Borderlands set to hit store shelves in a little over a month

"Pfft, mines bigger"

In a little over a month North America and Europe will be able to finally get their hands on 'Borderlands' quite possibly the most anticipated RPG(/FPS) since 'Fallout 3'. Many are already comparing it to Fallout 3, in fact some even consider it a rip off of Fallout 3. Of course there are several obvious differences.

The game's mood/setting. Compared to Fallout 3 Borderlands takes a more light hearted approach to the whole wasteland survival thing. Not only are the characters flamboyant and are drawn in an exaggerated style, but their personalities are supposedly just as over the top and outrageous. You are basically trying to make your fortune on an alien world, but I am sure there is more meat to the story then that.

There is also vehicle combat in the game. You will be able to fight with the vehicles of course, but you will also be able to jump from vehicle to vehicle! I am rather excited to see how this feature will be implemented. Will you be able to crawl around on different points of the car? Will you be able to shoot the occupants or will you throw them out, or both? Can you stick some sort of explosive on the vehicle and roll off just in time? Yes it will be very interesting to see what you can do, hopefully they didn't water it down.

"This is really going to suck if I miss"

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to interesting features, there is of course a danger in that. Sometimes you can be overly ambitious and you end up with a lot of half thought out and half finished ideas. Sure you can list 100 million different additions to a gaming genre, but if they are not fully developed you end up with a true mess. These games are often buggy and have plenty of dead end story arch's and building blocks of quests but no quests to be found. What you are left with a large world and plenty of fetch missions, but you feel detached from the game's universe and you simply stop playing half way through.

2K has a game with tons of potential where it could even rival Fallout 3. The question is, did they come through and deliver a great game, or is this another Two World's type flop? Look for my review of 'Borderlands' this October!

Worms 2: Armageddon Review

Worms 2: Armageddon

-Developer: Team 17

-Publisher: Microsoft

-Platforms: XBOX 360 (Xbox Live Arcade), Playstation 3 (PSN eventually), Mac OSX, Windows

-Genre: Strategy Games

-ESRB: Everyone 10+

Review

Once upon a time there was a little studio Team 17, they were able to combine action, explosions, talking worms, and flying sheep all in one game, you just have gotta hand it too those wacky Brit's. The original worms (for the PC) was a cult hit, filling our hearts with joy and well, exploding sheep. The studio also made a great sequel called Worms Armageddon (well there were others…but they shall not be named).

Thankfully for all those who missed PC Gaming’s glory days you have been brought a gift. Both Worms and Worms Armageddon were redone and made into XBOX Live Arcade games. Just as the first Worms, Worms 2: Armageddon is selling rather well and is one of the top Arcade titles out there.

Because Worms 2 sticks with the same 2D side view game engine as its predecessor Worms, you will find the same down to earth simply game mechanics. You basic goal is of course to hit the enemy (or blow up, gun down, knock off the edge of the map, castrate, etc). To do this you are given your own personal worm forces of 1-4 worms. You can create a team name, give your team a funny accent (more on that later), and add funny tombstones so your worms can go out in style.

To crush your enemy you are given a wide variety of weapons and tools. You have your bazooka, a machine gun (Uzi), you even have shotguns and guided missiles. Those of course are your basic weapons, if you truly want to piss your pants you can send in the sheep. Yes you can actually release a sheep that will hop around and explode on command, by the way did I mention it is one of the most powerful weapons? And just like the original you can use jet-packs, ropes, and teleportation to speed up your worm’s travel.

There are several new weapons in Worms 2, such as a flying version of the sheep called a super sheep, it puts on a little cape and flies around, it moves fast and is somewhat difficult to control in the beginning, but the hilarity factor is a 10/10. Some other new weapons are the bull of lies, the banana bomb, and the dreaded holy hand grenade, yes a grenade that will sign Hallelujah before it explodes killing those enemy worms (or your own, eventually everyone misses!). There are two new super weapons that exist in the game, but I would rather you use them for the first time to experience them. Generally speaking the weapons are funny and provide a good deal of enjoyment as you struggle to use them without pissing your trousers. The only negative I can give the game as far as how they managed the weapons was that they did not bring back the Old Lady or mad cow’s from the PC version of the game, but of course if you didn’t play the PC version you won’t miss it.

Perhaps Worms weakest aspect was it’s single player. Although the campaign did provide a bit of a challenge it seemed short and almost boring. Thankfully the people at Team 17 decided to expand upon the gameplay and increase the number of missions (now up to 35). The missions vary from simple kill your enemy to new missions that test your ability to think your way out of a problem or testing your jet pack or roping skills. Besides the campaign you have a training min-campaign that allows you to pick up some core skills, this is recommended for beginners!

After a short time the single player campaign will be beaten and you will move on to what is perhaps the games greatest asset, it’s multiplayer. Both local and online multiplayer support up to 4 player (except online ranked matches which only support 2 players). There are 5 online game modes, beginner, standard, pro, rope racing and crazy crates with the first 3 being essentially standard game modes and the later two being specialty games. All multiplayer levels are randomly chosen and no two are ever the same (although they may be similar).

Wait a minute, that airstrike wasn't there before!

A worms famous last words

There is an in-game shop (don’t worry you basically earn all the gold you will ever need). There you can buy things such as new tombstones or levels. Oddly you have to buy the final 5 campaign levels.

The game does look somewhat better and crisper then its original PC version but not much better then its Xbox Live Arcade predecessor. That being said the game’s 2D cartoon feel means you are willing to forgive them on that point. The levels themselves look good and variable. With giant clocks or buildings, even soda cans. With 100% destructible environments it is easy to fall in love with blowing up the landscape. The game’s graphics while not stunningly beautiful fit with the game’s not to serious attitude.

The game’s menu’s are simple and straightforward making navigation a non-issue. The menu is bouncing and funny just like the rest of the game, throughout the game you get a sense of fun and a laid back atmosphere, something that is sorely missing from the gaming industry in recent years.

The sights of the game are accompanied by appropriately humorous voice acting. Your character’s will make fun of their opponents and themselves, even occasionally you while they go about the worm business of kill or be killed. There a wide variety of voices to chose from, each with its own accent and list of dialogue the worms will say. Still the dialogue often repeat (even in one game which may only last 5 minutes), so it would have been nice to see some more dialogue added.

Even though most of the weapons seem to share the same 4-5 sounds some of the more radical weapons such as the holy hand grenade, super-sheep, or a certain weapon involving a donkey have simple yet perfectly appropriate sounds attached to them.

Overall the game delivers excellent value for an Arcade title. It is primarily a casual multiplayer game but offers enough nuisance’s to keep you entertained for a long time. This sequel is an improvement worth paying for.

Gameplay: 85%

The game delivers a wacky cartoonish feel. The weapons are impressive as is the team customization, something that could easily have been forgotten when making the game, (attention to detail! I love it). A solid single player campaign now accompanies the great online play. The only real improvement would be to expand upon the specialty game mode’s

Presentation: 85%

The game’s wacky humour and interesting landscapes make for a good time by all. I would like to see a few more options and items for you to customize your worms. The worms are funny as are the weapon's. The comedic laid back attitude that is sorely missed in video gaming today is well represented in this game.

Graphics: 65%

This game is not the most graphically gifted game, that being said it does look great for what it is so it gets an above average score. Still it will not blow you away by any means.

Sound: 70%

Good voice acting and funny dialogue. That being said the dialogue will run through itself very quickly so you will have to continually change your accents to maintain a sense of variety, and frankly some of the accents are just much better then the others (not the others are bad, simply not as good).

Value: 75%

This game is a must buy for anyone who has a sense of humor. The game’s improvements warrant another 800MS point charge and is great value for money. EVEN if you have Worms Armageddon on your computer I would say get this game from Xbox Live Marketplace, play with some friends and have a good time!

Overall: 79%

The game delivers very well on the humor front, a great game for you and your friends to play if you are just looking for a casual game packed with laughs.

Halo ODST

Halo 3: ODST is coming!

Many Halo fans have high hopes for Halo ODST. Wait sorry, Halo 3: ODST, apparently it is just an expansion. An expansion that has few if any recurring characters, follows an entirely different plot, at a different time, and moves into an entirely new direction as far as how the campaign goes. I hope video game developers take note of how ridiculous it is to call this an expansion, it does not expand on the gameplay at all, it creates an entirely new game!

I myself liked all three Halo games, but I am happy to see the franchise go in a different direction. The series, although graphically enhanced over the years has really not delivered any major forward movement as far as gameplay. Of course some can argue that really there is no way to improve the gameplay in any major fashion. There in lies the delyma, how do you improve a game that really came out incredibly strong in the first place? Well you really can't so you make a sideways move an milk the game's universe for all its sweet universe milk...or something....anyway moving on.

ODST takes place after Master Chief and the gang follow the Prophet of Regret's ship into slipspace. You take the role of an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper who is sent in to well, do all the cleaning up after New Mombasa has all its charm and beauty beaten out of it by the Covenant. Luckily it was just East Africa and probably wasn't too built up anyway.

This game will play different then games previous. Since you lack Master Chief and his ability to take an amazing amount of abuse you have to be a bit more careful as to how you go about the game, and since you aren’t a super-human and lack the super-spartan armor you can't jump 5-6 feet in the air. That’s right not only can you no longer take 3-5 shots to the chest, but you cannot Halo jump your way to safety!

Since the physics engine is the same as Halo 3 the game's mechanics will largly remain (apparently Microsoft wanted this out in 3 instead of 4 years so the team couldn't make a new engine). But because of the aforementioned ODST vs Master Chief differences you are basically like a well equipped Marine. So after all those years of making fun of the marines and cursing them for getting in the way you now get to be in their shoes. Knowing one or two good shots will down you means that you may think twice about running through the wide open spaces you come across, or peaking around the corner that second time.

Man, I shouldn't have wasted the spartan laser on those grunts....

Hopefully this game will not backfire for Bungie, but I have faith in their staff, they are a good company, take good care of fans and generally don't screw up to badly when they screw up at all. The big question is whether Halo fans will get on board. Sure casual Halo fans like myself will probably like the change of pace, but the Halo fanboy community (and it is a large community) may very well compare the game to Call of Duty and curse ODST.

I will be curious to see how this unfolds on all fronts, will the fact that this is Bungie's second to last Halo game hurt the game at all? Of course we will just have to sit back and wait to see the result.

Look out for my game review of Halo ODST later this September.

PS, sorry for taking so long for a new post, have been trying to find a job (well two actually) etc, etc.

Disney Takeover of Marvel

Marvel's Characters are Just plain cool, but could their gritty nature be threatened?

Yes you read the title correctly, Marvel the iconic anti-hero comic book giant has been taken over by Disney, the ultimate conformist and kid-friendly corporation in the world in a 4 billion doller deal.

Like many my first reaction was one of shock. After all this deal came completly out of left field. Virtually no one had heard anything that would have lead one to believe that Disney was in the process of taking over Marvel. And like most my secondary reaction was on of disgust.

I like Disney just fine, but it is a company that caters to young suburban youth. This demographic is the opposite of what Marvel caters to. Marvel's 1000's of characters usually fall into the category of the anti-hero. Troubled heros that save the world (or not) all while dealing with various addictions or past sins. My fear is that Marvel may become so Disneyfied that it will lose its character.

My second fear is that the already shaky comic book market will become even more uncertain. Comic book sales have already fallen roughly 1/3 this year. This is after years of steadily falling market share and steadily rising costs. What Disney is really buying is the right to all the intellectual property. Although Paramount owns the rights to Iron Man, and 20th Century Fox has the Fantastic Four there are 1000's of characters yet to be pimped out. Disney wants to expand into a more adult oriented market (as they have been over the past few decades). Having a company under a different name allows Disney to keep its kid friendly image while having access and older and generally more financially flushed age bracket.

You may be asking, "Why is this important, this is a gaming blog?". Well the Marvel Universe has dozens of games attached to it. Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Marvel Ultimate Alliance just to name a few. There are so many sequels and future titles to be released Disney has bought into the video game market. With the way the entertainment industry is heading Video Games are going to be more important then the movie or TV industry. In this way Disney will have better connections with game studios and more market exposure. Whether or not Disney planned this is debatable. They have done a piss poor job of entering the video game market thus far. One would assume that the Marvel licenced video games were considered as they have become an increasingly important part of the company.

In the end I expect Disney to roughly stay true to the Marvel Universe. After all why buy the company just to tear it apart. But a little piece of Marvel has died. It will slowely be engulfed by Disney, such is the way of nearly all takeovers. Hopefully it will retain some of its character and against the norm charm, only time will tell.