In the Making of God of War featurette on the God of War game, game director David Jaffe uses the word “brutal” frequently, citing the adjective as a driving force behind the development of the now-legendary first installment of the God of War franchise. It can only be imagined that, in development meetings for Dante’s Inferno, a God of War clone if I’ve ever seen one, that the phrase “more brutaler” was used with even more frequently. Proof? The opening scene features Dante sewing a red cloth cross into his chest and it just goes from there.

“Artistic purity” aside, there’s nothing wrong with being a clone, if it’s done well, and Dante’s is done well. It’s cut-scenes are some of the most highly-rendered of this generation, the environments are beyond highly detailed, and the weapon upgrade system makes progress feel immediate. In short, it’s fun to play and, if you can stomach it, killer to look at. It’s as if the dev team knew they were making a clone of one of the greatest games of all time and thought “if you can’t beat’em, be bigger and grosser.”

All this being said, the game is very similar to God of War on a number of fronts.

-female frontal nudity within the first 30 min of game play, and plenty of it. Apparently, the soul of Beatrice can’t wear a shirt.
-barriers to keep you in a battle areas
-collecting “soul orbs” to buy weapon upgrades
-Green is for health restoration, purple is magic (mana).
- Angry protagonist on a quest for redemption.
-Context-sensitive kills.

And while God of War didn’t fall short, there are a few differences that make some dramatic differences in game play.
-The combo counter is more forgiving than GoW, making you feel like you’re really good at stringing together those combos.
-Every health regeneration fountain requires a quick time button mash that will undoubtedly get tiresome, though does at the feeling of arduosness in the journey. Even powering up is a struggle.
-Souls seem to come a little faster and unlock new combos that are at least somewhat similar to GoW. In the short demo, I upgraded four times.
-Nice touches in the context sensitive kills, like pushing the analog sticks in opposite directions to rip an enemy in half.
-Combat feels a little faster, though possibly creating slightly less control.

And, of course, there are a few drawbacks, though they certainly don’t ruin the game.
-refractory period after an evade move is extremely irratating.
-backstory told in animation sequences reminiscent of mid-90s “edgy” animation like Aeon Flux. Lots of thin scratchy lines.
-The context cues are small and at the very top of the screen, making them difficult to catch and enjoy the mini-cut scene.
-Ridiculous projectile weapon “Beatrice’s cross” lets you shoot white crosses through the air!
-God of War always challenged the player to find the to the next part of the map and, thankfully, it wasn’t necessary to worry about falling off ledges unless it was a platforming section. Edges are dangerous in Dante and can come at any moment, such as the scene within the church and Dante’s descending into hell.

Though it doesn’t seem to have a huge bearing on how the game goes, the “absolve” or “punish” option when grabbing opponents does add an another gameplay variable. Choose one of the two and you’ll make progress in filling up your “holy” and “unholy” meters, thus unlocking upgrades for the cross and scythe respectively. Masquerading as a moral choice (at least in the demo), it seems that players will absolve as many as they punish to keep both weapons powerful.

Say what you will about the licenses with story and unoriginality of the game play, Dante’s Inferno is definitely going to be more “____-er” than just about anything else. Will it stand up against the release of God of War III the following month? We’ll have to see. At the very least, it’ll have to tide over the GoW-less 360 owners.

After hitting up two local retailers today, one of them being Game Crazy, and not finding the God of War Collection anywhere, I hit the Playstation blog. The blog says that the game launches today, as does Amazon, though Amazon states that it won’t ship til Thursday, November 19. It seems though, that I’m not alone. If you peruse the comments on the Playstation blog, you’ll see that customers all over the place couldn’t find the game. A number of commenters noted that Game Stop said the game will come out tomorrow, November 18. Here’s hoping it’s the same for the rest of the retailers. My local Game Crazy manager said they received the GoW Collection guide books, but no games.

So, Sony, does “launch” really mean “Fed Ex-ing it from our warehouses”?

Spore Islands was released this week on Facebook. Until now, there was little interest for hardcore or even novice gamers to pick up a game on Facebook. Restaurant City and other games from the likes of Play Fish offered little by way of game play. Somehow, decorating and patience aren’t the most engaging game mechanics. Spore Islands is one of the first games to spawn from a PC or console title and may attract some more hardcore and novice gamers. While Spore Islands provides genuine competition and customizable characters, there are still some major kinks to work out.

Spore Islands gives players the chance to customize a creature of their own, both visually and in terms of attributes, then place it on the island of your choice. The island is generally for little consequence, though the terrain can affect where food grows. There are 12 attributes within four major categories that players adjust from levels 1-10 to create their creature. Want a character that reproduces quickly, has a higher biomass, and can last a long time without food? You’ll have to sacrifice the speed, reproduction, and hit points (hardiness). The range of attributes is nice, especially compared to most FB games. Behavior changes are noticeable and “evolving” your character via spending DNA points is entirely necessary depending on the island you’re on. If you’re surrounded by slow, heavy herbivores, it’s probably a good idea to create a spry carnivore, and so on. You can also spend your DNA on decorating your creature with everything from hats, to stripes, to antlers, but none of these increase your

To put your creature in action, you’ll spend an observation, setting them loose against two to four other creatures on your island, and later, islands belonging to other players. Up to four playable creatures are unlockable at various point levels and the more creatures you have out competing, the faster you’ll level up.

The biggest problem with the game so far is wait time. This isn’t something you can sit down and spend hours on in one sitting. Once your observations are spent, another won’t regenerate for four hours. Your DNA regenerates at one unit per hour until you reach a total of twelve. The game starts you out with 15 observations and 24 DNA units, and unless you’re familiar with what’s going on, you’ll likely spend most getting your first creature in check. From there, you’ll return to the computer every few hours and run an observation. It’s understandable that there are limitations on the game play, but waiting every four hours to play a new round seems cruel and unusual. To play between your observations, other players must invite you to their island. This is all well and good, but there’s no match making system, save to look at your friends list, and this can be frustrating for folks with one or two friends on the game. While it’s not necessary to have a matchmaking lobby like Halo, it’d sure be nice to pair up with other characters of similar levels who do have observations to spend more easily. This game is, after all, on a social networking site.

Spore Islands has the basis of a strong game with varying attributes and plenty of creature combinations. Let’s hope that, as with other Facebook flash games, it improves with time.

Brutal Legend is the latest from one of the most recognizable developer names in the industry: Tim Schafer. After creating several legendary titles for the likes of Lucasarts, Schafer started his own company, Double Fine. Their first game: Psychoanuts, the tale of a boy in a summer camp for psychic kids who saves the day when a lurking evil attacks the camp and its counselors. It is a well-crafted platformer, but really stood out in the areas of plot, character, level design, and overall concept execution. Schafer and co. packed Psychonauts full of memorable dialogue and kept the game play fresh (if not a little infuriating) at every turn. Though its sales weren’t huge, Psychonauts became one of the most talked-about titles of the last generation, even going so far as to be released as one of the earliest fully downloadable titles from Xbox Live.

Brutal Legend, the second game from Double Fine, is touted as a heavy metal epic, set in a world where everything, from the pseudo-RTS stage battles to the animals that roam the landscape, is inspired by the music genre. Once again, Schafer scores with an insane level of depth in world design. The term “fully realized” almost doesn’t do it justice. There are landmarks, the creation story, various factions of people, metal-inspired beasts, and so forth. One of the game’s greatest pleasures is just driving around in The Deuce (your car, also known as the Druid Plow), listening to “Kill the Orcs” by 3 Inches of Blood, and seeing the world that splays before you. Schafer captures all the epic excitement of metal without delving into kitsch or irony, and this is one of the game’s greatest accomplishments.

The down side is that, while the back story, characters, and world are all up to snuff, the rest of the game spread itself too thin. To be sure, this is a good game, but it’s not a great game. It borders on very good, but fall just shy. When you finish the all-to-short story mode (4-6 hours), you’ll wonder why this wasn’t the heavy metal Legend of Zelda adventure it seemed it was to become. There are other problems here, but, on the gameplay side of things, Brutal Legend falls short. Yes, you’ll have fun, but unless you’re here for the multiplayer, you’ll likely feel letdown.

The premise is this: Eddie Riggs, a roadie voiced by Jack Black, dies in an on-stage accident while saving a teeny-bopper metal band from disaster. Via the power of his Motorhead logo-esque belt buckle, he is transported to a world under siege. The human population is ultimately oppressed by emperor Doviculus (voiced by the always slimy Tim Curry) and a legion or two of other foes. Riggs, with the help of a bevy of fantastic characters voiced by the likes of metal greats Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy Killmeister, Lars Halford, and Lita Ford, will uncover the past of this world while setting themselves and their troops free. It’s a simple and compelling story and it’s a shame it’s not longer. There are three major stages to the game and there is literally no working up to the final battle after defeating the second major army. The narrative just skips to the third act. In its favor, though, are plenty of humorous, quotable moments with Riggs and co. that are pure Schafer that anyone can appreciate. After playing the game, the word “decapitation” will take on a new resonance.

Brutal Legend features several major types of gameplay: action/beat’em up, driving and racing, and an action/real time strategy combination, which is the crux of the major battles in the game. These all work well-enough, though they’re nothing revelatory. When these gameplay elements are used in relation to the main story, they work well, whether you’re in The Deuce and escorting your tour bus to the next location or taking on the next faction of baddies with your army, Ironheade. The RTS controls feel a little broad, and some more preciseness would have been nice, but once the game has thrown out a few battles, it’s a comfortable and fun experience. The difference here is that, as the leader of your army, you fight in battle as well and utilize special double team attacks with each of your factions to take down enemy troops and ultimately destroy their stage. Rather than typical RTS resources like money and building materials, you battle for control of fan geysers, and then spend the resulting deluge of fans on troops.

In multiplayer, each of the three factions varies and has their own strengths, making for a different experience with each army. Schafer’s humor and design really shines during not only the cut-scenes, but in the action/RTS segments, as well. Schafer has said that the game was originally designed as a pure RTS, and it’s not surprising. This element of the game play is the most fully developed.

As for powering up Eddie, there are a number of side missions to engage in, from racing an ugly demon, to ambushing bad guys, to hunting down the metal beasts of the land. Unfortunately, this is where the game takes a nose dive. The side missions are almost entirely repetitive and turn tedious after a few repetitions. What’s worse is that they are only loosely tied to the main narrative and do nothing to advance the story or the lore of the main game, as the best side missions do in games like Fallout 3. Its here that one of the game’s biggest stumbling blocks occur. The other major problem is that the game doesn’t fully train the player to accomplish certain major tasks that aren’t always essential, but sometimes they are, as with a few of the major battles. You’re just suddenly expected to know to take down a tower or target a certain position with the game only giving slight hints, or directly telling you via a ribbon of text at the bottom of the screen that you’re supposed to be reading mid-battle. Not so efficient. Other power-up quests are mostly search-and-find quests for various metal-related items. Searching for all 120 bound serpents gets pretty tedious.

There are other problems that could be addressed, but they are small, and the bulk of the problems with Brutal Legend seem to lie in that it spread itself too thin on the game play and story length in favor of sculpting an amazing world. Brutal Legend is a very welcome and unique experience and is definitely worth a play through and some time spent in the multiplayer. It’s just a shame Schafer didn’t go with the other half of his strength in crafting a memorable and touching narrative. Brutal Legend contains elements of all the things Schafer does so well, but it sacrificed story and game play for multiplayer and world design. It’s far from being bad, but it’s short of being great.

To re-cap and add a few small things:

-positive
-fully-realized and highly detailed world
-creation story behind the world is a compelling compendium of metal-based twistings of traditional creation stories
-varied factions for multi-player. Each very enjoyable to learn and use strengths.
-creative maps
-strong story
-killer voice acting
-sincere, yet fun, tribute to metal
-nice mix of multiple game styles: action, RTS, driving. Doesn’t quite reach its potential in any, though. Comes closest in RTS.

-Negative
-very short campaign mode
-game doesn’t do a good job of training you on some essential actions, both for side quests and main battles. Story mode feels like a training ground for multiplayer.
-side quests are repetitive and can become tedious.

It’s fourth quarter and the publishers are making their big pushes. Major franchises are lengthening their legacies and new IPs are vying for attention. I’ll admit that October 13, or Rocktober 13, depending on the game you bought that day, was a day of tough decisions. Support one of my favorite developers and a new IP in buying Brutal Legend, or believe the hype and dive into Uncharted 2?

I went with Uncharted 2. Why? The unbelievable critical response to the game. If Adam Sessler of G4TV says it’s the best single player campaign he’s ever played and site after site is giving it near perfect marks, it’s gotta be worth playing right away. The way Uncharted 2 was (and still is) being talked about, I couldn’t stand to be left out. You’d think the Beatles had reunited or George Lucas announced he’d realized the error of his ways and was setting Star Wars straight.

As I fired up the game and delved into the stunning opening sequence, followed by the most engrossing training levels I’ve ever seen, I couldn’t help but feel let down. Yes. Let down. Not by the game mind you, but as I began charting away, I realized that nothing short of Nathan Drake himself knocking on my front door could live up to what had been set before me. I had played the first Uncharted and it was a complete surprise. I loved it in a way I love few games so that, coupled with immense praise it garnered, set me in orbit. Rather, I let myself go into orbit.

Did Uncharted 2 live up to its critical praise? Undoubtedly. The bar for action games has been set very, very high. It’s a package so complete I won’t bother to break it down. It’s seamless and gorgeous. I’m just surprised that no one has mentioned where it could improve. With only one play-through under my belt, I’ve got a few ideas, but I’d like to sit on them. Part of the reason is that I’m still unpacking it. At twelve hours for a run through the story mode, it can be a blur, especially when you’re unpacking all you’ve already heard about the game.

I don’t think this game has flaws, necessarily, just places that it could improve a little. Those ideas forthcoming. Perhaps my real point here is that too much anticipation and too much hype can downplay anything. And that there’s a lot of games coming out worth playing.

Brutal Legend came out on Tuesday and has received mixed reviews. Below is a brief review I wrote of the demo, more or less as an exercise for myself. I’m posting it here so it can be compared to the final product. I’ll likely do a full review once I get my hands on it. In many instances, I’ve found demos deceiving. We’ll see how this turns out.

Brutal Legend Demo Review

Double Fine, indeed! The Tim Schafer brand is prepped to bestow upon us another epic tale and the demo is far too small a taste. For the fans of Psychonauts, you won’t be disappointed, save that the content is much, much different. A fully fleshed world, crafted with loving care and humor, is splayed before you. Through the trailers, dev videos, and what little we see in the demo, it looks like this game will be a of combination of semi-sandbox exploration, brawlers, and action/adventure genres.

Schafer’s writing chops shine from minute one, with the depiction of “metal” band Kabbage Boy, whom our hero Eddie Riggs roadies for. Like Alien Hominid, Brutal Legend gives the option of leaving the gore out of cut-scenes, as well as bleep out the profanity. The only reason I can imagine the game includes this is the humor factor, as anyone who buys this game can see the bevy of reasons it’s rated M right on the cover. Unlike Alien Hominid, whose “turn off the gore” option yielded flowers instead of blood, the no gore option yields much less awesome cut scenes. This legend is, afterall, brutal.

The demo is fairly short, slightly more than 20 minutes with cut scenes, but it gives a solid taste of the game play. After a piece of stage scenery falls on Riggs and his blood trickles on to his Motorhead logo-esque belt buckle, he is transported into a temple filled with evil dudes in hoods. Within the temple, we are introduced to the basic combat elements. The A button is used to attacks with the axe, the X button for magic attacks played with the guitar. The B button is for blocking. The strong attacks, both melee and magic, are pulled off by holding down their respective buttons. It’s simple and smooth and, while not as complex as the God of War controls, it’s very effective. Using the lightning attack to stun the enemy before going in for a quick combo is quite effective when you’re surrounded. My one complaint about the game at this point is the control scheme. One button for melee? I don’t doubt I’ll get used to it, but I’m worried it will feel like Batman: Arkham Asylum where I’m mashing one button over and over.

The demo also showcases the driving mechanic, which, according to dev videos, is how you’ll traverse the massive metal landscape. Not a lot to say here, other than that it’s a pretty standard driving mechanic.

The only other complaint that may register when the full game drops is the graphics, specifically related to character design. This, however, seems to be Schafer’s style. The characters are block-y and textures aren’t the smoothest, but before you ding the game, take a look at Psychonauts. It’s strengths aren’t in the graphics department, either, and that didn’t stop it from being a top-notch gaming experience. As with his previous efforts, Schafer provides a unique vision and Brutal Legend promises to be another winner, even with the graphical limitations and the possibility of seemingly truncated controls.

Batman: Arkham Asylum has been hailed as one of the best games of the year (which is saying a lot, so far), and the best comic book franchise game of all time. I read the fantastic reviews and anxiously picked up the game, only to nearly stop playing half way through. While the music, general atmosphere, and stealth sections/challenge modes are where the game shines, it’s far from a perfect, even very good, experience. For my money, Arkham is at minimum a decent game and perhaps even a good game. Not that the praise it’s garnered hasn’t been earned, but I think the high praise it’s received need some tempering.

Fighting: Yes, the combat was slick and easy to adjust to, but overall, it wasn’t that satisfying. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by God of War’s control scheme, but I like having the option of choosing how I’m going to fight. Much like the rest of the game, Batman’s fighting controls force you to fight their way. Roll, counter, dodge. The counter mechanism was a nice touch, but I found it to be lacking. Get too into pounding on one enemy, the lightning bolts appear above another guy’s head, and if you’re too into a combo, you can’t counter OR you have to mash the counter button more than once. Perhaps I never discovered the nuance of their controls, but it just felt like button mashing with the occasional dodge thrown in.

Shininess: Apparently, Rocksteady coated all the characters with a nice, thick coat of shellac in the rendering process.

Too linear, major lack of narrative tension: Maybe I’ve been spoiled by Fallout 3 and Mass Effect and all the other games that let you make choices, but this game made me feel like I was in a vice. I attribute most of this to the writing. The story never grabbed me and, while there are plenty of other games that don’t give you choices, like God of War (to keep my comparisons consistent though not entirely apropos of the genre we’re discussing), the writing creates tension and a desire to keep playing. There wasn’t ever a real mystery to be solved, just a “do this before [insert character] and everyone in Gotham dies!” This doesn’t create a sense involvement, it only creates a sense of urgency, and this urgency wears thin, even if the threat of death is transferred to a different character. We’re already aware that we’ll be fighting any number of villains from the series, and so their appearance doesn’t add much to the story, either.

Too Easy: I play most games on normal difficulty and there are usually a few places that are a genuine challenge. Not the case for Batman. This game was a general cakewalk, though the difficulty spike in the second to last battle was a bit ridiculous, while Joker was no harder than any other boss fight.

Low Replayability in the story mode: Given the lack of choices and narrative tension, there’s not a lot to get you for a second run-through of the game. Once the game is finished, you can run around Arkham, free of villains and locate any of the interview tapes, Riddler trophies, or Arkham story symbols. That’s it. Run around and collect things that only help Batman level up and affect your abilities in the challenge modes. I’m not saying the game should have a point of no return, but something else would have been nice. Heck, even Ratchet and Clank at least has a challenge mode.

The interview tapes were very well done and the story of the Asylum is surely interesting, but there was so little to encourage collecting them, save a few achievements/trophies, a little bit of side story, and some Batman XP that only mattered in the challenge maps. Plenty of games make the collection of items an integral part of the game, but Arkham made it feel tedious.