Penny Arcade’s On the Rain-Slicked Precipice of Darkness 4 Xbox360 Review

A Classic-Style RPG
by Robert VerBruggen

It's just like your favorite RPGs from the mid-1990s—except, in a lot of ways, better.

Is it heresy to say that? Probably, but it's also true. On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4, the final entry in the Penny Arcade Adventures series, owes an enormous debt to games like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI --but it also features improved gameplay and writing that is far more entertaining. If you're one of those gamers who are still stuck in the '90s, or if you just love the Penny Arcade webcomic, this is a must-buy at $5.

I'm probably not quite the target audience for this game. I've played plenty of old RPGs, but I never touched the previous games in the Penny Arcade Adventures series, and I've rarely read the comic. Still, it didn't take long for this world to draw me in completely. As the plot skips from location to location and you control different parties, you find that all of the characters are lively and funny, cracking jokes as they advance the story.

As the game begins, the gang is trapped in hell--or rather Underhell, which is a place below Overhell. The normal world has been destroyed, everyone has moved to another dimension, and the only way out might be to destroy this world too. Apparently, that's the only way to create a new world worth living in. This quirky and bizarre story is a perfect fit for the Penny Arcade universe.

But Precipice 4 isn't just good for laughs. It also updates the classic RPG formula in ways that make it a lot more fun--and a lot less work.

Pretty much everything that irritated you about Super Nintendo RPGs is gone here. There are no random battles-- all the enemies man up and show themselves right on the map screen. You can save at any time. Your HP, MP, and even potions regenerate after each battle. There's no grinding.

Basically, every fight is its own event; if you barely win, you won't be almost dead before the next battle even starts, and if you lose, you can try again without losing a ton of progress. Not only does this ease your frustration, but it makes the game playable in smaller chunks if you don't want to sink hours into it at a time. (This would be great for a mobile phone, but so far the game is available only on PC and Xbox 360.)

The combat uses an Active Time Battle system, which it depicts in an interesting fashion. In most ATB games, each character has a separate bar and gets to take a turn when the bar is full. By contrast, Precipice 4 has a single line at the top of the screen, and all the combatants are shown running from left to right. As a character approaches the right-hand side, the game will pause to allow you to enter a command, and when the attack occurs, the character returns to the left side. It's a nice visual representation--cleaner and more informative than what other games do. You can tell, at a glance, what order the characters will be attacking in.

MP is handled differently here, too. Each character gets one point each turn, rather than having a set amount of it. This way, you can save up your magic for a big attack or choose to spend it on a series of smaller attacks, and you never completely run out.

What's more, the fighters you control are monsters rather than the main characters of the storyline--the story's characters serve as "trainers," giving special boosts and abilities to the monsters under their command. You can move monsters between trainers, changing their stats. As the difficulty increases, it becomes more and more important to choose the right trainers for each battle.


Source: http://www.cheatcc.com

Remember Me Xbox360 Review

The Future Of Social Media
by Joshua Bruce

In today’s world of Facebook status updates and incessant tweeting, we are going down a dangerous path. One that, if continued, could lead directly to the dystopian future that has been very effectively portrayed in Capcom’s newest IP - Remember Me.

The year is 2084 and in this world memories have become the social commodity of choice. You can buy, sell, and trade your memories as you see fit, which has become a socio-cultural phenomenon that has penetrated every facet of society. Although it sounds harmless, memories can become an addiction for some, one that carries with it some serious side effects. Not the least of which is turning into a deformed memory fiend called a Leaper, the dirty little secret that everyone knows about but very few acknowledge.

You play as Nilin, who was once considered the best memory hunter in the world. She has recently had her memory wiped by Memorize, an evil cooperation that is particularly terrified of Nilin’s unique abilities. Since most of her “rememberings” have been erased, you begin the game in a disoriented state, desperately trying to escape the Memorize Facility. However, with the help of Edge (a friend from your past) you are guided to safety in a short scripted escape, eventually landing you in the bowels of Slum 404, the seedy underbelly of Neo-Paris.

This is where you first meet the Leapers. These twisted former humans draw a very distinct line between friend and foe, and, unfortunately, you are on the wrong side of it. This is also your first taste of combat and the introduction to the Combo Lab.

The Combo Lab is Remember Me’s core character-development mechanic. Basically, as you fight off the hordes of Leapers and Neo-Paris’s security personnel, you gain PMP (Procedural Mastery Power) which acts as experience points to unlock the next Pressen (fighting ability) to add to your arsenal of attacks. Essentially, the idea here is that Nilin knew these abilities before, but fighting and performing combos for PMP unlock them in her memory, reminding her of her former badassery.

The Combo Lab is an interesting concept. There are four basic Pressen types – Regen, Power, Cooldown, and Chain. Each adds a bonus of their respective type and can be used in any combo, as long as they match the specific button (X, Y, etc.) For instance, if you want a powerful attack combo, you would use as many Power Pressens as possible in your combo. But if you’re looking for more balance in your fight style, you can add Regen Pressens to recover health during combat, Chain Pressens to add bonus damage, or Cooldown Pressens to make your S-Pressens recover faster.

S-Pressens are special moves/abilities that can turn a situation in your favor, and they require focus to use. Focus is akin to mana, and can be gained by successfully landing combos on your enemies. All of these character and combat mechanics force the player to focus on their combos, instead of just allowing the game to turn into a button masher, which it could have easily been. This sounds great, but the in-game execution of these tools during combat tends to keep your attention on your combo display, instead of on the action where it belongs. Sometimes, this can make for frustrating combat situations that take you out of the action.

Another new feature of Remember Me’s original personality is the Memory Remix. Memory Remixes function as a mini-game, but have a lot more to offer than a typical in-game sidetrack. Basically, Nilin has the unique ability to enter another person’s SenSen (the memory interface located on the back of the neck) and change a key memory, thus altering the person’s perception of her or even the world as a whole. These sequences are an integral narrative tool within the story of the game.

They contain information about character backstories and become progressively important to the events of the game as you proceed. They are pretty much an interactive cutscene that you have the ability to rewind or fast-forward, looking for key moments and items to interact with and change the outcome of the memory. While they are littered throughout the game, they are all scripted into the story at set points. I would have liked to have seen more flexibility with this particular feature, such as integration into the rest of the game and combat.

Although, Remixes aren't the only storytelling tool that Remember Me employs. A fully realized dystopian society is painted on the canvas of 2084 Neo-Paris. And Nilin’s journey through the bowels of the city to recover her personal memories, rediscover herself, and bring down Memorize in the process is a truly memorable (pun intended) experience. This story being told through memory recovery adds an interesting layer to gameplay as well. Instead of traversing a story where set events just happen and playing a generic character that is able to do x,y, and z – you take on the role of a character who is relearning her powers and her past, and as the pieces of the puzzle come together you begin to understand Nilin’s past and the story surrounding it.

Source: http://www.cheatcc.com

GRID 2 Xbox360 Review

The GRID Comes Alive
by Angelo M. D’Argenio

GRID 2 is Codemasters’ newest racing spectacle; it’s the five-year-long-awaited sequel to Race Driver: GRID, or just GRID in the United States. GRID is known for its incredible attention to detail, accessible yet realistic mechanics, enjoyable tracks, and well-done environments. GRID 2 gives us more of the same, but also makes some possibly controversial design choices with its graphics, tracks, and car selection. GRID 2 feels like a sequel to the original GRID, but it may be different enough to surprise some fans of its predecessor, and may even turn some of them off. Still, GRID 2 is a game that will attract far more new players to the franchise than it will lose old ones.

GRID 2 actually has a story to tell, which is always shaky ground for the racing genre. Past racing titles have tried to spin us tales about highway bandits trying to retake the road from underneath the government’s eyes, or hardcore street racers that don’t play by the law. GRID 2 is far tamer than that. Here, you’ll play the poster boy for a brand new racing league, World Series Racing (WSR). Your goal is simple, to raise WSR awareness and get yourself recognized as a serious competitor in a serious sport.

Yes, GRID 2’s single-player mode essentially tells a tale of marketing but it really works, feeling far more like a sports title like Madden or FIFA than the adventure title or RPG a lot of racing games, such as Burnout, try to be. Instead of rewarding you with unrealistic prizes, like loot or stolen cars, the game rewards you with fans. You aren’t thrown over-the-top parades or featured in a major motion picture; you are talked about on forums and have videos about you posted on YouTube. What’s interesting is that the cutscenes that show this social media success are really quite enjoyable, perhaps because they feel realistic. The game excels at fulfilling the fantasy of being a racing success without ruining the experience by getting too silly. Get popular enough and you’ll even have real ESPN anchors do a story about you. That will make any sports fan feel like they are having their fifteen minutes of fame.

Of course, to get this notoriety you have to race, and that means starting small and working your way up to the big leagues. There’s no shortage of racing events for you to participate in, ranging from elimination matches to checkpoint races and everything in between. You can either finish events one by one, slowly working your way up the totem pole without missing a single lap, or you can simply push forward into later game events while skipping previous ones. Either way feels great and neither destroys the game’s sense of pacing.

GRID 2 has 14 international locales to race in, with about 6 routes in each area. The game goes a long way to make these locations feel diverse. Racing in one area during a low-level event may have you skidding along back roads during an overcast day, while racing in the same area in a higher-level event will send you through nighttime streets with crowds of people watching on the sidelines and fireworks going off in the background. At points, the different events can feel familiar as you take the same series of turns you have experienced five times before in another racing mode, but it only ever amounts to a minor annoyance; a short break from the game will get you out and racing again in no time.

GRID 2 also introduces a new type of track called a Live Route that is an interesting innovation in the racing genre. Essentially, it places you in a locale, but then randomizes the turns you have to make through that locale, making it impossible to plan for upcoming curves. While Live Routes are interesting and keep locales feeling fresh, they are also frustrating; racing through them is kind of a crapshoot. You’ll eventually realize that racing games are heavily based on track memorization and planning ahead for each turn. Without the ability to play this way, you’ll mostly crash a lot and be taken by surprise by sharp turns coming up at the last minute.

GRID 2’s racing engine adds a bit to this frustration. It’s certainly not a game for racers who like to put their foot down on the accelerator like a lead weight. Its physics engine is unforgiving, asking you to slow down and lead every single turn. Crashes are horrendous, essentially costing you events at the slightest touch of another car. It’s not quite as complicated as more hardcore racing simulators out there, but this isn’t a newbie-friendly game, not by a long shot.

GRID 2 has about fifty cars to choose from in a variety of different makes and models. In the single-player mode, cars are given out easily for beating certain events. Simply progress through the campaign and soon your garage will be full of them. Even the events meant to specifically unlock a new car in your garage are simple qualifiers that never give you a lot of challenge. You’ll feel like a millionaire with the ride selection you’ll eventually end up with.

Source: http://www.cheatcc.com