A New War with One Ship and Shapes... The Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 Review

No one expected Geometry Wars to become a gaming phenomenon back when the first one was released on Xbox Live Arcade when the 360 launched. Now after a Wii / DS release of Galaxies, Geometry Wars returns to its stomping grounds on XBLA with Retro Evolved 2 and it is still an amazing experience of one ship taking on various shapes, surviving wave after wave of enemies, and getting the highest score possible to show off to your friends. This is Geometry Wars at its finest and with six different modes, local multiplayer, and in your face twin stick shooting. This rebooted the arcade shooter as a genre that is easy to learn, but difficult to master. Everything about Retro Evolved 2 feels truly special and a great kickoff to the 360's Summer of Arcade.

Retro Evolved 2 can also be said as Retro Evolved on steroids because this XBLA release is packed with different modes that put a different spin on the twin stick shooting that Geometry Wars had resurrected. At the start of the game, Deadline is the only mode playable, as you play more of a certain mode, the next one will be unlocked, which is pretty easy. Deadline is a three minute mode of trying to get the highest score possible with unlimited lives and increasing bombs. This mode can get hectic in the later minutes and also if you're doing well. King is an unique mode that you can only fire in a circle that changes color once you're on it and it is there for a limited time before moving on to another circle. Evolved is the first game all over again with three lives and three bombs at the start getting the highest score possible as the difficulty ramps up better than the original. Pacifism, a personal favorite, is another unique mode involving your ship not firing at all and the only way to defeat the blue diamonds is going through small gates to cause a chain reaction. Waves is a never ending assault of the arrow enemies moving on one side to the other, which was playable in Project Gotham Racing 4. Sequence is the ultimate endurance test for Geometry Wars of trying to survive for 30 stages of huge waves of enemies. All of these modes are equally as fun and addicting going for high scores competing against your friends.


Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2's new multiplier system is way better and less frustrating than it was in the original as you collect small yellow things called geoms to increase the multiplier to the hundreds and perhaps the thousands, which is why huge high scores of the ten millions and even a billion can be reached. It is also a good thing when dying didn't lose your multipler, which makes the game easier for higher scores. Other than the six modes, there is local multiplayer in Retro Evolved 2 where up to four players can play together in all these modes on one screen. The insanity of multiplayer does elevate to 14 when too much is going on especially for smaller TVs, so a bigger TV is recommended for a better multiplayer experience. Unfortunately, there is no online co-op, but for a game like this, it is understandable since any sense of lag may ruin the game completely and slowdown may make it unplayable. At least some sort of multiplayer is in Retro Evolved 2, but online play would be icing on the cake for next time.

The graphics and sound for this sequel is way better than the original. Graphically, the shapes, colorful effects, and explosions just naturally look better. There is also no sense of slowdown at all when playing any of the modes, which is truly remarkable when so many enemies are trying to kill you. The music and sound is also something special to note of as well. All six modes have a different track that is played and your performance also affects the music, which is cool like you die the music gets toned down and then goes back up to loud insanity. Another example is in King when firing in the circles, the music picks up, but leaving them causes the music to tone down. In addition, the tracks themselves are great to listen to when playing, but there are custom soundtracks if you're tired of them.

Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 is such a special Live Arcade game improving the original on every aspect with the new multiplier system and unique modes like King and Pacifism. The online leaderboards and achievements also make you have the drive to keep trying for a better score than your friends, which will get addicting. I'm also a fan of the achievement progress idea they added in when going for certain achievements like Rebound, Wax Off, and Treaty, where it tracks how much more you have to do to get that achievement during the game. The graphics and sound have also significantly improved, especially how Bizarre, the developers, handled the music for this game. The original is still a landmark game that people played till this release as this sequel just allows for infinite replay value of pure fun and the best twin stick shooting on Xbox Live Arcade. For 800 Microsoft Points, or ten bucks, this game is among the best Arcade games out on this service, and you are doing a disservice if you don't buy this game.

Score = 9/10

Pros:

• Gameplay significantly improved with new multiplier system
• Six great modes that don't get boring (Pacifism as a personal favorite).
• Amazing graphics and sound
• Infinite replay value going for high scores competing against your Live friends.
• Local multiplayer / co-op

Cons:

• No online co-op, but it is understandable.
• A disservice if you don't buy this game on XBLA.

ABDC Season 2 Episode 7 Recap

Tonight's ABDC is the Missy Elliott episode with Missy herself performing with the four remaining crews and also judging alongside Shane, Lil Mama, and JC.

So Real Cru were up first doing "One Minute Man" and it was another solid performance from them. The intro was the sickest part of the routine while everything else felt right. Another judge fight was at hand with Shane and JC on So Real's difficulty of the performance, but you can make a case for both of them.



SuperCrew got off the bottom 2 this week (Yay!!!) and they did "We Run This." It was another memorable performance with more b-boy mastery and a tower intro. It was definitely better than So Real's performance.



Boogie Bots and Fanny Pak were in the bottom 2 (America got it right!!!) as BB went first doing "Work It." After reading about last minute changes for a whole new routine, it is clear that this is not a good performance. It almost felt like they pulled the white flag out as the judges clearly noticed the sloppiness especially this late in the competition. Don't get me wrong, they're a great crew when the switch is on, but not on a consistent basis.

Fanny Pak, on the other hand, KILLED IT. It is in caps because it was their best performance of the show and perhaps the best one of the season so far. The whole vibe of "Get Your Freak On" was there from the weird looking eyes, the unorthodox movements of various sytles, and it was awesome. The performance was too awesome that the judges gave a standing ovation, which is amazing. Even though So Real and SuperCrew had great performances, Fanny Pak just killed theirs and expect them to be #1 next week getting them a free pass to the finale.

With Boogie Bots' elimination, it is anyone's ball game on who can win this season's ABDC. My rankings are... (The last time for the season)

1. Fanny Pak
2. SuperCrew
3. So Real Cru

Even though I had SuperCrew and So Real as my top 2 for the finale from the start of this whole thing, Fanny Pak's performance pretty much made my finale for next week (even though SC and Supreme Soul last week was pretty epic). The cool thing this season is that you can make a case for any of these 3 to win compared to last season where it was the Jabbawockeez show (and Kaba Modern). Next week is the 80s theme and Fanny Pak better kill it again next week (They can seriously win this thing).

Shout out to the Yuri and Taeko Show coming soon (Yuri from Kaba and Taeko from Fysh N Chicks were at the show again this week watching and they became best buds since season 1 ended).

Time to Break the Faces and Play Some Football...

Today, two demos of EA games are out on both XBL Marketplace and PSN. First up is Madden NFL 09 and it shows off the new Madden Test functionality of testing your skill with Offense and Defense to set up your adaptive difficulty for the game. It is a neat idea (All-Pro on Offense, Rookie on Defense - didn't know WTH I was doing). Other than that, the demo is short with reliving the last minute and a half of this year's Super Bowl involving the Giants and the Patriots. It does look better and has a new Gears-like roadie run cam when a receiver or running back is running to daylight, which is cool. For 1.1 GB, it is not much since the full game is out in less than 2 weeks (Note - I will not review Madden 09).

The demo I was most interested in was Facebreaker, a new toon boxing game. The controls are simple, but maybe too simple as I am having a hard time timing dodges and parries. Add along a licensed soundtrack that doesn't fit into a game like this and great toon-shaded graphics (Like Team Fortress 2 and the upcoming Battlefield Heroes). I'll probably give it another chance, but it can be fun just mashing faction to break someone's face (There's XBL Vision Cam and Playstation Eye support for custom characters in this demo and the final game). Good thing Facebreaker is 40 bucks too.

Off topic: ABDC Recap tonight and Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 Review tomorrow.

Having Pho with ABDC....

ABDC is tonight as well as the first day of X Games 14, but as a warmup for the Missy episode, here's SuperCrew and So Real Cru eating at a Pho place (Vietnamese food), which is actually good (Maybe I will have that tonight??).

Streets of Rage Remake Appreciation

It has been a while for me to talk out about this amazing PC fan-made game known as Streets of Rage Remake. I found a newfound appreciation for the series in recent years and revisiting them on the Wii Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade. This fan-made remake came out two years ago and it has been improving ever since with new additions, more customization, and bug fixing. I downloaded the latest version (at 4.01 with Version 5 coming later this year hopefully) and it is still a blast to play witnessing true old school beat-em-up goodness. For those out on the loop, Streets of Rage Remake is a culmination of all 3 Streets of Rage games into one game of branching paths, remixed music, and all the gameplay throughout the series with the specials that was introduced in SOR2, running and rolling from SOR3, and more. It is still the same storyline of Mr. X and his posse corrupting the city and it is up to the SOR folks (Adam, Skate, Axel, Blaze, Max) to clean it up and get rid of Mr. X once and for all. For a link, just search for it and its easy to find. It is actually not that bad controlling SOR Remake with a keyboard if mapped correctly. There are also unlockables from more characters, artwork, and multiplayer modes. The remixed soundtrack is truly amazing with singnature tunes from all three games (It is too awesome that I downloaded it). If you been waiting for Sega to resurrect the franchise, keep dreaming as this PC Remake is worth playing if you're a SOR fan.

Comic-Con 2008 Megapost....

Warning: Long post ahead.... Will update with my own pics later.

So I went to the San Diego Comic-Con yesterday on its last day and yet it is still crowded for a Sunday. The panels that day weren't really that interesting, so I hung out at the show floor instead and surprisingly the booth setups are pretty organized with the games on one side, the major TV and movie booths on the middle, and the comics/shopping on the other side.

Action Figures I bought:

• Marcus Fenix (from Gears of War)
• Kratos with Armor (God of War II)
• More Street Fighter ones: Blue Cammy, Red/White Guile, and Gouken

I was bummed that SOTA Toys were sold out of their SDCC exclusive action figures of Rainbow Mika, Zangief, E. Honda, and Dhalsim (Oh well, wait till they're out online).

Random Sightings:

• Greg Oden promoting some basketball cartoon for Shonen Jump.
• Saw Cesar and Mike Nelson from 1up/Gamevideos.
• Chris Gore from G4 doing some trivia competition at the G4 booth.
• Supernatural autograph signing (don't care for that show).

My main highlight for the show is the games and arguably the best display of games for a Comic-Con yet (It feels like public E3 and better than E for All).

The Capcom booth was my favorite booth last year and once again my favorite booth this year because of Street Fighter IV. I was just glued to that area watching the tournaments because the game looks amazing in person running smoothly at 60 FPS and playing it for myself twice at their boxing ring. The two times I played, I picked Guile and Sagat because I'm tired of playing shotos (Ryu and Ken) in the SSFIIT HD Remix Beta (also playable there with Dee Jay, Akuma, T. Hawk, and Vega playable as well as more stages). Plus, the majority of the crowd were playing shotos doing Shoryuken combos, Ultra Hadoukens, and some focus attacks. I straight out played Guile like I used to in the SF2 era adding along some EX Sonic Booms. Sagat is again pretty fun to use and a good mixup and ranged game (I love those Tiger Knnes) even though I had to ask a Capcom rep how to do his Ultra (Ultras involve all three punch or kick buttons to do I think). I didn't enter any tournaments (I rather watch), but it was good times with Street Fighter IV (This game is TOO good!!). The icing of the cake regarding SF IV is the merchandise with a exlcusive SF IV SDCC 08 Shirt I bought, Ryu headbands, and Mr. Ono (the director of SF4) autographing my exclusive poster), which is cool. Here's an example of the SFIV action... (Shout out to Seth Killian and the Capcom staff for a great job handling the craziness - The line is about 30 minutes just to play one match, but that's good enough for me).



I almost spent a hour over at the Bionic Commando area playing both the new 3D game and Rearmed (now coming out in August 13 = Yes!!!). I first played Rearmed at the beginning of the game. Since I never played the NES original, it is still that hard as Simon from GRIN gave me some tips. I think I got the basics nailed down with the grappling and shooting at least. For the new 3D game, the 360s had some problems, but it wasn't that bad. I played the Jungle level and also got the basics nailed down of the swinging and shooting. Ben Judd from Capcom has been helpful too when players are having a hard time (Both Ben and Simon are cool guys to hang with being crazy people). At least the guys autographed a BC poster too, which is cool too. I did have a hard time at the boss and good thing God mode is on, but if you're in the water, you're screwed. The guys also told me that a demo for the 3D Bionic Commando will come out closer to its release.

Those are pretty much my favorite moments of the whole day as I break down what I else I played and I seen gaming-wise.

• Capcom also had other games like Dark Void, which it plays like Gears with stop and pop shooting. The vertical cover and the jetpack/flying mechanics keep it original from Gears, which is cool. The framerate needs some work, but this is probably an early build of the game. I won't mind buying this one (played the 360 version).
  
• Yes, Mega Man 9 is hard. I played it for a minute and kept dying. Watching others get through the level feels better. Only the WiiWare version was playable.
• I played Soul Calibur IV and Afro Samurai at Namco's booth as I didn't play SC IV that much since I'm going to get it tomorrow (played three games - picked Nightmare, Misturugi, and the Secret Apprentice on PS3). Afro Samurai, on the other hand, is fun hack and slashing with anime dismemberment. I just sliced and diced some dudes (A slowmo mechanic is there for accurate slices) throughout the demo. The camera does need some work however.
• The Sony booth is a little disappointing with not much of their first-party stuff playable, but the quality of games there is good. I only played MotorStorm: Pacific Rift there and it is still MotorStorm, but now in the jungle. The race is a long two lapper with alternate paths and choosing between a racing truck and a bike. The new PAIN DLC, SingStar, Buzz PS3, some PSP stuff, and the amazing LittleBig Planet were also playable. Unforuntately, I didn't play LBP, but I did watch some of the custom stuff while walking around. I don't think LBP demos well in the public, it is better in a private demo.
• The Activision booth is also a little disappointing with Ghostbusters pretty much the only good playable game (didn't try it myself) with other games I don't care about there too like The new Mummy movie and a new Crash game. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion weren't playable in the public as they showed trailers instead.
• Konami's booth wasn't much either with stuff I'm not interested in (MGS4 is there, but it's already out). Playable there were Castlevania Judgment for the Wii, the new Castlevania for DS, Silent Hill Homecoming, and DDR Hottest Party 2 (Forgot the others).
• Microsoft made a last-minute showing having a small booth (The first time they have a booth at Comic-Con I think). The retail game showing is disappointing with only Too Human playable (Banjo and VP2 would have been better). The XBLA games are indeed playable with Braid (out on August 6), Geo Wars 2 (out Wednesday), Castle Crashers (out on August 27), Lode Runner, and Galaga Legions (out on August 20). I only played Geo Wars 2 and Galaga Legions as GW2 is more Geometry Wars, which is good (Played Deadline and Waves), and Galaga Legions, which is pretty cool as a different take on the Galaga formula of backup ships firing at all angles and wave after wave of enemies to blast as the game shows the path they're going. I also set the high score there. There were lots of neat 360 Elites there on display with the Gears 2 Elite (Red), The Dark Knight Elite, and the Lego Batman Elite. The Gears 2 poster they gave away is pretty cool also.
  

That's it for the detailed analysis of some games I played. The rest of the gaming is what I seen because of the crowds. I'm just going to list the games with maybe some small comment about them.

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - The kids were crowding over it so I didn't want to wait. A LucasArts rep did say a demo will come out on XBL Marketplace and PSN next month (maybe the same level I seen there).
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Wii) - Also the kids were going crazy with this waggling out of control.
• Fracture
  
• Lego Batman - Its a Lego game and that's what matters (The Lego booth is crowded with new Clone Wars Legos for the new movie and more).
• Mirror's Edge - I was bummed this wasn't playable at the EA booth as they were just demoing it. It looks good in person and a free comic was given away.
• Dead Space - There was a line to play this (10 minute demo) in a blocked area because it is rated Mature. I rather wait in a line for SF IV than this anyway. Free posters and comics were given away too.
• Lord of the Rings: Conquest
• Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
• Mercanaries 2: World in Flames - Hopefully a demo comes out before release.
• Battle Forge
• Saint's Row 2 - You can play the intro scene of escaping the prison. Still looks like Saint's Row with the graphics not really improved.
• De Blob
• Darksiders
• Red Faction: Guerilla
• WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2009 - Inferno matches!!!
• DC Universe Online
• Tales of Vesperia
• Prince of Persia - Like Mirror's Edge, I was bummed it wasn't playable when I stopped by the booth as some Frag Doll and a Ubisoft guy were demoing it for the crowd.
• Neopets
• Naruto: Broken Bond
• A Namco Naruto game
• Games with NICK Cartoons

Games Notably Absent:

• Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe - I looked everywhere for this, but it wasn't there for the public.
• Square-Enix lineup - Nothing playable for Squenix games as they showed trailers for upcoming games like Chrono Trigger DS and Infinite Undiscovery. They still have lots of toys from the various games they're known for (Mostly Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts stuff).
• The Music Games - Activision and EA had booths and no shows for Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2. Comic-Con is probably not the place to show these games.
• PSN lineup - No Fat Princess, Ratchet for Clank: Quest for Booty, and Pikeljunk Eden there.
• Nintendo - Another no show for Nintendo for first-party games on Wii (Wario Land Shake and Mario Super Sluggers). The only Nintendo presence is pretty much the Pokemon booth of DS games, trading card games, and others (The giant Pikachu too).
• Resident Evil 5 - It would be cool if it was there playable (The E3 08 trailer is shown). Degeneration trailer was also shown.

The non-gaming booths that looked cool

• Star Trek booth (Hyping the new movie)
  
• Star Wars booth with Stormtroopers, Clone Troppers, etc.
• Lego Booth with Lego Batman / Robin, and others.
• WB Booth (I wanted those big bags they give out every year)
• Watchmen
• Marvel

Cosplay I noticed: (Not much for a Sunday crowd)

• Joker seems to be the trend for this year's Comic-Con thanks to The Dark Knight movie (A mix of old and new Joker cosplayers there).
• Some dude was holding a giant stuffed Kirby in the air.
• A Myspace cardboard (Dumb!!!)
• The Red SPD Ranger
• Pikachu
• Ryu and Ken at the SFIV area
• Various anime characters

That's it for Comic-Con 2008.... We'll do this again next year if I'm there again.

Old-School World War II Gaming Reborn.... The 1942: Joint Strike Review

Capcom's remake renaissance continues in this generation of consoles with 1942: Joint Strike, a new game based from the 80s 194x series of World War II shumps. For ten dollars, or 800 Microsoft Points, you're getting a HD facelift, five levels, and pure old-school gaming in terms of no saving and memorization of enemy fire patterns. This new entry does have that same 1942 feel you expect and that's good enough for fans to enjoy it. If you're not in it for the nostalgia, getting high scores, or achievements, you're not going to get much of Joint Strike for more than a day. This is just another example of a good XBLA game that can be played in short bursts when you're tired of other games and not meant for a long stretch like other XBLA games.

Like the title, Joint Strike, this new 1942 plays differently with two players than doing it solo. Three planes are selectable when you start up a run that differ by stats of health, missiles, and speed which allows for different styles of gameplay. The three pick-up weapons also cater to different styles with spread fire, machine-gun fire, and lasers, which is neat too. As a shump, it can be challenging even at the normal difficulty as several enemy shots can take you out pending on which plane you used. The difficulty scale depends on the number of lives you start wish and how aggressive the bosses will be. Speaking of bosses, there isn't much variety to the bosses and the enemy set, which is kind of expected for a game like this, but be prepared for some repetition of enemy ships or fighting the same boss twice with a different twist the second time. Also similar to an old-school shump, once you run out of lives, its game over and you have to start over from the beginning which is not bad being five stages, but the frustration will kick in once you're close towards beating it. I also like the multiplier system for Joint Strike in which the closer you kill enemy ships, the more multiplier of points you get. Along with missiles (single-player only) and bombs if you're in a tight situation, the Joint Strikes are the main reason this game is meant to be played on co-op with another player locally or online with different attacks like a joint shot or a chain of lightning which allows more ways of taking out the opposition. Speaking of online, it runs smoothly from what I played with minimal lag, but it doesn't mean you might run into some disconnects at random times.


As for the graphics, 1942: Joint Strike looks good for a shump in this generation of consoles. The bloom and World War II-like filtering may be distracting for some players. Other than that, the game runs smoothly with rare cases of slowdown. Presentation-wise, Capcom and Backbone nailed the World War II theme with the look of the planes, the sounds and music, as well as the environments of the skies, a seaport, forests, and a city in ruins. Other than that, Joint Strike looks great keeping the 1942 spirit along with the HD facelift.

As another HD remake for Capcom, 1942: Joint Strike delivers on that front of retaining what was great in the old 194x games gameplay-wise along with the improved graphics. While it is a short game and can be beaten in less than a hour, the challenge is there along with the replay value of beating it with the three different planes and the four difficulties (Wing King being the hardest). Other than leaderboards and achievements ranging from getting lots of medals (that are picked up during the action like the old games), to getting a high score for completing the game, Joint Strike won't be your XBLA rotation for too long after getting all of them. The online co-op is great as the recommended way to play with the Joint Strike special abilities even though single-player can be a blast alone. Of course there are better shumps in Xbox Live Arcade, but this new 1942 is worth checking out if you're a fan of the genre and the franchise in the 80s.

Score = 7/10

Pros:

• Has the 1942 feel nailed down
• Co-op is the recommended way to play this game with the ability to do Joint Strikes
• Has enough replay value with different planes and difficulties
• Great in short bursts

Cons:

• Short game (can be beaten in less than a hour)
• The bloom effects and WWII filtering might be distracting for some players
• Repetitive boss battles and enemy sets