DmC: Devil May Cry Review (PS3): Old Dog

OG 

One night on the week before Christmas in 2001, I arrived home from a long shift of fish mongering to find a gift from my best friend: Devil May Cry for the PlayStation 2. I was speechless; never before had anyone (other than my parents) spent that much money on me for any occasion. I was also somewhat troubled by the fact that I had no idea what to expect from this game that featured a striking, white-haired man on the front cover. Rather than swim around in feelings of gratitude and uncertainty, I booted up my gift and Matt and I started playing.

We laughed, we died (oh so many times), and we played into the early hours of the next morning. Despite our best efforts, we stalled at the third mission, unable to defeat the Phantom at its end. For days I persisted and finally triumphed - but that was only the beginning of my struggle. The fight against Nightmare held me for weeks, and it took me about two months to finally defeat Mundus and finish what remains one of my favourite video games of all time. 

I've played every entry in the series, and while I have a special place in my heart for the original Son of Sparda, I must admit that I was relieved to see that Capcom had handed the reins to Ninja Theory after the festival of backtracking that was Devil May Cry 4. The English developer is renowned for creating some of the best looking games on current generation hardware (Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and Heavenly Sword), and while they were yet to create anything mechanically compelling, I had faith in their vision. 

That faith has paid off. 

New tricks

Save for a new haircut and duds, this is pretty much the same Dante I've fought with for over a decade. Yes, there's new weapons as well, but in terms of tone and flow, this is strikingly similar to previous instalments. It's also easier (at least in terms of the Normal difficulty setting) and the scoring system is far softer, but Ninja Theory pay tribute and do justice to the series that internet trolls have campaigned against with relative benignity. 

The reboot reinvigorates the franchise with some satisfying, grappling hook-heavy platforming, glorious visuals that are rich with colour, and a combat system that does just enough to stand apart from its predecessors. This old dog has some new tricks in store for you, but it really is that old dog that you know and love. Call off the petitions, protests and other meaningless acts of slacktivism!

Slow start to a Savage call

The greatest criticism I can level at DmC is that it takes a little too long to get going. It takes until just shy of the halfway mark for the training wheels to be taken off, and for the combat system to reach its addictive potential. Sure, the narrative is reasonably compelling in the initial stages; but with the swordplay failing to match the drama of angels, demons and the realm in between, I struggled to maintain interest. 

Once the Devil Trigger is pulled, however, I found myself hooked. Hurtling across battlefields of varying sizes, controlling crowds of fierce enemies and making judicious use of weapons with varying affinities is great fun. I was worried that the need to use angelic and demonic weapons against specific enemies would be cause for frustration, but opportunities to unlock and upgrade weapons and attacks are afforded regularly, and the combat system never tires as a result. 

The pumping, industrial-approaching-dubstep score and sound effects were key to my enjoyment of the brutal combat. It's easy enough to feel powerful, switching between guns and heavy melee weapons, but hearing a guttural "SAVAGE!!!" amongst it all really gets the blood pumping. The various S words that are screamed as you ascend the combo ranking system, paired with the fluid animation and positively ferocious attacks all make for a satisfying experience that, at times, reaches the heights of series' best entry, Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening. As a series veteran, I was ultimately pleased with what Ninja Theory had cooked up. 

Still tough... and a little rough

As I mentioned previously, DmC, at the Normal or "Devil Hunter" setting, is easier than the average Devil May Cry game. In fact, it's the easiest entry since the woeful Devil May Cry 2. Not to say that veteran combatants will be left wanting of a challenge though, as there's four extreme settings waiting for any players that finish the game. I've started my "Son of Sparda" run, and be rest-assured that the mix of enemies and remixed damage model have me failing like the days of old. 

There were some other quirks that impacted on my experience. The PlayStation 3 version features some painfully-long loading times as well as some frame rate hitches during cut-scenes. These graphical issues are made all the more apparent when the silky smooth flow of combat transitions to a stumbling mess of a scripted sequence. Still, make no mistake: DmC is stunning, if not perfect to behold. 

It's also worth noting that the boss fights fail to deliver anything near as challenging as a wave of Dreamrunners and Butchers. These screen-hogging encounters are time consuming though, so you may find yourself tuning out when you really should have your wits about you. The last two encounters in particular proved very underwhelming, if not visually spectacular. Speaking of Dreamrunners and Butchers, the run-of-the-mill enemies are where you'll see the fruit of Ninja Theory's labour. Each is stunning, colourful, and a perfect fit for the series. The big guys may not pack any sort of punch, but the everyday creatures show where the inspiration went. 

Devil May Care

Look, if you're wanting the white-haired rock star with washboard abs, you'll get the stomach and the attitude. If you're after a quality brawler with enjoyable platforming sequences and a serviceable story, you'll come away content. It's a little slow to get going and it doesn't do anything too drastic with the established formula, but once you first pull the trigger, you're in for a real treat. Highly recommended; the first great game of 2013. 

Darkness II Review (X360 - Single player): Eye of the Needle

It was the second time that I played through chapter 4 when it happened: opening double doors to reveal a pool hall, goons with eyes on the door and guns raised. My response was gloriously violent and cool. That's right I said it, "cool". I picked up a pool stick with my Darkness arms, waited for two of my opponents to cross paths and then released it. The action on screen slowed to a crawl as the improvised projectile pinned both men to the wall in an explosion of crimson. Once the impact of my violent act had sunken in, I could then hear Tone Loc's rendition of "Wild Thing" on a nearby radio.

Like I said, "cool."

The Darkness II is loaded with ridiculously violent sequences of varying length where the player character, the returning anti-hero, Jackie Estacado is the perpetrator. It should be difficult, if not impossible, to relate to a man capable of such actions - even if they are carried out at the behest of a supremely-evil weapon. By putting the protagonist in the hot seat (read: in front of the camera) in between acts, however, you're comfortable that there's a person underneath the deceptive, symbiotic beast. Sometimes you think he may even be a person worth saving. The Darkness itself, which is once again expertly voiced by Mike Patton, is the true star of the show, but Jackie and select members of the supporting cast also deliver convincing performances. It's a predictable tale, but it's also oddly moving.

The pace of Jackie's second adventure rarely lets up, but an expansive range of "talents" ensure that you're never overwhelmed. By the end of my "New Game +" run, I could summon a swarm of killer bugs, suspend goons in mid-air and see as well as shoot through walls... all at once. Even without a great deal of "essence", however, I could still impale and eviscerate enemies with pipes and fan blades, use my Darkness tendrils to hold a car door to shield myself from enemy attacks, and swipe anything that crept into close quarters. With the Darkness as your ally -- or master, as it were -- no challenge is too great. 

Seriously, even on the hardest difficulty, there's nothing that can't be overcome with the right selection of talents. I found myself following the same enjoyable routine, regardless of the difficulty level selected: shoot the lights, stun enemies with Darkness powers (if charged), then spray the area until clean. Checkpoints are doled out pretty generously (even popping up in boss fights) and the campaign runs pretty smoothly as a result. In my experience, a second playthrough is pretty much mandatory.

Boss fights are the weakest aspect of the campaign, with your opponents posing no match for a decent set of talents. Combining Swarm with Gun Channeling ends most encounters pretty quickly, and average goons are thrown in to allow you to regenerate health and stock up on ammo. Raising the difficulty level does change the dynamics of these battles somewhat, but a calm nerve and steady hand (and Swarm and Gun Channeling) should see you through.

I should also mention that there's quite a lot to distinguish this game from its predecessor. Yes, they both boil down to hyperviolent first person shooters, but the sequel features striking cel-shaded visuals, a (for the most part) different set of abilities, and it even provides a satisfying follow up to the events of the original. The Darkness II is a truly great sequel that's well worth the hard-earned cash and time of any fans of the first game.  It might only take about five hours to reach the conclusion, it's explicitly violent -- to the point where I don't know what right-thinking individual would afford it an MA15+ rating -- and you'll guess the ending well before it comes, but I thoroughly enjoyed my second stint enveloped in the Darkness. 

Blogstipation

For the last few weeks, I have been struggling to write. I've been struggling to focus. I've been struggling full stop.

There's something about trying to return to normality after disappointment that's utterly distracting. I could just label it "depression," but I'm operating under the assumption that as a writer (or at least, an aspiring one), I should be able to dress it up as something more complex or sexy. Although, sometimes it pays to be concise: things didn't work out. 

What this means for me is that, above all, writing to a structure is proving exceedingly difficult. I've had half of a review written for The Darkness II for a few days. I've been struggling to come up with even a subtitle for my Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed review. I know what I think about these games, I'm just having trouble articulating that in a way that doesn't read cliched (feel forced, etc, etc). 

Funny thing is, I think the two, aforementioned titles represent some of the best released in 2012. The Darkness II is not only a worthy sequel to one of the better early "next gen" shooters, it's also a really good sequel in that it retains what worked from its predecessor and adds enough new stuff to feel worthwhile. There's actually quite a lot to fit under the "new" marquee: a vastly different visual style, new powers, "quad-wielding," and some solid character development (wrapped up in a thoroughly predictable plot). There is a multiplayer offering too, but I'm finding it hard to commit to anything that involves more than myself of late. Something to do with the need to believe that I'm making some progress. 

Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed (henceforth referred to as Sonic Transformed for the sake of my sanity) is the best kart racer I've ever played. Sorry if I cut to the chase too quickly, but it is. Haven't even been able to find live opposition (I'm rocking the Vita version, FYI) and I'm prepared to commit. If you have any love of racing, vibrant visuals and old school Sega magic, pick it up now. 

That's muhfuqqin' Joe Musahi ridin' a motorbike, dawg. 

I'll try and formulate something more rigid in terms of opinion on these games on the near future. 

Halo 4 Review (X360 - Single player): Glory Reclaimed

You get the idea that 343 Industries, the developer that supposed the mantle from Bungie, was nervous about Halo 4's reception. They even go so far as to thank the series' fan base for their faith and goodwill at the campaign's conclusion. Having played through the first instalment of the "Reclaimer Saga," I'm happy to report that their anxiety is somewhat misplaced as this is a fine addition to the series; may not be the best one, but still worthy of the line.

If you're seeking the wide-open battlegrounds, floaty physics and varied arsenal that are the hallmarks of the Halo series, you're in luck. It's a bit slow to get going (read: the first three levels were fairly tedious), but the excitement and enjoyment keeps building with battles that seem to only increase in terms of scale. There's also some lengthy and memorable vehicular sequences, with one in particular that should be a real treat for Star Wars fans (read: original trilogy or death). It did feel a little bit shorter when compared to its predecessors, but in this case, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. No cast member, enemy type or play mechanic really has a chance to overstay its welcome. 

Master Chief's latest outing is also the most visually spectacular entry in the series. I thought Reach would represent the limits of the Xbox 360's power, but I'm actually struggling to think of a better looking game on any console. To more effectively illustrate just how breathtaking the visuals are, please observe this salty quote from Hip Hop Gamer: 

ITS OFFICIAL #HALO 4 Best Graphics EVER ON XBOX360. 343 Industries BUTT FUCKED THIS GAME WITH NO LUBE. IT'S AMAZING THE JUNGLE LEVEL OH SHIT
— hiphopgamer (@hiphopgamer) November 11, 2012

Funny thing is, I didn't even think the jungle looked that great. The caliber of the visuals -- much like the scale of the action -- becomes all the more impressive as you progress.

When you're shooting, driving, jumping, boosting and sniping, you've got a winner on your hands. The story, however, is a bit of a clusterfuck. Obviously, I won't go into any detail for fear of spoilers, but there are a few events that the player is supposed to accept without exposition. Alliances, crazy AI diseases and Cortana's new dimensions all pose questions for which I had no real answers when the credits rolled.

Also concerning was the feeling that there was nothing substantially new to play around with. There's only a handful of Forerunner enemy types mixed in with the usual Covenant rabble, and the functions of most Forerunner weapons overlap with that of UNSC and Covenant equipment. The new vehicles do breathe some life into the formula, but if you've never been sold on the series previously, Halo 4 isn't going to change your mind. 

When it comes down to it, Halo 4 is more of the same. 343 Industries have done nothing to sully the name of Microsoft's flagship game franchise, if anything, they've crafted something that will keep it in high regard. Slow start aside, those who do sign up to fight alongside Master Chief will experience some thrilling scenarios as well as see exactly what the ageing Xbox 360 is capable of. Highly recommended for anyone who's enjoyed a Banshee flight or Warthog ride. 

Paper Mario: Sticker Star Review (3DS): Absurd Nostalgia

I'm going to have a good hack at my nerd cred with the following embarrassing admission: I never completed a single "point and click" adventure game without the help of a walkthrough. That's right, friends: I'd have never seen the end of Discworld, Full Throttle, Sam and Max: Hit the Road, or pretty much any other title released by LucasArts pre-Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight without assistance from a packed-in guide, learned friend or AOL Era website. For someone who often postulated as to how they refused to use cheat codes and various other game-related vices, these games often called for me to double-back on my principles.

Despite compromising my personal standards and, on occasion, having to concede that I wasn't quite as cunning as I thought I was, I loved pretty much any game that asked me to stare at pre-rendered backgrounds for items of interest. The worlds, the characters, and the one-liners all made for many a cherished memory. Even though developers like Telltale Games have done their best to resurrect the genre, I still feel as though the modern point and clicker does more to help players along (read: solutions to puzzles in these games are often intuitive/make sense). Until recently, I thought maybe we should go back to a time when players were asked to combine and use unrelated items to progress past the seemingly impossible.

Then I played Paper Mario: Sticker Star.

Sticker Star is a game that I both love and loathe in equal measure. It is a game that evoked memories that were funnily enough, often unrelated to the Super Mario franchise, and that also did a great deal to undo some of the romantic feelings I had towards adventure games of old. It was also -- in terms of its art direction and script -- undeniably charming and offers up enough content to justify the asking price.

In terms of RPG elements, Sticker Star is pretty light-on. Mario doesn't level up through genre-standard grinding, and our hero will only see an increase in HP through the acquisition of a specific type of item. Attack power scales up through the collection of bigger and prettier stickers, so battle is best avoided wherever possible as a result. Not because conflict is necessarily challenging, more because the dynamics don't really change over the course of the game. 

Combat won't have you searching for a walkthrough (at least initially), but the increasingly obtuse puzzles will have you scratching your head within hours of commencing the adventure. The ability to "Paperize" allows players to use stickers from their album as well as collected "scraps" to right various wrongs committed by Bowser et al. On paper (puns!), this sounds fine, but the ability and resulting requirement to find "real world" items to convert to stickers to then solve puzzles proved seriously problematic. Often, the required item would be hidden in plain view in an another level. The requirement to source items from various levels also undermines the apparent freedom of being able to pick levels from worlds at your leisure. 

These ridiculous solutions are eventually required in combat situations, although to be fair, this doesn't become a problem until the final hours of the adventure. The final boss fight in particular felt like a forty-five minute open book exam. With the amount of stickers players can carry being limited, I honestly needed to read an overview of the encounter so I could organise my sticker album accordingly and survive the battle. The first time I got close to victory, I actually ran out of offensive stickers that could actually deal damage on the final form. It was infuriating!

Sounds bad right? Well, for someone who's a sucker for nostalgia, there were so many -- what I'm assuming to be unwitting -- nods to adventure games of old that had me grinning. Grinning even when a walkthrough was required in some instances. That, and Sticker Star  has to be one of the best looking games on the 3DS. Massive structures, screen-hogging bosses and an unrestrained colour palette characterised my experience.

There's no denying that Sticker Star has problems; it is in fact, rife with them. However, when I managed to solve one of the hundreds of absurd puzzles by myself, the resulting satisfaction was hard to beat. Yes, the level design can be mind-boggling, the combat repetitive, and there's a huge amount of backtracking required, but in the end it didn't matter: I still kept playing. So after the requisite twenty-something hours I can say that, while certainly not for everyone, Paper Mario: Sticker Star was great and terrible and a blast from the past. 

Milkshake Resolved - A Dead Island: Riptide Poem

Trigger warning: Violence against women. 

Butchered and bloodied by the Male Gaze

Misogyny and games, Deep Silver's malaise

Zombie Bait nets an unintended reaction

No word yet of product retraction

Is this the way to sell a game?

A woman butchered, bloodied, brutally maimed

Reduced to breasts and washboard abs

Requisite blood, wounds and weeping scabs

Should I mention that the tits were clear:

of wounds, of gore, naught but blood smear?

Is this all that women are good for? 

I ask with memories of "Feminist Whore"

The internet exploded regardless

Responses you'd expect, no points if you guess

"Would anyone care if it was a dude?"

Why wasn't it a man chopped and displayed half nude?

Is this about sex and how it sells?

Who would find this hot? It just repels

Who would pop this on their coffee table?

I for one, would not be able

Yes, the publisher begged for fans' forgiveness

Even though more than once had they been careless

Catherine also tainted by their sloppy sales pitch

Lap dances and strippers - another marketing glitch

Let's hope we learn from Torsogate

Stop reducing women to nothing but bait

Their will and form, for men dissolved

Demand more than this Milkshake Resolved

Gamefast 2: The Plum Sake Slushie Mandate

It's time for another crack at busting my game-buying addiction. Having already survived just about 2 weeks without having purchased a single game or piece of downloadable content, I am now ready to declare my second tilt at Gamefast...

Gamefast 2: The Plum Sake Slushie Mandate!

For those not in the know, my first attempt at Gamefast lasted just over 8 weeks and I ended up 3 months shy of my ultimate goal. You know what the crazy thing is? I ended my last quest to pre-order the Wii U, and I never ended up buying the damned thing. Allegations of child labour (I'm not so naive to think that other systems haven't been made using less-than-ethically-sound means, but still!) and news of the delay of Rayman Legends was enough for me to move the deposit to something less problematic (he says sheepishly, knowing that he used that money to buy Call of Duty: Black Ops II).

For the sequel, I aim to last until April 30 - the current release date for Injustice: Gods Among Us. I'm not even really interested in that title specifically, if anything, the true tests of my willpower include the following:

• Devil May Cry (DmC) - January 15th
• Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - February 21st
• Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon - March 
• Gears of War: Judgment - March 19th
• Bioshock Infinite - March 26th
• Fire Emblem: Awakening (plus limited edition console) - April

Threat i-fucking-dentified!!!

I'm going to take this Gamefast as an opportunity to not only attack my Pile of Shame, but also try and expand my horizons and read a bit more. My New Year's resolution for 2012 was to read 4 books: a feat I just managed to accomplish. For 2013, I want to best that (2 down so far) as well as get into some semblance of "shape".

Rules
For the sake of transparency, I'll lay out the rules for this thing in plain English:

• I cannot buy any game, item of downloadable content or item of gaming hardware until April 30th. This also includes apps for my phone and tablet. 
• Free-to-play acquisitions are allowed provided that no in-app purchases are made.
• Gifts are acceptable. If I ask you for a game specifically, tell me to "Show some dignity, broheim."
• If I fail, I will pledge $200 to a charity of choice (if you have any suggestions, please hit me with them).

Wish me luck, people.