Play-Asia :: 25% OFF All In-Stock Items

July 12th, 2008, 16:32 Posted By: bandit

Think about summer, think about the beach, the sea and all that fun! Play-Asia.com is a sea of popular games, movies, discs and toys, come catch your long time favorites and discover lots more, join the many happy swimmers, sun bathers and octopus catchers at the seaside this summer!

Get ready to hit the beaches as the Summer Sale will commence from this very moment onwards towards the 20th of July, all in stock items will be reduced by 25% (yes you've read correctly, a whopping 25%!), just spot our Summer Sales mascot, the octopus, on our many product pages and catch him.

The octopuses are running loose throughout the website and only stay on a product page for as long as it is in stock. Some products are restocked regularly so octopuses come back every so often while others have limited availability so the octopuses never return once they are caught.

To avoid disappointment, get your baskets and water tanks ready and catch them as quickly as you can spot them to avoid disappointment. This octopus catching season is only going to last for a couple of days, start catching now and save plenty of cash in the process.

Disclaimer:

Please be reminded that the final product pricing will be confirmed during checkout on your last checkout screen. It is possible that the product price changes during your checkout process -ie. the last available piece of an item has been picked by another customer before you-, we highly recommend you to verify your price before confirming your order on the last checkout confirmation screen.

Restrictions applied to this limited time offer:

• The offer is only valid for orders placed between now and Monday, July 21st 00:00am (Hong Kong Time). Please refer to the counter and submit your order before time has run out.
• Each item eligible for the offer is marked with a "octopus icon" and the product page price already reflects the final pricing including discount.
• As the discount only applies to "in-stock" items, there's a chance that the product will be sold out and the price changed back during checkout process. Please make sure to verify your price prior to confirming your order during the checkout process.
• No further coupon codes may be applied to any order that includes at least one "in-stock" discounted item.
• The offer excludes video game systems and products that were released during the last 30 days
• The offer is not valid for items sold at wholesale discount.
• The weekly special is excluded from this offer.
• Different quantity limitations may exist depending on the product.

Play-Asia reserves the right to change or end this promotion without further notice. In case of any dispute, the final decision shall be made by Play-Asia.com. All orders are subject to Play-Asia's Terms and Conditions of Sales.

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Game Review: Civilization Revolution (DS)

July 10th, 2008, 16:32 Posted By: Shadowblind


Because my best review yet got deleted before it was even posted.

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Firaxis
Players: 1-2
Genre: Turn based Strategy
ESRP: $29.99

A revolution for handheld TBS games, in a good way.

I've been a Civilization series fan since the release of Civilization: Call to Power. Funny that I thought it was so great, since critics didn't. But I wasn't alone as it seemed, since it ended up being one of the best selling Civilizations of all time and...well never mind that. Point is that the turn-based Civilization series has always had a place in my gaming psyche. Civilization Revolution actually seems in a way like a step backward from the Civilization Revolutions out on the PS3 and 360. But that's easily to be expected from a handheld iteration of the game that was always speculated to just be a crappy console port like most DS games that are cross-console seem to be. Well rest assured Civilization fans that they didn't screw the DS version up. However, they did take it down a notch on features, as you could imagine(Did you really think that a handheld version of console game could possibly be as good?). The end result of these changes makes the game feel a whole lot like a mix between Civilization IV and Civilization II. You'll find out why in a minute.

Like past Civilization games, the point of the game is to build a Civilization from scratch, and win the game through either a Cultural, Military, Scientific, or Wealth Victory. Any one of these will lead you to Victory, though all of them take time to accomplish. About time. Previous Civilization games often took many, many hours, and often, days to win the game through some form of victory. It was practically impossible to beat it in an afternoon, much less a few hours. Civilization DS doesn't follow that same formula. I probably beat the Free mode, which was "The Game" for past Civilizations, in about 2-3 hours. That doesn't mean your through though, it practically means you haven't even begun. Each map in Free mode is randomly generated, so it has an infinite amount of ways your Civilization can go. This, combined with the ability to choose from a host of Civilizations, leads to not only a wasted afternoon, but a possible wasted month, depending on how much you like it. I mentioned how you can choose from many Civilizations to start your game. This isn't just for looks like the Civilizations of old used to have them. Each Civilization has its own skill about them that makes it more or less good or bad at whatever. The thing is, through out my play, the skills I had for my Civilization didn't seem to make much of a difference in the least, it didn't seem to help my opponents in the game very much either. I guess its to keep it as equal as possible, but that's where "honing your strengths" comes in. About knowing your strengths and weaknesses...this game has a pretty iffy learning curve.


It looks pretty complicated, but you'll get used to it fast.

Most Civilizations in the past had a fairly steep learning curve to them, and while Civ Rev is no exception, it does seem to be a bit less complicated this time around. Having played Civ Rev on the console and Civilizations in the past, I was able to jump in quickly to the games more sophisticated points,(government, science, city management blahblahblah) but I soon found that most of them feel like they've had a downgrade to them. Not a downgrade in features so much as the game does more of the annoying stuff for you.(This may be why it is so much easier to play through the game so fast) For example, after almost everything that happens, an advisor pops up and gives you a hint as to what to do next. However, you can disable this from the option menu. When that's taken away, you soon figure out that the reason it feels more downgraded is because the menus are so simplified. Each thing tells you exactly what they do and how they do it, whether they be wonders, building, units, etc. Rather then this ending up being annoying, it becomes helpful, and allows the game to progress more smoothly. Now something that hasn't been simplified at all, or maybe its been OVER simplified, is battling.

Probably the biggest part of any Civilization game are the battles. if your a fan then you know most of the issues already: Weaker enemies constantly beating stronger enemies, defensive terrain sometimes counting for nothing, and the oh-too-often knight destroying the helicopter.(Yes, it does happen. Still.) But Civ Rev gets a little extreme on it. At one point in the game I was attempting to take over an enemy city. They had a single archer defending it and I had about 7 legions, 8 riflemen, 2 knights, and 3 cannons standing at ready to be thrust in fierce battle. As I send each of them, the battle animations take place, and my jaw just drop out of frustration. Each and ever one of my units could not score a SINGLE hit against the archer. Each time I attacked the archer shot one arrow and nailed them before they even got close. Now this doesn't mean the whole battle system is screwed up, though it seemed like that when I tried. It meant more that archers CANNOT BE KILLED. At first i thought it was just because I was using short range attackers, but when my riflemen couldn't score a shot, I got pissed. Good news is, where all 20 of my units failed, I sent a tank and mauled that archer. That really was the main time that something that screwy happened in the games battle system. Granted, the battle system suffers from the same problems of the past Civilization games, but ranged units seem to be good against just about everything in this game. Close combat unit battles seem to be the most fair thing about the combat. Now about the graphical aspects of the combat system...

As you can probably tell from the screnshots, this game isn't the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. If anything it reminds me of Civilization II for the PSX; it was a great strategy game but its graphics looked like chop suey. But when it comes to battles, this game sports some really great looking sprite-animated battles. Unlike past(way past) Civ games, Civ Rev takes off Civ IV with real time battles when engaged. (And if your losing, you can even retreat before they are all dead) While some of the earlier units sprites look questionably good, later sprites like Bombers and tanks look very nice when blasting off rounds in a certain archer's forehead. While battles look pretty good, the rest of the game has some pretty awful graphics. All sprites, and all without changing animations for directions, they all look bad. Now you can take it from me though-- the more you play the game, the less you'll care. I was less then thrilled to play this game when I first started, but after about 30 minutes the graphical mess didn't even bother me a bit. Its weird; its like the strategic element of the gameplay makes your mind forget all about the other aspects of the game. Still, whether you forget them or not, they are still there, and many of you won't be shutting your mind out to the graphics. Well, it is supposed to be all about thinking right? So images shouldn't matter much, right?.....uh...

Well for the most part anyway, though this game really could have used some better sprites, since it could have easily handled them. Unlike graphics though, the SFX is something you probably won't block out of your head. Civ Rev has some very clear and nice sound effects. Knights and warriors beating each other up have the distinct sound of steel against metal, and clubs against shields. I guess this falls mostly under the category of "battle sounds" though. As for other sounds, well, there aren't too many. However, for most of your accomplishments, such as building a city, or creating a unit, or finishing a wonder, they all have some charming SFX to each of them. Something that i wouldn't mind muting indefinitely is the terrible, half-muttered, half-gibberish that your opponent Civilization leaders say when you talk to them about war, money, advances ect. But that may well be a good thing, because it gives you a definitive reason to want to destroy they're civilization. As far as music goes, there really isn't whole bunch of it here. The few numbers are during battle sequences and the menu screens. Both of them have some nice sounding tunes to them, but each is too short to really make you care.


They are no match for us, now, or ever!

Now Civilization isn't all about battling, as I probably made it sound, though it is a major part. You have to make your own Civilization flourish before you can try to take down other civilizations. The key to this is city improvements, or buildings, that you construct in your cities. As you make more buildings, you cities will begin to produce more gold, more production to build things faster, more science to find new stuff, new food to thrive..a good lot of things. About science. Like past Civilization games, science is quite possibly the single most important thing in the game(Though if you go all toward science, you'll still fail. You need a good balance.) As you learn more things you are able to make more advanced weapons and improvements, and even wonders. Now these things are where Civ Rev really shines. the strategic elements to this game are great, especially considering its a handheld game. Most handheld TBS games are stripped of most of they're best and most in-depth features. Like I said earlier, it is stripped of a good bit of features from the console versions, but it has more then enough to make it an authentic Civilization experience. If you do things right, and keep the right balance at the right times, your Civilization will thrive. If you create a terrible balance, or don't balance enough toward a certain thing at a certain time, you probably won't make it to your next turn.

Lets finish this up, so my entire review doesn't get lost again...

Major Selling Points:
-- Great handheld strategy game
-- Very deep and intuitive gameplay
-- A faithful Civilization Recreation
-- Random maps means infinite gameplay

Major Breaking Points:
-- Horrible Overworld graphics
-- Some unfair battle issues
-- Feels a little stripped

Story: N/A
Since there really isn't a direct story, this can't really be a score
Graphics: 2.5/5
Pretty horrific. The sprites even aren't that good, but battling they look fairly slick.
Sound: 4/5
The sounds that are here sound great. Music is good too, but short, and doesn't play very often.
Gameplay: 4/5
Despite some combat issues and some stupid A.I., Civ Rev is a deep, fulfilling strategy game. The touch screen can or can't be used, your choice.
Replay Value: 4.5/5
Random maps means tons of replay value in free mode alone, not even counting the many scenarios and WiFi play.
Value: 4/5
A great strategy game that is well worth the price, but only if your into strategy games. otherwise you may get bored, fast.
Overall:
A great, if scaled down, Civilization experience to fit in your pocket. It has the makings of a good TBS game, and is a great start for the genre on handhelds.

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Pre-Post Game Review: Civilization Revolution (NDS)

July 10th, 2008, 04:24 Posted By: Shadowblind


Because my best review yet got deleted before it was even posted.

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Firaxis
Players: 1-2
Genre: Turn based Strategy
ESRP: $29.99

A revolution for handheld TBS games, in a good way.

I've been a Civilization series fan since the release of Civilization: Call to Power. Funny that I thought it was so great, since critics didn't. But I wasn't alone as it seemed, since it ended up being one of the best selling Civilizations of all time and...well never mind that. Point is that the turn-based Civilization series has always had a place in my gaming psyche. Civilization Revolution actually seems in a way like a step backward from the Civilization Revolutions out on the PS3 and 360. But that's easily to be expected from a handheld iteration of the game that was always speculated to just be a crappy console port like most DS games that are cross-console seem to be. Well rest assured Civilization fans that they didn't screw the DS version up. However, they did take it down a notch on features, as you could imagine(Did you really think that a handheld version of console game could possibly be as good?). The end result of these changes makes the game feel a whole lot like a mix between Civilization IV and Civilization II. You'll find out why in a minute.

Like past Civilization games, the point of the game is to build a Civilization from scratch, and win the game through either a Cultural, Military, Scientific, or Wealth Victory. Any one of these will lead you to Victory, though all of them take time to accomplish. About time. Previous Civilization games often took many, many hours, and often, days to win the game through some form of victory. It was practically impossible to beat it in an afternoon, much less a few hours. Civilization DS doesn't follow that same formula. I probably beat the Free mode, which was "The Game" for past Civilizations, in about 2-3 hours. That doesn't mean your through though, it practically means you haven't even begun. Each map in Free mode is randomly generated, so it has an infinite amount of ways your Civilization can go. This, combined with the ability to choose from a host of Civilizations, leads to not only a wasted afternoon, but a possible wasted month, depending on how much you like it. I mentioned how you can choose from many Civilizations to start your game. This isn't just for looks like the Civilizations of old used to have them. Each Civilization has its own skill about them that makes it more or less good or bad at whatever. The thing is, through out my play, the skills I had for my Civilization didn't seem to make much of a difference in the least, it didn't seem to help my opponents in the game very much either. I guess its to keep it as equal as possible, but that's where "honing your strengths" comes in. About knowing your strengths and weaknesses...this game has a pretty iffy learning curve.



It looks pretty complicated, but you'll get used to it fast.


Most Civilizations in the past had a fairly steep learning curve to them, and while Civ Rev is no exception, it does seem to be a bit less complicated this time around. Having played Civ Rev on the console and Civilizations in the past, I was able to jump in quickly to the games more sophisticated points,(government, science, city management blahblahblah) but I soon found that most of them feel like they've had a downgrade to them. Not a downgrade in features so much as the game does more of the annoying stuff for you.(This may be why it is so much easier to play through the game so fast) For example, after almost everything that happens, an advisor pops up and gives you a hint as to what to do next. However, you can disable this from the option menu. When that's taken away, you soon figure out that the reason it feels more downgraded is because the menus are so simplified. Each thing tells you exactly what they do and how they do it, whether they be wonders, building, units, etc. Rather then this ending up being annoying, it becomes helpful, and allows the game to progress more smoothly. Now something that hasn't been simplified at all, or maybe its been OVER simplified, is battling.

Probably the biggest part of any Civilization game are the battles. if your a fan then you know most of the issues already: Weaker enemies constantly beating stronger enemies, defensive terrain sometimes counting for nothing, and the oh-too-often knight destroying the helicopter.(Yes, it does happen. Still.) But Civ Rev gets a little extreme on it. At one point in the game I was attempting to take over an enemy city. They had a single archer defending it and I had about 7 legions, 8 riflemen, 2 knights, and 3 cannons standing at ready to be thrust in fierce battle. As I send each of them, the battle animations take place, and my jaw just drop out of frustration. Each and ever one of my units could not score a SINGLE hit against the archer. Each time I attacked the archer shot one arrow and nailed them before they even got close. Now this doesn't mean the whole battle system is screwed up, though it seemed like that when I tried. It meant more that archers CANNOT BE KILLED. At first i thought it was just because I was using short range attackers, but when my riflemen couldn't score a shot, I got pissed. Good news is, where all 20 of my units failed, I sent a tank and mauled that archer. That really was the main time that something that screwy happened in the games battle system. Granted, the battle system suffers from the same problems of the past Civilization games, but ranged units seem to be good against just about everything in this game. Close combat unit battles seem to be the most fair thing about the combat. Now about the graphical aspects of the combat system...

As you can probably tell from the screnshots, this game isn't the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. If anything it reminds me of Civilization II for the PSX; it was a great strategy game but its graphics looked like chop suey. But when it comes to battles, this game sports some really great looking sprite-animated battles. Unlike past(way past) Civ games, Civ Rev takes off Civ IV with real time battles when engaged. (And if your losing, you can even retreat before they are all dead) While some of the earlier units sprites look questionably good, later sprites like Bombers and tanks look very nice when blasting off rounds in a certain archer's forehead. While battles look pretty good, the rest of the game has some pretty awful graphics. All sprites, and all without changing animations for directions, they all look bad. Now you can take it from me though-- the more you play the game, the less you'll care. I was less then thrilled to play this game when I first started, but after about 30 minutes the graphical mess didn't even bother me a bit. Its weird; its like the strategic element of the gameplay makes your mind forget all about the other aspects of the game. Still, whether you forget them or not, they are still there, and many of you won't be shutting your mind out to the graphics. Well, it is supposed to be all about thinking right? So images shouldn't matter much, right?.....uh...

Well for the most part anyway, though this game really could have used some better sprites, since it could have easily handled them. Unlike graphics though, the SFX is something you probably won't block out of your head. Civ Rev has some very clear and nice sound effects. Knights and warriors beating each other up have the distinct sound of steel against metal, and clubs against shields. I guess this falls mostly under the category of "battle sounds" though. As for other sounds, well, there aren't too many. However, for most of your accomplishments, such as building a city, or creating a unit, or finishing a wonder, they all have some charming SFX to each of them. Something that i wouldn't mind muting indefinitely is the terrible, half-muttered, half-gibberish that your opponent Civilization leaders say when you talk to them about war, money, advances ect. But that may well be a good thing, because it gives you a definitive reason to want to destroy they're civilization. As far as music goes, there really isn't whole bunch of it here. The few numbers are during battle sequences and the menu screens. Both of them have some nice sounding tunes to them, but each is too short to really make you care.



They are no match for us, now, or ever!


Now Civilization isn't all about battling, as I probably made it sound, though it is a major part. You have to make your own Civilization flourish before you can try to take down other civilizations. The key to this is city improvements, or buildings, that you construct in your cities. As you make more buildings, you cities will begin to produce more gold, more production to build things faster, more science to find new stuff, new food to thrive..a good lot of things. About science. Like past Civilization games, science is quite possibly the single most important thing in the game(Though if you go all toward science, you'll still fail. You need a good balance.) As you learn more things you are able to make more advanced weapons and improvements, and even wonders. Now these things are where Civ Rev really shines. the strategic elements to this game are great, especially considering its a handheld game. Most handheld TBS games are stripped of most of they're best and most in-depth features. Like I said earlier, it is stripped of a good bit of features from the console versions, but it has more then enough to make it an authentic Civilization experience. If you do things right, and keep the right balance at the right times, your Civilization will thrive. If you create a terrible balance, or don't balance enough toward a certain thing at a certain time, you probably won't make it to your next turn.

Lets finish this up, so my entire review doesn't get lost again...

Major Selling Points:
-- Great handheld strategy game
-- Very deep and intuitive gameplay
-- A faithful Civilization Recreation
-- Random maps means infinite gameplay

Major Breaking Points:
-- Horrible Overworld graphics
-- Some unfair battle issues
-- Feels a little stripped

Story: N/A
Since there really isn't a direct story, this can't really be a score
Graphics: 5/10
Pretty horrific. The sprites even aren't that good, but battling they look fairly slick.
Sound: 8.5/10
The sounds that are here sound great. Music is good too, but short, and doesn't play very often.
Gameplay: 8.3/10
Despite some combat issues and some stupid A.I., Civ Rev is a deep, fulfilling strategy game. The touch screen can or can't be used, your choice.
Replay value: 9/10
Random maps means tons of replay value in free mode alone, not even counting the many scenarios and WiFi play.
Value: 8/10
A great strategy game that is well worth the price, but only if your into strategy games. otherwise you may get bored, fast.
Overall: 8.4/10
A great, if scaled down, Civilization experience to fit in your pocket. It has the makings of a good TBS game, and is a great start for the genre on handhelds.


So what do you guys think? Help me find any spelling issues or problems with it, since I'm pretty bad at both This new format im using is reminiscent of IGN and Gamespot. Plus, it makes reviewing a whole lot easier and more fun.

I'll post in an hour or two on the official reviews forum.

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Game Review: Stepmania (PC / Xbox / PSP)

July 8th, 2008, 06:24 Posted By: Eviltaco64

Game Review: Stepmania (PC, Xbox, PSP)
Publisher: MIT
Developer: MIT
Genre: Rythm video game
Players: Up to 2

We've all heard of the Konami Arcade game Dance Dance Revolution, and it’s numerous sequels and ports.
A lot of us have it on our home consoles, breaking it out during parties or even using it for exercising. I’m here to review a homebrew PC clone of DDR. This clone is called Stepmania.


The Default Stepmania Menu

Now some of you have probably heard of Stepmania. It isn’t at all new, in fact it was first released in November of 2005!
But it’s free and open-source, with I-Pod, PSP, and Xbox ports, and is guaranteed to entertain.
Now my Stepmania experience is on the Xbox, with StepmaniaX. It was relatively easy to set up too. The downside that I can think of is that you have to go and find songs, announcers, background animations, etc, to get it working properly.

It immediately worked with the DDR PS2-GC-Xbox Dance Pad and plays/feels exactly like the real thing, with the only problem being that if you are using the Dance Pad, it can be a tad bit annoying setting up the controls at first. However, once you’re finished setting the controls up, it works great!


Doesn’t it look exactly like DDR?

Stepmania is also very customizable. From background animations to arrows to songs, you can make it what you feel is best, and if you don’t like what’s available on the internet, you can learn how to make your own content and custom songs!

Overall, Stepmania is free, (unless you want the optional but recommended dance pad, which is only $20) and will keep you entertained with the thousands of songs you can add to it, I recommend you check it out. With that said, I definitely recommend the PC and Xbox versions, with the only cons being the way you have to setup the game itself and the controls, making it a lot more difficult to work with at first compared to DDR. The PSP and iPod versions however, I really dont care for myself. Even though these ports are very similar to the original PC version, you must keep in mind that it IS a dancing game, that you should be using a dance pad for. Honestly, what’s the point of playing a dancing game if you’re going using a d-pad or a click wheel?

So, to wrap this up:
PC and Xbox -

PSP and iPod -

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Review: HDfury Gamer Edition HDMI to VGA

July 8th, 2008, 01:20 Posted By: bandit

HDfury Gamer Edition HDMI to VGA
Manufacturer: HDfury
Site: Buy from Shop.01Media
Price: $112.64

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Game Review: Hellboy: The Science of Evil (PSP)

July 5th, 2008, 05:34 Posted By: Shadowblind

I'm in between reviews at the moment, so I'm taking a little review break with another review. It makes sense to me at least. (I can't find another game to review right now...this should be relieved by at least July 8.) Besides, I've been a Hellboy fan for a bit of time.

Hellboy: The Science of Evil
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Chrome Studios
Genre: Action
Players: 1

This game is currently being used as a coaster.

In Hellboy: Science of Evil, you take the role of Hellboy, a demon operative of a secret underground group who hunt down all things supernatural. You play through 6 chapters following the villain Von Brampt to try and stop him from accomplishing his evil goals.

There's nothing to write here.
No witty comment. Not approving or disproving remark before this paragraph about this games story. The title just about explains it all. The "story" here, if you can even call it that, is the same thing as taking 15 different, totally unrelated ideas and shoving them together and using scotch tape to make them stay together. Alright, enough of that. The story in Hellboy: Science of Evil can hardly be called a story. Its composed of 6 broken and terribly composed chapters, almost all of which have an ending even before the climax. An example can be seen as far back as the first level. You find yourself as Hellboy in a distant cemetery in the-devs-only-know-where chasing down a witch who has stolen a great deal of precious artifacts, and killed all the people who tried and stop her. Now let me stop for a minute to explain something about the cut-scenes these messages are conveyed through. At first glance you may well see a stylish cut-scene, almost even a little bit reminiscent to the comic book. Now just wait until it starts moving. the poorly thrown together, no-voice acted cutscenes are the epitome of a bland and inexcusable attempt at piecing together a comic book style presentation. Characters look extremely different in style from one another, almost as though half of each cutscene was drawn by a different artist. The small feat they do manage to accomplish is get at least a little bit of the point of each scene across, but for the most part they simply cause more confusion. Now back to where we were, with the witch and the cemetery. The entire level basically changes course, and only follows Hellboy as though he's bent on escaping rather then catching the witch. And even after you complete the entire level, the last scene shows you overlooking a village and falling off a cliff, without so much as even a mini-boss fight. Wanna take a wild guess at level two? Probably not, since your most likely wrong. None your fault, though, as you somehow wind up in Japan, where you've apparently entirely forgotten anything about a witch and death and mayhem and blahblahblahblah. This games story is the most broken I've seen since Ghost Rider the game.

Prepare to fight these guys, over and over and over and over...

Hellboy has never looked worse
The strangest thing about the fact that this game looks depressingly terrible is that the original movie actually got many awards for its great cinematography and costume design. The comic book has gotten many awards for great artistry. So you'd think, at least by a little, that the devs here would have at least put a bit more effort into the graphical component to this game. Well besides story, this is easily its worst part. And what better way to explain then by example. Textures disappearing: I walked past a door at one (or more) points in the game, only to find the door wide open when I couldn't access it. So I walk back three steps to go in only to find that the door never moved in the first place. So I ended up just having to leave the ghost door in place, without ever knowing if it was opened or closed. Clipping issues: When throwing or finishing off enemies, they have strange tendency to clip straight through the floor and fall under the level. Also, when thrown they also sometimes go straight through a solid wall. Fence posts and the such move back and forth straight through the ground as you go away and to them. Bland menus: The death screen isn't an extra screen at all. It simply brings up a menu no different then the main menu and asks me if I want to start checkpoint over. All menus look exactly the same. Back to normal style graphics section explanations. The HUD actually doesn't look all too terrible. the colorful bars of health and Rage bar offset an often boring and repetitive background. About backgrounds, each level does sport a different background, for a while at least. The problem with each is they tend to be bland and overall are extremely linear. They also share the exact same pale color pallet, which looks nice for a while, but loses its small charm before the first level is even over. The different levels do have a little desperately needed change in this game. Every enemy has the same battle and death animations, as well as Hellboy himself-- while he sports a semi-decent character model unlike the rest of the 3D models-- has glitches and slow animations. Its truly painful. Just watch a Youtube video or something to see what I mean.

A half-baked soundtrack with a no-baked anything else
Sound. As far as music goes, the music isn't too easy on the ears. But the good part about the music is that it somehow doesn't get annoying after you've heard it for a good 30 minutes, which is probably the only thing in this game you won't get sick of after 30 minutes. Sound effects are a whole different matter. Repetitious and bland, the sound effects are probably 100, max(considering most games have well over 1000, this isn't very good) Every enemy has the same death grunt, battle grunt, attack grunt, and just about every enemy has one or two sounds. The ones who have two sounds are usually either the bosses or hard enemies. Really, I can't think of anything else to say here. No voice acting whatsoever. For the better though, the dialogue is terrible.

Best character model in the game. Not terribly bad, but its about 10 times better then the nest best.

3 hit max combos = tedious Repetition
This game can hardly even call itself a button masher-- the fighting is so slow, boring and tedious that you don't mash buttons, you more just tap one every other second. I guess its still classified as a button masher for all intensive purposes, and this game is the embodiment of a one-button game.(Dragon Sword has more button usage then this game, and its a DS touch-screen only game.) The max chained attack you can get in this game (that i can find) is 3 hits, and even after you get more combos unlocked they all consist of 3 hits as well. This is the part I've been most curious about in this game-- when the developers play this game after they finished making it, what were they thinking? Did they think that in a world of games that have 100 hit button combos this game was even vaguely acceptable? I can never understand that in a game. Isn't the creation of a game supposed to be a long process that takes months and usually years? If so what on earth? Did the developer rush the company to throw out this game? I don't know...but I'll get back on topic know. Sigh. The enemy intelligence is somewhere(on a scale of 1 to 10) between 0 and 1. The enemies will blindly rush at you in this game, and have exactly no strategy or other objectives whatsoever. The don't try to defend themselves or run away if they are almost dead. They are like the homing enemies of the 8-bit days--they will just rush you, leading to vast annoyances. Among these annoyances is that fact that after every hit you take you will be stunned, so if you are surrounded by 4 enemies and get hit, your most likely gonna get hit at least 4 more times before you can move again. Another gameplay fault is the lack of depth perception on deep pits. Often you'll fun to an edge to jump only to figure out the hole was 2 or 3 steps closer then you thought and fall in. While the gameplay is terribly marred by generic button mashing, A.I., and other classic low-budget game issues, there are some good parts about it. These "good" parts consist of being able to shoot your gun, Samaritan, and the Rage bar attacks. Rage bar basically powers up Hellboy for a few seconds, allowing you to take explosive shots at the enemies before it wears off. And you gun is only good because it quickly picks off smaller and annoying enemies. Other then that...puzzles. The only puzzles in this game are extremely linear, bland, and straightforward. the answer is horrendously obvious, as the answer is almost always right beside the puzzle itself. They shouldn't have done this to Hellboy. That comic doesn't deserve this...

Unlockables are supposed to be rewards right?
The games replay value takes one form, and that's of unlockable art and interviews. I've unlocked some art, but the thing is that I have no idea how I did it. Furthermore, the art itself wasn't even all that good. Unlocking trailers and interviews won't get any to bother either, unless they are a death-bent Hellboy fan. Even then they'll probably pass it up. I haven't unlocked any interviews, but given the budget, I'm willing to bet they aren't worth it.

Alright.

Major Selling points:
-- Its Hellboy

Major breaking Points:
-- Terrible button-mashing gameplay
-- Graphical problems distort everything around you
-- Repetitious sounds and no voice acting
-- Extremely broken and inconsistent story
-- Defective comic-book style cutscenes

Story: 2/10
I'll tell you when I find it.

Graphics: 3/10
Broken and glitch full backgrounds, textures, and enemy models. Sometimes they look a bit good, but that's primarily bosses, and even they're animations are terrible.

Sound: 2/5
Music is bland and boring, but easy on the ears(somehow, anyway.) Sound effects are terrible, and voice acting is non-existent.

Gameplay: 1/5
Terrible, broken button-mashing. Enemies are stupid, and extremely frustrating annoyances are everywhere

Replay Value: 0.5/5
Besides the 4 hour campaign, there is nothing. And the campaign is terrible.

Overall:


Hellboy is a classic example of an extremely rushed game that reeks of poor development, low budget, and all around terrible and lazy efforts. They soiled the name of a great comic book character. I think I'm done here for now, I'm gonna go take an aspirin...

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Game Review: Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 (XBLA / PSN)

July 4th, 2008, 14:32 Posted By: Darksaviour69

Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3

Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Backbone Entertainment
Player: 3 (on/offline)
Genre: Action Adventure
Platform: XBLA (Reviewed), PSN

Overview : It is the second sequel to Capcom's Commando arcade game, first released in 1985 and then ported to nearly every system of the time, (including the BCC Micro which I owned, played and sucked at). Lucky for me this game is a lot easier (or I have gotten a lot better, but I doubt that) as its obviously aimed at western audiences with it modern American animé/cartoon stylised graphics.

Features :

Only on Xbox LIVE: Players who purchase Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 will be automatically eligible for the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Beta test: (only until August 20th or sooner)
• Three playable soldiers with their own unique characteristics.
• Multiple weapons, including rocket launchers, grenades and shotguns.
• Controllable co-op vehicles
• Support for up to three players simultaneously, both online and on a single console.
• Four difficulty levels, which automatically adjust based on the number of players in the game.
• Comprehensive scoring system.
o Score Multipliers allow players to maximize their points tally.
o Online Leaderboards

If you played any of the old school shooters back in the 80s / early 90s, you will know what to expect. Not much of a plot, but we all new that it was never going to be like that. The characters basicly a rip of Arne (Commando film) and Rambo, but they have also have a token black girl, to cover both gaming minority's, how PC of them. The presentation is nice and slick, and general well done, personally I like how the jazzed up the pause menu. But as for in game graphics your not going to be blown away, its just simple, nice and bright, cell shaded graphics.

But this game was never about great story or great graphics, its all about old school gameplay, and thankfully they have gotten this right. There is no strategy involved here, bar shoot exploding barrel and destroy enemy spawn points, This is about making thing go BOOM and mowing down thousand of soldiers (its ok, they are bad guys, you can tell because they are not American). Just like the films the games are inspired by, this is just plain dumb fun.

Surprisingly, it slows down the very odd time in 3 player + explosions, a game with this graphic level, you would think, should not have this problem.

The campaign is short (complete all levels in 1 hour) and repetitive (lack of enemy variety) but vehicle sections and a few uninspiring bosses breaks up gameplay. Multiplayer and secrets helps replay, but not enough to keep you playing the game for more than a few hours.

Old school high scoring could have helped longevity, but because of constantly respawning enemies, high scores can be achieved by slowly playing though rather than using any skill making the highscore leader board pointless. The game is also much harder in solo, than in multiplayer even thought it ups the amount of enemy's for when paling in co-op. You can select which stage you want to play until you complete the whole game, which can be annoying if you died in the last level, but then that just the old school way.

Conclusion: So, it wants to be an old school game, and it succeeds. But that's the problem, these games were great back in the day, but only if you played them for a few hours. But at 800 MS points ($10.00/£6.80/€9.30), I don't think its good value for money. But if your a fan of the original games, then its worth trying it. Or if you are a huge Street Fighter Fan you have bought it already and have been handing my ass to me via Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Beta. (I really suck a Street Fighter).

Pros:
- Old School gameplay
- 3 player Co-op fun
- Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Beta

Cons:
- Short
- Repetitive

Overall:

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Game Review: Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (DS)

July 3rd, 2008, 01:19 Posted By: Shadowblind

Because Ninja Gaiden on DS = Awesomeness. At least the idea does.

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword
Publisher: Tecmo
Developer: Team Ninja
Genre: Action
ESRP: $39.99

Ninja Gaiden Lite.

Once again, you must take up the role of famed ninja Ryu Hayabusa, one of the last remaining of the Dragon Lineage. The Greater fiends plot to envelope the world in darkness and chaos, and Ryu is the world's last hope.(again.) Fight through a multitude of levels from tombs to volcanos as you battle to stop the fiend's ambitions.

A Ninja's story. Rated PG.
Ninja Gaiden isn't known for its amazingly in-depth storylines, or just about anything pertaining to the story. Rather, its known by its console versions for having absurd stories, that are often so wacky that they become good. Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword isn't so easy to classify. Unlike the console versions Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is aimed at the younger age group, obviously in response to the DS main customers. This means that the story won't be bloody, or nasty, or violent, or erotic, or whatever the normal Ninja Gaidens tend to do. Bare in mind though, that this isn't necessarily bad. The story itself isn't near as random as the other NGs, and its character design shows a good bit of cartoon influence. The characters each look as though they came out of an anime rather then the normal getting-to-realism look that Team Ninja primarily does. Still, some of the story is linear and you-saw-that-coming-miles-away, often during parts that are supposed to surprise you. As far as a 6-14 year olds game goes, though, the story is perfectly fitting. Cartoony characters combines with the classic 'caring' hero(I'll be honest with you. I do NOT see Ryu Hayabusa caring about pretty much anything but his duties. This game thinks otherwise.) with, while its still a bit unique, a linear and stereotypical story makes for a very well marketed NDS game.

Again--damn, Ninjas look good
Dragon Sword did for the DS what Team Ninja does for just about every console and game--created great looking character models with very fluent animations. Ryu looks spectacular, and even in his fast flurry of attacks you can see some very nice animation if you look closely enough.(Animation in a game has always been my favorite graphical part. If animation looks crappy, then...no.) Enemies are a bit different. While still sporting some decent looking Character models, compared to Ryu, Momijii and the bosses, they don't look as good. Mainly spider-ninjas and ware-wolves, but all around they do still look nice. Just not great. Enemy animations are still in tact though, as you can relate each one to its root animations in Ninja Gaiden Xbox. Most, anyway. Backgrounds are diverse and colorful, but interaction is non-existent. Unless there is a puzzle or a door, there is zero interaction with the environment. The freestyle running of the Ninja Gaidens has been taken out. There is a reason for this though. The backgrounds look 3D, but don't be too fooled, too fast. Most backgrounds, with a few exceptions, are fully 2D textures. That doesn't stop them from LOOKING 3D though, and to this day, the look has always been what matters most, not the technical ideas in place. As for technical stuff, even in the biggest battles I have never experienced a framerate drop. Clipping is very rare, and the whole engine is rather solid. Seems most DS game engines are that I've played. Ninpo effects are actually sprites(most of them), but they all look well done, and do give you the feeling that you have a little control over nature itself.

Insert Rocky Balboa Music here.

Ninja Gaiden Black, sound off
Sound. The music mostly consists only of music from the original NG. Some lighter hearted songs were added in, probably because of the games younger audience. These are mainly in the Hayabusa village and other non-action parts of the game. But lets get something straight--it may be recycled, but that doesn't mean its all too bad. Annoying to my nerves, simply because I've played NG black before, but to most, it will seem like a decent and well placed soundtrack. Nothing amazing, but it certainly works for what it does. Sound effects also have been recycled, but there are a good bit of new ones in there. All dialogue is text; no voice acting. While it may be a shame to have no voice acting considering the job of the voice actors in the first NG it may or may not be so bad. You decide.

Young Ryu? Nope. Nintendo Ryu.

A furious fighting action title
To let out a summery of whats to come: This game rocks. Gameplay. The core gameplay is just like the console NGs, i.e., slashing bashing and dicing enemies, while enjoying some light platforming puzzles. One may thing at first that Ninja Gaiden, being a usual button-masher game wouldn't fit well at all on the DS. Errrrr. The touch screen was made for these kinds of games. Unlike the normal NGs, Dragon sword has you play with only one hand. You hold the DS like you would a book, and use the touch screen vertically. To attack opponents you merely need to slash them with your stylus. Though it isn't that simple. Certain stylus movements string certain combos, and this game has combos aplenty. Despite having only one melee weapon, the Dragon Sword(I know, I know. I really wanted the Vigoorian Flails in there too.) there are multitudes of combos to pull off, including fan favorites such as the Izuna drop and the Flying Swallow. Buying upgrades for the sword and some extra combo scrolls boost the amount of attacks you can do. The only real annoyance with the combat system is to block you must press a button, often the left bumper where your other hand will be. But to roll, you have to touch a part on the screen, often making Ryu roll in the wrong direction. Besides that minor problem, the melee combat is one of the best on DS, though they really missed out without multiple melee weapons. Like past NG games, you also have ranged weapons, such as the bow and shurikan. Except this time, neither is useless and neither is boring. Simply tap the part of the screen you with to throw/shoot your weapon. Yes thats right, shurikan doesn't suck this time around.(Yeah I know, right?) Ninpo magic is like Ninpo on steroids. You can (and always do) take out many enemies with each massive ninpo you use, and there is a wide variety of element based magics in this game. Not all is good though. At most you can only use Ninpo one time before you must find another dragon statue to recharge it. About the dragon statues. They save, give you full health, and recharge your ninpo. However, in this game you can do that an infinite amount of times. Enemy combat is like watered down Ninja Gaiden. Nowhere near as hard, the enemies pose little threat until about chapter 6, where it starts to build up in difficulty. Even though it gets a bit challenging later on, by comparison this game has nothing on its console brothers in the way of difficulty. Enemies still do have cheap grab attacks, as per usual. Boss battles are linear, but fun. As conclusion to this paragraph, I'd say its probably one of the best DS action title I've ever played.

Bosses are big and scary, but they're generally pushovers.

2 Ninjas, 2 play-throughs. Maybe?
After you beat the game, you get hard mode, which you won't beat. You also get some art. Finding all the Purple birds may be an addicting challenge. Momijji's campaign is fun, but short. Even Ryu's campaign is rather short, take only about 5-8 hours to beat, depending on how thorough you are. This game will last you a good time, but its not exactly the kinda of the the others were, where you had a huge multitude of unlockables. Trade it in after your done, but not until you DONE done.

mmmKay.

Major Selling Points:
-- Fast and furious Ninja Action
-- Looks great, good design
-- Authentic Ninja Gaiden experience(unlike Sigma. You know why.)
-- Endearing, if wacky, story

Major breaking Points:
-- May prove not difficult enough
-- Only a single melee weapon
-- Watered down Ninja Gaiden 2


Story: 3.5/5
Really not too bad. It does have some overly linear plot developments though, and is aimed mainly on the younger crowd.

Graphics: 4.5/5
Spectacular characters and design. Backgrounds look good, which really matter. Interaction doesn't exist.

Sound: 4/5
Its recycled Ninja Gaiden, sure. So?

Gameplay: 4.5/5
A great, authentic Ninja Gaiden experience. Deep hack and slash fighting, and some light puzzles.

Replayability: 3.5/5
There really is little to do after the first play through. The second campaign some may want to do though.

Value: 4/5
$40 may be a bit steep, but this is one of the DS finest. At least deserves a rent. And yes, Blockbuster does rent out NDS games.

Overall:


It may be Ninja Gaiden Lite, but the touch screen works something great, and all the ideas of NG are in tact. A great action game on DS; easily one of the best.

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Game Review: Kirby Canvas Curse (DS)

July 2nd, 2008, 06:44 Posted By: fg-54

Published by: Nintendo
Developed by: HAL Laboratory
Genre: Action
Number of Players: 1
Price: $29.99

PODCAST REVIEW BELOW!

Overview:
OH NO! Kirby has been cursed! well, lets show everyone how we roll! in this amazing kirby game!

Gameplay:
Unlike the rest of the kirby games, here, you control kirby by drawing a path for him with your stylus, this takes some getting use to, but later on you will be able to fluently move him arround.

You can tap kirby to make him attack and this will also absorb the power of anyone who has it, instead of sucking them in, he rolls faster.

As always, you play as a ball of fat and air named kirby, except this time, you have been cursed, so now your arms and legs have been removed turning you into a perfectly circular sphere.

Now that you are a sphere, you are trying to get revenge (and maybe your limbs too) but to do this, you must first go through a series of levels with bosses every three levels you complete; There are three different types of bosses, and you can choose which one to fight. (don't wanna spoil so I won't tell what they do)

In each level there are three hidden medals you can collect to later spend away on extras from boring songs, to new playable characters!

Gained some weight haven't we kirby?

Graphics:
Even though the graphics are 2D, they look great, a game like this doesn't need 3D graphics, it is after all a side scroller. The backgrounds look colorful even when they are suppose to be dark, the characters are sprites, simple, but they fit in with the game's art style.

Animations are not often seen, characters walk and explode, very simple, it seems as if they had $5 to make the animations you see in the game.

This scene may have been scarry without the pink ball riding the rainbow.

Sound:
The game has fun and happy music for the most part, but it is mainly overshadowed by the sound effects, you really won't notice that it is there unless you listen for it.

Replay Value:
With unlockable characters and hidden medals, you will want to go back and play through some of the maps again (after you are done with a level, you can play it again at any time) it IS after all fun to play as a different ball of fat every now and then.

Seriously, don't be fooled, at first you will find nothing extra to do, but it is all in the medals, collect medals = collect fun. and then off course if you beat the game there is a special extra feature added.

Conclusion:
It is too bad this game has no multiplayer, but it DOES have good ammount of content outside the main story mode,that is, after you beat the game.

and even if it didn't have the extras, story mode alone is one great reason to get it.

Difficulty:

Spoiler!

I give this game a:


mah review survey

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Game Review: Dementium: The Ward (DS)

July 2nd, 2008, 01:39 Posted By: Shadowblind


With an a new "card" for my DS, I have been inspired to go back to my forsaken DS and try out more DS games. Safe to say you can probably expect more NDS game reviews from here on out.

Dementium: The Ward
Publisher: Gamecock
Developer: Renegade Kid
Genre: Survival-Horror FPS
Players: 1
ESRP: $29.99

An ideal example for later Horror games on DS. Sort of.

Game Summary
In Dementium: The Ward, the take the role of an unnamed admitted patient to a mental hospital. After awakening in a daze, you find yourself one a blood-soaked bed in one of the rooms. Thats not the only blood-drenched feature you find in the hospital, as you soon realize that this may either be a hospital, or a butchery. Fight with up to 8 different weapons against a myriad of horrific monsters as you strive to understand the secrets of Dementium: The Ward.

You wake up in the hospital...
And thats as near close to a story as you get in this game. The storyline is one thing thats not a major seller for Dementium. As far as interaction with others in this game, you get absolutely none, which makes you depend on various notes and clipboards in the mental asylum to figure out the story. Even then, even after you pieced everything together, you'll find yourself thinking "Oh...really. Well thats a twist...I think." Suffice to say, the storyline never goes beyond a single idea to make it good, and even that idea is a bit overused. I think I should back up a bit and talk about the beginning. The Prologues in games are usually one of the single most important parts of the storyline, where it sets the setting, most characters, and the general idea and gist that the game was trying to make its players feel. Not this one. The beginning is literally just you being rolled in a wheelchair through a blood-and-guts filled hospital with demonic little girls and zombies in it. This lasts about 15 seconds. Next thing you know, you wake up on your nasty bed, and go to beat up some monsters. Now this game does have cut-scenes(surprise.), but for the most part, they are only there to introduce you to new monsters, or to fight a boss. There is almost no spoken dialogue in the game, and the written dialogue is usually just confusing. If you get horror games for the often-superb storyline, then well, this game isn't for you.

Gore - Now in 3D
And I'm not talking about the tree hugger. Dementium is one of the few games to sport a high res 3-dimensional engine on the DS. Enemies too are fully rendered in 3D, and they are probably the high point of the 3D engine in Dementium. The enemies, although they may look at sometimes more funny then scary, are very well done for a DS game, and look even better then most N64 game enemies. Sometimes the enemies can look downright stupid, though. Take for example the screaming heads, or "banshees". Scary, sure, but not because of how they look. They look more similar to a cats head with madusa snakes then a decapitated woman's head. Regardless of a few fimply dumb looking enemies, Renegade Kid showed devs that full 3D is not only possible on the DS, it can be made both good, and solid. By solid, I mean that there are little to no clipping issues, glitches, textural errors, framerate issues, or pop-in. The engine is about as hard as a rock. Anyway. Environments are mainly texture based, as just about every wall and floor in the game is the same white wall with blood on it. Courtyard levels prove a little more varying, with some walls looking decrepid and old, and others having rusted surface on it. Now about the darkness. Renegade Kid went beserk when it comes to shadowing areas. To put it simply, when you fire at most enemies, you won't know whether you hit them or not. The flashlight illuminates these areas, but to shoot your gun you have to switch back to a gun, thus making you basically blind for far enemies. It has a severe case of Doom 3-itus to it, except you can't even melee with it this time around. But to be truthful, this game really wouldn't be scary at all without every room being dark as hell. Still, it becomes very frustrating, especially when fighting zombies that spit acid further then you can see. Environments are littered with, well, litter, among other things. Blood splashed trash cans, hospital beds, medicine cabinets and many other hospital-esqe appliances pervade, and often impede, the world of Dementium.

The 3D engine at work. And it does some good work.

Creek...creek...*piano solo*
Sound. The music is one of the major defining features to make this game a horror game. Creepy organ and piano music plays while grunts of zombies and screams echo the hallways. There is an option to turn off the music though, in which case the game does became a good deal less scary. Though the scariest thing here is that most of the music all sounds exactly the same. Another odd designer choice is that some certain rooms don't have music at all, and I still can't well figure out what sets these rooms apart from the others. Music is the scary to this games sound department. Occasionally the sound effects offer a little shiver, but it was too apparent that Renegade Kid was arbitrarily trying to make it scary, so most of the enemies just come off sounding funny. Can't blame them too much, creating a scary handheld game is quite possibly one of the hardest things a dev can do. To that end the sound and music does make the game a good deal scarier--but that doesn't mean that either is very good. They both work though they will get annoying.

I bet he's friendly.

A bit broken, but survival horror at the core
This game may very well be the first well made attempt at survival horror for the DS. Coming into a world of E and E10 rated games pervading the DS's huge library of games, Dementium sets itself apart, which can be seen even from the cover art(Which looks conspicuously like Final Doom. Anyone else catch that?). Dementium is a survival horror game to its core. It has the classic ideas at heart, such as limited ammo, few health packs, and a barrage of demonic monsters that don't seem to care how much ammo you have to waste on them to dispatch them. Ammo does become a bit more plentiful in the later levels, but you'll find yourself running past most enemies to try and conserve ammo for the most part. Beginning weapons are about as imaginative as my toenail, but later weapons are, while not exactly creative, welcome changes from the boring pistol and shotgun. now, the core shooting isn't exactly Metroid Hunters. Control works great, but some issues with the crosshair and where the bullet goes present problems. And even if the enemy is in visible sight, if your crosshair isn't red, you can't hit him. Most enemies, specifically the banshee, take an unnecessarily long time to kill with weapons, and with ammo very limited, that becomes a frustrating problem. Boss battles are rather fun, but some normal enemies are even harder then the bosses. Some intelligently designed puzzles are thrown into the game, but some become an annoyance to try and complete, such as the one to obtain the buzzsaw. You have to backtrack a good bit in that level, and every time you reenter a room, all the enemies you previously slain are respawned, to make you waste as much ammo as possible. Don't take this all the wrong way though; the shooter mechanics are a bit broken, but by no means bad. They worked well and fine, but many smaller annoyances can ruin some to most of the experience. Another thing is de ja vu. Most levels look extremely similar to one another, and may very well be, seeing as there are little to now landmarks to make me think otherwise. Core level design is done decently, but repetition may get on your nerves.

Puzzles are consistantly numeric based.

One way through, no two ways about it
Replay value isn't Dementiums strong point. No multiplayer, no branching stories, and as far as I can tell, no different difficulties. The story mode is a decent length, but after that theres very little to do. I can't see myself playing through this a second time, and I doubt you will be either.

Alright.

Major Selling Points:
-- A full survival horror adventure
-- M rated on the DS
-- Good scary game
-- Great 3D engine

Major breaking Points:
-- Small Story
-- Sub-par FPS control
-- Repitition shows itself later in the game

Story: 2/5
Even with notes and booklets and whatnot, the story behind Dementium is, at best, flat.

Graphics: 4/5
One of the best 3D engines on the DS, and some of the best enemy models. Pity most environments look exactly the same.

Sound: 3/5
Music becames repetitive, and sound effects prove to be the main scary part of the game. Music is a bit scary though.

Gameplay: 3.5/10
An addition to the needed FPS genre on the DS, though the shooter mechanics need work. The survival horror is definatly there.

Replay Value: 2.5/5
A bit of a decent sized champaign mode, but after that you are done. Totally done. honestly though, If multiplayer was in here, I wouldn't want it. The shooter mechanics would be painful.

Value: 3.5/5
It really depends on how starved for a horror game you are on the DS. If your dying for one, heres your man. if not...well that comes into personal preference.

Overall:


Dementium raises no bars on the horror genre, but for DS, it sets a standard. Still, a bit better of an FPS nature to it wouldn't have hurt any.

Audio reviews canceled.

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