Serious Sam 3: BFE Review

Serious Sam 3: BFE (Steam PC)
Developed By: Croteam
Published By: Devolver Digital
Date of Release: November 22, 2011
Price: $39.99

In this day and age where the by the numbers FPS formula dominates everything with it's bland linear levels and cutscenes every 3 seconds, the genre is starting to go stale. Croteam and Devolver Digital promised to fix all that with the release of the third major title in its flagship series, Serious Sam 3: BFE. Gone would be the cookie cutter approach, the sparse enemy encounters, and crappy gameplay that recent FPS offerings brought to the table. Did they deliver? HELL FRIGGING NO!




Serious Sam 3: BFE is yet another in a long line of tired worthless "blockbusters", which are mere shells of the former glory from gaming's past. You start off in modern day Egypt with the same stereotypical soldier-boy wannabes that you'd see in the latest Modern Warfare shlock and the plot, or lack thereof, unfolds in a predictable mess. The gameplay has you sprinting down barren streets, with a few foes popping out occasionally to take potshots at you, and are easily dispatched by modern gaming's latest cheat- err, innovation, aiming down the sights. Honestly in my many years of gaming I have never been so let down by crap like this. Serious Sam 3: BFE is an utter disgrace and should NOT be bought.


























Did you think I was freaking SERIOUS!?

Croteam has pulled the greatest prank in the history of gaming with SS3:BFE, by making the opening act of the game a blatant example of EVERYTHING that is currently wrong with the genre. I imagine everyone who worked on the game is sporting a healthy trollface right about now. Right at the point where you are ready to just rage about the steaming pile that you just paid 40 bucks for, the game totally switches gears and becomes a classic Serious Sam experience, complete with all the trimmings. Hordes of screaming kamikazes. Waves of foes out for your blood. And all the bigass weaponry you need to blow them away.




All of Sam's usual foes are here from the cyclopian Gnaar to the Scythian Witch-Harpy, all gloriously rendered on the Serious Engine 3.5 with style to spare! Also returning are signature weapons such as the rocket launcher, double barrel shotgun, and the chaingun, with piles of new toys added in the mix to help you unleash Armageddon on your enemies.




The gameplay experience is literally ripped out of the 90's with sprawling levels to explore, plenty of enemies to kill, and no one holding your hand and showing you where to go. SS3:BFE is a big-boy's FPS, so time to ditch the diapers and man up! Another thing: you can SAVE YOUR GAME. The usual autosave system is present, however you can actually open the menu and choose "Save Game". It's a mystical and advanced technique thought lost in days of checkpoints and consolization, but SS3:BFE pulls it off perfectly!




Of course no Serious Sam experience would be complete without a crapton of extras, and SS3:BFE delivers! Right off the bat you have a lengthy single player campaign, local splitscreen co-op and deathmatch, online co-op and deathmatch, AND survival mode. Add to that a metric crapton of tweakability, where graphic sound and control settings can be edited to your every whim. You can even swap out the blood and gibs for nommy showers of candy! Yum!

I can honestly say that Serious Sam 3: BFE is the best FPS experience I have had in years, and that's saying quite a bit, what with the recent releases of RAGE and Duke Nukem Forever and Bulletstorm. If your on the fence, take my advice and buy it. Buy 3 copies! Fork Parker will thank you!

Rochard Review

Rochard (PC)
Developed By: Recoil Games
Date of Release: November 15, 2011
Price: $9.99

To sum up Rochard in a nutshell: Metroidvania's gameplay and Team Fortress 2's visuals made a baby, and that baby grew up a redneck miner with a gravity gun. Rochard starts the titular character John Rochard, a deep space miner who is tough enough to get 'er done. Voiced by Jon St. John of Duke Nukem fame, John Rochard is a very likable character with plenty of personality. So many games these days feature faceless nameless protagonists, to have a character-driven game of this caliber is a refreshing treat.




The gameplay in Rochard is a very effective and well-executed blend of platforming, exploration and physics based puzzle solving and combat. With a vast gameworld to explore, devious enemies to fight, and plenty of puzzles to solve, Rochard has plenty to keep you busy. John's main weapon is the G-Lifter, which is extremely similar in function to Half-Life 2's gravity gun, however the G-Lifter also has the added ability to turn off gravity, which is extremely helpful in solving the game's myriad puzzles. Later on however you will gain access to the Rock-Blaster, which is purely an offensive weapon. And you'll need it, there are plenty of foes to face off with.

As amazing as the dialogue is in Rochard, the soundscape shines even brighter. For most of the game you will hear impressive ambient sounds, as machines do their work in the background. However at just the right time the game's amazing score will pick up and set the mood and intensity for critical moments. The soundtrack itself is by none other than Markus "Captain" Kaarlonen, the rocking keyboardist of Poets of The Fall. The soundtrack starts off with a rockabilly number called "Grinder's Blues" and then switches gears to an amazing Sci-Fi experience. The amazing album is available both in a combo on Steam with the Rochard game, or as a separate download on the Poets of The Fall webstore.




In my experience playing Rochard I got a good solid 8 hours out of it, which is pretty damn satisfying for a game of this price and genre. From casual to hard core gamers, to the metroidvania junkies out there, Rochard is a must buy!

Vanguard Bandits Review

Vanguard Bandits (PS3/PSP)
Developed By: Working Designs
Published By: MonkeyPaw Games
Date of Release: November 15, 2011
Price: $9.99

April 29, 2000. Four months after the human race survived what was foretold to be the end of our very life, the Y2K crash. And yet, and awesome little company know as Working Designs had tiled away despite the doomsaying and armagiddying, and on this day they released one of the finest mecha strategy rpg's of all time: Vanguard Bandits. And now 11 years later MonkeyPaw Games has resurrected this fine champion so that it may fight again once more!




Vanguard Bandits is a tale of courage, and valor, and chivalry, along with a healthy dose of badass giant robots! You play as young knight-in-training Bastion as he and his rag-tag band of knights rebel against the evil Junaris Empire and their ghastly machines of death and destruction. Sounds like something out of an awesome 90's anime, eh? The anime influences show greatly, from the character and mecha designs, to the beautifully drawn portraits that accompany the dialogue. Not to mention the awesome animated intro that precedes the game!




Gameplay in Vanguard Bandits is your standard gridified turn-based warfare that is normal seen in a strategy rpg title, such as that which is seen in Final Fantasy Tactics and Front Mission. However the gameplay experience is highly polished on many levels, and the well-tuned engine makes fighting battles a joy. You face off against your enemies piloting an ATAC (All-Terrain Armored Combatant) in what exxentially boils down to a heavilly armed version of rock-paper-scissors. Of particular note is the strategic concept of flanking, attacking your foe from the sides or the rear can prove to be advantageous, as you will deal extra damage, and often they cannot even counterattack against you.




The length of the game is quite decent, with 3 main branches to the storyline, with seperate endings and a new story after you finish the main quest. The epic struggles of the game's protagonists should keep anime, mecha and SRPG fans happy for quite a long time. Add to that the fact that the game can be played on both the PS3 AND taken on the road with the PSP, you have a recipe for some good entertainment here. MonkeyPaw games should be proud of it's accomplishments bringing this grand title back to life!

Sonic Generations Review

Sonic Generations (Steam)
Developed By: SEGA
Published By: SEGA
Date of Release: November 4th, 2011
Price: $29.99

I remember the first time I played Sonic the Hedgehog when I was a kid. I was blown away by the colorful graphics, blazing speed, and the peppy soundtrack. There was just something magical about the blue hedgehog's adventures on the SEGA Genesis. And now, Sonic is back in Sonic Generations, with a mix of classic gameplay and new.




In Sonic Generations you play as two different characters: Sonic The Hedgehog. Sonic gets caught in a time warp and meets up with his past self, leading to wacky adventures. The levels in Generations are taken from earlier games in the series with both a classic act with 2.5d gameplay that hearkens back to the older titles, and a modern act, which plays out more like Sonic's recent adventures.

The variety of levels in Generations is absolutely excellent, presenting itself as a "Best Of" collection. The environments are wonderfully diverse, with vibrant colors and sounds, just bursting with nostalgia. The music for each level has two arrangements as well, with the retro-sounding classic version, and a modernized version to go with the re imagined levels.




Sonic generations has a lot of amazing content, from deviously designed challenge levels to awesome boss encounters. It truly is a title that should not be missed by old Sonic fans or new.

Daytona USA PS3 Review

Daytona USA (PS3)
Developed By: SEGA AM2
Published By: SEGA
Date of Release: October 26, 2011
Price: $9.99


ROOOOOLLING STAAAAAAAAAAAAART!

Man, just hearing those opening lyrics brings me back to 1994 when Boomerangs, my local arcade, brought in this awesome new racing game. It had a pair of comfy bucket seats, twin steering wheels and pedals, and huge screens. It was Daytona USA, and its 3d polygon graphics were like nothing I had ever seen. I spent many hours of my youth pumping quarters into that game, challenging anyone who would come my way.




Daytona USA had it all: blazing speed, awesome sound, booming music, intense competition, and excellently tight controls to top it all off. There were tracks for beginners and experts alike, with no sign of cheapo artificial difficulty, with a little practice anybody could shine.

Sadly, nothing seems to last forever. Boomerangs went out of business in 2001, and good old fashioned arcade racing disappeared with it. A couple ports for the Saturn and Dreamcast came out, but they never seemed to capture the spirit of the title.

The year is 2011. SEGA begins an all out digital assault on modern consoles, starting with classics like Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, Space Channel 5... Little did the world know that come October, they would drop the biggest bomb of all: Daytona USA.

Completely retooled from the ground up with remastered sounds, music and stunningly sharp HD graphics, Daytona USA has managed to capture the true feel of the arcade original, which is no small feat. The new graphics retain the original look and feel of the game, with sharp redrawn textures to replace their fuzzy arcade counterparts. On the sound front you can swap between an arranged soundtrack and the original arcade music at will. The gamepad controls are incredibly tight, and you can also connect a racing wheel for the true arcade experience.




One strange addition is karaoke mode, which lets you choose a song to listen to while you race, the lyrics will be shown onscreen so you can sing along as you drive. I'm not sure why they added this on, but this is SEGA we're talking about, famous for often quirky game features. Other additions are challenge mode which sees you accomplishing various objectives, a survival mode where you have to beat the clock, and online multiplayer. My online experiences were perfectly smooth and lag free.

All in all, Daytona USA is a wonderful port that recaptures the look and feel of the glory days of arcade racing perfectly. Anyone who is tired of the stark and sterile realism of modern racing sims should look into Daytona USA, and novice drivers can cut their teeth on this awesome gem. If you're into racing, than you can totally burn rubber on this track!