It’s been nearly 10 years since we’ve seen Max Payne sulk through the New York alleys; he’s decided that he’s had his fill of the big apple and is moving to São Paulo, Brazil for the sun, babes, and gangs. With Remedy being too busy working on whatever it is they’re doing (please be Alan Wake 2) Rockstar decided to pick up the third entry in the series. With the trade of gloomy New York for sunny São Paulo don’t go thinking that things are any more cheerful; Max starts out in the shitter and slowly gets in deeper as the game continues that culminates in possibly Rockstar’s darkest game yet.

The game is quick to remind you that Max is still leaning on the booze and pills to keep him running, but things start to look up a bit for him when he moves to Brazil and gets a bodyguard position to protect a wealthy family. That lasts a good five minutes before things start to hit the fan and Max is thrown between protecting the family and controlling his own substance abuse issues. Besides the new cover mechanic not much has changed in how you play compared to the previous titles. You can take cover if you want, but be prepared for enemies to start flanking your position to deliver a healthy dose of ass whooping. It’s the Matrix styled shootdodge mechanic that’s going to be your main source of dealing out death. You’ll see a meter to the right that shows how much time you can spend in this mode and can be refilled quickly be simply scoring kills outside of shootdodge. With the added euphoria engine that powered Grand Theft Auto 4 and Red Dead Redemption, you’ll be greeted to some amazing moments from shooting enemies and seeing them stumble around to diving in the air over a desk, spinning around, and quickly sending a few thugs to meet their maker. Did I mention the physics? Almost everything can be smashed apart and it will with clean rooms looking like a wrecking crew drove through after gunfights. For fans worried about Rockstar dumbing down the game fret not because painkillers are still your only source of health in this game; only multiplayer has slowly regenerating health, not on hardcore though. I found Max to be stupidly brittle even on normal difficulty. I’m always up for a good challenge but later missions really punished you for using the shootdodge mechanic and I found myself starting to use cover more and more. Painkillers can be somewhat difficult to locate if they’re not in plain view, but the game thankfully refills your health each time you die so at least you can’t screw yourself by walking into a situation with little to no health. You’ll find ‘grinds’ to do through both the singleplayer and online. You’ll find a variety of menial tasks such as finding golden guns, and tougher ones such as shooting grenades in the air or scoring kills while on your back.

Besides the 10+ hour campaign and grinds to, excuse the pun, grind through you’ll also have New York Minute and Score Attack to keep you playing. Score Attack rewards you with points for kills, more points the more impressive the kill, with a focus on keeping your multiplier up. New York Minute on the other hand is meant more for speed-running players with each level starting you out with a timer that continually trickles down; the only way to get more time is to score kills.

So when you start up the playlist you’ll think Max Payne 3 has quite a lot of game modes to play, but in reality out of the either modes you see, there are only really 3 different ones. There’s Rookie Deathmatch/TDM, regular Deathmatch/TDM, large Deathmatch/TDM, Payne Killer, and Gang Wars; there are also hardcore variants you can unlock once you get 5000 kills. The idea behind Payne Killer is that two players will play as either Max or Passos while the other team has to work together to bring them down. The player who deals the most damage to either character is re-spawned as that character loaded to the teeth with painkillers, guns, and adrenaline. It’s a neat mode that has you bouncing between trying to deal the most damage to Max or Passos, or trying to let your teammates whittle down their health so you can score a final kill. You’ll get points for dealing damage/killing Max or Passos, but the real numbers start flowing in when you play as either character; winner at the end is the guy with the most points. The marquee mode here is Gang Wars though; in it you’ll take the role of one of the various factions and complete various staged objectives. Each map has its own little story that snugly fits with the main game and you’ll go through various objectives such as defending checkpoints, assassinating targets, straight up elimination, and more. The neat thing is that you’ll never get the same sequence of objectives twice with each game having a completely random set of objectives that change depending on whether you won or lost the previous one. It’s something I’ve loved since Killzone 2 and really hope more games start to implement it.

So you know I love me some customization in my multiplayer games; it’s not so much that I want other people to see how my character looks, it’s just that I’m so narcissistic that I enjoy seeing how I look. There are half a dozen factions, each with their own look/style, that you can change from head-to-toe with gear you’ll acquire by simply leveling up. You’ll also be able to select how you want to look for straight deathmatch modes and you can unlock story characters by achieving either a platinum in each level in score attack or prestiging. So as you kill other players or loot their bodies you’ll gain adrenaline which fuels both your bullet time and your bursts. Bursts are a sort of perk that grants you a special skill divided into three tiers as you fill your meter up. For example, equipping the heavy firepower burst will give you more damage for 20 seconds, the second tier will replace your guns with a powerful LMG, and the final tier gives you a grenade launcher. Players have to be quick to think if they want to spend what adrenaline they have on an extra kill in bullet time or with a burst. Just as in most shooters, you’ll be able to set up various loadouts that will allow you to change your tactics throughout a match. You’ll be able to equip up to three weapons, a head item that gives effects such as not being affected by flash grenades, body armor, your burst, your projectile/grenade, and three pieces of gear. Gear is a sort of passive skill that doesn’t run on adrenaline; with over a dozen pieces of gear you’ll see ones like a lucky coin that grants more cash from looting or a walkie-talkie that puts any enemy player your teammates see on your radar. The game can get quite unfair though, since it seems to not care who it matches you with and will throw you into games with people at level 50 (max rank). These guys will be rolling around with grenade/rocket launchers and bursts that let them appear as allies which makes fighting them some serious bullshit.

The graphics are damn impressive and the attention to detail in all the environments is just mind boggling. Rockstar also had the noise rock band Health to score the game which ended up being another smart move by Rockstar who have a smart taste for music. Rockstar really has a knack for bringing out the best of their voice-actors with James McCaffrey (the voice of Max) pulling in probably his best work here. The sound team should really get acknowledged for their work on the game because the way everything sounds, from the guns to the environment getting shredded during gunfights, is phenomenal.

The Final Word
Max Payne 3 is a great grab for newcomers to the series, but even more enjoyable to players of the previous two games. With a hefty amount of singleplayer modes and a pretty solid multiplayer component, besides the bit of unbalance, MP3 is definitely something that you won’t be trading in anytime soon.

- MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good

In 2007 CD Project RED came out of nowhere and decided to drop The Witcher on us which told the tale of the monster slayer Geralt of Rivia who not only suffers from amnesia, but a pain in his ass called Drowners. Besides a few rough spots The Witcher showed us a brilliant world based off the book series by Andrzej Sapkowski, and is one of the few games where I actually want to read all the little notes scattered around. Four years later and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings graced out computers with one of the most polished RPG games in a while. In similar fashion to The Witcher receiving an ‘Enhanced Edition’, TW2 is also getting the same treatment, but this time 360 owners get to join in on the party. All copies of the 360 will be physical versions of the new Enhanced Edition and PC versions are being updated with the new content for free.

The game opens up with a quick reminder that our buddy Geralt still hasn’t recovered from his amnesia but isn’t letting that get in the way of his Witcher full time job. This time he’s helping out his new ‘buddy’ king Foltest who’s going to be out of the picture faster than Sean Bean in Ronin. Geralt is awkwardly caught at the scene of the crime only to quickly escape from prison. You’ll venture to various locals and meet a host of colorful characters that will lead you towards the true kingslayer. The thing I love about TW2 is that all of the quests have some sort of variety that keeps you wanting to stay up late just to finish up the next quest phase. Even the side-quests are given better treatment with some even influencing choices you’ll see in the story. The thing I love most about the game is the setting, everything is just incredibly grimy and it handles one of its main themes (racial tension between humans and non-humans) in a serious and realistic way. Just like in the first game you’ll have to make some tough choices in this game, and by tough I don’t mean you’ll be picking what color you want your ending to be. You’ll feel like the developers took out the color from your moral compass because most of the choices in this game are as grey as grey can get.

One downside to the campaign is that the 360 version lacks the save import feature to carry over any choices made in The Witcher. While I’m sure it’s not a big deal to anyone who didn’t play the first game, it still would’ve been nice if they could have included a sort of interactive comic showcasing the major choices like Bioware did with the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2.

If you go into The Witcher 2 thinking hack/slashing your way through the game will cut it, you’ll be thrown on your ass harder than Jazzy Jeff. This is a game where you have to be aware of enemies trying to get around you, your position, and what type of enemy you’re facing; you just won’t fight a guy with a halberd the same way as a guy with a sword and shield. Besides your light and heavy attack you’ve also got a block that you can’t crutch on due to the fact that it takes out a bit of vigor each time you block a hit, a riposte used for parrying enemy attacks, and a dodge that will become your best friend. The combat in this game is tight and incredibly focused with Geralt pulling off some brutal attacks on his enemies. You’re equipped with a steel sword that’s made to do more damage against human opponents and a silver sword that’s going to be your monster slaying tool. There’s a collection of other minor weapons such as daggers and warhammers you can equip, but I never saw any point in using those. I sort of wish they didn’t replace your primary because I loved at the very least equipping any minor weapon in the first game just to see my witcher decked out in gear. You’ll also be able to equip throwing daggers, bombs, and traps to help you out during fights. Besides the physical abuse you’ll put enemies through, you’ll also be able to unleash your inner wizard on them. Your vigor bar, besides depleting whenever you block, is used for your magical skills. You’ll be able to unleash a torrent of pain on your enemies with an incineration spell, a sort of force push, a magical trap that snares enemies, hypnotize foes for a time, and a shield that will become best buddies with you and the dodge button. All of these skills start out mildly useful, but once upgraded in the magic skill tree, they turn you into a formidable foe that will send your enemies running. The controls have thankfully adapted perfectly to a controller which is no surprise considering the PC version had controller support.

As you level up in the game you’ll acquire talent points that you can then use in the skill tree. It’s separated into a small training tree with some basic skills and then 3 massive trees that focus in swordplay, magic, and alchemy. Don’t even bother thinking that you’ll be able to max everything out since you’ll most likely only be able to either max out a single tree and dabble a little in others or become a jack of all trades sort of witcher. Each tree definitely has some skills that make them all worthwhile to invest in with various skills able to be upgraded a second time. Some skills will also have an empty circle in their image, this means that you can equip a mutagen to enhance that skill. Mutagens all have various effects such as increased regeneration or elemental resistances.

Without some proper planning you’re most likely going to meet a quick end in The Witcher 2, so it’s smart to always head into a battle with some potions. Unlike other games where you can just pop a potion during a fight, you’ll have to do it before. Your health and vigor regenerate on their own during and after battles, albeit incredibly slowly. Taking a Tawny Owl for example greatly increases the rate that your vigor regenerates, there are other alternative potions such as Lapwing that give greater results at the cost of some side-effects like reducing your vitality. These potions can be made anywhere you’re not in direct combat and will last a certain amount of time depending on the potion and on any skills you may have invested in. You’ll also have oils and armor fragments that can be used to upgrade your gear; for example you can throw an insectoid oil on your sword if you know you’re about to go into a fight against a bug-like enemy.

So to make those potions you need to prepare for combat you’ll need to play around with the alchemy system. Whenever you’re in a safe area (any place where you’re not being slammed by enemies) and you can open up the radial menu to go into the meditation menu. In here you’ll be able to create various enhancements such as potions or oils, bombs, traps, drink said potions, view your character development, and wait time which is great for me because I don’t trust the dark. When you enter the alchemy section you’ll be greeted with a slightly confusing menu but after playing around in it for a few minutes you should have no issue. It’s here where you’ll be able to see any diagram you have for crafting and the ingredients needed for making them. Each item requires a certain group of ingredients, but the neat thing about the Witcher is that you don’t specifically need a cheese wheel to make a health potion. For example, the potion Swallow requires 1 vitriol, 2 rebis, and 1 aether ingredient. You can mix up any ingredients you have as long as they have one of those substances. For the vitriol requirement you could supply either some nekker eyes, teeth, necrophage eyes, balisse, or white myrtle petals. All of these items include the substance vitriol and are all acceptable to use to craft the item, although it’s smart to always use the item you have more of since the game might put a rarer ingredient in a slot instead of a more common one.

Besides the main campaign, there’s also an arena mode you can tackle that’ll pit you against increasingly difficult groups of enemies as you soldier on. In it you start at level 1 with just the most basic weaponry, and as you get through each wave you’ll be granted gold and a choice of reward such as a shiny new sword or some boots. There’s a shop to drop some well earned gold at and three companions you can hire to join you until they die. There’s a leader board feature that tracks your highest score with other players, but that’s as close as you’re going to get to an online function.

So people already know that The Witcher 2 is one of the most gorgeous games on the PC, but many people were curious how well it holds up on the 360; here’s a hint, fantastically. If I were to compare them to the PC version, I’d say it’s around the low/medium area, but the art style still keeps things looking aesthetically pleasing. It does suffer from some odd pop-ins at times, but it’s a minor gripe in a game this gorgeous. It’s one of the few fantasy games released this gen to really convince me that I’m really in this hard fantasy realm with gorgeous locals such a bustling forest, an elven city, and a devastating battlefield littered with the reborn specters of fallen soldiers. The Enhanced Edition also features some reworked graphics and lighting that will also be updated into the PC version. As with any game, the soundtrack is a key component to nailing the atmosphere and TW2 is buried in atmosphere with various tracks that help set the mood perfectly. The sound team also deserves a nod with fantastic work on the sounds in general for things, but it’s the ambient music that really sold me. There aren’t many games I play in surround sound, but it puts a huge grin on my face when I finally find one I can abuse my speakers with. On another note, for best results I highly recommend installing both discs onto the hard drive.

The Final Word
It’s always a treat to see a port as well put together as this is with almost no compromises. With 30+ hours to sink into the game with newly added side-missions and the arena mode, your friends won’t be borrowing this game from you anytime soon. 360 owners owe it to themselves to try out one of the best RPG’s to release this gen and I honestly can’t wait to see what CD Project RED pumps out next.

- MonsterVine Rating: 5 out of 5 – Excellent

Now I’m sure you’re all quite familiar with the Spike TV show ‘Deadliest Warrior’ where they bring in a group of experts who explain the basic tactics of the combatants they represent then toss all the info into this program called the ‘Bullshitter’ then call it a day. Besides the constant pain inducing feelings the show causes to anyone who’s read a history book, they decided to make a game because putting a Spartan in a 1v1 fight against a ninja makes more sense that way. Ancient Combat is a retail bundle of the two previous downloadable titles Deadliest Warrior and DW: Legends. Besides getting the joy of playing through both of those titles again, you’ll also be ‘treated’ to new weapons, all the DLC, a new map, and 6 episodes from the TV show.

When you start up the game you’ll notice that you’ll have to download both Deadliest Warrior and DW: Legends before you play. I checked and they’re both the same size as the downloadable version which makes me wonder why they didn’t just redesign the game to include everything on a single disc without the need for a download. You still need the disc to play the games even though you basically downloaded them which is odd. Players hoping to pit a pirate against Alexander the Great are going to be severely disappointed when they find out that’s it’s an actual true to words bundle and not a combined bundle like I’m sure many people will think.

You’ll find just over a dozen fighters in both titles ranging from the biggest hits from each season. While DW contains the more basic characters such as samurai or knight, Legends contains the more notable ones like Hannibal and Khan. In both games you’ll be able to unlock various weapons and outfits for each character that adds a nice degree of customization. The key feature developers need to nail in a fighting game is balance, without it players are basically forced to play as the stronger character or suffer constant defeat against players who do use them. Just like in the show, if you throw a ninja in against a knight you can pretty much expect that ninja to come out in a body bag. Unarmored characters will go down in as little as 5 hits at times with the tougher characters able to take quite a beating, especially if they have a shield. Anyone with a throwing weapon does have the potential to score a 1-hit kill if they nail a headshot, but those are few and far between that when they actually happen you don’t mind; expect you and your friends to have vocal “OH SHIT” moments when one of you manages to pull one off. It really doesn’t help matters when the controls are easily some of the worst in a fighting game. You’ll stumble around the fully 3D arenas while trying to clumsily try to refocus your character on your opponent. There’s a list of moves you can perform, but honestly they’re all a complete joke. There’s nothing complex to it and you’ll basically mash your way to victory. I suppose you could say “BUT DIEGO, THIS WASN’T MADE FOR FIGHTING FANS! IT’S MADE FOR FUN!” and I would reply with “Well then if you enjoy playing with shit, have fun”. I like my fighting games to have some actual effort put in their development and not run on a gimmick of limb removal.

Both games share the same arcade mode where you’ll go through a dozen or so fights unlocking new weapons for your chosen character along the way. You’ll get the occasional diversion like slicing pigs like in the show to break things up. Legends adds a Generals mode (similar to Risk) where you work your way along a map capturing areas to eventually have the map under your control. It’s incredibly slow and boring, I honestly don’t see why they thought it was a good idea to put this in a fighting game. I suppose it’s nice for them to try to spice things up, but they could have done it in better ways. For multiplayer you’ve got your basic 1 on 1 fight and you can even do skirmish fights where both players pick up to 4 fighters instead of one. Legends does have a few tweaks you can do like slice and zombie, but that’s it and they’re not even that interesting. Besides the local multiplayer there’s also an online lobby you can join, but good luck finding any players in that ghost town.

I’d like to think the graphics look ugly on purpose to make up for the amount of gore spraying everywhere, but there’s hardly any gore when you want it. I think after a dozen matches against a friend, maybe 4 of those lead to a decapitation or removed limb. The zombie/slice mode in Legends does help this issue by making almost each attack slice something off. You might say I’m nitpicking because I want to see arms flying off all the time, well to that I say why the hell are you watching Deadliest Warrior for if not for the decapitations? What, are people really watching it for the historical accuracy? On the other hand, the gore is stupidly funny to look at. There’s no better feeling than slicing an arm off your opponent and watching as he fumbles around trying to take a swing at you only to be met with a decapitation.

The Final Word
I highly recommend that you stay away from this if you’re a fighting game fan and only purchase it if you’re a huge fan of the show. Hell, even then I’d only excuse you purchasing it if you were drunk, and by drunk I mean so drunk that the town drunk is telling you to put the drink down.

- MonsterVine Rating: 2 out of 5 – Poor

Silent Hill is known for its focus on delivering psychological horror rather than visceral horror. The series wields disturbing imagery and unpredictable scare tactics in order to take players on a horrific journey through the eerie, ill-fated town. The second title in the series delievered the most mature and possibly the best story in the series. However, the franchise was not consistent in terms of quality, and lost relevancy amongst the horror genre. We now find the series with a new developer and the result is Silent Hill: Downpour, a true return to the psychological horror introduced with the first Silent Hill.

Silent Hill: Downpour, developed by Vatra Games, is the latest entry in the series, and an ambitious attempt to bring the series back to a relevant spot in the horror genre. The team behind Downpour has done a wonderful job of creating a consistently creepy and dreary atmosphere throughout the game, accompanied by a dark and enticing story. However, the game suffers from a subpar combat system, and marred with technical issues that pulled me right out of the experience.

The story follows Murphy Pendleton; a convict with a past shrouded from the player a majority of the game. Pendleton’s psychological terror is unique to his own story much like the protagonist in Silent Hill 2; he encounters multiple metaphors in the form of monsters and environments unique to his plight.

I was enticed by the story the more it progressed. Its dark and mature tone complimented Vatra’s focus on psychological horror in Downpour. I became increasingly attached to Pendleton, only hoping for a happy end to a story of self-torture and guilt over a heartless act of cruelty on the part of Pendleton in the intro moments of the game.

The level design for a majority of the interior environments adds a uniqueness that is hard to come by in the horror genre these days, and that criticism stretches to other entertainment mediums, not just video games. I’m not necessarily saying Downpour’s environments are the best the horror genre has ever seen; it’s hard to say something that bold when games like Resident Evil 2, Dead Space, and even the original Silent Hill have established settings that define the horror genre. What I am saying is that Vatra gives the interior environments a sense of importance but also a greater sense of danger, something I find appealing and important in the horror genre. I found myself walking through rooms and hallways with an unwavering sense of tension that often times concluded with no threat. Downpour’s greatest scare tactic is leading players into a false sense of security.

The gameplay is where Downpour begins to show its flaws. Not all of the gameplay is rough, however; I really enjoyed exploring all of the environments thanks to a forensic light the character can carry to reveal clues and hints. The combat is where I found myself frustrated the most with Downpour.

In Silent Hill fashion, combat is focused mainly on melee weapons, with only two types of firearms, a pistol and shotgun, which are sparsely spread out in the game. Pendleton can store one firearm in his inventory at a time, but can’t store melee weapons. Players can find weapons just about anywhere in Downpour. The weapons come in various types ranging from bricks and knives for close range; shovels or pitchforks for longer range; and middle range weapons like axes. Each weapon has a durability factor to consider, however there was no way to tell when a weapon was about to break, which left me unarmed in a few encounters. However, my main issue with combat in Downpour is its unreliable and frantic controls.

There was really no tactic associated with combat, other than turning around and running away from a fight, which the game does encourage. The blocking mechanic allows some defense against the barrage of attacks from the enemies in Downpour, but it does little to keep the combat from falling apart.

I’m happy to see Vatra not create a character that is unstoppable and a complete badass when it comes to fighting. However, I wish there was a tighter focus on combat when more than one enemy entered the picture, and trust me, you’ll often run into more than one enemy at a time.

Downpour also suffered from some technical issues that marred much of my experience with the game. Frame-rate issues were most of the problems I ran into. I found myself bouncing around in rooms, especially in the alleyways while outside. I thought the game froze in a few instances, and these issues would only get worse as the game went on. Whatever the problem was for the constant frame-rate drops, it’s a shame that some of those moments that were meant to scare me, caused frustration instead.

Downpour features side missions that are uncovered by exploring Silent Hill. There are a variety of side missions players can check out to break up the story, and many of them serve to flesh out Silent Hill’s lore. Some of the side quests that I completed were as unsettling as the main story, and were great distractions that kept me interested in exploring the entire town.

The Final Word: Vatra Games attention to detail in the level design and mature story telling makes Silent Hill: Downpour a psychological and emotional roller coaster. Unfortunately, the sub-par combat and technical issues pulled me out of the experience far too often. I hope, however, Konami leaves Vatra at the reigns of Silent Hill for at least one more game, because I strongly believe, thanks to Vatra, that Silent Hill is a relevant force in the horror genre once again.

- MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 – Fair

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is loooong. Purported to be a game of an extraordinary 200 hours in length and a blend of action and RPG, Amalur certainly seems to rival the likes of The Elder Scrolls at first glance; this shouldn’t be surprising, given support on the project from lead designer of Morrowind and Oblivion fame, Ken Rolston. Indeed, Amalur’s inspiration draws from many great games and ideas that we’ve seen over the years – but is that enough?

Story

In Amalur, you take the role of the “The Fateless One”, a recently resurrected being who, because of his/her death, is no longer tied to the threads of Fate, and is thus able to change the world around them. Shortly after being revived, you are soon attacked by the Tuatha, a group of rebel Fae (read: elves) who seek to conquer the world through the worship of their new God. It’s then up to you to venture out into the world and gather together an army to rebel against the Tuatha and restore peace to the land. However, this is but only one of the many narrative threads that come together to form a fully-realized world.

It’s a shame that despite how well developed this world is, most of the questlines are hit or miss. The main storyline in particular doesn’t seem to pick up until near the last third or so of the game. In fact, as hard as the game tries to build you up as this all-powerful first-of-his/her-kind being that can change, you do relatively little in the ways of meaningful choice. For being “The Fateless One”, all you seem to do is run errands for all the important NPCs that you deal with, rather than be a real leader. Events will play out the same way, and any major choices you might make don’t have consequences beyond what stat bonus you will gain as a reward.

This is not to say that all plotlines are bad – in fact, many of the faction-specific questlines have a greater emotional punch, and you’ll meet characters that have more depth, which really helps the world feel more alive. It’s too bad they’re short, and there aren’t many of them in relation to the other quests of the game.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Amalur follows many of the open-world RPG tropes you’ve come to love from franchises such as Fable and The Elder Scrolls. After a short introduction sequence where you are taught the ropes, you are released in the world to explore as you please, completing the main story at your leisure. Of course, along the way, you’ll stumble upon many a side quest, and the sheer amount of them is staggering. You’ll see golden exclamation marks popping up on your minimap just about everywhere, letting you know there’s yet another adventure to partake.

Apart from the narrative provided, many quests consist of “fetch this”, “kill that” or “walk there” variety. There are also hidden item caches, shrines that grant you temporary stat bonuses and “lorestones” that impart a bit of world wisdom on you and can even grant you permanent bonuses for finding them all. Thankfully, the game’s extensive customizability and combat keep things from ever becoming a grind.

Charater progression in Amalur is separated into combat-based abilities and profession-related skills. Each time you level up, you gain 3 points to place in your abilities, and 1 point for your skills. Abilities are divided into the regular three themes: Might, Sorcery and Finesse. Rather than force you into a role for the rest of the game, Amalur allows you to choose abilities and skills based on your playstyle. By placing points in one of the three styles, you’ll unlock “Destiny” cards that give your character bonuses based on how invested you are in a given tree. Place all your points in Might (the Warrior tree) and you’ll gain bonuses that help you stun enemies more often and make you more resilient to damage. Or you could split points down the Finesse (Thief) and Sorcery and become a Shadowcaster. There are literally cards for every given build and you’re allowed to “respec” at almost anytime so you can experiment to your hearts content.

On top of all the combat abilities you get access to, there are also a wide variety of specialty skills that you can train in, varying from lockpicking and hidden item detection to blacksmithing and crafting gems that can augment your gear. There are quite of few of them, each requiring 10 skill points to master, giving you a lot of choice here. Some skills however, feel like necessities – for instance, Find Hidden, when maxed, will show you the location of ALL treasure chests, hidden doors and caches and lorestones on your minimap in addition to giving you extra gold when looting enemies. While some may choose to forgo this ability, it’s pretty damn powerful and hard to give up in relation to the other skills on offer here.

Where the open-world exploration feels akin to The Elder Scrolls, combat in Amalur feels more like God of War: fast, vicious and action-packed. You can equip two weapons at any one time, varying from an arsenal of 9: longswords, bows, greatswords and hammers—they’re all here. There’s even a new one, Chakrams, a mage-specific weapon that act like dual spinning boomerangs of death. Each weapon has it’s own style and you can unlock new types of moves and combos pending how you build your character. Combat is quick and weapons (especially the larger ones) give a satisfying crunch as they bowl over your enemies. For the magically-inclined, there is also an ability bar than can be accessed by holding the right trigger (this is a hotbar for those of you on the PC) that allows you to quickly equip and sling spells in an easy motion. Finally, as “The Fateless One”, dealing damage to enemies will fill up your fate meter, that, when full, can be released into a “Fate Shift”. Enemies slow down and you’re given a huge boost to damage and a limited amount of time to defeat as many foes as you can and then execute them with a quick-time event for extra experience. It’s nothing new, but the animations are appropriately badass and make you feel powerful.

If there are a few caveats about the combat system the first is that, on consoles, the abilities tab can only hold four spells at any given time and swapping them is painfully slow, as you need to pause the game, scroll down to the ability trees, find your ability and then map it. This can be a real drag on the fast-paced combat, especially for sorcerers, who get access to a good 6 or 7 spells by game’s end. The implementation of this is puzzling, as there is a separate radial menu that hotkeys your items; you can access this by tapping the bumper. It would have made more sense if you could have also mapped spells to these slots to avoid losing the heat of battle.

The second caveat is that sometimes, combat can feel cheap. Amalur makes you feel quite powerful with the array of abilities that it gives you access to, however it seems the game’s only answer to difficulty is to throw more enemies at you that can interrupt your attacks. Some attack animations can take several seconds to play out, in which you can be chain-attacked by a group of monsters before you get a chance to retaliate. In fact, there were several times that I died due to a string of unlucky hits that I couldn’t avoid because I was stuck in recovery animations. I would be more forgiving of the system if it weren’t for every enemy being able to disrupt your attacks, but in it’s current state, it was definitely frustrating at times.

Being an action RPG, Amalur also provides much in the way of loot – so much so, in fact, that you’ll find your backpack stuffed to the brim with all the colourful and epic items that you can’t bid yourself to part with. Thankfully, the inventory interface is easy to manage, if a bit tedious at times when you have too many items. Items that you have no need for can be placed in a junk list at the tap of a button and easily sold at shops whenever you’re stopping by towns. For those specializing in Blacksmithing, items can also be salvaged for parts and the materials used to build new items. Furthering the theme of customization, some items come with sockets as well, allowing you to socket gems for additional status effects.

It’s a little weird that the best gear in the game is crafted, since there are many epic sets of gear with their own unique design that look much better than anything you could craft. I feel like it was a bit of a missed opportunity, however none of the armor pieces in this game don’t actually look bad, it’s just the difference between great and greater.

Presentation

When it comes to presentation, you can really tell that this game has had a touch from Todd McFarlane. The world is full of vivid colour and unique landscapes that emanate a graphic-novel style and look simply astounding at times. It’s a constant delight to explore, as there is so much to see. Item design looks great as well, particularly the armor sets, where even the most basic piece looks more like what many MMO’s would offer in their end-game pieces, and it only gets better from there. Weapons also appropriately make you feel badass and the artistic design is truly one of the most enjoyable aspects of Amalur. Music is whimsical and really helps propel the exploration aspect of the complete, supplementing combat with dramatic horns and aggressive fanfare to help get your blood pumping.

Presentation falters on NPC conversations however, as facial animations are extremely stiff, and many times it doesn’t even look as if characters are making eye contact with you or are cross-eyed. It’s a bit off-putting, and the hit-or-miss voice acting doesn’t help things. While there certainly some characters that pass muster for having a personality, there are others whose vocal tones feel flat and extremely boring. If the situation is so dire, why do you not make it sound like it’s so important? Some energy, please!

Facial movement issues aside, it feels so wonderful to get lost in a world with so much artistic variety – not only in the settings, but the enemies, the weapons, the armor, the people, all of it. Art style obviously isn’t everything when it comes to a game, but the team at Big Huge Games did a damn good job of creating Amalur’s world.

Too Long; Didn’t Read

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning offers a wealth of variety and intense customizability set is a huge, wonderfully styled open world. The world thrives on rich colour and unique design that looks simply gorgeous and is an absolute joy for those who love to explore. It also helps that every weapon or piece of armour, no matter how low in quality, makes you look amazing. The breadth of character customization allows you to play how you like to play, from being a spell-slinger to a cutthroat to a massive tank, or even everything all at once. Combat is fast-paced and makes you feel powerful, even though it can be a bit cheap at times. Really, Kingdoms of Amalur tries to be a Jack-of-All-Trades, with an exceptional amount of breadth in the things that you can do but unfortunately ends up with not as much depth.

MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 / 5

Now the last Armored Core game I played was the first or second, so it’s been a while for me which puts me in two situations for reviewing this. On one hand I get the opportunity to view the game from the perspective of a newcomer to judge how someone not familiar to the series could approach it; on the other hand I end up not having a clue about many things and having to spend time on message boards asking questions. If players new to the series have the patience to play through the game and understand its mechanics they’ll find a treat to play.

Before you start playing you’ll be prompted to create a pilot and a team. The pilot itself is nothing important and just gives your AC a name, but the team part is incredibly important. This is the team (if you choose to stick with the one you make) that you will lead into online battles for territory against other players. The more matches your team wins the more prominence it’ll have. Teams can contain up to 20 players and if you decide to ditch your team in favor of another it’s as simple as either disbanding the team or transferring leadership. You’ll be able to also show off your team emblem for the world to see using one of the default emblems, or create your own. If working as a team isn’t really your style you can register yourself as a mercenary and get hired by other players to help out during missions in exchange for cold hard cash.

Now the main tab in the menu has all your modes. It’s here where you’ll drop instantly into the campaign, go online for some robot death matches, or compete in conquest games. There’s a story in here, but honestly it felt so bland I stopped bothering to pay any attention to it. The campaign itself is composed of 10 missions that all last from 30 minutes to an hour depending on your skill, so expect to get a small amount of time out of it. These missions involve going from point A to point B until you either clear all the enemies or reach a boss which are usually pretty hectic fights; there are however dozens of side missions that all basically involve ‘Kill Everyone’. This unfortunantly bleeds into the 10 story missions with each mission being a straight path full of the same tanks, flying mobile AC’s, riot shield AC’s, & helicopters you’ll fight in each mission. I did enjoy that I could bring along another player to help me out (which was a smart move considering some of the later missions get downright brutal) and if no friend is online then you can also hire a mercenary. My main complaint for this mode is that the tutorial fails to explain anything to you. It was a while before I realized my health bar was part of the reticle and I still have no clue what the top right corner piece is for. The only thing it covers are the basic controls; it fails to go into detail what the parts your AC has equipped mean. There’s no explanation on how the different categories of armor/weapons differ from each other and most players who aren’t series veterans are going to come into this more confused than Lost.

The other two tabs in the main menu is the assembly and team tabs. The team tab lets you keep track of your team’s progress, check who’s online, and set messages. The assembly tab is where you’re going to spend your time fine tuning your AC into the perfect death dealing machine. You’ll be able to choose each piece from the legs, torso, head, arms, weapons and more. With dozens of options I’m sure many people are going to put their AC through the revising process multiple times. You can also paint your AC here with a vast assortment of color options, patterns, and decals to throw on your AC. There’s even a custom emblem creator similar to Call of Duty Black Ops, but with much more depth to it.

The conquest mode is definitely the multiplayer highlight for this game. In it you’ll take 5 members of your team to battle against other player teams to take control of their territory. The map you see in the main menu/campaign screen will have the emblem of the team that’s currently in control of that area; you can stick your team’s name on that spot by jumping into conquest and showing everyone up. Invasion throws your team against the AI with various objectives, but it’s the Conquest mode that actually allows you to take over the areas. One of the biggest features is the Operator mode where one *qualified* player on the team takes the battles from the backseat by issuing orders from a map screen, locating incoming enemies, and guiding their team to victory. A competent operator is just as important as the best guy on your team sometimes. Unfortunately these missions are just as bland as the single player, the only real enjoyment I got out of it was knowing that I was doing it with other players.

The graphics in Armored Core V won’t exactly get any praise from anywhere. The buildings are all the same model, the environments themselves aren’t super impressive, I’m not a fan of the color palette used, and the effects look really dirty. I will compliment the game on the attention to detail on the mechs though because changing through all the different pieces in the assembly mode is worth it just to see all the little details put into it.

The Final Word
Armored Core V is definitely a solid game, but it wasn’t something that I’m going to sit around and play again next week with its repetitive missions both online and offline. I’m certain AC fans will be all over it (evident from my friend, a big series fan, spending most of the week at my place playing it with me), but I’m not too certain if newcomers will be able to jump the high curve required for fully enjoying the game.

- MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair

The problem that has always plagued video games that take their lead from popular TV shows or movies is that they often lack substance and depend solely on fan base hype and loyalty to win them the day, but Namco’s latest iteration of their beloved Ultimate Ninja Storm series shows that it’s more than just a pledge to the Naruto fanboy/girl, but a fighting game that offers a lot more depth than it lets on. With an expansive roster, and exclusive side stories that can’t be found anywhere else, Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations grabs players with crisp animations and explosive visuals that offer a new mix in the way 3D fighters are handled.

UNSG attempts to change pace by merging characters from both timelines of the Naruto series (Part 1 and Part 2 of the manga). The Story mode has been streamlined this time around, with mostly spoken narrative over top of still images to get you through the experience. While Ultimate Ninja Storm 2′s story mode had its fair share of tedium, the ability to walk around Konohagakure and its surrounding forestry is certainly missed in this title. The brevity of this new system of storytelling also serves to further alienate gamers who are strangers to the franchise–a problem that has always been present since the original Ultimate Ninja Storm, but this drawback is now more noticeable than ever. It gets the job done for fans, and it’s hard to believe CyberConnect2 had any real intention to do anything more than that.

Combat remains to be the meat and potatoes of the game, and it definitely continues to shine in UNSG. Like before, players choose three fighters to fight with: one for fighting with, and two others who serve as assists for the point character from the sidelines. Think of Marvel vs Capcom 3 minus the ability to actually call these two other fighters in. The wide range of abilities that can be employed per assist character, all with diverse properties, drenched in a huge roster of fighters allow for an incredible variety of combinations to choose from. Actual move sets are simple and easy to pick up, making the nature of the game much more about tactics, and less about execution. This watered-down system may not win the hearts of the hardcore fighting enthusiast, but for UNSG, I feel the simplicity is fitting given everything else that the game has to offer. Another noticeable (and welcomed) change to UNSG is the modification made to the substitution system. The number of times players can use this over a period of time is much more finite, bringing more balance and tactics to both its use and implementation during a match. It’s a good switch that breathes better life into the one-on-one (or one-on-two… or one-on-three.. or..) fighting experience.

Online multiplayer also sees a considerable upgrade. With ever increasing quality as a fighting game, it is clear CyberConnect2 and Namco Bandai invested some time in making sure that quality remains when taken to the online sphere. My online experience has been fairly solid with very little lag. Two of the biggest pluses for online this time around is the ability to spectate matches when gaming in larger groups, and the ability to watch and save replays of other matches. It did make me frown to find there was no way to filter replays, but this is a minor blemish in light of the improvements made overall.

The Final Word: Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations is the most quintessential Naruto game to date, with improvements all around the sphere. While not the most complicated fighter to pick up, there is some considerable depth to be found for those who seek to maximize their potential. Like previous iterations, UNSG remains to be a game for fans, and is not a good starting point for those who are interested in learning more about the lore of the Naruto universe. If you’re a fan of Naruto, there’s absolutely no reason not to pick this up.

MonsterVine Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – Great

With a noticeable influx of ‘reboot’ titles this generation such as Duke Nukem and Twisted metal, perhaps EA’s newest SSX title doesn’t come as too much of a surprise. Though the game stays true to the roots of the extreme snowboarding experience, EA shows that it still found ways to breathe new life into a well-loved series without straying too far from its roots.

SSX has always distinguished itself among other snowboarding titles for its over-the-top tricks and impossibly-huge airtime as players snake their way down treacherous terrain in hopes of crossing the finish line first, or coming out with the highest score. Veterans of the series can find comfort in knowing that this feeling has not disappeared from the game’s core gameplay. Familiar faces like Kaori and Mac return, and jumps remain to be incredibly high in scale. There is no shortage of variety in the number of things to grind throughout each level, from snowy edges, snaky red pipes, stone railings to even power cables! The ability to choose how to descend down each mountain path gives players the freedom to explore different ways to complete each track, offering incentives for multiple playthroughs until the absolute best route is found. Colors are vibrant and inviting, and the clever blending of trees, bridges, tunnels and other vistas offer visceral experiences during every race. It’s hard to know what’s coming up ahead at times, but that’s what also makes it so exciting.

Pulling off tricks will also feel familiar to those who’ve played a SSX game before, with the left stick controlling spin direction and the right stick controlling grabs. Players are also given the option to use the face buttons to handle grabs if they prefer. Successfully completing tricks will gradually begin to increase a player’s trick meter, which can be slowly depleted by pressing RT/R2 in exchange for a speed boost. After fully maxing out the trick meter, players will enter a state called Tricky, which will offer unlimited boost for a certain amount of time before returning the trick meter back to zero. Entering tricky mode as often as possible provides a distinct advantage during races where speed and time are important. Tricks in SSX are quite easy to pull off, and even easier to land since your character will automatically fix their position as long as you stop pressing buttons right before you land. This makes spamming buttons (and/or the right stick) a fairly good strategy since it’s usually enough to pull off some beefy points for the trick mater. However, there are point penalties for duplicating a trick–a costly mistake if your goal is to obtain the highest score–so being purposeful with your tricks and knowing which ones you’ve already done will become integral to doing well in higher levels of play.

All tracks in SSX are categorized in one of three ways: “Race It”, “Trick It”, and “Survive It”. Race It simply requires players to advance down the slopes in the fastest time possible to win, while Trick It has players compete for the highest score obtained through completion of tricks. “Survive It” is SSX’s newest mode, one that pits various environmental hazards (such as avalanches, zero visibility, oxygen deprivation and more) against the player in their quest to make it down to the bottom alive. Each of these hazards presents different challenges to the player, and require special equipment in order to complete. In the single player campaign, each of the “Deadly Descents” (9 in total must be conquered for its completion) pose one of these environmental hazards to the player, and are great introductions to the types of Survive It scenarios available in the game.

Multiplayer in SSX sees some notable changes, with new features such as Global Events and Geotags providing new ways for players to approach the series. Global Events are time-slotted events that allow all players to compete for the best time or score down the mountain whenever they choose, so long as they complete it before the event’s time duration runs out. Players earn credits for qualifying in 5 different brackets, and payouts are determined by the number of entrants.

This system allows player to play at their own pace, and around their own schedules. The caveat, however, is the fact that the traditional multiplayer experience is remarkably absent from the game. It seems impossible to hook up with friends and compete on the same track at precisely the same time. There are no lobbies or matchmaking systems in place, leaving players to find themselves often racing solely against ghosts of other competitors, and not an actual player riding in their game with them.

Geotags are orbs that players can place anywhere on the map during their runs down the slopes, and leave for other players to try to find. While active, the originating player continues to collect credits (even when offline!) which they can then use to purchase new geotags, boards, armour and other equipment. Geotags add to the flare of social gaming, a construct that has slowly begun to take deeper root in video games.

SSX is overall, a great reboot to a series that has been long since overdue a return. The game’s graphical uplift is also accompanied by an entertaining soundtrack, if not also forgettable. There is no “Unfinished Symphony” this time around, but with a custom music option, this can easily be overlooked.

The Final Word: SSX strikes an immediate chord with series fans, while still providing a more than welcoming feel for people new to the franchise. With both new and familiar mechanics, SSX is a refreshing reboot that does the job of reinventing itself while not alienating its core identity. The absence of any conventional multiplayer matchmaking definitely will turn a few heads, but if you’ve been dying to play a game that tosses you high into the sky, and landing some of the most outrageous physical feats of the human person on a snowboard, then this game is certainly worth a look.

MonsterVine Rating: 4 – Good

Mortal Kombat was one my top five personal favorite games of 2011. I spent countless hours with each fighter the game had to offer, and finished the Challenge Tower with pride. The game never grew old to me, even after spending at least 30 minutes to an hour each day when games like Skyrim were jammed in my PS3 all day. I downloaded all the extra costumes and was ecstatic to play as the four characters added to the roster via DLC. The Mortal Kombat 2011 title harkened back to everything I loved about going to arcades and growing up playing older consoles.

Without a doubt I recommend picking up Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition for those who missed out on the great fighting game last year. The special edition comes packaged with the original game, as well as all the released downloadable content and a few extra goodies.

The full game features a retelling of Mortal Kombat’s story through the eyes of several characters as Raiden works to alter events in the past in order to save the future. MK’s story is ripe with B-movie quality writing with voice acting meant for overly macho and ridiculous characters, which fans of the series have come to love. The quality is no issue however, as the story is still enjoyable, especially those who have always wanted to make sense of the convoluted Mortal Kombat story (yes there is a lot more story than Liu Kang bicycle kicking his way into victory).

Beyond story mode, the Challenge Tower offers a healthy dose of content that gives players varying difficulty of challenges. The tower also serves as a separate tutorial mode for each character in the game. Challenges range from normal one vs. one battles, to more obscure challenges like fighting a horde of zombies, or fighting three Shao Khans, which is intimidating to say the least.

Gameplay in Mortal Kombat is some of the tightest and most gratifying the series has seen. Each character comes equipped with their own skill sets, making the veterans of the series droll over the hours that can be spent mastering the entire roster. Linking combos is equally satisfying for each character, but also difficult, making it strenuous for those new to the series, which is one of a few complaints I have for Mortal Kombat.

The difficulty is all over the place. Some matches are quick and easy, while others beat you down until you either figure out what you’re doing wrong, or make you quit all together. The difficulty alone harkens back to the old school days of gaming, which I absolutely love, but it makes the game harder for someone new to pick up and play without being turned off by unreasonably tough AI.

The four downloable characters are Skarlet, Kenshi, Rain, and making his first, and slightly odd yet fitting appearance, Freddy Kruger. Each of the four extra fighters features their own unique list of combos and specials. The fighters also have their own unique endings for ladder mode.

Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition also comes with download codes for the 1995 Mortal Kombat film, and Songs Inspired by the Warriors album.

The Final Word: The Mortal Kombat Kollection Edition is packed with everything I happily purchased to enrich my MK experience. For those of you who missed the game last year, I recommend picking up the Komplete Edition so that you can experience a return to form for an awesome series.

MonsterVine Rating: 4.5 – Great

NeverDead introduces you to a demon hunter named Bryce, oh yea and he’s a *currently* 500 year old immortal. Years ago he tried to kill the super evil demon king named [something evil] but his wife got iced and he was given immortality because that’s way worse than death. Oh yea, spoilers: His wife died. She was a special wizard who could cast wizard stuff so that Bryce could harm the demons since without her spells a demon can’t be killed. Also, there hasn’t been a wizard for 500 years (spoilers, you find another in a completely coincidental incident because destiny and cliche). I figured this was a plot hole since you spend most of the game killing demons but apparently the writers realized this and added in that Bryce can kill those hundreds of other demons ‘because he’s special’ for some unspecified reason yet demons with actual names (e.g., the big bad and his minion) need wizard shit for Bryce to hurt them.

It’s pretty weak, but I suppose the writers didn’t really give much a fuck when they introduced Alex (another immortal demon hunter who’s not really immortal for some reason because bullshit) who SCREAMS “I’m evil” with his opening line being “lol, I ‘accidentally’ killed my partner, oh yea and he was the third one this week or something. Mind if I flip my ‘so goth’ hair and show off my black/red uniform while you check out the knives I leave stabbed into my body just because I’m edgy like that?”. They also throw in your boss/CEO character who is apparently the head of the demon hunting organization with a voice so evil that the moment you hear him talk in the first level you know he’s going to betray you. Which he and Alex totally do and the game tries so hard to make it seem like it was a surprise that it was actually kind of cute. The best part of this story is Bryce’s banter whenever he loses a limb. I was still chuckling at his puns (such as when you’re playing as his decapitated head and he shouts “ROLLIN ROLLIN ROLLIN” or “Man I really got a head of myself there”) but I’ll chalk that up to me being a huge sucker for puns.

“But Diego, surely a game with the idea that you play as an immortal must make up for its flat plot with fun gameplay right?” AHAHAHA, no. The combat in this game feels just as lousy as its story. This isn’t Shadows of the Damned that had a fully intentional silly plot with solid gameplay; this is NeverDead with a pretty serious plot (if it was every supposed to be ‘wacky’ the writers did a damn good job fooling me) with gameplay as terrible as this years Grammy nominations for AOTY (yes I’m still bitter about that). First of all you have a set of guns that are completely useless against enemies besides the shotgun and the game has a serious case of the “I’m going to shove as much ammo for your pistols instead of something useful like your shotgun”. In the time it takes for you to kill something with your pistols (oh yea, you can dual wield any of the weapons together) you could’ve instead done it in the 2 seconds it takes with the sword. Bryce rolls around with a massive sword that you pull out and with the L1/left bumper you ready the sword and swing the right stick to attack while holding R1/right bumper you can block (but why would you ever need to when everything dies with 3 swipes?) incoming attacks. It really feels like the guns were thrown in just to give the game some sort of variety but the developers forgot to either balance the guns to match the strength of the sword or never realized that the sword is so strong that it makes the guns utterly useless. The gun play also feels really loose (not in a good way) and the combat roll that’s intended for dodging is so slow I wondered if they just threw it in there for laughs. NeverDead does feature a TON of destructibility in its environments; not like Battlefield where you level entire buildings, but almost everything in a room can be smashed apart. The game actually puts an emphasis on using the environment to kill enemies since things that are destroyed tend to burst outward like you hit a grenade hiding within it which works surprisingly well against enemies standing next to certain bits of the environment. You could sit around arguing why things explode upon touch in this game, but I suppose you could be questioning why you’re playing this game instead. Fun Fact: That was my actual response to an actual question my friend asked me in the beginning of this paragraph.

NeverDead features an XP system where you’ll gain points from killing enemies, picking up red ‘minor’ collectibles, snagging golden ‘major’ collectibles, and finishing levels. You’ll use these points to purchase abilities that you can then equip, assuming you have enough space since they all take up a certain amount of slots with a total of 16 available. These skills vary from increased sword/gun damage, reduced reticule wobble, speed boost when missing limbs, XP boosts and a few others. I got the trophy for purchasing 50% of them and after counting how many I had it’s safe to say that there’s well over 70 abilities to acquire with some not available to you until after you beat the game. Most of these are completely useless besides the increased speed while decapitated and I suppose the sword power increase to become even more of a killing machine.

The main gimmick of NeverDead is that you simply cannot die. Instead of losing health you’ll simply lose one of your limbs if you’re hit enough. This leads to humorous situations when you’re hobbling around on a single leg while fighting enemies and Bryce seems more concerned with locating his missing leg then he does fighting the monsters. The game uses this in various puzzles that involve using your head to navigate a straightforward vent then regenerate your body on the other side to press the button and one moment where you need to use an arm to connect two circuits. You can purchase an ability that lets you turn your thrown arms into grenades, but ultimately the sword is once again still the best choice for combat. Eventually the game introduces an enemy called the Grandbaby. This thing is tiny and nonlethal; until you lose your head and get sucked into it. These little bastards will roll around the area waiting for the moment that you lose an arm and a leg and run off with them, eventually digesting it which is no big deal since you can just regenerate any lost limbs after a bit. They get infuriating once you realize that each battle tosses 3-5 of them in the room, they will infinitely respawn until you kill the other enemies, and that you can actually ‘die’ from them. Once they get your head in their suction you’ll be prompted to perform an annoying QTE that requires you to time a button press exactly on a moving target; hit the target and you get spit out, miss and it’s Game Over. The Grandbabies weren’t too bad in the beginning, but once you hit the sewer level the enemies suddenly begin steroid use and can shatter you with a single hit leaving you rolling around looking for your body before a Grandbaby can find you first. I think I spent more time rolling around evading Grandbabies in the two final bosses (and any fight with a Panda Bear, no it’s not an actual panda just a shit boss) than actually fighting them. The final fights were incredibly infuriating since Alex can quickly slice you apart and [insert evil name] the Demon King has a shockwave attack (I thought we agreed that wasn’t good game design guys) that will instantly throw your limbs all over the arena. The other issue is that, besides the place being FULL of Grandbabies, the floor is uneven so it makes traversal clumsy. It blows my mind why any competent game designer would ruin such a novel idea of playing as an immortal character by including this enemy. The game would honestly be much more tolerable if they had removed the little fucks.

You’ll usually roll around with Arcadia who isn’t as lucky as Bryce. Thankfully she has quite a bit of health and most of the times I had to revive her where my faults from shooting nearby explosive barrels; the ‘hold to revive’ option is also instant so the only reason she should ever die on you is if you’re too stupid to get over to her before she bleeds out.

NeverDead’s protagonist Bryce might be immortal but it’s a shame that the online component didn’t get the same treatment. For a whole week I would log on 3 times a day (in the morning, afternoon, and night) and I could only ever find one or two games to join with my highest being three. There are around a dozen challenges with the following game modes: Arena Onslaught, Onslaught, Search and Rescue, Fragile Alliance, & Egg Hunt. Arena Onslaught is your typical horde mode with various weapons scattered throughout the stage and stronger enemies getting thrown in; Onslaught on the other hand is the same thing except that you have to move from area to area to find the enemy waves you’re supposed to kill. Search and Rescue is exactly what it sounds like with you escorting idiotic NPC’s. Fragile Alliance tasks you with reaching as many checkpoints as possible before your opponent, each area must be cleared of enemies before you can reach the next checkpoint. Egg Hunt has you running around collecting eggs, person with the most wins. These modes are not fun. You can select from a Bryce, young Bryce, & Alex skin but I wasn’t really sure how the game decided which one you played as since I didn’t see any option to set which skin you wanted. You can also play as Arcadia, but the fact that she can die doesn’t make up for the unlimited ammo in her shit rifle. The one redeeming feature is that any XP gained while playing online can be used to unlock abilities for single player and vice versa, but I honestly don’t know why you would want to replay the campaign or slug through the vacant online matches.

Nobody is going to be praising NeverDead for the way it looks, but man will they talk about how quickly the game went from ‘interesting locals’ to ‘sewer/destroyed building level #352′. The first stage threw you into a mental asylum overgrown with vegetation that introduced the neat monster design with a wicked cool looking boss. The second level brought us to a museum that allowed us to fully smash the place apart and while it reused the same enemies from before I forgave it since it was just the second level and the boss fight at the end was pretty cool with a neat looking monster. I find it fitting that the next place the game takes you is a dreadful sewer level and it’s here when the game reveals that it’s only going to get worse from here with the same 3 enemies, dreadful level design, and bosses that feel like such a chore your mother will threaten you with playing this game if you don’t take the trash out. I will say that the Hippo boss was a really cool design, but I would hardly call it a boss fight since all you do is shoot (really weak) ‘bugs’ until the shields on the hippo lowers and you can hit its weak point while it lazily floats around the place doing nothing. The music is also filled with your typical heavy metal guitar riffs that feel really uninspired.

The Final Word
NeverDead’s protagonist Bryce might be immortal but that didn’t stop Rebellion from killing off a neat idea and stopping any sort of fun this game had. I honestly don’t see why anyone should buy this, at least at full price, with its barely 6 hour campaign and an online community a ghost town would be jealous of. It really is a shame because the first 2 levels were fantastic, but after that all it is are the same 3 enemies with *very* slight variations, a boss used three times with the infuriating miniboss repeated more, dull levels, and two final bosses that will have you yelling “COME ON” at your screen.

Did you see how I used the same joke twice? Would you say it was a bit repetitive, perhaps a bit like NeverDead? Ok I’ll stop with the jokes or someone might lose their head. I just realized I only threw in one half-assed pun, I’m actually pretty disappointed in myself.

- MonsterVine Rating: 2.5 out of 5 – Mediocre