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GRAND THEFT AUTO: IV

Slavic. Niko bellic is Slavic. It's made clear throughout the course of the game. I just wanted to clear that up right off the bat. I've seen other reviewers peg him as Russian, Swedish, Texan, etc. That being said - You play as Niko Bellic; a guy whose life just doesn't seem to go in the right direction. It's one misfortune after another, in fact you learn very early in the game that everyone he knew and loved died in a war, and he's come to America in search of a better life. Niko's cousin, Roman has tempted him with wonderous e-mails about the paradise that is America. Now, when Niko arrives, low-and-behold, he's found himself in a poor part of Liberty City, only to discover his cousin, Roman, is not leading the luxurious life of glamour with super models and sports cars, as he led Niko to believe. Roman infact, owns a taxi service and has one girlfriend, whom cheats on him regularly with a Small time Russian mob boss. Now, that aside, Niko is quick to forgive his cousin for his lies and quickly finds his place doing 'odd-jobs' for various people throughout Liberty City, in the classic GTA sense. Here in-lies the gameplay, where, as with all prior GTA games, the faults begin:

In Comparison:
One of the contstant draws of the GTA series is the sandbox environment Rockstar essentially created. To the point that all sandbox-shooters released anytime inbetween Vice City and San Andreas were considered "GTA clones" (Mercenaries, True Crime, etc). This remains intact in IV, however UNLIKE Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the game area is all one big city. And big it is. Liberty City is probably about the same size as San Fierro, Los Santos, and Las Venturas put together, (The three main cities of San Andreas) but without the desert, rural forest regions, random military bases, rivers, lakes, cliffs, mountains, and genuine explorational value of San Andreas. There's just really not a whole lot to look at. Most of Liberty City looks just like every other part of Liberty City, and there's nowhere to go outside the city itself. The biggest draw of San Andreas, for me, was that you could spend, literally, MONTHS exploring the open game environment, and still not find everything there is to see. This has been all but done away with in GTA IV, and infact most easter eggs customary to the GTA franchise have been done away with. No more Monster trucks, hover crafts, jetpacks, planes, parachutes, go-karts, car modding or Urban Legends surrounding Bigfoot, UFOs or leatherface. It's all just, gone. Those things that set San Andreas apart from all other GTA games and made it almost seem like a stand alone title are gone. GTAIV just takes itself too seriously, with very little of the tounge-in-cheek humour and witty radio commentary that made the series famous. That bein gsaid, the radio is also bland and forgettable, compared to the amazing audio line-ups in Vice City and San Andreas. The characters in previous GTA games have always been colorful and eccentric. From a blind, Chinese, street racing Triad leader, to a masturbation addict, the GTA games have always had interesting and comical characters. This also seems to have been forgotten in the latest installment into the series. The most memorable character is probably Bernie, the very homosexual comic relief of the game. He could have easily fit into San Andreas with its comedic cast. But Bernie isn't introduced until half-way through the story, and even then has a very short role. So if you're a hardcore fan of previous GTA titles, especially SA, I think you may be very disappointed here. But enough comparing titles, let's move on.

Shooting:
Shooting has been remastered for GTAIV- It now uses a shooting style somewhat similar to Gears Of War, in that you're able to take cover behind any object, blind shoot and switch between auto-target and manual aim as you please, depending on how tightly you press the left trigger. The big problem here is that GTAIV has serious collision detection issues (As per usual with any GTA game). Cover-fire and blind shots don't really work the way they should because you can easily be shot through the wall or whatever you're hiding behind, due to poor collision detection. This makes it virtually useless (Especially in online play) and the game turns back into the familiar run-and-gun shooting style the series is known for. So while a nice effort, the new shooting system comes up useless and can even leave you at a disadvantage. The weapons also seem distraught in power capabilities. When the pistol will kill an enemy quicker than the RPG, you know your guns need a power re-tuning. This also makes online play unusual as the pistol is actually the weapon of choice for all online modes.

Driving and transit:
I'm not sure I'll ever understand what was going through the developers heads when they decided it was a good idea to change the GREAT driving controls of San Andreas, and make it seem so that every car is skating on ice. Albeit, cars are no longer prone to flipping over and catching on fire, but try driving one of these bad boys when it's raining. Car damage IS much more realistic. Cars will now dent according to how hard and where you hit something. Shooting the cars will leave bullet holes exactly where the bullets fall, and shooting the windshield will leave holes relevent to the shots fired. Blood from run-down pedestrians will even remain on the grill of your car. However the new driving scheme is so annoying, I much prefer taking a Taxi everywhere I go in game. (Which in all honesty, shouldn't even be an option) With the addition of Taxis, is also the Subway. The Subway is the most useless feature in the game, by far. Subway stations aren't even listed on the game map, and will take you only to specific places, where as taking a taxi will actually warp you anywhere in the game instantly. It is fun to push people in front of an oncoming subway car, but that's about the extent of it. All in all, this isn't the epitome of driving games by a long shot, and genuinely took a huge step backward with the new controls.

Graphics and physics:
GTAIV uses a RAGE physics engine, which gives realistic physical movements (Especially when being run down by a car or flying through the air after being jetted off a motorcycle) and gives the game a much-needed aspect of realism in the environment. To accent that, random NPCs are almost like individuals; They're all randomly generated, so you never really see two people walking down the street who look the same, or even similar, really. Each person seems to have places to go, things to do, books to read, jobs to go to, taxis that need flagging, important cell phone conversations...It all just helps create a realistic environment that makes you feel like you're not the only person walking around Liberty City. The visual quality, however, is still lacking, as GTA always seems to have. The character models appear to be the same as those used in San Andreas, though with slightly more detail and form tossed in. Niko's character is actually the star visual aspect of the entire game- being by far the most detailed model and actually stands to par with graphical expectations of the next gen..Everyone else, however, still look bland and pixely, even by PS2 standards.

Well, at least bullet holes are where they should be..

Final Verdict:
Online play can be fun for a while, but please don't buy this title specifically for it. It gets old very quickly and there just isn't a whole lot to do. And, like I mentiioned earlier; the pistol is the only weapon needed.

The story is probably the best in GTA history, flaunt with plot twists and tear-jerker moments, but it's too bad they didn't structure a little more game in here to go with it. GtaIV has lived up o my expectations, by being completely half-assed and feeling rushed-to-production, just as ever. Though unlike the most previous GTA title, they cut out all the explorability, which for me, was one of the only aspects the game had going for it. If you've got nothing better to do, it might be worth picking up GTA IV just to draw your own conclusions, but don't go out looking for a great shooter and choose this over Unreal Tournament III. Don't go out looking for an adventure game and pick this over Assassins Creed. GTA IV has turned the series into a mediocre shooter with mediocre driving elements thrown in, that, under any other title, would have gotten less-than-reputable scores.

A 6, out of 10

SoulCalibur IV

The SoulCalibur series has hung around since the days of the PS1 as "Soul Edge" and remained a cult favorite among its fans. Love it or hate it, it has its flaws, but SoulCalibur IV comes out a smooth fighter with only minor flaws.

Graphics/Visuals:

Maybe I'm easily impressed, (not) but SoulCalibur IV has some of the best character models I've ever seen in a video game. They're just mindboggling sometimes. This is what we were all waiting for when the PS2 and XBOX were released. This is what we've all been wanting our characters to look like for years, and now that it's finally at this level, I can't say I'm disappointed. The character models are smooth enough to fit into a high-production CGI movie; In fact, the cutscenes (what few there are) in the story mode look good so good, you'd hardly believe they're in-game. Yoda's character is probably one of the single-most detailed video game character's I've ever seen. Down to the gray hairs on his head wafting in the wind to the subtle wrinkles under his old, green eyes, everything is amazingly smooth and detailed. The game is an odd mix of anime-looking characters, realistic-looking characters, comical-yet-realistic-looking characters and...Star Wars? Now the character models themselves look great, like I mentioned, but some of the characters just look odd fighting together, and some seem less-than interesting. Example: Talim's character design is interesting and well thought-out, but Sophita's design couldn't be more sleep-inducing.

That being said, the stages are...well, they look good, but aren't really interesting. Each stage is basically "small circle." Some stages have breakable elements, such as the pirate ship's floorboards. But even the breakable elements 'fix' themselves as soon as you're not paying attention. SoulCalibur IV uses what I call the "House of Wax" system for stages..Meaning everything on the stage is overly shiny and actually 'too detailed.' (If you can believe that). The fact is, you just shouldn't notice some of (what SHOULD be) subtle texture details. Small bumps in pavement is a nice touch, just don't throw it in my face by making the floor overly-lit so I see every detail as though I'm looking at it through a telescope. (Considering the camera is at any time, a good 8 feet away from the fighters?) This is a minor issue, but it's becoming a popular 'lazy' technique among developers these days. "Make everything really sniny and noticable" was interesting the first few times I saw it, but Assassins Creed is long gone and did that style about as well as it's going to be done.

Talim's character shines as a visual marvel.

Controls and Gameplay:

Here-in-lies Soul Calibur's few real issues. Now, I wouldn't normally bother to say what console I'm reviewing a game on, but in this case, it matters. The XBOX 360's D-pad just isn't made for this type of game. Combat is tricky, and you often find yourself scrambling back and forth between the C-stick and D-pad to perform different attacks, because combos just don't work well when the D-pad is basically a miniature C-stick. It's just really frustrating and can really take some getting used to. However, when you've figured out how to get the controls to your liking, it's actually a really simple pick-up-and-play style, something most fighting games are unable to do. No matter if you're a fighting game vet, or new to the genre, Soul Calibur IV is very simple to understand. Combos aren't so complex that you'll take hours and hours to get the hang of them (Looking at you, Tekken), yet aren't so easy to perform as to insult your ability. Now, I'm no fighting game expert, and this is really the first SoulCalibur I've ever played...But I was beating this game on Edge Master difficulty on the first day I bought it (The hardest difficulty level) The learning curve is low, and you don't even really need to be a combo berserker to be great in matches...In fact you're able to attackwhore the same button to beat an opponent, so my only real problem here is with the difficulty levels in single-player matches. While I'm nit-picking, I may as well mention the...Unusual button layout. When on the 'move list' screen, buttons on the controller are listed as "B, A, K, G," The "B" button is the "Y" button on the 360 controller, the "A" button, is the "X" button, the "K" button is the "B" button, and the "G" button is the "A" button. Confused yet? Yeah, so was I. This is a really confusing way to place the layout and takes a lot of getting used to.

At the time of this review, SoulCalibur IV's online play can only be described as...as "really bad." The online modes, at least on the X360, are lagging so horribly in certain instances, that playing/enjoying them is virtualy impossible. I once counted it as taking 30 seconds for my character to perform a kick. Completely unacceptable for a fast-paced game such as SoulCalibur. Until the bugs in online play gets worked out, I can't honestly reccomend the game based on it. In a strange way, the game also doesn't seem to be balanced for online play at all; Like I mentioned before, you can use the same attack over and over to beat an opponent, and there's really nothing they can do about it. This is also true when facing someone online. You could have the best combo attacks around, but get someone with the bo staff thrusting repeatedly, and you'll never touch them. Yoda is also genuinely a poor sport's character. Yoda is so short, you can't grapple him at all.(Even Yoda can't grapple Yoda) In fact very few characters even have attacks that can hurt him at all. This leaves online play very unbalanced.

Character Customization:

The SoulCalibur series uses a unique fighting system, relying heavily on weapon-based combat. Each character has a weapon type specific to their model, and has its own strengths and shortcomings. In the "Special" modes, characters are able to use weapons, skills, and stat increases the player attributes to them via the Character Creation center. The Star Wars characters are the exception to this, as only skills and weapons can be changed.

Each character has several different weapons that can be upgraded. All armor can be changed as well. The character customization feature is very in-depth, letting you customize everything down to how deep your character's voice is, and what their personality during battle will be like. Some might find the RPG elements unusual or a task, but it adds replay value to the game and a wide selection of unlockable items.

Story:

Well..There's not really a whole lot to say here, to be honest..The story mode for each character lasts about ten minutes, and consists of an opening scrolling background story, explaining why they're there, 5 flights of battles, and an ending cutscene involving Algol. I don't know anyone who really bothers to read the opening paragraph, and, honestly you don't need to. The story is simple: There really isn't one.

Sound:

The voice actors doing the lines for the characters genuinely seem like they enjoyed doing them, which is a welcomed feeling. The opening lines are bizzare in a lot of cases. Characters will say something at the start of battle that probably isn't going to make a bit of sense whatsoever, but its easily forgivable and can even force you to crack a smile occasionally. Even the announcer's cliche.. opening introductions are tolerable, as it just lends to set the less-serious nature of the game.

Final verdict:

SoulCalibur IV, despite its flaws, is a welcome addition to the Fighting game genre, and has set the bar for character modeling higher. SoulCalibur has always been the black sheep of the fighting genre, but it seems to have finally come into its own, clearing up the majority of issues and bringing an enjoyable experience you're sure to fall back on time and time again.

A 7, out of 10.

 One of Square-Enix's most closely-guarded 360 titles is finally getting its fair share of spotlight, unearthing 30 brand new screen shots to get your juices flowing: HERE Courtesy of the guys at GameInformer.

The release of Rock Band 2 will be accompanied by a limited edition Ion drum set.(seen below) The wired, metal-bodied drum set will use three movable cymbals, precision sensitivity, and, most amazingly, a swap-pable "Brain" unit that lets it double as a real electronic drum kit when not hooked up to Rock Band. This monster machine will set you back a good $300, but if you've ever been interested in taking up the drums, you may want to look into this model to double your drum set as the game peripheral.

This puppy drops this September.

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The original Mercenaries quickly became a cult favorite among sandbox game fans, war game fans, and pretty much anyone who wanted to blow stuff up. Mercenaries 2 promises to bring all that back, and make it bigger, better and cooler to look at. A cursory glance at the game trailer is enough to perk the interest of any onlooker, but once you delve deeper, and start uncovering information about the gameplay is when you truly want to sit down and count the days to its release.

Pandemic Studios had initially slated the game as a PS3 exclusive, but midway through development seemed to change their minds, and unexpectedly announced simultanious releases for the 360, PC, and PS2 as well. This came as great news to all gamers (myself included), knowing that no matter what platform they ran, they'd be able to play the next Mercs

After following the game's development for the last few years, I've got to say it's one of my most sought games this year. Enhancements to 'Mercs2' include, but aren't limited to: Tactical nuclear air strikes, wide array of weapon selection, dozens of customizable vehicles, customizable character options, PanzerCycles (Motorcycles with Tank treads and front-mounted machine guns) huge sandbox environment several times the size of the original Mercs (Which was nearly twice the size of GTA: San Andreas), and last of course, entirely destructable environments. Mercs2 runs on the "If you can see it, you can blow it up" motto, and judging by gameplay footage I've seen, I couldn't be more excited. Every aspect of the environment is entirely destructable. Launching an RPG into a forest will plow down trees in your way and set fire to the surrounding vegetation in a realistic way. Set a C4 charge onto a balcony and wait for enemy soldiers to walk under it before detonating. Use a 'chopper to pick up a semi carrying gasoline and drop it onto enemy forces for a quick clean-up. The way you play is up to you, a fact that's sure to appeal to gamers who enjoy freedom with their play.

Early in the development phases, Pandemic Studios boasted the fact that they now used more polygons in Mattias' hair in Mercs 2 than they had in the entire game world of Mercs 1 (Mattias is one of the main playable characters of the Mercenaries series) While my initial impressions of the game's graphics still strike me as a bit dated for the current gen, other areas still dazzle me. Character models themselves look fantastic so far. The only visual flaws I can find are in minor details and resolution, but if Mercenaries 2 is half the game it promises to be, I don't think anyone's going to give a damn what the graphics look like.

Expect Mercenaries 2: World in Flames on store shelves August 31, 08 States-side.

www.mercs2.com