Welcome folks!  FiveByFive here with another review, this time I’ll be reviewing Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation for Sony’s latest handheld the PS Vita.  Now I love the Assassin’s Creed series and as I said in my review for Assassin’s Creed 3, it has been a series that has gripped me like none other this generation.  A lot of PS Vita owners were salivating to get their hands on a console experience AC game, well now they have it, but is it any good?  A resounding HELL NO!  While to its merit it does retain some of the feel from the console versions the overall package is a maggot riddled corpse of… let’s not go there.  All I can say is in short: STAY AWAY FROM THIS GAME, so lets break it down shall we.

PRESENTATION

Assassin’s Creed games are known for their stunning visuals and their ability to bring historic settings to life; this cannot be said for ACL.  The game is plain and simply UGLY, everything from the environments to the character models look like bottom of the barrel PS2 games.  Environments stand out with muddled textures and rough edges, you will not be wandering the streets of New Orleans or its Bayou to soak it all in, you’ll be freerunning if you can constantly so you don’t have to look at how hideous the game is.  While AC is known for bringing its environments to life this game does no justice to the city of New Orleans.  The city just looks dead, something you’ll wish for as you trek through the game.  Character models are as simplistic as it can get Aveline’s eyes pop out of her skull and just look horrid as you travel through the map, cutscenes aren’t any better.  Having the characters so upfront shows you just how little they worked on the models, you’d be remiss to find any standout features, and eyebrows are almost invisible!  The screenshots are a misrepresentation of how the actual game looks.  It’s quite appalling how rushed everything looks, and rushed this game definitely was.  In my time playing the game I ran into numerous glitches.  Some instances saw me waist into the roof of a building, not able to get out and having to restart from the last checkpoint.  Large amounts of bodies clipping in and out of NPCs and inanimate objects.  Floating alligators that can kill you but you can’t hit at all.  Jesus can walk on water but Aveline can swim on land!  This coupled with others makes for a terrible experience.  The soundtrack is disappointing as well, from my time playing through the entire story I could only count three different tracks that were played, these were constantly recycled again and again.  The voice acting is quite bad also, as a person hailing from New York I’ve heard as many accents imaginable and enough to know that the French accents in the game are not only highly generic, but terrible at that too.  While AC games are known for telling grand stories, Liberation presents you with an aimless story which made playing the game feel worthless, I was never once compelled to continue on.  I only did so because I had already spent money on the game so it was more of an obligation to myself to finish the game.  Other than Aveline the characters were bland and none of them were memorable or stood out like the Al-Mualim’s or the Machiavellis of previous games.

GAMEPLAY

Here is a good thing about ACL: the freerunning works just as well as the console games, and there is a lot to do to keep you continuing to play, granted only if you actually want to continue.  The combat while by appearance is the same as the previous games, it is not.  Hit detection is god awful, there will be times where Aveline’s tomahawk will go through her enemy with a clean slice, this won’t register at all and odds are you will get hurt because of it.  It feels clunky which shouldn’t happen due to the other games combat running smoothly.  An interesting thing about the game is the use of Aveline’s three “personas” she can don her assassin garb, tread the streets as a slave, or catch the eyes of men as a noblewoman.  The assassin persona is what you expect, the slave persona allows for less mobility and less health but you can still scour the houses of New Orleans.  The Lady persona has the least mobility, not only are you unable to scale buildings but the speed in which you move is heavily reduced which makes sense.  The Lady persona makes up for this with the ability to charm the men in the game, you can get guards to follow you wherever you want and dispatch of them in an empty value, this I quite enjoyed.  This idea would have been better if the game made it more mandatory to use these Personas for the missions, while some missions do require you to  change outfits most don’t and makes the idea seem empty.  Each persona gets their own set of random missions to be found in the streets, the assassin will, of course, kill in their missions and loot the bodies while the Lady’s is meant to charm a man into giving him valuable jewelry.  Aveline has access to a large shipping network and you can buy as well as ship goods across the seas, this though has very little use because money isn’t needed and the game is already generous enough as it is.  The game runs into many framerate problems, as you traverse the rooftops you’ll be brought down to a slugs pace because the game just can’t keep up, this wouldn’t be a major problem had it not been a common occurrence.  The fact is though that it happens, and quite often at that.  The game does have multiplayer but here’s the thing: it’s not fun at all.  It plays sort of like an RTS but is not engaging whatsoever.  I was left to wonder why they even bothered to put in a multiplayer mode.

Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation is a poor game, it is clear after you play it that it is nothing more than a way to cash in on the hype of it’s console brother Assassin’s Creed 3 which released the same day.  I was duped by my love of the series into buying this but if you have the chance and are oddly driven to have as much AC as possible, rent it.  Other than that there is no reason to play this game or spend any form of currency on it.

PROs

-          Freerunning

-          The personas while unrealized make for a change of pace

CONs

-          Graphics

-          Narrative is unforgivably poor

-          Gameplay is clunky and unresponsive

-          Terrible soundtrack

-          Glitches! Glitches aplenty!

-          Multiplayer should not exist in this game

-          Undulating characters

SCORE: 3/10

Hey guys, †Prince Mello† here, and I’m here with a late review of the Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance Review!

 

So the Demo for KH:3D arrived to the eShop June 21st, and I was able to download and play it the next day! I would have done the review for it RIGHT after, but there were a few things that came up that prevented me from doing the review. Though it IS late, it is here!

First off, I want to spaz out about all the things this Demo has in it. Like, how this demo actually provides a TUTORIAL! Yes, there is a tutorial that actually teaches you the controls, from the battle basics to the NEW mechanics they’ve introduced into the game.

One of those new features were, of course, the “FLOWMOTION” (Free Flowing Action) mechanic. Playing around with this was soooo fun. From bouncing around on walls, to sliding on rails and swinging around light poles, it was very cool! It could even be used to help out in Combat! Certain Enemies can be defeated much easier when using FLOWMOTION in battle.

Also available in the Demo is the ability to use something called the “Reality Shift”. From what I saw in the demo, it allows you to damage nearby enemies by simply selecting objects marked with a Pink Symbol, and swiping down to the bottom screen. Accompanying this, is the ability to use your Dream Eater Spirits to assist you in battle. Link Battling is pretty neat too. I especially loved that mini k-pop dance concert! Sora displayed some preeetty nice moves:

Well, I guess I should move on to the actual story part of the demo now, right?

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Welcome folks to another Gamer’s Unleashed review brought to you by me, FiveByFive. This time around I will be reviewing the just released (well at least on PS3) Resident Evil Chronicles HD! I contemplated reviewing the games separately but they came as a bundle on the PS Store and doing a review like this should hopefully enlighten you guys on the differences between both games.

Resident Evil Chronicles HD comprises of the Wii titles Resident Evil The Umbrella Chroincles and Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles. For those who haven’t seen any gameplay for these titles they are far from traditional RE entries. Capcom has gone the House of The Dead route and made these games rail-gun shooters but more on that later. On to the review!

The Resident Evil Chronicles trace the event of the first five chronlogical RE games and adds two new scenarios to bridge the RE lineage. Resident Evil The Umbrella Chronicles (which from here on will be referred to as REUC) cover Resident Evil 0 through 3 with all new Wesker specific missions as well as one that shows why and how Umbrella met its ultimate demise. Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles (REDSC from here on out) covers RE2 and RECV and like REUC an original scenario revolving around Leon and Krauser. What these new scenarios do is bridge the gap between story, specifically filling in the details between RECV and RE4. It’s a great addition but I would’ve preferred these scenarios have been fleshed out as their own standout games in the series. Nonetheless both scenarios add a great amount to the Resident Evil lore and does its best to patch up loose ends in the series, something Resident Evil is infamous for.

GAMEPLAY

As I said before these games are both rail gun shooters, basically your character’s movement is predetermined and you have little control as to where you wan to go. There are a few instanses where the game will let you decide which direction you to travel but that’s just about it. What you do control however is the reticle on the screen, and with this of course are your guns. Both games give you a basic pistol that has unlimited ammo and as you progress through the game you will pick more, increasing your aresenal. You can upgrade your weapons, in REUC the upgrade system is based on how many stars you have, completing stages and depending on how well you do earns you a different amount. With these you can upgrade any gun of your choosing, from amm capacity, power, to reload speed. Unfortunately in REUC you don’t get to choose specifically which area to spend your stars on, the order is set by the game itself. REDSC has a different approach, a better one, to these upgrades. Instead of stars you need gold to upgrade which is abundant throughout the levels. You can find gold bars throughout the stages, and by breaking objects as you traverse the level, can find smaller gold coins. The upgrade system for REDSC is much more improved with a sizeable amount of areas to enhance your weapon, and more importantly, you can choose which areas to upgrade yourself. REUC allows you to carry three weapons at a time and grenades in its own separate stock, problem with this is how the weapons are mapped. You have to press DOWN on the D-Pad to scroll to the weapon you want, with only three weapons it doesn’t sound bad right? Well get put into a tight situation and you’ll wish you could get to that shotgun all that much more sooner. REDSC fixes this by allowing you to hold three weapons other than your pistol and each weapon is mapped to a D-Pad direction and grenades are no longer separate. Good thing about REDSC is your weapons are at your full disposal. Run out of ammo for one gun? Go into your inventory and switch it out with another this way you’ll be prepared for any situation. You are scored by your performance after each stage in both games, REUC’s scoring consists of time taken, critical hits, archive items found, and how many objects your destroyed. Same goes for REDSC but without the absurd need to shoot every object in the vicinity and instead of just critcal hits it will account for headshots altogether. Critical hits are in both games although I’ll say REDSC is much more forgiving and gives a wider area in which to make these happen, as long as you hit the upper part of the zombie’s head you’ll score one of these. In REUC though you must hit the very top of the head to get the critical hit, and seeing as how odd zombies move it makes doing this frustrating. REUC’s movement is much less erratic than that in REDSC, what REDSC attempts is to put the player in the shoes of the character. Trying to aim in a tense situation is hard making it feel that more real. In both games you can collect archive items which are comprised of documents found in each stage’s origin game which shed light on the events that have occurred. A small thing I found that makes REDSC better once again is reloading, in ReUC you watch as a meter fills and it takes time, DSC is more realistic showing the player reload and each gun has a different reload time. You can play both titles with either a regular DualShock controller or the PS Move, I would suggest using the Move due to how accurate it is. The Dualshock is very hit or miss and the sensitivity can’t be altered so it might not suit everyone.

GRAPHICS

Here is an area that REDSC unanimously beats REUC. REUC does nothing to improve on the graphics seen in the GameCube titles, in fact I think the textures are worse than what was seen many years early in the REmake. Capcom once again lazily makes a HD port, doing nothing but upscaling the pixel clarity which exposes the muddled textures hidden before by the lower resolution, they did the same with the RE4 and RECV HD ports. The textures on some of the zombies just look terrible at times. That being said, REDSC is a large improvement over REUC, seeing as how the locales for RE2 and RECV weren’t upgraded like REmake was Capcom had no choice but to put in an effort. The game’s graphics really present the mood of terror, the Licker Hall (as called affectiontely by RE fans) is a sight to behold. Blood paints the walls red all over as the flickering bolts of lightning burst illuminating the room. The feeling of something horrific truly permeates as you walk gingerly through that hall. The rest DSC does the same creating a great atmosphere for each stage and making RE fans salivate at what could have been for a RE2 and RECV remake. The new monsters look unique and truly fitting in the RE universe. It’s a shame that Capcom tacked on GameCube, albeit worse than GameCube, graphics on REUC. It gets to the point that the atmosphere found in the original RE0 and REmake are non-existant.

SOUND

The audio is a strong point for both games, although REDSC definitely handles it much better. The usual zombie moans and Hunter shrieks are there bringing that bit of nostalgia. Both games use their original game’s music which is a plus because the music in those games set great atmospheres for their corresponding titles. REUC does insert odd casual music as your character walks the territories which ruined the RE feel and ultimately the mood of the situations, it made me feel like I was playing an arcade game. REDSC does not do this and creates an astounding atmosphere, every bit made for horror. The feeling of being in the moment is never interrupted by strange interludes of music, everything is placed just right. Starting up REDSC and sitting in the menu will let you know what you’re in for.

REUC and REDSC are both really fun titles especially if you have the PS Move as aiming becomes a reflex rather than a function. REDSC is head and shoulders above REUC and is the title that will stand out more. These are great games to play if you have a friend over and make for a good and more casual RE experience. At a price of $27 you are getting a lot as both games have campaigns that are well in length and with the side scenarios there’s a lot to do. If you’re an RE fan you owe it to yourself to play these titles mainly for the extra scenarios, and for those not into the series it’s a fun co-op experience that’s well worth the price.

SCORE

8.5/10

Hello folks! FiveByFive here with a review for one of the most highly anticipated games for the PS Vita: Gravity Rush. Since the Vita’s launch we were hit by a sleuth of games, most of which were either on the PS3 already or were very much similar offerings. Gravity Rush was looked at as THE killer app for the Vita, the game that would make the Vita stand apart, a game to help create it’s own identity. Now that the game is upon us, does Gravity Rush fill the role bestowed on it by Vita owners and Vita hopefuls? A resounding NO. Gravity Rush is a good game and has a unique concept but the execution of simple gameplay mechanics hinder what would be an otherwise great game.

PRESENTATION

In Gravity Rush you took control of Kat, a young girl who is destined to become a hero and given this backdrop I loved the idea to present the game in a fully cel-shaded world. This just helps convey that comic book come to life feeling and the decision to have story segements portrayed in multiple panels with speech bubbles completes the feeling. Although Kat and other main characters look well the inhabitants of the world and the world itself look shotty at times. Pedestrians look plain almost to the point that you have to look closely to even see facial features and through quick passes they seem faceless. Getting to fully explore the expansive environments you notice that these buildings look muddled and messy, thankfully you’ll be constantly shifting gravity to really notice these problems. Another problem, and this is not specific to this game as it seems to be for most Vita titles, is that it doesn’t look clean. There are so many rough edges and pixels visible but I’ll give it the benefit of being an early Vita title as developers will need more time with the handheld to perfect these things. The game has done a good job of making you empathetic with Kat becuase she isn’t a character born into the game as the hero, in fact most of the game she’s just a regular person (just with a magical cat named Dusty that grants her her powers), and it isn’t until the end of the game that Kat truly comes into her own. It’s that evolution of a character that is rarely seen in games, and something I think quite highly of.

SOUND

The game does well enough in this department. The score is done nicely and as you traverse through the city you get almost playful music that fits with Kat learning and having fun with her powers. No track that I heard really stood out which isn’t a bad thing but given the scale of the game towards the end I was hoping for something a little more intense. The dialogue, what few there is, is spoken in japanese with english subtitles which I didn’t mind much at all due to most of the story being told in the panel VA’s weren’t necessary. All in all a very modest score, nothing wrong with it but nothing special.

GAMEPLAY

Now here is where I feel Gravity Rush shoots itself in the foot. On paper the concept of controlling gravity is great, it’s the flagship of this game and would hopefully provide a fresh gameplay experience. Gravity powers are used for just about everything in this game and there’s nothing wrong with idea of that, it’s just how it is handled that is the problem. First let me talk about the simple use of gravity used for movement, it works well to a degree and is sufficient enough. Upon extended use of gravity movements though the camera will be placed at awkward angles and you’ll find yourself confused more times than not as to which way is down. This could be looked at as a minor flaw if not for the fact that it makes Challenge missions an unneccassary hardship. Some of the challenges will have you racing from checkpoint to checkpoint using your gravity skills and trying to beat these under specific timesets for the Gold medal would usually require the mechanics to be tight. Unfortunately it’s not the case and takes what would be simple tasks and makes it cumbersome and flatout annoying, I wouldn’t have a problem if the challenges themeselves were hard, but when the game’s mechanics are handled so absurdly that it creates a challenge in itself, that’s the problem. That being said it can be excused due to the lack of danger and urgency, this cannot be said when it comes to combat. Combat is something that I NEED to always be tight for a game to reach a certain level of success and this is the game’s biggest downfall. Small enemies are easily disposed of but bigger enemies weakpoints are not as exposed and thus you must rely on your gravity attacks to dispose of them. The gravity kick being the main choice especially before obtaining special attacks, is VERY hit or miss, and with the slightest fidget from an enemy can cause Kat to miss and barreling through the air in the opposite direction. Combat just feels bad to the point that I found myself shutting the game off when it came to combat sections. Once obtaining special moves it’s the only the only thing you’ll want to use due to the fact that they are continous auto-aimed attacks and will eventually hit the enemy, but having to wait for the special to charge for consistent combat is inexcusable. All these things aside the only bright point i found to gravity shifting is free traveling, it’s a blast to just fly from area to area while not having to worry about objectives. The game’s story progresses through objective markers found throughout these hub cities and it works fine just as it does in other games similar to this one.

Gravity Rush had the potential to be special and to be the game to represent Sony’s latest handheld. It has a great vibe with a likeable cast, and a decent albeit oddly ended story. Unfortuanately the gameplay fails on a fundamental level and creates for a frustrating and aggrevating experience at times. Gravity Rush is a good game but doesn’t take the mantle of being Vita’s must own game.

SCORE

7/10

FiveByFive here with a review of game more fresh this time around, releasing only three days ago. Lollipop Chainsaw is the newest game from the acclaimed Suda 51 and as is his fashion, it’s wacky, fun, and definitely a sight for sore eyes (no I’m not talking about Juliet, I’m talking about the game as a whole. The game is great mindless fun; I mean who doesn’t want to hack up zombies with a chainsaw right? In Lollipop Chainsaw you will assume of the roll of San Romero’s cheerleader Juliet Starling who happens to really be a zombie slayer, something that runs in the family.

Graphics

First off let’s say this: the game is NOT going to take your breath away with top-notch visuals, that said, the game is a colorful explosion of fun to look at! The game has a “comic book come to life” look in that environments, enemies, and characters look cartoonish similar to Borderlands in art style. I enjoy seeing cel-shaded games, it’s a break from the montonous tone of games always trying to emulate real life graphically. The colors are vibrant and pop out and it fits the mood of a fun, showcased most by the Arcade level. The models all look great from the mains such as Juliet and her family to the dark purveyor zombies you encounter throughout the campaign. Colors are used in abundance, especially pink; instead of blood spurting from decapitated zombies glittery pink almost rainbow colors spew from missing appendages. I will say though that textures do look muddled in some areas but this is rare and isn’t seen often. The game feels like a grindhouse film, it’s over-the-top with gore but retains comedic value, if you’re a fan of grindhouse you’ll really enjoy the game’s presentation.

SOUND

Probably one of the strongest aspects of the game is its sound, whether it be a great soundtrack or the hilarious voice acting from the characters. The game features a lot of rock music, some old some new, and original tracks. Being a man who lives off of classic rock music I couldn’t help but love the soundtrack, sure there are a few cheerleader anthems but they fit in well with game, Juliet being a cheerleader and all. The voice acting is a hoot, every character is brimming to the rim with personality, not a dull character in sight. Juliet is voiced by the ever lovely Tara Strong, and she does well to portray a ditzy yet surprisingly intelligent zombie hunter. Her voice work brings about so much charm to the character Juliet and you end up really liking her, wouldn’t have thought that from a blonde cheerleader huh? Her boyfriend Nick I found to be my favorite character in the game, he’s the sensible sarcastic one and his lines are the best in the game. Along with these two is a line-up of other yet equally charming supporting characters from Juliet’s family to her sensei.

GAMEPLAY

Lollipop Chainsaw has solid combat mechanics which as you build over the game make zombie killing a blast to do. In the beginning of the campaign you’re given a bare-bones list of combos/moves you can do, which is a detriment because it makes the early parts of the campaign bothersome. As you progress though you can unlock a large list of combos to decapitate those zombies and that’s when the fun really begins. Being able to take out groups of zombies and athletically leaping from one zombie group to the next feels fluid and satisfying. Speaking of decapitating zombies, if the player severs the head of three or more zombies at once you are rewarded with a SPARKLE HUNTER kill, this will bring you to a pink back drop as Juliet kills all the enemies in slow motion, as their headless bodies spew rainbows. Doing so rewards you with medals, of course every kill gives you medals, but it’s by getting SPARKLE HUNTER kills that you are awarded with platinum medals. The medals can be used in the game’s shops dispersed through each level. Regular medals will allow you to purchase upgrades, you can updgrade Juliet’s performance such as her health, strength, etc. You can also purchase new combos that’ll allow you to dispatch zombies easier than you were able to from the start. With platinum medals you can purchase more superficial items such as new costumes (no DLC here, every costume is unlocked in-game), new tracks, and concept art. Progressing through the game will unlock more to by in the store. Juliet’s attacks are ranged from pom-pom strikes which act to weaken and stun zombies and leading to a chainsaw attack that will kill the undead foe. Other than Juliet’s regular melee combat she has different powers/weapons at her disposal. Juliet later on in the game will obtain the Chainsaw Blaster, the projectile weapon of the game, and it works just like a gun in modern gaming, aim with one button, shoot with another. The Chainsaw Dash sees Juliet propel forward chainsaw first, mowing through enemies, and lastly there’s the Nick Roulette. Using the severed head of her boyfriend Nick and a Nick Ticket available to use, clicking L3 will open up a roulette with four different attacks that can be initated with Nick’s head. The game feels like something that would be more fit for last-gen’s gaming and I enjoy that very much, there’s no absurd action movie moments going on, it’s just gameplay throughout. The game features fun boss battles, something that’s missing from most games these days, while on Normal it’s an easy task on Very Hard these boss battles are a different story. The game will throw minigames at you to break from the zombie genocide and I welcomed these with open arms. There’s a basketball one in which chopping off the heads of the undead will go into the hoop of either two or three points depending whether it was in or outside the arc. You’re given the opportunity to drive a harvester and mow over zombies for bloody good fun. A latter level features a Pac-Man esque mini-game. The game is great fun but it is short, too short. I beat the campaign in roughly Five and a half hours and given that there isn’t much outside of perfectionist challanges and trophies, it ends fast. Replayability to me is major factor in games, this game though is one I will play till 100% because I heavily enjoyed it. For others this can be a major turn-off and make it go from a purchase to a rental.

Lollipop Chainsaw is a fun game with a great flare and style, a decent story, and likeable characters. This isn’t going to get any Game Of The Year nods, but if you go into the game without absurd expectatons you’ll find a very entertaining, albeit short ride.

SCORE

8.3/10

Hello folks FivebyFive here reviewing another game for you guys. This time I’m doing Resident Evil Revelations (which will be referred to as RER throughout the review). First of all I must say that I am a HUGE Resident Evil fan to the point that it’s at an obsessive level. I loved the series since its debut in 1996 and have poured in tons of time into each entry. That being said I will review the game objectively.

RER is the latest entry in the RE franchise, and yes this game’s story is canon and everything that happens will contribute to the overall series. Some may be put off by the idea of a major title in a series on a handheld system but if you are a fan YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THIS GAME. Let’s go more in depth.

PRESENTATION

First thing that must be said: The game is a marvel to look at and it shows just how powerful the Nintendo 3DS can be. What the developers have been able to do is truly something special. The environments are moody, dreary, and claustrophobic: everything that RE is. Hallways are dark and illuminated with either dim ceiling lights or a lone window letting in the moonlight. Visually the mood is apparent, this is Resident Evil there is no doubt about it. What I find amazing is how clean everything is, the textures are all spot on and even in large areas the game doesn’t suffer from apalling visible pixels like other games. This was done with clear patience, expertise, and methodically put together. There are no muddled or washed out textures even on the characters themselves where in most games the smaller details go sloppy, but not in this game. The creature design is fresh and new for the series and you really get the sense of an aquatic being by seeing them, which is what the T-Abyss virus is all about. This is the best looking handheld game I’ve seen to date, it’s better looking than the Vita games out now and that’s saying something. Another factor to the great atmosphere is the sound and this game excels in its attempt to create tension within the player. What I love abouth this game is its, I guess you can say, lack of music. The game is quiet, the kind of quiet that is ice cold and leaves your paranoid. The only sound that accompany you as you explore is the sound of the ship rocking in the sea, and bumps in the dark which sometimes are just random creaks and crashes OR an enemy lurking its way towards you. The game itself is divided into chapters, this is a good AND bad thing. The good thing about being split into chapters is that it fit the mold of portable gaming, allowing the player to pick and play in a small spurt. In the chapter that ensues there is a “Previously on…” recapping the major events in the last chapter. It’s bad though in that these ends in chapters are detrimental to the overall feel of the game, the game will keep you tense only for it to end on a cliffhanger with small interludes, like watching a TV show then it going to commercial. If I had it any way there’d be more checkpoints and if the player booted the game up they would be introduced to the recap, that way it keeps the flow of the game intact. Another problem is when the game takes you away from Jill, she is the primary character and when forced to play as other characters you feel as though those are side matters. This brought me with the feeling of wanting to rush through those parts to get back to the Jill scenarios. RER also introduces two of the worst characters in RE history, Keith and Jackass (aptly named if I say so myself), their voice acting is atrocious and grating to the ears.

GAMEPLAY

The game’s controls are tight and are an evolution to what was introduced in RE4. Things are organized very well and eliminate any need of an item menu. Switching weapons is done simply by pressing RIGHT on the D-pad, allowing you to navigate through the three guns you are able to hold at a time. Secondary weapons such as grenades, knife, etc are mapped to a single button letting you quickly access these items with ease. Herbs are mapped to a button as well and this is important because this quick access to health regeneration can save your life. Pressing UP on the D-pad takes out an interesting and great new addition in the game, the GENESIS scanner. This allows you to scan the environment for hidden items and enemies. Getting 100% in scans rewards you with a herb which is always great. RER has a dodging system, its not the QTE dodge system of RE4 and RE5, its more like the dodging style of RE3. To dodge you must flick the stick just as an enemy is about to hit you, doing this you will dodge and get around the enemy. Every RE veteran will tell you that killing equals less in this series and ammo conservation is key. Being able to move around enemies with the dodge system saves loads of ammo and helps you traverse quicker. To even fathom beating the game on HELL difficulty you better have mastered dodging. The game has a slew of weapons, and these weapons can be upgraded by finding parts that are randomly strewn throughout the game. Once you collect these parts all you have to do is find the nearest weapon box and then upgrade and customize the guns to your liking, this brings a lot of depth to your choice of weapons in given situations.  The game allows you to strafe by holding L while aiming although it serves little purpose in this game.  It is best used for for scoping corners cautiously.  You can also reload on the move in this game, it may seem small but it’s a life saver.  Bullets are used mainly to incapacitate, not kill and to be able to reload on the move to the next area saves time and lowers the chances of you being attacked while gettinga brand new clip in.

REPLAYABILITY

The game has a lot to offer, the campaign itself is lengthy for a RE game and once you are done with that you can focus on RAID mode. Raid mode is the mini-game in RER, in this mode you go from Point A to Point B killing enemies that get in your way to reach your goal. This mode offers 20 stages and 1 bonus stage with three difficulty settings, each progressively tougher than the last. You are graded on different criteria: accuracy, number of enemies killed, how much damage taken, and time it took for you to complete the stage. The grade varies in typical RE fashion with S being the best and D being the worst. You level up as you complete stages unlocking better weapons, the higher your level the better the weapons you are able to obtain. Like the campaign these weapons can be upgraded in the menu with a wide array of parts, this will help you traverse through the more difficult stages. As you reach certain goals you will unlock more characters and costumes for them. While not as addicitve as Mercenaries it’s still a great addition especially witha co-op partner.

RER is a great if not one of the best entries in the entire RE franchise. It’s the perfect balance of action and horror, something that old-school RE fans will truly appreciate and if anything is a signal of hope for the future. This is the single greatest experience I’ve had on a handheld, and finally RE game that has excelled on this kind of platform (Gaiden being non-canon and RE GBC never seeing the light of day, unless you downloaded the recently released ROM of it).

SCORE

9.9/10

Helloooo folks!  Another review brought to you by FiveByFive, today we’re doing Mortal Kombat for the PS Vita.  As I’m sure a lot of you know that the Mortal Kombat reboot was released last year on consoles to rave reviews and several Fighter of the Year awards!  Less than a month ago it was released on the Vita with every DLC and new Vita specific features and goodies.  The real question is though, is it worth having the game again on the Vita.  I’d say a resounding YES!

PRESENTATION

If you have the game on consoles you’ll notice that the character models have been degraded a bit, the nice gloss and shaders not available on the Vita version.

The top pick is from the PS3 version and the bottom is the Vita version, as you can see the character models aren’t on the same level.  Some may be turned off by this graphical disparity but you shouldn’t be, graphics were tailored down to make sure that players got the same silky smooth 60fps gameplay of its console relatives.  Once you get into the mix of things you’ll hardly notice the difference in visuals and it won’t matter.  The environments are still as lively (well dead at times, with bodies impaled on spikes in the background) as before.  Shao Khan’s throne room being my favorite due to him spouting insults at the losing player which I find highly amusing.  The menu system is clean and straight-forward just as they were on consoles, everything being easy to find.

GAMEPLAY

This is where the game truly shines, keeping its original 60fps, the fighting is as clean as console counterparts.  What this Mortal Kombat brought to the table that the previous entries didn’t, was a balanced and deep combo system.  There are basic combos that one can easily learn in practice but it is combining these combos with specials in various ways that can lead to a magnificent combo.  The game is fair though and unlike other fighters you will NOT encounter any infinite combos here.  To prevent an absurd combo you can wisely save your meter and use Breakers should you find yourself on the receiving end of a vicious combo, if not then the game will make sure that combos don’t go into the realm of cheap by making sure the next hit cannot land.  Although you will be dealt heavy damage it’s nothing that can’t be compensated with your ability.  Speaking of the super meter there are three ways in which to use, as mentioned before, when two bars are filled you use a Breaker to interrupt an opponent’s combo.  Utilizing one bar you can use an enhanced version of your special moves, similar to the EX system used in Street Fighter 4.  Should you refrain from using those abilities, filling the bar 100% gives you access to X-Ray moves.  When landed there will be a small cutscene of sorts as your character unleashes a deadly combo breaking bones and such, you get to see it all in graphic detail hence the name.  The Vita does bring it’s own features but none of which really effect true combat.  These specific functions are left to the Bonus Challenge tower in which the missions will utilize all the Vita’s functions.  Some missions will have you tilting your Vita and whoever is on higher ground due to the tilt will deal more damage.  Some missions will make you tap the screen to destroy oncoming missiles or tap your character to get him out of a daze.  There are new minigames specific to the Vita, once called Test Your Slice.  Those who have dabbled in the mobile game Fruit Ninja should feel right at home, of course there are a few MK twists.  Then there is test your balance, you character is placed on a balance beam of sorts and you must tilt your Vita to keep the slider from reaching the edges of the bar, should you fail your character will fall down the pit into a variety of deaths.  

Now the online component of the game.  I found online to actually run MUCH smoother than console versions and near offline pace.  I was surprised because the console version is plagued with lag so this was a welcome thing and I find myself going to my Vita for the online fighting than the console version.  Some may wonder how the Vita pad and buttons work for this game?  Well they work better than the PS3 controller.  The pad and buttons are IMMENSELY responsive allowing the player to dish out their favorite combos in stride.

The story mode is what all fighting games that take their story seriously should be.  With well done cinematics you are thrown back in time by Raiden to the first three Mortal Kombat tournaments in order to stop a dismal future.  You get a good amount of time to play as all the heroes in the MK universe and it gives each character depth and personality lending us to care more for the characters than we would have before.  The story mode is lengthy also and put on Normal or higher difficulty is definitely not afraid to throw you into tough situations.

SOUND

There’s not really much to say hear due to the fact the game doesn’t have much musically scores.  What it does do right though are the sounds of beating on your opponent.  Whether it be regular attack combos to the specials moves, they all sound great.  Definitely worth mentioning for X-Rays and Fatalities as you can hear bones break and sinew tear from bones in all it’s audible glory.

REPLAYABILITY

What MK has always done is bring a wealth of modes so it’s no surprise that this MK follows suit.  There’s your usual Arcade ladder, which upon completing unlocks and ending for the character.  The story mode is lengthy and is definitely no slouch and will leave you waiting for the next MK installment.  The Vita version gives you TWO challenge towers, the regular of course with 300 challenges that really test your abilities.  The Bonus Challenge Tower gives you another 150 challenges to  conquer and as you get higher in the tower the challenge ups itself greatly.  Story and Challenge towers will earn you money to unlock a horde of goodies from the Krypt from concept art to music to secret fatalities, and with so many items to unlock in the Krypt you’ll want to keep earning money.  Of course in the end the real replayability is in the Online play.  With possibly the best server known to fighting games you’ll spend countless hours fighting online, I know I have.

Mortal Kombat set out to re-establish itself in the fighting game world, and it has done so rightfully.  This is the most komplete experience you’ll find in a fighter, and my personal favorite.

FINAL SCORE

9.8/10

To put it shortly, YES. SSX is back and better than ever.
For those of you that don’t know much about the series think of it kind of like Tony Hawk, on snow, with the craziness about 10 times of what you feel in a TH game.

The game has three major gameplay modes; World Tour, Explore, and Global Events. Let’s start with talking about World Tour. World Tour is basically the story mode of the game. It helps get you into the swing of things. There are three types of gameplay you learn about. Race it, Trick it, and Survive it (I will be discussing Trick it and Race it further in the “Explore” section). “Race it” is the racing mode of SSX (bet you wouln’t have guessed that). “Trick it” is where you go all out and try to post the highest trick score. And “Survive it” is a brand new mode for SSX.

The story is that SSX is trying to conquer the “Nine Deadly Descents” before their rival. Here you will find yourself using wingsuits to battle gravity, lights to battle darkness, armor to battle avalanches, and more. It brings a new interesting challenge to SSX. Some of these can be incredibly annoying due to their difficulty but you will feel inncredibly relieved if you stick to it and end up finishing them. You will also unlock characters on the way as each one is made for a specific descent.

Next is Explore mode. This is where it becomes incredibly useful to have some friends that also have the game. The less friends you have, the less fun you will get out of this mode. Here you will attempt to post the highest trick score, lowest race time, or longest total distance on deadly descents. If you have other friends with the game you will be notified via RiderNet that someone has posted a new score/time/distance on one of the 159 different drops (more for PS3 as of right now because Fiji is an exclusive location). When you post a score/time/distance it will show you how you stack up compared to the rest of your friends. In races you will find yourself trying different routes on the massive tracks just to shave off that extra second. You also might take a completely different route on the same track for trick events. You will need to mess with different characters, equipment, and mods in order to get or stay on top.

Global events are events that are constantly going on throughout the world. There are free events to start you off and get some easy money, and there are events that cost you over 1,000,000. There are events that last a week, and there are events that only last half an hour. Everytime you get on there will be different events going on that weren’t before. Find yourself in the Diamond, Platinum, or Gold brackets and you will be receiving a mojor payout. Find yourself in Silver and you will make pretty much what you spent. Bronze? Don’t get Bronze. But in free events even Bronzes will get you some extra dough.

Now you want to know what I’m not the biggest fan of in the game? The characters have been turned more realistic and along with that they have toned down all of their personalities. SSX characters used to be over-the-top. They would wear things no snowboarder ever would and constantly say random things. It’s not much of a complaint but I didn’t find myself laughing at characters like I always used to before. Also the game (after global events and through connections to your friends on RiderNet) asks you to add people to expand your network, but I’m not a fan of adding randoms so Explore mode is a smidge of what it should be for me. SSX knows full well that you need multiple friends to get the most out of the game so if you’re ok with randoms, be sure to send requests.

So in conclusion SSX is a great game and a great successor to the past SSX games. Even amongst all the other games that have/will come out at this time SSX deserves a look. Easily a candidate for most “fun” game of the year. 9.5 out of 10. (Seriously if you are a SSX fan or a fan of this genre it is hard to find any major faults.)

Some of you may have noticed a game on the PS Store titles “Warriors Orochi 3” and noticed that it costs $50. A PSN game at that price may have scared you away but be not afraid! Apparently there is some rules that games released in the U.S. for the PS3 with Japanese voices and only English subtitles must be PSN releases and not full retail ones (ahem… Yakuza?). This is the reasoning for why it is there. every other country and the 360 version are full retail releases. The negatives of this are of course no case for collectors. The positive is that you just saved yourself $10. 

Some fans actually prefer the original Japanese voices over the English ones anyway but there are a few negatives from it. Some of the voices (mainly the narrorator) will be missed by fans accustomed to the games in English. Also you will sometimes find yourself trying to read dialogue mid battle and not being quite fast enough to catch it.

Now onto more of the actual ingame aspects. With approximately 130 characters and tons of dialogue for each you understand why they didn’t do English voicework for the game. This game is jam packed. You won’t find day one dlc or on-disc dlc here. With all the Dynasty Warriors characters, Samurai Warriors characters, Warriors Orochi 1 & 2 characters, new characters, and playable characters from other Tecmo/Koei games there are tons of characters to choose from. Did I mention they all have different movesets too? There is also a scenario creator where you can switch up the characters, rules, music, and more from past battles and share them online for others to try.
Those of you that have played a Dynasty Warriors game before but not a Warriors Orochi should know it is pretty much the same but amplified. You use three characters at once and can switch between them on the fly at any time.

Koei tried to give this game a slightly better story than the previous Orochi games had. Three warriors are thrust back in time to save their friends in order to have an army strong enought to stop the mighty Hydra and save humanity. It certainly won’t win any awards but you can tell they. Attempted to have it be more than a “we all just randomly got here together somehow… let’s fight!”

Fans of Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, or WO1 or 2 need to buy this game. It is pretty much the pinnacle of the three different series. If you have been interested in trying a Dynasty Warriors game, this is the one you should try. If you hate the series, you might be won over by this entry, but most likely you’ll still hate it and continue buying every release of Call of Duty. 

9/10