When the Iron Man 2 dev team was fired days after the game went gold, I thought Sega was cold, heartless, unfair. Then I played the Iron Man 2 game and only 2 questions came to mind, did Sega set them up to fail? Or are they really this bad at making games? The delay in me writing this review, ( I gave up on finishing this game in disgust 10 days ago). Came from the sheer fact that writing about the 4 hours I wasted almost finishing Iron Man 2 still stung, and honestly, I had to cool off, or I’d end up writing Sega a lengthy letter a demanding those four hours of my life back.

Iron Man 2 is a gleeful bait and switch through the entire game, (well the 80% I played before I felt that I had been punished enough.) Great flight controls that made me feel as if I could go anywhere in the game, if only I weren’t barred in either by a wall of bad guys, or buildings, or those damned invisible walls that games are so famous for.

The actual models for Iron Man and War Machine looked great, seeing them on the title screen when I first booted this cock-tease of a game up made me really excited, and then the actual in game cinematics began, and the explosions began, and I found myself wondering if I hadn’t accidentally put in Iron Man 1 for the Ps2 and absent-mindedly grabbed an Xbox 360 controller. I don’t know if I blame the development team for that, maybe Sega refused to license them an engine that could make environments that look semi acceptable.  I can however blame the development team for the same 5 enemies over and over and over again, and the same five combat animations to use while fighting. I can also blame them for allowing me to select War Machine, and then forcing me to play as Iron Man because it fits the story, if they’re forcing you to be Iron Man, then don’t let me select War Machine… period.

Whether pressing b repeatedly to hack a computer console to get into the next room(this happens at least once per level.) or defending the Shield Helicarrier by myself.  BY MYSELF, which makes me wonder where the hell the thousands of Shield soldiers decided to go at the exact moment their Helicarrier was invaded by boring, repetitive drones, and a generic spider bot thingy. I consistently found myself wonder what the rest of the world was doing at that exact moment, or if I’d left the oven on, or anything to take my mind off the fact that I was still play this game. Iron Man 2 was a failed experiment in mediocrity. The only reason it will receive the score it does is because it loaded ran and functioned like I would expect a game to.

Liked:

• The Title Screen

Hated

• Everything after the title screen

Score:

• Graphics – 5
• Replay – 2(why the hell would you play this twice?)
• Sound – 6(it had sounds)
• controls – 6
• Overall – 4.75

Friend of BSR and local game enthusiast Landon Poague wrote this interesting take on gaming as an art form, which I feel strongly about. It is an art form, and should be appreciated as such. We would love to hear your opinions on the matter as well.

Landon writes:

Now that I have a second to put down the controller and take a look back at the last couple of months, I have to say, this has been a great year for games. The best part of that is the fact that we are only 1/3 of the way through the year! We have had a stellar set of games come out, games like Mass Effect 2, Heavy Rain, God of War III, Splinter Cell Conviction, Super Street Fighter 4, Bioshock 2, and the list continues! Games which continue to push gaming as an entertainment medium; Graphics that dazzle, tighter more responsive game play mechanics, and stories that are taking us to moral choices none of us thought that we would ever get the chance to experience. This year will really show how what games are capable of.
Yet even during such a great start to the year, debate continues to follow! One that I will never understand is over whether games should be considered “art” or not. Film critic Roger Ebert has reared his head once again to claim that video games, by their very nature can never be considered art, and are inherently inferior to other mediums that can be considered art, like film. My two cents on the entire subject are that I don’t think that other mediums can hold a candle to games. Games offer a more complex and satisfying experiences in my opinion, and as such will continue to grow and surpass books and movies in the ways that they emotionally engage us! Just look at how movies continue to pilfer some of gaming’s greatest ideas to make horrible movies! What do you think? Should the film industry be afraid of games? Or do you think that games are inherently inferior to movies and should just stick to being a million dollar business?

Here’s this week’s releases!

	Iron Man 2 : PS3, 360, Wii, Ds, PSP: May 4 The game loosely based on the movie… loosely meaning it has the same name, arrives this week, to mediocre applause, and mediocre gameplay.
	Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake: PSP. May 4 The popular PSN game arrives for PSP fight for control of the princess by making her fat and hard to carry.
	Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition : Xbox Live Arcade – May 5 In Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition, you’ll assume the role of Ghat, an outcast of the city of Halstedom running for his life from his angry brothers and sisters.
	Autoban Polizei: Immerse yourself in an action packed atmosphere, performing stunts in dozens of car models.
	Dementium II: Ds – May 4 The creepy first person horror game gets a sequel. Fans of the first shouldn’t be disappointed.
	Monster Racers: DS – May 4: In Monster Racers, you will embark on a quest that will take you around the globe in search of monster breeds to train, nurture, and race
	Picross 3D: DS – May 3 Picross 3D blends the logical challenge of a number-based puzzle with the excitement of discovering the hidden objects.
	Zombie Panic in Wonderland : Wii Ware – May 3 Save your friends from the sudden wave of zombies attacking Wonderland.
	Family Game Show: Wii – May 4: This will be the most fun you can have in front of your TV as you and your friends become contestants on the best Gameshow out there!
	Dance Sensation: Wii – May 4: Now young girls(and arse-bot) can live out their dance fantasies on their living room stage with the only game that lets you train and perform routines in four different styles: hip-hop, jazz, ballet, and salsa.
	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Stimulus Package for PC – May 4 This map pack includes three new arenas and two old favorites from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Almost 8 months after the ODST launch Bungie has finally graced us with the much anticipated reach beta. We here at BSR thought we’d put down how we feel about it so far, and open up a channel for some discussion.

Zombietron:

THEY MOVED THE MELEE BUTTON! I understand this is small, but when you’ve been punching dudes with B since halo 2 it’s really hard to adjust to pushing the bumper, i’m sure I could do a custom control configuration, but they moved the button for a reason! I know they did. I just can’t figure out why.

I really like the new weapons, the re-imagining of the battle rifle, though strange at first is a nice change, and aside from a lack of ammo, it’s climbing to the top of my favorites list. I don’t know how I feel about the focus rifle, I still hate the needler, I haven’t used a sword yet, the grenades feel MUCH better than the Halo 3 grenades, I’m not sure what they changed but I like it. The jet pack is baller, pure gangsta really, i’m just too white to use any more terms of that nature. Stockpile mode is a riot, capturing as many flags as you can as fast as you can is awesome. The new matchmaking menu is extremely well thought out. I really enjoy having my online friends that are playing the game listed directly below my party, it made inviting killtacular this morning super easy, and saves you the hassle of fighting menus to get a group game going.

The different class load-outs add strategy which hasn’t been absent from the Halo series, but can be considered comparatively weak when held next to other shooters. I love knifing people, it feels incredible to get that big of a jump on somebody, and conversely feels equally embarrassing to be knifed.

I have one gripe so far, why does every level, of every planet, of every Halo game look exactly alike? I understand that we’re in Beta and every game has an art style. I’m just struggling to believe that every planet in the Halo universe looks exactly the same with exactly the same 20 colors and textures to be seen. I don’t hate the game, I just don’t understand why Bungie insists on creating a universe based on 10 plant types and 5 different colored rocks. This being said the beta is great so far and I prefer it to Halo 3, much in the way that I preferred Halo 2 to Halo 3. Reach is an improvement.

Being a huge fan of the Street Fighter games, I spent a lot of time building excitement for the release of SF4. After the release I developed a love-hate relationship with the game. Some of my favorite characters felt, broken, unplayable, or just worthless. (Im looking at you Guile.) And tho I enjoyed the unlocking of every single character, the process took away the time I wanted to learn the ins and outs of characters and really, just forced me to grind on the arcade mode. I must also say that when the initial announcement for Super was made I was among the haters, I didn’t wanna spend more money on another Street Fighter 1 year after launch. However, I will admit that once they discussed the proposed improvements, and the massive amount of changes, I supported the 39.99 re-release, and even went to a midnight SF4 tournament in Taylorsville to pick it up.

As I watched some of Utah’s top Street Fighter players tear into each other it became clear that the changes to the game were a much needed improvement. Pass-throughs worked much better with a lot of the match-ups, and the countering felt and looked a lot more fluid. The online match-up system was also given a strong overhaul, and a few new game features were added that really gave a nice touch. One of my favorite additions came through the video features where you can share your online videos, and brag yourself up. Cleverly divided into classic characters, new characters, and your videos. This new feature gives fighters an opportunity to study play-styles, and see what cool tricks are available to the different characters in street fighter. The other new mode that made me a fan is endless battle. With up to 8 slots available that can be either private or open, you can set yourself into a giant loser-passes style tournament reminiscent of my SF2 days on SNES playing with my friends. And once again the opportunity to watch others play gives you more tips and information on different characters play-style. Best of all tho, is they ditched their girly japanese pop music sound-track and gave us a generic guitar riff instead (It’s sad when a generic rock track is better than your original theme).

As far as character restyling, the development team did a stellar job in rebalancing the characters. The match-ups felt much more even, and going into any battle I felt less of a disadvantage based on who I chose to play with. Aside from T-Hawk who I’ve decided is the biggest I win button in any fighting game ever made, the characters felt well balanced, and fun to try out. Handing them all to you up front didn’t hurt either, giving you the chance to play anyone without frustrating yourself in the arcade mode for 2 weeks of unlocking.

As a whole Super Street Fighter 4 is a great addition to any fighting fans library, and I strongly recommend trading in your copy of the original SF4 for whatever you’ll get and grabbing Super. Besides, the online needs less hardcore players for me to battle. I haven’t won a match yet.

Loved:

• Re-balancing of characters, and the addition of 2nd ultra combos to each player.
• All characters available right away, no unlocking.
• Endless battle mode in online play, as long as video channel

Hated:

• T-Hawk is still a giant I win button
• Some of the characters speak too much during combat (Cody whistles all the time. he never stops. Face punch, whistle, kick, whistle, it gets bad).

Score:

• Graphics – 9
• Replayv- 10
• Audio – 7(too much talky)
• Controls – 9
• Overall – 9

It’s been 10 long years since Marvel vs. Capcom 2, but here it is folks:

Marvel has announced that Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds will be hitting Xbox 360 and PS3 in Spring 2011… I know, seems like forever!

Revealed last week in Hawaii at Capcom’s annual, super-exclusive and semi-secret Captivate event, “Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds” pits roughly 30 characters from across the Marvel and Capcom universes in the most epic fighting game of all time. Building upon the foundation laid by the previous Marvel/Capcom games, “MvC3” features a fighting system that takes elements from those previous titles as well as Capcom’s recent brawler “Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.” Additionally, the series makes the jump into 3D with graphics similar in style to those seen in “Street Fighter IV,” though with a more striking comic book feel.

The diverse roster of characters and locations has not been fully revealed yet, but the initial list of playable fighters includes Wolverine, Hulk and Iron Man from the Marvel side, plus Ryu, Morrigan and Chris Redfield from team Capcom. Producer Ryota Niitsuma and Capcom are working feverishly to get as many characters into the game and plan to have roughly 30 in the game when it smashes onto consoles next year. With 10 years between titles, new characters have come to the fore for both Marvel and Capcom, so expect the roster to include brawlers both classic and brand new to the series.

You can check out the full story at the link above as well as check out a limited art gallery of some of the announced characters.

Final Fantasy has fallen from grace. What once was a pinnacle of RPG gaming has become, in a nutshell, what the prequels were to Star Wars. I’ve spent hours brewing over the abomination that is FF XIII, and now know exactly where Square-Enix has gone wrong. First off, let’s find out just where they strayed.

Too much politics, too little personal involvement.

Whether it’s the endless extolling over matters of lineage in FF XII, or the mind-numbing Pulse L’Cie versus Sanctum L’Cie banter in XIII, one thing is certain: I don’t care about it. Let’s take Final Fantasy VI for an example here, shall we? First off, we had three organizations in the main storyline. There was the evil Empire, the valiant Returners, the rebel organization in opposition, and the kingdom of Figaro who fund these rebel activities. That was it. From that point on, the conflicts of those parties were told through events in the character’s story lines. We grew attached, we cared for them, and the global events weaved in through those ordeals.

Now we need a datalog or journal, whatever the hell it is, just to keep track of who is what while characters I don’t really care for, or that ever get fleshed out beyond the one-dimensional fantasy cliches they are wander about onscreen. Meanwhile, I’ve got the swords and magic version of the Senate scenes in Phantom Menace boring me into a coma.

The fix:

It’s obvious, really. Get back to the characters, guys. We care about them, not faceless government entities. It’s easier to get hooked into a story if it’s on a personal level, no matter how immense outside events are.

On the rails, linear story progression.

Come on, Square. Your world maps are one of the reasons wildly popular sandbox RPGs like Fallout 3 even exist. Now I’m forced to run through the the same scenery, back and forth, while I grind my levels. Sure, it was the same old story on the world map, but there was a sense of discovery there. A cave with a tidbit of back story for one of the characters, a castle hiding the ultimate weapon, all of these things made previous Final Fantasy games engaging and entertaining. Now, you basically stumble into the “secrets” in progress of playing.

The fix:

When it comes to RPGs, it’s very hard to deliver a movie gaming experience like Uncharted 2. With Final Fantasy, this doesn’t work. Give us exploration back, and maybe a few towns that aren’t related to the story in any way.

Masturbatory fighting systems

Choose Gambit/Paradigm. Run headlong into enemies. Mash action button so the game chooses your actions. Repeat. Sound like a battle you want to fight? Didn’t think so. Alas, the newest iterations require little strategy other then picking an appropriate AI routine and watching… Literally so in XII. Granted, XIII battles are much prettier, and a fair bit more challenging, but it still doesn’t feel right to me when I want a certain degree of involvement. When I start feeling like the only thing I’m actually able to fully control is walking and running, we have a problem.

The fix:

If I wanted to play an Action-RPG, I’d go get one. But instead of the layers of strategy I want, I get some weird hybrid that offers not nearly enough of either type of battle system. I personally would want the ability to control all characters back, and a more classic style of fighting, but I’ll settle for the first one and a revamping of the system so I feel more in control.

I can’t be the only one who feels this way, so what are your thoughts on Final Fantasy through the years? Tell me about it in the comments.

Sam Fisher has returned to wreak angry vengeance upon 3rd Echelon for the death of his daughter. Ubisoft’s latest story spares no expense at dragging you into the epic chaos created by 3rd Echelon and other terrorist groups. While allowing you to tear through soldiers using your honed stealth skills, Conviction does a good job on showing you through Sam’s past , his reasons for leaving 3rd Echelon, and a web of betrayal that keeps you interested in the current goings on.

The single player story does become.. well predictable is the word I’d have to use, grinding through the same patchy situations in area after area, began to felt very wash, rinse, repeat for me. There’s the guy who’s away from the pack, stealth kill him. Mark and execute the other 3, and pick off the last guy left standing. When they’re scared the soldiers yelled the same 6 taunting phrases at me for most of the single player, and when the 3rd Echelon troops came into the picture they had the same few phrases as well. I’m willing to concede that I’m a boring player of the game, not utilizing the myriad of gadgets given to you to dig out of situations, but I simply didn’t find the need to use anything besides the starting pistol and a shotgun, and for the most part the shotgun didn’t get too much use. As far as the story is concerned, the epic twists become quickly predictable after about the 3rd person betrays you. You quickly catch a theme of don’t trust anybody, and expect the worst. This attitude handed me major clues through-out the rest of the story, it was still enjoyable, just not as shocking as I expected.

The active cover system worked very well for the most part, and the control scheme reminiscent of Ghost Recon was enjoyable. Sam’s clever quips after a tough fight mocking either the Black Arrow soldiers, or the player(I got mocked a lot for my sloppy tactics) were also quite enjoyable. I also found myself really digging the last known position system, being able to see where the enemies were looking and sneak away made it easier to plan tactics to attack the enemy, and for the most part their AI was smart enough to find me. Occasionally they walked into a wall, or their hand stuck through the wall giving away their position, hooray for collision glitches! From start 2 finish I only had 2 instances of hands through walls, which for the amount of chaos ensuing at any given moment is completely ok with me, even Call of Duty had people getting stuck to stuff during single player.

If I must complain a little more, the interrogations though awesome, also became repetitive. Sam had the same animations for each interrogation, and you utilized the same tactics against everyone you interrogate.  Squeeze throat, bang head into wall, break nose, kill…  It was fun for the first two, but I would have loved to see more creativity with the savage beatings Sam was dishing out.

Moving to the positive the soundtrack was  a noticeably strong part of the game. Solid orchestration changing with the situation you may have Sam stuck in. Loud trumpet filled pieces for combat, soft violin pieces during exploration, and an epic lovers-style theme for your breaching of the White House, that’s right, THE WHITE HOUSE.

I will also say that there was a lot of detail for the separate cooperative missions provided with Conviction, and a separate list of achievements as well for playing through them. This in my eyes in Splinter Cell’s saving grace. Those of us that game alone, or refuse to make friends on xbox live will burn the single player and not be very excited about what’s to come next, but with cooperative added in, the game takes on a whole new life. The stealth set-ups capable using the active cover, mark and execute, and creative kills with two players is exciting, and a blast. We found ourselves laughing, yelling, and setting up creative stealth kills of the organized crime jerks found pesky by 3rd Echelon. THIS GAME IS GREAT FOR COOP FANS! In some ways it felt that they built it more for the coop than for the single player, the story was likeable, well written and although predictable still solid in the single player, and after finishing it the cooperative was refreshing and fun.

After the last six months of blockbusters Splinter Cell isn’t perfect, but it’s a game that should not be overlooked either.

Liked:

• Solid cooperative play giving me a reason to bring the friends over again.
• Good orchestration on the soundtrack.
• Mark and execute system worked flawlessly

Disliked:

• Repetetive voice overs from vilains. It felt like they had six total phrases.
• Predictable placement of enemies during single player.
• Sam Fisher bitching about his daughter constantly

Score:

• Visuals – 8
• Audio – 8
• Replay – 8
• Gameplay – 7
• Overall -7.75

Here’s the weeks releases, mostly DLC. But good DLC!

	Release: 4/6 Price: 19.99 For those who don’t wanna wait for a download, get Mad Moxy and The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned on a disc!
	Release: 4/6 Price:$7 New DLC for Bioware’s Mass Effect 2
	Game N. Watch Manhole for DSI Shop
	Game N Watch Helmet for DSI Shop
	Game N Watch Vermin for DSI Shop.
	Mr. DRILLER: Drill Till You Drop takes the classic gameplay of the Mr. DRILLER series and enhances it with six unique playable characters, over 40 stages, multiple modes, and dual-screen action. Available on the DSI Shop.
	Release: April 8th Price:19.99 Yup, Satisfashion…it’s gonne be satisfashiony….