Serious Sam: First Encounter – Preliminary review

I finally got Serious Sam HD which a collection package with both Serious Sam games on it. I find it an appropriate complementary piece to go with my recent purchase of Duke Nukem Forever – the final review of which is on its way. For now, here’s my thoughts on Serious Sam 1.

• Gameplay: 4/5 – It may be that I’m still used to the control scheme of DNF that I’m having some problems adjusting to the different controls of this game, but on the over-all I like the controls and the fact that you can carry so many weapons.
• Graphics: 4,5/5 – Obviously the game has had an upgrade for the HD package but I have to say I’m currently impressed with the look of the game. I’m subtracting half a point since I’ve only seen the Egyptian stages but if the game can offer more variety later the score will definitely go up.
• Animation: 3/5 – Pretty simplistic which probably can’t be helped considering the age of the game. Even the cut-scenes appear rather rudimentary.
• Music: 4/5 – I’m a little hesitant to say if the soundtrack is actually good or kinda corny. However, I do like that the music changes to indicate when there are enemies around.
• Sound: 4/5  – I like the monster sounds since they give you a good idea where the monsters are and Sam’s kick ass line delivery is pretty funny. However, I wish the giant boulders weren’t so uncharacteristically quiet since it makes them hard to notice.
• Replay value: X/5 – This score will materialize once I’ve finished the game but you appear to be able to play levels freely once finish them and they all have secrets to discover.

Preliminary score: 78% – The game seems very promising if a little outdated, though that’s to be expected. The game is definitely fun though which I think is the main thing that counts.

Duke Nukem Forever – Preliminary Review

Duke Nukem Forever finally came out yesterday in Europe and I bought it for my Xbox 360. I’ve played a fair amount of it and here’s my first impressions…

• Gameplay: 4/5 -There’s thankfully been some variety and at least the controls are easy to learn even though the game uses practically every button on the controller. The game forces you to make choices with Duke only able to carry two weapons (as well as two kinds of explosives) which is a nice touch, although I’d much rather be able to stock up on weapons as the game progresses. The game also has a lot of gameplay options which is a plus.
• Graphics: 4/5 – Although a bit dark, they are nice and varied and serve well for the environments. Especially the Hive level seriously gives me the creeps. However the inconsistent lighting can make playing a little difficult, even with the Duke Vision.
• Animation: 3/5 – I can’t say this aspect of the game has wowed me.
• Music: 4/5 – There’s a nice use of the Grab-bag theme and the rest of the music also creates a great atmosphere for this title.
• Sound: 3,5/5 – It’s a mixed bag. Duke sounds as awesome as ever but the other voice-actors aren’t as consistent. Some have really funny lines, some are just plain annoying. The environment sounds are great but it’s harder to tell where the monsters are just by their sound. Some of the guns are also annoyingly loud, even when you turn down the sound-effects volume.
• Replay Value: X/5 – Obviously I’ll have to give the game a second playthrough before I can really give this one a score. Suffice to say, there are different difficulty settings and you can replay levels freely after finishing them. Plus there’s lots of funny achievements.

Preliminary score: 74% – As an over-all experience the game’s had its ups and downs but I personally have enjoyed the game so far. Some of the scores are likely to improve for the final review. This game may not be intuitive enough for the regular FPS crowds, but for Duke Nukem fans at least worth a try after such a long wait.

AssCreed 2 – Preliminary review

So I started playing Assassin’s Creed II yesterday and here are my thoughts on it. Check out the review for AssCreed 1 for comparisons…

• Gameplay: 4/5 – I can’t say that the gameplay is decisively better or worse than in the last game. It’s different yes, I fighting feels a lot easier, so does the climbing. I hate the new blend feature but at least I don’t need to walk really slowly with my hands crossed all the time like in the first game. This one still needs to be finalized.
• Graphics: 5(-)/5 – There’s a lot more colour in this game than in the last one and over-all it looks more lively. My only complaint so far is that the characters have a very plastic look to them at the very beginning.
• Animation: 5/5 – There’s a lot more cinematics and they’re all well made and lively. Looks very promising.
• Music: 3/5 – For some reason the regular ambient music just doesn’t sound as pleasing to the ears but the music isn’t bad by any means.
• Sound: 4,5/5 – “It’s-a-me! Mario!” ’nuff said. =D However, I can’t give it a full score because the cool sound-effect you had while using the hidden blade is gone. =(
• Plot: 3,5/5 – From the off set it looks like the plot seems more interesting but then you go to the Animus and the game’s become all about Ezio. Not that I’m complaining but I would like to see more of the plot taking place in the present time. But we’ll see…

Preliminary Score: 83% – Assassin’s Creed 2 seems to have made improvements over its predecessor in all aspects but one. We’ll see how the scores finalize but it does look promising.

Bomberman Hero – Preliminary Review

Just recently downloaded Bomberman Hero for the Virtual Console. Here’s my preliminary review of the game.

• Gameplay: 4/5 – Very simple but I think suitable for the game’s needs.
• Graphics: 4/5 – Colourful and varied. A little blocky but not bad for an early N64 title. Some of the enemy characters look a bit awkward but other than that the look is fine.
• Animation: 5/5 – Cutscene animations are surprisingly polished and I love Bomberman’s eye-animations. In-game the character animations also look extremely fluid.
• Music: 3/5 – It’s okay but really none of the tunes stand out.
• Sound: 3/5 – Sound effects and everything sounds appropriate. Bomberman sounds a little odd but thankfully he only speaks after you beat a level.
• Plot: ? – The game’s premise is a rather shameless rip-off from Star Wars. I might not even give the game a final plot-score because of it but because there’s so many cutscenes I can’t exactly ignore it.
• Replay value: X/5 – Still to be finalized but you can replay levels and open up new ones if you get enough Clear Points. I think this should add to the game’s over-all replay value.

Preliminary score: 76% – A little primitive but still a fairly solid 3D platformer.

Epic Mickey – Preliminary Review

• Gameplay: 3/5 – On the over-all the gameplay responsiveness and the Wiimote controls are okay. However, the camera-controls are quite pathetic which makes gameplay harder than it really needs to be.
• Graphics: 4/5 – The characters have a nice level of detail and most of the environments look okay, but there’s something sort of inherently unpleasant about the locations.
• Animation: 4,5/5 – Though some of the in-game animations look a little dopey, on the over-all it’s fine and I really like the cutscenes.
• Music: 4/5 – The music is definitely appropriate but none of the themes really stick out.
• Sound: 3/5 – A major disappointment for me is that there is no voice acting but instead the characters just let out simple grunts and such. But on the over-all nothing in the audio-department is really off.
• Plot: ? – Can’t really comment on the game’s story because I haven’t gotten too far into it but it seems pretty straight forward as far as I can see.

Preliminary score: 74% – I don’t really see what all the hype is about. Epic Mickey is certainly a decent platformer but I’ve yet to have seen anything in the game that would really blow my mind.

Resident Evil Zero – Preliminary Review

Just recently got the Wii version of RE0. Here’s my thoughts on the game so far…

Gameplay: 4/5 – Just as the Wii version of Resident Evil 1, the game gives you plenty of choices in regards to which controls you use so the gameplay is pretty much the same.
Graphics: 4,5/5 – Once again really nice and the atmosphere is really great. I’ve noticed a few bugs with the over-laying of 3D characters on pre-rendered backgrounds but on the over-all the graphic look is still very impressive.
Animation: 4,5/5 – The cutscenes are very nice and I especially love Rebecca’s expressions in a lot of them. However, a few of the later ones looked a bit stiff but generally the game’s animation quality is really good.
Music: 3,5/5 – Appropriate, definitely. However, I’m beginning to notice none of the Resident Evil games manage to reach the same level of creepiness in their music as the first game and once again, none of the tunes are particularly memorable.
Sound: 4/5 – I’d be willing to say that this game might potentially have the best voice-over of any of the RE games I’ve played. It’s mostly in the same serious tone as the RE1 remake but luckily has at least a few silly lines here and there to liven it up and I especially like Billy’s voice-actor. The usually very robotic Wesker also sounds much better in this game than he does in a lot of others but the rest of the cutscenes will determine how this grade will finalize.
Plot: 3/5 – Yet again I find myself unable to really applaud the plot-writing of this game. It reveals a lot of background to the series but really none of it is particularly interesting and the central storyline looks very straight-forward as well.
Difficulty: Annoying – Not wanting to be such a pussy this time around I started the game already with the normal difficulty and I’ve regretted this since. Obviously you hit a lot of snags on your first playthrough and I even restarted the game once but there are a lot of little things that really get on my nerves. Firstly, on the train there’s really no way to dodge the zombies, so you just have to keep blasting them as they come along. Secondly, there’s no item-boxes in this game which adds a new unwanted feature to item-management. Even with two characters you’ll always run into more items than you can carry and its harder and harder to really figure out where to drop items when you can’t just go and pick them up at the next save-room you’re at unlike in every other game in the series. Thirdly, you’d think having two characters to control would make playing easier but all it means is that you’re constantly minimizing your damages. Half the time one of them is dying which leads to an inevitable shortage of health-items and having to pick who gets what based on which of the character is closer to death. And fourthly, you have to constantly make sure what weapon your partner has equipped to make sure he/she doesn’t begin wasting valuable ammo.

Preliminary Score: 78% - Despite my criticisms the game actually seems very promising but on the first try on almost any Resident Evil game you tend to focus on the negative rather than the positive. The game is definitely a little harder than RE1 but thankfully nowhere near as frustrating as Code: Veronica X and for that it might still turn out to be an excellent game.

DeathSpank – Preliminary Review

Okay, it seems like the creators of Monkey Island are making their comeback. Dave Grossman is back doing adventure games at TellTale (here’s hoping for a new Monkey Island), Tim Schafer’s doing excellently at Double Fine (maybe do a Full Throttle or Grim Fandango sequel at some point please?) and now I’ve finally decided to play my first post-LucasArts title from the main monkey maister himself, Ron Gilbert.

In essence DeathSpank is a rather typical real-time RPG title but with the distinct difference of a sense of humour which this genre is known to be notoriously lacking in. And for someone who doesn’t like RPGs (like at all) I have to say the game has been very enjoyable so far…

• Gameplay: 4,5/5 – The gameplay is simple, the layout’s easy to get around with and you can assign weapons, items and spells pretty much where ever you want them either on the D-Pad or the four main face-buttons. However, I still get some of the buttons mixed up at times especially in the heat of battle but that’s rather my own inexperience with RPGs than anything else.
• Graphics: 4,5/5 – Bright and colourful but not overtly so. Character models are all very distinctive and even the 2D cut-out background items don’t bother me since they look so fresh. What’s also nice is the colouration and lighting changing sometimes dramatically depending on the location. However, at times really tall background objects can obscure your view which is rather absurd.
• Animation: 4/5 – Really nice and crisp. The cut-scenes look like they were made with Flash which I suppose is at least mostly intentional but it’s not a look I’m very wild about. Still there are no huge complaints about the animation department.
• Music: 3,5/5 – The music is interesting. Lively and varied, not especially memorable but interesting.
• Sound: 5/5 – The voice-actors are a hoot and the dialogue is just priceless.
• Plot: 3/5 – The plot is really nothing more than a premise (or very typical Gilbert) to the gags and jokes of the over-all gameplay. However, it passably keeps the whole absurd game intact and I enjoy it.

Preliminary score: 82% – A fun, time-consuming but a thoroughly enjoyable title with only a few weak spots. However, the learning curve isn’t too sharp that even players who are fairly inexperienced with RPGs can get into it. The comedy is definitely the main attraction in this game.

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure (preliminary review)

I finally decided to give Zack & Wiki a try out on the Wii while I’m replaying Shattered Memories.

Final review due once I finish the game…

• Gameplay: 4/5 – Quite nice with the Wiimote being used rather well for puzzles. However sometimes getting Zack to move where you want him to go can be a pain either because of objects that are in your way or because the camera is set rather inconveniently.
• Graphics: 5/5 – Simplified and cartoonish but very likeable. The locations are very distinct and at least the characters have plenty of detail. No complaints here.
• Animation: 4,5/5 – Some of Zack’s animations begin to look a little repetitive but over-all the cutscenes and everything else looks quite polished.
• Music: 3/5 – The music is appropriate but no tunes have have really jumped at me.
• Sound: 3/5 – Wiki sounds cute and the rest of the audio-effects are alright. However sometimes sound-effects overlap very noticeably and there’s no way to control the volume balance which is a little annoying. Also, there’s no voice-acting.
• Plot: 3/5 – So far the game seems rather interesting though I’m still at the beginning it seems.

Preliminary score: 75% – A cute game and very puzzle heavy which is nice. I’m not really hot about the audio department but I’m still at the beginning so I’ll have to see where the game goes from here.