The list of video games I own and have yet to play have gotten to such an amount over the years that I fear I will likely simply not even get around to playing some of them. Due to this, I have been more harsh lately, skipping games if I feel I am just not 'getting' them. This gave me the idea of creating a new series of posts. Titled 'Rotted Meat', these won't be reviews, but instead the impressions I had of certain games, and what led to me abandoning them. The first of these is Joe's Diner...
The Synopsis:
The game is a horror survival game that takes place out in the desert at a remote diner (Joe's Diner obviously). You play as a night-time employee of the diner, and have unusual tasks assigned to you. The place happens to have been built on the site of a Native American burial ground where two rival chieftains were buried. The hate they share for each other even resides in death, and so one of your jobs is to diffuse any supernatural occurrences that might arise due to the spirits of the chieftains still warring.
How the game felt:
This is one of those horror games where you are defenceless, and instead of fighting, you must sneak around the environment trying your best not to get killed by the evil spirits. Having a limited shift time, the game is split into different nights, much in the way of Five Nights at Freddy's, though here you are free to walk around rather than stuck in a single room. The game was unremarkable, basic looking, and really not a lot of fun.
Reason for abandoning the game:
I started playing this shortly before upgrading to a Playstation 5, and Joe's Diner was one of the rare games that wasn't backward compatible on the new system, leading to me ditching it. Sure, I could have hooked up my Playstation 4 had I really wanted to play this one again, but I found the game super boring and dull, and so I really wasn't bothered about ever going through the minor hoops to return.
Citadale: Gate of Souls was originally released on the Wii-U last year and has now been re-released as part of the Citadale: The Legends Trilogy which funnily enough is made up of three different games. These games are modelled on the classic Castlevania series, so much so that many plot points, level design, and enemy types, as well as the weapon system are virtually copied totally. Nowadays with Konami seemingly refusing to make any more Castlevania games a copy is better than nothing, and thankfully Citadale is a damn fun game.
So there are three games to be found here, each one can only be played once the one before it has been completed. Starting off is Citadale: Gate of Souls. A Dark Lord (who is in no way Dracula) terrorises the land, playing as Sonja Dorleac and wielding the Dark Lord killer 'Shadow Blade' you make your way to his castle to meet up with your husband (who happens to be the Dark Lord's son) in order to seal his Dad away behind the Gate of Souls.
The second game is Citadale: Curse of Darkness, it is 24 years later and with the seal on the Gate of Souls weakening, a wizard (the son of Sonja) has headed to Citadale in order to repair it to full power. After failing to return Sonja's other son Gabriel decides to also make the journey to see what has come of his brother.
Finally you have Citadale: Legacy of Fate, 17 more years have passed and now the wizard's son Christopher makes the fateful journey to the dark castle as evil is once again rising to suffocate the land.
This is a very nostalgic game as it is made to resemble an 8-bit game, like the early Castlevania's were. The graphics are simple but with modern technology there is far more animation to them, while the amazing soundtrack is done in the chiptune style. It is a 2D platformer that has you battling through various locations such as forests, caves, mines and castles with a unique boss at the end of each level. The variation of these bosses is impressive with only one repeating over the 18 levels (a giant eyeball that behaves and looks differently each time). These bosses have simple attack patterns but are fun to fight and range from skeletal demons, giant insects and humanoid foes and they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Normal enemies range from zombies to skeletons, ghosts, bats and spiders. There are some that appear to be ripped straight out of Castlevania in the way they look, especially a large knight with a shield, and the final boss for Gate of Souls that not only has a battle that takes place in an identical throne room to Castlevania but the boss is a vampire who teleports around the room and summons bats.
I had long wanted Severed and so when I saw it on sale on the Playstation store I immediately brought it, downloaded it and started playing, I finished the whole six and a half hour game in three sittings. It is from the makers of Guacamelee! which is very apparent by the bright visual art style.
You play as Sasha; a teenage girl who awakens in the ruins of her home and discovers she that is now in some strange alternate world. A glimpse in the mirror reveals that she has lost an arm somehow, not only that but her brother and parents are missing. A mysterious being materialises and tells the girl that if she finds her missing family she will be able to return to her own world.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a remake of the similarly titled flash game that came out 2011. It is a procedurally generated dungeon crawler that draws on religion heavily for it's story. If you want a measure for what this games like then think the dungeon sections of old school Zelda made into an entire game.
Isaac and his very religious mother live together happily until one day she starts hearing the voice of God who tells her Isaac is full of sin. First she takes his clothes and belongings away from him but unsatisfied the voice tells her more needs to be done. Next she locks him in his room but again she is told more must be done. Finally the voice tells her that to prove her faith she must sacrifice Isaac. As she approaches his room with a kitchen knife he desperately searches for an escape, in his search he discovers a trap door leading to the basement. With no other choice he flees...
Don't ask me how I came to be reviewing all the Batman Arkham games on my blog, occasionally they have horror elements to them I guess. With all the main line games reviewed I find myself left with the downloadable companion game to Batman: Arkham Origins.
Blackgate takes place three months after the end of Origins and starts with Batman encountering Catwoman for the first time, they fight and after capturing her she is sent to Blackgate prison. A few weeks later Batman learns there has been a riot at the prison, all the staff have been taken hostage and three super villains have taken over parts of the complex. Black Mask's turf is the industrial complex, Penguin rules over the prisons, while Joker is in control of the administration block. After arriving at Blackgate, Batman forms an alliance with Catwoman who tells him the staff are being held in the Arkham wing and to get there he is going to have to battle everyone.
I had muted hopes for this game but I still had hopes nonetheless, I loved Origins so hoped this would at least manage to capture some of the magic of that. The game is a Metroidvania 2.5D explorer with you able to tackle the three areas of the game in any order you choose, though the plot will eventually lead you to all three regardless. As you progress the main story you unlock new abilities that let you get to previously inaccessible areas. One thing the game does right is giving you the freedom to do either of the areas first. The three main bosses can be battled in any order with the ending changing slightly depending who you were last to defeat.
My initial complaint is just how dull Blackgate looks, the levels are grey and dreary and ooze a level of blandness that made everything look all the same. The administration block is the most varied due to Joker's graffiti everywhere but even that is dull as dishwater. There was a similar problem with Castlevania: Mirror of Fate that seemed to think that turning a third person battler into a side on game meant locations should be passable but with no love given to them. This is not helped by the confusing map screen that makes it hard to get your bearings and the fact that the 2.5D perspective means often you view will switch round so a simple walk down a straight path will take you all over the shop.
The combat is ok, your attacks seem to have no weight behind them but other than that they are fun enough with combos you can do and slow motion finishers. Later in the game regular enemies suddenly become invincible with no warning or explanation, it was only after many many trials and errors that I realised they were wearing explosive devices on their backs; a single line of text on the screen to tell me this would have been enough rather than just expecting the player to know from constantly getting killed seemingly at random.
The bosses are all different and all require different ways to take them down but again this led to huge frustration as again regular attacks inexplicably just didn't work. An example is the Penguin boss that requires you to get above him and kind of jump on his head; this method takes off a bunch of his health bar, should you get to him any other way though your attacks just don't register and you get instantly killed; very frustrating when you don't know why, again a single bit of text could have prevented this annoyance.
Your tools and gadgets can be used on the environment to say blow open a hole in a weak wall, or electrify a junction box, all good in practice but first you have to go into detective mode and slowly scan the environment which takes a fair few seconds, once again this is an annoyance when it is blatantly obvious what you need to do but the game forbids you until you jump through its hoops. Talking of level design a lazy way to prolong the games conclusion later on gets you sent on a tedious fetch quest back through all the areas of the game. This was an archaic method that did nothing to improve my enjoyment.
The plot is bare bones and dull with characters acting out of...well character, it all ends badly too with the final boss pretty much being a rehash of the very first boss and no harder at that really. The plot is told via comic book cutscenes which are ok I guess but look a bit amateur though the voice acting isn't bad. There are side missions that involve scanning items that appear as question marks on your map, these result in a few lines of text explaining bits of the games back story. There are also collectable items for you to destroy as well as power ups that increase your health and give you different suits. None of these were interesting enough for me to see to completion.
Overall I was disappointed with Blackgate, I didn't expect it to be mind blowing but I at least hoped it would keep me entertained for at least a moderate chunk of it's six hour run time. Maybe one to avoid as it doesn't really bring anything to the series.
So this past week was E3; the greatest annual gaming event on Earth. During this three day event all the big game companies hold conferences to announce all the new games and show them off, here at The Rotting Zombie though I just plan to talk about the more horror focused ones, not even really including any fantasy stuff, though the one with the robot dinosaurs was apparently pretty decent, and who can't be excited by a remake of Final Fantasy VII?
Starting with the zombie games then first up is Dead Island 2 that is going to come out on the PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One, this was announced a long time ago, I can't actually find any details about what was new about it at this years E3 so that's a good start. More gameplay was shown of Call of Duty: Black Ops III but I believe the multiplayer was focused on and nothing of the warmly awaited zombies mode shown. Apparently the zombies mode is going to have an XP progression system and be a proper story. Plants VS Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 was announced for the big three, a cute style deathmatch type game, this holds no interest for me. The final zombie game I'm not exactly convinced is a zombie game; Onechanbara Z2 Chaos is coming to the west for PS4, I think it is already out in Japan. Previous games in the hack 'n' slash series had you as one of two ridiculously scantily clad girls battling zombies. this seems to have the underdressed girls instead battling monsters. Here's a crazy trailer for you:
Still on the subject of zombies there were not one but two new The Walking Dead games announced. First up is The Walking Dead: Michonne by Telltale games, this is actually some DLC for The Walking Dead: Season 2 and not stand alone. As you can guess from the title it casts you as the comic book version of Michonne and over three chapters shows what happened to her one time in the comics when she vanished for a period. This is due out in Autumn so I guess that means I will have to pull my finger out and get around to playing Season 2 which I have owned for the longest time. Meanwhile Overkill is making The Walking Dead (not sure if that's the concrete title) which is being designed as a co-op experience in the vein of Payday, it has the backing of Robert Kirkman and is said to be full of role playing, stealth, survival horror and action featuring new characters and a new storyline. I just hope it is better than The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct which is meant to be a terrible mess of a game!
Now sliding along to straight up horror games we have the Wii-U exclusive Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water (Project Zero in the UK). This will be the fifth game in the series, the first is one of the scariest games of all time, while two and three are not bad. For some stupid reason Fatal Frame 4 never got a Western release so I'm glad this one is coming here, the awesomeness of using the Wii-U's gamepad as the ghost killing camera is an alluring one as you can see below...
Corpse Party: Blood Drive is finally coming to Playstation Vita in the West, it is a sequel to Corpse Party but with more modern graphics, I am interested to play that as the first one sure had atmosphere. The PS4 version of the creepy sounding The Vanishing of Ethan Carter was shown, in the game you play as a paranormal detective searching for the titular Ethan in a rural setting. Rather than any action you explore your surroundings to piece together the mystery. Also on PS4, and an exclusive is Until Dawnthat sounds like a typical teen slasher film but in game form. You play as a series of characters trapped at a remote log cabin being stalked by a crazed killer. If a character dies then they stay dead and the story changes appropriately meaning there is the possibility of multiple
differing playthroughs. This could be good, a bit unsure, it looks pretty at least.
There are a hell of a lot of remasters being created at the moment, a few of them are appropriate to mention. Devil May Cry 4, Resident Evil 0, God of War III and Gears of War are all getting smartened up and released once again for some reason, talking of Gears the fourth game in the cover based shooter was teased also but I have yet to play the third or Judgement so I need to catch up. The new trailer for Doom 4 (simply titled Doom) was shown off and it seems to be going back to its roots with far more fast paced action. I adored Doom 3, it is actually in my top 10 games of all time but I don't mind this one losing the story elements, the only weird bit at the moment is the finishing moves which you can do on enemies, just seems a bit pointless.
While I do own Dark Souls I haven't even played it, and so have yet to pick up Dark Souls II so the announcement of the third didn't really give me much excitement. I'm sure the game will be good but coming off the triumph that was Bloodborne the slower paced combat leaves me feeling a bit cold. Vampyr was announced for the new generation from Focus Home Interactive, I don't know many details other than it is going to be a horror based RPG where you play as a vampire (vampyr?) in what seems to be Victorian London, I kinda dig the concept trailer so hope the game is actually any good.
Onto post apocalypse now and the videogame version of Mad Max was also shown off, there is both lots of driving and on foot sections with the car you drive being fully customisable, looks pretty at the very least. More of Fallout 4was shown, this time around the game takes place in Boston, it looks like it is going to be more of the same but with a current generation sheen I am more than happy to once again explore the wastelands if the combat has been improved. A companion app for iOS and Android is Fallout: Shelter which from what I can gather you get to design your own Fallout shelter maybe for use in the main game?
6.
I'm towards the end of the horror type games so onto sci-fi briefly. For the PCXCOM 2 has been announced. Its a strategy based game like it's predecessor (that once again I own but have yet to play. It takes place in an alternate timeline where aliens have conquered the world. New DLC for Destiny is coming in the form of The Taken King, I didn't get the previous DLC due to not thinking it was worth the asking price so will not be getting this either unless it releases at a fair price. Halo 5: Guardians was announced for the Xbox One, no interest for me as the series has never caught me, apparently there is going to be some horde mode playable for over twenty people. On the subject for underwhelming sequels a new Metroid game in the form of Metroid Prime: Federation which is to be a first person shooter on the Nintendo 3DS. People have been complaining that not only is it a spin off and doesn't even star Samus but that it seems to be entirely multiplayer focused. Lastly a trailer for Mass Effect: Andromeda was shown which has the crew of the Normandy exploring new worlds and has a western vibe to it. Let's hope it is better than Mass Effect 3!
Now to finish off more was shown of Rise of the Tomb Raider, I really hope it keeps some of the horror elements that made Tomb Raider so utterly awesome, if it does then I shall be picking that up sharpish. More was also shown of Batman: Arkham Knight, I adored Batman: Arkham Origins and with this new one being current generation only it should at the very least look fantastic. So there you go, a long post but it seems plenty of games coming out and lots to look forward to!
Many saw Resident Evil: Revelations as a return to form for the iconic horror series that has lost its way recently with convoluted plot lines and an increasing focus on action. Originally released on the Nintendo 3DS it was later upgraded to HD and released on consoles. The version I am reviewing is not only the original hand held version, but also played without the circle pad pro meaning I only had the one analogue stick. That fact is important as it does factor into my overall enjoyment of the game.
The story (set between Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5) is unfortunately quite a mess though true to the games name it does hold some revelations. From what I could piece together one year after an organisation called Veltro destroyed a pretentious floating city in a biological terrorist attack Jill Valentine and her partner Parker are sent by the B.S.A.A (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance) to investigate a ship in search of Chris Redfield and his partner Jessica who went missing while investigating claims that Veltro were back in action.
Revelations takes place over twelve chapters, each one of which is usually split into two or three smaller sections. These bite size chunks work well on a handheld, while the various locations and character swaps theoretically keep things feeling fresh. Each chapter ends on a cliff hanger and begins with a recap montage feeling like a TV episode. My first complaint though is the fact that for around 90% of the game you are exploring with an A.I partner in tow. The A.I is inoffensive, not requiring healing, and has infinite bullets but just by their presence a lot of the fear that had the potential to be there is gone.
The characters of Jill and Chris are the same as they ever where but I took more complaints with the newer ones. Most chapters see you flipping between various duos, Jill's gruff partner Parker is fine enough, but Chris's partner Jessica looks ridiculous in an outfit that is just not practical seeming almost half naked for no good reason at all. Even worse at some points in the game you get to play as one half of a comedy duo. Two idiots making bad jokes and getting into 'zany' situations does not fit right with a horror game, the segments featuring these guys did admittedly break up some of the histrionics but did not stop them from feeling really out of place.
Revelations does not stick to survival horror despite a strong start with Jill alone exploring the mysterious Queen Zenobia. In general Jill's levels are more traditional while Chris's levels are far more action centred and the other characters (such as Parker's flash back levels) are even more like straight up action. The controls do not work well for action though, the missing analogue stick was keenly felt with a stodgy camera meaning I often got attacked by creatures I could not see, or turn quickly enough with the tank controls to fend off threats. When you want to attack an enemy you go into a first person perspective which makes for an easier time at shooting but means you can't move. You also have access to a device that lets you scan the environment for hidden items and scan enemies to gain extra healing items but this is fiddly to use and means your gun is not quick to hand.
There are no zombies at all to be found here, instead the main enemy type is some sort of humanoid leech creatures that latch onto you with their jaws, or fire organic projectiles at you. These creatures are meant to have once been humans so I guess they are vaguely zombie like. Returning favourites include monster dogs and the threatening lizard monsters; Hunters who also turn up later on as invisible enemies. There are quite a few bosses to fight none of which are that hard, but most of them are passable, some enjoyable ones where you are operating a gatling gun, and the end boss itself I did find an enjoyable battle as it felt quite low key and old school. To fight all these you get the usual assortment of guns, three of which can be carried at any one time, and it is easy to switch between these weapons.
The reduced graphical fidelity of the 3DS means the game looks kinda Resident Evil lite at times, enemies dissolve when killed to save on memory and locations in general are not too detailed. The adventure mainly takes place on board the huge Queen Zenobia ship that features a variety of different places, but you also get to go to a pretentious floating city as well as the snowy mountainous wastes where a Veltro facility is located. While the graphics are not the best the same can't be said for the many, many cut scenes that all look decent, and the music is not bad, it is just a shame that the plot is a giant convoluted mess that makes little sense
I did enjoy Revelations but at the same time I have to say it is not a fantastic game, merely an adequate one that just manages to stay on the right side of interesting. At around 8 hours long there is value to be had here also even if a lot of locations are revisited time and time again. If you are playing this with two analogue sticks then add on another zombie head to my score.
I put off getting Batman: Arkham Origins for the longest time after hearing that it was the weakest in the series to date. I really loved the first game; Batman: Arkham Asylum but thought Batman: Arkham City lost a tonne of what made that one good. Thankfully despite all the rumours Origins may just in fact be the series best.
Origins takes place one snowy Christmas Eve in a Gotham where the Batman has only been around for two years and is considered by many people as a myth, while the police see him as a menace who must be stopped. After stopping a break out at Blackgate Prison, led by Black Mask, Batman learns that the crime lord has put out a bounty on his head. Eight deadly assassins have converged on the city all looking to kill Batman and claim this bounty. In one night of terror he must not only defeat the assassins but put a stop to Black Mask, yet not everything is as it seems.
Once again this is a third person adventure game set in an open world setting. The city is a lot bigger than the walled off area of City and despite using similar locations they really did feel different then just re-skins. The world is big enough that you get fast travel points opened up to you, and for a nice change the bat cave can be visited at any point (and is where the fighting challenges now take place rather than a separate option outside of the main game). Using your grappling hook and glide abilities it is a real joy to travel around the game world that is split up into around six different districts. For a change Batman has access to the vast majority of his tools and gadgets from the get go. Your grappling hook lets you swing around the giant buildings and locations while the trusty batarang can be used to hit enemies and switches. Defeating bosses often results in you getting new power ups. A glue gun, hook shot and my favourite; electrified gloves can all be used to enhance the combat or to solve environmental puzzles.
Now the story for Origins is the strongest yet in the series. Initially it seems quite weak but after the first few missions and with some genius twists it gets pretty much amazing. Batman encounters a fair few iconic villains for the first time (such as Bane and the Joker) and he exists at a time when Gordon is merely a Captain of the corrupt GCPD and many other key characters are early in their careers. As you go around the city you pick up enemies radio chatter and it is really quite varied and changes according to what part of the story you are at. Being set on Christmas Eve means there is a lot of Christmas decorations and set design everywhere, even down to Christmas songs playing in lifts; a nice touch.
There are Riddler collectibles as is always the case and are spread around the city but I found them a lot more fun and addictive to get then the terrible ones you had to plough through in City. They are multi tiered also with radio towers, henchmen, relays and data packets all needing to be found. Also hidden around the city are Anarchy symbols and plaques that give you further insight into the city itself, these were all quite interesting.
Side quests usually have you after a particular villain or locating a certain amount of items (such as Penguin's weapon shipments). They are not bad, better than City's terrible side quests, a highlight being a hallucinogenic trip through Wonderland courtesy of The Mad Hatter. The dream sequences are always in the Arkham games so it didn't feel as fresh as it should but an alternate later dream sequence was very different to the norm! There are also quests in which you investigate a crime scene trying to piece together what happened, these bring a decent lull to the games pace but are quite easy to solve.
You earn experience for pretty much all actions you take whether it be defeating enemies or solving puzzles, there is a skill tree which you can use skill points to unlock stuff but for the most part it is negligible in what it provides though a lot of later puzzles can only be solved using new abilities you unlock. The soundtrack was great in places but a lot of the music it is sad to say just was not memorable. The acting on the other hand is great, Nolan North reprises his role of the Penguin, while the Joker is now voiced by Troy Baker who does a great job. Batman seems much more threatening now and when he gets angry it gets really impressive, so Roger Craig Smith is effective as the voice. Batman's interactions with his allies are far more natural this time around, Alfred plays a bigger role while the forging of Batman's and James Gordon's friendship slowly forms over the whole 15-20 hour experience.
Combat as ever is close quarters with you fighting a bunch of enemies at once, use of the counter button is as always needed to win these fights. Downed enemies can be finished off to stop them getting back up whilst later on enemies carry shields and weapons to make more challenge. Occasionally larger enemy types turn up and armoured ones but it is pretty much the same combat as it has always been. Bosses on the other hand are a huge improvement and are a joy to fight them, especially the eight varied assassins. Different methods are usually needed to fight these, whether it be contending with Firefly and his flame thrower or an intense and protracted one on one fight with Deathstroke they are all fun and satisfying. They even finally throw in a decent Batman vs Joker fight that is believable for once (as in Joker doesn't morph into a monster) and had me smiling.
The main story missions usually take you to a specific location in Gotham but these seem a lot better designed than anything City had to offer and are actually fun to get through. A real highlight was a hotel that had been taken over by a certain villain, it was so fun to work your way through and ended with a story beat that was hands up the best story beat out of all three of the games and made me think it was the end of the game so big and huge was it. There are some levels where you have to get around a vertical location but again going back to City there is nothing that comes close to rivalling the mundane setting of the maze like underground city.
Where Origins succeeds for me is that it is a worthy successor to Asylum and creates a believable world. I was so let down by the limited scope and bland design of City that this just feels like everything that one promised to be. I had so much fun collecting everything and experience the events that I just left with a huge grin on my face. Games like these remind me just why I am so obsessed with videogames in the first place. And to end it all; battle damage... is there any greater thing than your characters appearance changing as the story progresses?
I could hardly do a blog post about the first Call of Duty: Black Ops zombie mode without doing a follow up on the zombie maps and modes of Black Ops II. This time around for whatever reason the graphics don't appear to be as solid. There are far more modes to play on the levels but for bizarre reasons only certain maps feature certain modes.
The maps that come with the game attempted something different in that they are far smaller than previous ones but there is a bus that you can get on which drives you around between them all. Sounds better than it actually is in practice as it is quite hard to visit all the maps this way. Just like my Black Ops post I will do a run down of each of the zombie maps available.
Bus Depot - A small map set surprisingly at a bus depot. A fan can be constructed to bypass sealed doors whilst several rounds into it the ground breaks open revealing lava. This and the other maps that make up Green Run (more on that later) all feature these lava cracks in the ground. Walking on them causes your character to take damage while zombies are set on fire if they touch the lava. These lava zombies explode once killed. There are two modes for Bus Depot, the first is 'Tranzit' which has the bus that takes you round to all four initial maps, whilst 'Survival' has you surviving as many rounds as possible but without the benefit of any perks.
Town - Takes place in a medium sized destroyed lava filled town which features a bank, a bar and plenty of ruined cars. There are again two modes; 'Grief' which is a multiplayer mode in which you are pitted against a second team and so must try and survive longer than them, and 'Survival' which on this map lets you use perks.
Farm - A small map that features a barn and a farmhouse. This location is full of smoky fog, one of the better levels. Like Town this features 'Grief' and 'Survival' as the modes.
Diner - You can get here on the bus route in Bus Depot's 'Tranzit' mode but you can also play 'Turned' on this level set around a diner (such unoriginal names!). 'Turned' is a fantastic mode in which one player is a zombie who then has to attack the human players. Kill a human and they become the zombie, if a human kills the zombie they get a weapon upgrade. These four levels together make up Green Run. There is quite the post apocalyptic theme going on here which spreads over into some of the other maps as shall become apparent.
Nuketown - One of the most popular maps from the multiplayer game gets reinvented here. It is still the classic Nuketown design but apocalyptic with buildings in ruins and a giant mushroom cloud in the distance. The small size makes for some frantic battles, especially the houses which create giant bottlenecks. Me and my awesome friend Lucinda once managed to get to Round 20 which for me was a fantastic achievement! The only mode for this level is 'Survival'.
Alcatraz Island - As the name suggests this takes place in Alcatraz Prison. Set during new years eve 1933 this has you playing as one of four gangsters voiced by Joe Pantoliano, Ray Liotta, Michael Madsen and Chazz Palminteri as you battle zombified guards and inmates. There is also a hulking zombie that appears to hunt you down. There are two modes; 'Grief' which is set in a part of the map called 'Cell Block', and a story based mode called Mob of the Dead. Mob of the Dead is the first and only zombie mode that is actually completable and starts with an intro sequence showing how the four gangsters escape their prison cells only to find themselves caught up in zombie apocalypse and killed. The game itself starts with you as a ghost and having to resurrect your corpse. There are electricity boxes dotted throughout the huge location that you can use to kill yourself which is actually a useful thing to do as in your ghost form you can reach high ledges, use your electricity attack to activate switches, and pass through certain walls. A great level which is super fun.
Excavation Site 64 - The map is set in Northern France in 1918 during World War I and reveals how the zombies in zombie mode came to be. There is just the one mode titled Origins and this starts with an ace intro scene showing German soldiers uncovering zombified knights and then the four player controlled characters being introduced (the four which are in the majority of zombie maps). Zombie soldiers are the main enemy type but there are six machines dotted around the map which when activated spawn in zombie knights. Throughout you get story about about a creepy girl who may be the key to the zombies origins. There are gigantic robots roaming the level, they are as tall as buildings and can crush you underfoot if your not careful! A lot of the map takes place in bunkers and trenches.
Resolution 1295 - This map is set in an underground Western town and has you fighting cowboy zombies. There are three modes, the first is Buried and has an intro sequence featuring the four characters from the Green Run levels who are trying to survive in a post apocalyptic world. The level starts in a factory on the surface but a broken floor leads down to the secret town that has shops, a church, courthouse and more, quite a confined map with lots of corridors so you never feel safe as there is hardly any open areas. The other two modes are 'Turned' and 'Grief' and take place exclusively underground.
Great Leap Forward - The last map is again post apocalyptic and takes place over two ruined tower blocks in China. There is just the one mode called Die Rise which again features an intro sequence. The tower block features a few benches to assemble items, one of these lets you create a gun that shoots purple goo that kills zombies on contact but also makes the floor super slippy making you and the zombies slip and slide. Once the power is turned on you can ride the elevators to the rooftop where you can leap to an adjacent tower block. Every five or so rounds you must survive against leaping monkey type monsters who don't deal too much damage but are tricky to shoot. I love this giant level, loads of fun!
At first I was disappointed with the zombie levels in Black Ops II, the default ones are not that great and I see the ability to travel between maps as a failed experiment. The DLC zombie maps though are so well designed and make for some great variety. I just wish there had been the option to do all game modes on each map rather than being confined to certain ones.
Earlier today (technically yesterday) I reviewed Batman: Arkham Asylum, and now here is the review of the sequel. Batman: Arkham City is regarded as one of the best games in the series, I'm not sure why.
Set a few months after the events of the first game and Arkham Asylum has been shut down. The new Governor of the Asylum (Hugo Strange) has convinced the Mayor to create a new facility using part of Gotham City itself as a prison. The slum area of the city has been fenced off and converted into a giant holding cell patrolled by a private security firm. The conditions in this new place are said to be horrendous, with stories of mistreatment and political prisoners. Bruce Wayne is one of the prisons biggest detractors, and it is at a public rally that he finds himself arrested and thrown into Arkham City. There Hugo Strange reveals he knows that Wayne is the Batman and that he will not be able to interfere with Hugo's plans whilst trapped in the prison city.
The game area is a lot bigger this time around, mostly being made up of slums. You start the game with all the gadgets and abilities gained in Asylum, and on top of these moves a whole new bunch are thrown at you. Much like the first game you go from plot point to plot point using a mixture of stealth and combat. Here's the mix though; I didn't actually think this game was much good, I thought it was very disappointing and a step backwards.
I kept likening this to The Suffering. In that game you had a fantastic survival horror set on a prison island, then The Suffering: Ties That Bind ruined it by having you run around a city aimless for the most part. The same happens here, being more open it looses its atmosphere, locations are too small and spread out to far apart, the city itself is boring to glide around. The riddles that were so fun in the first game are ruined here by the sheer amount of them, you can't move for Riddler puzzles that for the most part are no fun at all to solve.
Main bad guys this time around have changed up a bit. Principal villain (more so than the seldom seen Hugo Strange) is the Joker, but a Joker who is dying, he contacts you via radio throughout the game. Two-Face, Catwoman, the Penguin (a fantastic addition, and the cockney accent is perfect), Solomon Grundy, and even Ra's Al Ghul all appear while the many (and mostly fun side quests) see you going after lesser criminals like Zasz. Being set over one night again sees your suit gradually get more and more torn and beaten about, a cool touch though this is a bit over done here.
The story was ok, but the plot twist for the Strange story was so obvious that it left me saddened. The Joker story was a lot better leading to a subdued ending. The game is a solid follow up to Asylum, it is just a shame that the locations are less interesting. The less said about the terrible Catwoman sections the better. A real shame.
SCORE:
On a side note the DLC 'Harley Quinn's Revenge' is terrible and nowhere near worth the 800 Microsoft points being asked for due to how short it is, and how it just reuses old locations.
