Game Review: Pimp My Ride

Game: Pimp My Ride
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Eutechnyx
Release Date: 21st November 2006

Once MTV were done with advertising Juiced and L.A. Rush in the advert breaks of Pimp My Ride, a game was made featuring the concept of the television show itself. Players are given a choice of customers whose rides need to be improved and more are unlocked as players prove their skills at tricking out the cars. I had been expecting some racing to feature in the game's main mode, but instead there are only two phases to gameplay.

Firstly, after choosing which customer's car to pimp, players earn money by crashing into other vehicles, cruising past strangers, ghost-riding the whip (more details to follow), and collecting items. Once the desired total has been reached, players must race back to the customer in order to watch a cutscene based on the TV show where Xzibit visits the customer's house and discovers their likes and dislikes. Once this has happened players race around the city, visiting all of the upgrade shops they're able to within the time limit to upgrade the car's rims, bodykit, in-car entertainment, paint and custom upgrades. When time runs out, the customer judges whether the player has done a better job than a computer opponent at improving the car, and chooses the best car of the two.

Driving around in game isn't particularly enjoyable; the car handling has a heavy arcade feel to it, and collisions are particularly uneventful without any vehicular damage modelling. There's a decent sense of speed, but without opponents to race there's no real need to rush, save for the final rush around upgrade shops. The challenges required to earn money aren't particularly fun, and usually consist of pressing buttons in a displayed sequence.

'Ghostriding the whip' is a major feature of the game; a street trend of dancing alongside a slow moving car whilst it makes its way down the street. The minigame for this consists of pressing 12 sets of 3 or 4 button sequences within a certain time limit. Depending on how much of the sequence is done correctly, players earn a monetary bonus. It doesn't take long to earn the funds necessary to pimp a car, but the process of doing so is monotonous, even with 3 different minigames.

The pimping stage of the game lacks much choice for players, as they're given a set of 5 or less options at each upgrade store to choose from, each with different costs and star ratings which must be considered against the customer's interests. There's a short minigame at each store which can reduce the price of the current upgrade, but isn't always relevant or fun. Often it's difficult to assess what each specific customer will like, and the best policy is to buy the most expensive items available.

Being constrained by the time limit, this stage of the game is often more of a chaotic rush around the small town featured in the game than an enjoyable customisation experience. Once all is done, the cutscene featuring the customer and Xzibit is particularly cringeworthy with awkward pauses and half sentences before showing off the rival's effort. In the early stages of the game it's almost impossible to lose to the rival garage, but I'd assume it picks up later on.

Graphically the game features rather scary looking representations of people, especially Xzibit and the customers. The cars and other details aren't rendered too badly, but there's nothing particularly impressive visually in the game as a whole. Musically there's nothing of note besides a few songs that featured in many games of the time, and the original Pimp My Ride theme tune.

Overall a game based on Pimp My Ride could have been much better; with many customisation options and less of a focus on earning money via minigames, in favour of more racing and perhaps even a look inside West Coast Customs, fans of the series could have found more enjoyment. As it is, customers only take 10-20 minutes to get through from start to finish, and there's no real appeal anywhere in the main gameplay. Having watched MTV as a 14 year old, I wouldn't have been satisfied with this then, and I'm still not.

Rating: 40/100
Grade: E

Game Review: Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Game: Professor Layton and The Curious Village
Console: Nintendo DS
Developer: Level-5
Release Date: 7th November 2008

Professor Layton games in general seem older to me than having started only 7 years ago, but I suppose the puzzle concept is a fairly simple one that all of the games tend to have in common, though they feature different stories and other extras. Professor Layton and the Curious Village is the first game in the series, and one which I have been playing for a very long time, albeit never to completion, until just before the time of writing this review.

Previously I had considered it a glorified set of puzzles, having only got a little way into the storyline but upon completion of the game this seems like an unfair judgement. While many puzzle games exist, especially for the handheld market, very few of them feature the depth of story and characters as well as the extra features and finishing touches of Professor Layton games.

Gameplay is fairly simple as players watch cutscenes explaining story details, and read various conversations between Professor Layton and the inhabitants of the village of St. Mystere. Inbetween these cutscenes and conversations, players must explore the village and solve puzzles to gain information and progress. Players are allowed not to solve puzzles, should they prove too hard, and puzzles which have been skipped can be attempted again from a location within the village. The only time that puzzle solving will have been necessary as far as I can see is to gain access to the tower, at the very end of the game (players must have completed a certain number of puzzles throughout the course of the game to enter).

The story of the game is told well and adds a lot of interest to the puzzling. The characters are generally well rounded and likeable, and the voiced cutscenes which play during major moments give a sense of continuity and bring the world of the game to life. Obviously those who don't enjoy puzzles or the storytelling aspect of games won't be well suited to the Professor Layton series, but that's pretty obvious already.

In terms of the overall puzzle difficulty in the game, it depends on which puzzles players are already skilled at tackling and have come across before, though there is a distinct difficulty curve towards the end of the game. Unless you're a puzzling master though, there's bound to be at least one puzzle that is new to you, if not quite a few.

When solving puzzles, players are able to draw and do working out on the touchscreen in most cases, and can have several attempts at getting a correct answer. It's a slight shame that more use isn't made of the touchscreen in this instalment as there are plenty of puzzles which could make use of a little rotation or exploration via the bottom screen.

Graphically the game has a consistent and enjoyable visual style which helps to add character to the experience as a whole. As well versed creators of video games and anime, Level-5 are able to depict the characters in a quaint and simple way that embodies who Professor Layton is, at least for me. Musically too there are some enjoyable tunes which characterise the village of St. Mystere and build tension in the final parts of the game and its cutscenes.

Overall Professor Layton and the Curious Village isn't a game that everyone will enjoy; it's slow pace and story based gameplay may well put some gamers off, but those who are able to settle into the mystery and story of the game will find that it offers more than simple puzzles for solving. It may well be that the other games in the series are somewhat summarized by this review. If that's the case, then I'll add their information and scores below this instead of writing a new review, but for now that's all!

Rating: 73/100
Grade: C

Game Review: Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without A Pulse

Game: Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without A Pulse
Console: Microsoft Xbox
Developer: Wideload Games Inc.
Release Date: 18th October 2005

Recently we've had an overload of zombie games; Dead Island, Dead Rising, The Walking Dead and other titles based on survival and reanimated corpses have flooded the marketplace and made slashing hordes of green undead somewhat less exciting than it used to be. In 2005 though, there was a game that turned the zombie fighting model on its head, and challenged players to cause mayhem as the leader of a zombie invasion in the retro-futuristic town of Punchbowl.

The game's main character, Edward "Stubbs" Stubblefield was a poor travelling salesman from the Great Depression era, who met an unfortunate end when his young lover's father shoots him dead in the wilderness. Rising from his grave, years later in 1959, the city of Punchbowl has been built on top of Stubbs' final resting place, as he becomes a zombie and begins to eat the brains of local residents leading to a full scale zombie army by the end of the game.

Players control Stubbs as he roams the various locations of the game, and are able to eat brains with the press of a button, and attack with melee strikes as Stubbs is unable to wield a conventional weapon. Instead once a certain amount of brains have been eaten, Stubbs refills the ability to use his special moves. The first is a fart bomb which stuns nearby citizens, allowing their brains to be easily munched, the next is a guts bomb, which explodes, kills and transforms nearby citizens into zombies within the blast radius. Stubbs is also able to detach an arm which moves freely and can possess citizens (which really helps in levels with gun wielding enemies), and lastly there's the head bomb where Stubbs detaches his head before rolling it towards a group of enemies; players can steer the head to guide it and cause as much damage as possible.

The levels in the game are based all around Punchbowl and allow players to visit the Police Station, Mall, Dam and a farm which is home to Stubbs' original killer. Most levels involve making your way through to a certain point, with a few objectives to complete in some levels. Converting citizens to zombies is optional in many places, but helps as they will also attack any citizens that may be trying to take Stubbs down. Occasionally there's a level which has a different style of gameplay; notable examples include a dance showdown with the chief of police, driving levels and Stubbs relieving himself into the town's water supply whilst fighting off police and scientists.

While the game's plot may well be fairly transparent, and there's little variety within the game's main levels, causing mayhem as a zombie is a lot of fun, and its certainly a nice change from slaughtering hordes of undead. In particular, detaching Stubbs' arm to possess other citizens and strategically take down armed officers is a major selling point. Trial and error is a big part of the later gameplay as progress is saved fairly often, leaving players to experiment with all out an all out offensive strategy compared to gathering a horde of undead and using them as protection.

The overall difficulty level is manageable, as with enough time any level can be beaten. While the levels which change up the formula tend to be a little easier than more strategic levels, the most difficulty I had whilst playing was in finding where Stubbs needed to go to continue levels. Past the initial tutorial, players aren't given much guidance as to where to go, so some experimentation is necessary.

Graphically the game looks great on the Xbox; there's tons of uncensored gore and gross-out moments, even if the humour can be a little "fart-based". The retro-futuristic town of Punchbowl is interesting to explore and discover, as fantasy mixes with historic ideas. The musical soundtrack of the game is also impressive, as it features many songs in the style of the era and really contributes to the feel of the time.

Overall Stubbs the Zombie isn't your traditional zombie game; I'm sure there's other games like it where players control the zombies instead of someone looking to survive, but it's nice to have a light hearted and comedic portrayal of a zombie invasion after so many gritty and serious survival stories. For a game that's almost 10 years old, it's aged pretty well, and I'd recommend trying it out if you can find a copy!

Rating: 79/100
Grade: B