FEATURES
IEARTH DEFENSE FORCE: NSECT ARMAGEDDON
PS3, Xbox 360 D3Publisher
NINTH CIRCLE
DREADLINES Break out the Raid, fly strips and Roach Motels be-
cause the bugs are back. Insect Armageddon follows 2007’s moderately suc-
cessful, arcade-style shoot ’em up Earth Defense Force: 2017, in which the planet is attacked by a race of evil
aliens with colossal insect minions. This new outing finds players dropped into the middle of a city teeming with oversized creepy crawlies, malevolent robots and fleets of flying saucers. Your mission is simple: kill anything with more than two legs! This includes gigantic spiders, wasps, praying mantises and everything else that’s ever ruined your picnic. Players select a character based on four different armour classes, each boasting a unique
set of abilities. For example, Jet has a super-cool jetpack that you can use to attack enemies from above, but has very weak armour; Tactical is all about impressive high-powered artillery; Battle is built like a tank and moves slow like one; while Trooper can set bombs, heal fellow soldiers and is the only one of the four who can use all of the 300 available in-game weapons. The graphics are quite impressive, especially the urban environments, which are completely destructible. However, the sound effects leave a lot to be desired, and there aren’t any check-
00000 FEATURES
HEADSHOTS: HUGE ASSORTMENT OF WEAPONS, INTENSE ACTION, LOTS OF MULTI-PLAYER MODES MISFIRES: REPETITIVE COMBAT, WEAK SOUND EFFECTS, NO CHECKPOINTS
AUDIO-DROME
DEAD BLOCK XBLA, PSN, PC
Digital Reality Rock ’n’ roll warps minds, steals souls and now it’s
NINTH CIRCLE DREADLINES
bringing back the dead in Dead Block, a mash-up of tower defence, survival-strategy and zombie-bashing action, which boasts four-player split-screen capability and a rockabilly soundtrack. Too bad it’s riddled with a slew of in-game glitches. You alternate between three playable characters –
construction worker, police officer, boy scout – who are all stuck in a building that’s been surrounded by a swarm of zombies. Each character has special strengths, be it trapping, scavenging or bashing. Good thing too, because to survive and keep the rot- ters out, you’ll need to build traps and barricades by busting apart furniture for re- sources, and blow up zombies using nukes, freeze traps and even jukeboxes (blasting tunes will make zombies dance until they boogie themselves to pieces). Dead Block seems like it might be dangerously addictive, but all too soon the fun
becomes overshadowed by the game’s flaws. In single-player mode the A.I. is a hin- drance, as characters continue to collect resources even when they are being attacked. And since, as of press time, the much-touted online multiplayer system had yet be launched, this one’s gonna need a whole lot more than rock ’n’ roll to save its hurtin’ soul.
JESSA SOBCZUK 00000 HEADSHOTS: ROCKIN’ SOUNDTRACK, NOTLD-STYLE RETRO ZOMBIES MISFIRES: THREE PLAYABLE CHARACTERS IN A FOUR-CHARACTER GAME CINEMACABRE
points where you can save your progress. Those might seem like minor problems when you’re faced with a swarm of angry insects towering over you, spewing streams of acid and sticky webs, but they do grate after a while. There’s also not much of a back story to this game, but hon-
estly, who cares? It isn’t a Shakespearean play, it’s a no-brainer shoot-kill-reload-and-kill-some-more affair that’s kind of like Starship Troopers but without the nude shower scenes – you’ll have to provide those yourself.
FEATURES RESIDENT EVIL: NINTH CIRCLE
THE MERCENARIES 3D Nintendo 3DS Capcom
It’s been awhile since a new Resident Evil
game has been released, much to the chagrin of those patiently waiting to shoot, saw, sever,
shear, slice and slay a new batch of zombie pusbags. But now the wait is (sort of) over with The Mercenaries. The game itself keeps things simple: try to kill as many enemies as pos-
sible within the allotted time, using one of eight familiar RE characters. Along the way, you’ll move through 30 different missions, while visiting some fa- miliar locales and utilizing a wide array of weaponry including knives, rocket launchers and laser bows. This isn’t technically a new game but rather a barebones collection of the
bonus games from RE4 and RE5, expanded and improved upon for a 3-D environment. It’s still a welcome addition, however, which adds the ability to shoot and move simultaneously for the first time in RE history. So don’t be sur- prised if you find yourself compelled to keep trying to beat your high score. Overall, it’s a lot of pulse-pounding fun for what is basically a padded-out
mini-game. It also boasts a co-op mode that allows a friend to join in on the carnage, because, as you know, killing zombies is never a waste of time. ANDREW LEE
00000
HEADSHOTS: GREAT USE OF 3-D, IMPRESSIVE GRAPHICS MISFIRES: REPETITIVE COMBAT, FRAME-RATE ISSUES, NO STORY
ANDREW LEE DREADLINES
67 RM
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