Friday, February 20, 2009

Welcome to the brumak rodeo.

























Welcome to the Brumak rodeo!

Pros: A fun story, Subtitled for nearly the entire game, The different difficulty levels vary from extremely easy to difficult, Horde mode and a very good co-op mode.

Cons: Lack of control customization, some battles require a lot of visual tracking and slightly weak multiplayer mode.

Presentation: The game starts off with a training mission to get you acquainted with the controls of the game and the main situation the characters are in. After playing through the training mission you're treated to a cut scene that shows how desperate the war has become and just how epic the war is. This cut scene is pretty good at setting the overall mood and I thought it was well done. (8 of 9 Tails.)

Graphics: For the most part everything looks polished and professionally done. I noticed in a few areas some of the water textures were a bit lower resolution and made it look kind of last generation. Animations are done well for the most part and come off as professional. I really enjoyed one of the particular levels were you fight your way from one end of a worm to the other to where you eventually escape. This level had some pretty interesting graphical features involved. (8 of 9 Tails.)

Sound: The sound effects were pretty average in my opinion. The music was above average and pleasing to the ears. Another nice feature is subtitled audio which will be explained more in the accessibility section. All in all the audio is a little bit above average in my opinion. (8 of 9 Tails.)

Gameplay: This has your typical first-person shooter set up with the addition of a cover button which allows you to take cover. The button configuration is the basic generic set up, but it still flows nicely. There is a major lack of control configuration is one of the major flaws of the game. (8 of 9 Tails.)

Replayability: After going through the game the first time you will more than likely have plenty of achievements to unlock in both single player and multiplayer modes. Although the multiplayer feels a lot like an afterthought it is still a considerable amount of fun. You have the usual multiplayer modes here along with the addition of horde mode. This particular mode pits a team of up to six players against wave after wave of increasing difficulty of enemies. You have to work together as a team if you hope to make it to the final wave. If you enjoyed the single player campaign you will be playing multiplayer for at least a few weeks. (9 of 9 Tails.)

Accessibility: The greatest thing I like about this particular game is the fact that 95% of it is subtitled by default. All the important story arcs and cut scenes are well subtitled and still allow you to get in the mood the story is trying to portray. For one handed players it may be difficult to move and use the right joystick to aim simultaneously. It is possible to just take cover and take your time aiming for 70% of the game. There is a lot of tracking multiple things on the screen at the same time. Tifhere are usually visual cues onscreen that are not only color-coded but also letter coded. Anybody who is color blindshould have no problem with the visual cues. (8 of 9 Tails.)

Closing comments: A very enjoyable gaming experience that is more accessible than most first person shooter games I've played. Although it could have been a lot more accessible in the area of alternative control semantics. If you're able to handle using both joysticks this game is accessible. For one handed players if you can get a hold of a switcha adapted controller made for you, your feet can take the place of one of the joysticks. (8 of 9 tails.)

One-Handed Friendly: 70 In situations that require you to move and precisely aim at the same time may prove slightly difficult to some players. Although from the one-handed players I have spoken to it is difficult but not impossible to to do this.
Alt Control Schemes:
Close Captioned: .99 Just about everything is close captioned and can be played without any sound. no real problems for players who want to enjoy this game.
Colorblind: 95 Everything is clearly communicated by letter coding..
Tracking Needs: 70 About 60% of the game can be played at a slow pace on the easy setting, only a few levels require massive amounts of visual tracking on-screen.
Playable Seated: 100 No issues.

Closing comments:

Saturday, February 14, 2009

American football simulator.
















• Pros: Adjustable difficulty, adjustable play style, clearly labeled and defined.

• Cons: No subtitles, Sometimes have to use both joysticks together, ranked matches can only be played with minimal assistance turned on.

Presentation: The game starts with Madden talking to you and explaining the simulator that measures your skill at playing football and adjust the difficulty to your skill level. You can choose to skip this step as it is not a necessity, but it may be worth doing, just so the game can adjust to your skills, and put you on a level playing field with those veteran Madden players. The opening music is very loud and attention grabbing and very fitting for an NFL game. It has a decent set of options and customization of your own players and team. Getting online is very simple and the lobbies are organized to a decent degree. It really gives you the mood of the NFL and is a wonderful experience. (8of9 Tails.)

Graphics:I find the graphics to be top notch for a football game and pleasing to the eyes. The animations are well done except for a few instances where they mysteriously speed up and look a bit funky. All the team details are well done and really shine on a high-definition television. The crowd graphics really could use a lot more work in my opinion and this is the only part of the game where the graphics look a little bit cheap. Even if this was in black and white it would be very enjoyable. Lots of visual cues help to understand what is going on in the game. (8of9 Tails.)

Sound: The music is wonderful and all the different sounds are clean and crisp. All the different hits and special moves have appropriate sounds for what is going on around you. It sounds just like you are at a stadium and enhances the experience of the game a great deal. There is commentary usually after every play as well as suggestions. I was not able to find an option for subtitles, so I am going to assume it is missing. The option would have been great for anybody who is deaf or hard of hearing, that said, you can easily play and enjoy the game without the sound. (7of9 Tails.) go to sleep

Controls: A majority of the gameplay is pretty straightforward and has visual cues that can be discerned whether or not you are colorblind. The only issue would be reading certain parts of the running plays, the colors to indicate routes may be hard to distinguish from the other routes. For the most part you can use the left joystick for just about everything. The only time you have to use the right joystick is too pull-off certain special moves. Although this makes adds more moves at your disposal, you can get away with not using the right joystick unless you are kicking a field goal or punting the ball. A switch interface with a regular PlayStation controller attached could make this very easy to play. (8of9 tTails.)

Replayability: As with most sports games this has a high replayability value. It's very easy to set up an online game and play with your other friends who have this game on the appropriate system. You can play your own creations over the Internet via an unranked match and just have fun in general. Also you can adjust the difficulty to your needs to give you more or less assistance. Although all ranked matches are sent to what I refer to as hard setting. Overall this game is worth spending the $60 on it and the only issues I see are framerate drops, very rare occurrences of hitching and even more rare occasions connecting to opponents..(8of9 Tails.)

Accessibility: The only people that will really miss anything from the game are folks that are colorblind, reading the plays may pose slight inconveniences, but if you're really into football and know the plays you will have no issues. The only other issue I could really see is if you are deaf you won't get to hear the commentary after the play is finished, this can sometimes be a blessing, because some of it is really insulting to your mad skills. It would have been nice if they had included a closed captioning option. This is a very minor issue and still worth purchasing if you're really into football. To me this is a very, but not perfectly accessible videogame to a majority of disabled and nondisabled players. (7 of 9 Tails.)

Closing comments: An excellent football simulator and quite a bit of fun. Although some of the players on the Internet are incredibly difficult to beat this is still fun. Fairly accessible but still slightly lacking in the Department of accessibility options. (7 and 1/2 tails of 9.)

Friday, February 6, 2009

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www.ablegamers.com.