Poker Night at the Inventory 2 is TellTale’s latest Xbox Live Arcade, Steam and Playstation Network game and is, as the title suggests, a Poker game at it’s core. More than that, this downloadable title is an example of how great personalities and some clever writing can make a functional but not particularly exciting card game into an engaging and fun experience for the player.

After a short and cameo filled introduction the player, aptly named and referenced to as “Player”, is introduced to their adversaries for the night’s game; Brock from “The Venture Bros.”, Claptrap from “Borderlands”, Ash from “Army of Darkness” and Sam of “Sam and Max”. Other characters from these titles and other telltale titles drift in and out during the course of tournaments.

The Cast of Poker Night at the Inventory 2

The writing in this game is superb, drawing from popular culture, developer-in jokes and character backstories, always keeping the player engaged and chuckling throughout. TellTale has made the focus of the game the characters and their interactions whilst playing, not the poker itself. This works well in this game as the mix of nostalgia and humour, brought to life by the characters and Glad0s, allow the player get wrapped up in the experience not the base gameplay, often hanging out for the cast’s quips and comments more than counting the chips on the table and watching for tells.

The poker in game feels a little drab itself, and without the writing would probably be just another basic poker game. The choice of Glad0s as dealer helps to liven up the gameplay as she regularly drops from the ceiling to provide ‘helpful’ comments to the player. The game also features character animations to give away when they are bluffing, but they are not common or very well executed. The Player may also buy drinks for the cast from the bartender Mad Moxxi of the  Borderlands games. They make the ‘tells’ from others more obvious, but they still didn’t play much of a role in the results of the tournaments. When you get to playing you get a choice between “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “Omaha”, both games play well and the tournaments serve as opportunities for bragging rights, and more importantly, unlocks. After completing challenges you are offered the chance to win a special item from each character’s title, such as Ash’s Necronomicon and Claptrap’s Video Game Award, each awarding the player with unlocks outside of the game.

Borderlands 2 Unlocks

The game’s brilliant writing is added to by the ability to get heads and skins for Borderlands 2 on all platforms, and then platform specific unlocks including avatar items, Team Fortress 2 hats and exclusive themes. These unlocks keep the game playable well after the dialogue starts to repeat, but once you complete these there is little to keep you playing after the occasional game for nostalgia’s sake. There are also felt, deck and chip variants for each title to unlock, purchasable with ‘unlock tokens’ won in tournaments. These re-skin the bar and game aspects, but don’t affect gameplay.

Overall this game is quite fun and well worth the price tag, quite cheap on all platforms. The jokes, dialogue and unlocks make the game quite addictive and entertaining, but the replay value drops once the dialogue starts to loop and the unlocks are all collected. Some extra modes, multiplayer and more dialogue would help with the replay value, but the game is still great. For some laughs, free items and a good bit of poker fun this is well worth the download. A solid 8/10!

Bethesda recently teased that they would be announcing a new game with a cryptic repeating video of bob wire and a record player. Much of the internet believed it to be a teaser for the next Fallout game. Today an official announcement has been made with a new IP in The Evil Within. This will be the first game by orginal creator of Resident Evil, Shinji Mikami’s new studio Tango Gameworks.  Mikami released a statement, “We’re incredibly proud to announce The Evil Within. My team and I are committed to creating an exciting new franchise, providing fans the perfect blend of horror and action.” This new survival horror will be released on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC, and next gen consoles in 2014. In the mean time, check out this scary live-action teaser trailer.

*Volunteer Positions* While evaluating the state of the Gaming Journalism scene, I noticed that we at Real Otaku Gamer has a unique approach when covering geek/otaku culture. As the site gets restructured and we go into our 3rd year, we are looking to create opportunities that will help the site become more robust and varied with coverage. Real Otaku Gamer has a global vision, we accept writers from all over the world.

These new job positions are going to help Real Otaku Gamer become more organized and develop a bigger community so we can grow as a brand. These positions are volunteer only as we are a small site. As we grow so will the sponsors and hopefully revenue.

IF HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE POSITIONS, Email us at feedback@realotakugamer.com

These New Positions are as follows:

1. Community Manager: You will be taking care of the daily running of the site. You will work along side the Editor in Chief and other Admins on the site with promoting the site and helping build a brand. You must have good communication skills.

2.Marketing and PR: You will be responsible for all Public Relations with companies and the community. You must have good communication skills and be able to relate to people of a number of levels. You will also run contests and giveaways.

3.Managing Editor: You will work closely with all staff to make sure the posts we produce, are up to our standards.

4.Social Media Manager: You will be in charge of growing our social networking presence. You will be working close to the senior staff.

5. Assistant to Editor in Chief: You will assist the E.I.C. in the daily running of the site.

6.Advertising and Promotion: contact us for more details.

7.Art Director: contact us for more details.

8.Podcast Producer/Editor: contact us for more details.

9.Video Producer/Editor :contact us for more details.

Now, the next few positions are for the Real Otaku Gamer Specialists. These positions are dedicated for people who want to cover a specific genre/category. This is where your inner Otaku can really shine.

1. PC

2. Mobile/Tablet

3. Tech

4. Anime

5. Manga

6. Comics

7. Nintendo

8. Sony

9. Microsoft

10. Movies/Television

11. Asian Cinema

12.Indie Games

13.Toys/models and Merchandise

14.Convention Coverage

15.Cosplay and Cosplay Culture

To apply for these positions, you must first submit a writing sample and once the sample is approved, submit an small essay telling us why we should pick you for the job you are interested in. An essay is not necessary for all positions. Deadline to have the samples submitted is May 20th, 2013. We must have all essays in my May 17th. Send the Essays and Samples to feedback@realotakugamer.com.

If you have any questions about any of the positions and their responsibilities, just email us at feedback@realotakugamer.com or go to the Twitter and Facebook pages. Thanks you for your time.

Andre Tipton

Founder/Editor in Chief

“The mind of the subject will desperately struggle to create memories where none exist…” – Rosalind Lutece, Barriers to Trans-Dimensional Travel, 1889

Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt. As you soar into the floating city of Columbia for the first time you see exactly where Irrational Games’ ambitions lie; Amongst the clouds with this incredible city. The game manages to achieve all of it’s ambitions and more, with a story the likes of which we haven’t seen since the original Bioshock, varied and new first person gameplay and a stunning, truly realised world for the player to explore. This game does what it’s predecessor did in 2007; it changes and challenges the gameplay and story of this console generation and reinvents them to become a truly incredible experience.

The game world is in almost direct contrast to that of Irrational Games’ original Bioshock, we see a rich and colourful city in the prime of it’s existence  whilst also involving the player in Columbia’s breathtaking descent. Columbia has it’s own set of rules, it is a fully realised world with a vibrant cast of characters that really make the world feel real. People walk around, reacting both to the player and surrounding events, with clever and involving conversations that reflect the world around them. The game is set in alternate reality 1912 and shows off the views and values of an America steeped in religious rule, patriotism and severe xenophobia. The content in game is quite harsh in contrast to the vibrant city and challenges the player to look at society today with reference to the game. Every area of the game feels different and diverse, from the squalid Shantytown to the opulence of the streets above and then into the skies of Columbia aboard the many airships and floating platforms, never ceasing to pull the extraordinary narrative along with each detailed environment.

The streets of Columbia

As the player enters Columbia they are introduced to the basic gameplay elements of Vigors (akin to the original Bioshock’s Plasmids) and the variety of weapons through a carnival, set up as part of the celebrations for Comstock, the game’s antagonist. In your first hour you will experience combat with some basic guns, vigors and the transport method doubling as a melee weapon; the skyhook. The skyhook allows for some incredible firefights and a new mobility unseen in gaming. Just hop aboard a skyline and you can drop behind enemies, into cover or zip around the area quickly all the while returning fire from attackers. The game’s AI is also quite clever, with enemies and “Hard Hitters” (different, more tough enemies such as the handyman and motorized patriots) able to use the skylines and move around like the player. Then the game takes it up a notch, in story, gameplay and emotion with the introduction of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth. This one character serves as the core of the story and gameplay. From the moment you meet her she barely leaves your side, constantly adding to the game. In combat she will help you by finding health, salts and ammo and also cash outside of combat. She also has the ability to open ‘tears’ in the environment, pulling items from other worlds and reality into being in the locale. She also adds real emotion to the gameplay. You begin to rely on her and think about combat situations with her abilities in mind. In the few short absences she has from the player you genuinely miss the character. Her powers and dialogue always make the player feel more invested in the story, her presence never once takes anything away from the experience. Her AI is also incredibly well done, she will explore and interact with the environment, once again bringing areas of the game to life and you will want to sit in one spot and see all the animations and dialogue the developers have crammed into each of the game’s areas.

Elizabeth

I have talked about the story a lot so far, the narrative really pulls the whole experience together. The story crafted by Irrational Games masterfully weaves the setting, values and original story together into a story that will keep the player invested in the game’s fifteen plus hours of gameplay. Without revealing too much, the story centres around the protagonist, Booker Dewitt, tasked with travelling to Columbia to rescue Elizabeth to pay off his gambling debt. The city is ruled by “The Prophet” Comstock, who has kept Elizabeth locked away for years. Bring in the Vox Populi, a resistance movement of the lower classes and racial outcasts, fighting against Comstock’s extremely one sided rule.  The story has the occasional lull in sections, but they always followed by something amazing soon after, only increasing the effect of the succeeding event. Once you dive into the narrative the tale morphs and evolves at a cracking pace up to the jaw dropping finale, where players will be left thinking long after the credits roll.

Overall the game is an amazing experience. Irrational Games have done an amazing job of bringing the world of Columbia to life. The story, gameplay and above all the work that went into Elizabeth help this game to exceed all expectations and in turn reinvent the FPS genre amongst it’s many more stale counterparts. The game is incredible in scope and story, well worthy of any gamers time, earning it’s well deserved place amongst some of the finest games of the generation.

In my mind, this game deserves no other score than, Go and Buy it NOW!

One of the hottest games available at the moment is League of Legends. It’s fan base is at an international level and has millions of people logging onto their computers to play it everyday. So understandably, there will be several companies looking to ride the coat tails of their success. This brings us to Infinite Crisis.

Infinite Crisis is an upcoming Free To Play MOBA (Massive Online Battle Arena) game from Turbine and WB Games. The realm of this game features characters from the DC Universe. It appears that you will be able to play as your favorite superheroes and villains from several different worlds or earths per-say. The main story aspect is straight from the series known as Crisis on Infinite Earths. This give players the opportunity to interact with your favorites such as Batman, Superman and The Flash. Battle/team up with characters that are similar but different depending on which earth they come from.

If you seem to be remotely interested, luckily they are holding a closed beta which you can sign-up for by going to infinitecrisis.com. Once there, just register to gain access to the beta. Based on lotto, players will be randomly selected to participate in the beta. The game is scheduled for release sometime in 2013, so be patient and get excited.

“There are no heroes here, only survivors” – Matthias, Tomb Raider

When the first trailer was shown for the new Tomb Raider, I was among the skeptics. It looked like another game with an over-sexualized heroine, and there was even a potential rape scene! However, as I mentioned in a previous article, after watching all of the trailers, I came to a different conclusion: Tomb Raider was probably going to be awesome. Other journalists told me not to get my hopes up.

It feels good to be the one smirking now.

I was right! They did it! They told a woman’s story, the story of her growth into a survivor, in a completely compassionate way. Yes, her body is still a little on the fantastical side (also, why didn’t she ever steal someone’s parka so she could stop shivering?) and yes, she often makes dumb mistakes and gets herself into all sorts of ruckus, but those are minor details and really such an improvement over the norm. One step at a time! And this was a pretty big step.

The game also includes a few homages to past games and movies, which I loved. This new Tomb Raider is completely modern, and yet retains the feel of the classic Tomb Raiders. I felt it the first time I wandered into a water-filled cave. As I moved slowly through the water, a wave of nostalgia hit me. Luckily, no bats or batshitcrazy T-Rexes made an appearance!

So, without further ado, let’s zip-line-and-crazy-pickax-jump into this review! This covers the PS3 version of Tomb Raider, which does not include her fancy “every strand of hair moves” technology that the PC version came with.

Package

Check out my unboxing video here. The game came with a code for a scavenger hunt (that I was apparently supposed to do before the game came out) a mini art book, and Tomb Raider: Final Hours, which works through the Amazon Appstore.

Plot

“Armed with only her instincts and her innate ability to push beyond the limits of human endurance, Lara must fight, explore, and use her intelligence to unravel the dark history of a forgotten island and escape its relentless hold.”

In this reboot of the series, a young, 21-year-old Lara is on her first archaeological adventure, looking for the kingdom of Yamatai. Following a hunch, she convinces the crew to head into the Dragon’s Triangle and its deadly storms.

From there, everything hits the fan in a rolling avalanche of crazy.

Characters

• Alex – Know-it-all nerd boy who just wants to impress Lara.
• Jonah – The spiritual brown man, he’s nice, patient, never loses his temper, and gives me presents. He also has a dark past.
• Sam – The director of the expedition’s film. I loved seeing a woman in this role, as it’s very rare to see female directors represented in any medium. She also cares deeply about her roots, as well as Lara. She miiight be sweethearts with Lara.
• Reyes – The tough girl with a heart. She is tough on Lara and has little patience for her. She’s also a mechanic and single mother.
• Roth – Is the fatherly figure who taught Lara everything she knows.
• Grim – The badass old man. You get the idea that he, Roth, and Lara’s dad had some crazy adventures of their own.
• Whitman – The prima donna douche-bag and head archaeologist of this expedition.
• Lara Croft – The young and passionate Lara lives on instinct, much as she is told to. Unfortunately, her instincts tend to lead her and others right into danger. Also, she comes off as a little book smart but street dumb, constantly tripping on vines, loudly calling out for people instead of hiding, and never picking up a parka from one of the many dead, fully-clothed people around her. As for her new look, her arms should be way more muscly, but in general, her body is proportional and more realistic than past representations (though I still think her lower back is probably aching and hey, she keeps using a bow but doesn’t bind her breasts, but whatever, survivor, wooo!).

I love this multicultural cast of characters and I enjoyed learning more about each of them. You find out most of the info through reading documents or, rather, having documents read to you by their voice actors. It often lends a haunting and melancholy air to the adventure.

As great as it is to have a diverse cast, I do have to point out that they each turn into tropes by the end of the game. The exciting news is that those tropes aren’t based on their race or gender, but more on roles of other characters in action movies. Yes, Reyes is a single mother and has a bad temper, but she is also a mechanic, a strong leader, and has a sweet side that is shown only when talking about her daughter or around her secret beau. Jonah is the mystical brown man, but he also has a troubled past, and his mysticism has more to do with his personality than his race.

All in all, I was very pleased to see this group, and I hope other games take note!

Graphics and Sound

This game is lovely. Environments often equate to eye-porn, with the complementary music adding a sense of loneliness to Lara’s journey. The atmosphere in this game was just spot on. I was freaked out, excited, sad, whatever they wanted me to feel.

The characters look stunningly realistic, and on the PC version Lara has TRESSFX, lending super realism to her…hair.

I played on the PlayStation 3 and saw only one glitch, where a gun was floating in the air, lonely and aloof.

Gameplay

The gameplay of this game is really and truly a blend. It’s not exactly a survival game, because you don’t need to eat to live, and ammo is plentiful. It is an action game with strong puzzle and shooter elements.

In general, the gameplay made me think of Far Cry 3 (PS: holy fast-travel batman!) and Uncharted. Oddly enough, a lot of the controls reminded me of DMC: Devil May Cry, but that’s probably just my brain being strange. Either way, I felt that this was the kind of game that would have been more difficult to play if it had come out a few years prior, but instead feels like a natural evolution of game mechanics.

QuickTime

QuickTime events were used heavily throughout the game. You all know how much I hate QuickTime events, but at least these generally did not take away from my ability to see what was happening on the screen.

Tools and Skills

There were a few interesting mechanics, such as lighting things on fire, environment interactions, and scaling walls with your pickax. Using fire continuously to help you in various puzzles and in traversing the environment was very interesting to me, as fire is usually a damaging feature in games, as opposed to a helping one. The game uses a system of base camps to allow you to upgrade skills and weapons based on experience points and loot (called salvage in game). Lara can also change outfits and collect relics and journal entries, adding clues to the island’s mysteries.

The UI of the skills and gear was very awkward and non-intuitive to me. It took me forever to figure out where everything was, and I found it difficult to compare weapons in any way.

I also had to figure out that when I dug in a box and didn’t find something, it actually either just made an automatic change in my gear or added to my salvage, without me appearing to have grabbed anything.

Environment

Lara’s interaction with the environment is also a solid gameplay experience. She automatically takes cover when enemies are near, she reaches out to touch walls when she gets close to them, she lights a torch in dark tombs and looks around in interest at scenic areas. I loved the automatic cover, and would enjoy seeing it as an alternative to sticky cover in other games.

As I mentioned before, the game is vaguely reminiscent of the old Tomb Raiders, especially in the optional tomb maps. Each area is its own puzzle/platformer, and there are enough varied moments that no section ever becomes dull. You could be doing anything from steering a fall to jumping around sunken ships to scaling an ice cliff to running from flames. This was truly a game that kept me on my toes, and even the most ADD player would have trouble being bored.

However, one issue I had is that sometimes areas are so clearly traps that it feels ridiculous that you have to actually go to them. This is a combination of narrative and level design that leads to this issue though. It just made Lara seem dumb for going into those areas.

Although the level design is usually very fun, sometimes it was a “learn by dying” experience, as you slowly pieced together how best to proceed in the level. Some levels needed to be stealth, which wasn’t always apparent since most areas allowed you to choose your own approach. These areas were particularly punishing and frustrating.

Stealth

When it worked, stealth was mildly addictive. When it didn’t work, it was horrendously annoying. As most of you know, I don’t generally enjoy stealth games. I am very impatient, which resulted in my death numerous times because I didn’t wait for an enemy to move, or pay attention to where they were facing. Eventually, I learned to treat the game as if every mission required stealth until the mission proved otherwise.

Combat

You will probably die in at least one fire-fight, as waves of enemies relentlessly pursue you, shooting up the frail boundaries you hide behind.

In general, combat is very well-paced with the story. Modding weapons leads to very satisfactory shooting experiences. One issue I had though is that Lara is so weak compared to the enemies. I can shoot some of them in the head twice and they don’t die… but if one of them has a rifle, I’m dead in seconds.

Enemies honestly cause more harm to themselves sometimes, setting things on fire, dropping napalm, cramming a choke point…lol, blowing up entire levels…lots of ways.

In general, combat became a more enjoyable experience the more I played and became used to the aiming mechanics, which felt slightly shaky in the beginning.

Multiplayer

Tomb Raider has four multiplayer modes:

• Team Deathmatch – Team vs. team and highest score wins
• Cry for help – Round based mode where survivors must activate radio transmitters while preventing batteries from falling into enemy hands
• Survival of the Fittest – Kill other players without dying to become the executioner before time runs out
• Rescue – Attempt to recover medical supplies while the Solarii must finish you with a melee execution

I played Team Deathmatch to get a feel for the multiplayer. It has a fairy simple set up: gain XP to get new weapons, mods, skills and characters. You get to choose which team you will play on, Survivors or Sollari. I liked that the system rewarded me not just for epic wins but also for epic fails, with a Feats and Setbacks feature.

The multiplayer is not bad, I just really wish they’d made it relate more to the main game. For example, all of the times the crew was separated from Lara could have been the setup for each of the multiplayer maps, with Lara calling in on walkie-talkie at the end of them.

Final Thoughts

This game took me on a journey. I went from scared and naïve Lara to a badass warrior woman. There was a moment at the very end, where Lara does something iconic to the Tomb Raider franchise, and I actually cheered. This is the Tomb Raider we’ve been waiting for.

You know what else is amazing about this game? Women stood behind it. Girl gamers asked for it, bought it, played it, and mostly loved it. This is the proof the industry needs that “if you build it, they will come” should be their mantra! Gamers are hungry for more strong female leads in games.

Another favorite aspect of the game for me was something that even my male friends noticed: no one called me rude names! I was never “bitch” or anything like that. They called me the “Outsider.” Heck, some of the bad guys even talked about what an amazing shot I was! I love that positivity in things I kill.

Despite the sometimes punishing combat and Lara’s almost unbelievable naivete in the beginning, this game proved to be a fun, fast ride worthy of any action flick, but with the solid gameplay of a classic.

First appeared on Nerdy But Flirty.

One of the latest Kickstarter games comes from one of gaming’s most venerable legends: Richard Garriott de Cayeux, better known as Lord British.

Today, the man behind the Ultima series, an RPG series dating from the 1970s which broadly influenced RPG design in North America, Japan, and Europe, launched a Kickstarter for a project currently known as Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues. It is not an Ultima title, strictly speaking, since Electronic Arts holds the copyright to the Ultima series and Garriott is no longer involved with EA. Portalarium, Lord British’s current development studio, has set a goal to raise US $1,000,000 within 30 days on Kickstarter. As of this writing, 6,344 backers had raised a total of US$344,837, after one day. The game’s primary platform is the PC, although Portalarium has also expressed interest in making it playable on mobile platforms.

The game will be an episodic fantasy RPG with 3-D graphics, however, the developers promise that within the fantasy world, you will not be limited to cracking skulls and racking up loot, as the game will eschew the traditional class system. A robust crafting system, inspired by Minecraft according to Garriott de Cayeux’s video feed, is planned.  The game is described as a multiplayer RPG with a persistent world in which your friends can join you, but is not an MMORPG as it is traditionally understood by most gamers.

As with most Kickstarters, larger pledges earn larger rewards. Smaller pledges earn beta access and digital copies, larger pledges earn physical trinkets and cameos in the game, and the truly dedicated ($10,000!) will be treated to a tour of Britannia Manor, Garriott’s home in Austin, Texas with Garriott himself, and an ultra-rare physical copy of Garriott’s first RPG, Akalabeth.

The estimated release date, according to the game’s Kickstarter page, is October 2014.

Cherry Tree Comedy Club is the type of Japanese game you never see brought over to English audiences because it’s a type of game rather obscure to the action seeking video game audiences here (at least what you’d think it’s what they are from video game developer decisions), a visual novel, what makes it even more unique is it comes from a small doujin group known as 773.

You are Miley Verisse, the school’s goofball, and your ultimate dream is to become the next great stand up comic to come out of your high school and to get closer to that goal you aspire to revive the CTHCC, the comedy club founded by the famous comedy duo The Grinmeisters. So far you and your best friend are the sole members of the comedy club and you need a minimum of five founding members to create an official school club, so your goal is to recruit at least three more students to get your club up and running. Of course you have your arch nemesis and former friend Octavia Richmond trying to see that it doesn’t get to happen. Via social interaction and coordinating your daily activities, you work towards becoming close friends with potential recruits until they decide to join.

CTHCC is unlike a typical visual novel considering you manipulate your character strategically to achieve the goal of the game. Visual novels tend to be pure dialogue as the story is already made up for the player and the only interaction the player will get goes along the lines of, do action A or action B, and after that the story goes on. This game has you move your character as an 8 bit version of themselves throughout Cherry Tree Town and doing whatever the hell they want (sometimes only if she has the money for it).

There are about four things Miley can do. One of the most important things is she can do several activities to increase her expertise on select subjects, video games, romance, whodunnits, fashion, music, sports, art, travel, history, pets, politics, and cooking. Getting expertise on subjects is of primal importance because the best way to quickly advance the relationship you have with the characters is by discussing subjects with them, but be careful, characters can either love, like, feel neutral, or dislike a subject, and the best way to figure out their feelings on them to select the right conversations is to occasionally chat with them and get notes about it on their profiles. Now knowledge can be gained in a variety of ways whether it’s through reading, watching something, or going to various locations, but the options are as endless as the cash to accomplish some of these activities is limited. You go up to level 5 at the highest for each category starting from this.

The second activity Miley can do is earn money. One of the easiest way to earn it is to run around town and look for yellow circles on the floor. You can get a bottle you’ll collect and once you collect 10 turn them into your dorm manager for a bit of cash. Sometimes you’ll get an old discarded magazine and get a free boost from whatever category it covers, a great free advancement…. or if you’re really unlucky dog poop, but whatever. The only other “jobs” Miley has is making jewelry, cleaning up at a shrine, and later on in the game help at organizing an art museum. But watch your fatigue or Miley screws up whatever she’s doing.

Dammit Miley!

The single most important action however is interacting with other characters, some just drop from the sky while others have to be discovered. I didn’t discover the last character until playing a second time and actually chatting with Harriet Sinclair, the only friend in the club with me. Choose your conversation topics and give them time to chat idly in school and over the phone because the deadline will be close before you know it.

The fourth thing and definitely the last thing you want Miley to do is have her waste her time by going back to her dorm early. If you ever do that you’ll regret that precious lost chance to do something.

With the game explained I’ll go further into my personal opinions about this game. The translation from Japanese to English has been done in a Phoenix Wright fashion, with the story localized in America and with the script occasionally changed to make references and jokes any English gamer can understand. I’m usually against localizing because sometimes I find it extremely unnecessary to deny the fact a game takes place in Japan, but because this series centers around stand up comedy and I’m sure Japanese people don’t know who the hell Dane Cook is any more than we know their stand up comics so it’s fair use. They did a pretty good job explaining why there was a shrine in America and they changed a character’s background pretty well. Basically an air headed foreigner’s ethnicity was changed from American to Swedish, however if you play the game with this knowledge it might be painful seeing how other countries view Americans.

The humor in this game is pretty nice, Miley Verisse is basically the type of overly excited girl often seen in anime and manga, and as a result some pretty funny stuff comes out of her. Also some outrageous shenanigans and subtle manipulation occurs, keep the every day aspect of the game interesting.

Miley’s comment afterward: Those were all rumors I started myself!

The characters you recruit in this game in general are very multi- dimensional and have a story that comes with them. As you get to learn more about them they start revealing themselves to you and you begin to understand them more. It’s sad that Miley on the other hand is more of what I call a “simulation character” on that aspect, a character who is rather undefined compared to the others so the player can feel it’s them in the story. It’s sad you only learn about the person who’s had the most impact on Miley’s life from Harriet and she doesn’t break out from her genki mold even in serious moments.

MILEY WIPE THAT EXPRESSION OFF YOUR FACE DAMMIT.

As for the look and feel of the game it’s very smooth. The background is charming, but a bit too simple in some parts. My only real complain is that I can’t play this game full screen and I’m restricted to a small window. I’ve read many other reviews complaining about the music but I personally like it and always keep it on while playing the game. Different atmospheres and scenes also changes the music so it doesn’t get very repetitive. The controls are simple and allow me what I want to do, all you’ll need to play are your arrow keys, enter, and escape, just perfect.

This game makes it easier to attain the best ending by saving your info on likes and dislikes of potential recruits as well as all the gains you’ve made with your repertoire. I still haven’t attained it, but I know it’ll be worth it. Honestly I really want a second Cherry Tree High Comedy Club game where you manage the club that time around, but whether or not that’ll happen depends on the support the game gets. Here’s my first ending.

And with that I give Cherry Tree High Comedy Club an 8/10.

You can buy the game now for $7.99 from the official website and other sources such as Steam, Gamestop, and GamersGate.

So, let me start this review off with a confession: I did not play any of the other Devil May Cry games for longer than an hour each. I just couldn’t get into them. So if you’re looking for someone to compare the reboot with the old franchise, I’m not the one!

The new DMC: Devil May Cry was met with trepidation by fans of the series, mostly because Dante is now a smoking-hot emo bro. Okay, so in the pictures, he didn’t look that hot, but once I started playing, I was quickly won over by his looks and roguish charm.

Oh yes, won over, because the introduction of the game immediately alienated me. The game begins with a cut scene of Dante enjoying some ladies. It was very graphic and suggestive and stupid. My first thought was: why go through all the trouble of making Dante pretty if this game is CLEARLY just for the guys, filled with gratuitous T&A?

And then we got our Dante T&A scene (yes, I’m calling it that) where he flies through the air and into my pants. I mean heart. Into my heart.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E2313MMVsE]

Plot

As this is a reboot of the series, the plot and some details are a little different than the previous series. Dante is the son of Sparda and an angel, making him a Nephilim. He is recruited by The Order to take down Mundus, the demon who murdered his mother and imprisoned his father.

The plot has no major surprises, but it is wonderfully tongue-in-cheek as the problems in Dante’s world align with modern issues facing the world today. In other words, a conspiracy theorist would love this game.

Characters/Voice Acting

The characters were both wonderfully compelling and perfectly voiced. I didn’t think I would like Dante, but with impeccable comedic timing, Tim Phillipps stole my heart. Once in a while, I even laughed at loud at things Dante said.

But it wasn’t just Dante. Each of the characters had such good voice actors that I actually noticed it.

Kat’s character design is a mess (why in the world is she wearing a low-cut hoodie, booty shorts, and thick comfy socks? She looks kray) but her character is compelling in her simultaneous weakness and strength. She lacks confidence in herself, yet spends most of the game rescuing Dante. She’s often a companion in the game, but never a burden, which I appreciated. And her voice actress, Sage Mears, played that perfectly.

With all of the characters, there were no strange pauses, no parts that sounded like someone was reading it, and no overacting. Everyone’s voice really fit their character, and the banter between Dante and the villains was exciting and fun. Kudos to this voice cast!

Soundtrack

Another home run for the game was the soundtrack. The music was finger-lickin’ good, with the pounding, electro tech music setting the scene of a broken world perfectly. There is even one level where the music actually becomes part of the level design, but we’ll get to that in a moment. The music was composed by electronic groups Noisia and Combichrist, to give you an idea of what to expect. I ended up on YouTube for hours listening to the soundtrack after I finished the game.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AFQnELhPmY]

Gameplay

Speaking of finishing the game, let’s have a few more confessions: I suck at this game. Some people might tell you that the game is too easy; well, I am not one of them. I found the enemies challenging, the environments and puzzles often took some thought, and I wasn’t always sure what to do.

All of which I loved. DMC really reminded me of old school games, where the way you learned a level was by playing it. The first time you played Super Mario Bros., no one told you to look out and jump over that second hole. You either made it or you missed and had to try again. I liked that about this game.

In general, this game is not hard to pick up for someone who has never played any of the Devil May Cry games. Simply toggle on “tutorials,” and it will guide you through the different buttons. There are A LOT of buttons to learn, but in general, the game does a good job of giving you a level to play around in that mostly requires the new skill you’ve learned, helping to solidify your command of it.

Combat

Combos made combat fun and wild. Your goal is to get style points, and those points go down if you use the same move within a certain amount of time. In other words, you get a lower score for spamming an attack that works really well. The solution? String crazy, mind-blowing combos together. Add to this the myriad combinations of enemy types that can only be killed with this kind of weapon or after that kind of move, and you have chaos in a bowl. Once you gain access to the demon trigger power, aerial combat gets even cooler.

The boss fights in some ways were amazing in their creativity and then in other ways became repetitive, as bosses sometimes re-used tactics from other bosses. In general, boss fights were easier than many of the combat situations, but were also often more dazzling and memorable as far as concept is concerned.

Auto-targeting proved to be the devil in some cases. Not being able to choose which enemy I was targeting proved to a be a serious challenge as the game progressed, but I learned to compensate by dodging like a drunken donkey.

Another gameplay negative was the repetition of enemy types with (pretend) new names, ie: Rage, Blood Rage, Ghost Rage, rage puppies…they are all still just Rages!

There were also sections of the game where each place you fought looked just like the last area, which got annoying around the third courtyard battle. However, this was not the norm, as the majority of the game had excellent level design.

In fact, to me, the most amazing part of DMC was the level design.

Level Design

I had to go and look up the word I needed to describe just what enchanted me so much about DMC: Devil May Cry: it was the level design. This game looks like the artists and developers HAD FUN creating the twisted levels and the world of Limbo.

You will fight in areas that remind you of What Dreams May Come, you will climb symbolic representations of human greed, and you will spend one mission following Kat around while being helpless to protect her. The world will turn over upside down and sideways, you’ll be on a television, you’ll be in sound waves in a club, and you’ll watch the story of your parents’ love in street graffiti. I was just blown away by the creativity. Giant demon heads would crash into your scenery, actually creating the feeling of smallness and fear that one imagines Dante must feel on the inside…until Dante tells the demon to go do something very rude with something seemingly impossible. The mission with Kat stuck outside of Limbo was especially compelling because it gave Dante such a feeling of helplessness. You truly felt powerless and frustrated along with Dante as that level progresses.

Levels were also designed with multiple playthroughs in mind, as some of the secrets are inaccessible until you gain certain abilities, leading me to come back and start over again after I beat the game. But I’m a completionist, and many others might not feel the need to go back and find all the secrets; therefore, the replay value of the game is a little low.

Speaking of which, it should be noted that the game is pretty short, with only about twenty missions. Powering through the game could definitely be completed in one day.

Graphics

One can’t discuss the level design without discussing the beautiful graphics. Colors were great and almost saturated looking, vaguely reminiscent of bright red blood in a way. The backgrounds were huge and glorious, giving the impression of cities of twisted shapes floating on a blue sea. The characters had very expressive and unique faces as well.

Cutscenes and actual action were often indistinguishable from each other, leaving me to frantically hover over my controller in case I was suddenly required to demon pull something in the scene. In a way, these cutscenes were kind of annoying, as they looked so much like gameplay that I often felt they just should be gameplay. Why take my hands off the steering wheel at crucial moments?

Bottom Line

The negatives as far as how the females in the game were mostly portrayed, the repetitive enemy types, and the jarring cutscenes are all balanced by the amazing level design, hilarious dialogue, and visceral combat. Despite the game being a little short, it does have some replayability factor for those who want new skins or to get all the trophies.

Overall, this game is really fun and far surpassed my expectations for a reboot with a new pretty-boy protagonist. The characters are badasses, the combat is fierce, and the levels are exciting and creative. I’m already excited for the sequel!

First appeared on Nerdy But Flirty.

Red 5 Studios is kicking off Firefall‘s first public beta test this Friday, Jan 25, giving everyone a chance to jump in and play the upcoming MMOFPS for 48 hours. If you haven’t heard of the game, Firefall is an upcoming free-to-play MMO shooter set in a sci-fi universe 200 years in the future. The game features a polished PvP combat system perfect for competitions and an open world design.