Nightmare Creatures - PS1, N64

Nightmare Creatures... The name makes you think of some late night B-movie in which strange and deadly creatures wander around and kill things. Well.. You wouldn't be too far off in that thought, as you play one of two characters out to stop a genius madman who is creating monsters that terrorize and kill the population in the late 1800's.
Plagued with some problems, Nightmare Creatures gives PSX gamers a good action game, but with some technical problems that become apparent within the first few minutes of play.





Graphics 7

While the world of Nightmare Creatures is large and well detailed, the shadowed effects take away from the detailing of your surroundings. The character animations are neat to look at and watch as you play, but they suffer from being blocky and rather fuzzy in some spots. Within the first few minutes of play, you'll find that there is a severe case of image break-up that comes into play right off the bat.

Aside from that, the characters that you use have combinations that look nice on screen, and can end with a bloody finish. Nothing like watching an arm fly or a head go rolling after a nice healthy plate of spaghetti.





Sound 7

A rather interesting rock soundtrack. While it doesn't leave much to the impression on your memory, it does fit the pace of the game, and will keep you in tune with what's going on. The sound effects are important, as you'll need to hear them to know just where the enemy is striking from. If you turn this feature off, you'll find that the monsters will deal damage to you just because you don't know they are there.





Gameplay 7

Following a plot that is like a B-Horror movie, gamers are put in the persona of one of two different characters that are out to stop a madman genius from creating monsters to take over the world. From the dark streets of London to the endless catacombs, your main mission is to hack and slash your way through several different stages while finding power-ups and weapons that increase your damage.

If you were to think of a game where your main goal is to kill off whatever comes your way, but you have to do it by decapitation, then you'd have Nightmare Creatures to a key.
Most of the game is spent just wandering around the stages and killing off whatever comes your way. You have your choice with a sword weilding chica or a rather wicked staff spinning hunter. Either way, the game progresses the same way.

A little hard to control at first, Nightmare Creatures suffers from a loose interface and a combo system that doesn't quite take effect the way that it's supposed to. Beginners will play through the game a couple of times and try to get used to the combo and decapitation system that you need to learn to kill off the monsters.





Story 7

The game takes place in 1834 when London falls victim to several evil occurrences. Monster sightings are reported along with news of people mutating into ungodly creatures, and that the dead are waking from their graves and walking amongst the living.
All of London is in a panic and vulnerable to the schemes of Adam Crowley, a mad scientist and occultist enlisting the help of the Brotherhood, a devil-worshipping cult of Hecate who were conducting sinister experiments in London so as to take over the city.
Two people, Ignatius and Nadia are aware of this evil plan and must track Crowley all over Victorian London in order to stop him.





Overall 7

Nightmare Creatures isn't exactly the most innovative of games out there on the market. With the image break-up that occurs quite often, to the missing music and sound effect pieces along with a rather tough combo system to learn, you're looking at a game for experts and not so much for beginners.
Given the fact that you can find better weapons is a plus in the replay department, but there isn't much difference in the way that the game is played, so be prepared to go through on a one time basis only.

Final Fantasy VIII - PS1

Square, probably the most renowned RPG company to date, has the Final Fantasy series to thank for its success and power. In Final Fantasy VII, Square created their first 3D Final Fantasy and successfully created a milestone to the series.
Once more, Square challenges another leap, creating even better, even more realistic graphics than ever - and once again, success becomes the key.

Thus, the 8th of the Final Fantasy series and the 2nd of the graphic virtuosos is released, with stunning graphics revolved around two young adults, overcoming fear, finding love, and discovering that they are not alone.
Impressive in many ways, 'Final Fantasy VIII' is a love story with many twists - maybe too many for some to handle, however.



Graphics 10

Square does it once again! They pushed the power of the PlayStation far for Final Fantasy VII, and such a work of animated beauty came out of it.
They challenged to do it again, and my the result is the most beautiful CGs that have ever hit the Playstation. It is perfect for the capability of the system, and makes for one of the finest masterpieces of art for the Final Fantasy series.
Everything has improved from Final Fantasy VII. Hands are now visible in the fields, characters are life-like and taller, and animations have never been better.
The beautiful visuals in every part of the game makes the presentation so fine and so revealing, that next to nothing in Final Fantasy VIII can be criticized for this criteria.
The characters are now reflected as 'young adults' and take on the look through their clothes and styles. Backgrounds are beautiful, detailed and dazzling, and makes for wonderful eye-candy.

Character models have taken a whole new level.
No more miniatures for this game, as everybody is life-size, and detailed. Faces are very much visible, as eyes, nose and mouth can all be made out, and bodies are well-proportioned, creating the most realistic character models of its release date.
The outfits are all very original and nicely done for the character models, and ultimately make for better and greater visuals.
Symbolism has taken a more significant role for the characters, however. Little bits, such as Squall's necklace, Rinoa's angel wing all take on importance to the story, and have been well put into the visual presentation.
Square is known to make these things noticeable, and they show it off with even more detailed picture than the ones before it.

What is probably the most beautiful animation becomes the most tedious.
Once again, the GF special attack animation take on a role in this criteria as well, but in this case, a good one.
The creators at Square have made the most outlandish animations ever, from summons performing rock, paper, scissors, to pointless world destruction animations.
These animations, while seeming to take up to 5 minutes, are nevertheless beautiful. These little animated graphics make extremely good eye-candy for the first time around, but fall short after the next 12 times of tedious viewing.
It it, however, to be noted that these animations are very beautiful and dazzle better than its predecessor(s).
Speaking in terms of animation, more attention to the environment has been added in FFVIII. In this respect, more standby non-playable characters (NPC), walking NPC and shopping NPC can be visible in cities, and much less are shown in towns.
Many of these little detailed animations to the environment create a truly amazing fantasy world, and makes the atmosphere take on new meaning.

Now, for the main bulk of graphic eye stimulation, CGs have been detailed to the core!
Characters are life-like and the anime style animations of FFVII are gone. Things have never been more realistic than this when Final Fantasy VIII was released.
From Rinoa's swaying hair to Zell's famous backflips, the animators have done amazing work in this department.
Probably the one thing that the animators tried best to show, is the ending. The ending is arguably the best in Final Fantasy VIII, as animation is long and breathtaking, awesome and very fulfilling.
Things in the Final Fantasy VIII world was never better in this criteria, and almost no flaws can be indicated in this department.

Square always seems to top their predecessor in whatever criteria they can manage, and they do such a good job in this department, as Final Fantasy VIII creates a showpiece, more than only a game.
The CG, animation and all make Final Fantasy VIII a very pleasurable visual experience, and for those who enjoy eye-candy, should not miss out on the artistic masterpiece that Final Fantasy VIII is!
If not, simply watching the introduction and ending is enough to impress anybody and everybody!



Gameplay 7

Square again creates a gameplay that is finely integrated to the story.
In the 8th installment, Square has created a whole new system - The Junction System. Junction becomes a primary term in FFVIII, meaning to 'connect' or 'link'.
In truth, Final Fantasy VIII chooses to involve the summon monsters much more than its counterpart VII, and titles them as 'Guardian Forces'.
The aforementioned junction, becomes a link between a character and one or more of these guardian forces. Once these Guardian Forces (GF) are junctioned, one can input spells, magic and of the like to boost power, magic, defense, status resistance and elemental resistance.
The more quantity of spells that a character inherits, the more potent the junction of that criteria becomes. As well, the better quality of the spell that a character inherits in their junction, the more potent the junction of that criteria will become.
This is the junction system, and it truly becomes one of the more different systems in a game. Many things change in this game as well, as magic is a quantity, not an item, therefore, it will dissipate once used excessively.

To resolve this matter, one must draw continuously from a monster who inherits that magic, and take out several quantities of said magic into your own junction.
This new technique, takes on the term 'draw'. Unfortunately, this becomes a tedious issue, as gamers will find boredom at this part of the game, drawing and drawing from monsters to achieve a decent supply of magic.
The draw magic ultimately becomes a small nuisance more than a large accomplishment. However, it should be noted that Square deserves points for being innovative.

The biggest flaw and the one that ultimately made Final Fantasy VIII second to VII, is one word - tedious. Summon creatures (or GF) can be used to call these monsters, performing such powerful attacks and aiding the party members.
Each summon takes approximately 1 or more minutes. Unfortunately, watching these 1 minute animations can only be exciting so many times. The animations eventually become a hassle and simply bore the entire battle system in general.
While Guardian Forces are optional to summon, using them in the early game becomes somewhat essential as one is very weak in that stage.
Unfortunately, this tedious issue cannot be overlooked, and seriously hampers the game. Square needed to do some fine-tuning with this system to better suit gamers to a less tedious game.

The most innovative of Final Fantasy VIII, is the way they have now in-putted a 'Card Game'. This Card game is purely optional, but once again, is essential to unlock and discover the better and newer things FFVIII has to offer.
Surprisingly, this card game is extremely fun, as you must collect cards, get rare ones, make them into powerful items, forge these rare items to rare magics and then junction them to create a much more easier and more efficient plan than drawing continuously from an attacking monster. This card game makes for so much time-wasting that it simply boosts gameplay and sidequests to a better extent.
In this respect, Final Fantasy VIII has one of the most addictive card games yet. Pretty much, a card inherits certain numbers or letters, ranging from 1 'being low' to A 'being high', and are placed in a 3 by 3 square board.
As cards are placed, the number/letter on that particular side must beat the card that it is next to, to own the card. Otherwise, you may simply just lose and lose the card as well. However, if the majority of cards are won over by you, you are the proud owner of the card(s) of your choice. Different rules throughout your travels make this a very pleasurable game.

Final Fantasy VIII keeps the World Map that is so famous in every RPG. Nothing new here, but the worlds seem to be much more larger than of Final Fantasy VII, and towns are larger.
This results in... More exploration! This is great, considering RPGs are mainly exploring and discovering new things. Larger and bigger areas result in more sidequests and little extras, and Square does a very good job in making this noticeable.
Limit Breaks once again return to Final Fantasy VIII, and they are just as fun and powerful as they were in Final Fantasy VII. Each character's Limit has an original something that makes it an important part of the game.

The Gameplay Elements in Final Fantasy VIII make hefty attempts to be as charming and easy, yet complex as its predecessor, but Square forgot that the tedious mechanism of both the GF animation and the draw system makes for some annoying chores.
All work and no play makes the Gamer a dull boy. But other than that, card games, side-quests and the overall complexity of the Junction System usually compensate for the horrible draw system and the tedious animation sequences.

Final Fantasy VIII, while not having much replay value, puts in very much.
So many sidequests, and much more than its predecessors have been offered. The card game alone is very time-consuming and very exciting. Other small things such as fighting evil entities have also been put into the mix, and they're just as hard as ever.
Chocobos take on a more shallow role, however, but it can be overlooked due to so many sidequests, secrets and things for you to desire.
Items can now be forged into magic, cards can be forged into items, and they are simply waiting for you to find out all these little bits and pieces of secrets to uncover... and it is well worth your time!



Sound 10

It seems very unnecessary to talk about whether the audio presentation is successful, as Nobuo Uematsu is composing it once again.
Yes, it is more orchestrated than ever, and nice rock sounds are in-putted in it as well. Nobuo Uematsu seems to take its depressing end-of-the-world theme of FFVII away from this one, and creates a more serene and amusing background music, that is fully orchestrated once again.
While creating different themes for different titles, it is almost obvious that Nobuo Uematsu intends to depict one main thing - epic.

Other than music, sound effects are put into the mix as well.
Mixed, dissonant sounds can be heard when a character slashes in to the monster, and does a good job of depicting a slashing sword. Other sound effects such as magic surging out of a character are all created to make the battle much more engaging and involving.
Without the sound effects, nothing really would represent the actual battle, and the sound effects are just as important as the music, although not as memorable.

The audio presentation in Final Fantasy VIII are all the more memorable, and take in one of the most breathtaking CG scenes when mixed with the operatic melodies, or serene and epic tunes.
In short, Final Fantasy VIII's audio presentation is much more sophisticated in terms of quality to Final Fantasy VII (breathtaking audio as well), and in simply saying that, the audio presentation speaks volumes.



Story 9

The complexity of Final Fantasy VIII's story is fit for a good novel.
The theme is much different from its predecessor, and takes on the story of a heartless, anti-social young adult named Squall. His story is a tale of loss and anger, bitterness and loneliness.
This ultimately destroys Squall's overall positive character, and he becomes a negative, depressed and tempered character. Enter Rinoa, the charming, charismatic and oh-so beautiful female protagonist of the game.
Her story is a bit different, as she represents a vibrant heart and a decision of freedom. While not without her own story of negativity, she decides to put that behind her and tries to break the barrier that Squall puts up.
The love story is touched up with friends and responsibility... And yet, another lost love issue. Characters are much more personalized and original than usual, and have such a background and story to them, that it is hard not to like each and every one of them.

As all Square Final Fantasy games have, twists are inevitable, and always seem to pop up when one least expects it (very well depicted in Final Fantasy VII), and this becomes another story twist for Final Fantasy VIII.
Many sudden twists and turns take the main story into a haywire chaotic world of world domination (yet again), and once more, it is up to Squall to stop the antagonist. However, his own secluded world makes him bitter to the entire picture, and requires the help of his friends. Unfortunately, some areas of the story is unanswered until the very last moment, where it has no relevance, or it could've been mentioned much earlier.
The antagonist is much less despised and becomes just another thing to kill, and in truth, eliminates the harsh and evil symbol that most antagonists take on.

Interestingly enough, Final Fantasy VIII has a very elegant plot, filled with many themes that revolve around this lonely person and the friends that encourage him. In truth, despite some sudden cameos of antagonists and sudden story change, it is actually extremely intelligent, and very well thought out.
This story should not be missed, and it is a welcoming idea that Square has put in an intelligent love theme to the whole world domination fiasco.



Overall 9

Square again tops many things that Final Fantasy VII was successful in, to the exception of gameplay, however.
While many people target this little gem as a failure, it needs to be said that this game presents much more presentation, and while this can be both a good and bad thing, it attempts to re-enact the charm of Final Fantasy in this one as well.
The world of Final Fantasy VIII is vast and large, and gives many things. Again, Square integrates the gameplay, music and visuals into the story, and for this one, entirely focuses on character development.
The characters, now more deep and with much more history, create much interaction and involvement for the gamer. This is a show-piece that plays with a very interesting story plot, and while many may dislike the new approach that Square has made, it is obvious that this one is a much more mature and story-driven game than the rest.

Catherine - PS3, Xbox 360

I really can't think of a way to describe Catherine. This puzzle-focused, “romantic horror” has the feeling of a Shin Megami game, but plays like a full-fledged arcade game. This style gives the game its own unique feel in both positive and, unfortunately, negative ways and makes Catherine a very unique' experience. (Read: Bloody freaking weird)



Graphics 9

This game is chock full of animated cut scenes, and up front I have to say, if you hate the Japanese style of cartoons known as anime, you're not going to be happy with these cut scenes.
It doesn't end there though, the in-game models all have a similar look to them. If you can get past your hatred of anime, or better yet, if you actually like the anime style, however, everything about this game is gorgeous.
The animation, while a little goofy at times, is fairly well done, and the models are so well done and expressive that at times I actually preferred the in game models to the animated ones, a true rarity.
My only real beef with the graphics are the actual puzzle parts. I suppose they were going for a dark, dreary, horror-esque motif to go with the nightmare theme, but the result, while not offensive to the eyes, is not usually very stimulating either.
Its not that I ever really felt like the puzzle sections looked bad, but if you're hoping for the bright colourful eye catching puzzles that puzzle games usually give you, your going to be disappointed.



Gameplay 8

If you don't like puzzle games, subtract 5 from this score. Outside of the puzzles, which make up the majority of the game play, there are talking and texting sequences you go through which, especially in regards to the texting sequences, give you a surprisingly significant number of ways to interact with those around you, effecting both the fate of your main character, and their fates as well.
These sequences, however, are fairly short and as such, if these sequences are the only part of the game you're going to enjoy, your going to come away from the game pretty disappointed. As for the actual puzzles, there are a LOT of them, especially if you count the optional Rapunzel and Tower of Babel side puzzles.
The main game puzzles are a race against the clock similar to say tetris only with blocks disappearing over time instead of arriving, while the Rapunzel puzzles are un-timed, limiting you instead in the number of moves you can make, testing more your long term planning then your quick wits.
Regardless, every puzzle involves pushing, pulling, and climbing on blocks in an attempt to reach the top of a giant block tower. As you go on the block formations and types of blocks will become more and more varied, and the occasional boss fight will feature a boss who not only chases you, but use various special boss abilities to add extra wrinkles to the puzzles that lie a head of you.
Occasionally enemies will roam the blocks that you will want to avoid to knock away with your pillow, and various power ups can be accessed, such as ones that let you create blocks or climb up 2 blocks at a time for a short period of time. All in all, your going to spend a good portion of your game play interacting with blocks and using your noggin to find that key sequence of blocks needed to reach the top.

Probably second only to this games story is its renowned difficulty. Let me be clear. People aren't tricking you, this game IS hard.
The good news, is that, with maybe one exception, its hard for all the right reasons. This game will exercise your brain like few games out there today will. For some people, that's a good thing, but for others I know that its much unwanted.
Many puzzle game fans today like their puzzles mindless, you see 2 coloured gems, you instinctively move a third same colour game next to it, and repeat ad nasuem.
That's not what your getting here. Your going to really need to think, and plan, and take full stock of your surroundings constantly.
And I'll be honest, unless your naturally talented at these sorts of puzzles, your probably gonna get stuck, and your probably going to get frustrated. The ability to purchase helpful items in exchange for lowering you score can reduce this issue, as can lowering the difficulty, but you have to be the kind of person who enjoys being challenged to enjoy this game.
Now I do want to add, there is one aspect of the difficulty I did not care for. Between stages the game will teach you techniques for solving puzzles, some are essential, some optional, but in general I approve of them having these techniques.
The problem comes in the that far too often, you are taught techniques a stage after you needed to know them, almost defying the whole point. If you got to that point you likely already figured out the technique on your own, and these are the sort of hints a game of this difficulty really could have benefited making more readily available earlier on.
Still it is a fairly minor gripe and the point remains the same, to like Catherine, you've got to like (or at least not mind) a challenge.



Sound 10

Music is solid, as you would expect from the people who gave us persona 3 and 4.
That said, it didn't really stand out to me as much as it did in those aforementioned games. It seems to mostly be composed of remixes of classic songs which perhaps makes it a little less unique in that manner.
Overall I enjoyed the music, but I didn't find myself humming the tunes after I was done playing as I have with other Atlus games.
The voice acting is superb and really has that anime feel to it, yet at the same time it feels real, you can clearly feel the pain running through Vincents head as he is trying to figure his shit out.
As for sound effects, they're pretty standard, but they get the job done... If I'm being fair, you won't really notice them over the awesome voice overs and catchy music.



Story 10

The story of Catherine has probably gotten the most buzz, and rightfully so.
It deals with themes that many novel writers are afraid to touch, let a lone video game story writers, and yet in spite of some of the, at times, very uncomfortable source material (I won't give examples for spoiler reasons but lets just say the main character has commitment issues and a propensity to drink his worries away leading him only to more worries) it managed to get me emotionally on some occasions and to literally laugh out loud on many others.
There were times where I was practically yelling at my TV for the main character to do something, and while I can't say being frustrated with your main character is necessarily a good thing, it does show just how deeply attached this game can get you to the characters involved.
In spite of the occasional cartoony moment here and there, and the sort of supernatural side plot of people having nightmares that kill them, these characters act like real people, dealing with real difficult problems most of us don't even want to admit to having, and as such the story is both captivating, and like nothing you've ever seen before, at least in a video game anyway.



Overall 9

If you don't like puzzle games, subtract 5 from this score.
In spite of the puzzles, there's still a lot to like about Catherine, but ultimately the puzzles are the meat of this game. If you love puzzles, your going to find yourself with a very deep and unique puzzle game attached to a tremendously unique and well written story, unheard of in any games, let a lone a puzzle game.
If you don't love puzzle games, your going to find yourself painfully grinding through one immensely difficult puzzle section after the next just to see the new 15 minutes of story, and odds are as the puzzles grow longer and more numerous, your just going to lose interest and move on.
I will add though, if you don't like puzzle games, but have a friend who does, it might be worth you time to see if you can't talk them into playing it while you watch.

Eat Lead: The return of Matt Hazard - PS3, Xbox 360

What, you haven't heard of Matt Hazard? Well, don't feel too bad, because even though Eat Lead is his "return" to video gaming, he really hasn't been around very long. He is, however, leading the charge on a humorous video game tale spanning many parodies and game culture. So how good is Matt Hazard's return? Let's have a look shall we.



Graphics 7

The graphics behind Eat Lead are really about as average as a next-generation shooter can be. Eat Lead really doesn't have the same class of graphics as, say, Uncharted 2 (Yeah, I'm mentioning that game again), but it does it's job well enough.
The environments are often themed, but have plenty of detail and often include a number of exploding objects you can shoot.
The most unique feature that you'll notice is that enemies and entire levels will suddenly appear (which is supposed to simulate the programmers programming in new content). So, even though the theme of the level may be, for example, a western theme, you'll see enemies and cover from another location or level.

I didn't really like the Matt Hazard character design... It looks kinda weird to me, but I can't quite place my finger on it. He definitely looks weird in his default costume, kinda like his head isn't big enough. Hmm, maybe he's just too bald. Other character designs are good, but could have used more development time (especially the antagonist).
Enemies are also recycled heavily, but there is a good variety of enemies to fight so it's not bad. All in all, the graphics aren't spectacular but they do their job.



Gameplay 7

Eat Lead is, as you would guess, a shooting game.
You'll view Matt in an over the shoulder view as you blast your way through eight different stages. Matt has all the moves of most standard action games.
You can carry up to two different weapons, use cover to hide behind, fire from behind cover (while aiming or not aiming), and melee when you're up close. The cover system reminds me of Gears of War, since you can press certain buttons to jump to new cover and even advance to a closer position automatically.
Weapon choices are mostly based on what your enemy drops, as guns have limited ammo forcing you to change them out every once in awhile (some of the weapons are weird).
Also, there's no meter for health, as the game does the ever popular screen fading to grey when you're getting hurt.

All in all, Eat Lead is a fairly standard shooter.
Some boss fights have you press certain buttons to do things (think God of War), and others actually have you use your brain at times (just a little).
You can also utilize special bullets (either fire or ice) when you fill up a certain meter. There are also two special power up items Matt can use: one that provides defence and another that gives you enhanced attacks.

Matt's downfalls, in this game at least, are the sheer repetitive nature of the game. Clear the room and move forward. Rinse and repeat.
Granted there are a great deal of games that that is all you do, but the majority of other games out there have many different quests or things to do in between, especially since people get bored of that type of shooter.
I also found the enemy re-enforcements to be awkwardly placed, such as coming from directly behind you, or other equally frustrating places that can lead to an easy and cheap death.

One of the major down-falls of Eat Lead is how short it is.
You'll go through eight different chapters, each of which will take somewhere around 30-45 minutes to get through (add in more time for higher difficulties, some of those enemy placements can kill you). After that, there really is nothing else to play for. You can go after trophies or try a harder difficulty level but that's it.



Sound 9

Making humour the primary drawing factor in a video game is risky. You have to have someone who can deliver, and thankfully Eat Lead delivers in spades by having Will Arnett voice Matt Hazard. They also hired Neal Patrick Harris to voice the antagonist.
Both voice actors do a superb job in portraying their characters in both scripted events and in the myriad amount of random comments they make. Being the hero, you will of course hear Will Arnett throughout the entire game.
Enemy voices were well done as well, and had their share of funny quips to say. My favourite was "These goggles look cool and all, but they don't do shit!"
Many a time this game had me chuckling to myself.

The music in the game was almost entirely composed of guitar riffs.
In short, it was awesome! The music picks up when the action starts and is mostly quiet when you're alone, but since the action is only a short walk away you'll mainly be listening to non-stop guitar riffs throughout the entire game.



Story 8

You really don't see many fictional characters pretending to be fictional characters (parodies) in main stream video games these days (you see them mostly in comics and maybe flash cartoons), but that's exactly what Eat Lead is bringing to the table.
Matt hazard is a video game icon, having stared in several blockbuster games for Marathon Megasoft in the past decades. However, years ago Matt made the mistake of staring in several spin-off games such as Haz-mat cart racing, and several bad sports and party games (think Mario Party... Ew....), which led to his downfall. He's now starring in his first new game in years.

Being a seasoned veteran, Matt Hazard is starring in a new adventure as a detective assigned to retrieve money from the mob, which takes him to a Japanese steak house.
Several dead thugs and hilarious comments about tutorials later, Matt runs into Sting Sniperscope (who sounds exactly like Arnie) who, it appears, is stealing Matt's game from him in the opening level! As the finishing bullet is flying towards Matt's face, he is saved by a programmer from Marathon, QA, and allowed to continue the game, left to discover who is out for his head.

Eat Lead is chock full of video game parodies and gaming culture.
Matt Hazard's career spans all the way back to his early days in 8-bit side-scrollers, and so he has many friends and enemies.
As you play you'll meet a few of his friends, which are mostly all parodies of popular games (such as the space marine Master Chef, and the portly Captain Carpenter who's into mushrooms). Matt's main nemesis in the game was also a surprise. overall, the writing and dialogue is excellent.
The only thing I could have gone for more of, or thought was missing, was more insight into the bad guy's hatred for Matt and the powers he has over Matt's world, which was a little bit lacking. But in the end, Eat Lead is made for life-long gamers everywhere. As Matt would say, It's Hazard time!



Overall 7

Overall, Eat Lead is an average game with strong humour, great voice acting, and poor re-playability. Thankfully, it is cheap, and you should be able to pick it up for minimal dough.
Or you could just rent it and play through it in one afternoon.
Either way, Eat Lead is without a doubt Matt Hazard's best game yet. Have fun and keep playing.