Skate or Die (Xbox, Cancelled)

Skate or Die
Developed by Criterion Studios
Published by Electronic Arts
Planned for Xbox/PS2
Announced 2002
Cancelled 2003

Skate or Die was a skateboarding game, originally developed by Electronic Arts and released for the Commodore 64 back in 1987. In 1988, the game was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System and the following year was released onto the Amstrad CPC, Spectrum and PC formats. I've heard quite a few of the younger folks trash the Skate or Die series, but this game was quite a big deal back in the day. At least in my household, this was one of the few NES carts we had so it got a lot of play and I have nothing but fond memories of the game. The series would get a few sequels in the following years with the final game in the franchise released for the Game Boy in 1991.

In 2002, the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series was still going strong for Activision and Electronic Arts wanted something to compete with that series. They commissioned developer Criterion Games to develop a new Skate or Die game, set to be released for the Xbox and PlayStation 2. Criterion Games was mostly known for the Burnout games, but they had developed a few hover-board games with TrickStyle for the Dreamcast and AirBlade for the PS2, so developing a skateboarding game wasn't out of the question for these guys.

Criterion had proposed some cool ideas for the game, one of which was to allow the player to hop off the board and walk around on foot. There were going to be shops where you could purchase new boards/equipment and NPCs that you could interact with. This was all well before the Tony Hawk series was doing any of this, so Skate or Die had some very unique concepts for the time. As ambitious as all this was, Electronic Arts wanted even more from the game., requesting that Criterion create a full-blown open world title that could compete with the Grand Theft Auto series. Criterion Games knew EA was asking for too much out of the project and eventually quit. There were also rumors that EA considered trying to make this a Jackass or Dogtown and Z-Boys tie-in.

As you would expect, EA was not happy with Criterion walking out on the project. It looked bad for Criterion and a developer mentioned in an interview that the Need for Speed team told the guys they couldn't work with or talk to them anymore. Criterion and EA eventually worked things out and before long Criterion would go back to work on their Burnout series, with Burnout 3: Takedown coming out for Xbox and PlayStation 2 in 2004. It's great to see that this wasn't the end of the line for Criterion Games, but one can't help but wonder what could have been if Skate or Die made it to store shelves. A lone screenshot has surfaced which came from a UK-based video games magazine by the name of GamesTM, which ran a preview for Skate or Die in issue 100.

Related Links:
Skate or Die Reboot - Unseen64
Criterion's Lost Skate or Die Sequel - Game Informer
Skate or Die! - Wikipedia
Skate or Die Game Franchise - GameFAQs

Black (Xbox, 2006)

Black
Developed by Criterion Games
Published by EA Games
Released for Xbox (2/28/2006)
Also on PS2
Backwards Compatible on Xbox 360/Xbox One

Black was developed by Criterion Games, most known at the time for the Burnout series, and was released in February 2005, a few months after the new Microsoft system the Xbox 360 was released. It seemed like an odd choice for EA Games to put this out for the older system. Regardless, Black serves as a graphical showcase for what the aging Xbox and PlayStation 2 hardware were capable of. Black featured several aspects of the world that were destructible, awesome sound design and impressive particle effects.

Black consists only of a single-player campaign mode which contains 8 missions. There's a decent variety between the stages, featuring a town, asylum, dockyard and bridge to name a few. The levels themselves are detailed for the time and feature an admirable amount of destructible objects in them. Levels are linear but leave a little room for exploration, though the path forward is never really difficult to find. Black's stages have a decent flow to them, but they typically just consist of go to a checkpoint, kill waves of enemies that spawn and then move to next checkpoint to do it again. To be fair, this is the case in most first-person shooters and Black is no exception. While the overall stage design is a tad generic, there are a few standout levels like the bridge and the finale at the gulag as quite memorable.

There's some kind of story to follow along with in Black, but it's a bit convoluted and tough to keep up with. You play as a black ops operative in Chechnya, Russia. The story is revealed in cutscenes before each level, featuring full-motion video showing clips of the interrogation. Our character is a veteran who is being threatened with imprisonment unless he cooperates with the interrogator. There's some stuff about an arms smuggling/terrorist group called the Seventh Wave, which are the guys you'll be killing by the hundreds. While the story is a bit confusing, the cutscenes are well-produced and they don't get in the way of the action.

The weapon selection in Black is quite standard, but Criterion Games did a good job making each weapon feel different and fun to use. For handguns you have the G17 and the DC3 Elite, the only fictional gun in Black that is comparable to a Desert Eagle. For assault rifles, there's the AK47, G36C and M16. The M249 SAW sits as the only light machine gun in the game. Then for sub-machine guns you have the MP5, Uzi and P90. Rounding out the weapons cast are the two specialty guns, the sniper rifle (Walther 2000) and the RPG. You can only carry up to 2 guns at a time so there's a bit of strategy in deciding which weapons work best in certain scenarios, but unfortunately the game chooses which guns you start each level with, so the available arsenal is limited to what the enemies on that particular stage are carrying.

For the most part, the weapons feel good to fire. There's some nice, beefy gunfire sounds and the particle effects and damage when bullets hit surfaces is quite impressive. The recoil is a bit crazy on some of the automatic weapons, but once you get used to burst-firing it's not so bad. I wound up using the MP5 for the majority of the game, because ammo was plentiful due to most soldiers dropping it and the recoil is minimal compared to the other guns in the game. There are definitely situations suited for the shotguns and sniper rifles, providing a bit of variety to the weapons effectiveness. There's an effect where the camera focuses on your gun when you reload and the background blurs out while you insert a new clip. While I'm sure this was impressive at the time, it quickly became a bit annoying and was definitely not necessary. At the very least, an option to toggle the blur off would have been welcome.

Enemy design is not one of Black's strong points, but it gets the job done. You'll face off against countless grunts, most wielding SMGs but some will be equipped with an M249, sniper rifle or rocket launcher. There's the heavily-armored shotgun soldier, who will rush in to get close and will get back up again before dying. There's also riot-shield soldiers who can be a real pain, but can be taken out quick with a frag grenade. Enemies are often content with just ducking in and out of cover, but the shotgun and riot shield guys will close in on your position, adding some intensity to the firefights.

There's a bit of replay value in Black, with multiple difficulties and some unlockable modes. Playing on normal or up will reveal additional objectives for each level that aren't present on easy, similar to how games like Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark did. There's added objectives for the toughest difficulty for a nice boost in challenge. If you clear the game on normal or hard with all objectives completed you will unlock silver weapons, granting you unlimited ammo. Completing the game on hard will also unlock black ops mode for players who want an extra challenge.

Back in its day, Black was a rock-solid FPS game and a technical marvel for the aging consoles it released for. There were many times while playing this I could have easily mistaken the game for an early Xbox 360 title; it really looks that good. The gameplay hasn't aged as well as the graphics, unfortunately, and Black feels a bit more sluggish than your standard FPS. The already slow aiming and movement isn't helped by the fact that there's no sprint button, so movement in general just feels a bit slower when compared against other FPS titles. The cutscenes that play before each level are un-skippable the first time through, a minor annoyance but I thought it was worth mentioning. While the guns feel good to use, there is a  bit of a lack of variety when it comes to the enemy and stage design. Black is far from a perfect shooter and hasn't aged the most gracefully, but there's still some fun to be had running around blasting bad guys with the various weaponry.

Black would receive backwards-compatible support on both the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One. On the Xbox 360, it's one of the titles known to run more or less error-free, which is a bit rare for Xbox backwards-compatible games on that system. The game looks great running on an Xbox One X and I didn't experience any issues while playing through the game on that console. I did notice tears in destructible objects likely due to the resolution enhancement, but it was by no means a game-breaker.

A sequel to Black was planned and would have come out for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but was cancelled due to differences between the developers and publisher EA Games. Bodycount, which was released for the Xbox 360 in 2011, is considered to be the spritiual successor to Black. Bodycount was developed by Guildford Studio, which  was made up of several of the developers that worked on Black. I don't have Bodycount yet, but I'd be interested in taking a look at that one on the site sometime.

Final Verdict: Black is a solid, action-packed single-player first-person shooter. While it hasn't necessarily aged the best and feels a bit slow at first, once you warm up to it Black is still a fun time.

Purchase Links:
Buy Black (Digital) - Microsoft Store
Buy Black (Disc) - eBay

Related Links:
Criterion Games - Xbox Overview
FPS Games - Xbox Overview
Criterion Games - Official Site
Electronic Arts - Official Site
Black - GameFAQs

Alternate EU/JP Cover

Battlefield 3 (Xbox 360, 2011)

Battlefield 3
Developed by DICE
Published by Electronic Arts
Released for Xbox 360 (10/25/2011)
Also on PC/PS3
Backwards Compatible on Xbox One

Battlefield 3 is the follow-up to the highly successful PC multiplayer first-person shooter Battlefield 2. After developing two Bad Company games that were specifically designed with consoles in mind, Battlefield 3 was a return to the series PC roots and the version released for consoles is a vastly inferior port when compared to its PC counterpart. That's not to say it's a bad game at all though as the console game can still be very enjoyable, so without further ado let's get into the 360 console port of Battlefield 3.

While the game does have a single-player campaign, it's more of an afterthought and you wouldn't want to buy the game just for the campaign alone. It's pretty much your standard fare for military FPS games, very similar to the Call of Duty campaigns with lots of action-packed scenarios and a couple standout segments, but ultimately quite forgettable. I played through the campaign back when the game was released and have only a few vague memories of it, but it was enjoyable enough for me to go through and earn all the achievements. The game also features six co-op missions, where you can team up with a friend and take on a number of different scenarios. These are good fun for a few plays and are something I wish the Battlefield games that followed would have expanded on.

The real meat and bones of any Battlefield title lies in the competitive online portion of the game. As stated before, this port had to make a lot of sacrifices in order to run on the consoles of the era. While the PC version of the game offers 64-players in a game, the console was only able to handle a maximum of 24-players. On a high-end PC the game runs at 60 fps, while on console the game aims to run at 30, though it will dip occasionally when the action or destruction is intense. The graphical fidelity took a pretty big hit as well when compared to the PC version, with textures looking ugly and low-res from a distance. The player count is the biggest downside of the console ports, considering that most of these maps were designed for a much higher player count. While DICE did modify the maps by having fewer capture points and keeping the action confined to a smaller area by changing the boundaries, some of the more open maps still feel a bit dull compared to others.

Battlefield 3 features four different classes to select from in online play: assault, engineer, support and recon. Each have their own specialty gadgets and a squad properly utilizing all four classes can dominate the playfield. There's a nice variety of weapons you'll unlock as you level up, and each gun can be customized using items unlocked by getting kills with that weapon. You'll get an assortment of scopes and attachments like suppressors to change up your weapons performance a bit. It's a decent system and makes the player progression feel somewhat meaningful. Overall the class system is mostly well balanced and it's fun using their various gadgets in different scenarios. Another feature introduced in Battlefield 3 are the squad specs. As you level up, you'll unlock perks that can be assigned to your soldier. These range from a slightly faster sprint, heavier suppression from gunfire and flak for increased resistance to explosions. Each squad member, of which you can have a squad of four, can equip a different perk and each player will receive the bonus. These don't stack so make sure you and your squadmates don't have duplicate specs equipped!

In addition to infantry combat, one of Battlefield's most distinguishing features are the vehicles. You'll be able to drive tanks, jeeps, hummers and LAV's on land. There are also scout and attack choppers as well as bomber and fighter jets for air combat. Select stages also feature boats you can use. With the size of many of the maps, utilizing vehicles is key to getting around quick. Certain vehicles like tanks and choppers can drastically change the tide of the battle in skilled hands. A knowledgeable squad on foot can make quick work of vehicles if they work together, so the vehicles are not terribly over-powered in the grand scheme of things.

The vanilla maps contain a decent variety of environments and for the most part are a solid bunch. Operation Metro has always been a fan-favorite, a map with no vehicles and lots of close quarter combat set in a subway station. Seine Crossing has always been one of my personal favorites, despite some very cramped areas and terrible spawn points. The map features tanks in close-quarter urban combat in downtown Paris. Grand Bazaar features the center capture point in the middle of an alley, providing for some pretty intense firefights. Caspian Border is easily one of the best maps in the game with a more wide-open classic Battlefield style, while the larger maps like Operation Firestorm and Kharg Island tend to be the maps where the low-player count hurts the most as they are quite huge and as a result feel a bit vacant. Noshar Canals is an awesome map set on some industrial docks, featuring one team spawning on an aircraft carrier and the other on land. This map gives both teams scout choppers leading to some fun action in the sky. Damavand Peak features a giant mountain with tunnels passing through it and scout choppers in the sky. Tehran Highway is easily the least favorite map, featuring a rather boring layout with very little destruction in the environment.

The main game modes are rush and conquest. Conquest mode will have several capture points spread about and whichever team holds more control points the longest wins. It's a simple game mode but helps keep the action focused and objective oriented, so you're never really stuck wondering what you need to do next. Rush mode will have players on either the attacker or defender team. The attackers attempt to arm and detonate two stations while the defenders try to stop them. Once both stations are destroyed a new set will spawn further down the map. If the attackers advance through several rounds of this they win, but if they run out of deployment tickets the defenders win. Some maps work better in conquest and others in rush. Damavand Peak has the central capture point located within the mountain in conquest while in rush mode the map plays drastically different with a section where you base-jump off the top of the mountain. In rush mode Tehran Highway is actually a pretty fun map while the conquest variant is a bit weak.

In addition to conquest and rush, Battlefield 3 also features team deathmatch, squad deathmatch and squad rush. In the deathmatch game modes, the maps are sectioned off into small areas so you never have to walk to far before you die (or if you're better than me, maybe you'll shoot some people first). While I feel like an above-average player at the conquest mode, many of the skills that work well in that mode don't transfer over into deathmatch style gameplay. I personally never liked this mode in any of the Battlefield titles as it takes out all of the vehicles and sprawling maps the series is known for, but I understand why DICE felt the need to include it due to the massive success of the Call of Duty games at the time. The gunplay and controls aren't quite as tight as the Call of Duty titles so if you're really into deathmatch modes I'd suggest just sticking with Activision's titles.

Getting into an online match is simple as is getting into a squad with your friends. There's an option to just join in the first available match or there is a server browser where you can pick the game you'd like to join. It's great to have this option and it'd be nice if more console games would give you options like this. One thing to note about the Battlefield 3 servers, later on in the game's life span EA decided to start renting out servers to players, allowing them to create their own map playlist and also moderate the match to an extent. Unfortunately you'll be team-switched or killed by a server moderator if you do something they don't approve of and being at the will of these control-freaks can sometimes prove a frustrating experience. I've been killed and switched teams for shooting a server owner too many times among many other silly shenanigans. For this reason I tend to always look for official Dice or EA servers as you won't have anybody kicking or switching your team on you.

The sound design in the Battlefield series has a track record for being fantastic and Battlefield 3 is no exception. The explosions and gunfire all sound great, and the attention to detail in the sound department really shines through all the way down to the bullets that miss whizzing by your ear. This is one of those games where you will suffer if you play without the sound on loud and clear. For the best results play it on a surround sound speaker setup or some high-quality headphones. You can't always rely on teammates to spot out the enemies for you, so it's best to actively listen as you'll hear the footsteps of an approaching enemy often before you see them.

Another feature new to the Battlefield franchise are the blocked off sectors in the enemy deployment areas. You can no longer wait right behind spawn points and shoot players as soon as they spawn in, at least not in their main base. It's still something that can and will happen on regular flag spawns or spawning on your squad-mate, but this does at least somewhat help a little with spawn camping which was a huge problem in the Bad Company games. There's nothing like dying as soon as you spawn in to motivate one to do something other than play video games!

Battlefield 3 is far from perfect and over its existence has a been a host to numerous bugs and glitches. The map Operation Metro has a glitch where you can hop into the ceiling and fire down on players all while they can't even see what shot them. This is an incredibly annoying glitch that some of the nastier online folks love to pull and shame on DICE for never fixing this in one of numerous updates to the game. Tehran Highway also had a well-known exploit where players could get on top of the highway and fire down on players. The only way to access the highway was to stand on top of an MAV and fly yourself up there as there were no air vehicles on this map. This issue was later resolved by DICE in a later patch. Another big change to the game was the nerfing of the attack helicopters. Initially, both the pilot and the gunner had their own set of flares, and a coordinated chopper team working together was damn near impossible to take down. Pretty early on the game's life-span the developers removed this from the gunner seat, making it much easier to take down helicopters with lock-on rockets if you just simply spam them.

Despite the game's issues and obvious downgrade from the PC original, Battlefield 3 is still an excellent shooter and still stands as a fun game to play today. Major credit to EA for keeping the servers up after all these years, and it goes to show that if the fans support and actually play a game enough then there is a chance that the servers can be kept up and running well beyond the game's shelf life. I've never had trouble finding a game on Battlefield 3, and that's really kind of amazing considering the game was released seven years ago! A Wii U port of this game was also planned, but was cancelled before it ever hit retail shelves.

Final Verdict: Battlefield 3 is an excellent online competitive first-person shooter. Though the game has a fair share of bugs/glitches and is a big downgrade from the PC version, even on consoles the ambitious Frostbite engine separates this game from the majority of its competition.

Battlefield 3 Premium Pass

The Battlefield 3 Premium Pass will grant you access to all of the DLC maps. It can be purchased digitally or in a physical copy if you pick up the Premium edition, though if you buy it second-hand the codes will likely have been used. The game received a decent amount of additional content, including five different map packs each with four maps. There was Back to Karkand, Close Quarters, Armored Kill, Aftermath and Endgame.

Before going into the content I would like to state that there are two glaring issues with Season Passes, particularly in regards to online-only content such as this. First of all is the obvious fact that you have to pay almost full retail ($50!) price in order to get all of the maps released for the game. The second issue is that it fractures the game base, as obviously not everybody is going to get the extra maps therefore it goes without saying that there will be fewer players in the servers for the DLC maps at any given time. I'd almost rather they just charge $100 upfront for the game and give everybody access to all the maps, ensuring a decent player-base for the added content.

As of today I haven't been able to find any active servers running any of the DLC maps with the exception of the occasional Gulf of Oman, which is a shame as there were some really fun maps tucked away in some of these map packs. Back to Karkand, the frist batch of maps released for Battlefield 3, was a tribute to fan favorite maps from the PC classic Battlefield 2. The four featured maps were Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman, Sharqi Peninsula and Wake Island. This was an excellent group of maps and a great fan-service on behalf of DICE. The maps were all faithfully recreated but added in some perks of the Frostbite 2 engine.

The second map pack was Close Quarters, and this one ditched the normal vehicular combat for all infantry battles taking place in tight areas. DICE likely did this one both due to the overwhelming success of the Call of Duty games and the popularity of the vanilla Battlefield 3 map Operation Metro, which played out similarly being a map with no vehicles. These maps were all good fun and introduced a lot of destructibility on a smaller scale. Close quarters would also introduce the gun master mode, which played a lot like gun game from Counterstrike.

The third and fourth DLC for Battlefield 3 were Armored Kill and Aftermath. Armored Kill featured four gigantic maps, with Bandar Desert being billed as the biggest map ever seen in the Battlefield franchise. These were great fun on PC on a full 64-player server, but with the small player count seen on the console version these maps felt too vacant. Aftermath had four maps set right after an earthquake hit and had some pretty cool maps that I haven't seen in rotation in years. The final map pack was Endgame, which featured four more maps and introduced the capture the flag mode. Endgame wasn't bad but I think most fans were ready for a new Battlefield game by this point.

Final Verdict: The Battlefield 3 Premium Edition grants you access to some solid maps, but unfortunately due to the age of the game you'll rarely ever see any of them in the server rotation. Don't stress yourself getting the premium upgrade and just get the base game instead.

Purchase Links:
Buy Battlefield 3 Premium Edition (Digital) - Xbox Marketplace
Buy Battlefield 3 (Digital) - Xbox Marketplace
Buy Battlefield 3 (Disc) - eBay

Related Links:
DICE - Official Site
Electronic Arts - Official Site
Battlefield 3 - Metacritic
Battlefield 3 - GameFAQs
Battlefield 3 Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements
Battlefield 3 - True Achievements

Shadows of the Damned (Xbox 360, 2011)

Shadows of the Damned
Developed by Grasshopper Manufacture
Published by Electronic Arts
Released for Xbox 360 (6/21/2011)
Also on PS3

Shadows of the Damned brought together the collaborative efforts of Suda 51, Shinji Mikami and Akira Yamaoka. Suda 51 was responsible for such titles as Killer 7, No More Heroes and Killer is Dead. Shinji Mikami was the director for classics like the original Resident Evil, the 2002 remake of Resident Evil, Resident Evil 4, God Hand and Vanquish among others. Akira Yamaoka is best known for composing the Silent Hill soundtracks along with some other old Konami classics like Contra: Hard Corps. Given the credentials of those involved this is quite an impressive group at the helm of Shadows of the Damned. You definitely have to give EA credit for going outside their comfort zone to publish this title as its not everyday you see a western publisher affiliate with eastern developers like this.

The Resident Evil 4 influence can be felt immediately as the behind the back camera perspective and controls are very reminiscent of that title. The player takes control of Garcia Hotspur, who is a wise-cracking macho man not unlike a Mexican Duke Nukem. Garcia takes a venture through Hell in an effort to rescue his kidnapped love Paula who has been captured by the lord of the underworld. The dialogue and action are often ridiculous, perverse and profane so if you're offended easily this is probably not going to be the game for you. Just as a small example, your pistol firearm is called the boner. At one point in the game, the talking skull (named Johnson) which possesses your weapons calls into a 1-800 sex line and the gun increases in length turning into the big boner! The humor is hit or miss, but there were several instances where I was genuinely laughing. I'd imagine the younger you are the more you'll connect with the humor.

The visuals are well done throughout the game, presenting some very detailed surroundings. The level layouts are quite linear, featuring all kinds of twisted imagery throughout and the enemy design is appropriately gruesome. Levels are a mix of real world type settings with a sort of nightmare vibe going on throughout while others are more traditional depictions of Hell. Throughout the game you'll encounter areas of darkness which will consume Garcia if he stays within them for too long. There are candles hanging about that can be shot to vanquish the darkness. The candles have live goat heads next to them on the mantle, the type of stuff you'd only see in a Suda 51 game. Later levels will introduce other methods, some temporary, in order to clear out the darkness. The game builds around this feature quite a bit, with several enemies and switches that can only be shot while consumed by darkness.

Like most Suda 51 titles, there are numerous efforts to break up the action and add some diversity. There are a few stages that play like a 2D horizontal shoot 'em up, with your character portrayed as a paper cut-out flying to the right. Other levels will have light puzzles you'll have to solve in order to progress. The majority of the game will see Garcia blasting demons who will drop white gems upon death. The gems can be spent at shops to buy ammunition, alcohol (which grants health) or even red gems at certain vendors. The red gems, which can also be found hidden throughout the game, can be used to purchase upgrades for your weapons or character. Finally, there are also blue gems you'll pick up as you progress the story which will provide new weaponry or boost your existing guns.

While Shadows of the Damned is considered a third-person shooter, it doesn't feature any of the cover mechanics the genre is known for these days. You have a roll maneuver for evasion and your melee attack is not the most effective, so you'll most often be using your firepower to stay alive. The weapons are are a decent bunch, and even though there are only three guns there is a bit of variety between them. You have the Skullshot, which performs basically like a shotgun that fires skulls. Once upgraded you can load up to four skulls at once or even launch a skull cannon projectile. The boner is your standard pistol which will eventually gain a special shot type that will stick to enemies and explode when shot. The third gun is basically your automatic weapon. It fires teeth and can eventually be armed with multiple barrels and lock-on shots. Though the weapons initially fit into the typical pistol, automatic and shotgun template, they eventually come into their own once you've amassed enough blue gems. Certain enemies are more vulnerable to particular weapons and I found myself using them all pretty consistently throughout the game.

Unfortunately all of the cut-scenes (of which there are many) are unskippable, which will become an annoyance to those doing repeat playthroughs of the game. Luckily checkpoints tend to occur after lengthy scenes, often preventing the player from having to watch anything too long upon restarting sections. I've always found the over-the-shoulder aiming style of the later Resident Evil games a bit awkward, and this is prevalent in Shadows as well. It's something you'll likely warm up to over time, but initially lining up shots can be a bit of a pain. The whole red gem upgrade system seemed a bit unnecessary, as there is no way to restart with your obtained upgrades after beating the game so you'll have to start from scratch every time. I would've rather just had the guns perform at max efficiency without all the upgrading, but I suppose that may have rendered the game too easy.

The achievement list for Shadows of the Damned is pretty straight-forward for the most part, I thought it was worth noting that the difficulty related game completion ones do not stack so those looking to 100% the game will need at least three playthroughs. In closing, if you're a fan of Suda 51's other works then you'll most likely enjoy this one too. Shinji Mikami fans looking for the next Resident Evil style game may not dig it quite as much as he was only credited as the creative producer while Suda was the creative director for the project. The game was released to mostly positive reception from critics and gamers, but performed poorly in sales for EA, at least partially due to not knowing how to market a title of this nature. While I personally find Suda's later work on the 360 a bit more enjoyable, I'd still say Shadows of the Damned is easily worth a look if you're even slightly interested.

Final Verdict: Shadows of the Damned is a third-person shooter where you traverse through Hell, blasting demons along the way. The game packs a humorous punch with loads of style and is worth checking out if you love old grindhouse b-movies.

Purchase Links
Buy Shadows of the Damned (Digital) - Xbox Marketplace
Buy Shadows of the Damned (Disc) - eBay

Related Links:
Suda 51 and the Rise of Grasshopper Manufacture - Euro Gamer
Grasshopper Manufacture - Official Website
Electronic Arts - Official Site
Suda 51 & Shinji Mikami Interview - YouTube
Shadows of the Damned - True Achievements
Shadows of the Damned Achievement Guide - XboxAchievements

Alternate Cover for NTSC-J Region

RISK: Factions (XBLA, 2010)

RISK: Factions
Developed by Stainless Games
Published by Electronic Arts
Released for Xbox Live Arcade (6/2010)
Also on PC/PS3

RISK: Factions is, of course, based on the classic board game. It's a turn-based strategy game where your objective is to capture as many territories as possible. RISK is one of those board games that I'd often see in peoples stacks of board games, but rarely got the opportunity to play it due to the fact it takes many hours to complete a game. It's fun, just very time consuming. RISK: Factions contains much of what made the board game fun, while adding some new touches and speeding the whole process up quite a bit, allowing you to complete a game in a fraction of the time it would take on the board version. The game was developed by Stainless Games, who have done numerous games but are most notable for their Carmageddon and Magic: The Gathering titles.

In addition to having the standard RISK game rules, the game introduces the Factions mode which aims to speed things up a bit in addition to some new features. There are five factions: the humans, cats, yetis, robots and zombies. You can setup the game to randomize the starting territories or have the players select them at the beginning. After this each player will choose which territory to place their capital and then the proper game begins. At the start of each turn, players are granted troops and are allowed to place them on whichever territory they wish. The amount of troops given depends on how many territories that player holds among other bonuses, such as controlling an entire continent. The more troops you have on a territory, the greater your chance of victory will be. Once an attack is initiated, if you choose to watch the battle you'll see the dice roll out with some animated versions of your armies attacking each other. It's amusing for a while, but before long you'll find yourself using the fast-attack option to speed things up.

RISK: Factions does have a few new additions to the gameplay as well. Certain maps have special features, such as a missile silo or a dam, that when corresponding territories are controlled give that player a nice advantage. There are bonuses you can earn for meeting certain objectives, such as capturing a certain number of territories in a turn or controlling a certain continent. Completing these objectives can earn bonus perks such as additional troops at the start of each turn. In quick game mode the winner is determined by who can accomplish a certain amount of objectives first.

The biggest difference between the ruleset of the original game and this console port is that the player has quite a few opportunities to gain a distinct advantage over the opposition. The gameplay in RISK: Factions is good for what it is, so if you're a fan of turn-based strategy games or the original board game, it's a game that's worth a look. Unfortunately, the game would be removed from the Xbox Live Arcade store in 2014, making this a tough one to check out these days. This is considered by many to be superior to the RISK game that would come out for the Xbox One, though I haven't had the opportunity to check that one out so I can't say for myself.

Final Verdict: RISK: Factions is a fun port of the turn-based strategy board game. It has quite a few new additions while maintaining much of what made the original good to begin with.

Related Links:
Electronic Arts - Official Website
Stainless Games - Official Website
RISK: Factions - Metacritic
RISK: Factions - GameFAQs
RISK: Factions Achievement Guide
RISK: Factions - True Achievements

The Simpsons Game (Xbox 360, 2007)

The Simpsons Game
Developed by EA Redwood Shores
Published by EA Games
Released for Xbox 360 (10/2007)
Also on PS2/PS3/DS/Wii/PSP (11/2007)

The Simpsons franchise definitely has a checkered past when it comes to video games based on it. Other than the arcade hit from the early '90's, most of the games are regarded as mediocre or worse. I'm coming into this game as somebody who has always enjoyed the television series (earlier seasons at least) and would definitely love to play another good Simpsons title but I came into this one with low expectations, seeing as licensed properties tend to be quick cash-grabs with minimal effort put into them. I was initially very impressed at the quality of the cut-scenes, they look exactly like an episode of the show. As a matter of fact, there were several instances during these I almost forgot I was playing the game! The in-game characters look pretty rough in contrast to the superb cut-scenes, but I'm willing to cut the game a little slack due to it's old age and early release in the life-cycle of the console. I will give the developers credit for including the show's humor in the game and there were several moments throughout the Simpsons Game were quite funny.

The game-play in theory is acceptable, consisting of mostly platforming and single-button combat with some light puzzles thrown in here and there. The platforming isn't too bad and your characters have a double-jump that's easy to use. The single-button combat almost reminds me of the Simpsons arcade from the 90's with it's simplicity, but the hit detection and fighting is nowhere near as enjoyable. The puzzle segments will usually require one of the characters specific powers, sometimes requiring the use of both characters. I forgot to mention, you'll always have two characters, and if you don't have a second player then the computer will control whoever you're not using. This didn't cause too many issues for me, though the computer is rather worthless when it comes to defending themselves and will often die when left unattended if enemies are nearby. The problem with the game lies predominately with the camera controls. You will have to fight the erratic camera every step of the way, as it likes to swing about and give you terrible angles making the platforming segments a complete chore at times. The camera will go nuts if it hits a solid object and will give you problems just trying to get an angle to see what you're doing. The fact that the game made it to store shelves in this state and was never patched post-release goes to show how much EA's quality control dropped the ball on this game.

In between levels, you have an open-world Springfield that you can explore, with bus signs serving as a way to fast travel or change characters. This part of the game serves little purpose other than to pad the game out with collectibles since once you've completed the stages, you must use the main menu to go back and play them. Speaking of collectibles, there are 75 for all four characters scattered about Springfield. Whatever fun-factor the game had pretty much died completely after I beat the game and started scouring for collectibles. The camera-control issues will test every last nerve you have as you attempt to get some of the trickier collectibles.

In an effort to further pad out the Simpsons Game, the developers have included a par time to beat for each of the sixteen levels plus an additional time attack challenge for each level, in which you'll have to clear the various challenges within a given time limit. The events tend to be either item collecting or defeating a certain number of enemies. Some of these challenges are pretty decent and do an alright job of giving you some additional bang for your buck. However asking the player to beat a par time for each and every level has no place in a game of this nature, where most of the scenarios require use of both characters and speed is never really stressed throughout the game with the exception of maybe one or two timed segments. Just a completely unnecessary addition to and only the most dedicated gamers will persevere and earn that 50 gamerscore achievement for beating the times on all levels.

What could have been an above-average licensed game is brought down by one of the worst cameras I've experienced on the Xbox 360 game library. It's a shame, because there were many times throughout my time playing this game I enjoyed myself and the cutscenes are great, but the camera will prove too cumbersome for most gamers to stick it out til the end. The game has some very clever level ideas and the Simpsons humor made its transition into the game flawlessly, so fans of the show will still find something to like here. Just don't say I didn't warn you about the camera!

Final Verdict: Due to the abysmal camera, I find it hard to recommend the Simpsons Game to anybody except the die-hard fans of the show. The cut-scenes are a joy to watch, I just wish the gameplay was as good!

Purchase Links:
Search the Simpsons Game - eBay

Related Links:
The Simpsons Game - GameFAQs

Alice: Madness Returns (Xbox 360, 2011)

Alice: Madness Returns
Developed by Spicy Horse
Published by Electronic Arts
Released for Xbox 360
Also on PS3/PC
Backward Compatible on Xbox One

I'll start the review by mentioning that if you purchased a disc copy of Alice: Madness Returns new, it included a code to unlock the original American McGee's Alice game. This was an awesome bonus for those who purchased a physical copy of the game. No worries if you bought it used or digitally though, because they have it available to download on the digital store (as of this writing it's still up). So for the first portion of this review, I'd like to briefly talk about my experience with the original Alice game before going into Madness Returns...

For a game that originally came out back in 2000, American McGee's Alice has aged surprisingly well. It's had a bit of a graphical upgrade but it still runs on a much older engine (Quake III Arena) causing the jumping to be a tad floaty but you'll get used to it pretty quick. The environments are interesting to explore and continue to get even more twisted as you progress. There are some unique takes on some of the classic characters and despite the old graphics engine, many of them still hold up.. There's a nice variety of weapons provided and they all operate differently. Some of the platforming can seem a bit tough but you can save anytime, so as long as you're smart with saving frequently the game can be an easy, fun ride that's worth the trip if you haven't played it. The voice acting is pretty good and the music is definitely fitting. It's very cool to see a bonus like this and gave me the chance to check out one I'd never played before.

Upon booting up the main feature, Alice: Madness Returns, I was immediately impressed. The game features meticulously detailed environments and the controls have been sharpened up from the original game. The levels are among the longest I can recall in recent history and I struggled to finish a chapter in a sitting in this game. They are broken up into sections and the game does have auto-save checkpoints so it's easy to take a break when you need to. Like I mentioned earlier, the levels are incredibly detailed and the use of color makes this a very pretty game to look at. It's hard to believe this came out back in 2011 it looks so good!

The idea of 3D platforming segments doesn't typically excite me, but everything is laid out so well and the controls are responsive enough that I never really got frustrated due to it. The game has tons of collectibles for those who like that sort of thing, many of them revealing little tidbits of the story. There are now less weapons than you had in the original Alice game, but they are all very different and you will use them each in different situations (where I mostly used the frozen wand weapon the whole time in the first game!).

My only real knock against this game are a few somewhat frustrating mini-games mixed throughout. Most of these are simple, but I wasn't too fond of the 2D side-scroller segments. The graphics look okay, but the jump feels nerfed compared to the 3D platforming and Alice's hitbox is way too large while trying to dodge the fireballs and cannonballs. I also didn't care much for the head rolling segments in chapter 5. The idea is okay, roll the head through a maze like Monkey Ball and countless others that have done this before, but later on it turns into launching yourself from cannon to cannon ala Donkey Kong Country, a segment which can be frustrating. All in all, despite those gripes about a few short minigames, Alice: Madness Returns was an absolute pleasure to play. Electronic Arts definitely did a solid in my book for publishing this one and the programmers at Spicy Horse should be a commended for some incredible work!

Final Verdict: Alice: Madness Returns is a fantastic experience and a fresh spin on the old material. Highly recommended, especially if you like a trippy adventure.

Related Links:
Buy Alice: Madness Returns (Digital) - Xbox Marketplace
Buy Alice: Madness Returns (Disc) - eBay

Related Links:
Spicy Horse - Official Site
Electronic Arts - Official Site
Alice: Madness Returns -  Metacritic
Alice: Madness Returns - GameFAQs
Alice: Madness Returns Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements
Alice: Madness Returns - True Achievements