Review: 3D Dot Game Heroes

Posted on June 16, 2010 by Andyb0y

Games today seem too easy by the standards of the 8-bit era of gaming. Yes there are difficulty levels but they provide more frustration than actual challenges. Failing because of inadequate design in the games difficulty instead of the gamer not quite figuring out a certain way to get past a section is frustrating to the ego. Finally, Atlus and From Software comes through with a near perfect ode to 8-bit gaming with 3D Dot Game Heroes.

Sage wants to be poked?

The story is pretty simple. Dotnia is in trouble and it is up to you, the descendent of the hero that defeated The Dark King to do it all over again. 3D Dot Game Heroes is so close to a Legend of Zelda clone it’s scary. From the music, dungeons, right down to the enemies. Turning on the game for the first time, they warmed my childhood heart with the 8-bit style loading screen. Everything about this game screams 8-bit. Don’t let that fool you into think it looks terrible, the art is wonderfully rendered with everything designed from gorgeous 3-D blocks. Objects as well as enemies explode in a way that would make all the Lego games proud.

3D Dot Game Heroes blocky

3D Dot Game Heroes has a very robust character creator so you can make your own personalized hero. Of course if you don’t want to spend 8 hours making the perfect Link, you can use the many pre-made designs the game has to offer. You can also download creations from people all over the world by going to the Hall of Heroes online and choose from hundreds of entries. You can even submit your own creations to share with the world. It might be a pain for some to download a new character to a USB thumb drive and transfer it to the PS3 but I see it as not troublesome at all.

Combat is simplistic enough. You have your sword and your shield….what more do you need? Oh, I forgot that this is a Zelda clone. Ok, you also get a boomerang, bow and arrows, bombs, and a hook shot to round out your equipment. Spells can also be acquired by recovering the each of the 6 Orbs of Light in the game. After recovering the Orb from beating the guardian protecting it, returning it to the Sage responsible for the Orb will grant you powers from it. Reflect, Freeze and Fire are some of the spells you will receive by retrieving the Orbs. Swords can be upgraded by going to a Blacksmith and paying for such upgrades as strength, width, length, spin, pierce and the ability to shoot a projectile. Different swords can have different upgrade paths as well as Max Potential, or how far you can upgrade the sword before no further upgrades can be done. It prevents the player from maxing all categories for one sword thus rendering the whole upgrade system broken.

You may be wondering why some of the upgrades are length and width. Well, we all know bigger and longer is always better, right ladies? In 3D Dot Game Heroes, when at Max Health, your sword is at its full potential and fills ¼th of the screen. The more you upgrade, the further it covers the screen. You could actually sit in the middle of the screen and spin around as you attack to kill everything fully upgraded. Unfortunately, when not at full health, you are stuck with an average sized sword. This makes staying at Max Health a good way to challenge yourself since having a sword that covers the whole screen makes boss fights easier

Speaking of easy, 3D Dot Game Heroes will fool you into thinking the game is easy. The first 3 Temples are a cakewalk. Everything past that is when the challenges start. The Temples get more complicated with more floors to explore as well as challenging puzzles to solve. Trying to shoot an arrow at a switch while getting shot at by 4 pillars is a test in dexterity. Besides the Temples, there are plenty of side quests to do in the game as well as finding all the treasure chests, secret caves, and filling your Bestiary. The Bestiary is a book you can acquire that you can enter enemies into to as you come across them. Entering the enemies is actually a pain to do. You need to equip the Bestiary and continuously smack the enemy you want in the book. Not my idea of fun but for some it might be.

From Software delivered on a near perfect 8-bit experience for all the old gamers out there but for the newcomers to this style of gameplay might have a hard time getting into 3D Dot Game Heroes. A great game for a decent price makes this game something to have in your collection right next to your NES games.

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Review: Lost Planet 2

Posted on May 19, 2010 by Andyb0y

With all the nagging issues people had with the original Lost Planet, it was still an enjoyable game for most. Think Capcom listened to the cries of gamers worldwide and fixed the issues that they had with Lost Planet in Lost Planet 2? Not even close…

Lost Planet 2 Turbulent Jungle

How's the view down there boys?

Lost Planet 2 takes place 10 years after the events in Lost Planet. Could have fooled me. Nothing about this game feels like it should be a sequel to Lost Planet. Nothing is really mentioned or remotely tied in to the 1st game except it’s on the same Planet and there are Snow Pirates. Even the story is so disjointed that you have no idea what the hell you are doing from chapter to chapter.

Lost Planet 2 Chain Dreadlocks

Umm....what?

Capcom seemed to take a page out of Unreal Tournament’s book in making the campaign mode a multiplayer style map with players running around locking down points and completing some objective. Even worse, this game is NOT to be played single player at all. It’s evident that Capcom wanted you to experience Lost Planet 2 with all of your friends since you have to make a lobby in order to even experience the campaign. You do, however, have the luxury ability of setting up to 3 A.I. players to help you along your single player experience. The A.I. also gets fake Gamertags above their heads to fool you into thinking you are playing with friends. That’s kind of depressing.

Lost_Planet_2_AI_Gamertags

Who needs friends when you have A.I.

Unfortunately the A.I. are complete morons. They are worse than the 12 year old’s spouting racial slurs in Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox Live. Not once did the A.I. do anything at all to help me get through the levels. Most of the time, they were way behind me in the level and I was stuck fending off hordes of baddies while they had tea and crumpets. I was better off going at this campaign by my lonesome.

To make matters worse, none of the issues gamers cried out about were addressed in this so called sequel. Knock back and knock down recovery times are still atrocious. Try throwing a grenade at an enemy while he is shooting you and you end up stuck in an endless animation loop of trying to throw the grenade but never quite getting it. Also, the movement speed is slow enough to make it near impossible to avoid anything in the game. Oh, wait… I have a grappling hook? Maybe I can use that to move around faster and to avoid death. Nope. The thing is completely useless. Just Cause 2 got the whole grapple hook mechanic down, so why couldn’t Capcom just copy that?

Lost Planet 2 Explosion

This is why Cool Guys don't look at explosions

Multiplayer suffers from the same issues that plagued the single player campaign. It is fun to play for about 5 minutes, before the frustrations start to settle in. Not even using powered robotic suits makes playing through this online sludge fun.

The one redeeming quality of this game is how gorgeous things look. The MT Framework 2.0 works wonders on the game’s environment and details of the game’s massive bosses. If you and 3 other buddies are looking for a game to run around and engage in enormous boss battles, this game might be fun… just not at full price. For anyone else, Lost Planet 2 should stay lost on the store shelves forever.

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Review: Dead to Rights: Retribution

Posted on May 14, 2010 by Andyb0y

A cop that kills first, asks questions later teamed with a dog that loves to snack on grown men’s testicles. Hmm… Sounds a bit like a Steven Seagal movie. But instead it’s actually the latest from Namco Bandai.

Dead to Rights: Retribution is a reboot of the series in which Jack Slate (somehow I think of Last Action Hero when I hear that name) is a tough as nails cop in the worst city around, Grant City, where Jack thinks he can clean it up and make the streets safe again for the citizens. Jack’s father, Frank, is the police chief in Grant City and has a trusty dog by the name Shadow that is loyal only to Frank. Investigating a lead in a major crime ring, things go wrong and everything is left up to Jack, with the help of Shadow, to find out the conspiracy that is going on in the police force Jack faithfully serves.

Dead to Rights Retribution Takedown

Someone watched "Out for Justice" one too many times

As you can see, the story is still very empty of any one thing to make it really hard to care too much about it. The game’s presentation looks a little rough and feels like it should be a late PS2 title more than a current gen release. The character models look a little too big in certain features as well as the textures looking a little flat and generic. A perfect example of character models is your dog Shadow. The dog appears on screen to look like a freaking bear more than a Husky. There is also a weird glow around Shadow that makes it seem like the dog was photo-shopped into the game last minute or happens to be The Last Dragon.

Dead to Rights Retribution Bear Dog

What the hell have you been feeding this dog?

Luckily, the controls are simple when it comes to interacting with the game. It’s a simple 3rd person view with your standard shooting mechanic that accompanies such styles. You can also mix it up with melee attacks by using light attacks, heavy attacks, blocks and combos depending on the right order of button presses. I found that the camera was very annoying since it was zoomed a little too much on Jack to the point that it made it hard to see anything sneaking up on you. It is demoralizing to pound on 2 guys in front of you only to be taken out by a guy out of your point of view. Also, the gun play is TERRIBLE. Very limited ammo mixed in with poor aiming controls leads to me just rushing guys and disarming them with a button press followed by one-hit kills with their own weapon to the head. Yes, headshots are instant death for the baddies and the game does slo-mo to let you know you just scored one.

There are also takedown actions you can perform when going fist-to-cuffs against the enemies. These involve beating the enemy to the point where a prompt pops up on the screen prompting you to hit a certain button (‘A’ on the Xbox 360). Once pressed, the game will take over and go through one of the few animated scenes it has for these moves. Although not many, the scenes are down right brutal. Nothing feels better then punting the dirtbag’s head like you are trying to hit the game winning field goal at the Super Bowl.

One of the best parts of the game, sadly, is your dog Shadow. When controlling Jack, you can send Shadow to attack enemies, scout ahead or pick up weapons while you can hide like a coward from the enemies. Dead to Rights: Retribution also had to include missions where you play as Shadow. That’s right. You actually get to play as a freaking dog (Wii fans got this chance years ago with Twilight Princess and PS2 owners with Okami but still…). Most of these missions are meant to be stealth missions since 3 hits will kill the poor canine. Still, you have the ability to see people through walls so you can sneak up on enemies and do a stealth kill. I had so much fun playing as Shadow that I didn’t want the levels to end. Chasing down a guy running away from Shadow while shooting is the BEST thing visually in this game. They need to make a DSi game all about Shadow chasing down enemies and chomping on their nards. Not even the Wolfman would be safe.

Dead to Rights Retribution Shadow Attack

Shouldn't they be running right now?

Ultimately, asking full price for an incomplete feeling of a game is hard to swallow. I am not sure that rebooting the Dead to Right series was a wise choice for Namco Bandai or anything that anyone was really asking for. A little more time with the game and it could have been a solid game to rent and have a fun weekend with. Instead you should probably spend that money on a game for your Mac now that Steam is released.

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Review: Angry Birds

Posted on May 11, 2010 by Andyb0y

Who knew that such a simple concept for a game could be so damn good!?! Angry Birds is, simply put, a physics based 2D game (think Worms) in which the objective is to take out as many of the Pigs that have stolen your eggs as possible by launching the titular Angry Birds into them kamikaze-style using a giant slingshot. Yeah. It sounds crazy but it is also SOOOOO addicting. It might sound like a pretty thin game… and I don’t really care. There is at least the premise that these damn pigs stole the bird’s eggs (possibly to make omelets) so you at least get some motivation for the birds to be so… ANGRY!

Angry Birds Slingshot

But don’t be deceived. There is some depth to Angry Birds. You first start of with the red cardinal-like birds which are your basic soldiers. As you get further in the game, you acquire new birds with various abilities such as the yellow bird that can speed up and spin after launch, a knot of blue birds that split into 3, black birds that explode violently and white birds that drop serious egg bombs (they’re white… get it? Like the crap they leave on your car). Like in other puzzlers such as Bejeweled or Tetris, you don’t get to choose the order in which the birds can be launched which is good since if you could, it would make the puzzles way too easy at times.

Angry Birds White Bird

All the silly nonsense aside (and it does get pretty silly), Angry Birds is instantly addicting and will have you trying to get the top score on every level. Leaderboards help with that because you can redo levels over and over in order to improve your score. I can’t tell you how many times I replayed a level just to try and beat it while using the least amount of birds. iPhone users be warned. I have killed my iPhone battery many of times with Angry Birds. And for only $.99 cents, this game is a MUST for anyone that owns an iPhone or iPod Touch.

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Review: Splinter Cell: Conviction

Posted on April 26, 2010 by Andyb0y

It’s no secret that I never liked the Splinter Cell series mostly due to the way they handle stealth. That being said, I got caught up in the hype for Splinter Cell Conviction and to my surprise, actually liked it. The story this time around for Sam Fisher is that he finds himself looking for his daughter’s killer in hopes to exact revenge from the bastard. He get’s a lead from an old friend that tells Sam that someone has info on the killer’s whereabouts and Sam should go “meet” him. After finding the man and Sam convincing him to talk by smashing his head into various objects (cause we all know a swift blow to the head makes you remember REAL fast), Sam gets tricked back into his old life by people that will not give him info about his daughter until he does a little work for them.

Simplistic in nature, yes, but it works for how well the game is paced. I know some people that are use to the old Splinter Cell games and how it was slower paced, I think the direction Ubisoft went this time around is better for the people, like me, that always wanted to play as Sam Fisher, but in a more action based role versus sneaking in the shadows the whole game. You can still do the stealth approach if that’s what you are into as such is the beauty of this game. Whether you like to bust out that AK-47 and mow baddies down or sneak around like Batman and snap a couple necks, this game lets you do both. I feel this game is enjoyable for long time fans of the series as well as newcomers that have always wanted to play a Splinter Cell game but was thrown off by the steep learning curve of the stealth mechanics.

The game mechanics are good enough to enjoy either stealth or fast paced action. As with every Splinter Cell game, Sam Fisher gets really cool toys to use to take down enemies. Things like EMP grenades, Remote Mines (my fav), and some old staples to the series Sticky Cams and Flashbangs help you in your way through the game. 2 new features in Splinter Cell: Conviction are Mark & Execute and Last Known Position. Mark & Execute is your insta-kill move in which by taking down an enemy using a hand-to-hand takedown move you receive the option to mark up to 4 enemies (depending on what weapon you have equipped). Once marked, you can at any time, as long as the enemies are all in range, hit the execute button and Sam will go into a really cool quick kill animation dropping all the marked enemies with a shot to the head. I understand that this seems like a “Win” button but you can only store 1 use of this move. After that, you have to earn the right to use it again by doing a hand-to-hand takedown. I never really used this more than 5 times during the game. I had more fun dropping from the ceiling with my knee in the enemies face than Mark & Execute.

The other new feature is Last Know Position. Really basic in what it is, it can help you circle around enemies by fooling them into going to the last place they saw you. This kinda makes the A.I. in the game stupid but I guess they have to in order for this feature to work. I again never saw a use for it since I was so good at the game (yeah who believes I am any good at games?). Other things that Ubisoft was showing off in early previews was how they project your objective onto the environment which also doubles as a waypoint since it is projected in the direction you need to go. This made the game feel more cinematic and was a cool way to show you where the next place to Jason Bourne some bastards.

Overall feel of the controls are adequate enough to get the most out of the game although I have to question why Ubisoft thought to make the controls non-changeable as well as having the reload button be pushing the left analog stick in. It takes some getting use to but I still found the location of the reload button awkward. I also had an issue with the movement in Splinter Cell: Conviction. Not sure if it’s just me but the movement in this game felt a little “loose” in the sense that it was precise enough. I would tap over to the right and it would seem Sam would move more than I told him to do. It wasn’t a game breaker but it did make me climb up from a railing a couple of times right into the path of a security camera.

You do get upgrades in this game that carries over to Co-op/Multiplayer. In Splinter Cell: Conviction, you get an assortment of weapons at your disposal and some that unlock as you get further in the game. I found that although I had machine pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, sub-machine guns, I never needed anything but my trusty pistol with a silencer. I did upgrade all my weapons just to do it. The usual upgrades like silencers, laser scopes, bigger clips, stronger ammo, etc are there for you to upgrade your arsenal with. Even when you are in a firefight, all you really need is your gadgets and pistol since Splinter Cell Conviction has the cover system from the Rainbow Six series. Still, it’s nice to have options.

Getting points to spend on upgrades is where the fun was at for me. You have to complete in-game challenges called P.E.C. (Persistent Elite Creation). Challenges range from kill 5 enemies without being detected to make it through a whole level without being detected or firing shot. There are varying levels to each challenge so you can do the same one over and over until you mastered it and cannot gain any more points from it. This is once of the things that has kept me playing this game over and over. I love doing these challenges and I assume that’s what Ubisoft wanted to accomplish with these said challenges. Well done sirs.

The other thing in this game that makes Splinter Cell: Conviction a must buy is Co-op/Multiplayer. I played with a buddy, which is crucial to enjoy co-op to it’s fullest, and had a blast. There are 3 modes (4 if you sign up for U-Play) to co-op that you can enjoy. Campaign, Hunter, Last Stand are your options in what mode you want to play. The Campaign mode has a story that is a prelude to the main story of the game so if you paid attention during the main story, you will like this prelude since it sets up the main story well enough. This mode also has a wonderful ending that will surprise a few of you. Hunter mode is where you go through checkpoints on a map and kill the required amount of enemies at each checkpoint. Alerting the enemies increases the amount you have to eliminate so there is a challenge to be had here. Last Stand is what could be the equivalent of Horde mode in Gears of War 2 which most people are copying now into their games. I feel that most of you will have a lot of fun playing co-op and that it will keep this game in your rotation for games to play with your buddies on a Friday night for weeks to come.

If you have always been a fan of the Splinter Cell series, Conviction might be a step back for you but there is still enjoyment to be had. If you are a new to the series and would like an easy stealth mechanic mixed in with some great action set pieces, this is well worth your time to play.

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Quick View: Netflix on the Wii

Posted on March 26, 2010 by Andyb0y

Lucky me! Just received the disc for running Netflix streaming on the Wii and I take it for a quick spin to show you what it has to offer to you Wii owners that care to dust off your machine and use it for something other than a set piece in your gaming lounge.

Sorry for the um’s and uh’s. I was lacking energy and my brain was having trouble keeping up

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Review: Heavy Rain

Posted on March 15, 2010 by Andyb0y

How far are you willing to go to save your son? No this is not Ransom and you are not Mel Gibson. Instead, you are Ethan Mars. A serial killer going by the name ‘The Origami Killer’ kidnapped your son and will kill him if you do not figure out the clues left behind from the killer in time. I know this is a vague description of the story but even the beginning tutorial level is so good it’s not to be spoiled for people who haven’t played yet.

Ethan Mars

Heavy Rain is a great adventure style game likened to the old Sierra or Lucas Arts adventure games back in the day. Instead of playing as one main character, you are put in the shoes of multiple characters that each has their own story and, depending on what decisions you make, cross paths as well. That is the beauty of Heavy Rain. Each choice you make can drastically change how the story plays out.

Speaking of choices, the way QTE’s (Quick Time Events) are handled are amazing. Not only do they place the icon of what button or motion of the analog stick in an easy to see spot on the screen, it also does so in a way that coincides with the actions going on. There are times where your character is panicking so the buttons or directional movement is wildly moving on the screen. It actually makes you feel what the character on screen is feeling. Not once did I feel that a missed button press or motion was the games fault but rather my fault…and I loved it.

Hey! Where are the pills? I was told Red and Blue pills not some potion

The way they have you walk in this game is a little clunky and can be frustrating to navigate the environment but nothing too extraneous that will take you out of the game.

The graphics are really well done and shines the most when you notice the environment and how the weather reacts to it. Rain drops hitting the brim of the hat or dripping off your coat. Even the life in the background is well done. I caught myself often looking in the background as people walked by and cars drove past windows. Played a big part in making you feel like you are in the game.

Tough Choice. Do I Want Cheap Wine Or Cheap Whiskey?

The character models are well designed although there are some glaring issues with some of the movement of characters as the are engaging in dialogue. I often noticed weird facial ticks and head movement that didn’t seem natural to the situation. Also, some of the collision detection was a little off in certain scenes between characters. This however is easily overlooked and doesn’t take you out of the game.

This all sounds like a cheesy crime thriller but it is the most engaging experience I have ever had playing a game, ever. Now I know there are some of you that will turn away from this ‘Quick Time Event’ style of play which is a shame. I encourage you to at least rent this game and give it a shot. This game delivers on what it sets out to do and will be an experience you don’t want to miss out on.

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Review: Mass Effect 2

Posted on February 19, 2010 by Andyb0y

I'm Commander Shepard...and this is my favorite gaming site on the internet

The first Mass Effect had a wonderful story, the kind that Bioware has been known to deliver with all their games. Sadly, that was the only thing really holding it together. A lot of bugs and design mistakes made it hard for people to make it to the end (the Mako was the bane of everyone’s existence). Thankfully, Bioware listened to people’s gripes with Mass Effect and delivered what has to be the best game experience since Uncharted 2 and may be one of my favorite games of all time in Mass Effect 2.

The Smoking Man uh I mean The Illusive Man

Mass Effect 2 has an epic, albeit clichéd, story that pulls you in from the get go. The story is so well laid out that it seems like a big budget sci-fi space adventure. Nowhere did the story take a turn to a point of me wanting to skip parts. The dialogue choices as well as the voices were excellent. I felt the first Mass Effect had too many choices and lead to me being a little bored with all the dialogue trees I had to dig through. Character development was very engaging and was tied in so well with the story. It made you care about every single person on your ship.

The recruiting of teammates is handle well enough. You go to your galaxy map like you did in Mass Effect and select what solar system you want to travel to. Helpful info is highlighted on certain solar systems so you know if there are critical missions or teammates to acquire. What was added in Mass Effect 2 is that you can now complete “Loyalty” missions after recruiting someone. Completing a loyalty mission will reward you with unlocking that persons skill that was previously locked. Speaking of skills, the skills have been drastically reduced leaving people upset that the RPG-ness of the game has been reduced and playing second fiddle to the shooting aspect of the game. Although I miss the various skill trees you could level up in Mass Effect, I felt satisfied with the slimmed down version. They made the limited skills you have more effective and relevant to what class you are playing as.

Mass Effect 2 updated skill tree

Combat has changed for the better in most respects. Though I love the tighter controls and the feel of the new combat design, I miss the unlimited ammo in the first game. Replacing the overheating weapons with ammo clips kinda took me out of being in the future. Ammo was hardly a concern for the most part in the game as enemies drop ammo for you as well as containers housing ammo for your heavy weapons as well. The quick select menu for choosing what skills you want to use for anyone has been cleaned up as well and is easier to navigate. I never felt pulled out of the fight while selecting skills to use for each of my squad members. The HUD also looks better with a clear description of what the enemies health is as well as if they have any barriers or shields up. All of this made for fast paced, very intense fights.

Gone from Mass Effect 2 is the inventory system. In its place is an upgrade system. During your missions, you will find some upgrades for you and your teammates weapons or you can purchase them from vendors on certain planets. After finding the upgrades, you must research them back on your ship by using minerals that you mined from planets in the surrounding solar systems. No longer do you have to drive the horrible Mako to explore planets. Bioware has replaced that with mining using probes shot from your ship. Mining does get mind numbing to a point but is a welcomed change from driving the Mako.

Anything is better than the Mako

From beginning to end, Mass Effect 2 is a perfect blend of combat, story, and character development to keep you on the edge of your seat until the credits roll. Everything you do is crucial in the game that it gives you sense of pride and ownership of the decisions you make throughout the course of the game. This is a must play game this year.

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Next Borderlands DLC To Raise Level Cap

Posted on January 22, 2010 by Andyb0y

Recently, the staff of Handheld Heroes has picked up Borderlands to playthrough the game a 2nd time to get to level 50. We also played through the Island of Dr Ned DLC and will be starting the Mad Moxxi DLC as soon as we all hit level 50. Now, what happens after we hit level 50? Do we just play the game over and over to farm better weapons? Well Gearbox has the answer….raised level cap!

In a post on their forums, Gearbox’s Jason Reiss ensures us our cries have been heard and the level cap increase is coming in the next DLC as well as an update to fix the most annoying issues gamers have with the game. Also not to be outdone, Gearbox creative director Mikey Neumann announces on his Twitter account that in the DLC we will see more Scooter. Not much of a reveal compared to the level cap but more info is better than no info

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Review: The Saboteur

Posted on January 21, 2010 by Andyb0y

Alright! We’re gonna be doin’ one thang and one thang only….and that’s killin’ Nazis. The Saboteur is mainly a ‘go here and do this mission next’ game in the vain of all the other GTA clones. This is one of the better ones out there but could have been better if it had more polish done to it.

The story is simplistic enough. Race car driver gets robbed of his victory, driver and friend go to exact revenge by stealing cheaters car, both get caught up in a Nazi scheme, friend dies, you go on a tirade to kill your friends murderer. A little too paint by numbers in terms of revenge stories but not too much you can do different with that style. The flow of the story felt good enough to keep me at least semi interested in it to find out what happened next. Of course there are some plot twists with one not done well enough so when it happens you are shocked not because its good, but because it made no sense.

The music was amazing and fit the ambiance of the era the game was set in perfect. I love the way the music in the car goes from sounding like a crappy am radio when standing near the car to sounding like a live performance with you in the front row. I could almost smell the stale cigarette smoke in the air as some lovely dame sang a nice jazzy number next to a piano. Although some songs seem to repeat more than others, it wasn’t a bother to me. The voice acting was moderately passable. At times, it seemed the voice actors lost the accent they were going for in one sentence then in another, magically have it back in full force. Also, the stereotypes were played up heavily in this game. For me it was annoying at first but it grew on me as the game progressed and actually made some parts funny.

The direction they took with the art style was beautiful. For places that were under Nazi occupation, everything was colored in a Sin City style of all black and white with splashes of color in certain areas (eyes of the characters or a piece of clothing, etc). When you would free certain areas of Nazi control, the color would come back to that area to signal that you freed the area. I didn’t like the color all too much when compared to the black and white style. I think it took away how the black and white coloring made you feel while gunning down Nazi’s. It helped with the gritty setting the game was going for right from the beginning of the game. Speaking of the beginning of the game, the opening sequence is pretty good (not because of the ladies) and feels like a movie intro more than a video game intro. If you buy the game new, there is a free DLC called “The Midnight Show” that unlocks brothels that you can hide in as well as the pasties that the ladies wear are removed. Honestly, I saw no relevance in having this DLC other than to get the teenage boys worked up late night in their room.

Unfortunately, the game mechanics was the main thing needing a good polish in The Saboteur. Tons of pop in textures (cars appearing out of thin air and bouncing as they hit the ground driving towards me), glitches (getting stuck in walls or enemies thrown off buildings float in mid air) were frustrating but not a deal breaker. What really killed the mood of stomping a mudhole in some Nazi arse was the ‘stealth’ mechanic in the game. How can wearing a enemy disguise be worse than walking around as yourself? Well when you have it so that there is a circle around you on your mini-map and when you do anything but walk the circle gets bigger, thus alerting the guards from 20 feet away that you are the enemy. Not so when you are out of disguise. I can run around to my hearts content and no one says anything (although climbing, sneaking, or holding your weapon out in plain view alerts them). What’s the point of using a disguise if you can sneak around better without one? The only time I see it benefiting you to use a disguise is when you need to get into a restricted area. Even then you still have to take out the guards without alerting them which is almost impossible.

What also took me out of the game was how it glitched after I completed a mission and was unable to do the next main one since it wasn’t unlocked on the map. Going through the forums for The Saboteur, you can see that other people had issues like this as well. The solution was a simple one…just restart the last mission and it should fix it. Problem for people who only use the Auto Save feature and it gets copied over after you beat the mission that you need to go back to. I was 2 missions away from the end of the game. I will never know what happens now since I refuse to start the game over cause of that glitch.

The controls work the same way Mercenaries 2 does and actually works for this game. With all the weapons you can choose from, I never had the need to use anything but a rifle and a machine gun. I am sure other people used most of the weapons but using that combo worked 95% of the time for any mission you went on. The game has a cover system that actually works in the way I expect it to work for most games. Anything higher up than you shooting will hit you behind cover so you have to be smart about were  you take cover.

I had some fun playing this game despite the glitches. It’s not a bad game, just unfinished. If Pandemic had more time to polish up some rough spots, it would be a fantastic game. The Saboteur is worth a play through if just to have fun blowing crap up in the black and white visual style.

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