Baja: Edge of Control Review (Xbox 360)

“SUV” doesn’t actually stand for Sport Utility Vehicle. The actual definition of SUV is, “an off-road-capable machine that never leaves the tarmac.” The fact of the matter is that, while many Americans drive former “Motor Trend Truck of the Year” winners, few of these pilots actually know what it’s like to tackle roads less traveled—or less paved.

’Tis a bit easier for the normal, license-toting gamer to relate to tarmac-based racing games since there’s at least a little bit of familiarity there. The dirt? Well, that’s a different story. Rally and other off-road games throw many players for loops; that is, send them spinning out into the indigenous vegetation of the environment at hand.

If you want to put the average gaming motorist into an even more precarious, pavement-less position, replace dirt with sand and WRC cars with mega-horsepower trophy trucks. This is exactly the scenario for Baja: Edge of Control—a professional desert racing simulator, for all intents and purposes.

Baja: Edge of Control is a straightforward motorsports game that is fashioned quite similarly to the modern racing titles that have come before it. A normal race mode enables users to play any one of the five events commonly seen in desert racing’s pro ranks: Circuit, Rally, Hill Climb, Open Class and Baja. Environments are plucked from popular North and South American desert racing locales, including Arizona, Nevada and a few choice spots in Mexico.

Not surprisingly, Baja: Edge of Control also comes complete with vehicle choices that run the entire gamut of sanctioned desert racing. Most beginners in the sport start out with Volkswagen bugs—either keeping the entire car and modifying it for desert usage, or transplanting the air-cooled power plants into purpose-built tube chassis. Vehicles get completely crazy (and expensive) after the Baja Bug class, from open-wheel and unibody models sporting two feet of suspension travel, to fully-sponsored, eight-hundred horsepower (ten times the amount in the bug class vehicles) “trophy” trucks costing the higher end of six figures.

In addition to the professional-level event types, locales and vehicles, Baja: Edge of Control features the racing game-standard “career” mode. Straightforward is again the name of the game for Edge of Control’s Baja Career, where credits (cash) enable the purchase of additional vehicles (and tune-up modifications), while experience points open up more challenging event types and courses.

You’ll begin in Baja Career with just enough credits to jump into a baja bug and compete in low-profile events. The goal is to eventually own and pilot a trophy truck in a baja enduro, but you’ll have to progress through the more of the lower-profile events and vehicle classes in order to get to the big leagues.

The online functionality of Baja: Edge of Control is about as basic as multiplayer racing gets. Ten-player Live and four-player System Link matches can take place in the Circuit, Rally or Hill climb categories. It’s nice to see that the damage in Player matches can be toggled to be only cosmetic, and that split-screen is available for local competitions, but there’s not much else to get excited about when playing Baja: Edge of Control in the multiplayer setting. It’s functional, but not jaw-dropping in any shape or form.

The theme of this review on Baja: Edge of Control thus far is that it is quite “straightforward.” The game modes, locales, vehicles and event types are exactly what one would expect for a game that centers on professional desert racing. While having a to-the-point motorsports experience might be what the hard-core followers of baja would want in a desert-themed racer, the rest of the camp will be left with the taste of vanilla extract in their mouths after spending some time with Baja: Edge of Control. 

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Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes The Neighborhood Review (Xbox)

A year ago Eidos introduced gamers to a brutal brawler that took wrestling out of the lush arenas and brought it into trailer park backyards where death defying daredevils would leap from rooftops onto tables that snapped in two. While the premise of Backyard Wrestling was an interesting one, the final product lacked a quality fighting engine and was more of a button mashing brawler without any decent wrestling features. Despite suffering a knockout in the first match, Eidos isn’t giving up and they’ve stuck to their guns, hoping that this year’s Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes the Neighborhood takes the series to another level. Thanks to the help of a brand new engine, improved graphics and animations, it looks like Eidos has learned from their previous shortcomings to have come up with a backyard wrestler that closer matches the potential they had in mind originally. We laced up or steel-toes, put on some camo and painted our faces as we got in Backyard Wrestling mode to bring you our take on the latest brawler in the series that will leave gamers everywhere with a few bumps and bruises.


There Go the Property Values

As one might expect, the storyline behind a game like Backyard Wrestling 2 is as thin as the butt-floss between Tera Patrick’s ass. However, one doesn’t pick up a game like There Goes the Neighborhood for its gripping storyline and deep character development, but we will get into that a bit later on. For now, let’s go over the game’s setup that explains just why folks have gathered to fight things out in their backyards, junkyards, and other off the wall environments found in “your town.” We say “your town” because Eidos has decided to keep things pretty vague regarding the location of the fighting taking place. The game kicks off as the President of Backyard Wrestling Inc. shows up in “your town” to host the first ever pay-per-view event that pays the last man, or woman, standing a cool million dollars as the grand prize. The city’s toughest fighters and heavy hitters have come out of the woodwork for their chance at enough money to buy a brand new double-wide complete with wall-to-wall shag carpet. Not only will the winner receive plenty of green, they will also be crowned the unified Backyard Wrestling champion, which is nice.

Sure the story is pretty thin, and not really too creative but Backyard Wrestling isn’t a game that needs much of a story to keep players involved. The game is all about the action and the ability to continually customize your own wrestler as you brawl your way to the top of the pile of fighters that don’t pass the test. The game is also fun to play with friends, either as a custom wrestler or any of the game’s many wrestlers including some cool unlockable characters. The story really just serves as a necessary part of the game that ties the fights together in some sort of reasonable way. There are a few cool cut-scenes in between matches, but most of the game flows without much of a backdrop. If you are looking for DOA type character development you won’t find it here, but then again, who really cares. Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes the Neighborhood is a game that’s about beating some tail and having a blast doing so.


Time for a Haircut

Before players can jump into the story mode of BYW2, they will have to create their own customized wrestler. Eidos’s Create-A-Wrestler allows players to have a good deal of control over their character’s look, but the system isn’t as robust as the likes of the character creation tools we’ve seen in more recent brawlers. Players will be able to select their character’s sex, body type, appearance and more as they are able to choose between various character traits, clothing types, and accessories. After each match, players will be awarded a certain amount of cash depending on the quality of their performance. This cash can be saved up to buy new items that can be used to further customize their character’s look and style. Another cool feature of this mode is the freedom to create a customizable logo, as well as tattoos, facial paint, and even text that can be displayed on a character’s body or clothing.

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Sleeping Dogs Review (Xbox 360)

The city is crowded, bustling with people going about their daily lives. Bright lights surround you and bathe you in their fluorescent and neon glow. There is a distinct disparity in the economic health of the citizens in the different neighborhoods. Shopkeepers in the night market beckon you to their stands, attempting to woo you into purchasing their wares. A fight breaks out over what sect of a Triad gang controls a specific zone. Welcome to Hong Kong.

This is the world that United Front Games has created in Sleeping Dogs, an ambitious open-world action game that combines elements of driving, fighting, shooting and parkour-esque feats of acrobatic skill into one heavy-hitting package. The general story is as follows: You play as Wei Shen, a native of Hong Kong who recently came back to the city after a stint overseas in The United States. Shen is an undercover cop, tasked by the Hong Kong police’s Triad task force to infiltrate the ranks of a Triad group known as the Sun On Yee and in effect take them down from the inside. There are deeper sub-plots that go on here, though, such as Wei struggling with the balance of retaining his cover while committing unspeakable acts in the name of the brotherhood of the Sun On Yee, and wrestling with his own loyalties to the very crime family that he is trying to implode. It is a well-written storyline, full of rich and interesting characters that you meet along the way. When I think of other storylines from games in the same genre, such as Grand Theft Auto or Saint’s Row, the one woven throughout Sleeping Dogs can easily stand up to them, even surpassing some examples.

The fictionalized city of Hong Kong (think of what Rockstar Games did with LA, SF and LV in San Andreas) is beautifully-rendered. The high, cramped apartment buildings create claustrophobic dark corridors between them, which are littered with trash and other refuse. In the high-end neighborhoods you see sprawling city life springing up all around you. In one quiet end of a street you encounter a temple that you can walk into and feel millions of miles away from the bustling city all around you. The same can be said for the mountaintop park atop a winding segment of hairpin-turned street.

Moving around in the city is mostly awesome, though at times quite frustrating. While on foot, you feel through Shen like everything is your playground. By holding A to sprint, and then hitting it again when near an obstacle such as a fence, side of a small building or car hood, you will vault over or slide across almost anything that comes in your way. In this vein you feel like you are any of the best action movie heroes of the day.

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Darksiders 2 Review (Xbox 360)

Vigil Games brought us to War with the first Darksiders game. Where War is...Death is sure to follow, bringing us to the second installment in the Darksiders series. Paralleling the events from the first game, Death learns that the Charred Council holds War responsible for the early Armageddon - which resulted in the extinction of humanity. But something is amiss; Death knows that his brother War is the most honorable and the least corruptible of all the Horsemen. War wouldn't prematurely start the End Of Days. So Death, against the Charred Council's orders, will travel from Heaven to Hell and everywhere in between to prove that his brother is innocent - and that a larger conspiracy is afoot.

Instantly from the first moment Despair, Death's horse, appears on the screen you can tell that Darksiders II still has that unique, awesome artistic style that made the first one so distinctive and memorable - from none other than Joe Madureira from Marvel Comics fame. While riding around on Despair, or even through underground tombs, you can't help but notice that a lot of detail was put into the environment, especially the backdrops in the distance. The effects from the first game can be seen as Corruption has spread across the universe. Hideous monsters roam the lands and signs of battle, death, and hopelessness are seen all across the lands - Corruption's aftermath seems to have no end.

Death is noticeably different than this brother War. Whereas War was a brute - stocky and slow, Death is more slender and agile. This is portrayed not only in visuals, but combat as well. Gone is the block ability that War uses in the original Darksiders. Taking the place of block is evade. Vigil Games, by removing block, attempts to change the pace of the battles to fit the archetype of Death. Another attempt to speed up the battle is the obvious change in weapons between the two horsemen. War's sword was slow, but powerful. Death has dual-wielded scythes that are quick and effective, but aren't as powerful as War's sword.

What the scythes lack in power, your secondary weapons will make up for. Instead on sticking to the mechanics from the first game, Vigil Games pushes the sequel even further by adding RPG elements to an already amazing formula. This is where the secondary weapons come into play. Death can find secondary weapons and armor through loot! Whether it comes from chest, quest rewards, or being the best at what he does (hence the name) there is bountiful loot for Death to find. On a side note, there is an "auto-collect" feature in the options menu that does exactly what the name says: it automatically collects any weapons or armor on the ground for you, which is very useful.

Finding a good secondary weapon will compliment your scythes as you can create combos from swapping from your scythes to your secondary weapon. Think of the transition as light attack to heavy attack. The combo system is pretty deep if you look for it. There are numbers of combinations of attacks that you can link together by trying different secondary weapons. From slow, powerful maces to fast striking gauntlets - there is a secondary weapon for different variations of play styles. 

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Dust: An Elysian Tail Review (Xbox 360)

There aren't very many bad Metriodvania games. They probably exist, but the combination of vast open platforming worlds with nonlinear exploration pioneered in Super Metroid and expanded on with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is one of the most engaging genres around. The XBLA is certainly no stranger to the genre, and titles like Shadow Complex have injected some of that sweet surveying onto the 360. But it's the unassuming Dust: An Elysian Tail, that shines as one of the best examples of the genre on the console.

Largely the work of artist/programer/designer/and all around taskmaster Dean Dordill, Dust is a culmination of effort that ends up feeling effortless. That fact is immediately clear watching Dust, both the game and the titular character, in motion. It's a beautiful game that looks great in stills and even more fantastic in motion, running at a constantly smooth 60 frames per second without slowdown even when the screen throws literal armies at you. The hand drawn backgrounds and art pop with color, and the animation and the painstaking attention to detail make the world of Dust feel whole.

Not surprisingly, the same amount of care is lavished on the game's level design. Dust smartly melds the sprawling, branching pathways with a level structure that segments each area into a separate zone accessible from a world map. While this cuts into the Metroidvania format a smidge, it goes a long way to make the genre suitable for the quick burst style of a downloadable game and eliminate some of the more tiresome backtracking elements that come with territory of the genre.

That isn't the only smart choice in Dust. Creating compelling combat in 2D games is tough to do, but the fighting in Dust is fun and snappy the whole way through. The game's combat plays like a simplified version of Devil May Cry with light and heavy attacks courtesy of your talking sword pal, launchers and air combos and various projectile attacks. Everything works in tandem in a completely fluid way. It doesn't take long for players to grasp everything the combat system has to offer, going from ground to air and back again and mixing projectiles into the fray to screen-filling results. The combat never becomes irritating, and though it would have been nice to pick up some new combos and attacks during the game, the fact that it remains fun the whole way through is perhaps the biggest surprise.

Dust provides the action part of the action RPG equation in spades, but it doesn't slack on the RPG elements either. There is plenty of crafting and questing to be had, and tasks come mostly from the game's main hub area, where most of its cast congregates. Much like the rest of the game, the cast has an easy charm to it. While not every joke the game's comic relief Fidget dishes out lands and it doesn't quite pull off all the tonal shifts it reaches for, the game leaves an impression over its about eight-hour run time that will draw you back in to discover its lingering secrets.

Dust may not be the most original game mechanically, but the mélange of its influences come together in a completely whole and confident way, which is even more impressive considering the long shadows those influences cast. There are small ruffles in an otherwise polished experience that hint to the fact that it's mostly a one man affair. And when everything settles, it's clear that Dust is a labor of love that stands out as one of the best downloadable releases of the year.

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NBA 2K13

With more than 5 million copies sold worldwide and more than 25 Sports Game of the Year awards won, NBA 2K12 was another monster release for the biggest NBA video game simulation franchise in the world. This year, NBA 2K13 will represent all things basketball and take virtual hardwood to the next level. Featuring an enhanced My Player mode and all-new gameplay features, NBA 2K13 will let gamers pit the best players in NBA history against the new dynasty of talent.

Select teams from real NBA rosters Customize players Compete in tournaments, and play through regular seasons Use classic teams to reenact historically significant matchups

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