Reviewish | PROTOTYPE

Boy Meats World

Welcome to Reviewish, where I kinda-sorta "review" games I haven't actually completed yet. See, I play games at my own pace - which is a nice way to say I play them very slowly. But after I play what I deem to be enough of any one game to get the proper feel of what it is and has to offer, I'm ready to put my not-entirely informed stamp on it. Enjoy!

There's really two types of open-world "sandbox" games you can choose from. There's the ones like the GTA series, where your charcater is just an average guy (in videogame terms) who is limited to how he can interact with his world and requires some sort help from vehicles or ladders to reach the higher points in the game's setting. Then there is the sub-genre that's populated by characters with superhuman powers that allow them to, one way or the other, explore their environment with just about full freedom and interact with the world in ways Niko Bellic could only dream of. On the PS3, this type of game has gotten a recent double-dose of awesome thanks to the exclusive InFamous and now the rather impressive Prototype. Aside from the fact that both games feature large cityscapes and lead characters that have received unbelievable powers against their will, the similarities between InFamous and Prototype end - and there's been debate among PS3 enthusiasts about which is "better", and that's a debate I want no part of. Each game is great and each game is fun, it's just that each game has their own vision. InFamous has "real-world" grit surrounding Cole McGrath and his struggle to figure out his new place in a city he'll either safe or doom, but it doesn't cross a certain line when it comes to how far it's willing to take its dark storytelling. Blood and gore are simply not part of Cole's experience, and that's fine - there's enough cues in Cole's adventures to make the death and dispair of Empire City's citizens to make the non-existance of blood acceptable. Just because there's no blood in InFamous doesn't lessen the blow when I round a corner and see two bodies laying dead in the street who I might have been able to save had I only arrived a little sooner. In contrast, Prototype comes on strong with a story you're told right away isn't going to end well and with its star, Alex Mercer, who is more than ready to accept the labels of killer, monster, and terrorist - Hell, he says exactly that as soon as you boot up the game. Where Cole may choose to be "evil", he has different standards than Alex, who spends much of his time finding new and exciting ways of reducing people (enemies, innocents, or otherwise) to a red paste without a single pause to consider the moral weight of his actions. Simply put, while Cole is driven by the need to find answers, Alex is more interested in vengeance regardless of cost. From here on out, the discussion about InFamous and Prototype end, at least on my part. InFamous still rocks... But this post is all about Prototype, and damn is it incredible.

Yeah, Prototype's main calling card is probably its over-the-top violence - but for a moment let me state that the game also has a rather nice grasp on how to tell its tale, and it does a couple neat tricks to not only foreshadow things to come but also tell the story in a shattered state that mirrors Alex's own fractured memory. Take, for example, when the game begins. You're playing 18 days in the future. Manhattan is in ruins. Mutants are flooding the streets, innocent citizens are running and screaming for their live while the military is killing any and everything that moves, Times Square is burning and Alex is right in the middle. At this point Alex is a near-unstoppable walking tank, crushing targets with huge augmented and armored fists, and using massive bladed fingers to rend limbs off soldiers. And let me not forget the 20-story leaps and the ability to glide long distance to provide terrible knee-drops from the sky that shatters concrete and send cars and corpses flying. Then, as Alex finds his target (a military commander in charge of the Time Square battle) the game flashes back to where Alex's story, and your game, begins. Alex wakes up on a cold autopsy table in a secret lab somewhere in Manhattan and after breaking out he has to escape pursuing special forces commandos. Suddenly it dawns on you that all the powers and strength Alex had in that hellish vision of Times Square don't exist yet. At this point, Alex's abilities are limited to being able to run quite fast, leap three times higher than an average person, and deliver superhuman punches - but that's about it. Getting past the opening sequence, the more over-arching method Prototype uses to have its backstory unfold is in the interesting and fun Web of Intrigue. Basically it's a clever way of combining storytelling with collectables, and it works quite nicely. Alex has the power to consume people - and it's visually disturbing if not out-right cool. Alex does this for numerous reasons, like to increase his health, but consuming someone also lets Alex share the target's knowledge. Consume a helicopter pilot and now Alex can pilot one on his own, for example. But the for special targets, the more important thing is that they know something that relates to Alex's current condition and the conspiracy behind everything that sending New York spiraling into Hell - and when Alex consumes one of these special target he unlocks another node on the Web on Intrigue. It's a very unique gameplay element, and it fits with Alex's own troubles with trying to get all the facts straight. The web itself is huge, and while it starts with only a few bits and pieces filled in, it starts to form a bigger picture once more memories are added. I like it.

Story's great, but how does it play? Thankfully, it plays quite well. Prototype was developed by Radical Entertainment, the fine folks that brought us quite possibly the best licensed superhero game of all time, Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, and they brought over plenty of what they learned from that open-world chaos fiesta to their newest title. I'm not sure I ever played a game like this where the star made me feel so damn powerful. I mean, I'm nowhere deep in the game yet and even with only a few powers and upgrades purchased I have a distinct feeling of being a complete bad-ass. I can only imagine what it's going to be like later on when Alex is bursting at the seams with crazy new powers and abilities. Prototype's controls can be a bit complex at first, especially once the combos and new control optionos start piling up, but it never gets to the point where the game is hard to play or simply broken. After the slight learning curve passes, you'll be causing unspeakable harm to people who may or may not deserve it in no time... I happen to enjoy the simple act of running around Manhattan, which involves a cool hands-off sort of parkour that sends Alex flipping and flying over obsticles in his way such as cars, barricades, and hapless people crowding sidewalks, only to jump over their heads and begin running up the side of a skyscraper. Sadly, I don't currently have the glide ability, but with improved jumping and faster sprinting, I have Alex ping-ponging and leaping all over the rooftops of the upper-west side. And should I have to dispatch any number of foes that stand in my way, the game's combat is actually really fun, and that's before I add the laundry list of weapons available to me later on.

But aside from running around and killing things, Prototype's other enjoyable portion is building up Alex's suite of powers and abilities (which is then used to run around and kill things). Whenever Alex killes a foe, discovers a collectable, succeeds in a side-mission, or completes a main story mission, he earns Evolution Points. These points are used to purchase new powers and abilities off of a list that slowly starts to unlock more and more choices as the game goes on. While new powers are always great to have, you can also purchase new moves to use in combat or that help movement like gliding or a handy dodge-roll. There's also a list of upgrades that adds to things like Alex's running speed, jumping height, his durability, and even down to stuff like skills he can use when in the disguise of someone he's consumed, like calling air strikes as a military commander. Many of the upgrades also have numerous levels available to them as well, so you might have three different speed upgrades to buy or new levels that make powers stronger and more deadly. It's really cool to see how you're changing Alex and there seems to be so much to pick through that you can really tailor Alex to how you want to play. For the moment, I've invested a lot into his speed and agility, not to mention the very handy ability to pick up people while I'm in mid-sprint. I did this because the idea of grabbing a target while running through a crowd and then consuming him or her on a rooftop seems too fun to pass up...

As you can imagine, Prototype's basic mission structures cover all the bases for a game of this sort from the go-here-kill-there objectives to racing to somewhere to every those pesky escort missions. It does seem like there are some wicked difficulty spikes at times, which is another thing shared between this game and Ultimate Destruction. I remember those defend-the-building missions being a real bitch in Hulk... So far though, Prototype is proving to be a very fun experience only flawed by some less than cutting-edge visuals and moments where the game gets ahead of itself, but for a game that has so much going on most of the time there is no slowdown whatsoever, and for that I am impressed... I understand it's not for everyone - some people will either dislike the gore or simply don't like this genre of game, but if you are a fan of games like the before-mentioned InFamous or Xbox 360's own exclusive gem, Crackdown, then there's no reason to miss out on the pure joy that is Prototype. Highly recommended!

Reviewish | PUNCH-OUT!!

Chocolate Bars Are Your Friend!

Welcome to Reviewish, where I kinda-sorta "review" games I haven't actually completed yet. See, I play games at my own pace - which is a nice way to say I play them very slowly. But after I play what I deem to be enough of any one game to get the proper feel of what it is and has to offer, I'm ready to put my not-entirely informed stamp on it. Enjoy!

Oh, and feel free to play this clip while reading my reviewish of Punch-Out!!, I think it adds a little something to the experience...



I can only assume that for dedicated game developers, bringing back classic and charished games can be an incredibly difficult task. If you stick too close to the original (which in the case of games like Punch-Out!! can include gameplay that over the course of a couple decades got more than a little stale) you end up with a cheap rehash, but if you try to innovate too much you end up ruining the nostalgic feel you meant to capture in the first place and that fans will be expecting. What a bitch... Last year's Bionic Commando: Rearmed was a step in the right direction, although outside of some seriously awesome remixed music tracks, it was simply the classic NES game with a new and impressive coat of paint. Punch-Out!! on the Wii first seems like the same formula at work - after all, it has the familiar music and sound effects and the roster of fighters is almost 100% comprised of fighters you may have fought when you were a kid. Facing foes like Glass Joe and King Hippo are certainly no brainers, but when you realize that every fighter is one you've seen in Punch-Out!! lore before, you may start to think that this game is simply a new coat of paint too, but shockingly that's not the case. It's nice that the game has you once again battling all the foes from your past, and aside from one two new fighters (one in particular I certainly had no idea I'd see popping up here, and he is AWESOME), the roster shapes up nicely. I also like how the game manages to touch on the concept of ethnicity but never tread so deep into stereotype territory as to truly be insulting. Yeah, Piston Honda (oops, I mean Hondo - I'll assume lawsuits were involved somewhere along the line) has sushi circle his head when Mac dazes him, but outside of that sort of example and him speaking Japanese, the rest of his personna seems more interested in cultural influence than out-right mockery.

Visually, Punch-Out!!'s biggest strength is that it's cel-shaded look allows the fighters to really express their surprisingly deep personalities and quirks that go far beyond the ways they telegraph their various moves. For example: Glass Joe, the world's worst gaming opponent, is no longer simply just a lifeless punching bag you get to train on - he's also funny as hell to watch, and while he speaks his native French (sadly, Punch-Out!! offers no subtitles for the foriegn languages many of the fighters speak, which is slightly annoying), the animation is so colorful and spot-on that you know he's waaaaay too over-confident - perhaps this unfortunate and comical attitude is the result of a brain tumor that formed from all the people that have leveled him out with a TKO over the years. But this level of expressive body language and physical comedy is present throughout the game, and it's really quite enjoyable to watch. It really brings a level of depth to the game that the old pixels couldn't even quite convey - though they sure did an excellent job... On the audio side, Punch-Out!!'s sound relies a lot on the original NES and borrows and remixes many of the memoriable sounds and cues that old time fans might recognize, the music too is lifted from the classic and reborn through all sorts of new genres, many of which fit the cultural tones of the fighters Little Mac will face.

In terms of gameplay, Punch-Out!! manages to take the control concept of the original and tighten it to today's standards. Punch-Out!! has always been more of a reflex-based puzzle game than an actual fighting game, and this version holds on to that proud tradition by making sure you succeed or fail on your own merits. This is one of those rare games where if you lose, it's because you were at fault - not the game. The game follows a simple structure at first, with Little Mac going through three classes of fighters before winning the championship belt. Amusing as it is, pros may find that to be not much of a challenge, but the trick is that once Mac wins the belt, you open up the Title Defense mode. Here you'll face all your foes again - only now they've been working on their game and they're ready to take you on with a whole bag on new tricks. Glass Joe, forever the loser, shows up in a facemask, taking away the liability of the jaw that earned him his dubious moniker. How you deal with the loss of an enemy's once-reliable weakness is key to holding on to your belt. And aside from some costume changes, these second versions of all your enemies also have new suites of moves and their timing has changed. In short, they become a hell of a lot more of a challenge, which is certainly welcome to die-hard fans. It's not all about getting the belt though, as Punch-Out!! has an exhibition mode that is sort of like it's own version of Achievements. You're presented with all sorts of challenges for each fighter, and successfully meeting those challenges earns you all sorts of rewards from music to play to bios and such. All in all, it's a great way to extend the game's replayability and make sure you get your $50 worth, which is not a problem here...

The game does have some faults, but their so silly and probably limited only to me as to not even be worth noting - but I will. For one, why the hell isn't Mario the ref? Don't get me wrong, Ref from Super Punch-Out!! does a fine job, but it would have added one more little touch of old school class if Mario had been able to once again don the striped shirt. Also, I'm sure it would be a licensing nightmare and maybe a PR one as well, but why not just toss Mike Tyson in the game as a hidden character, you know - just for fun. I'd love to see him rendered in this art style, dumb face tattoo and all. Oh well. On a more realistic note, however, the multiplayer mode feels tacted on big-time. You're limited to playing offline and only Mac VS. Mac, and I find that really lame. Why not allow Soda Popinski to face off against Bald Bull? So much work went into the fighters (which are really the stars here) it seems a shame to waste them in what could have been a more solid 2-player experience. Heck, with this roster you could have even set up a bracket sytem, which would be fun as hell at parties. I suppose that will have to wait for another edition of the game - and if the delay between Super Punch-Out!! and the Wii reboot are any indication, could be quite some time.

Simply put, Punch-Out!! is one of the best titles you're going to find on the shovelware wasteland that is the Wii. It stands comfortably alongside games like Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl and deserves to be part of any Wii owner's library, especially if you still have fond memories of getting your ass handed to you by a pixelated Mike Tyson...

Reviewish | FALLOUT 3

How Many Rads Are In Chicken McNuggets?

Welcome to Reviewish, where I kinda-sorta "review" games I haven't actually completed yet. See, I play games at my own pace - which is a nice way to say I play them very slowly. But after I play what I deem to be enough of any one game to get the proper feel of what it is and has to offer, I'm ready to put my not-entirely informed stamp on it. Enjoy!

I never played the other two proper Fallout games before. In fact, the first image of the franchise that pops in my head is Brotherhood of Steel, the Xbox game with the horrible box art that looked like absolute garbage. I have also never played Oblivion or anything else created by Bethesda Studios. The Fallout games passed me by because I was never big on the PC as a game platform, and as a younger Bannen I simply never heard of the series - Oblivion is fantasy based with its medieval stylings, and I'm really not keen on that genre. But now I'm hip-deep in Fallout 3, and I think that being clueless about the Fallout legacy and of Bethesa's previous efforts have made Fallout 3 easier on me. I've read a lot of things on the interwebs from die-hard Fallout devotees who either see Fallout 3 as deeply flawed but enjoyable or think it's the worst game ever created - ever. I can't say I don't know where the bitter feelings are coming from. As a Twisted Metal fanatic, things went horribly wrong when SingleTrac left the franchise and 989 Studios took over. Of course, the major difference is that 989 Studios made feces pressed into the shape of a disc, while Bethesda's masterwork is one of the best games I've ever played. It might not be the same creature the fans fell in love with, but just maybe its soul has carried over into something new, something that shows itself to be glorious over time...

I know a few people that have already played through the game a couple times, and I simply can't figure out how they did it. My guess is that they either quit their jobs or work from home, allowing them to spend upwards of 15 hours a day wandering what's left of Washington DC. I envy them. I scrape and claw for a scant few hours a night so I can explore the wastes, and after investing almost 40 hours so far, I feel like I have accomplished practically nothing - and I don't mean that in a bad way, oh no. Fallout 3 is one of the most detailed, rewarding worlds ever constructed, and you can easily spend hours at a time wandering this way and that, constantly bumping into new buildings and locations to explore, items to either aid you or sell for a profit, people to chat with, and enemies to battle (or run from). I've only completed a handful of side quests and just a few of the "main" missions - there's just something rewarding and unique about trying to make it through DC and the surrounding area. Finding a new spot on the map is a rush, and raiding it for its various treasures is even better. I spent two hours last night around Bethesda Ruins, in and out of wrecked buildings and taking on those damn Raiders (who, perhaps not entirely by chance, look like actual Oakland Raiders fans). I remember thinking that GTA's San Andreas was a feat, and while it certainly was at the time, the Capital Wasteland is unlike anything I've ever seen before in a game - a full realized slice of land that seemingly never ends. The most awe-inspiring show of how big this game's world is arrives early in the game once you manage to leave your life-long home in Valut 101. The view from the ridge, seeing the Capital Building so far off in the distance, is one of those "Events" in a game that will stay with me for a long time.

Just as deep and winding as the world is the freedom you have in your choices. Some games act like you have choices. GTA IV created the illusion of you having free choice from time to time - kill this person or let them live and so on - but in Fallout 3, the quests allow for you to tackle it primarily however you want and feel you should, and the best thing is that the world reacts to your decisions. The best example I one that happens early in the game and shouldn't be much of a spoiler to anyone who has followed the game even a little. Blow up or save the tiny settlement of Megaton. It's easy enough to break it down into you being bad or good, but let's say you choose to blow it up. Moira Brown, the shop owner who gives you a certain quest doesn't just up and die. Instead, your action alters her path, and she'll show up in a slightly different form later on. That's just small example, but it makes dealing with people and their quests all the more important. This isn't just black and white - Fallout 3 deals morality in many shades of gray. This makes the game feel a little bit more real and complicated since it'll challenge you trying to be entirely good or truly evil. I began the game trying to walk the straight and narrow from beginning to end - but when the realities of the wasteland kick in, when money, ammo, and food get low, I've had to make a few hard choices in hopes of getting my hands on the goods I needed. Things have been stolen, people have been threatened, lies have been told, lives have been lost. While I have done enough good to still have high karma, I still know what I've done, and how the game world largely pinned me in a corner to do it. It's all about survival, after all.

Because of its design, Fallout 3 has been very hard to talk about with friends. It's impossible to play the game the same way between people, so discussing mission and things found has been very hard. Luckily, there is always talk of how we have handled the growth of our Vault Dweller (or just "101" as Three Dog would say). The character creation system is as flexible as the rest of the game, and all the Stats and Skills and Perks allow you to craft a character that you think best suits you. I have a sneaky brainiac that also does well with Small Guns, but gets slaughtered in close combat scenarios. A friend of mine is a brawling brute loves his minigun and getting hands-on with Super Mutants, but he couldn't hack a computer if it only had one button. The Perks, naturally, are the shining part of character creation - mostly because they run from being helpful and logical to being out-right bizarre. From what I can gather, Mysterious Stranger and Bloody Mess seem to be the peoples' favorites, and while I haven't picked them up yet, I'm hoping to before I reach that cursed Level 20 cap. The problem is that ALL the Perks are awesome and useful, and I'm willing to bet that everyone is like me, spending most of their time Leveling Up staring at that list, debating which Perk to select.

So, Fallout 3 is an epic in every sense of the word. For $60, it's insane how much it gives you. If you haven't already, get it now - make it #1 on your Christmas list if you must. And while the die-hards may not accept Fallout 3 as their own, it has made me want to go out and get the original two games and try them out. If that isn't living up to the promise of a series, I don't know what is...