Kevnvek

In terms of gameplay, you have all the standard moves like healing and attack spells, counterattacks, and power attacks. Classes range from basic fighters, to sorcerers and even combat skaters, warriors who fight their enemies with ice skates. All of the characters have a main class and can choose a support class to add abilities to their repertoire. One of the main highlights of the game is the live action cutscenes. At most major plot points a cutscene will trigger, with all of the characters played by real people in surprisingly good costumes and areas considering the low budget. These are some of the most hilarious moments in the game, and blend seamlessly with actual gameplay. The live action scenes are highly reminiscent of one of Mark Leung's earlier works, , an awesome short series that spoofs RPGs in a similar fashion to Revenge of the Bitch. Unfortunately the game suffers from a multitude of technical issues. I found that the anti-aliasing option was completely broken. Attempting to turn it on will either crash the game, or make it not load any textures but the background, leaving only wireframes floating around clouds and water. It is also fairly easy for the game to crash, triggered by loading glitches like encountering enemies while transitioning to a new area, or just at random. The developer's are very aware of the bugs and are hard at work fixing them. In the meantime, the game is still very playable if you save often, which you should do anyways in any RPG you play. And the graphics still look pretty good in their own stylized way, even without antialiasing. For such a small development team with no publisher, the game is still very well made, all things considered. At around 20 hours long, the game is a full feature length title, despite the impression you may get from it being a spoof RPG. For $13, Mark Leung: Revenge of the Bitch is a pretty good value for all the "lol"s and "wtf"s you will get out of it. And humor aside, it actually plays pretty well as an actual RPG, despite the glitches. You can check out the demo and buy the game at MarkLeung.com. So, to quote the game's website, "delete some porn and free up your disk space for something way the f*ck better!"

We here at Gamercide love Magicka. So much so that we want you to have a chance to play it, too. This Friday and Saturday, from 10PM Pacific onwards, we will be streaming the game and giving away codes for it. All you have to do is watch our stream, courtesy of JustinTV (thanks to Dateranoth for the excellent design for our streaming page), and answer some trivia based on the game as we play it. 4 codes will be up for grabs at 10PM PST on Friday, 2/11 as Dateranoth plays, and another 5 will be available the next day, 10PM PST on Saturday, 2/12 as AudaciousKevin (yours truly) takes over. So if you miss out on day one, there will be more codes for you to win the next day. Just pay attention to the stream as we play, and be the first to get the questions right, and the game is as good as yours. Please note that, due to potential lag, the winner will be decided based on who the broadcaster sees post the correct answer first in the chat log. Thanks to the publisher of Magicka, Paradox, for providing some of the codes for us, and of course Arrowhead Game Studios for developing such a great game. Winners will be gifted the game through Steam on the PC. Feel free to check out the Steam demo, as well. Even if you don't win, the game is well worth the ten dollar asking price. Hope to see you there!

In Magicka you play as a mage from the Order of Magic and are sent by a man named Vlad, who is by no means a vampire, on an ever cliche quest to save the world of Midgard from the evil wizard Grimnir. Things get crazy as you progress through the story, chock full of awesome references ranging from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, to Castlevania, and even Ski Free of all things. The game is fully voice acted, if you can consider Simlish proper voice acting. This just adds more to the wacky humor of the game. From beginning to end the story is just hilarious and awesome. There are 8 different spell effects which are mapped to the Q, W, E, R, A, S, D, and F keys. You can make a spell with up to 5 effects in it, and some of the effects can be combined into one (such as fire and water becoming steam), while others don't combine at all (like water and lightning). This leads to an insane amount of spell possibilities, not all of them beneficial. In addition, every possible spell combination can be cast four different ways: outwards (this can be a projectile/beam/barrier/etc.), casted on self, casted as an area of effect spell (radial damage or barriers/mines to surround you), or used to enchant your weapon for a single spell infused swing. In addition to the normal spell combinations you can find spell books that produce much more specific effects when you cast the elements in the right order. There is just a ridiculous amount of possible spell combinations in the game. What's really nice about it is that you get all of the elements by completing the tutorial, so you have access to every spell combination apart from the unique spell book ones from the very beginning. There is no leveling system aside from finding spell books and weapons or staffs with different enchantments. It's all about trial and error, learning what combinations are effective in each situation, and finding out the hard way what to avoid so as not to die horrifically. In addition to the standard Adventure mode, there is a Challenge mode where you enter an arena and face waves of oncoming enemies. This is a great way to test the effectiveness of different spells you've devised. You don't keep any of your spell book magics or your weapon/staff, but can find them as you play through it. The game features 4 player co-op in both Adventure and Challenge modes, which can be very fun - when it works right. At launch the multiplayer was practically unplayable with all of the lag, synchronization errors, and general inability for players to connect to each other. As of this writing several patches have been released which improve the functionality of multiplayer greatly, but it's still not perfect as there are still occasional disconnections and off-synced matches. The game is a great experience in single player alone though, and Paradox and Arrowhead are hard at work rolling out patches to get the multiplayer working right. From what I've played, co-op mode can be a blast, especially in the arena. Hopefully in the coming weeks it will be much more stable. LAN and local co-op don't really have any of the connection issues though, only online multiplayer. Aside from the multiplayer issues, if there was one thing I would want added to the game it would be some sort of level select. In summation, Magicka is a very innovative, very fun game that is simply a joy to play. Though the multiplayer may be buggy at the moment, the single player campaign is a great experience. Even during the most difficult parts of the game it never really gets frustrating. Rather it gets you to stop and think of new ways you could counter your enemies and get through difficult areas with all of the potential spells at your disposal. Magicka is an excellent game that is held back by a few bugs. But with patches released for it almost daily, it won't be long before the game is almost perfect for what it is: a fun, innovative, and hilarious experience that can be played with friends and should not be missed.

We at Gamercide had a chance to talk to the guys over at Nice Technology about their upcoming free to play MMO, Picaroon. It's supposed to be a sort of semi-futuristic piratey MMO RTS, but isn't as complicated as it sounds. Just read on to see what Nice Tech had to say. Q – Can you give us a brief history of Nice Technology? Nice Technology was formed in 2009 when it got together with Toby Simpson the developer of AliceServer the MMOG engine (unique, we believe, in having an agent based architecture) to develop the software further and self publish games made with it. Nice Technology has worked on two titles, one Tronji an MMOG for children developed for BBCW and Ragdoll which is currently in beta and Picaroon, an MMORTS, that Nice Technology has developed in just a year which is currently in closed beta. Q – So what does the title "Picaroon" mean? Well, we knew that the game was pirateish, theme-wise, but title ideas with the word pirate in just didn't feel right. Then one of our developers pointed out that Picaroon sort of meant the same thing and it sounds much, much cooler, as all words with two 'o's in do. Of course there's also the issue that if we mention pirates in the title, it sets people's expectations to a 17th and 18th century type setting whereas we've deliberately based Picaroon in some suitably grim future to allow us to pick and choose what technology we wish to use and not be limited to cannons, swords and parrots. Q – What is the point of the game? Aside from the obligatory pillaging and looting, of course. The point of the game is simply to score as many points as possible, top the various ranking tables (there will be a number of different tables) and gain experience and rise through the ranks – but more than this have a great deal of fun, planning strategies, plotting, forging alliances and joining in the mayhem. Points are scored by conquering islands, attacking other players, tributing resources to powers that control what remains of the decimated world (in return you get some really powerful units in the end game phase of each round). Q – What gave you the idea to make a game about futuristic pirates? Are there any space ninjas in the game? We chose the theme to give us the creative freedom to combine old and new technologies and weapons in myriad and interesting ways. But currently there are lots of variety of units and buildings on offer and specials, virtual cards, that boost your performance (whether in attack, defence, building, resource gathering etc). There is the excitement of the end game where superships and supersubs (nuclear missile carrying) enter the fray and change the balance of the game. And there are lots of plans for new units including mobile attack and static defence platforms that players have the freedom to create themselves from the various resources on offer. There are not any space ninjas in the game as far as we're aware, but as you know: if there were, you'd never see them anyway; Ninjas are just that sneaky. Q – Do you have any plans to release any games on consoles such as the Xbox 360, PS3, or Wii? We're currently only planning a PC release along with an iPhone and iPad client next year. We're going to be creating totally new ways of playing Picaroon such as quick-fire Skirmish games and long-term persistent games. These new modes appeal to different people and perhaps might create a demand on other platforms which we would be more than delighted to look at. Q – What in the world is a Tronji? Tronjis are friendly creatures from another planet that was always happy until their world collided with ours and became less happy! Children enter the world to fix things, help Tronjis and create more happiness. Q – Can you tell us what your plans for the future are? Will you devote your time to expanding Picaroon, or will you continue to make new games as you support it? We're going to be devoting our time to expanding Picaroon for the time being. We've got a packed schedule for the first quarter of next year that adds the new game modes mentioned above and also a whole pile of wonderful new features including customisable units that'll allow for potentially millions of possible combinations. We can't way to see what our players will create! We're also going to bringing Tronji to commercial release and we're looking at something... well, something REALLY special that we're going to work on from mid next year! Q – Anything else you'd like to add? Feel free to self-advertise here, that's kind of the point. The technology that powers Picaroon and Tronji is inspired by biology and it's capable of doing some other really amazing things. We've had prototypes in the past where we've created entire universes in a matter of seconds populated by vast numbers of plants, animals and other such stuff. We're dead proud of what we've achieved with Picaroon and Tronji given that there's just a few of us but this is all just the tip of the iceberg! Perhaps something with space ninjas? It certainly seems that Nice Technology is determined to live up to their namesake. Check out some footage of the game below, and go to the Picaroon website and check out the free to play Beta. The final build of the game will also be free to play, and is planned to be released sometime this winter.

The combat has been changed up to where Ezio is even more powerful, but the enemies are more aggressive. It is now possible to chain finishing moves. Upon killing an enemy, if you direct your next attack towards another you can perform a finishing move on him, and continue this streak by targeting another enemy after that. This is similar to the other AC games where enemies would suddenly lose heart and run away, lowering their guard for easy kills, but much more stylish. Most of the new weapons are just upgraded versions from the previous games, like faster acting poisons, but there are also some new features like the ability to keep a heavy weapon permanently, though it will replace your medium weapon. In terms of equipment, all of the previous equipment that helped Ezio be a great Assassin, such as smoke bombs and throwing knives, return alongside a few new items like the crossbow, which is essentially a faster, more silent version of the pistol, and the parachute, which allows you to survive falls from any height. One of the best new features in Brotherhood's single player campaign is the ability to recruit and train Assassin's. You can train them up by sending them out to complete missions that give you gold and occasionally loot through a meta-game found at pigeon coups throughout the city. Your Assassin's can be summoned to either quietly take out guards as you are sneaking around, or to assist you in a fight. The higher the level they are, the more equipment they'll have access to, and the more efficient they'll be at taking down guards. Features like this, and the ability to chain finishing moves, make Brotherhood a fairly easy game compared to previous entries, but it never holds the game back, and is still great fun to play. The biggest addition in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is undoubtedly the multiplayer. Amidst the dozens of multiplayer shooters out this year, this game has one of the most unique, refreshing multiplayer experiences I've ever played. Most of the game modes essentially play out like a game of cat and mouse. You must find your target amongst a crowd of civilians, all of whom inconveniently decided to dress in the multiplayer costumes, while simultaneously trying remain stealthy so any pursuers won't immediately recognize you and try to assassinate you. Very few multiplayer games have ever actually made me nervous like Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. No shooter has even come close. The multiplayer in this game will have you paranoid and on the edge of your seat, wondering where the next attack might come from. If I have anything bad at all to say about the game, it's that the controls are almost too smooth. It can be a pain when you're running from a pursuer in multiplayer and your character decides to jump into a hay bale that you intend to run past, leaving your enemy to start an inescapable killing animation where they jump into the hay bale after you. Though most of the issues you may have with controls, such as Ezio jumping farther than you wanted, or grabbing the wrong ledge, are much more manageable once you've gotten used to how to work the controls and avoid them. Regardless of the quirks, Assassin's Creed still has arguably the best climbing mechanics out there. In the end, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is an all around great game that shouldn't be missed. If you consider yourself a core gamer, Brotherhood has everything that you could want in a game, including smooth melee combat, stealth, parkour, and much more.

Some of you may remember back in May, some indie developers got together and put on a cool little pack of games for charity called the Humble Indie Bundle. Enticing you with a hilarious video, you could choose how much you wanted to pay for the bundle, and how you wanted your money distributed between developers and charities. It turned out very successful, and it seems they're at it again, with even more great games. The best part is you can still choose what to pay. You could donate a pittance, or you could donate a sizeable amount for bonus Karma, or "feel-good points" if you're not into that sort of thing. Check out the video after you hit the jump 20 pixels below what you're reading right now. Just look down a little.

Graphics aside, the gameplay is very smooth. You can perform light and heavy attacks, use guns, grappling moves, and (thankfully) move around and jump. It has very standard controls, but it's in the way that you combine them that the game gets interesting. Throughout the game you get a variety of weapons, from the default shanks and chainsaw, to machetes, a shotgun, and my personal favorite, a chain that you wrap around your fists to attack your enemies' weak points for massive damage. You can switch between these weapons at any time. By combining your light, heavy, and ranged attacks, you can become a whirlwind of death, shanking, bashing, chopping, and shooting your way through hordes of enemies. Words really don't do it justice. Check out this video courtesy of Machinima: The story is the usual tale of revenge, but is well formulated. It helps that one of the writers of the God of War series, Marianne Krawczyk, is involved. There's enough emotion in the acting that you feel for Shank (the aptly named titular character) and want to help him brutally murder the ones responsible for killing his loved one. There is also local co-op in Shank, with it's own unique backstory, detailing the events leading up to the beginning of the game. In this mode player two plays as Shank's friend, Falcone. There are more enemies, and they are even tougher, but it can be very fun with two whirlwinds of death flying around the screen. There are even special grappling moves that let the players work together to take down the enemies. In the end, Shank is every bit as gratuitous as it is inspired. From the beginning to the end, it's essentially a constant series of violent encounters, but the game has enough style that it never really gets old. If you're a fan of brutal beat 'em up games, you don't want to miss Shank. It's an outstanding credit to the genre.

Zeno Clash is a hard game to classify because it is so strange, but the closest you could probably get is to call it a first person brawler. You play as Ghat, whose objective is to smash in the faces of every elephantoid, birdman, and wolf-lady that he sees as he makes his way across the outlandish landscape of Zenozoik in his quest to find the truth about the freakish Father-Mother. The story is fairly obscure, but with enough backstory and interesting characters to keep it entertaining. Of special note are the Corwid of the Free, a group of insane individuals, each with their own hilarious quirk. There is plenty of variety in the combat. There are dozens of ways to punch, kick, and grapple your opponents. While it may seem a bit complex at first, the melee system is fairly easy to get used to, and quite fun once mastered. Additionally, there are a variety of melee and ranged weapons at your disposal. The melee weapons are slow, bludgeoning weapons mainly used to fight the larger enemies in the game. The ranged weapons vary from crossbows, to rifles, to shotguns, and work very well to break up the melee. They never seem too overpowered, as you will always be more vulnerable when using them. The music does a good job of setting up the creepy atmosphere, and setting the tone for imminent brawls. The voice acting is fairly good, despite the quirky dialog, adding to Zeno Clash's creepy charm. As for the sound effects, there are plenty of realistic grunts, whacks, and thuds, in addition to the bizarre screeches and combat banter of your foes. The levels are fairly short, and segmented. This is probably my only real complaint about the game, as it felt like I was just going from point A to point B punching the hell out of anything in my way. Though this can be fairly amusing, the game would have benefited from more open level design. Zeno Clash includes arcade style challenges which can be done in co-op, in which you fight through several rooms full of enemies until you have cleared the level. While this was quite fun, I had completed all of the levels in under 2 hours with a co-op partner. On the bright side, it was a quick and easy way to get most of the achievements in the game. Tips and Tricks - If an enemy is charging you while you are holding a ranged weapon, your best bet is to just throw it at them then engage them in melee, unless you are quick on the draw and can stun them with your gunfire. - Fight dirty! Sometimes you have to kick an enemy when they're down to help you defeat them, especially some of the larger, tougher enemies. - Ranged weapons have unlimited ammo. If you are able to avoid having them knocked out of your hands (usually by sprinting away from charging opponents), they can be very useful for taking down the enemies' health without getting hit. Overall, I enjoyed Zeno Clash because it was unlike anything I had ever played before. The gameplay was unique, as was the bizarre art style and character design. There seems to be no consistency or reasoning between just what kind of mutant animal hybrid each character is, but there doesn't need to be. Zeno Clash has a strange sense of humor that is made funnier by the very straight faced seriousness with which it is delivered. All of the characters take all of the events of the game totally seriously, and don't seem to find anything out of the ordinary. Though the game could have been a bit longer and much more open, it offers an experience that you won't find anywhere else. Fortunately, ACE Team has plans to make a more open, RPG-esque sequel, as well as another very unique looking title called Rock of Ages. Keep an eye out for this team of creative minded indie developers. If you are looking for an experience unlike anything else, Zeno Clash is the game for you.

The graphics in Red Dead Redemption are very crisp, even standing up to the age old sniper scope texture examination (you know you do it too). Everything is very detailed, from the foliage, to the wildlife, to the rolling landscape visible for dozens of miles in every direction. The sound is great, with all of the sound effects sounding realistic and highly immersive in surround sound. The music is very fitting and ambient, with piano and guitar music that are staples of the Western theme, and changes dynamically based on what's happening. One minute you could be riding across a barren landscape with a slow, mysterious piano song playing, the next you could encounter some bandits and the music will increase in intensity. There are many sidequests and activities that can be done in Red Dead Redemption, including, but not limited to, poker, blackjack, five finger fillet, arm wrestling, horseshoes, nightwatchman, and performing random tasks for strangers you meet. One of the most lucrative activities you can partake in is hunting and skinning animals. The materials you get, such as skins, antlers, and meat, can be sold in bulk for a good profit, and the price you can get depends on the region where you sell them. There are also dynamic events that can happen around you at any time, such as finding people being chased by wolves, or people having their horses stolen. You can help these people and you will be rewarded with a small sum of money and gain or lose honor and fame based on how you deal with the situation. With the fame and honor systems, you can play Red Dead Redemption as an outlaw if you so choose, but you will have to deal with law enforcement fairly often if you choose that path. There's almost too much to do in Red Dead Redemption, to the point where it's almost staggering how much you can do. Many of the sidequests can become tedious as well, such as following a slow dog around on night patrol, or herding cattle. But, to be fair, all of the side-quests are optional, and most of them can be very fun, such as bounty hunting. Red Dead Redemption is a fairly easy game, and most certainly not one of the harder third person shooters, but it doesn't need to be. The game focuses more on the freedom to do what you want in the Wild West, not the challenge of trying to survive frequent firefights like other shooters. Most, if not all firefights can be survived by taking cover and popping out to place a few auto-aimed shots at a time. There are several types of weapons at your disposal, including pistols, rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, and thrown weapons including dynamite and throwing knives. There is also a lasso that can be used to subdue your opponents, opening up more honorable ways of dealing with criminals. Sadly, however, the lasso is not available in multiplayer. While the single player in the game is excellent, the game really shines in multiplayer, where you and 15 other people can roam the entire game world and work together, forming posses and taking down gang hideouts for experience points to level up and get new characters, titles, and mounts. Conversely (and unfortunately much more common in public games) you can be completely xenophobic and kill anyone you come into contact with, or anyone that isn't in your posse. There are several objective based competitive game types that can be played, including the usual game types like deathmatch and capture the flag, but, personally, I had more fun just roaming the landscape with a group of friends in Free Roam. If there's one thing I don't like about the game, it's the save system. You are only given three slots to save to, and if you die, you lose all progress since your last save. While it makes sense that you can't be brought back to health at a hospital every time you are mortally wounded like in GTA IV, since medical knowledge was far less advanced in the early 1900s, it would have been nice if there wasn't such a heavy penalty for dying. I found myself avoiding duels if they were suggested at any point other than right after I had saved, for fear of losing progress. By the time I save and come back out to accept the challenge, several hours have passed and the would be duelist has long since lost his desire to do battle. There is an autosave and checkpoint system, but only in missions, so it won't help you when you are doing dangerous activities such as hunting. There are some very irritating things about this system in the final act of the game, but none of which can be mentioned without massive spoilers. Tips and Tricks - If you have trouble aiming, try changing the aiming mode to casual or normal. There's really no reason to use expert targeting (no auto-aim) if you don't have to. In Free Roam you'll almost certainly be killed if you don't use auto-aiming, because others surely will. - Save often! If you die, which can happen very easily in the wilderness, you lose all of your progress since the last save. So set up camp or visit a safe house often and save your game to avoid losing progress. -Cowboys have glass legs. Do not attempt to fall from any height greater than 10 feet unless there is a slope you can slide down, or you will most likely die a horrible, shattering death. Reaction I was blown away by the level of detail in Red Dead Redemption. Every little thing in the game, from the tinctures on store shelves, to the foliage littering the landscape, and to NPCs' interactions with each other in towns, was done with painstaking detail. It really feels like you are in the Wild West. Unfortunately, with all the excitement of the western setting also comes the tedium of long horse rides and miscellaneous side jobs like herding cattle. That's not to say that Red Dead isn't a fun game, but it has it's share of filler. Overall, Red Dead Redemption is an amazing game with plenty to keep you busy, including a hefty multiplayer mode. For the amount of content you get, the game is worth every penny. Do not miss Rockstar's latest masterpiece. AudaciousKevin gives this game an outstanding 9.5 out of 10!

It's standard practice these days for every major release to have store exclusive bonus content to lure you into preordering the game from that particular vendor. Fallout New Vegas is no different, with 4 different offerings to choose from. Best Buy - The Mercenary Pack - Mercenary's Grenade Rifle - Lightweight Metal Armor - 3 Doctor's Bags - 3 Super Stimpaks Amazon - The Tribal Pack -Broad Machete -Tribal Raiding Armor -10 Throwing Spears - 5 Bleak Venom doses Gamestop - The Classic Pack - Weathered 10mm Pistol - Armored Vault 13 Suit - 5 Stimpaks - Vault 13 Canteen Walmart and Steam - The Caravan Pack - Sturdy Caravan Shotgun - Lightweight Leather Armor - Binoculars - 4 Repair Kits What's nice about the New Vegas preorder items is that they all seem to be comprised of things that are either in game already, or will quickly become obsolete, like starter kits. So in the end, you aren't missing out on some unique item or power. Personally I'm leaning towards the Caravan Pack with the binoculars and the Mad Max style outfit. Comment below and tell us which set you'll be getting. Fallout: New Vegas is set to release on October 19th.

Now, what truly separates Harmony of Despair from other Castlevania titles is that it is completely multiplayer focused. It can be played single player, but you will have a hard time beating any levels solo until you get some exceptional equipment. The game can be played with up to 5 other players online. The game can be very hard, especially some of the bosses, but with a well rounded group that knows what they're doing, it becomes a lot easier. The characters have enough variety to round out the team very well, with attackers, spell casters, and healers. Though sadly, most of the time you'll end up with teams comprised entirely of Alucard and Soma, as they are the best attackers and can use the most weapons, and hence, get the best loot. Playing with big groups isn't as competitive as you'd think, either. You get random loot from every chest that is opened, regardless of your proximity to it. If you die in multiplayer you run around in a weak skeleton form until someone uses a Water of Life to revive you. Unfortunately, you don't receive any loot while in this form, which often prevents some players from getting loot from boss chests on hard mode when there aren't enough Waters of Life. Each level has a 30 minute time limit (which is more than enough, even on hard), but every time a player in skeleton form dies, a few minutes are taken off of the clock. The graphics from Harmony of Despair are almost entirely reused from previous Castlevania games. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as Konami was pretty creative with the way they laid out the textures. There are 6 levels in the game, and in each one you can see the entire map all at once, with the ability to zoom in and out by clicking in the right analog stick. This allows you to map out your path to the boss while searching for treasure chests and healing items along the way, as well as zoom out and get an idea of what the other players are doing. There is no story whatsoever in Harmony of Despair, but it isn't really necessary. The game works well as an arcade style dungeon crawler. Any cutscenes would just slow down the action. Tips and Tricks - The first thing you should do is beat all 6 chapters on normal so you can unlock hard mode where loot is actually worthwhile. This is much easier done with a group, if you can find anyone willing to play on normal. - Chests are color coded. Purple chests hold the best loot aside from boss chests, blue chests hold Waters of Life (used to revive allies in multiplayer), and red chests always hold money. - If you happen to find a sword called the Yasutsuna while playing as Alucard or Soma on Chapter 5 Hard, equip it on Alucard to become an absolute grinding machine. With two it's twice as fast by alternating X and Y. There are better weapons that do this (such as the Valmanway, Soma's superior equivalent), but the Yasutsuna is relatively easy to get with a bit of luck (I have about 4 of them). - If you level up Charlotte's heal spell to the point where it heals 40 or more points of damage (the cost to cast), you can equip the Astral Ring (makes you use HP instead of MP) for "infinite mana". While this may not be quite that effective as an infinite health spell until you have extremely high magic power, you can constantly heal your allies without using any mana. Reaction I haven't really played any Castlevania games apart from Symphony of the Night on XBLA, and Curse of Darkness on the original Xbox, but Harmony of Despair appears to be a very unique title in the series. While it may not appeal to veterans looking for another castle-exploring adventure full of hidden items and secrets, the game more than makes up for it with it's fun multiplayer. The game is incredibly fun to play with 6 players running amok slaying demons, and there are many ways to play the game with 5 unique characters with their own sets of abilities. While the price may be a bit steep at $15, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair has enough replay value to justify the price for anyone who enjoys looting and grinding with a group of friends. The only real downside is that it doesn't have any offline co-op, meaning that someday there will eventually be very few people left to play the game with, as with most XBLA titles. If there's one negative thing that I have to say about the game, it's that there isn't quite enough content. For a game as grinding and loot focused as Harmony of Despair, it would have been nice if there were more levels, and some more characters so that there aren't only two of them that are all around powerful (Alucard and Soma). Fortunately, DLC that will add a new playable character and level has been announced, which should increase the replay value for a (hopefully) small fee. Castlevania: Harmony of Despair slays 8 vampires out of 10!

The first thing you'll notice is that the environment feels much more open than the first Dead Rising. Sure Willamette Mall was huge, but it just feels different to be able to actually walk around in an outside environment, in the streets of Still Creek. Though most of them are boarded up for obvious reasons, you can explore many of the houses and shops to find items of varying usefulness. One awesome new feature is the ability to combine items to make special weapons. To make a special weapon you simply place two items that can be combined together on a work bench. For instance, if you use nails and a baseball bat, you can get a spiked bat. Kills with these weapons earn you PP, the oddly named experience points that originated from the first game. Holding the attack button to perform a special attack is much slower but earns you a large PP bonus. Some of the other special weapons include the Paddlesaw (chainsaws duct taped to a boat paddle), an Improvised Explosive Device (a nail covered propane tank), and the Boomstick (a shotgun attached to a pitchfork). Combo cards, which can be discovered in the story and earned by leveling up, allow you to do the special attacks with your crafted weapons, while Scratch Cards, earned by simply making the corresponding weapon, are nothing more than reminders of how to make that weapon. One thing that bothered me was Chuck's movement speed. For a guy trying desperately to find a cure for his daughter, he sure has a leisurely gait. Fortunately, a quick look at the Stats screen reveals that you will be able to increase your speed, among other things like inventory slots, just like you could in the first game. You increase these stats by gaining enough PP to level up. You can only get to level 5 in Case Zero, but your levels, experience and combo cards can be transferred into Dead Rising 2 when it is released. Sadly, your speed doesn't get upgraded by level 5, but you will certainly be able to move faster in the full Dead Rising 2. You no longer have a camera to take pictures and gain PP with, but the combo weapons earn the points just as well. Basically all of the gameplay features of the first game apart from that are in tact, and improved. There are still survivors to rescue, but rather than having to answer an annoying old man on a walkie talkie, you just have to climb up to a safe rooftop and talk to a guy with an assault rifle, who points out any survivors he's seen. While I was playing I even found a blender and was able to make the old Spitfire drink that makes you, well, spit fire, reminding me of some of the wackier things in Dead Rising. The graphics are decent, but some of the textures are a bit weak if you look at them too closely. Most of the time you are trying to avoid zombies, and the third person camera doesn't usually get too close for you to notice, so you can only really tell in cutscenes. The music sets the mood well, and the game features an awesome ending credits song, similar to the first game. Tips and Tricks - If you need money, you can smash up the slot machines and ATMs at the casino. They respawn when you enter and leave the safe house. You can also get a hefty sum of money by rescuing Gemini from the bar and finding her jewelry for her. - Unless you are trying for the zombie killing achievements, it is best to avoid them. You get much more PP for completing objectives and rescuing survivors. And since all of your objectives have a time limit, you don't want to waste too much time fighting zombies. - Combo weapons are almost always more effective than regular items you find lying around (with notable exceptions like the Air Horn and Beerhat), and always earn you PP for kills. It is advisable to keep a spiked bat in your inventory at all times. The materials to make it respawn next to the work bench in the safe house. - Always carry at least one healing item (preferably orange juice, since it heals you fully). At first this may be a pain with only a few inventory slots, but by the time you level up to 5 you will have plenty of slots to hold them. Reaction Though it only lasts a few short hours, I had loads of fun playing Case Zero. The story is good, and very emotional. The little bit that it let me play left me wanting more. Though it can be considered to be a teaser for the full Dead Rising 2, Case Zero has enough content and replay value to stand alone as a proper Xbox LIVE Arcade title. It's simply too big to be considered a demo, and with the tiny $5 entry fee, you'd be hard pressed to find a reason not to get this game if you consider yourself a fan of zombie games. Other developer's should take note of what Capcom has done. This XBLA title is a great way to build interest in Dead Rising 2, and make some profit at the same time. While I certainly don't think they should be rid of normal, free demos altogether (the Case Zero demo was literally a cutscene and a quick walk across the town for me), standalone prequel adventures like Case Zero are a great idea if the developer's can provide enough content in them so that they are more than just demos, and keep the price low so that consumers don't feel ripped off. AudaciousKevin gives Dead Rising 2: Case Zero a 9 out of 10!