First Glance:
The latest installment of Konami’s most popular game franchise next to the Metal Gear series.

Short Story:
You play as Gabriel Belmont, a knight in the Brotherhood of Light, a society of good assembled to make sure that evil is kept away from the innocent people of Earth.  There is a separation between the Heavens and the Earth, and because of it, evil creatures of every type have begun tormenting innocent villages and killing those who get in their way.  Gabriel’s wife is among those who have been killed by this evil, and because of that, her soul is stuck in limbo.  The higher ups of the Brotherhood believe that an evil society known as the Lords of Shadow is responsible for what has happened.  The higher ups believe that there is an item known as the “God Mask” that can be used to defeat all of the evil in the world and it’s also believed to be able to revive the dead.  Gabriel has been chosen to retrieve the God Mask and bring peace back to the Earth.

The Score:
This game had tons of potential.  Visually, it’s absolutely gorgeous, and the overall plot is quite good as well.  The main thing is that the game is two discs long, so it will take a while to beat.  Not to mention that you can go back to different levels after you have acquired a certain skill and do something you weren’t able to do previously.  I do have a problem with how the game ended, but I will get to that in a little bit.  For the Busy Gamer, Castlevainia: Lords of Shadow gets a 2.

Body of Review:
For the most part, I really enjoyed playing this game.  There were so many good things about this game.  First and foremost, the overall look of the game.  Castlevania is a beautiful game to look at.  There was little to no difference in the graphics between the in game cut scenes and the pre-rendered cinematics of the game.  This. Game. Is. Gorgeous!  The details on the levels are a sight to see as well.  In the third or fourth level of the game you are running around in a forest, and the colors are so vibrant and you can see the detail of almost every leaf on each tree. (more…)

First Glance:
The next installment of Ubisoft’s popular action adventure puzzle franchise.

Short Story:
You, playing as the Prince, come to visit your brother, Malik, who is a ruler of a kingdom. But when you arrive, you see that he is in the middle of a war. You now go around the kingdom trying to locate your brother while, on the way, defeating enemies at the same time. You meet up with Malik in King Solomon’s tomb where Malik decides to release Kings Solomon’s Army in order to end this war. Then something goes wrong, the “army” that’s released is an ancient evil that draws its power from the sands lead by an evil demon called Ratash. After the seal that held the army captive is broken, the Prince and Malik each took a half of the seal and were once again separated. The two brothers found that whenever they kill an enemy, they gain power from them. Malik likes this power but Prince can see that one can be overcome by it. Then comes the fight with Ratash. After you wear the demon down, Malik comes out of nowhere and delivers a killing blow, or so you think. As Malik’s half of the seal absorbs the power of Ratash, you notice he is now overcome by the demon’s power and becomes Ratash. You now have to locate your brother and save him from this terrible fate and save the world as you know it.

The Score:
I was absolutely disappointed in this game. I am giving this game a 2.

Body of Review:
Usually, I like to have a good and bad section to my reviews but I’m just gonna go ahead and combine them into one. I had some major problems with this game. In the past, the Prince of Persia series has been known as an action adventure puzzle game but the problem with this installment is that there was no action or adventure. The majority of the gameplay was me running up a wall, swinging from poles, or avoiding traps around the area. And then when I did actually fight some enemies, there were usually about a hundred or so that I had to fight. The waves of enemies were ridiculous. The gameplay itself was not what it used to be in a Prince of Persia game. Remember back in the Sands of Time trilogy, especially in Warrior Within where you could string together combos to really do some damage? Yeah, those days are long gone. Now you can only hit enemies with so called “quick attacks”, which take at least a 2 second wind up on the Prince’s part, and a charge attack. No more combos, no more Mature rating either, which is what I loved about Warrior Within.

The powers you obtain over the course of the game are okay but not great. They include Fire Trail, Ice Blast, Stone Armor and a Wind Gust. I found myself using the Fire Trail more than any other power because it did the most when I was surrounded by enemies.

You also use the power of the sands in this game. With the power of the sands you can control time, which you can use to prevent some deaths and help figure out the puzzles in the game. You can also slow down time which will slow down water falls and water spouts enough to where you can climb, walk, swing, and shimmy on water. This was a pretty cool feature for the first two sections I had to use it in, then it just became annoying by how much I HAD to use it.

The last power you obtain is the power of the wind. You can be in mid jump and then use this power to dart yourself to an enemy at the opposite end of a once unreachable gap.

I would have to say the only decent thing about this game is perhaps the cinematics. They were done quite well but when you have good cinematics with a disappointing game, it doesn’t help any.

Final Thoughts:
After playing this game, it really made me sad that this is where the Prince of Persia franchise has gone. When I saw that they were going back towards the Sands of Time I was excited because I was a big fan of that trilogy but I was severely disappointed. I hope that if there’s a next installment, they will go back to the days of Mature ratings and violent combos and gameplay.

Until next time, happy gaming everyone!

M-Dawg

First Glance:
A boy, or girl as the case might be, and a dog explore the land of Albion. Moral choices not only affect how people react to you but your appearance as well. Who’s up for burning down some orphanages? I need my horns.

The Short Story:
Fable brought us a game with an unusual take on how our choices affect the world around our character. Fable II is more of the same with a longer story line, the inclusion of multiplayer, and some minor changes that make a substantial difference between this title and the original.

The Score:
Much like the first title, the length of the game and time commitments would rate this game our lowest score. But a much improved quest log, a quest trail marker, and the multiplayer feature save it from the onesies. Barely. Fable II receives a Busy Gamer 2.

Body of review:
There’s a lot to do in Albion. Peter Molyneux and Lionhead Studios made sure of that. There’s a ton of quests to do, plenty of loot to pillage, villages to ransack, townspeople to offer up to the Dark Gods… Oh, you’re playing a goodie? I suppose that could be fun, too. Maybe.

Seriously though, the world of Albion is considerably larger this time out and a bit more free form. You can run off the beaten path in most places allowing you a much more expansive world to explore. And for each place you find, there’s generally a quest to go along with it. And you get to do it all with your new best friend, a dog your character picks up as a child.

Your dog will sniff out treasures for you, some of dubious worth, and help you in combat. He growls when enemies are near and protects you to the best of his abilities. He plays fetch, does tricks, and as your appearance changes because of your moral choices, so does his. Choose to be virtuous and good hearted and your dog’s coat turns gold and he practically glows with the good karma you’re spreading. Choose to be a black hearted villain and your dog’s coat grows black and his nature becomes more feral.

As for you, the choices you make influence how people view you and actually begin to reflect in your appearance. Good, you get a halo and give off an almost golden haze and most of the people you meet instantly like you. Evil, you grow horns and develop halitosis… or something. At any rate, people won’t like you much when they first meet you if you have an evil reputation.

Also affecting your appearance is the three skill sets your abilities are divided into. Invest heavily in the Strength tree and your character becomes more muscular. Investing in the Skill (agility) tree increases your characters height while increasing your Will (magic) tree will soon have your characters veins glowing with power.

There are no levels. Experience is handled based on what ability you used to kill a creature and falls into one of four categories; Strength, Skill, Will, and General. As the names imply, three of the experience pools must be used to increase the abilities in direct relation while General experience can be used in any of the three. In this sense, you are not locked in to one type of character.

There’s very little you can’t do in this game. You can get married, have children, cheat on your spouse, get divorced… You can gamble, compete in an arena, get drunk and commit indecent acts in public. If you chose to forego the adventuring part of the game, there would still be a plethora of things to do to hold your attention.

You can purchase property, effectively becoming a slumlord or the kind hearted land lord depending entirely on how you set the rent on the buildings. Buying existing businesses like a shop or blacksmith allows you to change the amount of markup on your prices as well. Unsurprisingly, hiking the prices or the rent on a purchased building can affect which way your karma is heading.

One of the new features in Fable II is the ability to team up with a friend for some co-operative play. Unfortunately, the co-op lacks in some areas. While you can help your friend with any quest and garner experience and gold while visiting their campaign that will follow you back to your campaign, you appear as a nameless mercenary to merely tag along on the adventures. Your character skills carry over to the host’s game but none of your items make the transition either way.

Then there’s the inability to move the camera while playing multiplayer. Neither host nor visiting player can manipulate the camera to change the view which means a static view in most of the areas you visit. This can make it difficult in some cases to keep track of enemies off screen and sometimes mean missing the various treasure chests scattered through the land.

While one could conceivably complete the game in a very short amount of time, there’s very little point in doing so. The content of the game will be the draw for most players and simply rushing to the end would be a waste. Unfortunately, there’s just too much here for the Busy Gamer who wants their money’s worth. And the co-op isn’t polished enough (yet) to warrant a higher score.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

First Glance
Unlock your inner evil Overlord and command your minions to wreak some havoc.

The Short Story
Behind every Overlord is an army of willing minions that has to be micromanaged to be effective. Being evil is fun but no one said it was going to be easy.

The Score
Unfortunately, Overlord isn’t the type of game you can put down for any length of time and come back to without some problems. Add the length into the mix and this game gets a 2 on the Busy Gamer scale.

Body of Review
Never let it be said that I’m not all about getting my evil groove on but Overlord is the type of game that has a learning curve attached. As the game begins, you’re just a fledging Overlord with a mere handful of minions to control. Your enemies are few and weak and to build your army, you’ll find yourself killing sheep. A lot of sheep. Seriously, a lot of sheep.

But as the game progresses, you’ll find the number of minions you control grows as well as the types. Initially you start with the grunt minion, the brown imp, and progress from there to a total of four different imp groups. Each type of imp you come to control has its strengths and weaknesses and you’ll find you’ll need each type in different circumstances as you progress through the world. And as your army grows, so does the strength and number of your enemies.

You’ll find in short order that you’ll have to adapt very quickly to the scenario at hand in order to be a successful Overlord. This means juggling the different types of minions, which isn’t altogether difficult but can be awkward. Once the aspiring Overlord masters the skill of juggling his minions, there’s also the personal combat skills and spells to master. While not completely necessary, they make crushing
one’s enemies not only easier, but so much more satisfying.

You’ll not only use your minions for combat but there will be objects that need to be moved out of the way for you to progress further through the lands you travel, not to mention objects that will need to be carried back to your tower. And lest we forget, the good old fashioned minion sacrifice for that much needed boost to your health or mana. Ah, and then there’s the forging of your weapons and armor that can use the blood of your minions to boost your own strengths. So much potential in those little fellows.

There is a solid game here. Good graphics, humorous dialogue, and a solid control scheme make for an enjoyable experience. The hilariously evil and questionably moral characters are a fresh look at the “fairy tale??? storyline. Unfortunately, the Busy Gamer is going to have difficulty with this game due to the necessity of lengthy and consistent play sessions in order to complete the game. Any length of time between sessions will result in having to relearn the control scheme and/or remembering
where you were at on a quest.

First Glance:
Tom Clancy shooters typically require squad management skills. Other than that, I’ve always enjoyed the entries in the Rainbow Six franchise. High Tech weaponry and gadgets can only improve the package Right?

The Short Story:
Realistic weapon sounds, decent graphics, and high tech weaponry are nice but a clunky squad management interface, sub-par AI on the part of your team mates, and below average voice acting make an otherwise great game into a so-so experience.

The Score:
This is a tactical shooter. That means you have to be ready to invest some time to learn the controls which are not intuitive. A long absence from the game means having to learn the controls all over, including how to issue commands to the various units you’ll have at your disposal throughout the campaign. The multiplayer offering is fun but again, long absences mean learning how to play all over again. Add in a lengthy and difficult campaign and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighterearns a 2 on the Busy Gamer scale.

Body of review:
Usually slapping Tom Clancy’s name on a box means two things, an excellent squad based tactical shooter and a high learning curve. With Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced War fighter (hereafter referred to as GRAW), the learning curve is exceptionally high but the shooter offered is certainly below the norm for his titles.

The control scheme used for GRAW is problematic. You’ll use the D-Pad to issue select and issue commands to the various units you control making weapon selection somewhat difficult. Each weapon typically comes with alternate rates of fire further compounding the issue especially should the weapon come equipped with a grenade launcher. You’ll find yourself trying to remember which of the buttons switches weapons or fire modes as the enemy unleashes a hail of lead and explosives at you.

Your teammates, the other Ghosts of your squad, can be difficult to deal with as well. Using up on the D-Pad will order them to a position while down will order them to form up on you. The shoulder buttons allow you to control whether they hold their fire or go weapons free. Left or right on the D-Pad will allow you to cycles through any other units you may be controlling. As far as issuing squad commands, it seems simple and it is to a point.

The problems arise when your squad actually moves into action. Ordering your team to move behind a building, for instance, to take cover results in one of two scenarios; in the first, only one member of your team will be able to offer fire support because the other two members have pulled so far behind cover that they have no line of sight on targets. In the second, the team will ignore the cover in order to take pot shots at the enemy, remaining in the open long enough to allow the enemy to easily mow them down.

The enemy AI, on the other hand, is well handled. Enemies will move up taking cover as they can and use the landscape to flank you if you’re not careful. This is another problem for your squad as they will sometimes ignore an enemy coming up behind them to focus on the enemy you are firing on. This often results in your entire team being taken out by one enemy while you are pinned down. And on occasion, if you have ordered your team to hold their fire, they will allow the same enemy to bypass them completely and take you out from behind their cover.

There are some high points to the game, of course. The weapons sounds are very convincing and it’s fun to play with the high tech devices you have at your disposal. Using the UAV to scout out areas you’re moving to is nice and the threat of having it shot from the sky by alert enemies makes its use more realistic. The voice acting isn’t bad but there are certainly some parts that will make you wonder if the person delivering the lines actually wanted to be involved with this project.The issues I have with the game could likely be overcome with practice, lots and lots of practice, which is why I have to recommend the Busy Gamer pass this offering up. There’s just too much work to be done to enjoy the game on a tight schedule.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

www.busygamer.com

First Glance:
Orcs and humans and gnomes, oh my!

The Short Story:
Blizzard takes a look at the failures and successes of previous MMORPGs and builds on the good stuff while doing away with a lot of the bad.

The Score:
There’s a lot of ‘ifs’ here that can push the score higher or lower but from the guidelines we’ve set down here at Busy Gamer, this game scores a 2.

Body of review:
World of Warcraft just happens to be one of my favorite games of all time and with good reason. Blizzard has built a truly immersive game world within WoW and it’s the type of place you find yourself exploring and admiring each time you play. The landscapes are beautiful andsometimes alien, foregoing realistic landscapes and character models for a more fantasy feel.

The Busy Gamer will quickly discover that WoW is not the type of game that forgives a full schedule. Leveling, while not completely painful, is time consuming as is the gathering of equipment and items. Players who can’t devote 10-15 hours a week will find themselves quicklyfalling behind their friends in terms of levels and power. Those with time to spare and a decent understanding of the game can become powerhouses in very short order.

The talent system is robust and allows players to customize their characters in terms of skills to fit their play style. Unfortunately, once a specific class build is determined to be tougher than other builds, a cookie cutter build often becomes predominant among the players of that class. While there’s nothing wrong with that concept, it does tend to mean that each encounter with a specific class generally plays out the same way with the same spells and talents being used each time.

There is also a broad choice of non-combat or crafting professions to choose from as a player levels their character offering the player themeans to generate income or craft their own equipment. Some of the professions offer the ability to craft new items while others offer theability to enhance existing equipment. The more elaborate the recipe, however, the more time consuming the gathering of the components becomes, another problem within WoW for the Busy Gamer.

There are several different types of servers for players to choose from when playing WoW. There are the PvP (Player Versus Player) servers which offer players the chance to compete amongst themselves in almost every area within the game. Some players, however, prefer to play on the PvE (Player Versus Environment) servers to allow themselves to focus on leveling their characters. There are Roleplaying (RP) servers, where Roleplaying is not only encouraged but enforced to a small degree, that offer either the PvP or PvE aspects of the regular servers.The new player will find that class selection and character creation is easy so long as one takes the time to read the information provided during the process. Some classes are more difficult to play than others while still others demand more attention when playing to fully realize their potential. Class selection should be done carefully by the Busy Gamer. The wrong starting class can make or break this game even for those with ample time to invest.

There’s a lot to do and see in WoW. Unfortunately for the Busy Gamer, it might just be too much.

-Gritskrieg