Wii
Sam and Max: Season 1 - 10/7
Dokapon Kingdom - 10/14
Wii Music - 10/20
Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 - 10/21
Cooking Mama World Kitchen - 10/21
Spider-man: Web of Shadows - 10/21
King of Fighters Orochi Saga - 10/21
Guitar Hero World Tour - 10/26
My Sims Kingdom - 10/28
James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace - 11/4
Call of Duty: World At War - 11/11
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - 11/11
Star Wars Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duel - 11/11
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World - 11/11
Animal Crossing: City Folk - 11/16
Tomb Raider Underworld - 11/18
Rock Band 2 - 11/18
Sonic Unleashed - 11/18
Castlevania: Judgment - 11/18
DS
Bleach: Dark Souls - 10/7
My Japanese Coach - 10/14
Naruto: Path of Ninja 2 - 10/14
Populous - 10/14
Rune Factory 2: Fantasy Harvest Moon - 10/21
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - 10/21
Spider-man: Web of Shadows - 10/21
My Sims Kingdom - 10/28
James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace - 11/4
Tom Clancy's End War - 11/4
Star Wars Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance - 11/11
Call of Duty: World At War - 11/11
Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades - 11/16
Tomb Raider Underworld - 11/18
Luminous Arc 2 - 11/18
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - 11/18
Chrono Trigger - 11/24
Xbox 360
Fracture - 10/7
Guilty Gear 2: Overturn - 10/7
Golden Axe: Beast Rider - 10/14
Dead Space - 10/14
Saints Row 2 - 10/14
Rock Band 2 Bundle - 10/19
Fable 2 - 10/21
Far Cry 2 - 10/21
Spider-man: Web of Shadows - 10/21
Guitar Hero World Tour - 10/26
Fallout 3 - 10/28
James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace - 11/4
Tom Clancy's End War - 11/4
Gears of War 2 - 11/7
Mortal Komat vs. DC Universe - 11/10
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - 11/11
Call of Duty: World At War - 11/11
LIPS - 11/11
Mirror's Edge - 11/11
Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts - 11/11
Left 4 Dead - 11/17
You're in The Movies - 11/17
Naruto: The Broken Bond - 11/18
Tomb Raider Underworld - 11/18
Sonic Unleashed - 11/18
The Last Remnant - 11/20
Huxley - 11/25
PS3
Fracture - 10/7
Golden Axe: Beast Rider - 10/14
Dead Space - 10/14
Saints Row 2 - 10/14
Rock Band 2 - 10/19
Far Cry 2 - 10/21
Bioshock - 10/21
Spider-man: Web of Shadows - 10/21
LittleBigPlanet - 10/21
Eternal Sonata - 10/21
Guitar Hero World Tour - 10/26
MotorStorm: Pacific Rift - 10/28
Fallout 3 - 10/28
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm - 11/4
James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace - 11/4
Resistance 2 - 11/4
Tom Clancy's End War - 11/4
Mortal Komat vs. DC Universe - 11/10
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - 11/11
Call of Duty: World At War - 11/11
Mirror's Edge - 11/11
Valkyria Chronicles - 11/11
Tomb Raider Underworld - 11/18
Sonic Unleashed - 11/18
Alone in The Dark - 11/18
Tekken 6 - 11/25
PSP
Valhalla Knights 2 - 10/1
Star Ocean: First Departure - 10/21
Spider-man: Web of Shadows - 10/21
King of Fighters Orochi Saga - 10/21
Tom Clancy's End War - 11/4
PC
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway - 10/7
Dead Space - 10/14
Saints Row 2 - 10/14
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - 10/27
Fallout 3 - 10/28
James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace - 11/4
Call of Duty: World At War - 11/11
Wrath of The Lich King - 11/13
Left 4 Dead - 11/17
Grand Theft Auto IV - 11/18
Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir - 11/18
Tomb Raider Underworld - 11/18
Huxley - 11/25
PS2
Eternal Poison - 11/11
Persona 4 - 12/9
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Tales of Vesperia
I was a little harsh on Tales of Vesperia in my early impressions. However I'm delighted to say I've had a change of heart, and many of the things I took issue with before have been resolved through playing the game more. There are still a few setbacks, and some other annoying elements in the game - but Tales of Vesperia has really turned out to be an awesome installment in the series, and just the sort of JRPG this generation needs.
The Story
For the most part, Tales of Vesperia's story is pretty standard, especially among the Tales series. The protagonist Yuri sets off on an adventure to deal with a small problem, and ends up involved in a conflict that will determine the fate of the world. If I just spoiled anything for you, you haven't played enough RPGs before. That isn't to say the story is bad, no - from time to time I enjoy the simplistic story of good versus evil without things getting overly convoluted. And besides, there are still some twist and turns that add a little spice to the story.
Speaking of which, I'm a pretty big fan of the character roster in Vesperia. Yuri, the main character, is one of my favorite protagonist at this point. He's very carefree and has his own sense of justice. He's an Outlaw looking out for the small people, and he's not afraid to get his hands dirty. That's my kind of Hero. His partner in crime is his faithful pooch Repede. Yes he is a dog, and yes he does have style, but he doesn't talk. For this reason it's hard to relate to the character, but it's something new and I found him to be pretty cool.
The leading lady Estelle is another matter. She's your typical goody-goody Princess who is naive in the ways of the world. And she's pretty conflicted with just about everything. She never seems to be sure of what to do, and she changes priorities at the drop of a hat. Estelle has her charms certainly, but I found myself getting annoyed at her frequently. Another female character I feel conflicted about is Rita. If you recall I pointed out my dislike in her during my early impressions. And while it takes quite a while, Rita slowly starts to change into a more likeable character. Though she's your typical Tsundere type character, so some people might love her from the get go. Another interesting thing about Rita is she seems to have a thing for Estelle. This becomes pretty obvious as the game goes on, and it's kind of cute.
Karol, who is in my opinion a pretty terrible character to fight with, is actually a pretty interesting character. The poor kid is trying to face his fears and take responsibility for a change. He's also surprisingly knowledgeable about the world. Raven who IS the worst character in a fight is kind of a boring character. Sure he has a few secrets to hide, but for the most part he's just a lazy "old man" despite being 35 years old.
Finally Judith - my favorite character. She's awesome, everything from her character design, to her voice, the way she fights, and her personality. Judith shares a lot in common with Yuri as she is also a pretty liad back character. She has an agenda, and she is always up for a good fight. She also has a playful side, and she can be a bit of a tease from time to time.
For the most part we've got some pretty awesome characters here, but there is one rotton egg in the world of Vesperia. I complained about him before, and he only got worse. I'm referring to Zagi of course, one of the game's main villains. He's like a mirror version of Judith. Everything about him sucks, from his design, to his way of talking. Unfortunately you see a lot of him throughout the game, and even more sad is that a lot of the GameFAQs kids seem to love the guy. He's not evil, or insane, or cool - he's just dumb.
The Combat (and Skills)
Previously I ripped on ToV's combat for being slow, and a step back from what had been established in Tales of The Abyss. While I still think the game is sorely lacking the fonic fields system from ToTA, I found out that the combat in ToV isn't nearly as slow as I thought it was.
Perhaps I just wasn't used to the Tales combat since I hadn't played a Tales game for a while, or it might have had something to do with my skill setup. For whatever reason though, as I kept playing the game - the combat got better, and I was once again enjoying the action packed, combo filled combat that I'd come to expect from the Tales series.
One of the more interesting things about the combat in ToV is that your fighting style can change pretty drastically based on the character you're using. Sure, this has always been a part of the series when you go from a Melee fighter to a caster, but just about every character in ToV has some unique mechanic, or fights differently.
For example, Yuri fights like your traditional Tales melee character, though he has access to an absurd number of combos and hits. Where as Judith, another melee character, is all about aerial combat and doing combos in the air. Karol has an interesting system where he can charge up his attacks and release them for big damage. Estelle can add additional hits in a combo string, and Rita can rhythmatically tap the B button to speed up spell casting.
All of these and more are largely due to the Skill system which I touched on before. Basically character can learn various skills from all the Weapons and Sub-Weapons you obtain throughout the game, and while all the character share many of the same skills, they also each receive their own unique skills that allow for variety in combat. So while the fonic fields might be missing, ToV certainly has it's own brand of depth added to the combat.
Another thing I expressed concern with was the balance of the game. I complained that sometimes you'd be doing fine and than you'd go into a boss battle that would totally wreck you. Luckily that isn't the case, save for one boss battle in the game. For whatever reason that one boss is just really fucking hard for no reason. I never had any other problems with boss battles after that one.
Synthesizing, Side Quest, and Secret Missions
Aside from the main game, there's also a ton of extra stuff to keep you occupied and to warrant several playthroughs of the game. Synthesizing will play a large part in the main game, as you craft new equipment for your characters, but you can also go out of your way to get the best stuff in the game. Side Quest will have you revisiting areas around the world, collecting items, and completing missions for various people. And the Secret Missions are little objectives that can be found in most boss fights.
To Synthesize you need to gather a set of materials and take them to any merchant in the game. Once you've unlocked the "blue print" and have the materials you can make your item. You'll use this mostly to synth and upgrade weapons. But you can also make armor, accessories, and attachments. Attachments are a really fun addition to the series, they're basically cosmetic accessories for your characters. For example you can make Sunglasses for Yuri to wear.
To get the materials, you can go about it in a couple of ways. The more common method is to collect loot from the monsters you defeat. Sometimes this can be easy, by just farming a certain monster over and over again. Sometimes it can be a pain in the ass, when you have to hunt a Giganto monster. An overly large, mini-boss type encounter that will spawn randomly in certain dungeons and fields. Farming these Giganto monsters can take hours upon hours of reloading areas.
The other method is similar to grabbing materials from previous Tales games. Through various Search Points scattered across the world map. These search points will respawn randomly, though they seem to have a set list of items they can produce. It's still random what you'll actually end up getting though, so it takes a bit of luck.
Moving on, there are many Side Quest in Vesperia, not unlike previous Tales games. These quest can reward you with various items, abilities, or titles. Unfortunately these side quest most of the time require you to revisit a certain area at a certain times. Without a guide this can be pretty frustrating as you'd have to revisit every area and talk to everyone every time you progressed a bit in the game. Also unfortunate is that the official Strategy guide doesn't even touch most of these side quest. Lucky for me Kouli made a handy little guide on his blog that I'm using for my second run of the game.
But let's consider the fact that you don't have access to this sort of guide, like I did originally. You can actually miss out on abilities for your characters. That is pretty fucking annoying. You can also miss out on equipment and titles, which is slightly less annoying, but still not cool. Than again, I guess the point is that these are in fact side quest - and you don't need any of this stuff to finish the game.
Finally you have the Secret Missions, which in my opinion are way more trouble than they're worth. It's basically taking advantage of the 360's Achievement system, the problem is you can get items and eventually a title costume from doing all of them. The Secret Missions will always require you to do something specific against a boss. For example, one of them has you knocking the boss down while he's trying to do his special move. Some of these missions are easy, most of them are annoying as shit. I think I bothered to do about half of them on my first playthrough, and I'm not sure if I'll even be able to do them all on my second run.
Closing
Before I wrap things up, there is one last thing to note about ToV, though it shouldn't come as a surprise to any Tales veterans. Once you beat the game you can spend your accumulated Grade points to buy bonuses for your "New Game EX". Basically you can buy things like x10 EXP for your next run of the game. This is in my opinion the best sort of New Game + option out there. I think the first game to do something like that was Chrono Trigger which let you start the game over with just about everything including levels. I find this system to be a little more enjoyable as you still have to build your characters up, but you can do it much faster and with far more efficiency due to your knowledge of the game at that point.
With all that said, it's about time I wrapped things up. If it hasn't become abundantly clear at this point - I'm a huge fan of this game. It's certainly going to place high on my Games of The Year list, and it's just the sort of game I was looking for in this generation of console gaming. If you're a fan of the Tales series, I'm pretty positive you're going to enjoy this game. If you're a fan of RPGs but haven't jumped on the Tales bandwagon yet, this is a good time to start.
The Story
For the most part, Tales of Vesperia's story is pretty standard, especially among the Tales series. The protagonist Yuri sets off on an adventure to deal with a small problem, and ends up involved in a conflict that will determine the fate of the world. If I just spoiled anything for you, you haven't played enough RPGs before. That isn't to say the story is bad, no - from time to time I enjoy the simplistic story of good versus evil without things getting overly convoluted. And besides, there are still some twist and turns that add a little spice to the story.
Speaking of which, I'm a pretty big fan of the character roster in Vesperia. Yuri, the main character, is one of my favorite protagonist at this point. He's very carefree and has his own sense of justice. He's an Outlaw looking out for the small people, and he's not afraid to get his hands dirty. That's my kind of Hero. His partner in crime is his faithful pooch Repede. Yes he is a dog, and yes he does have style, but he doesn't talk. For this reason it's hard to relate to the character, but it's something new and I found him to be pretty cool.
The leading lady Estelle is another matter. She's your typical goody-goody Princess who is naive in the ways of the world. And she's pretty conflicted with just about everything. She never seems to be sure of what to do, and she changes priorities at the drop of a hat. Estelle has her charms certainly, but I found myself getting annoyed at her frequently. Another female character I feel conflicted about is Rita. If you recall I pointed out my dislike in her during my early impressions. And while it takes quite a while, Rita slowly starts to change into a more likeable character. Though she's your typical Tsundere type character, so some people might love her from the get go. Another interesting thing about Rita is she seems to have a thing for Estelle. This becomes pretty obvious as the game goes on, and it's kind of cute.
Karol, who is in my opinion a pretty terrible character to fight with, is actually a pretty interesting character. The poor kid is trying to face his fears and take responsibility for a change. He's also surprisingly knowledgeable about the world. Raven who IS the worst character in a fight is kind of a boring character. Sure he has a few secrets to hide, but for the most part he's just a lazy "old man" despite being 35 years old.
Finally Judith - my favorite character. She's awesome, everything from her character design, to her voice, the way she fights, and her personality. Judith shares a lot in common with Yuri as she is also a pretty liad back character. She has an agenda, and she is always up for a good fight. She also has a playful side, and she can be a bit of a tease from time to time.
For the most part we've got some pretty awesome characters here, but there is one rotton egg in the world of Vesperia. I complained about him before, and he only got worse. I'm referring to Zagi of course, one of the game's main villains. He's like a mirror version of Judith. Everything about him sucks, from his design, to his way of talking. Unfortunately you see a lot of him throughout the game, and even more sad is that a lot of the GameFAQs kids seem to love the guy. He's not evil, or insane, or cool - he's just dumb.
The Combat (and Skills)
Previously I ripped on ToV's combat for being slow, and a step back from what had been established in Tales of The Abyss. While I still think the game is sorely lacking the fonic fields system from ToTA, I found out that the combat in ToV isn't nearly as slow as I thought it was.
Perhaps I just wasn't used to the Tales combat since I hadn't played a Tales game for a while, or it might have had something to do with my skill setup. For whatever reason though, as I kept playing the game - the combat got better, and I was once again enjoying the action packed, combo filled combat that I'd come to expect from the Tales series.
One of the more interesting things about the combat in ToV is that your fighting style can change pretty drastically based on the character you're using. Sure, this has always been a part of the series when you go from a Melee fighter to a caster, but just about every character in ToV has some unique mechanic, or fights differently.
For example, Yuri fights like your traditional Tales melee character, though he has access to an absurd number of combos and hits. Where as Judith, another melee character, is all about aerial combat and doing combos in the air. Karol has an interesting system where he can charge up his attacks and release them for big damage. Estelle can add additional hits in a combo string, and Rita can rhythmatically tap the B button to speed up spell casting.
All of these and more are largely due to the Skill system which I touched on before. Basically character can learn various skills from all the Weapons and Sub-Weapons you obtain throughout the game, and while all the character share many of the same skills, they also each receive their own unique skills that allow for variety in combat. So while the fonic fields might be missing, ToV certainly has it's own brand of depth added to the combat.
Another thing I expressed concern with was the balance of the game. I complained that sometimes you'd be doing fine and than you'd go into a boss battle that would totally wreck you. Luckily that isn't the case, save for one boss battle in the game. For whatever reason that one boss is just really fucking hard for no reason. I never had any other problems with boss battles after that one.
Synthesizing, Side Quest, and Secret Missions
Aside from the main game, there's also a ton of extra stuff to keep you occupied and to warrant several playthroughs of the game. Synthesizing will play a large part in the main game, as you craft new equipment for your characters, but you can also go out of your way to get the best stuff in the game. Side Quest will have you revisiting areas around the world, collecting items, and completing missions for various people. And the Secret Missions are little objectives that can be found in most boss fights.
To Synthesize you need to gather a set of materials and take them to any merchant in the game. Once you've unlocked the "blue print" and have the materials you can make your item. You'll use this mostly to synth and upgrade weapons. But you can also make armor, accessories, and attachments. Attachments are a really fun addition to the series, they're basically cosmetic accessories for your characters. For example you can make Sunglasses for Yuri to wear.
To get the materials, you can go about it in a couple of ways. The more common method is to collect loot from the monsters you defeat. Sometimes this can be easy, by just farming a certain monster over and over again. Sometimes it can be a pain in the ass, when you have to hunt a Giganto monster. An overly large, mini-boss type encounter that will spawn randomly in certain dungeons and fields. Farming these Giganto monsters can take hours upon hours of reloading areas.
The other method is similar to grabbing materials from previous Tales games. Through various Search Points scattered across the world map. These search points will respawn randomly, though they seem to have a set list of items they can produce. It's still random what you'll actually end up getting though, so it takes a bit of luck.
Moving on, there are many Side Quest in Vesperia, not unlike previous Tales games. These quest can reward you with various items, abilities, or titles. Unfortunately these side quest most of the time require you to revisit a certain area at a certain times. Without a guide this can be pretty frustrating as you'd have to revisit every area and talk to everyone every time you progressed a bit in the game. Also unfortunate is that the official Strategy guide doesn't even touch most of these side quest. Lucky for me Kouli made a handy little guide on his blog that I'm using for my second run of the game.
But let's consider the fact that you don't have access to this sort of guide, like I did originally. You can actually miss out on abilities for your characters. That is pretty fucking annoying. You can also miss out on equipment and titles, which is slightly less annoying, but still not cool. Than again, I guess the point is that these are in fact side quest - and you don't need any of this stuff to finish the game.
Finally you have the Secret Missions, which in my opinion are way more trouble than they're worth. It's basically taking advantage of the 360's Achievement system, the problem is you can get items and eventually a title costume from doing all of them. The Secret Missions will always require you to do something specific against a boss. For example, one of them has you knocking the boss down while he's trying to do his special move. Some of these missions are easy, most of them are annoying as shit. I think I bothered to do about half of them on my first playthrough, and I'm not sure if I'll even be able to do them all on my second run.
Closing
Before I wrap things up, there is one last thing to note about ToV, though it shouldn't come as a surprise to any Tales veterans. Once you beat the game you can spend your accumulated Grade points to buy bonuses for your "New Game EX". Basically you can buy things like x10 EXP for your next run of the game. This is in my opinion the best sort of New Game + option out there. I think the first game to do something like that was Chrono Trigger which let you start the game over with just about everything including levels. I find this system to be a little more enjoyable as you still have to build your characters up, but you can do it much faster and with far more efficiency due to your knowledge of the game at that point.
With all that said, it's about time I wrapped things up. If it hasn't become abundantly clear at this point - I'm a huge fan of this game. It's certainly going to place high on my Games of The Year list, and it's just the sort of game I was looking for in this generation of console gaming. If you're a fan of the Tales series, I'm pretty positive you're going to enjoy this game. If you're a fan of RPGs but haven't jumped on the Tales bandwagon yet, this is a good time to start.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
First let me start off by saying there will be massive spoilers in this entry. I usually try to avoid spoilers when reviewing a game, but in this case I felt it was necessary because the story was the most important part about my playing TFU. Unfortunately I can't do an LJ cut on Blogger, so if you don't want anything spoiled I suggest you skip down to the gameplay section, or ignore this entry entirely.
The Story
So the point of the story in The Force Unleashed is to gap the bridge between Episode III and IV. How well it does that is debatable at best. I didn't think the game did a terrible job of tying things together, but it did make for some annoying twist, and a couple of other loose ends.
The game starts off with you playing as Darth Vader as you invade the Wookie home planet of Kashyyk. Darth Vader than finds a young boy gifted with the Force. Vader than raises the boy as his secret apprentice Star Killer and the game begins proper. This is where things start to get ugly. Star Killer isn't nearly as bad ass as previews would lead you to believe. He's kind of a bitch and he's not really that evil. He just follows Darth Vader loyally. You meet his ship's crew which consist of your staple comic relief Droid, and love interest Juno Eclipse.
Your first few missions have you going around hunting down remaining Jedi, including Rahm Kota, who plays a more important role later on, and infamous Jedi Master Shaak Ti. After finishing off Shaak Ti, Star Killer goes to meet with Vader, and the Emperor just so happens to show up. So Darth Vader kicks Star Killers ass in an attempt to save his own ass. Later Vader explains his reasons to Star Killer and gives him a new mission of finding an army to fight against the Empire. But first we gotta take the worst turn in the game.
Apparently due to his love interest with Juno, Star Killer starts to see the Light Side of things. So an already disappointing Sith becomes another aspiring Jedi. This helps to move things along in the canon, but it doesn't make the transformation any less retarded. Anyway, Star Killer meets up with Rahm Kota who is still alive, and they decide to try and form the Rebel Alliance. So Kota points Star Killer in the direction of Leia Organa, which eventually leads to Bail Organa. With the key figures in place The Rebel Alliance is about to be formed. Until The Empire Storms in, with Vader leading the charge.
The Rebel leaders get captured and Star Killer gets left for dead. But he doesn't die just yet. Star Killer and Juno head for the very incomplete Death Star and Star Killer infiltrates it. After making his way through the Death Star, Star Killer faces his Sith Master - Darth Vader in a pretty epic fight that leaves Vader pretty fucked up. At this point you get to choose the canonical Light Side ending, or the retardedly pointless Dark Side ending.
In the true ending, Star Killer fights against the Empire after refusing to finish off Darth Vader, and instead choosing to save Kota's life. What follows is one of the dumbest fights in the game, followed by the Emperor killing Star Killer while everyone else gets away. The Rebel Alliance is officially formed, and enter Episode IV.
In the false ending, Star Killer kills Darth Vader, and than the Emperor ask Star Killer to be his new apprentice. Star Killer refuses, and than the Emperor kills everyone except for Star Killer. I'm assuming Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Juno, Proxy, and just about everyone. We than see Star Killer clad in the Sith Stalker armor and reduced to being a puppet to carry out the Emperor's bidding.
Now with all that said, the story accomplishes what it was intended to, minus the whole false ending thing. However that doesn't really make it good, I suppose it was okay, but it left me wanting. I'm not really sure how they could have done it differently though, seeing as how I'm not some sort of Expanded Universe Author, but I'm sure they could've come up with something better. Than again, maybe I'm just being too picky, or letting the other weak aspects of the game affect my judgement.
More Spoilers
In this section I basically wanted to complain about certain aspects of the game that would still be considered spoilerish, and that didn't really fit into the story summary. So there might be some gameplay stuff here, and there might be some story related items. In any case, they all share one thing in common. I didn't like them.
For starters, what happens to Juno, Proxy, Kota, and Maris Brood. I'm not really into Expanded Universe, so that could all be explained there. Or these characters could've just been created for the sole purpose of this game. I guess it's similar to the Prequel movies, in that you can't really add anything new to movies that came out a few decades ago. But you could remove the loose ends before then. In any case, they didn't and these characters go unaccounted for.
The Star Destroyer segment of the game is like something out of Too Human. It's that fucking bad. Honestly, for something that this game was supposedly based off of, how the fuck could they mess this up so badly? Not only is the entire process of pulling the thing out of the sky boring as hell, it's also made annoyingly hard thanks to the respawning TIE-Fighters that do waaay too much damage. I was about ready to give up on the game altogether until I entered a few cheats to make things slightly easier. The best tip I can offer you is to have Force Grip maxed out and stand on either side of the platform and pull TIE-Fighters out of the air. Sheesh.
The Fight with the Emperor was really fucking stupid, especially after the epic battle with Darth Vader. Of course, I guess it's in the canon that the Emperor fights like a little bitch anyway. He basically flies around the area throwing shit at you, hitting you with force lightning, and summoning guards. You just have to avoid most of this shit, and dash in to hit him a few times with the Lightsaber. Rinse and Repete. It's a really shitty way to end the game, and considering this is your "Reward" for choosing the Light Side. If you pick the nonsensical Dark Side you get to fight against Vader again. Lame.
These last two I actually like, surprising I know. Though I do have a complaint about one of them - that's more like it.
First, the battle with Proxy is dumb - UNTIL he for whatever reason turns into Darth Maul. This is retarded, but I still really enjoyed it. Duel of the Fates was playing and everything, it was epic. Sorta. The battle is way too god damn easy, granted I was playing on Easy mode, but there are way too many parts in the game that are needlessly hard for me to bother playing on a harder difficulty. So the epic battle was kind of ruined because of this. I still enjoyed it though.
And finally, The Darth Vader fight was really cool. It's gotta be the best part of the game. That's not saying too much, but trust me - it's cool. In the last stage of the battle you're both fighting in a darker area and it looks like some of the epic battles from the movies. And from the way I was wailing on Vader it really reminded me of Luke VS Vader in Return of The Jedi. Finally at the end of the battle Star Killer royally fucks up Vader's shit. It almost made him redeemable - almost.
The Gameplay
Christ this is turning out way longer than I'd like for a game I didn't even really enjoy that much. Anyway, thank you for joining us if you've skipped the massive block of spoiler text above. In the final segment of this review I will trash this mediocre game, and rant about some of it's more serious flaws. Fun stuff.
TFU is your typical run of the mill action game, with some force powers tossed in. The basic Lightsaber combat is average at best, though it becomes a little better as you unlock more and more combos. It's the force powers that would set this game apart from other games in the genre. But sadly LucasArts decided they didn't want you to use your force powers on most of the enemies in the game.
See, one of the most annoying parts about TFU to me is that you don't feel nearly as powerful as you should be. You're a Sith Apprentice, you've got all kinds of bad ass Force Powers, and a Lightsaber. But just about every Stormtrooper in the galaxy is either pretty resistant to your Lightsaber, or has some way to block out your force powers. Yes, amazingly during this stretch of time in the Star Wars universe your average solider either had knowledge of the force or some gadget to negate it. All of this goes out the window by the time Episode IV happens though, and it wasn't present in the Prequel movies either.
Yes, I understand that they did this to make the game more challenging. But it's not fun. Honestly I would've preferred to be a bad ass killing machine. Slicing stuff up with my Lightsaber in one stroke - not twelve. And using the force to devastate everything around me. Yes, you can pull a Star Destroyer out of the air, but no you can't force grab that blue Stormtrooper.
Enemy placement gets a bit ridiculous at times to. You might find yourself constantly getting stunned or knocked down unable to do anything while being beaten on by a hoard of enemies. Other times you'll fall to your death after you've been pushed out of the stage by... just about anything.
There are certain parts of the game that are just not fun, no matter how you slice it. And the difficulty can spike quite a bit for no reason. Even on the easiest setting you can find yourself in some pretty frustrating situations.
I also encountered a few bugs in the game where I got knocked into an object ans was stuck, forcing me to exit game (there is no reload checkpoint option or anything of the sort) and reload my last save. This also almost caused me to stop playing the game when it happened.
In closing, if you're a fan of the Star Wars story, rent this sometime and try to play through it. That isn't to say the story is exceptionally good either, but it should be the main reason you want to check the game out. If you're looking for a good action game? Go pick up Devil May Cry 4, or Ninja Gaiden 2 instead.
The Story
So the point of the story in The Force Unleashed is to gap the bridge between Episode III and IV. How well it does that is debatable at best. I didn't think the game did a terrible job of tying things together, but it did make for some annoying twist, and a couple of other loose ends.
The game starts off with you playing as Darth Vader as you invade the Wookie home planet of Kashyyk. Darth Vader than finds a young boy gifted with the Force. Vader than raises the boy as his secret apprentice Star Killer and the game begins proper. This is where things start to get ugly. Star Killer isn't nearly as bad ass as previews would lead you to believe. He's kind of a bitch and he's not really that evil. He just follows Darth Vader loyally. You meet his ship's crew which consist of your staple comic relief Droid, and love interest Juno Eclipse.
Your first few missions have you going around hunting down remaining Jedi, including Rahm Kota, who plays a more important role later on, and infamous Jedi Master Shaak Ti. After finishing off Shaak Ti, Star Killer goes to meet with Vader, and the Emperor just so happens to show up. So Darth Vader kicks Star Killers ass in an attempt to save his own ass. Later Vader explains his reasons to Star Killer and gives him a new mission of finding an army to fight against the Empire. But first we gotta take the worst turn in the game.
Apparently due to his love interest with Juno, Star Killer starts to see the Light Side of things. So an already disappointing Sith becomes another aspiring Jedi. This helps to move things along in the canon, but it doesn't make the transformation any less retarded. Anyway, Star Killer meets up with Rahm Kota who is still alive, and they decide to try and form the Rebel Alliance. So Kota points Star Killer in the direction of Leia Organa, which eventually leads to Bail Organa. With the key figures in place The Rebel Alliance is about to be formed. Until The Empire Storms in, with Vader leading the charge.
The Rebel leaders get captured and Star Killer gets left for dead. But he doesn't die just yet. Star Killer and Juno head for the very incomplete Death Star and Star Killer infiltrates it. After making his way through the Death Star, Star Killer faces his Sith Master - Darth Vader in a pretty epic fight that leaves Vader pretty fucked up. At this point you get to choose the canonical Light Side ending, or the retardedly pointless Dark Side ending.
In the true ending, Star Killer fights against the Empire after refusing to finish off Darth Vader, and instead choosing to save Kota's life. What follows is one of the dumbest fights in the game, followed by the Emperor killing Star Killer while everyone else gets away. The Rebel Alliance is officially formed, and enter Episode IV.
In the false ending, Star Killer kills Darth Vader, and than the Emperor ask Star Killer to be his new apprentice. Star Killer refuses, and than the Emperor kills everyone except for Star Killer. I'm assuming Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Juno, Proxy, and just about everyone. We than see Star Killer clad in the Sith Stalker armor and reduced to being a puppet to carry out the Emperor's bidding.
Now with all that said, the story accomplishes what it was intended to, minus the whole false ending thing. However that doesn't really make it good, I suppose it was okay, but it left me wanting. I'm not really sure how they could have done it differently though, seeing as how I'm not some sort of Expanded Universe Author, but I'm sure they could've come up with something better. Than again, maybe I'm just being too picky, or letting the other weak aspects of the game affect my judgement.
More Spoilers
In this section I basically wanted to complain about certain aspects of the game that would still be considered spoilerish, and that didn't really fit into the story summary. So there might be some gameplay stuff here, and there might be some story related items. In any case, they all share one thing in common. I didn't like them.
For starters, what happens to Juno, Proxy, Kota, and Maris Brood. I'm not really into Expanded Universe, so that could all be explained there. Or these characters could've just been created for the sole purpose of this game. I guess it's similar to the Prequel movies, in that you can't really add anything new to movies that came out a few decades ago. But you could remove the loose ends before then. In any case, they didn't and these characters go unaccounted for.
The Star Destroyer segment of the game is like something out of Too Human. It's that fucking bad. Honestly, for something that this game was supposedly based off of, how the fuck could they mess this up so badly? Not only is the entire process of pulling the thing out of the sky boring as hell, it's also made annoyingly hard thanks to the respawning TIE-Fighters that do waaay too much damage. I was about ready to give up on the game altogether until I entered a few cheats to make things slightly easier. The best tip I can offer you is to have Force Grip maxed out and stand on either side of the platform and pull TIE-Fighters out of the air. Sheesh.
The Fight with the Emperor was really fucking stupid, especially after the epic battle with Darth Vader. Of course, I guess it's in the canon that the Emperor fights like a little bitch anyway. He basically flies around the area throwing shit at you, hitting you with force lightning, and summoning guards. You just have to avoid most of this shit, and dash in to hit him a few times with the Lightsaber. Rinse and Repete. It's a really shitty way to end the game, and considering this is your "Reward" for choosing the Light Side. If you pick the nonsensical Dark Side you get to fight against Vader again. Lame.
These last two I actually like, surprising I know. Though I do have a complaint about one of them - that's more like it.
First, the battle with Proxy is dumb - UNTIL he for whatever reason turns into Darth Maul. This is retarded, but I still really enjoyed it. Duel of the Fates was playing and everything, it was epic. Sorta. The battle is way too god damn easy, granted I was playing on Easy mode, but there are way too many parts in the game that are needlessly hard for me to bother playing on a harder difficulty. So the epic battle was kind of ruined because of this. I still enjoyed it though.
And finally, The Darth Vader fight was really cool. It's gotta be the best part of the game. That's not saying too much, but trust me - it's cool. In the last stage of the battle you're both fighting in a darker area and it looks like some of the epic battles from the movies. And from the way I was wailing on Vader it really reminded me of Luke VS Vader in Return of The Jedi. Finally at the end of the battle Star Killer royally fucks up Vader's shit. It almost made him redeemable - almost.
The Gameplay
Christ this is turning out way longer than I'd like for a game I didn't even really enjoy that much. Anyway, thank you for joining us if you've skipped the massive block of spoiler text above. In the final segment of this review I will trash this mediocre game, and rant about some of it's more serious flaws. Fun stuff.
TFU is your typical run of the mill action game, with some force powers tossed in. The basic Lightsaber combat is average at best, though it becomes a little better as you unlock more and more combos. It's the force powers that would set this game apart from other games in the genre. But sadly LucasArts decided they didn't want you to use your force powers on most of the enemies in the game.
See, one of the most annoying parts about TFU to me is that you don't feel nearly as powerful as you should be. You're a Sith Apprentice, you've got all kinds of bad ass Force Powers, and a Lightsaber. But just about every Stormtrooper in the galaxy is either pretty resistant to your Lightsaber, or has some way to block out your force powers. Yes, amazingly during this stretch of time in the Star Wars universe your average solider either had knowledge of the force or some gadget to negate it. All of this goes out the window by the time Episode IV happens though, and it wasn't present in the Prequel movies either.
Yes, I understand that they did this to make the game more challenging. But it's not fun. Honestly I would've preferred to be a bad ass killing machine. Slicing stuff up with my Lightsaber in one stroke - not twelve. And using the force to devastate everything around me. Yes, you can pull a Star Destroyer out of the air, but no you can't force grab that blue Stormtrooper.
Enemy placement gets a bit ridiculous at times to. You might find yourself constantly getting stunned or knocked down unable to do anything while being beaten on by a hoard of enemies. Other times you'll fall to your death after you've been pushed out of the stage by... just about anything.
There are certain parts of the game that are just not fun, no matter how you slice it. And the difficulty can spike quite a bit for no reason. Even on the easiest setting you can find yourself in some pretty frustrating situations.
I also encountered a few bugs in the game where I got knocked into an object ans was stuck, forcing me to exit game (there is no reload checkpoint option or anything of the sort) and reload my last save. This also almost caused me to stop playing the game when it happened.
In closing, if you're a fan of the Star Wars story, rent this sometime and try to play through it. That isn't to say the story is exceptionally good either, but it should be the main reason you want to check the game out. If you're looking for a good action game? Go pick up Devil May Cry 4, or Ninja Gaiden 2 instead.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Warhammer Online: Second Impressions
Let me start by saying that I really want to like this game. Really. I can see the potential of the game, and I have friends who are playing it. But time and time again, I find myself utterly disgusted with the game. That isn't to say the game is bad, but there are so many problems - large and small - which just keep me from being able to enjoy the game.
I'll start with the smaller problems. Firstly, I mentioned Public Quest before. They're great, I love em. But there has been a problem with them recently. As you progress with the game, and move onto more difficult areas. You find more and more of these public quest. In a single area, for one chapter there can be three or four different public quest for you to do. The problem with this is, there are too many PQs, and too few people to do all of them. If there were only one, or in some cases two PQs - more people would be able to focus on a single PQ instead of being spread out among many PQs. So the problem I've been experiencing recently is there aren't enough people to complete the public quest.
This is pretty troublesome considering the PQs are one aspect of growing your character in the game. In both levels and gear. And when there aren't enough people working together to complete a public quest, you start to miss out on opportunities to advance your character. Like I've said, Public Quest are a really great idea. But there's no point if nobody is doing them.
Another problem is I think I might have picked the wrong class. I'm not entirely sure yet. The Sorceress is a glass cannon. I'm not really used to playing glass cannons, and that might be part of my problem. However I seem to do fine in PVE, I just have problems in PVP. Though it's hard to say, because there are way too many things wrong with WAR's PVP at this point in time for me to really be sure why I hate it so much.
So enough beating around the bush here, the real problem with WAR lies in it's PVP. I've touched on the RVR previously. And unfortunately I'm going to have to complain about it again.
Let me start off by explaining the three RVR battles I just had. They were all in the Nordenwatch area. This is a first tier RVR scenario for levels 1-11. I'm level 11 myself. The first game we got stomped on. Their team outmatched us in just about every way. They had several level 11s, 10s, and 9s. We had a bunch of low levels. So admittedly this wasn't too surprising, especially for the Destruction side. I did about 15k damage and got 7 kills. Meanwhile Bright Wizards on the Order side were doing just as much damage, but they had 40 kills. Yeah, balance. We lost something like 500 to 150.
The next game pitted us against a group of low level Order. They had 1 11, and 1 10, and a bunch of 5s and 6s. On our side we had 1 11, 2 10s, and a handful of other levels. We won that round pretty handily. Yet that is the only way Destruction can win from the games I've played. You have to outrank the other team so severely that it's near impossible for them to win. The Proof?
The third game pitted two equal teams against each other. We had about the same number of every level. The result? We got pounded. I still did a ton of damage, only got a single digit amount of kills. The other team had Witch Hunters and Bright Wizards with 30 or so kills. What the fuck?
So to recap, Destruction side can only win when the odds are stacked against Order. Every other time the Order wins - easily. So Yeah, losing all the time and being vastly inferior to your mirror class on the other faction isn't very fun at all. In fact I'd rather just not do RVR at all if that's the way the game is going to be. And that, coupled with the problem of Public Quest - the game is literally no different than WoW - and there's very little reason for me to stick with it after Wrath of The Lich King comes out.
So what is the problem exactly? I mean, it seems pretty fucking obvious that the game is unbalanced right now. Another problem might be that the Destruction side just got shafted with all the shitty players, and The Order side is full of elite PVPers. In either case, that implies that I have to roll Order in order to enjoy the game. Wonderful.
And guess what? I did try that. I rolled one of the most overpowered classes in the game - The Warrior Priest. I've seen these guys take on a group of enemies in RVR, kill them one by one, and not die. They're like Paladins from WoW, but they can do tons of damage at the same time. I was able to get to level 3 from RVR alone, we won every single time. And I was always near the top for Most Healing done, and in the top 10 for most damage done. Fair, right?
So back to my actual main character, the one on the side I actually want to play. Aside from the whole Destruction side losing all the time. I don't seem to be contributing much to the battle myself. I always do a ton of damage, but for what? My kill count is always really low, and my deaths are many. Not that it would really change much, but maybe I'm just playing the wrong class.
One other thing, which is pretty minor when you consider how broken the RVR is, but it doesn't pop nearly enough. I don't know why Mythic didn't make the RVR cross-realm like WoW. Because it just does not pop nearly enough, especially for a game that is very PVP focused. Even on a high population server - which we are on - we get server queues during the day - the scenarios maybe pop once every 15 minutes, if we're lucky? This is on an Open RVR realm by the way, so there should be more than enough people willing to PVP.
Regardless of the reason, I'm not having nearly as much fun with this game as I thought I would. It's nice to be playing with a couple friends, and the majority of the PVE is just like WoW so I don't have many complaints there. But it would still be nice if I could properly experience the unique things about WAR. In any event, I'm sure I'll stick with the game until Wrath comes out regardless. I just wish it were more enjoyable along the way.
I'll start with the smaller problems. Firstly, I mentioned Public Quest before. They're great, I love em. But there has been a problem with them recently. As you progress with the game, and move onto more difficult areas. You find more and more of these public quest. In a single area, for one chapter there can be three or four different public quest for you to do. The problem with this is, there are too many PQs, and too few people to do all of them. If there were only one, or in some cases two PQs - more people would be able to focus on a single PQ instead of being spread out among many PQs. So the problem I've been experiencing recently is there aren't enough people to complete the public quest.
This is pretty troublesome considering the PQs are one aspect of growing your character in the game. In both levels and gear. And when there aren't enough people working together to complete a public quest, you start to miss out on opportunities to advance your character. Like I've said, Public Quest are a really great idea. But there's no point if nobody is doing them.
Another problem is I think I might have picked the wrong class. I'm not entirely sure yet. The Sorceress is a glass cannon. I'm not really used to playing glass cannons, and that might be part of my problem. However I seem to do fine in PVE, I just have problems in PVP. Though it's hard to say, because there are way too many things wrong with WAR's PVP at this point in time for me to really be sure why I hate it so much.
So enough beating around the bush here, the real problem with WAR lies in it's PVP. I've touched on the RVR previously. And unfortunately I'm going to have to complain about it again.
Let me start off by explaining the three RVR battles I just had. They were all in the Nordenwatch area. This is a first tier RVR scenario for levels 1-11. I'm level 11 myself. The first game we got stomped on. Their team outmatched us in just about every way. They had several level 11s, 10s, and 9s. We had a bunch of low levels. So admittedly this wasn't too surprising, especially for the Destruction side. I did about 15k damage and got 7 kills. Meanwhile Bright Wizards on the Order side were doing just as much damage, but they had 40 kills. Yeah, balance. We lost something like 500 to 150.
The next game pitted us against a group of low level Order. They had 1 11, and 1 10, and a bunch of 5s and 6s. On our side we had 1 11, 2 10s, and a handful of other levels. We won that round pretty handily. Yet that is the only way Destruction can win from the games I've played. You have to outrank the other team so severely that it's near impossible for them to win. The Proof?
The third game pitted two equal teams against each other. We had about the same number of every level. The result? We got pounded. I still did a ton of damage, only got a single digit amount of kills. The other team had Witch Hunters and Bright Wizards with 30 or so kills. What the fuck?
So to recap, Destruction side can only win when the odds are stacked against Order. Every other time the Order wins - easily. So Yeah, losing all the time and being vastly inferior to your mirror class on the other faction isn't very fun at all. In fact I'd rather just not do RVR at all if that's the way the game is going to be. And that, coupled with the problem of Public Quest - the game is literally no different than WoW - and there's very little reason for me to stick with it after Wrath of The Lich King comes out.
So what is the problem exactly? I mean, it seems pretty fucking obvious that the game is unbalanced right now. Another problem might be that the Destruction side just got shafted with all the shitty players, and The Order side is full of elite PVPers. In either case, that implies that I have to roll Order in order to enjoy the game. Wonderful.
And guess what? I did try that. I rolled one of the most overpowered classes in the game - The Warrior Priest. I've seen these guys take on a group of enemies in RVR, kill them one by one, and not die. They're like Paladins from WoW, but they can do tons of damage at the same time. I was able to get to level 3 from RVR alone, we won every single time. And I was always near the top for Most Healing done, and in the top 10 for most damage done. Fair, right?
So back to my actual main character, the one on the side I actually want to play. Aside from the whole Destruction side losing all the time. I don't seem to be contributing much to the battle myself. I always do a ton of damage, but for what? My kill count is always really low, and my deaths are many. Not that it would really change much, but maybe I'm just playing the wrong class.
One other thing, which is pretty minor when you consider how broken the RVR is, but it doesn't pop nearly enough. I don't know why Mythic didn't make the RVR cross-realm like WoW. Because it just does not pop nearly enough, especially for a game that is very PVP focused. Even on a high population server - which we are on - we get server queues during the day - the scenarios maybe pop once every 15 minutes, if we're lucky? This is on an Open RVR realm by the way, so there should be more than enough people willing to PVP.
Regardless of the reason, I'm not having nearly as much fun with this game as I thought I would. It's nice to be playing with a couple friends, and the majority of the PVE is just like WoW so I don't have many complaints there. But it would still be nice if I could properly experience the unique things about WAR. In any event, I'm sure I'll stick with the game until Wrath comes out regardless. I just wish it were more enjoyable along the way.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Whatcha Playing?
Domino Master (Demo): There is no "knock over Dominos" mode, so I didn't play this game for more than two minutes.
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of The Chosen: Dragon Warrior IV was one of my favorite games growing up, and it's a real shame I haven't played the game since I was eight years old. However this remake of the classic game has provided me with plenty of nostalgia and glee even though I'm only half way through chapter 2 at this point.
True to the series, DQIV is about as old school as it gets, with pretty archaic gameplay, and tons of grinding. However I'm finding it to be a rather pleasant experience at the moment, which makes me wonder why I couldn't get into the series eighth installment. Maybe it helps that the game is portable, and I can play it while I'm on the can, just grinding away. Who knows?
My only real complaint with the remake so far is the new translations. I'm sure they're better than the old ones, but for whatever reason Square Enix decided to give most of the people in the game accents. And no, there's no voice acting, so you have to read these accents. It can be rather painful at times. Despite that though, I'm really enjoying the game and will be playing it off and on for some time.
Feeding Frenzy 2 (Demo): Feeding Frenzy 1 was better.
Fracture (Demo): I was expecting Fracture to suck for whatever reason, despite knowing nothing about the game. Imagine my surprise when I found a pretty unique experience. Fracture is a Third-Person shooter with a twist. Several of your weapons can effect the terrain, by either raising or lowering the ground. It might sound like a gimmick similar to the environmental destruction found in Red Faction so many years ago. However it's surprisingly clever in that you can manipulate the land to access platforms, provide cover and blow your way through a tunnel.
Despite the fact that I could give a shit about the game's plot or any of it's generic looking characters - I found myself enjoying the short demo quite a bit. I'm not sure that I would buy the game, but it certainly seems like prime rental material. It's hard to say if the whole terrain manipulation thing will get old, but it should provide a couple hours of entertainment at least.
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (Demo): I didn't like the first Mercenaries, so it isn't really a surprise that I don't like the second one either. But maybe I'm being unfair, after all - all I played of it was the demo. Still, it doesn't seem like much has changed to win me over. The game is still a sandbox for mindless destruction. Which you'd think would be fun, but I'm just not feeling it.
The game also seems to throw way too many enemies at you, and while you don't actually die very easily - you don't feel very powerful either. It's easy enough to kill a few guys, but you never seem to be able to squash all of them. So like annoying little insects they constantly swarm around you and you rinse and repeat the whole process.
Tales of Vesperia: I'm just about done with my first run of the game, and man have my impressions changed since my previous entry about the game. I'm pretty much fully in love with the game at this point, and can't wait to dive into a second playthrough. I'll have a full post for Vesperia coming up shortly, so I'll leave it at that for now.
Warhammer Online: Not much has changed in WAR since my last entry. The RvR is still a mess, and it's getting harder and harder to find people to complete public quest with. Admittedly I haven't played the game much yesterday - launch day - so things could be different at this point. I'll keep you posted.
Next Month: I don't know what I'm going to do next month with so many games coming out. I'll have to give up on purchasing a good deal of them I'm afraid. I got lucky this month with Force Unleashed and Guilty Gear 2 getting less than stellar reviews, bumping them down to rentals. Plus I think the Guilty Gear got bumped back to next month anyway. Silent Hill is still coming out at the end of the month but I'm flat broke at the moment, plus I think I'm too scared to play that shit anymore - I dunno.
Next month I'll have to pick up Fable 2, Fallout 3, and Little Big Planet. I'm sure there will be something else I really want. And that's not even mentioning Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour. I'm still not sure which bundle to get, but I'll probably end up getting one as a Christmas present. I'd like to think that I don't have to worry about picking up too many more games for the rest of the year after October. But sadly that isn't the case - as November is also full of tempting purchases. Too many games.
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of The Chosen: Dragon Warrior IV was one of my favorite games growing up, and it's a real shame I haven't played the game since I was eight years old. However this remake of the classic game has provided me with plenty of nostalgia and glee even though I'm only half way through chapter 2 at this point.
True to the series, DQIV is about as old school as it gets, with pretty archaic gameplay, and tons of grinding. However I'm finding it to be a rather pleasant experience at the moment, which makes me wonder why I couldn't get into the series eighth installment. Maybe it helps that the game is portable, and I can play it while I'm on the can, just grinding away. Who knows?
My only real complaint with the remake so far is the new translations. I'm sure they're better than the old ones, but for whatever reason Square Enix decided to give most of the people in the game accents. And no, there's no voice acting, so you have to read these accents. It can be rather painful at times. Despite that though, I'm really enjoying the game and will be playing it off and on for some time.
Feeding Frenzy 2 (Demo): Feeding Frenzy 1 was better.
Fracture (Demo): I was expecting Fracture to suck for whatever reason, despite knowing nothing about the game. Imagine my surprise when I found a pretty unique experience. Fracture is a Third-Person shooter with a twist. Several of your weapons can effect the terrain, by either raising or lowering the ground. It might sound like a gimmick similar to the environmental destruction found in Red Faction so many years ago. However it's surprisingly clever in that you can manipulate the land to access platforms, provide cover and blow your way through a tunnel.
Despite the fact that I could give a shit about the game's plot or any of it's generic looking characters - I found myself enjoying the short demo quite a bit. I'm not sure that I would buy the game, but it certainly seems like prime rental material. It's hard to say if the whole terrain manipulation thing will get old, but it should provide a couple hours of entertainment at least.
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (Demo): I didn't like the first Mercenaries, so it isn't really a surprise that I don't like the second one either. But maybe I'm being unfair, after all - all I played of it was the demo. Still, it doesn't seem like much has changed to win me over. The game is still a sandbox for mindless destruction. Which you'd think would be fun, but I'm just not feeling it.
The game also seems to throw way too many enemies at you, and while you don't actually die very easily - you don't feel very powerful either. It's easy enough to kill a few guys, but you never seem to be able to squash all of them. So like annoying little insects they constantly swarm around you and you rinse and repeat the whole process.
Tales of Vesperia: I'm just about done with my first run of the game, and man have my impressions changed since my previous entry about the game. I'm pretty much fully in love with the game at this point, and can't wait to dive into a second playthrough. I'll have a full post for Vesperia coming up shortly, so I'll leave it at that for now.
Warhammer Online: Not much has changed in WAR since my last entry. The RvR is still a mess, and it's getting harder and harder to find people to complete public quest with. Admittedly I haven't played the game much yesterday - launch day - so things could be different at this point. I'll keep you posted.
Next Month: I don't know what I'm going to do next month with so many games coming out. I'll have to give up on purchasing a good deal of them I'm afraid. I got lucky this month with Force Unleashed and Guilty Gear 2 getting less than stellar reviews, bumping them down to rentals. Plus I think the Guilty Gear got bumped back to next month anyway. Silent Hill is still coming out at the end of the month but I'm flat broke at the moment, plus I think I'm too scared to play that shit anymore - I dunno.
Next month I'll have to pick up Fable 2, Fallout 3, and Little Big Planet. I'm sure there will be something else I really want. And that's not even mentioning Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour. I'm still not sure which bundle to get, but I'll probably end up getting one as a Christmas present. I'd like to think that I don't have to worry about picking up too many more games for the rest of the year after October. But sadly that isn't the case - as November is also full of tempting purchases. Too many games.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Warhammer Online: Early Impressions
The new kid on the block, WAR has been taking up a bit of my time lately. I spent a little bit of time in the Open Beta, and I've been playing a few characters in the game's pre-order bonus Live Head Start. And now, the game is out for all to consume. So what's the deal? Is this the real WoW Killer? Or is it another Age of Conan? Allow me to provide you with a beginner's insight on this new massive multiplayer game.
First of all, I haven't made a ton of progress into the game yet. I've gotten about 5 different races to level 5 at least, and my highest character right now is a level 7 Sorceress. I've played two Order characters, and have pretty much tried out just about every Destruction class a tiny bit. With that said, here's what I think of the game so far.
For starters, the game is very similar to WoW. This can either be considered good, or bad depending. For me it's a good thing. I like WoW quite a bit, and the last time I tried a new MMO it strayed too far from WoW's established formula, and I just didn't feel comfortable with the game. With that said, there are quite a few differences between the two games too.
For instance, WAR tends to lean more towards the PVP side of the fence. This really shows when you take into consideration that you can level up and gear your character out solely from PVP. This is all well and good, but the problems I've encountered with PVP - or the RvR Scenarios as they're called - so far leave me wanting.
As it stands right now, the server I'm on isn't terribly populated, like many of the servers seeing as how this has only been the Live Head Start. I suspect that will change when the game goes live for everyone. Hopefully this also fixes another problem I've been faced with, and that is there are way too many high level Order characters, and not enough high level Destruction characters. Out of the three games we managed to play tonight, there were 4-6 level 10 orders, vs. 0 level 10 Destructions. While it's true that when you enter an RvR scenario, your stats get bumped up to that of a level 8 character if you're lower than 8, but that still leaves us at a pretty unfair disadvantage.
Lastly, it could just be because we haven't had the best of luck in RvR, but the Order classes seem to be a lot more powerful than many of their Destruction counterparts. One example would be that my friend, a level 7 Goblin Shaman, was outhealed by a level 1 Warrior Priest, by like a lot. That doesn't really seem right considering he was healing a whole helluva lot.
Aside from the RvR setbacks, the rest of the game has been pretty smooth. The majority of the PVE experience is identical to that of WoW's, and you can easily solo many of these quest smoothly regardless of class. If that weren't enough, you've got WAR's exclusive Public Quest system which allows a large number of players to work together to complete one big quest. The beauty of this system is that you don't have to group up with anyone, everyone in the Public Quest zone can take part in the quest as a group, or by themselves, and it contributes to the overall progression of the Quest. This allows just about every player in the game to experience an epic feeling quest, and pick up some pretty sweet loot, without all the raid drama.
That's about all I've been able to experience so far, there are still many aspects of the game I have yet to see. Such as the crafting system, the living Guilds, higher end PVE and PVP content, and many other little things like the Tome of Knowledge, and exploring the world. So far I'd say I'm pretty satisfied though, and if the actual launch of the game, and Mythic can work out some of the kinks, I can only see it getting better. Who can say how much time I'll end up investing into the game? Will it just tide me over for another two months until WoTLK comes out? Hard to say. But I'm certainly feeling this game a lot more than any other MMO I've played since WoW came out, so things are looking bright for Warhammer.
First of all, I haven't made a ton of progress into the game yet. I've gotten about 5 different races to level 5 at least, and my highest character right now is a level 7 Sorceress. I've played two Order characters, and have pretty much tried out just about every Destruction class a tiny bit. With that said, here's what I think of the game so far.
For starters, the game is very similar to WoW. This can either be considered good, or bad depending. For me it's a good thing. I like WoW quite a bit, and the last time I tried a new MMO it strayed too far from WoW's established formula, and I just didn't feel comfortable with the game. With that said, there are quite a few differences between the two games too.
For instance, WAR tends to lean more towards the PVP side of the fence. This really shows when you take into consideration that you can level up and gear your character out solely from PVP. This is all well and good, but the problems I've encountered with PVP - or the RvR Scenarios as they're called - so far leave me wanting.
As it stands right now, the server I'm on isn't terribly populated, like many of the servers seeing as how this has only been the Live Head Start. I suspect that will change when the game goes live for everyone. Hopefully this also fixes another problem I've been faced with, and that is there are way too many high level Order characters, and not enough high level Destruction characters. Out of the three games we managed to play tonight, there were 4-6 level 10 orders, vs. 0 level 10 Destructions. While it's true that when you enter an RvR scenario, your stats get bumped up to that of a level 8 character if you're lower than 8, but that still leaves us at a pretty unfair disadvantage.
Lastly, it could just be because we haven't had the best of luck in RvR, but the Order classes seem to be a lot more powerful than many of their Destruction counterparts. One example would be that my friend, a level 7 Goblin Shaman, was outhealed by a level 1 Warrior Priest, by like a lot. That doesn't really seem right considering he was healing a whole helluva lot.
Aside from the RvR setbacks, the rest of the game has been pretty smooth. The majority of the PVE experience is identical to that of WoW's, and you can easily solo many of these quest smoothly regardless of class. If that weren't enough, you've got WAR's exclusive Public Quest system which allows a large number of players to work together to complete one big quest. The beauty of this system is that you don't have to group up with anyone, everyone in the Public Quest zone can take part in the quest as a group, or by themselves, and it contributes to the overall progression of the Quest. This allows just about every player in the game to experience an epic feeling quest, and pick up some pretty sweet loot, without all the raid drama.
That's about all I've been able to experience so far, there are still many aspects of the game I have yet to see. Such as the crafting system, the living Guilds, higher end PVE and PVP content, and many other little things like the Tome of Knowledge, and exploring the world. So far I'd say I'm pretty satisfied though, and if the actual launch of the game, and Mythic can work out some of the kinks, I can only see it getting better. Who can say how much time I'll end up investing into the game? Will it just tide me over for another two months until WoTLK comes out? Hard to say. But I'm certainly feeling this game a lot more than any other MMO I've played since WoW came out, so things are looking bright for Warhammer.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of The Rift
Well, I've made several post about the game now, and it's finally time to give the game a proper review of sorts. After clocking 102 Hours on the game, and still missing some things - It goes without saying that this game will definitely provide some bang for your buck. That is if you can deal with some repetition, and a fairly weak plot.
To start, FFTA2 shares a lot in common with the first Tactics Advance. It's set in the same version of Ivalice, thus it includes the variety of races that were introduced in that game, as well as some from Final Fantasy XII. It also shares the same lighthearted story and cutesy characters. Original Tactics, this is not. In fact the story is one of my only qualms with the game. It's not even as good as the previous game, even though I like the characters more in this one.
However the game exceeds where it counts, and that's providing a rich strategy RPG experience. Thanks to the game's seven races, and a multitude of job classes to choose from - there's a lot of variety to be had here. Each of the races have access to a set number of jobs, some unique to that race, and some shared among other races. You learn the abilities for these classes through equipment, which is acquired through a bazaar system identical to the one from XII. That is to say, you collect a bunch of loot from your encounters and trade them in for equipment.
The main story line of the game is surprisingly short with only 24 required missions, but the game more than makes up for it with the side quest. Seeing as how there are very few random encounters in this game, the majority of your experience will come from completing these quest. There has to be somewhere around 300 quest in total, and if this is starting to sound like Crisis Core - you'd be right. This is where the repetitiveness comes into play, however unlike Crisis Core I never really got burnt out on these missions. They aren't all that varied, but to me it doesn't seem like that much of a stretch from leveling up in the previous Tactics games through random encounters.
While the game's story might not keep you hooked, it's likely the quest to fully outfit your ideal team will. I can't count how many times I spent hours just getting new gear for my team, and doing quest to learn the new skills from that equipment. And as you can probably tell from my previous entry - I took some pride in the team I built up.
The only other thing I can think to bring up may be considered a pro, or a con depending on who you ask. The game is pretty laid back, I never had any difficulty completing any of the battles in the game at all. It might have something to do with the fact that I did every available quest I could, and was fully prepared for anything the game had to throw at me, but I found it to be a relaxing playthrough. This might be a turn off to some people though, so be warned.
All in all, I really enjoyed A2. I'm pretty sure it has a spot locked in for my Games of The Year list at this point. Even if it doesn't make the cut, I still think this is worth the price of admission for fans of the genre, or even people who might be interested in getting into the genre.
To start, FFTA2 shares a lot in common with the first Tactics Advance. It's set in the same version of Ivalice, thus it includes the variety of races that were introduced in that game, as well as some from Final Fantasy XII. It also shares the same lighthearted story and cutesy characters. Original Tactics, this is not. In fact the story is one of my only qualms with the game. It's not even as good as the previous game, even though I like the characters more in this one.
However the game exceeds where it counts, and that's providing a rich strategy RPG experience. Thanks to the game's seven races, and a multitude of job classes to choose from - there's a lot of variety to be had here. Each of the races have access to a set number of jobs, some unique to that race, and some shared among other races. You learn the abilities for these classes through equipment, which is acquired through a bazaar system identical to the one from XII. That is to say, you collect a bunch of loot from your encounters and trade them in for equipment.
The main story line of the game is surprisingly short with only 24 required missions, but the game more than makes up for it with the side quest. Seeing as how there are very few random encounters in this game, the majority of your experience will come from completing these quest. There has to be somewhere around 300 quest in total, and if this is starting to sound like Crisis Core - you'd be right. This is where the repetitiveness comes into play, however unlike Crisis Core I never really got burnt out on these missions. They aren't all that varied, but to me it doesn't seem like that much of a stretch from leveling up in the previous Tactics games through random encounters.
While the game's story might not keep you hooked, it's likely the quest to fully outfit your ideal team will. I can't count how many times I spent hours just getting new gear for my team, and doing quest to learn the new skills from that equipment. And as you can probably tell from my previous entry - I took some pride in the team I built up.
The only other thing I can think to bring up may be considered a pro, or a con depending on who you ask. The game is pretty laid back, I never had any difficulty completing any of the battles in the game at all. It might have something to do with the fact that I did every available quest I could, and was fully prepared for anything the game had to throw at me, but I found it to be a relaxing playthrough. This might be a turn off to some people though, so be warned.
All in all, I really enjoyed A2. I'm pretty sure it has a spot locked in for my Games of The Year list at this point. Even if it doesn't make the cut, I still think this is worth the price of admission for fans of the genre, or even people who might be interested in getting into the genre.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
FFTA2 Character Sheets
I just finished up Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of The Rift, and while I do intend to write up my final thoughts on the game at some point, I wanted to try something new first. Basically I'm just going to list the status and equipment of my six main characters and a little explanation of why I set them up that way.
Notes: This is my main party right after beating the game. I still have some stuff to do like Brightmoon Tor, and a few quest. I'm alos missing some equipment still, which I'll hopefully get whenever I do get around to BT. Also it should be noted that I'd equip all my characters with Ninja Tabi and Ribbons if I had enough for everyone.
Luso - Hume
Level: 73
Job: Paladin
Skills:
-Chivalry
-Flair
-Strike Back
-Geomancy
Equipment:
-Sequencer
-Genji Helm
-Genji Shield
-Peytral
-Orb of Minwu
Notes: Luso is a power house, and this is a good thing since you have to use him a lot throughout the game. He's not quite Ramza, but it's a start. I picked Paladin class strictly for the equipment - Sequencer and Peytral are the best weapon and armor in the game. He doesn't use Chivalry at all, but relies on the power of Flair - using skills like Hoarfrost Blade - combined with the enhanced damage of Geomancy to do a huge amount of damage to the enemy. The only problem is Luso's naturally slow speed, and the lack of Ninja Tabi.
Cordia - Viera
Level: 69
Job: Sniper
Skills:
-Sharpshooting
-Assassination
-Return Fire
-Blood Price
Equipment:
-Seventh Heaven
-Cachusha
-Galamia Frock
- High Seraph's Plume
Notes: Cordia is probably my best unit. The reason? Free Ultima Blows. Giving her the Assassination tree to use Ultima Blow, and having Blood Price which allows her to spend HP instead of MP ensures that Cordia can use Ultima Blow - every turn. Not to mention the fact that it's ranged. As a backup, the Sniper naturally has access to Doubleshot - which also does a fair bit of damage - especially on monster's weak to Seventh Heaven's holy property. The High Seraph's Plume is there as a backup healing method.
Alakina - Gria
Level: 69
Job: Ravager
Skills:
-Feralism
-Devastation
-Strike Back
-Unscarred
Equipment:
-Tournesol
-Genji Armor
-Ribbon
-Ninja Tabi
Notes: Alakina's forte is using Sneak Attack for massive damage when she is behind her enemies. It's a good thing Gria's have access to Sneak Attack since they can make the most of it by being able to fly around the map, and more importantly - over enemies. Alakina's effectiveness is severly reduced if she can't get behind the enemy - but not all is lost. She can still rely on Full Assault - which thanks to the Ribbon - won't put her to sleep. She also has her Devastation skills like Whirlwind for ranged attacks, and her "Breaks" which will nerf the enemies stats. Obviously, Alakina is at her best when at full HP - as all her attributes are buffed at full health thanks to Unscarred.
Orinella - Gria
Level: 68
Job: Hunter
Skills:
-Trapping
-Feralism
-Strike Back
-Unscarred
Equipment:
-Seventh Heaven
-Cachusha
-Judicer's Coat
-Sprint Shoes
Notes: Orinella shares a lot more in common with Alakina than just being the same race. She also has access to the whole Sneak Attack game, though for her she has some range to work with. She also has Unscarred so full health works best. The difference though, and what ultimately makes Orinella a bit better than her sister is her Trapping abilities. Sidewinder will do massive damage to monsters, and believe me - there are a lot of monsters in this game. Double that if they're weak to Holy. She also has access to Ultima Blow which she can use once she reaches 32 MP. The only bad part about Orinella is that she's damn near useless against foes that absorb Holy damage - but those are few and far between.
Eveline - Viera
Level: 66
Job: Summoner
Skills:
-Summoning Magick
-Elemental Magick
-Evade Magick
-Blood Price
Equipment:
-Nirvana
-Brint Frock
-Barette
-Angel Ring
Notes: Eveline is my mandatory Healer. She has access to the Unicorn summon - which while not the greatest healing spell in the game - works just fine, and effects units in a large radius. She also has access to the uber Phoenix spell which also restores HP, but also revives allies to full health. Thanks to Blood Price, Eveline can cast all of these spells on a whim. Elemental Magick is there as backup, as I found the offensive summons weren't always useful due to allies being caught in the blast. Elemental Magick is surprisingly good in that it does decent damage, and causes status effects. Eveline's only downfall though is that she really needs a Ninja Tabi. For the time being, Angel Ring is nice insurance.
Adelle - Hume
Level: 66
Job: Heritor
Skills:
-Instinct
-Pugilism
-Strike Back
-Dual Wield
Equipment:
-The Fallen ANgel
-Hyakushiki-masamune
-Ribbon
-Ever Robe
-Ninja Tabi
Notes: Adelle is probably the weakest link in my group. That isn't to say she's bad, but she just doesn't have any sort of devastating moves. She works best up close when she can hit enemies twice for some decent damage. Her ranged game basically involves using Aurablast for AoE damage, and some of her Instinct abilities to cause status effects. One great thing about her is her Elpe ability - which allows her to sacrifice herself to revive and restore full HP to all allies. This is a great backup plan for if things go south for Eveline. Aside from that - she's pretty well geared at least.
Notes: This is my main party right after beating the game. I still have some stuff to do like Brightmoon Tor, and a few quest. I'm alos missing some equipment still, which I'll hopefully get whenever I do get around to BT. Also it should be noted that I'd equip all my characters with Ninja Tabi and Ribbons if I had enough for everyone.
Luso - Hume
Level: 73
Job: Paladin
Skills:
-Chivalry
-Flair
-Strike Back
-Geomancy
Equipment:
-Sequencer
-Genji Helm
-Genji Shield
-Peytral
-Orb of Minwu
Notes: Luso is a power house, and this is a good thing since you have to use him a lot throughout the game. He's not quite Ramza, but it's a start. I picked Paladin class strictly for the equipment - Sequencer and Peytral are the best weapon and armor in the game. He doesn't use Chivalry at all, but relies on the power of Flair - using skills like Hoarfrost Blade - combined with the enhanced damage of Geomancy to do a huge amount of damage to the enemy. The only problem is Luso's naturally slow speed, and the lack of Ninja Tabi.
Cordia - Viera
Level: 69
Job: Sniper
Skills:
-Sharpshooting
-Assassination
-Return Fire
-Blood Price
Equipment:
-Seventh Heaven
-Cachusha
-Galamia Frock
- High Seraph's Plume
Notes: Cordia is probably my best unit. The reason? Free Ultima Blows. Giving her the Assassination tree to use Ultima Blow, and having Blood Price which allows her to spend HP instead of MP ensures that Cordia can use Ultima Blow - every turn. Not to mention the fact that it's ranged. As a backup, the Sniper naturally has access to Doubleshot - which also does a fair bit of damage - especially on monster's weak to Seventh Heaven's holy property. The High Seraph's Plume is there as a backup healing method.
Alakina - Gria
Level: 69
Job: Ravager
Skills:
-Feralism
-Devastation
-Strike Back
-Unscarred
Equipment:
-Tournesol
-Genji Armor
-Ribbon
-Ninja Tabi
Notes: Alakina's forte is using Sneak Attack for massive damage when she is behind her enemies. It's a good thing Gria's have access to Sneak Attack since they can make the most of it by being able to fly around the map, and more importantly - over enemies. Alakina's effectiveness is severly reduced if she can't get behind the enemy - but not all is lost. She can still rely on Full Assault - which thanks to the Ribbon - won't put her to sleep. She also has her Devastation skills like Whirlwind for ranged attacks, and her "Breaks" which will nerf the enemies stats. Obviously, Alakina is at her best when at full HP - as all her attributes are buffed at full health thanks to Unscarred.
Orinella - Gria
Level: 68
Job: Hunter
Skills:
-Trapping
-Feralism
-Strike Back
-Unscarred
Equipment:
-Seventh Heaven
-Cachusha
-Judicer's Coat
-Sprint Shoes
Notes: Orinella shares a lot more in common with Alakina than just being the same race. She also has access to the whole Sneak Attack game, though for her she has some range to work with. She also has Unscarred so full health works best. The difference though, and what ultimately makes Orinella a bit better than her sister is her Trapping abilities. Sidewinder will do massive damage to monsters, and believe me - there are a lot of monsters in this game. Double that if they're weak to Holy. She also has access to Ultima Blow which she can use once she reaches 32 MP. The only bad part about Orinella is that she's damn near useless against foes that absorb Holy damage - but those are few and far between.
Eveline - Viera
Level: 66
Job: Summoner
Skills:
-Summoning Magick
-Elemental Magick
-Evade Magick
-Blood Price
Equipment:
-Nirvana
-Brint Frock
-Barette
-Angel Ring
Notes: Eveline is my mandatory Healer. She has access to the Unicorn summon - which while not the greatest healing spell in the game - works just fine, and effects units in a large radius. She also has access to the uber Phoenix spell which also restores HP, but also revives allies to full health. Thanks to Blood Price, Eveline can cast all of these spells on a whim. Elemental Magick is there as backup, as I found the offensive summons weren't always useful due to allies being caught in the blast. Elemental Magick is surprisingly good in that it does decent damage, and causes status effects. Eveline's only downfall though is that she really needs a Ninja Tabi. For the time being, Angel Ring is nice insurance.
Adelle - Hume
Level: 66
Job: Heritor
Skills:
-Instinct
-Pugilism
-Strike Back
-Dual Wield
Equipment:
-The Fallen ANgel
-Hyakushiki-masamune
-Ribbon
-Ever Robe
-Ninja Tabi
Notes: Adelle is probably the weakest link in my group. That isn't to say she's bad, but she just doesn't have any sort of devastating moves. She works best up close when she can hit enemies twice for some decent damage. Her ranged game basically involves using Aurablast for AoE damage, and some of her Instinct abilities to cause status effects. One great thing about her is her Elpe ability - which allows her to sacrifice herself to revive and restore full HP to all allies. This is a great backup plan for if things go south for Eveline. Aside from that - she's pretty well geared at least.
XBLA Wednesdays 09/03/08
It's a shame I didn't think to do an entry like this any time last month when amazing games were being released every week on XBLA. Than again, that would've actually required some effort.
Shred Nebula: Do you want to know the secret of the Shred? Well, I'm not sure what the big secret is, but apparently it involves too much shit going on at once. In Shred Nebula you race through a series of pathways shooting down baddies and collecting power-ups. Sounds like your typical shooter. The problem lies in the fact that you have to navigate around corners while sloppily shooting at oncoming enemies. You're all over the controller too, holding LT to move, LB to go backwards, RB to bring up shields, X to shoot, and A for special weapons. Trying to press all these at once is awkward to say in the least.
The goal of each level seems to be survive a series of twist and turns, while killing everything that moves, and collecting anything that doesn't. Once you reach the end of the stage, if you've collected enough shit you can warp to the next level. That's about all there is to it. I'm sure you'll run into more complex levels, with more guys, and more power-ups. But that seems to be about all you'll be doing.
The game just feels sloppy, and things are pretty cluttered. The demo only lets you play the tutorial, and a short stage afterwards - so I can't speak for the entire game. However I don't really see the core problems changing anytime soon. While I wouldn't recommend downloading this, I would like to direct you to the trailers of the game which can also be found on X-Box Live - they're amazing.
Gin Rummy: I'm sure fans of Gin Rummy will enjoy this one. Me? I don't know how to play Gin Rummy, so I played the game for all of 30 seconds. Done
Pirates V Ninjas Dodgeball : This game is fucking terrible, do not waste your time or bandwidth downloading it. It's your typical Game Cock garbage. How much fun did you think a Dodgeball game could be anyway? You run around a field with the camera pulled way back, and you collect one of two balls to throw at the other team. The balls are pretty much homing balls, so they'll hit you most of the time regardless of dodging. Whoever can pickup the ball over and over again in quick succession will win. That's all there is to it.
Also, it's great that they decided to cash in on this "new" internet meme. Pirates vs. Ninjas? Who would've thought!
In other news...
Jonathan Blow, creator of Braid sure likes to talk a lot. The man is at least tolerable to listen to unlike Denis Dyack, but he can't see to stop pushing his opinions on everyone else. He doesn't think you should use a guide to play Braid with and he can't seem to stop reminding us of that little fact. He also likes to trash talk successful games like World of Warcraft and Bioshock.
I enjoyed Braid, John. But it wasn't that great.
Shred Nebula: Do you want to know the secret of the Shred? Well, I'm not sure what the big secret is, but apparently it involves too much shit going on at once. In Shred Nebula you race through a series of pathways shooting down baddies and collecting power-ups. Sounds like your typical shooter. The problem lies in the fact that you have to navigate around corners while sloppily shooting at oncoming enemies. You're all over the controller too, holding LT to move, LB to go backwards, RB to bring up shields, X to shoot, and A for special weapons. Trying to press all these at once is awkward to say in the least.
The goal of each level seems to be survive a series of twist and turns, while killing everything that moves, and collecting anything that doesn't. Once you reach the end of the stage, if you've collected enough shit you can warp to the next level. That's about all there is to it. I'm sure you'll run into more complex levels, with more guys, and more power-ups. But that seems to be about all you'll be doing.
The game just feels sloppy, and things are pretty cluttered. The demo only lets you play the tutorial, and a short stage afterwards - so I can't speak for the entire game. However I don't really see the core problems changing anytime soon. While I wouldn't recommend downloading this, I would like to direct you to the trailers of the game which can also be found on X-Box Live - they're amazing.
Gin Rummy: I'm sure fans of Gin Rummy will enjoy this one. Me? I don't know how to play Gin Rummy, so I played the game for all of 30 seconds. Done
Pirates V Ninjas Dodgeball : This game is fucking terrible, do not waste your time or bandwidth downloading it. It's your typical Game Cock garbage. How much fun did you think a Dodgeball game could be anyway? You run around a field with the camera pulled way back, and you collect one of two balls to throw at the other team. The balls are pretty much homing balls, so they'll hit you most of the time regardless of dodging. Whoever can pickup the ball over and over again in quick succession will win. That's all there is to it.
Also, it's great that they decided to cash in on this "new" internet meme. Pirates vs. Ninjas? Who would've thought!
In other news...
Jonathan Blow, creator of Braid sure likes to talk a lot. The man is at least tolerable to listen to unlike Denis Dyack, but he can't see to stop pushing his opinions on everyone else. He doesn't think you should use a guide to play Braid with and he can't seem to stop reminding us of that little fact. He also likes to trash talk successful games like World of Warcraft and Bioshock.
I enjoyed Braid, John. But it wasn't that great.
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