February 2007

Pokemon Breaks Japanese Sales Records

February 1, 2007

News / by Chris Rasco Make a comment! / Tweet it!

I know people are still into Pokemon, but I didn’t realize everyone was [b]THIS[/b] into Pokemon still. Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl were released on Sept. 28, 2006 and after just 3 months have shipped a record-breaking 5 Million units to retailers in Japan. This bumps them to the top of the list as the fastest selling Pokemon games ever.

The release I got doesn’t state if this is per game or combined, but I guess it doesn’t really matter since 5 Million copies anything is a lot. These latest figures take the total number of Pokemon games sold around the world since Sept. 2006 up to 155 Million. That is a staggering number. I am still in disbelief.

Lost Planet Update Coming March 9th

February 1, 2007

News / by Chris Rasco Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Capcom sent over word that the development team of Lost Planet was working on an update to be released about March 9, 2007. The update would address a few minor bugs/exploits as well as add some new multi-player features.

Updates
[list][*]In the pre-game lobby, a country flag icon will be shown next to the Gamertag of each player. This will be especially helpful for determining location of the match host.
[*]In the pre-game lobby, an icon will be added next to each player’s Gamertag, indicating connection strength, speed and rating.
[*]In Team Elimination, Post Grab and Fugitive modes, an indicator will be added next to the Gamertag of the person who is speaking.
[*]At the post-match Results screen, an indicator will be added next to the Gamertag of the person who is speaking.
[*]At the post-match Results screen, Gamertags of the players who have left the session will be darkened.[/list]

Bug Fixes
[list][*]Sometimes in Fugitive mode there would be multiple Fugitives instead of just one — Fixed
[*]Occasionally, if an error occurred on the lobby screen, another lobby screen would be displayed on top of it — Fixed
[*]Sometimes when there was a long delay/lag, the game would hang at the transition screen going from the lobby to the game and then reboot — Fixed
[*]Sometimes when there was a long delay/lag, depending on the console, certain players in the match would become invisible for the duration of the match — Fixed
[*]Sometimes post-match Results screens would show players who did not participate in the match — Fixed
# Starting a taunt animation during a reload shortened the reload time as an exploit — Fixed[/list]

Small Arms

February 1, 2007

Reviews / Xbox 360 / by Chris Massey Make a comment! / Tweet it!

[i]Super Smash Bros.[/i] is probably one of my all-time favorite game series, so many games that try to emulate it usually take a lot to get my attention. For what it’s worth, though, [i]Small Arms[/i] for Xbox Live Arcade is a decent alternative. Although I’ve heard it more likened to [i]Power Stone[/i] (a game which I’ve not played), [i]Small Arms[/i] resembles [i]Super Smash Bros.[/i] and is basically a four-player brawler. However, while the idea to release a game with these qualities on Xbox Live Arcade seems like a no-brainer, the game isn’t executed as well as it could have been. While [i]Small Arms[/i] proves to be an entertaining multiplayer game, the single player is both dull and frustrating, and some poor ideas hinder the general game play.

[i]Small Arms[/i] has no story, or at least, not an overall one. There are eight players to choose from, with four more being unlocked later on, each with a brief background story that is fairly irrelevant aside from getting a chuckle at the surreal origin stories. There’s Marky Kat, a… well cat with a machine gun, Fox Claw, a disowned ninja with a blade, and Unit 51, a parody of the Doom guy if I’ve ever seen one, among other players. While there isn’t anything to really hate about any of these characters, none of them are particularly memorable, either, save for maybe Pector El Pollo, a Mexican wrestling chicken. I might not ever forget Billy Ray Logg either, who is the world’s first mutated tree and is pretty angry about it.

Each character also has a unique weapon that they start out with. This is probably where the first of [i]Small Arms[/i]’ problems come into play, because while Marky Kat has access to his machine gun at the beginning of a match, the same gun may very well drop from the sky later on for another player to pick up and use. This applies to just about every character’s weapon. Therefore, there isn’t a whole lot of difference between characters, aside from maybe physical abilities. At the same time, the weapons are about the only thing available to attack with, and since you will run out of ammo pretty quickly, the only thing left to do is wait for batteries to drop from the sky or desperately hit your opponent with the mostly ineffective melee attacks.

I should take a moment to mention the level design, which ranges from new and inventive to bland and boring. Stages like the tornado and train levels are certainly entertaining because the players fight while the camera scrolls across the expansive level. In the case of the tornado, you will fight while jumping to and from all sorts of debris, from homes torn from their foundations to planes sucked into the vortex. Other stages also have traps such as poisonous gas chambers to trip up players. However, while some levels are fairly well designed, others like the simple outhouse level aren’t as fun to play on, and some levels seem to promote claustrophobia and pure chaos with four players.

The single player game in [i]Small Arms[/i] is over pretty quickly. Once you play through the mission mode, which allows you to gain access to the four unlockable characters, there are only a few other game modes thrown in to try and make it last. Couple that with the fact that the computer A.I. for other characters is dirt poor, and you’ve got one dull single player mode that only leads to frustration. The A.I. is programmed so badly that enemies will literally jump all over the map, sometimes flying straight off the sides. Not only that, but if you’re fighting against multiple players, they all focus their sights on you, and when you’re not on the map, they stand around until you respawn, not so much as touching each other.

Nope, [i]Small Arms[/i] was definitely developed to be a multiplayer affair, particularly over Xbox Live, although you can still go old school with four players on the same box. For the most part, the online multiplayer is much more enjoyable, although the chaos still makes it difficult to make out what is actually happening sometimes. Clearly, online multiplayer was what the developers had in mind with this game. Still, there are some problems, like the erratic camera that sometimes decides it wants to zoom-in on a different player, although this only seems to happen on larger maps. For the most part, though the multiplayer is presented well and is easily the best reason to purchase this game.

In the end, [i]Small Arms[/i] squeaks out with some fun online multiplayer. There’s no question that this game wasn’t designed as a single-player game, and the single-player only serves as a device to unlock additional characters and achievements and not much else. If you don’t have Xbox Live Gold, or at the very least can’t find others to play with, [i]Small Arms[/i] isn’t worth your time. With its online play, as well as a fairly affordable price, though, [i]Small Arms[/i] is a decent addition to Xbox Live Arcade.

Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank

February 1, 2007

Reviews / Xbox 360 / by Chris Rasco Make a comment! / Tweet it!

PopCap Games has been masterfully putting out highly addictive games for quite a while now. It was only a matter of time before they became a dominant force in the Xbox Live Arcade arena too. After all, their games make a perfect transition to XLA.

[i]Heavy Weapon Deluxe[/i], the original downloadable version of [i]Heavy Weapon[/i], came out quite a while ago and was a real treat to play on the PC. Its only downside was that it locked your movement and firing. To fire you would hold down the left mouse button and move the mouse around, your tank would follow the mouse as if on a leash. This worked at least marginally well. With [i]Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank[/i] now available on XLA the game has changed. Independent firing and movement along with HD support and enhanced sound effects take [i]Heavy Weapon[/i] and make it even better.

In this side scrolling shooter, you control a single atomic tank that has to blast through 19 story based missions and defeat the Red Star army that is threatening some unknown nation. Unlike the PC version, this version allows you to move and fire independently of each other. The left thumbstick handles movement and the right thumbstick handles your weapon fire. Each of the missions is carefully packaged chaos as you make your way to the boss at the end. Sometimes just getting to the level boss is the hard part as hundreds of planes fly overhead dropping bombs along the way. To make it even more complicated, a friendly helicopter flys through the war zone dropping power-ups and Nukes for you to collect and use during chaotic moments or against bosses. Your supply chopper does not like to be shot so try to avoid that. Be warned though, dying makes you lose all of those power-ups and all unused Nukes. The level bosses range from battleships to crazy jumping robots with some being easy and some being downright tough.

At the beginning you will only have your standard tank cannon to fend off the enemy vehicles, but at the end of each level you are awarded a point to allocate to a new type of weapon upgrade. There are 6 different weapon banks that you can allocate points to in order to build the best combination of weapons for the current level. The different weapon banks include lasers, homing missiles, standard missiles, protection orbs, a flak cannon, and lightning bolts that bounce from enemy to enemy. Allocating a single point in any of these weapon banks activates that particular weapon or feature on your atomic tank. Additional points added to already active weapons will increase the weapons power or effectiveness. In some levels, a level 3 laser coupled with your standard cannon may do the best job, but in other cases a level 1 laser, level 1 homing missile, and level 1 protection orb may be the only way you can actually make it to the boss. This dynamic weapon system adds a layer of complexity that, if used correctly, can give you the upper hand. In addition to your normally equipped weapons, the enemy will drop pieces of a mega laser. Collect all 4 pieces by catching them before they hit the ground to active the mega laser which instantly destroys anything it touches. The mega laser is short lived, but gives you yet another thing to keep an eye out for in each level.

[i]HW:AT[/i] sports a few different game modes to play. In addition to the standard Mission Mode there is a Survival Mode and a Boss Rush mode. Survival pits you against an unending stream of enemies to see how long you can last. Boss Rush is a new mode exclusive to this version of [i]Heavy Weapon[/i] that lets you challenge every boss from the game in succession, not an easy feat. [i]HW:AT[/i] also sports up to 4 player multiplayer over Xbox Live or locally.

[i]Heavy Weapon[/i] is a definitely a game that focuses on gameplay first, but that doesn’t mean that the visuals are garbage. PopCap delivered a nice cartoony feel to the game which fits well with the out of control chaos in the game. Each level you play through has a different look and theme which helps to cut down on the repetitive feel of the game.

At 800 points, [i]Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank[/i] is a bargain for what it delivers, but don’t expect to rush through this title on your first try. The difficultly level ramps up quickly and doesn’t budge, but with multiplayer modes to enjoy when you reach your breaking point HW:TA is sure to keep you playing for a while. If you are a big fan of arcade style shooters, you should at the very least give the demo a shot, after all it is free to try out.

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