Vanquish (Xbox)

What a polluted game!

This is the most polluted game I've ever seen Diego play. There are too many patterns everywhere (floor, wall, suits, shadows, etc) and then you add to it smoke, fire, explosions and the bullet's trail...
Way too much information to deal with!

The cut-scene in the beginning of the game isn't good either. It's too long, confusing and there are lots of blood and people exploding, rocks smashing bodies in front of little kids and they got San Francisco's topography all wrong. It looks like the Golden Gate Bridge was added to Seattle's skyline...
Come on! Anyone knows SF is hilly, not flat!!!





Another thing that bothered me about the cut-scenes is that they always start the close up to the girl from operation (the one that tell them they have to leave or go somewhere) from the bottom, so it looks like you can almost see her underwear.  So unnecessary!
Oh, and the guy smokes.  So old fashion...

The sound track on the other hand is not bad at all. Of course, the shooting and exploding sounds mess up with the experience, but the music is a techno kind of background. Very ease to go unnoticed when you are trying to pay attention to everything else that is going on in the game.
It reminds me of a car race game's sound track, like "Need for Speed".


Pros: sound track is not bad, but it's not really a "pro"...

Cons: they got SF all wrong, very tiring to watch, no chance I'd play.



Wife score: 2/10

Super Meat Boy (XBLA)

This was kind of a hard game to write about... Or to define a score for it at least.

It's kind of funny, but after a while the whole "squared and bloody" thing got to my nerves. Not to mention I get anxious over seeing him dieing so many times at the same level (it's not all the time, but it happens).

The sound track is also not super nice to have as a background noise around the house, but it gets better with time. The problem is that by then I disliked it already to start liking it or even just not to mind it.

A few things you might find interesting:
- it uses the sound track to make it harder on the gamer (i.e. a beeping sound has a different timing than and open-close space that he has to go through);
- when the character dies, it reloads very quickly (so no frustrating long loadings all the time);
- when you complete a level, it shows you all your process (all the times you died to complete this level) at the same time. This is actually fun to watch (and the more lives it took, the merrier!);
- it's a classic platformer game (very short levels and there are over 300 of them!);
- the cut-scenes are short but very cute to watch.



Pros: fun to watch the replay with all the deaths at the same time when the level is completed.
Cons: I got anxious in many levels (the harder ones) and the sound track is annoying.


Wife score: 7/10