Review Category: Games

Review: Donkey Kong Country – Tropical Freeze / Platform: Nintendo Wii U / Release Date: Out Now

After 2010’s much-loved reboot of the Donkey Kong Country series for the Wii, Tropical Freeze acts as the confident sequel that improves upon everything that came before. New levels have been introduced, the volume of monkeys has doubled and the enemies are no longer forgettable Tiki masks with psychic powers.

Nope, this time around Donkey Kong Island has been invaded by the Snowmads, a group of Viking penguins, owls, walruses and other ‘iced-up’ creatures that threaten to place the lush tropical surroundings under a deep freeze. As a strong advocate of the no banana should be served cold policy, Donkey Kong and pals set out on an adventure across six worlds of side-scrolling platform madness to thwart the meddlesome foes.

New to the formula this time around is a selection of companions. As well as the returning Diddy Kong with his hovering jet-pack ability, we now have Dixie who can use her curly locks for a mild jump boost and Cranky, who pulls off his best Scrooge McDuck impression to bounce around levels on his walking stick. These new additions provide a welcome change of pace, each companion has their merits and matching each one’s strengths to the levels ahead is often the key to success in Tropical Freeze.

To those unfamiliar with the Donkey Kong Country series, the platforming isn’t as fluid as other recent genre heavyweights like Rayman Legends or Super Mario 3D World. It’s purposefully weightier, with the thrills and spills coming from your interaction with the dynamic and unpredictable level designs. Rolling through grass patches to reveal hidden areas, holding onto a wall only for it to collapse upon your touch and manoeuvring in a mine-cart as the track crumbles around you, the levels are keen to test your quick fire reactions, meaning the cold hand of death is always a mere banana slip away.

Tropical Freeze however improves upon its predecessor by making this never feel cheap. Whereas DKCR was often bogged down by cases of trial and error, the sequel feels a little more balanced and forgiving through the consistently brilliant level design. You’ll still be left clawing at the curtains, plotting Arctic creature genocide, but it’s an enjoyable and short-lived frustration. The kind that encourages overtly masculine expressions like chest-beating and slamming your fists on the table to scream at a kitten.

It’s also very difficult to remain frustrated when the soundtrack is so wonderful. David Wise, the composer behind the original Donkey Kong Country games, makes a spectacular return here, playing with nostalgic classics and bringing in new numbers that elevate the charm of the entire package. Some levels even play with the musical motif – one standout sees bassoon-playing owls in the background, blowing enemies and collectibles into your path. Another echoes The Lion King, with thumping drums and rousing chants that perfectly match giraffe-orientated climbing sections and sweeping sunrise vistas.

Occasionally the perspective switches into the third dimension during some of the game’s intense barrel blasting or rocket chase sequences. At these moments the impressive graphical details on Donkey Kong and the levels really shine, and it’s a shame it isn’t used more over the game’s entirety. The same goes for the integration with the Wii U Gamepad, which is practically unused apart from to allow for off-screen play. A disappointment considering Nintendo normally set the creative standards for their home consoles.

Despite these small missed opportunities, Tropical Freeze is still a brilliantly designed platformer that will delight those looking for a challenging ride. It might be too familiar to be up there with Nintendo’s finest offerings, but it’s a tough and lovingly crafted throwback to the platformers of yesteryear. A time when collecting bananas and causing physical distress to the furniture satisfied all our inner primates.

Review: The Last of Us – Left Behind / Developer: Naughty Dog / Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment / Platform: Playstation 3 / Release Date: Out Now

Set during the winter events of The Last of Us, Left Behind’s DLC sees Ellie scavenging medical supplies for a badly wounded Joel. Avoiding Clickers and the hordes of hostile humans hunting for prey, Ellie begins to think back to the times before meeting Joel, and the last moments she shared with a childhood friend.

While anyone who has played The Last of Us before will know how both of these stories end, the game does a remarkable job of fleshing out the events. The hints of each character’s past are utilised here, with players finally seeing a crucial moment which shaped Ellie’s outlook on life. At the same time the DLC expands upon a largely skipped chapter in a way that greatly benefits the overall game, with each story complementing the other. The flashbacks introduce her initial skills and provide a relatively few genuinely happy moments to contrast with the desperate struggle of current events. Ellie’s search in the winter meanwhile retains the bleak atmosphere of the original and her harrowing journey.

Along with telling us of the history of the DLC’s protagonist, Left Behind’s mechanics are introduced in surprisingly well integrated ways. These are usually as a part of her history via some almost prophetic flashback scenes, many of which introduce her skills in some innocent manner only for them to become crucial in the current story’s life or death situations.

Said situations consist of facing down handfuls of foes at a time and more often than not having to utterly avoid them. Unlike the nearsighted foes with little to no short term memory which populate the likes of Metal Gear Solid, those found in The Last of Us provide far more of a challenge. Confronting them directly or even trying to pick them off one by one will likely backfire on you horrifically. Instead it is often the better option to use environmental means or other elements to deal with hostile foes.

The environments are as beautifully morose as those found in the original. Crumbling buildings, streets teeming with wildlife and overgrown habitats are as great here as we’ve come to expect. With missions designed more for greater stealth this time, you’re granted more opportunities to move past foes and it’s made clear just how vulnerable Ellie is to the better-armed foes she faces.

There really is very little to criticise here without reducing the review to pedantic nitpicking. Everything which the original got right is nailed here, the mechanics remain fairly solid and the DLC’s integration into the overall plot helps make its short length almost unnoticeable. If you have The Last of Us and want more, this really is an essential development within the story.

Review: Thief / Developer: Eidos Montreal, Nixxes Software BV / Publisher: Square Enix / Platform: PC, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One / Release Date: Out Now

The latest in a long line of classic series reboots from SquareEnix, Thief sees the return of Garrett to his home town after his departure years ago. Ravaged by a plague and on the verge of open class war, the situation is more volatile than ever. The perfect environment for any opportunist seeking to make his personal fortune.

While an interesting concept that steps away from the magic vs science conflict of previous games, the class war is little more than window dressing here. It might work in terms of flavour, but by the second half it is shoved squarely into the background. And notwithstanding decent visuals and background dialogue, there’s not enough focus or substance to the goings-on. That said, there is still a decent game to be had here.

Far from  killing being rewarded, it’s a very good idea to avoid combat. Along with cutting into your hard-earned stolen goods, you’ll soon find that going toe-to-toe with most guards is not an easy thing. Instead the tried-and-true method of staying out of sight and using a wide assortment of gadgets is always the best option. Between discarded bottles to be hurled as distractions, Garret’s arsenal of superhero style utility arrows and disarming tools, there is plenty here to work with. Whether it’s extinguishing light sources to make life difficult for guards or shooting out the cables on hanging crates, a lot of thought has obviously been put into the opportunities the environments offer.

Despite the equipment on offer however, the environments themselves are a very mixed bunch. Unlike previous titles where you could quite happily wander about to your heart’s content, here the levels feel far too linear in nature. It’s not that the stealth involved isn’t challenging, but far too often the way in which the player can move about unseen is simply too obvious. This can be especially true when air vents are involved. It’s an experience similar to Crysis 2 in many respects; with half the environments being little more than glorified corridors and the others wide open areas brimming with choice.

Thief is by no means a truly bad game, it still has much to offer, but it does squander a lot of its potential. For all the fun to be had creeping about stealing every shiny thing in sight, it’s hard to ignore that nagging sense that this could have been so much better.

Review: Lightning Returns – Final Fantasy XIII / Developer: Square Enix, tri-Ace / Publisher: Square Enix / Platform: Playstation 3, Xbox 360 / Release Date: Out Now

Of all the gaming failures to be released in the past few years, Final Fantasy XIII is easily one of the most confusing. Harshly criticised for combat changes and extreme linearity, the news it was getting sequels was truly a surprise. With XIII-2 improving upon a handful of aspects, there was some hope that Lightning Returns might have turned things completely around. Unfortunately it’s as bad as ever.

Already infamous for an atrocious storyline and poorly defined world, this final chapter does the impossible, managing not only to be utterly predictable, but also being so bafflingly poorly presented that you can barely grasp onto any grounding facts. The story’s staging is actually fine, but the problems lie in the execution. It’s so ham-fistedly horrific and the narrative twists so laughably ludicrous that it is near impossible to follow or take seriously. Combined with Ali Hillis’ deadpan delivery of atrocious dialogue, and you’ll be having Metroid: Other M flashbacks before the first hour is done.

So the story is as bad as can be expected, what about the mechanics?

Having undergone a major overhaul, the mechanics contain some of XIII‘s basic set-up with new elements. The much improved combat system is most welcome among these, Lightning’s ability to switch between classes turning the fights into rapid, tactical brawls. With bars limiting the number of attacks you can make per outfit, you must choose when to use which attack as you fight on the move. With added customisation and differing stats, this ensures that the battles are a dynamic experience. Despite an attempt at turning the combat into fan-service roulette, it ultimately serves as a superior version of the Paradigm Shift system.

Unfortunately the same praise cannot be given to the other elements. The quest-based experience system encourages repeated replays of the game. Combined with limited numbers of days and certain opportunities to be found in each one, you need to start again and again to complete everything. Unfortunately this element is badly mishandled. Along with giving you more time than you possibly need to complete sub-quests en masse, there is still the issue of grinding with so many missions boiling down to fetch quests. 

There’s also no story or discovery to be found in new choices upon replays. So it pales in comparison to Final Fantasy VI, Star Ocean: Second Story, and even LoZ: Majora’s Mask! The latter even handles the replay mechanic better than this game at every turn.

If you want a good Final Fantasy experience, return to games of yesteryear. Lightning Returns gets the combat right, but nothing else. With a story this poor the series will only benefit from being rid of her. Don’t waste your time or money with this one.

Review: Dustforce / Developer: Hitbox Team, QLOC / Publisher: Digital Distribution, Capcom / Platform: Playstation Vita, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Linux, OS X, PC / Release Date: Out Now

If there was ever a game which should not be judged by its basic premise it is Dustforce. For a platformer notable for the skillful design choices behind its simplistic gameplay and genre, it has the most unappetising plot imaginable: navigate the map while picking up rubbish and fallen leaves as a cleaner.

Zooming about at breakneck speed, your task is to clean up the level as fast as possible while delivering the most effective combo chains on any foes you stumble into. Possessing acrobatic skills usually only found in ninjas, the cleaners are able to perform wall jumps, mid-air dashes and hang from ceilings to reach the end as fast as possible. All the while they automatically clean up everything in their path while encountering the sorts of environmental hazards usually reserved for Mario.

Both skills at air juggling foes and traversing each level are needed to access new areas, as you are ranked by both finesse and the level’s completion. Proceed too slowly or take too many hits and your level of finesse goes down. Rush through too quickly without seeing enough of the area and your completion score will be miserably low. Managing to achieve an S rank in both will grant one of a series of coloured keys, allowing access to new areas in the overworld.

Speaking of the overworld, one of Dustforce’s strengths on the PC was the fan-created levels. With hundreds built upon the selection originally released with the game, the booming community and wealth of fan content was a major draw. It’s just unfortunate that the console release is lacking this. While a good hundred and fifty fan-created levels, voted on by the community, have been added to the game, this lack of freedom is still a frustrating shortcoming.

Multiplayer also feels mishandled. Local multiplayer support is welcome, but the lack of any online play means that you’re rarely going to use it. Even without this issue however, it feels mishandled. While half the players serve as enemies from the game and the others cleaners, it initially appears as if you need to clean and fight until you achieve victory. This is in fact not the case at all, but you would never know this unless you looked it up.

Beyond these minor failings however, there really is very little to truly criticise. The game has often been compared with Super Meat Boy and N+ and fans of those titles will definitely be left grinning with the fast-paced, challenging experience it offers. If you’re after a decent platformer then give it a try.

Review: The Wolf Among Us – Episode 2 – Smoke and Mirrors / Developer: Telltale Games / Publisher: Telltale Games/ Platform: Playstation Vita, Playstation 2, iOS, OS X, Xbox 360, PC / Release Date: Out Now

Carrying directly on from the shocking ending of Episode 1, this latest instalment of The Wolf Among Us keeps what works and changes little. Based upon the Vertigo comic Fables, the game follows the lives of a number of fairy tale characters who have taken refuge in the traditional world. Most fables are a very grimy version of themselves and it soon becomes clear just why Bigby Wolf, sheriff, is required to keep the peace. A job which is becoming tougher with every passing day, especially now a murderer is on the loose.

While Episode 1 helped set the scene, it’s clear that Telltale Games know that the concept itself is the game’s greatest strength, with as many fables as possible kept front and centre. That said, the mystery element is nothing to be sneezed at with new revelations coming thick and fast. While obviously leading somewhere, it’s a carefully crafted investigation and allows you a surprising degree of choice. At every turn you’re given a good cop or bad cop route, along with others, and for once even an option to just shut up and see how things play out. Combined with continual hints at how even minor choices could influence those around Bigby, the game gains some replay value by making you want to keep going back and see how things could have played out differently. A very good thing given it’s only about two hours long.

This is the real crux of the problem with this title – it’s only one episode of an ongoing story and there are months between each release. Most will want to replay Episode 1 just so they can remember what happened last time and we could be left waiting another four months for the next one – a serious problem when this is a story-driven title which requires you to remember past choices. Combine that with laughable QTE combat, and few improvements on the original’s failings, and you’re just left wondering why this took so long to see release.

At the end of the day though, it’s consistent with what was in the first episode. It might have all the same weaknesses, but its strengths definitely have not diminished. Pick it up if you’ve enjoyed the tale so far, otherwise start with Episode 1.

Review: Survival Horror Tabletop Game / Designer: Adam Steel / Publisher: DarkMook Miniatures / Release Date: Out Now

Tabletop gaming can be a very expensive enterprise. Your typical tactical wargame consists of a large box packed with models, rules and counters and tends to cost about the same as two or three newly released video games. Such an enterprise can make it difficult for the smaller games companies to get much of a foothold, because all of that costs a lot of cash to set up and it also puts off the more casual sort of gamer. Luckily there is a way smaller firms can write great games and at the same time offer these things for pocket money prices.

The rather generic sounding Survival Horror Tabletop Game is a print and play game (though it’s also available in a pre-printed form with the printable files on a CD). This means that all the pieces come on a handy sheet of paper that you have to cut out and glue together yourself. This process is still faster than it would take to assemble all the models in a typical wargaming boxed set and has the advantage that if you lose or break any of the pieces then you can always print them out again.

Gameplay is quite straightforward and the rules are nicely simple and unambiguous. Players either take the role of survivors or of the zombie horde and have to proceed through a monster-infested police station in order to find the keys to their salvation. Each game board is randomly generated as players draw map tiles to place on the board as they run from room to room, scouring the area for useful items and an escape route. Movement is based on Activity Points; you spend these to fight, open doors and run away. The more your survivor gets injured the more activity points you lose, so the game gets harder the more fights you get into.

Strategic elements include picking which room to go into and working out exactly what sort of kit you need. Additional players make this even more complex as you need to balance out hogging all the goodies (such as med-packs and armour) with the likelihood that your fellow adventurers will survive the zombie hordes. The zombie player has this a bit easier though it is possible to be outmanoeuvred by canny survivors.

Game length heavily depends on the number of players – a two player game is typically fairly short whereas five players can take a good few hours, a lot of this being a question of luck and skill. Overall this is a cheap and cheerful game that will provide hours of gameplay, and it comes with a large number of budget expansions, adding to the fun.

Review: Sultans of Rema / Writer: Gaetano Abbondanza / Publisher: Tin Man Games / Release Date: Out Now 

Sultans of Rema is the ninth app in Tin Man Game’s Gamebook Adventures series and is strong evidence that even the best can be improved upon. The Australian Android and iOS App developer started out converting old-school ‘choose your fate’ style Fighting Fantasy novels into a format that can be enjoyed on a smartphone. However rather than simply trade on nostalgia, they have also produced their own unique brand of adventure gamebook, one that uses simple game mechanics and well put together prose to create engaging and exciting adventures that couldn’t be more different from the iconic Fighting Fantasy series.

This present title is a sequel of sorts to Slaves of Rema, but works fine as a standalone game. The plot sees you on a mission to help stabilise a region called the Emirates of Akbir. The Sultan is getting old and it looks like dark forces are gathering. You are a diplomat working for the greater good, or so it seems. The usual elements are here: noble desert nomads, ridiculous camel rides, mysterious assassins and of course a flying carpet. Appropriate music and artwork add to the effect and what we get is an immersive desert adventure that can be enjoyed on the train to work. This is a well written tale that mixes in the intrigue of Lawrence of Arabia in with more traditional Arabian Nights oddness. It treats its source of inspiration with respect whilst at the same time being filled with plenty of scimitar-waving action. Combat and cleverness are an essential part of the game but it’s the prose that really makes it stand out.  

The usual Tin Man tricks are here; if you’re a stickler for rules you can play the game properly on normal mode or if you’ve never been one for letting things get in the way of fun then you can opt for free mode, which let’s you fudge your health levels and turn to pages of the game you have not earned the right to read. In addition there is a lot of background material available in the special features, expanding on a world that we look forward to seeing Tin Man develop further. Overall, if you like a bit of sand in your sword and sorcery adventures and enjoy novels that make you choose the path of the hero then you’re in for a treat.

Review: Deadzone / Designer: Jake Thornton / Publisher: Mantic Games / Release Date: Out Now

Games manufacturer Mantic are seen by many as the clear rival to model-making giant Games Workshop. Though GW have many rivals who happen to be much larger, Mantic are based in the same city and also happen to employ a lot of ex-GW staff, so the rivalry seems a bit obvious. This is compounded by the similarity between the two companies’ product lists. Mantic’s last offering was the hyper-violent sci-fi sports game DreadBall which drew many casual comparisons with the hyper-violent fantasy sports game Blood Bowl, regarded as one of GW’s classic games. Their latest game, Deadzone, is a scenery-heavy skirmish game and therefore draws some comparison with classic (and utterly unsupported and out of print) gang war game, Necromunda.

Luckily for Deadzone, it only bares a passing resemblance to a game that is almost twenty years old. It’s far more cinematic and has much smoother game mechanics. The game is set in Mantic’s Warpath universe, a sci-fi world. The broad plot covers plague-infected monsters invading an area and heavily armed and armoured Enforcers going in to purge the horrors. The rulebook is crammed with references to a broader world and though it could do with a little more flavour text, it does work as a nice development of the Warpath world.

Games designer Jake Thornton has crammed in many clever little mechanics such as line of sight and exploding dice. (Which means rolling an 8 is actually exciting). Despite being essentially a war game, Deadzone has many board game-like elements. Everything takes place on a 2’x2′ rubber mat and movement is divided into ‘cubes’. The boxed set comes with lots of scenery so you find yourself moving up and over crates and gantry ways looking for a tactical advantage. With movement simplified to cubes it makes actions very straightforward. Added to this, action is divided into discrete lumps, meaning that it’s never too long before it’s your turn so you won’t get bored or distracted.

In addition, various cards allow special actions and bonuses, most of which enhance the action movie feel. It’s an interesting blend of board and war game and the more complex elements (such as special rules for special models) are handled through the careful use of counters and cards. Thornton has tried to make this game as smooth and as simple to play as possible.  

Deadzone started out as a Kickstarter and people who subscribed to that campaign received lots of goodies. The regular retail set has less goodies (23 models and a whole pile of scenery, counters and the like). This probably explains why the box itself feels a little roomy. There’re plenty of models in the regular set and it’s good for its price, but the box is huge. Deadzone is a worthy addition to anyone’s gaming collection, but you might have a problem fitting it on the shelf.

Review: Star Trek Expeditions / Designer: Reiner Knizia / Publisher: WizKids / Release Date: Out Now

Star Trek Expeditions is an interesting blend of elements. Set in the Star Trek universe featured in the new movies, it mixes HeroClix-style figures with a slick, maths-driven and procedural-style eurogame. It’s an odd game with odd pieces yet somehow it all comes together to make something smooth.

This is a co-operative game; all players take on the role of a member of the Enterprise crew and work together in order to convince the planet of Nibia to join the Federation. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until those horrible Klingons came along and tried to strong arm the poor Nibians into joining their empire instead. The crew therefore has to deal with two sets of problems; a rapidly approaching Klingon warship and a world full of suspicious aliens. The team win the game by convincing Nibia to join the Federation and beating up the Klingons.

Characters start off on the Enterprise and ‘energise’ down onto parts of the board. On each board section there is a face down card and this is flipped to reveal a mission. These are resolved by adding up the stats on your character’s model and playing any special abilities you may have. You then roll a dice. Very good rolls cause your character to lose a point of damage which is recorded by moving the click down on the model. Indeed, this is a game where Kirk can become overly exhausted by digging a well, though he’s much more likely to get into trouble from getting up to mischief with the Senator’s Daughter. Success matters because it affects what other missions you perform and how likely you are to triumph in the long run. This means all the players ends up pulling together on occasion in an attempt to save this world.

The game can be played at different levels of difficulty and seems to be designed with diverse groups in mind. People with different levels of gaming experience can work together on this without much of a problem. Those familiar with Reiner Knizia’s work will recognise the clever checks and balances here, all of which let the players tell a very Star Trek style story. Some of the pieces do feel a little lifeless and if you’re not a Trek fan this may leave you cold. Overall though, this is a fun game which now happens to be readily available.