Recent reviews by BinaryMessiah

The Good: Excellent fight mechanics, well designed maps, all four classes are fun to play as, great graphics and sound, fun modes

The Bad: Not enough content overall, some server instability, not enough classes, controls have a steep learning curve

While everyone is playing Black Ops II and Battlefield 3 there is a little multiplayer game called Chivalry: Medieval Warfare. This knight-in-shining-armor online only game pits players against each other and lets them have at it with deadly swords, crossbows, flaming pots, shields, and various other Camelot era weapons. This is a different multiplayer game and will keep you hooked for dozens of hours.

There’s no story here at all so don’t worry about that, this game doesn’t need a story. You open up the game and you are greeted with a server list. There’s a tutorial that shows you the ropes of this game. There’s a bit more to it than just swinging around weapons. Each one has range, damage, and speed that you have to think about. In a small arena you probably want a short and fast weapon, while the more open maps you should use a javelin and a giant polearm. There are three basic attacks which are overhead, side to side, and jab swings. You can feint attacks as well to trick your opponent which is a key move you have to learn to master. You block, but you have to time it and you can’t just block aimlessly. You have to be looking at the weapon or the block won’t really connect. This is really a knight simulator and the game is just so much fun.

It doesn’t stop there though, there are some projectiles. The bow is great to use and has an arrow cam which helps you adjust your aim. There’s also a crossbow but reloading is very slow and you can’t see around you when reloading. Larger classes get axes to throw, while smaller ones get knives and daggers. I found a strategy where I’d use up my projectiles and try to get in some kills that way before going in. There are 4 classes, Man-at-Arms, Knight, Vanguard, and Archer. The Vanguard is the biggest class and can kill in just a couple of hits but is extremely slow. He, and the Man-at-Arms, have a charging attack that will devastate anyone in its path. If you use a kite shield with these classes it protects you from rear attacks which is actually how I died the most. I would be battling an enemy and I’d get creamed by two guys coming up from behind that I couldn’t see or hear.

Some levels have traps in them that you can activate to help your team or whittle down someone’s health before going in for the kill. Each class is a lot of fun to play and I found myself constantly switching between them unlike other multiplayer games. I just wish there were more classes. Four isn’t all that much, and there aren’t enough maps. Torn Banner is putting out free content, but it’s been slow coming since release last year. However, I still find myself coming back and playing a few rounds at least once a week, the game is very addictive.

The game modes are also lacking. There’s just Team Deathmatch, Free-for-All (Deathmatch), Capture the Flag, and Dueling which is 1v1. There are a couple more, but these are typical modes found in other games. One mode that is unique to this game is a siege type mode where you use battering rams, trebuchets, and various other long-range siege weapons to break into the enemy’s fortress and take it over. That is probably the most fun. On one map my team was trying to push a battering ram through a small village. We were trying to fight off the other team and it was a constant back and forth. Once we got to the front doors their archers made easy work of the battering team because their moat didn’t allow us to surround the team and defend them. We just had to do archer battles or hang back and wait for people to come out.

As it stand, Chivalry has proven to be a very popular and well made multiplayer game. The graphics are fantastic and everything looks superb. Hopefully Torn Banner can continue to dole out new content to make players happy and continue playing.

--Score: 8/10

Modern Warfare gets the bad rep of being the game that sheep flock to. “Only morons play it” some people say. “The only people online are 12 year olds”. The problem is that those are true, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t a fun game. Sure, the game became too mainstream to everyone and their mom has played this, but it doesn’t make it is a bad game or series. What makes the game tiring is that nothing really changes. Modern Warfare 3 feels like Modern Warfare 2.5. Not much has changed from the second game other than the campaign and a visual upgrade. There are even recycled maps from the second game!

The campaign is a disappointment because it just doesn’t feel as awesome as the past two games. It feels like a gallery shooter more than ever and has very little challenge. The epic set pieces aren’t as grand as previous games, and have great potential at first, but no climax ever happens. Levels are really short without the varied gameplay clips that are thrown in. The story is confusing if you haven’t followed the games until now, but you aren’t missing much. The story between Captain Price and Soap MacTavish are interesting, but it just falls flat in the end. The campaign is entertaining at best and a lot of fun, but it isn’t solid like the past two games. What you are mainly here is for multiplayer because that will keep you coming back for more.

The layout is like all previous Modern Warfare games without much change. You can customize your loadout, callsign, emblem, and unlock new items through ranking up. The only new additions really are how you score. Things like rescuing people and a few other things. To be honest the controls and feeling of the entire game haven’t really changed much. There’s a few tweaks here and there but it doesn’t feel like an actual sequel. The weapons are a little different, but everything is just the same when it comes to how you unlock them. There are a few different kill streak rewards like the IMS and a few others, but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it right? There are a few different perks and that is really it. The maps aren’t designed as well as the past two games and aren’t as memorable. There are a couple of maps in here from MW2 like the Airport map which is a classic, but the others have to just grow on you. There are a lot more modes in this one, but I was missing the modes from Black Ops which I felt should have been included. One in the Chamber was a favorite of mine, but the whole money system from Black Ops is also missing. I would rather buy upgrades than wait to unlock them, but what can you do?

The graphics received a huge upgrade and look decent on PC, but look pretty bad on the consoles. There’s a slight texture upgrade, some SSAO effects, and anti-aliasing but they are all very minor. You don’t need a powerful rig to run this game maxed out. There are a few cool scenes in the campaign, but overall this doesn’t feel like a true sequel, but more of an expansion. Multiplayer is super fun and most players will pour dozens of hours into the addictivness of it. There are a few complaints about the multiplayer such as when you start. You are fighting people who are level 80 prestige and have all the best stuff, so don’t get discouraged. Quick scoping is a thing people complain about where you can look down your scope almost instantly which is considered cheating by some. They fixed this by making it a perk, but if you play Battlefield 3 you will notice the difference.

Modern Warfare 3 has a lackluster single player campaign, and not much has changed in multiplayer. The new maps are fun but not as memorable as past games.

All those World War II shooters we endured for an entire decade felt like a war on its own. Shooter after endless shooter bombarded our systems, and then there were the really bad ones in between the Call of Duty and Medal of Honor yearly releases. Call of Duty 2 was highly anticipated because it was the actual sequel to the award winning original. Does it stand out like the first game did? Is it full of cinematic finesse and finely nuanced mechanics? Not really.

There’s not much of a story here because it’s based off WWII. Black and white footage with a dull narrator telling you about different theaters of the war, then there’s the typical journal entry during the load screen, nothing interesting at all, and even when the game came out I was sick of these WWII shooters. What does Call of Duty 2 build on? Nothing, it’s just more of the same, but at least it has high production values and it does the same stuff right. The game has you following three different soldiers from the Russian, British, and American side. One thing I did like was that you get to play a different side of the Normandy beach storming and that’s the Rangers. They climbed up the cliff side trying to shut down the German pill boxes and various artillery so our troops stopped getting slaughtered on the beachhead. Call of Duty 2 tries to tell the smaller stories in the war which is a nice change of pace.

The same weapons are here that you have shot a million times. Lee Enfield, M1 Garand, Mp40, MP44, Sten, and various others. Of course not ALL WWII weapons are here, but I wanted to see some of the more obscure ones like the Browning or BAR. At this point in time it was just about better graphics and who’s weapon textures looked the most realistic. Call of Duty 2 delivers on the visuals and was a benchmarker much like Crysis is now back in 2005/2006. It was one of the first game to support SLI and really pushed PCs and made you get those $500 graphics cards. It was a must have for PC owners, and was also a GPU seller. With that aside, the textures look great even today and the visuals really pop. The sound is great as well with gunfire chattering in the distance and soldiers yelling all around you. It may seem dated today, but you can really see how much the Call of Duty series hasn’t evolved. There’s striking similarities to the Modern Warfare series because it’s all the same, shoot anything that moves.

The game can be pretty easy at times, I could just rush into a building and blow everyone away with one clip and survive. I still find it painful to know that grenade physics are still really bad and bounce around like rubber balls. There are various things I just really can’t stand about these shooters and that’s the lack of realism. When I shoot enemies blood doesn’t even come out, where’s the gore and violence? Brothers in Arms was the first WWII shooter to use this violence in the genre, but Call of Duty just feels like some sort of censored theme park ride.

CoD2 had a huge multiplayer following, but sadly no one’s online anymore. Even so, it’s just a typical online shooter and isn’t anything special. I was really disappointed to find that CoD2 wasn’t as cinematic as it could have been and just felt the same throughout the whole game. Blow up this door, defend this position, destroy that mortar nest, kill this Flak 88 crew. It’s the same stuff we play in every single WWII shooter and nothing ever changes. Sure it was mindless fun, but I have come to realize why I was so glad everyone moved on.

8-bit style games are growing in popularity and Bit.Trip has been delivering excellent games for quite a while now. Runner was my favorite in the series but was relentlessly hard, even early on. Runner 2 fixes these issues by making levels more fluid and by adding a checkpoint halfway through. The game is mostly the same, but with added obstacles and better graphics.

The game plays roughly the same as the last one. Watch Commander Video and his pals run to the right while you jump kick and dance your way to the end of the level. Some added obstacles are a four-way diamond that you need to press the corresponding button when you get to each corner. Another obstacle is a loop-de-loop that you use the right analog stick to follow your character as he runs inside. Various obstacles are introduced as the game progresses and by the end you need to be quick and have all these memorized as soon as they pop up. I actually never felt overwhelmed by having to remember too many abilities, it felt just right. Levels have you ducking, jumping, using your shield to block flying blocks, kicking stop signs, and even kicking some in the air as well as while sliding. The abilities are timed to a catchy 8-bit soundtrack that is even better and richer than the last game. As you move along there are gold bars to collect as well as red plus blocks that add track to the music as you move along.

These elements are what everyone loved in the first game and they stayed in this one, but the game is just more forgiving. Honestly it was more fun because I never even got to the second level in the first game. Runner 2 features bosses at the end of each level that are pretty fun and very challenging. There’s a new path feature for levels that change the difficulty depending on which path you choose. Red and green arrows will point to which path is which, the red path usually has hidden chests that unlock costumes as well as Retro Cartridges. These 25 retro levels are actually in 8-bit like they were ripped straight from an NES game. Very charming and fun to play.

You are also scored by doing everything in the game. Dancing is one ability that adds 2,000 points with each move. I just found the whole game very addicting and couldn’t put the controller down. Rarely did I find a spot where I was stuck and even rarer were occasion where the game’s own design got in the way. I would fly by something so fast that I would die several times before realizing what was going on and what I had to do. The whole game is just super fun and challenging and very rewarding. If you get all the gold bars and the 4 red plus signs in the level you get to shoot yourself out of a cannon at a target to get a Perfect+ score. Very challenging but fun.

The graphics look amazing with each of the 5 levels being unique. My favorite was The Bit.Trip which was level 5. You can see other Bit.Trip games being played in the background as you run along. My biggest disappointment were the lack of extra characters. There are 5, but what about Super Meat Boy and other characters from the last game? I wanted more honestly. The PC version at least gets a little extra flair with depth of field and slightly better lighting effects. This is just one artistically stunning game.

Overall, Runner 2 keeps what everyone loved in the last game and adds a lot more depth and more layers of fun while being more forgiving. There are lots to collect and a ton of challenges to complete while you play. There are a few levels that were hampered by their own design flaws, and I just wish there were more unlockable characters.

The Good: Ever changing environments makes the maps interesting, the modes included are fun, whimsical graphics, fast paced action, 24 players

The Bad: Everything feels floaty and unbalanced, seeing endless blocks will hurt your eyes after some time, only 4 classes, limited amount of modes, no reward system, shoddy hit detection, no customization of any kind

I normally don’t like Minecraft clones because they are pretty bad, but Ace of Spades looked exciting. The 8-bit style graphics with a Call of Duty multiplayer base seemed exciting, and it is, for maybe the first few matches then it gets boring. Ace of Spades lacks modes and classes which would make this game much better. Hopefully more content is slated for the game, but as it stands it feels very bare bones.

You can pick up to 4 classes which are heavy machine gunner, sniper, assault, and engineer. These are cliché FPS classes and the game really needs more or at least a way to make your own classes. There is no customization to speak of, which is really boring, but what is here is fun for a while. There are a few modes such as Team Deathmatch, Diamond Mine, and Zombies to name a few. I love Team Deathmatch so I went in here first. Playing with up to 24 other players was really fun, I dived in as a machine gunner and started fragging the other team. I soon realized that the spade comes in handy to dig your own fox holes or holes in walls for your sniper rifle. The environment is ever-changing and this is something that can make online fagging really unique and fun. You may run across a building then 5 minutes later it is completely destroyed forcing you to change tactics. I soon realized that you aren’t given a fair enough amount of ammo to start with and ammo drops are very scarce. The sniper rifle has 4 round clips and the reload time is really long, so there are some balancing issues.

I started to see the issues during my first match of Zombies. Players can climb on top of the level (on the edges) and just kill everyone down below. You have to take your blocks and make a floating path up to stop them. I also found you can get lost forever if you start digging in a wall of a level. I spent 4 minutes trying to dig my way out. That isn’t fun at all. This game needs barriers and limits on things to make it a more balanced FPS game.

Once you play around with the four classes and stick with one you will venture off into other modes like Multi-Hill or Demolition. These modes are fun for a while, but after maybe 6-8 hours online you will get pretty bored. The game just feels very stiff and uneventful. There are no rewards for killing anyone (not that they are necessary), but there is no incentive to even go back in after a while. I honestly felt the aiming was a bit off and floaty and you can jump way too high. The art style is nice, but seeing flat blocks everywhere will hurt your eyes after a while, not to mention a lot of people are tired of the Minecraft rip-offs and clones. If the developers spent more time on this game it could really stand out on its own.

As of today the servers are pretty empty. They were really full when I first got the game, but now you’re lucky if you can find one or two full matches. This game has so much potential, but it feels half done. The hit detection doesn’t feel right, the guns don’t feel right, and the lack of classes, modes, and rewards will bore player early on. I recommend waiting for some major updates before purchasing, but if you really want a Minecraft type fragfest then go ahead.

--Score: 7/10

The Good: Excellent story, characters, and choices, the ending is great

The Bad: The whole game works against you, extremely hard, the beeping collar is not a good mechanic, cramped and boring to play in

I have a feeling the Fallout series has a curse that the first DLC release isn't very good. Dead Money tries to do things with the game that it can't do, and it makes the DLC very hard, and some times boring, but the story, characters, and underlying reason why you're in the Sierra Madre are great. You start off by following a signal to the Sierra Madre Casino, but then you're knocked out and a collar is put on you. You're told to find three people to help you open the casino and bypass it's defenses.

The three characters are great to talk to and learn about. Dog/God is a Super Mutant with schizophrenia, Dean Donimo is a British stage actor turned ghoul, and Christine is a mute who was tortured. After you find each character you must take them to their designated spots in the Villa. This is the second part of the DLC, but by the time you get here you'll have cried up a storm. The game features heavy stealth and hand-to-hand combat so people who put points into the classes will breeze through this. There are guns, but the ammo is scarce, but people who invested in energy weapons have no shot here.

The ghost people are extremely hard to kill even if you are at level 30. You're mainly forced to use melee with bear trap fists, spears, and knives. If you invested in guns you're going to have a real hard time here. It doesn't help that all your equipment was taken away and you stuck with the few armor pieces in this whole 8-12 hour DLC. It's light armor and it sucks, but it's better than nothing. There are no vendors here just vending machines. Oh, but wait you can't use caps. You have to use Sierra Madre Casino chips that are scattered everywhere to buy stimpacks, ammo, and everything else. Yes, why would they work against the system that's already made and working? It's very odd, and makes playing the game so frustrating because you're scrounging and looking for exploits in the game design to not die.

It doesn't help that the DLC is very maze like and this is bad in this type of game. Where are the open areas? Nowhere. It's just corridor after corridor, and it's dark, bleak, and boring to look at. Everything looks the same and it's not very nice to be in either. Not in a good way either I felt cramped throughout the whole ordeal, and it gets worse when you get in the casino to figure out how to get into the vault. I hope Obsidian doesn't force us to do things the engine can't really do next time. Part of the frustration comes with the beeping collar. Let it beep to long and you blow up and die. There are speakers everywhere that emit a signal and you have to run around until it stops, but this is trial and error. Run down the wrong path and signal won't stop there so you die. Yes, save constantly or you will tear your hair out.

This mechanic is probably the most flawed since Fallout isn't meant for this kind of stuff. I started hearing the beeping in my sleep it goes off so many times. Some speakers you can shoot and others you can't, but good luck not get tired of this. Overall, the story is excellent, and I really felt attached to the characters. The ending is probably one of the most interesting I've seen in a game, and I'll say this part because it won't spoil anything. There are gold bars and you can carry as much as you can and they are worth over 7,000 caps each!! I saw these and tried to stuff my pack with them, but they weigh you down quick. I decided to drop everything except one weapon and my armor to carry about 7 of them. People who have the Rat Pack perk will take advantage here.

With two different endings, and choices being a big part with the three characters you should enjoy this part of the game. Only get this if you are a hardcore Fallout fan otherwise you should just pass. It's way too hard, and the mechanics work against what's already established.

~Score: 7/10

The Good: Solid visuals, great physics, unique design choice

The Bad: No extra modes, inconsistent difficulty, only good in short bursts

Who wound have thought winding rope on a wood figure would be fun? The guys at Secret Exit did and this is some simple fun here. While the graphics don't push anything the wooden figure models are nice and varied, but this is a more challenging puzzle game than you think. As you work your way up a tree you have three goals for each figure by covering 70%, 85%, and 99% of the allotted rope. When you wind the rope it will turn a painted color, but be careful because if you wind the rope tight that's lifted off the figure you can't get underneath. The physics are great with rope sliding off corners and falling into place like it should.

Some figures have nails that you can use to redirect the rope, but the art of this is how well you can wind the rope and cover the whole object. Some are easy and some are hard with lots of arms, legs, or pieces that can easily be covered up or roped off on accident. That's pretty much all there is to the game, but being such a unique puzzle game makes it great. There is nothing out there like this and you will have hours of fun here. There is some nice relaxing background music playing, but overall the game impresses on sheer originality. I highly recommend this to any puzzle fan hardcore or casual.

If I were to complain about this at all it would be the inconsistent difficulty that jumps around, the game lacks any type of modes like time attack, plus you can only play in short bursts because you will get bored after awhile. Other than that this is one awesome game that comes at a small price.

~Score: 8/10

Being able to play a game using your own music isn’t new, but being a good one is hard. Beat Hazard lets you select your own music and then uses the tempo to create difficulty spikes and flow of enemies. The beat of the song is scene in the bullets you shoot as well as the crazy explosions one screen that can give you a seizure. When you select your music you get to decide the difficulty. Pick a heavy and fast metal song and you’ll be lucky if you get through the whole thing. Pick a normal soft rock song and the difficulty is very gradual.

When you actually start shooting there are several power-ups that range from increasing the volume, shot power, money, and bombs. If you die you can collect the stuff your dropped, but if you keep collecting the stuff you get more and more powerful. You can use the money to buy perks that range from power-ups when you start, extra lives, and other various perks. There’s a good amount and it’s worth playing just to unlock them all. However, the game doesn’t have much depth so this is a 30 minutes-at-a-time game or you will get bored. The visuals are decent, but the special effects that flash around remind me of Geometry Wars on crack.

So this is once again a game that makes you the decider of how fun of an experience you get. The engine underneath does a good job using the songs to great a fun space shooter, but I would liked to have seen more power-ups or maybe something more 3D. If you don’t like 2D space shooters you won’t like this even if you get to use your own music. The game can get really hard quick and can be a bit confusing at first until you get the hang of it. There are quite a few modes such as multiplayer, boss rush, and endless mode so there is some variety there. For the low price you can’t really go wrong so pick it up and enjoy the craziness!

The Good: Mixes RTS and FPS in a smart way, classes are fun to use, lots of people playing online, tug-of-war action during matches is addictive

The Bad: No campaign, no bots, looks pretty average, ugly menus, 99% of the time you won't be playing the RTS part, a few balancing issues

Mixing RTS (Real Time Strategy; Shogun 2, StarCraft) with FPS (First Person Shooter; Call of Duty, Quake) sounds like trying to hammer a nail with a banana, but it works here despite not seeing the RTS part too often. Unlike other games that poorly implemented RTS (Brutal Legend) into another genre, Nuclear Dawn does it right. The person doing the RTSing is the Commander and only he can do it. This is an online only game (boo!) so the Commander must be voted in, but usually that's the host and rarely will he ever get booted.

The game uses standard RTS elements like building buildings that give your men on the ground more powerful ammo for their weapons (the FPS part is the men on the ground). You have to kill the Commander to win the game, but also capturing energy sources is also key for respawn points. Everyone knows an online FPS needs respawn points so that's the Commander's job by making sure there are plenty. The RTS elements are light and not very complicated, but you have the constant fear of pissing off the guys down below and voting you off if you don't manage your resources right and build useful structures and give them frequent upgrades.

As the guys on the ground you are doing all the work capturing resource points and killing that freaking Commander. You get to choose four different classes that have unique powers such as a tank that uses a minigun and can plant it and act like a human turret, or you can use alternate classes for each class like the tank using an energy type grenade launcher to knock out structures. You have a stealth class that can turn invisible for a while and knife people from behind. Plus you get the typical sniper and foot soldier roles that have various sub-classes. The shooting mechanics are simple if a little dated and the whole game is rough around the edges.

Not that the isn't any fun because fragging with other players is loads of fun because this game has a back and forth kind of like Team Fortress 2 and a game can go on for over an hour. Once a team starting knocking out your resources you can make a come back and it's just like a tug-of-war. This can be loads of fun since you can switch classes after each death and use it to deal with a problem like people camping in a small room or snipers that no one can spot.

Nuclear Dawn does not have a single player campaign or even offline bots so this is strictly online only. I really don't like that and it could use a campaign to get you better at playing it. Mainly because 99% of the time you won't be the Commander so you get almost no experience in the RTS part outside the tutorial. The menus are also pretty ugly and the whole game feels almost like a mod more than a full-fledged game, bu the unique mix of genres is worth a purchase for the low price anyways. The graphics aren't anything to write home about because they are pretty average and will run on any average computer. This game is strictly for hardcore online players only, but pick it up if you want something new.

~Score: 8/10

The Good: Great visuals, good physics, nice platforming segments, three unique characters

The Bad: Shallow combat and story, some pretty vague puzzles, dying seems pointless

Trine tells the tale of three heroes who's souls are tied together by the Trine and they must find a way to break apart. While the story is simple and shallow the game play is where it's at. You can play as a warrior knight who has a sword and shield and is your combat guy, the thief has a grappling hook for getting across long distances and a bow for long distance kills, and the wizard can create objects to climb on and levitate objects but it a no-go during combat.

The wizard is the most interesting character since he can create blocks to climb on and bridges to cross gaps. You can find things to add to your characters to give them new abililities as well as enhance them. The combat is pretty shallow as well with just a hack and slash everything that comes after you type play. It actually tends to get in the way of the tricky platforming and can get annoying after awhile. The game is based on physics so some physics puzzles are involved, but don't seem implimented very well.

The game looks great with a beautiful fantasy art style, good voice acting, and smooth controls. There are a few glitches in the game, but these are all wonky physics issues. The game is pretty much just get from left to right without dying, but you can respawn characters at checkpoints so dying seems kind of pointless since you aren't severly punished. In fact if you do die you can't use that character if the puzzle requires them so this just seems irritating. Over all the game is pretty good and worth a purchase thanks to its nice length, pleasing visuals, and good platforming segments.

~Score: 8/10