Let me begin by saying I am not at ALL a platformer kind of girl; (FPS’s and RPG’s are more of my motif). Well, I thought I would give it a try anyway. I like twisted, gothic-type games, and the graphics + combat system looked rather intriguing. Any who, beginning levels up to Queensland I was pretty cool with. Encountered slight difficulties in random areas, but overall, still pretty enjoyable for a platformer. Welp. Let me tell you now, the Dollhouse chapter shot that horse in the face. It went from ‘enjoyable’ to ‘fuck I’ve never been happier to get rid of a game in my life’. I ended up not beating the game myself, which is a first in all of my gaming history. I had my fiancee’ finish it for me while I looked on. The game had me annoyed, angry, frustrated, and down right disgusted the whole time. The concept of this game was well played, but when it came to actually building something “enjoyable”? Forget it. Maybe that’s just me being bitter, but then again, I don’t write reviews for a reason. Would like to mention my favorite parts of the game: a) Finding a random Turtle Temple statue in Chapter 3 (Oriental Grove), it was a nice treat after climbling through a keyhole. b) When I grew to be 10 feet tall and the Executioner’s jaw dropped as he dropped his Scythe. (Oh, and the fact that I squished him.)

Alice: Madness Returns [PS3] - 7/10

It was long in wait, and there was tons of anticipation following this title. Though was the hype all it was cracked up to be? Marvel vs Capcom 3 is the third in the series of the incredible smash em up brawlers. It’s fast paced with a tag in, tag out system, with ridiculous combos and insane visuals no matter what era of gaming you come from. Although are the aspects of the game enough to keep the hardcore gamer entertained and in tune with the game.

Visuals:

The game its self is gorgeous. It’s been upgraded from sprites to fully rendered models, with a very nice comic book over tone to it. It plays as a 2D but with the added 3D models, it allows for a game that was already visually stunning to be even more visually stunning and run a lot more smooth. Every move is incredible to watch happen because of it. The CG cinematic they have within it to be unlocked are breath taking, and very intense, it gets you excited to start playing the game once it is booted up. Stages now have lots of things going on in the background as opposed to just static images or little things in previous games. Some stages move and change as the timer ticks down. It’s also nice that because of the upgraded graphics and choice of being in 3D they’ve been able to do what SF4 has done with the hyper combos and turning some hyper combos into mini scenes as the attack rolls out. The little things are what make it nice though, namely when you pick your team it throws it onto a comic book cover and has all of these little details like a bar-code on it. It’s just kind of nice that it keeps playing off the comic idea.

Sounds:

The musical score is the same as any kind of Capcom game you’d be lead to expect. Outrageous and very fast paced. Even the slow songs are very fast paced. Although there is really nothing to complain about. The songs keep you playing fast, the tempo really adds to how you wish to play. The voice over work is well done as well, all characters are believable like that’s who their voice should be. Deadpool namely as he has times where he yells at you, and his voice acting is superb. Every sound of every attack is enjoyable to hear and leaves you wanting to keep going to just keep the sound flowing from every linked attack.

Controls:

Marvel vs Capcom 2 was a strong game because it mixed a lot of things, in order to achieve insane combos that left you feeling very satisfied, along with a learning curve that you needed to adapt too in order to stay on top in a match. Marvel vs Capcom 3 on the other hand threw out the old lay out, and instead opted for the idea that Blazblue goes for with a Light, Medium, Heavy and Launcher button (Special in Blazblue). Although this does make it more accessible for the newbies of the title, as it allows you to be able to use your moves on every single button instead of having to switch from button to button. This also allows for chaining of combos to be a lot easier, as well as launching aerial combos. Once launched into the air, the comboing becomes a little different, you can choose to continue a combo with one character or with a simple tap of the launch button you will smash and switch to a next character and continue upwards. Although the switch in during an aerial combo is a nice addition as it allows you a bigger arsenal of combos, it is something very simple to execute and get a handle of within the first 10 minutes of the game. Where as previous iterations you needed to learn what to do to start it with some characters.

Gameplay:

Now this is what makes or breaks a game. It is fast paced, and the same team game as you would come to expect from a Capcom title. Large numerous combos, air combos and insane hyper combos. It is fun, and exciting for probably the first few days or so, then it just becomes addictive just solely to see your rank increase. As accessible as it is, and easier for anyone to pick up and play and get good at, it does leave someone who plays games at a hardcore level, left feeling like that any skill you do have does not matter, as anyone can make a team of keep away characters that keep you on the ground constantly and just sit there spamming a move from across the screen. It becomes irritating after coming across unskilled players like that. The X-Factor also brings a trump card that can turn the tide hugely against anyone as it boosts your speed and your attack power, which is nice when you’re losing in a really good skilled fight, but annoying when someone will spam you constantly. Again I think it’s something that they implemented as a way to keep the newbies to the game in the game. Though I think if they had left the game without it, it would have made the game a lot more exciting and intense.

Extras:

The re-playability of the game is endless as you can find the team you enjoy playing and just start boosting your rank and getting player points to unlock certain titles and icons and trophies as you go, but that’s it as far as unlockables go. For people who have played Marvel Vs Capcom 2 on the console there was a lot of unlockables from a shop that urged you to play as much as possible to get costumes, etc etc. Now these things will come in form of purchases over Live or PSN, as well as new characters that I assume will begin to be released periodically throughout the span of the games existence that will just up the roster as it goes. It would be nice if my time playing was rewarded by getting new costumes or characters instead of having everything handed to me right off the bat, and then expected that I pay more money to get new things. They’ll also be adding free Shadow Fights, against people who made the game to see how good you really are at the game against someone who’s actually created the game. It’s kind of nice that they’ve done that it’s like an added perk to see how good you are.

Game Overall:

All things considered it’s not a terrible game, it’s just easy, and it really shows the ease of the things that you can do. I’m not saying its horrible, and there were a lot of things said that knock it, but it is very addictive due to the simplicity. Although you’ll end up back to playing SSFIV just because there’s a lot more skill/stratgety involved within that game. Overall it didn’t leave me as satisfied as I hoped it was going too after such a long wait for the game.

Score: 8/10

—This article was written by Jordon Jensen, 22, Toronto

One of our newest writers here at iHeartGeek! Go give him love on his page!

Gameplay: 9/10

Graphics: 8/10(Story) | 9/10 (In Game)

Story: 8/10

User Interface: 10/10

Narrations: 7/10

So this being one of my more highly anticipated games of the 2010 Summer, I was pleased when a demo became available for the PS3. I haven’t had time to run out and get points in order to buy the full game, nor would I, if the game wasn’t any good. So a demo always helps me not waste money on crap shoot games. In any case, after reading the upcoming announcement of the game back in May, which described it as ‘Monkey Island meets Diablo’, I was immediately interested, as being a HUGE Diablo fan. Published by EA, the game hit the PS3 & Xbox 360 markets in the last two days. Impressions: Starting off with a opening cut scene, the graphics are cartoonish, and a tad juvenile. But it has the heroic/comic book theme going for it, which forgives such cartoonish aspects. Jumping into gameplay, attacks, movements and the world around you, I can instantly see resemblance in games such as Diablo, and Midevil, (if anyone remembers that PS One game, it was one of my favorites) only with a lot more robust and color. Your attacks are smooth and swift as you get 4 weapon slots. You get a Auto Targeting option by holding L1 (on the PS3), and a meter which fills as you kill enemies to enable a power charged super attack. The drops are easily picked up simply by walking over them, and chests and other openable items are unlocked with keys, or simply by selecting them, and a unlocking sequence occurs. In the demo, you get a timed 20 minutes of Game play from the time you accept your first quest. There are 3 different difficulty levels - Easy, Normal, and Hard. Around the worlds, there are various ‘Outhouses’, YES Outhouses, that are your ‘Checkpoints’. Once they are activated, simply by passing them, if you die, you are re-spawned at these Outhouses. In the event that you die, you loose half of your money, but it stays on the ground, and you are able to pick it up once more. I assume it’s on a timer though, so be quick! Or it may disappear. These Outhouses can also be used for a Teleport. You are able to Teleport back to other various Outhouses throughout the game once you activate them. Enemies sometimes came in small numbers, but I encountered much larger groups of 10-15, which left me feeling a bit overwhelmed at times. All enemies came equipped with a health bar at the top of their heads, along with their names and levels. The narration of the story I feel was a bit overdone, or maybe not done enough, if that makes sense. The menus were bright and easy to navigate. As for everything else, I did not get to explore with the demo, but a game I would definitely pick up and play again. DeathSpank will run you $14.99 on the PSN or 1200 Microsoft Points on XBL.

Pros: Beautiful In-Game Graphics, Easy to Navigate Menus, Very User-Friendly Interface, Excellent RPG Gameplay Concept.

Cons: Mediocre Narrations, Cartoonish Cut Scenes, Tad Pricey.

OVER ALL

8/10