FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Bethesda The world of Fallout: New Vegas is
a hostile, post-apocalyptic one. Own- ership of the Mojave Wasteland is embroiled in a power struggle be- tween three factions: Mr. House, the de facto ruler of the New Vegas strip; the New Californian Republic (NCR), a bloated bureaucracy; and Caesar’s
Legion, an army fashioning itself after ancient Rome. Like previous games in the Fallout series, NV takes place roughly 200 years after nuclear war has reduced the world to ruins overrun with mutants, murderers, zombie-like ghouls, killer robots, aristocratic cannibals and countless other fiends. Much of the gameplay has been carried over from 2008’s
award-winning post-apocalyptic sandbox RPG Fallout 3, including the combat system where you strategically target which areas of an enemy to attack. The most notable addition is Hardcore Mode, in which you eat, drink and sleep to survive for added realism and difficulty. Unfortunately, the technical bugs from F3 are present as well, such as the infuriating lag, which occasionally makes this feel like a very large expansion pack rather then a standalone sequel. You’re awarded experience points by finishing missions, defeating enemies or completing
skill-based obstacles such as hacking. Your gameplay experience depends on what skills you choose to level up. Don’t want to fight a horde of robots? Not a problem if you have a science skill high enough to deactivate them. Don’t feel like doing the mission? Explore the world,
00000 HEADSHOTS: ADDICTIVE GAMEPLAY, VAST WORLD, RICH CHARACTERS, HIGH REPLAYABILITY MISHAPS: GLITCHES GALORE, NPCS REPEAT THE SAME DIALOGUE AD NAUSEUM
SPLATTERHOUSE Xbox 360, PS3
Namco Bandai Back in 1988, you might have been lucky
enough to have played Splatterhouse. The gruesome side-scrolling video game was, at the time, one of the most brutally sadistic ti- tles ever made, featuring a goalie mask- wearing character that looked a lot like a certain slice-happy Friday the 13th villain. Now this gory title has been resurrected.
In this version, you’re Rick, a regular guy whose world is turned upside down when a mad doctor abducts your girlfriend to use as a human sac- rifice. While trying to rescue her, you’re possessed by a mask that trans- forms you into a hulking berserker who can tear enemies apart with its bare hands. And that’s exactly what you’ll do as you make your way through the remarkably rendered environments, including a Gothic mansion and alternate (hellish) dimensions, bat-
tling creatures of every shape and size, including tentacled aberrations and monstrosities that look like aborted fe- tuses fused with piles of human viscera. This is a violent game that never apologizes
for the foul language, full frontal nudity or copi- ous amounts of carnage it proffers – all culmi- nating in a series of spectacular splatterkills where you’ll rip enemies in half, tear off their jaws and reach down their throats to yank out their lungs. Hi-def was made for this!
ANDREW LEE 00000 HEADSHOTS: INCREDIBLY GORY, FAST-PACED, GREAT GRAPHICS MISHAPS: REPETITIVE BUTTON-MASHING COMBAT, WEAK A.I. RED DEAD REDEMPTION:
UNDEAD NIGHTMARE Xbox 360, PS3 Rockstar
Zombie westerns – one of life’s great, underutilized
combos – finally get the treatment they deserve with the downloadable Undead Nightmare expansion for Red Dead Redemption. (Now also available in stores as a stand-alone release.) Set sometime before the end of RDR, you’re back in
the boots of John Marsten, whose wife and son have just been bitten by a zombie and now you’ve got to hit the road to search for a cure. As it turns out, the entirety of RDR’s sandbox is now occupied by the hungry undead – human and animal alike – so as you complete quests, rescue survivors and save infected towns, you’ll also be fending off continuous attacks. Luckily, you have some new weapons, namely a torch, holy water and a blunderbuss to beat, burn and obliterate the rotters. Five new horses have been added as well, including a wobbly undead horse that
never tires and the four Horses of the Apocalypse, which have to be found, lassoed and broken before players can utilize their special traits (for instance, the Death horse explodes the heads of any nearby zombies). UN does suffer from some minor
glitches (nothing a save and load won’t fix), but this DLC gets so much right you’ll forgive the small stuff. And if you’re wondering, scariest un- dead encounter? Being surrounded by zombie bears. Let’s just say I did- n’t make it out of that jam, pardner. BRENTON BENTZ
0000
HEADSHOTS: SKINS WHOLE RDR WORLD, GREAT SPOOKY WESTERN SOUNDTRACK MISHAPS: DISAPPEARING HORSES, AMMO SHORTAGE EARLY IN GAME
67 RM
meet its inhabitants and, if you choose, murder them. Be wary, though, your actions have consequences. Helping one faction will earn you the favour of some but vilify you to others. The amount of freedom you’re given here is impressive and,
while the game has one ultimate ending (with four versions de- pending on who you side with), how and when you get there is entirely up to you. Despite the technical hang-ups and some slightly dated graphics, the more than 100 hours of gameplay and near unlimited replayability makes New Vegas a destina- tion worth exploring.
JUSTIN ERICKSON
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