REVIEW: Devil May Cry 2 (2003)

Everyone who likes Devil May Cry thinks the second one is the bad apple of the lot, but I tend to disagree. I'm most likely biased as this is the first DMC game I completed of the series, and I found nothing noticeably *bad* with it.

Don't get me wrong: it's not my favourite game of all time, but it's not terrible. The voice acting is wooden, the combat sluggish and predictable, and the storyline sub par; but who am I to disagree when you can fly and dash around like a complete lunatic? I've always liked the idea of combing the use of a sword and guns in a video game, and allows for a bit more freedom and creativity when killing enemies, but you don't get the sweet bonuses for using weapons, and only get a big surge of points when using your sword; there's not much worse than seeing your Showtime! fade faster than summertime. Sure, you can stall it at whatever rank you are and maybe it moves up if you pull off a tricky somersault-whilst-firing-guns-downwards-all-the-time-whilst-not-getting-hit. Unfortunately, spamming the sword attack seems to get the awards up faster for me.

Maybe I haven't played the other DMC games as much as this, but I've always had a soft spot and a long afternoon for this entry to the series. Dante is a bit of an asshole, and antiheroes are always more fun than the pious, noble type anyway. The new entry to the series, some red headed woman whom I can never remember the name of - L something, perhaps - isn't fun to play as all she does in the FMVs is whine about how useless she is, and that's outrageously unappealing for a character. Emos are no fun to play! Not to mention her devil trigger looks completely retarded and just puts me off playing her full stop.

However, it's not a broken game, and it's fun to stick in every 6 months or so to have a merry old fanny about on.

REVIEW: The Lion King (1994)

I won't lie to you, I struggled with this game. I thought it might be easier being that I'm circa fifteen years older from when I first tried playing this game, and it didn't make the experience any simpler.

The Lion King is a side scrolling platform game, obviously based on the movie, where you play through various important parts of the plot both as a young and adult Simba. I'm struggling to see through the nostalgia tint my eyes have gained, but on the whole it plays well and is challenging but not cheap.

The backgrounds and sprites were actually animated by Disney studios, and it really shows. The graphics have aged well and are pleasant and fluid, The music is also a 16bit version on Hans Zimmer's original score, and is a nice addition.

I found it a very challenging game - mostly because I was playing on an emulator and my hands have been trained with a pad; but also, it's very easy to die. The stampede section requires lightning quick timing which I just don't possess and I invariably take damage every single time. However, that's not a bad thing, I would be complaining a lot more if it were far too easy, and makes the credit scroll all the more rewarding and satisfying. It was nice to revisit, but I tend to save this game and play it only once in a while, else I get stuck on a part and end up throwing my keyboard across the room.

REVIEW: Prototype (2009)

Due to the upcoming - and personally highly anticipated - Prototype 2 due to be released this year, I thought I'd take a trip down memory lane and get the original out to remind myself how much fun I had playing the first time round.

If you're looking for a game that truly uses sandbox design well, then I would look to Prototype, for this is without question its absolute best feature. Sure, the story is a little more than clunky and uninteresting, and the protagonist Alex Mercer can honestly go die in a fire for all I care; it's the freedom I experienced in between the mandatory missions that left me dribbling at the mouth. The game is seemingly built around the sandbox, rather than the sandbox built around the game, which can leave the design underused in some games, but not in Prototype.

There aren't many games where you can boast to running up the Empire State Building, backflip off and faceplant a poor old biddy 5 feet into the pavement below, and that's just the start. The limit of the freedom is very cleverly hidden, and you're free to run, jump and glide both between and over the skyscrapers of New York City. The weapons are an extension of Mercer himself, and using his incredible power, can catapult himself in the air, slice a tank in half and punch through a person's chest: and that's not even half of it.

The character development and story are lamentable at best, and all I really cared about was how to kill as many civilians in one jump without the army noticing. The weapon upgrades are interesting and the finishing moves are simply outrageous visually. It's good to mess about on, but not ideal if you're looking for a game with any substance.

REVIEW: SCP-087 (2011)

Not strictly a game, but an experiment about fear. SCP-087 is based on creepypasta that has been making its rounds on the internet recently, and boy does it deliver.

There is no real objective other than to descend down a dark, creepy staircase. What's so scary about that? That's just it, there are no hints, no clues as to what's in the dark; your mind is making all the magic happen with a a few stimuli. It really shows just how powerful the brain can be at creating fear in what we cannot see.

The sounds build slowly and forebodingly, the shadows dash across the walls as if real, and the phrase "nope" is added to this in vast quantities; I cannot express just how scary this game is when played in the dark with a good pair of headphones on. There are all kinds of creepy noises coming from all sides of you, including a slow building throaty ambiance, footsteps, slow trudging ones and frantic tapping behind you. What you don't see coming towards you on the stairs all adds to a terrifying experience that I would recommend to any person eager to test their limits of just how far they will descend.

Just don't stop.

REVIEW: Bioshock (2007)

For years I had been looking for a game that story grabbed me in the same way Legacy of Kain: Defiance did, and I think I finally found it in Bioshock. I was introduced to the series backwards: I played Bioshock 2, then the first one and finished with the prequel book, but I got an amazing experience out of it nonetheless, and perhaps a better one by experiencing it backwards.

Our silent hero of the story, Jack is flying over the Atlantic in 1960 when suddenly the plane goes crashing down by a bizarre looking lighthouse structure and Jack is forced to seek refuge underneath in the underwater utopia Rapture. As he explores the abandoned ruins, we learn about this world as Jack does, including the deadly addictive liquid ADAM that grant its user magical power but requires EVE, a blue liquid, to charge it. Jack becomes a user of ADAM, who are known as splicers, and finds all sorts of artifacts left behind by a city gone mad. The icon of the series, the Big Daddy - a heavily spliced man grafted to an old diving suit -, makes his appearance with his Little Sister, who is the only being that can easily gather ADAM, making them a prime target for rogue splicers and also for Jack himself.

Bioshock being a first person shooter, I was initially wary as I tend to not like this particular genre, however, I was blown away. It's not a game that's just about shooting; it actually builds around it, making interesting use of the weapons instead of your standard inventory, the abilities courtesy of the ADAM being of particular note.

It also features some very frightening moments, and I was very tense at times on my playthrough. The lighting and sound design are excellent, and all add to the oppressive atmosphere that one would undoubtedly feel in this kind of environment. The colours used really immerse you within the clammy, dark ambience, and for a video game world, it is a very believable world to become buried in.

This is one of the very few games I have played where it feels like time doesn't stop when Jack is not around, it feels like a living, breathing, organic place thanks to the A.I. of the Splicers and makes it all the more easier to be pulled into Rapture.

I would play again.

REVIEW: Resident Evil 2 (1998)

When I picture Leon Scott Kennedy, the gruff, world-weary Leon of RE:4 and the upcoming RE:6 don't instantly spring to mind; instead it's the plucky young rookie cop of Resident Evil 2.

Along with Claire Redfield, sister of I-love-my-knife Chris Redfield from the first game, the two must find a way to get out of the contaminated Raccoon city, now teeming with zombies all infected with the T-virus. What makes it worse this time round is there're several super zombies infected with the more powerful G-virus wandering around who will easily kick your ass if you're not careful. The creator of the G-virus has injected himself with it and is going round implanting embryos into poor suckers to burst out of them Alien-style in a spectacular and gruesome display.

Resident Evil 2 is a great improvement from the often cringe-worthy first installment: the graphics are better, the voice acting much, much better from the poorly translated and delivered Engrish of RE:1, the enemies are more than boring slow zombies, there are interesting and often frightening enemies stalking you, and replay value is excellent. There are four main scenarios to complete: Leon A, Claire A, Leon B and Claire B; there are even two more scenarios to unlock after you complete the original four. Special weapons with infinite ammo are also up for grabs and alternate costumes.

Like every great sequel should, Resident Evil 2 builds on the lore already established in the first game, and improves the gameplay experience tenfold. I can pop this bugger in any day and still enjoy it: even the parts where you're playing as Sherry Birkin: the irritating child with the even more irritating voice and no gun to protect herself against rabid dogs.

Highly, highly recommended.

REVIEW: The Dig (1995)

The penultimate archetypical game to be released by LucasArts, "The Dig" remains one of my favourite point-and-click adventure game to ever exist. It contains within a genre I don't normally particularly care for a riveting, beautiful journey into a figurative and literal dig.

Our hero of the tale, Boston Low, is a no-nonsense pilot of a spacecraft headed for a meteor on course to strike Earth. The goal is to carefully align the meteor Attila with Earth's orbit to prevent it from crashing onto the surface. Accompanying him is a straight-talking Maggie, a journalist gifted with the ability to learn and understand languages at an amazing rate; and Brink, a brilliant archaeologist. After accidentally activating the alien technology inside, the three are rapidly transported to a desolate alien world, where all three must survive and try and find a way back home.

The title is an interesting one, it not only refers to the literal digging that occurs frequently throughout thanks to Boston's trusty shovel he brings with him, but a figurative dig deep down inside all three heroes, and discover what makes them tic and their grasp onto sanity as they discover a trove of mysterious crystals that promise eternal life. The crystals are not what they seem, and it seems the font of eternity is dangerously addictive and can turn a man irrational and disconnected from reality.

The highlight of the game by far was the soundtrack. Accompanied with the often barren but beautiful landscape, Michael Land encapsulated the feeling of bewilderment and awe of the alien world, the majesty of space and the beauty of the natural world around you perfectly. I cannot think of a score that has enhanced the gameplay better than this one, and it is a great substitute for other games too.

The puzzles are outrageously challenging (turtle bone puzzle, I'm looking your way!) but they're not completely impossible - mainly it requires a lot - and I mean A LOT - of trial and error to even figure out how to solve them, but ultimately, it makes the experience all the more worthwhile when you do solve them. In no way does this game undermine the player's intelligence, and you too feel as lost and alone as Boston trying to make sense of a literal alien world.

I can - and will - play this game again and again. It is mysterious, droll, and ultimately rewarding. Highly recommended.