Verdict: Running around stabbing dudes is funner than ever!
In a Nutshell: Top-notch third-person exploration and stealth, wrapped up in an interesting story with a ton of varied side missions to keep you busy for hours on end.

About the Game

(from the game’s website)

Assassin’s Creed 2 is an epic story of family, vengeance and conspiracy set in the pristine, yet brutal, backdrop of a Renaissance Italy. Ezio befriends Leonardo da Vinci, takes on Florence’s most powerful families and ventures throughout the canals of Venice where he learns to become a master assassin.

• Fun Rating: Really Fun
• ESRB: M
• Players/Mode: single-player/campaign
• Game Duration: ~20 hour campaign
• System: Xbox 360 / PS3 (we played on Xbox 360)
• Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
• Website: http://assassinscreed.uk.ubi.com/assassins-creed-2/
• Cost: $25 on Amazon
• Demo: Available on Xbox Live & PSN

Playing the game

If you’ve played the first Assassin’s Creed, you’ll be right at home with ACII. Move the left stick to move Ezio, move the right stick to move the camera. Press A to steal, B to push, X to use your weapon, and Y to use “eagle vision.” Hold the right trigger to go into “high profile mode,” which allows you to run with the left stick, sprint with A, punch with B, and assassinate with X. Holding the right bumper brings up your weapon inventory, and the left trigger allows you to lock on to enemies.

As in the first game, Ezio is able to climb basically anything that sticks out of any building more than a few inches. Just walk up, press the right trigger, and start climbing. Throughout the game you’ll learn a variety of new tricks, including a nice new jump-climb move that helps you get to even higher places than before.

What the game gets right

While I personally thoroughly enjoyed the first game, what few complaints I did have were addressed quite effectively in ACII. First and most importantly, stealth is a much bigger deal in ACII. There were quite a few missions in which Ezio is required to remain undetected and failure to do so will force you to restart the mission. In order to accommodate this increased emphasis on stealth, the game has added new ways to stay hidden. The most noticeable improvement in this area was the ability to “blend” with any crowd of three or more people on the street. Sweet.

The other big improvement in ACII is variety. While cavorting about knifing unsuspecting guards on the rooftops of Italy, I never really got the feeling that the missions were repetitive. There are a handful of race, beat up, and delivery missions, but they are far outnumbered by the “assassination contract” missions—a side mission sub-type that has a nice variety of its own. One example of a unique assassination contract requires you to take out ten heavily armored guards within a span of just two minutes.

What the game gets wrong

My only real complaint in ACII is that sometimes when Ezio breaks into “free run,” it can be fairly difficult to control exactly where he’ll jump. This can be especially frustrating when you’re playing one of the missions that depends on speed.

As a minor issue, I thought that the stagecoach and flying machine levels felt a little like afterthoughts. As if the game was mostly done and some CEO took a look at the almost-completed product and said “looks good, but can we add a few vehicle levels?” They were fun enough, but just felt out of place.

Sum it up

Assassin’s Creed II delivers a much more refined experience than the original, combining a great story and an engaging variety of missions in a lively and beautiful setting, while putting a greater emphasis on stealth. If you’re into third-person action/adventure games at all, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you skip this game.

The post Review: Assassin’s Creed II appeared first on Ellis.FYI.

Verdict: Glad I only spent $25.
In a Nutshell: Lazy gameplay design choices and overuse of clichéd mechanics nearly ruin an interesting story and some amazing scenery.

About the Game

(from the game’s website)

A 400-year-old clue in the coffin of Sir Francis Drake sets a modern day fortune hunter, Nathan Drake, on an expedition for the fabled treasure of El Dorado, leading to the discovery of a forgotten island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The search turns deadly when he and his party become stranded on the island and hunted by modern-day pirates. Outnumbered and outgunned, he must fight to survive as he begins to unravel the terrible secrets hidden on the island.

• Fun Rating: Sorta Fun
• ESRB: T
• Players/Mode: single-player/campaign
• Game Duration: ~10 hour campaign
• System: PS3
• Developer: Naughty Dog
• Website: http://us.playstation.com/uncharted/UDF
• Cost: $21 on Amazon
• Demo: Available on PSN

Playing the game

Being a third-person shooter, Drake’s Fortune controls pretty much just like you would expect it to. Left stick moves Drake, right stick moves the camera. X is for jumping and climbing, triangle is used to pick up weapons and interact with the environment, circle gets you into cover or performs a rolling dodge, L1 aims, R1 shoots, and the d-pad selects your weapon. Pretty standard stuff here.

There are a handful of sequences sprinkled throughout the game that diverge from the traditional third-person shooter style and switch to more of a third-person platformer feel, jumping and climbing up walls and structures like the one pictured above. In these sections, the camera is often fixed on a certain angle to clue you in to where you need to go next. Otherwise, the controls are the same as the rest of the game.

What the game gets right

The game is pretty, there’s no doubt about that. From the lush, green jungles (pictured above) to the detailed ancient city, there is a lot of eye candy in this game that is fun just to look at.

I also appreciated the thought that went into the game save / death system. Checkpoints are sprinkled pretty liberally throughout the game, and when you die, you instantly start back at the most recent one. I never really had to repeat enough of the game to make it really frustrating when I died, which was nice. Also, if there was any dialog since the last checkpoint, it doesn’t repeat every time you restart after dying—I definitely appreciated that.

Drake’s Fortune moves fairly seamlessly between action and cut-scenes, which is a nice touch. All throughout the campaign there were sections where you walk to a certain trigger point and a cut-scene begins, running entirely in the game engine. This style really helped to tell the story in a way that didn’t jar you out of the game abruptly.

Speaking of the story, I enjoyed the story, which had enough interesting plot twists and turns to keep me engaged through the whole game. In fact, the well-written story is probably the only reason I played this game through to the end.

What the game gets wrong

It could be that I’ve been spoiled by the amazing platforming skills of the title character in Assassin’s Creed (which came out about the same time as this game), but I found the platforming portions of Drake’s Fortune to be more frustrating than they should have been. It was way too easy to inadvertently fall off a ledge or jump in the wrong direction and plunge to your doom.

For a game that the developers obviously were attempting to make into a cinematic experience, Drake’s Fortune sure is packed with way too many incredibly lame video game clichés. Here are just a few examples…

Our unwitting hero Drake wanders into an empty room. Whoops, he just passed some invisible secret line halfway through the room and suddenly a dozen bad guys with guns jump out and start shooting at him. Oh, now you think you’ve cleared the room? Think again—you just crossed another invisible secret line on the other side of the room, triggering a bunch more bad guys to stream in behind you, through rooms that you just cleared.

Speaking of the bad guys with guns… No matter how remote the area is that you just climbed over all kinds of crazy ledges and jumped over crevices to reach, somehow it will still be littered with well-armed enemies. Jet-skiing down the river? Bad guys on the ledges above you. Just entered a secret cavern that you had to decode not one but two ancient puzzles just to open the doors? Guess what, the bad guys are there waiting to riddle you with bullets. Oh, and when it finally becomes too ridiculously improbable for the bad guys with guns to be lying in wait for you, they invent a whole new breed of bad guy, just for the occasion. How thoughtful of them.

[SPOILER WARNING]

The inexcusably lazy gameplay design choices all come to a head with the final boss fight on a big freighter. The last chapter begins with a firefight in a room with five of the aforementioned bad guys with guns. Four of these enemies are shooting at you with MP-40s, and one is using a pistol with a laser-site. Now, it is important to note at this point that the laser-site enemies were introduced earlier in the game with an in-game hint teaching you to press circle to roll and dodge the laser sites to avoid letting them get a lock on you.

Oh but guess what. For some reason this particular laser site bad guy takes about half a second to aim and fire on you, and if he gets a clear shot, it always kills you immediately. And don’t even think about pressing circle to roll. If you’re out in the open, this guy gets a shot on you and kills you right away. Boom, dead. Plus as an added bonus, as soon as you kill the other 4 guys in the room, laser site guy runs off to fight you in the next room with a whole new wave of MP-40-wielding dudes.

So at this point, I get clever, thinking “I know, I’ll kill 3 other guys, then take out Mr. laser site guy.” Bzzt—wrong. I empty a dozen shotgun rounds at this guy with no effect at all. That’s when I finally realize—Mr. laser site is the final boss, and you’re simply not allowed to kill him before the appointed time. Of course, meanwhile he is hiding behind crates and taking 1-shot kill pot-shots at you in two different firefights leading up to the final encounter.

When you finally get to the big showdown, I hope you’re not looking for a satisfying match-up where you can use your ingenuity and cunning to finally best this cheap bastard. You get to the top of the ship where there are 3 wooden crates, so you duck behind the first one as he starts firing. Oh, and did I mention that you have somehow managed to lose your gun? How delightfully convenient. Even still, you might think at this point that there would be multiple ways to try to take this guy out. YOU WOULD BE WRONG.

If you do ANYTHING other than the exact, specific sequence of moves imagined by the developers, you die instantly and start the encounter over. I probably died 30 times in less than five minutes trying to figure out the magical secret sequence necessary to take this jerkface out.

And even after you finally figure out how to get from the first crate to the one closest to this guy, you are rewarded with a rapid-fire sequence where you get about a quarter second to react as different controller button logos flash up on the screen.

PRESS SQUARE! Oh, you took half a second to press the button, you’re dead.

[END OF SPOILERS]

Basically, Drake’s Fortune easily wins the title of the most frustrating boss fight I have ever played.

Sum it up

In total, Drake’s Fortune was a marginally enjoyable experience.

Unfortunately my enjoyment of the detailed scenery, engaging story, and fluid cut-scene integration were nearly overshadowed by a liberal helping of lazy gameplay design choices and ridiculous video game clichés.

The post Review: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune appeared first on Ellis.FYI.

Verdict: Fan-Service-Tastic!
In a Nutshell: 3rd-Person ghost bustin’ with the original gang. Bustin’ makes me feel good!

About the Game

(from the game’s website)

The Ghostbusters are back in an all new story penned by the original creators! With Manhattan newly overrun by ghosts and other supernatural creatures, it’s up to you to take on the role of a new recruit joining the original fim cast of the famous Ghostbusters team. Equipped with a variety of unique weapons and gadgets, you will hunt, fight, and capture a wide range of uncanny phantasms and demons in an all new funny and frightening battle to save New York City from its latest paranormal plague.

• Fun Rating: Fun
• ESRB: T
• Players/Mode: single-player/campaign, online co-op or head-to-head
• Game Duration: 8-10 hours for the campaign
• System: Xbox 360 / PS3 / Wii / PC / PS2
• Developer: Terminal Reality, Inc.
• Website: http://www.ghostbustersgame.com/
• Cost: $20 on Amazon
• Demo: Available on Xbox Live Marketplace

Playing the game

[The Tim:] You are nameless joe, the just-recruited fifth Ghostbuster. The game controls like a standard 3rd-person shooter. Left stick moves you, right stick turns your view. The right trigger fires your currently-active weapon, the left trigger fires your weapon’s secondary. A interacts with the environment, hold B to run, X tosses out a ghost trap, and Y enables your PKE meter, which provides an augmented first-person view of your environment, crucial for detecting ghosts and other spirit world extras.

Weapons come in four flavors, which you select using the d-pad. Up selects your proton pack, which works just like you would expect from the movie. Left selects the dark matter generator, which has a freeze-ray type of thing as its primary, and basically acts as a shotgun when you fire the secondary. Down selects your slime, which lets you shoot slime and slime tethers. Finally, right selects your meson collider, which is like a sniper rifle, with an added homing feature.

What the game gets right

[The Tim:] Obviously the biggest draw in this game is the reunion of the Ghostbusters gang. The return of Aykroyd, Ramis, Murray, Hudson, and crew was just as fun as I expected it to be. I also really appreciated that Rick Moranis’ Louis Tully was given a nod even though he declined to participate. Classy.

The weapons that were taken from the movie were also loads of fun. Wrangling ghosts with the proton pack and flinging slime all over the place is a blast. Overall the game plays well and does a decent job of avoiding the “cheap cash-in” feel of many movie tie-in games. With an original plot and good gameplay mechanics, the game kept my attention from start to finish, even through some occasional annoyances.

[theoMastah:] The Proton Pack is amazingly fun – it is easily used for lots of Ghost-busting, but it still provides a challenge (such as the pack overheating, causing you to use a little strategy in doling out the hurt). The plot is great as a direct sequel (some might even say “culmination”) of the plots of the two films. To go with a great plot (written by Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd) is a great cast – the return of the original Ghostbusters, Annie Potts as Janine, William Atherton as Walter Peck, and more! You, however, play the rookie, who is the equipment field tester – a great addition to the Ghostbusters team.

Fans of the movies will enjoy seeing all their old enemies escaped from incarceration… so that you can blast them in the face! It’s not just old enemies, though, there’s plenty of new ones as well as creative, original uses of the old ghosts. The locations and visuals are great, and the fact that almost all of the XBox Achievements are named by using quotes from the movies is just gravy.

What the game gets wrong

[The Tim:] When you play a game on the hardest difficulty, you sometimes run into some very questionable design choices. For example, why oh why did the developer decide to put a bunch of unskippable dialogue immediately after save points that come right before some of the game’s hardest sections? If I had to hear Winston tell me to “try using slime tethers” one more time, I think I might have snapped. Also, why isn’t it easier to go back and play a level after you’ve beat it in the campaign?

The only other thing that really bugged me was the wildly varying difficulty. Some parts of the game were a total cakewalk, while others had me reloading and re-hearing all that unskippable dialogue dozens of times. As theoMastah mentions below, one of the oddest parts about this phenomenon was that the final boss was one of the easiest boss battles in the game, and far easier than some mid-level battles.

[theoMastah:] I encountered a few camera problems, as well as some troublesome AI on the part of my Ghosbusters partners. Some portions of the game were a bit unclear, such as how to kill one or two bosses, and how to unlock certain doors.

Also, the game required that the player use the PKE Goggles too often. Not only did they have a great thing going with the third person shooting (a la Gears of War), but the game would not even allow the player to shoot while wearing the goggles. You always automatically took them off when you pulled the trigger. The PKE Goggles make you move slower, you can’t run while wearing them anyway (as with shooting, you take them off to perform this action), and they aren’t always necessary to what you’re doing anyway. I would have liked to see these less.

Finally, what’s with the difficulty of the final boss? I feel like I could have put my Proton Pack on “Blow Hot Air” mode and knocked him over. I would have liked to see a little more difficulty on that one.

Sum it up

[The Tim:] At the now bargain-bin price of $20, Ghostbusters is easily a must-have for any fan of the movies. At that price, it’s probably even worth picking up if you’re just a fan of 3rd-person shooters who has never heard of the original source material.

[theoMastah:] If you like the Ghostbusters films at all, you will enjoy this game. It’s not too complex, is a decent length, and has lots of story to revel in.

The post Review: Ghostbusters: The Video Game appeared first on Ellis.FYI.

Verdict: *Yawn*
In a Nutshell: A tantalizing array of play modes and options are locked up inside an impenetrable prison of near-unplayable controls.

About the Game

(from the game’s website)

Rise to stardom as you take on the Pool halls toughest opponents. Select and play a vast collection of different styles of Pool, Snooker and Billiards!

Battle your way through tournaments set in exotic locations!

Play your favorite game in Arcade, Tournament or Exhibition mode. Take on a AI character or battle it out with a friend in multiplayer mode!

Customize your character and unlock collectables to pimp your own crib!

Do what it takes to be a Pool Hall Pro!

• Fun Rating: Not Much Fun
• ESRB: E
• Players/Mode: single-player / up to four players alternating
• Game Duration: As long as it keeps your interest
• System: Wii
• Developer: Icon Games
• Website: http://www.playlogicgames.com/
• Cost: $29 at Amazon.com

Playing the game

When you first launch the game, you will be asked to set up a profile. Immediately upon doing so you are thrust into a sort of primitive and nearly unusable character design mode, where you select the looks of the avatar that will represent you throughout the game. Considering that this is the kind of thing Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have all managed to make relatively engaging and easy to navigate, it was not a promising sign that right off the bat something so simple was so un-fun.

As you set up your profile you are also asked to select which control method you prefer: “Normal” or “Advanced.” I’m pretty sure that refers to the degree of frustration that you wish to subject yourself to during game play.

In “Normal” mode, you aim with left and right on the d-pad, point at the spot on the ball that you want to hit, hold B, pull back on the Wii-mote—while keeping the Wii-mote pointed at the screen—then release B when the power is at the desired level. In “Advanced” mode, you must pull the Wii-mote back and thrust it forward—all the while still keeping it pointed at the screen—to determine the level of power for your shot. In practice, the power of shots in “Advanced” mode is basically random. I was left wondering whether the developers actually even tried to play their own game.

What the game gets right

If you’re really into pool, but also suffer from crippling agoraphobia and cannot afford to buy your own table, Pool Hall Pro may be just the game for you?

With eleven different game modes, including US 8 ball, UK 8 ball, 9 ball, and Snooker, you certainly cannot say that the game lacks variety. Furthermore, arguably the most important aspect of a billiards video game—the physics of how the balls roll around the table—was at least believable for the most part.

Some of the environments were also fairly well done. In one location you play atop a roof in Chinatown. That was pretty entertaining to look at for the five or ten seconds that they were zooming around at the start of the match. Oh, and the main menu has a fairly sharp look to it, plus the game disc looks like an 8-ball. Those count for something, I guess.

What the game gets wrong

As mentioned earlier, the control scheme is quite frustrating. This is not helped in any way by a camera that has very limited control. You can zoom out, but only to a point. You can rotate your view, but it rotates where you’re aiming at the same time. Your view of the table is locked, centered on the cue ball at all times. After you make your shot, the camera stays in whatever position it was in when you shot, zooming out in a bizarre and disconcerting manner if the balls are about to go out of your field of view.

Also, the controls aren’t even consistent. When your opponent is shooting, you can hold A to fast-forward the ball physics. But after you hit the cue ball, pressing A does nothing.

Due in no small part to the terrible controls, the pacing of the game feels far too slow. By the time I get three or four shots into a match, I’m already bored.

The music consists of a series of mind-numbingly repetitive tracks that sound like they probably could have been achieved on the Super NES. The spectators that are sprinkled throughout the game are disturbingly plastic, and make an odd, muted thumping noise as they applaud a successful pocket.

Sum it up

While Pool Hall Pro does a decent job of replicating the game rules and physics, a nearly unplayable control scheme and horrible pacing completely killed any chance I may have had of enjoying this game. Frankly, I had many times more fun playing the Monkey Billiards mini-game in the original Super Monkey Ball.

The post Review: Pool Hall Pro appeared first on Ellis.FYI.

Verdict: A satisfying second helping.
In a Nutshell: The Last Resort is the second episode in this adventure game series. You play as Wallace and Gromit trying to manage your basement beach getaway for the locals.

About the Game

(from the game’s website)

“When unrelenting rain ruins their holiday plans, Wallace & Gromit bring the beach to 62 West Wallaby with a makeshift resort—in their basement. Keeping customers satisfied is tricky business, especially when one of them is clocked on the head by an unknown assailant. Whodunnit? Find out… with a little help from Wallace’s latest invention, the Deduct-o-matic!”

• Fun Rating: Fun
• ESRB: E
• Players/Mode: single-player / campaign
• Game Duration: 3-6 hours
• System: PC
• Developer: Telltale Games
• Website: http://www.telltalegames.com/wallaceandgromit
• Cost: $34.95 for the season
• Demo: available from TellTale

Playing the game

Using either the arrow keys or WASD will move you around as Wallace or Gromit, depending on where you are in the story. Each character is concerned with their own particular items so there’s no worry about the wrong one having something the other needs.

Select items to examine, pick up, admire, or lament over by first putting the cursor on an object and then clicking the left mouse button. Items you pick up are somehow stored on your person (do they both have bags of holding?). Pressing the “I” key will bring up your inventory.

Talking to other characters is done in much the same way. If you’ve already heard (or don’t want to hear) what they have to say on a particular subject, the conversation can be skipped through with the right mouse button.

A more exhaustive list of controls can be found on here on TellTale’s site.

What the game gets right

[The Tim:] Once again, the witty writing of the Telltale team did not disappoint. Although there were few moments that had me laughing out loud, my entire Episode 2 experience was peppered with chuckles at the amusing dialogue. The storyline itself was clever and enjoyable, despite being “trapped” in the house for most of the game. I also noticed the music more often this time around, and found it to be upbeat and mildly catchy.

[dufflehead:] I really don’t have much to add to that. The story and script were definitely smile inducing. Also, the side characters are great and I’m really enjoying learning more about them in each episode.

[The Tim:] Also note that my comments about the game engine and gameplay elements from Episode 1 of course still stand for Episode 2.

What the game gets wrong

[dufflehead:] The game itself is really solid. The only nit to pick with this one is that, for and adventure/mystery plot, some of he storyline reveals were too obvious taking a lot of the guess work, and fun, out of figuring out who dunnit.

[The Tim:] “The Last Resort” seemed to me to be even shorter than “Fright of the Bumblebees,” although that could be merely because I’m getting the hang of the Telltale style of puzzles now and am therefore faster at figuring them out. On the other hand, I fell upon a few of the puzzle solutions merely via luck. Those particular puzzle steps seemed like they could have used a little more intentional planning on the writing side, but they were definitely in the minority.

Sum it up

[The Tim:] Definitely worth a play. If I hadn’t been convinced after Episode 1 to buy a season pass, I definitely would be now. I like the way the series is shaping up, and have been pleased with Telltale’s handling of the Wallace & Gromit world.

[dufflehead:] I agree. And, while this episode felt rather short, it also seemed to move at a better pace. This is definitely a season worth having and I’m excited to see what these two get up to next.

The post Review: Wallace and Gromit: The Last Resort appeared first on Ellis.FYI.

Verdict: Twisted.
In a Nutshell: A bizarre yet enjoyable puzzle-platformer with a unique twist: not only do you control your character, but you must also rotate the the world around you complete each increasingly insane level.

About the Game

(from the game’s website)

“And Yet It Moves is a puzzle-platformer, set in a unique world, made of ripped paper. Within the paper collage, you can jump, run and last but certainly not least: rotate the world. Learn how to apply the physical consequences of rotation to master the many tricky situations you may encounter.”

• Fun Rating: Fun
• ESRB: N/A
• Players/Mode: Single-player / Time Trial
• Game Duration: 3-4 hours
• System: PC
• Developer: Broken Rules
• Website: http://www.andyetitmoves.net/
• Cost: $15 on Steam, Greenhouse, or GamersGate
• Demo: Available on AndYetItMoves.net

Playing the game

In And Yet It Moves you control your little paper dude with the standard W-A-S-D combo, but S doesn’t do anything. You’ll also be simultaneously resting your right hand on arrow keys, which are used to rotate the environment around your character. Left for counterclockwise, right for clockwise, and up for a full 180°.

To make your way from the start to the finish of each level, you’ll have to employ a different style of platforming logic than what you’re probably used to. The key to proper control of your character is proper utilization of the game’s physics, which dictate that as you rotate the world around your dude, he maintains his momentum. This allows you to leap out over a chasm toward a big vertical wall, then rotate 90° and land neatly on the wall, which is now the ground. If that sounds confusing, it’s probably because it is.

What the game gets right

Playing And Yet It Moves was an entertaining exercise for my cerebellum. The added dimension of rotating the entire frikkin’ world around you is tough to wrap your brain around, which for me provided a fun and unique challenge.

Although And Yet It Moves is a relatively short excursion, there was a very satisfying degree of variety in its fifteen levels. One level has you avoiding giant falling rocks, another puts you on the back of a crazy giant demon hamster, another has you spreading flames from tree to tree by rotating the world, while some of the later levels feel like some kind of crazy drug trip (or what I imagine a crazy drug trip might feel like).

I also enjoyed the little touches of humor that were interspersed throughout And Yet It Moves, including the aforementioned demon hamster as well as the amusing way your body breaks into a dozen pieces upon death (including one piece that appears to be an enormous thumb). The creativity of the design really shines through in the bizarre art style and the sparse but appropriate background tracks, as well.

What the game gets wrong

If you’re a fan of story, you might want to pass on And Yet It Moves, ’cause it ain’t got one. At all. We have no idea why Mr. Unnamed Paper Dude is stuck in this crazy spinning world. This wasn’t a deal-breaker for me, but it’s something to be aware of.

The only other thing I can really find fault in the game for is its length. Granted, I expect a $15 independent game to be short, but at just three hours, And Yet It Moves was shorter than most. I suppose if I were the type that really was into competing to rank highly on an internet top scores list, there is that feature that could add some replayability to the game, but the basic single-player “mission” experience is a bit on the brief side.

Sum it up

Bottom line: I never found myself bored while playing And Yet It Moves, but when it was over I found myself thinking “already?” I loved the unique concept that the game brings to the table, and the art style really brings together the overall trippy feel.

Although it does not have the same degree of exquisite polish, I would compare And Yet It Moves to Braid, in that it is a well-done independent game that is worth playing at least once.

Teaser Trailer

The post Review: And Yet It Moves appeared first on Ellis.FYI.

Verdict: Groovy!
In a Nutshell: Jump, hop, and splat to the groovy beat as you bring a glorious array of color to a series of drab gray cityscapes.

About the Game

(from the game’s website)

“A mischievous and unlikely hero, only de Blob can flip, bounce, and smash his way past the all-powerful I.N.K.T. Corporation to launch a revolution and save Chroma City from a future without color. Battle against massive tank battalions, speedy I.N.K.T. racers and elite Inky soldiers on your quest to free the citizens of Chroma City.”

• Fun Rating: Really Fun
• ESRB: E
• Players/Mode: Single-player / Campaign
• Game Duration: 10-15 hours
• System: Wii
• Developer: Blue Tongue Entertainment
• Website: http://www.deblob.com/
• Cost: Get it at Amazon for $29.97 for Wii
• Demo: n/a

Playing the game

The basic goal of the main levels in de Blob is to paint. Roll around ten different cityscapes, moving de Blob with the analog stick on the nunchuck. Swinging the Wii remote sharply in any direction causes de Blob to jump, while holding the Z-button and swinging the Wii remote will target and jump directly on various things (enemies, paint canisters, and certain building weak points).

Hit paint vials of red, blue, and yellow to turn de Blob different colors and build your paint meter up to 100 points. Mix red and blue for purple, yellow and red for orange, etc. Painting buildings and other structures drains your paint meter.

The one thing that can hurt de Blob is ink, which is spread throughout the levels in pools, and is shot at / beat down on de Blob by various enemies. Get “inked” and your paint meter will begin depleting. If you don’t find some water to wash off the ink before you get to zero, you’re dead. Thankfully when you die, the buildings stay painted, you just get sent back to the last gate.

Each level starts you off with a 20-minute time limit, but you can extend this by completing various challenges spread throughout the level, painting entire blocks and freeing the “Raydians” trapped inside, or by finding clock icons. I never felt hurried, and only came close to running out of time on the final level (more on that later), but my less video-game inclined wife did have time expire a few times when she gave the game a try.

What the game gets right

Playing de Blob is just plain fun. Think about being poked in the eye with a stick… it’s like the extreme opposite of that. The open-ended nature of the level design allows you to pick and choose how you play each level. If you enjoy challenges, you can do every challenge. If you just want to paint, you can just paint like crazy and usually get enough “paint points” to progress through the levels.

Bouncing around, bringing life to the rich environments is a simple pleasure that few games seem to be able to deliver recently. It’s like being a kid again, running around your back yard on a warm summer day, laughing and playing in the sprinkler.

What really brought it all together for me when playing de Blob was the music. The upbeat, jazzy tracks are fun and engaging. The music is also highly interactive with the environment. At the beginning of each level there actually is no music at all, then as you paint more of the area, the music slowly builds until it reaches maximum groovitude.

Adding to the enjoyment and engagement with the music is the delightful touch that each time you paint a building a new color, a little flourish is added to that particular beat, which changes depending on what color?sax when you paint something red, electric keyboard for purple, etc.

What the game gets wrong

The first 95% of the game was an absolute blast. Unfortunately, for some inexplicable reason the designers felt compelled to put in a sort of “final boss” level, which felt utterly out of place with the rest of the game. The first nine (and a half) levels are a laid back, relaxing affair, where you’re free to do basically whatever you wish at more or less your own pace. Then, in the last half of the last level, the time limit is noticeably shorter, giving the section much more of a rushed feel. At the end of the level there’s a big “boss fight” type of encounter, in which the entire feel of the game switches from laid back puzzle platforming to a high-stress precision action platform fight-type thing—yuck.

I still left with an overwhelmingly positive impression of the game, but it would have been so much better if they had just kept the last level like the nine before it. It’s like enjoying a delicious berry sundae, but then you get to the bottom and—what the hell—why is there a brussel sprout in here?!?

There was also one minor glitch I encountered when the inability to jump while on top of rocks caused de Blob to get completely stuck between a pair of rocks halfway through a level, leaving me with only two choices: wait 15 minutes for time to expire, or quit the level and lose all my progress. Super-lame, but at least it only happened once.

Sum it up

I would highly recommend de Blob to anyone that likes to just have fun. There are very few frustrating/overly difficult puzzle-solving moments, and even those challenges that are killjoys can simply be skipped. My one piece of advice would be that if you’re not a completionist (like myself), just skip the last level altogether.

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Verdict: Nostalgic, Funny, and Addictive.
In a Nutshell: LEGO Star Wars is buckets of fun, but if you’re not a fan of LEGO and/or Star Wars, it will probably start to drag on after a while.

About the Game

(from the game’s website)

Building on the success of both LEGO® Star Wars “block-buster” videogames, LEGO® Star Wars: The Complete Saga enables families to play through the events of all six Star Wars movies in one videogame for the first time ever.

• Fun Rating: Fun
• ESRB: E10
• Players/Mode: Single-player, Two-Player Co-Op or Arcade Vs. (local and online)
• Game Duration: It took me around 36 hours to complete every level, including finding all the “power bricks” and “minikits,” but not counting the “Super Story” mode or the individual level challenges.
• System: Xbox 360 (Also available for Wii & PS3)
• Developer: Traveller’s Tales
• Website: http://www.lucasarts.com/games/legostarwarssaga/
• Cost: $50 (360), $50 (Wii), $47 (PS3)

Playing the game

Standard 3rd-person controls, move your character with the left stick, other buttons allow you to jump, use your weapon (light saber, gun, fists, etc.), use the force, swap characters, and build LEGO kits. LSW:TCS has a nice combination of platform running and jumping, puzzle-solving, and action elements.

What the game gets right

LEGO Star Wars is easy enough to pick up and play that I was even able to get my non-gaming wife to play co-op with me on occasion. The levels are well-designed, and for the most part keep a good mix of challenge and entertainment. And believe me, it never gets old watching a wookie pop the little LEGO arms off a storm trooper.

I especially enjoyed the game mechanic of the “power bricks.” Well, once I figured out what they were, anyway. I spent the first 25-30% of the game totally clueless, as within the game itself, it gives you no clues what these “extras” are. Every level has one red LEGO brick hidden somewhere which, when found, unlocks the ability to buy an “extra.” These extras range from silly (e.g. – put mustache glasses on all characters and vehicles) to exceedingly useful (e.g. – invincibility). You can purchase the extras using “studs,” the game’s currency, which are spread throughout the game like coins in Mario or rings in Sonic.

Additionally, the Star Wars theme is done quite well, with all the most memorable scenes from the movies either being acted out by the player or viewed in a cutscene, often with various slapstick artistic liberties.

What the game gets wrong

After a while it can start to feel like a quite grind if you’re going to try to actually complete everything the game has to offer. However, if you’re only interested in playing through the basic storyline of the 6 Star Wars movies, the game is probably only a 6-10-hour affair.

The extras are nifty, but once you’ve unlocked them all, the game becomes almost too easy. Of course, you don’t have to enable them once they’re unlocked (though I admit, it’s hard to resist), and the challenge and super story levels automatically disable the extras, so the “too easy” complaint doesn’t apply to those.

Sum it up

LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga may not be for you if you’re not particularly into LEGO, and especially not if you aren’t into Star Wars. That being said, I enjoyed it, and played it almost exclusively from the time I picked it up until I had completed every level and found every secret.

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Verdict: In a word: Exquisite.
In a Nutshell: A 2-D puzzle-platformer that sucks you in and makes you twist your brain around in ways you didn’t think possible.

About the Game

(from the game’s website)

“Braid is a platform game in a painterly style where you manipulate the flow of time to solve puzzles. Every puzzle in Braid is unique. There is no filler. … Journey into worlds where time behaves strangely; observe, learn from, and then master these worlds.”

• Fun Rating: Really Fun
• ESRB: E10
• Players/Mode: Single-player
• Game Duration: Took me around 8 hours to finish the main story. Length depends largely on how long it takes you to solve the puzzles.
• System: Xbox (Live Arcade)
• Developer: Jonathan Blow
• Website: http://braid-game.com/
• Cost: 1200 MS Points ($12-$15, depending on whether you pay full price for points or find them on sale)

Playing the game

At its heart, Braid is a basic platformer. Control Tim, the main character, with the left stick, jump with “A”. As you progress through each of the game’s five main “worlds,” you are given different abilities to control time in unique ways. Every level has a series of puzzles you must solve by combining the platforming physics and the rules of how time works in each world. In each world you collect 12 puzzle pieces that combine to create a painting.

What the game gets right

This game is just plain fun. The puzzles are unique and challenging, but never frustrating. Many times I would enter a room, see a puzzle piece to collect, and think “how in the hell am I going to get that?” The process of figuring it out was fun, and the result is a very rewarding feeling.

At first, the time-manipulation ability came across as nothing more than a cheap copy of the mechanic pioneered in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, but after the first few stages it became apparent that time-manipulation in Braid is so much more. The developer really took some clever and unexpected turns with the time mechanics.

The art style of Braid is delightful, and the soundtrack of licensed indy instrumental pieces compliments the overall mood perfectly. The whole environment just draws you in and puts you in a different world. I first sat down to play the game at around 8:00 PM on Friday night, and when I looked up at a clock after what seemed like maybe half an hour, it was after midnight.

The final level of the game is absolutely brilliant, and left me with a strange mix of feeling both proud of my accomplishment and sad for the character.

What the game gets wrong

My only complaint would be that I wanted more. That being said, for $12-$15, it definitely delivered a good value for the money.

Sum it up

If you have an Xbox 360 (it’s also coming out for PC later this year) and enjoy challenging puzzle games, there is no reason not to pick up Braid. Braid is on my short list for best game of 2008.

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Verdict: My brain hurts—in a good way.
In a Nutshell: Third-person adventure/action game with a strong emphasis on puzzle-solving. Explore the vast world of Hyrule, go on quests, and watch the storyline unfold.

About the Game

(from the game’s website)

“When an evil darkness enshrouds the land of Hyrule, a young farm boy named Link must awaken the hero – and the animal – within. When Link travels to the Twilight Realm, he transforms into a wolf and must scour the land with the help of a mysterious girl named Midna.”

• Fun Rating: Fun
• ESRB: Teen
• Players/Mode: Single-player/Campaign
• Game Duration: Took me about 40 hours, but this is the first Zelda game I’ve played all the way through.
• System: Wii / Gamecube
• Developer: Nintendo
• Website: http://www.zelda.com/universe/game/twilightprincess/
• Cost: $49.99

Playing the game

Use the Wii remote and nunchuck to move your custom-named hero (traditionally Link) around, exploring the world and facing off with a large variety of baddies.

What the game gets right

The world Link has to explore in this game is quite large. The game does a good job of introducing you to his new abilities and tools/weapons at a steady pace throughout the game. By the end of the game your arsenal is quite large, with an inventory that could be very confusing / indimidating earlier in the game.

Twilight Princess has a custom configuration screen that you run the first time you pop the disc in. This helps pointing with the Wii remote to have much better accuracy and a more natural feel than other games on the system. Overall the controls felt quite natural and helped with the overall feeling of immersion.

There is a strong emphasis on puzzle-solving, which I enjoyed for the most part. The majority of the puzzles that you have to solve to move beyond an area were clever but not ridiculously difficult. For most of the game the difficulty felt about right.

What the game gets wrong

This game has tons to explore, but after 20 or 30 hours it starts to feel like a chore. The storyline felt incredibly contrived at points. “Go collect these four shadow-piece thingys.” I go collect them. Oh, snap! There’s the big bad guy, stealing the shadow pieces. “Now go find the magic mirror.” I go find the mirror. Oh, snap! The mirror’s broken into… four pieces! Guess what I get to do?

There was a particular action scene where the game got so hard that I put it aside and quit playing for months. I ended up going to Gamefaqs to find a strategy to beat that part (I feel so dirty), but even after reading the strategy, it still took me forever to get through. Not cool.

Sum it up

Most of the game was fun, but I would only recommend it to people that really like to pick one game and stick to it for day after day after day. It’s not the sort of game that you can really play a little here and there. It sucks you in for 2-3 hours at a time (minimum), and makes you want to keep playing so you can find out what happens next. Definitely fun, but not the kind of thing I’d be likely to play through again, and personally I would have been satisfied if the story line were about 10 hours shorter.

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Verdict: So much to explore!
In a Nutshell: In this third-person action/adventure game exploration is the name of the game. With a huge level of interactivity with the environment, the game can at times be quite engrossing.

About the Game

(from the game’s website)

“The Third Crusade is tearing the Holy Land apart. You are an elite Assassin sent to stop the hostilities by suppressing the powers on both the Crusader and Saracen sides. But as you carry out your missions, a conspiracy begins to unfold. You find yourself tangled up in a conflict that threatens not only the Holy Land, but the entire world.”

• Fun Rating: Really Fun
• ESRB: Mature
• Players/Mode: Single-player/Campaign
• Game Duration: ~6 hours if all you want to do is complete the minimum missions, hundreds of hours or more if you enjoy exploring.
• System: Xbox 360 / PS3 / PC
• Developer: Ubisoft
• Website: http://assassinscreed.com/
• Cost: $23.99 for XBox 360, $29.99 for PS3, and $29.99 for the PC Director’s Cut version on DVD

What the game gets right

I loved exploring the three enormous cities in Assassin’s Creed. The main character Altair can truly grab and climb just about anything, and watching the reactions of the crowd when you do something “high profile” is quite amusing. Each city was split into three areas, and the introduction of each city section played out well and didn’t come across as overly artificial, since each of the nine individual areas was fairly large all by itself.

Altair’s motions are wonderfully fluid as he does everything from scaling walls and jumping across rooftops to driving his blade through the gut of yet another brain-dead AI guard. I was happy to leap giddily throughout the cities even without the incentive of collecting all the flags the developers hid throughout the massive environment.

What the game gets wrong

My main complaint is the underemphasis of the stealth factor. In the storyline, they play up stealth as if it’s really important, but when you’re actually out there in the city taking on missions, there’s zero reward for being stealthy. Feel free to run in sword-a-swinging, as you can easily mop the floor with the worthless guards strewn throughout the cities. Don’t get me wrong, it’s lots of fun to lay waste to the hapless protectors of the people, but it’s a bit of a letdown if you were expecting sneakiness to be rewarded.

While some people have complained about the repetition in the minor missions, my only real complaint is the repetition of the sound effects. I didn’t mind saving half a dozen citizens in each section of the city, but it does get a little old when every third dude says “Thank you young man. I only wish my sons were half. as. brave. as. you.” There are roughly 60 “save citizen” missions throughout the course of the game, and approximately four different things that they say after you save them. Did they run out of money to pay the voice extras or something?

Sum it up

If you play a game just to complete the missions and “beat” the game as quickly as possible, Assassin’s Creed probably isn’t for you. This is a game for people that enjoy taking in the scenery and exploring a huge open game environment, with the occasional “fetch this, go kill that” mission thrown in to spice things up.

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