Rogue Robots (Ultratron review)

Quick Facts:

Developer: Puppy Games

Initial Release Date: March 18, 2013

Platforms:  PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Wii U, Xbox One, PC, Mac, Linux

Rating: E

Intruder alert! Sirens scream everywhere as you try to stay alive. Colorful sparks flood the screen as each robot is destroyed with deadly precision. Lights flash over the metal assassin as he fills the arena with sparks and coins that it must collect. With each defeated adversary, you feel a unique sensation. Blood pumps through your veins as techno music fills the neon backdrop with an underlying sense of urgency. You must escape, but there is a fear creeping deep within. What if there is no end? 

You ignore the thought and focus on the last few enemies in the room creeping towards you. Within seconds they erupt in sparks and currency. The game pauses. Is this the end? No. Suddenly, the game transports you to a different room altogether, letting you upgrade your weapons, repair your shields, and install little helpers that can fire on their own. A deep suspicion starts to formulate inside of your brain as you look at the options laid out before you. If this factory wants you dead, then why are they allowing you to become more powerful? Do they want to see you destroy all of their hard work? 

Ultratron never answers these questions. Instead of weaving a narrative to explain your actions, or why everything wants to shoot you, it assumes you aren't here for answers. You're here for a challenge of wit and reflexes. This isn't a story driven indie masterpiece like Limbo or Braid. It's a retro style throwback to a simpler time when games didn't need to say a word to demand your attention. 

Everything from the neon graphics to the simplistic gameplay brings back memories of dimly lit arcades filled with gamers trying to reach the coveted top score. The main difference between this new generation of retro style twin-stick shooter (where you control the character with the left joystick, and aim with the right), and previous shooters is that your competition is far greater. While the arcade dwellers had each other and the occasional visitor to compete against, Ultratron unites the world.

When your little robot friend finally bites the dust (and it will), the game greets you with your score, and then how insignificant your efforts were compared to the world's elite gamers. It can be disheartening to realize that the hour you pumped into surviving endless waves of malicious robots only netted you the 123,456th place on the leaderboard, but that is where the longevity of the game comes to the forefront. Some may seek to conquer the world with their amazing skills and razor sharp reflexes. With time and effort, they may reach the top and have their name forever remembered until someone surpasses them. That is the brutal irony of achieving the top of a leaderboard. You're only recognized if you remain there. If you are not the competitive type, then these leaderboards will probably be irrelevant to you.

But, if you are in the mood for an intense, neon filled adrenaline rush then I'd highly recommend this game. Just don't expect to be involved in a deep narrative or complex gameplay. It's a simple shooter with one specialty that it does really well...destroy your rogue robot as fast as possible.

(At the time of this writing, this game was free to PS Plus members on PS3, PS4, and PS Vita, which is where I received my copy for review. If you are interested in getting the game and are a PS Plus subscriber, now would be the best time.)

The History of Warfare (Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Review)

Quick Facts:

Developer: Omega Force
Initial Release Date: September 2, 2014

Platforms: PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox ONE

Rating: T (Mild language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence)

Ancient warfare was brutal. Soldiers did not have the convenience of long range weaponry, and had to rely on quick footwork, strong arms, and brilliant hand eye coordination to take down their foes. Thousands of people would battle for supremacy across wide battlefields, but only certain ones had special abilities. Their talents extended far beyond the connection with their swords and spears and into the depths of their souls. 

Some might think that these gifts dealt in the realm of strategy or sophistication in warfare, but I am here to report from first hand experience that these men and women were far more powerful. They did not spend time in war rooms concocting brilliant battlefield strategies. Instead, they spent their time and energy training diligently. After months of physical labor they emerged onto the battlefield with a new authority.

They tore through hundreds of soldiers, slashing through waves of trained combatants and standing among their disappearing bodies in victory. Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate captures this feeling perfectly. As I sat there pressing a single button, I wiped away hundreds of fighters and chuckled at their weakness. The more I fought, the more powerful my soldiers became. Each one has their own leveling system, which dictates the length and complexity of their combos, as well as other stats such as health and magical abilities.

It is easy to pick up and play for anyone willing to hold a controller, but is not difficult enough for those who want to keep the controller firmly in their grasp. Once you get the main controls down, the repetition begins to sink in a sort of relaxing, satisfying rhythm. It's oddly cathartic when you witness hundreds of people falling beneath your mighty sword. Even the bosses are defeated with relative ease, which may be a turnoff for anyone looking for a relatively challenging experience.

When you are not fighting, you are probably wondering where to go next. Usually a map is supposed to be helpful in directing someone get from point A to point B, but this game would rather show you how point A goes to point X, what point D is doing to point F, how point E is reacting to point S, and how Point T is tired of the way Points U and W are treating it when suddenly Point B disappears entirely. In short, the map is in a battle of it's own. The map consists of lots of blue dots for friends, and red dots for enemies, which is simple enough, but if you are looking for directions, I have one piece of advice. Go as far to the opposite corner from where you started from as possible. If you run into a wall or a gate, or if someone starts randomly yelling at you in Japanese for going in that direction, then you are closer to beating the mission.

While you travel from one point to another, you begin to realize that nothing in the world has texture. There might be some tiny blades of grass here and there, but nothing feels like the battles are taking place in a realistic environment. This is definitely not a deal breaker, and I actually enjoyed the simplistic style of the game. It made it easier for me to focus on all of the crazy events going on without being distracted by unnecessary detail.

Once the battles are over, you return to a base camp and upgrade characters, which is a pretty straightforward process, though it is never fully explained. I won't ruin the surprise in this review, but let's just say that once you figure out weapon upgrading you will enjoy it. It seems like an unnecessary addition to the game, since almost every enemy you'll come across falls in one hit, but it is still a nice touch to see the progression of your characters and their mastery of the weapons that they wield.

Now you may have noticed that I have spent the whole review discussing the mechanics and haven't mentioned the story once. Well, to be honest, I didn't pay much attention to it. When a game starts off with a normal battle, then throws in a hydra, and then says that you can randomly time travel back and forth to save people that you didn't save previously because the hydra was about to kill you and some spirit lady shows up out of the blue to tell you all of this without any backstory...you get lost. It's also in Japanese, with English subtitles, which is not a bad thing, but it gets tedious to read paragraphs worth of material as the characters stand there and converse with each other in a language I do not understand. This is a personal view, since a lot of people prefer a Japanese recording to their English dubbed counterparts, but I would like it if I didn't have to read as much to get the story. If I wanted to read that much, I'd turn off my Xbox and open a book.

Even though it sounds as though I am giving this game a lot of negative criticism, I really enjoyed the experience. The simplicity of it is cathartic, especially after a long, hard day. With Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate, I can just sit back, relax, and fight epic battles without worrying about skill or practice. It's like a sweet dessert to my steady diet of virtual challenge that I get from other games. I highly recommend this game for those who are in the mood for mindless fun, whether that is through fighting hundreds of enemies in battles, or fighting your friends one on one in duel mode. Just don't use it as a source for a history paper on ancient warfare, or else you'll fail it.