Aramation Games

God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)
Kratos finally invades the portable world with Chains of Olympus, bringing its unique blend of puzzle solving, mythological creatures and over-the-top violence.

Army of Two (X360, PS3)
EA’s new action game puts heavy emphasis on co-operative tactics with either a friend or computer-controlled partner. Expect plenty of punchy one-liners if trailers are of any indication…

Other releases:

• Bully: Scholarship Edition (X360, Wii)
• Eco Creatures: Save the Forest (DS)
• Field Ops (PC)
• Galactic Command - Echo Squad (PC)
• Imperium Romanum (PC)
• Major League Baseball 2K8 (X360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP)
• MLB 08: The Show (PS3, PS2, PSP)
• Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (DS)
• Ninja Reflex (Wii, DS)
• Silent Hill: Origins (PS2)
• Stranger (PC)
• Tom Clancy’s Chronicles (PC)
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm (PC)

I really tried hard to like Patapon but ultimately the constant grinding previously seen only in hardcore MMORPGs has proven to be a complete waste of my time. In Patapon, you are a deity in control of the cute eye-ball like people, and you control them using the drums. With your drums mapped to the face buttons, you can tell them to attack, defend, move and perform miracles by pressing the buttons in time with the beat. This music component is interesting, but unlike other rhythm games where difficulty extends over time, Patapon doesn’t. You will be pressing the same combination of buttons thousands of times by the end of the game. How many times can you press triangle, triangle, square, circle before you get tired of it? This game will make you find the answer. At some point, you’ll be wondering why you can’t just direct those damn-adorable creatures to where you want them to go in a point-and-click affair.

And those adorable eye-ball like creatures need weapons and armors as they face against Zigatons and bosses through their journey to find their lost land called “Earthend”. There is a minor tactical element involved in how you configure your army: some missions are great for melee-attack Tatepons, Yaripons use spears, and Yumipons are your archers staying at the back of the army for better vantage. Eventually you gain access Kibapon, Dekapon and Megapon which offer more powerful units for your army. It is up to you to equip them with powerful weapons to counteract ever-increasing enemy difficulty.

Equipment is where the game grinds down to a halt. You see, there is no way to purchase powerful weapons as they are only dropped during regular stages, and boss battles. In boss battles, you must defeat a big creature such as a dragon in order to get these equipments… but this requires you having to defeat the same boss multiple times. Even worse, each time you defeat a boss, the difficulty goes up.

To synthesize your army, you need the game’s currency which is called “ka-ching”, and the best way to do it is to hunt for animals. It is a very simple stage as there are no enemies, just animals grazing on the field. You must kill them to earn “ka-ching”. Needless to say, you must do this many many times too. It is unfortunate that the charm is utterly destroyed by monotonous gameplay and grinding for money and equipment.

Rating: 40%

If you need a new gamertag, or if you’re just starting to play on Xbox 360, get a 12 month Gold membership and Microsoft is giving you a free game. Click here to read my review of Catan.

Fine print:

Offer good only to new 12-month Xbox LIVE Gold members who have subscribed for membership and registered at xbox.com/sm7 between February 25, 2008 and March 25, 2008. Limit: one gift per recipient. This offer is nontransferable. This offer expires on March 25, 2008, while supplies last, and is not redeemable for cash. Taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of the recipient. Any gift returned as nondeliverable will not be re-sent. Please allow 6-8 weeks for the shipment of your gift. Offer is not combinable with other Microsoft offers or rebates. Open only to legal residents, aged 14+, of the 50 United States (includes the District of Columbia).

[Visit xbox.com/sm7 for free copy of Catan]

Patapon (PSP)
Creators of LocoRoco brings a rhythm-drive action-strategy game where you use the magical drums to guide the Patapons to their promised land.

Other releases:

• DS: Mazes of Fate DS, Naruto: Ninja Destiny,
• PC: Frontlines: Fuel of War, Lost: Via Domus, The Sims 2: FreeTime, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
• PS3: Lost: Via Domus, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
• PSP: Blokus Portable: Steambot Championship
• Wii: Agatha Christie: And Then There Was None, Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed, Sega Bass Fishing
• X360: Frontlines: Fuel of War, Lost: Via Domus, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty

Sins of a Solar Empire is a new breed of space strategy game, unlike Masters of Orion, or Galactic Civilizations. It happens in real-time, but do not expect to see StarCraft or Command & Conquer type gameplay. It successfully mixes in great ship-to-ship action of Homeworld, with all the strategy involved with planet development, unit construction, diplomacy and war not-too-removed from Civilization.

Large-scale maps feature plenty of stars and planets, and even the smallest maps contain a dozen planets, which means the game’s resolution will come increasingly slowly as both sides of the conflict research new weapons and develop planetary defense systems. And to win means annihilating the enemy in its entirety, as the AI will never surrender and there are no other victory conditions possible.

As you colonize new planets, build research facilities, commission new ships and repel pirate attacks, your free time will surely disappear when you are entranced by Sins of a Solar Empire. Units feel well balanced, huge capital ships gain experience and level up as you use them, and the world is gorgeous to look at. However it isn’t all positive: this game features no single-player campaign. It is a shame that they bothered to create 3 different sides, and gave them back stories without a single player campaign. Instead it is just a collection skirmishes, which seem anti-climactic in this grandiose space strategy game.

Be warned that this is a game made for the hardcore fans of space strategy games. But if you are interested in conquering the space, and destroying enemy’s fleet with your superior fleet, then jump right in.

Rating: 85%

Third person shooter is a genre that is incredibly crowded, and each new entrant needs something exciting and new to stand out. Kane & Lynch: Dead Men brings film noir storyline to the small screen, with great voice acting, and very cinematic experience. Unfortunately the game developer didn’t spend as much time developing the actual game.

The single player campaign tells the story of Kane, who has betrayed the evil shadowy organization known simply as The 7. In order to recover what Kane has stolen, The 7 kidnaps his wife and daughter: Lynch is tasked to keep Kane in line, and to make sure he does what he promised to The 7. To recover the stolen items, Kane’s journey takes us to crowded nightclub in Tokyo, prison, construction yard and Cuba.

All the atmosphere cannot save this game from mediocre enemy AI, even worse teammate AI, frustrating sequences (such as a boss battle with a gigantic dump truck that took me dozens of attempts to complete) and just ok visuals. The only saving grace is the implementation of split-screen co-op campaign where the second player takes control of Lynch, and expands the storyline by showing his issues. In fact, co-op makes the game slightly easier as you don’t have to depend on incompetent AI.

Ultimately, the game could have benefited from extra weeks of polishing as the storyline and voice acting clearly deserve a better game. As it stands, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men feels like a bad game adaptation of a Michael Mann movie, than a great game with cinematic storytelling.

Rating: 45%

Downstream Panic! is part Lemmings and part LocoRoco, and it doesn’t invent new puzzle genre, it is a merely competent one held back by some design choices. In Downstream Panic!, you must guide 100 fish in each level that usually start from the top of the level, to the bottom of the level where there is a body of water. The catch is, the terrain those fish must navigate through needs some help from you, the player. Your arsenal includes plant barriers, missiles, fans, nets and baits. Early levels are pretty simple, requiring 1 to 3 basic tools. However, as you progress through the included 80 levels, it becomes apparent that your strategy must be well planned even before you hit the start button.

Around level 10, the difficulty increases so much that you will rarely get through in the first try, or in the first ten tries. Managing your arsenal, dealing with time issues, and constantly scrolling up and down the map becomes frustrating pretty fast.

Ultimately this mix of Lemmings and LocoRoco is recommended only for the die-hard fan of Lemmings as the challenge level is too great on this otherwise cutesy game.

Rating: 60%

Microsoft has, as rumors suggested, lowered the price of its Xbox 360 console in Canada.

• Arcade: $279
• Premium: $349
• Elite: $449

This latest discount brings the price in match with the American prices, fitting since the dollars are at parity.

[Update]: Best Buy Canada is selling the Premium version for $349.99 with BioShock included, and Futureshop has the same price with Turok bundled.

Gitaroo Man is one of the earliest music rhythm game that didn’t rely on a peripheral such as a dance mat or maracas. Instead, it used PS2’s analog stick and face buttons: with your analog stick, you follow line that appears on the screen, and the O button is used to hit the notes on time. Other times, all 4 face buttons are used as they fly in and you must hit them when they reach the center.

The storyline is pretty ludicrous: you play as U-1, a little insecure boy who ends up possessing the gitaroo, which is basically a guitar, and you must battle forces of evil (what else) to save the universe. Yes, the storyline is corny and doesn’t reach new literary heights, but the audio and visuals of this game are simply outstanding. There are only 10 tracks, but they are very diverse, from slow jam to latin-inspired fast track. Manga-style visuals are simply gorgeous, and fit the crazy nature of the storyline pretty well. When you’re following the line, and the buttons, it can get pretty hard to marvel in the visuals though.

Gitaroo Man Lives does suffer from a relatively short length as it only features 10 songs. Multiplayer alleviates it somewhat, but they use the same song selection. Once you’ve played through the songs a few times, there is no reason to go back. Ultimately, if you have played the PS2 version, there is not much new to recommend buying the game again. However if you missed this little gem when it was first released, you should definitely experience the PSP version.

Rating: 75%

The Club (PC, PS3, X360)
Making the player a modern-day gladiator is nothing new, but The Club is a fast-paced shooter that emphasizes how fast, and how many, you can kill. The faster you do, the better your score since you can chain kills.

Dynasty Warriors 6 (PS3, X360)
This venerable franchise is already on its 6th non-spin-off entry. New features include the ability to swim, and to climb walls to gain strategic vantage.

Other releases:

• DS: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, FIFA Street 3
• PC: CABAL Online, The Guild Universe, My Horse and Me
• PS3: FIFA Street 3, History Channel: Battle for the Pacific
• PSP: Need for Speed ProStreet
• Wii: Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors, MX vs. ATV Untamed, Pimp my Ride
• X360: FIFA Street 3