Golden Burrito awards

It’s a new year with new awards! Win a free month of Xbox Live Gold by following!

Play This readers we’ve got another special contest give away for a month of Xbox Live gold.

To enter all you have to do is one of the following:

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

E-mail (owner@play-this.org) us with why you deserve it

*Doing all three will increase your chance of winning.

We will pick one person at random and give you the code via e-mail on April 1, 2010.

The last day to enter will be on March 31 by midnight EST.

We will also be announcing our 2010 golden burrito awards along with the winner of the code. April will be the end of the first quarter of the year and Play This will be reflecting upon all of the great new games, movies, books and music that have come out. We will also be announcing an extra honorable mention to the best iPhone (game) app for 2010.

There is still time to enter nominations and submit media for this contest, e-mail Play This magazine at owner@play-this.com for more information.

Microsoft is not affiliated or connected with this contest.

Futurama: Bender's Game

EFM Home Page

Futurama is back, but lost most of it’s spunk. In the first of a series of DVDs released from the cult followed cartoon Futurama, Bender was the man or robot rather on top. He is back and ready to pull apart the last centeries worth of films with a side of Dungons and Dragons, while lacking most of what made Futurama great… Matt Groening’s mind. This addition just seems like a sad attempt to create paradys of the last 10 years worth of films. Anything from Lord of the Rings, The Mummy and even Mork and Mindy (Nanu nanu?). This is the third installment of the DVD Futurama series.

Great quote from Bender’s Game:

Leegola: What else can we slay? Is that a hobbit over there?

Titanius Anglesmith (Bender): No, that’s a hobo and a rabbit. But they’re making a hobbit.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj2VU_8l6gs]

Burrito scoring for Futurama: Bender’s Game

Graphics: Groening still has his way with cartoons, simple and sweet.

5/5 burritos.

Story Line: Lacks Groening’s imagination and was generally boring.

2/5 burritos.

Music/Sound FX: It’s a cartoon, not much required here and they kept all of the original voice actors.

4/5 burritos.

Overall: It’s a borefest but if you enjoy Futurama and dislike but have seen Lord of the Rings check it out.

4/5 burritos.

The EFM web site has finally been updated. While there may not be to much on it, the main goal of the site is to provide EFM with a service listing and portfolio of our professionally published work. EvO is diligently looking for a Washington DC Communications job so that he may properly fund Play This once again.

Follow us on Twitter!

You can still find us on Myspace and Facebook as well.

editor@playthismag.com                                                                                     www.playthismag.com

It’s official, Barack Obama is now the President of the United States of America and with that merchandise, posters and memorabilia have been created in his image even more so than the infamous Y2K.

Dane Cook -Not Funny

A Web site entitled http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com will allow you to quickly upload a photo of yourself and create that infamous looking white, blue, tan and red poster of HOPE that you’ve seen everywhere. While this is relatively unimportant it’s a nice way or even possible option for many new funny Facebook/Myspace photos.

While browsing through some already pre-made posters we had noticed one featuring the dumbest of the dumb, Dane Cook. The poster rather than saying something like “HOPE” displayed “NOT FUNNY” well rather look for yourself.

While also looking through the comments of this particular poster we had also noticed this little tid bit, Type “guy who is not funny” into google, then I’m feeling lucky. We think you all will be mildly humored like we were.

Left 4 Dead is like being in a Zombie film

editor@playthismag.com                                                         www.playthismag.com

Zombie games usually get great reviews (Resident Evil) or flop (Evil Dead: Fist full of boomstick [Regeneration was bad ass though]) all due to how the story line is dropped on it’s user.

Left 4 Dead is just shy of perfection and with some simple updates it could easily have hita perfect score. Left 4 Dead is unlike any other Zombie game as it practically throws you into the middle of four different Zombie film types. Any where from Zombies chasing you through corn fields to a hospital filled with evil reincarnates seeking to eat your flesh.

The replayability of this game is just plain sick unless you can’t deal with the harder difficulties, where some gamers may get fed up and turned off from the game.

Boomer is like the drunk girl you picked up at the bar, he loves to puke on you.

The breakdown: Left 4 Dead

Graphics & Cinamatics:4/5

Sound FX & Music:5/5

Replayability:5/5

Multiplayer:5/5

Achievements: 5/5

Overall: 96% Left 4 Dead receives 5/5 Burritos

Graphics & Cinamatics:

Unfortunately this is the department where Left 4 Dead loses some points. There are some relatively annoying bugs in the game that cause you to become stuck in a position, only to await the next on coming horde of Zombies. When closing a door you can become pinned again an area and some reason you can not shot the door up enough to destroy it and move yourself. There are several other instances like this, but aside from these the graphics are supreme and you can tell the creators put a lot of love into this game.

They go as far as creating a commentator section, where you can go through the game and see what the creators were thinking and how they created it. They went as far as making movie quality lighting and matching music to the situation you are in. The over all graphics of the game are next generation material and look great on HD.

Sound FX & Music:

The true zombie film material is plastered all over this game, which can best been seen in the music and sound effects. The game is impossible to predict on the difficult settings, but sound and music cues help you navigate safely to your destination. All in all the music does a great job of not only helping you stay alive but build suspense and add a creepy feel.

Replayability:

Left 4 Dead is 100 percent replayable as the AI in the game has no set spawn points, spawn times and you can play in various locations. The only major downside is the minimal selection of weapons and there is no chainsaw! The VS mode shakes things up and lets you become the Zombies, which has got to be one of the coolest features to hit a Zombie game.

Multiplayer:

Multiplayer in this game is a must as you can play with up to seven other people in VS mode or three other friends in the regular campaign. The best thing about the online multiplayer… the long since forgotten two players on one console is back! You can play in any mode with you and another person on your console without having to have a second Xbox live account.

The versus mode can be one of the best things to hit zombie games, because it lets you become one of four special zombies to thwart away the survivors. Sadly if you do not use team work and are stuck with relatively inexperienced people, chances are you will not do very well. The basic idea is to wait till the survivors are separated and strike with everything you’ve got.

Achievements:

If you are looking to rack up another 800 achievement points, Left 4 Dead is the game for you. A majority of the points can be achieved relatively quick with the exception of some specialty ones that require a ridiculous amount of game play, if you can put this game down after your points that is.

Overall:

If you are any type of zombie fan this game is almost required. Don’t rent this bad boy it’s surely worth the purchase.

**Editors note

This is one of the most bad ass experiences you will get from a game, forget COD World at War, this game just drop kicked it in the face! -EvO

For Left 4 Dead cheats check out CheatCC.com

Achievements for Left 4 Dead

	Helping Hand	20
	Revive 50 incapacitated Survivors.
	Field Medic	20
	Heal 25 Survivors with a first aid kit.
	Pharm-assist	20
	Give pain pills to 10 Survivors.
	My Bodyguard	15
	Protect any Survivor from an attacking Infected 50 times.
	Dead Stop	10
	Punch a Hunter as he is pouncing.
	Cr0wnd	30
	Kill a Witch with a single headshot.
	Untouchables	30
	No Survivors take damage after contacting the rescue vehicle.
	Drag and Drop	20
	Rescue a Survivor from a Smoker’s tongue before he takes damage.
	Blind Luck	20
	You or another Survivor take no damage after being vomited on by a Boomer.
	Akimbo Assassin	30
	Survive an entire campaign using only pistols.
	Hero Closet	10
	Rescue a Survivor trapped in a closet.
	Hunter Punter	10
	Shove a Hunter off of a pinned and helpless Survivor.
	Tongue Twister	20
	Free yourself from a Smoker who has grabbed you with his tongue.
	No Smoking Section	15
	Kill 10 Smokers as they are pulling helpless Survivors.
	101 Cremations	20
	Set 101 Infected on fire.
	Do Not Disturb	20
	Sneak past all Witches in a campaign without disturbing one.
	Man vs Tank	30
	Single-handedly kill a Tank.
	Tankbusters	20
	Kill a Tank without it dealing any damage to a Survivor.
	Safety First	30
	Play an entire campaign with no Survivors taking friendly fire damage.
	No-one Left Behind	20
	Beat a campaign with all 4 Survivors.
	Unbreakable	30
	Finish a campaign without ever being healed.
	Witch Hunter	20
	Kill a Witch without any Survivor taking damage from her.
	Red Mist	20
	Kill 1000 Infected with a mounted machine gun.
	Pyrotechnician	20
	Blow up 20 Infected in a single explosion.
	Zombie Genocidest	20
	Kill 53,595 Infected.
	Dead Giveaway	10
	Heal a fellow Survivor when your own health is below 10.
	Stand Tall	20
	Survive a campaign without being incapacitated.
	Zombicidal Maniac	30
	Survive any campaign on Expert.
	What Are You Trying to Prove?	35
	Survive all campaigns on Expert.
	Nothing Special	30
	Survive a campaign with no Survivors taking damage from Special Infected.
	Burn the Witch	10
	Light a Witch with a Molotov.
	Towering Inferno	10
	Light a Tank with a Molotov.
	Spinal Tap	10
	Kill an Infected with a single blow from behind.
	Stomach Upset	20
	All Survivors complete a campaign without being vomited on.
	Brain Salad	15
	Make 100 headshot kills.
	Jump Shot	20
	Headshot a Hunter while he’s leaping.
	Mercy Killer	15
	Survive the No Mercy campaign.
	Back 2 Help	20
	Leave a safe room to save an incapped teammate and bring them back safely.
	Toll Collector	15
	Survive the Death Toll campaign.
	Dead Baron	15
	Survive the Dead Air campaign.
	Grim Reaper	15
	Survive the Blood Harvest campaign.
	Ground Cover	30
	Save another Survivor from a Special Infected while on the ground.
	Clean Kill	10
	Shove a Boomer and then kill him without him splashing on anyone.
	Big Drag	20
	Drag a Survivor 100 feet with your tongue.
	Chain Smoker	20
	Constrict two Survivors in one life as a Smoker.
	Barf Bagged	20
	Cover four Survivors with Boomer bile at once.
	Double Jump	20
	Pounce two different Survivors in one life as a Hunter.
	All 4 Dead	30
	Kill all four Survivors in one life while playing as a Tank.
	Dead Wreckening	20
	Dole out 5000 total Survivor damage as a Special Infected.
	Lamb 2 Slaughter	20
	As an Infected, incap a Survivor who has entered and left a safe room.

-Source http://www.xbox360achievements.org

Resident Evil Degeneration director Makoto Kamiya decided to take his film on a CG route far from the previous three. In lue of the terrible other CG only films like Final Fantasty, the perfection that comes from the movies graphics is just a taste of what is to come from our video games. Sadly the script and story line was pretty shallow and it seemed more so like a large advertisement with how amazing their CG graphics has come along.

The short end of the stick is the movie looks great, but the story line just leads away from the Umbrella Corp. onto the T-virus becoming a bio-terror attack weapon and the government hiding that it was created by humans. They are also trying to hide the G-virus (Nemesis project) until someone gets a hold of it. All in all the story line was pretty much junk and the film went by rather quickly, but the graphics boost the film to a great step towards hopefully a series of new CG films that don’t suck by epic proportions.

This film is worth a rent, but as there is not much in the special features department and the movie really doesn’t have much context to it you may as well just watch it and ditch it.

Resident Evil Degeneration receives 3/5 burritos

Need for Speed Undercover

editor@playthismag.com

www.playthismag.com

NFS Undercover gets 4/5 burritos on the Play This burrito rating systems

Need for Speed has long since been forgotten with a new title each year, but like the last few NFS Undercover was rushed out and has little to offer. There are very minor differences from the previous NFS pursuit games, but does not disappoint the fans of previous NFS games. The game play is fast paced and has a high replayability level when cops are thrown into the mix, but as far as purchasing this game goes for it’s new features, not worth the moolah.

The only negative thing on this game, aside from it being relatively boring after a few hours of straight game-play (which is bound to happen) is the terrible sound effects (SFX) throughout the game. One of the most annoying things that can be stuck in a game much like a film are unnecessary SFX. When starting your car from a stopped position it makes one of the most fowl tire screeching noises, but this would be perfectly ok if you floored it. This happens when even tapping on the gas peddle, which obviously is a bit ridiculous and relatively annoying.

Graphics & Cinematics: The graphics are great for a racing type game, but as most NFS games are not meant to be entirely realistic there is still a cartoony/Gone in 60 seconds feel to it. The cut scenes/cinematics of the game are another story, as they have live action cut scenes. For whatever reason they decided to get singer Christina Milian (pictured below) as their leading actress and did a terrible job, but she shouldn’t feel bad as all of the acting was trash. 3/5

Christina Milian - It's sad that this picture alone brings in 1,000 visitors a week.

SFX & Music: While the SFX were especially poor, the music was great. Any racing game that features intense speeds and running from the cops is loosely associated with some sort of techno/trance music with a fast paced beat. While there were only a few well known artists on the sound track, the mixes were still a great fuel to the fire. 4/5

Online/Multiplayer: The multiplayer feature has some new editions for the NFS series as they finally have some original content that you can not get during the actual game play. Cops and Robbers is a new feature that allows you to take place of the in game officers and take down the offenders. The game is just a glorified version of tag and is pretty unbalanced in the game play. Playing regular races is also very unbalanced as it doesn’t have a matching system. A new feature for NFS is that photo mode, which allows you to pause the game and take a photo of your current situation. [Example of ours shown below] 4/5

The 5-0 don't like when you run people off the road

Achievements: For those of you looking for easy achievements, NFS Undercover is the game for you. After just a few hours of game play you can get nearly 75 percent of the entire lot. Simply put rent this game, rack up on achievements and once you’ve had your fill ditch it. 5/5

Random annoyances:

• There is no main menu and the user interface is a pain.
• The AI can push you around and kill your cars engine but you can’t do it back.
• The terrible SFX.
• Photo mode’s photo is relatively hard to find.

Achievements

Accomplish the indicated achievement to get the corresponding number of Gamerscore points:

• Community Member (15 points): Create or use an existing account to sign into EA Nation.
• Active Community Member (20 points): Participated in any Community Day. Visit NeedforSpeed.com for more info.
• Freeze! Hold it right there! (25 points): Take a Photo and upload it to NeedforSpeed.com.
• Learner’s Permit (5 points): Acquire your first car in Career Mode.
• Apprentice Mechanic (5 points): Customize a car in Career mode.
• Meet Zack (10 points): Face off against Zack in ‘Rush Hour’.
• Meet Carmen (10 points): Face off against Carmen in ‘The Game’.
• Meet Hector (10 points): Face off against Hector in ‘Versus’.
• Meet Nickel (10 points): Face off against Nickel in ‘Road Rage’.
• Meet Rose (10 points): Face off against Rose in ‘Rollercoaster’.
• Zack Trap (25 points): Complete the Zack sequence in ‘The Trap’ mission.
• Bowling with Hector (25 points): Complete the Hector sequence in the mission ‘Kingpin’.
• To Protect and Serve (25 points): Complete the Carmen sequence in the mission ‘Rematch’.
• Nickel and Dimes (25 points): Complete the Nickel sequence in mission ‘Payback’.
• 2 Birds, 1 Stone (25 points): Complete the mission ‘Double Trouble’.
• Gold Coast to Ocean (15 points): Dominate the Gold Coast to Ocean event.
• East Fasulo Bridge (15 points): Dominate the East Fasulo Bridge event.
• Pine Creek & Douglas (15 points): Dominate the Pine Creek & Douglas event.
• South Canyon Hwy (15 points): Dominate the South Canyon Hwy event.
• East I-5 (15 points): Dominate the East I-5 event.
• Bay Drive & Harbor (15 points): Dominate the Bay Drive & Harbor event.
• Tri-City Run (15 points): Dominate the Tri-City Run event.
• North River Expressway (15 points): Dominate the North River Expressway event.
• Lose the Eye in the Sky (25 points): Escape from a helicopter in a successfully completed pursuit. (Must be Career level 8 or greater).
• Path of Destruction (10 points): Disable 10 Police Cars in a Pursuit and successfully evade in Career.
• Get out of the way! (5 points): Avoid 5 Road Blocks in a Pursuit and successfully evade in Career.
• Aficionado (10 points): Purchase or win any 5 cars for your garage.
• Keys to the City (5 points): Unlock Port Crescent in Career.
• Branching out (10 points): Unlock Sunset Hills in Career.
• Window Shopper (20 points): Discovered all 3 Pro Shops in Career.
• Nothing Stock (20 points): Discovered all 3 Tuning Shops in Career.
• Retired (40 points): Finish the Career Story.
• Hired Goons (20 points): Takeout all the ‘Goons’ in Career.
• 5 Finger Discount (20 points): Complete all Hot Car Missions.
• Chase or be Chased (20 points): Win all the Highway Battles in Career.
• Own the Road (25 points): Dominate 25 events in Career.
• Completionist (100 points): Complete all events in Career.
• Unstoppable Force (10 points): Avoid 50 Road Blocks in Career.
• Wasting Tax Dollars (20 points): Get $100,000 Cost to State in a single pursuit and evade.
• Spiked Punch (10 points): Avoid a spike strip in a Pursuit and successfully evade in Career.
• Love thy Tires (15 points): Avoid 12 Spike Strips total in Career pursuits.
• Lose the Fuzz (10 points): Successfully complete 5 Pursuits.
• Most Wanted (100 points): Successfully complete 50 Pursuits.
• Scrapheap (25 points): Disable 100 Police vehicles.
• Crossing the Line (10 points): Win a Ranked Multiplayer Cops and Robbers event.
• First! (10 points): Won a Multiplayer Ranked Game.
• First of Many (15 points): Win a Ranked Multiplayer event against 7 human players.
• Among the Best (25 points): Won 25 Ranked Multiplayer events.
• Notorious (50 points): Finish 119 Multiplayer Races in any position.
• Cat and Mouse Virus (5 points): Infected with the Cops and Robbers virus by another player in a Cops and Robbers event.

Check out Cheat CC for codes on NFS Undercover

Bond 22 (Quantum of Solace)

Bond movies hold a special place in our hearts as they are some of the longest running film series (although cheesy) always make for a great film. Quantum of Solace is the 22 James Bond Film and is the sequel to Casino Royale. The film makes another great addition to the huge line up of awesome action flicks; however, we are having to do a split review because of the terrible director. The story and film as a whole was awesome, however the terrible camera work and audio (this is due to the director, Marc Forster) is means for a two part review. One for the basic film with exception of Forster’s terrible work and One with his work.

Visually this film looked amazing, the camera work especially during actions scenes (which is sort of important being this is an action film) was so frantic it may have well been done with a hand held cam. Any time something moved, even something like that of a basket falling to the ground, the camera jumped to that. During an action scene where tons of things are exploding, bullets flying and bodies are dropping, the last thing the audience want’s to deal with his fast paced cuts and frantic up close camera work. Not only does it feel like you are going to have a seizure during most action scenes, but the audio seems very unfinished, like that of a cheap tape recorder you used as a child. With all this being said it may very well seem like Quantum of Solace would be a terrible film, much like that of the other big name critics will tell you, but the acting and story line surpasses any negative feature of this film.

Daniel Craig pulls yet again another amazing and memorable role as the newest James Bond. He plays a much more in depth, not just one liner Bond and pulls all of his own stunts. Sadly most of them can not be seen as the camera work is either to close to the action or out of focus. Craig, although he is no Connery, Craig is bringing Bond to a new, modern level.

Review:

Camera Work: While the action scenes may have been terrible by ways of what we could see, it seems that generally they were action packed and full of some pretty bad ass fighting. This is the single worst part of the film, but the special FX and explosions were of course grand. If we had included this, although a very large part of any movie, it would only get a 2/5. The story line and the areas filmed in however make Quantum have a great look, it was just way to jump. Thus giving the camera work without Forster a 4/5.

Audio/Sound FX: The music was as every bond film is. Full of instrumentals and of course a one of a kind opening theme, this one we were not so fond of as it was created by a mix of Jack White (white stripes) and Alcia Keys. One of the best Bond themes had to of been Chris Cornell’s rendition for Casino Royale (Hey it’s our opinion, deal). While the music was great, once again the after editing of the film had these annoying or terrible FX. While in the scene with Bond and his Companion Camilie, played by Olga Kurylenko they were speaking to each other through a head set. Forster for whatever reason decided to make it sounds more like they were speaking through a cheap walkie talkie during this scene. In several fight scenes the audio seems untouched or there is a lack of background sound while things are clearly exploding. Forster’s after touching editing gets a 2/5.  While the music and instrumentals without his poor taste in filming gets a perfect 5/5.

Story/Plot: Quantum of Solace picks up just one hour after Casino Royale. Since the that time people have wondered why Bond has been transformed into the killing unattached man that he has been known to be, until now. Quantum of Solace is much like a Mafia type group of on epic proportions. Although Bond may not have cleared out the group, he has uncovered who they are and what they are planning to do. This film put together the pieces to the 20 other Bond films that seemed like he was just a killing/sex machine up until now. Craig plays a much deeper character and it’s hard to compare him to the others because of this. 5/5

Acting:

Daniel Craig once again does an amazing performance with his rendition of 007. He’s the perfect mix of character depth and bad ass killing machine. In this film you will be able to see the rogue side of Bond and what truly makes him tick. Craig surely surpasses that of his latest predecessor.

Olga Kurylenko is the newest Bond girl and does a hell of a job of it. Her latest roles in Hitman and Max Payne may go unnoticed, but this Russian babe is a complete bad ass. Her character is very similar to that of Storm in the X-men series. As a child she was in a fire which you will notice in the film how it paralyzes her. (Storm has a similar issue with claustrophobia).

Mathieu Amalric plays a rather weak villain and we’ve yet to see a villain to hold up to the classics like that of Goldfinger.

Jeffrey Wright although plays a small role is a continuation from Casino Royale. He most likely will seen in the next film and trys to balance out M16 with some American justice. Acting receives a 5/5

While Quantum of Solace may have received terrible reviews from most critics, Play This is giving it 5 burritos.

Plot posted from www.imdb.com

“‘Quantum of Solace’ continues the high octane adventures of James Bond from ‘Casino Royale’. Picking up literally hours after the previous film left off, after being betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, 007 fights the urge to make his latest mission personal. Having captured Mr. White, and in pursuing his determination to uncover the truth, Bond and ‘M’ interrogate Mr. White who reveals the organization which blackmailed Vesper to steal Bond’s casino winnings is far more complex and dangerous than anyone had imagined.

Forensic intelligence links an MI6 traitor to a bank account in Haiti where a case of mistaken identity introduces Bond to the beautiful but feisty Camille, a woman who has her own vendetta. Camille leads Bond straight to Dominic Greene, a ruthless businessman and major force within the mysterious criminal organization known only as ‘Quantum’.

On a mission that leads him to Austria, Italy and South America, Bond discovers that Greene, conspiring to take total control of one of the world’s most important natural resources, is forging a deal with the exiled General Medrano. Using his associates in the organization, and manipulating his powerful contacts within the CIA and the British government, Greene promises to overthrow the existing regime in Bolivia, giving General Medrano control of the country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land which is, however, a main source of the South American water supply. In a minefield of treachery, murder and deceit, Bond allies with old friends in a battle to uncover the truth. As he gets closer to finding the man responsible for the betrayal of Vesper, 007 must keep one step ahead of the CIA, the terrorists, and even ‘M’ herself, to unravel Greene’s sinister plan and stop Quantum from getting its way.”

Too Human, may not have been human enough

editor@playthismag.com Too Human had us split down the middle on all counts and as much as we originally thought it was be brilliant, it left us with a fowl aftertaste. While the graphics at times looked amazing, others it would become pixilted and have missing sections of the game (there would be random white spaces where walls would intersect). The futuristic yet ancient look (large amount of technology in an Egyptian theme/Greek/romanesc world) look amazing with towering statues and huge levels and certain points, but while watching cut scenes a vehicle’s tires are cut in half by the ground rather than riding on top of it. It also featured the same graphics in the cut scenes as regular game play… meaning no extra effort just some different camera angels.

Play This break down for Too Human

Graphics: While certain aspects of the game did look amazing, the voice overs with characters speaking and the mouth motions of the characters were terribly aligned. The idea of the futuristic past is awesome, but sadly they seemed to of half assed it creating a bland and unfriendly viewing experience. 4/5

Game play: This is where the game hits a major low. In most action games, the targeting system, fighting type and enemies are key to making a successful game. This had terrible targeting systems, horrible fight action and the enemies were a joke.

• Targeting system: While fighting an onslaught of enemies, which a majority of the time you will be, you can target two different enemies at the same time depending on your character. Well this would be super but you tend to lock on an enemy that you do not want to be shooting at; for example.. something rushing at your face and you decide to start shooting at everything else near you, even inanimate objects… The melee attacks are just as important as the gun related ones in this game, which brings us to the fighting.
• Fighting: The “fun” level in playing Too Human is pretty dull  to say the least. Simply move your control stick towards an enemy and you either shoot it, or with melee, you magically float instantly in front of it and smash it’s face in. Where is the challenge in this? granted as you level up so do the enemy and they resist attacks more, but why would I want to just appear in front of each enemy by pointing at them? The action in the game is pretty lame, flinging your self at an enemy is not always the best of ideas either, which of course brings us to the terrible enemies.
• Enemies:A majority of the enemies in this game just require a quick smash to the face with a hammer/sword/melee attack weapon of sorts… there are of course larger ones like those that either randomly smash a large hammer down every 10 seconds, causing you to be pretty much screwed if any where near it. Until you get through a good bit of the game, chances are you will not even be able to get a gun that has the distance to shoot the guy without him smashing his hammer down and the shockwave constantly knocking you down. The enemies just tend to be bland and boring as well.

Game play continued: The most annoying part of the game is that when you get killed you must sit through an annoying cut scene of this angel like girl dropping down and reviving you. This happens every single time you die! While fighting bosses you tend to die often at the start of the game and this gets old quick. Maybe for the creators sake they simply did this as an effort to encourage you not to die. 2/5

Music: The sound effects and music were alright, nothing special but it did the game right. The only issue sound wise is that of the mismatch of mouths moving and the voice overs which tends to be annoying. So maybe we are perfectionists at Play This, but it can’t be that hard to spend an extra day making it look presentable. 4/5

Multiplayer: It seems a new way for game creators to force a multiplayer function into the usual one person game, is now becoming ever so common. Even in Fable 2 (although they did a much better job of this) it allows random people to join your game for co-op while in the middle of a game. This usually only is beneficial when it comes to those big hammer smashing enemies so one of you can distract it and the other making it your bitch. Mercenaries II also used this exact type of multiplayer, while it can be nice, it seems a bit uneven when a character with a level of 50 joins your game while you are at level 5 and pretty much does all the work for you. There is no balance to who can join and it’s not essential, you can’t even kill them! 3/5

Replayability: The game gets tiresome rather quickly and once you hit level 50 chances are you can just breathe on things and they will die. If you want to help out some n00bies by doing all the work for them it’s ok but otherwise it’s best to just rent this sucker.

Achievements: Where there even any? You get the basic complete level ones and some random 10G ones for doing stupid basic story line stuff. Nothing great here and it seems most of the things you need to do for achievements are specialized.

Overall: What else is there to say? It ended up being rather disappointing from the time we played th demo until the actual release. It is worth a try, but definitely not worth the money.

3.5/5 burritos for you Mr. halfass game. Oh… we mean Too Human:

Development History via wikipedia.org

Too Human was originally in development for the PlayStation as a 4-disc action-adventure game. It was shown at E3 1999, and a teaser trailer was shown at SpaceWorld 2000 showing what appeared to be a re-building of the PlayStation game. Development halted when Nintendo announced an exclusive partnership with Silicon Knights, and the game was moved to the Nintendo GameCube in 2000. Prototyping for the game took place on the GameCube, but the staff at Silicon Knights soon devoted their efforts towards two other releases, Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.

In the May 2005 issue of EGM, Silicon Knights announced a partnership with publisher Microsoft to develop a trilogy revolving around the Too Human universe exclusively for the Xbox 360. The game was originally being developed using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3, but is now being developed using an internal engine. On July 19, 2007, it was announced that Silicon Knights was using Epic Games due to “breach of contract”, including “inadequacies” of Epic’s support, service, and cooperation with Silicon Knights concerning Unreal Engine 3. On August 9, 2007, Epic Games counter sued Silicon Knights, claiming that they were using their engine as they pleased without any cost. If Epic wins the case, Silicon Knights would be forced to pay in excess of $650,000.

Clearly this game and it’s concept is just a weeeee bit out of date.

Tomb Raider: Underworld will be released on Nov. 18

editor@playthismag.com

Most video game series now a days the character’s age with each new addition to the set, Lara Croft on the other hand gets a younger, bad ass look. Tomb Raider games are known for their amazing graphics and cut scenes and this game is no exception.

A new playable demo for consoles and PC will not only show you what Croft can do, but makes you wonder why anyone would want to play Prince of Persia when you can be controlling a stacked chick with an endless arsenal of weapons. That and she seems to be a bit more flexible than an ancient Persian.

Graphics: This obviously is the best looking version of the Tomb Raider games, no more boxy characters or abnormal looking people, Croft is back and looking more real than ever. Once the full game is released it will be easier to tell the full extent to what bugs may occur, but for now the worlds look great and open and it runs on a smooth transition. 5/5

Music: Your basic video game music, no new age rock or radio station hits, but none the less it flows well for the game. Like a movie sound effects and music help build suspense and allow the views (or gamers) know what to be expecting. Subtle sounds and music help you quickly react to wild animals and gunfire coming your way. Not great in all, but not bad by any means. 5/5

Game play: Still no multiplayer for Tomb raider, but with this exception it’s just an improvement of the previous games. Learning from their mistakes and taking what gamers want most, Tomb Raider once again builds upon what a great puzzle minded, intelligent game this can be (you know with big guns and a “hot” babe too). It’s hard to find a great offline game like this now a day, but it’s definitely worth to pick up if you like applying your mind to a game and at the same time blowing shit up. Even if you don’t like these types it still looks amazing and at the very least is worth to rent. 5/5

Replayability: Choosing different modes of difficulty can help make this game replayable but as most games like this happen to be only fun a few times around. If only they created some half ass multiplayer.. is that to much to ask for? 3/5

Achievements: The achievements are pretty easy to get for the most part. By completing the game you get a large portion of them and the specialty ones are not entirely impossible. List of them are at the bottom of article. As you still have to beat the game to get a large portion it’s not a game to get to rack up on them. 4/5

Overall: We think this game is simply bad ass. Get it, play it, sell it to your nerdy friend who never gets any when your finished with it. Games are always ok for a sloppy second or even fifth.

Tomb Raider Underworld: 4/5 Burritos.

• Achievement Name Prologue
• Points: 25
• Details: Complete the Prologue

• Achievement Name Master Survivalist
• Points: 100
• Details: Complete the game on hardest possible settings

• Achievement Name Treasure Collector
• Points: 30
• Details: Find 10 Treasures

• Achievement Name Skilled Treasure Collector
• Points: 40
• Details: Find 50 Treasures

• Achievement Name Dedicated Treasure Collector
• Points: 50
• Details: Find 100 Treasures

• Achievement Name Master Treasure Collector
• Points: 60
• Details: Find all 179 Treasures

• Achievement Name Relic Collector
• Points: 30
• Details: Find a Relic

• Achievement Name Dedicated Relic Collector
• Points: 50
• Details: Find 3 Relics

• Achievement Name Master Relic Collector
• Points: 70
• Details: Find all 6 Relics

• Achievement Name Swan Diver I
• Points: 10
• Details: In one adventure, swan dive off one of the three highest points over water in the game

• Achievement Name Swan Diver II
• Points: 10
• Details: In one adventure, swan dive off two of the three highest points over water in the game

• Achievement Name Master Swan Diver
• Points: 10
• Details: In one adventure, swan dive off the three highest points over water in the game

• Achievement Name Climber
• Points: 5
• Details: Execute a chimney jump of at least 2 wall kicks

• Achievement Name Master Climber
• Points: 10
• Details: Execute a chimney jump of at least 4 wall kicks

• Achievement Name Speed Demon I
• Points: 5
• Details: Drive into Xibalba in under 45 seconds

• Achievement Name Speed Demon II
• Points: 5
• Details: Drove from the top of Valgrind to the bottom in under 50 seconds

• Achievement Name Speed Demon III
• Points: 5
• Details: Drive through the Valhalla Maze in under 40 seconds

• Achievement Name Master Speed Demon
• Points: 10
• Details: Beat all three Speed Demon challenges

• Achievement Name Roadkiller
• Points: 5
• Details: Kill an enemy by running over it with the motorcycle

• Achievement Name Master Roadkiller
• Points: 10
• Details: Kill five enemies by running over them with the motorcycle

• Achievement Name Grenadier
• Points: 10
• Details: Kill two enemies with one grenade

• Achievement Name Master Grenadier
• Points: 10
• Details: Kill three enemies with one grenade

• Achievement Name Weapons Expert
• Points: 5
• Details: Execute an Adrenaline Attack headshot on an enemy

• Achievement Name Weapons Master
• Points: 10
• Details: Execute ten Adrenaline Attack headshots

Secret Achievements

• Achievement Name Mediterranean Sea Expedition
• Points: 50
• Details: Mediterranean Sea Expedition successfully completed

• Achievement Name Coastal Thailand Expedition
• Points: 75
• Details: Coastal Thailand Expedition successfully completed

• Achievement Name Croft Manor Expedition
• Points: 25
• Details: Croft Expedition successfully completed

• Achievement Name Southern Mexico Expedition
• Points: 100
• Details: Southern Mexico Expedition successfully completed

• Achievement Name Jan Mayen Island Expedition
• Points: 50
• Details: Jan Mayen Island Expedition successfully completed

• Achievement Name Andaman Sea Expedition
• Points: 25
• Details: Andaman Sea Expedition successfully completed

• Achievement Name Arctic Sea Expedition
• Points: 100
• Details: Arctic Sea Expedition successfully completed

]]> http://play-this.org/2008/11/12/play-this-game-tomb-raider-underworld/feed/ 0