Review: Lucidity

Explore a wonderful landscape inside a child's mind in this 2D platformer/puzzle game. You control the world around a little girl named Sofi, as you follow her through a dream and protect her dark traps on her adventure. While this game seems to be created by an indie developer inspired by Coraline, it was actually created by Lucus Arts, which is a big step from all the Star Wars games the team has put out over the years. I always welcome developers to get creative and go beyond what they're comfortable making. A failure in a new product is better than a mediocre Battlefront 17. The gameplay is simple, Sofi skips along the screen, trying to get to a mailbox with a letter from her Nana, as you place randomly generated pieces to safely get her there. Pieces range from the simple plank and stairs to a more complicated to use fan and slingshot. Every situation calls for a different piece: to jump over something, use the spring shoes, to move up to the next level vertically, use the fan. Each step calls for careful planning to avoid evil animals and thorn pits. While I like this idea of creating your own path, it needs some work. The most complicated pieces were the spring shoes and sling shot, simply because I couldn't see where I was going to land. Almost all deaths were caused by miss judging how far those items were going to launch Sofi. A simple trajectory indicator would have been an easy fix. Puzzle pieces are shown in almost a Tetris fashion with a block in the top right showing what piece is next. The left side has a space for storing a piece for later use which, while it is a great idea, I used rarely. Even though the pieces seem random enough, the game can always predict the exact piece I want next, so storage is never needed. A bigger camera angle or even a movable camera would have been a plus for seeing where Sofi was bound for next. When using the items that move Sofi vertically, it is hard to tell what she is going to jump or fall into. Unfortunately, simple trial and error will work fine for completing a level, considering the paths never change, making this game more about memorization than a puzzler. It may seem weird to talk about hit detection problems in a platformer game, but Lucidity suffers from that too. It is hard to tell when Sofi is going to hit or miss a bad guy. Many enemies can even go through platforms you or the game itself lays out. This can lead to some frustrating and sporadic positioning of pieces to gain some health back in the form of collectible fireflies. Lucidity looks and sounds great, but could have benefited from more testing to make it a product worth owning. The Good: This is a great new product from Lucus Arts and I hope they work on making a sequel soon. Or at least a patch. The musical score is top notch. The Bad: Hard to tell where Sofi is going to go next. Stages can be beaten just by playing it enough times to memorize the whole stage. The Bottom Line: While Lucidity looks new and creative, it lacks polish and control. Just watch a trailer and you'll be set. Review based on the xbox 360 version of the game. P2 is looking for more games to review. Tell me some suggestions here or send me a message.

Review: Guitar Hero 5

Let me just start off by saying this: I don't care about Kurt Cobain or Johnny Cash being in this game. Think what you want about the issues involved here but I'm just going to pretend it never happened.

Anyways, Guitar Hero 5, though it's the 12th game in the series (not counting Van Halen because it's technically not out yet) is exactly what you'd expect. Activision gives you a bunch of new and old songs to jam through with your plastic controllers, hitting the right note at the right time. Same old song and dance here. But what did impress me about this game, is that the developers seem to pay attention what works and what doesn't, making everything shiny and seemingly flawless. Out with the mess and in with the good but it seems that some bad habits are hard to get rid of.

When first launching the game, you'll notice you have two options now. One is to head into the normal main menu where you'll find all the different play modes and so forth. However, the other is Party Play. Ever want to play that song in the background of the main menu? Now you can! Simply pick your instrument , your difficulty and that's it. They've even put hyper speed in the quick menu, for good measure. You'll play song after song, which as the name suggests, is perfect for a party. Did your buddy come in too late for an awesome guitar solo? No problem; your pal can set up just as easily as you did even though you're in the middle of a song. Dropping out to get some food after hours of playing is the same deal, back out and your buddy can jam without you, though it is still just as awkward to play alone as it ever has been. This is one of those features that I don't understand why it was never there before. For a game that involves so much playing together as a band, why was there never a mode for instantly jumping in to play with all your friends? I find this feature mandatory for any rhythm game sequel to come, whether it be Guitar Hero or Rock Band.

However, if you rather not play "Hungry Like a Wolf" as your first song, jump into quick play which is nice enough to have all the songs unlocked already. While this is great to, once again, play instantly with your friends, it renders career mode useless. Well, unless you're a big fan of unlocking venues and new clothes for your created character, then go for it but don't expect a killer story line here. It seems Activision has run out of rags to riches stories already.

The only thing that inspired me to go through with career mode were the challenges. Each song has a different challenge for a select instrument or for the band to complete as a group. Each challenge can range from highest score, to strumming up and down an entire song or even how long can you whammy a note for. Instead of simply beating a song, this is the new way to unlock items and cheats which adds to the difficulty and replay ability. The only problem is that unless you're playing with a person on every instrument, you'll have to go back a couple of menus to change what you're playing if you're not using the instrument assigned to the challenge. Quick instrument change is available only in Party Play for some odd reason and would be very valuable to have here.

Probably my favorite new feature is the ability to play whatever instrument you want, no matter if someone else is playing it. I finally won't be stuck with bass while all the better players play the hardest guitar songs. Want 4 guitars at once? Go for it. This is another great feature for parties, leaving no person left out of some incredible musical game play. Just another feature that should be added to all games to come.

Now here's the bad news: besides the features listed above, this is still plain old Guitar Hero. The crowd meter and star power are still way too small to see, the crowd is a copy and pasted three characters over and over again, and songs are hit and miss. There has to be some classic songs still out there that haven't been used yet and did I seriously play couple keyboard notes on my guitar controller? You can do better than that, Guitar Hero. Not to mention that the only way to use star power on drums is to hit the two cymbals at the same time, ruining my x4 streak and nullifying the point of trying for a x8 multiplier. There has to be an easier way.

Other messes that the developers left behind are in the music studio and create a character. While both have a ton of options to choose from to create exactly what you want, they're still poorly put together and hard to use. For the next rendition, they should work on the customization aspects of the game.

Some new, some old, all together Guitar Hero 5 is on the right track to make a great game. It's not perfect, but it's getting closer to making me want to spend my money on buying it. With some better choice in music and refined customization, Guitar Hero could be as good as it was back in 2005.

The Good:
All the new features make this rendition the best one for playing with friends. Quick switching instruments and difficultly should have always been in the series.

The Bad:
Customizations are hard to use and songs selection could be better. Please find less songs that I have to play the keyboard part for. But if I do, make a keyboard controller or something.

The Awkward (because it has to be said):
Kurt Cobain, Johnny Cash and an interview with DJ AM in the trailer for DJ Hero.

The Bottom Line:
This edition seems to be simply a test of some good new features. Just needed a little more work before they sold it.

This review is based off the xbox 360 version of the game.

P2 likes to play as his avatar. Judge me how you wish about this.

Review: Trine

Trine is a beautiful fairy tale type game where you follow three characters that are spiritually bound together after touching an ancient artifact known as the Trine. Controlling either the dexterous Thief, lovable oaf Knight or the cunning Wizard, make your way through a 2D world of tricky puzzles and undead baddies.

First of all, Trine is gorgeous. Even if you don't have high quality graphics turned on, you'll spend half of your time playing just staring at the backgrounds. Varying from hidden wood lands to mystic temples, the setting always looks like a labor of love. You'll feel like you're in a far off land, in a well known tale about three brave heroes. The music also ties in nicely,a mix of harmonious harps and valiant trumpets; something a royal kings own court would play. Along with the deep voiced narrator, this is one of the best story book games, though there's not much competition in that field.

Most puzzles rely on the well made physics engine built into the game. Most objects fall, break and collide as the should and each puzzle can usually be solved in more than one way or with a different character, adding to the replay-ability. The only problems I've found are the times the physics don't work according to plan and in the difficulty scale of the puzzles. Most physics puzzles will be solved with the Wizard creating a box or a metal plank to balance something on and while creating the items are easy, turning and maneuvering the items exactly how you want has some issues. The best way I've found is to bounce it off the ceiling or floor but shouldn't there be a better way? Then there's the puzzle's difficulty. While all the puzzles are fun, they never change in difficulty from beginning to end. I was never stumped for more than a minute or two on the hardest ones but I guess being able to solve a puzzle three or more different ways can cause this problem. Just don't expect something like Professor Layton here.

The characters themselves are great. Each add their own view to the story through commentary made between them and control very differently. Wizard pretty much solves everything and leads the storyline along, the Thief is great for ranged attacks and for general maneuverability, and the Knight just kills everyone and smashes things. By kill everyone, I mean kill undead skeletons mostly. Which is a problem, considering when you've seen one sword wielding skeleton, you've seen all the game has to offer. Enemies only vary from normal skeleton to skeleton with shield to skeleton with slightly more armor to,(one of the bosses) a very large skeleton. Not only that, they come in waves of about 20 at a time and after killing them, you don't see another bad guy for at least 5 to 10 minutes. This game would be much better if they would at least put in, i don't know, trolls, wolves, witches; something medieval-ish.

Trine is good puzzle brawler, if you will, that delivers an interesting story line and looks beautiful doing it. Plus it's only $20! Can't beat that.

The Good:
Looks amazing, great story and puzzles are genuinely fun.

The Bad:
Wizard needs some refined controlling and the difficaulty never ramps up as uch as it should. Give me something else to kill besides a skeleton! Please Trine?

The Bottom Line:
With puzzles having more than one way to be solved and an purely astounding visuals, you can't go wrong.

Review based on the PC version of the game.

P2 is looking for suggestions for games again. Send me a message or reply in this thread some ideas. Also, I made a blog with all my reviews on it. Check the link in my profile.

Updated! Whoo hoo!

Alright, that should be everything so far. I'm still looking for ideas though on games to review. Any suggestions?

Review: WET

In WET, you follow Rubi, a hardcore assassin who only wants to kill more people and make money doing it. Using "Rubi Vision", slow-motion shoot and stab your way through enemy after bloody enemy.

The focus here is on feeling like you're watching a b-rate movie, with cheap actors and film grain running through the whole movie. There's even refreshment stand commercials where loading screens should be, which is much better than simply waiting as you watch a still image of what is to happen next like in most recent games. While WET achieves the setting very well, it's not enough to cover up the terrible graphics. The voice syncing with characters is terrible but the actor themselves took this job seriously as the spoken words are on par with movie actors. Maybe it's supposed to look like it was made on a low budget, but that's just not going to cut it in the HD age.

Speaking of cutting, the sword play is better than I thought after playing the demo. After each level, you have a chance to upgrade your sword, guns and even gain more acrobatic skills. Though sword and aerobatic skills are always better when upgraded, the only weapon you'll need to upgrade are Rubi's revolvers. The other guns (shotgun, semi-automatic and an explosive crossbow) just aren't as useful as fully upgraded pistols, though the explosive gun does come in handy for some boss fights.

"Boss fights" are usually reaction time presses which is really disappointing but when you really do shoot someone, it's always a challenge are you're usually getting shot at by one or more Gatling guns while trying to block the doors so enemies can't attack from all your other sides. If this sounds repetitive, it is, but all the levels are designed so well that it feels like you've never seen any of these enemies before. Each level requires a different way of stopping enemies from flooding the room and you will need every aerobatic skill you have to stop them.

Using "Rubi Vision" is about the only way to play the game. When you jump, slide or wall run your way through the level, Rubi manually locks onto one enemy while you control the other gun with right control stick. A smart way around dual wielding weapons and makes being surrounded by enemies seem less frightening. I recommend this auto lock-on system to be in other games in the future as it could create for some more creative levels and harder enemies.

I was surprised to see how much aerobatics actually take place in WET. The demo really doesn't show any, but it is a big part of how you travel through the game. Most levels need to be traversed by either free running roof top to roof top or jumping in and out of rooms. They provide nice breaks in between scenes of shooting and help create the illusion that you're not just doing the same thing you did in the last level, even though you really are.

I don't know where they found the bands for this game's soundtrack, but they need to go on tour together. The music fits perfectly with the mood and how it's supposed to be a b-movie. A mix of ska and punk rock, with very grudge type beats. I'm not sure if the soundtrack is out for this game, but if it is, I recommend getting it.

The only problem I have with buying this game is the replay-ability. After beating the game, you receive some cool unlockable trading card looking bios on each character; interesting but not really useful more than once. The only options of actual game play after beating WET are Challenge Rooms where you test your skill with each weapon on a target and a points trial type mode where you rerun of every level in order to get the highest score possible. Might help to justify a second play of the game but I did not see it as a good enough reason.

You won't be disappointed for at least renting WET. It's completely different from anything out there. The only comparison I can think of is Stranglehold but that's only for the slow-motion shooting aspect. If you like shooting and feeling bad ass, and I can't understand why you wouldn't, check it out.

The Good:
Great shooter with some awesome level design, puzzle solving aerobatics and one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard.


The Bad:
Get's repetitive real fast and behind the mask of grain effect are some terrible graphics. Not much to do after you beat it.


Bottom Line:
Rent. You're really missing out if you don't. Play once, enjoy every moment of it and move on to something else.


Review based on the xbox 360 version of the game.

P2 is a sucker for the b-movie feel. Just to put it out there.

Review: 'Spolsion Man

It's good to see developers haven't forgotten about good, old fashioned 2-D platformers like Mario and Metrod, even if this game is in "2.5-D". The game follows a very wacky character named, creatively enough, 'Splosion Man, who's only power is "sploding" himself three times in a row in order to pass through the many obstacles the secret lab that contains him holds. Jumping, wall bouncing and killing evil scientist along the way is only a plus.

I couldn't help but to think about old WB cartoons like Animaniacs or Loony Toons when playing this game. It focuses on the humor and silliness that simply comes from destroying everything and looking goofy doing it. Honestly, what more can you ask? 'Splosion Man's childish demeanor sings to anyone that frankly wants to bounce around sounding like an airplane. I great throw back to anyone who grew up watching Bugs Bunny, like me.

However, while the game's main character is pretty ridiculous, the actual game play is anything but child's play. 'Splosion man does a nice job introducing new ideas like bouncing off walls and blowing up explosive barrels by acquainting you slowing to each task. But actually timing every single task right will require many replays just to memorize the pattern of what comes next. The great idea of easy to learn, hard to master certainly applies here.

However, that's not to say that once you get stuck on a level, you put down the game forever. Die enough times and the game gives the option of "The Way of the Coward". Selecting this allows you to move on to the next level and come back later. You may not get to keep your score for the skiped level but it does avoid too much frustration from just barely missing the timing. Fair warning though, you'll have to wear a tutu until you complete a level.

Without spoiling too much, I'd like to say boss battles are just as creative and memorable as the game itself but also just as tedious and frustrating as you will die multiple times before understand what to do. These too can be passed like regular levels, so don't fret too much if you can't find that weak point.

Unfortunately, there is little replay value to this game. Sure, there's finding the hidden cake in each level but it's really only for achievement points. There's also multiplayer but it is little more than the same levels over again but built to make everyone work as a team. I didn't find either option to be an appealing reason to go back and play levels over again.

'Spolsion Man is one of the best xbox arcade games out there right now. Platforming has been over looked for a long time now but I hope this is the start some new titles to come.

The Good:
A great addition to anyone's platforming repertoire. Though it is challenging, frustrating levels can be played again later making the first play through enjoyable beginning to end.

The Bad:
There really isn't much of a point for playing the game again. Camera can be a problem sometimes. $10 seems a little steep for the game.

Bottom Line:
You won't be sorry for getting 'Splosion man. It's a great game start to finish but after finishing it, there's really nothing left to do but 'splode some more.

Review based on the xbox 360 version, and I believe, the only version of the game. Sorry Sony and Nintendo people.

P2 loves missiles even more after playing this. Play the first boss and you'll know why.

Review: Darkest of Days

World War I with assault rifles? Sounds interesting right? Maybe even similar Time Splitters. Well, the only thing those games share are the graphics.

Darkest of Days follows Alexander Morris, an soldier from Custer's last stand who becomes MIA when Kronotek picks him up right before he dies. And that's the catch; help Kronotek find the Father of Time and help correct history or be sent back to right before you die. So you are sent through some of the world's greatest battles like WWI and the Civil War, in order to find important people and save history to avoid ruining history forever.

Every level begins with the firecracker-like snap of the warp portals that get real annoying real fast. You're dropped some where close to a huge battle and will have to fight wave after wave until you get to one check point,then another then hike all the way back into a warp portal for the next rendition of this. It gets boring real fast with almost no other missions than "your at point A, charge through an entire army then get to point B". I'm not kidding about the entire army thing though. It wasn't unusual to have 100's of NPC's on screen at once, which would have been awesome to behold if I wasn't worried about how many more bullets I can actually take.

The health system is flawed. The red, blood splattered screen isn't good enough to show how much health you have left. At times, you seem invincible and other times you can only take about 3 shots. Don't even get me started on hit detection, it's not there.

Also, the reload system is just awful. There is a timed reload, kind of like in Gears of War, that rewards you with a faster reload if you get it right. However, the speed for this meter is completely random and seems to just pick whether or not you actually timed it right. Most guns don't take much longer to reload without this anyways so it's basically pointless.

The only genuinely good parts are listening to your often humorous partner, Dexter and anytime you get a futuristic gun to mow down enemies. Why you can't get these weapons every time you have 15 Confederate soldiers shooting at you, I have no idea.

To wrap it all up, the graphics look like it was made last generation and the voice actors seem to think they're just talking to one another in a conference room. I'll give that the story line was pretty good and messing with history can be as interesting as taking rocket launchers to the Old West but at the asking price and number of errors the game throws at you, it's just not worth the hassle.

The Good:
Futuristic assault rifles during the cowboys and Indians times is pretty sweet. The writer for Dexter should have written the whole script.

The Bad:
This game looks and feels like it was made 5 or 6 years ago and tedious tasks are just annoying. It isn't worth doing the mission just to go onto another one to do the same thing.

Bottom Line:
Play the demo if you're really set on playing this. It covers everything good in the game and only has one task so it won't get boring. Otherwise, avoid and don't buy.

This review is based on the PC version of the game on normal.

P2 would like you to know that the hardest difficulty is called "With Chest Hair".