Shadowrun

Shadowrun

Shadowrun is an interesting case study in why the "Holy Grail" of PC vs Console gaming is a fraud. As one of a few titles that supports cross-platform play (and incidentally, one of the same few titles that allows online play using an XBL silver account), Shadowrun steps into almost every pitfall of the experiment, and is worse for it.

The idea is solid - take PC darling Counterstrike, add in the mythos of a popular cyberpunk RPG/franchise, and make something unique. It certainly is. The game looks great, even by today's standards, and has all the quirks that blending a "trolls and machineguns" RPG with everyone's favorite vent blocking simulator should have. The "powers" you can get in your loadout are awesome and several are really unique and haven't been done since. It has a (rather ingenious) way of getting around Counterstrike's "Welp, you're dead, wait 6 minutes doing nothing until next round" issue.

The problem, as with most things, is the players. Shadowrun as a gameplay experience has a learning curve like a brick wall, and it appeals in conceit to a very small subset of very hardcore players, who have in the two years since this game's release, become very, very good at it. Combine this with an unforgiving damage system and the fact that half of the players effectively have aimbots on due to the increased accuracy of KB+M versus a gamepad, and it quickly becomes apparent why this game was unsuccessful.

Which isn't to say it's an unfun game, far from it. It's a lot of fun, you just have to set yourself up for it - which means not joining pubbie games or trying to play in "the community." This game is inexpensive enough that all your friends either have or can easily acquire a copy, at which point playing 5v5 or more with all humans vs all AI bots on "Very Hard" is great fun. You can even contribute to a team without a headset, thanks to another bit of subtle brilliance in using the D-Pad to issue status updates and requests.

Graphics: Very good. Stylized character models and a great eye for interesting level design. 4.
Sound: The weapons and spells all sound great, but the characters could have more personality. 3.
Controls: Intuitive, with tons of nice touches. 4.
Tilt: Impossible to play with the public at large, but a fun distraction or "time-killer" game with friends. 2.
Overall (not an average): 2.

Plants vs Zombies

Plants vs Zombies

Tower Defense games are all the rage nowadays. Disposable, survive-this timekillers that run on minimal resources and require you to make the tough decisions on when to build that new tower. PopCap is probably the best casual developer to have ever developed casually. So when PopCap came out with a tower defense game, the result was expected to be fairly good.

But good God, this game is fan-freaking-tastic. The concept - zombies are invading your yard, and only plants - powered by sunbeams - can fight them off. The art style, cribbed directly from Penny-Arcade's whimsy, pits ultra-adorable "pea shooters" and smilin' sunflowers against zombies that drive zambonis and wear ducky innertubes is instantly endearing. There's literally nothing not to like in this game. But don't take it from me; here's EuroGamer, which says everything I want to but far more succinctly:

A masterful combination of serious strategy and cartoonish delights - and by adding mini-games, survival modes and a shop, PopCap is practically rubbing it in. The result is as fresh and accessible as Super Mario, and as refined and considered as Left 4 Dead, wading into another established genre and polishing the central ideas in a way that will make it a hard act to follow.

If I can have any complaint at all about this game, it is that there is an element of dexterity in harvesting your sunlight that feels out of place, a slight bit of twitch gaming in a whole that is solidly in the strategy genre, though it is a minor nitpick, and there's certainly a polished way of expressing that to you in-game via plants that glow a moment before releasing their golden manna.

This is a short review, because there is literally nothing wrong with this game. Buy it right now.

Graphics: Brightly colored with hilarious and accessible enemies and utilities. 5.
Sound: Minimal music still sets the mood, and the zombies groan appropriately. The Thriller Zombie is a high note. 4.
Controls: Not too much really needs to be done, but everything controls brilliantly. 4.
Tilt: It's got zombies. And seed packets. There's nothing not to like. 5.
Overall (not an average): Tendrils' Top Pick

SHMUP WEEK: Ikaruga

Ikaruga

Ikaruga is the most accessible of the "Bullet Hell" shooters that have become the standard in cabinets across arcades everywhere. As the community around actually going to an arcade instead of staying home and playing online has shrunk, the demand for either a more unique experience (like the expensive input devices of Dance Dance Revolution) or a more hardcore challenge, Japanese developers (notably Cave) offered up some of the most insanely difficult shoot em ups in history. While the Americas aren't particularly interested in going to arcades anymore, we have no problem buying discs and downloaded titles of the best Japan has to offer.

Ikaruga follows that most famous of shmup plots: Aliens (or something) are attacking, let's send out some ships to defend Earth (or humanity)! The Ikaruga is scrambled to fight in this top-down shmup across a relatively short game of just five levels, but every moment is a treat to the eyes.

The central conceit - shoot enemies of a "light" or "dark" coloration in groups of threes to build a combo meter - makes for some torturousskill shots as you navigate your ship and pick and choose. Being able to hotswap your invulnerability shield from light to dark bullets also gives you a bizarre cavalier attitude in a genre known for scurrilous movements to avoid taking a hit.

The enemies and stage dressings you face are a technophile's dream, a proto-robotech world fraught with industrial machines that spit out spherical threats in an unending wave. There's a lot to process on the screen, and it's even more amazing when you realize that this is by far the easiest bullet hell shooter around.

Graphics: Crisp, but nothing groundbreaking. 3.
Sound: The music is passable, but I wish there was more coming from the enemies. 2.
Controls: With a "screen rotate" option, this game goes out of its way to make you comfortable. 4.
Tilt: Plenty of fun alone, even better with a co-op buddy. Right on the cusp of controller-throwing hard without being a breeze. 3.
Overall (not an average): 3.

SHMUP WEEK: Einhander

Einhander

When you think "side-scrolling shoot-em-up," the first developer on the tip of your tongue is probably not Square, home of the cutscene and spikey-hair angsty protagonist. But back in 1998, Square stunned the world with the criminally under-appreciated Einhander, a shmup with something to prove. The side-scroller takes the conventions of the genre and adds something that really hasn't been seen since - honest-to-goodness RPG-like choices in loadouts.

The Einhander ship itself is your first choice - there are three different configurations to start with, each with their own set of advantages. They all look, like the rest of the game, completely fantastic - Einhander compares favorably with any game of its era, and really a little bit into the next era. Because it uses 3D models in a 2D setting, its 2.5-D display looks great, and allows them to play quite a bit with your expectations of what "side scrolling" really means. The bosses are gigantic, but it's the drawn backgrounds, like Final Fantasy's, that will really blow you away.

Music is suitably epic and post-apocalyptic, and the standard gatling gun on all ships is deep and resounding, but pretty grating after a long play session. The special weapons, in all their creative glory, are fantastic. The lighting-call and lightsaber are both highlights, but the RPG launcher also stays with you.

The challenge is up there, and while this is far from a bullet hell style shooter, it does have plenty of problem-solving elements that you'll have to work with (solving paths on the fly with limited information, or enemies with conditions that must be met before destroying them) all while handling an upper-level challenging shmup.

Graphics: Mind-blowing. Shows off Square's specialty in a genre known mostly for endlessly tiled forests or clouds. 5.
Sound: While not Final Fantasy-quality orchestrals, a cut about simple horn-based battle loops common to the genre. 4.
Controls: Rewards canny manipulation and hot-swapping your limited-ammo special weapons while managing turret placement on your main gun. This is all handled decently, but the PS1 controller was not designed for such tortured manipulations. 4.
Tilt: Einhander was the hotness when it came out, and it continues to be a misunderstood classic. 5.
Overall (not an average): 5.

SHMUP WEEK: Life Force

Life Force

Welcome back! We're going to take it a little old-school today as we explore several different shmups this week. First up, Life Force, the sequel to the seminal Gradius, known to some as Salamander. Full disclosure: My first experience with this game was on the NES, and it was on its release, when I was 8 years old. I was only treated to one game per month, so when I chose this, it was with the knowledge that I would be playing only this for a full month. And I played the hell out of Life Force.

The story is actually pretty cool, as far as space shooters go: an ancient, giant alien galaxy-being is going around eating planets. As the Vic Viper (or as player 2, the Road British), you actually fly into the heart of the being, kill it and escape by the seat of your pants. The level design reflects this - the first stage you fly past giant teeth as you enter the mouth, and it goes on from there. The classic Gradius style - shoot enemies for powerups, cash them in for better and better tools, and the ever-present 'Option' are all there, and thankfully the game features instant respawns instead of having a checkpoint-based system like the first Gradius.

Graphically, the game holds up remarkably well, even today. While the monsters are simple two-frame sprites, the stages are the real stars, with suitably creepy intestines and brain matter fighting for screen real estate with more terrestrial design. Alternating between top-down and side-scrolling action also gives you a better idea just what the Vic Viper looks like. The bosses are grotesque, starting with the grasping brain-eyeball at the end of the first stage, and only grow more freakish as you go deeper into, literally, the belly of the beast.

The music is catchy but not fantastic, and unfortunately does suffer from its chiptunes roots compared to what we're capable of today. The sound effects are tinny, annoying and numerous; the game is an unapologetic arcade coinsink, and has the bleeps and bloops to prove it.

Given the limitations of a two-button controller, Life Force decides not to fight it and simply has one button fire all weapons simultaneously and builds in rapid-fire. The Vic Viper thus lays down a wall of firepower that looks fantastic and makes you feel like an actual space ace as you tackle the terror from beyond.

Once you play through the first stage enough to generate muscle-memory of where each powerup, enemy and safe route are, you'll be able to breeze through it, and die horribly three times very quickly at the beginning of stage two. And you'll love every second of it. This is as it should be; the tag Quarter Pounder is very applicable here.

Graphics: The enemies (other than bosses) are simple affairs, but the stage dressing is creative and fun, even today. 5.
Sound: Forgettable music and chintzy effects. 2.
Controls: Doesn't try to do to much, and is the better for it. 4.
Tilt: A balls-hard shmup with a creative setting. 5.
Overall (not an average): Tendrils' Top Pick.