Review: Singularity (Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC)

The difficulty that lies in reviewing a game like Singularity is that it’s impossible not to reference other, higher profiles in the first-person shooter genre to the point where it seems like the game is not being judged on it’s own merits. Indeed, players familiar with the Bioshock, Half-Life and F.E.A.R. games will immediately see similarities when playing Singularity, but where it succeeds is combining some of the best elements of all aforementioned games and creating a fun and engrossing FPS experience. Tired of multiplayer-focused shooters with a tacked-on campaign? Singularity might just be the game for you.

The backdrop to Singularity is the bleak and murky terrain of Katorga-12, a remote and largely unknown island in the Soviet Union on which the Stalin regime performed disastrous scientific experiments during the Cold War. They were experimenting with an unknown substance called E99 that would give them the most powerful weapon in the world and shift the balance of power and advance the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, E99 proved to be more volatile than anyone had imagined and the inhabitants of Katorga-12 have been transformed into mutants and psychos as a result. Flash forward to 2010 and you play as a US Air Force Pilot who investigates the strong radiation coming from the island and the game begins proper, with you having to unravel the history of Katorga-12 by traveling between the 1950’s and the present day with the aid of time portals and your Time Manipulation Device (TMD), a device attached to your left wrist that allows you to move time forward or backwards depending on your objectives. The story is further progressed through flashbacks and audio devices, wall scribblings and dilapidated chalk boards scattered throughout the game, giving fans of Bioshock a serious case of deja-vu.

The story involves the typical stock villains, double-crosses and some interesting sci-fi elements, but it’s nothing you haven’t seen before. In truth, the stories in most FPS games serves as little more than a binding element to tie the action and setpiece battles together, so Singularity must rely on it’s gameplay to sustain it as a worthy title. In that capacity, it succeeds in giving players an immersive FPS experience that is more focused on a single player campaign than a chaotic multiplayer that other shooters have on offer. The weapons are the usual mix of pistols, shotguns, assault rifles and explosives launchers, all of which can be upgraded by collecting E99 throughout the levels. The unique addition is the TMD, which allows you to rewind time and repair broken stairs and manipulate environmental obstacles, or move time ahead to rot the doors off of safes or turn enemies into dust. The most useful addition is the force field that throws down a bubble that slows down enemies and allows you to shoot them with ease, though this allows you to be cheap and lazily rely on it. The enemies you fight are a mix of mutants, army soldiers and a few bosses that are noticeably easier than the enemies you find throughout the game. The most difficult enemies by far are the exploding ticks that swarm you and explode, draining large quantities of your health. Strategic gameplay and smart use of your TMD is key to survival.

The gameplay and control scheme in Singularity is similar to other FPS titles, so genre veterans will have no trouble jumping into the action. Compared to other shooters, Singularity stands out as more of a story-based action game, very much in the vein of Bioshock and F.E.A.R. 2. The murky environments you traverse are effectively creepy, the open spaces and dilapidated buildings provide some variety in the setting and the on-rails segments do provide some heart-pumping moments. If there is a problem with the gameplay, it’s the static difficulty that doesn’t really ramp up as you progress through the game, so the multiple upgrades and character perks you obtain will leave you grossly overpowered and the enemies you encounter late in the game will pose little challenge. Even on the higher difficulty levels, most gamers of any skill level should be able to make it through unscathed.

Visually, Singularity is not going to win any awards for design or sound, and those weaned on the cinematic qualities of Call of Duty will no doubt find this game to be dated. However, the smoothness of the Unreal 3 game engine and the stutter-free gameplay makes up for any graphical shortcomings. The music in the game is understated but effective in accenting the mood of the particular scene, while the voice acting is a laughable mix of stereotypical Russian accents and poorly written dialogue, but it is forgivable given that the other elements in the game are more up to par.

The order of the day for most FPS titles is a robust multiplayer component, but sadly this is exactly what Singularity lacks. There are a few modes along the line of team death match and capture the flag, and the ability to play as both human and monsters is novel, but it doesn’t work well here. Playing as humans will leave you feeling underpowered and weak, plus the level progression does not provide any real sense of becoming more powerful. The same can be said for playing as the monsters, since the learning curve for using their abilities is high and their special attacks don’t seem as powerful as one would expect. Compounding this problem is the fact that the servers are sparsely populated, so you will be waiting a long time to find a match and even longer to get into one. This is clearly not the game of choice for those competitive players looking for a rich multiplayer experience.

Singularity is a solid shooter that most players have overlooked in favour of other, higher-profile titles, so hopefully more will give this a chance and enjoy the great gaming experience that it offers. In truth, it is derivative and does nothing new or innovative, but not every game has to; sometimes being good is good enough. Given that this is a budget title now and available across multiple platforms, there is little to lose in giving Singularity a chance. Multipayer-obsessed gamers need not apply, but those looking for a good single-player experience will be well served with this title.

Rating: 7.5/10

You're calling me a nerd? Why, thank you!

I received a private message today from somebody I never met, unsure of how he even knew me or anything I’ve done, and it was so funny and laughable that I thought it warranted a blog post to explain my viewpoint on the subject. The subject matter of his message was not positive, rather it was an attempt to troll me for my interests in what are traditionally considered “nerdy” hobbies. His message was one sentence long, typed in unforgivably bad grammar with little attention paid to spelling and punctuation, and it simply called me out for being a nerd. References to my being a virgin, having no life and even a few choice expletives also tagged along for the ride. This actually made my day, believe it or not., and I’ve been laughing out loud because of it.

Defending myself or rebutting against this stupidity is a fool’s errand, so I thought I would examine the meaning behind his words and why this troll, albeit unintentionally, is paying me a complement by calling me a nerd. As a follower of several movie, video game, comic book and science fiction blogs and video channels, I see comments like these popping up all the time and it makes me wonder why these trolls think that calling people a nerd is an insult. The answer is simple, these trolls are from a generation in which some (not all mind you) consider nerdiness a bad thing, most likely between the 12 to 16 age demographic in which social pressure is at it’s highest. I remember those years well and I remember the stigma that nerds, dweebs, geeks and poindexters (remember that one?) had around the school. These were the kids who hung around in small groups, or were perfectly content to walk alone, reading comics and science-fiction novels, playing Magic cards or reading Anime novels. They were often bullied, made fun of and shunned by girls. These were also the kids who excelled in school and are probably making large salaries in cushy jobs now, while the jocks and bullies that picked on them are likely serving their fries whilst wearing a paper hat. Still, back in the day, most people didn’t want to be considered nerds or be seen associating with them, so to an extent I understand why it’s a negative thing to this demographic.

So why is calling me a nerd considered a complement? Simple, because it’s amazing how cool being a nerd becomes as you get older. Once you get past the pressure of conformity that high school imposes on you, your mentality and outlook on life changes and you suddenly realize that there is nothing wrong in indulging in these kinds of things. I have plenty of friends who are fans of video games, Star Trek and Star Wars, Anime and comic books, and these are some of the coolest and most intelligent people I know. I have also met some younger people online, through Youtube and a few of the forums I frequent, who share the same qualities. We all grew up with these hobbies and we now have the income and the time to properly enjoy them as adults. Video gamers are also hugely popular with people of all ages and backgrounds, so it’s no longer considered a solitary hobby that only lonely people engage in. In short, I’m a 30 year old nerd and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Contrary to what some might think, being a nerd has not impacted my life in any negative way; I have a job, plenty of friends and a loving girlfriend. Not bad for a dweeb, eh?

In light of the fact that these people probably don’t know any better, calling them trolls might be a little harsh; maybe ignorant or misguided is a better way to describe them. By specifically calling me a nerd, this guy has vindicated himself because he either wants to feel like he’s above my hobbies or it gives him some juvenile thrill. I venture that most of the things that this guys has accused me of, such as not getting laid or having no life, are exactly what he is guilty of himself. If not, why would he be taking the time to send these spurious, hate-filled messages when his time is better spent doing other things…like having a life? Riddle me that. So my response to this anonymous hater is to embrace nerds or at least be nicer to them. The nerd you pick on today could end up being your boss tomorrow!

Everyone's a Critic! The Pros and Cons of Game Reviews.

When trying to determine if a particular product worth checking out, I tend to look at online reviews not so much as a deciding factor but rather something to give me a better idea of what I might be getting into. For music and movies, I rarely look at critical reviews since tastes are so subjective that I can only decide for myself, but this is not so much the case for video games. The risk that comes with buying a $10 DVD or CD is minimal compared to blowing $60 in what could be a substandard game, so checking reviews is often a necessary evil.

So what value do video game reviews have to the average consumer? Simple, they break down elements of the game and present them in a way that is intended to give the viewer an idea of the gameplay, graphics, mechanics and any associated bugs, glitches and gameplay shortfalls. In this area, not all reviewers are equal and there are some sources I trust more than others. It’s important to remember that a review is a subjective opinion of one person, so buying a game based strictly on a 5-star review is not always wise. What constitutes an excellent game in the eyes of Gamespot or IGN might not sit as well with me, as was the case with many highly rated titles like Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto IV and Halo: Reach. I see why people like these games and I want to like them as well, but in the end I find them to be overrated and grossly over-hyped. On the flip-side, I have found many games that received marginal reviews but I turned out enjoying immensely, such as Nier, God Hand and Viking: Battle for Asgard. This leads me to approach reviews with some degree of scepticism, however the value comes in determining if there are any serious issues with a game. Broken controls, game-ending bugs and glitches, poor camera and imprecise hit detection are difficult to forgive for any gamer, so this is the kind of stuff I want to know when reading or watching a review. Hearing the reviewer gush about how much of a masterpiece the game is, I tend to be less interested in that. When it comes to game reviews, objectivity is more useful the fanfare and I try to follow this logic when writing reviews of my own.

User reviews are an entirely different matter. I currently post reviews on Amazon.com as a hobby and I am amazed at the variances in the quality of the user reviews they allow to be posted. Some are very well thought out, intelligently written and full of useful information that proves helpful because it’s from an actual gamer. On the other hand, the good reviews often get buried under useless, one-sentence fanboy/hater reviews that provide little in the way of substance. For example, the page for Call of Duty: Black Ops is full of people who gushed over the game without insight into why it’s good, while others hated it simply because it wasn’t Modern Warfare 2 and they couldn’t get past their disliking for Treyarch. Other titles, the majority of them in fact, have the same problem. None of these reviews were helpful and I think it boils down to the fact that user reviews are often based on emotion rather than logic. Someone getting overly excited about a game will lead to a 5-star “Best Game Ever!” review, while a bad experience in an otherwise solid game leads someone to posting a 1-star diatribe about how much the game sucks. This makes user reviews dubious and unreliable at the best of times, so approach the opinions of others with caution.

Many people I know would consider being a game reviewer to be their dream job, but to be honest, there are many aspects of their job that I don’t envy in the least. Having to play tons of games, many of which are terrible, and having to be hyper-analytical can wear you down, plus there is the backlash from game fans who slam the reviewer if they happen to disagree with their score. Watching a video from Gamespot, IGN or even a non-professional reviewer and viewing the comments section will give you a good idea of what I mean, with loads of ignorant comments from people who can’t accept the fact that the reviewer didn’t jive with their fanfare or hatred of a particular game. What these people overlook is that the job of a critic is to analyze a game and present the viewer with a balanced view of a title’s strengths and weaknesses. Their job is not to kiss the asses of gamers and give token scores to games based on popularity, although there have been unsubstantiated accusations towards Gamespot and IGN for giving favourable reviews to game companies who advertise more on their site.

At the end of the day, it’s important that people rely on their own taste and judgment when purchasing anything, especially games that cost upwards of $60. A high recommendation from a gaming site is reason to be intrigued but not the sole reason to purchase a title, since hype can lead you down the wrong alley and you’ll end up with a game you don’t like. I think reviews have a place and they can be useful, but people tend to take them too seriously in either following their word mindlessly or getting belligerent when they disagree. At the end of the day, it’s all a matter of opinion and it should be treated as such.

Review: Bulletstorm (Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC)

Bulletstorm is a new first-person shooter from Electronic Arts that combines the grittiness and testosterone-fuelled gameplay of Gears of War and the overly stylized world of Borderlands, however it brings some new ideas to the table to give both newcomers to the genre and seasoned veterans something to relish. Considering the current oversaturation of the genre, it’s easy to dismiss Bulletstorm as another cookie-cutter FPS, but the extreme violence coupled with the pre-release controversy ensures solid sales for this title. Looking past the hype, does Bulletstorm deliver? Read on to find out.

Assuming the role as main character is Grayson, a loose cannon mercenary who thirsts for revenge against his general, the vindictive and maniacal Serrano, after a previous mission in which he and his men were forced to commit unspeakable atrocities. The revenge mission is doomed from the start and Grayson soon finds himself marooned after crash landing on the planet Stygia, a hostile environment crawling with murderous natives who want nothing more to skin you alive. Serrano has also crash-landed and the quest for revenge continues proper. Accompanying you on your journey is your fellow merc Ishi, who was badly injured in the crash and is now a half-man, half-robot who reminds me of a cross between a potty-mouthed Spock and Harold from the “Harold and Kumar” movies. He is at odds with his own personality and the one that his robotic parts afford him, and some of the internal duality is rather hilarious. Grayson himself is the quintessential “meathead with a heart of gold”, loyal to his friends and haunted by past wrongdoings, but this can be lost amid his endless profanity, sexual innuendos and frequent drunkenness. Bulletstorm is over the top in every respect and the characters are presented accordingly.

Gameplay at first seems deceptively garden variety for an FPS, however you will quickly notice that the objectives in combat differ dramatically from other games in the genre. Most gamers tend to duck behind cover and wait for enemies to pop up, or spray bullets at everything that moves, neither of which is particularly effective in Bulletstorm. The objective of the game is to effectively and creatively kill enemies by utilizing “Skillshots”, specific attacks that provide you with Skillshot Points (SP), the game’s currency for obtaining weapons, upgrades and ammunition. Spraying bullets and killing enemies in a sloppy manner provides a paucity of SP, so you are expected to get creative in how you dispatch enemies in order to maximize how much SP you accrue. The Skillshots themselves are very fun to pull off and littered with dirty innuendos. For example, killing an enemy by shooting him in the buttocks gives you one called “Rear Entry”, killing someone with a hotdog cart gives you “Sausage Fest” and so on. Your weapons are the usual array of assault rifles, pistols and shotguns, but the biggest asset is your “Leash”, a bionic tether that is used to grab objects, enemies and manipulate the environment, similar to the bionic arm in the remake of Bionic Commando. Each weapon can be upgraded and given additional abilities, and each one has it’s own unique Skillshots tired into it. The SP you are given for pulling these off varies, but the bigger rewards come from combining Skillshots into combos, which are immensely satisfying when you finally pull them off.

The pacing of Bulletstorm requires you to constantly be on the move as there is no cover system to speak of. Ducking behind walls and barriers only affords you a small degree of breathing room, which can lead to some tense moments where you’re near death and frantically trying to find cover. Compounding the challenge is the fact that the enemy AI is extremely accurate and they will kill you very quickly if you are not employing skill during gunplay. As such, using all weapons, upgrades and environmental objects to your benefit is essential to survival, as ammo can only be purchased through the pods you find scattered through the game and ammo drops are infrequent. Perhaps sensing that the levels can get stale quickly, the game switches it up by employing on-rails shooting segments and various other set pieces that both add variety and another element of fun. My personal favourite is a section where you take control of a large, dinosaur-like creature and use it to blast enemies into oblivion. The pacing and variety in Bulletstorm makes it a cut above many other titles in the FPS genre.

Sci-fi action shooters are a different breed of FPS since they tend to weave intricate stories to tie the action together, unlike the Call of Duty games which are relatively light on story in favour of set piece battles with the story giving a light glue to hold everything together. Bulletstorm does a bit of both, giving us a character-driven story, albeit an absurd one, and numerous battles that range in setting and style, enough to give us variety but not too much as to feel like the game is scattershot in it’s design. The campaign is predictably short, clocking in at 6 to 8 hours depending on difficulty and the time spent exploring the environments. Another way that Bulletstorm bucks the FPS trend is with the exclusion of a competitive multiplayer section, which seems odd since a game like this screams for it. Instead, we are given a cooperative mode called “Anarchy”, in which you and up to three friends fend off waves of enemies utilizing your best Skillshots. It’s fun but unremarkable, so people expecting a grand multiplayer experience should perhaps look elsewhere. Another supplement to the campaign is Echoes Mode, which allows you to play through segments of the campaign, with points awarded for speediness and Skillshots utilized. These mini episodes of the game are surprisingly fun to play repeatedly and I can see this being the past of the game that has more replay value.

For all it’s strengths, Bulletstorm has a few relatively small weakness, some of which are subjective to the gamer. The dialogue, with all it’s crude humour and constant profanity, can get tiresome after a while and some of the one-liners are absolutely cringe-inducing. For some, this will be the main appeal of the game and I have to admit that some of the dialogue was laugh-out-loud funny, but I think this should always be tempered to avoid redundancy. Graphically, the game looks fantastic, however I did run into a few glitches that either involved my character getting stuck in the environment or the game not registered that I had completed an objective, resulting in my having to restart the game from a previous checkpoint. Depending on what you’re looking for, the lack of competitive multiplayer might also be a turn-off, but I rarely play online shooters due to my admittedly low skill level and the unfair advantages more seasoned players tend to have, so I don’t consider this a weakness personally.

In the end, Bulletstorm delivers exactly what it promises; a balls-to-the-wall shooter that revels in it’s ridiculousness and juvenile sense of humour. The over-the-top nature of this game might hit the wrong chord with some gamers, but it’s a pure joy for others who don’t take games or themselves too seriously. The addition of Skillshots adds a good depth of strategy to the firefights, and the cooperative multiplayer and Echoes missions will give you plenty of reasons to revisit this title after the credits roll. If you’re looking for a great shooter, or a stopgap between the next Gears of War or Call of Duty game, Bulletstorm might just be the game for you.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, PC)

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is a classic example of a great game that was released at a bad time, since gamers were either flocking to Red Dead Redemption (released the same week) or writing it off as a tie-in to the Prince of Persia movie released around the same time. This is rather unfortunate because people are missing out on a great game that is both a return to form for the Prince of Persia series and one of the hidden gems of 2010.

The Forgotten Sands is neither a remake or a sequel/prequel, but rather it's placed in the seven year gap between the events of The Sands of Time and The Warrior Within, the former game being an undisputed masterpiece and the latter being rather lackluster by comparison. You assume the role as the titular prince who, upon visiting his brother Malik's kingdom, finds himself caught in the middle of an enemy invasion in which the kingdom is being destroyed for a treasure the army wants. His brother knows decides to raise an undead army to aid him in his fight, but as we all know, raising such evil is never a good idea and the kingdom is soon overrun with all sorts of creatures made out of sand. The game is comprised of two essential acts, the first involves finding your brother to reunite two pieces of an ancient seal that can vanquish the evil, and the second part involves chasing down larger enemies. As stories go, The Forgotten Sands is fairly predictable and somewhat heavy on the cliches, but it's serviceable for the game and it sets you up for some amazing platforming sections. Just don't expect the strong narrative and emotional connection that we got with The Sands of Time, as this is fairly "by the numbers" and somewhat flat by comparison.


As you would expect, the centerpiece of The Forgotten Sands is the platforming segments which are very linear but also provide plenty of excitement and challenge. In the beginning of the game, you learn the basics of wall-running and combat, but the difficulty ramps up once you are given a variety of powers that allow you to manipulate the environment and get from point A to point B. These powers include the ability to rewind time to recover from a misjudged jump or a brutal hit from an enemy, the ability to freeze water and use it as surfaces to climb on, the ability to fst jump through the air and take down enemies, and the ability to restore pillars and ledges that have been destroyed. You are eased into using these powers, but the latter stages of the game require you to use all of them in tandem in order to progress through the environment. This makes for some challenging and immensely rewarding platforming, though the game has it's fair share of trial and error as well. The 2008 "reboot" of the series was extremely easy, since you had a partner who prevented you from dying, however that has been abandoned in The Forgotten Sands. You do possess the ability to rewind time and correct mistakes made, but this is not in infinite supply and you are guaranteed to die a lot, especially in the more complicated stages where mistakes are easier to make. Still, with risk comes reward and you feel accomplished when you get through a particularly difficult area.

Combat also plays a big part in the game, as you will often find yourself slashing through seemingly endless waves of enemies and a few boss fights thrown in for good measure. The combat is hit and miss, since you can use a variety of fighting moves and powers to brutal effect, but the combat is fairly easy and the same enemies turn up over and over again. Those looking for an intricate combat system and a wide variety of enemies might be disappointed, but using the powers given is beyond satisfying when it all works out. As the game progresses, you unlock the ability to use ice, fire, wind and stone armor, all of which can be upgraded as you earn kill points. The impression laid down by the first levels in the game leads you to believe that the combat is strictly button-mashing, however this only works on the easier enemies and strategy becomes essential to survival. Some enemies have shields, others are impervious to basic sword blows, and you will need quick dodging reflexes to survive in some areas. The combat, while being unremarkable, is still fun and occasionally thrilling.


Visually, The Forgotten Sands is a departure from the cell shaded graphics of the 2008 game and it returns to the realistic look of The Sands of Time. Some have claimed that the graphics look dated and uninspired, however I felt quite the opposite and I think the game looks fantastic. The environments and character animation are intricately detailed and the cutscenes are gorgeous to look at. The game is very cinematic and linear, and the graphics and level design were made with this in mind, so don't go into this expecting an open world experience. The sound is equally good, with a wonderful orchestral score adding mood and feeling where appropriate, and the voice acting is also first rate with the voice talent from The Sands of Time returning. Prince of Persia games in recent years have had a reputation for being stunning in both the audio and visual departments, and this game certainly doesn't disappoint. I did notice some graphical stutters, camera issues and the occasional audio out of synch, however this is not frequent or severe enough to be a concern.

While it's not the masterpiece that The Sands of Time has proven to be, The Forgotten Sands is a worthy entry in the Prince of Persia series that I think more people should check out, especially those who are hungry for more platforming titles like the Uncharted or Assassin's Creed series. The game is a solid mix of platforming and combat that balances very well with a fun, albeit unremarkable story that provides some intrigue but is mainly there to transition you from level to level. If the above sounds good to you, your time with this game will be very well spent indeed.

Rating: 8.5/10

Life After CDs - Will there ever be another physical format?

This blog post will only appeal to the relatively small group of people who think buying music in it's physical format is still worthwhile.

An interesting question was posed on one of the Last.FM boards I frequent recently, and it got me thinking to the point that another blog entry was justified; what will be the successor to my current format of choice, the compact disc? With CD sales on a meteoric downward slide, the whole landscape of music retail is changing to the point where the brick and mortar music shops are becoming an endangered species, and it seems like the CD is now living on borrowed time. But that leads to the inevitable question of what will succeed the CD format. Vinyl gave way to cassettes, and cassettes gave way to CDs – are MP3s and digital files the all-encompassing future of music? Will there be another physical format?

In my humble opinion, the answer is no. The trend is moving towards the digital, and based on how music labels are releasing albums on iTunes, Myspace and other virtual sites, I doubt that another physical format will catch on as CDs have. Despite the grim outlook, there have been some attempts to create a superior product, all of which have failed to live up to their perceived potential. Let’s explore some of these “enhanced” formats that will be remembered largely as failed experiments:

DVD Audio

In theory, this sounds like a good idea; a medium that offers super-high quality music that benefits from the strengths of a DVD player over a conventional CD player. In tech-speak, the audio resolution is substantially higher than a CD, and the “bit depth” of a DVD audio is 24 bit, as opposed to the 16 bit that a CD offers. So what’s the problem? The difference is negligible to all but those few who have state-of-the-art home theatre systems, and even then, the improvements do not really justify the purchasing of an album again. Even more off-putting is the fact that it will not work in your CD player, so you’re up shit creek if you want to listen to it in your car or on your standard Hi-Fi. The fact that DVD Audio is a more sophisticated format has no doubt had an impact on the price of the individual albums, which are ridiculously high; a DVD audio album will typically cost over $30. And speaking of which, that extra money seems like a waste when you look at the oddball titles that they chose to release in this format; are “Reptile” by Eric Clapton, “Tigerlily” by Natalie Merchant, and “Away From The Sun” by 3 Doors Down such amazing albums that they demand to be heard in super-high fidelity? Draw your own conclusions on this one, but it’s no mystery why the DVD Audio section of the music shop is always the smallest and least-frequented.

Super Audio CD (SACD)

SACD has been in a format war with DVD Audio, which is funny because neither has been particularly successful. The only benefit of SACD over it’s competition is that it can actually play on your CD player, so it is not as prohibitive to consumers. Explaining how it actually works is a bit like trying to read haikus in a foreign language, but it’s main selling point is something called “Direct Stream Digital”, or DSD for short, which apparently makes the music sound even more awesome than a conventional CD. I own one SACD (Depeche Mode’s “101 Live”) and it sounds exactly the same as the old copy I once had, even when played in a tricked-out stereo system.

The same issue of price comes into play here; the albums are way too expensive, with most albums being over $25 and some being over $35.

MiniDisc (MD)

I'm not surprised that many people have never even heard of this format, since it's time in the North American market was brief and, mildly put, unsuccessful. Bridging the gap between my CD Walkman and my iPod, I owned a MiniDisc player and was quite happy with it until it met a violent end on the stairwell of a subway station (lesson learned: zip up your coat pocket before you run to catch a train). I liked having a music player that did not skip on me when I was running, and I especially liked the extra storage capacity of the MDs, but the booming market for MP3 players soon rendered MD players obsolete. I think the biggest drawback to this format was the price of both the players and the media – a player/recorder would cost around $400 and the blank MDs would be more than triple the price of CDRs. Additionally, I don’t remember seeing any albums released commercially on MD in North America (they were widely available in the UK at one point).

With upgrades to conventional CDs not faring so well in the marketplace, I can only surmise that there will be no physical formats that catch on in the future. We live in an age of emerging and expanding technology, so digital music and movies that can be obtained at the click of a button are likely to be the standard in 10 years. Despite the obvious benefits of owning a CD as opposed to having sound files on a computer, I don’t see this trend reversing, and downloads (both legal and illegal) will continue to slowly take over. It’s sad for people like myself who love CD shopping, but the tide is turning and it’s difficult to swim against it. But I’ll continue to try, damn it.

However, I am optimistic that there will always be a market for the physical formats; vinyl is still widely purchased and has actually seen a comeback of sorts in recent years, and I think CDs will still survive in independent shops, second-hand stores, and through internet retailers. Big box retailers like Best Buy, Future Shop, and Target all sell CDs, but finding an album that you want (or a sales associate to help you) is a fiasco at the best of times. These days, I stick to my select stores and online retailers, which I hope will still be around when digital music has completely dominated the industry.

Review: Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom (Xbox 360, Playstation 3)

It’s hard to play “Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom” without thinking of the 2010’s excellent “Enslaved: Odyssey to the West”, since both games encompass and emphasize cooperative gameplay in which two characters make it through the world and must work together to find items, solve puzzles and defeat enemies. Both games provide a solid story-driven experience, but Majin is one of those games that falls into the “good and almost great” category, excelling on many levels but ultimately falling short of being a landmark title.

The story of Majin is rather simplistic but it’s engaging enough to keep you interested. A once prosperous kingdom has been enveloped in an evil force that has thrown it into darkness and chaos. Many have tried to save the kingdom and none have prevailed, and this is where you come in. You control a young man known only as Tepeu and he is charged with the quest of freeing the kingdom from the darkness. His first order of business is to awaken the Majin, a mythical monster who possesses the power and strength to free the kingdom and vanquish the monsters that have overtaken it. Sadly, when we first meet the Majin, he is a shell of his former self; his powers have been taken away and placed into magical fruits scattered throughout the world. As you progress through the game, you will find these fruits and the Majin will gradually get his powers back, which includes the ability to use wind and lightening to great effect. That’s the story in a nutshell, unremarkable but still fun and serviceable.

The gameplay is a mixture of the cooperative platforming of Enslaved and the environmental puzzle solving of Ico. With the Majin to command at your beckon, you can use him to knock down walls, manipulate parts of the environment and bead down enemies. It’s that latter part that is integral to the gameplay because your character is abysmally underpowered in combat, so commanding the Majin to pummel enemies is the only way short of running that you will survive the waves of enemy encounters. Having the Majin collapse a wall onto a cluster of enemies or executing a cinematic finishing move is very satisfying, but combat ultimately feels half-baked. Your character only has two combat moves and you never improve to the point where you feel powerful, so the Majin will do the lion’s share of the fighting and this can make battles feel drawn out and tedious at times. Having said that, combat is not the main objective of the game, so you can sneak by enemies and avoid combat on most occasions. In terms of controls, Majin is a pleasant and responsive platformer that is not overly complex, so novice gamers should find this relatively accessible, while there is enough depth in the puzzle solving to give more seasoned gamers some challenge. The puzzles are a mix of flipping switches, manipulating the environments and using the Majin’s strength to access impassable areas, and some of them are very challenging and well designed.

Visually, the lush environments and well-designed levels look great, however people looking to nitpick will find plenty to dislike as well. The environments look good, but a close-up reveals plenty of pixilation and rough textures, and the character animation (especially the voice synching) is laughably bad at times. Personally, the above doesn’t bother me as I care more about gameplay and story than I do about the visuals, so I can easily forgive any technical imperfections. If the game has a serious deficiency, it’s definitely in the voice acting. Imagine the hammiest voice acting from a bad children’s television show and you’ve got a good idea of what to expect here, it’s beyond terrible. The Majin himself comes across sounding like the Abominable Snowman in Looney Tunes, and his constant cave man talk (“Majin fall down. Majin sad”) will your nerves after a while. The other characters you meet along the way fare little better, so if there is one area this game really falters, it’s in the voice acting.

At the end of the day, Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom is a good game that provides a solid experience for people looking for a quality puzzle-based platformer. Neither the gameplay or the story are innovative on any level, but the gameplay is solid and the controls are responsive, which is what I look most for in a game. Some people will find the visuals, story and especially the voice acting to be below-pay for a next-gen title, but Majin is a game that’s better than the sum of it’s parts. There is enough charm and challenge here to hold your interest, so I recommend picking up this game if the above intrigues you.

Rating: 7/10