Watch Dogs PlayStation 3 Review

On PS3, this excellent open-world stealth-action game suffers significant performance problems.


http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05/29/w...n-3-review

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II Review



One of the most incredible things about The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II is how many amusing pop culture references it manages to cram into an action RPG without quite overdoing it. Some are fairly subtle, such as the sight of encircled lambdas glowing on dungeon walls; others slap you across the face with their directness, as in the hunt for one Private Bryan. (“What's so important about him,” Van Helsing's ghost companion Lady Katarina asks. “Does he have a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead?”) The gags are unrelenting, but somehow this rarely detracts from the experience; in a game starring a broadsword-wielding professor from the Victorian era, the comedy enriches it



Enriched is the key word here. Van Helsing II sees developer NeoCore correcting many of the defects of last year's Incredible Adventures, a scrappy but flawed game that was generally lost in the middle of what turned out to be an isometric action RPG renaissance of sorts (see Torchlight 2, Path of Exile, and Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls). The sequel maintains the best parts: Van Helsing still trots about the lovingly rendered cobblestones of the steampunk wonderland of Borgovia, accompanied by the buxom banshee Lady Katarina, and he's still preoccupied with killing baddies and picking their corpses for sweet loot. Even the original's nods to tower defense strategy remain in the form of missions that require you to defend Van Helsing and his spiffy hat from the forces of new chief baddie General Harker.

Most action RPGs pay minimal attention to story; Van Helsing II turns this convention on its head by delivering a tale that's worthy of attention despite its simplicity. It's at its best when it's communicated through the always-entertaining banter between Van Helsing and Lady Katarina, who flirt and bicker among steampunk cities and wooded mountain paths with all the charm of an old married couple. It's silly stuff, but the duo and their respective voice actors bring a dash of personality that's all too absent in this genre.



More often than not, their chatter centers on the trustworthiness of Prisoner Seven, a foreboding fellow who looks like a geist from World of Warcraft but brings Van Helsing word of enemy movements and fishes him out of rubble when he's down. Most of the plot spills over from the first Incredible Adventures, yes, but a succession of handy cutscenes ensure you're up to speed if you want to start here. More practically, you can import your character from the first game if you choose. Or, if you want power right after the gate, you can create a level 30 "veteran" character with several key skills already in place.



It's a smart move, not least because it lets you get a feel for the three classes and their melee and ranged incarnations before you commit to them. One of the great failings of the first game is its insistence that you limit yourself to the Van Helsing's archetypical "hunter" class; Van Helsing II remedies that by shipping with the magey Thaumaturge or the gadget-focused Arcane Mechanic. Even Katerina enjoys more utility now; in Van Helsing II, you can set her role and guide her skill progression more effectively. New skills and situational hotkeyed "tricks" complement the enjoyable two-ability combat, which lets you switch out weapon sets in a second and power up attacks by building resources and executing combos.

Truth be told, I wasn't enjoying myself much until I jumped in with one of the pre-made veteran characters. Currently the balance is all over the place, and you'll go from fighting against perfectly manageable swarms to fighting foes who kill you so fast that you don't even have time to see the screen flicker red. Even the veteran characters don't fare so well; their main advantage seems to lie in their superior starting gear rather than durability. Thankfully NeoCore lets you change the difficulty at any time you choose, but this presents its own complications in that Van Helsing II also extends it to the hardcore mode with its permanent deaths, which seems to defeat the purpose of having a hardcode mode at all.


One of the most incredible things about The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II is how many amusing pop culture references it manages to cram into an action RPG without quite overdoing it. Some are fairly subtle, such as the sight of encircled lambdas glowing on dungeon walls; others slap you across the face with their directness, as in the hunt for one Private Bryan. (“What's so important about him,” Van Helsing's ghost companion Lady Katarina asks. “Does he have a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead?”) The gags are unrelenting, but somehow this rarely detracts from the experience; in a game starring a broadsword-wielding professor from the Victorian era, the comedy enriches it.


Enriched is the key word here. Van Helsing II sees developer NeoCore correcting many of the defects of last year's Incredible Adventures, a scrappy but flawed game that was generally lost in the middle of what turned out to be an isometric action RPG renaissance of sorts (see Torchlight 2, Path of Exile, and Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls). The sequel maintains the best parts: Van Helsing still trots about the lovingly rendered cobblestones of the steampunk wonderland of Borgovia, accompanied by the buxom banshee Lady Katarina, and he's still preoccupied with killing baddies and picking their corpses for sweet loot. Even the original's nods to tower defense strategy remain in the form of missions that require you to defend Van Helsing and his spiffy hat from the forces of new chief baddie General Harker.

Most action RPGs pay minimal attention to story; Van Helsing II turns this convention on its head by delivering a tale that's worthy of attention despite its simplicity. It's at its best when it's communicated through the always-entertaining banter between Van Helsing and Lady Katarina, who flirt and bicker among steampunk cities and wooded mountain paths with all the charm of an old married couple. It's silly stuff, but the duo and their respective voice actors bring a dash of personality that's all too absent in this genre.

In The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II, you are not the only one behind a mask. Van Helsing, fabled monster-hunter and current leader of the Resistance has now a new ally in the war against evil. But what is he exactly? Monster or victim?

Most of the plot spills over from the first Incredible Adventures, yes, but a succession of handy cutscenes ensure you're up to speed if you want to start here. More practically, you can import your character from the first game if you choose. Or, if you want power right after the gate, you can create a level 30 "veteran" character with several key skills already in place.

It's a smart move, not least because it lets you get a feel for the three classes and their melee and ranged incarnations before you commit to them. One of the great failings of the first game is its insistence that you limit yourself to the Van Helsing's archetypical "hunter" class; Van Helsing II remedies that by shipping with the magey Thaumaturge or the gadget-focused Arcane Mechanic. Even Katerina enjoys more utility now; in Van Helsing II, you can set her role and guide her skill progression more effectively. New skills and situational hotkeyed "tricks" complement the enjoyable two-ability combat, which lets you switch out weapon sets in a second and power up attacks by building resources and executing combos.

Truth be told, I wasn't enjoying myself much until I jumped in with one of the pre-made veteran characters. Currently the balance is all over the place, and you'll go from fighting against perfectly manageable swarms to fighting foes who kill you so fast that you don't even have time to see the screen flicker red. Even the veteran characters don't fare so well; their main advantage seems to lie in their superior starting gear rather than durability. Thankfully NeoCore lets you change the difficulty at any time you choose, but this presents its own complications in that Van Helsing II also extends it to the hardcore mode with its permanent deaths, which seems to defeat the purpose of having a hardcode mode at all.

Iron out the kinks in the balance, and Van Helsing II has all the elements of a respectable ARPG, and it employs a few other tricks to help distinguish it. For example, you have the option to send out special agents on timed missions for loot and experience, much like the combat companions in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Van Helsing can even grow his own pet chimera, which comes in handy as a summonable combat minion or yet another NPC to send off for gold or special potions. The tower defense elements again add some variety to the slaughter, as they bid our broad-brimmed hero to drop whatever he's doing and come back to fend off hordes attacking his lair with traps and related devices. It seems a shame that losing generates no real consequence, but it's likely a concession to action RPG players who want little to do with tower defense. (On some levels, I'm one of them). You don't even have to fight them; you can send off your minions to handle them if you choose.

A four-player cooperative mode and a PvP area round out the current features, but I found the former distressingly prone to crashes whenever another player showed up. (NeoCore's been rolling out fixes for more manageable issues on almost a daily basis.) Pity, since I suspect that being able to count on having another player on hand would have alleviated some of the imbalance issues listed above.

The Verdict

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II represents a considerable improvement over its predecessor, although its focus consists primarily of augmenting the core action RPG experience rather than changing it. Balance issues and multiplayer bugs remain, but there's enough variety found in its tower defense scenarios and three classes to warrant donning the legendary monster hunter's hat either again or for the very first time.

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