things happening and have you interact rather than just letting you hear about it in your earpiece. There are some exciting sequences with the characters from the last game joining you on your adventure. Much of it happens during player-controlled gameplay, though, so be sure to actually watch what they're doing, or you'll just hear nonsense in your ear about something happening out of sight. Overall, though, I witnessed a lot of bombastic action on my screen in beautiful color. There is even a brief visit to good ol' Fyrestone from the first game, which reflects how things have changed in the years past. The endgame was really satisfying, but this is mostly because of all the story content from before. I completed every darn side mission I could find on the way to the end (with the exception of the survival rounds in Ore Chasm), and on top of doing so much, I learned a lot about what is and was going on in the world of Pandora. Borderlands 2 also did not set me up for an underwhelming ending like the the first game. I didn't beat the boss this time and think, "That's it?!" I also felt the final boss experience was appropriate. The whole scenario was not an absurdly tough encounter, though I did die as a result of my own stupidity once. After imbibing so much of the craziness, it was nice to have a simple encounter that just looked really big but was over quickly. I just wanted to go home, and the game let me do so without issue.

In total, I spent 77 hours playing Borderlands 2, and now there is DLC out for it. There are also a lot of Badass challenges I didn't complete, such as finding out more about the four new vault hunters. I'll get to all that once I catch up with all my other games that have been vying for my attention. Meanwhile, if you haven't bought this game, go do so. It's pretty. It's funny. It's fun even for people who suck at shooters. There are few reasons not to play it.

Borderlands 2 Review: Episode I

Making heads explode in stylish fashion

If you played the first game, you'd understand what a graphical step up this is.

The original Borderlands is one of those games that I resisted for a while. Touted as a "first-person role-playing shooter," my hesitation laid in the "shooter" part of the genre description. It was never my strongest category – I can't aim to save my life –, but the cel-shaded style made me impeccably curious. Finally, the shining light, a Steam sale, came around and convinced me to purchase, and I'm happy I did. Sure, I enjoyed the game, but I'm mostly thankful that it prepared me for Borderlands 2 to knock my socks off.

In almost every way, Borderlands 2 is a complete improvement over its predecessor. I'm only about halfway through the game, but I've been enjoying every minute of it. If you are new to the game and are wondering how the game exists as a FPRPS, let me explain. Like any first-person shooter, you are constantly staring down gun sights and have an array of weapons available to you to destroy your enemies, of which there are many. However, all weapons and protection are randomized. Every weapon you pick up is unlike every other weapon available in your game or other players' games, and they all have a set of statistics, which you can use to compare them against what is already in your inventory. Weapons can even have elemental characteristics, and some emulate other weapon classes, such as an awesome assault rifle I had which shot bullets like rockets. Building upon this, the RPG elements go much further. Your character gains experience points as he/she defeats enemies, increasing your level. You gain skill points to dump into speccing the character to your taste. Battles come across as typical firefights, but the fact is math and the roll of the die is still at work here. Shooting an enemy reveals the amount of damage caused, which is based on a number of behind-the-scenes factors, so shooting someone in the head does not automatically kill him like it does in typical military shooters – it definitely is highly possible if you're using a sniper rifle, but if the enemy is levels above you or has a strong shield, don't say I didn't warn you.

The original four protagonists play a big vocal part this time around.

More or less, the game is the ideal setting for someone that depends on the numbers game, and it's hard not to enjoy because it is continually giving you loot. You can barely walk a foot in Pandora, the planet on which it takes place, without encountering some kind of container to open. These range from small boxes with stacks of cash to huge chests with elaborate opening mechanisms containing rare weapons and ammo. In fact, there are so many, it is almost arduous to seek out every container in a small area, but the game rewards you with some precious finds sometimes. Borderlands 2 threw in extra rewards for killing, using different weapons, exploration, and even opening containers via its Badass Ranking system. Performing all varieties of challenges that are entirely based on playing the game, you are frequently rewarded with Badass tokens which boost different characteristics as you redeem them. It is literally impossible to play without earning them, which is what makes playing the game continually rewarding on top of the leveling and skill point system. These Badass boosts also apply to all characters you create for the game, so starting over with a different class can still come with a little help (if you don't turn the feature off).

Moving around Pandora and shooting your foes is all fairly simple to control. I am currently playing on a PC, and the keyboard and mouse layout is similar to other shooter titles. It is also completely customizable if it doesn't meet your specific needs. Personally, I remapped the melee button, V, to my middle mouse button to keep the majority of attacking on the mouse like it should be. Each character has a remarkably high and floaty jump, which is useful for navigating the terrain and finding additional secrets on far off ledges. It definitely does not resemble a realistic jump that a human could perform, but the majority of the game is exaggerated in its style. This sequel also improved the running speed from the first game, so now one can breeze through a pile of dead bodies on the way to an area's exit with ease. The only problem is that the land has occasional tiny hidden walls preventing the player from moving forward if he/she doesn't jump over them. Seriously, you could be running along a road and get stuck on the edge of a small flat rock that is exactly the same as one you simply ran over earlier. When trying to run and strafe around enemies, it can be very frustrating to stop in your tracks because of a pebble the game decided is abnormally tall. (Note: I personally call this frustration, Geometry Wars.)

I know this looks like a normal tea party, but it isn't. It really isn't.

Probably the greatest glory of Borderlands 2 is its presentation. The completely cel-shaded graphics make it stand apart from every other shooter and most other RPGs. The environments and enemies are all really bright and colorful, and there are many animated elements abound, especially if you play on the PC with its added particle effects. Characters are also more animated this time around with exciting features like moving lips and limbs that the first game didn't find as important for some baffling reason. None of them are too over the top, but at the very least, they move around the environment instead of acting like mission boards stuck in place. The game also went bigger with explosions, both bombs and bodies, which makes the battlefield more exciting to navigate and watch during intense firefights. The AI of the enemies has also been upped a little. Notably, humanoid characters will actually dodge and move around as you shoot, and the variety in the packs you face means dodging Psychos coming right at you while avoiding gun fire from enemies afar. There are also some fun areas where the enemy types are varied, involving two or more species, who may or may not fight each other in between attacks against you. It is very frenetic, and often it can be challenging to deal with if you're like me and lack a real tactical approach to shooters. (My approach: "Please don't hit me. Please stay in place while I line up this sniper rifle crosshair. Thank you for participating in your death. Have a nice day.") Every now and again, this new AI initiative to move around a bit more can break the immersion when an enemy spends his entire time dodging or hopping between platforms while you just watch in curious awe.

The music is also way improved. Although the soundtrack features a similar combination of Jesper Kyd, Raison Varner, and the Sonic Mayhem duo (absent: Tim Larkin of Myst: Uru and Myst V fame), the background tracks are more present and demand more attention. Aside from the intensity of music during battle, the ambient and undulating tracks in the Caustic Caverns or the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve bring a lot of delight while you meander through their maze-like environments. There is also a special place in my heart for the song that plays during the gauntlet in Fink's Slaughterhouse. There are still some songs in more desolate areas, which go mostly unnoticed, but the overall execution is more attractive.

I went looking for a hotel room, and then I remember that you don't sleep in video games. I'm gonna go.

The final evidence of the ante being upped is the story. Let's be honest. The first Borderlands didn't have much of a story. You landed on Pandora and went looking for a fabled vault, and that was kind of all it gave you. The ending was also sudden and on the side of WTF. Borderlands 2 fixes that by providing more explanation not only for your current actions but for the events of the first game, too. The four protagonists are all back and play a heavy role in leading you along your bread crumb trail towards the ending. Taken out of the player's hands this time, they are given the opportunity to interact with each other more and be the sources of much of the game's humor  Although there is a linear set of story missions to pursue, the game also features a ridiculous amount of side quests. However, compared to the first game, even the fetch quests manage to engage the player with the insane characters more, sometimes via their constant comments on whatever you're doing or via ECHO recording you find littered about. (I particularly enjoyed the awkward recordings of Lillith and Roland you find on one side quest.) Even better, many of the side quests are now multi-part affairs which sometimes take you to multiple locations you wouldn't have explored otherwise. Written mostly by Anthony Burch, known for his video web series with his sister, "Hey Ash Whatcha Playin'?", the plot is a thousand times more intriguing, funny, and complex. There are some sad moments, too, which I was not prepared for at all. It all goes a long way towards immersing the player in the game.

I'm still playing the game and will probably remember more to comment on when I write the second half of this review. For now, all I can tell you is the Borderlands 2 is an engaging and rewarding experience that goes a long, LONG way towards improving upon its predecessor, which is now unmistakably barren compared to this iteration. Oh yeah, it also doesn't take place almost exclusively in the desert. You're welcome.

Part II

All images taken via Steam's screenshot feature.

Play with My Father

Just once would be nice.

I think it would be fair to say I could attribute my love of video games to my father. Well, sort of. My father was always into new technology, and he always wanted to show me the latest gizmo he bought. His interest in electronics and the like was the polar opposite of my mother, who continually resisted anything that came around. Naturally, I became attracted to the digital image and its interactive manipulation. Despite how he always exposed me to and bought me new electronics and toys, it saddens me that he never really joined me in playing them. Even worse, until recently, he always expressed a constant derision towards my life's passion.

Before there was color, there was green.

For my seventh birthday, I asked for the original Nintendo Game Boy. To this day, it is the only handheld system I ever owned, and I poured a lot of hours into it. In fact, I still have it, though I haven't tested its operational faculty in a number of years. Not that I was big into sharing, but I was surprised when my father wanted to play Tetris on occasion. I didn't appreciate it then, but looking back, it was cool that he wanted to play a game at all. That was the only one, though, and he never expressed any interest in the other games I had. Eventually, he also stopped playing Tetris, though he never played it enough for it to be considered sudden. That was it. I never saw him play another game since.

That isn't to say that was the last game he showed interest in. One day, when our home computer was still the Macintosh Performa, he came home with Zork Nemesis: The Forbidden Lands, a graphic adventure game in the same vein as Myst. I was definitely excited since I loved Myst and really looked forward to playing another puzzle game, and I was excited that he wanted to play it with me. The excitement was over almost as quickly as it began because we ignored the hardware specifications that called for at least double the RAM we had on board, and the game would not even launch. As unfortunate as this was, it was more disappointing when he never came back around to play even after we bought and installed the upgrade. I don't know why, and I didn't ask. I just played and enjoyed the game alone and thought nothing of it.

So that was the last game he ever told me he wanted to play, and he never played it. This actually never began to bother me until the last few years. My parents and I did a lot of things separately. Sometimes, we'd all watch the same TV program in our own rooms. Thus, playing video games by myself didn't phase me one bit, and I never grew a desire to play with them either. Nothing about that seemed wrong to me. The time I would spend with friends was sporadic (I was not popular), so I found myself gravitating towards more single-player experiences. Sure, there were games like Street Fighter II and Eternal Champions that were more fun to play with friends, but you wouldn't believe how much time I'd spend playing against myself or screwing with Game Genie codes.

So began my own personal adventure.

Coasting a large number of years into the future, my true love of video games was ignited when I played Final Fantasy VII on PC in 1999, the first half of the last year of high school. Although I played Myst, most of the games I played offered shallower stories; I never encountered something so layered nor with optional story content to discover. After that, I became more insistent that I continually needed something to play. I needed another story. My first "real" relationship, which took place during most of my time in college, was with a guy who would play with me. We even bought a Nintendo GameCube together. Although we had multiplayer games to play with friends, such as Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Monkey Ball, our definition of playing with each other and friends often meant one person playing a single-player adventure while others observed. Even today, this is how I typically enjoy experiencing new games – watching friends demonstrate what they have to offer. It may sound silly, but to me, any game was as exciting to watch as Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

Years after dropping that human waste of time, I held out until I met another guy who shared a passion for video games with me. At the time, it was more challenging than it probably is now, what with Gaymercon starting next year. But I met the love of my life, and we have spent six awesome years now playing and loving. I definitely play significantly more than he does, but he has always shown interest, and there are games he loves and have elicited strong emotional responses from him. (He handled a certain scene in Final Fantasy VII a lot worse than I ever did.) However, it was also during the time we've spent together that my father became rather adversarial towards my hobby. My parents naturally ask what I've been up to since the last time I've seen them, and usually I answer with a game I'm playing. My father's natural response has always been dismissive, instantly losing interest in me talking about it further. But there eventually came snide comments, too. I remember speaking at dinner about the Overlord DLC for Mass Effect 2, and I specifically wanted to talk about it because of how it involves autism. My only brother is autistic, so it is definitely a relevant topic of discussion in their house. However, when I began to explain that Mass Effect is a science fiction game, my dad quipped, "all [video games] are science fiction." No, it doesn't make any sense, but I could tell there was no point in continuing to talk about it.

The majority of the Myst games were about a father's relationship with his sons.

Things came to a head a few weeks ago as my boyfriend and I were leaving my parents' house to go home. My father asked what we'd be doing with the rest of the night, and I stated that I'd be playing, and my boyfriend stated he'd be watching a movie and maybe playing. His response was something to the effect of "Tell me how it is. The movie, not the video games. I don't care about that shit." So the conversation went.

"They're not shit."
"I think they're shit."
"How can you continue to put down the thing I love to do most like that?"
"It's shit to me. What do you want me to say?"
"I would never put down something you're passionate about. And it's shit that you would say something like that to me."

He just shrugged, but I was rather angry as I drove off. I always got annoyed when he'd dismiss me, but this just took the cake. It was the first time he really just said it plainly, and he managed to make it as offensive as possible. The last thing I said was true, though. I may not have interest in many things my friends love, such as sports, – I may not even care the slightest bit about them – but I would never tell someone that this thing he or she is so excited about is shit. I'd just say I don't like it myself.

Deus Ex: Human Revolutions allows the player to proceed through the whole game without killing (almost) anyone.

From this negative experience came a positive.  It took two weeks, but shortly after my birthday, in response to something completely unrelated, he apologized. He expressed a sincere regret for putting down what I love to do. My father also finally articulated one of his issues with video games, that being the violence in them. It is kind of funny, actually, since he watches and likes some violent movies, and he even owns some firearms. However, I think the issue for him is actually participating in the violence, something movies don't require of the viewer. He actually expressed that he loved Myst, which I don't remember him playing but was once the buzz of the house. This was a significant step forward, and I felt very touched to finally learn more about him.

My response to him was that not every game is violent, of course. Without a doubt, I own some games like Mortal Kombat where the violence is gratuitous, but I wanted to tell him that I'm not always a death dealer. Aside from sharing the artfulness of games like Journey and Papo & Yo, I also went on to talk about games like Grand Theft Auto IV, which match exciting and well-written plots with the violence. I even expressed that some of the best games make you question whether you want to commit violence like Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Most importantly, I told him that I regret never playing Zork Nemesis with him. It only took 16 years to realize that it would have been nice.

Zork Nemesis, the bonding experience that never was.

Sadly, I think that's the end of the positive result. I told him that I own all the games from the Myst series, the sequel, Riven, being incredible, and how I could easily install them and Zork Nemesis on his laptop. However, he said he's too old to play them and doesn't have the attention span for them. I feel like I lost something there. I don't know what exactly. I don't know that if I attempted to include him on what I was playing when I was younger that he would've joined me. Still, I feel much better knowing that my father understands what it means when someone puts down something you care about and that we're past that era of our relationship. I hope one day he'll play by my side, though.

What about you? How involved are your parents with what you're passionate about? Do you play games with either of them? Please share your experience.

Resonance Review

A welcome return to the days of yore.

Just another regular day at the office...or is it?

When I was younger and sucked more at games than I do now, I found solace in the point-and-click style of games. They rarely required quick reflexes, and often you could do things at your own pace with the game's story allowing for an exorbitant amount of time to figure out the next step. Resonance, by XII Games, is a stellar trip down the road of nostalgia, but even with some new innovations, it also relives some old problems.

Point-and-click adventure games are classically narrative-focused. Everything you do is in the interest of finding out more of the plot, eked out puzzle by puzzle until the ending. There is no wandering around per se – every scene and object holds a purpose, and you'd only find yourself wandering if you do not know what to do next. Resonance stands out among the 2012 line-up not just because it follows this genre that is oft thought dead but also because its visuals resembles those games of my childhood. The graphics are 16-bit and pixelated, but as opposed to becoming a distraction for my modernized attention span, they feel welcoming and inviting. Although I enjoy what graphic rendering engines can do nowadays, it is relaxing to have a 2D scene in front of me that is fairly easy to process. Each scene is also refreshingly colorful, whether it is in a run-down section of the city or a hospital waiting room; the eye will never get bored. Aside from the characters and action revealed via the narrative, there are also animations like blinking TVs or silhouettes of traffic passing by in the foreground that keep things interesting. Also, characters all have unique appearances without being too eccentric for their setting. The game defaults at a low resolution (640x480), but its settings can be adjusted to fit your widescreen monitor of choice, which is how I preferred to play. Everything still looked great.

Ray went off to see the Wizard. It was underwhelming.

The story is no Monkey Island or Legend of Kyrandia – despite the ability to relive games of the past from when my generation was a kid, the story is remarkably adult. It takes place in a contemporary city and follows a slightly sci-fi arc involving conspiracies and budding relationships. Also in contrast to older games, the player is given control of four different characters to complete objectives. Initially, you play out a bit of the story with each one individually, but circumstances bring all four characters together and under your command. This is where the game becomes the most interesting but also the most frustrating. For those unfamiliar, point-and-click adventure games involve finding clues and objects and building an inventory to use for solving puzzles later on. To find even the most innocuous objects requires clicking on everything, and Resonance retains the characteristic of not making everything obvious. Thankfully, the trope of "pixel hunting" does not rear its ugly head here, but take my recommendation and make sure to swing the cursor all over the screen to make sure you have not missed some arbitrary object. On top of learning how each of the four protagonists' stories are connected, the creativity behind how they must interact to move along is delightful. Any task that seems obviously assigned to one character ends up being complicated and requiring team work like I have never seen in similar games.

Something I enjoyed was the way the game was modernized beyond the mature tale. Interacting with objects and characters has been given more depth by enhancing the idea of the inventory and the way the mouse is used. Left-clicking on an object makes the character at hand interact with it, but right-clicking makes him or her make an observation or look at the object more closely, which is often a way to progress. Also, each character has a pool of memories to use in conversations and other scenarios. Long-term memories automatically populate each character's inventory as events unfold, and the player can long-click on objects and drag them into short-term memory inventory or on another character. What this allows is the ability to ask various characters about objects you saw in another scene without everyone having to be together. It also prevents waiting for that one piece of dialogue to pop up so you can move on. However, as much as I truly enjoyed these extra interactions being possible, they also opened up a new fallacy: function hunting. It is entirely possible to have all the necessary objects on hand but not know what to do next because you're not right-clicking, clicking and dragging, or long-clicking the right thing.

The visuals should seem familiar. The phonograph should not.

While you are reliving your childhood memories through touch and sight, the sounds will also please you. Except for minor internal thoughts, such as when a character looks at an object, the game is fully voice-acted. The acting itself is excellent, and each actor successfully conveys individual and memorable characters. Along with a well-written script, which never becomes too convoluted or verbose, the story is conveyed thoughtfully and clearly. Except for some dialogue-heavy scenes near the end of the game, the story is very easy to follow without being patronizing. I'd only say that the actual recordings of the voices could go a step further to be integrated into their environments. Sometimes, I found myself sucked out of the fascinating world because a voice sounded like it was in the quiet room with me instead of on the street or in a large, vacuous office. It's the little things. The soundtrack fits its purpose well, but none of the music is particularly interesting or worth replaying.

The game as a whole takes a few hours to complete if you know what you're doing at every step. The length, like an old-school game, is increased depending on how stuck you become at any point. Games like this sometimes require sitting and thinking, browsing your inventory like a mad man, or even quitting and stepping away for a while to stew over the possibilities. That said, they are not for everyone. People who desire and prefer action will become bored and frustrated quickly, which is a shame because it often seems like the gaming world is veering towards a path of continual reward. In Resonance, the reward comes with every solution and step forward. In the literal sense, there is a points tracker and an achievements menu that let you know how many possible goals you've achieved. Don't be fooled, though. If your idea of reward is someone's head exploding at the end of your iron sights or a giant mechanism opening a massive door to the next area (and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that), you won't find much satisfaction here. The game's strict adherence to its genre is both its gift and curse.

After a few survival horror games, you'll be delighted to hear this subway ride is safe!

If you gain satisfaction from solving puzzles either in video games or in the newspaper, there is a good chance you will enjoy Resonance. If you like playing games with intricate and adult storylines, you are also a member of the right audience. The nostalgic but lively visuals, the great writing, and the joy of surmounting a challenge with just a few clicks of your mouse are among the qualities that make this game a delightful hit.

All images obtained from the game's website.

Bastion Review

Piecing Together a Good Game

I like pretty games. I can't help but want to play a game simply because it's pretty. This becomes a problem when the pretty game is just not the type I would play or excel in playing. Bastion, developed by Supergiant Games, manages to exist on the periphery of games I would normally enjoy. It is an action RPG, whose gameplay straddles a fence between old school 3/4 perspective shooting games and grind-and-loot fests like Diablo or Torchlight, neither genre of which I'm a huge fan. Thankfully, Bastion manages to be pretty and fun to play with enough character to stand apart from games it resembles.

One of the immediately unusual elements of the game is its twist on the trope of the silent protagonist. Indeed, the Kid never utters a word, and the only sounds to escape his mouth are grunts typical of (adult) Link in the 3D Zelda games. Rather, the events that unfold are described by an ever-present narrator as you proceed through the game. Amusingly enough, the narrator does not just droll on and on in the background; he only describes what's happening on the screen whether it is a scripted encounter, switching your weapons, or following an alley off the beaten path. At one point, when I noticed that the weapon I had could destroy walls and barriers, I spent a while smashing everything around me, and the narrator said, "The Kid just rages for a while." Touches like this, where the story is partly dictated by player action, add a level of interactivity that encourages the player to do as much as possible if only to hear what the narrator has to say.

The next unique characteristic is the way the world puts itself together as you play. The Kid wakes up on an island floating in the middle of nowhere after an event known as The Calamity happens, and as he proceeds through the levels to discover what happens and how to fix it, the pathways build themselves as he approaches. Certainly, it's not the first time I've seen a path build itself, but this is the first time I've seen an entire game built around the concept. Much like the narrative, the world builds itself only in areas you come across. Though mostly linear, each level features short branching paths to find health, currency, and power-ups, which only appear if you bother to seek out those extra corners of the map. It's a fascinating play on the idea of secret areas, suggesting that they don't even exist if you don't seek them out purposely.

The Kid vs. Scumbag

Once you get past the novelties, the gameplay becomes pretty standard. You find a large variety of both melee and ranged weapons during your progress, and there are combat and secret skills, which act as super moves, to discover. The Bastion itself acts as a hub for upgrading the player and weapons and selecting the next level to traipse. The map also reveals areas where you can test your skills with each of the weapons to find. These proving grounds provide bonus upgrade materials for weapons and additional combat skills doled out in three tiers depending on the player's performance. The drive to complete all of these comes from the fact that they each contain an upgrade material for another weapon, so chances are if you want to customize your old standards to be awesome, you'll be practicing with the other weapons the game offers. It's a smart way for the developer to say, "C'mon. Just give it a go." As you complete levels, you are given the opportunity to upgrade the Bastion by building structures that allow you to change your loadout, upgrade your weapons, and even purchase items. If the game isn't challenging enough for you, one of the buildings in the Bastion allows you to invoke gods who buff the enemies in a variety of ways, but this extra challenge comes with extra rewards, typically more experience or currency. For those seeking even more challenge and backstory, I recommend traveling to Who Knows Where, which is Bastion's version of survival mode where you must survive 20 rounds of enemies coming at you. On top of an easy way to gain some currency, the narrator provides history for three main characters in between each round, which increases the player's ability to empathize with them. (Note: You enter these arenas via objects in the Bastion, which are easy to investigate by accident…which I did…twice. Proceed with caution.)

There is a good amount of enemy variety in each level, and the game tosses things up now and again. Although most of the Kid's trials take place walking down the yet-to-be-beaten path, there are some boss fights, times when you need to travel by floating raft while under attack, and even areas where the bushes and trees obscure your ability to view what is happening. Strategy is definitely required to proceed here as the combinations of enemies on the screen keep you on your toes in later stages. Initially, smaller encounters allow the player to button mash to some extent, but eventually, it becomes a huge risk to attack everything head on, and both your shield and evasive roll become vital to survival. It feels overwhelming at times, but the game is good about dropping health or skill tonics at the right time to recover before the next onslaught. I played the game on the Normal difficulty setting, but the easier setting does not adjust the challenge of the enemies. Instead, it allows the player to recover in place an unlimited amount of times instead of being required to restart the area. Thankfully, for someone who's not amazing at confrontation, I only had to restart a few areas and never to the point where it became annoying or dismaying. I appreciate games where failure can usually be attributed to the player's lack of strategy, and Bastion mostly fits this description. The only annoyance arises out of the fact that all the levels are basically giant islands in the sky, and trying to avoid evasively rolling off a ledge or mistaking a gap for a platform can sometimes grow wearisome. The cost is health, but admittedly, this cost can be tempered by tonics applied in the Bastion. There is definitely nothing mindless about the combat in this game, which prevents it from ever becoming boring.

This game reaches Uncharted 2 levels of beautiful junk to stare at.

All these layers of weapons, upgrades, gauntlets, and challenges are presented to you via absolutely gorgeous visuals. The levels and objects are made up of wonderfully illustrated sprites mapped onto 3D objects, while the characters and enemies are crisp and cel-shaded. The amount of detail that went into the graphics is astounding and noteworthy. The game is just so pretty, and it's worth taking a restful moment to just stare at it sometimes. Although sound effects do not stand out, the soundtrack is also quite fantastic. The background music is an eclectic blend of moody guitars and electronica, which stands out as atypical for the action RPG genre. There are also some breathtaking moments when the ambient music cuts out and is replaced by haunting vocal tracks, which anchor the gameplay to the story lest the player forget there is purpose to the Kid's actions. It is also worth mentioning the gravelly voice of the narrator, whose calm and tempered delivery is continually entertaining without wearing thin or becoming too dramatic. My only complaint would be that there is sometimes too much going on to pay attention to him, so it's disappointing to think you missed an interesting tidbit.

Bastion is not just a pretty game. Although that is initially what tempted me to play it, there is enough good and deep game here to please any gamer. It only offers a few new mechanics, but the effect of the presentation combined with the gameplay ends up being greater than the sum of its parts with a narrative that remains important and relevant till the last minute. This game is definitely easy to recommend.

He looks crazy and is crazy to fight.

All images obtained from the Bastion website, linked above.

Mass Effect 3: Leviathan DLC Review

Oh, that's why.

I told you the weak spot is between the legs. Look!

BioWare released their first story DLC for Mass Effect 3, titled, "Leviathan." Well, this isn't the first story content per se, but it's a new original mission as opposed to an expansion on the controversial ending. The goal behind it was to offer up more information on the origins of the Reapers, and that's exactly what it does. In terms of pacing, "Leviathan" is remarkably formulaic. It starts with a trip to a new area on the Citadel, and from there you will be dispatched to another system and return to the Citadel two more times before completing the DLC in another system. Compared to "Overlord" for Mass Effect 2, which was huge and took place on a singular world, or "Lair of the Shadow Broker," which took the player to many locations with a lot of variety thrown in, this back-and-forth travel felt like a lost opportunity to build upon the quality BioWare established in the last round.

Still, this trip is undeniably more of the gameplay we love from Mass Effect 3, and formula aside, it does throw in some new mechanics including searching for clues in a laboratory and piloting a mech underwater. Though enjoyable, these novelties do not act as major draws, just as means to an end. In keeping with the triad of enemy types available in the main game, you only have one set of enemies during the two and a half hours it takes to complete "Leviathan" – Reaper forces. Given the backstory, this isn't surprising, but the developers didn't even throw in a boss fight for good measure. You only combat scripted sequences of gauntlets of Reaper forces until your next objective. One of the boons of "Leviathan" is a significant amount of discoverables including XP and money boosting supply reserves and new expansions for your weapons. The most notable expansion is a melee enhancement for assault rifles, but I did not test out its efficacy.

Underwater shenanigans.

The main attraction, the story, brings a lot to the table, however. It begins with a war-changing discovery, which leads to the DLC's main pursuit of yet another possible weapon against the Reapers. Without exaggerating, the lessons the player learns via "Leviathan" are a necessity for both players who have finished the game already and players who still have yet to finish. On top of achieving a much-needed backstory for all three games in the series, it also solves one of the greater paradoxes of the ending, extended cut included. For me, it really completed the mythos and put my mind at ease about how the writers chose to wrap up the series' events. I am dead serious about this.

At $10 (800 BioWare or MS points), the question of whether or not this is a worthwhile purchase is debatable. I would argue that this is a must play because of what the ending reveals to you. It makes the ending to the game as a whole much better. The problem is that the overall flow of the events that bring you to the end are not as thrilling, so it really depends on how much you want the excellent origin story offered here. I do not regret my purchase in the slightest, but for anyone less interested in absorbing the details of the Mass Effect universe, this would be a hard sell. But if you just want to know more or resolve some bitter feelings you've been harboring against the writers since March, buy it right now. Trust me.

Those aren't crows.

Although Origin does not feature a screenshot feature, I ran it through Steam, creating a software platform Voltron, whereby I could take screenshots.