Tag Archives: Review
PC | Sanctum 2 Review
Against an army of alien invaders, the trusty turret has always got your back. Like its predecessor, Sanctum 2 is an enjoyable blend of first-person shooting and tower-defense-style strategy. Instead of watching passively as your towers do all the dirty work, you get to dive into the action and sow carnage alongside them. Both games execute this concept well, but Sanctum 2 has far more content than its small-scale predecessor. This is the fully featured, fully realized game this series needed, and offers lots to enjoy whether you’re a strategy fan first and shooter fan second, or vice versa.
Though Sanctum 2 arms you with an array of destructive turrets, you’re still the star of the show. Four characters are available at the start of each level; each is equipped with a distinctive weapon–such as an assault rifle or a shotgun–and enough firepower to be a tide-turning force in battle. Enemies attack in waves, and between each wave you are awarded funds to build new turrets and hazard-filled mazes for your enemies to navigate.
When fighting back an enemy wave, you must alternate between thinning nimble hordes of lesser foes and felling slower, heavily armored targets. The tempo is kept at a fast pace as you race up and down the arena checking (and rechecking) how close enemies are to the core, the turrets in their path, and how many shots it’ll take to finish the job. You’re constantly oscillating between mowing down grunts with reckless destruction and taking carefully aimed shots at the weak spots of larger foes.
On top of juggling different enemy types, you must juggle your selected character’s weapons. Weapons overheat after a certain number of shots and take about five seconds to cool down. During those five seconds, you can swap to your secondary weapon and continue the assault. Some weapons are also more effective against specific enemy types, so by timing your cooldowns right, you can alternate weapons at the same time you alternate targets.
Towers are your support system. They pick off stragglers who survive your barrage and can be tailored to tackle enemy types you’re not equipped to handle. However, during each match, you have only a finite amount of currency, which can be spent on buying new turrets or upgrading old ones. Finding the right mix of both is an interesting challenge that must compliment your personal armaments, enemy types, and map layout. When you finally hit that sweet spot, it’s very rewarding as you dispatch enemies with ease.
Perks are another addition to your arsenal, and grant your character new abilities. Some make your shots damage multiple enemies, while others increase the firepower of turrets you stand near. Choosing the right perks can make your character either a well-rounded or a hyper-specialized fighter. Together with the numerous turrets and weapons, there’s satisfying variety in how you can tackle each challenge.
And Sanctum 2 has a lot of variety. While the original game nailed its tower-defense-meets-fist-person-shooting design, its three levels and two game modes left you wanting more. Sanctum 2 has four sets of levels, and you can attempt each of these levels using up to five difficulty modifiers or play through them in an endless survival mode. These options are great for extending the game’s longevity. On the flip side, if you’re having trouble, you can invite up to three friends to join you online, or knock it down into easy mode to help even the odds.
With a smart blend of action and strategy, Sanctum 2 successfully combines two disparate genres into one cohesive–and enjoyable–whole. Whether you’re a fan of its predecessor or are new to the series, there’s a lot to enjoy in this genre-bending hybrid. Every element from the original game has been expanded upon, creating a lengthy adventure that continues to feel fresh even after multiple completions.
Xbox 360 | Sanctum 2 Review
Against an army of alien invaders, the trusty turret has always got your back. Like its predecessor, Sanctum 2 is an enjoyable blend of first-person shooting and tower-defense-style strategy. Instead of watching passively as your towers do all the dirty work, you get to dive into the action and sow carnage alongside them. Both games execute this concept well, but Sanctum 2 has far more content than its small-scale predecessor. This is the fully featured, fully realized game this series needed, and offers lots to enjoy whether you’re a strategy fan first and shooter fan second, or vice versa.
Though Sanctum 2 arms you with an array of destructive turrets, you’re still the star of the show. Four characters are available at the start of each level; each is equipped with a distinctive weapon–such as an assault rifle or a shotgun–and enough firepower to be a tide-turning force in battle. Enemies attack in waves, and between each wave you are awarded funds to build new turrets and hazard-filled mazes for your enemies to navigate.
When fighting back an enemy wave, you must alternate between thinning nimble hordes of lesser foes and felling slower, heavily armored targets. The tempo is kept at a fast pace as you race up and down the arena checking (and rechecking) how close enemies are to the core, the turrets in their path, and how many shots it’ll take to finish the job. You’re constantly oscillating between mowing down grunts with reckless destruction and taking carefully aimed shots at the weak spots of larger foes.
On top of juggling different enemy types, you must juggle your selected character’s weapons. Weapons overheat after a certain number of shots and take about five seconds to cool down. During those five seconds, you can swap to your secondary weapon and continue the assault. Some weapons are also more effective against specific enemy types, so by timing your cooldowns right, you can alternate weapons at the same time you alternate targets.
Towers are your support system. They pick off stragglers who survive your barrage and can be tailored to tackle enemy types you’re not equipped to handle. However, during each match, you have only a finite amount of currency, which can be spent on buying new turrets or upgrading old ones. Finding the right mix of both is an interesting challenge that must compliment your personal armaments, enemy types, and map layout. When you finally hit that sweet spot, it’s very rewarding as you dispatch enemies with ease.
Perks are another addition to your arsenal, and grant your character new abilities. Some make your shots damage multiple enemies, while others increase the firepower of turrets you stand near. Choosing the right perks can make your character either a well-rounded or a hyper-specialized fighter. Together with the numerous turrets and weapons, there’s satisfying variety in how you can tackle each challenge.
And Sanctum 2 has a lot of variety. While the original game nailed its tower-defense-meets-fist-person-shooting design, its three levels and two game modes left you wanting more. Sanctum 2 has four sets of levels, and you can attempt each of these levels using up to five difficulty modifiers or play through them in an endless survival mode. These options are great for extending the game’s longevity. On the flip side, if you’re having trouble, you can invite up to three friends to join you online, or knock it down into easy mode to help even the odds.
With a smart blend of action and strategy, Sanctum 2 successfully combines two disparate genres into one cohesive–and enjoyable–whole. Whether you’re a fan of its predecessor or are new to the series, there’s a lot to enjoy in this genre-bending hybrid. Every element from the original game has been expanded upon, creating a lengthy adventure that continues to feel fresh even after multiple completions.
PlayStation 3 | Resident Evil: Revelations Review
It has been a dark time for the Resident Evil series. The abominably disappointing Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City and Resident Evil 6 utterly lacked the nail-biting action the series was once known for, making it impossible to see in them any glimmer of the franchise’s former greatness. So in a sense, the release of Resident Evil: Revelations on consoles and PC is cause for celebration. First released on the 3DS last year, Revelations is both the best Resident Evil game of the past few years and the one that’s the most true to the series’ roots. There’s something to be said for that. But taken on its own terms, it’s not a great game. It’s not remotely scary, and the enemy design is uninspired. Still, Revelations is competent enough to remind you of what Resident Evil can be, even if it doesn’t get under your skin the way the best games in the series do.
Set between Resident Evil 4 and 5, Revelations’ tale is more concerned with organizations–the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance, the Federal Bioterrorism Commission, and the terror group Veltro–than with individuals. Series mainstays Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield are on hand, but they don’t get any opportunities for character development here; they’re just familiar pawns in the series’ latest sinister, overly complicated conspiracy.
They’re joined by one likable new character, and one awful one. Jill’s partner, Parker, bears an unmistakable resemblance to actor Russell Crowe; looks aside, he’s a good-humored companion, someone you’d like to have by your side in a crisis. Chris’ partner, Jessica, on the other hand, is so obnoxious and absurd as to strain credulity, even in a story about ooze monsters. When Chris has been injured and she responds, “Me and my sweet ass are on the way!” it’s so goofy that it takes you out of the moment, and a one-legged outfit she wears later in the game makes her look like a member of an avant-garde dance troupe, not a counterterrorism task force.
The bulk of Revelations takes place on the Queen Zenobia, a luxury ocean liner with plenty of cramped corridors that make for claustrophobic combat. The ship’s elegant cabins, casinos, and promenades contrast with its bilges, freight lifts, and other metallic environments, which makes your initial explorations of the ship rewarding. The Queen Zenobia’s layout is convincing, making it easy to buy into the idea that it’s a real ship with a long and grisly history. But before you’ve advanced too far through the campaign, you’ve seen most of what the Zenobia has to offer, and you spend much of your time trekking back through areas you’ve already covered.
Things may have changed somewhat–you might be able to access rooms you couldn’t before, or you may encounter new enemy types–but the sense of discovery that helps make the early sections intriguing wears off too soon. Still, the way the story is broken up into short, episodic sections, jumping back and forth frequently between characters and locations, keeps the pacing brisk; you never get tired of one situation before you’re whisked off to another.
Of course, you’re not on the Queen Zenobia for a pleasure cruise; terrible things have happened aboard that ship, and as a result, you’re constantly attacked by bio-organic weapons, some of which look like people covered head to toe in gray ooze and others of which resemble human-size lizard creatures from a low-budget monster movie. Confrontations are sometimes more campy than chilling, and the fact that you can perform cartoonish melee attacks, complete with goofy windups, on stunned enemies, only adds to the silliness.
If you’ve played Resident Evil 4 or 5, the controls and combat here will feel familiar. The camera’s closeness to your character limits your peripheral vision, fostering a feeling that you never know what’s just around the next corner. The problem is that Revelations never does much of anything with this; you’re never startled to discover an enemy you didn’t know was there or given a reason to dread what might be lurking in the shadows ahead. There’s a halfhearted creepiness to the atmosphere of Revelations, but never anything that might generate actual fear or dread.
Instead, the combat is typically straightforward rather than scary. Your weapons feel powerful, and only become more powerful as you augment them with parts you find, but they never feel overpowered; your enemies’ resilience makes you grateful for every ounce of firepower you can wring out of those weapons. You rarely feel truly threatened or desperate, but enemies can still corner you in tight spaces, generating some tension as you fill them with bullets and hope they go down before they get close enough to grab you. (You don’t want that to happen, both because you get injured and because you’re prompted to do some unpleasant stick-wiggling to struggle free.)
Some environments give you a bit more freedom to move around, with opportunities to leap to lower levels to temporarily flee from encroaching attackers. These areas might fill with monsters that close in on you before you blow up an explosive tank at the last second, incinerating your enemies and making your escape. You’ve probably experienced moments like this in games many times before, but they’re still satisfying.
Unfortunately, though the best games in the series feature confrontations with memorable, horrifying bosses, the boss battles here, like everything else about Revelations, are standard. Bosses can dish out and withstand plenty of damage, but their designs and their attack patterns are all par for the course. Outside of the campaign, there’s Raid mode, an opportunity to fight off enemies solo or with another player, and though the process of leveling up and earning points with which you can purchase more and better gear is predictably compelling, the combat still lacks the spark of scariness that infused the action of earlier Resident Evil entries. Revelations is a decent adventure, but it doesn’t come close to reaching the heights the series has in the past.
PC | Resident Evil: Revelations Review
It has been a dark time for the Resident Evil series. The abominably disappointing Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City and Resident Evil 6 utterly lacked the nail-biting action the series was once known for, making it impossible to see in them any glimmer of the franchise’s former greatness. So in a sense, the release of Resident Evil: Revelations on consoles and PC is cause for celebration. First released on the 3DS last year, Revelations is both the best Resident Evil game of the past few years and the one that’s the most true to the series’ roots. There’s something to be said for that. But taken on its own terms, it’s not a great game. It’s not remotely scary, and the enemy design is uninspired. Still, Revelations is competent enough to remind you of what Resident Evil can be, even if it doesn’t get under your skin the way the best games in the series do.
Set between Resident Evil 4 and 5, Revelations’ tale is more concerned with organizations–the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance, the Federal Bioterrorism Commission, and the terror group Veltro–than with individuals. Series mainstays Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield are on hand, but they don’t get any opportunities for character development here; they’re just familiar pawns in the series’ latest sinister, overly complicated conspiracy.
They’re joined by one likable new character, and one awful one. Jill’s partner, Parker, bears an unmistakable resemblance to actor Russell Crowe; looks aside, he’s a good-humored companion, someone you’d like to have by your side in a crisis. Chris’ partner, Jessica, on the other hand, is so obnoxious and absurd as to strain credulity, even in a story about ooze monsters. When Chris has been injured and she responds, “Me and my sweet ass are on the way!” it’s so goofy that it takes you out of the moment, and a one-legged outfit she wears later in the game makes her look like a member of an avant-garde dance troupe, not a counterterrorism task force.
The bulk of Revelations takes place on the Queen Zenobia, a luxury ocean liner with plenty of cramped corridors that make for claustrophobic combat. The ship’s elegant cabins, casinos, and promenades contrast with its bilges, freight lifts, and other metallic environments, which makes your initial explorations of the ship rewarding. The Queen Zenobia’s layout is convincing, making it easy to buy into the idea that it’s a real ship with a long and grisly history. But before you’ve advanced too far through the campaign, you’ve seen most of what the Zenobia has to offer, and you spend much of your time trekking back through areas you’ve already covered.
Things may have changed somewhat–you might be able to access rooms you couldn’t before, or you may encounter new enemy types–but the sense of discovery that helps make the early sections intriguing wears off too soon. Still, the way the story is broken up into short, episodic sections, jumping back and forth frequently between characters and locations, keeps the pacing brisk; you never get tired of one situation before you’re whisked off to another.
Of course, you’re not on the Queen Zenobia for a pleasure cruise; terrible things have happened aboard that ship, and as a result, you’re constantly attacked by bio-organic weapons, some of which look like people covered head to toe in gray ooze and others of which resemble human-size lizard creatures from a low-budget monster movie. Confrontations are sometimes more campy than chilling, and the fact that you can perform cartoonish melee attacks, complete with goofy windups, on stunned enemies, only adds to the silliness.
If you’ve played Resident Evil 4 or 5, the controls and combat here will feel familiar. The camera’s closeness to your character limits your peripheral vision, fostering a feeling that you never know what’s just around the next corner. The problem is that Revelations never does much of anything with this; you’re never startled to discover an enemy you didn’t know was there or given a reason to dread what might be lurking in the shadows ahead. There’s a halfhearted creepiness to the atmosphere of Revelations, but never anything that might generate actual fear or dread.
Instead, the combat is typically straightforward rather than scary. Your weapons feel powerful, and only become more powerful as you augment them with parts you find, but they never feel overpowered; your enemies’ resilience makes you grateful for every ounce of firepower you can wring out of those weapons. You rarely feel truly threatened or desperate, but enemies can still corner you in tight spaces, generating some tension as you fill them with bullets and hope they go down before they get close enough to grab you. (You don’t want that to happen, both because you get injured and because you’re prompted to do some unpleasant stick-wiggling or mouse-shaking to struggle free.)
Some environments give you a bit more freedom to move around, with opportunities to leap to lower levels to temporarily flee from encroaching attackers. These areas might fill with monsters that close in on you before you blow up an explosive tank at the last second, incinerating your enemies and making your escape. You’ve probably experienced moments like this in games many times before, but they’re still satisfying.
Unfortunately, though the best games in the series feature confrontations with memorable, horrifying bosses, the boss battles here, like everything else about Revelations, are standard. Bosses can dish out and withstand plenty of damage, but their designs and their attack patterns are all par for the course. Outside of the campaign, there’s Raid mode, an opportunity to fight off enemies solo or with another player, and though the process of leveling up and earning points with which you can purchase more and better gear is predictably compelling, the combat still lacks the spark of scariness that infused the action of earlier Resident Evil entries. Revelations is a decent adventure, but it doesn’t come close to reaching the heights the series has in the past.
3DS | Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D Review
Innovation doesn’t matter if the core concept is strong enough. This is the lesson the Wii version of Donkey Kong Country Returns taught, building on its tried-and-true foundation with sublime level design and hefty–though always fair–challenge. While these strengths are still apparent in the portable version of the game, washed-out visuals and an unsteady framerate have put a damper on the action. Identifying the exact position of obstacles and platforms is tricky, and this has damaging consequences for the very elements that made the original so great. Because the run-and-jump action is still enjoyable, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D is another lengthy and worthwhile platformer, but it can’t live up to the standards of its big brother.
Returns 3D feels like a relic from a bygone era of platformers. The well-dressed simian runs and jumps through leafy jungles and boiling volcanic caves, collecting bananas with the unmatched determination of a hungry gorilla. Gone are the motion controls from the Wii original, replaced with precise button-tap commands that make it a snap to roll through enemies and pound the ground. Donkey Kong is a heavy primate, and that weight gives his movements a deliberate feel not often found in platformers. Getting used to his moderate jump height takes practice, and coming up short on a treacherous leap is a common occurrence given that it’s easy to overestimate his athletic prowess. Thankfully, smashing a DK barrel teams you up with Diddy Kong, and the spry monkey’s jetpack makes landing on those hard-to-reach ledges much easier.
It’s in the level design that Returns 3D makes its mark. The worlds morph into twisted ruins as you tear through the eight exotic locales. Rocks crumble under your feet, and cliffs erupt from bottomless pits. Deep in the background, a bunch of bananas hangs over a tiny ledge. Leap into a nearby barrel, and you’re whooshed to this new location, the world transforming around you to give you a place to run and jump and swing and yell. Returns 3D excels in these moments. The sheer unpredictability keeps you continually on edge, moving with a delicate mixture of confidence and caution as you react in the blink of a monkey’s eye to the constantly changing world around you.
Though the geographic restlessness is the most thrilling aspect of Returns 3D, it also brings with it the largest frustrations. Framerate hitches are pervasive, a troublesome annoyance in sections that demand precision. Obstacles that were easy to identify on a large television screen are not nearly as visible when scaled down to the 3DS. Recognizing the danger zones and safe points when standing still takes only a moment of analysis, but problems surface when speed is paramount. Place Donkey Kong in a mine cart that’s zooming through an underground cave, and spotting the minuscule specks that can end your life is incredibly tough. If you die a few times, you may memorize the deadly spots, but that’s a weak solution to this issue. The same problem surfaces when the camera zooms out. It’s clear that the levels and color schemes are ideal for a large screen, so when Returns was shrunk to a handheld, what was enjoyably difficult becomes aggravating.
The higher difficulty is offset somewhat by the aptly named New mode. This gives you special items that you can buy at Cranky Kong’s shop that make it easier to stay alive. For instance, the Crash Guard power-up protects you from wiping out in those hellacious mine cart levels. It’s nice that there is acknowledgment that the move to the 3DS comes with problems that didn’t exist on a console. However, instead of fixing the glaring issue (poor visibility), these power-ups just make it harder to die. It’s a lame compromise because these sections that were so incredible on the Wii are often tedious on the 3DS, with or without power-ups. Thankfully, there are only a handful of such levels in the game, and if you do get stuck, you can use the Super Guide feature to have the computer pass them for you.
At least there’s one addition to Returns 3D that’s a noticeable improvement. Eight new levels are buried within the Golden Temple which awaits at the end of your journey, and should challenge even those who complete the rest of the adventure. There are two ways to unlock this new content. Either play through the entirety of the core journey, including the bonus levels, or just buy a moderately priced orb from Cranky’s shop. Either way, the toughest levels in Returns 3D are located behind the golden door, which is a great way to finish this fiendishly tough platformer. And for those who crave even more challenge, conquering this forsaken land unlocks Mirror mode, which strips you of your monkey sidekick and some of your precious hearts. It’s a challenge worthy of even the strongest of primates.
Although Returns 3D does suffer on the visual front, the stirring soundtrack sounds just as incredible on the 3DS. The catalog has been pulled from the original Donkey Kong Country games on the Super Nintendo, albeit in remixed form, along with new tracks that fit the jungle-explorer theme quite well. The music echoes the onscreen hijinks. The serene melody as you venture across sandy beaches matches the soothing power of the sea, and the music shifts gears to a more energetic beat when you board a flying barrel to steer through falling debris. It’s an excellent soundtrack that does a great job of balancing classic tunes with new instrumentals to make something that stands on its own.
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D is an uneven update. The core elements that made the original so thrilling are still here, but visual problems turn the satisfying challenge into something that often feels unfair. Multi-card cooperative play doesn’t help matters. Throwing anothing player into the mix makes it even harder to see what’s going on. However, this is still a good game with tons of levels to explore and collectibles to uncover. Just don’t expect to be awed by this aging gorilla.
