Wet FORMAT
: PS3/360
RELEASE : OUT NOW
when O nce-upon-a-time, ‘The Matrix’ was
awesome and Max Payne was one of the better games DEVELOPER : ARTIFICIAL MIND around, bullet-time was cool. AND MOVEMENT And then people decided it by: Simon Lee was so last year and decided that people should move at normal speeds and be prone to dying easily. And this is why I like Wet already. Wet has basically turned around to the world, raised a singular finger and said, “You know what? Bullet-time IS cool! We’ll show you”! PUBLISHER : BETHESDA
Wet is Max Payne but with it’s tongue firmly lodged in it’s cheek. Our hero, a young lady who goes by the name of Rubi, can run along walls, run up walls, leap through the air and slide along the ground. Every time she performs one of these crazy acrobatic actions and pulls the trigger on her unlimited-ammo pistols, time slows to a crawl. To make it even easier, as you aim with the gun in Rubi’s right hand, the one in her left seems to develop a mind all of its own and aims at any other henchmen hanging around.
The Beatles: Rock band King of Fighters XII version reviewed
FORMAT
: PS3/360
RELEASE
: OUT NOW
/WII
the moment the F rom blissed out intro sequence
starts you know that Harmonix have pulled out all the stops DEVELOPER : HARMONIX MUSIC SYSTEMS and have done their research this game’s going to take you by: MozPeachey on a Magical Mystery Tour of the Beatles, so grab your instrument and get ready for a great psychedelic journey. PUBLISHER : MTV GAMES
The main element of the game is Story mode, this is set out in a similar way to Rock Band’s solo player mode. However, this time the songs aren’t in order of difficulty but instead are in chronological order, taking you through key moments in the Beatles career from the Cavern right through to their final gig on Apple Corps rooftop. This works really well if you’ve played Rock Band before but could be off-putting for newcomers as some of the early songs are as difficult as the final track! But do not fear, there is Quick Play mode which has all the tracks available from the start so you can practice on easier tracks before going into Story mode. Talking of difficulty, even on Expert you’re never truly pushed to the limits – not surprising considering that the Beatles weren’t exactly known for their finger blistering guitar solos. This is up for debate however, as the game does present some taxing and complex rhythms requiring plenty of practice to hit those high scores. You also get the chance to sing the harmonies, giving you three vocal lines to sing, and allowing yourself to be immersed in delivering the full band experience and the challenge of singing and playing at the same time. As you play through Story mode you unlock photos, and in turn for collecting a number of photos, you unlock videos. For each chapter you complete you also get a challenge mode where you play through every track from the chapter without stopping, unlocking another photo for “5 star-ing” every track.
Wet is the sort of game that would make Quentin Tarantino proud and with a decent cast (Buffy’s Eliza Dushku, Heroes’ Alan McDowell and a certain Alan Cumming) it’s one of those games that feels so much more like a film. A very bloody and over-the-top film. And it’s just brilliant.
re-play | November 09
: PS3/360
/ARCADE
RELEASE
: OUT NOW (US, JPN), TBC (UK)
PUBLISHER : SNK PLAYMORE DEVELOPER : IGNITION ENTERTAINMENT
by: Tom Massey
the nineties, realistically I nchallenging Capcom’s
landmark Street Fighter 2 was a prospect entertained by many, attempted by some, and achieved by very few.
For SNK, a company fuelled with Yakuza money, it was the fighting game that defined their ambitions. Although their early titles lacked the fluidity of Capcom’s money-spinner, it wasn’t long before the flagship yearly fist-festival, King of Fighters, matured into Street Fighter’s most formidable rival.
Fifteen years down the line, this twelfth instalment - a composition of multimedia technologies, dazzling pyrotechnics and giant, screen-filling characters - is a serious overhaul. The series signature play mechanics have been retained, but SNK Playmore have stripped out a number of established moves - a bold concession that makes KOF XII appealing to veterans and newcomers alike. The three-on-three team setup remains, with old favourites Iori, Kyo and Terry Bogard returning as part of the twenty-two strong character roster. Somewhat surprisingly, one of KOF XII’s most striking characteristics is that it simply doesn’t feel finished. Bar a thin time-trial premise, it’s totally absent of plot. Worse still, with only six battles and no boss character, the lack of frills is disappointing. The music too, is mostly poor - some simply awful – and the front-end menu lacks warmth. The switching of Athena’s ethnicity from Chinese into generic Japanese schoolgirl is also a puzzling twist. If however, you can look past these superficial elements, KOF XII still does what KOF does best, its core playability and frenetic speed surviving intact. The blows are mallet-to-mortar solid and the combos wonderfully satisfying. The dynamic camera scales around the action and everything has a great sense of pace.
Whilst the game is somewhat conventional, it’s made original by the sheer madness of it all. And failing that, not only can Rubi run up walls, she can also run up henchmen... And she has a sword! This all makes Wet sound like a pretty easy game, but it’s actually fast-paced and frantic. The first few levels are fairly straight forward, with Rubi placed in a locked room with no way of escaping until every goon is dead. Once the room is cleared, you then have to navigate Rubi as she makes her way over the rooftops to the next area so as to repeat the process. But in a moment of crazed brilliance, after Rubi bursts through a door so as to shoot the guard in the face, we see the entire game turn into a massive ‘Reservoir Dogs’ style poster (all black, white and red) as Ruby goes on a massive killing spree. Music setting the mood as it seemingly plays out of ‘Once Upon a Time in Mexico’ whilst the player realises that this is just one of the many moments that they’d happily relive again and again.
version reviewed
FORMAT
The guard break returns - now in an unlimited form rather than requiring super stock – and, even if its overuse can become tedious, adds rhythm to the fight.
A lot of thought has gone into the set design starting with some key concerts from the start of the Beatles career before moving into the Abbey road recording studio. However instead of just watching the Beatles sat at a recording studio, you get taken to suitably psychedelic dream worlds that act as visual auditoriums for the song which you are playing - though sometimes they are so bright that picking out the notes from the background can be tricky. All in all The Beatles: Rock Band is an incredibly polished and well thought out homage to the Beatles, and a must for Rock Band and Beatles fans alike.
As well as the staple super combo, there are ‘deadlock’ moves that repel players in a simultaneous strike, and an exciting new ‘critical counter’, an opportunity to let loose with a string of unblockable attacks. It’s true that the size of the sprites and widescreen aspect has slightly deformed the natural range of things, but there’s no doubt that this makeover has breathed new life into the series. It may be a baby step – and one that has a few teething troubles - but it’s still far superior to most. While future entries will inevitably add refinement and depth (and if we’re lucky, the lovely Mai Shiranui), for the time being this grand training ground welcomes all-comers to a new generation of KOF. And damn, in what style. 19