I’m still in the middle of BioShock 2, so I’m going to kick this week’s gaming entries off with a gaming topic that I’ve been wrestling with for a while now: “open-world” sandbox gameplay design. It seems like it’s getting more and more popular these days, and while I may be in the minority for this, I don’t think I am a fan. Grand Theft Auto III made sandbox gameplay popular, and ever since then, we’ve seen several games in the last few years implement this “feature’ from Burnout to Halo. The addition of basically being forced to travel everywhere to actually start a mission certainly makes a game longer, but does it make a game more enjoyable?

Sandbox/open-world gameplay design is really tough to naildown, as there are many games out there that have some implementation of it while not necessarily relying on it. I think back to the old school NES days, and games like Kung-Fu, Super Mario Bros. 1-4, etc. all were pretty much focused on the missions. While the later Super Mario Bros. games started drifting towards more traveling between missions (like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World), it wasn’t until Super Mario 64 that you were forced to go open doors to start a level on a huge castle map. And it’s that jump to all this “downtime” between the missions is what is starting to annoy me. Here are some examples of recent games that tackle (or deal with) open-world gameplay.

Burnout Revenge vs Burnout Paradise
Burnout Paradise is probably one of the strongest examples of a sandbox style game. Prior to Burnout Paradise, the previous Burnout games, including my favorite, Burnout Revenge, were all level based and selectable from a mission menu. You would choose which race/challenge you wanted to compete in, and the race would start. If you lost, you could simply start the race/challenge again from the menu.

When Burnout Paradise was first released, the game was an open world so you actually had to drive everywhere in order to find a mission to start it. Is there really a lot of fun in having to drive several minutes to find a mission to take on? What if you don’t want to do that particular mission? You have to drive across town in order to do the mission you want to do? And on top of that, when the game was first released, if you lost a mission, that was it. You would end up somewhere else on the map (wherever you lost in that mission), and you would have to drive all the way back to the mission start location to start the mission again. Thankfully, that has since been patched so quick restarts are now in the game (after a lot of people complained), but my annoyance remains that I have to physically waste time driving everywhere I want to actually start a mission.

I do realize that it’s fun to play through an open world sandbox with friends online, but it’s not something that really provides a tangible benefit from gameplay. It’s like I’ve now being forced to commute anywhere I want to start a mission when it was fine before that.

Halo 3: ODST
Halo 3: ODST was the first Halo to implement a sandbox-style world, forcing you to travel through the streets of New Mombasa in order to find equipment from your squad that would trigger their flashback missions. While I still prefer no sandbox to sandbox style game design, I thought it worked quite well for ODST and I probably enjoyed the Halo 3: ODST campaign more than any other Halo’s campaign. I’m still trying to determine why I wasn’t as bothered by the Halo 3: ODST sandbox, and I think it’s most likely because the primary aspect of Halo 3: ODST, the combat, was still present during the sandbox mode. As you moved from one area to another, you still had to take on enemies, so it almost didn’t feel like a sandbox at all. In my previous example with Burnout Paradise, the driving from one mission to another was NOT the primary aspect of Burnout Paradise. Driving is not the same as racing.

Grand Theft Auto IV (& its expansions)
Having recently beaten The Lost and the Damned expansion, I was annoyed that I had to keep traveling across the map in order to get to a new mission. The problem with the Grand Theft Auto games is that if the sandbox was taken away and the game was just a series of missions, I think the game would probably fall on its face and not get the high marks it usually gets. If you could take away the driving between missions in Burnout Paradise, and even all of that hub traveling in Halo 3: ODST, both of those games would still be quite enjoyable to play, and would thus be played like a Call of Duty campaign: mission after mission after mission. And that’s honestly the gameplay design choice I would always prefer.

Grand Theft Auto IV is tough because the sandbox + mission structure are so intertwined in that both of the parts together are what make the game enjoyable. If the game was just one or the other, neither is strong enough to be entirely fun, but I can see why the kids like it. The combat system in GTA IV is laughably poor compared to any 3rd person shooter these days, and the only reason anyone would enjoy the sandbox gameplay of having to drive anywhere you need to go is because you enjoy stealing vehicles and killing civilians. It’s just not my thing. To be fair though, GTA IV implemented taxis, allowing you to fast-travel to anywhere you want to go, which was a MAJOR reason I was able to beat this game but none of the previous GTA games on the PS2. Thank you for that. And The Lost and the Damned allow you to call your friends to bring you weapons or motorcycles, which also eliminate needless commuting and errands you would be forced to run otherwise in order to actually play the game.

Assassin’s Creed 1 & 2
The Assassin’s Creed games are like historical Grand Theft Auto games, in that they are open world and you move across town in order to pick up new missions. Of course, back then you didn’t have cars so you would have to run across rooftops and use a horse to travel from one town to another. Assassin’s Creed 1 was pretty bad when it came to being forced to “commute” through its open world, but Assassin’s Creed II fixed a lot of problems that were inherent in the first game to make it much easier to play. In the sequel, you no longer had to ride a horse for like 15 minutes to get from one town to another – instead you just warped to it. Assassin’s Creed II also had fast-travel spots in various towns, allowing you to quickly move from one point to another on a map. This didn’t eliminate all “time-wasting commuting” between missions and such, but it made the game a lot less annoying. It’s a step in the right direction, and one of the reasons why I consider it to be the best sequel of 2009.

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion & Fallout 3
Both of these games have huge sandbox style worlds from Bethesda Softworks. You could honestly travel on foot throughout both games for hours and still feel lost. I actually think that Oblivion and Fallout 3 handle their sandbox gameplay design the best. In both games, you have to physically commute to any new location in the world, but once you have gotten there, you can always fast-travel back to that spot. This allows for exploration, but doesn’t force you to waste unnecessary time commuting back to the spot. No complaints here, and if future sandbox games all incorporated fast-travel like this, maybe sandbox games are evolving.

Final Fantasy X & Final Fantasy XIII
RPGs may have been the first real games that forced this “open-world” sandbox into gaming as you had to navigate across an overworld to go from a town to a dungeon and such with random encounters along the way. But like Halo, RPG games primarily focus on combat so the random encounters in the overworld are not so bad. The Final Fantasy games are going a little bit crazier in this aspect and really evolving. When Final Fantasy X released on the PS2, it was the first Final Fantasy game with no overworld map. People were gasping that you just got in your airship, and selected the zone you wanted to travel to you and you would just start there. It may have been jarring at first, but it turned out to be awesome. The overworld was commuting that I don’t miss at all.

Final Fantasy XIII is going even one step further – apparently there are no towns in this game. I don’t know how it works since I haven’t read too much about it, but my impression is that a “town” will simply be a location you can go to, and then you will have a menu of some sort that you can navigate and pick “Armor shop”, “weapon shop”, “Item shop”, etc. all from a menu as opposed to running around town into various buildings looking for the shops. If I’m now being forced to travel through a menu to get what I need to do instead of running around a huge town for hours, that works for me.

In Conclusion
When done right, sandbox style games can work, as I’ve mentioned several games that have ways that don’t force you to commute – at least all the time. But what I’m hoping for is that the future’s games don’t rely on the sandbox gameplay design to artificially lengthen their games. If Crackdown 2 is being heralded as a 30 hour game but 15 of those hours are actually traveling to get to each mission or boss, then is it really a 30 hour game?

If I were to give my opinion to game designers, it would be to focus on the actual gameplay itself. Make everything as simple as you can such that we gamers can actually enjoy the game. Games like Burnout Revenge, Gears of War, and Modern Warfare all have missions that are forced one right after another or are selected from a menu. If you want to make players travel across a sandbox to get to these missions, please show some consideration as to whether or not the forced commuting really adds value. Sandbox gameplay is not necessarily a step forward in gameplay design!

Major Announcements Include:

Left 4 Dead 2 -  with more of everything, exclusive to 360 & PC on November 17
Crackdown 2 – citizens turning into zombies (the hip new trend it seems)
Forza 3 – coming this fall with new graphics engine
Halo Reach – another Halo title, with free beta access w/ purchase of Halo ODST
Metal Gear Solid Rising – first Metal Gear game on the 360, starring Raiden

Xbox Live integrating with Last.FM, Facebook, and Twitter – allows you to upload in-game screens to your Facebook account, etc.

Project Natal – Microsoft’s answer to the Wii, which allows for motion capture with only the camera

The Microsoft keynote sounds pretty promising. The demo that was used for Project Natal was quite interesting, as it showed a woman looking at the screen and the boy in the game looking right back at her and reacting to her. I’m also a little surprised to see a Left 4 Dead sequel coming out in just a year, but I guess with the amount of success Left 4 Dead 1 gained since last year, it was inevitable. Looks like this fall is the year of monster sequels on the 360 for me: BioShock 2, Modern Warfare 2, and now Left 4 Dead 2 (I guess I’ll also mention Assassin’s Creed 2, Army of Two “2″, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Mass Effect 2 as well).

Microsoft’s E3 Expo Live Blog [Kotaku]

The stock market has dropped below 7000 points, people have less disposable income, and video game studios all over the country are filing for bankruptcy or shutting down altogether. Though video games have been touted as “recession-proof”, that really isn’t the case; consumers are buying less titles and taking less risks, staying away from question marks and sticking to sure-fire franchises.

In this first of a two part feature, espion4ge and I have compiled a list of our favorite mainstream titles that you can get under $30 now. If you’re trying to save money and haven’t played these games yet, I’d definitely recommend picking some of them up. In many cases you can buy two of these games for the price of one new title today so if you’ve missed out on some of them, there are great deals to be had.

At my job I often receive questions about what game or games to buy if one only wants to spend X amount of dollars. Usually they come up in the form of, “I can only afford one game, should I buy Fallout 3 or Left 4 Dead?” As always, the answer is “it depends.” But what I really try to recommend for those who can’t spend as much cash on entertainment is to look for the games that are the best value, games you can get on the cheap and get a lot of playtime out of. Or if you don’t have a lot of time to play games, then I’d recommend cheap games that are shorter but still offer excellent gameplay, “short but sweet” games.

Mass Effect
[360: $19.99 , PC: $16.99 on Amazon] [espion4ge's review]
espion4ge isn’t into sci-fi as much as I am so I’m not sure if this title will make his list, but I think Mass Effect is a great value at $20. The game definitely has some problems as alluded to in his review, but I found the storyline incredibly engaging, especially the sequences towards the end. There is a lot of gameplay to be had due to the numerous choices you can make in the game, optional sidequests feel more unique than in other games, and there is some great character development. You can spend anywhere between 10 to 100 hours on this game, depending on how many times you choose to play it (and how), so at 20 dollars it’s a steal.

Bioshock
[360: $23.99 , PS3: $36.99 , PC: $19.99 on Amazon] [espion4ge's review]
If you’ve never set foot in Rapture, 2K Boston’s underwater dystopia, you’ve missed out on one of the best gaming experiences out there. I waited to pick up this game because I generally can’t handle scary games, and even though I had to play Bioshock in the daylight, I loved every minute of it. Rapture feels perfect; like Liberty City, it is a setting that has been meticulously crafted in such a way that it transcends all of the characters in the game. In Bioshock, your character is trying to escape Rapture, while you as gamer never want to leave.

The Orange Box
[360: $19.99 , PS3: $19.99 , PC: $27.99 on Amazon] [espion4ge's review]
When the Orange Box came out, it was championed as “the best deal in gaming.” For 60 dollars, one could play 5 different games: Half Life 2, Episodes 1 & 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. A lot of people had already played Half Life so it wasn’t the best deal for everyone, but now at $20 the Orange Box truly is one of the best deals in gaming. The Half Life series is classic, so if you haven’t played through it it’s definitely worth checking out. For my money, Portal alone is worth this price of admission. For those interested in multiplayer, the only thing Team Fortress 2 is missing is matchmaking, other than that it’s a great experience. I strongly recommend picking this box up, there’s something for almost everyone inside.

Battlefield: Bad Company
[360: $27.99 , PS3: $19.99 on Amazon] [espion4ge's review]
For those looking for more of a light-hearted shooter, Battlefield: Bad Company might be the way to go. The single player is pretty short (7-8 hours) but it is amusing in a lot of sections and the gameplay is pretty decent. The multiplayer offerings are actually a lot of fun. At first they seem simplistic, but if you have a few friends to play with you can actually get a lot of replay value out of it. Bad Company isn’t the deepest game out there, but it definitely is a lot of fun as long as you have the right expectations.

Braid
[360: 1200 MS Points/$15 on Xbox Live Arcade] [cmfl3x's review]
I was debating whether or not to put downloadable content on here, but after thinking about it, I’d rather have a short and sweet game for $15 than a long, drawn out game that costs $15. After all, time is money. Take a look at my review – it’s probably one of my 5 favorite games on the system. It only seems expensive because it’s an XBLA game, but in reality it’s a great deal. Check it out.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
[360: 800 MS Points/$10 on Xbox Live Arcade]
Another great XBLA title that you can get a lot of playtime out of is Geometry Wars 2. The original dual-stick shooter has spawned a legion of imitators. The sequel features the same addictive quality that the original had, along with a bunch of new game types that really prolong the experience. It’s the kind of game you can pick up and play when you have 10 minutes to kill before going somewhere. Just make sure someone is around to actually make sure you go where you’re supposed to go, otherwise you might never leave.

What’s funny for me is that for me I tend to always be gaming on the cheap. I love buying games at inexpensive prices, and sometimes I even question whether I like buying games on the cheap more than even playing them, as is evidenced by my huge backlog.

But for me to really think about it, if you have a tight budget but still want to play 360 games, it’s best to buy games that have either lengthy single player or an enjoyable multiplayer experience to allow you to continue returning to that game night after night. I’ve been playing the 360 longer than cmfl3x, so I will be able to reach even further back into the 360′s library. Here we go…

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition
[360: $27.99 , PS3: $29.99 , PC: $19.49 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
Oblivion was my game of the year for 2006, followed by BioShock in 2007, and then Fallout 3 in 2008. One thing that all three games shared in common was not only their presentation and gameplay mechanics, but their immersiveness and attention to both scope and detail. For those that have played Fallout 3, you realize that the game ends at about 50 hours or so, but in Oblivion, there is no ending. Even after finishing the main questline, you are free to continue exploring the land searching for new sidequests, enemies, and treasure. It’s a game that you can get lost in and play over and over and possibly the best RPG you can buy on the cheap for the 360.

Saints Row
[360: $19.99 on Amazon]
For those that were disappointed with Grand Theft Auto IV, consider Saints Row. While it’s a knockoff of the GTA games, it retains one of the most important aspects that made the GTA games popular in the first place: humor. Saints Row doesn’t take itself anywhere as seriously as GTAIV, and at the same time, allows for dozens of hours for you to wander the city like your own playground while also allowing you to step online to play adversarial as well.

Rainbow Six Vegas
[360: $19.99 , PS3: $29.99 , PC: $18.99 on Amazon]
While there is also a sequel out to Rainbow Six Vegas, the first one is still the better of the two. Not only is its level design a lot more attractive and enjoyable, its single player is about 15-20 hours long compared to the 6 hour sequel. On top of that, the first Vegas game supports 4-player co-op (the sequel does not), while both have Terrorist Hunt mode for up to 4 players on Live, allowing you and your buddies to spend countless hours just hunting down randomly spawned terrorists on various levels. Skip the sequel if you’re on a budget as the first one is better.

Crackdown
[360: $18.98 on Amazon] [espion4ge's review]
If you enjoy sandbox games and superhero games, Crackdown definitely scratches that itch. While it doesn’t have the depth and humor of other sandbox games like Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row, it makes up for it by implementing an addicting level up system that allows you to become more of a superhero as you leap from building to building and hurl cars to take out criminals. The game also supports 2-player online co-op, allowing you to have even more fun playing the game with a friend.

Burnout Paradise
[360: $18.49 , PS3: $19.99 , PC: $36.99 on Amazon]
This game is still sitting in my backlog, and the only reason why I haven’t even opened it yet was because I’ve been telling myself that I need to finish Burnout Revenge first. But for those of you wondering – Burnout Paradise is THE racing game for the 360. It changes the formula a little bit in that it has a more sandbox style feel where you drive around a city in order to take on races, but the developers of the game continue to pour in content for the game and with multiplayer racing, it’s a game that can last you possibly forever. At first I was wondering if this was considered a niche game since it’s a racing game, but if you’ve driven a car before you will most likely enjoy any Burnout game. They’re that fun.

Bully: Scholarship Edition
[360: $19.99 , Wii: $19.99 , PC: $19.99 on Amazon]
Originally released on the PS2, Bully: Scholarship Edition was re-released on the 360 and Wii for the rest of us to enjoy. It follows a very similar mission style format to the GTA games, but with it taking place at school, the violence and explicitness is a lot more toned down. That doesn’t mean the game isn’t any less enjoyable or amusing. Pretty lengthy and worth a look if you don’t mind the antiquated last-gen graphics.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition
[360: $27.99 , PS3: $16.95 , PC: $29.99 on Amazon] [espion4ge's review of the regular edition]
Lost Planet was originally released back in January of 2007, but then the Colonies “gold edition” of the title was released more recently, containing more single player modes, multiplayer modes and options. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the single player in the original title due to the time pressure, but the multiplayer was relatively enjoyable and it may be worth checking out again now that Lost Planet 2 was recently announced. If you like mechs and huge bugs though, definitely worth a look.

Stay tuned for next week when we present part 2: niche titles that can be enjoyed on the cheap, provided you are a fan of the genre.

Picking up cars and throwing them at thugs – all in a day’s work in the land of Crackdown.

Not quite done with the game, but with it selling for $17.49 at CompUSA for the next couple of days, I might as well put out the review so you guys can see what I have to say about it before ordering it. I feel like I’m getting close to being done with the game anyway. At this time, I’ve beaten the game once, but only gotten about 500 Achievements so far. But with many of the remaining Achievements only granted for the optional quests, I figure I’ll decide later if I want to go back and get them. I was always curious about Crackdown; the game had almost no storyline whatsoever but the game play seemed fun so I checked it out and was not disappointed. Crackdown is a good example in my book of a game that doesn’t need a strong storyline to be enjoyable – it all comes down to the gameplay.

Intro
Crackdown was developed by Real Time Worlds and published by Microsoft. Real Time Worlds was founded in 2002 by Dave Jones, one of the creators of Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto. He was really only involved in Grand Theft Auto 1 and 2, but with the popularity of Grand Theft Auto 3 and on, the headline “from the creator of Grand Theft Auto” certainly has some attractiveness.

Crackdown was released in late February of 2007 by Microsoft. With Real Time Worlds being an unknown developer at the time, Microsoft decided to throw in the Halo 3 Beta with the game to increase the game’s marketing and sales. It worked, as the game has gone on to sell over 1 million copies worldwide. How many of these copies sold due to just the Halo 3 beta?

The Halo 3 Beta probably overshadowed the game itself for some people, as I remember seeing pictures of joke signs saying stuff like “Halo 3 Beta (with free Crackdown included).” The game came out at a good time too; there hadn’t been an Xbox 360 “heavy hitter” title since Lost Planet came out in early January.

For the most part, reviews were favorable for the game. I was somewhat skeptical at first as I didn’t think the game was worth $60, so I waited. One week prior to the Halo 3 Beta, Amazon put Crackdown on sale for $40, so I picked it up then, figuring $40 was a more fair price for a game with no storyline and the Halo 3 Beta. With the Halo 3 Beta over now, the game’s retail price has been dropped down to $39.99 and I think the price is fair for the game.

You can choose any character you want before you load your game – it’s just a skin change and they’re all referred to as “Agent” anyway.

Storyline and Premise of the Game
There’s a very weak storyline to the game – in fact, even the main character you choose has no name as you’re just referred to as “Agent.” The premise is pretty simple – Pacific City has been overrun by three large gangs, each controlling a different section of the city. As a “super-powered agent,” your main objective in the game is to clean the streets of Pacific City up from crime.

Each of the three gangs has about seven mini-bosses and one main gang boss. It’s possible to take down the main leader in each gang without taking on the smaller mini-bosses, but it’s much harder. The gang boss and his minions’ attributes are enhanced with each mini-boss that are still alive. Thus, the main “premise of the game” is to take down all 24 bosses in the game.

Each boss occupies a certain large landmark in Pacific City, whether it’s a building, an oil rig, a ship yard, etc. Taking down a mini-boss cuts off the spawning of gang members in that landmark, and taking down the gang boss removes the entire gang from the city. Taking down all three gang bosses wipes the city completely clean of crime, but the game doesn’t end there.

There are other parts of the game as well, namely car/foot racing and orb collecting, but none are required. Those that enjoy these optional “sidequests” or are completionists may find that these extras lengthen the game considerably, but not necessarily in a good way. Some are quite enjoyable, like trying to build ramps to get your car to go high enough through various stunt rings located around the city, but others, like finding all of the hundreds of hidden orbs, prove to be quite a pain. But, with these sidequests being optional, it’s really up to the player if they want to go through with them.

Performing a certain task levels up your skill. For example, killing a thug with a firearm will generate a few firearm “experience balls” that will fly over to you.

Game Mechanics
As a super-powered agent, there is an RPG-like growth system for the agent’s five main attributes in the game: agility, driving, explosives, strength, and firearms. By performing tasks related to each attribute in game, the agent gains experience and levels up to a maximum level of 4 for each attribute.

Here are the five attributes described in detail:

Agility
With the Agility skill, you can run faster and jump higher. Maxed out you can jump 30 feet, which is a lot of fun. The only way to really increase agility is to find the Agility Orbs throughout the city. There are 500 of them on top of buildings everywhere, but fortunately, you only need maybe 200 or so (which are very easy to find) to max out your Agility skill. The Agility skill is what really makes the agent feel like a superhero and one aspect of the game I enjoyed.

Driving
The higher the driving skill, the faster a car’s acceleration/top speed is for the agent. With a higher top speed, you can fly further off of ramps and perform more aerial tricks. The Agency cars: a supercar, an SUV, and a truck cab, also upgrade along with your driving skill. At max Driving level the supercar has mounted machine guns, the SUV has hydraulics that allow you to jump and climb walls, and the truck cab gains a nitro boost to allow for a serious clearing of anything in its way.

Explosives
The explosives skill dictates how big of a radius and how much damage any explosions caused by the agent does. They start out small, but as you level up your explosives skill explosions become 15-foot radius blasts, sending cars and bodies flying every which way. This skill provides for some very amusing kills.

Strength
How much you can lift and how far you can throw something is determined by strength; as you kill enemies with objects you throw or melee attacks, your strength level increases. At max levels you can pick up cars and throw them at people. I personally enjoyed maxing out strength since  single jump kicks kill enemies right away. Strength also determines your life bar. The Crackdown life system consists of a shield and life bar. When the you take damage the shield bar depletes and when it is empty, the life bar depletes. Both regenerate out of combat, with the shield regenerating first at a faster rate. Increasing your strength level will allow for more life bars; maxing out strength provides the Agent with a shield bar and 5 life bars that must be drained before he is defeated.

Firearms
Firearms skill determines how long it takes to lock onto a target as well as how much damage you do with non-explosive firearms such as rifles, handguns, shotguns, and machine guns. Simply killing enemies with firearms raises this skill.

There are “safe houses” throughout the city that allow you to restock your ammo. When you load a game, you can start from any “safe houses” that you have discovered and while you’re in the game, you can warp from any safe house you’ve discovered to another one you’ve discovered.

Online
There is also a co-op feature to the game. Two players can play at the same time, with one player being able to drop into another player’s game at any time. The guest player will be playing in the host player’s world and save file. The two can wreck havoc across the city, take on the bosses, or even discover new things for amusement.

Higher agility allows you to jump higher and further, making it easier to climb up buildings.

Achievement System
I’m pretty content with the Achievement System in the game. The Achievements are varied and thoughtful, allowing someone to really spend a large amount of time in the game if they wanted to do everything. There are Achievements for killing the gangs, finding 500 Agility Orbs and 300 Hidden Orbs, winning all the races, performing car stunts, and doing interesting tasks such as keeping a body in the air for over 7 seconds, etc.

I’m a little disappointed that the Achievements only totaled 900 when the game was released. The developers claimed that they wanted to see what people were doing in the game before deciding on the last 100. They finally released the last 100 along with some free downloadable content. However, it gets lumped with the 250 extra Achievement points that came out with the premium downloadable content, but it’s confusing to figure out which Achievements need the premium content and which ones don’t so I probably won’t bother.

Getting a lot of air time with cars raises your Driving skill, which in turn allows you to hit a higher max speed to perform even crazier stunts.

Final Thoughts
I never really thought I would enjoy a “super hero” game like this, but I stand corrected – it’s probably the best super hero game I’ve played. I had a lot of fun maxing out my stats, jumping from building to building, blowing up cars, people, etc. I initially believed climbing buildings to be a hassle, but came to have fun with it. From this game alone, I can see why people enjoy rock climbing. Looking for ledges to grab onto so that you can ascend to the top does provide for a rush, especially since you can’t really die if you mess up in this game.

The game took me about 10 or so hours to clear through all the bosses, but because the combat is so fun I’m going to reset all the bosses (there’s an option to reset all gangs if you’ve cleared them) and go through it again when I get a chance. Maybe I’ll also try it out co-op and on a harder difficulty.

I give the game a B. The lack of a storyline hurts it some, but with the gameplay so enjoyable it’s still quite a good game. I found the Achievements to be a little more difficult than I liked, but I think that’s due more to the fact that I don’t really enjoy looking around for 300 hidden orbs or winning every street car race. I’m pretty sure any action gamer can find something that they enjoy about this game, whether it’s the super hero elements, the unique weapons and amusing violence, or even just the cars.