Sequels. Comic franchises converted to video games. Movie tie-ins.
Studios closing their doors. Needless to say, there are a lot of
barriers that can narrow the odds of producing a high quality title. It
would seem that Iron Man 2 was forced to hurdle all of them. As I
mentioned in my recent First Hour review of Iron Man 2, its predecessor
was critically panned. But did it deserve it? Or did it fall prey to
the echo chamber of hate that often befalls licensed products and spin
offs? The truth is, Iron Man had it’s problems. From unwieldy controls
to frame rate issues, it seemed like it stumbled each time it would
just get up to speed. But it had moments of fun, high intensity super
hero action that carried one through to each subsequent mission. Going
into a sequel, one assumes that Sega Studios San Francisco, the
developer behind both titles would make an effort to improve the
failings of the original while trying to maintain those things they got
right the first time. The question is, did they pull it off?
After sitting in on the developer conference call for Iron Man 2, I was
hopeful that things were looking good. They talked about a dedication
to listening to fans, and to implementing those lessons they learned
from user feedback on the first game. They talked about simplified
controls, vast levels, destructible environments and deep
customization. They touted a boss that is “bigger than any boss in any
game ever”. And War Machine. War Machine sounded like a perfect
addition to the Iron Man gaming universe. Yes, it sounded like it had
really come together. And so I eagerly anticipated my review copy,
thinking back to the flawed but fun experience I had with the first
game.
You may have seen our recent
article covering a conference call presented by Iron Man 2 developer:
Sega San Francisco. The First Hour was invited to take part in
a small pre-release Q&A with two of the people involved with the
production of the game. I sat in on the call and submitted a few
questions. It was a good conversation and lots of aspects of the game
were touched on, so if you’d like some more insight into what went
into making this game what it is, please check it out here.
Ok, now that that’s out of the way, I recently sat down with a copy of Iron Man 2. To state the obvious, Iron Man 2 is the sequel to Iron Man. Both games were released to coincide with the movies of the same name. As most people know, releasing a game on a movies timeline can be... problematic. It often leads to rushed development schedules and lots of cut corners in the final product. Despite this situation, the first game was commercially successful. However, it struggled to win over most critics. With an aggregate score of 45 on Metacritic, that’s probably an understatement. However, I was one of the people who enjoyed the first game (while recognizing it’s many flaws), which is why I was chosen/volunteered to review the sequel.
Much like Greg’s recent review of Saboteur, this game is the final release of a studio before it gets shut down. Sega San Fancisco, formerly Secret Level Games will close shortly after the release of Iron Man 2. This does not bode well for the 3 other gamers besides me crossing their fingers for a Golden Axe: Beast Rider sequel.
I went into this first hour with an open mind and reasonable expectations. Having enjoyed the first game, more of the same with increased graphical performance, control tweaks and mission diversity would be a good start. Let’s see if they were able to squeeze any of that into the first 60 minutes of Iron Man 2.
We recently had the pleasure of attending a conference call with the producer and director of the new video game, Iron Man 2. With the film set to release on May 7th and the game on May 4th, Tony Stark is ready to take on the world again. Iron Man 2 will be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, and PSP. It will be Sega San Francisco's final release (formerly Secret Level) as Sega is closing up shop. Secret Level previously developed Golden Axe: Beast Rider and the first Iron Man game.
Mike is a veteran of both Golden Axe and Iron Man titles so he was the perfect fit to submit questions for the conference and he will be handling the eventual first hour and full reviews of Iron Man 2. Look for those in mid May.
When I first heard about Borderlands,
I somehow just knew it was going to be a game that I would like.
I don’t know how I knew, I just knew. It reminds me of the days
when I was 12 years old and shopped for video games by looking at the
pictures on the back of the game box in the toy store so long ago.
I don’t know how it worked, but I could look at those 2 or 3 screenshots
and read that lonely paragraph and know with certainty if I would like
the game or not. Just like shopping in the toy store years ago,
I actually knew very little about the details of Borderlands.
I knew it was an FPS, and I had heard it had RPG elements. I had read
a story on Kotaku that discussed a drastic shift from “realistic”
graphics to a more “cartoony” cell shaded design. There was
little else I could tell you about the game. But somehow, I wanted
it.
So, I added it to my mental list of games to play without too much thought. I wasn’t in a big hurry, simply because I’m generally pretty patient about getting games. This allows me to scoop up great deals from the Target clearance game shelf. As Greg, purveyor of First Hour, noted in a recent conversation on LIVE, I’m a person who often likes games that other people don’t. Well, I’m also a person who loves to get a bargain and both traits suit me well for the clearance shelf. If I wait that first month to buy a game and it’s a critical and commercial failure, there’s a good chance it will see 50% off on the Target clearance shelf. It wasn’t long before I realized that Borderlands would not be one of those games. Apparently, people were liking it. Good for the developers and bad for my wallet. This only fueled my desire to play the game sooner rather than later. I finally found a Sunday ad with the game on sale for $39.99 and decided it was fate. You’re about to read the first hour of what fate decided was a game I must play.
Simple yet complex? Possibly. Simply complex? Not quite right. I know it’s here somewhere and I think you get the point. L!ght Deluxe is a delightfully simple puzzle game from a new-to-me Indie Developer: Nemo Games. Looking at their website, it would appear that L!ght Deluxe is their first, or perhaps their only game. While the game definitely feels like an early effort, it shows promise and offers some interesting aspects to its gameplay.
L!ght deluxe is built on a basic concept that allows degrees of complexity to be added as you advance through the "levels". At its elemental level, you are trying to connect a line, uninterrupted, from its origin to its ultimate destination. Each puzzle takes place on a large grid, much like a Chess board. Early levels are smaller, perhaps grids that are 6 x 6 squares in size. However, as levels increase in complexity and difficulty, they get larger.
The line you are tasked with completing represents light and behaves as one would expect a beam of light (or laser to add a bit of intensity) to behave. In my opinion, it’s this foundational principle that allows the game to be successful much earlier than it would be otherwise. We all inherently understand that light bounces off reflective surfaces and changes colors as it passes or filters through other materials. The nature of light, and our assumed understanding of it, allows the developers to move more quickly with tutorials as we progress through the game and are introduced to the gradually increasing complexity of the puzzle designs.
Heavenly Sword is the latest PS3 exclusive title from developers Ninja Theory. They are a relatively new and smaller development house based in Cambridge, England. Originally founded under the name Just Add Monsters, their only previous project was an unrelated original Xbox exclusive entitled Kung Fu Chaos. Released in 2007, Heavenly Sword was hyped as displaying an example of what the PS3 was truly capable of.
The game follows the story of Nariko as she comes face to face with the prophecy of her people, a prophecy that may lead to victory over an opposing army but will almost surely end in her death. According to the story, Nariko’s clan has possession of The Heavenly Sword, a gift left behind by a warrior deity who once wielded the sword to protect them. It is now their sworn duty to protect the sword and to make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Legend has it that any mortal who wields the sword will be granted amazing powers in combat, enabling them to slay armies, but will succumb to it’s power by eventually being cursed and dying a horrible death. The prophecy further says a male warrior will be born on a special day with the power to wield the sword. But on that prophetic day, the very feminine Nariko is born instead.
Jumper: Griffin's Story is a video game spinoff of a movie that was based on a novel by author Steven Gould. Yes, you read that right. It was developed by an Aussie studio called RedTribe, famous for such megahits as Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal and Space Chimps. The movie and novel follow the life of a young man named David Rice as he grows up and eventually realizes he has the ability to teleport. At first it’s a life saving surprise, but over time David starts to use his ability to his advantage. He travels the globe and "accumulates" vast riches. However, his activities don’t go unnoticed. In the movie, we are introduced to a secret society of "Paladins"; men whose job it is to hunt down and kill those with the ability to teleport, also known as Jumpers. It isn’t long before the Paladins take an interest in David.
As we follow David’s adventures, we’re introduced to a fellow Jumper named Griffin. He plays a multi-faceted role as both David’s teacher and, to a certain degree, his antagonist. He’s an intriguing character and it’s clear he’s been around the block before with the Paladins. He’s cocky and experienced and generally more interesting than the character of David. Perhaps that’s why the game follows Griffin’s story rather than David’s. But was the decision to base a game on a supporting role rather than the main character a good one? Read on to find out.
Terminator Salvation is the recent adaptation of the McG helmed latest installment in the Terminator movie franchise. The game was developed by Halcyon Games with Grin Entertainment, the same company known for pumping out some of the years most underwhelming licensed properties and sequels, including Wanted: Weapons of Fate (review forthcoming) and a 3-D re-imagining of the classic Capcom game, Bionic Commando.
The game is a cover-based third person shooter. It revolves around several of the main characters from the film of the same name; John Connor, Blair Williams, Angie Saltar, and the enigmatic Barnes. The story is essentially a prequel, taking place in a timeline in the future (after Terminator 3) but before the events depicted in the movie. It follows a mission that sets Connor on his path to the upper echelons of the resistance. The storyline involves a situation where Connor is faced with a choice: follow orders (and let people die), or disobey orders (and attempt to rescue a group in trouble). Naturally, our hero eschews his orders in an effort to save his fellow freedom fighters. In so doing, he sets himself on a trajectory that will have him rebuking his commanders and showing a level of leadership that had previously eluded him. Now let’s see how it plays.
Wheelman is one of those games I always thought looked interesting, but it got luke-warm reviews and slowly faded into obscurity as more popular AAA franchises consumed the markets (as well as my) interest. That is until one fateful day at Target when I saw it on the clearance shelf. Reviewers Note: Just in case you aren’t aware, Target stores generally have a clearance shelf near the electronics department. It’s usually an end-cap and that’s where they put the unpopular games out to pasture, along with poorly selling MP3 players, Barbie-themed boomboxes and other retail failures. Whenever I’m at Target, I make it a point to check that shelf. When I saw Wheelman for $14.99, I had to pick it up. Was it a mistake? Did the game hook me? Read on to find out.
Okay, so here’s what I knew going into Wheelman. I knew it was a pet project for Vin Diesel, an action star whose movies I’ve more often enjoyed than disliked (although Babylon A.D. was a particular stinker). I had read that Vin was an avid gamer and always wanted to be involved in the production of an action game. That sounded interesting enough, but then I found out it was going to be an all-out, over-the-top, in-your-face driving game and that there might even be a movie attached. Okay, so the movie didn’t pan out, but the heavily hyphenated Game got made and was even published by TWO major players, Midway and Ubisoft. The game was developed by Tigon Studios and Midway Newcastle. So, let’s see what the first hour of Wheelman looks like.
Editor's Note: Tigon Studios was founded by Vin Diesel and their first game was The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, a game I started to play once and I will admit, has a pretty amazing first hour.
Golden Axe: Beast Rider is the long anticipated entry in the classic Sega-developed series; Golden Axe. The franchise began life in 1989 as an arcade game but was later successfully ported to both the Master System and Genesis with multiple sequels and spin-offs to follow over the years. This installment doesn't play so much as a sequel, but rather as a re-imagining of the first game in which the evil Death Adder must be vanquished. It was developed by a relatively unknown developer; Secret Level Games.
Editor's Note: Mike B. is a brand new guest writer here at the First Hour, you may also see him around here as Mike in Omaha. He's enthusiastic about game writing and has even been to E3! I haven't even been west of Wyoming. In all seriousness though, great to have him on board and keep an eye out for more from him in the future. And like always, if you'd like to write for the First Hour, just shoot me an email and we'll talk. Back to Mike's review.