5 Year Anniversary: WWF No Mercy

After much anticipation, it is now FINALLY time to review a game that I have trashed talked to death, AKI's WWF No Mercy for the Nintendo 64 for the 5 year anniversary of making online videos. Oh, and there will be cameos. OH ARE THERE CAMEOS!

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron Review

This review is based off of the PS3 version of the game.

A precious few franchises have garnered enough following to rival the loyal family of the Transformers. From G1 to Prime; Transformers has evolved from toys to block buster movies. Transformers: FoC is one of the latest entries into the extensive catalog of Cybertronian material and the sequel to the well received Transformers: War for Cybertron.


Storywise, FoC takes place seemingly immediately after the events of War for Cybertron. FoC opens during the last chapter of the game, with the legendary Autobot space vessel, the Arc, under heavy fire and siege by Decepticon forces. You start off using Bumblebee, struggling his way through the quickly degrading infrastructure of the Arc. He approaches the always climatic battle between Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, and Lord Megatron. The battle goes horribly south and quickly tunes us into the desperate situation the Autobots are in. The narrative rewinds to eight days before the opening events and the course of the game becomes an onward battle of attrition for energon and information.

Most of us know that the Autobots (and Decepticons) make it to Earth after leaving their beloved Cybertron. While the end is known, it doesn't make the journey there any less meaningful. High Moon did a great job of fleshing out the road to Earth during Cybertron's last days and made it impactful.

"Transformers: FoC is the apex of Transformers games to date."

The story is well paced and takes a lot of cues from Transformers the Movie. (The original animated version, not the Michael Bay blockbuster.) Hearing classic lines such as; "til all are one" and Rumble's "first we crack the shell, then we crack the nuts inside" were a classic touch that helped solidify the universe. They even played "the Touch" during the end credits. But the most riveting piece of plot was learning how the DinoBots came to be.

"Me Grimlock burn Prime puny butt!"

The controls for FoC are pretty much the shooter standard with the inclusion of character/event specific special abilities. The movement of the Cybertronians is a little clunky. A couple times I found myself fighting my own movement more than the actual enemies, which I particularly noticed with Optimus Prime and Megatron. But they are bigger guys and less spry than Jazz and Cliffjumper. The cover mechanic revolved around switching the shoulder camera and hiding behind various objects. A Gears of War cover system would have been a better fit and a smooth one, especially since the game virtually plays like robot GoW.

The gameplay varies depending on your character, which does a good job of changing the pace from the basic 'pew pew'. Optimus and Megatron are pretty straight forward, while Cliffjumper and Starscream's chapters revolve around stealth. And then there's Grimlock... Grimlock's chapter consists of blowing things up and beating the spark out of anything that comes near you till it's slag. Grimlock steals the show by far. He's so powerful they limited his time in Dino Mode to a rage gauge.


Even with all its glory FoC isn't without a bug or two. At least once per chapter (particularly with the faster characters and fliers) Jazz or Starscream would find themselves rocketing through the side of a wall and into oblivion, doomed to fall for eternity. Or in Starscream's case hover. At that point the only options was to restart from the latest checkpoint, which most often than not was only minutes before the mishap.

If you really sat down with it, you could probably conquer all thirteen chapters of FoC in one day. But for most folks it will probably be two to three. If you are just looking for a good time I'd recommend playing it on normal. If you want a challenge (and you're a shooter vet) you'll want to just start on the hard difficulty. It'll get a bit annoying as you die nearly instantly until you get some upgrades, but it'll be a bit more bang for your buck. Warning though, the last fight is ridiculous on hard. For your hard work; a horde mode called Escalation is unlocked after beating the game.

The multiplayer mode is impressive and toots a decent customization system. You can unlock armor sets of your favorite Transformers and mix and match to make your own bot. The modes are the standard run of the mill; Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, along with Conquest and Headhunter, which play like Territories and V.I.P from Halo, respectively.

In all, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is a strong game with a huge mythos to build off of and live up to. It accomplishes this in spades. Its shortcomings are easily overlooked for the polished veneer and care High Moon put into the game. If you are a Transformers fan you cannot pass this game up. Transformers: FoC is the apex of Transformers games to date.

out of 10

Darksiders II review!

Developer(s): Vigil Games
Publisher(s): THQ
Platform(s): Playstation3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Windows, Cloud (OnLive)
Genre(s): Action, Hack and Slash
Release: August 14, 2012 (PS3, Xbox 360, Windows), Late 2012 (Wii U)
Rating: Mature

You have not seen the story of the Apocalypse or the Four Horsemen told like this before! Darksiders gave us a vision of the End of Days in a way we could only imagine. The sequel delves further into the game mythos. Darksiders II follows the story of the most feared of the Four Horsemen, Death. The sequel coincides with the storyline of first game but follows what occurred in War’s story. The Charred Council has detained War for bringing about the Apocalypse and wiping out humanity to which War proclaims his innocence. Death, knowing War to be the most noble amongst them, rides to clear his brother’s name and, in turn, restore humanity.

The Pale Rider starts off already on his horse Despair with Scythe in hand as he rides hard into battle. You are thrown to the wolves in this opening tutorial to get you familiarized with Death’s combat mechanics. Let me tell you, the way that Death fights he might as well be called the “Pale Ninja”. The Reaper is far more agile and swifter than his brother War. He comes equipped with two small Scythes that he uses to dispatch enemies with ease. War was more of heavy hitter, exhibiting power rather than speed. Death is a contrast with his speed and agility. However, what really sets him apart from War is how customizable he is. Where War had only a few items and weapons, Death can use a variety of secondary weapons, such as an axe or hammer to deal massive damage, and items, like armor to increase his defense. The enemies you battle drop these materials upon their defeat. Customization in Darksiders II takes a page from RPGs. Outfitting Death with different weapons and armor changes his stats, giving you the freedom to make him into the awesome Harvester of Souls he is known as. Some materials will actually change Death’s appearance.

The world of Darksiders II is far more expansive that in the previous title with bigger environments allowing players more exploration. Since Death has his noble steed Despair with him right from the gate, traversing this open plane is more appreciating than in the first game where this could not be full explored since War is reunited with his horse Ruin late in the game. Graphically, the sequel is just as impressive as its predecessor if not more so. Bigger environment means greater attention to detail and very little was spared here. There are more puzzles and dungeons to solve than before that allow Death to continue his journey so long as he solves them properly, think of an RPG crossed with God of War. The element of side-quests also exists which play on the expression “scratch my back and I scratch yours”. Some NPCs will give Death a special gift or upgrade only if he completes their task whether he likes it or not. Some of these gifts are useful and some are not but all-in-all, the job has to get done.

PRO: Darksiders II takes several pages from other titles. Let’s start with customizing. I’m immediately reminded of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night when I saw the customize screen and how different items change different stats. Even the layout closely resembles SotN. Death can also use items to change his stats. Their effect varies upon the item used and the same goes for Death’s weapons and armor. Like Alucard did with swords, Death uses a variety of Scythes each with their own attributes. As awesome a game as the first Darksiders was, War felt limited in this aspect. He should’ve had a much larger arsenal than what was given to him. Another problem that was corrected was dodging. Death moves like the wind when avoiding enemy attacks AND he can do it mid-strike even with a heavy item. Thank Dante or Kratos for this one. War was pretty quick on his feet too, but his heavy strikes left him open for counters. Another detail in the combat mechanics is the seamless transition between primary and secondary weapons while fighting. Starting a combo with either one and finishing it with the other will lead to variety of attacks including Death combining his two Scythes into one and sending it whirling about, punishing his enemies with multiple strikes.

CON: There aren’t too many complaints about Darksiders II except sometimes the background graphics tend to lag when focusing especially in the forest area. The controls are still a bit lacking when riding on horseback and do not feel as tight as they should be.

OVERALL: Darksiders II is a fast-paced hack and slash, beat ‘em up that falls well into the genre along with games such Ninja Gaiden, God of War and Asura’s Wrath. Death is an amazing character with crazy combat skills, a wicked cool Reaper Form and a mean looking ride. There is so much going on in this game between the puzzle solving and open world exploration that, rest assured, you won’t be bored to…well, you know.

Darksiders II gets 4 scythe slashes out of 5.

See you on the next level! BrianM.