PSP Review: Creature Defense

I enjoy a nice tower defense game every once in a while, but with access to the Internet, at the same time, it’s kind of spoiled me in regard to the genre. When you jump on the Internet, you can find a massive number of free tower defense games just waiting for someone to give them a tender click of the mouse. So whenever a tower defense game would land on a console or handheld, a price of $20 or more would usually equate to sticker shock. Fortunately, Hudson Entertainment looked to do something a little different with the genre by mixing the tower defense genre with a card management scheme and for the first time, I paid attention to a handheld tower defense game. By tossing in a fantasy element akin to what people might see in Magic: The Gathering, Creature Defense creates a unique identity for itself, but fans of tower defense games will be pleased to know the title didn’t mess around with what makes the genre fun.

As far as I could tell, there is no official story for Creature Defense, which given the rich fantasy tone of the title is a slight disappointment, but, then again, I could easily rattle off a good handful of great tower defense games that also have no rhyme or reason. Regardless, it is always kind of nice to know why waves of baddies are attacking your tower (which, conveniently in most these titles you never even get to see) and why the player can summon defense creatures – it isn’t necessary, but it certainly would have enriched the experience. As such, most of this review’s attention will be placed on the title’s modes of play and variety.

There are no real discernible game modes, per say, instead, the title features a single mode that thrusts players onto an overhead parchment map that features all available environments as well as the game’s shop. Each environment obviously places players into new territories and how the enemies attempt to storm your tower, however, each environment also comes packed with multiple phases (differing the order and frequency of the monster types that spawn in each wave) and an eventual time attack mode. Players do also have access to deck editors, help menus and more, but as a whole, there is only one game mode in the entire game, which, if you’re picking up a tower defense game, though, you’re probably expecting nothing more than the straight-forward strategy provided in Creature Defense. Even though there is a lack of variety, the title does provide a lot of scope in its offerings and tower defense and card management fans will find it hard to be disappointed in Creature Defense’s offerings.

While the mechanics are sound in the title, Creature Defense’s presentation isn’t necessarily strong. None of it will make the title less fun and addictive, however, it is entirely noticeable if you are paying attention to everything involved. The visuals get high marks outside of the gameplay as the menus are all very clean and well-organized and by accessing a creature’s stats, players are shown large hand-drawn fantasy artwork that will no doubt please anyone into that style. During gameplay, however, players won’t be treated to heavy details in the visuals, with muddy, pre-rendered environments, low animation and somewhat fuzzy visuals. Nothing is so bad that players won’t be able to tell what is going on and, thankfully, the monster paths are displayed very clearly, but everything else is as average as can be. The graphics do have their highlights, though, which is more than what I can say about the generic audio. While nothing is painfully bad to the ears, the game’s quiet music is easily lost in the action and Creature Defense is full of generic magic sound effects that the player will hear over and over. If there were a few more various sound effects and some more urgency to the music, everything would come across a lot better for the audio.

While a mouse is easily the most intuitive means of controlling a tower defense game, there are thankfully no real issues in navigating the terrain and placing your creatures in Creature Defense. The square button handles the zooming of the playfield, the X button allows players to place a creature and confirm selections and the triangle button toggles active creatures in order to level them up or sell them back for mana, while the shoulder buttons cycles through options to slow down or speed up the gameplay. That is simply all there is to controlling the game and the simplicity makes the format work on the handheld scene and anyone that has touched a tower defense game should feel right at home with Creature Defense.

However, there are a few mechanics that shake things up and insert even more strategy into the genre as opposed to a standard tower defense game. These obviously come in the form of the roughly 50 cards players can collect to cast creatures out into the playfield. However, the catch is players can only bring five of these creatures into each phase. When you consider that each creature has an elemental infinity and each one of these has a weakness, you’ll start to see where the strategy comes in to play. Flying enemies that can only be destroyed by items suitable to attack in the air also make their way into the title, but it goes further than this when you have to prepare fire element creatures that do heavy damage to the forest element. While players start off with a meager span of cards, by slaying a suitable number of baddies, that enemy is added to the card shop for the players to shuffle in stronger and varying creatures into their decks.

What this will mean for most players is eventually during a phase, a poor choice of cards can really haunt players as each phase consists of 50 waves and once the player settles on a deck, they have to use it for the duration of the phase. Players may get well into a phase to find out they are not prepared to battle a flying water element monster, causing them to rethink their strategy. Strategy is the key in Creature Defense because even though you might place in a creature more suitable for fighting off the flying water elements, you may end up replacing a card that is necessary for another wave in the game. As such, the title is equal parts strategy and management, and each lends itself to the game incredibly well. Dedicated players will become quickly addicted to the title and given the title’s challenging nature, the payoff is extremely rewarding for players that can tackle some of the game’s stages.

Even though players can dive through the handful of environments relatively quickly, there is a lot to go back and accomplish. Players can revisit levels after picking up stronger creatures to improve their scores or to more effectively battle powerful enemies to add them to their card store. Eventually, players will also unlock new phases with different sets of waves to challenge players and completists will want to own every single card in the game. Tower defense players looking for a more challenging outlet might be able to find it in Creature Defense as the game doesn’t really hold players’ hands at all, starting out moderately tough and amping up the difficulty from there. While this might intimidate beginner players and scratches the balance down just a little bit, the progression is easily suitable from that point, injecting branching paths and more difficult environments, monsters and waves as players move on. Again, if you’re interested in this title, though, you’re probably somewhat accustomed to the genre and a lot of it should be second nature.

With the combination of genres, Creature Defense opens up its appeal even more as it is definite sell to tower defense fans and a great suggestion to management buffs that like to tinker with customizable decks. The title is also positioned at a comfortable price of $8 on the Playstation Network that is easily worth the price of admission and will give players on the go hours of entertainment. It’s hard to put down once you get sucked in and there are a lot of extra goods to be seen, including a fan service nod to Sony’s Eye of Judgment series as the game contains three creature cards pulled from the PS3 series.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 of 5

While the mixture of genres found in Creature Defense might not revolutionize tower defense games, it actually comes pretty close, and it becomes hard to put the game down once you get into it. Due to the nature affinities each creature has and the limitation of only being allowed five creatures at a time really piles on the strategy and challenge more than one might initially think. Creature Defense drops the ball on its presentation a little and the challenge and balance might not be too welcoming for those new to the genre, but the title doesn’t fail to provide hours of fun and it will do everything that matters to tower defense fans. The title is an easy recommendation for tower defense fans and the appeal should carry over to those that like to micromanage and when it comes to the PSP, Creature Defense is a great solution for those looking for this style of game on the Sony handheld.

Xbox 360 Review: Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot

Borderlands has received yet another DLC update to prove there truly is no rest for the wicked. After opening The Vault and foiling Dr. Ned on an island full of zombies, Xbox 360 owners got to close 2009 out with another DLC update that adds yet another memorable character to the mix in Mad Moxxi. As if the game disc itself didn’t have enough Mad Max and Thunderdome references for you, this newest addition could be considered a flat-out parody of that universe as it thrusts players into Mad Moxxi’s Underdome through a new “Riot” game mode for 800 Microsoft Points. While the Underdome isn’t as expansive as The Zombie Island, it certainly does its job in implementing some frantic action into the otherwise wide-open format of Borderlands and it adds enough to make the battles fresh and easily worth the 800 MS Points if you are a fan of the game.

As Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot is an non-standalone expansion of a retail title, I’m going to eschew the traditional review format as having nearly all of the game’s material recycled to the disc makes revisiting items such as graphics, control and the like a bit pointless. If you enjoyed these aspects in Borderlands, they are served up once again in their purest form in this expansion.

There isn’t much of a story to Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, other than to introduce the Underdome’s ringmaster, Mad Moxxi herself. The Underdome, much like the obviously referenced Thunderdome, also fits within the conventions of items such as Smash T.V. – “contestants” are placed into a proverbial blood sport where only the strongest survive and fans look on in bloodthirsty fashion. Mad Moxxi fits into the cast of Borderlands characters extremely well and, as expected, her voice acting is top notch. While her one-liners will no doubt become a bit repetitive during gameplay, they also serve in alerting the player to some of the ongoing action and most of the quips will get a few smiles or laughs from players (at least from the first few times they hear them). A few scenes and references in the lobby will shed a little light on Moxxi’s backstory, but what the expansion is really about is in annihilating the competition and scooping up some extra loot.

As I’ve already said, the exploration and questing aspects of Borderlands and its first DLC are pitched to give players a more action-based survival mode. The game handles this in Horde and Firefight fashion (from Gears of War 2 and Halo 3 ODST respectively), placing players into a moderately-sized environment and unloading enemies in waves. As players progress, up to four random modifiers will be mixed in to trouble them with handicaps such as no shields, steadily decreasing health and strengthening enemies or making the combat more interesting by speeding up movement, reducing gravity and making certain weapon types super effective. Each combat round has five waves of varying enemies placed into groups (normal enemies, melee-only enemies, gun-wielding enemies, etc.) with the fifth introducing a boss character from the on-disc quest taking center stage. If players can survive through five waves, they are rewarded with a small loot dump at the stage’s central tower and given a quick breather before the next stage begins. On the other hand, if a player drops dead, they are thrown into a penalty box where they can attempt to shoot at enemies while their teammates try to survive the round to bring everyone back into the game – otherwise, if the entire team falls, all of the players will be unceremoniously booted back to the Underdome lobby.

The premise is simple, perhaps even unoriginal, for sure, but the sheer random nature of the modifiers and the frantic pacing of the mode makes Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot a winner. Not only will players get a survival-based mode that will occupy them for around an hour on just the simplest of environments, but they will also get a much-needed storage bank for items that can be expanded by purchasing SDUs throughout the game. If you’re serious about Borderlands, the storage bank alone might be worth the price of admission, but it’s all about the team-based gameplay and given the odds of survival against the relentless hordes, especially with the later environments throwing a rough 20 rounds (100 waves) each at you, The Underdome provides a great multiplayer mode that is ripe with action. Also, seeing as the enemies adjust to evenly match the host’s current level, players can surely be challenged and with high-end vending machines located in the lobby, this expansion is perfect for players coming in from the end of the Borderlands quest.

Unfortunately, players will see a lot of repetitiveness in the expansion, especially with the few environments being recycled back into the more advanced survival arenas, and the extra achievements aren’t exactly inspiring, but Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot does what it set out to do. The expansion is meant to be a no-frills action experience and on that front, it delivers on all levels. If you enjoyed Borderlands but feel that you didn’t get to pull the trigger as much as you wanted to, this expansion is clearly for you. The only way I could not recommend this expansion to someone is if the idea of spending multiple hours fighting off bandits, psychos and skaggs in an endless onslaught doesn’t sound fun to you, but I would imagine these players would be few and far between if they already own Borderlands. Fans of Horde or Firefight mode will know what they are getting into with this DLC add-on and for $10, players can give this new mode a spin and come away satisfied while taking a break from grinding through the main game.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 of 5

XBLA Review: Matt Hazard: Blood, Bath & Beyond

It was hard for me to look at Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard when it released in early 2009. Vicious Cycle took a concept that I was shocked no one had come up with before – taking all of video game’s noted clichés and a faux gaming universe and throwing them into a blender – and unleashed it as a current-gen offering. See, as gamers, we really should enjoy Matt Hazard in concept and I’m sure a good portion of us still want to, but Eat Lead just didn’t offer what it takes to win gamers over: The story and level progression was a mess, the characters and AI were subpar, the presentation was average and the Gears of War-style cover shooting was woefully plain. However, what probably hurt the most was the fact the title annoyingly sank into the conventions it attempted to make fun of and most of the humor just wasn’t that funny to me. If the title made anything clear, though, it could be said the series definitely had potential if it could balance its humor and gameplay and, thankfully, Vicious Cycle has given the series another go with the new downloadable effort Blood Bath & Beyond. Painfully cheesy subtitle aside, Matt Hazard: BB&B shows the team went back to the drawing board and even though the title misses the must-buy mark, we’ve thankfully seen one step of advancement with this series.

In case Eat Lead’s game box scared you away from ever playing it, Matt Hazard is a fictional video game “legend,” who has starred in an obscene amount of gaming titles from hard-boiled action to kart racing to quiz titles throughout his career. His enemies always somehow find a way to jump between games from Hazard’s past and wreak havoc on the hero’s life and in BB&B, he comes fresh off Eat Lead to contend with General Neutronov, who has abducted his 8-bit self from the past in a plan to eradicate him during his gaming roots. The story isn’t extravagant as it pans out through static cutscenes and boxed-in text dialog, however, the title’s conventions, parodies and ability to turn the other cheek really saves the title from being the mess we were provided in Eat Lead.

Immediately from the beginning, the series lays into itself stating Eat Lead is cluttering bargain bins around the country and the resulting cutbacks in budget immediately eliminates voiceovers and cutscenes in between levels. Call it lazy if you will, but it’s refreshing to see a series poke fun of itself, especially with the fairly humorous ending sequence. Most of the story, though, is just QA and Hazard conversing about the current game they are entering at the moment and while the story is by no means amazing, there is far more humor and less convoluted twists and turns to make BB&B’s tale leaps and bounds above Eat Lead’s. The problem in Eat Lead stemmed from the game just throwing out random game titles, clichés and references without taking any effort to get players accustomed to the character and build a personal rapport with him, which is crucial since players are supposed to pretend they have been controlling the character for the past two decades. Thankfully, some of the items in BB&B actually explain some of Matt Hazard’s past exploits in better detail, While more backstory would be nice, we get to see just a bit more of this fictional past in the newest title.

Outside of the story, however, BB&B doesn’t give players a whole lot to return to. A quickplay mode allows players to tackle one stage of their choosing, a mini-game reflecting one of the segments encountered late in the game is unlocked and there is a gallery of hidden items to unlock and view, so players are really just getting more of the same in different doses. The title was smart to include a two-player mode with Hazard’s “sidekick” Dexter Dare but, unfortunately, this doesn’t extend to online play. On the front of modes, BB&B doesn’t deliver as much as it probably should have for $15, especially considering some of the other offerings at $15 or even less. Regardless, what is delivered is a no-nonsense affair – players paying for a 2D run-and-gun title will receive exactly that.

Being a man of action, Hazard harks back to the days of 2D action titles such as Contra, where players will run to the right and blast the crap out of anything that moves in traditional fashion. Hazard and Dare both have the expected arsenal of a rifle with infinite ammo and Metal Slug-style grenades, however, pickups such as shotguns, flamethrowers and rocket launchers can be picked up from defeated foes to freshen up their firepower. All of this is standard affair for the genre, but BB&B attempts to deviate just a bit by having players hold the left trigger to be able to fire into the background, effectively dividing the gameplay into two planes. Enemies will attempt to overwhelm the players by swarming in from the 2D plane of focus, the background and foreground, with enemies in the background being able to fire upon the players. Honestly, this creates some really challenging situations and freshens up some of the boss battles more than one might initially think, even though it seems strange or counterproductive for a game of this nature. Finally, as players tear up common enemies, their Hazard Bar will fill up and a full bar allows them to press Y to enter Hazard Time. The mode puts players into a balls-to-the-wall action frenzy where their character is invincible and gains spread projectiles for a short time. Finally, now you and your friend no longer have to fight over the spread power-up and, interestingly enough, the mode also spreads special weapons, giving players three-way machine guns, rocket launchers and the like to experiment with.

Outside of these additions, though, fans of the genre will know what to expect from everything else including the giant bosses, vehicle segment and tricky jumps to keep players on their toes when they aren’t slaughtering goons en masse. Thankfully, players will get a decent span of environments to burn through, with each seemingly knowing about when to shift the action from mindless shooting to navigating deadly terrain, racing a clock or solving simple bits of necessary item interaction. As players head into the space sections, the reduced gravity and Lunar Lander-inspired segment further mix up the game play. However, that isn’t to say the game can get excessively repetitive. Much like other titles in the genre, BB&B inherits the certainty of running to the right (or occasionally other directions) and mashing on the fire button. Compared to other titles of its ilk, Matt Hazard doesn’t always measure up. While the fundamentals of running and gunning are all here and the package as a whole is enjoyable, the controls just seem laggy on occasion, there are glitches that can cause your character to get stuck and it annoys me to no end that you cannot fire downward without jumping. I suppose the control issues stem from placing an eight-way directional scheme on an analog controller but, for the most part, everything in BB&B’s gameplay is still passable even in its worst moments. As for the rest of the issues I encountered, well, I suppose that would be blamed on the original Matt Hazard games being programmed with these glitches, right?

What really gets BB&B rolling, however, is its tongue-in-cheek humor which, admittedly, has improved since Hazard’s first outing last year. Packed in with the action, the humor will definitely keep most gamers’ attentions through 10 stages, however, it is unlikely most players will want to tackle the game again, even with achievements and the unlockable gallery that features “previous” Matt Hazard games. The game’s challenging nature might also disgruntle those not so into the 2D shooter genre as the game starts to pump up the difficulty toward the end of the first stage and doesn’t let up. BB&B is ripe with one-hit kill environmental traps and water/pitfall hazards to fall in and players must contend with these likely at the same time the screen is filled with enemy shrapnel. Even on the game’s easy difficulty of “Wussy,” it’s likely players will be taking advantage of the infinite continues offered, especially if a player can’t quite get the patterns of the boss characters down.

Even though BB&B is a downloadable title as opposed to Eat Lead, Vicious Cycle still pumped out a very reasonable presentation for the title. While it strikes me as odd that the game doesn’t hark back to 2D graphical styles or, more appropriately, cycle through various hardware to showcase levels in varying bit displays appropriate for the timeframe the fictional games’ releases (the only 2D model in the gameplay is the 8-Bit Matt Hazard, which General Neutronov amusingly carries around like it is a cardboard cutout), the visuals are indeed solid, making all of the various environments immediately recognizable.

The Hate Boat stage starts out simple enough as a typical cruise ship, but as players descend, it immediately reflects Rapture from Bioshock, complete with Big Daddy wannabe enemies. The Oh. Canada stage takes players through the stereotypical ice rinks with zambonni fight and maple syrup factory, but getting there requires a rooftop scramble that is a dead ringer for Mirror’s Edge’s visuals. The Dismember the Alamo section starts off as a simple western theme, but due to a scrambling of classic games stemming from a glitch, players will begin to see Super Mario Bros. themes mid-stage, culminating with a backdrop straight out of Team Fortress 2. While BB&B tends to pull its references from more modern titles such as Portal, there are still some references to the classics such as Lunar Lander and Rush’n'Attack that will keep longtime gamers paying attention.

Each of these backdrops is handled quite well with appropriate lighting and graphical effects and it is almost possible for the player to get lost in the backgrounds to pick out references instead of focusing on the action. Due to the onscreen action, most of the character models are smaller and not as detailed as in other 2D shooters, but they animate extremely well, something that is further made more satisfying due to the use of ragdoll physics in every single kill. The developers even go overboard with the ragdoll physics with a mini-game where the players collect pachinko coins and drop ragdoll models into a playfield to try and score points. Even while still alive, the characters look smooth even while transitioning from the foreground or background and there are also subtle animations such as a common enemy fist pumping after killing one of the players.

Even though BB&B loses a lot of the spoken dialog seen in Eat Lead, there is still a helping of cheesy one-liners delivered by Will Arnett to maintain authentic Matt Hazard audio. The action does drown out a lot of the game’s tunes, which is a bit of a downer as I found this title’s soundtrack to be much more memorable than the repetitiveness found in Eat Lead. Otherwise, you have your traditional gunfire and explosions, rounded out by splashing of blood and guts littering the floors. Even if a few of the one-liners can get really repetitive, a lot of them are context appropriate such as coming off of a continue, being low on health and the characters even have some banter specific to some of the major enemies they encounter in the game. When everything is said and done, although the developer could have taken some more liberties with the presentation to provide a more authentic fictional gaming timeline, what players get is still pretty well done.

Finally, I find it a bit odd that other items of cultural relevance have made their way into BB&B, most notably movie references. The pirate-themed stage was originally developed to be filled with scantily-clad pirate women, but the timeline had this title to be released during the infamous Congressional hearings in the ‘90s and the pirates were reverted back to males. However, the developer didn’t have time to reanimate the characters, so the pirates wield pistols in a limp-wristed fashion with mannerisms straight from Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie trilogy. I also got a kick out of the J5 boss, a dead ringer for Johnny Five from the Short Circuit series of movies. These didn’t take away from the experience in the slightest and I found them quite humorous, so, hopefully, we can see this series continue with a little more effort under its belt. With its finger on the pulse of popular culture, the Matt Hazard series could really go somewhere and I’m sure there are some retro buff out there that want to identify with the character, but first, we just have to get a solid game out of the franchise. BB&B is a good start, but, for everyone, it definitely won’t be worth the $15 asking price.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 3 of 5

Matt Hazard is a character everyone wants to give a chance, but his games thus far don’t give players to many reasons to do so. Blood Bath & Beyond is a step in the right direction, but it’s too shallow with a few nagging gameplay issues to readily recommend it at $15. It’s balancing won’t do the title any favors as the difficulty gets pumped up fast, which is a plus for those looking for their next run-and-gun challenge, but it will easily turn away those not so in tune with the genre. Still, the title is very serviceable and surpasses Eat Lead in just about every single way. It carries far more humor and action, has an appealing presentation and the video game and culture references coupled with the ability to make fun of itself makes the title a satisfying playthrough, especially with a friend (so you can steal their lives a la Contra, naturally). BB&B falls victim to far less conventions it tries to make fun of than its predecessor; however, when you boil it down, there are better game choices at its price tag, especially when you take its lack of real replayability into account.

XBLA Review: KrissX

Last Wednesday, Konami sprung a new casual title on us, bringing KrissX to Xbox LIVE Arcade. Amid a couple of weeks that brought us heavy-hitting games such as Matt Hazard, Death by Cube, and Serious Sam, KrissX takes a step back and brings forth a more gentle and relaxing experience to the service for 800 Microsoft Points. Thankfully, the title comes in as a change of pace and is immediately one of the most accessible titles made available on LIVE Arcade so far in 2010. Those looking for a new spin on word puzzles will definitely find a fix here and, while the game will definitely not be for everyone, it is a well-produced game based on its technical merits even though it does admittedly fall short in a few areas.

First, we will address the title KrissX: Instead of pronouncing the game phonetically like it is some kind of breakfast cereal, the actual pronunciation of the title is “criss cross” (like the pattern, not the child rappers that wore their jeans backward and had their own SEGA CD “game”). In KrissX, players are tasked with unscrambling jumbled words arranged in a crossword-style fashion. Once the specific word is spelled correctly, it is locked in place and the player scores points and bonuses until the player clears all the words on a stage in order to progress. Surprisingly, a sliver of story has been inserted into the game, revolving around a wise owl named Wordsworth. Poor Wordsworth has fallen out of a tree and upon hitting his head, all of his knowledge became scrambled, resulting in the mixed-up words. It won’t win any awards and nothing is done with the story beyond that point, but it is definitely charming and explains why the presentation is arranged the way it is in KrissX.

As such, KrissX depends more on its modes to engross the player. Thankfully, there is a span of modes players can unlock by progressing through the main quest mode, where players tackle 150 stages of progressively difficult words, to gain access to a new time attack mode, a timeless free mode, and special puzzles based off themes such as featuring the names of U.S. states or world countries. While tackling all of these modes, players will also gain badges through their performance. Some of these badges merely proclaim a mode or feature has been unlocked, but others are based off the player’s ability to grab tokens, create chains and more. While the collection of badges does nothing more than net the player an achievement, everything comes together to give the game much more breadth than other casual word games.

Ultimately, though, the modes do nothing more than alter the time restraints placed on the player and, in some cases, the words involved, as nothing radically changes the root gameplay. Furthermore, the absence of any multiplayer or online interactions further damper the game as the ability to create and share puzzles of your own would have pushed the game’s replayability to near limitless levels. Fortunately, the title’s menu does sport a “Downloaded Puzzles” mode, so we’ll see what lengths Konami will go to keep this game swimming along. On the other hand, even though there is no multiplayer, there are leaderboards for each individual game mode, so it is possible to have a score rival. When you look at everything as a whole, if you don’t mind tackling the game on your own, KrissX should serve you just fine, however, don’t count on it to service a crowd.

KrissX wouldn’t be much of a casual title if it had complicated controls and, thankfully, the title’s controls are as simple as one would expect. The cursor used to highlight the alphabet tiles is operated with the d-pad or left analog stick and the tiles are selected and swapped by pressing the A button. The only deviation from this simplistic scheme stems from the tokens that fall from completed words. Players will need to watch what color the tokens appear as – blue, yellow, or red – and press the appropriate face button, X, Y, or B respectively, to pick them up for extra points time or power-ups. In between stages, players will have single-line puzzles tasking them to create words or place letters in alphabetical order for bonuses or switch tiles between multiple stacked words in order to break up the gameplay; however, these sections play out in exactly the same way.

The balance in the title is handled quite nicely, with early stages throwing seemingly insulting words at the player, but as he or she progresses, the number of words, the difficulty of the words, and the number of letters contained in each word increase and players can make use of a few techniques and power-ups to increase combos and score. Some of the power-ups increase a tip meter, where if a player gets stuck, they can press the right bumper to highlight two tiles that can be correctly flipped and this meter slowly increases every 30 seconds or so to ensure no player will be stuck on a puzzle forever. At certain durations, some words will light up in a red color and correctly forming this word while highlighted will switch one pair of letters to a correct position and spread a wildfire to its neighboring words. It is possible to clear an entire level through the use of wildfire, which is obviously good for racking up combo bonuses. After a handful of stage, non-movable asterisk tiles are placed in the puzzle, masking one of the correct letters to challenge players; however, clearing this word, much like the wildfire, will correctly flip two tiles in a neighboring word. Some of the tokens will even perform correct flips and freeze a random letter in its correct position, so there are some real-time elements to juggle while busting your brain and these elements are where KrissX really shines

Even though the game is simplistic in nature, KrissX still carries a very solid presentation. In fact, the title will likely remind people of a PopCap product, which most definitely isn’t an insult. The game’s colors are vibrant and each stage background environment pops out with fairly detailed storybook-style art. Starburst effects and the small wildfire blazes accent what would normally be plainfully dull alphabet tiles on the main playfield. Wordsworth also has a number of different poses based on the current situation to make him jump when a word is clear, appear to be deep in thought if players are idle and if players take too long to make a match, he actually falls asleep. On the other hand, aurally, the game doesn’t shine quite so much. Some of the sound pipes through without being in crystal clear clarity and while nothing is inherently bad with either the visuals or the audio, many aspects are repeated way too many times to be wholly engrossing. Aside from the repetition and a few minor knacks, though, KrissX is as appeasing to behold as it is play.

A player could potentially play KrissX indefinitely, so there is a good amount of replayability to be had with the title and if you’re one to get buried into puzzles, the title certainly has a bit of an addictive nature. As mentioned earlier, online interactions could have taken this further, but, still, once players clear all 150 quest levels, they can keep playing ad infinitum, which, aptly enough, the game refers to for every level after 150. Eventually, though, players will run into words and clues that repeat themselves and I even ran into this occurrence sooner than I thought I would before even clearing level 100. Also, the leaderboards in the quest mode are an accumulation of all play, so it is more of a measure of time sunk into the game as opposed to overall skill. Regardless, there is a lot to do and see in the title and it should deliver its full worth to most gamers, especially those looking into word puzzle games.

It will definitely take a few hours to tackle everything there is to see in KrissX and in good news for achievement buffs, the title is actually a fairly easy 200 points. Seeing as I am a journalist, though, maybe words just work into my favor. However, I don’t believe many of the words would be beyond the grasp of anyone looking for a decent casual game to play and by matching clues to words, hopefully players will be able to deposit a few new words into their word bank. One could probably argue a book of word puzzles might take them further than KrissX; however, the title provides the interactivity and feedback you can’t get from paper and power-ups and real-time aspects of the title add to the title more than one might initially think. As such, if you’re looking for a decent casual title or just want a break from the recent wave of action titles, KrissX just might be what you’re looking for.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 3 of 5

KrissX is definitely the most accessible and universally appealing Xbox LIVE Arcade title to release so far in 2010, giving players a more laid-back break from the recent wave of action titles that have dominated the year thus far. The title takes the simple concept of a word jumble and livens it up with power-ups, comboing, and other real-time involvement to spice up the gameplay. Still, nothing is overly complicated and the game is great to pick up and play for an hour or even just 15 minutes. KrissX has a lot of repetition going for it, however, and players that sink a handful of hours into it will start to see the words repeating, which greatly diminishes the challenge. When you add in the fact the presentation is very repetitive and there is no online interaction or multiplayer, there are a few kinks in the game’s shell. Fortunately, those kinks fail to prevent the title from being a good time for one player and those looking for a relaxing word puzzle title will find plenty to like in KrissX.

XBLA Review: The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

Originally from Diehard GameFAN

Since Paul Bellezza from The Odd Gentlemen filled us in on the details of The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom with our recent interview, I had grown even more interested in exploring the black-and-white, pastry-filled world crafted in the title. The big worry, however, was if the game would avoid the trap of allowing its artistic flare to take the spotlight over its game play. Now that we’re a couple of weeks removed from the game’s release date, though, I can assure our readers that this crust has plenty of satisfying filling.

The title introduces players to P.B. Winterbottom, the notorious pie thief plaguing the quaint village of Bakersfield. P.B. will go to any lengths to nab pies and no amount of type of pie is ever enough for his never ending sweet tooth. After a run-in with a magical Chronoberry pie, P.B. gains the ability to bend time and space, recording himself in order to unleash time-looped clones to assist him in scoring more pie than he ever imagined. With the game being featured as a silent film, the story is progressed with still art and rhyming text dialogue, all cued to a wickedly eerie, yet appealing score. As players progress, they find out how Winterbottom’s escapades are affecting the lives of the citizens in Bakerfield as P.B. makes time stop altogether, runs through a blaze at the local bakery and plugs up the water supply in the sewer. Although players won’t be spending a huge amount of time engrossed in the story, it is charming and full of wit, and each level is named and subtitled with a clever phrase or description that taps into a lot of parody and humor as well.

These facets piece together an impressive environment, but players will find a shortage of modes within the game world. Although there is an impressive number of puzzles and film scenes accessed through a central game hub, the game can be boiled down to only two game modes, both of which employ the exact same game mechanics. The top two levels of the in-game hub unfold as players progress through the story-based films while progress also unlocks bonus short films in a third row. The short films act as a sort of challenge mode, where players tackle the same goal of pie snatching while aiming for medals earned by either completing the level in par time or by utilizing a set number of clones (or both). This wouldn’t normally be a negative on its own, however, there is no real incentive to play through the story sequences again once they are completed. The package still offers a suitable amount to do in a puzzler, but a level editor, two-player co-op puzzles, downloadable puzzles, or other modes would have easily taken the game an extra mile.

Upfront, the main hook of the title was in its noir motif and The Odd Gentlemen really ran with this concept to produce top-notch visuals while implementing a varied and intense score. As soon as players boot up the game, they are greeted with a film grain and flicker that transforms your Xbox into a black-and-white world while eerie music in the vein of something you might hear in a Tim Burton film rings in. The P.B. Winterbottom character is immediately identifiable and definitely breaks the norm of the stacked heroes we tend to be presented with in today’s games. The game’s story panels feature fantastic fantasy-style artwork with a number of different characters and even though the in-game models are small, they certainly do not lack detail and are still full of fluid animation. The environments really steal the show, however, with all of the locations featuring detailed and motion-filled backdrops. Even though the vast majority of the game is experienced in black and white, it still looks incredible and the conservative usage of color actually has meaning when players eventually see it.

Instead of being filled with “old-tyme” piano jingles like one would associate with a silent film in its heyday, P.B. Winterbottom pulls in a full-feature ensemble that creates some memorable results. As I’ve already stated, the opening theme makes a huge impression and is definitely memorable. The rest of the music fits each scene well and shares the same quality throughout the title. As for the sound effects, much like the game’s color, sound is used very sparingly, as this is a silent film, after all. There are little jingles when a pie is collected, when clone recordings are made a nice film reel roll is played, and items hit with P.B. Winterbottom’s umbrella result in an appropriate thwack. When you mix all of the visuals and audio together, P.B. Winterbottom has one of (if not the) best presentations you can find on the Xbox LIVE Arcade service.

The gameplay in Winterbottom is as simple as it sounds: the A button makes Winterbottom jump, holding the A button allows him to float using his umbrella, and pressing the X button makes him execute a strike with the umbrella. These simple commands will guide P.B. through the introductory levels until he gains the ability to make clones of himself. As players progress through each film, new gimmicks are implemented in favor of a previous one to keep the game fresh. For example, traveling through the clock tower, pies must be picked up in a numerical order, through the bakery, blue pies can only be picked up by clones and in the sewer, P.B. needs to use specific portals to record clones, and red portals create clones that will harm P.B. if he comes in contact with them. However, no matter what the current gameplay gimmick is, one thing always remains constant: P.B. cannot continue on to the next level until all pies are devoured.

The beauty of the title is this can be done in a number of different ways and players are posting online methods that achieve this in more efficient, quicker and innovative methods. Cloning P.B. allows players to defy gravity or space, hit out-of-reach switches, weigh down floor switches, and more so the player can score the current stage’s pie. The cloning process is actually very responsive and I can’t say I ever had a clone do something I didn’t want it to do. The platforming is also on par with where it should be and all of the game’s puzzles are extremely satisfying once the player triumphs. There are certainly no qualms with the controls and the core gameplay is extremely enjoyable, however, the title gets hit the hardest in its replayability and balancing.

Once again, once players tackle the main story, there is essentially no incentive to go back through the levels unless it has just been a long time since the player cleared the game or they are looking for faster or crazier ways to grab all of the pie. On the other hand, the challenges are more suitable to replay, featuring the different medals and various leaderboards. Ultimately, the replayability in the title amounts to how much of a perfectionist you are and I could see many players viewing P.B. Winterbottom as a once-and-done experience. This further hampers the experience when you figure the title will likely take you only around three hours to complete. Players will burn through the game quickly once they have the mechanics under control, and the shallow amount of content is a definite sore spot on the ‘Bottom.

It should also be noted The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom is not the easiest game on the block. The puzzles aren’t afraid to amp up in intensity as soon as the second film. While there was nothing obscenely difficult in the title, there were quite a few times I had to stare at the screen for upwards of 10 minutes before I finally had that “ah-ha!” moment that allowed me to progress. This is great for puzzle junkies; however, the more casual of audiences will most likely be discouraged as the puzzles become more and more complicated. The pacing could be a potential matter for players as well, with one of the game’s mechanics finally picking up full speed only to be dropped completely in the next set of challenges. The balance is nice in the fact each story movie introduces a new game mechanic with a very simple puzzle that holds the player’s hand for a level or two. However, it gets pretty hairy toward the last few puzzles in the lot and players will have to do a lot of experimentation to see what actually sticks. If you enjoy a great challenge, P.B. Winterbottom will definitely be your ticket, but if you get frustrated easily, be warned you will most likely hit a brick wall somewhere amid P.B.’s journey.

However, these are just minor setbacks as any puzzle fan will find it hard to put the controller down until they finally solve a puzzle that has been eluding them. It is very easy to try and draw some parallels between this title and something like Braid and the whole time and space mechanic is certainly not a new happening. However, The Odd Gentlemen have crafted an experience with so much charm and personality, P.B. Winterbottom easily stands out from the crowd. However, unlike some of the other titles pushing the oft-discussed boundary of art, P.B. Winterbottom actually has some substance under its hood and, mechanically, by far the title is best offering on the Xbox LIVE Arcade service so far in 2010. That isn’t to say the title will be for everyone, however, the experience and puzzling gameplay are well worth the 800 Microsoft Points.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 of 5

Building off its stellar presentation, The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom offers up a puzzling adventure that is sure to challenge gamers all the while captivating them in the endearing world of Bakersfield. The audio and visuals are superb and are used to maximum effect in producing a unique silent film environment, and the gameplay keeps players performing new tasks while offering tight controls. The only downsides to the purchase include a very short game with shallow mode offerings and, for some, the difficult nature of the title may turn off a portion of the casual crowd. The difficulty serves as its own reward when players finally reach the solution, however, and the game is extremely memorable even when you consider there is little to be had in replayability. While the experience isn’t the longest, it is definitely sweet and satisfying.

WiiWare Review: Tomena Sanner

When I imagined that digital distribution would break down the barriers between the various regions around the world, perhaps I jumped the gun a little. Japan continually receives goods on the Nintendo Wii that have yet to surface in the United States, and region differences are blocking me from using my Microsoft Points to download items such as Idolm@ster to my Xbox 360. When I first saw Japanese sites promoting Tomena Sanner, a gentleman in a business suit began breakdancing with a panda and various other bizarre characters, which greatly peaked my interest. Given the obscurity, I didn’t give the title much of a chance to reach our shores. Thankfully, Konami proved me wrong and released the quickfire title as a $5 download on the North American WiiWare service, and gamers can also be thankful that Tomena Sanner holds up as a solid addition to the service.

For the U.S. release of Tomena Sanner, Konami has merely translated the game’s text, meaning all of the obscurity and insanity has remained intact. The player assumes the role of businessman Hitoshi Susumu, who, as a businessman, does not like to be late. Susumu has his eye on a number of dance parties being held at the end of each level, but to make it through each environment, Susumu has to contend with dinosaurs, robots, manholes, vehicles, ninjas, and more hazards that will impede his progress. That is all the story the game receives and none of it is really detailed in-game, but it works in this scenario, similar to the games of yesteryear where all of the story was laid out in the instruction booklet and players were launched straight into the action. In a game where the player does nothing but run from point A to point B, the need for a story is very minimal, but the zany premise behind Tomena Sanner just adds to the charm.

The title has a few different game modes. However, none of them drastically change the way the game is played, also recycling the same levels players will experience the first time through. Once players have a feel for the title by completing the nine levels, they can enter a more challenging turbo mode that pits players against the same single-player levels, but the speed of the gameplay increases by about double to reduce the available reaction time to obstacles. Outside of the two single-player modes, up to four players can pick up Wii Remotes and race each other to the finish line. The multiplayer modes do add some power-ups to the madness, and there are also subtle battle advantages such as having a curtain gradually slide in over an opposing player’s playfield as you build up successful combos. Even though the story isn’t fleshed out and there are only a handful of modes, you do get what you pay for and Tomena Sanner is still an interesting game to pick up now and again, especially if you can get your buddies involved.

Controlling and playing the game is as simple as it gets, and that further increases the title’s appeal. Players control the title with the Wii Remote, and the A button is the only button necessary to control Susumu when he is in action. In Japanese, susumu is the act of moving forward and this holds completely true in Tomena Sanner – Mr. Susumu will automatically start sprinting when the level kicks off and will not stop unless he collides with an obstacle or he runs out of time and is late to the party. When he approaches an obstacle, it is up to the player to time presses of the A button in order to avoid the hazard. Players can also have Susumu jump in order to collect bonus coins and power-ups, but a majority of the action is in nailing down an exact timing to avoid obstacles.

By hitting a small timing window, players will receive a “GREAT!” rating, which increases the player’s combo by one, awards a few bonus seconds of time, and usually plays out an animation that places Susumu past the obstacle in the shortest amount of time. If the player is slightly off, a “GOOD” rating won’t penalize the player, but the resulting animation is usually just a tad slower and no combo bonus or extra time is awarded. Of course, if the player is way off or fails to do anything, a “BAD” rating will award no points and the resulting animation will put Susumu even more behind schedule. Once the player reaches the goal, Susumu immediately begins breaking out the dance moves that has the player taking part in a timing-based mini-game for additional bonus points. The timing structure works well and it is very rewarding in the different animations that play out between different items and timing ratings and all of the secrets and bonuses packed in each level will keep players coming back on occasion in order to place new scores on the online leaderboards and discover new oddities that inhabit each stage. Mastering a few of the control mechanics might take players a little bit of time, but in the way of just being able to enjoy the game, Tomena Sanner is an easily understood title that takes little skill to break into.

On the downside, you could probably burn through everything the title has to offer in about an hour. Tomena Sanner’s main hook is in its simplicity and bizarre premise and you get plenty of that for $5, but that still might not be enough for everyone with Wii Points to burn. Also, a huge attraction for the title is in its animations, which are executed extremely well. However, all of them will eventually repeat themselves, meaning there will be a point where seeing a giraffe fart in Susumu’s face will be old news … maybe.

Furthermore, a little more variety in the modes would have taken the title a long way. The multiplayer modes could have used some different levels as opposed to recycling the same content from single player in order to freshen it up, and the turbo mode would have benefitted from some alternate layouts to produce more challenge. Regardless, the levels do feature a decent build in difficulty and it might take some players a little of time to master the third set of levels in the turbo mode. Finally, Tomena Sanner wasn’t all that addictive, in my opinion. Since each level barely lasts two-minutes, the title definitely speaks to the short attention span that lurks within all of us. The title was great to come back to here and there, but I couldn’t see myself playing Tomena Sanner for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. It’s all perfectly fine in getting players to come back. However, don’t expect to have marathon sessions of the title.

I can’t say many negative things about the presentation, though, as it really assists in punching through the quirky nature of Tomena Sanner. The graphics have a cell-shaded look that borrows artistic direction from titles such as Out of This World and Feel the Magic, featuring vibrant characters that lack detail such as faces and fingers. While some gamers might scoff at the lack of detail, Tomena Sanner has a cartoon-style look that goes hand-in-hand with what the game tries to accomplish. The backgrounds also have a fair amount of scenery displayed in the same style, but in order to make the style effective, the game needs to animate well and Tomena Sanner does exactly that. Again, seeing Tomena Sanner in motion takes me back to games such as Out of This World and Flashback, where animation was also handled extremely well. Since the title relies so much on its animations, watching the game is almost as fun as playing it and for some people, these animations could potentially be their favorite part of the entire game.

The game’s audio will mostly be one of the three accompanying music tracks that are placed with each of the game’s stages and while most of it is enjoyable to listen to, it perhaps doesn’t match the frantic pace of the gameplay. I suppose it is weird to say something is out of place in this title, but I felt most of the music in the title was easily forgettable outside of the breakdancing sample that plays at the end of each level. The sound effects have some notable pop to them as they accompany most of the timing animations. Each one is suitable for the situation and well done and they really add emphasis to the animations. I could have done without some of the voice and random noise samples that trigger every time the player meets with an obstacle marker, though. Most of them are unnecessary, and after you hear the same clip played out back to back within seconds, you’ll most likely want them to go away. In all, though, Konami developed Tomena Sanner’s audio to match up with the absurdity of the premise and it succeeds on that front. However, I didn’t find all of it to be as enjoyable as other aspects of the title.

While the title has its ups and downs, most of what is presented is quite original and when all is said and done, Tomena Sanner is a fun 10-minute time killer that players can come back to every now and again. This title is an easy recommendation to anyone who feels the United States doesn’t get enough of Japan’s quirky video game titles. The $5 price tag also makes it easy to pitch to gamers looking for an innovative and humorous title on the cheap. Tomena Sanner might be a little too out there for some gamers to get into, but, as I’ve said earlier, the title is almost just as fun to watch as it is to play and items such as the running commentary at the top and bottom of the screen caters to those who would rather watch than play.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 3 of 5

If you like your gaming ripe with Japanese zaniness, there is no alternative to Tomena Sanner on WiiWare. The game’s quirky nature will no doubt be what pulls most players in and its simple, yet solid, timing-based platforming will ensure they have a good time while playing. Players will get a unique presentation with the title and its animations are no doubt the highlight of the title. A decent spread of challenge and multiplayer modes stretch the title just a little bit, but at the end of the day, there is little to see in Tomena Sanner, which features only about an hour’s worth of content. Tomena Sanner is more of a title players will come back to in short bursts as opposed to sitting through long gameplay sessions and all of the game’s modes recycle the exact same gameplay levels. Regardless of its negatives, though, the title’s one-button nature should help anyone get into the title, making it a solid title to pick up at the 500 Wii Point level.

DSi Ware: Faceez

With the Nintendo DSi implementing its cameras and social features to compete with the likes of the iPod Touch, it was a matter of time before we began seeing more apps surface among the games. At the end of February, French developer/publisher Neko Entertainment entered this field, offering up a photo application entitled Faceez, available only on the Nintendo DSiWare service. Thankfully, Faceez enters in as one of a handful of apps that are actually making use of the dual camera setup integrated into the Nintendo DSi and steps in to give DSi owners a more robust creative portal in which they can alter their snapshots and spring them to life. Seeing as there is no gameplay to speak of in Faceez, this application might not be for everyone, but anyone interested in having a competent tool to go hand in hand with the cameras they spent $170 on should take notice of Faceez and its extremely suitable $2 price tag.

Again, please note Faceez is an application or a photo tool, to be more exact. As I do not classify it as a game, certain review elements and score labels are adjusted to accommodate as such.

Being a $2 photo application on the DSiWare service, Faceez is about as straightforward as one gets with its purpose and offerings. Faceez allows users to snap a photo of a visage on the fly or utilize existing photos saved on an SD card in order to create a Faceez – a creature that features an oversized portrait for a head and body, complete with stick-like arms and legs. Once a user has pasted someone’s (or something’s) face onto the Faceez, they are given a pre-existing set of more than 150 accessories ranging from hats to facial hair to a tuna the Faceez can hold in its hand. Once the appearance has been decided, the user can then select an animation such as ballet dancing or rapping motions for the Faceez and place them over an in-software background or another photo that has been already saved to the SD card. The user can then take a snapshot of this Faceez to save to their memory and by using the Nintendo DSi Wi-Fi service, you can slap these bad boys up on Facebook.

There you have it. That is the entire premise of Faceez, but the application strives on its simplicity and is very serviceable for 200 Wii Points, especially considering most companies wouldn’t settle for less than a $5 price point on most video gaming services. The application is very easy to use as the title will guide you through the photo process and the menus feature touch screen commands and tabs that are clear and easily understood. Most of the controls are laid out with scrolling bars and arrows the user can press to scroll through options and each command is very responsive. The Facebook sharing has been a key selling point for the title and its ease of use and camera functionality actually grabs at the purpose of the Nintendo DSi – making portable gaming a social outlet for casual gamers. Faceez nails this mission perfectly.

Most of the visuals depend on the user, seeing as a lot of the content is transferred over from photos snapped by the Nintendo DS or saved on the SD card, the title’s graphics are a matter of how well the user can take photos, along with the quality of the DSi’s camera. For the most part, this works out very well and the application even gives the user pointers with lighting, backgrounds, positioning and personal grooming in order to produce the best picture possible, which further adds to its accessibility. The in-software props aren’t overly detailed, but the cartoony look of the items works hand-in-hand with the silliness of the Faceez. However, the real treat is in getting the Faceez to animate, which generally results in some pretty funny scenarios, especially when you have a friend’s face attached.

The sound in Faceez is serviceable, but forgettable, with low-key music that merely serves a backdrop and typical menu-surfing sound effects. While the audio might not be too memorable, I doubt the goal was create powerful audio to accompany the application. The sound here does what it needs to do and nothing more.

Even though Faceez really hits the mark for a $2 application, there are a few aspects that drag the overall experience down a little. First, it would have been nice to utilize the Facebook functionality straight from the application instead of having to trudge back out to the Nintendo DSi menu. Normally, it wouldn’t have been such an issue, but when such a focal point of the game is being able to share the snapshots on Facebook, one will probably expect the feature to be implemented within the app. On that same token, there is no DSi-to-DSi sharing of any sort for the application, which would users to share photos or animated Faceez – a missed opportunity for those that would be devious enough to snap a shot of a fellow DSi player while they aren’t paying attention and send them a crazy caricature of themselves. While the application is entertaining for one person for maybe ten minutes at a time, it is quite amusing to see what a group of friends can come up with, especially since you can group multiple Faceez in the same picture, so being able to share somehow would have put this application up a few more notches.

With the odd number price points that release on the Ware services, DSi owners will sometimes find themselves with a couple hundred extra points to burn and Faceez is a solid recommendation to anyone that would like to have something that actually utilizes their cameras. For a couple of bucks, the application offers a surprising amount of items to throw onto your photos and users are only limited to their imagination and number of items they can conveniently photograph. The application might lose steam quickly for those that prefer to game by themselves and the lack of gameplay might turn some people away outright, however, Faceez is one of the more interesting and entertaining application items I’ve come across on DSiWare.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 3 of 5

Even though Faceez is a photo application, its wacky creativity, use of the DSi cameras and low price point create a satisfying application offering for the Nintendo DSi. A few more functionality additions would have taken the application up a few notches, but, as it is, Faceez accomplishes what it set out to do with positive results. Outfitting your friends and family in goofy attire and animating them is genuinely amusing and the software makes this process painless. If you don’t mind spending a few paltry bucks on a solid application, you can’t go wrong with this title.

PSP Review: Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake

After a stellar 2009, the PSP’s library has dried up a tad, but it is still running strong thanks to the launch of PSP Minis and the handheld’s digital delivery platform. As such, it’s still refreshing when we see Sony roll out with a new original company-exclusive series that displays the uniqueness of its freshman portable effort. Tomorrow sees the release of Titan Studio’s Fat Princess on the PSP, under the subtitle Fistful of Cake, this time re-developed by SuperVillian Studios. A few slices had to be taken from this cake in order to accommodate the jump from the Playstation 3, however, the premise and extra content hold up well in the transition, even though there are some annoying caveats to keep in mind if you have an eye on this treat.

Much like the original version, Fistful of Cake oversees two armies – one blue and one red – duking it out in blood-soaked medieval-style combat. The premise is one of capture the flag, however, Fat Princess obviously substitutes a fair damsel in place of a flag. Carrying out your mission could be as simple as running straight through the opposition’s defenses and hiking back to your castle with the princess in tow, however, in video game fashion, of course, there is more to the premise. The princesses can be fattened up with magical cake, temporarily making them much harder to carry. In the meantime, the rest of the map unfolds with strategic warfare that sees players donning hats that assign them classes such as warriors, archers and mages, along with critical workers that gather up wood and stone materials to build barricades, ladders and catapults while also being able to upgrade the various hat machines for more powerful and versatile classes.

Fistful of Cake introduces a single-player “The Legend of the Fat Princess” mode that lays down an overall story. The princesses of the two warring factions used to meet up in gatherings, but upon discovering the magical cake in the forest, their craving for the cake creates a difficult situation for both kingdoms. Not too far into the mode, it is discovered that the craving curse can only be cured by the kiss of a prince and when it is declared Prince Albert (ugh …) will be in the area in the near future, the war between the two kingdoms becomes serious business as each king does everything in his power to make sure their daughter is the one that secures the prince’s affections. The story is hardly amazing, but it does a fair job in a genre that probably in most cases wouldn’t even attempt to craft an expanded narrative. Fortunately, Tom Kane (most notable recently for his work as Mr. Herriman on Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends) provides narration and commentary during the game, and his gruff, gentlemanly voice is a perfect fit for the fairy tale nature of the game, bumping the story’s appeal up quite a bit.

Thankfully, the title gives players quite a few modes to fall back on. Not only can the story mode be played on multiple difficulty settings, but the player can tackle a battle in free mode that allows for a healthy selection of modes that include four modes original to the PSP version. A survival-type mode also allows players to enter an arena and forsake the strategy elements of the main game to fend off enemies for as long as they can stay alive. Ad-Hoc and infrastructure modes allow for multiplayer, although the PSP version cuts the number of players allowed in a game. With features that allow a player to customize their avatars, extra maps and other exclusives, and a large number of different modifiers, there is actually a lot to do and see in Fistful of Cake, definitely giving players their money’s worth.

Even though the game is making a move to the PSP, the title doesn’t suffer too much in its presentation. The audio is still in the player’s face with satisfying combat sound effects and gruesome weapon blows that spill buckets of blood, and each tune is appropriate to the situation or stage, which really drives the action. Tom Kane’s commentary can be repetitive, but not only do the phrases alert players to happenings in the battle, hearing the various internet memes in his voice is sure to give most players a good chuckle.

Visually, the game makes great use of vivid colors, which really bring the environments to life. The menus and storybook sections feature cute-style handrawn art that is quite unique and humorous, and the menus are clean and filled with humorous descriptors of each option. The characters, on the other hand, suffer a little due to the zoomed-out nature of the maps. The soldiers are fairly jaggy around the edges and it is hard to discern much detail in the model or animations, which can really put players’ eyes to the test when groups of soliders meet in combat. In all, though, Fistful of Cake’s presentation really comes through to provide quality visuals and audio for the player to soak in.

The gameplay in Fistful of Cake is pretty straightforward, offering up very responsive controls. Characters control fluidly and most of the time respond as the player would like them to. Occasionally, there will some issues in picking up items, and it is at times a chore to reach up to the d-pad to attempt to control any CPU teammates in the area, but otherwise, the control is scheme is comfortable and makes sense. Likewise, the gameplay is just as straightforward, as while there are numerous modes of play, each one has a simple concept and the player is given a lot of freedom in accomplishing most of the goals.

Unfortunately, the biggest slam against Fistful of Cake is made evident when the player doesn’t have any humans to fill in the slots in their army. I’ll use the term “intelligence” loosely when describing the AI, as your CPU companions will do some downright frustrating things to make your mission two hundred percent more difficult than it should be.

In the mode where players are required to drop a bomb off in the opposing throne room, my AI would carry the bomb all the way to the goal. The bomb must set for about five seconds before going off, but at the last second, one of my CPU soldiers would pick up the bomb and kill everyone in the area with the explosion. Whatever. The final straw, though, came when the CPU did this to me three times in a row. You’ll also be constantly fighting against your CPU worker class for resources. In the mission where players must assemble an altar in the middle of the map, your CPU workers will be far more interested in wasting your resources to build ladders and gates and upgrade various hat machines. Even in the most simplistic of missions, I never know what my CPU teammates are doing because they sure aren’t interested in helping me nab the opposing princess, even when I attempt to utilize the feature to command units to tag along with me. In all, the CPU seems to have its own agenda no matter the goal of the current battle and these instances really grate away at an otherwise fun strategy title.

When you can actually click with your army and get things done, Fistful of Cake is actually quite rewarding, providing players with a satisfying blend of action and strategy. The game’s presentation and unique premise, combined with its humor, craft a very appealing title, and even with its downsides, Fat Princess is still a winner. There are six exclusive maps to provide more value and all of the maps feature quite a variety in environments and throw out some tricky terrain to traverse. There is a good variety of modes even for a single player, though the oafish AI might drive down the replay value and addictiveness the title would otherwise have. With a review copy prior to launch, I wasn’t able to test out the multiplayer, but future players can look forward to four versus four matchups. While this would still leave CPU drones on your teams, at least then you could look forward to up to three other (hopefully) competent soldiers to back you up. Fistful of Cake has the makings of a great title; unfortunately, the AI issues are seriously a big enough of a drag to hold the title back a few notches from “must-buy” territory.

While Fistful of Cake is a port of a PS3 title, you won’t really find anything else like it on the system and a number of refreshing changes have been made to provide exclusive content. If you can find a way to shake off the frustration the AI will no doubt dish out to you, Fistful of Cake is worth every penny. It’s got a lot of charm and solid gameplay to back it up, but players won’t get the most out of their time with the game unless they dive into the online or local multiplayer.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 of 5

Fistful of Cake is what the PSP really needs right now – Sony-exclusive titles with a ton of charm and appeal. This Fat Princess remake features a ton of solid gameplay, unique strategy elements, great presentation and exclusive game content that provides great variety. There are a few technical issues, but interested gamers will really have to take some narrow-minded AI into account. Your CPU drones will do things that will make you triple facepalm and these instances really drag the game down a bit. Outside of these issues, Fistful of Cake is fantastic game that will give PSP owners a great distraction for only $19.99.

Xbox Indie Review: Lewjmele

Originally from Diehard GameFAN.com

We’re known to not ignore the Xbox LIVE Indies service when we can and today’s quick look comes in the form of Prodigy’s Lewjmele, a vertical shmup that hit the service recently. The chosen genre pits Lewjmele against some classic shmup titles on Xbox LIVE Arcade such as Ikaruga, Triggerheart Exlica and 1942, and even other Indie efforts such as Shoot 1Up. Against these titles, Prodigy gives the genre an honest go but, in the end, some much-needed polish is needed to make Lewjmele a contender.

The game’s $5 price point puts it in a better position to appeal to gamers over most of the titles on the Arcade service. As such, though, the title doesn’t come packed with a large amount of features, leaving players with a story mode and a score attack mode. The story mode does offer players the choice of experiencing a cycle of five stages from the unique perspectives of three different characters, which extends the playability of the title a little bit. Otherwise, the score attack mode merely allows the player to choose a specific stage and go for broke. Both modes provide three different difficulty levels, though, so bullet hell veterans can pump up the challenge if they wish. Finally, while character-driven shmups can be acceptable single-player endeavors, it would have been nice to allow a local buddy jump in to add more value to the game modes.


Even though the title is a shmup, Lewjmele actually makes somewhat of an effort to tell a story, which is contrary to many titles in the genre. An ancient weapon “Lewjmele” was discovered by civilization and, over time, it was discovered it could give people the power of necromancy. The weapon was hidden because people began to abuse its powers and, in typical gaming fashion, this weapon gets into the wrong hands once again. As the struggle for power tears the land apart, three heroes from differing nations depart to bring peace to the land. Each character has his or her own story that accompanies the story mode at the beginning of each chapter. Unfortunately, while this should make the game’s characters and world interesting, some of the text is awkwardly translated and it disappears from the screen far too fast for most people to actually read it.

For an Indie title, Lewjmele actually sports some solid presentation. The attempted anime stylings should appeal to those interested in the artform and while a lot of character models aren’t too detailed and can be too small for comfort, they are certainly colorful. The game’s projectiles are also fairly vivid, which allows them to play into Lewjmele’s gem mechanic, which I will detail in just a bit. While the characters are 2-D, they are placed over a generally well-done 3-D background. These backgrounds sport some fair detail and the scrolling is spot on, making transitions such as traversing down a hollow spire in stage five memorable.

Lewjmele’s sound gets the job done without being spectacular. The game’s music provides some energy and drives most of the stages along well enough, but many of the title’s sound effects are meek and it seems certain situations such as boss explosions demand a lot more effects. The title does have some Japanese voiceovers to give the sound its biggest punch, but it could have definitely used some more effects to flesh out the audible experience.

Unfortunately, the gameplay in Lewjmele, doesn’t hold up as well. That’s not to say the title is downright horrible, but some nagging issues, steep difficulty and lack of gameplay explanations really show the title needed some more polish before being unleashed.

Lewjmele shows some innovation in its gem slot mechanic, allowing players to capture gem pieces in one of three slots to dictate the style of their firepower. If the player captures three of the same-colored gem, their aura then turns that color, making them impervious to enemy fire of that color. It’s an intriguing concept that is used fairly well in-game, but this is explained nowhere in the game and it took two to three playthroughs before I understood what exactly the gems did outside of increasing the number of projectiles I shot.

Outside of that mechanic, Lewjmele brings nothing new to the table for the genre, which isn’t exactly bad news for those that love the genre, but you’ll get a share of game issues in tow. The hit detection in some instances, especially for bosses, seemed a tad spotty and there were a number of instances where I felt I shouldn’t have taken a hit, which, coupled with occasional lag, made for a frustrating experience. The bosses also have a number of uninspired bullet patterns, with some cheap ones keeping you from attacking it thanks to the extremely narrow range of your character’s projectiles. The decision to frame the playfield is confusing as there is no arcade monitor aspect ratio to obtain and this results in a very narrow playfield with a lot of wasted space. Lastly, nothing really interesting seems to happen outside of the boss battles, which is a shame, especially considering how short each level is.


With these issues, it’s hard to call Lewjmele addictive and if it weren’t for the roster of different character stories, there would essentially be zero replayability in the title, sans leaderboards. The difficult nature of the title (filling the screen as soon as the first stage, even on easy) won’t do much for casual players and, unfortunately, the options of playing better shmup titles doesn’t bode well for appeal from fans of the genre. There are some options to change factors such as health to your advantage, but given the game gives the player no direction whatsoever, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see someone move on quickly after they fail to grasp some of the game’s mechanics. Ultimately, while the title does have some noticeable high points, it’s hard to say it gives the player value, even at $5.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 2 of 5

Lewjmele is far from the worst game I’ve ever played, but it is disappointing to see its flaws, considering, with a little more polish, it could have been a great addition to a shmup fan’s library. The title has favorable presentation, it actually attempts to give a player a full story and there are some unique stylings to its gameplay. However, its lack of interesting game modes, uninspired stage design, poor hit detection and more really dampen the title’s gameplay and replayability. When you stack the difficulty on top of these issues, the appeal really starts to wane and gamers will most likely move on with their $5. With a solid foundation, though, if Prodigy can move on and remedy these issues, a Lewjmele sequel would likely deliver a lot more value to the player.

My Persuasion Theory Final Project for The University of Toledo

I will be creating a propaganda campaign of my own in which I will represent and work with the company Galloping Ghost studios in the promotion and brand image building of its first product. Galloping Ghost Studios is an independent video game developer and arcade vendor based in Brookfield, IL, and its first product is a motion-captured fighting arcade machine titled Dark Presence.

In the promotion of Dark Presence, the company has two critical roadblocks to overcome, both based on the format it represents: It features direct digital footage of live actors (to compare it to the most popular fighting title using digitized footage, Midway’s Mortal Kombat from 1992, while not the first to implement live actors into a fighting video game, was the first to use the technique to critical and financial success) and it is being developed as an arcade title.

The digital footage arises as an issue due to the fact that following the success of Mortal Kombat, many companies attempted to cash in on the concept and it created a fad of digitized fighters in which a large number of very poor quality titles were developed. Furthermore, the former home console developer SEGA forced a number of very poor quality full motion video titles (games where the player watched the action unfold through digital movies utilizing actors and sets) in order to drive its SEGA CD disc-based format, also in 1992. With many companies believing digital footage to be the future of video games, this concept was forced onto gamers and the poor quality of the majority of the product, as deemed by aggregate criticisms, led to the failure and conditioned opinion of the format.

Given the timing of the full motion fad, this is going to have a great effect on the groups that Aristotle defines as the prime of age and the elderly. Because of the glut of poor quality of digitized games in the early to mid ‘90s, many people have what Huxley’s Brave New World’s Director refers to as an “instinctive hatred” of the format. This represents the Pavlovian approach to propaganda; thus, any media based on Dark Presence will most likely act as a stimulus that triggers this with “reflexes unalterably conditioned.” This is a clear area where horizontal propaganda will work against the company and it is perhaps the biggest obstacle to clear considering certain publics are already denouncing the product solely due to similarities to products released in the ‘90s.

Secondly, the development of an arcade title is a risky proposition in the 21st Century, considering the weakened state of the industry in the United States. Many of the most prominent arcade developers began to focus solely on the home console market in the late ‘90s and in the previous decade due to the technology catching up to the quality seen in arcades. Online gaming has replaced the social aspect of arcades and the social stereotype of arcades developed in the ‘80s – children skipping school, loitering and causing trouble in town – led to a number of strict coin operation laws that crippled a number of these locations. In fact, only two months ago, a pinball parlor in Beacon, NY, was shuttered due to the city’s decision to enforce a law created in the ‘80s. These laws have even affected Galloping Ghost in the opening of its first arcade in Brookfield, IL, due to an old law that prohibits more than six coin-operated machines in a single business.

Furthermore, thanks to runaway hits such as Konami’s DanceDanceRevolution (a title which plays original tunes and licenses from the European Toshiba-EMI label while players were tasked to follow commands by stepping on floor panels in time to the music) and Namco’s Time Crisis (a gun game that allows players to seek cover from enemy bullets through the use of a foot pedal) spiked the utilization of “deluxe cabinets” (oversized or featuring controls beyond the typical joystick and buttons) in order to garner a gamer’s interest away from the home formats. Unfortunately, this also led to increased costs which many arcade owners couldn’t keep up with. With very few companies producing materials for the industry and a number of established arcade locations closing within the past five years, most outlets have publicly announced the format as “dead” and this is a sentiment many perceive as a fact even though it is an exaggeration. This again echoes the concepts of Pavlovian conditioning as well as Ellul’s theory of crystallization, which will be detailed later.

With the major obstacles defined, Galloping Ghost’s campaign will need to be set up in order combat these ingrained beliefs.

Immediately, Galloping Ghost has a fantastic weapon against these factors. The company is still in the middle of the game’s initial programming, so no one in the public has seen the game running in motion or been able to physically interact with the product. This is a key element and strength of any propaganda campaign as it puts the company in a position to interpret the reality of the product for the consumer. It also ties into another very powerful act of propaganda in wholly controlling the flow of information about the product, which Galloping Ghost is already handling very well. The head of the company Dock Mack is already selective in what information gets provided to the public, so this is an area where any future campaigning would benefit from.

This further allows the company to put out information based on what will be perceived to change behavior, or implement Dewey’s sense of public relations. Simple public relations sticks the facts out for the consumer, but effective PR interprets information for the consumer, as people remember interpretations far more clearly and when they reflect the values and beliefs of the audience, these interpretations are very effective calls to action.

A key starting point is in developing an identity or brand image for the Galloping Ghost company. By advertising who Galloping Ghost is, we can develop a sense of ethos for the audience in order to make the messages more effective. Since expertise is a key segment of ethos, we can establish that the development team is comprised of a number of competitive fighting game players based on arcade titles such as Midway’s Mortal Kombat, Capcom’s Street Fighter and more. The company can further develop its ethos by letting people know they own and operate their own arcade location and understand what it is arcade owners would be looking for in an arcade cabinet. Aristotle further states one can gain ethos through honesty, fairness, humor, positive attitude and sincerity, all of which could be reflected upon with any campaigns.

Galloping Ghost also has relationships which can garner ethos by proxy. The development has a working relationship with a majority of the martial arts actors that portrayed characters in the early Mortal Kombat games, so using their support benefits the company in a number of ways. First, it reflects the values and beliefs of quality – since these actors were in a successful game, they must be supporting another successful game. Secondly, having such recognition lends expertise and credibility to the product. Furthermore, while these actors are not featured in the game, they have recommended their own martial arts students for implementation in the game, which gives a portion of the cast notoriety. Lastly, those of prime or elder age will have memories of the Mortal Kombat titles and by having announced public appearances of these supporting actors, the company can gather fans and interested people to create a group, which has a number of benefits as indicated by Ellul and LeBon.

To further elaborate on groups, the systematic arrangement of the public will be a crucial element in the success of the game title. There are certainly a number of publics assembled based on the arcade industry and various other video game sources that cater to the industries Galloping Ghost is involved in, the youth and others not actively involved with games have to rely on other interpretive sources for their propaganda and nearly all of these reflect digitized games and arcades in a negative light. Seeing as a game of this nature hasn’t been attempted for more than a decade, the general consumer only has these “archaic” images to paint their beliefs and through the concept of crystallization (or selective perception), most of these people will only accept information that reflects what they currently believe.

The odd thing about the two main obstacles the company faces is they are both a pro and a con for the different age groups involved. The prime of age and elderly have fond memories of arcades, while the typical youth has no memory of arcades. On the other hand, the prime of age and elderly have reservations about digitized games, but this will seem likely an entirely new technology to the youth.

For the elderly, we can utilize Aristotelian thought to address the experience of those involved in the company and it needs to admit that the majority of the products introduced in the format are poor in quality. The practicality and usefulness of the features of the arcade cabinet need to be addressed and since Aristotelian thought indicates the elderly have no confidence in the future, it could be said instead that today’s technology corrects what has been attempted in the past.

Admittedly, the youth will easier to attract due to their nature, as described by Aristotle. They are easily swayed by sexuality and Dark Presence does feature a female cast and a few suggestive themes that would reflect the Freudian approach to propaganda. However, what really drives the youth appeal lies in the fact it is a video game: The youth has a love of victory and superiority which would result from the competitive nature of the game and tournaments and they are fond of friends and fun, which are social staples of the arcade environment. Furthermore, the youth are far more optimistic and accepting, so the game’s format would likely resonate better with this group.

Since arcades are now mostly prominent in larger cities, this brings Ellul’s concept of mass society theory into a more prominent light. Seeing as entertainment media is largely recognized as sociological propaganda, much of Dark Presence’s campaigning would address social needs for the public. Leading up to the launch of the game, public appearances of the title would be done in group fashion in order to more effectively promote the game. Game tests would be held in public places where many people gather and tournaments would draw in like-minded individuals to further promote horizontal propaganda. The company will also be utilizing social technologies such as Facebook to attract groups of people, so Galloping Ghost largely stands to benefit from horizontal and group propaganda.

Another technique implemented in promoting the product is in amplification. Making one aspect of something seem like many is something video game marketing does on a grand scale considering many games are built from the framework of a single premise. Stating the game has “15,000+ frames of animation, 200+ moves and reactions per character and 437 finishing moves” amplifies a simple aspect of the game and, at the same time, it provides relevant truths and facts for the consumer.

Using front organizations and accommodation will also further assist the product in its campaign. Galloping Ghost already utilizes fronts such as interest groups including Arcade Heroes, which will deliver any relevant message to the appropriate audience for the company. Galloping Ghost already has a front organization in its control, known as the Support Your Local Arcades initiative, which would come in great use in promoting the game. In order to further the use of these techniques, the company could set up “leaks” of game content or encourage the development of fan sites in order to spread the word from an “unbiased” source. The company could also further its reach of pubic relations by utilizing specialized services such as GamesPress.com, which would host content based on the game for games journalists to take and report on.

Lastly, and perhaps, most importantly, though, the company has to cognitively penetrate and stick in the minds of the consumer. This is already being done with the stress on the digitized live actors, but more can be done to push this crucial element of propaganda. The release of media and screenshots will stick the image of these live actors into people’s minds and by utilizing big visuals, the person will have a clear memory of what the images entail. I’ve already detailed how sexuality would stick, especially in the minds of the youth, and simple slogans can be used to stick into the consumer’s mind. The game title would also carry gnostic values, as the development of a game utilizing these formats is a rarity today.

In summation, Galloping Ghost could effectively campaign its first game title by utilizing a number of key elements we learned through the course of our persuasion theory course. It can implement nearly every single commandment of propaganda as applicable and many of the theories projected by Aristotle, Ellul and LeBon can be relevantly introduced. The company has two very large obstacles in the format it is utilizing, but these can be overcome by adjusting the messages based on age groups, enhancing the company’s ethos and brand image, segmenting and sending target groups specific messages, controlling the flow of information, reflecting on the values and beliefs of the audience and cognitively penetrating and sticking within the mind of the consumer. A number of external tools are available in order to promote effective horizontal propaganda, while combating rival propaganda that stems from conditioned beliefs.

Once further progress is made on the game, the public will become more involved with the product and the marketing efforts will increase in order to promote the title to arcade owners, which, in reality, is the true initial target market of the product. Arcade owners have memories of arcades as they were in the ‘80s and ‘90s, so reflections of these values will take the title very far. In order to continue making money and progress for Galloping Ghost, though, arcade gamers will also have to derive value from the product. By utilizing techniques already in place by the company, combined with other approaches, there is no reason Dark Presence cannot be successful in the ailing industry of coin-operated entertainment.