Shawn Vermette

Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks

January 10, 2010

Ben 10 is the story of Ben Tennyson, an average kid who just happens to own a watch called an Omnitrix that allows him to transform into ten different aliens. Each alien has a different power that Ben is able to tap into and use in order to defend Earth from the various threats against it. In Ben 10: Vilgax Attacks, Ben’s nemesis, Vilgax, invades Earth with the intent of conquering the world and killing Ben. You’ll then follow Ben Tennyson as he travels throughout time and space attempting to thwart the invasion.

This is, for all intents and purposes, a game that only fans of the show will enjoy. The writing is reminiscent of the Cartoon Network show the game is based on, and each of the aliens from the show is present in the game. However, there is very little explanation about the strengths and special abilities of each alien. Unless you know the aliens from the show, there’ll be a lot of trial and error along the way as you attempt to figure out and remember the benefits and drawbacks of using each of the ten aliens.

The control scheme works pretty well, with the controls being fairly standard for action games. Papaya Studios resisted the urge to add token motion controls, which I can appreciate. Motions wouldn’t have worked well with the rest of the control scheme. The graphics are fairly standard for the majority of Wii titles: sharper than last-gen graphics, but not really noteworthy. Additionally, the camera can be a pain to keep centered on the action. It’ll sometimes get stuck behind buildings or at an odd angle that makes the platforming difficult.

Ben 10: Vilgax Attacks is a very easy game. It’s next to impossible to die in the early stages of the game, and if you do die, you’ll simply start again from exactly where you died. This makes it ideal for people that are in the usual age group for fans of the Ben 10 series.

Plays Like: Other Ben 10 games; Spongebob games

Pros: Faithful to the series; difficulty level fits the audience

Cons: Graphic design is simple and uninspired; camera hampers gameplay

Snackbar Speculator: Re-re-re-redesign?

January 3, 2010

Features / Speculator / by Shawn Vermette /

We’re back with another edition of Snackbar Speculator. This week’s topics: The return of Vice City, the demise of NHL 2K and the PSP’s identity crisis.

Current scores:

Andrew Passafiume: -35

Graham Russell: 0

Shawn Vermette: 5

Grand Theft Auto V to take place in Vice City

Rockstar has made a habit of revisiting locales from previous Grand Theft Auto games, and rumor has it Grand Theft Auto V will be no exception. The instruction manual for the recently released Episodes from Liberty City featured a fake poster for a movie titled Liberty City, It’s Over. However, that fake poster appeared to be plastered on top of a different poster. This poster, when compared with some in-game posters from GTA: Vice City, appears to be the exact same poster. This has led to speculation that the next GTA will in fact take place in Vice City.

Andrew: Rockstar themselves have said they are done with Liberty City, so it wouldn’t surprise me that they decide to go back to Vice City. There was also the website that showed plane tickets bought by GTA IV’s main protagonist, Niko, for a trip to Vice City. It seems like the fairly obvious choice. 80%

Graham: It’s a good a place as any. They’re invested in the places they’ve created, and they haven’t seemed eager to revisit San Andreas. 65%

Shawn: Considering the Grand Theft Auto series has only visited three cities over the course of its existence, one of which was just used in Grand Theft Auto IV, the odds are fairly good that Vice City is the next stop. Add in all the little hints that Rockstar has dropped over the past year, and I’d say it is a pretty good bet that Vice City will play host to Grand Theft Auto V. 85%

Take Two cancelling its NHL 2K series

Outside of its NBA 2K series, Take Two has released dud after dud in its various sports series. In fact, Take Two has announced that they may lose up to $30 million this year thanks to its sports portfolio. Now there’s rumors that they are considering cancelling their NHL 2K series entirely rather than spend the money to try to compete with EA in hockey. There’s no doubt that if Take Two put the effort into a sports game, they can compete with EA as NFL 2K5 and MLB 2K5 and their entire NBA 2K series can attest to…but do they want to continue doing so anymore?

Andrew: This seems a bit unlikely, seeing as their NHL 2K series is next to NBA as their most popular sports series, both in terms of sales and critical acclaim. It seems incredibly unlikely they would decide to cancel that series out of all of them. But they is always a possibility, albeit a very small one. 15%

Graham: Let’s be honest here. Hockey isn’t that popular nationally, so a second-place game, even if it’s better, doesn’t have great prospects. 2K looks at games like GTA and the piles of money they bring in…and then they look at an NHL game. See what I’m saying? 50%

Shawn: For the last couple years, the NHL 2K series has pretty much sucked, especially compared to EA’s NHL series. Considering the beating Take Two has taken recently in the sports arena, it might be smart to at least give it a rest…but somehow I doubt they’ll do the smart thing. 35%

Sony readying yet another PSP redesign

Sony loves to redesign their systems, as the PS3 and PSP can attest. Sony has released 8 different configurations of the PS3 to date, and 4 different designs of the PSP. However, Sony may not yet be done redesigning the PSP. Rumor has it that because of the failure of the PSP Go to take off, Sony may be readying another redesign already, this one with the UMD drive intact.

Andrew: Although the Go was pretty much a failure, I could see another PSP re-design (along with a small price drop) being one that boosts the sales of the system a bit. I think they had the right idea with the Go, but the steep price point and lack of UMD support really killed it. I would be very surprised if we don’t see another PSP re-design this year. 85%

Graham: They’re readying something. Past experience with Sony and Nintendo would suggest that they’re always working on a new revision of (or successor to) everything. I think they’re going to ride out the PSP as long as they can, and a new UMD-enabled PSP would serve as a mea culpa for the Go. It’d also be a white flag…but there are times for that. 70%

Shawn: The PSP Go was a stupid idea from the start. However, every other redesign of the PSP has resulted in a boost in PSP sales for awhile. Because of this, I would be shocked if Sony DIDN’T redesign the PSP again in the near future. 95%

Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter

December 20, 2009

DS / Reviews / by Shawn Vermette /

Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter is the next in a unique series from an up-and-coming studio. It’s the first sequel made by 5th Cell, so it was interesting to see how they would reconcile their history of original games with making a sequel.

The Next Chapter’s story is similar to the original, with Wilfre trying to destroy the world of the Raposa. This time though, he is draining the color from the world. To stop him, you’ll have to draw your hero and then platform your way to victory.

Of course, the biggest feature of The Next Chapter is still drawing your own hero and drawing various other parts of the world. If you are a good artist, then you’ll enjoy having your creations populating the overworld and watching your masterpiece of a hero travel through the levels. If you aren’t, well, then I hope you enjoy watching grotesque caricatures of animals travel around the overworld. I fit into the latter category, and none of the things I drew looked anything like what they were supposed to look like. Luckily, you’ll often have the option of just using a model if you aren’t a good artist.

The actual gameplay is fairly standard for a side-scrolling game; you’ll beat enemies, jump across platforms, and collect coins and paint until you finish the level. The graphics all have a hand-drawn look to them and that style matches really well with the entire tone of this series. The music is catchy, though none of it is overwhelmingly good.

This is a worthwhile sequel to the original. It is well-made and an enjoyable platforming game. If you enjoyed the original or the SpongeBob edition, you’ll enjoy The Next Chapter. If you didn’t enjoy it, then there’s no reason to consider this one either.

ESRB: E for Mild Cartoon Violence-if you can watch cartoons, you can play this game.

Plays Like: Previous Drawn to Life games

Pros: Can draw many things in the game

Cons: Have to draw many things in the game

SB09: Shawn Vermette’s picks

December 14, 2009

News / by Shawn Vermette /

One of Snackbar Games’ traditions every year is to have each staffer pick their top ten games of the year. We’re so all over the map in our tastes that our lists are never similar. Today, Shawn Vermette makes us all gasp or something with his top pick.

10. Halo 3: ODST (X360)

Halo 3: ODST is not going to be the huge success or online presence that Halo 2 and 3 have been, but it had the best told story of the series and showed that Halo can indeed be played as more of a recon and stealth game than a action, run & gun, shooter. The style of action suited me and when I could play online with friends, it was a ton of fun also.

9. Prototype (X360)

Prototype is the type of game you play when you want to cause unequaled carnage and wanton death. It also happens to have what I felt was a fairly good story, great controls, and a good difficulty curve. With my newfound love of open world games, all of these added up to one great experience with Prototype. READ MORE

Cook or be Cooked

December 11, 2009

Reviews / Wii / by Shawn Vermette /

Food Network has jumped aboard the Wii train with both feet, having quickly licensed out games based on a number of their top rated shows. Despite relatively good sales of a few of their games (mostly Iron Chef), most have been mediocre at best. Unfortunately, Cook or be Cooked is inferior to most of Food Network’s other offerings.

Cook or be Cooked tasks you with creating food using real recipes and judges you based on how well you mimic the specific movements required by each step and on your timing. You’ll also get bonus points for finishing multiple foods around the same time.

The controls are both too specific and too vague at the same time. If you try to do the specific movements requested by each step, you’ll likely fail to get full points. However, if you just waggle your Wii remote, you’ll almost always get the best score for each step.

The graphics quality is on par with most other games from Food Network, which is to say poor. The sound effects are good, with everything sounding as if you are truly in the kitchen. The voice acting needs work, but that may be more a result of a horrible script than bad voice acting, as the actors are actual Food Network hosts.

Additionally, Cook or be Cooked claims to have thirty recipes in it, but, in reality, it has a mere fourteen meals. It seems to be counting each individual food item in each meal as a separate recipe for that count.

If you enjoy any of the other Food Network cooking games, you’ll enjoy this one. However, it still doesn’t measure up to Cooking Mama in terms of actual gameplay.

ESRB: E for alcohol references

Plays Like: Cooking Mama, Iron Chef

Pros: Recipes are good

Cons: Controls are iffy-waggling counts as just about every movement required; Graphics are low quality; Claims to have 30 recipes, but really has just 14 meals

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