Hello Internet, 

So, I haven't blogged much about music, or really anything at all this past year, but that hasn't stopped me from making my annual Sauer Reviews Mix. Like last year I have a few extra copies to go around. So for anyone that is interested in a free CD, all you have to do is email your US address to rhino4evr@yahoo.com. No catch, just free tunes to pass your day away.

Lots of great free demos are currently up on Xbox Live/PSN. Here are some impressions of the ones that I have played.

Easily, the coolest demo in quite a while. Not only does L4D's demo come with a single player mode, it also has an online mode, a rare thing for a demo. If you haven't been paying attention, Left 4 Dead is a new zombie shooter from Valve the creators of Half Life, though L4D and Half Life have very little in common. You'll team up with 4 people as you try to escape a city that has been infested with zombies. Think Dawn of the Dead (the remake) or 28 Days Later the videogame. These Zombies don't slowly walk towards you, they run at you at full speed. At times you will be swarmed by more then 50 on the screen at the same time. You'll be forced to work as a team, while you try to survive the hordes of flesh eating beasts. This game is going to be one of the best co-op experiences on the Xbox this fall. It may not have the hype of Gears 2, or the fan base of COD 4.5, but it should not be passed up.

Must Download

Mirrors Edge (XBLA/PSN)

Created by the same team that made Battlefield, Mirror's Edge may be one of the most original games of the year. Sure it's a first person adventure on its surface, but what makes it different is its emphasis on running and jumping. It may be the only real first person platforming game ever created. The graphics and animation are super slick, which makes it visually stunning. Instead of running around in dark corridors like most shooters, you'll be in the stark daylight, with gleaming reflections beaming from the building you traverse over. It's really something to experience first hand. The demo has a rather long tutorial that is a little tedious, but once you are let loose you'll really see why this one is special. Reviews has been positive to outstanding on this title. The biggest complaint being its short 6 hour campaign. This may be a rental or budget title for some of you, but a free demo never hurt anyone.

Must Download

Tomb Raider: Underworld (XBLA)

Tomb Raider Underworld plays a lot like a less polished version of the PS3 classic Uncharted. Half of the demo you'll be scaling large walls and making insane jumps form one cliff to another. Fans of games like Prince of Persia, Ico, Oddworld will enjoy this title. It's a little hard to play another one of these after just finishing the superior Uncharted a few months ago. One thing is for sure, the combat and aiming system feels a little flimsy, and the camera seems to be in the way more often then it should. Still this is a decent little demo, that makes me interested in a title I didn't really have interest in.

Hard Drive Worthy.

Banjo and Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts (XBLA)

A lot was made out of Rare's sale to Microsoft, at the time Microsoft was still trying to appeal to the casual gamers as much as the hardcore gamers. After Blinx failed, they needed a new cartoon mascot. Of course now, Microsoft has pretty much made Master Chief it's mascot and forgotten all about trying to appeal to the kiddies. Still Rare continues to make more kid-friendly titles. Banjo and Kazooie was a pretty hot Nintendo property that was announced for the 360 last year. Nintendo fanboys turned darkside, were anxious to play another Banjo platformer..what they got what nothing they expected. Nuts and Bolts is a vehicle designer game. You build custom cars, planes, sleds, etc to pick up items and complete tasks. I'll say it flat out, the demo bored the pants off me. The title may look nice, but the gameplay was lacking, as was the tasks at hand. This is another solid waste of potential. Nintendo has nothing to be upset about Rare leaving thus far.

Not worth the hard drive space.

Valkyria Chronicles (PSN)

VC is a real time action strategy game from Sega. The thought of strategy games make me cringe, as I just can't stand them. That's why I was pleasantly surprised to really enjoy VC on the PS3. With it's smooth anime graphics, the game looks like a cartoon in action. The 3D battle system is simple to understand and execute, but also extremely deep. Really the overall package is really impressive. With a ton of positive reviews but very little hype, this is easily the sleeper hit of the year. Im sure it will be out on 360 one day.

Must Download.

Quick bits:

Pure - Think of SSX on ATVs - worth the download

Star Wars Unleashed - Sadly, not worth the hard rive space.

I am still obsessed with Little Big Planet, I find new friends and levels on an almost daily basis. It's going to take a lot to pull this from my pick fro Game of the year. Gears 2 is sitting in it's promo sleeve on my coffee table (thanks Brett!). Hopefully I'll find time to play it this weekend. Saw a few minutes of Fallout 3, wow, looks amazing. This has been a great year for gaming.

Sauer

The wait is finally over...we are proud to announce the endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for President of United States.

Now Go Vote!!!

 IS REALLY FUCKING AWESOME.

 that's all for now..

 Sauer

 I know, I know.

We're Terrible people.  Really, there's no excuse.  The site founders have huddled and are actively recruiting new talent for the site and planning a full relaunch.  If you're interested in contributing to the site, comment below with your email address and we'll be in touch.

 For now though, courage.

Sauer's knee deep in his new PS3 and Metal Gear.  Duke is newly single and struggling through a very dry season for games.  Here's a couple super quick wrap ups:

Wii review Boom Blox:

Easily the most sensitive and well designed use of the Wii Remote yet.  This game is the new go to party game for Wii owners, but single players should steer clear as the single player campaign isn't so hot.  A huge amount of variation to the party modes will keep players busy for a long time to come.

Xbox 360 review Tomb Raider Anniversary:

I LOVED Tomb Raider Legend.  It was fun, smartly designed and hard to put down.  Anniversary falls well short of that for me.  It just seemed uninspired, and honestly I got stuck on a couple levels because the puzzles just weren't intuitive.  If you've got a hankering for Lara Croft, check out Anniversary or wait for the next one.  Skip Anniversary.

More updates upcoming.

Duke

I was surprised by Bully.  I wasn’t by CSI: Hard Evidence. It was exactly what I expected it to be, a barely mediocre game who’s stories were compelling enough to want to finish, and game play barely an afterthought in the design process.  CSI: HE is a point and click game where you take the place of a nameless, faceless newbie at CSI’s Las Vegas offices who goes along on missions with 5 of the main characters from the show.  You travel from crime scene to interrogation, moving your cursor around until it changes colors or asking EVERY SINGLE dialogue option until you can’t ask anything else.  You also spend time in the lab, matching prints or DNA or piecing together broken things… but all this becomes moot when you realize you can’t lose.  You can’t say anything or do anything to actually lose the game, and there are an unlimited number of “hints” which spell out exactly what to do at any time.  Clearly, challenge wasn’t an issue for the designers.
 

It’s the easiest 1000 points I’ve gotten, and I would have felt kinda dirty getting them if the story wasn’t compelling…but it kinda was. It was a whole lot like watching 5 episodes of the story unfold…slowly and with lots of unnecessary looking around... I couldn’t help but get sucked into the whodunit plots, especially since they each last just over an hour. The game is rated M for good reason. The second case has you grabbing DNA samples off used condoms for instance.

Still, aside from the easy points or decent story there's not much reason to play CSI: Hard evidence.  Come to think of it… just rent a DVD of the show. Save yourself the 5 hours unless you’re obsessed with the series or you gamerscore.

Grade : D

Duke

Oh and while I didn’t play it on the Wii, I’d imagine it would be easier to “play” with the wii remonte, and the graphics are PS2 quality as it is…

Having just finished GTA IV, I wasn’t exactly excited to see that Gamefly sent me Bully: Scholarship Edition, a title that was pretty far down my list, but happened to be immediately available.  Much to my surprise, I really enjoyed Bully, so much so that I found myself playing it for hours at a time each night until I finished the game.  It’s one hell of a fun game, but is certainly a flawed experience.

Many of the reviews for this game spoke of crippling bugs, game freezing, achievement’s not unlocking and other problems like that.  I’m happy to say the patch that Rockstar has released solved those problems. I had zero freezes and every achievement unlocked immediately when it should have.

The basic premise is this: You’re a misfit kid named Jimmy who has been expelled from school after school, comes from a broken home and loves to rumble.  Your mother drops you off at Bullworth Academy, a sort of reform school, on her way to her 7^th honeymoon and you’re tasked with attending classes and completing all sorts of missions.  These missions take place all over campus, as well as in the three surrounding areas of town.  The game is not nearly as large as GTA games, but the level design is clever and varied from area to area, so much so that you’ll find yourself completely disregarding the map after a few hours because you know the best ways around town by sight.

The mission structure is similar to that of GTA, a yellow circle will appear somewhere on the map and once you step in the mission begins.  A big difference is the fact that the missions are varied, much more so than in GTA games.  You rarely repeat the same type of mission more than once (unless you count the optional errands, which still don’t really repeat) and find yourself doing something new and fun each time. Oh and another thing, there are MID-MISSION CHECKPOINTS! It’s hard to believe that Rockstar did this for Bully, but didn’t for GTA, but they certainly did… Anyway…  An added layer of complexity is introduced depending on how you play the game. If you choose to take on missions during school time (9:00-11:00 am and 1:30-3:30 P.M), your “trouble meter” is partially filled as you are involved in truancy.  If a teacher on campus sees you, they will chase after you and if they catch you, you’ll be dragged into whichever class is currently in session.  Of course you can run away and hide in lockers, trashcans or other places and you can choose to mash on the Y button to punch the authority figure in the balls and run away.  The more trouble you cause, the more your trouble meter fills and the harder it is to escape from authority figures.  But the thing is it’s not a bad thing to get caught most times.  You’re only punishment is losing some of the items you have in your inventory, but the items are so easily replenished, you’ll never bat an eye.  Plus, going to class is a real treat.

There are a slew of different classes, ranging from English to Chemistry, Art to Shop, Music to Biology and more.  Every class involves you playing a mini game of some sort in order to pass that particular level.  Each class has 5 levels and you are rewarded greatly for completing classes.  For instance passing Geography will cause your map to be filled with more and more helpful information, including the locations of every ‘hidden’ item in the game, making the 100% achievement much easier to get, and honestly a ton of fun.  There aren’t an enormous amount of silly hidden packages (like finding 200 pigeons), only 75 rubber bands and 40 Grottos and Goblins cards, and just during the course of the game you’ll have found 75% of them by exploring a bit.  Passing English class makes it easier to score with the ladies and increases the health bonus you get for kissing the girls (or boys).  Each of the mini games is well designed (although very easy), with one notable exception.  The Shop class is broken, you find yourself having to guess what the next motion will be because it will fail you before you even see what you’re supposed to do. 

The graphics are dated, clearly looking like spruced up PS2 graphics, and having just finished GTA IV, it was even more noticeable.  The camera also gets stuck at times.  These technical problems are bothersome, but I’ve come to expect them from Rockstar.  Rockstar did a fine job with all of the voice acting.  The cut-scenes are well done and the in game dialogue and comments you hear from other students and townfolk are hilarious.  For some great laughs, dress in a silly outfit and just walk around, listening to the hundreds of comments and insults people will throw at you as you go about your business.

There is an amount of customization of your clothing is staggering, but a little shallow.  You can dress yourself in thousands of combinations of clothing (everything imaginable) but the outfits will either be seen as “good” or “bad” by other people, which affects their comments to you on the streets and whether or not the gals and guys will make out with you. 

There are a few ways to get around campus and town: on foot, skateboard, bicycles, Mopeds and eventually Go-Karts.  Skateboarding is annoying since any time you try to turn, you get thrown off course and the camera goes a bit wonky and every time you touch a curb or go from one terrain to another, you get thrown off course again.  Very frustrating, especially when you’re trying to get somewhere in a certain time limit.

The challenge level is also a bit disappointing.  This game is EASY, so easy that I don’t think I failed more than 4 or 5 missions and 1 class during the entire game, and each of those were because of technical issues rather than difficulty.  There’s a TON of stuff to do, but with it being so easy, it’s pretty easy to finish the game in 25 hours and get 100% completion in 30 or so, and that’s taking your sweet time (The Carnival can be a big time waster, as can the 4 different arcade games). 

Bully is a wonderful way to spend a week or two.  The missions are varied, the story is quite funny and there is a lot to do that’s actually worth doing.  However the technical issues, dated look of the game and difficulty (or lack thereof) make it a rental rather than a purchase.  I’d suggest not playing it back to back with GTA IV though, as too much open world gaming is bad for the brain.  I’m craving a nice linear game.  I’ve got CSI at the house for the little lady, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I timed out sending back Bully just enough that I’ll be rocking Ninja Gaiden II by week’s end.

Score: B-

Mahalo,

Duke

Ever since Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One was announced, I’ve been waiting with bated breath to play it.  I’m not a Penny Arcade fanatic, although I do take an hour or so a month to scroll through weeks and weeks of their strips, but knowing that a turn-based RPG with a sense of humor would be available got me excited.  When it finally arrived, I downloaded it immediately and dove right in.

Right off the bat, the art style jumps off the screen, looking much like an animated version of their comic strip. A wonderful bonus is the fact that you start off creating a character (with a rather limited creation system), which is then fully integrated into the game’s cut-scenes.  It’s a real treat to see your own creation so well represented in the story, and that explains why there aren’t a ton of options for customizing your character.  The graphics are crisp and the animation is consistently fluid, making it really seem like you’re getting a polished game.

The gameplay is a mixture of active time battle and turn based RPG elements.  Although that might turn off some gamers, rest assured the battles require precise timing and constant attention (especially if you’re trying for all the achievements).  There are also special attacks which require a quick button pressing mini-game in order to be properly executed, adding a little more depth to the fighting system.  The fighting system isn’t exactly deep, but for a turn based game, it keeps you engaged and doesn’t get tiring throughout the 3 major stages of the game.

One of the places the game suffers most is in the sound department.  There is a narrator at the beginning of the game, but he disappears after the first stage, and that’s the end of the voice acting.  There are very few sound effects, and this is most noticeable during battles, where you’ll hear the same 4 or 5 sounds over and over again.  The soundtrack is impressive, and doesn’t grate on you, but it’s not enough to cover for the rest of the audio-deficiencies.  Another negative aspect is the lack of any type of store to buy items.  Instead, you are forced to break box after box after box to find items (although enemies drop them as well).  Also, the level-up system is a little simplistic and totally automatic, there are no new weapons, only upgrades and there aren’t very many item types.

But the real selling point of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One is the story, and it’s a wonderful one.  Although the creators don’t exactly break new ground with the overall plot, their unique sense of humor shines through in every aspect of the game, from the character designs, to the dialogue and item descriptions.  This is probably the funniest game I’ve played since Psychonauts, and the humor doesn’t trail off at the end like in Psychonauts. You definitely do not need to be a fan of (or even have read) Penny Arcade to enjoy this game.  There are certainly quite a few inside jokes, but they are normally relegated to signs in the background or lines the NPCs will state, so the uninitiated won’t feel left out.

At 1600 Microsoft Points ($20), PAAOTRSPODEO is the priciest XBLA game yet, and it’s the biggest stumbling block for most people I’ve talked to. Hearing that a 4-6 hour game is running twenty bucks seems to turn people off, but how many non-puzzle games are there on LIVE that have that much original content?  Not many. And it’s a disappointment when the game is over, but not the kind of disappointment where you wish you could take your points back, it’s the kind where you wish you could play the next episode right away.  There are only 3 main stages (with two smaller stages where very little happens aside from a tutorial) but they are each totally unique and allow for a good bit of exploration (especially for achievement whores like me) Bottom line, it’s definitely worth the money if you enjoy the humor (check out the demo to be sure), enjoy a good turn based RPG or like to try something different now and again.  With so many people complaining about the amount of utter crap on XBLA, it’s nice to see a game like PAAOTRSPODEO come along and silence them (until the next Sudoku game shows up).

If you’re reading this blog, you’ll most likely enjoy the humor of PAAOTRSPODEO (not that we’re anywhere near as talented as they, just we tend to skew on the darker/more cynical side of humor) and shouldn’t hesitate downloading the game.  It’s short, but not too short where you don’t get your money’s worth.  I can’t wait till Episode Two.

Score: B+

Duke

Oh and an unrelated side comment: Rather than de-list underperforming games to de-clutter the system, isn’t it about time for a complete overhaul of the store system? It’s just too big to keep it like it is, having to scroll through hundreds of pages of stuff, not knowing what most of it is, and having to wait for a slow scroll on the right side of the screen to give you a poorly written description is not going to cut it anymore.  It’s Time for a redesign Microsoft!  I hear you’ve got a few guys that work on this kind of stuff, so how about putting it into the Fall Update?

By now most of you have read some of the extremely positive, perfect 10/10 GTA4 reviews by the gaming press. I'm not hear to tell you that GTA4 doesn't deserve high scores. It does, but is it really flawless? Not even close. The truth is GTA4 has plenty of faults that have haunted the series since the series first went 3D on the PS2. So instead of repeating every other review of the game, I've decided to focus on the problems with GTA4. Once again, GTA4 is an excellent and epic gaming experience, one that will definitely go down with the greatest, but there is always room for improvement.

To me, the bulk of the games problems can be summed up quite easily in the last mission of the game. It's the kind of mission that will force controllers to be thrown, and hair to be pulled out. Not because of it's difficulty, but because of game's various gameplay problems. When you finally finish it, you'll not only be glad it's over, you may never want to pick up the game again. Without going into spoilers here is a list of the problems with the last mission, that also happen to be the the weakest aspects of the GTA4 experience.

- No Checkpoints - This is a biggie. GTA4 now allows you to restart missions almost instantly if you have failed them, which is a huge plus over the older games. The problem? You'll be playing all of these missions from the beginning every time, and if you died, with less ammo, armor, and money. This isn't a huge issue in the earlier, shorter missions, but once you are further in the game and you start playing missions that can take up to 20 or 30 minutes it becomes a major annoyance. This is partly because of the chaos of the GTA open world universe. After gunning down 30 or so criminals, and making an escape for it, you may be forced to loose your police wanted level. This can be either extremely easy, or frustratingly difficult depending on a lot of factors. Playing through an entire mission only to fail because of a stupid random accident is maddening. Particularly if your mission involves one of....

It's also fair to say that the game lacks variety in it's mission structure. Out of the 94 missions I completed, I would say only 20-30 of them were really memorable or different. Occasionally during a mission some cool and unique gameplay will pop up, but for some reason these are one-time only affairs. Why the developers didn't use these new gameplay ideas more often is baffling. Considering that the..

I didn't even mention the overly complex controls, buggy cover system, and numerous technical glitches. Mainly because they are much improved over the previous generation's iterations. GTA4 may not be the best racing, shooting, boating, action,drunk driving, dating sim, bowling, and online game, but the sum of it's parts greatly outweigh the negatives. It really is the best open world game ever created.