Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 Review

Kid Safe: High                     Game Quality: Moderate

Genre: Action/Adventure

-          This game is identified by its action-based tone of gameplay that focuses on one or more characters being faced with a challenge and going on an adventure to solve it through puzzle solving, avoiding obstacles, and battling enemies with multiple forms of weapons and attacks.

Internet Requirements: Low

-          This game features no internet gameplay to speak of, restricting you only to single-player modes. Some extra content will be released for download from the internet at an undetermined point in the future to increase the available gameplay.

Story Summary: In Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, you take the role of Starkiller, the ex-apprentice

of Darth Vader who raised him to become a Sith Lord with the intention of killing the remaining Jedi in the galaxy. In this title, it is unclear what happened to Starkiller; however it appears that he was killed and you are now playing as his clone who has been created by Vader to replace this loss. However, much to Vader's disliking, Starkiller is haunted by the memories of his past life and quickly turns on him, escaping from the training facility where he is being held; seeking to reunite with his previous allies and strike back against the man and the Empire that created him.

Kid Safe: High

-          Foul Language: Very Low

o   Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 does not contain any observed instances of foul language.

-          Violence and Gore: Moderate

o   Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 features a moderate amount of Violence and minimal scenes of blood and gore. As a Sith, your character uses lightsabers, a form of laser-sword that can slice cleanly through seemingly anything, as well as "force powers", that range from the ability to throw lightning and electrocute your enemies to the ability to pick them up and throw them without ever touching them. Players will fight Stormtroopers (humanoid enemies in robotic-looking white armor) and can use their lightsabers to slice off their legs, arms, and head; as well as the ability to stab through their chest and stomachs. These attacks do not, however, cause scenes of blood and gore and enemies are injured cleanly without viscera. Players can use "force powers" to elicit screams of fright and pain as they are thrown around or sounds of pain as they are electrocuted. Screams and explosions can be heard all throughout this title.

             

-          Sexually-Related Content: Very Low

o   Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 does not contain any scenes of sexually-related content.

-          Use of Drugs and Alcohol: Very Low

o   Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 Does not contain any scenes of drug or alcohol usage.
 

             

Game Quality: Moderate

-          Graphics / Visuals: High

o   The graphics and visuals for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 is of a generally high quality, however the game suffers from more than a couple of problems. Beginning with the positives, almost everything in this title is glorious to look at. Levels are well-designed and are multi-faceted, often having places that players can go that are not obvious, non-orthodox items that players can use to fight, and extremely interesting ways of navigating obstacles; not to mention the detail that has been put into the world around the level itself. Cloth flows almost realistically, something most games do not do properly. Likewise, the shadowing in this title is equally impressive and adds realistic depth to the world around you. Last, but not least, is concerning the facial animations in the cutscenes, which are comparable to games like Red Dead Redemption in their accuracy to human emotion and lip motion.

o   For the overall impressiveness of the visuals in Force Unleashed 2, the game suffers a frustrating number of glitches. The first, and most noticeable, is that every single time you strike an enemy with a lightsaber, the graphics will slow for roughly half of a second. While this doesn't sound like much, it's aggravating when attempting to do difficult attacks as you are unable to interpret when you need to hit buttons due to the lag in the gameplay. After that, there were several times when, while fighting a stormtrooper, the camera would suddenly lock onto him versus your character and literally follow him wherever he went; leaving you unable to see or control your character. At another time, I found myself hop ontop of a space ship to run across it and literally dropped into the graphics for the space ship, leaving my character sitting inside the programmer's wireframe graphic and literally unable to escape; forcing me to restart from an earlier point.

           

-          Audio: High

o   Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 has a relatively high audio quality, featuring a rather impressive musical score as well as some pretty decent voice acting. To begin, this title continues the Star Wars tradition of having absolutely amazing music. This title features a full musical score comparable to the films with a song/tune for every scene that varies its pace and tempo on the tension of the moment.

o   The voice acting generally equally impressive and demonstrates the skill of many of the actors. The voice talents of Sam Witwer returns as "Starkiller" as well as Matt Sloan with a rather impressive re-mastering of James Earl Jones' rendition as "Darth Vader" and Tom Kane as an equally well-done "Yoda". Almost all of the voice actors nail their lines perfectly, expressing the proper amount of emotion to each scene to really carry their performance without the need of live actors.

o   All voice actors, except for one. Cully Fredricksen as "General Rahm Kota" suffers from a very mixed performance that truly retracts from the gameplay in such a way that it is distracting. While his performances in cutscenes are decent, his performances in the actual game are not. I'm not sure whether it is bad editing or bad acting, but almost every line he says while in gameplay sounds incredibly hollow and strange; with pronunciation placed on the wrong words and syllables and the emotions seeming all wrong. Generally, this wouldn't cause that much of a problem, except that you listen to him, quite literally, through almost the entire game; creating a massive audible distraction.

-          Gameplay / Playability: Moderate

o   Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 is an extremely mixed bag when it comes to gameplay, but we feel that it has a moderate level of quality. First off, there are multiple levels of difficulty that players may choose between to provide them whatever level of challenge suits them; allowing for mediocre players to enjoy the story without suffering and hardcore players to enjoy a challenge. Likewise, whether you played the original game or not, it will provide you full instructions on how to properly use all of your powers in almost every manner that might arise. Players are faced with a fair number of different challenges and puzzles that keeps most of the gameplay fun and engaging. Likewise, there is a host of different kinds of enemies that tend to be very inventive and have their own weaknesses and ways to battle them.

o   While the overall performance of the game is fun, they start to run into problems in the later half of the game. It seems like they ran out of ideas on how to properly handle the title. First, you are placed on a planet called Dagaboh in order to train and learn more about yourself, much like Luke Skywalker did in 5th and 6th film from the Star Wars movies. As a fan myself, my heart jumped at the opportunity to explore the caves and possibly fight my characters "worst fears and problems". What occurred was a one minute scene where you jump your character up onto the path next to your ship and run down it, only to go through several minutes of cutscene and just time skip to the next level without anymore than a one sentence explanation as to what happened. From there, the game attempts to build tension by simply throwing progressively more and more of previously seen enemies rather than coming up with anything new. Finally, the last boss battle with Darth Vader is probably the most boring thing sequence I have ever played; lasting 24 minutes of real time that consisted of the exact same sequence of three events repeated over and over and over as you slowly chip away at his health.
          

-          Dollar-Value: Low

o   Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 has a relatively low dollar-value due to poorly executed and incredibly short gameplay. To start, this game was only about 4 to 6 hours long for the single-player story mode; by far one of the shortest games I have played on the newer consoles. While players can also play challenge modes where they must complete a set gameplay "challenge", these will only last you so long and I found I had completed all of them in less than an hour. Not only that, but when you count the graphical glitches, audio frustrations, and absolutely atrocious gameplay problems later in the game; this title is not worth the $60USD price tag that is currently attached to it.

Recommendations

-          While the concept was good and the kid-friendliness was decent, the delivery was horrible. If you would like to enjoy a good Star Wars title, I can only heavily recommend the first Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. If you have already enjoyed this title, you might also try out titles like Ratchet and Clank or Jak and Daxter. If you are looking for an equally good and M-Rated title, Devil May Cry, Dante's Inferno, and God of War are also great choices.

Resistance 3

 Resistance 3 Review

Kid Safe: Low (3.0  / 10)                             Game Quality: Very High 8.5 / 10)

Genre: First Person Shooter

-          These games are characterized by the viewpoint and weapons used in the title. In a first person shooter, you are looking down the barrel of a gun as though you yourself are holding the weapon. Likewise, as the term "shooter" implies, the game specifically uses guns and firearms.

Internet Requirements: Moderate

-          Resistance 3 features a moderate amount of internet requirements which comes primarily through multiplayer functions, i.e. the ability to play the game with others via the internet. Players are able to engage both in cooperative as well as competitive gameplay. In a cooperative game, players are able to traverse the game's story together; conquering the challenges of a Chimera-infested United States together. In competitive, players will face off against each other in a wide area of game types; progressively gaining levels and unlocking more and more weapons and special abilities that they can use to defeat their opponents.

Story Summary:

-          In Resistance 3, you play the role of Joeseph Capelli, an ex-soldier living in a world ravaged by war and suffering. In this alternate reality, World War II never happened; instead giving way to a mysterious alien virus that transforms humans into monstrous beasts, the Chimera, whose sole purpose is to destroy the human race in every means necessary: sometimes mutating humans to join their ranks, sometimes just killing them. Players pick up Capelli's story 4 years after the conclusion of the franchise's 2nd installment where humans are slowly trying to re-establish themselves, building homes, and combating the Chimera threat. Capelli, who has been living with his wife and son, is called upon by an old ally, Dr. Malikov, who has discovered that the Chimera are up to something sinister in New York and only Capelli can't help him stop it before it is too late.

Kid Safe: Low (3.0 / 10)

-          Foul Language: High

o   Resistance 3 features a high amount of foul language that takes place in the form of the following words: "d*mn", "a*s", "b*tch", "s*it", and "f*ck". These words, interestingly enough, primarily show up during the latter half of the video game when the player meets two specific groups. The first group, the Remnants, introduces Charlie Tent, an aggressive and cocksure survivor who will join the player for several encounters with the Chimera. This man, while not overplayed, does use profanity loosely during combat. The second group, the Wardens, are a group of ex-convicts that capture, torture, and murder others and generally have few constraints on their foul language. Foul language is heard both during dialogue and in combat, however it is much more proliferate in combat situations. The majority of foul language that is heard throughout the title is used only in situations of extreme emotion including fear, anguish, and frustration.

-          Violence and Gore: Very High - Not Recommended for Children

o   Resistance 3 features a very high amount of violence and gore. Starting off, as a first-person shooter, this title has a focus on fighting, shooting, and killing others. Players will use a variety of weapons to accomplish this that includes, but is not limited to, knives, bayonettes, sledgehammers, grenades, pistols, assault rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles, shotguns, and a handful of alien weaponry that can freeze, electrocute, and/or mutate enemies into hideous, pulsing masses. Players will be fighting a range of alien monsters and robots as well as some human beings. The humans that players fight are not soldiers but are instead ex-convicts that have been capturing, torturing, and murdering civilians and who have made attempts against the player's character. Players are unable to harm innocents.

o   While in combat, player's primary focus is to maim and/or kill their opponent. The type of weapon that a player uses will dictate the type of gore shown. A standard assault rifle or pistol produces small splashes of red blood. Melee attacks with one's fists will have the same effect. The usage of a higher caliber weapon like a shotgun or sniper rifle can cause massive gouts and sprays of red blood. Melee attacks with knifes and sledgehammers can have the same effect. High caliber weapons can also dismember enemies, causing one's head, legs, or arms to be blown off in a spray of gore and leaving a leaking, bleeding wound on the corpse. The "Mutator" weapon causes enemies to convulse and, well, mutate, into massive, pulsing masses of green flesh and puss that will eventually explode into green and yellow globs of flesh. Corpses will remain where they fall for a limited time and then simply vanish. Blood will spray and stain floors, walls, and ceilings when enemies are shot and remain there for an extended period of time. Finally, the use of the sledgehammer weapon leaves chunks of flesh and gore visible on the weapon's end.

o   To the game's credit, it generally does a fine job in concealing some of the more gruesome details of non-combat scenes of violence and gore. One example includes a situation where an individual who you are traveling with at the time is caught by the "Warden" group. The man is progressively beaten with bare fists, producing a fair amount of blood and gore in his face area from the attack. Afterwards, the assailant picks up a machete and gestures to the fact he will decapitate your partner. The camera cuts away as the blade falls. Another example is where a man is being chased down by assailants. You watch the assailants act as though they are about to stab the man, however you do not see the killing blow, only the man falling down with the weapon in his back.

o   For those scenes that are not fully concealed, there are several to mention. One that comes to mind is a situation where you are wrestling another man for a firearm. In the fight, you end up putting the pistol muzzle beneath his jaw and shot him in chin with an explosive round. The man stumbles back momentarily before the round explodes, blowing his head into multiple gory pieces as his body falls over. Another example includes a situation where your partner sneaks up on a Chimeran soldier only to progressively beat it over and over again, caving in his head with the butt of his rifle, sending gouts of blood everywhere. A similar situation is displayed when a Chimeran beast gets a hold of an injured; it progressively bites and claws at him, sounding out sprays of blood and gore.

             

-          Sexually-Related Content: None

o   To the best of this reviewer's knowledge, Resistance 3 does not contain any sexually related content or nudity.

-          Use of Drugs and Alcohol: Low

o   Resistance 3 features a low amount of drug and alcohol usage which takes place through reference and some scenes alcohol consumption. References are extremely uncommon, however one example includes a situation where, while talking about a gunsmith, the comment is made that "He has been really grumpy since we ran out of bourbon. The man needs his bourbon." As far as scenes of consumption go, two really stand out. During the player's stay with the "Wardens", there are multiple scenes in which "Wardens" can be scene imbibing alcoholic beverages; likewise, empty alcohol bottles can be seen scattered everywhere. Also, during a particularly emotional scene late in game, Capelli can be seen drinking repeatedly from a flask he found while sending a message to his wife and son via a radio.

             

Game Quality:  Very High (8.5 / 10)

-          Graphics / Visuals: High

o   Graphically and visually speaking, Resistance 3 is rather well done in just about every area except the human characters themselves. Starting off with the game's main focus: the Chimera. Resistance 3 does a grand job in designing unique and interesting creatures, even amongst the alien ranks themselves. Boasting roughly 2 dozen monsters, each one has been fully imagined and many are vastly different from one another. From the giant scorpion/cockroach like Leapers to the bipedal Grims, the hulking "Braweler" to the gargantuan, spider-like Widowmaker; the game offers a wide array of interesting and terrifying enemies that have had an impressive amount of time and detail put into them. Just looking at all of the different Chimeran monsters is a treat in itself; fighting and discovering them is that much better.

o   But what of the environments that you get to explore? Much like the aliens, Resistance 3 does a great job in offering a fun and varied world. Starting off in the remnants of a mid-west farm town, players will venture through the war-torn ruins of St. Louis, the deep woods and mines of the Pennsylvanian countryside, a now-arctic New York City, and even the belly of an alien ship. A decent amount of detail has been put into all of these areas and, while the game itself only leads you on a single path, you generally feel less like you are being forced in a certain direction and instead are compelled to push ahead. The wind, light, and dust details are also something of special mention, being some of the better ones that I have seen in my time gaming.

o   The game's only real graphical deficiency comes in the human characters. As far as enemies go, the humans are almost laughable. Given the wide variety of different and interesting enemies, I was a little disappointed to find that those human enemies you fight are literally cookie-cutter cut-outs of each other with little to no variation between them. Likewise, combat aside, the majority of characters tend to look and act rather stiffly, more mechanical than realistic, with very few exceptions. Facial animations are equally rough across most human characters are it feels like certain characters were given a great deal more love than others when it came to finishing and polishing the game's look.

   

-          Audio: High

o   The audio and musical quality in Resistance 3 is decently done with high scores in almost every category. The music specifically was an unexpected treat; boasting a full score of orchestral and instrumental pieces throughout the entire game. Each piece is rather exceptional and does its job well in loaning a musical accompaniment to the emotion being portrayed on screen. Deep foreboding horns, fast paced drums, and gentle, drifting piano and string pieces all really help to set the pace of the gameplay. The voice acting is equally well-done, with almost every actor nailing their part. While you generally aren't going to here much more than angry, pain, or frustration given the game's story focus, most of the actor's do a fine job in really adding the weight of the character's plight to their shoulders and help to relay the character's inner turmoil through their tones alone. A well-done job, all around.

-          Gameplay / Playability: Very High

o   But what of the gameplay and the playability, you ask? The answer: very well- done. Starting off with playability, Resistance 3 does a great job in catering to the skilled and amateurs alike. Aside from allowing players to choose how hard they want the game to be, i.e. easy/medium/hard, it starts off the game by introducing all of the base controls in a safe and confined area including moving around and using your firearms. Players will then be placed in a sample fight to get even more of a feel of the controls. Fights will progressively get harder and harder as the game proceeds, increasing the difficulty in a steady, simple curve. Players are always able to access a list of controls to see what button they need to push should they forget. On top of all of this, anytime a new weapon or enemy is introduced, players are provided a small readout about the enemy/weapon so that they understand it better as well as hints as to how to approach fighting/using it. This data is always available to access, as well. If all this isn't enough, every time a new weapon is introduced, players are provided a simple situation or engagement so that they might cut their teeth on how to use the weapon properly in combat.

o   Finally, the gameplay. I have to say, I was rather impressed by just how much the developers were able to do with this game without really varying from the established "first-person shooter" genre. The game's real bread and butter is the weapons selection. While every weapon falls under a well-known weapon-type for the shooter genre, i.e. assault rifles, sniper rifles, shotguns, etc., each one also has a "leveling" system as well as alternative fire. As a player uses a specific weapon more often, it will "level", or become more powerful, and unlock new and exciting powers: a perfect example of this is the shotgun that suddenly starts shoot incendiary rounds or the "Auger" weapon that will start to fire three rounds instead of one. On top of this, alternate attacks add a new and interesting design to each weapon: one example includes the machine gun that can "tag" an enemy so that ever bullet, no matter where you aim your gun, will hit that enemy. Better yet, how about the gun that will open up a swirling vortex and suck every nearby enemy into it. Not enough? Why not try out the sniper rifle that doubles as a laser cannon. Too busy getting shot? That's fine, just use your "Auger" to throw done an energy shield to keep you safe from harm.

o   Even if interesting weapons aren't your thing, Resistance 3 offers a flowing and well-done story that will follow Capelli as he moves across the United States towards the blighted and frozen ruins of New York City. While we already mentioned the varied environments that players will get to explore, we didn't touch on the gameplay. Aside from shooting enemies, players will find themselves in situations that break the monotony of shooting at aliens. One example includes when players suddenly find themselves in a pit fight armed with only a sledgehammer. Or when players suddenly find themselves in a face to face battle over a firearm as they have to wrestle with their opponent to gain the upper hand. The game does a fair job in always breaking up gameplay and never really letting it get too stale.

          

-          Dollar-Value: High

o   Overall, Resistance 3 has a fairly high dollar-value. While the story is rather well-done and has a lot to offer to fans of the first-person shooter genre, the game itself isn't all that long; roughly 7 to 10 hours depending on the skill of the player. Likewise, the game doesn't offer much in the way of replay value; once you have seen everything there is to see, there is very little appeal in playing it over again. Instead, if you are looking to get more playtime out of this title, you will need to turn to the internet-based competitive multiplayer function. If your player is a fan on online-multiplayer, you will very likely get every penny you spend out of this title, however if you are just in it for the story, it might be worthwhile to wait for it to drop in price just a little bit. 

Recommendations

-          As always, first-person shooters don't have a lot to offer in the way of decent, non-mature titles. Some preferred fallbacks include Ghost Recon, Battlefield 2, the first Battlefield Bad Company, or, if you are a fan of alien-games, Blacksite Area 51. However, if mature rated content is alright in your book, the original Resistance titles are both decently done as well as Call of Duty, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and the Fear franchise; preferably Fear 1 or Fear 3.

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare Review

Kid Safe: Low                     Game Quality: High

Genre: Open World Action/Adventure

-          This game takes place where choice is everything. Rather than providing a set story that a player has to follow, they are provided a world that they can explore and do as they wish with a focus similar to an action movie. Likewise, as players adventure through this title they will find alternate means of completing their tasks including battles, negotiation, and puzzle solving.

Internet Requirements: Moderate

-          This game features a moderate amount of online content. To begin, this game is downloadable content that can be acquired through purchase on the internet; however a hard copy is also sold in stores. That aside, the game, just as with Red Dead Redemption before it, boasts a modest online multiplayer mode where individuals may play with others through the internet. It should be noted that the hard copy sold in stores boasts extra multiplayer content through the "Liars and Cheaters" and "Legends and Killers" content that is included on disc.

Story Summary: In Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, players once again hop into the well

worn boots of ex-outlaw John Marston, who we met in Red Dead Redemption. This title takes place during unaccounted time from the first title, roughly three quarters of the way through the main story. The game takes on a wonderful campy feel and generally embraces spooky pop-culture references like the "Haunted Mansion" at Disneyland and Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". Opening on a stormy night on the frontier, we find that the dead have begun to rise from their graves to consume the living and that a plague is spreading through the civilizations of the Old West that is turning regular folk into cannibalistic monsters with a thirst for human flesh. As Marston, you adventure across the entire world from the original game, which has now taken on a spooky, undead twist. You are on a mission to not only protect the settlers of the old west and find out why the dead are rising but hopefully find a cure for your wife and son who have become infected monsters themselves.

 

Kid Safe: Low

-          Foul Language: Moderate

o   Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare contains a moderate amount of Foul Language in the form of the following observed words: d*mn, s*it, h*ll, b*stard, and f*ck. It should be noted that this is a notable improvement to the "High" rating that Red Dead Redemption previously received, although I suppose it helps when the majority of characters that the player encounters are moaning and groaning monsters. While this title does feature some harsher language such as "f*ck", the cussing is kept to a rather impressive minimum given the horror element and the fact that an average individual would be screaming obscenities out of fear.

-          Violence and Gore: Very High - Not Recommended for Children

o   As would be expected with a zombie game, especially one from Rockstar studios, Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare has a very high level of Violence and Gore. The majority of enemies that players will run into are zombies and therefore corpses; many of them appearing heavily wounded, rotten, and oozing puss, blood, and organs. Likewise, players will witness cannibalistic attacks where zombies will attack living human beings who will scream in pain as they are quite literally eaten, usually spraying blood and leaving a pool of blood beneath them. To Undead Nightmare's credit, these scenes are not overly graphic, as very often zombies are simply seen over their victims with red spray shooting out rather than gruesome scenes of torn flesh and sinew.

o   Players will also run into living humans that they can kill as well as characters that were well established as previously living in the first game. Players may kill any living human they find, however that is not many; likewise there are several characters throughout the world who have gone insane and will attack Marston, thus forcing players to kill them. Likewise, multiple characters from the previous games (the reviewer counted six in total) become infected and zombified, forcing Marston to kill them. Killing zombies must often be done by shooting them in the head, resulting in the zombie's skull exploding in a spray of blood and viscera.

             

-          Sexually-Related Content: Low

o   Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare has relatively low sexually-related content with the exception of two points. The first item of note is that players will run into female zombies that are wearing corsets and lingerie; these items are non-revealing in terms of genitalia but are sexually suggestive. Secondly, there is a very odd (and unexplained) scene where there is a zombified prostitute that suggestively touches her body and rubs her breast when you approach her before running away hand in hand with another male zombie; this is the only zombie that ever shows this behavior.

-          Use of Drugs and Alcohol: Very Low

o   Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare features a single observed instance of alcoholic consumption in which the Marshall pours Marston a shot of whiskey while they are talking. Not shocking giving most barkeeps are probably slavering beasts at this time.

             

Game Quality: High

-          Graphics / Visuals: High

o   Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare makes up for some of its predecessor's faults and demonstrates a high level of visual and graphical quality. Using the already established landscapes from Red Dead Redemption, this title takes the already magnificent open-world of the Old West and repaints it for a more "spooky" setting. Whereas most of the original game was during bright, sunny days or moonlit, starry nights; Undead Nightmare has a far bleaker tone. The majority of the game seems to take place during dusk and night, with the occasional daybreak brightening the world; and the rolling hills and lands are almost always covered by a soft mist and fog that adds to the atmosphere of this game. Likewise, the horse mechanics return and are just as impressive as ever, boasting realistic equine movements which is rather uncommon in the current market. Finally, the subtle and realistic facial expressions continue to impress.

o   Sadly, Red Dead Redemption is still not without faults. We experienced several graphical glitches, most often with characters model. In one instance, we found that when you jump a certain distance from a ledge Marston will quite literally hover over to the ledge. In another instance we found a zombie that ran at us only to suddenly sink up to her waist into the ground graphics; snarling and eternally stuck. Likewise, while the facial expressions of characters are generally high quality, the lip synching still needs some works; as we experienced multiple situations where audio and graphics were not working together properly.

           

-          Audio: Very High

o   Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare features a very high quality of audio and sound. To begin, Rob Wietoff returns as John Marston along with a fair number of the original voice cast to share their talents in Undead Nightmare. The voice acting is, once again, spot-on; with each character providing properly emotive delivery and really lending weight to the drastic situation. Likewise, the already established ambient qualities return; lending realistic quality to the sound of this game across the board with everything from thundering footsteps to the soft rustle of tumbleweeds across an empty town. Lastly, the already impressive music has been reworked for Undead Redemption; with composers having mixed previously "rustic" cowboy music and adding a pleasantly spooky edge to them.

-          Gameplay / Playability: High

o   Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare displays a relatively high quality of gameplay and playability. For those who never played the original Red Dead Redemption: the game immediately starts off by fully explaining almost all of the controls before ever sending you into the vast hordes of the undead; with the exception of three zombies that help you learn the basics of shooting and hog tying. From there, Undead Nightmare retains its previously impressive third-person shooting mode while adding additional weapons for players to try out. From there, players also are able to use their slow-motion shooting (called Dead Eye) more frequently than the original game in order to help them against the vast amount of zombies they will be facing. Finally, characters are able to create new items including Blunderbuss ammunition out of the pieces of their slain enemies.

o   Undead Nightmare does suffer from some gameplay difficulties. The first problem is that horse wrangling, something used to catch the exclusive Four Horses of the Apocalypse, is never explained; the game relying on the fact that you played the first iteration of the game. This is a large problem as horse wrangling is especially difficult with the Four Horses and takes multiple steps in order to complete. Secondly, the shooting system for Red Dead Redemption is built for medium to long range engagement and not for the hand-to-hand combat that the undead bring to the table. Occasionally the gunplay gets buggy and does not work properly due to this fact.
          

-          Dollar-Value: Downloadable Content - Very High / Hard Copy - Moderate

o   This might seem like a very strange split, so allow me to explain. The downloadable version of Undead Nightmare is only $10 U.S., for this you will be receiving approximately 6 to 8 hours of brand new story-mode gameplay as well as several new online gameplay modes for playing in multiplayer with other people around the world. This is a phenomenal value and many games are charging $50 or $60 for the same amount of content. However, if you are buying the hard copy from stores, this content will cost you $30 U.S. because of the added "Liars and Cheaters" and "Legends and Killers" expansions packs. This is not quite the same value as the "Legends and Killers" expansion adds extra characters and places for characters to go to in the multiplayer free roam and the "Liars and Cheaters" extra characters, locations to go to, the ability to play poker and liar's dice online, and a new game mode. Generally these will be of no use if you do not use the internet often and will only be useful if you play Red Dead Redemption multiplayer extensively.

Recommendations

-          Sadly, as previously mentioned, the Old West and Zombie related games both have issues producing any titles that are not M-rated. Good fallbacks still stand for now including games like "Resident Evil" for zombie games and "Infamous" for open-world games.

As always, should you have any questions or concerns., I continue to encourage you to contact us. I hope this guide has proved useful. Enjoy.

Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption Review

Kid Friendly: Very Low                Game Quality: High

Genre: Open World Action/Adventure

-          (This game takes place where choice is everything. Rather than providing a set story that a player has to follow, they are provided a world that they can explore and do as they wish with a focus similar to an action movie.)

           

Internet Requirements: Moderate

-          (This game features a moderate amount of internet usage. While it does have a good deal of offline content that can be played without internet connection; this title also offers plenty of online content which includes a multiplayer-mode as well as extra levels and gameplay which may be bought and downloaded online.)

           

Story Summary: Red Dead Redemption is a breathtaking story of blood, violence, and redemption in the

 American Old West. The main character is John Marston, an ex-outlaw who has been

 captured and blackmailed by the newly formed FBI. With the agency holding his family

 hostage, Marston is forced to trek across the Old West to find his old gang mates and

 bring them to justice, dead or alive. On his journeys he meets a great number people;

 both equally savory and unsavory as he follows a trail of blood in an attempt to find

 peace.

Kid Safe: Very Low

-          Foul Language: High

o   This game features a large amount of foul language including f*ck, s*it, d*mn, c*nt, c*ck, and other words. Fascinatingly enough, the foul language does not often come from the main character, John Marston; who in fact very often presents himself in a very cordial and well-mannered fashion except when he is dealing with some of the more unsavory characters of the title. Instead, almost all of the foul language is found in the interactions with most of the other characters of the game; who generally are criminals, drunks, rapists, lunatics, etc.

-          Violence and Gore: High

o    This game features a great deal of violence and gore. Leaning towards realism, this game does not falter on many interactions that occurred in the American Old West. When playing this title, individuals will use firearms to shoot anyone they so choose in the world (however the story only focuses on killing criminals). These deaths will also reveal realistic sprays of blood followed by spasms and collapsing of a dead body. Aside from killing humans, an entire set of challenge levels encourage you to hunt, kill, and skin wild animals in the world; leaving their maimed bodies lying where they fell. Finally, there are some disturbing scenes where story-arc characters are brutally beaten and bloodied; namely a young woman by the name of Bonnie who, after being kidnapped from her home, is hung after been beaten and raped by a gang of men.

-          Sexually-Related Content: Very High - Not Recommended for Children

o   This game features a large variety of sexual content and nudity. There are multiple references to rape, sexual deviancy, sexual intercourse, as well as the presence of prostitutes in all towns. To begin, on more than several occasions, there will be discussion among criminals and the main characters about the forcible rape of women; one of the main examples being the previously mentioned Bonnie who was kidnapped from her home and found beaten and bloodied by a gang of men. Next, there are several references to bestiality (engaging in sexual activity with animals); one such example being a side mission you do for a gentleman who is missing his "lady". When you go to the location you find a young woman brushing a horse, only then do you find out the horse is the one the man is pining over. Upon returning the horse, you find out that he wishes to engage in bestiality with the mare; the young woman leaving you with the phrase "You probably don't want to watch what these two have planned together. Finally, there are blatant scenes of sexual intercourse; one such example showing a young man and woman, only half-clothed, having sex on a table; stopping when you walk in with the half-clothed woman running out.

-          Use of Drugs and Alcohol: High

o   This game features a large amount of drug and alcohol usage. To begin, you may at anytime go to a bar or saloon in game and continue to imbibe alcohol. In doing so, your vision gets progressively more blurred and your character begins to stumble about, bump into people, and appear generally intoxicated. Eventually you will collapse and black out. On top of this, there are more than a couple cut scenes where your character is scene smoking cigarettes extensively.

Game Quality: High

-          Graphics / Visuals: Moderate

o   The graphics and visuals for this title are generally of very high quality. The game portrays a very realistic depiction of the desert including: blowing dusty winds, camouflaged animals running about in the brush, mountains off in the distance, the dirty, grainy look of a town that has been resting in a desert area, etc. Likewise, this title bolsters an impressive physics engine for all of the units and characters; allowing them to flow very realistically, rationing their weight here and there as they move around in the world. I would like to make a special note for the design of horses which, being an equestrian myself, acted rather and moved very much like real horses (something that is rarely done well in most games).

o   However, for as impressive as the graphics generally are, there are some rather sufficient flaws as well; as this game is absolutely riddled with glitches and errors that tend to effect gameplay. On one occasion I returned to my horse to find him floating in the air with his hitch as his only tether to the world, as though gravity were turned off. On yet another occasion, when picking up an individual up off the ground, they suddenly were stuck in the environment and my character was acting as if he was carrying something that wasn't there. Sadly, a large number of very similar stories have been reported across multiple gamers.

-          Audio: High

o   The audio, much like the graphics, are of a generally high quality. The music and sound add incredible ambiance to the gameplay, altering the mood of the scenes quite drastically. When traveling on horseback, the overbearing sound of hoof beats will be the primary sound with your partner's voice tapering up and down with it based on where he is riding in relation to you. Indeed, other times music will take over with a soft acoustic playing as you walk through town, only to be dominated suddenly by a quick and frantic tune as bandits stir up travel in the saloon in front of you. Not only this, but the game features recognized actors and voice actors including Kevin Glikmann, Spider Madison, and Ben Davis.

o   Once again however, like the graphics, this title suffers from audio glitches as well. These faults were generally only found in the voice acting and sound bites rather than the music. Occasionally a sound bite would break, causing an odd, audible squeaking or popping noise. Likewise, once or twice I watched as a character's lips moved and produced no sound, only to hear it a second later due to poor lip synching. Luckily, unlike the graphical difficulties, these were far and few between.

-          Gameplay / Playability: High

o   This game tends to have a rather high playability that add to an intense and immersive feel to the game. To begin, the open world is absolutely huge, featuring one of the largest environments that Team Rockstar (the developers) have ever put into a title. This allows players the freedom to go to and explore an entirely fleshed out world with citizens, businesses, homes, families, and anything else they could imagine. On top of this, many cities feature mini-games that players can enjoy including poker, blackjack, liar's dice, horseshoes, and other such games. A player can literally burn hours just on these alone.

o   However, the open world is as much a blessing as a curse. Generally a player is expected to ride everywhere in the world in real-time, spending almost as much time trying to get to a mission or level as they do actually playing it. A player may even be deterred from playing solely due to the length of time it takes to get around and complete missions. While the game does offer two means of skipping this, the stagecoach and the fast travel system, it does nothing to encourage their usage. The stagecoach costs in-game money to spend. Likewise, I was never even made aware of the fast travel system by the game and had to be informed outside of the title by someone who found it by accident.

-          Dollar Value: High

o   All in all, this game is generally of a high dollar value. It offers a truly expansive world and story that can take well over 30 hours to complete if you only stick to the single player mission. From there, this title also offers a robust online experience where individuals may play online multiplayer with other players around the world and other battle each other several different modes. On top of this, the game already bolsters a list of new missions and levels that can be purchased and downloaded online to increase the amount of gameplay you have available. If you are alright with the intense amount of adult-oriented content and the occasional graphical glitch, this game features almost triple the amount of content than most games on the market for the same price.

Recommendations:

-          If the adult content is unacceptable, several other games may be right up your alley. If you are looking for a title with an intense, action oriented story, you may wish to check out Uncharted for the PS3. Likewise, Infamous bolsters a strong open-world environment with a superhero overtone. Sadly, the Old West has yet to be produced in a kid friendly manner and lacks any games under an M rating.

Finally, I apologize for the length of this review however the sheer size led to the size of the review
itself. It even caused me to rework the design of my reviews in several ways. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me.