Outcry

Outcry is definitely different. The designers created a unique atmosphere to the game by depicting it visually as an old, grainy film throughout the entire game. While the different chapters are depicted in different color themes, they are all washed with the same overall graininess, light fluctuations and wavering lines that run across intermittently. This visual affect makes the whole game seem almost like a memory of times past. The actual time frame of the story is unstated, and could be anytime between the late 19^th century and early 20^th century. This is a strange-looking game, and the story is just as strange to match.

The protagonist’s brother is missing, and is searching his apartment for any clues to his brother’s disappearance. Once he enters the apartment, he listens to a recorded audio message from his brother stating that if he is listening to this message, then the worst must have happened. He then begins to investigate the apartment, and discovers many strange writings and machines. It soon becomes apparent that his brother believed that a form of time travel could be achieved by separating the mind from the body. The rest of the game is spent trying to follow the path taken by his brother.

The story is bizarre, and the setting equally so. Everything is muted and gloomy, and the music is soft and sad, as well. This is a lonely game, on the lines of Myst and The Lighthouse, but even more so. At least in those games there was sunlight.

Like the classic Myst, this is a first-person adventure. The look and type of mechanical puzzles is a little similar to the ones in Syberia, with a sort ofH.G.Wells or Jules Verne feel and appearance to them. The isolation is furthered by the soft music and minimal sound effects, plus the lack of any real human interaction with other characters. This is a puzzle-driven game, with a mix of inventory-based and mechanical puzzles. These puzzles range from slightly difficult to very difficult. The main challenge with the manipulative mechanical puzzles is that there is an almost total absence of any type of direction while working the puzzle. There is no visual feedback, and only a few times where sounds give a few hints. And, to find out if the combination is successful, oftentimes the player will have to leave the location and see if anything is happening elsewhere. I admit, I used a walkthrough to get past a few of the lever and handle ones.

The story centers on a mystical separation of mind and body, which supposedly can enable a type of time travel. This story is interesting, but is cluttered with too many different ideas on this subject. Dolmens (ancient stone buildings), Freud and Jung, and even botany are among the many subjects that are presented to further the story. By introducing so many different reasons for the possibility of time travel, the story becomes a confusing mixture of separate parts, rather than a cohesive whole.

This is a Russian designed game and has been translated into English for the North American market. The translation is bad, but is not as jarring as in Sinking Island, as most of the language is written rather than spoken. I did have to laugh at the “antic potsherds,” though. Makes you wonder what they were getting up to, huh? What was really funny about that phrase was the fact it was spoken in a straight manner by the person reading it in English. Most of the papers can be read silently, but sometimes there is a mandatory reading of the material. This narrator didn’t seem to have accented English, but he couldn’t have been a native English speaker, unless he was a robot. There were many other strange wordings. What does it mean to “couch” a plant in a greenhouse? Is this a real botanical term?

Finding the different clues and items can be a little challenging. Hunting for things is quite difficult, as everything is the same color and dark, and sometimes things are found at odd viewpoints, in corners of the screen or way down on the floor. The camera viewpoints are narrow and players can only see one aspect of an area at a time in most locations. Also, sometimes things have interactive icons, but can’t be used yet until something else is done. Many clues to solve different puzzles are tucked away in dry readings about psychology and plants, so it is important to not skip reading everything that is found.

The puzzles are the best feature of the game in terms of enjoyment, and are well-integrated with the story and are mostly logical. There is never a feeling that they are inserted solely to exist; they all have a purpose. While there should have been more direction and feedback for these puzzles, most people who really like fiddling with levers and the like will not have too much of a problem.

Outcry is indeed a unique and stylish game, and as such, is worth a try for players who enjoy these types of first-person adventures that are heavy on the mechanical puzzles and light on the dialogue. I found the story confusing and a little dull with all the required reading, but others may really enjoy it. This is much more my husband’s type of game rather than mine; he’s a Mystguy and I’m a Monkey Island girl. For the right person, this is the right game. The price is right, too, at $20.

Overall: 6.5
Even though Outcry looks and sounds pretty good, looks don’t make a game. It has to be fun and interesting, too. While there are many aspects of this game that are interesting, there are also many times when the gameplayis boring and lackluster. The story as a whole just doesn’t appeal or resonate, and the writing is bad. Making people listen to the same spoken passages every time they look at some of the entries is not ideal, either. The diary is a large pain to try to read while the narrator is droning on and on. The only solution is to turn off the sound. The puzzles are very good for the most part, but getting the required pieces and clues isn’t always all that fun. On the other hand, gamers that enjoy solving mechanical puzzles in a solitary game setting will enjoy this game, despite the problems.

Warhammer: Mark of Chaos - Battle March

While not the first Warhammer RTS to hit the market, NAMCO BANDAI’s Warhammer: Mark of Chaos did a pretty good job of emulating the feel and style of the popular tabletop strategy title. While the game was not without its flaws, it was still a fun title for Warhammer enthusiasts looking for a solid, non-40K Warhammer RTS. Now, NAMCO BANDAI is launching the first retail expansion pack for March of Chaos, titled Battle March.

Warhammer: Mark of Chaos – Battle March adds mostly requisite features to the original title, like a new campaign, new classes, and a new multiplayer mode. Battle March’s new campaign has you playing from the evil point of view, in the shoes of the orcs and the dark elves as they vie to destroy humanity. While the new elements are intriguing, the expansion still falls prey to the main issues that plagued the original, namely linear gameplay and a dearth of gameplay options. Plus, the expansion oftentimes feels like it treads the same ground as the original game, which will lead many players to find that the game doesn’t add much to the formula, even with the added features.

Battle March’s new campaign puts you in control of Gorbash, an orc who is freed from slavery by a dark elf to become a Warboss and defeat the forces of the Empire. The game does a great job of presenting the Warhammer universe in a faithful way, including the colorful orc units complete with cockney drawls and poor grammar. Fans of Warhammer will definitely be pleased with the way the game handles the dark humor and subject matter.

For those who skipped out on the original Mark of Chaos, the game presents a different approach to the real-time strategy genre. Whereas resource gathering and building factors in quite heavily with other titles in the genre, that doesn’t play a part in Mark of Chaos. You deal mostly with managing your predetermined units on the field, using their specific strengths in order to properly dispose of your enemies without getting destroyed first.

The focus shift from resources to action is a welcome change for the RTS genre, and worked fairly well in the original Mark of Chaos. Unfortunately, in the new orc campaign in Battle March, the formula’s problems are more apparent, like the linearity of the missions. There’s not a lot of room to play differently in Battle March, as most of the stages will simply walk you from point A to point B without much exploring in between.

Additionally, the campaign missions feel far too similar to what players of the original game have already done. The game essentially retreads the same areas and situations as the original game, albeit with the added orcish twist. While the orc units do have a funny charm when compared to the Empire characters, it’s still annoying to play through the same dull missions.

Graphically, the game hasn’t been changed in the one and a half years since the original launched, which is not a good thing as far as PC titles go. The character models are very simplistic, and the environments have lost their luster.

The sound effects are also not far removed from the original game, although the music is pretty good and the voice work isn’t bad. The orc voice acting can get a bit grating, unfortunately, as they’ll often repeat themselves.

Warhammer: Mark of Chaos – Battle March offers the additions that you’d expect from an RTS expansion, like new races, modes, and so on. However, the new features don’t really feel like they add much to the formula, making the expansion feel quite stagnant, even if you’re a fan of the Warhammer universe.

Battle March comes bundled with the original Mark of Chaos game.

Overall: 6.5
Battle March adds some new features here and there, but doesn’t really add much incentive for players to jump back in, and the dated feel will probably prevent newcomers from taking the plunge.

Igor

When I first viewed the trailer for the movie Igor I instantly thought it was a spiritual sequel to A Nightmare Before Christmas. The character designs and art style of Igor reminded me of the Tim Burton classic so I was intrigued to play the PC game. Even though my interest in seeing the movie is still high the game has definitely left me with a lasting memory. Unfortunately that memory is more of a nightmare than a holly jolly Christmas-morning lucid dream.

Igor is your typical platform game that you probably expect with a movie-based game. You control Igor and three of his creations as you explore the land of Malaria (yes, Malaria) on the quest to win the annual Evil Science Fair. Each character in the game has its own unique powers and abilities to help you on your quest. Igor is a standard character with decent power but with a special wand/rod he can use to attack and connect with various locks throughout the world. Eva is Igor’s latest creation that hasn’t worked out the way Igor imagined. Instead of being an evil-menacing creature, Eva is now a lighthearted lady who doesn’t have an evil bone in her body. Scamper is a rabbit-like creature with huge ears, which can shock enemies, that can jump extremely high to help you find hard to reach items. Brian is simply just a robot with a brain that can shoot rocket-like projectiles that can register the most damage of all the characters.

All of the characters are interesting and have a very unusual yet appealing look to them. Even with the interesting characters the game itself just falls flat, really flat. You’ll find yourself just running around stages picking up items and fighting monsters. Sure, that sounds like typical stuff in just about every game on the market but Igor doesn’t offer anything interesting to make you want to keep playing. Most of the items you collect in the game are used to unlock additional parts of a stage. Yet you’re still collecting other items but you never really know why.

The layout of all the stages feels very repetitive no matter how many different creatures the game throws out at you. The game flows like this for what seems like every level: Fight monsters, collect items to unlock next part of stage, collect more items and then fight the boss. Repeat, repeat and repeat for every stage and you get the idea. To make matters even worse, the game has a terrible camera angle that can’t be adjusted and gets in the way of the action many times. It’s hard to enjoy a game when you’re trying desperately to move the camera angle because you can’t see where the enemies are coming from or where your characters are going.

Probably the only true positive part of the gameplay is the ability to switch between the four different characters during the game. All of the characters are on the screen at the same time and you can switch between them at anytime with a simple press of a button. As I mentioned earlier each character has its own unique abilities that will help you locate items in the game. Each character definitely feels and plays differently and you will find yourself switching characters repeatedly. Eva for smashing down barriers, Igor for unlocking locks, Brian for firing off missiles and Scamper for jumping. Unfortunately the description sounds more exciting than the actual gameplay.

In the end Igor ends up being that typical movie-based video game that we used to hate playing. Sure the key ingredients are included such as playing as the four main characters and having a solid look that mimics the movie. However, the game probably should have stayed in the oven a little bit longer since the gameplay is a repetitive mess that never comes together. If you enjoy the movie then you’ll probably find something to enjoy with the game. However, if you want to play the game first before seeing the movie, like me, then you might want to try and forget the game a few days before the movie.

Overall: 5.9
The presentation of the game does a decent job of sucking you in while the gameplay tries hard to push you away. Sure, sometimes you have to take the good with the bad and when you do Igor ends up being an Ok game. Not great and definitely not perfect. For the younger audience Igor will probably be a game to keeps them entertained for hours on end, especially if they went to see the movie.

There were many things that went through my mind while playing NHL 2K9, and many ways I had planned to intro this review. But when it came down to it, only one thing mattered: did 2K Sports succeed in bringing the fun back to hockey? That answer, while worthy of a “yes” in simple terms, is much more complex given the wide spectrum of gamers in the world and the wide audience 2K Sports is trying to reach.

Starting fresh with the controls, the developers wanted to create a style that players could enjoy the first time they picked up the controller. Contrary to the reiterated reports that three key buttons (shoot, pass and check) would be all you’d need to get through a game, this was only true while playing under the default controller setting. If simplicity isn’t your bag, NHL 2K9 offers semi-pro and analog stick-oriented schemes that feel closer to the hockey game that it appeared the developers were trying to leave behind.

The new scheme – now labeled “classic” under 2K Sports’ current direction – is not that far from Midway’s NHL Hitz series. Wrist shots are executed with a simple tap of the X button; hold and release X to perform a slap shot. Passing, dumping, speed boosts and backwards skating have all been assigned to specific buttons. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

The presentation of pre-game and in-between play effects has become one of the most competitive areas of sports game design. NHL 2K9 ups the ante by adding to the already existing slate of realistic animations. Before each player starts skating onto the ice, the arena goes dark with only spotlights and specific areas lit. Then, right on the ice, a projector shines cool images, highlighting the home team while exciting the crowd.

Player faces are more detailed and thus more prominent, though still not comparable to the standout character models of the NBA 2K series. Player interactions have been fine-tuned to more closely match the way real hockey athletes perform on the ice. Excluding a few bad moments (part of a player's body occasionally disappears when colliding with another), the way they skate, shoot, check, spin and turn around is very natural. When pulling a 180 after rushing the nut, the player must physically slow down as he turns around. The reaction isn't instant, which leans toward the simulation side of the game.

NHL 2K9's controls are good but contain many contradictions. One-timers do not lead to easy goals – a wise development choice. Slap shots, however, can be achieved without much work so long as you are not blocked by other players and stand directly in front of the goaltender. This might be somewhat accurate (it's not uncommon to feel like a real hockey match was lost because the goaltender was the only one protecting the net). But you'd think that if someone wound a slap shot long enough, the goalie would reposition himself and be prepared to stop the puck. During overtime shootouts, this is very much the case. But in an average game against any average team, the key to winning is often that center position.

Additionally, players move faster than a simulation hockey game but are slower than an arcade title. That isn't a problem unless you wanted one or the other; if a mix is acceptable, NHL 2K9 nails it. Though these contradictions may be annoying at times, the only thing that should have been changed before the game shipped – and must be changed before NHL 2K10 is released – is the obnoxious goaltending mechanics employed during shootouts.

Rather than guarding the net intuitively with a couple of basic left and right movements (and perhaps up and down to stop high or low shots), you control a beam that turns green when aimed toward the puck and turns red when aimed away from it. The beam expands from the goalie as a way of showing that it's him you are in control of. But that's never how it feels. Even the slightest push of the left analog stick is met with a clunky jerk that makes specific block maneuvers impossible to pull off. There's a reason for that. If you fail to block the puck via the first cumbersome act, a second one appears: now you have to drag a puck cursor toward the circular target on screen to prevent the puck from landing in the net. Aside from being a mini-game within a hockey title, it really doesn't have anything to do with the sport, and hardly falls under the category of pick-up-and-play.

Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda commentary is a significant improvement, not just for the NHL 2K series but for the entire sports genre. The two sound generally excited about each play, even though their non-specific wording (they often say "he" instead of "[enter player name]") frequently sounds no more advanced than sports commentary was 10 years ago. What's really impressive is how varied their lines are and how rarely they repeat themselves compared to previous iterations. However, the developers should know that the game doesn't need commentary during every second of play. There are a lot of unnecessary lines (ex: how the players are struggling to hit the net when only a couple of shots have been taken) that appear to have been included to avoid having any period where the commentators are silent. But silence would have been preferred – when you've got music pumping in between plays (sometimes humorously but always effectively) and loads of sound effects that mimic the sport well, a commentary breather wouldn't have been looked at poorly.

TNA iMPACT!

Total Nonstop Action. That’s what the “TNA” in TNA iMPACT! stands for. It implies that the game you’re about to play is one of extreme entertainment – a fighter on overdrive that doesn’t take slow for an answer. If not that, then surely its title should embody the very essence that permeates the TNA franchise, a wrestling group that is known for its intense, expertly choreographed battles and unique Ultimate X competition.

Upon its unveiling last October, it appeared that TNA iMPACT! was set to achieve all of the above. It wouldn’t just be a licensed wrestling game – no, this was the game to crush Smackdown Vs. Raw, stomp on it like Christian Cage and choke it like AJ Styles. Speed wasn’t a concern because TNA iMPACT! played faster than any other wrestling game available.

Fast-forward to September 2008, the moment when the game was finally released. Featuring a small but respectable lineup of play modes, TNA iMPACT! comes with Standard Match, Tag Team, Free For All, Ultimate X, Ultimate X FFA (1 vs. 1 vs. 1), Submission, Handicap (1 vs. 2), FCA Match (falls count anywhere), and FCA Match Tag, along with a story mode that focuses on a fictitious star-in-the-making, Suicide. The dialogue isn’t good (cheesy voice acting makes it worse), and neither is the premise. But the presentation is very clever.

Just before Suicide’s battle for World Champion, two masked men bust into the locker room and demand that he takes a fall. Being the tough, does-whatever-he-wants kind of guy that he is, Suicide pretends to listen but scoffs after the two men leave. He goes ahead with his own plan – to win the fight – and earns the new title. Later that night, the masked men catch up with him and all but rip his face off.

Enter the game’s clever moment: Suicide’s face is going to be reconstructed and you get to play doctor. This player creation feature isn’t nearly as robust as those featured in EA’s sports games, but it’s good enough for a story mode (not so good elsewhere though). Now you’ve got to work your way back to the top. As a new version of Suicide, you’ll enter low-level matches that’ll make him miss his days as a champion.

Without having last year’s press-only demo in hand, there’s no way to judge the two for certain. But if my memory of that great experience is correct, the final game is actually slower than the first playable build was 11 months ago.

From a wrestling perspective, and perhaps when thinking about the competition and the gamer you’re trying to reach, this might have been a wise move. TNA is pretty fast, but this isn’t a sport that’s known for speed, not even when pre-choreographed. If the developers were seeking realism, or hoping to appeal to fans of Smackdown Vs. Raw, slow may have been the way to go.

But as a part of the fighting genre (which wrestling games very much are), speed is crucial. It’s not only vital to the first time you play the game – faster and more exciting games tend to invigorate us more than those that drag – but also to the long-term replay value. In that respect, TNA iMPACT! seriously erred.

Variety is another area that can make or break a fighting game. The most perfect combat system in the world means nothing if every combatant controls the same. Likewise, you can’t make a good game out of 30 fighting styles if none of them are fun to utilize. On that note, TNA iMPACT! leans toward the first approach, minus perfection. It has a solid (albeit flawed) combat system that encourages players to execute a series of grapples, jump attacks, ground assaults, and the familiar Irish Whip. One special finishing move is applied to each wrestler, which is stellar.

What’s not, however, is that the variety ends there. Individually, most wrestlers feel the same. The basic move set lets you grab (Y button), kick (A), punch (X), counter (RB), run (RT), and modify (LB). The B button functions as your action command, allowing you to pick up weapons, tag in a teammate, climb onto the apron, and so on. When combined with a modifier, attack buttons yield other types of assaults, but that’s about the end of your move set.

Each wrestler has access to the iMPACT! (finishing move) meter, which is filled by attacking and unleashed with a simple button tap after getting your opponent in a head hold. On the opposite end, players also have to worry about their stun meter filling every time they are hit. Once full, your wrestler will be stunned and unable to move or attack. To get out of this mess, quickly push the left stick back and forth until the negative effect wears off. This mechanic is also used to get out of a pin.

Reversals are an exercise in following the on-screen commands. During a submission hold, two button sets appear on screen, one for each player. If the wrestler being held enters the correct code, he breaks free; if the wrestler doing the submission enters the right code, he inflicts more damage. It’s a crazy system that just might have worked 15 years ago when we didn’t know that fighting games could do better. In today’s world, it merely feels like a mini-game collection.

Wrestler animations differ slightly, and their aesthetics are wonderfully close to the real TNA stars. But toss them into the virtual ring and they become clones of each other. More often than not, your opponent will defeat you with the same moves you used (or intended to use) because that’s all that is available to him.

This could be intentional – in hopes of reaching the broadest audience possible, the developers may have wanted to avoid making a game that was deep and potentially offensive to players that don’t want to dedicate any amount of time or skill to the experience. But to everyone else, especially diehard TNA fans, this could be the reason they aren’t playing this game for many years to come.