REVIEW: Contrast (PS4) - by Mark Sullivan

(source: Kotaku)

Contrast helped to start off the PS4's launch as a title with an interesting gimmick. In case the image above doesn't explain it well enough, allow me: you play as a mysterious person, named Dawn, who can shift herself into a wall as a shadow when light is shined upon it. Interesting enough to start off, but it ultimately disappoints in the end.

As Dawn, you start off with little explained as to who you are and why you're where you are. Dawn can only be seen by Didi, a young girl living alone with her mother. However, as the player, you cannot see anyone else other than Dawn or Didi; any other person or character within this dreamscape world of a 1920s-ish era is seen, other than their shadow. This isn't entirely realized immediately, nor is it ever really explained. Regardless, much of the narrative revolves around Didi's family, and how Dawn helps to "fix" it. The small twists in the plot help to draw you in, but the ending left much to be desired.

The concept of shifting as a shadow is great; I don't recall seeing anything like it before. That being said, it could have been a bit more refined. Some of the platforming, both in 2D shadow mode and 3D person mode, was rigid and frustrating, and I found a few important and natural sections to be tricky when they shouldn't have been, due to glitches and some poor design structure. I also felt that the shadow concept was underutilized. This may have been due to the fact that the game is very short (about 3-4 hours), but much of the time, shadow sections consisted of small lighting puzzles that the player must figure out in person mode, use shadow mode to progress, and back to person mode to traverse the area not 5 seconds later. With a new concept like this, its potential fell a bit short.

Possibly the most interesting part of the game was the environments. Within the first ten minutes, I was working to find the collectibles and secrets found on the streets on the way to one of my first objectives. The puzzles involved with these were some of the more complex ones in the game, and ultimately made the experience better. The world is also fairly gorgeous; not pushing any boundaries, but still fun to look at and explore. It creates a welcoming atmosphere to the time period and complements key points within the narrative.

Unfortunately, the game offers little replayability. With a 3-4 hour story and fairly easy-to-collectibles, you're not getting much bang for your buck. The narrative is not that spectacular, and the concept underused. However, it is a launch title, and a free one at that (for Playstation Plus subscribers), so if you're looking for a few hours to spend on an, at the very least, interesting concept, you can't go entirely wrong with Contrast.

By Mark Sullivan

_______________________________

Contrast

Compulsion Games

PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360

$14.99 (Free w/ PS+ on PS4 at launch)

A blog update!?

Look, I know it's been a long time. Sorry for that. Erich and I have both been super busy with our lives, but I assure you, we haven't forgotten about video games, and we certainly haven't forgotten about this blog. Right now, I'm gonna try my best to throw out some stuff regarding the PS4, because that's out now! And we have it. So stay tuned, and we're gonna try to get some content out as best as we can, as soon as we can.

Review: Cloudberry Kingdom (Wii U)

Cloudberry Kingdom is a new platformer from Pwnee Studios. The game launched on August 1^st for the Wii U. The game has also since been released on the Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Store, and Steam. The game is currently being worked on for release on the Vita, Mac OS, and Linux (slated for a Fall 2013 release). The game has the feel of a cheap flash game, however, after playing the game for an extended period of time, both the aesthetics and gameplay feel appropriate. The cheap feel fades as time is spent and the player realizes the potential of the game’s vast customization.

Aesthetics:

Cloudberry Kingdom looks as though it cut and pasted together out of bright construction paper, akin to the art style of the popular show South Park. This is not a bad thing, however. The game does not have bright and sharply defined visuals to the effect of Pikmin or The Last of Us, but this does not stop the game from looking good. While the art-style itself is fun to look at for a while, the style does begin to look tired after hours of playing. Another issue arises when the player realizes that every asset is recycled time and time again. This does not hurt the gameplay, but the visuals begin to feel tired throughout the time spent playing.

One cool factor which exists in the game is the ability to totally customize the player character. Hats, cloths color, cape color, facial hair, and cape color outline can all be tweaked to the player’s specification. This option is available to every player when playing multiplayer.

Story:

There is not much story to be had in Cloudberry Kingdom. The main “story” of Cloudberry Kingdom has the player, Bob, trying to rescue the princess from an evil captor. There is a campaign which can be played. The campaign offers levels which gradually increase from very easy, to blisteringly difficult.

Sound:

The music and sound effects are very high quality and help to increase the tension the player experiences throughout the game. The soundtrack is brilliant, and is something which I would not mind listening to on my iPod or in the car.

Gameplay:

The gameplay takes place in a series of procedurally generated, short levels. Every level is randomly generated, ensuring that the player never experiences the same level twice.  There are only a certain amount of obstacles which comprise the danger in each of the levels. This does not mean that the levels ever stop feeling varied, however. This is especially true as the difficulty increases. In my case, at the very least, I became distracted by the sheer amount of things trying to kill me on the screen.

One problem that I noticed during the gameplay is that, as the levels get harder, the game almost turns into a game of running. This means simply, that the game seems to get easier (as well as the timing), if the player simply never stops running to the right.

The controls were very tight throughout my experience playing the game. The player character controlled better than Mario in the most recent 2D Mario games.

There is no variety in the ways to play Cloudberry Kingdom. There is the Story mode, an Arcade mode, and a free play mode:

Story:

                This is exactly what you may expect, as outlined above. Many linear levels that do not appear to be randomized appear in this mode.

Arcade:

                In the arcade mode, players attempt to attain a high mode in different modes which test different skills as different heroes are used. The heroes mentioned here are simply different abilities being utilized by Bob. These range from Double jump, jet-pack Bob, and many others. These add many types of playability and test different skills of the player.

Free Play:

                The player is free to have total control over difficulty and play with their friends without needing to try to win a high score.

Overall:

                Cloudberry Kingdom is a delightful platformer which tests both the skill and patience of the players. The game plays in a very tight manner, which allows the player to understand that the fault is theirs when they lose. The music and limited aesthetics lend to a pleasant experience within the game.

I would recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of the platforming genre. This is especially true for people who enjoy the difficulty of games such as VVVVV and Super Meat Boy

 By Erich Martin

___________________________

Pwnee Studios

Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360, Steam

$10.00

REVIEW: Gone Home (PC) - by Mark Sullivan

Gaming is evolving, and in many ways. Indie are on the rise, gaining strong popularity, shifting the tables in gaming platforms, and creating unique experiences. Sometimes with many games, both indie and not, I struggle to call them a "game." To me, they feel more like experiences.

Gone Home is one of those experiences, and it's a pretty heartbreaking one. But in a good way.

The game revolves around the Greenbriar family, as eldest daughter Kaitlin "Katie" Greenbriar returns home from a year abroad in Amsterdam to find her mother, father, and younger sister gone and the house entirely vacant. The "gameplay" is based entirely on exploring the house, finding clues and investigating what happened in the year Katie was gone, and where everyone has gone.

In searching through the hallways and rooms of the large Greenbriar estate, with each clue you find, the story is revealed to primarily be about the younger daughter, Sam, and how she has changed during the year Katie was away. Without describing how, the story felt like a real "coming-of-age" story, taking place in a realistic family household in 1995. With that said, it can be seen with multiple cliches, which are overshadowed by emotions and sympathy, but still everlastingly present. In addition to clues to Sam's disappearance, you discover more about the parent's careers, and less and subtle clues regarding their relationship. With most of the focus on Sam, I suppose this could be gotten away with, but a family could be heavily influenced by the parent's relationship, and building upon that may have helped to expand with a better understanding.

Gameplay is accomplished through a first person view, with your main mechanics being to walk and interact with objects, such as picking them up and moving them, viewing and reading them, and taking them with you in your bag. You are also equipped with a map of the estate, so if you're ever not sure where you are or where to go, you can figure it out by going to an area you haven't yet been. The map's areas only show as you enter them; this game is very much about discovery, so you find your way around yourself at first.

The ambiance and atmosphere in this game could not be more perfect. Katie returns home at 1:15 am during a thunderstorm. This coupled with the average time to play through the game (I highly suggest setting a few hours aside and doing it in one sitting) makes it feel reasonable and possible. With this setting, the game may however trick you. Without spoiling too much of anything, the setting that's placed and some of the information given may fool you into misplacing this game into another genre, so try to avoid changing your thoughts on what could come. For those who hate them, other than surprise lightning strikes, there are no jump scares to be had in this game. Only a chilling atmosphere.

Along with your surroundings, there's a clashing of the soundtrack. The music, heard majorly through cassette tapes, consists of '90s punk rock, underground type music. Keep in mind, this game takes place in 1995, so it's extremely fitting, especially since these are '90s teenagers that the story revolves around. If you're not a fan of the punk music, it's entirely optional; you actually pick up and play the cassettes yourself, and while its fitting for the narrative, you can skip them.

The biggest problem lies in the replay value I feel. In one sitting, I completed Gone Home in about 2.5 hours, while searching pretty much every nook and cranny I could possibly find. It does not wear out its welcome, and is very much a compelling enough experience to keep you hooked, but once you complete it, that's it. It goes by fairly quickly and there isn't much left afterwards, except for perhaps a yearly playthrough. At a starting price of $20, I can't say that's worth it to everyone.

However, Gone Home is unique. The Fullbright Company has created a compelling narrative through familiar means, without silly distractions of modern gaming mechanics that made this game one I'll recommend and remember for a long time to come. I struggle to call this and other games "games" because they just seem so different than what we've played before. There's so much more to it than just a "game," where it feels more like an experience. If you enjoy compelling and realistic narrative, then Gone Home is an experience for you.

By Mark Sullivan
___________________________________________

Gone Home
The Fullbright Company
PC, Mac, Linux
$19.99

Minor Update

Hey guys,

As of this writing, we have a couple projects underway. One of which is a review for the new game, Gone Home. This is being worked on by Mark. I am in the process of putting together a short review of Cloudberry Kingdom.

In addition to these review projects, I am in the process of playing through a couple of the older Pokemon games in preparation for the soon to launch, Pokemon X and Pokemon Y. I plan on doing a documented play through of Pokemon Gold, where I will post a "journal log" of sorts to the blog. These posts will include pictures.

Erich

Pikmin 3 Review by Erich Martin

Pikmin 3 is the second big game that Nintendo has released in their own HD era of gaming, following the launch title of New Super Mario Brothers U by nearly nine months. Pikmin 3 launched on August 4^th, 2013 to a still small install base and was met with success in relation to the small player base of the Wii U.The last original Pikmin release took place in 2004, Pikmin 2, for the Gamecube. Pikmin was never a wholly popular IP by Nintendo, but the fans it did hold were, and continue to be, patient and true.

Pikmin 3 did many things that made it fun as a game to play.

Aesthetics:

            Pikmin 3’s graphics are beautiful from an objective standpoint. The characters and enemies do not have a photo realistic quality to them, but rather seem like cartoon characters thrown into the world in which they inhabit. The environments have a much “realer” feel to them, and often times the player almost feels as if they were shrunken down to explore an unknown alien planet, known in the game, as PNF-404. The games environments, while all beautiful, do have moments of weakness. Brighter areas and days in particular look less appealing than their slightly darker counterparts. This is not to say that bright areas look bad, by any means, they just look slightly less polished. This could be credited simply to the fact that there is less light on screen to make the blemishes noticeable. The weakest aesthetic is usually the ground textures. These textures sometimes appear muddy, messy, or just less polished than the rest of the world. The treasures collected, most of which are fruit, look delectable when portrayed through the power of the Wii U. As much detail that is paid to the explorers and Pikmin is also paid to the enemies in terms of modeling. The normal enemies look nice, while the boss enemies look downright intimidating at points.

Overall: The game is very good looking without the need to look totally photorealistic. The character and enemy models hold a certain charm when thrown into the real-feeling enviroments.

Story:

            Pikmin is not a game which has ever been about the story line too much. Throughout the course of the Pikmin franchise, it always felt as though the story was simply in place to give the player an excuse to be in the situation that they found themselves in. This is not the case in Pikmin 3. Pikmin 3 employs a much more cohesive story which progresses throughout the course of the game. The story is not on par with games such as the recent BioShock Infinite or The Last of Us, but it does not need to in order to feel like a fulfilling story. The player controls three Explorers from a distant planet who come in order to find food for their starving civilization.

Sound:

            The music found in Pikmin 3 is beautiful and matches the tone that one would expect to hear when thinking of the perspective that the explorers view as they explore the brand new planet in search of resources. The music changes from hopeful to dire as the situation in Gameplay changes. Each type of Pikmin, of which there are five, have distinct voices that they use when thrown. This helps to characterize the Pikmin and adds a sense of personality that they lack. Much detail was also paid to the explorers of the game. Each has their own voice and personality. The language the explorers utilize gives the player a sense of wonder, reinforcing the idea that the explorers truly are from another whole planet.

Gameplay/Campaign:

            The “meat” of the “Pikmin 3 meal” comes from the campaign, this is where much of the solo play will be spent for many players. The game consists of one overworld with five distinct areas the player can travel to. Each area consists of a different theme, and with that, contains different enemies, objectives, and treasures. At first glance, five areas seems very small for a game which places an emphasis on exploring, however, the lack of distinct areas is not something which I missed on my first play through of the game. Each are was big enough and held enough secrets where I did not feel as though I had been robbed of content throughout the campaign. To add to the customization on ways to play the game, the game is operable with one of five different control schemes. One control scheme is the off-TV play, which requires no TV to be used in paying the game. One other scheme uses the gamepad for the mad and controller, and the TV for displaying the game. Other control schemes include a Wii Remote (preferably with motion plus) and nun-chuck, and a Wii U Pro Controller. Both of the latter schemes use the gamepad as a map during play. The Pikmin 3 bestiary is varied widely, and while there are not an extraordinary amount of enemies as there had been in Pikmin 2, each enemy is unique and requires a distinct strategy to take down. This helps the player to feel as though they are not repeating the same actions over and over again.

            The main gameplay is split into days, in which the player has a finite amount of time on the map. Any Pikmin unaccounted for at the end of the game promptly become dinner for the predator species of the night. The gameplay is kept varied from previous installments due to new types of Pikmin being introduced, which change the fundamental way in which the game is played.

            One of the staples of the Pikmin franchise is the constant feeling that time is running out. This feature was absent in Pikmin 2 (due to the featuring of the caves, which stopped time), but makes a return for the third installment in the series. Many times while in the middle of a task, a player will realize that there is no time, and must make choices about what to accomplish throughout the rest of the day. The time places an emphasis on the need to multi-task. The result is a very fun, tense game where there never seems to be enough time.

            There are a few technical problems which the campaign has, mostly dealing with the Pikmin AI. The Pikmin AI is not bad, however, at times, the path-finding becomes obnoxious, with certain Pikmin jumping into water because they were too far behind the controlled explorer, and consequently, drowning. This leads to many unnecessary Pikmin deaths, and often ends up frustrating the player.

            The difficulty of Pikmin 3 is nearly non-existant, in the sense that the vast majority of the games enemy encounters are able to be won through attrition. This does not mean, however, that combat is not varied. If the player wishes a good score, they must use cunning in order to defeat their enemies. There is seemingly one challenging encounter, but as many days as are needed can be used to complete the encounter.

Overview: The return of beloved mechanics allows players to experience a new adventure in an older formula, however, new additions keep gameplay fresh. The campaign is friendly to both veterans and new players of the series.

Extra Features (Mission Mode, Bingo Battle Mode):

Mission Mode:

            Mission mode is an extra mode which is exactly as it sounds. The players chooses from a variety of missions which range from beating certain monsters to collecting treasures. The mission mode may be played cooperatively, unlike the main campaign. The mission mode ramps up the difficulty considerably, which is good for veteran players looking for a higher challenge.

Bingo Battle Mode:

            Bingo Battle is the competitive multiplayer mode that comes packaged with Pikmin 3. There is no online multiplayer, but the game does not truly suffer from it. It is no surprise that Miyamoto pushes for local multiplayer, and after playing many matches, I welcome the absence of online multiplayer. In Bingo Battle, players try to collect items to fill out a bingo card and ultimately win the battle. This battle is tons of fun if you are playing with someone equally matched with you in Pikmin.

Basic Summary:

Pikmin 3 is a great game which uses the Wii U’s gamepad to it’s full potential. This allows you to play the game with only the game pad, as the controller, or as a supplement, and these controls truly work well. The varied bestiary allows for varied game play throughout the entire campaign. The explorers, as well as Pikmin are all likable and I found myself truly caring for them as the game went on. The huge environments were fun to both ogle and explore.

 I would recommend Pikmin 3 to anyone who enjoys tense pseudo-strategy games, loves huge alien worlds, and isn't afraid to let a few cute creatures die at their hand.

*Disclaimer: I do not own the pictures used in this review*