Dungeon Defenders

  Dungeon Defenders is a action/adventure tower defense game with rpg elements.  The game is on XBLA, PSN, and PC.  First off, you are probably thinking, "How is this an action/adventure tower defense game with 'rpg' elements?" I respond with "Creativity."  Trendy Entertainment has made a tower defense game where you yourself can get in on the action.  The main focus, like with any tower defense game, is to keep creatures from getting to their destination, which in this case, is the Eternia Crystals.

  One of the best features that this game has to offer over any other tower defense game is the that you can get rid of the creatures yourself.  The other, bigger feature is that you can play with up to four players locally or over the internet.  But it does not stop there in terms of multi-player.  Some maps are so large that up to six or eight people can play together!  Considering DLC (Downloadable Content), each player can be a different character!  Speaking of which, there is quite a bit of DLC, spanning from additional characters to a new story.  This isn't to say that the normal game itself is short or bland, but you would miss out several of the unlockables.

  There is a lot of good things I could say about this game, it's definitely one of my favorite games, probably based on how much time I have spent on it.  However, there are several a lot irritating obstacles.  There are quite a number of bugs, lots of places to get stuck, and if you don't know what is going on or things get out of hand you can lose in a matter of seconds.  There can even be the occasional mishap of where you can be outside of the map and can't get back in.  That's quite a number of things that ruins the experience already.  I could probably make a list of about equal length of both good and bad things in the game.  The online experience is fine though.

  There is one major difference between the console and PC versions.  That difference would be the Steam Workshop.  First of all, Steam is a videogame provider that runs on PC, Mac, and even Linux.  Not every game runs on every platform, FYI.  So if you buy the Steam version, you can use the Steam Workshop and play and make items, enemies, props, maps, and what-have-you.  The result is over powered armor and weapons, some rare, but really neat maps, and almost no original content.  Also from the Steam version is four unique Team Fortress 2 pets and a Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device.

That is roughly everything in a nutshell, now for some final thoughts.  Without the DLC, I would say the game lasts about 4 hours, that is in terms of getting everything.  With DLC, the game lasts roughly 8 or more hours, so double basically.  Half the game is DLC, which is okay but not good by any means.  It is very fun, even more so online or with friends, and apparently it did well enough for Trendy Entertainment to start making a sequel.

I give Dungeon Defenders (for PC) a Green Star,

or a 4/5.

Awesomenauts

Awesomenauts is a MOBA game (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) and is for XBLA, PSN, and PC.  The biggest difference between the console versions and the PC version is that the PC version, currently, has 6 other characters, or 'nauts.  Another big difference is that the PC version is constantly being updated, while the XBLA and PSN versions are not.  This is mainly due to problems with their publisher, DTP entertainment (that and it costs a lot to publish/update console games).  Awesomenauts is, without a doubt, my favorite PC game at the moment and one of my favorite games overall, and I have my reasons.

                    

Above is a video of a match that I recorded, it is a bit slow for the most part, but this is because I was playing with AI controlled characters.  This was solely for demonstration purposes.  Online matches are much more hectic for the simple matter that you are up against other people, crazy fun though!  It may not be heard in the video but the music is, awesome to say the least.  The game controls fluently, and if you are playing on PC, you can use a controller, but I don't recommend doing this as the controls become clunky.

Now just because this is one of my favorite games doesn't mean it has no flaws, all games have something that just doesn't work, no matter how small it is.  One of the biggest issues is that online matches can be dropped, stopped, or just fail right in the middle of the match.  As far as I understand, this is currently a server side issue and that Ronimo Games are constantly looking for ways to fix it.  One of the more minor issues is that the sounds or music are either too quiet or too loud, not a huge issue but it bugs me like heck, and it is obvious in the video.  Another issue/inconvenience is that the AI, like the sound, can either be too easy or too difficult.  I can write a medium sized list with issues or anything of the sort, but I'll stop here, just let it be known that it's far from perfect.

With all that out of the way, I give Awesomenauts a Green Star, or a 4/5.

Forza Motorsport 4 Essentials Edition

So I got an Xbox 360 this past Christmas, and it came bundled with two games, Forza Motorsport 4 Essentials Edition and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.  I will be focusing on Forza 4 for this particular blog.  Forza Motorsport 4 Essentials Edition is a typical racing game on the Xbox 360, although it is more classified as a racing simulator.  You go from point A to point B and get in first place.  The only real difference between the Forza series and other racing games is that Forza uses real cars and real places.

Both FM4EE and FM4 features two of the three hosts from the BBC car show Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson and James May.  Both versions introduce a 'Autovista Mode' to the series which allows you to view and examine a lot of details on specific cars.  There is a difference between the original game, FM4, and the bundled version, FM4EE.  It turns out, FM4EE is not so special.  FM4 has around 500 different cars to choose from, while FM4EE only has around 320.  This is mainly because FM4 is originally a two disc game while FM4EE only has one disc.  However, you can still download packs from the Marketplace to expand your library of cars and tracks, for a price.

There is a LOT of content in either version of the game, so you won't get bored too quickly.  Now since this game is a 'racing simulator', it'll be obvious that the graphics are superb.  All the cars look great, and whether or not you have 'real simulation' turned on under the damages option, it will still look like you've trashed it.  The controls are a bit odd in my own honest opinion, you would normally only use around three or four buttons and the left stick on the controller, I only use one button: accelerate.  There are loads of different options ranging from difficulty level for the CPU to tweaking your vehicle for max performance, a bit too much to take in if you ask me.

When it boils down to it, there is basically three modes from the main menu, Career, Xbox Live and Free Play, or two single player modes and multi-player for lack of better terms.  These modes are, for the most part, self-explanatory.  I myself mainly play Career while occasionally playing around with the fastest cars that are available in Free Play.

So while it may be a fun experience, Forza Motorsport 4 Essentials Edition doesn't exactly keep me coming back.  This is mainly due to it being a racing title.  If it had more various modes, it would be better.

I give Forza Motorsport 4 Essentials Edition a Yellow Star,

              or a 3/5.                                                         A bit of trivia: They included a Delorean DMC-12.  I took it to the longest stretch of road of any course and got it up to 123 MPH and didn't travel through time.  Great Scott!

Dr.Mario Online Rx

Dr. Mario Online Rx is WiiWare title and is a remake of the classic NES game Dr. Mario.  For those unfamiliar with Dr. Mario, it's a puzzle game similar to Tetris, but instead of getting a high score with T-blocks and L-blocks, you are trying to eliminate viruses with Megavitamins.  In one of the single player modes, when you clear the screen of viruses the stage is complete and you move on to a harder stage.  The pacing with the difficulty level per stage is very fair and not overwhelming, every level adds four viruses.

There are multiple modes in the game, the one just described is Classic mode.  The other modes include VS CPU and Flash.  VS CPU is straight forward, similar gameplay but against a computer player.  Flash is different because you only have to eliminate the three flashing viruses among the other non-flashing ones.  The 2-Player modes are the same with the exception of VS CPU, which is not present.  The main mode, which is implied by the title, is NWC VS.  NWC stands for Nintendo Wi-fi Connection.  It utilizes the online functionality by facing off against other people from around the world.  While it may take a while to either connect or find an opponent, there is no internet lag or (rare) disconnections.

There are four different music tracks, cleverly titled Fever, Chill, Cough, and Sneeze.  The music was also remade for this version of the game, and it sounds really good (personal favorite is Sneeze).  There are two other options for music, random and off, both are self explanatory.  The music is slightly different in the new mode exclusive to this game.  That new mode is Virus Buster, a slower but unique way to play Dr. Mario.  Instead of playing with the control pad to move the Megavitamins, you use the pointer and the A button.  This new mode can also support up to four players.

I couldn't really make out what could be wrong or bad in this game other than it being repetitive and/or boring after a while.  In conclusion, the game is really fun and even more fun with a friend, with a slight downside of it being repetitive gameplay.

Dr. Mario Online Rx gets a rating of Green Star

or 4 out of 5 if you're one of those people.

A little bit of trivia: The three viruses have names! The red is one is Fever, blue is Chill, and the yellow one is Weird. That's nothing to sneeze at!