Review - Call of duty: Black Ops

The Call of Duty series has come a long way from its humble origins as a Medal of Honor competitor, now standing as a world-conquering video game superpower able to clear release calendars with the mere threat of its presence in a month. On HD platforms, that is, with Nintendo's little white box relegated to answering the call in a much more limited fashion.

But oh, how far Wii've come from the barebones launch port of Call of Duty 3, with each successive entry bridging the feature gap. World at War brought a limited online multiplayer component, and Modern Warfare Reflex fleshed it out for an admirably close port... two years after the game originally released elsewhere and on the day its direct sequel came out (still waiting on that one, by the way).

This time around, Treyarch has topped Reflex in feature parity with the Wii version of Black Ops, plopping the most robust multiplayer suite the Wii has yet seen in a shooter with virtually every feature intact in some capacity. And yes, that includes zombie Nazis.

Regardless of platform, Black Ops is Treyarch's chance to rid itself of the Call of Duty "off-year" label it's been stuck with, and it does so splendidly by way of one of, if not the, best campaign stories the series has ever had and clever new additions to the franchise's stagnating multiplayer formula.

Black Ops is set against the backdrop of the Cold War, starting with an American assassination attempt on Fidel Castro during the Bay of Pigs and a subsequent tour through the Vietnam War among other locales. Unlike past games where the story weaved between American, British and Russian forces, Black Ops largely focuses on one man: special forces operative Alex Mason. The story unfolds through a series of flashbacks as Mason is interrogated by unknown persons, mostly following his exploits as well as a handful of supporting characters. While the action is still fairly bombastic, Treyarch does a better job than Infinity Ward at creating a believable action movie plot — especially after the ridiculous black holes of Modern Warfare 2's script. The entire single-player package buys into the setting wholesale; even the little things, like intel collected in stages to restore text redacted from classified documents, do a lot to sell the story.

Series veterans will find that Black Ops plays by and large just like every other Call of Duty game, with tons of scripted events and action sequences that play out in the way for which the series is known and copied. The biggest addition to the campaign is a helicopter that appears during the Vietnam section, so if you've tired of Call of Duty gameplay and brand of action then you'll not find much new here to convince you otherwise. If you're not, you'll find plenty to love.

And if you're here for the multiplayer (which, let's face it, you probably are), you'll likely find something new to love among the wealth of additions. The biggest fundamental change is related to unlocking weapons, perks and equipment: the new CoD Point currency. Instead of being automatically added to your arsenal at specific stages, items are now made available at certain levels and must be purchased with CoD Points for use. This allows you to buy only what you want to use and build up a character suitable to your own play style much quicker than before, but on the flipside it kills some of the incentive to level up further once you're able to buy the equipment you want. Better weapons and perks unlock the higher you go, but if you don't have your heart set on them then you might peak equipment-wise earlier than you otherwise would. For those in need of some practise and tips for multiplayer, there's a separate training mode to help you learn the ropes and not get crushed online if this is your first Call of Duty game.

Apart from normal gameplay, you can boost your CoD Point earnings through Contracts or Wager Matches. Contracts are a great way to add a little extra excitement to your matches: each contract costs a certain amount of Points and if you complete the given task in the time limit given (say, get 25 kills with a certain weapon in 40 minutes of in-match time) you're rewarded with many more Points and even an XP bonus depending on the contract. If you fail to complete the task, then you've lost those Points you invested. Available contracts cycle every few hours so there's usually something new for you to attempt. Wager Matches are new buy-in match types that reward winners with extra Points. Our favourite is One in the Chamber, an intense six-player game of three lives and one-shot kills — the twist is that every player gets a pistol with one bullet, and to get more ammo you need to kill another player.

If you're more of the cooperative type then you can head online (or play offline by yourself) for the popular four-player Zombies mode making its first appearance on Wii. Here you'll need to work together to take out never-ending waves of time-travelling undead Nazis while buying new weapons, rebuilding barricades and generally shooting a lot of things. While welcome, it's a bit disappointing that Wii gamers only get one Zombies map on the disc, but Treyarch's promise of downloadable content through the Wii Shop Channel means that more may come down the line.

Another nice thing about the online modes is that they essentially sidestep all of the things that have given Wii multiplayer a bad name. Friend requests can be made in lobbies without having to send Ally Codes, and you don't have to punch in a 12-digit number to talk to anyone if you use the new Headbanger Headset. Wii Speak owners are out of luck, though, as Black Ops doesn't support that mic. In short, the online experience on Wii is as close as can be to other platforms.

That being said, not all is equal. There are still no killcams, and matches being limited to five on five means that some of the maps feel much too large. A handful of new killstreaks were nixed, as were custom emblems on weapons. Treyarch put in Classic Controller support, and it feels for the most part just the same using a pad scheme on other consoles, although button layout isn't entirely 1:1 due to the lack of clickable analogue sticks — sprint and jump share a button and melee replaces weapon switching, which is now done on the D-Pad. It's still perfectly playable once you're used to it, and pointer players will be happy to learn that those controls feel rock solid with the same degree of customisation as before.

Weapons and explosions sound powerful, and the voice cast puts in generally strong performances. Alex Mason is voiced by Sam Worthington and sounds pretty much like every other role Worthington has ever played. Modern Warfare Reflex did an admirable job downscaling the HD game to the Wii's lesser hardware, and Black Ops is a further step above. Shading and particle effects seem to have gotten a boost and the world looks quite nice running on Wii hardware, although the framerate dips a bit during certain scenes. There are some noticeable cut corners here and there, but nothing that detracts too much. It doesn't look as good as GoldenEye 007, but then again Black Ops wasn't developed with the Wii's strengths in mind.

Conclusion
Thanks to an excessively robust feature suite and developers not treating the console with kid gloves, you're not going to find a finer online multiplayer shooter on Wii than Call of Duty: Black Ops. Solo players looking for an action-packed romp with a strong story will have a grand ol' time digging in to the game's eight-ish hour campaign, and anyone in between will lose hours cracking zombies over the head. Black Ops on Wii may not be the best version of the game out there, but for the console it is unparalleled.

'Monster Hunter Tri' Review - Monsters, Nunchuks, And Underwater Adventures, Oh My!

Capcom's ridiculously popular "Monster Hunter" franchise is back in action with "Monster Hunter Tri" for the Nintendo Wii, combining free online play with new hunting grounds, creatures, items, and equipment permutations. The new game also features undersea hunting grounds — a first for the series.

But does the series' debut on the Wii live up to the hype?


The Basics

Like in previous versions of "Monster Hunter" (including last year's "Monster Hunter Freedom Unite," one of my favorite games of the year), you play the role of a Monster Hunter charged with protecting a village from the creatures that populate the surrounding forests, deserts, swamps, arctic tundras and, in the case of "Tri," underwater regions.

Objects you collect from the bodies of slain monsters or gather via fishing, catching in nets or other means can be used for a variety of purposes, including forging or upgrading your armor and weapons, combining to form rare items, improving the efficiency of the local farm or fishing fleet, and even creating furniture or other unique items for your character.

The Highs

More!
Just as with any good next-iteration of a franchise, "Monster Hunter Tri" basically takes the previous title and amps everything up a bit with new enemies, items, and skills, and wraps it all around one big addition to the series. In this case, the big selling point is the undersea hunting element — which is actually a lot of fun, and the best part? It doesn't require the extended learning curve typical to the "Monster Hunter" games. I was able to jump into the water and maneuver fairly easily, with much of the new terrain's requirements fairly intuitive translations from the normal controls.

Better!
One of my biggest complaints about the previous iteration of the franchise, "Monster Hunter Freedom Unite" for the PSP, was the awkward camera angles. Much of that issue seems to have been resolved with "Tri," and I rarely found myself running into walls or — worse yet — creatures every few seconds. The camera seems "smarter" this time around, and the game benefits immensely from this improvement.

Different!
The online multiplayer system in "Tri" also received a significant overhaul, and benefits greatly from the new, simplified structure for cooperative play. I'm not sure how much of this was due to user reaction or Nintendo-imposed restrictions, but the end result is a much simpler method for finding and participating in cooperative hunts. While "Monster Hunter" veterans might not be big fans of the new, scaled-down style of online play, it feels far more welcoming to new or less-hardcore players, which will likely benefit the series in the long run.

The Lows

Classic Is Best
There's a good reason why some versions of "Monster Hunter Tri" come bundled with the new Classic Controller Pro — the game's controls are nearly impossible to manage with just the Wii remote and nunchuk.

Waiting On A Screen
One of the recurring issues with the "Monster Hunter" franchise continues to be a problem with "Tri," in that you still spend quite a bit of time waiting for load screens between areas and various portions of the game environment. While the occasional load screen is necessary in games with such a massive number of options in any given area, it gets a bit cumbersome to have to wait through five or six load screens for every quest. with technology as it is today, this seems like a problem that could be remedied, and should be in future installments.

Buy A Book
I mentioned the notorious "Monster Hunter" learning curve earlier in this review, and it holds true in the Wii iteration as much as with any other version of the game. It takes a long (possibly a week or more) to really get comfortable with many of the skills necessary to manage your character's growth when you pickup your first "Monster Hunter" game. While I was able to jump into "Tri" with very little difficulty, that's only because of my existing comfort level with the basic skills and game fundamentals I learned in "Monster Hunter Freedom Unite" (and it took me a week to learn how to gather and combine items in that game). New players will likely have a rough time getting up to speed in "Tri," but no more so than any of the other "Monster Hunter" games.

The Verdict

"Monster Hunter Tri" is a great addition to the celebrated franchise, and while it still suffers from some of the problems of its predecessors, fans of the series will find a lot to like about the latest installment. The new additions to the game manage to provide a lot of extra fun without upping the already considerable learning curve, and the online multiplayer aspect has been simplified enough to make it nearly as much fun as the solo narrative. If you're a fan of the "Monster Hunter" franchise, you'll enjoy the heck out of "Tri," but be warned: the Classic Controller Pro is an absolute necessity for the game. Do not hunt monsters without it!

Mega Man 10 Review

One of the most common themes in discussions and arguments among gaming aficionados is the idea of endless industry progression. Games are supposed to become more and more beautiful as time goes on. Accompanying soundtracks are supposed to become increasingly epic. Storytelling should become more seamless and enthralling. Ingenious methods of gameplay are expected to push us into the great unknown of the medium. And that's fine. For the most part, such notions are what keep our beloved industry trucking forward, dropping jaws and bloodying thumbs in the process. But when you play a game like Mega Man 10, delivered by Capcom to its old-school fans as yet another offering following the 2008 release of Mega Man 9, you realize that stagnation and regression can be good things, too.

Mega Man 10 is a game for the core Mega Man franchise's many fans, and its appeal inherently sits with its backwards-looking approach. There's nothing new about Mega Man 10's tech, delivery or gameplay. The title looks, sounds, feels and plays like the very first Mega Man game released twenty-three years ago on the NES. While Mega Man 7 (SNES) and 8 (PSX/SAT) deviated from the 8-bit path, and ended up disappointing many an ardent fan as a result, Mega Man 9 returned to the series' roots, and Mega Man 10 stays firmly on that same path. And that's a good thing, because the 8-bit world is where Mega Man truly belongs.

For those gamers unfamiliar with the premise of the core Mega Man series, it goes a bit like this. A group of powerful robots are created by Doctors Light and Wily to help humanity in various mundane tasks. Dr. Wily turns on Light and reprograms most of these robots to do his bidding, but one of these robots, Mega Man, quickly throws the kibosh on Dr. Wily's nefarious plans (as played-out in the original Mega Man game). In each of the next eight games, from Mega Man 2 through 9, Dr. Wily returns in one fashion or another, this time with robots he's engineered or corrupted, in endless attempts to take over the world, and to kill Mega Man in the process. He never succeeds, which is what makes Wily one of the more persistent and humorous foils in the realm of gaming. But he keeps on trying nonetheless.

Mega Man 10's story attempts to turn things on its head yet again, with Dr. Wily appearing to not be behind the robotic attacks at the center of the plot (and we won't spoil whether or not that's actually the case, but we're pretty sure you've got a good idea if you played, say, Mega Man 4, 5, 6 or 9). Instead, a robotic virus known as Roboenza has wreaked havoc, and some of these corrupted robots are attempting to take over. But no matter which direction the story dashes towards, Mega Man's gameplay and aesthetics remain the same as they've been for a long time. And for a title like Mega Man 10, gameplay is king.

Rating Description out of 10:

5.0 Presentation
Mega Man 10's many menus are admittedly low-key and entirely text-based, but the game's presentation isn't what's important. It's what's underneath the surface that matters.

8.0 Graphics
Mega Man's graphics should be scored based upon the specific look they were going for, and as you know, the Mega Man titles on the NES were some of the console's prettiest.

8.5 Sound
Mega Man MIDIs remain some of the most famous and well-loved musical tracks in gaming history. There are some real gems on Mega Man 10's soundtrack that continue that proud tradition.

9.0 Gameplay
Gameplay is king, and Mega Man 10 has it down to a tee. Everything about it feels like an NES Mega Man game, and that's exactly what Inti-Creates was going for.

8.0 Lasting Appeal
Assuming you can even beat it on normal difficulty, there's hard to worry about. And playing as Proto Man. And all of the Challenges and Time Attack stages. Whew!

8.5
Great OVERALL
(out of 10)

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Review

Rating Description out of 10:

8.0 Presentation
There's a huge variety of characters and tracks that reference SEGA games, but it's hard not to wonder where missing franchises are.

7.5 Graphics
The Wii version keeps up with the HD versions, but sacrifices definitely had to be made, especially in multiplayer.

8.0 Sound
Lots of variety in the background tunes and the character remarks during a race. The obnoxious play-by-play is hilariously Americanized British: "The crowd go crazy!" and "Tails takes a pounding."

8.0 Gameplay
Fun and tight action racing with a decent sense of speed that lifts most of its ideas from Mario Kart Wii.

8.0 Lasting Appeal
Tons of single player modes, and a great focus on multiplayer, both offline and on.

8.0
Impressive OVERALL
(out of 10)