Man...Or Astro-Man? Analog Series (Vol. 1) & Transformers: Fall Of Cybertron

Slightly longer reviews.

MAN OR ASTRO-MAN? - Analog Series (Vol. 1)

There is new music by Man...Or Astro-Man?, the first batch of new material since 2000/2001 with the tour-only Spectrum Of Finite Scale (which was a companion piece to Spectrum of Infinite Scale, their last actual full length). I guess since singles are back in style, the Grid Sector residents are putting out their next album bit by bit. Analog Series (Vol. 2) should be released later this month.



I'm not just excited. I'm overjoyed and overwhelmed, because I just didn't expect these guys to put out new material even though they were doing small tours. I saw them at their 'official' 'farewell' show at Touch & Go's 25th anniversary/Hideout Block Party and that was a great set, but I'm guessing they weren't thrilled with how they went out and decided to give it another go. Who knows, not my concern: they're back on Earth, they played great when I saw them this summer, and now here's a new EP. Or single. Whatever.

It's just three songs, "Defcon-5," "Anti-Matter Man," "Dr. Space." All three of them are callbacks to their retro surfy material, as opposed to the noisy experimental indie thing they were going for with Spectrum and Eeviac. There's a powerful 'wall of sound' going on right from the getgo with "Defcon-5," which sounds straight out of my favorite Astro-Man album, Experiment Zero. "Anti-Matter Man" has vocals and some wild guitars and drums. Both songs sounds bombastic and energetic. "Dr. Space" opens with and features an accordion.

That's pretty much it. The deeper meaning? None that I can find or expound on. Great riffs, lots of energy, sounds great retro-future 'n' all. It might be annoying to some to buy this album piece by piece but I don't mind this format (especially since not all songs will be on whatever full length will result from this).

Here's a great website dedicated to all things Astro-Man.

TRANSFORMERS - FALL OF CYBERTRON

It's the sequel to War For Cybertron. Optimus Prime & crew are trying to leave Cybertron, Starscream & the Decepticons won't let them. Oh noes!

The first game was half Decepticons, then half Autobots. You blitz through it and then you go online and kill people online. This game serves the same purpose. You start off as the Autobots. Instead of choosing one of three characters per level, you have to play a certain character due to their special abilities or for reasons made clear near the end of the level. So no playing Sideswipe for me until I create a Sideswipe online. Once you complete this level or that level, you play a different character, and then at the sixth level you start playing the Decepticons. At some point you're Starscream and you (SPOILER) accidentally free Grimlock, and then the fun begins.

Gameplay is somewhat the same. You can switch firing hands and thus perspective (from your character on the left side of the screen to the right) but this is really just so you can aim from certain parts of the playing field depending on what's in the way. I'm left handed and I have a hard time focusing the character's aim when he's left handed. You also don't double jump, you jump once and then hit the dash button to get over bigger obstacles. There's a lot more "press X to...beat this this guy" kinda commands where you just hit the requested button to advance the game (see that South Park bit where Stan gives Kyle a hard time for being impressed by LA Noire, you'll get the idea).

The most positive difference is the weapon choices: they actually reduced the number of weapons (at least early on) and you get to pick which ones you want, a heavy (such as missile launcher) or light (machine gun to sniper rifle). There's a few weapons you can pick up, such as 'chaos rift' that shoot balls of who knows what that ended up being too difficult for me to use in the heat of the battle, usually because I found them in the heat of the battle. There's Teletraan stores where you can not only choose these weapons, but also upgrade them so they contain more ammo or don't shake too much while you're trying to aim, also a huge plus. Some of the weapons you'd start up with in War For or were forced to used on the situation would suck, at least for me, so it's great having the weapons I'm best at from the getgo. There's also these containers that you can use to give you the weapons you can't get at Teletraan, but these cost a lot of game money and the weapons end up as a disappointment compared to the easily accessible and usable missile launcher.

One of the selling points? You get to be Bruticus, one of the Decepticon combiners. It's for a half a level here and there but it's not that impressive. You're just this big buy blitzing through a stage and killing a bunch of little Autobots. Some people have complained about the Grimlock levels, where he can't turn into a dinosaur until you destroy a certain amount of Insecticons. I actually enjoyed that condition, and playing the cumbersome dinosaur was still a blast.

So upgrades to the limited amount of weapons, a plus. Limiting characters we can play for the story part of the game, not so much.

The game itself is pretty wild. I didn't have time to explore every corner of the level, and I got the feeling that there's more to explore this time around. I've only played two rounds of the multiplayer. I suck at it, but that's why the game exists.

Also keep in mind that the only reason I bought this game is because it had the word "Transformers" in it.

I'd like a game with more exploration. Once you're done with the level, that part of the game is over. You can replay it, but you'd just be replaying the level, maybe getting an easter egg you didn't find the first run. I'd like something where you're one character you chose and you have to go back to that level you beat to find something that wasn't there the first time. Upgrade the characters as well as the weapons, and give it more actual story beyond walking around and shooting at things and occasionally (hence the title) transforming into something.

That's it.