This is not a post bashing Borderlands for not having an intricate story with lots of character development nor is it one slamming Gearbox for releasing a product with some bugs or without a robust trading system. I absolutely love the game. I played more in my first two days of ownership than I play most of the games I own ever! I acknowledge that the game is not perfect, and there are aspects of it I would like to see fixed. However, this game is addictive. This could easily be the best value of the fall in terms of the number of hours of elation you will experience killing and collecting loot.
The game has a gentle learning curve, but, looking back on my days as a noob, there are a few things I know now that would have made my early time in Pandora a bit more productive.
Every enemy has a spot that scores a critical- Granted it doesn't take too long to figure this out. These are the ones you need to know early: Score a crit on Skaggs by shooting into their open mouths. Human characters are critted with a headshot.
Enemies respawn- If you've played Fallout 3, you may be accustomed to clearing out an area and never worrying about it again. In Borderlands, your enemies will respawn fairly quickly. Be ready for them.
Loot stats don't always tell the tale- You may have just found the rifle with the highest stats you have ever seen, but there are factors that the stats don't say. Equip it and fire off a few rounds before you throw out the rifle that has been treating you well.
Your vehicle can kill nearly anything and does it quickly- Soon after you get the vehicle, you will learn that you can easily destroy Skaggs and other enemies that might otherwise take a good bit of fire. They can also kill very quickly which might help you gain some XP bonuses for challenges. Update: Watch the vehicle health meter which will replace your own while you are inside. If you are running over tough enemies, the meter will drain quickly. It does eventually recharge. Be sure to get out before the vehicle explodes or you will most likely be down.
Speaking of challenges, Borderlands has them- They are like achievements, but you don't get Gamerscore for them. What you do get is experience. Switch to your quest log then look above the quest list. From this screen of the ECHO, you may switch between viewing your quests and your challenges.
There are different types of loot stashes- Each one has a tendency to contain different types of items. The stashes on the ground that you "smash" to open usually contain ammo and health although they can contain other items. I got a purple class mod out of one yesterday. You have rectangular crates that usually contain a good bit of ammo. You have toilets, mailboxes, and dumpsters that contain one or two ammo pickups. There are red rounded chests which usually have a couple of weapons (often better than common rarity) along with some ammo. There are long rectangular gray chests which may contain weapons, shields, or class mods. These are usually big money. Oh, yeah. There are also lockers which typically have ammo or money but may also contain weapons or shields.
You can use vehicle stations to do something like fast travel- Here's a scenario. You got in a vehicle and drove off to some crazy boss, got out of the vehicle, and got killed sending you way back to the vehicle station or somewhere nearby. As long as the vehicle wasn't destroyed, just walk back to the vehicle terminal and teleport to either seat. This will teleport you into the seat of your last created vehicle!
Equip weapons that use different types of ammo- You will ultimately have four equipment slots. Make sure the weapons use different ammo types. This will keep you firing for longer.
Don't be afraid to buy ammo- If you're a cheap bastard like me, you may feel silly buying ammo when there are so many pickups around, and I definitely recommend picking ammo up over buying it. That said, if you think the shit is about to hit the fan and you happen to have a shop nearby, buy up the maximum of each type of ammo you use. It's much cheaper than dying.
Holding X to pick up ammo picks up all surrounding ammo and health- I believe this is in one of the tutorial messages, but it's easy to miss. It makes looting much quicker. Conversely...
Holding X to pick up a weapon replaces your currently equipped weapon with that one- If you have room in your pack, your old weapon will simply be moved to the pack. If not, the old weapon will be dropped.
Spend your skill points rather than saving them- Skill points spent make you more powerful. Skill points saved do nothing. Respecs are cheap. If you are having trouble deciding what to do with your skill points, go ahead and spend them now. Then, you can always respec later.
Plan your skill points before you get them- Follow this tip and you don't have to worry with the previous one. Take a look at all the skills in your tree. Based on your options, make a plan for where you would like your character to be. Gearbox has provided skill calculators for each character ( Mordecai, Brick, Lilith, Roland) to help you plan your build. Keep in mind that, initially, you will only have access to the top skills in any of the three divisions. You will need to have 5 points in one division before you reach the second level, 10 points to reach the third level, etcetera. It doesn't matter where those points are. For example, you could spend 5 points on each of the first tier skills to gain access to the third tier.
Pick up every quest you have access to- There's no need to have only one quest in your log at a time. If the bounty board or NPC has multiple quests available, pick up every one you can.
Perform all quests in an area before turning in- This is especially important before you open up fast travel. You don't want to travel back and forth any more than you have to. Take a look at your quest log. The quests are conveniently divided up by zone. Do every quest you can (take note of the quest's level) in your current zone before you turn them in. This is old hat for MMO players.
Platforming is often rewarded- Sure, this is an FPS, but Gearbox has thrown in little rewards for players who can get to places they shouldn't. Hiding on the tops of buildings and in odd nooks and crannies are weapons chests. Play around by jumping on pieces of the environment to see what new areas you can reach. If you get stuck, I hope you have enough grenades to kill yourself.
The "Item of the Day" is sometimes cool- Each vending machine stocks an "Item of the Day" which changes every 20 minutes. This is a cool item sticking with the theme of the shop stocking it. You can sometimes find nice gear in these. As you are stocking up on health, ammo, or weapons, be sure to take a look at the current item. It might be better than your current equipment.
Hide while healing your buddies- When you're healing your partner, crouch down and put them between you and approaching enemies if they are out in the open. They can't be killed while you are healing so use them as cover. Alternately, if they are near environmental cover, try healing them from just around the corner.
In contrast to most of my GB blog entries, this is not about video games. I typically try to keep this blog devoted to that because I think there are other places where the audience will be more receptive to blogging about the plethora of other topics. However, in this case I feel the audience here could possibly benefit from some exposure to board games. Of course, everyone has played Monopoly and Uno at some point, but board games (fortunately) do not stop there. Video gamers are often not receptive to board games in spite of the fact that, if you enjoy good games, it shouldn't really matter whether they are presented on a screen or a piece of cardboard. Here I explore a few recent favorites that have actually stolen some time from my video gaming habit.
I have attempted to provide a quick overview of the games, but I don't think I did such a great job. If you have questions, please post them, and I will do my best to provide you an answer. Also, feel free to comment with any other feedback you may have. Enjoy!
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This blog post should be a round-up of a few very cool board games I have been playing recently. Instead, that video was uploaded to YouTube, rejected for length, split into two, and is now being uploaded again. I should be able to get that up tomorrow, and I highly recommend you check it out. Instead, today's video consists of my impressions of DJ Hero which I got to play today at the local Gamestop.
I would love to hear what you thought of the demo if you had a chance to play. Also, please hit my blog again tomorrow where, barring further disaster, you will find my awkward descriptions of some games I think you may really enjoy--games that do not even require electricity! Well, unless you count lights.
Note: It appears the audio and video are not entirely in sync. The lesson: never use YouTube's Flash video recorder no matter how seductively convenient it is. Oh well.
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Many of the games journalists getting noticed are those bringing something new and exciting to the table. Co-op brings casual discussion and less focus on timing. Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation brings fast-talking, crude drawings, and surliness. Bitmob brings a focus on community content. Bytejacker covers downloadable games exclusively. Giant Bomb is perfecting the video games wiki. So, what's left?
Oh, you thought I had the answer? Actually, I'm asking you. What is the next frontier of games journalism? I have a few ideas, but I don't pretend to have any definitive answers. While we're at it, though, allow me to share some of my takes on what niches have yet to be filled.
Games reviews that coincide with deals or sales. Being a regular dude who pays money for all his games, I find the Cheap Ass Gamer forums indispensable. I am constantly lurking there to find the hottest deals, and I have saved quite a bit of money over the course of my gaming career because of it. Often times, a game will come onto my radar simply because of a fantastic deal. It would be great to have an outlet that not only highlights the current deals floating around but also plays them and tells me if they are worth the drastically reduced price. I picture it working something like this: a new deal is born. A person or maybe even multiple people get a copy, play for a few minutes, and write up some quick impressions. This gets posted on a blog along with a link to the deal or, in the case of B&M (that's "brick and mortar" meaning deals that only work inside a store for all you on the outside) deals, all the pertinent information. Then, readers of or subscribers to the site see a deal along with a quick impression of whether or not that deal is really worth the money. It's a one-stop shop for information and the "you have to spend money to save money" philosophy.
A Consumer Reports of games. For those of you unfamiliar, Consumer Reports is a monthly magazine which reviews consumer products such as cars, appliances, tools, and the like. The unique thing about this magazine is that they buy every product they review. They also do not accept advertising. Their revenue comes entirely from subscribers. There is nothing like this in the world of gaming. Virtually every games review outlet either does or would accept review copies of games and most accept advertising. For the most part, games journalists act with integrity and honesty, and I do not intend to suggest this is not the case. However, there is something to be said for the peace of mind of knowing that your reviewer has not been given anything by the company who stands to gain or lose from his evaluation of the game. It would also be comforting to know that the bottom line of the outlet cannot be affected by an advertiser who may have received a less-than-favorable score pulling advertising from the media outlet. To summarize, this would be a media outlet focusing on games reviews that would purchase every game being reviewed and would not accept any sort of advertising. The downside to this is that it would force this outlet into some kind of subscription model as their only source of income. Would the interest in this service be high enough among gamers to justify the cost and risk involved?
That's all I have at the moment. Please provide me with your own ideas for the unexplored frontiers of gaming journalism. Also, if you have the time and inclination, give me some feedback on the ideas I proposed.
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I took a few videos with my Vado HD camcorder at the show. They aren't much, but they give you a feel of the atmosphere. You may have to click through and watch them on YouTube to see the HD versions.
The Beatles: Rock Band
This first video is some brave folks playing The Beatles: Rock Band in front of a good number of onlookers. It's not so impressive now that the game is out, but it is undeniably fun to watch.
Mechanical horse
You may have heard about this, but you may not have seen in. The Darksiders (I think that's the name.) booth had a mechanical Gothic horse. It was pretty impressive. They say it was fabricated by someone who worked on the Jurassic Park dinosaurs. That's the way to draw some attention to your booth.
Queue room
The queue room at the convention center was where we went to wait for the exhibition hall to open in the morning. You could arrive as early as 8:00am for the exhibition that opened at 10:00am. This meant you may have been waiting a while. The good news is that the fine organizers provided entertainment for those of us dedicated enough to wait. This consisted of trivia, polls, and other interactive entertainment. We talked back by texting to a special number set up for the event. It was really a lot of fun! The video is a bit long and probably boring to watch, but it was much better than merely waiting.
That's all for now. Thanks for looking!
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PAX was one of the best things I have ever experienced. This is not hyperbole. If you're reading, start saving your money now for Boston or next years west coast show in Seattle. The most amazing part of the show for me was getting to meet the game journalists I respect and admire. Unfortunately, I was unable to talk to the Giant Bomb crew although I thoroughly enjoyed their panel. I hope to chat with those guys at my next PAX.
Queue for the exhibition hall, day 1 I could talk about the wonderful panels or any of a number of activities that were available to me at a whim, but instead this post will focus on the show floor and the games that made an impression in spite of the hundreds of others vying for attention.
Games of the Show (in reverse order)
Star Wars: The Old Republic
The prospect of an MMO with emphasis on story is at once exciting and troubling. On one hand, motivation to push forward that goes beyond WoW's text boxes explaining why I should collect 10 boar tusks is a welcome innovation to the genre. On the other, MMOs are perpetual experiences. Since BioWare obviously cannot create a perpetual story (without repeating), what will content be like after I have experienced the crafted stories of each of the classes? We were told that the story of each class would exceed 100 hours which is fantastic, but what happens next? Does The Old Republic then revert to the repeatable instances that characterize the genre?
Trooper I attended both the panel and the Q&A session later at the cantina. Information on this game is tightly guarded, and much of the Q&A consisted of evasion crafted by the game's undoubtedly skilled and extensive marketing machine. We were shown the trooper class which was described as a tank with some long-range capabilities. Other classes present were the Sith warrior and the bounty hunter. BioWare also plugged a multiplayer conversation system which, although details of the system were not given, appeared to consist of dialog choices rotating through party members rather than being the sole responsibility of the party lead. Companion characters were also alluded to.
Jedi using the force to move with great speed The most intriguing feature on display was what they are calling "flashpoints." These are essentially decisions at which the story branches--common in single player games but new to MMOs. A ship captain was tasked with taking on a battleship and chose to ignore orders. The player must then decide to kill or spare the captain. The choice was passed on to the crowd who chose to kill him. A new captain was appointed and told her only chance for survival was to follow the orders. She initiated attack on the battleship at which point her ship was boarded. The player is then tasked with eliminating the boarding forces. We were never explicitly told what the other outcome would have been, but we were told that our decision completely altered the progression of the storyline. At the Q&A session, I asked if story decisions would ever affect players outside the player's own party. They could not answer my question, but they did say there will be class-specific story arcs that are unalterable by any other player. Other story arcs may be influenced, at the very least, by members of the player's party.
This game was not playable at the show so I have no idea how it will turn out. The action appears very WoW-like with abilities displayed on a hotbar at the bottom of the screen. I'm incredibly excited by the potential of this game, but there are still many unknowns. It looks as though Lucasarts and BioWare intend to keep it that way.
Red Dead Redemption
Here is another game that was not present in playable form but shows incredible promise. We were shown a brief mission in which a captured woman had to be rescued by the protagonist. The game includes a technique seen before in which time slows and the player may mark spots on enemies which are then shot. Once the mission was complete, we were treated to a showing of the open-world aspects of the game. It looks incredible. The area is huge. Rockstar emphasized the previously revealed random events that may take place in the game's vast expanses. They even killed a couple of animals in the wild, and, at risk of sounding morbid, the deaths were the most realistic I have seen. Wild horses may be wrangled and broken for your own personal use (Grand Theft Horse). Horses are not the only modes of transport in the game as stagecoaches and trains provide the means for a fast-travel system. The game includes a karma system which affects the reputation of the player and will influence his interaction with others. It very much looks like Grand Theft Auto in the old west which is most definitely not a negative. If I understood correctly, every building in the game will have an interior. While this is certainly much easier to do in the sparsely populated old west than it would be in a modern urban center, it is still a welcome addition to the open-world action genre. Players have lamented for years that so many of GTA's buildings are no more than facades. Another (for me) welcome addition is fairly trivial in the scheme of things: the horse will continue to guide itself along the current path giving the player freedom to aim and shoot while riding! Here is another innovation that makes sense in context. Of course a horse would be able to continue along a road of its own volition where a car must be guided by the driver. In fact, I wish this feature were in a context that made much less sense so that developers would feel free to incorporate it into their games for non-sentient means of conveyance as well.
Heavy Rain
This game completely floored me. I already anticipated the game, but I was not at all prepared for the experience it delivered. I played a quick five-minute demo, and came out with more empathy for and attachment to the characters than most games can muster in 30-40 hours. This is the game this generation that will provide a substantial innovation to carry the medium forward. Sure, we have seen new gameplay elements introduced recently such as the time manipulation avalanche started by Braid, but those are largely superficial and add to the depth rather than the breadth of gaming experiences. Heavy Rain pushes games toward the experience of a movie but not in the forced way of previous games that have claimed to do so. I have not yet seen this game compared to a movie experience or to interactive fiction and this fact somehow makes its tendencies in these directions more authentic and credible. Gamers will clearly recognize it as a game. I would, in fact, describe it as interactive fiction, but the interaction is very well done. It doesn't really feel like a string of QTEs that the player must walk between but it is essentially that. Leaving a description at that, however, is akin to describing great literature as an ordered series of letters printed in black on a white page: far too reductive to be useful.
The demo went split-screen to show the player the security cam feeds. In the demo, you play a private investigator trying to learn the identity of the Origami Killer. Following a lead, you enter a convenience store to talk to the owner who himself has lost a child to the killer. He is still a bit raw over the whole situation and doesn't want to discuss it with your character. You decide to pick up some things while you are in the store to avoid wasting the trip. In the meanwhile, a robber enters the store and a standoff begins. For my playthrough, I tried sneaking up the back aisle to approach the assailant from behind. The game prompted me to slowly move up on the right analog stick as I proceeded down the aisle to quietly pick up a bottle from the nearby shelf. As I continued, my character knocked a box from one of the shelves. My reflexes failed to be sharp enough to prevent it from crashing to the ground, and my sneak attack was thwarted. This lead to a struggle that played out first in dialog and then physically. The player before me had mitigated the scenario through dialog options alone to cause the robber to leave. It was a great experience. The "steering" of the character was a bit cumbersome. In fact, I couldn't really tell how the left stick was mapping my inputs to the character at all. I was told the controls are among the biggest elements that are still being significantly tweaked.
I asked the operator of the demo about branching. Specifically, I wanted to know how many branching points there are in the game. Are there a few key points where the stories branch off? His reply was the it branches "everywhere." This could just be marketing, and there will be no way of knowing until the game is actually released. The answer was at least encouraging. In a game that's power comes from the gravity of player choice and its affect on the game world, the number of points at which player choice is significant will either greatly improve or diminish the value of the experience.
Games I wanted to play but didn't
Scribblenauts
The biggest unknown for me with Scribblenauts is its staying power. It does something games have not done before. How long will I want to do that thing once I have a firm grasp of the game's limits? There are two reasons I didn't play the game: First, no amount of playing I could have done at PAX would have answered this question. Second, the line was incredibly long. I have never seen this level of buzz for a DS game.
Diablo III
I've been hearing this is more of the same. That is no problem for me. I would gladly play prettier Diablo II with minor improvements. That said, there is no decision for me to be made about this game. I'm buying it. Also, the lines were long.
Borderlands
I have a preorder in for this game already. It is my first preorder since last generation. They would have to show some horrible shit at PAX to temper my excitement. Oh yeah. The lines were long here too. Do you notice a theme?
Games that were slightly disappointing
Dust: An Elysian Tail
This game is beautiful, but, in my limited play-session, it doesn't have the muscle to unseat the dominance of Castle Crashers in the space of side-scrolling beat 'em ups with RPG elements. The combat seemed fairly repetitive. Unlike Castle Crashers, the game moves strictly on a 2D plane meaning your character may only move left or right. I found myself being cornered by enemies with no apparent way to evade their barrage of attacks. I was told that this game is "probably" migrating from the indie channel to XBLA. If they can keep it under the $10 mark, I will give it another look. Hell, I will at least play the demo even if they price it at $15.
Fairytale Fights
Once again, here is a beat 'em up with repetitive combat. In addition to that, I'm not terribly fond of the right analog stick for attacking. I didn't really see what benefit the analog-ness offered, and, given that, I prefer the precision of the buttons for attacking. Perhaps there are elements here I missed. I will withhold judgment for now.
Split/Second
I have heard lots of hype for this game, and hype from the TRS cast urged me to try it out. I don't really understand the unfettered love the game is receiving. For a game centered around crashing people and creating havoc, the crashes are not very believable at all. They don't have near the impact of those in the Burnout games. (I will avoid use of the word "visceral," but you should know I was tempted.) The racing is standard arcade racing. The triggered events were impressive but didn't seem to have the profound impact I would have liked on the outcome of the race aside from the deformation of the track itself.
Until next year...
That just about covers it. Feel free to post questions about anything at PAX in the comments. I will do whatever I can to answer them. I had a fantastic time and look forward to going to more. If you are reading this, and you have never been to PAX, check out the next PAX on your respective coast and begin planning now to go if you can at all. Get your passes early!
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We now interrupt your regularly scheduled Facebook gaming roundup...
I'm totally pumped to be going to this year's Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. I've already participated in one thread on the boards about PAX in which KnifeySpoony is compiling a list of GB community attendees. Does anyone know if there will be a meetup? If there is, I would be really interested in attending as this is really the only online community I participate in at the moment. I know about the GB panel, but I haven't heard about a community meetup.
In the thread, I had originally posted a list of panels I wanted to attend.
Friday
Ron Gilbert Keynote Breaking into the game industry Live taping of CO-OP Assassin's Creed II and Splinter Cell Conviction demo How Gamers Give Listen Up Live Psychiatry, Video Games, and Kids - The Science, The Opinions, and the Lies
Saturday
Star Wars: The Old Republic live demonstration Totally Rad Show Podcast and Q&A Sex in Videogames: A Comparative Study Twitter and Beyond – New Game Communities Online The Giant Bomb Re-Reunion Tour: Tour Legit Tour Quit
Sunday
WTF is the matter with game reviews? The Future of Gaming: You Don't Know What You're Going to Get Game Localization: A Behind-the-Scenes Look
It's a tough schedule and one that I have since decided to relax significantly. I have now pared it down to a few things I must make and some others I would like to catch.
Must attend
Co-op
Psychiatry, Video Games, and Kids
Totally Rad Show
Giant Bomb
Want to attend
Ron Gilbert
Star Wars
Splinter Cell demo
Penny Arcade Q&A
I intend to leave the rest to serendipity. I'm just going to let the expo carry me where it will.
This is my first time west of the Mississippi River, my first flight, and my first convention/expo of note (and that is fairly significant since I am 26 years old). I want to get the most out of this because I may not be able to do it every year. Does anyone have any tips? I need to know about gaming expos in general, PAX specifically, traveling in general, and Seattle specifically. Also, if you're going to PAX, post your twitter in the comments. We can follow each other and, assuming cell service doesn't collapse under the weight of 75,000 geeks, keep up with what's going on at the show.
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The recent Co-op episode in which Facebook gaming was featured inspired me to give the service a go to see what kind of gaming muscle it has. I've been using Facebook for its social networking features for a bit over a year now. I had written off the gaming as something exclusively for the casual market since the only game I had really heard buzz about was Scrabulous (now Lexulous). Anyway, I decided to jump into Country Story, Mafia Wars, and Restaurant City to see what this is all about.
Country Story
Country Story is a bit like a stripped-down web-based Harvest Moon. You play a character managing a farm and growing crops. I haven't played a ton (I'm at level 5.), but it doesn't seem to have much depth. The little it has seems to depend a lot on having a good number of friends playing with you. If you don't already have friends playing, this means you are going to need to bug your friends to join up. This is a bit too spammy for me. I don't particularly enjoy getting lots of notifications from the plethora of apps on Facebook, and I tend to assume others feel the same. Lite RPG elements also show up throughout the game including questing and leveling. This sounds much deeper than it turns out to be. Quests are pretty boring. Each new level opens up a new line of quests. However, there are not enough quests in each level to grant the experience necessary to reach the next level. Rather than questing, for the remainder of the level you will be grinding it out by planting and watering just for the sake gaining experience.
Setting aside the lack of depth and evaluating the game on its own merits, it is an entertaining Flash game with serviceable graphics and sound. I like the art style which is primarily why I chose to try this over the similar and more popular Farmville. Everything is soft and pastel colored. It has a friendly, inviting look about it.
Most Facebook games utilize the social network in the game for multiplayer mechanics. The social elements of Country Story are very superficial and not at all engaging. I can visit friends farms, water their plants, and harvest for them. I may also steal crops from them. The only motivation I have for doing so is an occasional quest that asks me to do so. I was disappointed to find that I could not in any way interact with friends inside the game even if they were playing at the same time. If I go to a garden while a friend is online playing, I do not see them there, and there garden is a snapshot of whenever they made their last save. It makes the "world" feel very dead.
Speaking of saves, I don't understand why I have to take an action to save in this game. It seems to me the game should be capable of saving my progress on the fly rather than having to click a save icon in the menu. This is something I often forget to do because it feels so counter-intuitive in this medium.
One curious mechanic that is mostly unique to Facebook and is pervasive across every game I have played is stamina. Your character has stamina that is depleted as you perform tasks. Once your stamina meter is empty, you must either wait until you accumulate more or eat food to regain some stamina instantly. I can't quite figure out the motivation for such a mechanic unless it is to keep players returning on a regular basis rather than burning out in a single session. This would make sense considering the mechanics could get old pretty quickly.
Another trap of Facebook gaming present here is microtransactions. Players may use real money to enhance their game experience by buying fertilizers, special animals, and decorations for your home. Fertilizer is the big deal here as it allows the player to do more in a session than he could without it. Crops typically grow on a timer taking a number of hours to reach maturity. Fertilizer speeds the process significantly. For just a few bucks to Playfish, you can speed ahead of your friends by cutting out growing time. Although I'm not a huge fan of the microtransactions, these are not terribly pervasive and do not diminish my enjoyment of the game. I feel I am getting most everything the game has to offer without being hounded for a dollar every few minutes.
In short, the game is pretty and easy to play, but offers little in the way of substance that would hook a gamer for any length of time.
Thanks for reading. Check back for part two of my Facebook games series in which I will discuss the Facebook juggernaut Mafia Wars. 3 Comments
If you have not yet played the demo and want to be surprised, do not read this.
Wet is a game that really puts it best foot forward in terms of presentation. The dirty film effect filter (a la Grindhouse) is one not often used in games. The solid red, black, and white palette the game uses when Rubi's face is covered in blood is striking. The music is fantastic--one of the best soundtracks I have heard in a game judging from the three songs in the demo. The highway sequence is thrilling and stands alongside great movie action sequences.
The problem is that actually playing the game isn't so much fun. The combat is very simplistic and not terribly satisfying. It relies too much on the stylish slowdown effects when Rubi fires on enemies while doing her acrobatics. This is a decent effect but doesn't compare to everything I described in the first paragraph. It alone certainly isn't enough to carry the boring combat mechanics.
The fact that I can't decide how I feel about this game is proof of the incredible style of its presentation. There isn't really anything here I can recommend gameplay-wise. Everything feels very clunky, scripted, and on-rails. Why must it look so damn good while doing everything wrong?
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