[via Yahoo Games]

Darkest of Days is a first person shooter game and a very good one in fact. The game starts off with you fighting in the battle of Little Big Horn. After you are saved from being killed in battle, you start your training and go through the game tutorial, pretty short and solid. It gives you a run down on the different weapons you use. You even get to fire some Civil War era artillery which is fun and different.

 

The graphics are pretty detailed, especially since you are traveling through time, the game keeps the design of the cloths and weaponry  very accurate to the time as well. The weapons, methods of traveling, and even the music, are correct for the time period. There is a part where you hear guys singing and playing music around the camp fire very Southern-like, which is appropriate for the civil war. Even the the terrain that you are fighting in is very realistic when you go from war to war. The civil war land is less developed and you are fighting in a more rugged wooded area compared to when you are in Europe during WW2 in a POW camp. Even in Pompei 79 AD, the game gave a great impression of what the Roman city would have been like. The movement of all the characters are all very fluid as you are ducking and running.

During each battle you have to avoid killing anyone with a blue aura. These are people that are meant to survive the battle. Your options are really to shoot them in the leg or arm so they are taken out of battle or you can use your chasers which are a weapon from the future that disables the enemy without killing them. If you kill 3 people that you are supposed to save, an opposition from the future tries to come and kill you. This is difficult, and you do not want to face them. You can kill them and take their weapons but it is not easy.

The weapons are true to the era so you are not able to bring back and forth weapons from the future to fight in a battle – DAMN! I would have loved have taken a musket to a German.  During Civil War Battles you have a musket which you can reload by packing the bullet and gun powder down the barrel. This is also time consuming so it is not like other shooter games where you can go running around with guns blazing. Once you travel to WW1 you see the weapons and clothes change which makes it easier to engage your enemies. Semi- automatic weapons become available as well as grenades during this time period.

However, in the case where an opposition from the future comes to track you down you are able to use their future weapons against them. They are hard to kill and get the weapons because they have future armor and technology that a musket or M1 can not compete with. With all the weapons whether it is a classic revolver from the wild west or a musket from the Civil War, the aiming and positioning in a FPS is always essential and in this game its very good. You get to zoom in on your targets in order to get that good headshot or when you need to pop someone while they are riding their horse.

Conclusion:

Darkest of days not only takes you through one war but many wars at different periods in time. For a FPS shooter it really immerses you in the game with your surroundings and lets you experience what it was like to be a soldier during these times, with a twist of course. The only downside is this game is a little hard and the graphics are bit dated. I lowered the difficultly level to easy and found that it is still challenging. So it isn’t ideal for the impatient or a newer gamer. Others may have an issue with some historical mistakes during the wars or the fact that what you do, really has no effect in the long run or change any historical outcome. I personally don’t take any game that seriously regardless of its content. But if you are up for a challenge and enjoy first person shooter games, you are in luck with Darkest Days as long as you don’t take it too seriously. Darkest of Days for Xbox 360 retails for 41.99 at Amazon.

The Good: An ambitious game that tries to give you a history lesson but still exhibit the guts and glory of a FPS war game.

The Bad: Its difficulty could scare away casual gamers or those new to the genre. Those who are history buffs may be turned off by the historical inaccuracies in the game.

Check out the long jump game! With the ball in his pocket, Peter demonstrates how the sensor can sense his speed and the height of his jump to reflect on the long jump.

When the game first opens there is no Paul in a car driving and Ringo on the top of it screaming at the top of his lungs while beating the drums like previous versions of the game (with different characters obviously), no it’s the most beautiful video trailer to a game I have seen in a very long time. You are introduced to the Beatles though their meager beginnings performing in Liverpool to Beatlemania to the trippy late 60’s which eventually lead to the end at Abbey Road. You see the band pass by older and younger versions of themselves along with screaming fans chasing after them. The finale of the intro is the most beautifully high on LSD visual experience to watch without being physically high. Elephants, penguins, and other whimsical characters dancing and walking along as the Beatles look down upon it. Welcome to Beatles Rock Band.

 

I didn’t get a chance to review the game with the special addition Beatles Rickenbacker 325 and Gretsch Duo Jet guitars, but honestly you don’t need them, unless you want to really complete the time warp. This version of Rock Band is different just from pushing the Start button. You are introduced to fluid menu screens with rich graphics that would give Guitar Hero a run for its money. No visual detail was spared. You can enjoy a Quickplay or Story Mode. I opted for Story Mode. Once you get started it asks you to calibrate your instruments and TV because some may experience a delay if not calibrated correctly. Once you get passed that, you are taken to a loading screen of the Cavern club where it all began. Fans screaming – the Beatles looking as innocent as ever. I was hoping for some black leather duds, but no just clean-cut suits. You start out with 4 songs: Twist and Shout, Boys, Do You Want to Know a Secret, and I Saw Her Standing There. The one thing you will notice in these earlier years of the Beatles is just like their songs – the notes are simple to play as well. The notes are bigger too – thank god! No eye strain here. The Beatles also like their chord notes. Not too much time passes by without having to hold down on average two buttons at a time and then quickly switching to press down another  chord combo.

The Beatles themselves look like caricatures of themselves but done in a respectful way. Paul still has that baby face look, Ringo is well Ringo, George looks the most realistic, and then John. Yes, John, my most favorite Beatle and lead singer and guitarist on the majority of the Beatles catalog, and yet I didn’t feel like I saw enough of him. No – who did I see more? George! Yes George – he gets an extreme amount of screen time that he didn’t get in real life and I wonder if that’s because his son Dhani modeled for his likeness in the game. Even Paul and his big cheeks didn’t get as much upfront camera time as George. I Love George too, but in my opinion it was a little too much. All the Beatles sing their respective songs and harmonize when necessary. If you are a true Beatle fan you will appreciate the fine details of the imagery used when certain songs play as they borrow directly from various Beatles movies like Yellow Submarine and Magical Mystery Tour.

There are 45 songs to play through and depending on how well you do – 5 stars will unlock pictures and awards to other goodies buried in the game. Once you are finished up at the Cavern Club you have hit it big time and on your way to Ed Sullivan, Shea Staduim, Budokan, Abbey Road (three sets are played here), Rooftop Concert and then finally an Encore. The song list is extensive but personally my fave years are at Abbey Road during there high as a kites days. The guitar riffs become much more enjoyable to play and the keys are broken up and not incessant chord combos repeating. You almost don’t want to play so that  you can soak in the beautifully done video sequences as the song is played. As a matter of fact, it becomes especially distracting on certain songs like “I’m the Walrus” and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” but I guess that is the point. You can’t really fail while playing this game since there is a “No Fail Mode,” But even so you just don’t want to. You sing along and tap your feet and for a few hours you are a Beatle.

Of course the crux of the game is the three part harmony which playing as a group is probably harder than playing all the instruments together as a whole. You don’t realize till then, how John’s voice and even George’s chained so frequently as the years have gone on and some of those notes are just impossible to hit without enduring a sore throat. But we tried as we might and even if it made my dog and rabbits cover their ears as we hit the notes hard, and did we hit them hard.

Conclusion:

You will not be disappointed with Rock Band Beatles, in fact you will be encouraged to keep on playing even after you beat all 45 songs in a day. With more content to come and features that can only be unlocked if you get a crew together to play it, because you need the massive points, it will only encourage your friends and family to Come Together. The Beatles: Rock Band retails for $59.99. If you want the Beatlesesque instruments I suggest just getting  The Beatles: Rock Band Limited Edition which retails for $249.99 which is basically all you will need to become a full fledged Beatle.

The Good: Excellent graphics, re-mastered songs, never before seen unlocked goodies and you get to be a Beatle for several hours – What more could you want?

The Bad: Less George, more John. The background imagery can actually be a bit distracting during some songs.

 

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