UPDATE

I'm sorry but this blog is shutting down. This is in order to create something new, something better, I'm expecting to have online and running in a few days from this posting.

WE'RE LAUNCHED.

GOGOGOGO.

http://onehitpoint.com

A new gaming blog, with myself and 3 other people. Any reviews I think would be suitable for the blog, I'll drag over.

But as for plus9, it's over.

Quick Review: Monday Night Combat

Monday Night Combat is a third person shooter developed by the minds at Uber Entertainment and released with Xbox Live's 'Summer of Arcade' promotion for this year. The world in the game is set in the future where, thanks to the power of cloning technology, a coliseum-style fight to the death is now the main source of entertainment. It gives the feel of the best TV show the future has to offer; there are breaks for commercials, sponsor messages, and real-time commentary done by an announcer.

At first glance, the game looks very similar to Team Fortress 2, in the sense of loosely-team based gameplay, and quirky character models, but once you start, you start to notice that it isn`t as straightforward as that. You're given the choice between 2 different gametypes, that being Blitz and Crossfire. The Blitz mode has one or more players defending one point (the Moneyball) while waves of enemies spawn for a specific number of rounds. Crossfire is essentially the Warcraft III mod, DotA. Crossfire pits teams of people, the Hotshots (Red Team) and the Icemen (Blue Team), against each other as different character classses that level up individually, to destroy each others main base. Throughout the match, each team has robots that constantly spawn and trek their way to the enemies base, ultimately meeting with each other in the middle and killing each other. It's your team's duty to push your army to the opposing teams base, and destroy their moneyball.

To play the game, you're given the choice between 6 unique character classes, those being the Assault, the Tank, the Support, the Assassin, the Gunner, and the Sniper.

(pictured from left to right; Gunner, Support, Assassin, Assault, Sniper, Tank)

The Assault is the most average class out of the bunch, with moderate firepower and movement speed. The Tank is really slow, but hits like a truck and has a lot of health, and with abilities like charge, he's a great offensive powerhouse. The Support is a really interesting class and the easiest way to describe him is to allude him to Team Fortress 2's Medic and Engineer combined, because his main weapon is called the "Heal/Hurt" gun, which heals teammates and structures and does the opposite for the enemy team. His main gimmick, however, is to build up turrets that do all the fighting for you. The Assassin gets a plethora of abilities that let her both dash at high speeds, jump long distances, and make herself invisible, as well as he natural ability to do insane amount of melee damage when attacking enemies from behind. Her very predictable downside is that she's made of paper and does to almost everyone in one or two shots. The Gunner is very similar to the Tank in the sense of low movement speed/high firepower, but his abilities are more suited for the defensive player, unlike the Tank. The last of the six classes, is the Sniper, which is very self-explanatory; his main weapon is a sniper rifle, and he attacks from long distances. He is also made of paper.

Some of the in-game mechanics are a little similar to a certain popular Infinity Ward title, that being unlockable emblems by completing specific in-game tasks, and custom classes. Custom classses aren`t as flexible as you`d think in Monday Night Combat, the only things you can choose from, is which class you`ll be and which sponsors support you. The sponsors is actually something I really like in particular. You pick a sponsor, and get the various boosts that`s associated with that sponsor, for example, picking Regenitol `Kills Pain Dead` as your sponsor gives you a 2x boost to Health Recovery. It really gives the impression of some sort of Television persona from the future plugging his latest sponsor for more money.


Another mechanic found in Monday Night Combat s the random appearance of Bacon. Bacon is a very rare drop, and once obtained by the player, it gives an increase to all of the stats of your player, from attack power, to movement speed, etc, until the next time you die.

(This summarizes the game well. Ammo high-fiving Bacon.)

Monday Night Combat is 1200 Microsoft Points ($15), but if you already have a game where you can kill other people in a competitive setting, it probably isn`t worth buying. Although, I would encourage everyone to try the trial game for it available on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Overall Score: 7.5/10

Bacon makes everything better.


Image credits: Uber Ent.

Update: September 2010

Here, I am with the September update, I didn't quite get everything I wanted done on my list, but I definitely got a good chunk done.

Here's the bit of my Laundry List & a few others I did finish:

Crackdown (X360)
Bayonetta (X360)
Lost Planet (X360)
Splosion Man (XBLA)
PB Winterbottom (XBLA)
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game (XBLA)
Pokemon HeartGold (DS)
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)
Professor Layton & The Diabolical Box (DS)
Depict1 (PC)

I'm slowly chipping off the Mega Laundry List, but we'll keep going a month at a time, I like the rate this is going.

Laundry List (Sept 2010):




StarCraft (66% complete)
StarCraft: Brood War (0% complete)

I said I would beat this last month, but then I was an idiot. This month for sure.



Mass Effect (10% (?) complete)

I've been wanting to beat another BioWare game for a while now, so I asked a really good friend of mine, Blaine; a really big BioWare fan to pick between Mass Effect and Jade Empire, both games I own but have never beaten. His opinion was that I start Mass Effect, while making sure I know how good Jade Empire is. I'll be trying my best to beat this this month.



Resonance of Fate (0% complete)

Two RPG's in one month? I'm not sure if I'm up to it, given my average work week, but I'll try.



Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (0% complete)

With the new one freshly released, I may as well beat this before I try out the new one.



Red Faction: Guerilla (0% complete)

I just got this recently, and I've been hoping to beat it at a calmer time during the month.



Brutal Legend (0% complete)

Epic game made by Double Fine that I've been neglecting. Need to beat this after I get it back from Deej.



DeadRising 2: Case Zero (60% complete)

Just bought this and I've actually tackled a bit of it already. I'm having a lot of fun with this glorified demo for DeadRising 2, and I'll probably play a great chunk of it for a while.



Shank (0% complete)

An arcade title I've been hearing a lot about, I picked it up, and I'm hoping to beat it over a weekend maybe.



Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (0% complete)

Part of the Summer of Arcade that I've only just picked up. I would prefer to go through it with a co-op partner, but I'll try and beat it by myself if I can't get a hold of anyone.



Phantom Dust (5% complete)

A great game that I picked up back in March, I've only played a bit of it so far, but be sure to see a Retro Review on it.

Planned Purchases (Sept 5 - Sept 28)

These are the things I hope to purchase in the following month. Due to personal reasons, I might not have the funds to grab more then a few titles, but I'll try my best.

If I'm getting anything big at all this month (which isn't looking likely), it'll be between a DSi XL, or an iPhone.



YS Seven

I'm trying to breathe some new life into my PSP with some titles like Valkyria Chronicles 2 (I need to get a hold of a PS3 to play the first one), Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, Final Fantasy Tactics, Persona 3 Portable, and this.



Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep

Comes out on September 7, hoping to grab a hold of it, because I've actually really liked the Kingdom Hearts series so far.



Professor Layton & The Unwound Future

Given the fact that I've just beaten the 2nd one a few hours from writing this, this is something I'm actually looking very forward to.



Front Mission Evolved

I've always wanted to get into the Front Mission series, but the traditional turn based system isn't catching my eye. I'm hoping after buying this I can try Front Mission 1 again, and maybe appreciate the mechanics a bit more.



Dead Rising 2

From what I've played of Case Zero so far, and some of the developer diaries I've seen, the game is looking like a very good purchase so far.

Future Reviews:

I was all set to do 3 reviews last month, but I only managed to do 1, so this month, I'm going to crank out a few more:



Review: Alan Wake

One of my most anticipated games of 2010. The review will be finalized this month.



Review: Resonance of Fate

Again, just toying with some ideas here. Practicing as a writer and such. Expect to see my review on this as I complete it.



Quick Review: Monday Night Combat

Another review from last month I couldn't complete. It shouldn't take too long hence 'Quick' review.



Quick Review: Depict1

A great indie game that came straight out of left field (aka: DToid) and was a highly enjoyable 15 minutes. I'll have to do a small write-up.



Retro Review: Phantom Dust

A great game, that's really overlooked, back when I bought it, I only played it for a few minutes before shelving it, I'm going to dig it back out this month and give it some much needed time.

So there's September in a nutshell.

Image credits: IGN

Retro Review: Dark Cloud (PS2)

I've played Dark Cloud personally maybe on 10 different occasions, and during all of those attempts to beat it, I've never gotten close once. I set out to finish it during May, when my Xbox had red-ringed and I needed something to pass the time with, and finally completed what I've only just found out is a fantastic game.

The game is amazing, and has not gone sour with age like most games around that era have.
(have you ever tried playing GoldenEye 007 recently? The characters are kind of hard to look at)

The game starts showing that this war general who's bent on conquering the world plans to do so by freeing this evil entity trapped in a jar named the "Dark Genie." Through a ritual in which many people dance in formation, the Genie is released.

(Looks cuddly doesn't he?)

Your main character, (the default name is Toan) is getting all set to go to the local festival when the general decides to start annihilating parts of the world he doesn't have control over starting with your town. (go figure.) Everything around your character starts blowing up, etc, you die. Except not really.

You're saved by a mystical being known as the Fairy King (which looks like a catholic priest oddly enough) who hands you the task to save the half of the world destroyed by the Dark Genie using the power of Atlamillia; a stone the kind embeds onto the back of your hand. After you get the stone, your warped back to your home town.

I have to say, in a forum I was once asked what my Top 5 First Level's in Video Games were, and Dark Cloud was really high on the list. Before the Genie attacked, your given this scene of a small town all preparing for a festival, there are houses everywhere, torches lit, and a huge bonfire happening, virtually the town looked alive.

(much like this.)

Once you gain control of your character, your dropped back into your hometown, and it's nothing but a flat plain for miles. It's virtually a blank slate all ready for your design. The whole point of Dark Cloud is to recreate all of these thought to be lost towns and cities into however you see fit. The Fairy King shows up mysteriously to tell you that he sealed everything that was about to be destroyed into Atla, that can only be opened using the main characters Atlamillia stone.

(nothing.)

To advance in the game, you have to collect all of the pieces of the Atla and recreate the lost cities. The Atla is all stored in the dungeons that are in the game, so you'll have to traverse the various floors of the dungeons in order to gain the elements back.

You aren't alone in this quest however, as you travel the game, you gain a fistful of allies. The allies being Xiao, the Catgirl with a slingshot; Goro, the kid with a hammer; Ruby, the genie with magic bracelets; Ungaga, the warrior with a staff, and Osmond, the space bunny with a gun.

The dungeons are randomly generated when you step inside, which can be nice, although they still have all of the same characteristics as Dungeons can get. There are always 15 enemies per floor, there are only as many pieces of Atla as it says on the floor selection screen, and you have to find the correct key item (dropped from an enemy) to open the door to advance to the next floor.

The gameplay is virtually how you would expect an adventure-RPG on the Playstation 2 to be, the analog sticks were moving and camera, and attack was with the X button. You found chests and items, and one of my favorite features that isn't in enough games nowadays, was the thirst meter. Normal people can't live without water, so why should game characters be the same way?

I wish I had one of these.

As far as stage design goes, the areas in which all of the cities and towns are placed are fantastic. You travel from the 1st level cave, to the forest, to under the ocean, to the moon, and as far as the buildings in the main city, that's all constructed to your own design.

While it is a good game, it's nowhere near perfect. For example, the attacks with all of the weapons are the same combo, except when you're using the jump attack. The other characters that you get tend to get a little boring and you wind up only using one character for the entire game.

Considering how long you're in some of these area's, the music gets a bit repetitive. Not that it's bad, it's just you start knowing every chord and on your 6th time out of the dungeon you start whistling it. While writing this I can still recall the music for Norune Village; the 1st stage.

(While writing the 'cons' of the 'pros & cons' part of this review, it's extremely hard not to say "Dark Cloud 2 was made better" as a reason for this game not to excel.)

The dungeons in the game, even with every single floor being randomized, all still look exactly the same as it was when you came in. Every area looks exactly the same until you hit the boss floor. So looking at that tends to get a bit dull.

The boss fights themselves were also not that great, as it mainly consisted of "use your newly acquired main character first to stun it, then use your main character to deal out a bunch of damage". The only boss that actually has some difficulty is the last boss, without going into too much detail, not a lot of players will be ready to beat him.

The game has a fantastic post-game dungeon called the Demon Shaft; a long tower filled with 100 floors of really hard enemies, all leading up to a secret in-game weapon and boss. I personally didn't try this section, but hearing from a friend of mine that also beat the game and the Demon Shaft, he says it's no easy task.

(100 floors.)

In conclusion, for a game where you go from a dungeon in a cave to recreate your hometown, to piecing together a giant robot with help from space bunnies on the moon, I personally think that this game is well worth picking up, especially if you just happen to find it in a bin somewhere, it's well worth the gametime to play.

Overall score: 7.5/10

Seriously. Space Bunnies.

Update: August 2010

Again, sorry about the lack of updates recently, expect to see more, and I hope whoever's reading enjoyed the review of Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. Even if you didn't I wouldn't mind a comment in the comment box every once in a while.

So this is a new thing, I'm going to start up, at the beginning of every month, expect to see an update on my Laundry List, Planned Purchases, and Future Reviews.

Laundry List (Aug 2010:)

For those that don't know, a Laundry List is like games that you own but never finished or never had a chance to complete fully. Whereas my actual Laundry list is over 100 games long, at the start of every month, I'm going to post what I'm hoping to accomplish in the month coming.















StarCraft (66% complete)
StarCraft: Broodwar (0% complete)

Yeah I know, I'm a little behind on the StarCraft saga. I've been wanting to play StarCraft 2, but from beating the first 2 segments in the first game, I don't want to spoil anything. So, I'm going to go through the single-player modes this month.














Crackdown (70% complete)

With the Crackdown 2 demo being severly addicting, I bought this on the Gamestop sale. So far, I think I've beaten what seems like a little over 2/3 of it so far. I could be wrong, though it doesn't seem likely.














Bayonetta (0% complete)

I feel ashamed to not have this beaten already. I bought it with intention to play right away, but I got distracted by the Summer of Arcade + Crackdown.














Lost Planet (0% complete)

Again, bought on the Gamestop sale, but it's been on the shelf for too long, and with Lost Planet 2 already out I'm gonna give it a shot.














Splosion Man (20% complete)

I was going to beat this, and then I didn't. I can't remember if I ragequit or just lost interest. Either way, this is definitely something I'm going to beat this month.














The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom (10% complete)

I've never given this game a chance to express it's other mechanics other then the initial clone mechanic. I'm going to give it another shot.













Pokemon HeartGold (60% complete)

I've beaten the Elite Four with my water-team already, so I've always considered this game beaten. Just recently though I've been wanting to beat the secret post game boss, so I figured I'll start this up again.













Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (5% complete)

This one I'm more likely to beat first, over everything else. I've beaten this game before but I've just found out through a random test that I have other characters available to beat the game with. So I started a playthrough with "Richiter", and I should have that beaten before the weekend.













Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (35% complete)

I've solved a good chunk of the puzzles, but the game's story has yet to hook me like the last one did. This is another one I have set to finish this month.

Planned Purchases (Aug 12 - Aug 31):

This part is where I'm going to put all the games that I plan on picking up this month.














StarCraft II

The moment I beat the single player campaigns as stated in the Laundry List, I'm heading in to pick this up.














Monday Night Combat

Whenever I decide to take a break from the list to dick around, this is probably what I'm going to play.














Valkyria Chronicles 2

I own the first game without a PS3, so I figure I can buy the 2nd one on release. Just to give it a first day sale most people won't buy because they're all buying Metroid: Other M














YS Seven

I played something like this in a PC port a friend showed me once. I'd love to own a copy of this.













Metroid: Other M

This is a maybe, believe it or not.













DSi XL

Yes, I know I the 3DS is coming out next year. I'm going to buy this because my current 1st generation Nintendo DS is wrecked and because the DSi XL is actually good for the size of my hands.

Future Reviews:

The future reviews section is something I've already done but I'm going to integrate into this section.













Review: Alan Wake

This game exceeded all my expectations and deserves to have something written about it. I keep saying I'll write a review, or I have one done (I lost it), but to be honest, I finished it a few months ago, so I'll need to have another playthrough in order to review it properly.












Quick Review: Monday Night Combat

Looking at the Developer Diary's for this game have made me deeply excited for it. So hopefully I can play a few games then post about it.














Retro Review: Dark Cloud

I beat Dark Cloud during June, but the game is still very fresh in my mind. There are a lot of things in there that I'd like to talk about so I'm bringing it around in the Retro Review.

That's it as far as the update for this month is concerned, expect to see more of me in the coming weeks, and please, if you actually do read the blog, leave a comment, it's so much more appreciated then you think.

Image Credits: Both IGN and 1UP

Review: Castlevania: Harmony of Despair (XBLA)

During E3 2010, when the Summer of Arcade line-up was announced, I personally was ecstatic over the inclusion of another 2D Castlevania under the production of Koji Igarashi, and with my shaky feeling with the Castlevania IP from E3 2009, with the announcement of "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow" developed by MercurySteam, this is definitely a sight for sore eyes.

(Or mouths rather, I can't really decide.)

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair's main draw is the fact that it's the first inclusion of multiplayer in a Castlevania game. Since it's also released on a popular platform, that being the Xbox Live Arcade, it's also very easy to access to everyone on the system.

The game itself, works out to be a very run-of-the-mill Castlevania. You fight, you collect items, you beat bosses, you advance, Etc. This being a new venture, there are some things different. For example, you can't reequip on the fly, which makes things difficult for those accustomed to switching spells and weapons to deal with different situations. You also can't take more than 1 type of consumable item with you at a time and the re-equip stations/'save points' won't actually heal you completely like they would in any other Castlevania title. This leaves clumsy Castlevania players kind of at a loss here because without the ability to heal properly, you'll find yourself dying multiple times.

Being a co-operative title, you have your choice between 5 characters from a wide selection of Castlevania games, with different color palettes available for each character. Those characters are:

Alucard, who made an appearance in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, but is more recognized from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Soma Cruz, main character of the Castlevania: Aria/Dawn of Sorrow games on the Gameboy Advance/Nintendo DS.

Jonathan Morris, co-main protagonist of the DS game, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin.

Charlotte Aulin, co-main protagonist of the DS game, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin.

Shanoa, the main character in the most recent game produced by Igarashi, prior to Harmony of Despair, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia.

(Shanoa and Charlotte aren't the same person, I swear.)

All of the characters included all come from various games and have various stories behind them, so it's very weird to see for example, Soma fighting alongside Charlotte. In Dawn of Sorrow, the year is 2037, and in Portrait of Ruin, the year is 1944.

Hm.

Anyway, the game Castlevania: Harmony of Despair is meant to be a party title. For those that don't quite get what I mean, you know how weird it is in Super Smash Bros. Brawl to see Snake from Metal Gear Solid shoot Kirby in the face? One of those games. I would file it under a Super Smash Bros. /Jump All-Stars kind of game, except rather then be a fighter; they decided to throw those types of games into a deeper more expansive perspective. So far, having party titles like this, it's always been just beat the other guy.

This time, however, it's more about co-operative play, working to beat Dracula just like any other game, just with a few friends. In many of what have been established Metroidvania titles such as any of the DS Castlevania's, the game has a fair amount of difficulty, but is still very beatable. The difficulty on Harmony of Despair is just weird. As Destructoid points out in their review, and is very noticeable when playing. For example, if it's just you playing Single-player, some bosses will be almost impossible, and if you get a full team of people, lets say, 5-6, it's still at the same as far as difficulty goes. The ideal team to beat the game with is around 2-3, which is true, as far as I've seen.

The stage design is fantastic with various similarities from across the DS games and the Castlevania universe in general. In Stage 1, you fight Gergoth, a boss from Dawn of Sorrow, this huge bipedal grey zombie dinosaur that shoots a laser beam that can hit you from across the entire stage.

(I wasn't lying.)

The map system has been replaced with a zooming out camera. Being able to zoom out to see the entire stage and be able to still navigate your character, is amazing, there are 3 modes for the camera, one seeing the entire stage, another showing your character and the rooms around your characters current room and another just zooming in on your character.

The environment in this stage, and the environment in the stage after, are both influenced from Dawn of Sorrow, the game Soma Cruz stars in. The familiar environments are welcome, although the maps are nowhere near similar since its combine’s elements of various stages into one, so that it's just a huge back of nostalgia. The rest of the stages, or chapters as they're called, all have various elements from either Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia, and some traditional elements (the staircase to fighting Dracula; Some traditional elements in Chapter 6 in general, etc) of Castlevania. If you pay close enough attention to the sound, you'll notice that most of the music is all from previous Castlevania's as well.

As far as the gameplay goes, it is what it is; a traditional Castlevania. You fight monsters, depending on the mechanic of the character your using, you can either absorb the soul, absorb the glyph, absorb the spell, pick up a subweapon or...find it on the ground. (Alucard's isn't as fascinating.) You pick up items, gain equipment from chests, level up your abilities with usage or collecting more of them, uncovering hidden items by doing menial tasks like breaking a wall or ledge, it's all there.

The game isn't without its flaws though. One of the biggest and most noticeable draw backs is that regardless of the number of players, so even if it is just your character and no one else, there is no functional pause. You can hit start and a "pause menu" will appear, but besides that the game goes on in the background. You have a half an hour to beat each level and the timer in the corner will keep going regardless of what came up on your end.

There also isn't local multiplayer, which is very disappointing. Before the game came out this seemed like the kind of game I'd invite a friend over to play and we'd just try split screen and blame each other for our loss or something like that, but sadly, this isn't the case. You can only play with people over xbox live.

One of the most annoying things I would have to say about the game is its very poor lack of documentation. It was fine for me personally, considering that I've had plenty of prior experience with other Castlevania games, although for new players and to convince people that I know that have never played a Castlevania game before to pick this up has been very hard because it isn't very welcome. The menus seem old and outdated and there isn't a very clear explanation or run through of the systems to you. Basically, it makes you feel unwelcome.

Not that I've experienced any, but when doing research for this review, apparently there is a freezing glitch that tends to be happening to a lot of players? I can't be 100% sure on this.

The game also feels a bit rushed, when it was first announced via an ESRB rating, everyone thought it would be some sort of new project for Konami, but the final result winds up just being the same sprites and same backgrounds from the previous games. They could have released it with something new, maybe a new non-canon character but, I guess they had to meet the Summer of Arcade deadline or some other lazy excuse.

If I were to give Castlevania: Harmony of Despair a solid score, I'd probably rank it really high, somewhere around an 8 or a 8.5, but this would be because of how I hold the Castlevania IP/Koji Igarashi in regards to his ability to design games. So, while remaining impartial

Edit: I just realized that's what a reviewer does, give his opinion, so with that in mind:

Overall score: 8.5/10

Personally, I think everyone that's curious about buying the game, to download the demo on the Xbox Live Marketplace, it's not for everyone, I can say that, but it is an experience I'd like everyone to try.

And to those that haven't played a Castlevania game before, I'd actually advise you to first buy Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which is available on many platforms such as the Playstation Network or the Xbox Live Marketplace. It's one of the greatest games in the series, introduces the current metroidvania playstyle, and is very easy to get into.

Screenshot Credits: IGN Castlevania: Harmony of Despair Screenshots