Tag: Duke Nukem Forever

Walking Dead Review

Editorial Team

9 / 10 Banzai!s

The Game:

Zombie mania is here. And to celebrate, Telltale Games has created The Walking Dead, a game inspired by Robert Kirkman’s comic book series of the same name – which in turn has also been turned in an AMC TV show. In a nutshell, The Walking Dead game is a point-and-click adventure, like many other Telltale titles such as Back to the Future and the CSI series. But that’s in a nutshell, mind you. The Walking Dead is actually far more than just that.

Reminiscent of Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain, players perform actions and make choices along the way, which alter events along the storyline as well as your interaction with other characters. Unlike X-Men: Destiny, these choices matter. Save one character and not the other, and continue the story with one of the characters dead. Disagree with someone, and that person will refuse to help you later on.

As stated earlier, the game is “inspired” by the comic book, existing in the same zombie-infested world, but with a new cast and story (though a few characters familiar to the comic make some cameos). You play as Lee Everett, a convicted felon riding in the back of a squad car on his way to prison, when the zombie outbreak begins. After surviving a car accident, he makes it to the nearest town – and is shocked to see undead walkers roaming the streets in search of human flesh. He meets a young girl named Clementine who’s been hiding up in her treehouse, and the two become a team as they search for safety, food, form a group of friends, and attempt to survive in this apocalyptic world.

Much of the game involves problem-solving. Explore a given area, find the tools you need, and figure out how to use them in order to reach your goal. Along the way, you’ll be settling arguments by choosing (under a time limit of a few seconds) how to respond to members in your group, making friends by finding and handing out food, making enemies by not giving them food, and of course battling the occasional zombie in a quick mini-game.

The Walking Dead video game was released in a series of episodes, five in total, beginning in April of 2012. In July 2013, Telltale released a bonus story titled 400 Days as an added DLC. Despite being criticized for glitches and receiving only moderately positive reviews, The Walking Dead video game received numerous Game Of The Year awards from a number of newspapers and magazines, including USA Today, E!, GamesRadar, and Best Downloadable Game at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards.

 

What I Liked:

Obviously there’s a lot I liked about this game, to warrant 9 Banzai!s out of 10. The game strongly focuses on the story, and the story is the best part of the game. It’s as fascinating and suspenseful as the TV show based on the comic, with its own brand of colorful characters. The overall game has its own metaplot, but each Episode explores a specific aspect with its own plot and goal. Much like the comics, The Walking Dead video game begins with the focus on the zombies themselves. But soon, the players will face an even more dangerous adversary: other human beings.

Walking Dead ReviewThe gameplay is well balanced between scenes in which you’re attempting to solve a puzzle, scenes that bring out the suspense and horror, and scenes which allow you to take a break. But unlike reading the comic or watching the show, The Walking Dead video game is, of course, interactive – which further adds to the interest of the story. Like Heavy Rain, you’re forced to make choices which not only alters the storyline of the Episode, but the overall game. Continue siding with Larry and not Kenny, then don’t expect Kenny’s help in the future. Chose to sacrifice Carley and save Dog, then Carley is no longer in the story.

The puzzles themselves are far easier than other Telltale games, simply because they have logical answers which feel natural if you were literally in the same situation as your player character. Need to sneak into a building? Then quietly kill the zombies nearby. How do you kill it? With a screwdriver. Where do you find a screwdriver? In a toolbox. Where’s the toolbox? Near the construction area. This logical style of problem-solving adds to the realism of the story, as opposed to the more cartoonish Back to the Future where you need to find a character across town by having the dog Einstein sniff a pair of shoes (possible, but perhaps only in a cartoon).

In The Walking Dead video game, things will jump out and startle you. Things will shock and even disgust you. You’ll feel the clock ticking when you’re trying to save a character’s life. And you’ll feel sad when they die. Yes, it’s no spoiler than many people will die. Those of you familiar with the comics and TV show know best that, just because a character’s been with the story for a long time, doesn’t mean they won’t perish. You just never know who will be the next food for the zombies – and sometimes, it will be the result of your decisions.

 

What I Didn’t Like:

Bugs and glitches. It has been the strongest complaint by most online reviewers, and yes, I had a problem with the glitches as well. The game never froze one me, but there are hiccups throughout – even in the DLC – which interrupt the flow of the game.

The problem, I think, is that the game seems to be loading the next scene and saving at the same time, as I noticed this is when the glitches usually occur. You solve a puzzle, then there’s a cut-scene. Then the cut-scene freezes for a few seconds, but the game is still going. Best case scenario, the picture fast-forwards to catch up with your position in the game. Worst case, is there was a quick decision to make but you missed your window.

Walking Dead ReviewMost of the time, these glitches didn’t impair the gameplay. But they stand out simply because the rest of the game is so good! If these bugs were in Duke Nukem Forever, I probably wouldn’t care. But it’s like a CD skipping while you’re listening to a really good song.

 

Overall:

Despite the glitches, The Walking Dead is an exciting and fascinating game which proves that an engaging story is often necessary to make a great game. (I’m looking at you, Final Fantasy XIII) The action may not be as intense as Call of Duty, the graphics as impressive as Devil May Cry, but the story and characters are so interesting, the gameplay so interactive, that The Walking Dead video game goes beyond being a simple video game and steps into the boundaries of artform.

For trophy hunters out there, you’ll be happy to know that the platinum for this game is quite easy to obtain. Every trophy is story related, which means once you’ve completed the game, you’ve got your Platinum.

Overall, fans of the comic and TV show will not be disappointed. And anyone new to the series will be in for a treat.

Just don’t play it with the kiddies around.

 

written by Damon Finos

X-Men Destiny Review

Editorial Team

6.5 / 10 Banzai!s

The Game:

Up until, and even after, the game’s release in September 2011 in North America, and October in Europe, X-Men: Destiny was saturated in scandals, reminiscent of the infamous Duke Nukem Forever.

Silicon Knights, the developing team behind X-Men: Destiny and founded by Denis Dyack, was drowning in lawsuits and counter-lawsuits with Epic Games over the Unreal Engine 3 licences. Shortly after X-Men: Destiny was released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, and Wii, and receiving fairly harsh reviews, Silicon Knights lost the counter-suit, resulting in its founder to leave and start up a new company: Precursor Games. Then, an article in Kotakuclaimed the reason behind X-Men: Destiny‘s poor quality was a lack of funding, after Dyack had diverted money towards other projects. Denis Dyack, now an Executive at Precursor Games, posted a video online stating that the allegations weren’t true. He also apologised for the game’s quality, stating that Silicon Knights had tried to give it their best and make a great game, but “sometimes it doesn’t happen.”

But scandals and lawsuits aside, what’s this game about, anyway?

Based on a story written by Mike Carey, the creator behind the X-Men: Legacy comic series, X-Men: Destiny takes place in San Francisco. Professor X is dead, Magneto is missing, but the X-Men continue to find peace between mutants and humans. This dream is quickly shattered when, during a peace rally, everyone is attacked by anti-mutant Purifiers possessing a high-level of technological weaponry. But why are the mutants being captured alive? What do the Purifiers have in mind, and from where did they get this super technology? You’ll need to play the game to find out.

X-Men Destiny ReviewPlayers select from one of three characters, each with their own backstory, and one of three powers. As a mutant newbie, you begin by assisting members of both the X-Men and Brotherhood of Mutants, but eventually make your way to joining one of the two sides. As a third-person action title, X-Men: Destiny also includes RPG elements, such as upgrading both your character and powers by collecting X-Genes.

 

What I Liked:

I have to admit, sometimes I’m in the mood for a simple button-masher. Reminiscent of DC Universe Online, you’ll spend the majority of your time hitting the square button (on the PS3) as you progress through the levels, while occasionally jumping, climbing, and using another button which activates a special power.

Now, I’m not praising the game for being a button-masher. Some people aren’t into that, just like some people aren’t into RPGs or first-person shooters. But sometimes when I come home after a rough day at work and want to play a game, but too tired to play anything complicated, then a simple button-masher is the ideal choice. If you ever find yourself in one of those moods, then X-Men: Destiny is the game for you.

The story is well-written, and heavily targets avid X-Men fans. If all you know of the X-Men universe comes from the movies, then you won’t be familiar with over half the characters in the game. Mike Carey did a great job of immersing the player in the X-Men world, with a story as though straight out from the comic books, filled with mystery and surprises, and even interesting back-stories for the three playable characters.

 

What I Didn’t Like:

Again, reminiscent of Duke Nukem Forever, the game felt unfinished. There were cutscenes which looked fantastic, and others that seemed forgotten to be rendered – such as buildings exploding in large polygraphic shapes surrounded in digitalised pixilated smoke. Occasionally, you’ll be watching Cyclops or Wolverine talking to your player-character, and all of a sudden, for a quick second, they spasm as if electrocuted. Or you’ll be moving the camera, and something white will flicker on the wall. This last bug wouldn’t be so annoying, if the collectibles didn’t happen to be small white markers. Each time you think you’ve found a collectible as you move the camera, you’ll waste a few minutes scouting the area, only to realize it was a flaw in the imaging.

Also – and this is more on a personal note – I wasn’t a big fan of the whole “choosing sides” thing. It was cool when you first experienced having consequences for your actions, like back in the days of Fallout 3 with its karma system, or choosing either the good or evil path in Infamous. But it feels to me this whole choosing light or dark sides has been done to death, to the point where it now feels like a cliché. Like anything else in a game, if it’s done well and creatively, then great. If not, then I’d much rather play a game from start to finish without worrying about two different endings to watch.

X-Men Destiny ReviewIn the case of X-Men: Destiny, you make choices which either link you closer to the X-Men or the Brotherhood of Mutants. It’s as though they took this cliché, and made it the whole point of the game. It’s even in the title: “Destiny.” Okay, so there’s these two different teams among mutants with different ideologies, that’s fine. But at the end of the day, your choices don’t matter. If you side with the X-Men, all it means is there are certain missions you can’t clear with the Brotherhood, and the final 2 minute cut-scene is a bit different. Otherwise, your “destiny” has no bearing on the game. In Infamous, for example, your character begins to look different depending on your choices, and the environment gradually becomes filled with either civilians rooting for you, or throwing rocks at you. But in X-Men: Destiny, nothing really changes depending on whether you side with the X-Men or Brotherhood. You appear the same, your powers are the same, and your enemies are the same. Now, I’m not saying they should have taken this “choosing sides” out of the game – rather, they should have integrated it more. Maybe have you battle one side or the other. Ironically, there’s a boss fight with Magneto – and it doesn’t matter which side you choose; you’ll still be fighting Magneto with Cyclops at your side.

 

Overall:

Much like Duke Nukem Forever, X-Men: Destiny is an average game with the potential of being more. Interesting concepts and a great story, but clearly left unfinished – and I don’t just mean the bugs. Yes, it’s basically a button-masher, and yes it will get repetitive. If you’re in the mood for that, then great. But if you’re looking for something a little more challenging – particularly mentally – then you might want to pass on this one.

As far as trophies go, X-Men: Destiny‘s Platinum isn’t too difficult. Two playthroughs, one of which on Hard mode, find some collectibles along the way, and use the chapter select to mop-up. Should take the average gamer only about 15-20 hours to complete.

On the plus side, if you’re an avid fan of the comics, then there’s plenty to entertain you, from the story to the vast number of character cameos. Overall, the game isn’t as bad as many other online reviewers stated, but it’s not that much better than Duke Nukem Forever. In the future, X-Men: Destiny may be more remembered as the last game developed by Silicon Knights, and for the scandals surrounding it.

 

written by Damon Finos

Duke Nukem Forever Trophy Guide

Editorial Team

Duke Nukem Forever Trophy Guide. Difficulty: **  A first-person shooter and sequel to the 1996 Duke Nukem 3D. Some collectibles to gather, and a playthrough on its hardest difficulty setting is required for the Platinum.

Game Name Difficulty Trophies Developer Country Bronze Silver Gold Online DLC
Duke Nukem Forever ** 51 3D Realms U.S. 38 10 2 0 12

Duke Nukem Forever

Duke Nukem Forever is an action first-person shooter which has been in development for 14 years, suffering from financial difficulties and even lawsuits. Development began shortly after the success of its prequel, Duke Nukem 3D released in 1996, and has since been tinkered and eventually picked up by a different developer and publisher.

Twelve years after Duke Nukem 3D, Duke has become a heroic icon after sending the aliens back to where they came from. But they've returned, and while the President of America continues to make failed attempts to strike peace with the invaders, Duke is up to his muscular arms in alien blood. They are back for revenge, and only Duke Nukem can stop the aliens from invading the United States.

Despite the long history of development, the game received poor reviews by most online magazines, with an average score of 50%. It was criticized for its uninspired graphics, loading time, and overall lack of fun.

For more information, check out our Duke Nukem Forever Review.

The trophies are very typical for a first-person shooter, except there are no online challenges. Many are story based, such as defeating bosses, while others are random challenges, collectibles (in the form of interacting with the environment to boost your Ego) and beating the game on certain modes.

The most frustrating trophies would be winning 7-0 on air hockey for the Air-Duke trophy, scoring 1,000,000 points on pinball for Balls Of Steel, and completing the game on Insane mode. But with patience and perseverance (and help from the guides in our Links page) anyone should be able to acquire this Platinum.

It's recommended you being your first playthrough on Normal difficulty, which isn't that much more difficult than Easy. This will unlock a new function on the freezing weapon, allowing you to fire clumps of ice - a handy weapon when attempting the Insane mode. Other features will unlock - such as infinite ammo and health - but DO NOT use them! They will block your trophies!

Also, once you acquire the golden pistol, keep it in your inventory during the rest of the game for the Gunslinger trophy. Follow the walkthroughs in our Links page to find all the Ego boosts, helmets, and phone messages during your game.

Once you've cleared Normal difficulty, you can use the stage select to mop up any trophies you've missed. Afterwards, select Insane mode and play through to get your Platinum.

IGN has a good Walkthrough, here:
http://www.ign.com/wikis/duke-nukem-forever/Walkthrough

For a quick video Walkthrough for finding all the Ego boosts, here's one by Powerpyx:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuRhaRJUtWw

And other video for the 3 helmets:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=210EZnMrFSo

Another for the location of all Phone Messages:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK_fbEhOvtg&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL66913F2E2A740003

And all 15 Catfish during the underwater level:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v3EmdWgOmc

A fantastic Achievement Guide (same as trophies on PS3) which includes a string of videos for each trophy, was posted by Josh:
http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2011/06/10/duke-nukem-forever-achievements-and-trophies-guide-xbox-360-ps3.htm

Bodigard has put together a great Trophy Guide which includes some videos, here:
http://www.ps3trophies.com/forums/showwiki.php?title=Duke-Nukem-Forever-Trophy-Guide

And blazenarutoshippuden has put together a good Trophy Guide, which includes a road map:
http://www.ps3trophies.org/forum/duke-nukem-forever/112998-duke-nukem-forever-trophy-guide-roadmap.html

Another good Trophy Guide, found here on Cheat Code Central:
http://www.cheatcc.com/ps3/dukenukemforevercheatscodes.html

And another Trophy Guide, by Jeff Mcalister:
http://www.gamesradar.com/duke-nukem-forever-achievements-and-trophies-guide/

Finally, here's a basic Trophy List:
http://www.yourgamercards.net/index.php/news.html/_/trophynews/duke-nukem-forever-trophy-list-r558

Duke Nukem Forever Review

Editorial Team

6 / 10 Banzai!s

The Game:

This simple first-person shooter has, in fact, quite a long history!

Following the success of Duke Nukem 3D in 1996, 3D Realms announced that a sequel was in development. Two years later, a trailer for Duke Nukem Forever was revealed at the 1998 E3 press conference. Just as the hype was growing, news of a release date faded. It wasn’t until 2007 when 3D Realms released a new teaser for Duke Nukem Forever. Then in 2009, the developer was downsized for financial reasons, slowing down its progress on the Duke Nukem sequel. As a result, Take-Two Interactive – who owned the publishing rights – sued 3D Realms for not completing the game they’d promised. As a result, Gearbox Software took over the project, with 2K as the new publisher. Finally, after 14 years, the game hit the shelves in June of 2011. Wow.

So what was the end result of this mess? A very mediocre shooter which scored average ratings of 50% across most online game magazines.

 

What I Liked:

Despite what many other reviewers said, I didn’t have any trouble with the controls. Mind you, back when I played Duke Nukem 3D, I was using the arrow keys on a keyboard and hitting the space bar to shoot. But I found the controls in Forever fluid enough that they didn’t inhibit the game.

Duke Nukem Forever ReviewSome of the “puzzles” were inventive. For example, driving a remote control truck through a maze of shelves to reach a battery, in order to push it through a small opening where you could reach it. Or positioning a statue of yourself to climb and reach the upper level of a room.

I also found some of the shrinking segments amusing, such as running around a hamburger shop, hopping on buns sizzling over a stove while shooting shrunken aliens and dodging splatters of mustard and ketchup.

Duke Nukem himself is an over-the-top caricature of those muscle-bound, Go-America type heroes from films of the eighties. And where would he be without those Schwarzenegger-like one-liners? While some of them might make your eyes roll, a few were quite funny. “Guess he won’t be in the sequel,” he says, after a soldier gives him a long deathbed speech. “Time to kick ass and chew bubblegum…and I’m all outta bubblegum!”

Well, maybe you have to hear the lines in context.

 

What I Didn’t Like:

The biggest problem I had – which many other reviews also stated – was the overall redundancy of the game. It’s a first-person shooter, but there are many moments in which you’re just running down empty hallways and turning corners, with nothing to shoot at. Compared to, say, Uncharted which was also a combination of shooting and puzzles, they alternated between the two fairly. In fact, whenever you weren’t solving a puzzle, you had to watch your step – because each new area brought enemies with deadly weapons and explosives. But in Duke Nukem Forever, it felt like walking through an empty hallway and climbing some ladders was meant to be a stage in itself – because there were so many stages where that’s all you did. In fact, except for a single boss, you don’t shoot anything until level 3! Why? It’s a first-person shooter. I wanna shoot stuff!Duke Nukem Forever Review

The other serious issue I had was the loading time. And Oh-My-God, let me tell you about the loading time! It takes 42.4 seconds to load each scene (yeah, I timed it) and 38.9 seconds to reload a checkpoint each time you die. Maybe that doesn’t seem long, but each individual stage is pretty short. And when you’re playing on Insane Mode, you’ll be dying a lot. Which means, almost half of your game play will be waiting for the damn thing to load! So make sure you’ve got a book or Playstation Vita handy.

Some of the dialogue in the “cut scenes” are ot only long, but boring. After entering the Duke Cave, you have to hear a long speech by the president, then your senior officer, before you can continue the game. The speeches weren’t umorous, nor informative. And there are many other instances of these redundant scens appearing. So I just muted the TV and played AKB48 on my Vita while I waited. You know, that says something about a game; where you need a book or portable console to entertain you while you play it.

And not to spoil the ending (which I don’t think is possible) but between defeating the final boss, and the credit roll, there’s only about 9 seconds of cut-scene. I’ve seen better endings on 1980’s Nintendo games. Believe it or not, the loading time is actually longer than the final ending! Wow. What happened? Did they run out of time? Was 14 years not long enough to tag on a better ending?

 

Overall:

I found Duke Nukem Forever to be a very mediocre game, through and through. While there were a few specific pros and cons which I mentioned above, everything about the game was merely average. The graphics were nothing groundbreaking, but not terrible. The story was typical. The overall fun-level was meh. The game wasn’t bad, but nothing special, either.

I realize my banzai! score is a bit higher than most online reviewers. Perhaps they felt disappointed with a highly anticipated sequel. But to me, it was just a game I grabbed off the shelf without any expectations. I didn’t feel it deserved worse than a six, but certainly nothing higher, either.

To me, Duke Nukem Forever is like a rice cracker. It doesn’t necessarily taste bad, but lacks any real flavour. Maybe it’s better to see what else is in the kitchen.

 

written by Damon Finos