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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Action Developer: Artificial Studios Publisher: South Peak Interactive |
“Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia” has been on every gamers’ radar before anyone knew what a next generation game should or
would look like. On the surface, the game sounded like an amazingly attractive package, a top down action game with upgradeable
weapons, four player co-op play, online multiplayer and an over exaggerated Halloween theme. All of the proper components are in the
game, but this is one instance where the final product as a whole turned out to be worth a lot less than the sum of all of its parts.
The most important piece of information that players need to know before purchasing “Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia” is the
difference between the Adventure mode of the game and the Online Multiplayer modes that are available. The Adventure mode is the
meat of the story portion of the game. There is a very thin plot line that acts as an excuse to rip through five monster infested zones of
suburbia. Each zone contains four levels and gives players a decent amount of play time. This is also the part of the game where
players are able to collect monster tokens, weapon upgrades and attempt to collect the creative achievements that are packaged with
the game. Unfortunately the Adventure mode only supports local multiplayer and isn’t playable through Xbox Live. The online
multiplayer offering takes place in arena environments that are separate from the Adventure mode.
The lack of an Online Adventure mode is a significant detail that is missing, considering the top down action games have supported
online multiplayer since the PlayStation 2. It is a shame that “Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia” was designed to be played by
multiple players at one time. The number of enemies, items and hidden objects packed into each environment is very impressive, but
running around each environment grabbing everything that is available isn’t much fun to do alone. Without the option of fighting against
friends to pick up items in the game, it quickly becomes a repetitive hacking and slashing ordeal. Getting a group of people together to
play on a single system would be preferable for playing the game, but the camera has to pull so far back that it is difficult to capture all of
the action of the screen.
There are a total of four characters in the game, each one fitting into a high school stereotype, the geek, the stone, the cheerleader and
the goth. They have unique special attacks and melee weapons, but they play nearly identical. Controls a very general and are easy to
pick up and play. Players move their character with the left analog stick, turn with the right analog stick and attack using the right trigger.
Projectile weapons are launched with the left trigger, the bumpers cycle through each type of weapon and clicking the R3 or L3 causes
a character to jump forward or straight up. Nearly every control command feels loose and slightly unresponsive.
The weapon upgrade system could have been the one element of the game that could have saved “Monster Madness: Battle for
Suburbia,” but it too was flawed. Players start with a weapon that can be found laying around a typical home, a plunger, broom, saw
and must collect everyday items to create more powerful weapons like a pipe shotgun or CD launcher. After the player finds all of the
required parts, weapons are purchased from a moving shop called Larry’s Tool Trailer. Larry accepts monster tokens as currency and
they can only be obtained by slaying monsters. Weapons are too expensive and sometimes they aren’t any more powerful than the
character’s default melee weapon. Lowering the difficulty level makes it easier to assemble weapons, but they are still useless unless
players take the time to upgrade them.
Adding to the frustration is the fact that the weapon shop and checkpoints show up at odd intervals. Ammunition and health stations
appear more frequently which are critical because of the fact that there are no quick save functions. What time means is that if players
haven’t reached one of the random checkpoints and they die, it is back to the start of the level without all of the loot collected. This is
even worse when a death is caused by a random environment kill or because players accidently fall of a ledge. It is these instances
that bring about couch punching and controller throwing.
The Multiplayer mode of the game has its own problems. The arenas are much smaller with a pulled back camera and ends up being
a lot less fun. In the larger environments the game feels more like a third person shooter. There are plenty of modes to play around
with, including Capture the Flag, King of the Hill and a cooperative challenge called The Dojo, where players face wave after wave of
ever increasing numbers of enemies and fight for tokens. All of these options would have been appreciated if the core combat and
presentation were better. The fighting isn’t fun and any number of modes, online functions or weapons can change this.
Even if “Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia” didn’t have all of its flaws and downfalls, it still balances on a fine line between a fun
experience and a boring experience. The main ideas behind the game are great, but the poor implementation often leads to
frustration. The numerous issues in the game play aren’t helped with the fact that this full priced title could have easily been offered on
Xbox Live Arcade. This is a scary game, not because of monsters, but because of the horrors it offers in the game play functionality.
would look like. On the surface, the game sounded like an amazingly attractive package, a top down action game with upgradeable
weapons, four player co-op play, online multiplayer and an over exaggerated Halloween theme. All of the proper components are in the
game, but this is one instance where the final product as a whole turned out to be worth a lot less than the sum of all of its parts.
The most important piece of information that players need to know before purchasing “Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia” is the
difference between the Adventure mode of the game and the Online Multiplayer modes that are available. The Adventure mode is the
meat of the story portion of the game. There is a very thin plot line that acts as an excuse to rip through five monster infested zones of
suburbia. Each zone contains four levels and gives players a decent amount of play time. This is also the part of the game where
players are able to collect monster tokens, weapon upgrades and attempt to collect the creative achievements that are packaged with
the game. Unfortunately the Adventure mode only supports local multiplayer and isn’t playable through Xbox Live. The online
multiplayer offering takes place in arena environments that are separate from the Adventure mode.
The lack of an Online Adventure mode is a significant detail that is missing, considering the top down action games have supported
online multiplayer since the PlayStation 2. It is a shame that “Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia” was designed to be played by
multiple players at one time. The number of enemies, items and hidden objects packed into each environment is very impressive, but
running around each environment grabbing everything that is available isn’t much fun to do alone. Without the option of fighting against
friends to pick up items in the game, it quickly becomes a repetitive hacking and slashing ordeal. Getting a group of people together to
play on a single system would be preferable for playing the game, but the camera has to pull so far back that it is difficult to capture all of
the action of the screen.
There are a total of four characters in the game, each one fitting into a high school stereotype, the geek, the stone, the cheerleader and
the goth. They have unique special attacks and melee weapons, but they play nearly identical. Controls a very general and are easy to
pick up and play. Players move their character with the left analog stick, turn with the right analog stick and attack using the right trigger.
Projectile weapons are launched with the left trigger, the bumpers cycle through each type of weapon and clicking the R3 or L3 causes
a character to jump forward or straight up. Nearly every control command feels loose and slightly unresponsive.
The weapon upgrade system could have been the one element of the game that could have saved “Monster Madness: Battle for
Suburbia,” but it too was flawed. Players start with a weapon that can be found laying around a typical home, a plunger, broom, saw
and must collect everyday items to create more powerful weapons like a pipe shotgun or CD launcher. After the player finds all of the
required parts, weapons are purchased from a moving shop called Larry’s Tool Trailer. Larry accepts monster tokens as currency and
they can only be obtained by slaying monsters. Weapons are too expensive and sometimes they aren’t any more powerful than the
character’s default melee weapon. Lowering the difficulty level makes it easier to assemble weapons, but they are still useless unless
players take the time to upgrade them.
Adding to the frustration is the fact that the weapon shop and checkpoints show up at odd intervals. Ammunition and health stations
appear more frequently which are critical because of the fact that there are no quick save functions. What time means is that if players
haven’t reached one of the random checkpoints and they die, it is back to the start of the level without all of the loot collected. This is
even worse when a death is caused by a random environment kill or because players accidently fall of a ledge. It is these instances
that bring about couch punching and controller throwing.
The Multiplayer mode of the game has its own problems. The arenas are much smaller with a pulled back camera and ends up being
a lot less fun. In the larger environments the game feels more like a third person shooter. There are plenty of modes to play around
with, including Capture the Flag, King of the Hill and a cooperative challenge called The Dojo, where players face wave after wave of
ever increasing numbers of enemies and fight for tokens. All of these options would have been appreciated if the core combat and
presentation were better. The fighting isn’t fun and any number of modes, online functions or weapons can change this.
Even if “Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia” didn’t have all of its flaws and downfalls, it still balances on a fine line between a fun
experience and a boring experience. The main ideas behind the game are great, but the poor implementation often leads to
frustration. The numerous issues in the game play aren’t helped with the fact that this full priced title could have easily been offered on
Xbox Live Arcade. This is a scary game, not because of monsters, but because of the horrors it offers in the game play functionality.
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