Wii - Castlevania Judgement

Reviewed By: Mindesyn, Byronic Gaming, Canada

Castlevania Judgement for the Wii is based on a well known gaming franchise created and owned by Konami called Castlevania.
Normally in the Castlevania series you star one of many vampire hunters, usually from the Belmont clan, and wield magical weapons in a side scrolling adventure through Dracula's demonic castle, Castlevania in order to kill Dracula. This game is more of a twist in the fact it is a 3D fighting game, that collaborates most of the heroes and villains through the franchises 24 year history.

Upon starting the game you are greeted with a very well done opening featuring an epic fight between the games two main protagonists Simon Belmont and Alucard. The graphics are well done for the scene, and it brings you into the Castlevania Gothic atmosphere.

However that's the highlight of the game. Upon starting the game, you have only the said two characters. You need to play through the game over and over again with different characters to unlock all 12 of them, 14 playable characters in all including one added just for this installment of the franchise, a mysterious man named Aeon whose power is time.

Playing through the various modes like Story, Time Trial, Survival, and the all new Castle mode wouldn't normally be so bad, the game's cut scenes, and voice acting is well done, the music is nothing short of masterpiece after masterpiece, and the whole experience (Being my first contact with the famed series) made me want to play the other installments. However the controls are just unresponsive, lagging at time, and awkward, the control layout on the Wiimote is at best unconventional, I played the entire game with the Gamecube controller, I tried the Wiimote/Nunchuk combo and the classic controller, but the Gamecube controller was by far the most manageable. To unlock all characters, and ability to use them, you need to play through the game about 26 times. Which becomes a chore with the controls.

Not only are the controls a bust, but the core gameplay mechanics are very shallow, basically you use basic attacks to string along a combo that is best used to spam to build up your hyper meter, to unleash a hyper attack, which is an epic, lengthy super attack, that is accompanied by a cut scene, these attacks almost redeem the entire gameplay, very well acted, and huge cinematic attacks that deal loads of damage are cool the first few times, but after playing the game so much and no way to skip the length of the attacks, they get old fast. On top of your Hyper attacks, regular attacks, and charge up attacks, you are able to pick up various secondary weapons, mostly projectile based, like holy water, crosses, daggers, and hearts.

The stages are interactive and hazardous as well, which adds another element into the fighting.
Some of the characters are incredibly unbalanced, and some are just impossible to use. Playing through the story mode and 'true story mode' is at times frustrating and annoying. Although the unlockables you get are pretty cool, you get concept art, (Done by famed Manga artist Takeshi Obata from Death Note fame) background music, and accessories, which you can add onto your favourite fighter's skins, and personalize them, a top hat on Dracula for instance. I believe the accessories were a way to customize your fighter for online play.

Too bad online play wasn't worth it, to say it was laggy was an understatement most fights were 5-10 second action followed by 5-10 seconds of frozen screens, and choppy battles. Dodging and blocking strategy was nonexistent with such a environment, basically all you do was spam super attacks and combos that a human player would have difficulty avoiding with a perfect connection let alone a choppy one. Which is a shame, because the online had good ideas that more fighting games should use. For instance, you have the options to fight in Ranked or Unranked matches with Friends, Randoms or a new Rivals option where you add people to your Rivals list if you found someone you had a good match with so you can find them again and sharpen your skills. Accessories were a nice add-on since there was quite a few of them. The other function of online was to connect your DS and Order of Ecclesia game to unlock bonus content, which I believe was just a secondary costume for the series latest heroine Shanoa.

The characters in the game were truly a good selection and the fact that the game is based on some time loophole that allows certain characters to interact with each other who normally wouldn't be able to added interesting commentary in the cutscenes, and made me want to play the other games to find out the history of each character. Although the games are notorious for being hard, the only hard part in this game was the Castle mode.

Castle mode consisted of going room to room on a predetermined map, and having handicaps or certain objectives to be met in order to move on. For instance 'Collect 8 items' or 'Kill all monsters' Which introduced the zombies, mermen, minotaurs, among other minor monsters. You go room to room on a preset path that is the same for every character, until you get to the last room and fight Dracula. Upon completing Castle mode, you unlock accessories, concept art, and other things to flesh out the game.

Overall as much as I enjoyed my first experience with the Castlevania series, I was severely disappointed in the game's controls, and expected more from a well known developer like Konami. Although a Castlevania game on the Wii has potential, it seems no one has an interest in pursuing something worthwhile with the series anymore. I enjoyed the characters and the music was perfect. Repetitive gameplay and atrocious controls ruined the experience though.

For Byronic Gaming I give this game 2.3 Holy Items out of 5

PS3 - Resistance: Fall of Man

Reviewed by: 007Ace,
Byronic Gaming, Canada

Resistance: Fall of Man, now there is a mouthful. This is a game I've been wanting to play since it was announced. Its original realistic, yet fantastic storyline was something I knew I would enjoy.

Having had a xbox, xbox360, and PC for years, I'm no stranger to the First Person Shooter. However I have rules to the types of shooters I'll play.

Im not a fan of war for the sake of war, and I don't really appreciate 'strategy'. I like to be able to run up to a guy smash him in the face, and move on without dying from a single stray bullet.
I like Sci-Fi, fantasy, adventure, action all that and Resistance puts it all together nicely.

The graphics are dated, I wont lie there, but not in the most obvious way. Theyv'e got great textures, the polygons are done well, the maps are open, and the physics engine is great. I found that it didn't have the typical shine, and over-bright, and reflection that we expect, and I'm not sure when exactly that became the norm.
The thing is, I'm not sure if that was on purpose because of the time this game takes place.
Moving on...
The weapons are smart and innovative, and there is nice flow to the weapons as well, you don't get a multitude off the start and just choose your favorites. You slowly but surely find (get handed) new weapons that will help you kill the baddies, and make your way through obstacles all that much easier.

I will admit Ive had some near controller tossing moments, but they were mainly in the first chapter of the game. I'm not going to tell you why that part is exceptionally difficult, because if your one of the very, very few people who have yet to play this game it may...
OK, I'll be honest, your health doesn't regenerate. there I said it. After the first chapter, however, it does. That's as far as Ill take it.
The controls are tight and everything handles like a dream. It delivers constant Frames/Second, and still looks great.
I love the story and Its twist on historical events. Especially the fact that America took forever to join another world war!
Online play is still full of people, and its 40 player maps work great, very little lag, which I couldnt say was true about that FPS on the 360... cough*halo3*cough ...which had deal breaking issues last I tried (couldn't connect to friends in the same town!)
The online maps are free now too, a definite perk to playing a launch title 3 years after launch :S

For Byronic Gaming, I give this title
4.0 Chimeran Skulls out of 5

Wii - No More Heroes

Reviewed By: Mindesyn, Byronic Gaming, Canada

No More Heroes for the Wii is the brain child of video game designer Suda 51 whom is also responsible for other titles such as Killer 7 for the Gamecube and Moonlight Syndrome for the Playstation.

This mature rated title for the Nintendo Wii stars the protagonist Travis Touchdown (voiced by Robin Atkin Downes) who is a 27-year-old American assassin and stereotypical otaku – his motel room decorated with professional wrestling and anime collectibles – living in near poverty in the motel "NO MORE HEROES" of Santa Destroy, California accompanied by his kitten Jeane (most likely named after his long lost love). He appears to have interest in Lucha Libre icons, as well as a moe driven anime series called Pure White Lover Bizarre Jelly; his apartment is filled with such mentioned merchandise. After winning a beam katana in an Internet auction he becomes a hit man. When he runs out of money to buy video games he accepts a job to kill Helter Skelter, also known as "the Drifter," which earns him rank 11 by the United Assassins Association, a governing body of assassins. Realizing that he has now made himself a target for aspiring assassins, he sets out to secure himself as number one in the UAA. He gets around on his exaggerated motorcycle, dubbed the "Schpeltiger." Located in the city of Santa Destroy where all the locations are named after pro wrestling moves.

This psychotic, over the top, action packed video game, was something I felt the Nintendo Wii needed to attract that 'hardcore gamer' audience. With all the blood and gore, crude humor, intense violence, sexual overtones, and strong enough language to get your TV banned by the authorities. It caters to even the most discriminating gamer. If you think the Wii library of games is for little kids and casual gamers, I suggest you pick up this title developed by Grasshopper Manufacture.

The graphics have a cell shaded style, that I think looks real sharp, combined with the cell shading, are blocky 8-bit style components such as the health bar, in-game menus, and the over world map (Which was troublesome at times)

The characters and the voice acting was superbly well done. I personally enjoyed every character in the game and Travis Touchdown's short yet humorous encounter with each one. Every assassin proves as the boss of a particular location, and each boss fight is diverse and interesting. Always working sarcasm into the violence of each fight kept the feeling light hearted yet intense enough to start sweating during the battles. Difficulty levels were about the right level 'Sweet' was Easy, 'Mild' was Normal, and 'Bitter' was Hard.
Sound effects were well done, the musical score was unique and memorable.

Control was one of the things that stood out for me, a lot of developers feel the need to force 'waggle' controls and use the motion sensing technology in ways that really makes the Wii look like a gimmick opposed to a respectable game console. No More Heroes, did it right, you swing the beam katana by tapping the A button, and when you want to finish off said opponent, a direction icon will appear, swing the Wiimote in direction showed on the screen and viola! Chances are you just decapitated a bad guy.

The entire game has a tongue in cheek, smartass approach to things, when you save the game, you save on the toilet (which made this gamer use 'save my game' as code for going to the bathroom) when you batteries die in your beam katana, you furiously shake it up and down (including the gamer shaking the Wiimote) in the fashion of masturbation. One of the most inventive and neat uses of the Wiimote was when you receive a phone call on your in-game cell, you put the Wiimote up to your ear, and the speaker acts as a phone where you can hear Sylvia give you advice on the boss. No More Heroes is always true to its own perverse logic - always proud to be a video game, always stealing liberally from the best of other genres, always loud and obnoxious. The mishmash of visual styles, music and the world’s most flamboyant dialogue has no comparison to anything else; it’s impossible to put the game in a box, except to say that it is unquestionably, undeniably, unequivocally No More Heroes, and you have never played anything like this before.

Santa Destroy has alot to offer when you aren't in the mood for mindless killing or advancing the plot. Its a GTA styled sandbox style, you can shopping and buy new clothes for Travis to wear, go to the gym and improve your stats, with his mentor Thunder Ryu. Go collect Lokitov balls scattered all over the map and take them to a drunk Russian who teaches you new moves. Do mini games, and missions at a place to work, or hang out in the NO MORE HEROES motel where Travis lives.

No More Heroes has minor flaws, some might say the game play is repetitive and the frame rate can get sloppy when you are hauling ass on your motorcycle, the graphics can look jagged and rough. Overall though, the cut scenes, and just the overall experience should be more than enough to make up for any small flaws the game regrettably has.

For Byronic Gaming I give this game 4.2 beam katana decapitations out of 5.