Recent reviews by Manthony Higgs

Better than Championship Edition 2

Distance is an experimental survival racing game made by Refract, who previously released Nitronic Rush during their time at Digi Pen. Nitronic Rush can be downloaded for free at http://nitronic-rush.com/. If you are at all interested in Distance, play Nitronic Rush first, as they are very similar.

In Distance, you control a kickass sci fi car with thrusters, wings and a giant rocket booster. You race through digital, TRON Legacy styled cities filled with lasers, buzzsaws and angry computer viruses. While the new art style is very pretty, some clarity is lost behind all the bloom and neon lines. In Nitronic Rush, obstacles and hazards were always a very bright red, while in Distance they can and often will be a similar color to the rest of the track, making it somewhat harder to see them at a Distance (heh). In addition, the world seems more lifeless compared to the 70's TRON world of Nitronic Rush. While this seems to be a deliberate choice on Refract's part, given that Story Mode seems to focus on an abandoned world, this doesn't change the fact that the levels are rather sterile and samey. With the exception of one song, most of the soundtrack, while great, is also very similar which is an odd change after Rush's varied beats.

While the game is still in beta, it does have a slight lack of content when compared to Rush. There are more Story levels, but fewer Challenge levels, and no Hardcore levels. The overall level design is a bit more tame and safe than Rush's was. There is both a track editor and a random track generator to make up for this, however, and many of the community tracks are incredible (and a good deal tougher than the rather easy official levels).

There are a few other game modes besides the races. Stunt has you doing mad tricks in an arena to score big points, Speed and Style is a mix of Stunt and Sprint, Reverse Tag is a game of keep away/king of the hill, and Soccer is, well, soccer. Stunt is rather boring due to the lack of an announcer, another feature missing from Nitronic Rush. In addition, several stunts possible in Rush are missing in DIstance. Speed and Style is good fun, as you have to win the race AND pull of tricks to win. Reverse Tag is a fun game of wits, though the official arenas are all either too big or too small. I recommend the community level "Pipe Plaza" for this mode. Soccer is a mess, the ball is nearly impossible to control and the levels are a cluttered nightmare. It might be good for some couch laughs with 4 players (Distance features Split Screen for all modes) but should be avoided in smaller groups.

Now, despite these complaints, I still highly recommend this game. It's the most fun I've had with a racing game in quite some time, and is beautifully creative. Even if you don't like traditional racing games, give Distance (or Nitronic Rush) a shot. They're very different from the competetion.

To finish this review up, I'll make a list of little things that you probably don't care about

-Default control scheme on controllers is flawed, thange LB to boost like it was in Rush
-Bring back the announcer
-Bring back wheelies and side wheelies
-While you're at it, just port all of Nitronic Rush's levels into Distance

Following off the heels of the original Darksiders, Darksiders II sees the player as another Horseman of the Apocalype, Death. Set before/during the original game, Death sets off on a quest to redeem his exiled brother War and restore humanity. The plot starts out nteresting but quickly withers away in to a series of fetch quests, with Death as nothing more than an errand boy for the various figures he meets.

Gameplay is much improved from the first game's already solid base, with combat being much less repetitive thanks to the addition of several alternate weapon types. Magic is much more useful this time around as Death is a bit squishier than War. You can summon ghoulish minions, ghostly crows or teleport across the battlefield with relative ease. A Diablo style loot system is in place, constantly spewing new weapons and armor with differing stats at the player.

Death has access to his horse from the get-go (thank god) which helps traverse the much expanded worlds. While the overworlds are somewhat sparse, the first two feature a wealth of optional dungeons, some of which contain unique bosses. The final three worlds are barely more than hallways leading to their respective dungeons, which is a shame. One has an extended shooter section which seems very out of place. A multi-round arena heps showcase the combat while rewarding the player with nice loot.

While the art style holds true to the original (THERE IS A PLANET OF SKELETONS), animations during non-cinematic conversations are quite stiff, and resemble something out of a bad mass effect knockoff. Each world (Barring one, which is a glorified rail shooter) has a few NPCs clustered together, acting as shopkeepers, questgivers and loremasters. Dialogue is good, with Death having a fairly dry sense of humor (in a good way). The story sadly devolves into some very cliche trite at the end, being forced to segue in to Darksiders 1's cliffhanger.

All in all, Darksiders II is a fairly competent action game with awesome Zelda style dungeons, starting off with a bombastic first two worlds befote screeching to a jarring halt at the end. Despite featuring multiple worlds to explore, the game rounds out at the same length as it's predecessor. There's enough content to keep you hooked until the end, but that end comes far too soon, thanks to a dying THQ rushing it out early. Supposedly the DLC helps with this, but maybe if THQ released those in the full game, they'd still be here today.

Do you like skele-bones.

YOU DO?

Well then do I have just the game for you! :^)

This game is so bad
0/10 Chao garden isn't woth it

I'm a little hesitant to recommend this one. Doom 3 BFG Edition ties all three of the classic id Doom games together, with a dash of new content. Doom 1 is unchanged from The Ultimate Doom, and still comes with Thy Flesh Consumed. Doom 2 on the other hand includes a new campaign, the formerly XBox 360 exclusive "No Rest For the Living." However, the .WAD file has been slightly altered, making it incompatible with certain source ports. The classic games don't run as smooth as a source port like GZDoom would, though you're free to take the .WADs and play them with your preferred Source Port if you so choose.

Doom 3 comes with the original Resurrection of Evil expansion, along with a new 8 level "Lost Mission" campaign, but has lost all mod support the original release had. In addition to that, Doom 3 is rather taxing on your rig, even though the graphics haven't changed much. The most you can do to tone this down is change the motion blur; pretty much all other settings are locked in place. The whole game also refuses to work on certain GPUs without some fiddling as well, and if you use f12 as your screenshot key, the game thinks you're cheating and disables achievments.

All in all, this is a decent package for anyone new to the franchise and looking to get in, but weathered Doom veterans would be better off buying the original releases for the increased mod support. You might want to consider getting this on your XBox or PS3 as well, since the PC port is a little unstable.

Experience Pat & Mat, the heartbreaking tale of two homosexual deviants trying to hide their forbidden love from the opressive 1980's Czechoslovakian regime. After leaving their window open during a night of passionate love, Pat and Mat must flee from the authorities, lest they be lynched and made an example of. You guide the two lovers, either in singleplayer or Co-operative as you battle police and bigoted countryman in a two-man war. Will you fight through the endless waves of enemies and escape to America? Or will this story have a tragic ending?

A charming little indie game that pays homage to classic Kaiju films. One player controls the Titular Omegalodon, and the rest split between helping and hurting him as he makes his way to the Atomic power plant in the center of town. A great game, but make sure you buy it with friends, there aren't too many people playing it.

A very strange game right here. Blending together First Person Shooters, Fighting games and Arcade styled Beat-Em-Ups, Zeno Clash plays like nothing else out there, and also LOOKS like nothing else. It features a richly detailed and incredibly realized surreal world, and makes you wish you could explore beyond the walls of the levels you're confined to. Snag it f you can, but get ready to learn the strange control scheme.

Many games claim to have interactive storytelling, but very few pull it off as well as The Walking Dead does. More than just a zombie themed Point-and-Click adventure, The Walking dead features a incredibly well writen, believeable and above all, likeable cast of characters. Characters that will live and possibly die by your hands. The choices you make in this game do matter, and a small action you may have forgotten about could very well crop up again several episodes later. Even if you think the zombie genre is overdone, pick up this game. You will not regret it.