Impressions: Bayonetta Demo

Bayonetta is a game that's been sort of hanging out in the back of my mind since late summer. While I do enjoy the occasional action game, I hadn't really been anticipating it too much. I'm usually terrible at these sort of games and I can never really see them beating out RPGs, shooters, or platformers on my list of favorite genres. That being said, I'm a huge fan of the Viewtiful Joe and Devil May Cry series' and there is no doubt in my mind that Hideki Kamiya really really knows what he's doing when it comes to action games. I was lucky enough to snag an early demo code and try out the Xbox 360 version of the game this past week.

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Chances are, if you don't know much about the game, you're atleast familiar with the character. You know, that badass librarian chick with guns on her heels? Bayonetta, who has awoken from a 500 year sleep with no memory of herself or her surroundings, is introduced after a gravity-defying battle upon a plummeting clock tower. Her provocative and hyperbolic personality immediately sets the mood for what I can only imagine will be one of the most ridiculously over-the-top game experiences of 2010.

Bayonetta fights several types of angel-based enemies over the course of the demo. Standard angel enemies, flying enemies, and larger mini-boss angels all make an appearance. All of whic drop collectible halos and/or health and magic upgrades upon death. Halos are, from what I understand, used for weapon purchases and upgrades. I wasn't able to access a weapon shop in the demo, but I wasn't really looking too hard for one either. I was, however, able to pick up several enemy weapons and put them to use in battle. I ran across a flail, a giant battle axe, a few polearms, and a trumpet that acts as a shotgun.

Each face-button functions as a basic move that can be strung together for some pretty insane combos. Simple three or four button combos are very effective and, when playing on normal, the game is fairly approachable and easy to pick up and play. But, a deeper understanding of button combinations and control is necessary to unleash Bayonetta's full potential. Juggling enemies, air combos, and torture combos are all very satisfying. Even within the small scope of the demo, I was made aware of the incredible amount of combos, movements, and attacks that Bayonetta has at her disposal.

In addition to melee attacks, Bayonetta can fire automatic pistols from both her hands and feet. This adds yet another layer of depth to the combat. At the same time, the way gun control is implemented makes it very fun and easy to use. Simply holding down a face button at the end or during a combo will introduce gunplay into the situation. It's possible to use guns in a long-range, point and shoot sort of way, but there's no better way to top off a double punch to the face than with a blast or two from the trusty old heel pistol.

If the demo pays any testament to the final game, boss battles are going to be a defining trait. There are several significant boss/mini-boss fights in the demo and the game seems to have no qualms about throwing big scary enemies at you as often as possible. Not once did I feel overpowered or cheated though. The fights were genuinely fun and changing environments/surfaces were often incorporated.

I have to say, even after some way-positive reviews from Edge and Famitsu and all of this "redefining the genre" talk, I was still hesitating to get my hopes up. But, after experiencing just a tiny bit of the game, I can certainly tell that there is something to look forward to with Bayonetta. I can't wait to give the full game a try when January rolls around.

If you haven't had a chance to play the demo yet, it's available on Japanese PSN/Xbox now and in North America and Europe on December 3rd.

World 1-1 Already Replicated For New Super Mario Bros Wii

From time to time the internet does things that truly frighten me. Take The New Super Mario Bros Wii game: it's been out for less than two full days now, and intrepid internet heroes have already devised not one, but two level editor creation tools. Called Tanooki and Reggie!, respectively, both editors claim to be able to create anything the developers themselves could have done. They only work on computers, obviously, and therefore sadly can only be played using emulation.

And so, as one would of course expect, the original World 1-1 has already been recreated in all of its eternal majesty. Two days, people! Okay, a serious question: what is with this near-cultish fascination with 1-1? It's everywhere! For every game and genre! A cursory internet search let loose upon me a veritable avalanche of 1-1 inspired content. You want other videogame mascots trekking through the classic Mario fold? Well how about Sackboy, Mega Man, or Sonic? Feel like going through the mushroom Kingdom in a first-person perspective? Well Half-Life has you covered there friend, as does Doom. Zombies? Check. Flash indy darlings? Yes indeed. Mario 64? Kind of!.

It's pretty much internet law now that any game that has ever had any sort of modding capability has a Super Mario Bros 1-1 level, usually within hours of the mod tools becoming accessible. Again, just goes to show, sometimes the internet scares me.

Modern Warfare 2: Single Player Impressions

So, not sure if anyone's aware of this, but this game Modern Warfare 2 came out last week. Made by Infinity Ward in what is technically the sixth iteration of the "Call of Duty" franchise (though that's hard to tell, with Call of Duty mentioned once on the box and then never again), Modern Warfare 2 is, depending on who you listen to, either the Biggest Thing In Entertainment Ever, or an utter abomination not worthy of comparison to its predecessor. Personally? I think it's pretty good. It's one of the most cinematic video game experiences you'll have this year, with gameplay mechanics polished to an astounding degree.

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(I feel I need to mention, before I get into detail here, that due to the fact that I absolutely abhor playing games online (something about preteens screaming obscenities at me not really being my thing), I haven't played any of MW2's online multiplayer, and therefore I'm only going to be discussing the single player and special ops modes. I've heard it's pretty crazy though, so if curse-laden children IS your thing, you should check it out.)

Modern Warfare 2 looks great, with realistic character models and beautiful show-piece settings, and unlike a great deal of games that have been coming out lately there's no texture fade-in to speak of. There isn't a major graphical difference from the first modern warfare to this new one, but that isn't much of a complaint. The sound's also exceptional, if also very reminiscent of the original Modern Warfare. The score's still a heart-pounding orchestral, the bullets and explosions are all visceral, and the grenades still make that distinct *clink* sound they've been doing since the original Call of Duty. If you've played Modern Warfare...Classic than Two will be like slipping into a comfortable old coat, if a slightly shinier one.

The gameplay too is also similar to that of the original, in that it's bloody amazing. The feeling of lining up your shots and taking down targets in rapid succession is addictive, and deeply satisfying. Everything about the mechanics of MW2 just feel...right. The movement speed is perfect, the guns feel exactly how you want them to, and the firefights capture the tension and excitement that so few other first person shooter games have managed to do. It's all realistic enough for you to buy into the situation, yet not so realistic that it detracts from the combat's entertainment. Infinity Ward has a habit of walking a tightrope in this way, and somehow managing to keep it balanced.

Along with the single player campaign comes a new mode to Modern Warfare, the "Special Ops" mode. This contains a number of short combat vignettes that you and another player, either online or splitscreen, can go through together. There are numerous scenarios to play here, from outright balls-to-the-wall combat, to quick and quiet stealth operations. Spec ops contains some truly memorable moments, including my personal favourite gameplay moment of the year, where one has control of the famous gunship from the original Modern Warfare, providing air cover for another teammate on the ground. If you're like me and have a seething disdain for traditional multiplayer, then I implore you to check out the spec ops missions instead.

But enough about gameplay; unless you've been living off the grid for the past few years, or have just recently woken up from a coma, then you already know that Modern Warfare 2's a fun game to play. You likely also know that its story, as was its predecessor, is completely bananas. Though I won't spoil it in case you've yet to play, bad things happen, to A LOT of people. The plot twists and insane events come so hard and so often in MW2 that there are times where I felt dizzy. It got to the point where it felt like the game was trying too hard, and the result of which was that a number of plot developments, especially within the back half of the game, didn't make a hell of a lot of sense. There are also a lot of conflicting underlying themes to the story, with it being at times almost jingoistic in its pro-American "hooah" military atmosphere, yet at the same time deeply cynical and kind of tinfoil-hat anti-military conspiratorial. Modern Warfare 2 is like watching a foreign-dubbed Michael Bay movie: it's crazy and filled with kick-ass explosions, but things are only occasionally understandable. It is a great ride, though, and a ride that you'd be remiss to not have experienced.

I feel I need to sidetrack here, and talk about an aspect of the story that really affected me in greater detail, so if you're completely against having anything in this game spoiled you may want to skip the next few paragraphs, but unless you've somehow managed to miss the deluge of articles and news programs on Modern Warfare 2, you already know what I want to talk about. The airport scene. Early on in Modern Warfare 2 there's an event where play the role of an undercover CIA agent taking part in the terrorist massacre of an airport. You witness, and if you so wish take part in, the butchering of countless pixelated lives. It was, for me at least, an incredibly difficult scene to take in. You're walking in near slow motion, with an unsettling pumping music pulsing in the background, and you're forced to hear the screams of hundreds cut short as these men nonchalantly stroll through the airport, pumping bullets into the dead and dying. By its conclusion I felt sick to my stomach. It's a terrible, emotional moment to sit through, and I'm glad that Infinity Ward decided to put this scene in their game.

While I certainly didn't enjoy the scene by any conventional definition, I'm happy Infinity Ward had the guts to implement it. This single scene is an argument that video games can be more than just forms of juvenile entertainment, and can actually cause us to be emotionally affected by what we're seeing and acting out. I know that some games have been pushing boundaries for decades now, and past popular franchises such as Grand Theft Auto have even made shocking audiences their business model, but I have trouble thinking of such an anticipated game, with such a massive potential audience, going ahead and implementing something so controversial as having you play out a massacre. This is an important step, I feel, to pushing videogames out of the perceived children's toybox and into a real, respected medium. Sex, drugs, real emotional events: all these things occur in real life, and developers shouldn't be afraid to implement them into their game, even if it'll rattle a few cages.

Alright, I'm going to step off my soapbox now, and try and straighten out this mess before I crash entirely. Modern Warfare 2 is an exceptional game, the proverbial King of the Hill of first-person shooters, and carries with it a story that is equal parts captivating and crazy. Both the single player campaign as well as the spec ops mode are chock full of memorable moments, and although these modes aren't particularly long, with the story topping off at around five and a half hours, they're ripe for replaying. If you're a fan of first person shooters...well you probably own this game already. But if you're a fan of a popcorn action flicks and great gameplay, you should certainly give Modern Warfare 2 a look.

Review: Borderlands

Borderlands hearkens back to a simpler age of gaming, where trivial things like "story" took a backseat to hefting about an awesome gun, and mowing down faceless hordes in order to obtain a potentially even more awesome gun. Created by Gearbox Software, the guys that brought you the "Brothers In Arms" series, Borderlands boils down gaming into its barest essence, killing stuff to get better stuff. It takes the two seemingly disparate genres of fps and rpg, mixes them together more-or-less seamlessly, and places it all in an expansive desert world. It's fast, it's fun, and it's one of the best coop experiences this year, and although it certainly isn't without its faults, there are many things to love about Borderlands.

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Borderlands is set in the Mad Maxian world of Pandora, a desert planet covered in shanty towns, mounds of garbage, and angry, hungry wildlife. It's a beautifully designed and aesthetically pleasing hellscape, one that's entertaining to travel through and explore. The graphics within Borderlands are great, with a "not actually cel-shaded" cel-shaded look that manages to give everything a sharp, slightly cartoonish look, which helps lessen the post-apocalyptic tone and accentuate the game's surprisingly good humour.

Speaking of humour, I have to say, for a game that's filled almost solely with downtrodden shanty dwellers and psychopathic killers, Pandora is rife with some funny, entertaining people. Although Borderlands never bothers to go into any real depth about the characters giving you your quests, there are some weird-ass people inhabiting the planet for you to interact with, from the shotgun-toting blind man, to the corporate researcher who's lost her mind due to cabin fever, to the ubiquitous little garbage robots with a penchant for dance. Every NPC has something wrong with them, and usually comically so. The only problem is in how little you actually interact with these characters; you basically hear their introductory line of dialogue, and maybe the occasional sentence or two to progress the story. Every quest you receive, and you will receive a LOT of them, are all given via text, which comes out flat and isn't able to contain the same kind of humour found in the voice work.

As for the story itself, well, you're a treasure hunter/mercenary type who is out searching for the legendary "Vault" (because you just can't have a dystopian future without a Vault somewhere), a hidden stash filled with alien treasure and weapons that's said to be somewhere on Pandora. That's...that's really about it. As you continue searching for this Vault you get mired in a number of crazy missions, helping individuals find lost items or kill certain monsters, most of which are pretty non-sequiturial and have little to nothing to do with the actual plot. You really just wander around the landscape doing people's chores until you stumble upon the vault. Cue credits. The quests themselves also have an unfortunate tendency to repeat themselves; there are the requisite "bring a to b" and "kill x amount of a certain bad guy," but there are also a number of "salvage gun parts" and "find journals" quests that you will do multiple times. To be sure there a few cool and unique missions, but they are the minority compared to the the multitude of basic fetch quests you'll have to accomplish.

You'll play one of four different characters; Roland the soldier, who plays as the basic "bread and butter" fighter class, Mordecai the hunter, a sniper/ranger type that uses a bird for his special attack, Lilith the siren, who seems to be the most magic-user like of all the characters, and finally Brick the...Brick, your tank class with a penchant for punching things. Each class has a different special attack, and each kind of adheres to a different play style, but aside from a few different skill bonuses all four classes can potentially play exactly the same. Though I've only played in-depth with Brick and the soldier class, other than a different special attack both feel as if I'm playing with essentially the same character. It's a shame that Gearbox didn't try and add in a few more special attacks for each class in an attempt to contrast them a bit further, because as it is they all feel alike.

But lets get to the heart of the matter here, the gameplay. Borderlands, in a few words, is about shooting things until they explode, then searching through their entrails for better items. You carry with you a couple of guns, a shield, and a few other modifications, and your real goal at all times is to go around and end the life of everything moving in order to find dropped loot or boxes in order to upgrade your "stuff." If you've ever played Diablo and suffered through the horrifying addiction of trying to find better weapons for your character, than you'll know what kind of fixation Borderlands will create in you. You'll be constantly fiending to acquire new and better items, so you'll be killing endless hordes of faceless creatures in order to find new loot. Which is a good thing, because the combat itself in Borderlands is also a lot of fun.

Borderlands is an rpg at heart, so there is the whole "your damage points against his defense level" stuff going on in the background, but it doesn't feel like the stats crunching is so obvious as in other first person rpgs. Essentially, when you shoot at someone you may miss, but you'll feel more like it's because your gun sucks than your "accuracy score wasn't as high as his evasion." When you start getting into the thick of the intense, crazy battles, where you need to evade around enemies and hit them in their weak point from behind while other crazy abominations are trying to eat your face, you'll forget that you're playing an rpg at all.

And the action gets even more frantic when you start involving others. You can play with up to four players online or two in split-screen coop, and with the more people you're playing with the more enemies the game cranks out against you, and the more frantic everything becomes. It gets to the point where you and your teammates need to be constantly helping one another and desperately using your abilities in order to survive, and that's where Borderlands is at its best. Though I played through much of this game in single player, and still had a blast doing so, this game comes into its own in multiplayer, and was meant to be played with friends.

Borderlands is definitely not a perfect game, and has a number of issues that holds it back from becoming a truly incredible game, but it's a great deal of fun and certainly worth looking at. If you're clamoring right now for a game-ass game, where you just want to fight bandits and take their guns so you can kill more bandits, with a couple other buddies potentially along for the ride, then Borderlands is something you should look into. But be prepared for its addictive quality; after putting 40+ hours into this game, with my level 46 soldier and 25...Brick, I still intend on putting in significant more time, because the loot is calling out to me. I mean, my guns are pretty good, but they could always be better.

Preview: Halo Waypoint