Dark Sector

The Short


Pros
- Fast paced, bloody third person shooting
- Glaive throwing is fun and violent
- Uses glaive with environmental elements for puzzles, attacks, etc.
- Melee and glaive-play is fun
- Graphics still look decent, if a bit dark
- A good way to relieve stress and kill time

Cons
- Repetitive
- Apes a bit much from Gears of War without doing much original
- Story is stuuuuupid
- Game can be really glitchy and have unfair deaths
- Final boss is a massive pain in the butt
- Level bosses are also pains

Gears of Sector

The Long

Dark Sector went through a lot of changes before becoming the game we have today. Announced waaaaay before Next-Gen consoles came out, it was originally slated as a sci-fi stealth game. But something happened between then and when Dark Sector came out, and that something was Gears of War. 

The game saw a radical shift in tone, style, and generally everything (though the "liquid metal" sci-fi look stayed the same) resulting in a game that is, well, Gears of War with a glaive. And while this isn't bad, it certainly is less unique among the billions of third-person shooters that popped up after Gears of War came out, while had it remained a stealthy space game (with a liquid metal glaive) it might have been a more memorable experience.

This game still looks pretty good now, four years later

The story for this game is rocking stupid. Hayden is a whiny emo-boy who somehow got put into the secret forces, and is sent on a stealth mission (which might have carried over from the original design) to mess up some terrorists with an eco-bomb or...something, I dunno. Anyway it infects him and turns his right arm into Liquid Terminator (essentially) and lets him spawn a big, nasty glaive that flies back towards him like a boomerang. Personally I think he got an awesome end of that deal, but Hayden just prefers to whine about everything.

So yeah, voice acting is awful, story is dumb, and is basically an excuse to "kill hella dudes," to quote Jeff from GiantBomb. Which I'm fine with; I started skipping the story segments near the end, so who knows: maybe there was some amazing plot twist in there that I skimmed over. But odds are not in Dark Sector's favor. 

Dismemberment is the order of the day

Since it's story is balls, Dark Sector has to rely completely on its gameplay, and it's actually...not awful. At it's core, this is Gears of War. You have the ability to slide into cover, vault over cover, blindfire, "roadie run," and perform melee finishers when close. Wait, that last one wasn't in Gears of War. That's fine; the finishers in Dark Sector are bloody, violent, and awesome. It's just too bad that (like any canned execution) there aren't more of them. 

The only real twist between this and Gears is that you have a GLAIVE, which the game actually uses pretty decently. You can just sort of "toss" it out there for a stun and minimum damage, you can chain it between people ala Zelda's boomerang, you can do a rad slow-mo camera view where you directly control it into a guy's arm/head/leg/whatever and show them what they get for trying to hide behind cover, or you can shoot it into a nearby flame/electricbox and add that element to its attack. The latter thing mentioned is also used for puzzles, such as charging the glaive to power doors, or put it in fire to burn enemies only weak to fire, etc. It can also pick up guns for you if I remember correctly (it's been a while since I played this game), but I only used guns like how I used them in The Darkness: if my magic demon powers (aka glaive) didn't reach them. 

Executions can be pretty grisly

That, in a nutshell, is Dark Sector. There are a few really great parts (slicing dudes up with the glaive, getting close executions, etc) but there are also some pretty awful parts. You fight some big beasties that are only weak to elements and are difficult to dodge. For some reason, stupid Hayden still moves like a tank (aka Gears) even though he's clearly slender and unarmored, which makes no freaking sense. The final boss is also obnoxious, and while the glaive is cool often it can bounced off stuff in weird ways or not do what you want it to, which is really annoying, especially considering I played through it on Hard and you die pretty quickly.

You also drive a vehicle because, you know, why not. 

Graphically, Dark Sector actually looks pretty decent. It has that whole "grainy brown and gray" that seems to permeate every single game to come out this generation (again, I think this is Gears of War's fault), and the enemies look a little plastic, but the character models and dismemberment/blood are quality, and since it runs on the Unreal Engine (like every freaking game this generation) it has texture bump-mapping and all that stuff that makes games look better. Again, for a four-year-old game, it is certainly not bad. They do love their motion blur, though.

Fire glaive will mess you up

As it stands, Dark Sector just sort of exists. It has a lot of neat ideas and moments, but it's wrapped in a shell that is just like every other game to come out around that era. It's glaive idea is a cool one, but it's restrained by the trappings of the cover based, third-person shooter genre, where if they'd just done their own thing it might have actually had an opportunity to grow into something really unique. Still, it's a pretty neat little game, and the fact it's $5 brand new at Gamestop (less used) makes it a complete steal at that price. It isn't going to blow you away or anything, but I enjoyed my time with it, and even writing this review has made me want to pick it back up again and do another round of glaive-induced dismemberment.

So as it stands, it would earn a three out of five. And at the price mentioned above, if you enjoy these kind of visceral, third-person cover-based shooters, you really should just pick it up. 

The Darkness

The Short


Pros
- Fast paced, visceral experience with a mix of shooting with guns and using the titular Darkness
- Voice acting is fantastic throughout
- While script gets wonky at times, it is extremely solid
- One of the few games that knows when to slow down for its emotional scenes
- That being said, there are some genuinely heartbreaking scenes in this game
- "Open-world" with a variety of side missions, unlocks, and powers
- "Creeping Dark" is an awesome power
- Darkness/Light powers are unique and very cool
- Jackie is the first antihero that's actually an antihero: you are very sympathetic towards him despite him clearly being an awful person
- Really makes you feel like a badass

Cons
- Side-missions usually net you nothing but collectibles
- Parts of the story go from "awesome" to "weird" really quickly
- Of the four darkness powers, you'll only really use two (spike tentacle and creeping dark)
- You'll also almost never use Darklings, as they are essentially useless since you are an overpowered monster
- "Open world" really just means "you get to walk a lot on empty streets"
- Lots of dead time between your main objectives that seem to be just padding the length
- Graphics are decent but everything has that "shiny plastic" look of early high-def games

Fun fact: This game is M rated. Who would have thought?

The Long


The Darkness was a game that snuck out relatively unnoticed back in 2007 and didn't sell any copies until years later. Now considered a "cult classic," the game is based on a comic book regarding the life and times of mob-boss-in-training Jackie Estacado, an young italian who, on his 21st Birthday, inherits a supernatural, parasitic demonic badass known only as The Darkness. Which is great timing, considering it was just about this time that his jackass Uncle Paulie decided he wanted to off him, seeing as Jackie is next in line to be the big boss. What follows is a bloody adventure through both New York and (surprisingly) Purgatory as Jackie tries to both off his Uncle, discover the truth behind The Darkness, and rid himself of its corrupting, evil powers once and for all.

Of course, this isn't until after he's told The Darkness to brutally murder hundreds of people, but hey...you have to use what you've been given.

You get both guns and The Darkness. Uncle Paulie is totally screwed. 

The Darkness (the game, not the character/demon/whatever) is essentially a limited open-world game combined with some wild shooting sequences and an occasional drop to the linear Purgatory. Because it tries to blend so many genres, it falls short a bit by never doing any of these things excellently, but it is perfectly content on doing all of them well. Darkness powers are especially fantastic to use, especially when you unlock more of them, because they are both brutal, disgusting, violent, and awesome. Basically you have The Darkness with you at all times (except it's retracted when around civilians), and it absorbs power when you are in the dark, and burns away into nothing if you are in a light. Which means keeping an eye out and shooting up lights is an essential part of gameplay. It sounds annoying, but actually it works out pretty good, especially when the standard thugs flip out whenever you turn out a light and then impale them seven feet in the air with a massive tentacle of pure darkness. 

The Darkness (the power, not the game) is limited, however, to short distance attacks. You do get a bunch of oddities to your arsenal -  a black hole that takes all your power but makes a big portal that sucks dudes up, a pair of 'darkness guns' which are pretty much useless - but the only two I used were the impaling tentacle of doom thing and "Creeping Dark," which gives you the creepy perspective of a darkness head as it crawls about the ground, and you can sneak up on people and EAT THEIR HEARTS OUT OF THEIR CHESTS for an instant kill. Oh yeah, and how you gain power-up/level-up is by eating the hearts of enemies you've killed for some really nasty animations. Like I said: this game is M rated for a reason.

The Darkness (both game and character) is exceptionally well animated throughout.

The shooting is passable, with duel-wielding being the order of the day, though it isn't anything to write home about. Killing people with The Darkness power is much more satisfying (and easier), so I usually only used guns for shooting out lights or the occasional jerk who was too far away for me to rip his heart out from a distance.

The open-world elements are probably the worst bits of the game. Essentially The Darkness (the game, not the character) really wanted to have a bunch of side-quests but had no idea how to reward you if you finished them, seeing as the hearts of mortals is the only way your Darkness powers up. So instead it just gives you crappy unlockables like concept art, which was great until we developed the interent three decades before this game's release where you can get all that stuff with a simple Google search. The areas you go to, if you don't have a specific quest assigned there, are totally empty, bland, and not worth visiting. It's like everybody went inside and closed their doors because a big Jackie with demon arms popped out of the subway station. Who would have thought?

The point being is that The Darkness (the power, not the game) is a blast to play, the shooting is passable, the main story missions are captivating and fun but the side-missions and anything to do with the open world are boring. This is only accented by the fact that Jackie has no sprint button and likes to meander about at his own pace, so if you play this game ditch every side quest and just do the main stuff. Because the main stuff is really, really good. 

Plus The Darkness (the power, not the game) can lift cars and seriously mess stuff up. 

Here's something I bet you didn't expect: The Darkness (the game, not the power) has a really, really good story. Yeah, I know, right? We have this super-violent first person shooter seeped with bloody demonic executions and taking place in the seedy, mob underbelly of New York, and the story actually has a lot of heart to it? It's true!

The main "heart" of this story comes from Jenny, Jackie's girlfriend who he genuinely cares for. In many other games this would be a contrived, sappy, garbage romance but in The Darkness (again: game, not power) their relationship is handled...well, realistically. There is very few sappy quips or melodramatic lovey-dovy moments. There's even a part in the game (that has since been brought up by any fan of this game as an example of excellent in-game storytelling) where you simply sit on the couch with your arm around her (in first person still), watching To Kill a Mockingbird on TV as she slowly falls asleep. You can literally watch the entire movie with her if you feel like it. It's a quiet, tender moment that makes you wonder why the hell movies have been able to do this forever, but games are so scared to have any sort of emotional scene without bludgeoning you with how you should feel about it. What happens with regards to Jenny in the story only further push this whole thing into "heartbreaking" and "holy cow this is told really well" territory, and while the story itself really isn't that groundbreaking, it's the execution that really shines. 

Parts of the story get really weird, and without getting to spoilers I'll just say this: you spend about 2/3 of the game in New York, and 1/3 in Purgatory. As in, literal Purgatory. See, Jackie's story is about both needing The Darkness (the power, not the game) to fulfill his goals and not wanting it to corrupt him further. So he has to figure out how to get rid of it, and can only do that in Purgatory. It's a story based on a comic book series, ok? It's going to be a bit...out there.

The game doesn't look particularly great, but it's passable so whatever. 

Something that is great is the voice acting, which is fantastic throughout. You don't really notice good voice acting (unless it's paired with an equally great script, like Portal 2 or Nier), but the voice actors in The Darkness (the game not the...you know what? I think you are smart enough to figure it out) really pull no stops. The Darkness itself is voiced by Mike Patton, the lead singer of Faith No More, and his growling voice and leering threats are executed flawlessly.

 It's also really cool how, during loading screens, Jackie monologues on screen about his life while smoking a cigarette or messing with a pistol. These little loading bits are actually really well written, and I just wish there had been more of them. They do change as you progress through the story, however, which is another amazing touch.

Graphically this game won't turn any heads, except maybe the extreme gore when The Darkness (you know which one) rips a heart out of some guy and eats it right in front of you. Everything looks a bit...heavy and plasticy, like most early Xbox 360 games did. It certainly isn't bad, it just lacks style. Luckily they seem to have fixed this in The Darkness II, which has more of a "graphic novel" look about it with its incredible cel-shading, but The Darkness still looks fine if a bit dated. 

Also, whoever did the cover art for The Darkness II should get a prize. That just looks...awesome. Some loyal reader should buy it for me so I can play and review it. :D

So...the final verdict? I really enjoyed my time with this game. The story, the voice acting, the great Darkness powers...all of it came together in a package that was a lot of fun. It does have some frustrating gunplay, especially at the beginning, and on Hard the game actually is...well...Hard, but despite the assortment of minor problems plaguing it, The Darkness is still a very solid game. Considering you can grab a copy for about $8 used from Gamestop, I'd really suggest picking up a copy if any part of this game has interested you. It's a fascinating anomaly in a world where most games prefer to just stick to their genre trappings, and it looks like its sequel is just as good.

Were I to give it a score rating, it would be a four out of five. 

Darksiders

The Short


Pros
- Successfully apes the Zelda formula in an adult setting
- Terrific art design and graphics
- Dungeons are clever and have unique puzzles, including one that uses an honest-to-god portal gun
- Wide assortment of weapons and side weapons that flow well in combat
- Loads of secrets to find (ala Zelda)
- Suitable story paired with some exceptional voice acting
- Ending is FREAKING AWESOME
- Killing angels and demons is visceral and fun
- Finishing moves don't require quick time events on regular enemies. I'm so glad we are finally killing that trend.
- Bosses are fantastic
- Incredible setpieces
- Your horse is awesome and can be summoned from anywhere
- If you grew up on Zelda, you'll probably love this game

Cons
- Combat is shallow. It gets a little deeper later, but restricting most attacks to one button was a mistake. It's still better than the last eight versions of the same Zelda game, though.
- The aforementioned portal gun dungeon is seriously the longest dungeon in human history
- That being said, there aren't very many dungeons
- End of the game turns into a fetch quest to go back and find stuff in order to "unlock" the final boss
- Story is decent but gets really convoluted
- Has a fairly weak first couple of hours (gauntlet challenges are never fun) that are only exacerbated by the mediocre starting combat
- Rips off Zelda with such precision you wonder if Vigil's design document was just a copy of Ocarina of Time
- Boxart is fugly. Who picked that color scheme? Urine yellow on gray? Ugh.

War and his absurdly massive sword have come to mess you up

The Long

Darksiders is another one of those games I've bought multiple times for some inexplicable reason. I bought it on release day on a whim because it looked like Zelda meets God of War (which it is), beat it twice (and got every achievement but two), and then traded it. I then really wanted to play it again about a year later so I bought it for $5 on OnLive for some inexplicable reason (I've since gotten over my OnLive love) and burned through 90% of the game again. Knowing how bad I am at restraining myself when it comes to games I love, odds are I'll pick it up again when it hits some Steam sale for $5 or less just so I can see how it looks with ultra graphics settings and max resolution, because I'm an idiot.

All that aside, Darksiders is a game that sort of came out of nowhere and was completely fantastic, if only because it copied a classic game's formula (read: Zelda) to a "t." However, digging a little deeper into Darksiders reveals a handful of significant changes to that formula - most of them for the better - which help Darksiders carve a unique niche despite it being less of a "homage" and more of a "dark photocopy."

But literally nobody rips off Zelda these days except the next Zelda game (THEY ARE ALL THE SAME GAME PEOPLE), so hey...we'll take it.

Can you tell this game was made by a comic book artist? Or maybe a toy designer?

Darksiders follows the story of War, one of the horsemen of the apocalypse, who goes down to earth to start Armageddon, the three-way battle between heaven, hell, and the world of man. To say this game follows the Bible's interpretation of the apocalypse would be overstating it by a long shot. It's clear that they took the general gist from the book of Revelations (which, to be fair, is pretty indecipherable anyway) and then wrote some comic-book style fanfiction. What else explains the fact that two of the horsemen are now "Strife" and "Fury," and one of them is a lady. I guess War in Pratchett and Gaiman's Good Omens was a lady, too, but at least they gave a reason to change Famine to Pollution; I have literally no idea why they swapped them out. Well, whatever, on with the story.

Basically War was confused or something because, despite the fact that angels and demons were battling it out on earth when he arrived, this wasn't the real apocalypse, and was somehow started either by accident or as a trick. So the Council (which I guess is God? Or...not?) who are sort of the overseers of all this strip War of his powers and send him back to earth to find out what the crap was going on. The catch is they send him back 100 years after the big war, so all the puny humans are now dead or zombies and it's just demons and angels down there.

Anyway, it's interesting enough and has some neat characters, but stuff really gets convoluted near the end, to the point where I was just nodding and shrugging and letting stuff resolve itself. After a third playthrough it kind of made more sense, but they really need to learn to stagger their reveals, or at least find some consistencies with their mythology to present to me before revealing a staggering "twist" that I literally do not understand.

Luckily every voice in the game is fantastic, with War (also Weiss from Nier) and the Watcher (Mark Hamill from...you know who he is) being standouts, but Samael the Demon and the Scottish titan/smith being exceptional as well. The script is also decent throughout, with the Smith and Samael getting the best lines, while War just sort of grunting and being a badass, which is too bad because Weiss is one of the wittiest and best-executed characters in gaming history.

I guess this lady is in the game too, but she's not particularly interesting. Or sane. 

So enough about the story, what about the game? Well, I can actually be pretty brief here and just say it's every 3D Legend of Zelda since Ocarina of Time, since all those games are the same. Your first sub-weapon is a boomerang that can attack multiple targets, though the fact that if you charge it the boomerang will hold enemies in place as it attacks them makes it infinitely more useful. You also get a hookshot which can be used to either swing around or yank enemies towards you, a gun (instead of a bow), and you use these items in the dungeons you find them to solve puzzles and then beat a boss. There are bomb-plants but you never get any actual bombs, you get big punchy-fists (aka hammers) that are used to smash up rocks, and you get a...portal gun? That shoots orange and blue portals? Come on, you people aren't even trying.

Despite ripping Zelda off in exactness, Darksiders actually works for two reasons. First, because the Zelda formula is a pretty decent one, which is why Nintendo hasn't bothered to change it since 1998. And second, because (unlike Nintendo), Darksiders makes enough changes to both the pacing of the game, combat, and world to essentially improve on this formula, the biggest changes being in combat. This is pretty much Zelda for people who grew up on Zelda but are now twenty-somethings, and would like a game that is more action-oriented and actually lets you jump.

There are lots of changes to the formula that improve it (jumping being a big one), though my personal favorite is the inclusion of platforming puzzles ala Prince of Persia or the Uncharted games. This adds a vertical element to the dungeons that doesn't exist in Zelda since you can only climb sometimes and only jump if you run off the side of a cliff. This makes the dungeons much more interactive and interesting than most Zelda dungeons, though I'll admit that Nintendo knows how to use their self-imposed limitations to make cleverer puzzles than Darksiders pulls out (probably because its the same limitations they invented on the N64!)

Plus you can mess up some robo-angels. 

Anyway, it's a pity there are only 4-5 dungeons in the game, though some of them are so long and have an open-worldy feel that I guess we could count them multiple times. The final dungeon in particular, where you get a portal gun, is stupidly long. While the idea of a portal gun in a Zelda game is actually pretty awesome (and they make some changes to the portal gun, like the ability to shoot portals through portals) and makes for some incredible puzzles, they drag it on for like three hours. Pacing, Darksiders! Learn it!

Come to think of it, pacing is actually a pretty big issue with the game. It starts out great: you fly down during the apocalypse, chucking cars at angels and demons and generally being a massive jerk to both sides. Then you are thrown back into the world all weak where little baby zombies are more your match, and after running around for a bit you have to do some "challenge rooms" for poorly explained "plot reasons." I think it's secretly a tutorial for their paper-thin combat system, but whatever; it slows the game down. Once you finally get to the first dungeon the game picks up, only to be slammed back into low-gear at the end where it tasks you with running back across the world to pick up pieces of a final weapon. Why would you do this? Urgh. 

Suffer not an ugly beastie to live. 

As for the combat, it's better than Zelda, which peaked in the incredible Wind Waker and then forgot all the awesome things it had (counters, fast combat, dodges, enemy weapons) and got dumbed down again, but I guess Wind Waker had the problem where they gave you all these new moves and kept the enemies weak as balls so...anyway, enough of me bagging on Zelda (I swear I still love the games despite my naysaying). Darksiders feels like a dumbed down God of War or Devil May Cry, the "dumbing" being that it only uses one button through most of the game. It sort of works once you finally get some combos that you have to buy from the store, but it suffers from that Viking: Battle for Asgard syndrome of locking all the fun combat early on in an attempt at "progression." The one-button combat can be accented by equipping a second primary weapon (to the "Y" button vs the "X" button), as well as your sidearm (boomerang, gun, etc.) but none of these weapons combo into each other. Still, given the ability to dodge and the difficulty of the enemies, once you adapt to the somewhat clunky combat it becomes quite fun, and adding more moves helps tremendously.

This is an "M" rated game, FYI. 

Graphically the game looks fantastic, with a unique, flavorful art design very reminiscent of comic books or those Warhammer toys. While I'll admit it's all sort of a big goofy - with ugly demons wearing skulls on everything and metallic, gleaming angles - it all fits a unique theme that you'll either totally love or think is just passable. The architecture of the world is especially grandiose, making the majority of locations pretty to look at (with the exception of a few "post-apocalyptic" streets, which fortunately there are very few of) and being quite colorful and, again, fitting that comic-book theme.

I like the look of War particularly, even though his sword is stupidly massive and his hands (or whole body, for that matter) are way bigger than his tiny head. I will say the overuse of skulls all over the place makes the game less "hardcore" and more "goofy." Again, this is M rated Zelda, I get that, but having you collect "skull pieces" instead of "heart pieces" to increase your overall "skulls" is more akin to what a 12-year-old Hot Topic shopper defines as "cool" than actually being "adult."

War ain't afraid of no demons

Despite all my complaints I really loved the crap out of Darksiders, as evidenced by my stupid multiple purchasing decisions. While not exactly the evolution of the Zelda formula one would hope for, it makes excellent strides in the right direction, and provides a fun and violent experience that is mostly familiar with a dash of freshness. Here's hoping the upcoming sequel, Darksiders II, evolves further and presents more new ideas to solidify this series as a true Zelda competitor. 

You can get the game for $20 on the high end, which is absolutely worth it. It's also on every system known to man (except the Wii), so you really have no excuse to not buy it. If you had any sort of fondness for Zelda you'll at least glean a marginal amount of satisfaction from the game, or you could be like me and love it silly.

It's a solid four out of five game, and one of my favorites this console generation. Bring on Darksiders II. 

Dance Central 2

The Short


Pros
- Keeps the same precise detection from the first game and makes it better
- Now you can dance with two players!
- Adds voice control/options from the menu
- A new career mode
- Gives you the option to remove that silly "freestyle" option
- Over 40 songs on disc, can import the 32 from Dance Central, and plays all DLC
- Improved Break it Down mode fixes the minor issues from the first version
- New characters and locales
- Difficulty levels are improved; easy is a lot funner and has more variation, while hard isn't just the same as previous difficulties with a few extra moves pasted in
- Changes to the scoring system are an improvement
- Improved sorting options for your song list, and you can now make playlists
- The things the dancers say are substantially less stupid

Cons
- Cut the Lady Gaga wanna-be character. She was my favorite! Well, besides Mo.
- Despite the things said being less stupid, they still are pretty dumb
- Career mode is welcome but hardly necessary or in-depth
- Justin Bieber? Whip My Hair? Why?
- Nothing is fundamentally different from the first Dance Central (except two player play)

Dance Central's back. And it brought friends. 

The Long

An easy review of this game could be this: Dance Central 2 is to Dance Central like Rock Band 2 was to Rock Band. Is there anything substantially different with the core mechanics between Dance Central 2 and the first game? No. Does it revolutionize anything the way the first game did? Not really. But Dance Central 2 takes many, many steps in the right direction, improving the already impressive framework established by Dance Central, and in so doing making what it easily the best game on the Kinect to date.

Graphically, not much has changed between games. I think the animations for the dancers are a bit smoother and easier to follow, the locals are better-looking and actually rotate between various versions of a scene (for example, you'll dance in a subway station, then on the subway, etc. during the same song). They axed a few dancers and put some new ones in, but as a whole the game still looks fantastic. They did make the character's outfits look a little less like plastic, which is appreciated. 

Angel's new sailor outfit makes him look like he'd be the entertainment at a bachelorette party. 

So instead of harping on what's stayed the same (since that's silly; read my Dance Central review for the fundamental mechanics of the series), I'm going to focus on the changes. And the first one is a big one and probably the main reason to pick this game up over the first game: two players. 

Yeah, this was kind of a big oversight in the first game, one I think I remember them saying they cut in some interview because of the pressure to release the game as a launch title. Well, they've made good and now you can dance two player, and as a bonus you can each dance on different difficulties. Let me just say: this doesn't sound like a big deal on paper, but it is huge. Remember the difference between Guitar Hero 1 and Guitar Hero 2? How they added the ability to play two-player in that? It went from being a game you played by yourself to a crazy party game (which was then doubled again when Rock Band added two more players to the mix). Adding another player to Dance Central 2 does this for this game as well, making the game more approachable for those shy friends ("You can just dance with me! It won't be as weird!") as well as just being more fun. 

Some new characters like Bodie (left) are surprisingly not obnoxious

The improvements in Break it Down mode are also worth noting. While it's still only a single player affair, you now have the option to skip moves you already have down (either because you've mastered them in this song or in another song), record yourself doing the move and watch it next to the actual performer to see where you are going wrong, work on just a specific section, and more. Considering the only way you'll get good at the hardest songs in the game is by breaking the moves down into pieces, this improvement is much appreciated.

Speaking of moves and difficulty, Dance Central 2 is much better than the first game with regards to picking moves for you to dance to. Similar to how Rock Band 2 had better musical charting when compared to Rock Band, Dance Central 2 adds tons of new moves. In the first game it was common to see a few moves crossing multiple songs, especially on Easy (where you basically just repeat the same 3-4 moves over and over. Boring!). In Dance Central 2 each routine is very unique, with very little crossover. This is both good because it adds variety, and bad because you'll have to learn a lot of new moves (which makes jumping between songs a little harder). Easy mode is also much better, with less repetition and instead mixing up handfuls of easier techniques. Hard difficulties before seemed like they took the framework in Easy and just swapped out harder moves in certain sections, but the dance was the same overall. Not so in Dance Central 2: Hard on most dances is a completely different beast. It's a little thing (I honestly don't think any other review online points this out) but it shows they put more time into figuring the moves out this time around.

It still goes all "neon" when the both of you hit a 4x multiplier. If just one of you has it, the associated player's avatar's hands will glow instead, which is a nice touch. 

There is also a career mode, though it seems...tacked on. Basically all the dancers in the game are paired up and put into "groups" (or "gangs," I guess), each with their own musical preference. As you can guess, Mo (aka the best character from the first game) has the best taste, with all the Daft Punk and techno/electric stuff, but the rest of the dances are good too. Baby's Got Back is just as raunchy and awful as it has always been, and the inclusion of Justin Bieber and Whip My Hair is really questionable. Luckily it makes up for it with more Lady Gaga (yeah...I think she's ok. Got a problem? Her dances are the best in the game, too) and a variety of other songs, so I guess it's forgivable. At any rate, career mode is just playing through a set number of songs to collect stars, then dancing a "boss" dance. Aka it's the same setup that we had back in Guitar Hero 1. We asked for a career mode, and they dropped back to the oldest setup in music games. Way to go, Harmonix. Do I have to wait for Dance Central 3 for you to add challenges and perfect the system like you did with Rock Band 3? Seems that way.

As stated, you have a good assortment of songs, made better by the fact you can export your entire Dance Central library into the game, as well as all your DLC. The DLC goes on sale constantly (I think we own all of the Dance Central 1 DLC, and got it all for around $30 total) so if you are aching for more songs this game has you covered. It's not as crazy as Rock Band's 3,000 song library, but it's still more songs than I'd ever want. 

The inclusion of kid dancers is weird, though. Mo, why you hanging out with that twerp? Almost everybody else at least got a lady partner. 

Everything else plays perfectly. The menues are still slick and very easy to navigate. The game's detection has actually improved between games (it was great before, but it seems even better now), which is good because the first game could never detect me right when I did moves that required me to walk around in a circle. It also seems to be more pickier on the harder difficulties vs the easier ones, which might just be my imagination but either way, I like it. There are some genuinely crazy dances in this game (though Teach Me How To Jerk from the first game is still the hardest damn song in the game...and Rihanna's Disturbia) and they cover a massive range of dance music (I'm really glad to see Daft Punk in here, and I hope they add more as DLC), so just about anybody will find something they like. The changes are subtle but really improve the experience, making this a game that, if you own a Kinect, you really have no excuse not to own. 

This is one of three game we bought last year on release date for the full $50 (though now that I think about it it was off Amazon...and it might have been $45...and I think they gave us a $10 Amazon credit...and $10 in MS points to export our songs from Dance Central...I love you, Amazon), but it fluctuates in price really weird. It was $15 on black friday along with Kinect Sports: Season 2, which is a freaking steal. If you liked the first game, grab this game at whatever price you find it at (it's $40 on Amazon right now). If you played the demo but are skeptical, I'd say $30-40 is still a safe point to test it out. It seriously is the very, very best reason to own a Kinect right now, and it's a total blast to boot.

A very deserving five out of five stars, should I be inclined to score it with stars. Keep making 'em like this, Harmonix, and hopefully other developers will stop making garbage Kinect games and follow your lead instead. 

Week in Review for 2/5/2012 - "Dark" Week

Welcome back to week in review! It was a double dose of trends this week: I reviewed both every Rock Band game as well as every Kinect game I own except one (Dance Central 2; expect that shortly), meaning retro games got put into the backburner. Fear not, for I have more magical old-school for you reviews coming up soon. Maybe I'll even do a full week of them sometime! Who knows.
So I tackled 15 games this week, throwing the total up to 48. Not too bad. Considering I probably have hundreds to go, I suppose I should pick up the pace. But hey, this isn't that bad considering I'm currently also writing a novella, editing a novel, going to work, and doing an internship. So yeah, busy busy.

My thoughts for this week: comparing review scores. Here's something I want to point out with my reviews: while the star scores are helpful, they aren't the "end all" for these games. I also rate games based both on the experience, what system they are on, and generally if I feel they are worth looking into. For example, I gave Kinect Sports a four out of five, but also gave Persona 3: FES a four out of five. Do I think these are the same quality of games, since I gave them the same star rating? No way (Persona 3: FES is better), but given my experiences with these games, I'd say both were worth purchasing if you have the systems for them. I figure out scores when I finish writing out my thoughts; I rarely go into reviews with pre-conceived stars decided. So if, in my mind, the text I wrote indicates this is a four out of five star game...I give it to it. I also judge games differently based on what they are and what they are trying to do. Kinect Sports wanted to create a fun Kinect experience that worked, and for the most part it pulled it off. Persona 3: FES wanted to create a fusion of dating, pokemon, and JRPG grinding and for the most part, it pulled it off. One could argue Persona 3 is being judged on a more severe scale than Kinect Sports, but it's more of just a different scale. So keep that in mind if you are just looking over the stars; the text is all there for a reason.

That being said, here's this week's reviews.


Rock Band 2 - 5 / 5 Stars
Lego Rock Band - 2 / 5 Stars
The Beatles: Rock Band - 5 / 5 Stars
Green Day: Rock Band - 4 / 5 Stars
Rock Band 3 - 5 / 5 Stars
Terminator Salvation - 1 / 5 Stars
Ninja Blade - 2 / 5 Stars
Warhammer 40k: Kill Team - 3 / 5 Stars
Kinect Adventures - 2 / 5 Stars
The Gunstringer - 4 / 5 Stars
Dance Central - 4 / 5 Stars
Child of Eden - 3 / 5 Stars
YourShape: Fitness Evolved - 3 / 5 Stars
Kinect Sports - 4 / 5 Stars
Kinect Sports: Season 2 - 2 / 5 Stars

See you all next week!

Kinect Sports: Season 2

The Short


Pros
- Back with six new sports: Skiing, Baseball, Darts, Tennis, Football, and Golf
- Golf is pretty great and has a decent selection of courses
- Utilizes voice commands to get through the menues that actually works pretty good
- Still has the same "minigames break off from the main game" as the first one
- Graphics still look very nice, and your avatar is back for more SPORTS

Cons
- I swear somehow their body detection got worse between games
- While the first game had two duds, this game only has two good ones, and that's me really being lenient by putting darts on the "good" list
- Speaking of darts, despite being one of the best one the rounds go on for WAY too long
- The more traditional sports (Football and Baseball) are stripped-down versions that are...pretty bad.
- The annoying announcer is just as annoying as before
- Has ads integrated into the main menu screens. Seriously? Like a "Lite" version of an iPhone game? Was the blatant product from the first game (which is also in this game) some how not enough?

Kinect Sports is back, but not better. 

The Long

Here's a confession: I didn't play Kinect Sports Season 2 nearly as much as I played the first game. This is mostly because I don't think it's very good, but the point of me bringing this up is because this review will probably be more skimpy on the details than the first game's. So if you're wondering why I'm being lazy, now you know. 

Anyway, Season 2 has a handful of six new games to play: American football, tennis, darts, skiing, baseball, and golf. If half of these sound like they wouldn't really work with Kinect...well, you are probably right. Let's blitz (har har football jokes and I'm posting this on Super Bowl Sunday) our way to the endzone (two for two!) of this review by covering each sport individually to earn a...uh...I'm out of football jokes.

And here's some more footballz for you. Yay. 

Football is to actual American football what a home run derby is to baseball. As in, it isn't. You have four downs to clear the entire length of the field, meaning any strategy regarding getting first downs is gone. If you fail on your first three to score a touchdown you can opt to try for a field goal, and then it switches sides. That's it. How awesome.

Essentially what you have to do is squat down for the hike (always a family favorite activity), get the ball, and then the game will give you ideas on who to throw it two. The throwing controls are super wonky, so often you'll throw it badly, but on the off chance you do catch it you get to do more PowerPad running as fast as you can (knees up!). That's essentially the game. How fun. Next.

Hooray! I'm not in a Wii game!

Tennis should be a shoe-in, especially since they did table-tennis so great in the last iteration, but there's a weird disconnect between what you do and how the character reacts. It isn't too awful overall, but it certainly feels a lot more loose that the table tennis game or Wii Sports' iteration, which makes you not want to play it. Serving was fun (just like how serving in volleyball in the first game was fun), if I don't really understand how the Kinect registers it, but the whole thing just feels...too loose. Again, this is weird considering how tight-knit table tennis was, and I'd just assume this was essentially the same thing.

Back to the bad ones

Skiing isn't awful, it's just...boring. So boring. Basically you just squat down in front of your Kinect (why do all these games involve copious amounts of squatting?), and then make as if you are turning by sticking out your legs in either direction. You can slow down by standing up taller, and there are a few jumps on each course. 

As far as controls go, it works just fine. I had a few issues turning sharply on a whim, but overall once you get the hang of it it's fairly easy. The problem is that it's monotonous. You just crouch down as you circle through flags and avoid obstacles. The courses are really limited, and while its sort of fun competing two player, the experience is just bland. The sense of speed and air is there, it's just...really dull. 

Another game too complex for the tech

Baseball reminds me of football, which reminds me of soccer from the last game, in that they had to trim stuff down quite a bit for it to work. However, in this case they both trimmed and made it more complex. As the pitcher, there's a bunch of different styles of pitches you can pull of (I can't) that do different...things? It's weird. As the batter it was about as bad as hitting baseballs on Wii Sports was. Read: I'm not good at it. You have to actually run (knees up!) from bases to bases, which is fun I guess, but catches are practically automatic and as a whole the game just feels gimped. They also trimmed down the length, but in this case I'm glad. This would last forever if they didn't, which is the problem with the next sport I'm addressing.

Aim for the guy in the suit

Darts is one of the better games, if only because it's simple and actually feel like you are emulating the "sport." Basically you aim the dart, which gives a slight reticle hint as to where it will land. You then pull back and throw. It requires skill (if you know the real rules of darts, you'll know it gets tricky near the end. I won't elaborate here) but the issue is that it takes forever. You play three rounds, which each round lasting anywhere from 5-10 minutes. I'm sorry, but that's too long for just chucking darts at a board.

I thought it was funny that it asked me how my TV was set up relative to me, so that it would best emulate an actual dart board. This made me thing: why don't I just buy an actual dart board? It's pretty much the same thing, except that is real and probably a bit more fun. Regardless, darts is ok in my book. 

And we'll end on the best game in the bunch

Golf is golf. Plain and simple. You move your body to adjust the direction you are aiming, you pull back and swing. It still has that inherent Kinect problem with speed/strength based moves (ie: it can't gauge with a good deal of accuracy how hard you hit something), but it's forgivable because it isn't that bad overall. The game has a fair amount of courses (or fairway amount of courses, right guys? Guys?), the holes move along quickly, and the later ones require some actual skill. This game is actually kind of a blast, and I actually enjoyed playing it single player (unlike every other game in both Season 2 and the original Kinect Sports), so kudos to them for that. They made a very good golf game. Which the Wii did a billion years ago. But that's ok, I forgive you. At least this game mode wasn't a (sand) trap! (puns. The highest level of humor.)

Menues are much improved as well.

So that's about it for the events, let's quickly cover a few other changes. This game has full voice command, meaning you can navigate the menues just by yelling at your Kinect. To my surprise, it actually works really well. I mean, it's no Siri, but it's certainly preferable to holding my hand on a button for two seconds and hoping you don't slip off of it.

Something I don't like that's actually quite infuriating is that there are ads in the main menu, in the form of a sliver banner ad on the top (like you'd expect from an Android or iOS free game). Why the hell are there ads in a game I paid for? I can understand product placement (though I don't like it), but between this and the new Xbox's UI completely coated in ads (seriously: 75% of the home screen is ads. I'm not kidding.) I can only think Microsoft hates their customers. It's worth noting (though nobody at Microsoft cares about me or reads this review) that between this (which is a MS published/developed game) and the new Xbox I've been convinced to not buy their new system when it comes out. Ever. When I buy a laptop my Windows isn't covered in ads, and if it did we'd call that a freaking VIRUS. How this is acceptable on something that's already covered in branding, product placement, and much more completely baffles me. So screw you, Microsoft. You greedy bastards. 

Seriously. Look at this. That little box in the upper left is the game I have in the drive, and the lower left is quickplay.  Everything else on the whole damn screen is ads. It's completely freaking disgusting. 

Anyway, now that we've finished that tangent, I'm fully prepared to give Kinect Sports: Season 2 a bad review. I don't know how they messed up the motion controls in this one, or why they picked sports that anybody could have told them would translate poorly to the experience (remember soccer, Rare? Remember how that was kind of crap?), but I guess they just wanted more money and since the first one sold like hotcakes they had to get on that and cut a few corners. Thank goodness they didn't cut the ads out while they were cutting features, though. That would have been a nightmare.

I bought it on black friday for $15, and I don't feel bad about it because I really dig golf. The rest of the sports aren't horrible, they just aren't great, so you could probably glean some fun if you had some friends that didn't mind the Kinect tracking them horribly. As it stands, I say don't pay more than $15 for it. It's a mess, and they'll get a cut from the ads anyway, so no worries about them being underpaid. 

Two out of five. And again, screw you Microsoft. I hope it was worth losing a loyal customer over (it probably was for them, but whatever.).

Kinect Sports

The Short


Pros
- Six one to two player events: Volleyball, Soccer, Boxing, Bowling, Table Tennis, Track and Field
- Over a dozen minigames based on these events; minigames are 1-4 players
- Kinect system works well with nearly every sport, and especially well with minigames
- Uses your Xbox 360 avatar and looks good
- Can give you quite a workout
- Better than Wii Sports if only because you can use your feet/whole body in events
- Free DLC that gives six more fun minigames

Cons
- Like Wii Sports, it's a game you'll play for a bit and then only bust out at parties
- Soccer isn't great, and Bowling is inferior to the one in Wii Sports
- Track and Field involves a lot of running in place
- Volleyball (while a lot of fun to spike), is basically just "make sure your hand is in this spot at the right time"
- Game can be exhausting at times
- Announcer gets really annoying really fast
- In the end, is just another sports compilation

Get ready for MORE SPORTS!

The Long


It's pretty much par for the course now that when you make a new motion control system you have to make a sports game for it. The Wii had it, the Playstation Move had it (Sports Champions), and now the Xbox 360 Kinect has it. Made by Rare (who used to be famous for classics like Banjo Kazooie, Viva Pinata, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Perfect Dark), Kinect Sports seems like just a cash-in on Wii Sports' success, and there is no denying that probably played a big part in its existence. However, digging a bit deeper we find a very solid sports offering, one boosted past Wii Sports because of one key change: the Kinect can detect both body position and legs, which is something the Wii can't.

The game has six events. So, like my Kinect Adventures review, I'm just going to blitz through each of them and then let you figure it out. Before that, however, let me say that the game looks very good graphically, with a clean interface and menues that aren't as easy to navigate as Dance Central, but certainly better than Kinect Adventures. You can use your avatar to play the games, which is a nice touch, and the sound-design overall is...decent. The voices of the announcers is extremely annoying, but all-in-all presentation-wise this game is certainly above average.

The eyes on that dude with the Hulk Hogan stash is freaking me out

Let's start with one I don't like: Soccer. Now, I have no problems with soccer as a sport, I played it a lot as a kid and it's one of the few real sports I'm actually decent at. However, it wasn't a very good fit for a motion control game, even one that can detect your legs. Essentially, you don't do much running, dribbling, or...anything. You kick the ball down field, your guys move automatically, and eventually you kick it towards the hoop and hope the AI sucks. It's...not wonderful. Maybe on paper this made sense, but as a full-fledged game it's quite lacking.

It does, however, have some good mini-games associated with it (like one where you kick balls and dodge shoes, or play goalie, or kick at targets in a goal for points), so it works on that front I suppose.

Xbox Avatars in sports bikinis is just...unnatural. Look at how big her head is!

I actually really like Volleyball, even though - like soccer - most of the movement is automated. Essentially you and the other team volley back and forth, which means an indicator will show up on your screen (your character will automatically move to the best position), and you just have to swing at the right spot at the right time. Often this'll pass it to a teammate, who will then pass it back to you for a spike. Spikes are why this one is awesome: you actually have to jump into the air and hit downward, like you were spiking a real volleyball. You can also do that when you serve if you want a power-serve. It's weirdly fun despite being simple, though spiking can get exhausting and volleys can last way longer than they ever do in actual volleyball games. I also never figured out how I adjusted the direction, power, or whatever on my spikes or hits; it just sort of happened automatically. Maybe it's timing based, I don't know. 

Volleyball also has a lot of fun minigames, including one that is ripped off from Fruit Ninja where you whack fruit and dodge bombs. Pretty good stuff.

Boxing is about as inane and unpredictable as the Wii Sports version

Now to one that's just...ok. Boxing sounds like it should work good in theory. The Kinect detects where your hands are (if they are guarding, etc) as well as where your upper body is (for dodges), and it can also detect your punches. Here's the thing: it really can't distinguish where I'm aiming on the opponent's body, and I can't figure out for the life of me what's open and what isn't. We have a friend who just flails about like a crazy person, and she always wins (hey, that sounds like Wii Sports too!). So while I guess there is maybe some skill involved, it can be overridden by sheer hyperactivity. 

I'm really actually disappointed they didn't make this game like Punch Out! on the NES. It would work, too: all that game had was high/low punches, blocks, and side dodges, which the Kinect is totally capable of. It isn't like Microsoft isn't below ripping off its competition. Make it happen, Rare. I'd pay for that.

It's minigames are just as inane and fruitless as the main game, so...avoid 'em. Though the one where like two punches KO a dude and your goal is to just beat the crap out of 100 people is sort of entertaining.

Ah, and here is a Wii staple

Bowling is actually pretty good, and has a lot of really fun minigames to go with it. It's basically exactly the same as Wii bowling only both more and less precise. You are probably wondering what I mean by this, so I'll tell you.

The game gives you indication of where you are currently pointing, and you can walk left or right to adjust. It also has fairly good detection on if you curve or spin a ball (thus ruining my chances at bowling, since I have an awful ball curve), which is good. The problem is that somewhere between when you pull back and release, the Kinect sort of goes a little crazy and (I'm assuming) guesses where you actually released it and the direction. This can lead to a ball in every six or so not going exactly where you want it to. It isn't bad enough to break the game or even make it less fun, but it removes that precision we came to expect from playing Wii Sports. It's minigames are great, though, including one where you use both arms and just fling bowling balls down the lane at rapidly approaching pins. 

I'd say Table Tennis was their answer to the Wii's Tennis, but Kinect Sports Season 2 has regular tennis in it, so I have no idea what is going on anymore. 

Table Tennis is also really good, though it's also really easy to throw your shoulder out. It's essentially Wii Sport's Tennis, except with one rather massive improvement: instead of your character moving automatically (like in the Wii iteration), you actually have to move to go get the ball. It's cool and transitions well into living-room play, though sometimes I thought I was hitting the ball harder than the game thought I was (sort of similar to the Bowling/Volleyball problem of the game not picking up the actual speed of my arm). The direction is also kind of weird, with a hefty amount of auto-aim tacked onto your movements. Still, two players is intense and really fun, so this one gets the stamp of approval.

It also has fun minigames just in case you haven't thrown out your shoulder during the main game. Kinect Sports really wants you to have to go see a doctor.

It's like being in the actual Olympics! 

Then we have Track and Field, which honestly feels more like a minigame collection than the rest of them (because essentially...it is). You have a sprint, a hurdles, a javalin run/throw, a long jump, and a discus throw. All of these except the discus throw require you to run in place, which also requires you to bring your knees up high so the Kinect knows what you are doing, which is exhausting. The fact that I'm stomping in place also reminds me of that World Class Track Meet game on the NES. You know, the one that needed that huge power pad? That was pretty awesome.

Everybody knows you just lean over and slap the buttons as fast as you can with your hands to win. 

There are a few variations that aren't just running. Javalin require you to hold and release it (like you were actually holding it) while running and without running out of bounds, which is actually sort of complicated. Discus throwing is one you just do in place, and is probably competing with the Table Tennis game as to which can dislocate your freaking shoulder. The running and jumping of the rest of them is pretty self explanatory, though again: it registers high knees better than actually running fast, so you have to run like a total idiot in order to win. Worth it? I dunno.

The "minigames" associated with this are just the individual events without having to do them all in sequence. Which I recommend, since one batch of Track and Field is perhaps the most exhausting thing on the Kinect to date. Yes, even more exhausting than the entire exercise game I already reviewed.

Congratulations! You win the "flailed around insanely the best" prize!

As a whole, Kinect Sports is a solid offering. While it clearly was a cash-in at some point, Rare spent some time with it (and the Kinect technology) to make a game that both plays well, has a ton of variety, and actually uses the sensor to its advantage. Like Wii Sports, it isn't a game you are going to pull out and sink several hours into (Dance Central is the only Kinect game to date what my wife and I will play for more than an hour at a time), but Kinect Sports makes a fantastic party game, and since most of its events are unique from Wii Sports, even people who have played the Wii's version will find something new to try out. 

For a Kinect game, Kinect Sports is solid. If you can grab it for $20-30 I'd say you got a decent deal (though it depends on if you have friends that will come over and play it with you, because playing alone sucks). Where I to award it a star rating, it would be four out of five. 

Or you could just go buy a PowerPad, because apparently Nintendo already figured out the "run in place to win a race" technology almost twenty years ago.