A relatively recent addition to the pool of gaming genres, the tower defence game has become ubiquitous thanks in no small measure to Apple’s iPad. However, it’s so far been a genre with little variation from game to game. Into this monotone landscape steps Monday Night Combat. Monday Night Combat has a big idea for shaking up the genre; namely to bolt on Gears of War.

True to the tower defence formula, the player’s home base must be equipped with a variety of upgradeable turrets and defended from waves of attacking enemies of various speeds and strengths. Money from killing these waves can be used to enhance the turrets or the player character. This is the game’s major innovation: replacing the disembodied cursor with an active player-character, armed to the teeth and dragging the player down into the frenzied heat of the action.

There are six classes available to choose from, covering the expected range from fast-but-weak Assassin to slow-but-powerful Tank. Each of the characters is equipped with two weapons and four upgradeable special abilities. It’s a testament to the skill with which they have been constructed that none of the characters feels underpowered or dissatisfying to play, and that the combat remains enjoyable even when on a losing-streak. Perhaps the only exception to this is the Support class, who is able to hack enemy turrets, reinforce his own, heal his team-mates and also build a devastatingly powerful turret gun all his own. Having one character who excels at attack and defence equally can produce an unstoppable war-beast in the hands of a canny player.

By introducing the player as an active participant in the combat, Monday Night Combat creates an interesting tactical situation; requiring careful balancing of attack and defence, and of the management of upgrades. Focus too much on attacking the enemy and you run the risk of opening your base up to attack. Remain too long on the defensive, however, and your own forces will lose out on vital back-up, making a win much more difficult. Similarly, tactical consideration needs to be given to how you spend your cash: do you upgrade your player-character, enhancing your own combat-effectiveness; or do you spend the money on bigger, better turrets, more robot troops, and activating smart-bombs placed in the centre of the arena?

Six classes are available to the player, covering all levels of speed and strength, attack and defence.

The game is divided into two modes, Blitz and Crossfire. Blitz mode consists of five challenges that pit between one and four players against invading robot armies of varying difficulty. This is an entirely defensive game mode and the only one of the two that can be played offline. This is fairly close to a standard tower defence game in its essentials, lacking as it does any competitive element. As such it’s undemanding fun, despite consisting, at the time of writing, of only one map. Crossfire, however, is something much more interesting.

In Crossfire mode, tower defence is mixed with tower offence, as two teams of six players compete to destroy the opposition’s Moneyball (i.e. their base). While shepherding your own robot army to the opposing base to lower its defensive shields, you must also eliminate the oncoming army and its human bodyguards and take down the turrets the opposing team have constructed to defend their territory.

The game combines turret-defence with GEARS-OF-WAR-style over-the-shoulder combat

Tactical decision making truly comes into its own here. Do you go all out to attack the enemy forces in the hope of taking out six or seven robots before one of your opponents shoots you down, or hide out in a high vantage point and snipe the opposing players as they try to destroy your robot soldiers? One team member may prefer to take a supporting role, repairing and upgrading the turrets as they take damage, or to play as a stealthy Assassin and sneak into the enemy base to stab newly-respawned opponents in the back. This balancing act of factors produces an atmosphere of gleeful carnage, bullets, cash and bits of robot flying around the arena with gay abandon. What had been an interesting experiment in the more conservative Blitz mode soon yields delightful results.

Review Round-Up

Graphics – 3/5: Not what anyone would describe as a beautiful game, by any means. Its aesthetic is fairly unusual in multiplayer shooter games, being essentially a rather daft mix of TEAM FORTRESS and SMASH TV. Like those games, it has a pleasant stylisation and a rather goofy satirical take on futuristic corporate bloodsports, like a Saturday morning version of The Running Man.

Sound – 3/5: Pretty much what you’d expect. The commentator has exactly the kind of smarmy parodic American gameshow host kind of voice you probably heard as you read the preceding part of this sentence. Some moderately amusing one-liners relating to a futuristic police-state and the announcer’s own sordid past as a gentleman of dubious virtue are rendered less amusing by the sheer number of times you will hear them repeated.

Gameplay – 4.5/5: A canny mix of tactical planning and Gears of War’s Horde mode produces something that feels fun and fresh. The shooting is responsive and accurate and each player class is sufficiently differentiated to reward experimentation. The act of balancing attack and defence produces something frenzied and enjoyable.

Longevity – 3/5: The basic underpinnings of the game are sufficiently good to keep the game fresh in the long term, and for the obsessive collector there are dozens of player nicknames to be unlocked and purchased. At present, however, the range of maps is quite limited, with Blitz mode having only one and Crossfire four to play with. This may change as and when new DLC is released.

Overall – 4 Defended Towers out 5

[starreview tpl=16]

A clever step forward in tower defence, Monday Night Combat arrives with very little fanfare and delivers a fun, focused team shooter with a twist. Never feeling unfair or overwhelming, it still provides explosive, accessible fun and, with future updates to come, should keep you busy for many a Monday night to come.

– Elliot Mears

Game: Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days
Format: Xbox 360
Developer: IO Interactive
Publisher: Eidos Interactive

It’s probably worth mentioning that I have not played the original Kane and Lynch game. Since current gen consoles became more affordable and commonplace in most households, “frag style” shooters that forgo finesse and storyline in favour of perseverance and a more chaotic, crimson splattered roller-coaster of a ride have truly ruled the day.

You know the sort I’m sure. The kind of games that have your character seemingly outmatched and facing dozens of enemies at a time with your best friend being the cover system. Frankly, I find it boring, especially when these games demand that ¾ of your gun’s clip must be emptied into just one of your targets in order for them to fall.

The tedium is enhanced by the story lines, which are often sparse and unimaginative. Frustration saturates my very senses as I recover from one monotonous death after another, with seemingly no end to the enemies.

In Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days, you make the realisation that Mr Lynch’s beloved wench is in trouble. All hell breaks loose after you make a rendez-vous with the other protagonist, Kane, and slaughter your way through a sea of blood, noodles and policemen/some kind of black ops task force to rescue aforementioned damsel. Simple right?

One of the most striking things about the game is its visual style. The game focuses on a news footage/youtube video style of realism. You might think that this would get in the way of things, or obscure the image, but it works surprisingly well.  In fact the first thing I said upon starting the game was “wow!”.

The visual style mimics amateur hand held camera footage you might see on the news

Do not get me wrong, I love to blow things up and lay my digital enemies to waste, but it’s the little details that make one game truly unique from all the other cover based third person shooters out there. The demo build of Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days definitely intrigues me by presenting itself as a unique third person action shooter.

The controls and cover system are both intuitive and really quite sensitive. When you are reloading your weapon behind cover, the game does not pander to mindless drones by having the cross-hair constantly visible. Thus, you are prevented from aiming behind cover and simply popping out for ‘instant kills-a-plenty’. Little things like this demand just a little bit more focus from players and add a greater sense of realism and immersion into the game.

There's a really dirty look to this game, without it being all grey and brown

The general lighting is subtle and extremely effective. It complements the dank urban playground of death you are frolicking around. The whole atmosphere of the demo is indeed seedy. The character’s appear to be dirty, sweaty and an assured part of the Asian, neon sparkled ghetto you are fleeing through. Parts of the environment prove to be destructible, particularly the furniture and internal support structure of the restaurant and shanty town you ballistically molest. Shards and chunks of wood splintering away in satisfactory chunks as you wear down the cover of nearby peons.

Cover breaks apart and splinters whenever it is hit by bullets

The enemy AI forces NPCs to take cover regularly without leaving themselves open as stationary targets. Members of the enemy team also routinely flank you from any side. The AI of your partner, Kane, has him as a worthy comrade / psycho in arms. He’s certainly competent at picking up the crumbs you let tumble from your banquet table of cadavers, or for the more inexperienced: fighting tooth and nail to pick up the slack in the body count.

The graphics are pleasing and the ambiance of the game does a great job of making you feel like a ruthless, sociopathic, skullet-toting mercenary, wishing to rescue his lady friend. The environments, while linear, give a few routes to experiment with in order to flank your foes. These range from rooftop vantage points to ushering through shops, avoiding the open high-street road. However, this game is in the developmental stage and still has problems concerning lighting glitches with street lamps. Also breakable parts of the environment either fragment before your eyes or simply disappear.

The story of the game is presented in a concise but mysterious way that has indeed caught my attention. The characters themselves are also charismatic and appealing in their desperate fight for survival and moral depravity.

The physics are relatively good but could be improved on. When slain, enemies literally collapse to the ground as if their strings have simply been severed. I would expect that, when someone is the recipient for a 12 gauge to the face at close range, the point of force with their centre of gravity acting as a fulcrum would inevitably have their body thrown backwards violently. This combined with Lynch casually firing his shotgun like he’s operating an airsoft pistol with the recoil akin to something like a baby’s flatulence. Maybe he has fantastic technique, maybe this adds a balance to help compose the player in battle… I’ll let you decide.

Despite the problems mentioned so far, I have faith they will be resolved upon the game’s release. As mentioned at the beginning, I don’t play games for the sake of simply shooting things, and I feel this game elevates beyond weak action shooters.

If you want some substance to your mayhem, judging from this demo, Kane and Lynch: Dog Days looks like a title to watch. Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days will be available for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on 27th August 2010.

- Ian Young

Stay tuned to The Newb Review for further coverage of this game.

Welcome to the inaugural edition of a new feature we’re trying out on the site: ‘A Newb’s Guide To…’. The basic premise behind this is that The Newb Review offer you our expertise on various challenges in the world of gaming.

Unlike other sites, we will not be offering up plain old game guides – that’s what Game FAQs is for – instead we will offer advice and tips for some of the latest and hottest games as well as general issues in gaming.

Without further ado, we hand you over to Luke Mears for his Mass Effect 2 Insanity Difficulty tips.

Before getting started I feel there is an issue that needs to be addressed. Most sane people will likely be asking themselves ‘why would I even bother such a hideous task?’. Sure, there is a nice 75 point achievement for completing the game on insanity, but is it really worth the effort?

It is no secret that the choices you make in Mass Effect 2 will make an impact in your playthrough of Mass Effect 3. Just look at how completed save files from Mass Effect 1 affected your Mass Effect 2 game; as well as determining who lived or died, importing a previous character granted you added experience, extra resources and wealth, all of which went a long way towards helping you in your battle against the Reapers.

According to one of the loading screens, your Mass Effect 2 save file and completion stats will be uploaded to Mass Effect 3 and will presumably offer similar bonuses. However, while completing the game once is all very well and good, in order to get the most benefit from your save file you will need to complete Mass Effect 2 on the highest difficulty: Insanity.

As the name suggests, Insanity Difficulty is incredibly difficult. Anyone that has been a regular listener of The Newb Review Podcast will know that I have been struggling with Insanity difficulty for months now. After reaching the halfway point, I found myself trapped in a battle I could not possibly win. Despite trying strategy after strategy to overcome the odds, I simply could not progress any further.

It was at this point that I had an epiphany, and have subsequently beaten the game on Insanity Difficulty. Like a Preacher of old, I come here now to share the good word with you. Below are my observations and recommendations for creating the ideal character and squad to get you and your team mates through Mass Effect 2 on Insanity Difficulty.

Play the game

This may sound obvious, considering that you need to beat the game at least once before you can unlock Insanity Difficulty, but I recommend that you play the whole game on Normal Difficulty. Take the opportunity to experiment with squad members and their abilities, and find the most useful squad for the way you play.

Make sure that you recruit every possible team member and complete every single one of their loyalty missions. By earning the loyalty of a squad member you are able to teach yourself one of their unique moves as well as earning an achievement.

'Bloody Collectors, stealing our men folk!'

You may be the sort of person that does not care about achievements, but these achievements are important if you want to stand a chance at beating the game on Insanity.

Playing through the entire game also gives you the chance to become aware of what challenges you will face and help in choosing the ideal squad for each mission.

Start from scratch

I know this will sound stupid, but resist all temptations you have to import your completed Mass Effect 2 character into your new Insanity play through; it will only hold you back. You see, once you finish the game you can then import your Commander Shepard and continue using him/her in a new game. While all of your experience is carried over, none of your purchased weapons/ship upgrades/armour upgrades carry over, which will leave you at a strong disadvantage.

The Solider is an ideal class for your Insanity Playthrough

Enemy strength is linked to your own experience level, so even a fully maxed-out character may find that without the best weapon upgrades, the higher level enemies will pulverise you. Likewise, if you start at experience level 1 the enemies will be relatively weak and easy to kill.

When picking a new character I would recommend the Soldier Class, simply because their adrenaline rush ability is so useful as it slows down time and dramatically boosts damage. When coupled with the sniper riffle you can easily pick off even the strongest of enemies with a few well placed shots.

The Soldier also has Disruptor rounds, which are particularly effective at breaking down Shields and damaging synthetic enemies.

Once you start a new character, the game will scan your achievements and reward you with the special abilities of the characters you have made loyal. Unfortunately you can only use one of these abilities at a time – I would recommend something that boosts your defensive abilities, such as Legion’s Shield Boost.

Be Methodical

When playing missions, make sure to scan every possible item, hack every PDA and Safe, and pick up every resource you can find. As well as giving you more money to purchase upgrades and materials to manufacture upgrades, every mission has hidden weapon and armour upgrades that will significantly boost your performance, as well as the performance of the squad.

If you have the downloadable characters you should complete their loyalty missions as well

This also means recruiting every squad member, and completing every loyalty mission. I know you have already done it once, but if you skip out on one mission you can potentially miss that one vital upgrade that would make the difference between dominating your enemy and cowering from a laser beam enema.

Spend Spend Spend!

Make sure to scour the shops on each of the hub worlds: Illium, The Citadel, Omega, and Tuchunka, and buy as many upgrades as you can afford. Once you have cleared a shop out of their inventory it would be worth returning after completing a few missions as every now and then they get new stock in.

It is also worth noting that the shop keepers on The Citadel and Omega can be persuaded to offer you a discount, so long as you are charismatic enough.

Scanning planets has been made less tedious thanks to a recent patch.

Upgrades that should take priority include: Medigel Capacity, Damage Resistance and the upgrades for your weapon of choice.

Between missions unwind by exploring the galaxy, and scan planets for vital resources. Scanning Planets has been dramatically sped up thanks to a recent patch, so now there is no excuse for not mining planets for resources. By flying to unexplored sectors of space you can scan planets for minerals and elements that are vital in upgrade creation. A pro tip to avoid wasting your time is to only scan planets with moderate or high levels of resources.

Use Your Points Wisely

Prioritise spending your experience points on skills you really need. One of the best skills to max out first is the skill that dictates the health and damage stats. If you have followed my advice and picked a Solider, I would advise not spending any points on the Cryo Ammo, simply because it is not that useful.

Ignore useless abilities!

Focus on increasing your health, improving the Adrenaline Rush, making your Disruptor Ammo stronger, and improving the Shield Boost ability. Those will be your go-to skills.

The same goes for squad members; do not rely on auto point spend to save time, it will be the death of you.  Pick the skills that you feel are most useful for each squad mate and do not waste a single point on useless skills.

Carefully Select Your Squad

Armed with the knowledge of what awaits you, you should be able to choose the ideal squad mate for every mission. However, as you have to recruit most of your team, not everyone will be available to you from the start. Your initial team of Miranda and Jacob will be perfectly fine for the earlier missions, but Jacob in particular quickly displays his weaknesses.

If you recruit everyone you will be able to handle every possible situation

When presented with the choice on where to start, head to the Krogan recruitment mission, as Grunt is the most powerful member of your team. He is armed with incendiary ammo, which burns through armour and flesh. When teamed with Miranda who has the Overload ability, which destroys shields and machinery, and Warp power, which damages Biotic Barriers, you team can cover pretty much any combat situation.

Remember which squad members worked out well for you in your first play through, and try using them again.

Be Patient, Be Prepared

There is only really one noticeable difficulty spike on Insanity, the section in which you board the deserted Collector Vessel. Before accepting the mission make sure you have completed as many missions as possible, and purchased every upgrade you can. As most enemies will have either Armour or Biotic Barriers, a team consisting of Grunt and Miranda is pretty useful.

Get used to getting into this position...

When facing off against Harbinger and the Scions, your best bet is to activate the Soldier’s Adrenaline boost ability and pelt them with Sniper Riffle rounds to the head. The Scions should take no more than 4 shots using this tactic.

Armed with the Soldier’s Shield Boost bonus, you will have a much easier time. Remember to stay in cover and make sure that your team does the same; when popping out of cover be prepared to activate your Shield Boost, as you will likely get shot to ribbons. The added protection of the Shield Boost should give you enough time to fire off a few well placed shots and take your foes down one at a time.

So there you have it, everything you need to get through the toughest challenge Mass Effect 2 has to offer. If you have any of your own pro tips to contribute, be sure to post below or head over to the forum and let us know.

Game

Army of Two: The 40th Day is the sequel to the flawed-but-fun third person shooter released at the beginning of 2008. Salem and Rios, the titular heroes from the original, return to wreak havoc as they attempt to escape Shanghai whilst terrorists attack the city in droves. The over-arching story is less than clear however, as it is unclear why Salem and Rios are in Shanghai or why the city is being attacked at all.

This could all be a clever nod to the fact that in a real terrorist attack, information would be sketchy and you would be unsure as to what exactly was going on. However, I wouldn’t give the writers so much credit, this game neither attempts nor pretends to show any kind of intelligence in terms of narrative or character motivation. If you’re looking for narrative clarity, pick up Bayonetta over this; you might have more of a clue as to the story.

So whilst the narrative is wafer thin at best and character motivations are almost entirely absent, your motivation as a gamer is clear: if it moves, kill it. Weapon customisations have been ramped up to help deal out death in various different ways. Guns can be upgraded to change attributes such as the amount of attention a gun draws, damage, bullet spread and accuracy, which brings a tactical element to an otherwise typically primitive shooter experience.

The aforementioned attention your gun draws, or aggro, is the chief tactic to be employed during play. Basically, the bigger and louder the gun, the more the enemy will focus on the man holding it. Thus, your partner is free to run around, laying down enemies with almost no interference.

With enough aggro your partner will be all but invisible to the enemy

With an AI partner in tow, you have some control over actions; sending him up to be aggressive or hold back in a defensive stance. But the real fun here is the surprisingly in depth tactics of advance and retreat when playing with a human partner. The more intense sections of the game become even more so when you’re relying on the guy sitting next to you or a friend over the internet. This translates into a real sense of teamwork and achievement after you’ve cleared a particularly challenging room.

Further weapon enhancements come with the ability to increase the aggro your gun pulls by painting the gun in a variety of patterns, or going the whole hog and decking it out in gold and silver for maximum effect. Affixing a bayonet to the end is also particularly satisfying; be sure to unleash a close-up mêlée attack for the full effect.

Running in brainlessly is the fastest way to catch bullets in your torso

Added silliness is found in the interactions between your two main characters. Fans of the first game might be perturbed to hear that new actors voice Rios and Salem. However this has only raised the quality as they berate and chide each other from scene to scene. The ability to congratulate or abuse your team mate is also back, and will have an impact on the ending of the game, as the trophy/achievement list shows you can either end as best buds or fractured friends.

Another addition is the opportunity for a quick game of rock – paper – scissors, which seems a little inappropriate when you’re standing over the bloodied corpses of your enemies. This serves no real purpose other than a spot of frivolity, in case you thought the narrative was getting a little heavy.

You're treated to frequent spurts of humour, whether you want them or not

This game is geared towards co-op play; either online or using local split-screen. Playing on your lonesome you certainly lose a lot of what makes this game fun to play; the tactics and camaraderie on screen. Split screen is also a little problematic. The game default is a vertical split that can impede your view at times, especially if playing on a smaller television set. Not letting players choose between vertical or horizontal split is practically criminal in modern gaming. However this problem does ease with time and a little patience. Also, with the press of a button you can make the camera shift across to your other shoulder, which is a vital addition in some of the tighter set pieces and goes some way to rectify the hindered peripheral vision.

Visually the game isn’t fantastic, but it is functional and fun. Buildings will explode in the distance and crumble to the ground and whilst these effects look a little blocky and basic, it only adds to the humour and allows you to detach yourself from any thoughts of the horrific deaths of innocent bystanders. There’s not even a hint of the gravitas you might find in the heavier scenes of Modern Warfare 2, but this is a game that by its very nature knows what it is and exploits it to the max.

And you thought the riot shield from Modern Warfare 2 was fun!

In terms of sound, the game arguably impresses more than with its visuals. Explosions will dazzle your ears more than your eyes and gun fights really immerse you into each battle, if only until Salem or Rios utter something inappropriate to drag you right back out again. The voice acting, especially for the two main characters, is far stronger than in the original title. Using established actors (surprise, surprise Nolan North is in this) who clearly have fun playing these characters has increased the quality substantially.

The multiplayer was seriously lacking in the first Army of Two, and you’ll be happy to hear that EA have gone to great lengths to address this with the sequel. There are now up to ten people per map and several game modes to play with. Co-op death match is present, as you would expect, where teams of two battle it out for supremacy. Control and extraction are also fairly standard, which are essentially ‘hold the base’ and ‘survival’ respectively. The final mode, Warzone, is a breath of fresh air, as teams fight it out with various objectives flashing up during the match. Whilst this final mode is more inventive than the other three, there isn’t really anything here that isn’t done better in other games.

Overall, The 40th day presents an enjoyable package that isn’t revolutionary or even particularly inventive, but impresses with its balls out mentality and shameless superficiality. If you and a friend have been looking for a fun co-op experience, look no further. Army of Two: The 40th Day is available on the PS3 and XBox 360 (and PSP, but we haven’t reviewed that yet). You can pick it up through our amazon shop to help support the site.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 2/5 – They serve a purpose but not particularly well. The game looks a lot better up-close, as with the character design, than further away. Some of the collapsing buildings in the distance look almost comical.

Sound: 3/5 – The characters are voiced well and the relationship between the protagonists is particularly strong. Explosions and gunfire are convincing. Overall the sound is good, but there isn’t anything here that is outstanding.

Gameplay: 3/5 – The lack of options with local split screen is criminal. Movement and aiming takes a little getting used to, especially if you’re familiar with mainstream FPS titles. There are occasional camera issues, as with most games using the third person perspective.

Longevity: 3/5 – The main campaign will take around 10 hours to complete; less if you rush through on the easiest difficulty. The morality choices add little to the overall experience and won’t have you clambering to play through again as a title such as inFamous would. Multiplayer is a fine distraction but won’t hold your attention for long.

Overall: 3/5 – This is a fun little co-op shooter that I recommend if you want something more than a standard head-to-head experience with a friend.

[starreview tpl=16]