You may have noticed a lull around the Contraptica “office”, we have not forgotten about you.  Several things have kept us from our duties including the recurring WoW addiction and the trappings of everyday life… meaning our day jobs. What I wouldn’t give to just be able to sit down and play a bunch of games to my hearts content and give you all the lay down.  I digress, keep an eye out for some new reviews as this editor has done his fair share of non WoW gaming and has a fresh line up for you. Expect a rather humorous article on the ill fated Mattel Hyperscan and it’s dismal selection of games, a brand new development tool for the Atari Jaguar, and a mobile review here and there. Until then, keep on gaming!

Here we are again with another brand new game for the black cat, while this is a re-release of a game that was released 6 years ago there is a lot to be excited about as not only is this that same game but including over 100 new levels. Thats a total of 280 levels to play through making this one of the most extensive new games in the last 2 years for the Jaguar and a homebrew to boot. Is this game a must play if you have a Jaguar? Hell yes. It doesn’t look like much you say? Well it won’t compare to next gen games but it has a lot of appeal and I’m going to tell why you shouldn’t pass this one up.

Graphics: 60/100
First off this game isn’t going to win any awards for graphic intensity as the graphics are very simple but for the most part they are crisp and as clean as you would expect from small sprites and lines on a jet black background. This game in essence is very retro sharing much in common with an old game called Qix. It’s bright and clean thats all that really matters.

Sound: 78/100
The first thing you will notice about this title is the music, it’s pretty damn good for PCM mods of yesteryear and they generally do not become repetitive or ear wracking which is a big plus as generally some homebrew games lack in the audio department. The sound effects are clean and appropriate for the game including the very satisfying cheers you hear when you complete a level.

Gameplay: 89/100
Now this is where the game really shines, it’s a blast to play. The game play is simple, you have to fill in the spaces by outlining the shapes that make up the levels (remember Qix?) while avoiding the blue monsters that chase you around the grids. The tension really builds in the later levels where you have to deal with 2-3 monsters and the clock, it definitely adds to the excitement.

Replay: 95/100
This game has a lot of re-playability because it is massive, 280 levels will have you playing for quite some time plus it’s also a game that relatively easy to just pick up and play and a password system makes sure that you can pick up where you left off.

Overall this is one of the best releases for the Atari Jaguar in 2008 and a welcome edition to any rabid Jag fans collection, even for those who never really got into the Jag if you have a friend with a Jag then I’d definitely recommend you tell them to get ti and try it out as you won’t regret it.

The game can be purchased on Jaguar Sector II Forums

Between the release of God of War 2 and Chains of Olympus there was a smaller adventure for the warrior Kratos in 2007 that explains how he had lost his godly status after he killed Ares in the first game and sets the stage for GoW2. A 2D adventure for the Mobile Phone, compared to most games available for cell phones this game is incredible in graphics and game play, does it stand up to a full blown 2D console release? Of course not but it feels like playing an entirely new God of War on an old 16-bit console.

The graphics are very nicely done for the small screen they are displayed on, with a very nice selection of colors and minute details. The backgrounds however get rather repetitive in design with a change of backdrop between 2-3 levels. Their are about 6 types of enemies and 2 distinct boss characters: Hera’s beast: Argos and Ceryx, the son of Hermes (the final boss). Theirs plenty of the red stuff you’d expect for a God of War game as well.

The sound is well.. what you’d expect for a mobile game. It does feature the God of War theme at the menu but that is the only music featured in this game. The sound effects are few and muffled but this is a mobile game were talking about.

The gameplay is solid though depending on your handset the controls can seem cumbersome, you have direction buttons and one attack button which you can use to attack with a combo. To use the few weapons and magic spells you get in the game, one of the phones soft keys is used. The biggest problem with the controls I noticed is it doesn’t read simultaneous button presses so that at times can cause problems in the heat of battle. The game’s difficulty seemed imbalanced for the first several levels up to the last 3 the enemies were pretty easy but then they seemed to get very hard to kill. As with the games big brothers, when an enemy like the minatour or a boss character has low health you can initiate a “mini-game’ to kill them in a gory fashion via a prompted button press.

Overall this is a very nice mobile game compared to the other poor offerings you find. It definitely lives up to it’s name and if you are a fan of the series or just want a decent mobile action game, I would recommend checking this one out.

Viking upon first glance is a hack and slash game with a Norse mythological theme, and it does it well. But, is this just another attempt at a God of War clone? In a way yes and no.. does it detract from the game? In that regard I can certainly say no. However, is it a killer app? Unfortunately I wish I could say yes but it has some flaws that definitely keep it from being up there.

Graphics: 85/100
Viking certainly has some breathtaking visuals but they are far from perfect. The game uses the now common place normal mapping technique to give objects in the game the illusion of light and dark and dynamic textures that reflect light in a somewhat realistic fashion. We first saw this technique in games such as Doom 3 and Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay which back then were visually stunning. The technique has come a long way since then but in Viking it still has that glazed over look thats not all that realistic but it doesn’t mean the eye candy isn’t still good. Though you will notice a lot of textural glitches and hiccups now and again, while they can be rather noticeable they don’t detract too much from the overall experience. The character models are nicely rendered with a somewhat authentic period dress for the plethora of viking warriors and the undead legions of Hel, however the animation of the character models suffer from hiccups here and there, you’ll notice a jarring of your character as the sometimes jumpy camera tries to keep up. Now, the water in this game is the least appealing aspect of this game’s graphics.. now we’ve seen some pretty nice water in BioShock (hell.. we havn’t seen water that great since BioShock..) however, at least in other games it looked like water, in this game it looks more like a undulating fog with no defined edge as it rolls around and onto the shore, they could have put a little more work into the design.

Sound: 75/100
The sound in this game is pretty good however it’s nothing special: clangs, slashes and typical sounds associated with this genre, the sounds from the gore are pretty entertaining though. The music is great, it fits with the epic nature of this game however the developers decided to only have the music cue in at certain times and certain situations so most of the time you’ll be traversing the wilderness in silence but when the music does kick in it does really convey the mood very nicely. The dialogue is pretty good, with accents that somewhat fit the theme (however.. I don’t get why some speak in a Scottish accent while others have a Norwegian accent).

Gameplay: 77/100
I was really hoping this game would have a diverse fighting system, which it does to some degree but however, it does feel like it’s lacking at times. You start out with a Fast attack and a Slow attack which vary in speed and most importantly the amount of damage they do. These can be chained into combos which you learn from the spirit of a soldier in the Battle Arena for a nominal fee of course. This adds to the experience as you can upgrade your character as you progress and what is also nice is once you have purchased a new move the soldier will fight you to show you how to use the new move which makes learning them a snap. In addition to the usual hack and slash moves you have thrown weapons including an Axe and a Napalm like Fire Pot weapon, you are also armed with Runes that give you elemental powers that enchant your sword and enchant the swords of your comrades in your vicinity. These runes require energy which you can only get from slain enemies which is a pain in the ass as whenever you die you lose all the energy you’ve accumulated and the amount of energy you get from an enemy is determined by the way in which you dispatched them.. either by normal attack or a special finishing move which are a very nice touch. My major gripe however is the lack of diversity in weaponry because you don’t get any other weapons besides the sword and axe you start the game with, it’s not really a big deal I guess but it does get a little boring to use the same weapons over and over again, however the combat is fast and intense so that is forgiving. One of the best features in this game is the final battles in the several areas you must liberate from the Goddess Hel. They are huge epic battles with hundreds upon hundreds of enemies and ally warriors, however these scenes will at times cut the frame rate to a crawl but it’s not so bad that you can’t play the game. But these parts are one of the really redeeming qualities to some of the less then stellar aspects of this game.

Replay: 67/100
This game doesn’t have much going for it in the replay department, pretty much once you’ve liberated a large portion of the area in which you are in next to no random legion show up. There are hidden skulls in the major areas to find for some achievements but pretty much thats about all there is to do after you’ve beaten the game on all the difficulty settings. The game is fun but it can only hold up for so long when you’ve beaten it.

Overall I have to say the game is a fun departure from the usual hack and slash games that have been on the market as the Norse Mythos hasn’t been visited in many games in recent years with the PS2 game Rune being the only other one that comes to mind. While the game tries pretty hard to be like God of War it doesn’t quite match up but it is unique in it’s own respects. I would suggest renting it first to see if you like it, otherwise wait for the price to go down before embarking on this quest.

Those of you who manage to stop by Contraptica in the past few months have no doubt wondered why we so abruptly stopped posting regularly. The answer is simple: World of Warcraft has completely sucked away just about all of my active interest in console gaming.

Ok maybe not all of it. I still will pop onto some Gears of War or Halo periodically, and I still keep my DS with me at all times, but the truth of the matter is, World of Warcraft is the most epic and consuming computer game I’ve ever encountered. The sheer scale of it is jaw dropping, the community aspect has allowed me to become closer to some friends and family who play the game (the teamwork, communication and planning that are required to succeed foster this sense of community), and the breathtaking lore form it into an experience that is second to none.

I had never really played an MMO for any real length of time, apart from a brief stint with Star Wars Galaxies, but knew the mechanics well enough from growing up on MUDs, Final Fantasy and DnD. But nothing prepared me for the experience gained from an epic raid on an opposing city, nor the thrill of taking down a tough boss with the help of your real life friends, even if you’re separated by a great distance.

It remains important to keep up your life outside of the game though. An incredible MMO can easily encompass your social life, and taking the time to just get out and do something different is very important. I now think I can understand how difficult these games can be to a person’s work and social life if they allow it to take over. Playing along with my girlfriend and other real life friends makes the experience even more special though, and it has almost become a communication tool along the lines of AIM, with just a slightly more engrossing interface.

Contraptica is here to stay though, and we’ll see if we can get it back in business as a nice comentary on gaming and technology, even while I turn into an MMO head.

In a recent IGN interview with actor John Dimaggio who voiced the grizzled COG Marcus Fenix, information on what to expect was leaked albeit limited. What John had to say was that the Brumacks would be a featured enemy in the game. He also stated that there will be new allies to meet, tougher enemies and a slew of new weapons will be featured and I can personally say that is an exciting prospect since the weapons already in the first game were pretty sweet. Other then that not too much more information has been released as of now.

While it is cool that the Brumacks will be in this game, the fact is the Brumack was also featured in the recent PC release of Gears of War so fighting one isn’t exactly a new experience if you have played the PC version, but we must have faith because EPIC did not disappoint with the original and it can only be a fan boys wet dream to figure out what kind of obstacles Marcus will face in the next installment

In a response from the Microsoft run Gamerscore Blog regarding the recent news that Toshiba will be abandoning the HD-DVD format, the company writes:

We do not believe the recent reports about HD DVD will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace.  As we’ve long stated, we believe it is games that sell consoles and Xbox 360 continues to have the largest next-gen games library with the most exclusives and best selling games in the industry.  We will wait until we hear from Toshiba before announcing any specific plans around the Xbox 360 HD DVD player.  HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room along with playback of the DVD movies they already own.

I believe Microsoft is in an extremely vulnerable position right now, and is simply trying to deflect attention from the situation while it readies a response.  The demise of HD-DVD came along extremely quickly.  In early January Warner Bros. announced they would be phasing out HD-DVD in favor of Blu-ray, followed by several other similar announcements by Netflix, Best Buy and, last week, Walmart.  In just about a month and a half, the situation went from about neutral, to a full collapse for HD-DVD.

Microsoft had long been in the HD-DVD camp, supporting it directly through the HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360.  However, they had stated numerous times that if Blu-ray turned out to be the winning format, they would have a solution for it.  This was likely something that Microsoft hoped to avoid, but that time has come.

With HD-DVD dead in the water, the next generation movie format has officially been determined.  Now consumers can finally make a purchasing decision without worrying about choosing the losing format.  However, where will those consumers turn?  Their choices are to get a standalone Blu-ray player (currently the lowest price one is $399) or for the same price pick up a Playstation 3 that can play both Blu-ray movies and PS3 games.  The choice seems obvious.  Suddenly Microsoft, with their Xbox 360 is left on the outside looking in.  Until they come out with a Blu-ray solution, they are extremely vulnerable.

Rumors are flying that Microsoft will have a Blu-ray addon available by May/June.   These next three months could turn the tide in the console race.

In a move that is sure to disappoint many sports gamers, EA and the NFL have agreed to extend their exclusive deal to make NFL licensed games till 2012. EA’s Peter Moore assures gamedaily that it was the NFL who sought this deal, not EA.

The NFL lives in a world where it feels above the common ideals of competition and innovation. As a monopoly itself, it is exempt from many of the rules and regulations that the rest of corporate America must adhere to with congressional oversight supposedly keeping it in line. Somewhere in all of this, however, the NFL decided that having competition in the video game market, where several publishers would have to seriously innovate in order to succeed, was less important than raking in a huge amount of cash up front.

In the end, the consumer pays the price for these actions. The NFL and EA both get paid, while the sports fan consumer is relegated to pay $60 for what ends up being a roster refresh. Without innovation, the Madden franchise has stagnated, and true sports fans are stuck.

Believe it or not but a brand spanking new NES game has been released after over a decade thanks to Retrozone. the game in question is Airball which was ported to multiple computer systems back in 1987. The NES version was in the works at the time but was canceled however, Tengen’s lost game has been found and for the first time is being offered for sale at about $35 with full color manual, brand new parts and some legacy style packaging making this one hell of a piece of work for a mere homebrew production.

A commercial with in game footage can be found on Youtube and I can tell you, the game is impressive from the looks of it, this Editor may have to pick up a copy!

In following with the tradition that began in Soul Calibur 2, the latest installment of Soul Calibur will feature a special character that will be unique to each platform, says 1up. These are Yoda on the 360 version and Darth Vader on the PS3, which seem like a natural fit to their respective platform.

While it remains impossible to battle Yoda against Vader, this inclusion adds a fun, albeit uncanonical twist to the series.