If you have yet to give it a shot and don’t care to invest the cost to just try it out, stop by Impulse’s website and check out the newly released demo!  While it’s true (in my opinion) that the demo should have been made available even before launch, it’s nice to see that they’ve finally got one out and are trying to get some new blood into the game.

If you’re not familiar with the game, check out my DemiGod review posted a few months earlier.

Then starting in February 2009, Criterion started it’s “premium DLC” support for the game, releasing the “party pack.” An offline “pass the controller” mini-game collection for roughly $10.00. In the months following, more premium DLC was released adding new cars with game changing characteristics and new online modes.

But, the premium DLC was met with criticism because of the prices. New car add-ons ranged from $7.99 to $12.99 and new game modes were $9.99. So when the Big Surf Island was announced many were bracing themselves for a huge blow to their bank account balance. But, after playing the Big Surf Island DLC I’m pleased to say its worth every penny of the roughly $12.99.

Big Surf is the first DLC to add a new location to Paradise City and it’s completely different from what was available to the player before. After the download you’re immediately greeted with a half finished bridge leading to your new stomping grounds. Your also in a brand new car named the “Dust Storm Buggy” which is a total joy to drive because of it’s insane handling. The main difference of the island is the amount of places to do tricks. Huge jumps let you get more airtime than ever was possible before. As listed on Criterion’s site, here’s what is offered in the add-on:

• The Dust Storm Buggy available to drive straight away
• 8 Incredible New Cars to Win
• 15 Events (Including all New Island Tours)
• 10 Freeburn Challenges
• 12 New Roads to Rule
• 75 Island Smashes
• 45 Island Billboards
• 15 Island Mega Jumps

Completing all that is offered in Big Surf took me about 7 hours, including “ruling” all the new roads. I’ve recently finished full retail priced games that came way under the 7 hour mark. I would recommend starting off with the island tour event types because they will show you many highlights of the island. There are only 10 online Freeburn challenges, but they’re highly inventive. I found myself doing them twice. Trying to figure how to get an out of each billboard is just as satisfying as before. Smashing those billboards will unlock one of the highest points in Big Surf–the brand new cars. Without ruining the surprises, lets just say that these cars alone could have been sold at $9.99 when compared to previous DLC prices.

The total playtime and cars are what left me with the impression of value. Never did I think I had paid too much, which was my main worry going into the add-on. If you’re going to buy only one DLC pack for Burnout Paradise, this is the obvious choice. My only small criticism is that the ninth car unlock requires you to complete all 500 online Freeburn challenges, a task that is nearly impossible to complete. The retail game is now less than $20.00 add $12.99 for Big Surf you’re looking at the greatest value of this console generation thus far. Buy it Now!

Available now on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace

5 hovering “Jansen P12 88 Specials” out of 5

It’s been about two weeks now since we’ve installed and been playing Popcap’s newest hit – Plants vs Zombies! and over those weeks, many hours have been spent vigilantly growing a monster garden to defend my house (and brain) from a never ending zombie onslaught.  As with their previous hits, most recently, Peggle, Popcap has pulled through again delivering a great game that can be played in short bursts and is full of humor, clever graphics and classic Popcap-style music.

Plants vs Zombies is primarily set in your home’s back yard where you grow a garden of angry plants which assist you in fighting off the zombies using a variety of weapons including peas, butter, cabbage, watermelons, walnuts, fire, mushrooms and pumpkin shells.. to name a few.  The main adventure mode of the game encompasses 50 levels in 5 zones: Backyard, Backyard with water, Backyard night time, Backyard night time with water and your roof where the zombies make their final assault.

PvZ is a unique take on a growing genre of short-duration gaming known as a Tower Defense.  Tower Defenses (or Mauls) started as a Warcraft III custom game (similar to DotAs – see our review of DemiGod) where players build autonomous Towers, which can be anything from actual arrow-shooting towers to a recreation of a cartoon character that shoots snowballs, that shoot mindlessly at creatures that walk through them on a static path.  PvZ changes the classic TD setting by giving the player 5 rows to fill with plants and having zombies randomly spawn in any of the lanes.  There are only a few select plants that can cover multiple lanes; so building the plants in the proper order from the beginning is important in ensuring your brain’s safety.

Overall, the adventure mode took probably 4 to 5 hours to complete and was actually a little too easy to complete in my opinion.  There were only a handful of levels that I restarted due to bad placement initially and there were no levels that I outright lost where a zombie ate my brain.  I can understand the intent of designing a game mean to be played in small increments to be easier; players would be less motivated to replay a level if they only had a few minutes to play and difficult levels that go on for 5+ minutes would be undesirable.  However, for the mode hard-core gamers among us, at least giving an option to play the adventure mode on a Hard difficulty (right now, there is no difficulty selection) for a bit more of a challenge.

Along with protecting your home, one of the primary aspects of the game is collecting money (small coins that pop up on the screen from time to time) which is used to buy a wide variety of products from your neighbor, Crazy Dave, to enhance different aspects of game play.  One of the first things you can purchase are enhancements to the plants in your garden.  There are over 40 plants you can acquire, plus additional upgrades, and at the start of each level you can only 6 (or more if you buy the proper upgrade), so there is never a lack of thought that can go into the inital planning for your garden.   For a full list of plants, check out: http://jayisgames.com/walkthroughs/plants-vs-zombies Besides new plants to grow, there are various other enhancements you can buy with the coins you collect to buy items usable long beyond the adventure.

Where the game really begins to shine is once the adventure mode has been completed.  There are a slew of mini-type-games that will keep you occupied long after the adventure has ended and a great reward system to entice you to keep playing.  Once you’ve completed the adventure, you start to gain access to Puzzles, Survival Mode, Minigames and a Zen Garden (tended by a lethargic snail).  Completing these games earns money, special Zen Garden plants and trophies and will take considerably more time to complete than the initial adventure while providing a lot of entertainment and classic Popcap game references.

Overall, Plants vs Zombies is another instant classic from Popcap that I would recommend to anyone whether a fan of classic Tower Defense games or not.  They do a great job of walking you through the initial game play without providing any type of manual or instructions, and, once you have got a basic concept of the game, allow you to create massive armies of zombie battling greenery!

EPIC!

Buy Plants vs Zombies (or get the free tiral) at: http://www.popcap.com/games/pvz/

I’m calling this a quick review because I haven’t put very much time into the game, but I feel it warrants some discussion and there isn’t a WHOLE lot to it. In fact, there might not be enough to it.. I’ll get into that later.

Demigod is the new PC game released by Gas Powered Games (demigodthegame.com)which has a playstyle that anyone who played custom games in Warcraft 3 should be familiar with. Demigod is basically a full game based around the classic Defense of the Ancients. Two teams of up to five players push through lanes and attempt to take over the other teams base by capturing strategic points including defensive towers, spawn points and walls while playing as one of eight Demigods (heroes) and being assisted by an autonomous army of smaller scale units.

I had the game installed last night and immediately jumped in to a game with computer teammates / opponents. A common complaint or point of concern among the community trying Demigod is the lack of instruction. The game comes with no manual in the box and is completely void of any in-game tutorials, they are either making the assumption that everyone who picks this up is familiar with how to play a DotA style game or that everyone despises manuals and would rather just figure it out.

Luckily, I fall into the first group, having spent many hours over the years playing the various types of DotAs that have made their way across b.net (<3 rumble), but, even still, I was a bit disoriented when stepping into Demigod.

Before I get into the game play, I would like to mention what I feel to be a major short coming for a $50 game when compared to the free versions that have been out for years and that is character selection. Both sides (light and dark) have access to the same group of Demigods, but there are only 8 total (not sure if you can have multiples of the same demigod on the same team). While I can understand that they might be trying to keep the game simple, only having eight choices for playable characters seems really lacking. On the flip side, there are also eight maps you can play on, but I would prefer more Demigod choices even if they were all on the same map.

I was caught off guard by the controls (and the inability to change some which were particularly bothersome) because I made the false assumption that a DotA game should play like a WC3 game; this was something I was fighting with the whole time I was playing. Camera navigation is done with WASD for pan and Q and E for rotate; holding down the space bar puts the camera into free mode which makes it follow your mouse. And, of course, the scroll wheel works as zoom which (nicely) allows you to zoom far enough out to see the entire map. The inability to freely use the mouse to manipulate the camera as in WC3 really bothered me, but, with time, I can see this not being an issue as I adapt to the strange configuration.

The gameplay itself is what you’d expect – simple, fun and exciting.

As your Demigod levels, he is able to learn and improve special abilities to increase his abilities on the field – see the screenshot below.  There are 4 active abilities for each Demigod and a varying number of passive abilities along with a generic stat upgrade, this was a nice boost over the original DotA’s 3 abilities (and one special) and allows for at least some degree of character customization.  There are also item shops that you can use to buy select pieces of gear (with some pretty interesting bonuses) and usable items and potions.

The games seem to last at least 20-30 minutes on average but can easily be dragged out to over an hour with 2 skilled teams who keep all their lanes strong.  Along with buying gear and potions, you can put money you earn toward upgrading both your buildings and units attack/defense, even going so far as causing new types of units to be produced.  It seems that this is in place to still give a reason for individuals to creep for gold (though I didn’t come across and creep spawns in the short time I played) instead of focusing on laning.

As it stands, I think this is a great game and have very high hopes for it.  Had a ton of fun in the short time I was playing it last night, and once I become a bit more comfortable and have put a few solid hours into it I’ll post a more in-depth review.  For now, anyone who was ever a big fan of DotA on WC3 should be picking this up and checking it out.