I've played GTA4 for about 4 hours today and I have to say that it is fantastic so far. For the majority of the time I played the story, and I have to say that you can tell the demeanor and behavior of a character within the first 5 seconds they are on screen. The way characters move on screen is fantastic. People in passing cars turn their heads to watch you beat up a hobo, if you run into someone they pull out their weapon, and groups of people converse and watch as you crash into walls.
Occasionally I would take a break from missions to go careening down the sidewalk to watch ragdolls rocket over the top of my car. If getting giddy while hearing the screams of the innocent crying out over a cocophany of scraping sheet metal, police sirens, and breaking bodies makes me a bad person then call me Adolf Hitler.
Also, I saw the most painful looking thing ever while attempting to wheelie over the tops of cars. At a certain speed motorcycles cannot wheelie. I did not realize this and thought the idea of launching off of the top of a Ferrari at 90 MPH was too awesome to resist. I ended up smashing into a Ferrari at full speed (which the impact itself killed me), the color washed out, the game slowed down as I careened through the sky; but then the game sped up and I watched my helpless corpse smash into an overpass and I heard the unmistakable sound of every bone in the human body breaking simultaneously. This is the one reason that I wish the game had replay capabilities.
All in all, I love the game so far and expect a full review soon.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
GTA 4!!!
I will be playing GTA4 later this week so expect a review of it by the end of next week. I have been studying my ass off for finals (which are next week) and I haven't really had a lot of time to review or play games.
I should be back playing games and doing news posts regularly in a few weeks.
I should be back playing games and doing news posts regularly in a few weeks.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Review: Ranbow Six: Vegas 2 (Updated)
*online gameplay may have subtle differences*
I was sitting in a friend's room one day and another buddy of mine came in and said, "Hey, wanna come play Vegas 2 with me?" To me the answer was simple, "Most definitely." While I have never really been all too interested in any of the Rainbow Six games that were previously released, I decided to give this game a try. I found myself enthralled in the gameplay mechanics and some unique features, but then all of a sudden the euphoria I was feeling was prematurely aborted.
The co-op storyline lasts all of three and a half hours. While I'm sure that the single player storyline is a bit longer, I don't understand why the co-op game's length was so short. Me and my friend had a great deal of fun with Army of Two (we even played through the game again) and that game took a good 6-7 hours to complete. That's a good length for a co-op experience if the game has enough content and variation in gameplay to fill it. Based on my short time with the game, it definitely could have included a full 6 hour co-op story. Another thing that made me feel unfulfilled was that by the time we had played through the story mode, neither of us had unlocked many guns.
*SPOILER ALERT* THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS. HIGHLIGHT THE DARK TEXT TO READ.
On top of the brevity of the story, the level design and story didn't make a whole lot of sense in some portions. In one level in particular you start off in a library, then you go outside and just across the parking lot there's a residential area. Makes sense to me so far as libraries are often near residential areas. However, here's where things get weird. The residential area turns into a junkyard that is full of broken pieces of neon signs and old structural supports. Then, without going up in altitude, you are on the roofs of buildings and a helicopter comes to pick you up from a heliport. What? Also, the graveness of certain situations are not fully realized it seems. Late in the game it is discovered that your old colleague has betrayed you and the terrorists have the personal information of you and your teammates. this includes address and addresses of immediate family as well as credit card numbers. After the final "Boss fight" though, everything is happy go lucky. You get a promotion and everyone pretends that nothing bad ever happened.
One of the somewhat unique features in Vegas is that when you kill guys you get experience and as you gain levels you unlock new articles of clothing, armor, and camo patterns. You unlock guns by getting kills that are categorized in one of three categories Marksmanship, CQB, and Assault. Marksmanship points are earned by getting kills at long range, getting headshots, or killing running opponents and they unlock sniper rifles and accurate assault rifles. Close Quarters Battle (CQB) points are earned by killing enemies that are up close or that have their backs turned to you and unlocks SMGs and pistols. Assault points are earned by killing enemies with grenades or killing opponents through other objects and these points unlock shotguns and light machine guns. Each action gives a different number of points as well, so in co-op it feels like a competition to see who can do more difficult things. You don't really feel like you're working with the other player as much as you're working against them at some points in the game.
There are also some really weird glitches that I experienced while playing. These may be due to a lack of split-screen optimization, but they are present nonetheless. The first glitch I encountered was one where enemies would glitch to and from cover. For instance, an enemy pokes out from behind cover and I shoot at him with my sniper rifle and he jumps back behind the pillar as the bullet is flying through mid air. This wasn't very prevalent, but it occured a half a dozen times to me over the 3 hour experience. Also, invisible edges of cover that prevented bullets from hitting enemies was a problem.
Second, there was a glitch where the game would freeze if both players turned on nightvision or thermal vision at the same time. This happened numerous times throughout the game and really broke the flow of the game. It basically prevented us from using the "Throw smoke grenade and use thermal vision to see enemies through it" tactic unless we staggered our activation of thermal vision.
Thirdly, there was massive framerate reduction in rooms that had a lot of color in them. When we ran into a room that had multicolored rock climbing walls the framerate chugged down to 20-30 frames per second. Also this same thing occurred in the boss fight of the last level. This made beating the level terribly difficult. Another indication that this game wasn't optimized for split screen play was the fact that anytime the game had a video it wanted to show you, a screen popped out of the upper left hand corner and took up half of player two's screen, thus neutralizing his effectiveness in shooting and seeing where he was going and forcing us to wait until the video was completed. I found this to be very frustrating throughout the game because theres a video shown at nearly every checkpoint.
The game was by no means horrid though, regardless of my gripes with the coding. The weapon customization was fantastic. You can put any scope on any gun with the exception of the 12x scope which is only exclusive to the sniper rifle. The clothing and camo options are pretty fun to fool around with too occasionally. One thing I haven't mentioned yet is the team AI that you are presented with in co-op.
I still don't truly understand this addition in co-op besides the fact that these two yahoos are the only people that can defuse explosives or hack computers. Some of the levels feel very crowded having four guys there cramped against a single entrance to a room. One unique thing is that you can command your team to prepare to enter a room, then you have the option for them to throw a flashbang or frag grenade in the room before they enter. Most of the time this is only useful for distraction or incapacitation purposes because only the AI team have the ability to open doors and throw a grenade in without being noticed. Sometimes though, the AI refuses to enter a room and you end up running in and have to attempt to take out 7 enemies with only you and your friend.
EDIT: In single player these guys are very useful and the AI works better as long as you always have them with you and have a decent semblance of military tactics.
Even though the game experience was greatly compromised for the split screen aspect of this game, it was still time well spent. If only the game was longer, less glitchy, and more comprehensible would it be a truly great co-op experience. As long as you and a friend have coordination and are familiar with tactical shooters, you should enjoy this game.
I give Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 (UPDATED w/ SP) 2 1/2 stars out of 5
UPDATE: Single-player also has a few of the glitches above. I got about halfway through the SP game and the game froze as well as the cover issues I stated earlier. The game is also not any longer in the single player and all of the guns of the same type feel exactly the same when you shoot them. I have updated my score to reflect these new discoveries.
I was sitting in a friend's room one day and another buddy of mine came in and said, "Hey, wanna come play Vegas 2 with me?" To me the answer was simple, "Most definitely." While I have never really been all too interested in any of the Rainbow Six games that were previously released, I decided to give this game a try. I found myself enthralled in the gameplay mechanics and some unique features, but then all of a sudden the euphoria I was feeling was prematurely aborted.
The co-op storyline lasts all of three and a half hours. While I'm sure that the single player storyline is a bit longer, I don't understand why the co-op game's length was so short. Me and my friend had a great deal of fun with Army of Two (we even played through the game again) and that game took a good 6-7 hours to complete. That's a good length for a co-op experience if the game has enough content and variation in gameplay to fill it. Based on my short time with the game, it definitely could have included a full 6 hour co-op story. Another thing that made me feel unfulfilled was that by the time we had played through the story mode, neither of us had unlocked many guns.
*SPOILER ALERT* THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS. HIGHLIGHT THE DARK TEXT TO READ.
On top of the brevity of the story, the level design and story didn't make a whole lot of sense in some portions. In one level in particular you start off in a library, then you go outside and just across the parking lot there's a residential area. Makes sense to me so far as libraries are often near residential areas. However, here's where things get weird. The residential area turns into a junkyard that is full of broken pieces of neon signs and old structural supports. Then, without going up in altitude, you are on the roofs of buildings and a helicopter comes to pick you up from a heliport. What? Also, the graveness of certain situations are not fully realized it seems. Late in the game it is discovered that your old colleague has betrayed you and the terrorists have the personal information of you and your teammates. this includes address and addresses of immediate family as well as credit card numbers. After the final "Boss fight" though, everything is happy go lucky. You get a promotion and everyone pretends that nothing bad ever happened.
One of the somewhat unique features in Vegas is that when you kill guys you get experience and as you gain levels you unlock new articles of clothing, armor, and camo patterns. You unlock guns by getting kills that are categorized in one of three categories Marksmanship, CQB, and Assault. Marksmanship points are earned by getting kills at long range, getting headshots, or killing running opponents and they unlock sniper rifles and accurate assault rifles. Close Quarters Battle (CQB) points are earned by killing enemies that are up close or that have their backs turned to you and unlocks SMGs and pistols. Assault points are earned by killing enemies with grenades or killing opponents through other objects and these points unlock shotguns and light machine guns. Each action gives a different number of points as well, so in co-op it feels like a competition to see who can do more difficult things. You don't really feel like you're working with the other player as much as you're working against them at some points in the game.
There are also some really weird glitches that I experienced while playing. These may be due to a lack of split-screen optimization, but they are present nonetheless. The first glitch I encountered was one where enemies would glitch to and from cover. For instance, an enemy pokes out from behind cover and I shoot at him with my sniper rifle and he jumps back behind the pillar as the bullet is flying through mid air. This wasn't very prevalent, but it occured a half a dozen times to me over the 3 hour experience. Also, invisible edges of cover that prevented bullets from hitting enemies was a problem.
Second, there was a glitch where the game would freeze if both players turned on nightvision or thermal vision at the same time. This happened numerous times throughout the game and really broke the flow of the game. It basically prevented us from using the "Throw smoke grenade and use thermal vision to see enemies through it" tactic unless we staggered our activation of thermal vision.
Thirdly, there was massive framerate reduction in rooms that had a lot of color in them. When we ran into a room that had multicolored rock climbing walls the framerate chugged down to 20-30 frames per second. Also this same thing occurred in the boss fight of the last level. This made beating the level terribly difficult. Another indication that this game wasn't optimized for split screen play was the fact that anytime the game had a video it wanted to show you, a screen popped out of the upper left hand corner and took up half of player two's screen, thus neutralizing his effectiveness in shooting and seeing where he was going and forcing us to wait until the video was completed. I found this to be very frustrating throughout the game because theres a video shown at nearly every checkpoint.
The game was by no means horrid though, regardless of my gripes with the coding. The weapon customization was fantastic. You can put any scope on any gun with the exception of the 12x scope which is only exclusive to the sniper rifle. The clothing and camo options are pretty fun to fool around with too occasionally. One thing I haven't mentioned yet is the team AI that you are presented with in co-op.
I still don't truly understand this addition in co-op besides the fact that these two yahoos are the only people that can defuse explosives or hack computers. Some of the levels feel very crowded having four guys there cramped against a single entrance to a room. One unique thing is that you can command your team to prepare to enter a room, then you have the option for them to throw a flashbang or frag grenade in the room before they enter. Most of the time this is only useful for distraction or incapacitation purposes because only the AI team have the ability to open doors and throw a grenade in without being noticed. Sometimes though, the AI refuses to enter a room and you end up running in and have to attempt to take out 7 enemies with only you and your friend.
EDIT: In single player these guys are very useful and the AI works better as long as you always have them with you and have a decent semblance of military tactics.
Even though the game experience was greatly compromised for the split screen aspect of this game, it was still time well spent. If only the game was longer, less glitchy, and more comprehensible would it be a truly great co-op experience. As long as you and a friend have coordination and are familiar with tactical shooters, you should enjoy this game.
I give Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 (UPDATED w/ SP) 2 1/2 stars out of 5
UPDATE: Single-player also has a few of the glitches above. I got about halfway through the SP game and the game froze as well as the cover issues I stated earlier. The game is also not any longer in the single player and all of the guns of the same type feel exactly the same when you shoot them. I have updated my score to reflect these new discoveries.
Monday, April 21, 2008
MK Vs. DC and News for the Future.
Sub-Zero V. Katwoman
As most of you who are reading this are probably aware by now, the worlds of Mortal Kombat and DC Comics are colliding. Here's the trailer that was released earlier this week:
The big news about this game is that they are attempting to make it T rated. Although it does look like there will be a decent amount of gore, one can't help but feel like they are selling out their tried and true formula to try and sell the game to a larger audience. To be frank, Mortal Kombat hasn't been relevant for years now and aligning with DC doesn't help all that much.
I personally don't plan on even renting the game because I don't really like fighting games that much. I also never really understood the draw of making games based on comic books or putting comic book characters in games in order to sell more games. I understand that comics are probably a big seller in some parts of the country, but I don't even know of a place that sells comics within a half hour's drive of where I currently live.
It's just a regional thing I'm sure, but the addition of 15 or so comic book characters along with the Mortal Kombat essentials that won't have brutal fatalities just doesn't sound like an intriguing game to me. Unless of course they change their minds on the "T rating" thing and you can cut dudes in half as Batman or blow someones head off with you laser eyes as Superman. Then I may rent the game.
Recent Goings-On in my Life
My apologies for the delay since my last post but I got my gaming PC back from repair on Wednesday of last week and I have been playing some games on that; both new and old. I've been getting back into Company of Heroes and Counter-Strike as well as playing GTA:San Andreas to get into the mood for GTAIV. Also, Nick and I will probably be playing through Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 later this week so expect a review on that soon. My updates will likely be sparse for a while because I have finals in 3 weeks, but after that I will be getting as many reviews up as possible as well as starting to make video reviews which I will post to my youtube channel here.
Also, don't forget to go visit my friend Chris's blog. He will be getting some video reviews up soon, most likely for Ikugara and some other games. If you're into politics and you think that a majority of the people on this planet are terribly stupid, go to my roommate Jeff's blog here and read some of his rants about society and politics.
As most of you who are reading this are probably aware by now, the worlds of Mortal Kombat and DC Comics are colliding. Here's the trailer that was released earlier this week:
The big news about this game is that they are attempting to make it T rated. Although it does look like there will be a decent amount of gore, one can't help but feel like they are selling out their tried and true formula to try and sell the game to a larger audience. To be frank, Mortal Kombat hasn't been relevant for years now and aligning with DC doesn't help all that much.
I personally don't plan on even renting the game because I don't really like fighting games that much. I also never really understood the draw of making games based on comic books or putting comic book characters in games in order to sell more games. I understand that comics are probably a big seller in some parts of the country, but I don't even know of a place that sells comics within a half hour's drive of where I currently live.
It's just a regional thing I'm sure, but the addition of 15 or so comic book characters along with the Mortal Kombat essentials that won't have brutal fatalities just doesn't sound like an intriguing game to me. Unless of course they change their minds on the "T rating" thing and you can cut dudes in half as Batman or blow someones head off with you laser eyes as Superman. Then I may rent the game.
Recent Goings-On in my Life
My apologies for the delay since my last post but I got my gaming PC back from repair on Wednesday of last week and I have been playing some games on that; both new and old. I've been getting back into Company of Heroes and Counter-Strike as well as playing GTA:San Andreas to get into the mood for GTAIV. Also, Nick and I will probably be playing through Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 later this week so expect a review on that soon. My updates will likely be sparse for a while because I have finals in 3 weeks, but after that I will be getting as many reviews up as possible as well as starting to make video reviews which I will post to my youtube channel here.
Also, don't forget to go visit my friend Chris's blog. He will be getting some video reviews up soon, most likely for Ikugara and some other games. If you're into politics and you think that a majority of the people on this planet are terribly stupid, go to my roommate Jeff's blog here and read some of his rants about society and politics.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
SoulEdge, MGS4 Online Beta, and Wii Exclusive RB Songs
The Legend Will Live on Forever
Soul Caluibur 4 will be released on XBox 360 and PS3 this fall, but the 360 has an exclusive download on it's system. That exclusive is the original Soul Calibur that was released for Dreamcast 9 years ago. Not much is currently known about the game in it's current state but it has been confirmed that all of the characters from the original will be included as well as all the levels and features. There will also be online multi-player and online leaderboards.
This is fantastic news to anyone who wants to play the original Soul Calibur, but doesn't want to go rummaging for their old DC and controllers that have been sucked into the quicksand that is in everyone's storage spaces. No word on a release date or price yet, but look for more news here soon.
There is no Antidote for This Snake Bite
If you pre-ordered Metal Gear Solid 4 for PS3, you can go and download the MGS4: Online beta using the key you received when you preordered the game. The 700 MB file requires you to create an account via Konami.com before you can beging shooting others in the face.
Oh, another thing. You can't play it until Monday when the beta officially goes public. Sorry to lead you on like that. My sincerest apologies.
If I had a friend with a PS3 who pre-ordered the game I would be all over this like a fat man on a ham. Unfortunately my friend's and I are cheap. Again, my sincerest apologies.
Rock Band has a Wii Amount of Songs
To make up for the lack of Downloadable Content (DLC)and the delays that were made to the Wii version of Rock Band Harmonix are including some DLC for free on the game and a slick white drum kit. The following songs are going to be included in the soon to be released Wii version.
=-"Dirty Little Secret" -- All American Rejects
=-"Don't Look Back in Anger" -- Oasis
=-"Roam" -- The B52's
=-"Rockaway Beach" -- The Ramones
=-"Roxanne" -- The Police
In my humble opinion, this is a rip-off. I understand that you want free songs and a sweet white drumset, but the game lacks all of the online components that add replayability to the game. I have convinced one of my dorm-mates to get shitloads of DLC and he's just borrowing my copy of Rock Band. The online components help to add new, better songsto your library as well as playing online with and against others and without those features I don't see how the 170 dollar price tag can be justified. The songs that are included aren't even very good when you compare it to the higher quality stuff thats on there like the Grateful Dead Pack, Boston Pack, Harmonix Pack, and Still Alive. If you own a 360 or a PS3, go buy Rock Band for those systems, you get more value for your hard-earned dollar.
Soul Caluibur 4 will be released on XBox 360 and PS3 this fall, but the 360 has an exclusive download on it's system. That exclusive is the original Soul Calibur that was released for Dreamcast 9 years ago. Not much is currently known about the game in it's current state but it has been confirmed that all of the characters from the original will be included as well as all the levels and features. There will also be online multi-player and online leaderboards.
This is fantastic news to anyone who wants to play the original Soul Calibur, but doesn't want to go rummaging for their old DC and controllers that have been sucked into the quicksand that is in everyone's storage spaces. No word on a release date or price yet, but look for more news here soon.
There is no Antidote for This Snake Bite
If you pre-ordered Metal Gear Solid 4 for PS3, you can go and download the MGS4: Online beta using the key you received when you preordered the game. The 700 MB file requires you to create an account via Konami.com before you can beging shooting others in the face.
Oh, another thing. You can't play it until Monday when the beta officially goes public. Sorry to lead you on like that. My sincerest apologies.
If I had a friend with a PS3 who pre-ordered the game I would be all over this like a fat man on a ham. Unfortunately my friend's and I are cheap. Again, my sincerest apologies.
Rock Band has a Wii Amount of Songs
To make up for the lack of Downloadable Content (DLC)and the delays that were made to the Wii version of Rock Band Harmonix are including some DLC for free on the game and a slick white drum kit. The following songs are going to be included in the soon to be released Wii version.
=-"Dirty Little Secret" -- All American Rejects
=-"Don't Look Back in Anger" -- Oasis
=-"Roam" -- The B52's
=-"Rockaway Beach" -- The Ramones
=-"Roxanne" -- The Police
In my humble opinion, this is a rip-off. I understand that you want free songs and a sweet white drumset, but the game lacks all of the online components that add replayability to the game. I have convinced one of my dorm-mates to get shitloads of DLC and he's just borrowing my copy of Rock Band. The online components help to add new, better songsto your library as well as playing online with and against others and without those features I don't see how the 170 dollar price tag can be justified. The songs that are included aren't even very good when you compare it to the higher quality stuff thats on there like the Grateful Dead Pack, Boston Pack, Harmonix Pack, and Still Alive. If you own a 360 or a PS3, go buy Rock Band for those systems, you get more value for your hard-earned dollar.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
DLC Reviews and Homestar Wii.
Review: Rock Band "Harmonix Pack 01"
*This review is based on Guitar, Bass, and Vocals*
Harmonix released a new song pack on Tuesday titled "Harmonix Pack 01." As you probably could have guessed, the pack include songs by artists who have been featured prominently in bonus songs in GH1, GH2, and Rock Band. These songs include "Shake" by Count Zero, "Sprode" by Freezepop, and "Rock Rebellion" by Bang Camaro.
I'll start with the worst song first. "Shake" is not a very good sounding song. The vocalist must be tone deaf. half of the song is this bozo screaming "SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE" to the tune of the guitar except about 70 cents sharp. The guitar part is alright. It isn't particularly hard. The bass part is easy as sin. This is by far the weakest song of the three and it really sticks out like a sore thumb considering how awesome the other 2 songs are.
"Sprode" is basically what you've come to expect from Freezepop. The vocals are pretty easy, just the same melody every line with different words (including "throw your undies on the stage, no wait you're underage"). The guitar part was cool. Nothing too fantastic about it. The bassline kills babies while they sleep. 90 percent of the song is G, B, G, B, G, B, G, B, G, B, G, B with occasional transitions to R, O, R, O, R, O, R, O. My hand was on fire by the end of this song. That doesn't take away from the fact that the song is awesome, though.
"Rock Rebellion" is by far the best song for people who like listening to rock music. The vocals are basic and easy. Just the basic Bang Camaro fare. The guitar is relatively easy considering how far down on the list it is. The solo is fairly difficult, but nothing too terribly bad. The bassline is the most rocking thing you've ever heard in your life. I can't do it justice in words it's so awesome.
All in all the pack is fantastic. even though one of the songs was a dud, the adage "two out of three ain't bad" definitely applies here. Also, each of the songs only costs a dollar but purchasing the whole pack at once doesn't give you a discount like most of the other packs do. So basically, buy Sprode and Rock Rebellion, but leave Shake on it's own.
I give the DLC 4 stars out of 5
Strong Bad Loves His Wii
The makers of the Sam and Max series are now making a game based on Homestar Runner's angry, violent co-star. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People will be released on WiiWare this June. There will be episodic content released 5 or 6 times. I'm definitely excited for this. Look for a review of this once it is released.
*This review is based on Guitar, Bass, and Vocals*
Harmonix released a new song pack on Tuesday titled "Harmonix Pack 01." As you probably could have guessed, the pack include songs by artists who have been featured prominently in bonus songs in GH1, GH2, and Rock Band. These songs include "Shake" by Count Zero, "Sprode" by Freezepop, and "Rock Rebellion" by Bang Camaro.
I'll start with the worst song first. "Shake" is not a very good sounding song. The vocalist must be tone deaf. half of the song is this bozo screaming "SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE" to the tune of the guitar except about 70 cents sharp. The guitar part is alright. It isn't particularly hard. The bass part is easy as sin. This is by far the weakest song of the three and it really sticks out like a sore thumb considering how awesome the other 2 songs are.
"Sprode" is basically what you've come to expect from Freezepop. The vocals are pretty easy, just the same melody every line with different words (including "throw your undies on the stage, no wait you're underage"). The guitar part was cool. Nothing too fantastic about it. The bassline kills babies while they sleep. 90 percent of the song is G, B, G, B, G, B, G, B, G, B, G, B with occasional transitions to R, O, R, O, R, O, R, O. My hand was on fire by the end of this song. That doesn't take away from the fact that the song is awesome, though.
"Rock Rebellion" is by far the best song for people who like listening to rock music. The vocals are basic and easy. Just the basic Bang Camaro fare. The guitar is relatively easy considering how far down on the list it is. The solo is fairly difficult, but nothing too terribly bad. The bassline is the most rocking thing you've ever heard in your life. I can't do it justice in words it's so awesome.
All in all the pack is fantastic. even though one of the songs was a dud, the adage "two out of three ain't bad" definitely applies here. Also, each of the songs only costs a dollar but purchasing the whole pack at once doesn't give you a discount like most of the other packs do. So basically, buy Sprode and Rock Rebellion, but leave Shake on it's own.
I give the DLC 4 stars out of 5
Strong Bad Loves His Wii
The makers of the Sam and Max series are now making a game based on Homestar Runner's angry, violent co-star. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People will be released on WiiWare this June. There will be episodic content released 5 or 6 times. I'm definitely excited for this. Look for a review of this once it is released.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Uwe Boll Will Stop Making Movies
Sign this petition if you want Uwe to stop making horrible movie adaptations of video games. he says he wont stop until it gets to a million. This is all for now. I'll post other things later.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Review: Army of Two
*This review is based on co-op play only. Single-player play may differ*
If you take Gears of War, mix it with gun customization and throw in a sprinkle of unique features, you get Army of Two. The plot is very much like Hitman: Blood Money where you get sent on a few missions by your employer, and then they turn on you and you need to find out what happened and why. The plot is far more intricate than I initially thought it would have been. It is also executed well, which is a big plus considering how many "unexpected" twists there are. The game is not overly long and it finishes right before the gameplay gets stale.
The one big, unique feature of the game is the aggro system. One person with a big gun shoots a lot and draws the attention of the enemies while the other one sneaks around and shoots them in the side of the head. Most of the levels appear to be designed for this feature to be implemented that way, so sometimes environments feel the same because you use the same strategy consistently. All in all though, the levels are in environments that are unique enough to keep things interesting.
Another unique feature is that you can buy new guns as you progress and customize them to fit your playstyle. The guns are rated in 4 categories: Damage, Accuracy, Ammo, and Aggro. The first three are rather self-explanatory, but aggro is basically the gauge that tells you how quickly you can gain aggro. Some things that attribute to this is mounting a shotgun or grenade launcher to the front of your gun, increasing the barrel size of your gun, pimping out your gun and plating it with gold or silver, or putting a suppressor on to lower aggro.
Every single upgrade drastically effects how the gun works and makes you really feel like the money you spent was worth it and allows players to customize the same gun for completely different tasks. For instance, Aggro guy uses a gold plated M4 with mounted grenade launcher that has 100 round clips and a shield on the front of it while stealth guy uses an M4 with a stock and suppressor the size of the gun itself. Gun customization is implemented well and is something I would like to see in future games.
There are some weird things that happen in the game though. In every firefight there is a moment where you see an enemy is hiding in cover but you can see either the top of their head or their knee poking out from behind cover. However, if you shoot at this exposed part while you are anywhere in a 90 degree cone in front of the enemy, you cannot hit that part of the body. Instead, it looks as if the bullet hits the cover and a puff of white smoke comes out of their leg or head. This gets annoying after you unload an entire clip of Deagle ammo at someone's shins to get no result about a dozen times in the first half of the game.
Also, the third-person viewpoint is very bothersome in some spots. This problem only arises if you are dumb enough to run up to enemies and engage in a close-range firefight instead of just punching them in the face. What happens is that if you are any closer than 10 feet away from a target, all of your bullets go a foot or two to the left of where the reticule is. While this rarely happens, it tends to happen at the most inopportune time. For instance, when you are healing your partner and someone runs up to you, the one getting healed cannot effectively aim and you have to go all the way back to the last checkpoint.
This is another minor gripe I have with the game. The checkpoints in some spots are spread out ridiculously far apart. At some points there are 4 or 5 firefights in between checkpoints, where in others there's simply a hallway to walk through to get another checkpoint. Many fights get very frustrating after beating them and then dying because of an unlucky grenade or a lapse in concentration.
All in all the game is good if you and a shooter-loving friend have 6 hours to kill and you both love gratuitous amounts of violence. Which lucky for me, I have both.
I give Army of Two 3 3/4 out of 5 stars.
If you take Gears of War, mix it with gun customization and throw in a sprinkle of unique features, you get Army of Two. The plot is very much like Hitman: Blood Money where you get sent on a few missions by your employer, and then they turn on you and you need to find out what happened and why. The plot is far more intricate than I initially thought it would have been. It is also executed well, which is a big plus considering how many "unexpected" twists there are. The game is not overly long and it finishes right before the gameplay gets stale.
The one big, unique feature of the game is the aggro system. One person with a big gun shoots a lot and draws the attention of the enemies while the other one sneaks around and shoots them in the side of the head. Most of the levels appear to be designed for this feature to be implemented that way, so sometimes environments feel the same because you use the same strategy consistently. All in all though, the levels are in environments that are unique enough to keep things interesting.
Another unique feature is that you can buy new guns as you progress and customize them to fit your playstyle. The guns are rated in 4 categories: Damage, Accuracy, Ammo, and Aggro. The first three are rather self-explanatory, but aggro is basically the gauge that tells you how quickly you can gain aggro. Some things that attribute to this is mounting a shotgun or grenade launcher to the front of your gun, increasing the barrel size of your gun, pimping out your gun and plating it with gold or silver, or putting a suppressor on to lower aggro.
Every single upgrade drastically effects how the gun works and makes you really feel like the money you spent was worth it and allows players to customize the same gun for completely different tasks. For instance, Aggro guy uses a gold plated M4 with mounted grenade launcher that has 100 round clips and a shield on the front of it while stealth guy uses an M4 with a stock and suppressor the size of the gun itself. Gun customization is implemented well and is something I would like to see in future games.
There are some weird things that happen in the game though. In every firefight there is a moment where you see an enemy is hiding in cover but you can see either the top of their head or their knee poking out from behind cover. However, if you shoot at this exposed part while you are anywhere in a 90 degree cone in front of the enemy, you cannot hit that part of the body. Instead, it looks as if the bullet hits the cover and a puff of white smoke comes out of their leg or head. This gets annoying after you unload an entire clip of Deagle ammo at someone's shins to get no result about a dozen times in the first half of the game.
Also, the third-person viewpoint is very bothersome in some spots. This problem only arises if you are dumb enough to run up to enemies and engage in a close-range firefight instead of just punching them in the face. What happens is that if you are any closer than 10 feet away from a target, all of your bullets go a foot or two to the left of where the reticule is. While this rarely happens, it tends to happen at the most inopportune time. For instance, when you are healing your partner and someone runs up to you, the one getting healed cannot effectively aim and you have to go all the way back to the last checkpoint.
This is another minor gripe I have with the game. The checkpoints in some spots are spread out ridiculously far apart. At some points there are 4 or 5 firefights in between checkpoints, where in others there's simply a hallway to walk through to get another checkpoint. Many fights get very frustrating after beating them and then dying because of an unlucky grenade or a lapse in concentration.
All in all the game is good if you and a shooter-loving friend have 6 hours to kill and you both love gratuitous amounts of violence. Which lucky for me, I have both.
I give Army of Two 3 3/4 out of 5 stars.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Rock Band DLC Review, Dualshock, and Statistics.
"Boston" is Definitely "Still Alive"
*This review is based on guitar part only*
2 Tuesdays ago the Boston 6-pack was released and I must say, all of the songs are pretty damn good. More Than A Feelin' being the easiest of the bunch and Smokin' being the hardest (I'm the only one of my friends to beat it in solo), the rest of the songs are good, but feel the same. The solos and tone of the each song are the only real difference between each song. The chorus and verse of most of the songs are very much the same, but I still enjoy playing them. I'd say that this is a great deal for 10 bucks, and if you're a fan of tricky guitar parts this is s must-buy.
*this review based on Bass, Vocals, and Guitar*
"Still Alive" is a song that is more nostalgic than anything else. None of the parts are very difficult, but it's still a very fun song to play if you have played Portal. If you haven't played portal and like tricky guitar parts or tricky vocal lines, this is not the song for you. However, the song is free(!) and how can you pass up a free DLC?
The TwoShock Three?
The Dualshock 3 is (finally) being shipped worldwide. It should be readily available by the end of the week. The going price is set at $54.99.
For all you PS3 enthusiasts who miss that familiar rumble in your hands when you get shot, punched, or crash your car into a concrete wall, your prayers have finally been answered. However, not all games already out that support the rumble feature. You can look at a complete list of them here. All of the important games seem to have the feature (Burnout Paradise, Devil May Cry 4, Resistance: Fall of Man), so it seems to be a moot point to me that the rumble wouldn't work with some games.
One other thing that pokes me in the ribs with a pointy stick is the fact that the controller costs $54.99(!!!). While this is only $15 more than the wireless 360 controller ($23 more than a wired controller on Amazon), this is the controller that should have come packaged with the PS3 16 months ago. Nintendo sent out their Wii condoms for free because they meant to have them developed by launch day, but didn't get it done in time. This should be the same way. The Six-Axis controller should not be tolerated.
Regardless of the crazy price point, this controller, I hear, is the cat's meow, the bee's knees, the $30 porterhouse of controllers and I'm glad to see it's return.
*I don't even own a PS3, so don't accuse me of trying to get free stuff*
Gaming Population Rises!
It has been reported the NPD Group that 72% of the US populous plays video games, up from 64% last year. Some of the statistics within are somewhat surprising though.
-65% of people who say that they play games online regularly are over the age of 24.
-only 2-3% of console owners own more than one of the three "Next-Gen" game systems.
-90% of gamers who said that they play online regularly play on PC, 19% play on console, and 3% play on phones and other mobile devices.
-It is also stated in the report that, "despite all the buzz in the industry about online gaming, it is still relatively small compared to offline gaming."
Good report overall, and good news for gamers.
*This review is based on guitar part only*
2 Tuesdays ago the Boston 6-pack was released and I must say, all of the songs are pretty damn good. More Than A Feelin' being the easiest of the bunch and Smokin' being the hardest (I'm the only one of my friends to beat it in solo), the rest of the songs are good, but feel the same. The solos and tone of the each song are the only real difference between each song. The chorus and verse of most of the songs are very much the same, but I still enjoy playing them. I'd say that this is a great deal for 10 bucks, and if you're a fan of tricky guitar parts this is s must-buy.
*this review based on Bass, Vocals, and Guitar*
"Still Alive" is a song that is more nostalgic than anything else. None of the parts are very difficult, but it's still a very fun song to play if you have played Portal. If you haven't played portal and like tricky guitar parts or tricky vocal lines, this is not the song for you. However, the song is free(!) and how can you pass up a free DLC?
The TwoShock Three?
The Dualshock 3 is (finally) being shipped worldwide. It should be readily available by the end of the week. The going price is set at $54.99.
For all you PS3 enthusiasts who miss that familiar rumble in your hands when you get shot, punched, or crash your car into a concrete wall, your prayers have finally been answered. However, not all games already out that support the rumble feature. You can look at a complete list of them here. All of the important games seem to have the feature (Burnout Paradise, Devil May Cry 4, Resistance: Fall of Man), so it seems to be a moot point to me that the rumble wouldn't work with some games.
One other thing that pokes me in the ribs with a pointy stick is the fact that the controller costs $54.99(!!!). While this is only $15 more than the wireless 360 controller ($23 more than a wired controller on Amazon), this is the controller that should have come packaged with the PS3 16 months ago. Nintendo sent out their Wii condoms for free because they meant to have them developed by launch day, but didn't get it done in time. This should be the same way. The Six-Axis controller should not be tolerated.
Regardless of the crazy price point, this controller, I hear, is the cat's meow, the bee's knees, the $30 porterhouse of controllers and I'm glad to see it's return.
*I don't even own a PS3, so don't accuse me of trying to get free stuff*
Gaming Population Rises!
It has been reported the NPD Group that 72% of the US populous plays video games, up from 64% last year. Some of the statistics within are somewhat surprising though.
-65% of people who say that they play games online regularly are over the age of 24.
-only 2-3% of console owners own more than one of the three "Next-Gen" game systems.
-90% of gamers who said that they play online regularly play on PC, 19% play on console, and 3% play on phones and other mobile devices.
-It is also stated in the report that, "despite all the buzz in the industry about online gaming, it is still relatively small compared to offline gaming."
Good report overall, and good news for gamers.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
April Fools Day is Afoot.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Big Screen
IGN has released a trailer for the Legend of Zelda theatrical release. It looks alright; they prevent Link from talking for the whole thing, the special effects look like butt, and the acting sounds horrendous.
However, that is where this analysis comes to an end. Because at the end of the trailer it says "Coming out April 1st, 2009." Thus proving (in my mind) that this is an April fools joke and a pretty good one (and probably expensive one) at that. It had me going until I saw the credit page and IGN's logo was on it. Watch the trailer here.
Fake News! How Original!
As I stated in earlier posts of mine, I dislike Gamespot now. However, I just had to go to their site to see what kind of April Fool's day joke they were going to pull. I went to the site and the first thing I saw was "Rock Band PSP!" and I thought, "Wow, what a fail of an April fools joke" so I clicked on it and it took me to the homepage. Needless to say, I was confused. It turns out that the whole front page is an irony-laced jab at game news, fanboys, and the Japanese.
One thing that makes a good April Fools day joke is subtleness. This is one thing that the Gamespot joke lacks. When you type in Gamespot.com, instead of the normal text at the top of the window, it says, "Gamespot April Fools Home Page." As if that wasn't bed enough, when you get to the real front page, the first thing you see in their headline box is "APRIL FOOLS DAY! [...] FOOOOOOOOLED YOU!"
The page is filled with a bunch of failed attempts at irony. the only thing I even found slightly funny was the "User Soapbox" with poilite, eloquent discussion about the console wars. Also the "Hands-On: Xbox 360 Paperweight add-on [...] (Also plays HD-DVDs)" was amusing. However, they're so proud about the fact that they tried so hard to be like The Onion that they put a poll on the page asking "Did you for a moment actually think that this page was real?" with options being, "Pfft, NO! What do you think I am, brain damaged?!," "Yeah. Oh, Gamespot, you're such a card," and "Wait. This is fake?" No buys Gamespot, no buys...
Bikinis and Zombies and Swords. OH MY!
I don't think that this movie trailer is an April Fools day joke, but I found it on the front page of 1up.com and had to post something about it. so... Something.
In Other Stuff!
I now have 2 friends who have blogs that you should go visit. I've got my friends Chris's blog where he reviews games. He just reviewed Super Smash Bros. Brawl for all of you interested in reading that. Also, my friend Jeff has a blog about ridiculous things in society and politics and you can look at that here.
Also, I was at the Hy-Vee earlier in the week and found Jolly Rancher soda. I got the Green Apple, Cherry, and Blue Raspberry flavors and they were all decent. Green Apple tasted like a sub-par green apple soda, Cherry tasted like melted, carbonated icee syrup, and the blue raspberry tasted exactly like blue raspberry jolly ranchers. Blue Raspberry was the real stand out of the bunch, but I'm going to be looking for Jolly Rancher FIRE soda to see what that tastes like.
In Conclusion...
I'll have a quick review of the Boston song pack and Still Alive Rock Band DLC tomorrow along with more delicious news. I'm out.
IGN has released a trailer for the Legend of Zelda theatrical release. It looks alright; they prevent Link from talking for the whole thing, the special effects look like butt, and the acting sounds horrendous.
However, that is where this analysis comes to an end. Because at the end of the trailer it says "Coming out April 1st, 2009." Thus proving (in my mind) that this is an April fools joke and a pretty good one (and probably expensive one) at that. It had me going until I saw the credit page and IGN's logo was on it. Watch the trailer here.
Fake News! How Original!
As I stated in earlier posts of mine, I dislike Gamespot now. However, I just had to go to their site to see what kind of April Fool's day joke they were going to pull. I went to the site and the first thing I saw was "Rock Band PSP!" and I thought, "Wow, what a fail of an April fools joke" so I clicked on it and it took me to the homepage. Needless to say, I was confused. It turns out that the whole front page is an irony-laced jab at game news, fanboys, and the Japanese.
One thing that makes a good April Fools day joke is subtleness. This is one thing that the Gamespot joke lacks. When you type in Gamespot.com, instead of the normal text at the top of the window, it says, "Gamespot April Fools Home Page." As if that wasn't bed enough, when you get to the real front page, the first thing you see in their headline box is "APRIL FOOLS DAY! [...] FOOOOOOOOLED YOU!"
The page is filled with a bunch of failed attempts at irony. the only thing I even found slightly funny was the "User Soapbox" with poilite, eloquent discussion about the console wars. Also the "Hands-On: Xbox 360 Paperweight add-on [...] (Also plays HD-DVDs)" was amusing. However, they're so proud about the fact that they tried so hard to be like The Onion that they put a poll on the page asking "Did you for a moment actually think that this page was real?" with options being, "Pfft, NO! What do you think I am, brain damaged?!," "Yeah. Oh, Gamespot, you're such a card," and "Wait. This is fake?" No buys Gamespot, no buys...
Bikinis and Zombies and Swords. OH MY!
I don't think that this movie trailer is an April Fools day joke, but I found it on the front page of 1up.com and had to post something about it. so... Something.
In Other Stuff!
I now have 2 friends who have blogs that you should go visit. I've got my friends Chris's blog where he reviews games. He just reviewed Super Smash Bros. Brawl for all of you interested in reading that. Also, my friend Jeff has a blog about ridiculous things in society and politics and you can look at that here.
Also, I was at the Hy-Vee earlier in the week and found Jolly Rancher soda. I got the Green Apple, Cherry, and Blue Raspberry flavors and they were all decent. Green Apple tasted like a sub-par green apple soda, Cherry tasted like melted, carbonated icee syrup, and the blue raspberry tasted exactly like blue raspberry jolly ranchers. Blue Raspberry was the real stand out of the bunch, but I'm going to be looking for Jolly Rancher FIRE soda to see what that tastes like.
In Conclusion...
I'll have a quick review of the Boston song pack and Still Alive Rock Band DLC tomorrow along with more delicious news. I'm out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)